Page Setup

When you are editing a page, there should be a section underneath the main editor called “Custom Fields”. In this section, you can add custom metadata to your post. All you have to do is provide a name to identify your extra information, as well as the information itself.

For example, lets say you wanted to add a section to a page for your favorite book, The Cat in the Hat. To accomplish this, you could add a custom field called ‘book’ with the value ‘The Cat in the Hat’.

Theme Setup

To get this information to show up on your site, you have to edit your theme and use the WordPress function get_post_meta(). Take a look at the following snippet of code:


<?php
echo get_post_meta(get_the_ID(), ‘book’, true);
?>

The get_post_meta function takes up to three parameters. The first it requires is the post id. We get this using the function get_the_ID() above. The next required piece of information is the key we stored our value under, in this case ‘book’. The last parameter tells WordPress we want a single value back, rather than an array.

The above snippet would output ‘The Cat in the Hat’ to the page.

More Custom Fields

You can always use more than just one key/value pair. Extending the above example, you could also create another custom field for the author of your favorite book. Just create a custom field with the key ‘author’ and the value ‘Dr. Seuss’. You would use a similar snippet of code to retrieve the author, just change the second parameter of get_post_meta from ‘book’ to ‘author’

You can think of Responsive Web Design as dynamic, flexible, mobile ready page layouts for your website. A responsive website will scale and re-scale fluidly to accommodate any screen size. “Fluid” is really the word to hone in on, as the user experience is consistent and not compromised when viewing the site on different screen resolutions such as mobile devices or smaller screens.

Mobile Ready VS Responsive Web Design:

The battle between Mobile Ready and Responsive Website is over. The debate of which approach will better serve the future of the web has gone on for too long. Understanding the two and their purpose is simple. To re-iterate, Responsive Web Design re-stacks and re-scales elements on the page to accommodate the size of the screen on the device from which the user is experiencing the site. This eliminates the need to zoom and saves the user from excessive scrolling to navigate a page. The alternative, Mobile Ready, is a completely different site designed specifically for the device the user is viewing from. There are immediate disadvantages that can arise from the Mobile Ready approach such as:

• Inconsistent styling between the standard site and the mobile site.
• Inconsistent information, as some items may or may not get translated into the mobile ready site.
• Most important of all, Mobile Ready is not adaptable and does not future proof your website.

With technology expanding with higher resolution displays it is important to future proof your website to evolve with the times. That means that unless you are designing a very specific web app, then is almost all cases we will advocate for responsive web design, hands down.

Still not ready to take the plunge for a Responsive Website? Well I’m not finished…

• A ComScore Survey estimated in 2009 that there were 800 million Mobile Internet users – and projected that by 2015 that number would rise to 1.9 BILLION.
• The number of new desktop users per year is growing nowhere near the rate of mobile users.
• It has long been advised in the world of SEO that search engines such as Google and Bing are going to be looking for, and handing out extra brownie points to mobile friendly, responsive websites using media queries to queue mobile stylization.
• When done right, Responsive Websites increase site optimization and load times.
• In the long run, future-proofing your website by laying a responsive flexible foundation will save you money.
• Being Responsive means more cross browser and cross platform support to maximize your audience and viewers. This includes, desktops, laptops, smartphones, tablets, etc.
• No need for a “mobile.yourdomain.com” subdomain – this is important for earing site traffic and for SEO.
• CLEAN CODE – it may be all behind the scenes, but to web developers like ourselves, responsive web design is a much cleaner and more efficient way of supporting the change.

Should you make the switch? Yes.

Most people want to hear the story of how you started your most recent success, or the thing that you’re currently doing. But if that’s all you talk about, people will often lose sight of the fact that behind every successful company, there is something that sparked your drive, created the focus and instilled the passion and belief in your life necessary to bring that company into being. I’m going to tell a brief story that I hope shows the events over the course of my young-adulthood that led me to hurdle overwhelming obstacles, and that ultimately shaped my belief that everything is possible.

In thinking about this blog post, I first thought I’d write about either of my first two companies, 10 Best America or Graphic Fusion, but I realized something: the story of those companies doesn’t explain how I first figured out what it took to start a business. The truth is, what did that was the first time I went about starting a company, many years earlier.

My First Company

My parents home schooled me and as a result, I started going to the University of Arizona when I was 13.  As a product of how my parents schooled me, I had to do everything from a young age. It moved me to strive for things that a person my age would not normally try to achieve. I was completely focused on school because I didn’t have the distractions of your typical college student.

This focus and drive always had me thinking about opportunities, even when they seemed to be out of reach.  I stumbled upon one very significant opportunity because I really wanted a job when I was 15.  The only barrier was my age, but that had never stopped me before, and I was determined to find a solution.

Puente Bros.

My parents told me I could get odd jobs around the neighborhood as a handyman or a landscaper, so I tried it for a while. The pay wasn’t great and the work was hard, and I knew it wasn’t what I wanted to be doing, which meant I was on the lookout for new opportunities.  One day, a family friend re-sealed my parent’s driveway, and I inquired about product cost, profit margins, competition, essential hard costs and market demand.  Although they thought it was funny that a 15-year-old was so inquisitive about their profession, they made me an offer and said “if you can get a truck and find someone to drive it, we will give you the product at cost and you’ve got yourself a business.”

Whether they meant it or not, I took them seriously, and I had soon saved up enough money, along with a little help from the parents, to buy an old Ford Lariat F250, long bed, extended cab. I brought on my big bro as a partner to drive the truck, and voila! Puente Bros. Asphalt LLC was born. The business grew enough that we had several employees before we dismantled it after I graduated college—I was 18 years old.

Final Thoughts

This business was far from glamorous but it set me on a path to reach my goals, helped me save a lot of money during college, and more importantly it instilled me that I should always be focused on taking action, working hard and not letting uncharted territory deter me from my vision.

So, what obstacle do you need to overcome?

Functionalism in Modern Design

Functionalism is the idea that when creating a design, the functional qualities should come first, and aesthetic appeal should come second. Although this idea seems straightforward, understanding the history of this idea is important to an understanding of modernism and modern design.

The idea of putting function first has helped to produce some of the designs that define modernism. It has created works that have been deconstructed to their basic forms and organic structures while still serving the needs of mankind, and ultimately being aesthetically pleasing. The individual ideas of Max Bill, Mies van der Rohe, Paul Rand, and George Nelson—some of modernism’s key contributors—have strongly expressed functionalism’s role in the movement. Their different practices have come together to collectively show functionalism’s connection to a key focus of modernism: universalism.

Communication and Design

Rand believed that design had to serve the purpose of communication. He once said, “it is not good design if it does not co-operate as an instrument in the service of communication.” If graphic design is supposed to communicate a message, what use does a design have if it does not function as a line of communication? It has no value without the connection to its function. It is no longer considered a design. Even if a design were aesthetically pleasing, Rand would say it has lost its value if it did not serve a function.

Taking that into consideration, judging and creating a design now adds a new perspective: form vs. function. This alone has become the standing factor in differentiating a successful design from an unsuccessful design. It has pushed design to find an aesthetic solution to unsolved problems.

Final Thoughts

Summing up the history of modernism in a blog would deny its value, but I encourage others to expose themselves to the history of design. It is a big contributor in building your own foundation as a designer.

Layout

One of the things you have to consider is layout. What dimension will you be printing on? Since you aren’t constrained to the dimensions of the screen, you will need to select a size on which you will be designing. What kind of layout will you be working with? What kind of spacing will your typography need? Try experimenting with dimensions that are not standard paper sizes.

Paper

Another consideration to make is paper type. Would the message you are seeking to express with your typographic design be stronger if it were printed on a specific texture of the paper? Maybe the typography would appear better in a UV filter against flat elements and other areas of your design. Experiment with printing on different paper types and run a few print tests before you settle on basic printing options.

Interaction

The most interesting area that needs to be considered—in my opinion—is how others will interact with your typography. Will you be printing on a sheet that will require folds and die-cuts? Will ignoring die-cuts and interaction with folds best portray your typography’s message?

Final Thoughts

Go forward more by exploring the different ways you can push your typography. But as you are exploring the different areas, keep in mind that you should always be working with a grid system, and keeping consistency in mind.

What is a Good SEO Writing Topic?

A good SEO writing topic is one that will answer a question, offer useful information, or get others to link to it. In other words, it’s quality information that offers something that searchers need. A good starting point is to address what you really want to accomplish with your content.

• Do you want to attract links from outside sources? Focus on creating content that will appeal to a web-savvy audience that will reference your content (i.e. web designers, tech bloggers, etc.).
• Want to create a page that will work as a funnel for searches? Use blog content to create an “organic” landing page, and users can explore your site from there.
• Looking to move potential customers along in the process of using/buying your product or services? Provide them with information they need to make the next step.

How to Find a Topic

Now that you have a clearer idea of what kind of topics will equal effective SEO content, the question remains, where do I find these quality SEO writing topics? There are a few places, but keeping your goals in mind will certainly help you along the way.

One method is so obvious, it may not have occurred to you—ask the customers you all ready have. What are the questions they would like to have answered easily on your website? If you have a brick-and-mortar store, what do they like about coming in every day or week that they would enjoy seeing duplicated online? Maybe the enjoy recommendations from staff that regular product reviews could provide.

If you do not have the opportunity to ask customers for this information in person, there are other ways to get their feedback as well. You could make use of surveys that you can develop easily with free tools like SurveyMonkey among many others. If your company is large enough to have dedicated customer service representatives, they can also serve as a valuable resource for helpful topics. What are the issues that come up frequently when a customer calls or emails to get help? By publishing a blog post containing that information you can help push clients or customers along in the sales cycle and prevent a call to your representatives—all while creating something that might well be searched for. All of it means good SEO content.

Final Thoughts

In another post, I will address how you can use search data to determine good SEO writing topics as well, but for now, I’ll leave you with these final thoughts—write good content. Remember the intent behind every search is to find useful information and you will be well served. Ranking is all well and good, but if it’s achieved with lousy content, it will not lead to conversions or a high ROI.

Preface

Before you read this article, write down or at least think about what your perfect day is. I’ll get back to this later.

Reflecting on the past

Just this past week I finished my first year of the two-year VisComm Program at the University of Arizona. After reading Marianne’s reviews, I was reminded of where my classmates and I started. I was really bitter and reluctant about most of the prerequisite courses I had to take, but soon discovered how useful they ended up being. The Art History prerequisites helped me expand my awareness of design on a universal scale, which in return helped me determine what elements I could, and should, use to create a successful design. Even the FYE courses, the prerequisites I hated the most, ended up being an excellent outlet for discovering my execution techniques and short cuts—quality ones—that worked best for me. If you are a Pre–VisComm student reading this now, believe it or not, the skills you learn in the FYE courses become really handy when your instructors expect 50 thumbnail sketches, 5 well constructed packaging pieces, and close to perfect mounting skills within a 48 hour period. Hindsight is 20/20, and I am telling you now that those prerequisites are there to give you the opportunity to build your personal foundation—to make it as strong and efficient as you want it to be.

Application

Applying to the program was where I started to really have fun. The VisComm portfolio review occurs once a year during spring and you have what seems to be a 50-50 chance of getting in. Applicants are to submit a portfolio of 10-12 pieces, including the Portfolio Review Visual Assignment. This assignment is a visual response based on one of the two written pieces provided to you. Only 20 design students and 20 illustration students get accepted into the program, and those who don’t have to wait another full year before they can re–apply. I know a lot of students who didn’t get in the first time, but you can still take some of the VisComm classes, although you won’t have priority for them. I recommend doing this, so that if you’re accepted the following year, you can be on the same track as the rest of the VisComm students.

After being accepted into the program, I was excited to take the classes that really grabbed my attention like ART363A (Typography I), and ART361 (Digital Design Studio II). Those classes allowed me to explore design elements about which I was interested in learning. The first semester in the program was the more enjoyable half of the first year. This last semester was hell, complete torture, I couldn’t believe I had signed up for it.

So what changed from the first semester to the second? ART365, aka Design II. If I had to assign high school stereotypes to the VisComm courses, Design II would be the bully. Hands down. Some students will disagree with this statement, but the ones who do are probably the ones that didn’t push themselves, or their ideas, to do more. I remember our instructor telling us from Day 1 that this class was anything we wanted it to be, and that our ideas were not limited to the requirements. We were assigned to create a brand, and throughout the semester we had to design different elements of it. His statement made us realize that we were given the opportunity to take our own project and really push it. That idea alone led me and a few other classmates to live an unthinkable life: averaging 17 hours of sleep per week, spending several hundred dollars a month on printing and supplies, making daily showers optional, leaving dishes and laundry dirty for several weeks—if not months—and other unthinkable acts. But as odd as it might sound, doing that helped us break our limits, all so we could find the next one to break. For once, we were given the power to be all that we could be, and it was just too good of an option to ignore.

Final Thoughts

If I were given the choice to take the semester over, I would. I would double the load and do it again because the personal growth and strength that was gained from this past semester was the most valuable lesson I have ever learned from school. I’m not going to lie, as excited as I am about taking Design III next semester, I’m a little intimidated by it. Design III might just be the asshole of high school stereotypes, and I’m still recovering from the bully. As for Marianne, I’m excited to see how her design skills develop and what she will decide to submit in the 2014 portfolio review. I hope others will learn from my experiences in the first year of the VisComm Program.

To conclude my review of the U of A’s VisComm program, I’ll say it’s a great program, but only if you are open to seeing, and taking, the opportunities that are provided. If you need a better review, then look back at your answer of the perfect day. If you didn’t mention design in any part of it, then you may not find this program to be all that you want it to be. Just another thing I learned from my instructors.

Great logo design inspires me to create the best branding possible, so I’ve included the following examples I’ve come across recently to serve as logo design inspiration:

It’s been a few months since we gave the first introduction to our LISA project management system. Here is a progress report of what we’ve got going on.

First, we have a new LISA HQ home page. We are pretty excited about the new home page for LISA that we just launched a few days ago.

New design

We completely redesigned LISA to give it a more modern look, and to make it easier to use. We have sectioned off each module block, making it a lot easier to get the information you need with just a glance.

We have also updated the client side design significantly as well. We made it very simple, and focused on the phases of the project, and where it is currently, rather than displaying a lot of extraneous information.

New features

We added a ton of new features and improved the old ones. Here is just a quick a quick highlight of a few of them:

• Ticketing system 

  Now you can create tickets, assign them to users, comment on them and have different status for tickets. Tickets can also be placed on hold if needed.

• “Old” Status Notifications

  We noticed that we needed to keep track of when statuses become outdated. So now for each project you can set to track how long ago status message was updated.

• Sidebars

  We have moved the Calls and Clients tabs into sidebars, that way the information in them can be accessed more quickly, and on any page, without interrupting your workflow. The layout is also responsive, so it will adjust automatically when the sidebar is turned on and move the tabs out of the way.

• Calls 

  We have updated the way calls work, and we think it’s a big improvement. Now, multiple calls are grouped together per client. You can also log calls that already took place, and see comments on all past calls.

• Tasks 

  That’s right we added tasks into LISA! You can access your tasks from a sidebar or see tasks for each project. You can assign tasks to projects and people, set due dates and have ability to comment on each task as well. We still need to do some polishing, but it’s already pretty functional.

• Phases and Milestone Management

  We redid phase navigation and the user interface. It’s now extremely easy to mange project phases; you can also set up milestones and schedule them for specific dates.

Of course there are many more tweaks and updates to come, so if you are interested for a beta invite come let us know in the comments and include your email.

What Being “Reactive” Looks Like

When an agency focuses on executing a service for a client, it is easy to lose sight of their overall goals.  That’s a problem, because when you fail to align your services with your client’s goals, we quickly find ourselves becoming “Reactive.”  How can you tell if you are being Reactive? Often times, your first clue will be when a client comes to you and says something like, “I’m not hitting my numbers,” or “I’m not reaching my goals fast enough.” Sometimes, the client doesn’t even get to that point—they just move on to another agency. In those cases, it’s easy to be confused as to what went wrong. “We executed our end of the agreement flawlessly,” the thinking goes, “so why was the client unhappy?”

Be “Proactive”

This is where the power of being a “Proactive” agency becomes clear. Being Proactive consists of a range of distinct elements, including taking care, being attentive, understanding goals, and the having the ability to tell a client when it’s time to step up their game. Making sure that the client’s overall goal lines up with the plan currently in place allows you to see when things need change, or when other services need to be added in order to achieve a client’s goals. That is the heart of being a Proactive agency.

Honesty is the best policy

Don’t be afraid to tell a client when the services you’re providing aren’t cutting it. It is our job to tell our client’s what they need, but that is not always enough, as sometimes they cut much-needed services from their budgets.  Even if it’s not in the budget, we have a responsibility to let our client’s know what they need to do to reach their goals…even if that means they may move on to another agency.  Believe me when I say, they will move on much sooner if you are Reactive, not Proactive.