Visual Rhythm

Visual Rhythm Redesign Preview

Visual Rhythm — Sun, 04 Sep 2011 22:59:55 +0000

Examples of inspiring web design creep into my daily life from every corner of the world wide webiverse. These often come in the form of A List Apart articles, demos on CSS-Tricks, shots by Dribblers, or news from Think Vitamin. I’m constantly saying to myself (or to my very understanding girlfriend):

THAT’S what I should add to MY website!”

Believe me, it’s nauseating.

After many hours spent bookmarking links, creating countless to-do lists and carefully organizing dozens of iPhone captured sticky-note sketches in my Evernote account, I now feel (like the immortal words of Midnight Oil ) the time has come, to redesign Visual Rhythm!

Some of my goals:

Take advantage of the updated technologies in HTML5 and CSS3
Utilize new options available for web type
Improve the user interface
Make things prettier

At this stage I thought it would be fun to share a few sections of the redesign in progress:

Top Level Navigation

Transparent soft gradient background bordered with rounded corners (sounds like something you could eat). Hover and active states fade into a darker opacity like a fine chocolate (ok, I’ll stop). I love using CSS3!

Background & Font sample

I’ve combined multiple backgrounds to create texture. Also, I’m very excited how the Font Squirrel WebFont “ChunkFive” sits on the canvas background; with a little text shadow added, the text appears to “sink in” like it’s been literally typed onto the page.

Contact Form

Transparent background, input field icons, and labels that appear inside of the input fields which elegantly fade away once they are typed in! Ohh-la-la…

The Visual Rhythm redesign will be launched very shortly! Keep your ears to the ground, there’s more to come.

Content, it’s for EVERYONE!

Visual Rhythm — Sun, 04 Sep 2011 22:59:12 +0000

Content Strategy for the Web by Kristina Halvorson is a necessary and inspiring guidebook. It is both intriguing and beautifully organized (as one might expect). Historically, it could be considered “The Elements of Style” for a new generation of web content writers.

Every day people are put in the position of generating content for the internet. Chances are, if you own a small business, work for a company with a website, or ever sell a bike on Craigslist, the skills offered in this book are worth 10 times its cover price.

My objective, however, is not to write another 5 star review for the book on Amazon. Instead, I thought it would be more beneficial to share a few of my favorite points from the book mixed in with my notes from the margins.

So if you own, plan to own, or operate a website of any kind, then I strongly suggest you read on. This article is for you.

The General Strategy: think simple

Content is often unnecessary, overwritten and in the way.

Those words sound poetic and I couldn’t agree more – avoid content that clutters. The last thing you want is to make things complicated for your customers. Make it easy for your visitors to accomplish the task they came to your site for.

Keep these common, “web-God’s” in mind when thinking about simple:

The most popular webpage in the world asks its users to do one thing, Search. Ahhh, look at all the white space. One can always dream.

Apple often bets on 98% of its visitors on any particular day will visit their site to learn about or buy Apples latest product. I bet Apple’s right

why, why, why?

While discussing strategy in chapter one, Kristina gives us this great rule to follow:

Web content is useless unless it meets 1 of 2 requirements: it supports a key business objective or it supports a user in completing a task.

It is important to measure all content against these two requirements. I would add that the best content on the page usually meets both of the above requirements. I would also caution against keeping content simply because it falls under the umbrella of a “key business objective”. This requirement might be open to some interpretation depending on who’s sitting in on the discussion. During a split decision, I would choose to only keep content which follows both requirements.

plan: make your content a TOP PRIORITY

We’ve invested everything we need to build the online vehicles for our content and strangely it’s content that gets left behind until the last minute.

This statement reflects a bizarre truth. Many business owners, with dollar signs in their eyes, still believe the internet is a magical pill; once you get a website up you will generate an immediate fountain of wealth. The let down (of course) comes when the website goes live and, BAM!.. silence. Thinking that a pretty website containing irrelevant content will increase your business is as sensible as trying to impress your Mom by buying her a mansion and furnishing it with just folding chairs.

The time to think about your content is now.

action: Take ownership

When no one owns the content, it marginalizes the visitor. Nothing is worse (in website world) than a website who’s owner has no idea what’s on their website and a customer who finds the website frustrating and completely useless.

Your friend, the AUDIT

Content needs to come from somewhere and it is a good idea to figure out where it will come from. The first key practice to follow is performing a content audit. The first cut is the deepest, so the content audit step should never be skipped. Kristina spends the entire (and well deserved) chapter 4 (named Audit) of her book to cover some great methods for Auditing your content in a methodical and effective way. A few basic steps to begin are:

Make a list of the content you need
Review the content you have
Eliminate what you can’t use
Fill in the gaps

content management is someone’s job, maybe yours!

One of my favorite points Kristina makes is to put someone in charge of the content. Your website needs an Editor In Chief (EIC). With a quick scan of the room you’re sitting in, you’ll often find that the most qualified (and affordable) candidate for this role is, (drum roll) yourself. Congrats! You’re hired!

I know what you’re thinking, “Oh great, more work!”, no, not necessarily, think “less headaches.”

Your first job is to make an editorial calendar. Don’t overwhelm yourself, start with just one blog post, tweet, or Facebook update a month and build up from from there. Even if you have a static website, make a habit of reading your website once a month to see if your content still excites you as it once did. Now that most websites are built with a CMS, making updates is a breeze. Once you’re comfortable updating your website on a schedule, perhaps assign roles to other members of your team to make scheduled updates as well. With multiple hands (and brains) on your website, you’ll have tons of up-to-date and relevant content in no time.

show commitment

The Content: “Website owner, do you take me to be yours for now and forever?”

Website Owner: “I Do.”

Updating your content isn’t a one-night-stand. Paying attention to your content should be the plan from here on out. Appreciate the value of your content. It’s ok to admit that updating your website is hard. Not all of us were born to be writers. If you need help, pay for it. Just like a good bookkeeper, a good writer is worth their weight in gold. This quote from the book says it best:

We read about a company in India selling content for $4. You can’t buy content for the price of a cheap sandwich!

introducing… your customers!

Your website is the most effective way to interact with your customers, period. Learn to listen and let your customers be heard. Take advantage of technology and encourage comments through your blog or answer questions on your Facebook page. Ask your customers what they want.

the results: growth

Kindling keeps the fire burning. [And in this case the kindling is your regular infusion of new and relevant content, your original core content - that's your big firewood]. Keep your content relevant and updated so customers learn to trust you and are satisfied with their website experience. Implement suggestions from your customers and make improvements to your site to increase sales.

Drawing From The Source

Visual Rhythm — Sun, 04 Sep 2011 22:58:39 +0000

It is hard to argue with the suggestion that nature is the greatest source of inspiration, period. Shape, form, contrast, color – nature has it all worked out. I have always been inspired by the vintage Ocean Pacific (OP) surf shirts of the 1980′s. They have the greatest color palates. The inspiration for these shirts’ designs and colors were beautiful San Diego sunsets. On the third week of January, Southern California was hit with a few massive rainstorms. As these storms passed through, they produced some absolutely spectacular sunsets. I was inspired to say the least. I thought it would be fun to do a side by side comparison of my own shirt collection and a few photos I took during these storms.

January 12, 2010 – The Cove, La Jolla, CA

White Vintage OP Shirt, circa 1980′s

January 23, 2010 – From the Bridge Club, La Jolla, CA

Yellow Vintage OP Shirt, circa 1980′s

January 28, 2010 – At the end of Mission Blvd, Pacific Beach, CA

Blue Vintage OP Shirt, circa 1980′s

These Stripes Don’t Run

Visual Rhythm — Thu, 01 Sep 2011 22:13:18 +0000

The Evolution of the Visual Rhythm brand.

In 1998, as an intern, I was lucky enough to be encouraged to create my own business card (thank you David Griffin).

Later the same day, the words “Visual Rhythm” came to me while taking a shower.

The next morning I created mockup’s using Macromedia Freehand for my first card.

I saved that original sheet, see below:

circa 1998

The design I chose was the top right (red/black). A small run of those cards were printed. Sadly, today no more exist. Three years later, Visual Rhythm went two sided. I also dropped the word ‘design’ from the front of the card.

circa 2001

A face-lift was needed. Inspired by colors from my fathers $.29 1960′s notebooks Visual Rhythm adopted the brown, blue and orange color palate it currently has. The stripes also became “3D” and the underline of the title was dropped.

circa 2004

Business begins to grow, fast. Freelance becomes full time. Time to roll with the change. Let’s GO! Visual Rhythm finds inspiration in the ever popular brocade. The crowd cheers:

circa 2008

Maturity sinks in, everything becomes clear. Heck! Let’s take the name right off the front. My favorite card yet. Printed on 100% recycled content, 50% post-consumer waste, and processed on chlorine-free paper by greenerprinter.com. I snack on one when I’m hungry.

January 2010

It’s really amazing to observe a brand evolve. This article by DKmar M. showcases a great collection of major brands and their transformations. I hate to admit it, but in 1975 Microsoft looked pretty fresh; I would totally rock a T-Shirt with the Microsoft Disco Font.

I am curious to further explore the topic on how updating ones logo directly responds with the growth of a business.

What did your business’s first logo look like? Do you miss any logo’s from the past? Which ones?

Please share your thoughts, experiences or questions by leaving a comment below.