It’s that time of year again where people are getting ready for the holidays. As a business this time of year can be a wonderful time of year but it can also be a very stressful time too. Not only do you have your year end objectives to do, (get ready for the end of the year accounting, get ready for taxes, etc) but also you have to keep your business running.For many businesses it can be fairly easy to fall behind during the holidays, but with a little bit of preparation it is easy to keep things running smoothly through the holidays.

1. Prepare in advance. – Having a plan for the holiday seasons is one of the biggest keys to keep up on things during the holiday season. If you have even a simple plan to keep up things it will help make everything run smoothly. If you are anything like me it will make things much easier if you have your plans written down somewhere so that not only you can see it and be reminded about what needs to be done but also your employees can see what needs to be done too.
2. Don’t forget your marketing. – It can be really easy to forget to keep up on marketing when the holidays are around. A lot of companies get so busy during the holidays they either don’t find time to market or they just forget to market them selves. If you keep your marketing in mind all year round you can easily stay on top of things. Know what your marketing plan is and keep up on it. Remember “It is always the season to market your self!”
3. Don’t just think about December – December is a BIG time for most businesses but there are many other holidays to keep in mind. On top of that it is hard to play catch up if you wait till December (or any other holiday month for that matter) to think about December. Remember there are other important holidays out there and remember to keep the holidays in mind all year round.
4. Don’t forget people are busy – It is very easy to get caught up in the holidays. There is a lot of stuff to think about not only for businesses but also for everyone. Remember your customers do get busy so it is probably a good idea to keep your marketing brief and to the point. If you are using email marketing keep your emails short and make sure there is a point to your emails. If you are sending out a mailer or other collateral, make sure it is to the point. Offer a “Happy Holidays” and your marketing objective (ie a coupon or some way to draw people to your business) and leave it at that.
5. Don’t be a Grinch, but don’t be insensitive. – By this I mean don’t be that person who just says “bah humbug” and ignores all holidays, but don’t forget your customer base can be fairly diverse. Remember that there are other holidays other than just Christmas and sometimes being a little politically correct can really make a big difference. If you have a fairly diverse customer base saying “Happy Holidays” rather than “Mary Christmas” or “Happy Chanukah” or anything else for that matter might be better in the long run.
6. Remember what the holidays are for. – What is the point of being in a business if you can’t have a little fun here and there. Remember that the holidays are a time for celebrating and you should have a little fun here and there. Make sure you have a little fun from time to time so you will want to stay in business and keep things going smoothly.

Bonus tip: Don’t forget about the people who helped you get where you are. It is very easy to send your customers a quick “thank you” for doing business with us, but your customers are not the only thing that helped get you where you are. Sometimes you really need to think about your employees and your vendors and find a way to  thank them for helping out too. If you are feeling generous you can easily send out some quick gifts or you can simply send out a quick thank you card or simply call them and tell them thank you for being there, but make sure they know how you feel.

I know this is a relatively short list but I hope this helps everyone this holiday season. What do you do to prepare for the holidays?

I have seen plenty of websites set up with a “Under Construction” or a “Coming Soon” page, but I haven’t seen many coming soon/under construction pages that I thought were “good”. What I mean by this is what good is a website if it can’t tell even a little bit about you or what your company does? Most of the coming soon pages that I have seen really have little to no information on them. They might have a cool countdown to launch, or a little bit of contact information on it but what good is any of this if your audience does not know what your site/company is about?

That is why I have been working on a free WordPress theme to help out anyone that is setting up a website using WordPress and want to have a coming soon page with some basic information. With the “Coming Soon!” theme I made it so you can edit most of the information on your coming soon page and have it include not only your contact information such as: your e-mail address, your phone number, your twitter account but it also has the option to have a bit of text for an about section, some custom coming soon text and also a link to your newsletter subscription form!

Want to try it out download it for free below.

Click here to download “Coming Soon!” theme or if you want to try it out on my site click here.

1. Check your copy – Make sure you have content on all of your pages and not test copy. Make sure everything is spelled correctly and you have the right grammar for everything. I have to admit that this is a small pet peeve of mine when you go to a website and there are large sections of information missing or when there is still test copy on the website.
2. Check for functionality – No matter how careful you are when you are making your website there are times where stuff just happens. It is important to go through the website before launch to make sure all the links not only work but also make sure they are valid. Also when you are checking for functionality you should check all of the aspects of your website to make sure everything works. If you are selling your inventory off your website, check to make sure your shopping cart works. Make sure your contact page works and any other forms work and are being sent to the right email address.
3. Check your 404 page – Checking to make sure all of your links work and are valid is important, but things do happen. That is one big reason to make sure you not only have valid 404 page, but also to make sure your 404 page is useful too. If you have a generic 404 page it can easily lead people to leave your website if they reach an error, but if you have a good 404 page with a search box or links to pages your audience might find useful it is an easy way to help keep your visitors on your website.
4. Check cross browser compatibility – Unfortunately for us designers and programmers not all browsers render websites the same, on top of that there are a lot of differences on how websites are rendered across operating systems too. Make sure your website looks the same in all browsers, and across as many operating systems that you can.
5. Check your load time and performance. – Let’s face it people don’t have a whole lot of patience, so if they are going to have to wait more than a few seconds for your website to load up they are going to leave your website as quickly as they got there. A website is no good to you if it takes forever to load. Make sure your site is optimized for a quick load time.

Bonus Tip!

6. Get your audience ready – Getting a running start with your website never hurts. Working up some pre-launch hype, is not only fairly easy but it can also help immensely. Pre-hyping your website can be as easy as setting up a count down for your website to launch, or making mention of your site through social media sites or if you have a physical location you can have some flyers or some postcards made up so you can help get the word out.

I know this is a quick list to check before your launch but like I said a little bit of planning will make things go much smoother. What does your launch checklist have on it?

1. Read…A LOT!
Thankfully I like to read, and that has come in handy. I have found that reading is one of my favorite ways to learn more about things. When it comes to design there are plenty of resources out there to read to help keep up on the latest ideas. Some of my favorites are as follows: Layers Magazine, Computer Arts and .net magazine

2. Challenge yourself.
I found another great way for me to learn some thing new is to force my self to just simply do it. Find some thing new whether it is a new idea, a new technique or simply just some thing new and try it. You never know how it will come out or what you will get out of it.

3. Talk to others in your field.
Technology has really improved the way we communicate. With so many advances like Twitter, Facebook and other social media programs it has become exceptionally simple to find other people to talk to in your field. (Feel free to send me a message on twitter @mrrichardson)

4. Learn by teaching.
Recently I found that I have two relatives that have been training to become designers and I did not realize it. Since than we have talked a lot about various design subjects and it has helped all three of us learn more. If you are not lucky enough to have people close to you that want to learn try writing a tutorial.

5. Find time to work on personal projects.
From time to time I have found my self doing the same thing over and over again for clients. Since they are paying me for what they want the way they want it it leaves me a less of a choice to change the way their projects should look. So when I work on my own personal projects I find my self moving outside my comfort zone and trying to push the envelope more an more. Find time to work on your own projects, sketch, draw, simply do more!

With only a few hours left of the current year a lot of us have been looking back on what we have and what we are thankful for, thankfully for me December always seems to be the best time of the year to say thank you. It’s the time of the season that a lot of people buy gifts and enjoy each others company, it’s the end of the year and for a lot of businesses it’s one of their busiest times of the year, but for me it’s the time of the year that I catch up on my thank you.

On another note it seems businesses are moving towards a quick in and out type of service, which may or may not be a bad thing in all reality, but what a lot of businesses don’t realize is the quick in and out service is lacking in a true thank you. Businesses should jump at any chance to add in a thank you because it not only creates a great way to improve their customer experience/satisfaction but it also it gives them another chance to get in front of their customers.

So some of the things that I do to thank my design clients are listed below, I know they may seem simple, but you would be surprised at how effective they can be…

• Simply say it – Talking to some one to say thank you can be surprisingly effective, and it’s extremely easy. Not only does it express the thanks you have, but it also gives you the of the person you are thanking an extra feeling human touch.
• Send a thank you card/note – Sending a simple thank you note or card might not be the biggest thing you can do, but you would be surprised at the effectiveness of a simple thank you note or card is. (As a bonus, if you are a creative you can design your own thank you card which adds a much more personal feel to the thank you.) My big rule for all of my thank you cards is they have to be hand written, again it keeps the human touch in the thanks.
• Send a creative gift – The key to this idea is to find some thing that really pertains to the person you are thanking. It’s always nice to receive a gift, but it’s a little odd getting some thing that is completely unrelated.Keep in mind it’s not only easy to say thank you but it can also be free, and like a lot of other things, the more creative you are with it the more effective it can be. So what do you do to say thank you?

Keep in mind it’s not only easy to say thank you but it can also be free, and like a lot of other things, the more creative you are with it the more effective it can be. So what do you do to say thank you?

Oh and p.s. thank you for reading this

Ok, I’ll finally admit it, I have writers block…

Creative block, can be a killer for any one who relies on their creativity for work. Whether you are writing, designing, coding or any thing else, having a creative block, can ruin your day at the very least. Thankfully there are plenty of ways to work through it, and although every one has their own opinion on the best things to do, I have come up with my 5 favorite ways to help get through the creative drought.

1. Brain Storm/Mind Map – I am a huge advocate of mind mapping when I am working. Typically when I start a project I not only map out the ideas on the project, but I also map out what needs to be done in a linear map.
2. Keep an Idea Book – I happen to favor “Moleskine” and “Moleskine like” notebooks, but I keep a note book, note pad or a sketch pad with me at all times, that way I can write down ideas and sketches that I can elaborate on at a later time.
3. Read – I find that I like to read a lot. For me when I read it not only gets my mind working better, but I also tend to get more ideas from the things that I have read. Find things that are relevant to what you are doing and things that are unrelated and get the most you can out of it.
4. Take a break – Some times the worst creative blocks that I get are when I either have too much on my plate, or when I start to get a little stretched out. When this happens some times the best way for me to work through the block, is to simply take a little break, and get my mind off of every thing. Find some thing to do unrelated to the project go out side, do some thing fun.
5. Find Things That Inspire You – Go out side and take a hike, explore a place you have never been, try a new hobby, go to your local art museum or gallery, look online, the list can go on and on. Find any thing that can influence you and use it to your advantage, get ideas from it, find some thing new you never knew about that some thing rework it just find some thing.
6. *Bonus tip* – Just Do It! – Simply stated get to work, start drawing, writing, coding or what ever it is that you are looking to do, and just do the best you can do. When I just jump into some thing, I will try to work as long as I can on it while still being productive, if I feel it is just not working out, take another break and than come back to it later.

That is typically some of the advice that really helps me to break out of my creative block. What do you do to help combat creative drought?

As some of you may have seen, I ran into a small problem while updating and testing some things for this blog. Usually I would not run into any problems with a live site because I run a small test server (and quite frankly I’m a little paranoid about downtime and errors…) but some times there are things that just need to be tested live.

Some of the updates I was working on for this blog were some new plug-ins and a update of the WordPress software in general. For some odd reason when I uploaded all of the updates on my test server every thing worked fine, but when I passed it over to my live server… well it went haywire…So I am either going to be working on some big changes to the updates, or some changes to my host.

This brings up another point all together, mainly about the importance of trying new things. I have prided my self in trying new things, new foods, new software, new technology, etc. Although not all of it ends up good, that is a great thing about trying new things is that if you smart about it the new things usually dont have permanent effects.

On anther note the software I use on my test server on my Mac is MAMP, and I know there are going to be those out there that will say “wait doesn’t Mac OSX have a server software built in to it?” well yes it does, but MAMP is super easy to set up, and has PHP and MySQL support built into it. If any one if looking for new server software or a internal server MAMP is a great software. (Even if you just want to play around with some new software.)

So when was the last time you tried some thing new ?

Recently I had a friend came to me in emergency mode and asked me for help with his business, well finding more business for that matter. As a little bit of a back ground my friend runs a cell phone repair shop and has been searching for business for a while now (with to few good results). When my friend came to me he was looking for the same thing that most other people are looking for – Simple ways to get more business.

The direction that I wanted to lead my friend to, in order to help get him more business was a few things that he can do in the more immediate time period that would help him get more business. Although there are plenty of things that could help, most of the suggestions I have brought up are suggestions that can apply to every one, and not only for people who are in emergency mode, but also even for the business on the top of their game.

I guess the best way to sum this up is in these 5 points-

1. Set up a fact finding time – Simply enough, one of my favorite ways to get more work is to get in front of your local businesses if you are B2B or if you are a direct to consumer company the key is to find ways to get in front of your targets. Some simple suggestions around this is to simply start a fact finding time, get to your local library or  check online to find as much info as you can about your targets. (Info like who are they, what are they looking for, what are the buzz words etc) – After you find this info use it in any way possible.
2. Get in front of your targets with every chance you get- Being a B2B company will make this easier for the most part (simply enough call or email every relevant business you find and get to talking to them) When it comes to direct to consumers there is a general need for innovation. Find ways to advertise to consumers with out making them feel you are pushing your product or services on them, in general be creative and find out what works for you.
3. Start an email push – Every one you talk to in a B2B situation not only has an email address, but most of them will be willing to give it to you, so capitalize on this. Most of the time when ever I talk to some one simply ask them “Can I get your email address so I can send you updates?” 99% of the people will say “sure”. Signing up direct consumers is a little bit of a different situation all together with out getting in to too many details I have found the best way to get subscriptions is to be innovative and let every one know about your news letters. After you get a decent subscription base simply email them at relevant periods (once a month for most of the emails I set up) and provide relevant updates or new deals.
4. Have some one look at your business from an outsiders perspective- By no means am I saying that every little detail needs to be micromanaged, but there are a lot of small things that most business owners will miss because they see it every day. Some simple things that outsiders can see easier, are as follows: How well do you tailor your website towards your customers? Is your corporate identity consistent and professional? Does your corporate identity match your business? Do you have a corporate identity?
5. Be comfortable- This may be one of the most important points that I’ll bring up. What I have seen over all is that if you are going to offer a product or service, you have to be comfortable in not only the product or service, but also in your company. One major part of being comfortable with your product or service is realizing that you are fulfilling a need or a want. Any product or service when striped down is just that some thing to satisfy a need or a want.

What are your recommendations? Do you agree with the ideas that I suggested, or is there some thing that I am missing? If you have any suggestions please feel free to add them by leaving a comment.

Recently I worked on a poster for USO, Lockheed Martin, and Charitable Recycling and when I went back through my notes for this project, I thought I could use this poster to explain my creative process, and how I start new projects.

I will have to admit that I am sure that my process changes a little for each project and as every one else looks at it I’m sure they could add things, change things or edit things, this is what works for me.

Here is a preview of the final product-

Overview.

Typically when I start a project I get an overview from the client about the project. Typically this includes most of the information that I need to start working out some ideas. In this case the overview I received was a little lacking…well more non-existent. In cases like this when there is either not enough information in the overview or the is no overview the first and only option for me is to talk to the client and find out what they are looking for.

For This project my client(s) were looking for a poster to help them kick off their new recycling program. The general details were that Lockheed Martin wants to support the USO through the cell phone recycling program at Charitable Recycling and wanted to share the details with their employees. They decided that the best way to do this was through some simple posters, emails, and hand outs.

After getting the general details and some of the copy for the poster I was able to start making some preliminary sketches. When I start making preliminary sketches I make sure to add in as many details with out going overboard. (ie in this case I set up the general layout, and other design elements)

After the first sketch/sketches, I usually play around with some color. For this project I knew I needed to use Red, White, and Blue for sure. Thankfully its fairly easy to layout some colors when you have extra art supplies laying around, in this case I used a few colored pens and some markers, all simple enough.

After the final color sketches are done my next step is to convert it digitally. In most cases I will scan the sketches in to my computer and use it as a trace layer. For this project it was easy enough to convert it with out having to scan it to my computer so I decided to simply start the design. After converting it to a digital format and changing a few things around here and there I typically work up 3 digital samples (some times more some times less) to show my client. This is what the first draft looked like.

Usually after this point my client(s) will have some changes ranging from small changes (typography color etc) to larger changes (formatting logos etc). In this case my clients wanted to shift the layout around so essentially I went through the whole process again. Thankfully the revisions usually take a lot less time to finish because I have some general ideas to edit rather than coming up with some thing new. Here is the first revision compared next to the final project.

That as you have it is my creative process. For the most part this is what I go through in most if not all of my projects it might not be as formal but it is usually done fairly close to this.

What is your creative process? Is there any thing that you do differently than what I do or do you work similar to how I do?

Firefox 2 has been out for a while now, and has been great, but with Firefox 3 right around the corner (well hopefully at least) there comes a fair amount of updates and new features that come with it. Some of the features include:

Security- Firefox 3 includes phishing and malware protection, and a new feature instant site ID info.
Customization- Like Firefox 2 Firefox 3 will have the same support of plug-ins and other add-ons. As of right now there are approximately 5000 or so add-ons.

Other features- Such as, one-click bookmarking, “smart location bar” increased performance, built-in spell checking, session restore and a zoom feature.
I am excited to see Mozilla come out with a new version of Firefox, and I know that I will be participating in “Download Day 2008”, but what do you think about all of this, or even about Firefox in general ?

To learn more about “Download Day 2008” go to Mozilla Firefox’s website, or simply subscribe to my RSS feed to keep up on the latest announcements.