Apples To Oranges http://applestooranges.com Writing about design, the user experience, web technologies, and the latest happenings on our online world. Wed, 22 Aug 2007 05:51:09 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.2.1 en 37.74873-122.415457This is an XML content feed. It is intended to be viewed in a newsreader or syndicated to another site, subject to copyright and fair use. Branding Questionnaire http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/applestooranges/~3/146791811/ http://applestooranges.com/blog/post/branding-questionnaire/#comments Wed, 22 Aug 2007 05:50:13 +0000 Ryan Nichols Designdesign http://applestooranges.com/blog/post/branding-questionnaire/

In response to some comments and emails from my article Designing the “Future of” Sites at Digital Web Magazine, I’ve posted the brand questionnaire I used for Apples To Oranges identity projects. It makes the most sense when you follow the quick overview of my process in the article, but here it is in all it’s downloadable glory. I always thought it was fun whenever I got a peek at how other people approached these issues, so I hope releasing this can help someone out there too.

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]]> http://applestooranges.com/blog/post/branding-questionnaire/feed/ http://applestooranges.com/blog/post/branding-questionnaire/ The Working Designer Article http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/applestooranges/~3/144318506/ http://applestooranges.com/blog/post/the-working-designer-article/#comments Wed, 15 Aug 2007 08:12:10 +0000 Ryan Nichols Designdesign http://applestooranges.com/blog/post/the-working-designer-article/ Digital Web Magazine graciously invited me to contribute to their fantastic series called “The Working Designer”. I shared the Apples To Oranges project we did for the “The Future of XXX” conferences hosted by Carson Systems. We did a rebranding of all three conferences and the article stepped through our approach to the identity and the resulting website design.

It’s really a fantastic series and I’m honored to be able to contribute. I know in my early years I was hungry to learn anything I could about how other designers worked and this series was created to show exactly that. In addition be sure to check out the excellent designs of Jesse Bennett-Chamberlain and Chris Merritt in their articles too.

]]> http://applestooranges.com/blog/post/the-working-designer-article/feed/ http://applestooranges.com/blog/post/the-working-designer-article/ Bob Parsons - personality behind the brand http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/applestooranges/~3/21750986/ http://applestooranges.com/blog/post/bob-parsons-and-the-personality-behind-the-brand/#comments Wed, 13 Sep 2006 07:52:04 +0000 Ryan Nichols User ExperienceUser Experience http://applestooranges.com/blog/post/bob-parsons-and-the-personality-behind-the-brand/ Bob Parsons is balding, in his mid-fifties, and has a diamond earring in his left ear. How do I know this? Because he let me know. Bob Parson also runs the largest Internet domain registrar in the world, GoDaddy.com, and he does something few company figures dare to do – he bares it all. His blog, Hot Points is his voice for personal thoughts as well the inside dirt with GoDaddy. Do I know who runs Network Solutions? Nope. But I know what’s happening at GoDaddy. (more…)

]]> http://applestooranges.com/blog/post/bob-parsons-and-the-personality-behind-the-brand/feed/ http://applestooranges.com/blog/post/bob-parsons-and-the-personality-behind-the-brand/ Tracking your buzz http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/applestooranges/~3/19028590/ http://applestooranges.com/blog/post/tracking-your-buzz/#comments Mon, 04 Sep 2006 02:17:16 +0000 Ryan Nichols Web TechnologiesWeb Technologies http://applestooranges.com/blog/post/tracking-your-buzz/ I’ve recently been playing around with some tools to help track the effectiveness of our blog. I decided to post the results of what I found was hot, and what was not. My tests for these services was to simple – put in our domain name and check where we are linked from. I also compared the results against other sources to see which had the most accurate and useful results. (more…)

]]> http://applestooranges.com/blog/post/tracking-your-buzz/feed/ http://applestooranges.com/blog/post/tracking-your-buzz/ Grids: show ‘em if you got ‘em http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/applestooranges/~3/17242100/ http://applestooranges.com/blog/post/grids-show-em-if-you-got-em/#comments Tue, 29 Aug 2006 06:44:57 +0000 Ryan Nichols Designdesign http://applestooranges.com/blog/post/grids-show-em-if-you-got-em/ Over the years I’ve had a number of discussions with other web designers on grids. I’ve found that a lot of web designers, especially those that are self taught, don’t use them. Often, I find it’s because, like me, they were never really taught how to use them. In the online design community it’s something that is rarely discussed and we are the worse for it. Why is it that many designers have a hard time with the grid? (more…)

]]> http://applestooranges.com/blog/post/grids-show-em-if-you-got-em/feed/ http://applestooranges.com/blog/post/grids-show-em-if-you-got-em/ Adobe and the Death of a Brand http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/applestooranges/~3/12681894/ http://applestooranges.com/blog/post/adobe-and-the-death-of-a-brand/#comments Mon, 14 Aug 2006 23:27:28 +0000 Ryan Nichols Designdesign http://applestooranges.com/blog/post/adobe-and-the-death-of-a-brand/ New Adobe Edge redesignI recently noticed the redesign of the Adobe Edge newsletter and was floored. I thought to myself, ‘This is Adobe?’. It looked like something from a first year design student. Ok, maybe that is a little harsh. It is clean and well spaced, so it is decent from a layout stand point. However, what’s with the outer glow on the Edge typeface? Very reminiscent of 1995. The heavy drop shadows on the titling type, and inset shadow on the main navigation certainly don’t help it either. Is the Adobe brand going downhill? (more…)

]]> http://applestooranges.com/blog/post/adobe-and-the-death-of-a-brand/feed/ http://applestooranges.com/blog/post/adobe-and-the-death-of-a-brand/ MochiMention: Rate Your Stuff http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/applestooranges/~3/8363537/ http://applestooranges.com/blog/post/mochimention/#comments Wed, 02 Aug 2006 06:02:19 +0000 Ryan Nichols Web Technologies http://applestooranges.com/blog/post/mochimention/ We’re pleased to announce the release of a new product from our pals at Mochi Media called MochiMention. They utilized the infrastructure of their popular flash tracking tool, MochiBot, and recombined it into something useful for the rest of us. It’s free to get started, and extremely cheap for those who need it on an ongoing basis. We’re also pretty happy with the yummy color pallete. :) (more…)

]]> http://applestooranges.com/blog/post/mochimention/feed/ http://applestooranges.com/blog/post/mochimention/ Hello Wordpress, Goodbye .NET http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/applestooranges/~3/http%3A%2F%2Fapplestooranges.com%2Fblog%2Fpost%2Fhello-wordpress-goodbye-net%2F http://applestooranges.com/blog/post/hello-wordpress-goodbye-net/#comments Mon, 17 Jul 2006 07:05:35 +0000 Ryan Nichols News http://www.applestooranges.com/blog/post/hello-wordpress-goodbye-net/ Wordpress Blog We’ve made few small changes around here that should lead to a few bigger changes. The first is you might notice the familiar Wordpress structure in our URL’s. We finally moved away from an old custom .NET blog to the blog heard ’round the world – Wordpress. The old blog software was clumsy and difficult to add new posts. Adding images was a chore, and when using the system it just felt broken. No one likes using broken things. Blogging now is infinitely easier, thus for a person like myself, I’m now infinitely happier to write. There’s been plenty of things we wanted to share, and few freebies to give away. Now we can finally do so. (more…)

]]> http://applestooranges.com/blog/post/hello-wordpress-goodbye-net/feed/ http://applestooranges.com/blog/post/hello-wordpress-goodbye-net/ Yahoo: At it again with stellar design http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/applestooranges/~3/http%3A%2F%2Fapplestooranges.com%2Fblog%2Fpost%2Fyahoo-at-it-again-with-stellar-design%2F http://applestooranges.com/blog/post/yahoo-at-it-again-with-stellar-design/#comments Sat, 20 May 2006 05:20:39 +0000 Ryan Nichols User Experience DesigndesignUser Experience http://www.applestooranges.com/blog/post/yahoo-at-it-again-with-stellar-design/ Just when I got done patting Yahoo on the back for taking the design lead with Yahoo Health, they go and one up themselves with their new homepage. The new design offers a rich branded experience while still maintaining focus on the content; and one step ahead of the competition. (more…)

]]> http://applestooranges.com/blog/post/yahoo-at-it-again-with-stellar-design/feed/ http://applestooranges.com/blog/post/yahoo-at-it-again-with-stellar-design/ Yahoo Health: In Good Shape http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/applestooranges/~3/http%3A%2F%2Fapplestooranges.com%2Fblog%2Fpost%2Fyahoo-health-in-good-shape%2F http://applestooranges.com/blog/post/yahoo-health-in-good-shape/#comments Tue, 11 Apr 2006 09:44:21 +0000 Ryan Nichols Designdesign http://www.applestooranges.com/blog/yahoo-health-in-good-shape/ Yahoo has taken a clear turn in the last couple years and introduced clean (yet still minimal) design across many of their properties. The other day I stumbled upon Yahoo Health and was quite impressed to see them take it even further. (more…)

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