Randa Clay Design

Review: Sumo Omni

2009-07-07T11:26:10Z

Last year I began to see reviews of a cool looking giant bean bag on several blogs, and I was impressed with the way the company was marketing their product through non-traditional means. I was also jealous. I wanted one. So, when I received the email from Andrew, purveyor of the awesome Sumo Bean Bags a couple of weeks ago I jumped at the opportunity to finally get my very own Sumo Omni.

The Omni comes in 10 great colors- I chose the Funky Brown. (Be aware, if you order this color that it is several shades darker than the picture on the site.) The giant box it came in gave my son something to play with for several days, but he quickly discovered that the huge bean bag was way more fun. The Sumo site calls the Omni a “crash mat” and that’s exactly how it’s been used for the past 4 days since I received it. Big J has thoroughly tested the durability of the “space age rip-proof nylon” by repeatedly diving off the piano bench onto the bean bag.

I really like the versatility of the Omni. It’s final destination is the boys’ bedroom, but for right now it’s a very comfortable lounge chair in the living room (when it’s not being used as a crash mat). You could even use it as an extra bed for a kid when you have company!

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Make an Impression With Your Personal Brand

2009-07-04T12:00:03Z

I recently participated in an online conversation in which someone was asking about his personal brand. He was wondering, since he had the same qualifications and offered the same skill set as several others who had been around about the same amount of time, or less, why they seemed to be doing so much better than he was. Why were they more well known and experiencing more success than him? Any of us who have an internet presence must be concerned with our own personal brand and it can be productive and even motivational to compare ourselves with our peers.

What is a brand anyway?

We tend to think of a brand in terms of consumer products like Kraft, Apple, Nike, etc. but it’s broader than that:

A brand is a collection of experiences and associations connected with a service, a person or any other entity.
~ Wikipedia

A good brand provides the consumer something of predictable positive value. Things like:

Entertainment – great writing, interesting anecdotes, a great story, the latest gossip, a fun game
Education – helpful information, up to date news, enlightening thoughts, how-to guides, lists of resources
Experience – an easy to use product, products that make you feel good,

Let’s look at this in terms of blogging. Your readers are consumers of Brand You on your blog.

A good brand is predictable

Regular posting (note I did not say “frequent”) and consistency of quality are key. Readers have found quality at your site in the past and expect to find it with each post.

A good brand is positive

People who “consume” your brand come away with a positive feeling. They were entertained, educated, challenged, etc. and they will come back for more.

A good brand adds value

How are you making the lives of your readers better? How are you adding value to their lives?

Actions really do speak louder than words

Branding is not about defining yourself through words. It’s about defining yourself through actions. You will not build your brand much by telling all about yourself and what makes you so great. You build a great personal brand by doing great things. Obviously, you’ll want to engage in some self-promotion at times, but that’s not the main focus of your efforts. Even a blog like Dooce for example, which is by nature, all about herself and her family is a great brand because she provides consistent entertainment.

Adjust your focus

The reality is that people aren’t interested in you, your career, your passions, etc… They’re interested in themselves. For the most part, unless you just have some “fans” who follow you because they really do want to know everything about you, they’re asking, “what’s in it for me?” It’s the standard question people in marketing know that the consumer is asking every time they examine a brand. Focus on your readers, not yourself. Give stuff away for free. Ask, “how can I help you?” and “what are you interested in?” Readers can tell very quickly whether you’re out to promote and build up yourself, or whether you’re out to promote and build up others. Think about that friend you have, who when you have a conversation, continually talks about himself. He rarely asks about you, and you can tell when you’re talking about something that he’s just waiting for you to finish so he can talk again. He’s not someone you want to hang around much, is he?

A holistic approach to branding

Because a brand is a “collection of experiences and associations,” all of your online activities play a role in the perception people have of you. This seems like a no brainer, but let’s say you have a great site with copy that talks about being interested in your readers, blah, blah, blah… and then when they follow you on Twitter, all your tweets are self-promotional (read my latest post, vote for me, look at this thing I did) and you rarely reply to anyone. Your brand intergrity doesn’t mean much because it’s clearly insincere.

Up for some more reading on personal branding?

Elements of a Personal Brand by Chris Brogan

The Brand Called You at Fast Company

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Annual Redesign Time

2009-06-29T10:57:03Z

Like many designers, I can only go so long with a site design before I start getting the itch to have a new look. While I’m still tweaking here and there, it’s mostly complete- what do you think? (the screenshot is for the benefit of my subscribers of course)

I wanted to use the 960 Grid for this design, and looked around for a blank canvas theme built on the grid to save time. I found a pretty good one (only had to fight with it a little) in the 960bc theme. This was my first use of a framework and I’m totally sold on it. It makes everything SO much easier. If you haven’t tried using a grid system, check out this tutorial.

I used CSS sprites for the first time with this site for the navigation. Just like the grid system, I’m wondering what took me so long, as it’s relatively easy. I found this tutorial to be helpful. In case you’re not familiar with sprites, the basic principle is that you design one image and just adjust the background position as needed. For example, here’s one of my navigation images. I just adjust the background position by -38px on the hover state. I could have put the whole navigation in one image, but I thought I’d start out simple on my first try. For a more complex example, check out how Ryan Imel uses a large sprite very effectively in his site.

I’m using the media settings within WordPress to manage the homepage thumbnail sizes. I just set the thumbnail and medium settings to the size I needed and it automatically generates the sizes I need!

The font for headings, navigation and logo is a wonderful font called Museo- three of the weights are totally free! I used the AnyFont plugin so I could have the same font for my widget headings. The social media icons are by Function and I found them on MySocialButtons (where else?). Other plugins that are useful in the new design are :

GetTheImage – automatically generates thumbnails in the archive and articles pages)

Advanced Random Posts – after 2+ years of blogging there’s a lot of good content that can easily get buried.

FlexiQuote Rotator – to manage my testimonials

Tweet This – for the submission links to Twitter, etc below each post.

I’m still looking for some things to put in my sidebar on internal pages. Any suggestions? If you have any comments or suggestions, or find any problems I haven’t caught, please feel free to share in the comments.

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Design Inspiration: Monograms

2009-06-21T21:33:05Z

Historically, a monogram was used as a royal signature. Romans and Greeks used them on coins to identify their rulers. Then, in the Middle Ages, artisans began to use them to sign their work. Victorian-period high-class persons adapted the monogram for personal use as a symbol of their place in society. These days a monogram can represent a person, couple or family and monograms are also used regularly in logo design.

I became interested in monograms several years ago, after stumbling upon this amazing gallery of monograms. I was so inspired in fact, that I set up a little custom monogram site, and did a decent business for a while before I realized there were other, more profitable things I could be spending my time on. I still love them though. I love the idea of having one’s own personal logo and of a couple developing their monogram when they get married.

Here are some monograms I created back in the day:

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Photoshop to WordPress: A Basic Guide

2009-06-21T21:10:20Z

Recently I asked you what you’d like to learn how to do, and one reader asked about the process of taking a mockup of a site into WordPress. There are quite a few good tutorials out there and you’ll want to read several as you’ll pick up different ideas and tips from each one. Anyway, this is my process:

Create your mockup

When mocking up the site, always keep CSS in the back of your mind. Don’t let it stifle your creativity, but do keep in mind you’re going to have to translate your design into code and considering how you’re going to make that happen as you’re creating it is helpful. If you’re new at taking a design into code, then start simple. Once you have some practice, then branch out a little. I have found that just about anything I design, I can find a way to code it effectively, and pushing the limits each time expands my proficiency with CSS and WordPress.

Also consider the size of graphic elements as you’re designing. You want your site to load as quickly as possible. Use repeatable tile graphics where possible, and if you can use them in multiple places all the better. For example, your small gradient that you’re repeating horizontally across your nav bar can also be used as the background for a search button and for sidebar headings.

Print out or sketch your mockup and make notes

This step isn’t always 100% necessary, but depending on the complexity of what I’m trying to accomplish, I often find it helpful to think through where all the divs are going to go on paper and make notes about border and background color codes as well. It makes it much easier to fly through the coding stage having thought through it all on paper first.

Slice your mockup

Do this after you’ve done the above step, as it might impact how you slice your images. Make your images as small as possible to accomplish the design. You only need a 1px wide slice of that nav bar background that repeats horizontally. Be sure you’re using the “Save for Web” option in Photoshop and compare file types to get the smallest size with the best result possible. I save my images as PNGs if possible because they are lossless, but I always compare what the file size is if I were to save in JPG at about 70% and if the JPG is smaller that’s what I go with. If I’m going to use transparency, I’m still erring on the side of caution and going with GIF for the most part because IE6 users will just see grey in the transparent areas of a transparent PNG. If the site is targeted to lower-tech users, this is a no-brainer. (I have a site where still 20% of the visitors are on IE6. Crazy.) But, if it’s mostly going to be a higher tech target, then transparent PNGs are the way to go, or just avoid transparency if possible.

Pick a theme to use as a base

I go back through themes I’ve done in the past and choose the most similar one to the new one and copy it over to use as a starting point. If you’re relatively new to designing themes for Wordpress and don’t have that option, here are a couple of alternatives:

Start with the default theme that comes pre-installed with WordPress.
Use a free theme, but be sure to choose one that has easy to modify code. Be sure to leave the attribution in the footer to the original author if you’re not changing the theme much. My DIY Theme can be a good choice as I’ve deliberately made it uncluttered and simple to be easily customized.
There are some very good “blank” WP themes. There is a list of themes and other resources at DesignMag, and here are three blank themes from Refueled.
Buy a license for a premium theme. I have found that any of Brian Gardner’s premium themes are very easy to customize. I’ve worked with A LOT of themes and his would be my first choice any day.
Use a WordPress theme generator and customize the result. The PixoPoint generator looks excellent. I used this one a couple of years ago and it worked well. Here’s another and another.

Code!

Make sure all your sliced images are in the images folder for the theme and dive in. I always code directly in a live WP installation on my test site. You can also set up WP locally on your own computer. I’ve done this, following these instructions (beware, it’s a bit hairy). If you’re still learning CSS you might find my post on playing around with CSS directly in your browser via Firebug helpful. You’ll definitely want to install Firebug either way. It makes it very easy to see what bits of CSS are affecting each element, and when your site goes all wonky because you’ve forgotten to close a div, it makes it much easier to track it down.

Validate and test

This is an important step and one that’s easy to overlook. Use the W3C Validator to find errors in your code. I found diagnosing the problems to be a real challenge at first in some cases, but don’t let that deter you from ensuring your code is valid. Be sure to test your site in every browser you can. You can install multiple versions of IE on your computer with this tool.

Let me know what questions you have. What do you find most difficult about this process? Anywhere you’re getting stuck I can help you with?

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New Free WordPress Theme: Treasure

2009-06-21T21:15:07Z

It’s been a LONG time since I released a free WordPress theme. Finally, I have a new one out, released in partnership with Performancing called “Treasure”. You won’t find lots of bells a whistles in the theme- it’s simple and clean, with beautiful color and typography, focusing on the content. You won’t see tags in the demo, but the theme does support tags. I hate to have a little icon with nothing beside it, which will happen with other themes if you’re like me and don’t use tags. So, I’ve set it up so that they will display with an icon under the other metadata below the post only if you have assigned tags to a post.

You can visit Performancing’s theme site to download. I hope you enjoy it!

Update 5/18/09: if you want the version that supports tags, you’ll need to get it from my themes site.

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Tutorials: Learn by Doing

2009-06-21T21:18:16Z

One of the best things about the internet is the plethora of instructional content. If you want to learn how to do just about anything, you can find a tutorial out there to teach you how. For me, tutorials have been absolutely essential to learning how to use Illustrator and Photoshop in particular. When someone asks me what books I recommend for learning the programs, I point them not to a book, but to online tutorials because you’ll learn much more quickly that way. One of the best sites for tutorials these days is the Tuts+ network of sites. I am a long time fan of their content, so was pleased to be offered the opportunity to review their “Plus” program which offers premium conntet for a monthly fee of $9 (or $22 for 3 months).

Benefits of membership:

Access to source files – the free tutorials are great, but frequently I find that having the actual source file makes it much easier to put the tutorial to the best use. It makes it easy to copy layer styles and see exactly how the layers are set up, especially if you’re like me and tend to rush through and accidentally miss a step.

Exclusive content – there are tutorials and sources files available only to Plus members, as well as brush sets and vector packs. The bonus Photoshop and Vector tutorials are great, but what I found to be of the most value were several of the Net tutorials. The series, “WordPress: Beginning to Master” is very good and even teaches how to create an options page for a theme.

Affiliate program – I don’t get into affiliate programs much, and only mess with it if it’s something I feel offers real value to my readers. The Tuts+ program has a nice payout and is easy to recommend because the content is great.

Nit-picking:

Nothing is perfect of course…

1. The bonus tutorials are download only. There is no option to go through the tutorial online. Though I understand why they chose to set it up that way, I still would prefer the option of doing the tutorial online and only download it if I want to save it with the source file.

2. I wish the thumbnail preview images were a bit bigger on the bonus tutorials. It’s a little difficult to see what you’re going to be creating, and since the only way to really see the image to decide if you want to spend the time on the tutorial is to actually download the whole thing, it’s rather a hassle. I would suggest they make it possible to click on the thumbnail to see a larger preview image.

There is a 100% money-back guarantee, so you can’t go wrong if you decide to give it a try. What do you think? Has anyone else tried the Tuts+ Plus Program?

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A Gallery of Royal Web Sites

2009-06-21T21:39:48Z

I recently heard a report on NPR about how Queen Rania of Jordan was using YouTube in an effort to spread her message regarding stereotypes about the middle east. They played a clip from her Letterman Top 10 spoof, and I was impressed with how she was using the internet and social media to connect with people all over the world.

I wondered what her web site looked like and wondered if other monarchies and royal families were keeping up with the times as well as Queen Rania.

Queen Rania’s site features a lovely color scheme, but a rather surprising lack of attention to detail. There are problems with the layout, aspect ratios of photos and typos here and there.

The British royal family has it’s own YouTube channel as well, and a very extensive, thorough web site.

I love the clarity of the Danish and Norwegian Royal sites. The use of gray really puts the focus on the beautiful photographs.

The Dutch Monarchy’s site is beautiful, with a very nice color scheme dominated by royal blue.

The site of the Swedish Royal Court is very nice, but could use a little help in the main body of the site.

The Belgian site is not great, but functional.

Will somebody please tell the King of Spain that you’re supposed to smile for pictures? (Particularly the one you want to put on the home page of your web site.)

And finally, the Japanese Imperial Household site. It is in serious need of an update and more pictures would be nice.

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10 Fantastic Books About Marketing Your Blog Online

2009-06-25T20:13:05Z

Blogging is one of the best social networking tools available. Maintaining your own blog enables you to share your thoughts and ideas, and can even be used to make money. Blogs are popular as they facilitate a two way communication between the blog owner and visitors to the blog. The biggest obstacle is how to drive traffic to your blog. There are literally millions of blogs on the web and if yours isn’t marketed correctly, you may not achieve the hit rate you anticipated. Here are some books to get you started.

1. ProBlogger: Secrets for Blogging Your Way to a Six-Figure Income

Written by two professional bloggers, Darren Rowse (founder of ProBlogger.net) and Chris Garrett (writer and internet marketing consultant), ProBlogger aims to provide expert advice on how to create and run a successful blog. Useful for beginners and advanced bloggers alike, the book provides practical tuition on selecting a topic, analysing the market, making money directly and indirectly from blogs and optimizing advertising. The knowledge on all things blog related is extensive and best of all having being written by two professional bloggers, you can be assured that the advice is not purely theoretical but has been gained from practical experience.

2. Blog Marketing

Aimed at companies, Blog Marketing by author Jeremy Wright shows business owners and PR people how to fully utilize the power of blogs in order to raise the company’s profile, improve customer communication and transform the company’s image. It provides insight into blogging success stories achieved by companies including GM, The Disney Channel, Microsoft and Boeing. Blog Marketing is one of the best marketing resources currently on the market. It is comprehensive and while experienced bloggers may find it a little too basic, it is a great read for business executives new to blogging.

3. The Corporate Blogging Book: Absolutely Everything You Need to Know to Get It Right

This is one of the best books around for novice corporate bloggers. Written by Debbie Weil, the book is witty, entertaining and informative. The book is unpretentious and the advice delivered in a concise and focussed manner. It contains background information on blogs, tips on how to write an effective blog which will prompt responses from customers, advice on how to utilize the latest technology and tools and even provides guidelines on how to convince senior managers to enter the world of blogging.

4. The New Rules of Marketing and PR: How to Use News Releases, Blogs, Podcasting, Viral Marketing and Online Media to Reach Buyers Directly

Written by David Meerman Scott, The New Rules of Marketing and PR addresses the issues currently faced by many business – how to transform traditional marketing strategies into effective and profitable online strategies. Scott explains the most fundamental rules of defining an online marketing strategy such as targeting your demographic, using internet based tools and technologies such as blogging and podcasts to promote your business and drive traffic to your website and blog. It is written by a PR and marketing guru, for PR and marketing people.

5. Start Your Own Blogging Business (Startup)

A collaboration between Entrepreneur Press and author J.S. McDougall, this book provides sound advice to anyone wishing to start up their own blog and make money from it. It is insightful and easy to read, however it is aimed at the beginner and advanced users may find it too basic. It starts by explaining what a blog is, explains concepts like RSS feeds, SEO and other marketing techniques to raise the profile of your blog. It also describes how to generate income from advertisers, promotions or affiliation with merchants offering everything from (what were once lucrative) financial services such as credit reports to more mundane, but in-demand products such as food and utilities.

6. Secrets of Successful Blogging

Providing over 100 tips on how to create a successful blog and make money from blogging, author Ted Demopoulos provides clear and concise advice on how to drive traffic to your blog and to turn a profit from it. It is written for bloggers as opposed to professional marketing and PR people and is a great reference guide. More a booklet, than a book it is still worth having a read through especially if you are a novice blogger needing simple advice on how to promote your blog.

7. Blogging for Dummies

Written in the typical style of the ‘Dummies’ books, authors Susannah Gardner and Shane Birley disclose all you will ever need to know about running a successful blog. It is a very comprehensive guide and covers all aspects of blogging including tips on how to write a blog which is interesting and will result in repeat viewers, advice on choosing the right tools and blog applications to boost traffic and handle comments, generating revenue and how to protect your privacy. Like most ‘Dummies’ books it is aimed at the beginner and is not for corporate or professional bloggers.

8. Naked Conversations: How Blogs are Changing the Way Businesses Talk with Customers

Authors Robert Scoble and Shel Israel have taken a unique approach in its advice for corporate blogging. Unlike most marketing books which suggest the appropriate tools and tricks to use to promote blogs, Naked Conversations argues that there is much to be gained from not letting a business blog being vetted by the company’s Marketing and PR department. It is not a “how to” guide but rather provides best practice guidance to companies who are already blogging.

9. Social Media Marketing: An Hour a Day

It is important to integrate your social media strategy with your overall company marketing plan. In Social Media Marketing, author Dave Evans discusses the basics for setting up a Social Media strategy including the use of blogs, RSS feeds and podcasts, as well as providing reference case studies and tutorials. It is informative and provides a sound guideline for anyone wishing to define a comprehensive online marketing strategy for their business. In addition to this, it also highlights how an online strategy differs from a traditional marketing strategy.

10. eBoot Camp: Internet Marketing Techniques to Grow Your Business

This book is aimed at small businesses and individuals who do not have extensive budgets for large marketing and advertising campaigns. In it, author Corey Perlman discusses the tools and techniques you can use to drive traffic to your website or blog including SEO, keyword research, press releases and e-newsletters. Tips include improving search engine rankings and traffic flow by utilizing social networking sites, affiliate links and much more. It is very comprehensive and a must read for all businesses wanting to improve their online presence.

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Multi-lingual Twitter Graphics

2009-04-23T10:44:55Z

I’ve been planning on doing these for a while, and finally, with some help from some Twitter friends I have some Twitter graphics in some languages other than English. I expect to have more as I have translations and they’ll all be published over at My Social Buttons. For now I have created German, French, Spanish, Danish, Polish, Brazilian-Portuguese and Russian – click here to see all the Twitter buttons.

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