Hello all,

Just wanted to make a quick shout out that a newer, more responsive Zion Eye Media is underway! I’ve been very much inspired by responsive design, but at the time, could never really create my WordPress-based site in that manner. With inspiration from @imjustcreative and many others like him, I’ve decided to take the plunge and work hard on transforming my WordPress site into a responsive WordPress design.

I’m very stoked, to be honest, since this is a great challenge that will take time and strategy to conduct. I’m sure that there will be hiccups, so please bear with me on the changes to come.

Also, you will note in the newer design that I will incorporate newer portfolio pieces I’ve been working on the past several months. I haven’t had the opportunity to do so, as I am prioritizing the responsive design to be my main goal for these next several months.

All that to say is that it’s coming very soon. I’m very excited and can’t wait to showcase this to you all.

Authenticjobs.com got a new site makeover, packed with new and awesome features that I am sure will help users and job seekers alike.  For the lowdown, here’s what changed.

HEADER

Gone is the really funky header background that stood out and made the site fresh and really hip.  Instead, a more minimalistic dark gray color is showcased, and rightfully so, as it makes the logo and navigation stand out.  Cleaner and crisper, which is evident, if that was the goal of the change.

Color Scheme

With the gray scale in place, it makes colors stand out much more dramatically without using excessive colors to generate interest.  The white space is clearly evident between various elements on the sidebar, and does a good job on separation of the elements.

SUBMENU/NAVIGATION

To my surprise, a deeper search parameter that features a job-based categorical heirarchy is a greater improvement to the existing job search method.  The functionality looks like it uses a jQuery-esque dropdown that is simple and easy to use, which makes the functionality coincide with usability and thus produces a better user engagement and results for the user.

What was kept from the recent design was the ability for users to check/uncheck for full-time, contract, freelance, or internship positions.  In checking these sub-parameters, they content results are dynamically repopulated based on the user’s request.

Job Search Category

I love that the dropdown actually shows the different categories that a user can pick up on instead of having to filter through the whole site.  I think that’s a new feature that I totally would want to emulate on a different level.

Job Search Location

The Location Map is a sweet addition that adds some much needed location functionality and usability, along with aesthetic appeal to job searches.  What is the best portion of that map is the ability to search telecommute jobs only in any job category you specify, which I think is pretty cool.

Job Search Bar

Nothing has changed dramatically per se with the exception of the color scheme on the bar.  I don’t recall the search bar being THAT big, but I’m sure there is a purpose to it.  Needless to say, it forces the reader to let them know that the bar is THERE for any searches, which is a good thing.

Fonts

I have always loved their fonts, as it is modern and yet classic, and serves the site very well for its purpose.  The only caveat I have is that the paragraphs are too light in color, so harder to read with the white background in place.  Understandably that the lightened paragraph distinguishes the importances and hierarchy of the content, but it doesn’t make it readable.  From a functional perspective, they’ve achieved that distinction but usability is minimal.

OVERALL

I love the site, and I have always used them to check out freelance gigs that pertain to my skill set and expertise.  Despite the small nuances that can be fixed, I think they did an excellent work on the new design.

Yes, I am officially on Forrst.com! For those who don’t know (which I am assuming you all do), Forrst is an online community for designers and developers, somewhat similar to Dribble (though I believe Dribble is just for designers).

Thanks to Kenneth Love for the invite, and I am totally blessed to be a part of this community. I’m still learning the ropes around the site, but I’m hoping to get more involved as the days go by.

Look me up at http://forrst.me/zioneyemedia.

I just wanted to say that I am loving the new Apple design (can I even call it a “redesign?”). While I have always admired their modern minimalist look (see copycats like Gibson.com), I dig the sleeker, darker menu navigation in comparison to the old one, and it looks more glossier, it not shinier, than the previous. Menu hover elements are pretty sweet too, with a darker background contrast to the lighter font color.  Easy switch to make a design look fresher.

I’m not positive about this one, but it seems that the background gray has lightened up a bit too, and my have added some extra noise filter to boot (maybe just a tad?).

Let’s see what else has changed.  I do think that the logo maybe a bit different… Looks like it has been modified, seems that the slash part on the apple is now KAPUT.  Sub-menus look the same, however I am unsure if the font is slightly darker or not.  I still love the breadcrumb-type navigation that I am sure everyone loves to have.

Flipping through the pages, I don’t think that I see anything else has changed.  I do see that background colors for certain promotional items (i.e. “iTunes this week”) has the the darkened gradient color similar to the top menu navigation.  In keeping the feel more uniform, I think they could have gone and darkened the gradient on the sub-menu nav bars as well.

Overall, I think it’s a great work!

I’ve had many a conversation with other designers, online marketers, and other people in the marketing world, and so far the concensus is that print designers will never be able to do web design because they do not have the knowledge to design web sites.  Generally, those who focus on graphic design for print lack the foundation to know server-side/client-side development, online marketing techniques, functionality, and other online techniques for effective web design and online marketing.  Even some web designers are not effective in their designs because they lack the marketing skills to conduct online marketing.  Most designers that I know of know are well-versed in functionality and design, but lack call-to-action elements and response methods, metric analysis, SEO/SEM, and other marketing (guerilla and otherwise) to assume a well-designed, fully-marketable website for a company or firm.

Do you have any thoughts on this subject?  Please feel free to comment.  I would love to know your opinions!

I wrote this for the VU designers blog, but not sure who’s manning the blogs, so I’ll just put up this post here. Enjoy!

As a web designer, developer and online marketer, it’s really cool (and at times interesting) to see how other web designers create their web sites and web applications. In visiting other sites, you can tell that there are some people who know their stuff very well when it comes to design and aesthetics, and their usage of best practices is clearly visible in their work. While it is great to see the aesthetic concepts being produced, I oftentimes find myself thinking a series of thoughts and questions related to that site; questions such as “Why was this element placed here rather than here?,” “What purpose does this creative (or functional) element serve in the overall scheme of the site?,” and “If I was someone who does not know anything about this [site], how do I get the information I need, where do I go to get it, and how fast can I get it without being lost and/or confused?” I’m sure I have asked more than those three, but you get the picture. And in asking those questions in mind, I end up going back to the same foundational questions that I ask myself consistently: What are the fundamentals that are evident in this design, and what are those that are lacking such fundamentals? And as I ask those questions, I use the following guidelines and rule of thumb in mind:

Business is Business
The way I approach design stems from the principles of online marketing. This isn’t probably your normal web designer perspective, nor am I the only person that views design from this point of view (at least I hope not!). In web design fundamentals, the creation, development, and implementation of a web site stems [partly] from the business functions to which that site is going to play a role in. In an online marketing perspective, web sites stems further into the business functions and more towards the basic fundamentals of business and marketing: the bottom line. In other words, what can a site do to increase whatever goals that the site is supposed to achieve that affect the bottom line: revenue, ROI (return on investment), conversions, leads, sales, networking, market share, net worth, brand loyalty, brand recognition and exposure, extracting contact information, newsletter data aggregation, yield, article interest, etc. How to define a site that is geared towards that/those goal(s) will determine the success and productivity of the site, which can be reflected by the metrics and analysis of those metrics.

A Call to Action
With such goals in mind, a web designer can then be able to complete design concepts that address the specific issues and goals based on strategic business and marketing initiatives. How do you do this? By analyzing what the specific calls to action are that are needed to bring those goals out front for the users to “act upon.” Any element that will call a user to submit an action to your site is a call to action element. For example, if a site is an ecommerce site soliciting buyers to buy an entity, that web site will have call-to-action initiatives to expose the needs of that site for the buyer to act upon, which is to buy that product or entity. The primary call-to-action initiatives/elements could be an “add product” button, a “download sample” button, or “purchase me” button. From an SEM standpoint, the call-to-action elements could be the contextual links within the contents that lead the user to a call-to-action page (such as a download page, freebie page, product cart page, etc). You can even say that a secondary call-to-action initiative/element could be a “signup for email newsletters” button, “see more samples” button, or “compare other products” button. Call-to-action elements need to be visible, visually associated to its respective content, and aesthetically appealing to be recognized in and of itself. Using call-to-action elements will help generate the necessary actions that the user needs to take based on the design that you have created, but also help build a positive experience and positive ROI.

Positioning is Key
As call-to-action elements are considered strong factors in generating positive ROI, it is the placement and positioning of these elements and other key site elements that really show a strong fundamental use of web design. A primary call-to-action element, say a “REGISTER HERE” button (assuming there is only one button), isn’t going to be effective when that element is isolated at the bottom of the page or footer of the design, while the contents associated with this button is near at the top. Simultaneously, the contents associated with the element will not be as effective when it is not positioned within the vicinity of that element. They all have to be continuous and tied together in order to be an effective call-to-action element. Similar to placement of call-to-action elements is the positioning of your menu and navigation system. How visible, functional, categorical, and well-placed your navigation system is will determine the functionality and usability of your whole site, define the positioning of your call-to-action elements, and will ultimately decide the level of experience your user will be getting.

Content is King… with a little help
Content will always be king, within the realms of online marketing and beyond. But the content will not be as effective if 1) the infrastructure of the design is not made to provide well-positioned content in relation to well-positioned call-to-action elements, 2) the content is not written primarily and effectively to induce a sense of action from the user, and 3) the content is not optimized effectively to engage in user interactivity. What’s more important is that the level of productivity the content has will depend on other elements of the site. That includes design, functionality, usability, positioning, and graphical elements, to name a few.

Following Through
Nothing breaks a great web site than when a user leaves the site without being engaged by the site and without fully completing the goals to which the site was built to do. This is where your metric analysis comes into play. Your metric analysis will provide a more detailed and analytical version of how your site performs from an everyday basis, and is a great source of contemplating the productivity and value of your site and each of its design and call-to-action elements. Even with sites that are more informative and more educational, it is still good best practice to design sites that implement a sense of engagement and user involvement while educating and informing your user. It is a strong best practice to analyze your site, using the data to be able to improve on how well or worse your site is doing based on the goals that was provided for that site to achieve, and how to shift priorities to encourage better metrics to produce the best possible (and positive) ROI for your specific goals.

Ever since I came back from my conference, I have had no time to play and lots of time to really reflect on my freelance business.  One of the things that I knew I had to do was to re-establish my site and re-create everything from the ground up.  For one thing, I had to re-evaluate the CSS to ensure that what I have created is going to be compatible, accessible, and be fully supported by the W3C.  Second, I had to revamp the look and design to make it more “professional” but still be creative enough to appeal – doing it all on my own terms.  These two alone is enough to get really busy, and trust me it was a big investment on my part to overhaul everything.

Why do it?  Because I knew creatively and professionally that it needed to be done.  Just like any creative person, I am my own worst critic and my own worst client.  There doesn’t seem to be enough leverage to really assess the value of one design over another, of one initiative over another, simply because the reasonings and push behind one doesn’t necessarily match the long-term mentality behind the push.  So, when creativity gets sidelined, things fall apart and I get sick of the current styles to focus on new ones.

All this to say, that I I feel confident on the creation that I made for my own business.  I feel that it is much cleaner and sharper than what I previously had, while not sacrificing too much on the design flow.  Thankfully, I can still be able to add certain design creativity without being TOO avant garde, and still be presentable professionally.

Let me know what you think!  Post your comments and let me know what you want/don’t want to see on my site, and… I’ll think about it :)