Stuff I Love is sort of like Oprah’s Favorite Things without the freebies (sorry). This is part 1 in a multi-part series, we’ll post the next one when we have more stuff we love.

Freshbooks

I love Freshbooks because they took the mundane but necessary task of accounting and made it fun and simple. I tested a number of accounting/invoicing systems and before we decided on Freshbooks—I think they nailed it. Freshbooks provides the right amount of features for the right price. Xero was also a great system with a gorgeous GUI, but it was overkill when it came to the needs of our business.Ballpark and The Invoice Machine are elegant solutions, but a little overly simplistic for us. We wanted the ability to run a variety of reports and Freshbooks had a bunch of options. If you decide to try it out, use this sticker below so I get the credit!

Basecamp

Project Management is a major part of my daily work and it is critical that the entire team is on the same page, including the client. Over the years I tested many project management tools including ones that have to be installed on the server, however, nothing comes close to the simplicity and intuitiveness of Basecamp. In fact, I’ve been using Basecamp for over 4 years and are still just as happy with it as the day we signed up. And since it lives in the cloud, they are always making updates and enhancements to the service. If you’ve never used it, take it for a spin below and see what you think.

Website Grader

Have you ever wondered how well your website is doing or if it is search engine friendly? Website Grader from HubSpot offers a great tool that allows you to run a report on your website. It gives you key information regarding your page’s title tags, metadata, alt tags, and more. I ran this on our website a couple years ago and learned a lot about what we were doing wrong. I even use it to help our clients understand how they can make their websites more effective. Click here to try out the demo version.

I have many more things I love, however, I also love my work and must get back to my clients. Feel free to tell me about the things you love and I’ll check them out. Until next time…

Enjoy!

AIGA | Why Design?

Over the last few weeks I started thinking about this a bit more. What bothered me about the ad was the suggestion that your site should be built and ready instantly. This seems like another example of “I want it now and I want it cheap”. In one portion of the commercial they depict a professional photographer in his studio and he states, “I hired a someone to design my website…5 months ago!” Ouch!

The message I got from this commercial is this: You don’t have to hire your nephew or a professional and you shouldn’t have to spend more than 5 bucks and 5 minutes for a web site. (I agree about the nephew part.)

I think this is irresponsible on Intuit’s part. Most of us can agree that a businesses website is a major part of their advertising and marketing, not just something to be hacked together on a whim. For small businesses, it’s even more critical to have a well defined image, including a website.

On the plus side, the service does give business owners a simple tool to create a quick website. I’m not sure this would be a good long term solution, and in the spirit of full disclosure, I have not even tried the service (they offer a FREE 30-day trial, but they do require a credit card).

I want to hear from you. Do others in the design and web community feel that services like this discounts the skills and expertise of a professional designer/developer? Is this another attempt to commoditize a professional service through software?

Today we have so many potential distractions like Facebook and Twitter, it’s easy to lose track of time and get caught up in reading posts or tweets. Even e-mail can be a “time suck” if it’s not used with discipline.

I decided to start a little experiment and track my entire day for two weeks in 15 minute blocks. This may seem granular, but what I want to find out is how much time all of those “little distractions” actually accumulate to. I have a suspicion that the sum total will be pretty high until I become more self aware of my tasks.

I also want to hear how others keep track of time? What tools or tactics do you use to stay on task? I’m providing the Time Use Matrix that I’ll be using for the next two weeks for those interested in also doing the experiment with me. I’m interested in hearing about your experience with it and if it helped or hindered you.

Previously, I wrote about Rules and Productivity which are core components to my how I feel about time management. Feel free to read those if you want to see where I’m coming from.

I will post my results after two weeks.

Good luck!

Download the Matrix Here:

time-use-matrix.xlsx

Another reason for sharing this with you is to help me organize my process and document it. It’s as much as a journal of my thoughts as it is a guide for you.

I once read the saying that went something like this: “A plan is God’s idea of a practical joke”. While I agree that you cannot predict or plan everything, no plan is planning to fail. More importantly, planning helps set my expectations for the year and becomes a great analytical tool that I can review and tweak as I go.

So let’s dive in, in no particular order:

Goal Planning 2010

1. Better Reporting: For the last couple years I wanted to move into a more thorough accounting system, one that I can access anywhere, anytime. After spending a ton of time researching different solutions, I settled on Xero, a fairly comprehensive, web-based accounting system that will allow me to view create invoices, track payments, and performs all of the functions your standard accounting package does. What I really liked about Xero was the ability to do reporting. If I wanted to see what percentage of my business was Web Design or Logo Design, I can easily run the report. Sure, I can do this in Excel, but why? For 2010, I will have better reporting. I will know how many clients I have, what projects have the longest payment milestones, which projects are most profitable, and more.
2. New Web Site: This year I’m overhauling the studio 22 design web site. My goal in the redesign is two-fold; provide a better experience for the visitor and make it easier to maintain for me. The most important area to redesign was my portfolio. I didn’t like that you couldn’t dynamically sort the portfolio by project type. This was an important feature as clients always asked me to see work relevant to their project. I wanted this to be easy for them, so I added in a JQuery script that allows dynamic filtering of the projects. It’s a slick feature that is actually quite usable. Another area I’m improving is my contact section. Currently, you have to click on contact to get phone, email, etc… The new site will have the contact info dedicated to the footer of each page including project form, newsletter signup, email, and social media links. This satisfies my goal providing better communications with my clients as well as more ways to connect.
3. Social Media: The jury is still out on how this will improve my business, but at the most basic level it will help me to interact with my clients, current and potential. And although best practices are still evolving, there is no question that it helps with branding and communications. I’m keeping an eye on this in 2010 and may do a more aggressive push in social media, but probably not until Q2.
4. New Clients: I have a very short and very specific list of potential clients I intend to convert to clients this year. Basically, my goal is to convert 3 out of 5 before 2011. These are big, bold organizations that I have a personal interest in and who, I believe, I can offer a great deal of value to. The benefit of having a short list is that it forces me to focus on making connections and building relationships rather than cold calling.

These are just a few select areas of my goal planning for 2010. Other areas include financial, new revenue sources, and scheduling goals which I’m still working on.

What’s included in your goal planning in 2010?

Did you know that your Facebook Fan page image can be up to 200px wide by 600px tall?! By having an image this size on your Fan Page you can add more detail and interest to your Fan Page.

We’ve provided a convenient Photoshop template for you to download and create your own supersized fan page image! Just click on the download button to the right and start customizing. Be sure to hide the guide layers before you save your image.

Download Here: http://www.studio22.com/facebook-fan-page-template.html

Copy of the ad as seen in GD USA

Everyone has a right to protect their intellectual property, but I was quite surprised and a bit puzzled when I saw a full-page ad for Little Trees Car-Freshner in the September issue of Graphic Design USA.

The ad displayed 5 Little Tree designs and contained the following copy:

“This is privately owned property. So is this, and this, and this, and this [each with an arrow pointing to a tree]…no matter how you use it.

The footer copy contained additional legal language explaining why using the images was a bad idea and to ask for permission first.

I wondered what happened? Why would this company go to such lengths to defend their brand image? After about 15 minutes of research I discovered that some designers were using the famous tree shape in design projects such as invitations, t-shirts, and posters. Okay, so I get why they did the ad—kind of—but why so heavy-handed?

It seems to me that the Little Trees company blew an amazing opportunity to work with designers and artists, a community that could help build the brand image, by shunning them away with threatening advertisements.

What the Little Trees company could have done was turn a negative into a positive. Invite these infringers in with an international design competition? Here is my advice to the Little Trees company:

1. Create an international design competition inviting designers and artists from around the world to submit their ideas to put a new spin on the famous tree icon.
2. Attach a theme or challenge around the competition, maybe it’s Green Around the Globe, or Environmental Sustainability. Themes will help keep designers focused and allow you to market the campaign more effectively.
3. Allow the designers to mock-up the logo on many mediums, not just flat graphics. These can be art installations, merchandise, or even architecture.
4. Work with a non-profit organization like the Social Design Network or AIGA to co-sponsor the project and include a financial hook for their benefit. These organizations are experienced at engaging their community in socially responsible campaigns and can help get the word out. It will also offer instant credibility.

The intended outcome of a this campaign is two-fold:

1. become a collaborator with the design community, not an enemy of the design community
2. increase your brand awareness through custom artwork, generate ideas for new products and designs, make your products more “green”

What Little Trees did was a completely human reaction: protect what’s theirs. All too often we act in protectionism mode not thinking about the bigger picture. Will they realize greater sales because of these ads? Probably not. Unfortunately, they probably left a negative impression on most people.

I believe their attitude should have been: “This is privately owned property, come in!”

What do you think?

People buy into cultures, not brands yet, we focus so much of our efforts on building brands. Being in design, I see this nearly everyday. Normally, the client wants a brand image that satisfies their vision of the brand, not the customers. Can a brand stand on it’s own merits without  a culture infused by it’s patrons?

Good or bad, intentionally or unintentionally, Starbucks has a culture around it’s brand image but they didn’t design it. The culture was designed by the customers, not Starbucks corporate (full disclosure: I’m drinking Starbucks coffee as I type this). Culture takes time and it is this “third place” culture which has propelled Starbucks from a small chain to grande in relatively short order.

Apple also has a culture, but it’s not about the products, it’s about the ideology that goes into them. (full disclosure: I’m typing this on MacBook Pro) The reason people wait two days in line for an iPhone is because they know that the user experience is Apple’s number one consideration. They put the customers needs first along with beautiful design. No other PC manufacturer (or “insert product category here”) has come close to developing a fanatical culture like Apple’s.

I recently flew Virgin America from San Francisco to DC. It was my first time flying Virgin America and I was blown away. I could tell they had a well-defined culture in place starting from their website, kiosk check-in, and flight crew, not to mention the cool lighting in the cabin, video on-demand on the back of the seats, and Absinth-based cocktails. Yes, some of these are product “features”, but they help reveal the ideology behind the brand that resonates with people like me. I’m actively looking for an excuse to fly VA again!

When you can get customers to say: “Hey, I wanna’ be a part of that”, then keep doing whatever it is you’re doing, because you’re doing something right.

See, ropes saved Indy's life!

When I was in middle school, my science teacher (Mr. Miller, the best teacher ever) once gave the class the following analogy: “Rules are like ropes on a wooden plank bridge, without the ropes you have to walk slowly and carefully, maybe even crawl. There is no goofing around without ropes. With ropes, you can enjoy your walk, hang over the edge, spit, throw pennies at the alligators, etc…” What he was trying to say was that rules may seem burdensome at times, but they also allow you to be more flexible.

As a business owner, I understand how easy it is to forego the rules and and take things on as they come. But over the years I’ve realized that rules can be a tool to help you achieve your business goals.

Now, when I talk about “rules” I’m not talking about external rules like paying your taxes, or NOT WRITING IN ALL CAPS. I’m talking about generating your own rules for business success. Here’s an example of rules I use for my communications:

COMMUNICATION

1. Follow Up: we will follow up with all clients and prospects within 24 hours
2. E-Mail: we check e-mail only twice daily, 10am and 4pm (see why)
3. Meetings: participate in meetings only when it’s essential that you be there or where actual decisions are going to be made.

The above is just a small sample of some of the rules I’ve set for how I communicate. I have other rules for project management, project processes, and starting and ending the work day amongst others. I’m currently working on rules for my social media communications.

Some of these rules may seem nit-picky, but they are all important and all tied in directly with my business goals. It’s about achieving more with less (which is not so abstract considering our current economic conditions) and being efficient and effective at the same time.

What are some of the rules you have for yourself, for your business? I’d love to hear other ideas.

I heard the term “hyper-local” today in the context of news, but what about marketing? Maybe it’s time to consider marketing at the hyper-local level to build credibility, business, and local market-share? Being the top business in your industry at the hyper-local level is faster than building at a national level.

Advertisers get this and are now concentrating their advertising to smaller segments. Hyper-local. Some people may call this a niche.

Remember the claw game in Toy Story? The Claw is your business, the three-eyed aliens are your customers. When the machine is empty, move on to a new machine. Pick and choose? Hyper-local? What do you think?