Lately I’ve been asked to create logos for a few local bands and businesses.  How exciting! I think it’s fun to explore my creative side, especially after stifling it having spent many years in corporate IT. Helping clients build their ideas and turn them into graphic and web design realities has been some of the most rewarding work I’ve done thus far in my career.

Some of these designs have been sent to productions while others continue to evolve through the design life cycle. Each logo or business card gives us an opportunity to showcase new design techniques and theories. Clients always have the final say in their designs, so in the end, if you don’t prefer a particular design that’s OK. Creative differences aside in the end we always strive to meet or exceed our clients’ expectations.

Leave your comments in the section below to give is your feedback! Let us know if you liked or disliked a particular design. We enjoy reading your thoughts.

So, for each vendor I create a custom PHP script to get the product and image data ready for import. The idea behind this is so that the website owners can later go in and perform these inventory updates on their own if they choose to to that route. Ultimately I plan to integrate the data import scripts seamlessly with the eCommerce site. In the end the owners or site administrators will simply need to browse to and upload the correct file and then click on the “Import” button.

Keep in mind that most vendors include product images separate from the actual product inventory. Vendors typically use the product or SKU as the name for each image. I had to request an image CD as well as FTP access in order to get all of the necessary information from each vendor. Then, I created vendor folder under the root images folder, and pointed to the correct image file location during the import.

Data imports do not require advanced knowledge or skills, however, I would not recommend this step to a casual user. You will need a firm understanding on database programming fundamentals. Also, you should be comfortable with the programming language constructs required to assemble a script file. This is a good area to spend money on professional help to ensure that the presentation of your eCommerce site products look good in your customers’ eyes.

I always jump at the chance to chat with other web designers or small business owners. For starters, it’s a great way to network and meet other like-minded individuals. Also, you are guaranteed to pick up new tips or techniques by watching those around you.

I also collaborate site designs, embedded YouTube style video, and community based software with companies all around the world. Web designers enjoy the luxury of working from anywhere. I chat via VoIP for next to nothing and email to correspond. It easy to spot the more reputable companies by performing a little research beforehand. Plus, with PayPal getting paid and paying others is a breeze!

That’s it my friends. If you’re a web designer feel free to contact me so we can meet for coffee. Cheers!

The easiest way to accomplish your video needs is to simply embed them onto your existing website. This can be accomplished in many different ways (e.g. ) but essentially you will need to make sure your site can playback the video. Adobe Flash offers the ability to easily embed your existing movies into playable files once uploaded to your server. Most reputable web design companies will have that (or similar) software to help you with your conversion and code needs.

The previous solution is fine if you want to embed the occasional movie onto some static web pages. However, if you really want to gain a cult following, you’re going to want to go with option #2. This will allow you to do the most important thing you can for your site: produce regular content. Why? First, search engines love quality content! The more meaningful content you have online the higher up you will travel in the Google search rankings. Let that sink in. There’s more to it than that, but essentially, this tip is provided via Google’ Webmsater Tools Help page (http://www.google.com/support/webmasters/). Second, you will become to foster a sense of community as your site gains members or subscribers. This will allow you at a later point to leverage your site for profitable means, be it eCommerce, affiliate advertising, etc.

So there’s my $0.02 on adding rich multimedia to your website. Contact me or leave a comment below if you’d like to learn more adding flash animations, video, and photos to your site. We like to help!

• A super slick and clean user interface
• Manage multiple networking and marketing streams
• Interact on all of your social media channels simultaneously

Here’s what the guys over at Seesmic have to say:

Build your community in one central place with Seesmic Desktop, which integrates both Twitter and Facebook. This all-in-one tool makes it easy to reply to your friends and share text, links, photos and videos all in one screen.

Key Features

• Manage multiple accounts, Facebook and Facebook Pages
• Create Saved Searches
• Access to Twitter Lists

As if all of that social juice wasn’t enough to entice and lure you in, the $0 price tag should be the final nail in your procrastination coffin, so to speak. Do yourself a favor and get Seesmic Desktop. It’s one of the best in class for providing a viable social media manager to the masses.

By now most of you should be able to gather that I like my tools. Offline, I enjoy collecting pocket knives. Each one of these knives serves a unique purpose in my collection. I’ve got business casual, hobby related, and my personal favorite: my black one-handed blade movement. 9 times out of 10 that’s the one knife I’ll have in my pocket. And over in my other pocket? My favorite electronic tool; my iPhone. Just like my knife collection, I have a staggering library of apps that I use and test daily, and one of the gems is Vlingo.

Here’s what their website has to say:

At Vlingo we unlock access to wireless data services. As the inventor of the mobile phone “voice user interface,” Vlingo delivers a voice interface and technology that allows users to instantly access services and content on their device. These services include the ability send text and email messages, call contacts, search the Web, update your Facebook or Twitter status and much more by just speaking into their phone.

Vlingo is available for most current BlackBerry smartphones, Apple’s iPhone, Nokia S60 phones and select Windows Mobile phones.

I’ve used this app daily for the last 60 days. It comes in two flavors: free and paid version. Here’s the commands you say and the things you can do with each version:

Free Version
Maps (ex: “Find coffee shops in Cambridge”)
Social Update (ex: “Facebook update needs coffee right now”)
Web Search (ex: “Search Bonobo apes”)
Voice Dial (ex: “Call Charlie mobile”)

Paid Version
Email (ex: “Email Han, subject Tonight, message Running a bit late!”)
SMS Paste (ex: “Text Kaite, message are you free tonight for dinner?”)

So far I’ve only explored the free feautres of this app. It’s solid, works very well, and understands 90% of my commands the first time through! It has adaptive voice technology, so the more you use it, the better it understands your vocal commands. If you’re connected, on the go, and want a great ally as a communications tool, look no further than Vlingo.

OpenOffice.org – The Free and Open Productivity Suite is a special kind of tool.

OpenOffice.org 3 is the leading open-source office software suite for word processing, spreadsheets, presentations, graphics, databases and more. It is available in many languages and works on all common computers. It stores all your data in an international open standard format and can also read and write files from other common office software packages. It can be downloaded and used completely free of charge for any purpose. [source: Why OpenOffice.org (http://why.openoffice.org/)]

What You Get

• Writer (think Microsoft Word)
• Calc (think Excel)
• Impress (presentations)
• Draw (Paint but better)
• Base (Access database style)

Here’s what I can tell you from my perspective. I use at least one of these tools everday. I can assure you that you will not be disappointed. This cost is $0. The software is world-class. You would be making a wise investment, grasshopper. Want to know my favorite part? I can initiate most essential tasks from one, tidy icon in the system tray. Job well done guys!

Links of Interest

• learn more – http://why.openoffice.org/
• download – http://download.openoffice.org/index.html
• need help – http://support.openoffice.org/
• extensions – http://extensions.services.openoffice.org/

Fly R/C Online - a media sharing community for R/C pilots

Social media sites are Web 2.0. You probably already spend a portion of your day immersed in these communities. Companies like Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn lead the industry.  But, what is the role of social media?  The answer is simple.  That role is defined by the masses who use the site.  Members unconsciously decide what remains and what gos as they gravitate to applications designed to entertain or educate.  Sometimes both (Fly R/C Online – a media sharing community for R/C pilots – a CrazyWebFoo Design website).

Start simple. Pick 3 favorites. That’s it! Now, join each community, and pay close attention to how expertly the developers and designers guide you through the system.  The data acquisition has begun and the intelligent relationships are being plotted in the underlying RDBMS systems.

A relational database management system (RDBMS) is a database management system (DBMS) that is based on the relational model as introduced by E. F. Codd. Most popular commercial and open source databases currently in use are based on the relational model.  [source link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Relational_database_management_system]

This is the part that gets me excited!  Today’s smart systems intelligently deduce relationships based on advanced database algorithms and human decision molding logic.  Developers simply work that system.  Often times pushing the limits of the hardware.  We pound the processor looking to extract meaning and relationships.  That is the essence of social media, and with the proliferation of netbooks and smart phones, expect to remain fully connected going forward.

Now, we turn our focus back onto you, and begin to guide you through your new world.  We introduce you to features that will ultimately define the role of social media for you. Do you want to stay in touch with friends and family (Facebook)? Alternatively, you could introduce yourself to your professional peers with a site that leans more towards career networking (LinkedIn). Not big on commitment but willing to test the waters? Try Twitter. It’s an elegantly simple microblogging system that allows you creative expression 140 characters at a time. Ultimately, you have 3 very different social media sites, all of which provide a distinctive role in the expression of information.

So, what do you think? What are some of your favorite social media sites? I’ve been using Shareaholic and StumbleUpon as part of my daily ‘info sharing’ repertoire. Good tools are nice.  Great tools are just better!  Deliver me a tool that increases my productivity, marketing effectiveness, and approachability and I will say “thank you, kind sir!”

Then we can initiate the top-secret nerd handshake sequence protocal, remotely via our smart phones.