Inbox Zero
There are few things that give me such a thrill as Inbox Zero. Inbox Zero is when your e-mail inbox is totally empty. This is a triumph for people like me that use their e-mail inbox as a to-do list and can’t delete a message until the subject at hand is dealt with.
2009 was a crazy year and I think I only hit Inbox Zero two or three times. However I have been bouncing around productivity city lately and am proud to say I’ve reached Inbox Zero every day for the past week. Maybe I should indulge this Inbox Zero patch from Nerd Merit Badges?
Boast your Inbox Zero achievement with this Patch from Nerd Merit Badges
Just heard the beep of a new message. Gotta get on that…
Settling in Portland
The move to Portland came and went, and we have been settling in nicely. Life has been pretty busy – we are about to move into our first home! We’ll move in with almost no furniture so it’ll be an empty house with tons of potential. A little intimidating. I can design on my computer all day but I get stumped when choosing colors for a room.
The first thing we are shopping for is our office. In our last place, Peter and I shared a cramped office with the laundry machines! In our new home we have a very roomy office space with a big window and a conference room and a mini-kitchen. It is like its own suite. Looking forward to a professional set up and feeling proud to bring in clients. Once we get our new digs decorated I’ll post photos so you can have a virtual tour :).
I feel fortunate that work has kept me busy! As usual, clients are always my priority so personal projects tend to come last. So this poor little site, despite how easy it is for me to update now, has fallen by the wayside. However this weekend I’ve carved a bit of time to schedule some updates and add some of the work I’ve completed recently. Check back! Or if you wish, subscribe to my feed.
Janet Lackey Design is Moving
We’re moving! My husband and I (and the dog!) are moving from St. Louis to Portland, Oregon on June 1st, 2009. We’re stoked! St. Louis has been wonderful but we have nothing tying us here. When we visited Portland last fall, it felt like a great fit for us.
I am still going to be operating my graphic & interactive media design business full-time from Portland. Last month I sent a letter to my local clients informing them of the news. Although 99% of the communication I have with clients is via telephone or e-mail as is, I recognize the value in working with someone local. So I feel elated that so many of my clients specifically wrote me to tell me they still intend to work with me from Portland. I’m excited to continue working with them in any capacity… I have met some really inspiring people in St. Louis!
I do have local clients I’ve never met. And about half of my clients are not near St. Louis at all. The internet’s great that way.
I’m currently strategizing how to best dive into advertising my services as a Portland web designer. This blog’s a first step :).
My husband and I set up a modest blog to chronicle our move and what will follow at http://www.findinportland.com.
JanetLackey.com Redesign
I’m so pleased to launch the janetlackey.com redesign. It’s just the first of a few big changes Janet Lackey Design is going to have this year… more info to come on that :)
I really love the punch of teal, right now it’s my favorite color. But my favorite part of the new design is how easy it’ll be for me to update it with new projects now.
We’ve tested the site a bunch around here but if you run into anything wonky please do let us know. Thanks!
One Year
I’m proud to have reached my one-year anniversary of self-employment. I have grown a ton this year creatively, learned much more about the businessy stuff, and worked on many exciting projects. It was also a year packed with lots of travel and cultural stimulation!
In February I visited Stockholm and northern Sweden and stayed at the Icehotel. I spent some time in Amsterdam, The Netherlands and Rome, Italy.
In March my husband and I celebrated our wedding anniversary in the Dominican Republic.
In June my family started what we hope to become a new tradition by spending 4th of July in Gulf Shores, Alabama.
In October I fulfilled a long-time dream of experiencing the Day of the Dead Festival in Oaxaca, Mexico.
All that with countless trips to Chicago and Memphis, a weekend in Las Vegas, and a trip to Portland, Oregon made for a very busy year. I loved viewing design trends and architecture abroad. It’s inspirational to spend a few days outside your usual surroundings. But now I am happy to stay put for awhile, store the suitcases and enjoy the holiday season.
I gained some new tools this year to help me in my work… most notably a Wacom Intuos 3 Drawing Tablet. I love this tablet for digital illustrations, sketching, and photo retouching.
I also just upgraded to the Adobe CS4 Creative Suite. I’ve only had it for a few weeks but I am really loving it. The interface is tighter, the programs can actually handle being open simultaneously, and in already my workflow is faster. Can’t wait to learn even more about the newly added features.
Most designers or even anyone who has tried to design for themselves will agree that you are your own worst critic! I mention this because I have been working on a redesign for this web site since July. My goal is to have it up this month. Fingers crossed.
I haven’t decided whether I’ll take the blog to the new site or not. I’ve been very busy this year – which I am incredibly grateful for. But as a result I have neglected to post about a lot of the exciting projects I have been working on. The new site will enable me to update much more easily so I’m optimistic.
Hope you have a very wonderful holiday season and winter. Thanks for reading!
Oprah redesign
Follow-up to my previous post about Oprah.com.
Looks like they have redesigned and it looks MUCH better now. The only complaint I have is how much is Flash – is it necessary? Does it add enough value to rationalize having it? Just nitpicking. Well done.
Business Card Sale
Heads up! My favorite printer, Sharpdots.com, is running a sale this month on business cards.
5,000 cards for $47. Not too shabby. Although their regular prices are very reasonable too. They’re my favorite printer to deal with because the printing, service, and speed are consistently awesome.
Click here to get the special pricing. Applies to RapidDots orders only. Offer ends June 30th.
Need business card design help? Contact me!
Favicon 101
What is a favicon?
A favicon, pronounced “fave (short for favorite) icon” is the little icon that shows up next to the URL in the address bar of most browsers. It’s also commonly the icon that shows up next to a web site name if you bookmark it or add it to your favorites.
How to make a favicon
All you need is a square image (JPG or PNG) of what you want to make into your favicon. The size does not matter, but keep in mind a favicon is 16×16 pixels, so if you include words or intricate imagery, it will be reduced and probably no longer distinguishable. When you create the square image, make sure you crop it so that there is as little negative space around the actual image as possible.
The next step – making it into a favicon – can be done a few different ways. There are several free favicon generators on the web, and I have found these are easy to use and give great results. My favorite is located at FavIcon from Pics.
Once you create a favicon you are happy with, you need upload the resulting file – favicon.ico – to your web server in the root directory. This is usually the topmost folder that also contains your main web page files. On some browsers, this is all you need to do. However if you want to make sure all of the browsers will recognize that you have a favicon, you need to add this code anywhere between the <head> and </head> code in every html document on your site.
<link rel=”shortcut icon” href=”http://www.yourdomain.com/favicon.ico” type=”image/x-icon” />
Logos on Cakes
I was about to post about one of my logos being featured on a cake for the first time ever. But then I realized that’s not entirely true. Two of my logos have been on cakes! Here’s the one I received a photo of today:
This is an Orthodontist’s logo. Late last year I worked with Dr. Rediger to come up with a logo and create a stationery set. He is expanding his practice and recognized the benefits of having a solid identity. I do think it is kind of funny that an orthodontist is serving up a sugary cake, but dental practitioners certainly have a sweet tooth too!
And here’s the other cake. It doesn’t feature the logo in full, but elements of it are used:
That one was for a party at Little Fishes Swim School. The owner’s friend created this cake – and coincidentally created my wedding cake too! Small world. The baker/cake decorator’s name is Calamity Cakes – she is brilliant! And since this entry is all about cakes, I’ll share my Día de los Muertos (day of the dead) inspired wedding cake that Kathy Thomson of Calamity Cakes created:
The cake toppers on my cake were from MexicanSugarSkull.com.
UPDATE: My cake was featured on Cake Wrecks. Though not as a wreck! It was part of the Sunday Sweets feature (good cakes).
Martha Stewart vs. Oprah
Martha Stewart and Oprah are both bigtime players in the media market. They each have their respective television programs, magazines, radio programs, and various endorsements. I was surfing sites as part of research for a design I’m creating, and I was interested to see how the womens’ enterprises measure up on the web. Check them out:
MarthaStewart.com
Oprah.com
Say what you will of Martha, but the folks behind her web site have done an amazing job. MarthaStewart.com is absolutely gorgeous. There is a lot going on, yet it is presented in a simple and clean manner. The color palette is vibrant without overpowering the content, and it does a great job of distinguishing the content areas. Martha’s site also features stunning photography which dramatically ups the classy factor!
Oprah.com, on the other hand… is kind of overwhelming! There is so much going on here that I have trouble focusing on any one section. The color palette, while rather blah, does not offend me. However the splashes of taupes and browns seem to be used haphazardly without a clear motive from a usability standpoint. I see a lot of brown gradients and boxes, but they’re all over the place. Rather than accentuating points of interest, they make me feel claustrophobic. I think that discarding these unnecessary design elements and replacing with white space would give this site, and its user, a lot more breathing room.
Another weakness of Oprah.com is the lack of consistency. If you navigate away from the main page via the dropdown menu in the top right, the “mini sites” are inconsistent and there is not always a clear way to get back to where you were before. This site needs an organizational overhaul in my opinion. Let your goals for functionality lead and then the design will follow.
I didn’t mean for this to become an Oprah bashing entry – I have nothing against her. Quite the opposite! Oprah’s got the daytime tv circuit on lockdown and personalitywise, I think she beats Martha. But that’s just my opinion. However on the Web turf, Martha wins this match hands-down.
From the Blog
Inbox Zero
March 2010There are few things that give me such a thrill as Inbox Zero. Inbox Zero is when your e-mail inbox is totally empty. This is ...
Settling in Portland
August 2009The move to Portland came and went, and we have been settling in nicely. Life has been pretty busy - we are about to move ...
Testimonials
"Janet Lackey was a MAJOR role in getting stuff done, at last minute and into the evenings. She was amazing to work with, fast, efficient, polite. I don't know what I would have done without her. "
"Finding quality help outside of a large agency is hard to come by - but working with Janet Lackey Design on our clients Logo and Website Design project was a pleasure. Janet asked all the right questions, delivered on-time, and ultimately exceeded our expectations."