Kate Mefford, my favorite photographer, asked if I could do a vector illustration of her. Basically make her cartoon self. I was honest with her and told her I work with vector graphic on a daily basis, but I have never worked made a cartoon vector. I told her I would give it my best ... Read more]]>

Kate Mefford, my favorite photographer, asked if I could do a vector illustration of her. Basically make her cartoon self. I was honest with her and told her I work with vector graphic on a daily basis, but I have never worked made a cartoon vector. I told her I would give it my best shot and if I sucked it up I wouldn’t charge her. Well I surprised myself with a pretty killer representation of Kate

This was probably one of my favorite projects I’ve done in awhile. Kate is awesome to work with. When you do something that she likes, she gets so excited, and in turn it pumps me up to take the designs further. If you check out her site you can see her swinging from her chandelier logo. I also created to logos for babies and weddings. She uses these on the different categories of the blog.

She is too fun and I suggest using her for your photography needs!

Action-Engraving.com was another fun project. The AE’s old site was not so pretty, but was doing a decent jobs with SEO and leads. SEO was a huge factor in layout out this design. We wanted to only enhance the SEO and not make any decisions that would possibly compromise it.

The old site had close ... Read more]]>

Action-Engraving.com was another fun project. The AE’s old site was not so pretty, but was doing a decent jobs with SEO and leads. SEO was a huge factor in layout out this design. We wanted to only enhance the SEO and not make any decisions that would possibly compromise it.

The old site had close to 10 pages. After I looked at how these pages were used, and who visits them I realized that a simplification of the site pages was in order. The new site still has most of the same content, but it’s organized in a way that is easy to navigate and find just what you need. Another thing that was needed was a simplification of the code to make it easy for the owners to update and add content themselves, without the using a CMS. That could come down the line, but was not needed at this point.

The contact page was their most important page, but the pervious form just wasn’t doing the job. They wanted their clients to be able to fill out their online form and attach it to an email. The new form does that, and also changed the verbiage to make it easier to understand. Also the Google map is great was to show where your located, but also show a nice visual on often a pretty boring page.

Overall a very fun project and the clients were very easy to work with!

This site is 100% improvement over the previous site. First off to give you some back story of what the previous site included. The other site was basically all done manually. When ever a page was added they had you add it to other pages etc. Their site were screaming for a CMS. They chose ... Read more]]>

This site is 100% improvement over the previous site. First off to give you some back story of what the previous site included. The other site was basically all done manually. When ever a page was added they had you add it to other pages etc. Their site were screaming for a CMS. They chose SquareSpace, I had never worked with the platform, but was excited to dive in. It was kind of difficult not having absolute control over all the HTML on the page, but the design turned out ok and the HTGuys were very happy.

Colors were inspired by home theaters, when the lights are off and the HDTV and components are on. SquareSpace worked out great for them since it doesn’t have a back end like WordPress or othe CMS’s. It’s really easy for them to ad their shows without and coding. Also the podcast player has been reduced to one line and utilizes JavaScript instead of just flash to display content.

This is the for the up coming site redesign for the HTGuys.com. I have been fans of the show for a long time, so when they asked me to redesign their site I jumped at the chance. No only are these guys great people, and down to earth, they produce an awesome show. Stay tuned ... Read more]]>

This is the for the up coming site redesign for the HTGuys.com. I have been fans of the show for a long time, so when they asked me to redesign their site I jumped at the chance. No only are these guys great people, and down to earth, they produce an awesome show. Stay tuned for the reveal of the new site soon.

Yes this is a bit of a personal project, a website for my son. When we first decided on his name I went out and bought CarsonCypret.com. You never know if your kid will turn out to be the next tiger woods, and you certainly didn’t want to deal with any domain squatters. I wasn’t ... Read more]]>

Yes this is a bit of a personal project, a website for my son. When we first decided on his name I went out and bought CarsonCypret.com. You never know if your kid will turn out to be the next tiger woods, and you certainly didn’t want to deal with any domain squatters. I wasn’t going to do anything with it until I realized not all our friends and family are on Facebook or Flickr, and it would be a good idea to have one central location to write posts, post images, and videos of Carson growing up.

I think it turned out pretty cool. I especially like the photos and videos pages. The design is based on his room colors. This site is built on WordPress and set up with an easy back end made for any family member to easily use and navigate.

This is the Logo I created for the HTGuys and their very successful podcast the HDTV & Home Theater Podcast. Since the guys talk about tv’s I wanted to do a mash up of a chat box and a plasma. They loved it and are using it on the site now.

I got a great question the other day from Josh Tilton who wanted to dump his Dish and go with internet only for TV and Movies. Josh I envy you sir. I have wanted to dump U-Verse for awhile now. It has nothing to do with the service. U-Verse is awesome, but I find myself ... Read more]]>

I got a great question the other day from Josh Tilton who wanted to dump his Dish and go with internet only for TV and Movies. Josh I envy you sir. I have wanted to dump U-Verse for awhile now. It has nothing to do with the service. U-Verse is awesome, but I find myself more and more getting my video content from the web. Not to mention the cost benefits you can gain buy dumping your service provider.

Josh’s question was if anyone had got Boxee running on a 360:

Hi!

Thanks for posting this article! It’s been helpful in my quest to get rid of Dish Network and only use internet tv. Are you going to cover the steps/software needed to get boxee to run from my mac to my xbox360? If I could get hulu on my TV… All would be perfect! I’m open to any suggestions!

Thanks!

Josh

Boxee Options

It looks like Josh will need a standalone unit to get Boxee to his TV. There are lots of ways to get Boxee up and running on many different systems. In my experience its easiest on the Mac however Boxee supports Windows and Ubuntu as well.

Boxee on the 360?

I know that it is technically possible through hacking, however not many people hack their 360 as MS bans most people who hack their system from using LIVE. Live is by far the best service for playing games with your friends, so it’s hard to give up. There have been discussion on the Boxee forums discussing this however I don’t think the Boxee developers are in a hurry to get hacks running on the 360. They are fully busy adding features to the supported system now. You never know, Xbox may just support Hulu in the future. They already have Netflix up and running so why not add Hulu (if the moneys right).

Get a PC

Wow, I typically never say those words. I usually say "get a Mac" however depending on your situation a PC might be just what the doctor ordered.

Old PC

If you have an old PC lying around you can put it to good use instead of putting it in a landfill. Install Ubuntu on it and then install Boxee. This is possibly the most cost effective solution depending on the condition of your old system and what it may take to get Boxee up and running. I have had good success with old Dell dimension systems. Note that just because you can get it up and running doesn’t mean you can get it up and running well. Your video card and processor will determine whether or not HD video will play well or not at all. If you system is too underpowered Boxee my not install or may crash. Check the Boxee forums for help with your setup. Connect your VGA or DVI to your TV and Rock It!

Buy a PC

You can go two different routes with this one. You can go for awesome specs and really turn it into a full fledged HTPC or gaming rig, or you can go with more cost effective route and get a system that will run HD with now problems while still begin affordable. I go for the cheaper option, but if you are a gamer, well nuf said. Pick up a powerful rig. For cheaper methods you can find desktop for cheap on TigerDirect and Newegg. I personally suggest at least a core 2 duo however a nice Pentium could work well. I wouldn’t spend over $400 as your starting to get into a different category. Want to go ever cheaper build one. If you have the knowledge, and a free weekend you can put together an awesome system on the cheap. With any of these routes you should be able to install Boxee no problem. I suggest running Ubuntu over Windows as the Boxee version is more robust and stable on Ubuntu. Or better yet make it a hackentosh!

Apple Options

Of course you can go the Apple way, which of course would be my first choice. Apple has several different routes and in my experience is the most straight forward. At the same time Apple products can be a bit more expensive at the lower end. Let’s take a look.

AppleTV

Yup Boxee can run on the AppleTV. All you need is a thumb-drive and atvusb-creator. It’s actually really easy to do however I do want to let you know that the AppleTV is not a powerful Mac. It’s actually perfectly specked for what it does and it does it well. Boxee runs much better on a more powerful system. With that begin said Boxee adds the extra functionality that makes this a dynamite combo. You can also run everything from the apple remote which is super simple and easy for anyone to understand. If you’re interested here’s a quick video on getting it installed.

Mac Mini

Ahh, my favorite solution. However this solution can be a little more expensive depending on what you want. Best option for a standalone unit is by far the Mac Mini. Also since this is a real computer you can do infinitely more. If you pick up a little app called RemoteBuddy it will let access and navigate ever application on your Mac by using only your remote. Talk about added functionality. If this interests you check out the HDTV Podcast over using a Mac Mini as a video server.

MacBook or MacBook Pro

This is an option that I use. If you are looking to switching to a Mac why not just get yourself a Laptop? When you want to run Boxee or FrontRow, just plug in your laptop to the TV and your set. You can do the same things with a laptop that you can do with your Mac Mini. Add an apple remote or program your harmony to control your laptop and your set.

Boxee Extras

If you have an iPhone you have to check out the Boxee remote app. It is a much better way to navigate than using a traditional remote. And since it uses Wi-Fi you don’t need line of sight. Change songs, podcasts, or movies all from the other room. It takes a bit to get used to but is really worth it once you get the hang out it.

So it’s that time again, time for another redesign. I have been doing this around once per year. I revealed the last design on May 30th last year, so I’m right on schedule. Let’s hope I like this design a bit more so I can keep it a little longer than a ... Read more]]>

So it’s that time again, time for another redesign. I have been doing this around once per year. I revealed the last design on May 30th last year, so I’m right on schedule. Let’s hope I like this design a bit more so I can keep it a little longer than a year.

Why do this so soon?

Well to be honest, I never really finished the current design. I mean it’s complete, but when I started adding features over the course of this year I realized this design needed a makeover to add the features I really wanted. When I took a look at the time it would take for me to do this little makeover I decided I really didn’t like the design anymore and didn’t want to waste any more time on it.

Next major reason for this redesign is my portfolio. I set the code up for the portfolio more than a year ago. Since then I have done several WordPress sites that contained a portfolio of sorts, and have realized the current code is not working out. I actually have tons more work I want to display, but I don’t want to add to the code clean up I’m going to have to do when this redesign takes place. Long story short, none of the new portfolio work has been added.

So, what’s up with the design?

I’ve really been getting into destroyed designs. The funny thing is that the typical designs I do from day to day are really clean and strive to be perfect. It may be this fact that really inspired me to do something a little different. JC-V4: Dirty Blond is a different look than your average website, but still keeps a professional perspective (IMHO). I also noticed a pattern with my personal designs. I tend to make the designs dark, and I really wanted to change this stereotype. Take a look at the last three designs and see for yourself.

Design Details

I wanted my new design to have a natural feel. I used hand written fonts and some destroyed fonts. In fact the only perfect fonts will be in the body copy (just the way I wanted it). Next I wanted to use colors that surround me in my daily life. We are currently re-decorating my home office. The colors are different shades of brown and orange/red. I love those color combos and they actually work well online as well. Lastly I wanted the site to have a slight vintage feel. My first rough draft of this design actually went over board and looked like a 1950’s ad. I scaled vintage feel down a notch and really like the way it turned out.

So, what do you think?

I am still playing with colors and details so please feel free to comment. If you don’t like something, or think it’s awesome, let me know. I would definitely want to remove a piece or two if no one liked it. So bring on the critiques, and thanks!