One of my goals when designing an interface like this one is to keep the information presented clear and concise. For the most part, I think the design hits the nail on the head. With good direction from (The) Carl Vervisch, we all achieved a great functional site, and an ecstatic client. I wasn’t crazy about the color palette, but I think it works. I think I remember saying something like “This is the the most website looking website I have ever done.” Usually when I build interfaces, they don’t look like websites at all, they look like desks, or paper.. Or what have you!

Currently Smallbizlaw.us is being maintained by Social Forces on the social media aspect. I’m not sure who is doing the modifications on the back/front-end, but just to add more credit to the site– Jean-Baptiste of Cats Who Code did some custom Wordpress applications, which I think he did a great job. I always love his development! I think the only issue we had with Jean was a few words in english that didn’t make any sense! :)

All in all it was a good project to work on and I’m glad to see the client happy. I just hope his marketing techniques are working. I look forward to more strategic websites like this one– but I do hope that I’m more involved in the planning stages. I’m very eager to help more small business owners out.

Check out the site at http://smallbizlaw.us/ and let me know what you think!

Soon after I was interested in becoming a board member, more specifically to help out with the site. I then was appointed as Web Design Director for Ad 2 Tampa Bay. My job is more internally based, providing updates for press releases, and other things going on with Ad 2. However I do have one big plan that I envision: Re-vamping the Ad 2 website, and re-coding it for WordPress. I’m excited to get the ball rolling on this and a lot of people have been asking about it and wanting to get involved. Although I do not have exact details for you all on the plans of the site, I do know that the majority of the changes will be in the back-end and how the site flows together. The design will primarily stay the same.

For all that go onto the Ad 2 Website: http://ad2tampabay.org/ I invite you to suggest any features you’d like to see on the new website, from not only the user perspective, but also the administrative perspective. I want to make it easy to use for all. We know that a lot of the pages are going to go away since there is a lot that we don’t need anymore. But let us have it! I want to hear everyone’s thoughts on the site and how it runs; not so much on how it looks since the design will (for the most part) remain the same. Please note though, that participating memebers of the board have already re-structured the architecture of the site. So we will be deleting some pages and possibly adding new ones. But I’m really open to any suggestion on interface changes.

Let me know! I’m super stoked to get on this.

The poster design was inspired by a photo of my wonderful boyfriend who happened to be holding a book open. The page read: “Never miss an opportunity to tell someone you love them.” I thought it was very thoughtful of him and decided to make this poster, not only for him, but as my leave-behind/promotional item as well. I got good comments on it, and plan to make this poster part of a series.

The artwork was actually something I started doing for (again) my boyfriend on valentines. We’re both into music and he’s really into guitars; he must own seven of them. So I thought it would be a nice to treat to use some stock photography by Marcus Ranum and make a miniature montage. I think it turned out nice, and although a bit late, I think he’ll enjoy it.

The photograph is very emotive. It’s of my best friend, Jason and his new tattoo. I think it says a lot about him and his personality. I just happened to take the photo in a great place, while he’s facing a dark cave: our laundry room.

You can buy prints of all but the photo at Deviant Art.

General Company Info

• What is the name of you company?
• What is your business?
• How old is your company?
• What is the size of your company?
• Who are the main contacts and who has final approval of the project?
• Are there specific dates the project needs to be completed?
• Your budget dictates how much time can be spent on your project. What is the budget?
• Describe your business in one sentence.
• Describe your business in two words?
• Describe your business in one word?
• What doesn’t your business do, or do well?
• What differentiates your business from competitors?
• How did you start the company?
• Is there a story that is unique to your company? Or perhaps a unique story to the company name?

General Image of Company

• If you company/brand was a person who would it be? Why?
• If your company/brand was an object what would it be? Why?
• If your company/brand was an animal which one would it be? Why?
• Is there an important object, building or person for your business?
• What do you normally wear to work?
• How do you want the public to perceive your image?
• What do you want to be famous for?
• What words should the general public associate your business with? Name at least 3.
• What aspect of your image needs improvement? How do you want your image to be seen in 2 years? 10 years?

Competitors

• Who are your competitors?
• How are they better/worse than your product/service?
• Who might you compete with in the future?

The Target Audience

• Who is your customer? Describe in detail. What do they do? What do they watch?
• Who is the ideal customer?
• What customers do you want to attract that you aren’t getting yet?
• If your customer was a cartoon character who would it be?
• How do they find out about you?
• What do they want from you?
• What customers do you not want to attract?

Current identity

• Do you have an identity?
• What do you like about it and what do you not like about it?

Website Specifics

• Why are you commissioning a new website?
• List the business objectives of your website.
• How will you know if it is a success?
• What aspects of your current site work well and why are they successful?
• What aspects of your current site are unsuccessful and why do you think that is?
• If you update your current site using a content management system, please describe the system and its main features. Are you happy with the system?
• Why will people use this kind of site?
• Why will people choose your site over others?
• What will people want to do on the site?
• List websites of competitors in a related field; what works and what doesn’t?
• List websites you like the aesthetics of and explain why.
• Outline any ideas you may have for the site. How would these features support your business goals and the goals of your user?
• If you need a content management system, please describe the features you would like.

Anything else?

Don’t forget to make sure to ask the client if there is anything that was left out that they would like to add to the brief. A lot of these questions can be condensed into single questions, and some are more useful than others. But remember one thing: The more information you have on the project and the client, the better experience it will be for both parties.