The first challenge of mobile design that I encountered was deciding between skinning the full version or creating a separate, targeted mobile instance. I’ve decided to just skin the site because having 2 copies of every post (one for full, one for mobile) is just silly.

The second challenge was dealing with all the pseudo sub-pages in the portfolio section. Multiple menus do fine on a computer screen, but on a 4” phone, every pixel is precious. However, after a few sketches I have developed a set of minimalistic wireframes that utilize every piece of content on the site without cluttering the available viewing space.

Check them out:

Stay tuned for further progress. Up next: CSS media queries.

The first and foremost objective was creating a portfolio designed for the big picture. Previous versions of the website were great at showing off details, but they lost their impact when took a step back from them. People started getting lost in project details and were forgetting the bigger picture. It was also important for me to create a larger separation between the work and my blog. I felt this was necessary since I wanted the work to be very big and open, which I couldn’t do with lengthy articles.

The following is a list of changes that made it in to the new realignment.

• Create larger separation between portfolio and blog (work and play)
• Maintain the multiple designs across a single instance of WordPress
• Develop skins on HTML 5 and make as much use of css3 technology as possible, and provide elegant degradation for non-supported technologies.
• Try Cufon and make detailed notes in comparison to SiFR.
• Add new work to the portfolio, while trimming it significantly to focus on relevant projects.

Changes that didn’t make it in, which I plan on doing as time permits:

• EDIT: optimize blog stylesheet for basic content formatting.
• Develop Iphone Skin
• Develop general mobile skin
• Optimize the blog section and actually make use of it’s power as a marketing tool – I’ve said I would too many times not to.
• Explore possible (very minimal) monetization options for the blog.
• Develop Facebook landing page
• Optimize Twiiter profile – and actually utilize the account

I know it seems like only a couple, but each objective is accompanied by a long list of technical tasks in order to see it through. Just outlining my thoughts into a coherent article managed to take me almost a week!

Also, unlike the last time I said I’m going post to the blog more, this time I’ve got 10+ articles all loosely jotted down. I hope to get them written and into the blog in the next couple of weeks, so stay tuned!

In addition, we also discussed things I didn’t expect, like working directly with the marketing team, collaborating on marketing strategies, going to conferences and shows speaking on behalf of the company / product, networking with potential clients, doing more traditional forms of advertising: print, swag, video, etc. Things looked good. However, usually when things seem too good to be true, they often are. After a long battle this summer, I have decided to go a separate way than Moxy and pursue a career more inline with graphic design/marketing.

Enter Semantic Design: bored one weekend I stumbled upon this ad for a full-time graphic designer from this studio in Waterdown, Ontario – place where I grew up – so on a whim I sent in my resume and 2 days later I had an interview set up. The job caught my eye because it deals with a nice variety of mediums: web [design & development], logo/brand, print [invitations, reports, brochures, posters, packaging, etc], large format, you name it.

So, as of As of August 31 2009, I will be heading up the interactive division for Semantic Design, playing a key role in integrating this aspect into the Semantic brand and helping drive the company’s future directions/objectives. I’ve already begun drafting up new plans for Semantic that will take it’s existing brand and marketing strategies to an entirely new level. Our clients won’t know what hit them.

For most of 2008 my old blog was showing up if you did a search for "Hockey.com web designer". My theory is the message I had at the top saying I was unavailable for work at the time because I was employed as the hockey.com web designer was the reason.

In other SEO news, so far I’m placing well for any search query related to my portfolio entries as well as any geo-targeted search, IE Guelph graphic design, or Guelph web design, I show up on pages 2 and 3. It’s very interesting. I’m no seasoned SEO expert, so some of my practices are still theories and hunches and I wonder if I’l retain these high rankings or if it might be a kick-start from the Google Sandbox.

Wikipedia defines the sandbox effect as:

The theory that websites with newly-registered domains or domains with frequent ownership or nameserver changes are placed in a sandbox (holding area) in the indexes of Google until it is deemed appropriate before a ranking can commence.

I haven’t changed domain names, or name servers so technically I’ve been getting indexed for the last 3 years so I doubt a switch from flash to WordPress would get me back in the sandbox.

Edit (Oct 1 2008)

Apparently this blog post replaced the homepage at #1 (source)

EDIT (Jul 27 2010)

I’ve done a poor job of keeping content fresh on this website since it went up, but my positions for Guelph graphic design and Guelph web design are holding strong. Perhaps the next update will be the difference maker.

Moxy Media is very similar eMedia was: website publishing company specializing in niche portals. What’s different this time is that Moxy has gone through the stages of setting up their own domain parking platform which I will be in charge of branding and promoting.

It sounds like a lot of fun. They just finished up the rationale behind the name they’re going to go with (Ideo.net) so I basically have a blank canvas to work with as far as branding this baby. We also tossed around the idea of sending me to trade shows to help plug the platform and get to know our clients better.

I also start working with a guy named Michael Bolton, who is flying out to Seattle to discuss partnership opportunities with one of my friends out there, Dan Rust from Evo Landing. I’ll have to let Michael know we already met up with Samir:

After Hockey shut down, I spent all my time loading up my portfolio with my best works and I threw a slick flash site together in a couple weeks. I put all my stock into the experience, so it worked really well from the user’s end, but the SEO value was awful. I was really hoping to hear back from the leads on jobs I had at the time, but it’s looking more like I’m going to need to start carving my own path and my site’s poor SEO might become problematic.

I’ve spent the last week or so doing a web audit on Vectorthis, analyzing keywords and past search indexing and I’ve discovered most of the indexing was done after I left IMAGES in 2007. At the time my portfolio had an unpleasantly high concentration of development projects and keywords because at IMAGES I served as a web developer instead of a designer (hence my departure). Now I have the design projects to go after the services I want, but with an all flash site none of it is being indexed and I need to rethink my strategy.

The last 5 people to contact me about work have been about all dev projects, and that’s not what I do: I’m a graphic designer. I care about picking the right typeface, setting the proper kerning, getting the lighting effects just right for the most realistic experience. I don’t really care about how the site is built and whether you need jquery or mootools to get it done. I’m very fortunate and I understand a lot of front-end development (even a good chunk of back end development). When something needs to be tweaked to achieve a specific goal, I’m more than comfortable going into scripts (front end or back end) and tweaking stuff around to do what I want, but it’s a double edged sword; not many can do that so often I somehow get pinned in this full time customizer role. There’s mixed messages about what I do and I need to correct them.

My primary strategy is going to be moving away from 100% flash – it might stick around for presentational elements like slideshows or videos – but I need to get updated and accurate info indexed. I also intend to integrate the portfolio and blog into a single site, which will dramatically improve the content on my site, as well as frequency of updates/additions. I hope to do less whining about design(er)s I like or don’t like and write more useful content.

Stay tuned. It should be pretty slick when I’m done.

I’m a little late posting this, it took some time to really sink in, but the official word is that Hockey.com, the project, the company, everything, is dead. I can’t go into the details but as of June 2nd 2008, Hockey.com (or Hockey Corp) has closed their doors for good. The last 7 months were way too much fun and I’m very sad to see them go. The site had so much potential – especially with what we he planned for next season.

The optimistic side of me says this means I’m officially back on the market. I’m not overly keen on the idea of jumping in with another agency so soon after loosing this dream job, but I’ve spent the last week preparing to contact other agencies in the Guelph area, so expect some kick ass changes to the site (portfolio) some time next week.

… I’m really going to miss that site.

Let me introduce Jeff Siswanto. Jeff is a second year computer science student at the university of waterloo. I haven’t bothered to ask him directly, but from the looks of things, Jeff wants to branch into the graphic design profession.

Jeff joined the Hockey.com team on Monday as a designer for his summer co-op term. He survived his first week. We gave him a warm up task of redesigning a bunch of our membership call out ads that our last contract designer screwed up terribly. Jeff is a little rough around the edges; tirelessly asks questions about rules and design direction, but

I’ll make a design rockstar out of him yet.

Hockey.com announced a few weeks ago it will be moving its offices from Guelph to Oakville this summer and as a result we have lost some key positions. Positions that are currently available are:

• Senior Manager, Online Marketing
• Web Application developer
• Online Producer
• Software Development, Team Lead

We work on a lot of cool stuff, building out new features every 2 weeks. Anyone in the GTA should check out the positions.

I have a fairly notorious reputation for doing an endless number of redesigns, but this is much more than that. I created Vectorthis during my first year in college. I’ve matured significantly since then – as a designer, as a person, as whatever, and I feel very strongly that the identity I created in 2005 isn’t an accurate portrayal of me or what I’m capable of, so a fresh start is in order. I’m still in love with the concept I based it all around – maybe even more now than when I first thought it up – so I won’t be ditching Vectorthis for a new identity; more like redefining what it means.

Stay tuned for progress.

Progress Update 1:

Initial thoughts:

1. Bold, loud, close to current concept
2. Bold, literal
3. Slick, slightly humbled, literal – much more elegance than 2

Progress Update 2:

Initial Thoughts

1. Elegant, sophisticated, bold
2. Elegant, sophisticated
3. Bold, heavy, sophisticated
4. Slick, forward thinking