The Web Designer’s Idea Book: The Ultimate Guide to Themes, Trends & Styles in Website Design
by Patrick McNeil

The Web Designer’s Idea Book includes more than 700 websites arranged thematically, so you can find inspiration for layout, color, style and more. Author Patrick McNeil has cataloged more than 20,000 sites on his website, and showcased in this book are the very best examples.

Sites are organized by color, design style, type, theme, element and structure. It’s easy to use and reference again and again, whether you’re talking with a co-worker or discussing website design options with a client. As a handy desk reference for design layout, color and style, this book is a must-have for starting new projects.

The Web Designer’s Idea Book, Vol. 2: More of the Best Themes, Trends and Styles in Website Design
by Patrick McNeil

Volume 2 of The Web Designer’s Idea Book includes more than 650 new websites arranged thematically, so you can easily find inspiration for your work. Author Patrick McNeil, creator of the popular web design blog designmeltdown.com and author of the original bestselling Web Designer’s Idea Book, has cataloged thousands of sites, and showcases the latest and best examples in this book. The web is the most rapidly changing design medium, and this book offers an organized overview of what’s happening right now. Sites are categorized by type, design element, styles and themes, structural styles, and structural elements. This new volume also includes a helpful chapter explaining basic design principles and how they can be applied online. Whether you’re brainstorming with a coworker or explaining your ideas to a client, this book provides a powerful communication tool you can use to jumpstart your next project.

Threadless: Ten Years of T-shirts from the World’s Most Inspiring Online Design Community
by Jake Nickell

Threadless.com is the phenomenally successful T-shirt company with millions and millions of tees sold since it began in 2000. It pioneered the online business model of crowd-sourced or community-driven design, in which people submit designs that are voted on by the site’s 1 million users and printed. Over the past 10 years, the company has amassed a vast archive of very cool, very hip, and often very entertaining designs, and Threadless is a spectacular showcase of 400 of the very best T-shirts created by the community–a barometer of art and design over the past decade.

Much more than a book of extraordinary graphics, Threadless tells the extremely interesting story that inspired Inc. magazine to hail Threadless.com as “the most innovative small company in America.” There are also profiles of individual designers and “think pieces” from influential admirers, including design guru John Maeda, Jeff Howe of Wired, and bestselling business/marketing writer Seth Godin.

Designing Media
by Bill Moggridge

Mainstream media, often known simply as MSM, have not yet disappeared in a digital takeover of the media landscape. But the long-dominant MSM—television, radio, newspapers, magazines, and books—have had to respond to emergent digital media. Newspapers have interactive Web sites; television broadcasts over the Internet; books are published in both electronic and print editions. In Designing Media, design guru Bill Moggridge examines connections and conflicts between old and new media, describing how the MSM have changed and how new patterns of media consumption are emerging. The book features interviews with thirty-seven significant figures in both traditional and new forms of mass communication; interviewees range from the publisher of the New York Times to the founder of Twitter.

We learn about innovations in media that rely on contributions from a crowd (or a community), as told by Wikipedia’s Jimmy Wales and Craigslist’s Craig Newmark; how the band OK Go built a following using YouTube; how real-time connections between dispatchers and couriers inspired Twitter; how a BusinessWeek blog became a quarterly printed supplement to the magazine; and how e-readers have evolved from Rocket eBook to QUE. Ira Glass compares the intimacy of radio to that of the Internet; the producer of PBS’s Frontline supports the program’s investigative journalism by putting documentation of its findings online; and the developers of Google’s Trendalyzer software describe its beginnings as animations that accompanied lectures about social and economic development in rural Africa. At the end of each chapter, Moggridge comments on the implications for designing media. Designing Media is illustrated with hundreds of images, with color throughout. A DVD accompanying the book includes excerpts from all of the interviews, and the material can be browsed at www.designing-media.com.

Product Design in the Sustainable Era
by Dalcacio Reis

Consumers are increasingly sensitive and concerned about sustainability. Indeed, a recent study of purchasing habits shows demand for sustainable offerings remains strong—despite the economic downturn. According to a Cone Consumer Survey (February 2009), 44 percent of consumers say their “green” buying habits remain unchanged despite the current economy, and one-third of consumers say they are even more likely to buy green today than they were previously.
    
Sustainability is not a passing fashion, and people are constantly searching for more information, products and innovations in this area. Designers, in turn, are responding with elegant, efficient, low-impact products that look towards a sustainable future. This book brings together over 100 such innovative and award-winning projects from over 20 countries, launched by leading design offices and companies worldwide, including IDEO, IBM, and New Deal Design. 

Featuring reusable products from water bottles and diapers to solar- and wind-powered goods; clocks that run by reacting with soil; air and water purifiers; coffins and urns for sustainable funerals; paper made from elephant and sheep dung—as well as eco-friendly chocolates, bikinis, guitars, energy efficient appliances and much more—this is a state-of-the-art update on the sustainable revolution in product design.

What design books would you add to this list? Leave your comments in the box below.

I think if you were to ask many business people who have recently made their foray into social media they might express the same sentiment as my friend did—and I think it’s fair to say—we’ve all been there, done that.  Reminds me of the old joke: A New Yorker  is approached on the street near Carnegie Hall and asked, “Pardon me, sir, how do I get to Carnegie Hall?” He replies, “Practice, practice, practice.”

So the question then becomes, how do you practice social media? For me, five ways come immediately to mind:
1. reading
2. asking questions
3. commenting and engaging
4. creating content
5. diving in

Reading: Even 15-30 minutes a day reading blog posts, updates on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn will provide a good view of the social media terrain.

Questions: One of the things which never ceases to amaze me on the ever-expanding social-sphere is people’s willingness to help others. If you post a question you’re bound to get many answers, links, solutions and recommendations.

Commenting and Engaging: Even if you only post a couple of comments a week, you’ll be surprised by how much more a part of the social conversation you’ll become. It’s always good practice to comment when you truly have something to add to the conversation.

Content: I’m a big believer in the fact that all content needn’t be in the form of the written word. You can create and publish content in many forms e.g. images, photos, videos, podcasts. In fact, on the web, less is often more. (Case in point, how Socialcast packed so much great information into their Infographic.)

Diving In: There’s a lot of great instruction on the web about how to create a profile on a social networking site and great info about how to maintain them, too. You really can’t break anything, so there’s no harm in giving it a try. Once you get the hang of it, posting an update will become second nature.

By now you might be thinking but why all this fuss? Can’t I just get by without social media? Au contraire. Simply, social media is here to stay. Need more proof, 
Socialcast sums it up nicely.

When executives were asked how they see their company’s use of external social media tools increasing over the next 1-2 years they indicated: 58% more marketing programs; 57% content distribution; 48% as a sales channel/business development; 37% research job applicants; 35% create support community; 33% for sales contacts; 44% more viral/wom programs; 28% crowd-sourcing product/service ideas; 26% create community for client relationships; and 10% procurement network.

Consider too, these top five reasons why executives visit online networks (Socialcast):

1. Great way to keep track of peers and colleagues
2. Easy access to thought leadership or information that can’t be found elsewhere
3. Good way to showcase themselves or their companies
4. Easy access to learning and professional development
5. Wish to find out what others think of products, vendors or approaches

(Be sure too, to check out the rest of the Infographic.)

How do you practice social media? And, why are you visiting online networks? Share your comments below.

DaBomb Media has been very fortunate to work with some of the leaders in the electronics industry, helping them with creative ways to market their products online and at the point of sale at many of the largest online retailers. By gaining this experience, we have learned a lot about the various approaches to create enticing, creative and compelling informational pieces to help increase product knowledge and sales. We have learned to take a holistic approach to our projects.

Key Advantages for Using 3D Models and 3D Product Visualizations:

1. Creating photo realistic 3D product visualizations is the most cost effective approach to maximize the possibilities of online product marketing. You see, once a product has a life-like 3D model created for it, the sky is the limit. We have created interactive 360 product tours of over a dozen cameras for Canon. We have also created product informational videos for Casio to be used in tradeshows and viral marketing campaigns. We have also helped clients do market research testing by creating different products that consumer test groups can do A/B comparison testing on.
2. Making changes to the product with 3D models offers limitless possibilities while staying cost effective. If a furniture manufacturer wanted to see what color sofa consumers preferred, it is very easy to control the various elements of color, texture and materials. The possibilities are only limited to the imagination of the manufacturer, as we have done various out of the box examples that ended up becoming the final product that the company produced.
3. The angle and presentation of the product can easily be manipulated when 3D models are used for product marketing. Recently, Walmart started suggesting to their vendors that they create more compelling sales tools for their products for www.walmart.com. Think about it, if you had a bunk bed that you needed to create a 360 product tour for, how would you go about producing the 18 to 24 images to make up the 360 tour? Photography would be quite challenging to say the least.Having the product as a 3D model would make it as easy as programming the exact angle you wished to view the product from. So each frame of the 360 is from the perfect angle, and as the correct lighting and environmental elements, so that the product is consistently represented throughout the full 360 tour.

Check out some of the projects we have worked on, so that you can get a feel for what is possible.

Canon EOS 60D camera

Canon XF305 HD camcorder

Kolcraft Stroller

NewTrend Furniture

Dodge Journey

Canon SX210

Braun BodyCruzer

As Facebook states, “Pages are for organizations, businesses, celebrities, and bands to broadcast great information in an official, public manner to people who choose to connect with them. Similar to profiles, Pages can be enhanced with applications that help the entity communicate and engage with their audiences, and capture new audiences virally through friend recommendations, News Feed stories, Facebook events, and beyond.”

3 Key Ways to Use Facebook Fan Pages

# 1: Broadcast Great Information
Businesses can share their own content from innumerable sources e.g. company videos, blog posts, white papers, PR updates, PowerPoint presentations—content that you think people will value and appreciate. By adding the URL of a blog post or YouTube video from one of the sources you follow, you can help share a wealth of information.

One of the greatest features of creating Facebook posts are the four calls to action built into the process: 1) leave a comment, 2) like an item, 3) share by sending to friends or post to your own profile, and 4) promote by creating an ad.

#2: Communicate and Engage with Audiences
Facebook offers unique ways for businesses to communicate and engage with audiences by giving businesses the ability to comment on their own post and have back and forth conversations.

#3: Capture New Audiences
Friends can recommend your business by clicking on suggest to friend. Your posts can also spread quickly in a person’s news feed.  Keep in mind that a person can view their news feed by choosing to see Top News or Most Recent, so if the person has a lot of friends and pages they like on Facebook you may need to think about when and how your posts will be seen. Thomas E. Weber suggests in his post, Cracking the Facebook Code, updates which contain a link appear more frequently than status updates and are more effective at driving user engagement.  So all the more reason to share links!

Facebook suggests engaging with your audience via eight key ways:  1) publisher, 2) notes, 3) photos, 4) videos, 5) discussion boards, 6)groups, 7) events and 8) Facebook platform.

You can also capture new audiences by adding a Facebook share button or like widget to your blog or website, enabling you to share information and point readers back to your Facebook page.

There’s a lot to keep up with about Facebook (and social networking for businesses), so, we’ll be continuing the discussion here on DaBomb Media’s blog, in the weeks and months ahead.  For starters you also may want to familiarize yourself with Facebook marketing terms created by All Facebook: The Unofficial Facebook Resource.

Also, if you’re just getting started with a social media strategy for your business, check out our post to learn more about Guidelines for Corporate Social Media Use.

Final Thoughts: We’ll leave you with a key take away from Samir Balwani’s post, 5 Elements of a Successful Facebook Fan Page:

“Creating a Facebook fan page is simple, but getting it to work well takes time, dedication, and some planning. Don’t expect to create a page and then have a huge following instantaneously. Build good content, make it easy to share, and let people know about it, and over-time the community will grow.”

How do you use Facebook for your business communication? Please share your comments below.

Facebook image: benstein’s photostream

Cnet.com, ZDnet.com and PCworld focus on electronics from cell phones to computers.  We were tasked with coming up with not only the creative elements for the site, but also the functionality of the site.

We studied the best and worst of how some of the similar sites in different industries worked, and the technology used to run these sites.  Since we have worked with WordPress since the beginning, we couldn’t think of a better platform to run such a site.  We outlined some of the things we could take advantage of in the new 3.0 release, like taxonomies.  Now that the designs have been approved, we have jumped into making those beautiful designs come to life.

We Rate Sports will have partners like Nike, Sports Authority and Ticket Network just to name a few.  Check back in over the coming weeks as we update our progress on the project.

A SellPoint, Inc. study conducted by Coremetrics found a significant increase in product purchases after online shoppers viewed audio/video tours of products.

The study analyzed online shopping behaviors to measure the impact SellPoint’s Active Product Tours (APT) on the purchase patterns of online shoppers. Among the findings:

• There was a 35% increase in the sales conversion rate among shoppers who viewed the tours vs. those who did not.
• Shoppers viewing the product tours spent more than 2.5 minutes, on average, engaged in viewing detailed product information about each product viewed.

The Active Product Tours are detailed product presentations featuring audio, video and downloadable sales collateral related to a particular product. Shoppers choose to view them by selecting a “Take a Product Tour” button on the product page.

SellPoint also released the following information:

• Last year, online shoppers spent more time viewing APT on Thanksgiving Day than on CyberMonday (208,509 minutes vs. 181,726 minutes).
• Based on SellPoint projections, Thanksgiving Day view time will total more than 380,000 minutes vs. nearly 182,000 minutes of view time on CyberMonday.

Check out a few of the tours we created:

Canon PowerShot SX210

Casio SuperSlim Projector

Disney Pix Jr. Digital Camera

Information provided by MarketingCharts.com

1. Requirements Gathering:
   Being organized right from the beginning gives a site a lot better chance of being successful.  Great websites don’t just appear and it takes more than just a great idea.  There are many elements that are needed before.  Here are a few questions that need to be asked to help figure out what will be needed for the actual website.
   • What are the goals of the website?
   • Who is the audience of the website?
   • What message will the site send?
   • How does the website fit into your client’s business plan?
   • What achievements will make the website successful in the client’s eye and the eyes of the client’s audience?
   • Who is your client’s competition? How do their websites compare to the message and desired results of your client?  Can you identify their strengths and improve on them?  Can you identify their weaknesses and offset them with your client’s strengths.
   • How will you measure performance, # of visits, # of requests for information, other?
   • What information will your website collect or disseminate?
   • What is the budget?
   • What is the deadline?
2. Assets Gathering
   Having a great looking website with cool bells and whistles isn’t enough.  As the saying goes, content is king.  With that in mind, what will be on your website and how will that be displayed on the site.  Here are some questions that will help guide the gathering of assets to fill the website with content.
   • Where is the copy or text for the website coming from?
   • Who is providing the images and internal graphics such as icons and who owns the rights to those images?  If not in the public domain, has permission been granted to use the items?
   • What is the domain name?
   • Where will the site be hosted?  Will redundant hosting be required?
   • Are all branding and marketing material to be used for the website available and in the right file format?
   • Is SEO part of the project?  If so what keywords will be used?
   • Will Social Media be a part of the website?  If so are existing accounts available on the popular social media sites, if not who will create them?  How will access be granted across multiple sites, SSO from the client’s site, or third party such as Yahoo or Google?
3. Information Architecture: What is this anyway?  You probably know what “information” is and you may have an understanding of “architecture”.  But, what do they have to do with designing a Web site.Simply stated, information architecture is the way various pieces and forms of information is are grouped, coupled with the navigation methods and terminology used within the website.  Once all the planning is complete and all the assets have been collected it’s time to plan the site and organize the various functionality and interactivity of the website.  This part of the process includes creating wireframes of pages, and how pages will connect and interact with each other.  Here are some points to be considered during this step.
   • Create a site map.
   • Define the elements on the home page and their purpose.
   • Determine the navigation hierarchy.
   • Define how the users will navigate the site.  Remember what may be an intuitive means of navigation for the designer may be totally counter intuitive to the average user.
   • Determine if there will there be a site-wide search option and how should it work and what type of results should it provide.
   • Determine the need for different types of pages for either presenting or collecting different types of information.
   • Define some common tasks and test how they work.
4. Design:
   Now that all the planning is done and all the information about the site has been gathered, it’s time to start the design process.  This is where designers get to be a bit creative in how they deliver the message for the client while giving the audience the information that they need.  It’s important to ensure that all designs are approved by the client before proceeding to the development phase.Remember that it’s much easier to change things in the design phase than to change them in the development phase.  Here are a few points to be covered in the design process.
   • What color palette should be used for the design?
   • What design style is wanted or required?
   • What style of typography should be used?
   • What type of content should featured on the site (text, video/audio or a combination of content)?
5. Development:
   Once the design is completed and has received final approval, the development can begin.  This portion of the project is where all the code is written, and the functionality is put into place.  This is a short list of tasks done during development.
   • Set up appropriate accounts with the hosting service.
   • Establish a workbench site and a released version site.
   • Establish version controlling on both sites.
   • Set up database and ensure access to server is possible.
   • Convert design into sliced pieces for html/css.
   • Write all code to ensure functionality and usability of websites meet requirements.
   • Ensure all development is validated and fully tested in a prototype copy located within the workbench site.
6. Testing:
   After the site has been coded, then it is time to see if everything looks and works the way it is expected to.In order to do this there are a number of tests that need to be performed.  Here is a sample list of some basic tests that need to be run.
   • Has all textual content been run through both a spelling and a grammar checker?
   • Is the layout and content formatted correctly?
   • Does the site perform all the functions that were outlined in the information architecture phase?
   • Do all the links work?Do all the forms and input devices work?
   • Are all database functions performing?
   • Does the website work across all major browsers and browser versions?
   • View site in a number of browsers and window sizes to ensure the overall composition is maintained.
   • Test accessibility to ensure it can be viewed by various users (handicapped users, smart phone users etc.).
   • Check all content for errors or issues.
7. Launch:
   After all the testing is complete, and all issues have been resolved, it’s time to launch the website.  This is usually as simple as changing the DNS information for the domain name.  This process can take up to 24 hours to take effect, so keep that in mind when planning your launch date.  After the site has been launched, it’s time to spread the word about the site.
8. Advertise:
   Ok so all that hard work has paid off and the site is done and live.  Now what is the plan to get traffic to the website?  Here are a few ideas on ways to generate traffic and interest in the new site.
   • Social Media is a great way to advertise and build interest.  Utilize things like Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and Linked In to let people know about the new website.
   • Complete Search Engine Optimization with keywords.
   • Google Adwords can be an inexpensive way to advertise, and allows options for budgets of different sizes.
   • Having a blog is a great way to build up a following of your audience and provide news and information on a regular basis.
9. Maintain:
   Websites are never really done.  After they are launched, they need to be updated regularly to ensure you have the right message for your audience.  Make sure to work on new content for the site in the form of new graphics, news and offerings just to name a few.  Depending on your content, message and audience, you can do other creative things to entice people to visit the site regularly.  Things like blogs, polls, contests and discounts are good ways to encourage people to keep coming back.Have you ever visited a site only to find that either some of the links or the content is out of date?  Did the frustrate you or cause you to think less of the site’s owner?

   An important maintenance element is maintaining the currency of the site’s information and links.  Remove obsolete information in a timely manner.  If the information may have continued value to some customer, establish an archive section on the site.

The design process at Ford begins with a digital illustration program — Autodesk TKTKTKT — to create a drawing of the concept. This side-view image of the car design in progress is worked on and tweaked until a basic full-color version of the design is created. At this point things get interesting and 3D technology comes into play.

(Excerpt taken from second link in the first paragraph)

Through the magic of CAD software, these sketches get extrapolated into full three-dimensional renderings. Crucial as they are for engineers, who need to figure out how to shoehorn all the associate drivetrain parts into a shell of a body, these 3D models also still have plenty of use for designers as they fine tune the finish details of the car.

The entire 3D design process at Ford Motor is so detailed it even includes digitally scanning actual physical locations to provide settings for the virtual car. This allows designers to see how different environments and lighting conditions play against the vehicle’s surface.

Digital Analyst, Brian Solis, suggests, “Policies and guidelines must be clear and explicit in intentions and implementation and leave nothing to chance.” Guidelines can include statements about: not violating company’s privacy; remembering at all times that the employee is representative of the company; using common sense and courtesy; sticking to area of expertise in opinions and comments; being appropriate and polite at all times.

While large companies may find it helpful to hire a consultant to draft their social media policy, small businesses may find many good resources online which can then be adapted for their company. One such document was created by Todd Defren entitled, Top 10 Guidelines of Corporate Social Media Policy. The template available as a pdf, can be used to copy and paste as you see fit for your company.

Additional Resources for social media policies:

6 Terrific Examples of Social Media Policies for Employees target=”_blank”

Social Media Policies

Social Media Governance: Empowerment with Accountability

Blogging and Social Media Policy Sample

Sample Social Networking Policy

What advice do you have for developing a social media policy?

image credit: Matsuyuki’s photostream

Using 3D tools for design offers architects a number of benefits. A 3d architectural visualization can be used to present building proposals to potential clients or competition boards. Once a building has been fully created with 3D software tools a model of the design can be physically printed by utilizing a 3D printer both saving the time of having to create the model, and producing a perfect representation of the design.

Going beyond the design phase, architectural visualization is now even taking a role in selling homes and buildings. In this case a realtor used a 3D model of a home for sale to conduct virtual home tour for prospective buyers with a representation of the home that included features as detailed as electrical outlet placement, the installed fixtures, view from the windows and even the color of the walls.

Using 3D tools for architectural design makes a lot of sense and is a great example of how these tools can be utilized in 3D product design.

Ask (and answer) the Who, What, Where, When, Why and How of Social Media Marketing for your business. Who should be involved in your social media marketing efforts? What are their responsibilities? Where will they post their updates? When will they post updates and comments? Why have you selected the platforms you have? How will you advise employees about social media use?

Step Two: Develop a Content Strategy and Plan

Develop content categories and topics which are most reflective of your industry. Brian Halligan, CEO of HubSpot, suggests writing: “How-to articles, analysis of a current industry trend or challenge, announcements of an upcoming event, feedback on articles you read in print and online publications.”

Step Three: Create Regularly Scheduled Posts and Updates

Develop a schedule for your content strategy. One way to stay on schedule is to use an editorial calendar. A good template for scheduling blog, Facebook and Twitter posts can be found here.

Step Four: Stay up-to-date on the rapidly changing social media landscape

Keep up-to-date on trends in social media by creating your own personal reading list of blogs and/or sign-up to receive google alerts.

Step Five: Know thy visitors

Use and review analytics to gain insights into: your social media traffic sources, keywords that drive visitors to your sites, and content which most engages your visitors. e.g. Tools may include: Google Analytics for blog platforms (or other site analytics plugins for WordPress), Facebook Insights, Twitter Grader, YouTube Channel Analytics
What steps have been most challenging for your business? What recommendations can you share?

image credit: Matt Hamm’s Flickr photostream