visit the site

Certainly one of the most fun sites I’ve ever worked on, Adventure Wenatchee caters to those wanting to get involved in outdoor recreation right outside my hometown of Wenatchee. With gorgeous photos to set off a variety of in-depth content this site took local visitor information to the next level. I also got to team up with one of my favorite clients and one of my favorite developers for a truly exceptional project we all loved working on.

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In 2010 the United States formed it’s own team to be part of the World Federation of Medical Soccer Teams. Only a few years later the US has been selected as the site for the 2015 international tournament. With that in mind, and with a growing need to have a professional face for their fans and a place to provide solid info to its members, the USMST decided they needed a new website.

Club President Gautam Nayak came to me with a tall order – create a beautiful new site that was pleasing to visitors and quickly told what the team was about while at the same time creating a site that would serve as a logistical hub for the team itself. Gautam wanted a central location for securely storing members information, information they could update themselves, and being able to use that info for his own managerial purposes.

With the abundance of information and possibilities for how this site could go we decided to start by wireframing the major sections of the site. Gautam was great to work with, able to see the ideas behind the wireframes and help guide the layout.

Communication

With the organization spread across the nation, Gautam wanted this site to be a central place for communication with his team. The new website helps with this by giving a quick overview of each blog category on the homepage. Coaches can write in articles for their team, and there is a showcase for what doctors are doing to help in their own community. Members can also log in to access private team information and documents.

Database Driven Team

Keeping track of dozens of team members, each with their own skillsets, memberships, and uniforms, can be overwhelming. A central part of this project was creating a database for the team. On the backend Gautam and coaches can set rosters, update information, and export data on members that match certain criteria (say, that are going to the next tournament). Each team member can also log in and update all their profile themselves, saving the coaches hours and hours of work. But the power of this site doesn’t end there. The same database also displays selected team information to the public, giving stats and a bio for all the current team members.

Custom Galleries

If you’ve been to an event where everyone is taking pictures, you know how fun it is to get home and look through the photos. The new USMST website has custom galleries pages where logged-in members can upload their own photos. After review by the admin the photos are loaded directly into the gallery for everyone to enjoy.

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For the complete overhaul of Asbury United Methodist Church’s website Zach and Casey from Lamplight Media called me in to join them to help build a new design. Inspired by the colors of their prominent stained-glass window and wanting to bring this website fully into the 21st century we created a clean and modern site that pops with bright colors. It was great teaming up with other professionals to build such a worthwhile and user-friendly new site.

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With over 11,000 Facebook likes and over 30,000 Twitter followers, Tim O’Brien is a powerhouse in the online writing world. A veteran journalist, currently the editor at the Huffington Post, Tim has written two books and helped win a Pulitzer Prize. After completing his first work of fiction Tim knew it was finally time to update his website.

An Online Hub

Not only did Tim’s site need a visual redesign and a way for him to more easily update the content on his own site, this new site needed to be the hub of his online presence. Tim needed a central place to refer readers, fans, interviewers and more.

Tim’s site welcomes readers from many social media channels to learn more about him, his journalistic work, and his books. At the same time prominent links back out to Tim’s channels help readers follow him around the web. The site is laid out very simple with clean lines and open space accented by a textured header that is specific for each page. This helps brings life to the site and interest to the highlighted section of each page.

Apt Design meets Responsive Design

Not only do Tim’s visitors come from a variety of sources, but he knew they’d be coming on a variety of devices. So his site was the first responsive site that Apt Design has worked on. Responsive design is a hot topic in the web design industry right now, and for good reason. With more and more people accessing the web on tablets and phones websites have an increasingly need to customize their content and design to any size screen. Tim’s new site uses standard break points in the width of the screen to change the layout and design of each page, ensuring an optimal viewing experience for all.

Tim was happy to have a new site that looked great, highlighted his best work, and helped sell his newest book to the masses.

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In this post I’m taking the opportunity to check out what other, extremely popular authors have done on their public websites. Below you’ll find a glance at the homepages of the top 10 best-selling authors of 2012 (compiled from here, here, and here), with some of my thoughts on each site.

1. E.L. James

www.eljamesauthor.com

The sizzling Shades of Grey trilogy sky-rocketed E.L. James to the top of this list and second place was far distant. James’ site is well done with an understated design and easy links for her visitors. She even links out to fan sites and gives specific wine lists from her books – great additions only found on the web.

2. Suzanne Collins

www.suzannecollinsbooks.com

With all the fame and hype surrounding The Hunger Games, Suzanne might not have had time to update her site much. (Suzanne! If you’re reading this, contact me to get a new dynamic website!)

3. Gillian Flynn

www.gillian-flynn.com

Gillian has a smart-looking site that offers all the basics I recommend on an author site: upcoming events, a contact page, and lots of focus on her books. The site is simple, but enough for fans to get what they need.

4. Jeff Kinney

www.wimpykid.com

Jeff’s website is wonderful, maybe my favorite on this list. He doesn’t even have an author website, he’s completely branded himself with his Wimpy Kid series. The site’s design is delightfully playful but great attention has been paid to content as well. There is a plethora of extra information, links, and “fun stuff.” Perfect!

5. Nicholas Sparks

www.nicholassparks.com

I’ve mentioned Mr. Sparks here before, on my roundup of 8 Great Author Websites. Sparks’ site is well-geared to target his audience. Calm colors, passionate photos and beautiful faces make me want to escape into a romance book or movie of his.

6. Tom Rath

www.tomrath.org

Tom’s website is clean and simple. It’s minimal design with bold contrast plays well to the business-crowd he writes for and is certainly a reflection of his writing as well. A small photo of Tom in the sidebar makes it feel like he is taking me on a personal tour of his site and a big note on his homepage lets me know exactly what he’s working on now.

7. Kevin Maurer

www.kevinmaurer.net

Kevin might be the kind of guy who likes to do things himself, his website included. A few more photos, some type-treatments, and an intentional visual design would go a long way to making this site feel more accessible and interesting.

8. Rick Riordan

www.rickriordan.com

This site is epic! Colorful illustrations of dragons! Legendary font for the headlines! Plenty of content! Let’s get to battling bad guys!

9. George R.R. Martin

www.georgerrmartin.com

George (one of my favorite authors) has a site that is an amazing throwback to 1998. But believe it or not, this site is updated quite frequently and keeps visitors informed and entertained.

10. Bill O’Reilly

www.billoreilly.com

O’Reilly’s website is extensive, pulling in news, a store, features for premium members and much more. There are some nicely designed parts to the site, but overall it is a dense, crowded site and dozens of links everywhere make it pretty hard to scan.

So, there you have it. Quite a variety of sites in the top 10 authors of 2012, from do-it-yourself pages to fully-featured exhaustive websites. Let me know which ones you prefer. Of course if you are an author looking for a great new website read about the 6 things I think every author website needs, then contact me to get started!

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When Justen came to me to help him build his new author website he had a plan. He was looking for a site that was dark, gritty, and mysterious – just like his books. I gave Justen a variety of design concepts and we settled on a forested background, dark page styling and a striking image at the top of his homepage. Justen now had a place to showcase his newest book, and the many more to come.

The post Justen Forge appeared first on Apt Design.

A second confession: While most of my blog posts are well-thought-out, organized and structured, this post kind of just follows my process for picking a new PM system in the same order that I did. It’s as close to stream-of-consciousness as I’m going to get.

Quick Context

I’m a small visual design shop, just me as an employee with 2-3 subcontractors. I love to work efficiently (my Myers-Briggs personality type values “efficiency over everything”). I want to be able to track all my projects, see what tasks I have that need to be done, have a central place for project communication, track my time and get some basic reports about my business. I don’t work from my phone or tablet. In reading these reviews please remember they just reflect what I am looking for and my opinions. All of these PM systems have their merits and may be great for certain organizations.

I’ve loved Basecamp since I started my business. It’s fast, easy to use, and does most of what I needed. But recently 37Signals (the company behind Basecamp) decided that instead of continuing to upgrade Basecamp they would create an entirely new Basecamp product. In doing so they stripped out some of the features of the old Basecamp and left the old version to collect dust. I’m still confused as to why they did this. In the new version of Basecamp there is no longer any time-tracking feature, something I 100% need for my business and something I’m confused why any business wouldn’t need.

Previously in Basecamp my workflow/needs looked like this:

Start Project

• Add Clients
• Add Milestones
• Add templated ToDo lists

Work on Project

• Track Time
• Review Versions
• Create/Track Feedback and Communication
• Hit deadlines

• See/organize my ToDos across all projects
• See what subcontractors are doing

• Have a place to store Settings for project/client

Finish Project

• Review hours spent vs. what I billed (sometimes)

Estimating, proposals, and invoicing all took place outside of Basecamp. But in looking for a new PM system I thought it would be wonderful to pull my entire workflow into one system and do all of this from one place:

Send Estimate

• Get contract signed online
• Send initial Invoice

Start Project

• Add People
• Add Tasks
• Add Deadlines

Work on Project

• Track Time
• Review Versions and get them approved online
• Create/Track Feedback and messages
• Hit deadlines

• See/organize my ToDos across all projects
• See what subcontractors are doing
• See % of project done vs % of budget spent

• Have a place to store Settings for project/client

Finish Project

• Bill online or via email from previous Estimate
• Review hours spent/money made

When I started Apt Design I promised myself I wouldn’t get in a rut and rely on software that didn’t fit my needs or wasn’t up to par simply because I had used it for a long time. So, now that Basecamp was no longer meeting my needs, it was time to strike out on a new adventure – finding a new Project Management System!

So, with my specific needs in mind I opened up and quickly glanced over a myriad of PMs, including but not limited to:

• ChiliProject
• Beebole
• Things
• Subernova
• Rule
• Zoho
• Lighthouse
• Huddle
• Wrike
• Paprika
• Trello
• Action Method
• Apollo
• Daylite
• Speckle
• Cashboard
• Teamwork
• Planscope
• GoPlan
• Asana
• Happy Todos
• Dooster

Finally I narrowed it down to 3. I signed up for the free trials of each system and got some initial findings on each:

ActiveCollab

ActiveCollab offers just about everything. It can do just about everything that I was even considering a PM system might be able to do. It looks decent, though still pretty “Web 2.0″-y. The ability to completely customize your homescreen is wonderful. In essence, ActiveCollab can do just about everything, but it doesn’t necessarily do well or do it quickly. And the speed of AC is something that just kept coming up over and over. Not only do you have to click multiple multiple multiple times to get to where you want, but I had to wait forever for each page to load. I even got a loading bar between each page that showed me just how slow we were going.

In the end if I used this all day every day I would lose a lot of time just trying to get where I wanted to go and waiting for the system to load.

MavenLink

MavenLink is the system I wanted to like the most. It has many of the features I wanted, including the ability to setup a new project lightning-fast. Adding tasks, milestones and deliverables is so quick. But after that actually working on a project seemed pretty unintuitive. The Project Tracker that I thought I wanted to see most is tucked away in a weird slide-out, and attaching files or comments to a task or milestone is done by linking to the Project Tracker. Overall it felt like there was just a lot of confusing information vying for my attention and I couldn’t tell what to do. I think with a UI overhaul MavenLink could be a great solution (maybe whoever redesigned their frontend site, which is much more beautiful than the inside). Or, if you have a bunch of people who need to work together and who don’t have a workflow in place you could start from scratch and learn this one.

MavenLink was the first system I reviewed that really got me excited about their Estimating/Budget-tracking/Invoicing setup. It was also nice to be able to see how far along a project was coming compared to my estimate.

Copper Project

Copper seems to be a complete package. Their Gantt-chart thingy looks cool in their videos, but once in I was flummoxed as to how to actually build one easily. And that’s the feeling I got overall – nothing is easy here. The text is tiny, important buttons are hidden, and overall this just feels huge, bulky, complicated, and old. From their marketing site Copper looked nice, but it only took 5 minutes inside to realize it wasn’t for me.

Then, in a continued search I somehow found 3 more PM systems that looked promising, and tried them out too.

Pancake

Pancake is nice. It’s small and new, so it’s still very much in development. Pancake feels like it was built very much as a Invoicing program first, with a few PM options added later. And honestly those options weren’t robust enough for me. The Task management is very simple, with not much else in the way of client communication or planning.

But if you’re looking for a cheap option that you can store on your own hosting, this is definitely worth looking at. I could actually see this working well for other industries besides my own, even for something like landscaping services.

Solo

Solo is the new darling of freelance designers and small design firms. With absolutely no offense to Solo, I’m not sure it warrants that status. Many people love it’s beautiful design, and while I agree that is is very pretty, I don’t think the design is very easy to quickly read and review which is what I ultimately want. All the text is super-tiny and buttons are pretty small too. I couldn’t find Project Templates which would mean I’d have to enter 20+ tasks every time I setup a new website project. And again the site was fairly slow.

I can certainly see Solo becoming great for very small businesses, and it does have some nice reporting features right on the dashboard. Right now it’s still missing some fairly big (though planned) features. At $12/month though if it does what you need it’s worth looking into.

Projecturf

Projecturf seems like it was made for web design teams. It’s well designed compared to the others (my favorite design so far), it keeps your recent projects accessible in tabs across the top, it includes spots to store code snippets and Project Briefs. But the coolest option was the feature that let’s your clients click an icon to approve a specific design. That’s cool. Not necessary (right now I just have clients say they approve a design in a message), but cool.

In addition, Projecturf is fast, easy-to-use, has Project Templates, has a really nice global view, and can generate some strong reports. The only thing it didn’t have was the ability to have discussions about a single Task, something I use frequently with my subcontractors. That wasn’t a deal-breaker though. In general I liked Projecturf quite a bit.

Bring out the Chart

To help me really look at these systems objectively I created a giant spreadsheet where I listed the features I wanted in order of priority (making more important features worth more than less important ones). You can view that huge spreadsheet in all it’s glory here. I not only rated each feature, but marked in red the few definite killers for me that made it so I couldn’t use a system. (Remember, these priorities and ratings are what I needed and my opinions.)

I realized that in order for the Estimating/Invoicing functionality of a PM system to really be of use to me the system would also need to track all my Expenses. You see, I already use Kashoo for my basic accounting needs, including sending Invoices by email. While sending Invoices that you can pay online would be nice, it wouldn’t be worth doubling my data entry. Also, the PayPal fees really add up and that’s why I usually don’t have clients pay online unless they request it.

Basecamp (the new one)

Just to be fair I decided to give the New Basecamp a shot and see how it handled things. I’d seen all their fancy “look-at-us” “everything-is-new-and-great” ads and tutorials, but never actually gotten inside. So I tried making a quick new project…

Oh my.

Oh.

Wow.

After spending hours on a variety of very different systems getting on the new Basecamp was the difference between night and day. Fast. Easy. Beautiful. Fast.

Everything was where it made sense to go. I could get to just about anything with the click of a button, or less. Drag-and-drop interface. A page-like structure that was brand-new and yet made perfect sense the first time I used it. Basically it was everything their fancy new ads promised and I wanted to cry because I couldn’t have it.

or could I?

Harvest/Toggle Integration

Basecamp had cut time-tracking out of their new version, but after backlash from all the clients who actually used that feature they added integration with some other time-tracking software. I was looking for one that would integrate seamlessly, generate good reports, and hopefully be free since I’m already paying for Basecamp. Alas, there wasn’t an option that met all of those requirements. Toggle came close and has some really nice features, but it wasn’t seamless.

The closest to fitting in perfectly was Harvest, which I believe is the only app Basecamp specifically worked with to integrate well. And upon a closer look Harvest is pretty darn sweet on it’s own.

While I tracked thousands of hours of time in the old Basecamp, I never really did a whole lot with that data. There just weren’t any options to. Harvest has great reports that run automatically and even show up right on your dashboard (like showing % of time tracked that is billable).

Like I said, I didn’t want to add another Invoicing system that would add another layer to Estimating/Project Management/Invoicing/Accounting. But Harvest has Expense tracking as well. I’m not sure it can do everything Kashoo can, but it might be able to do all I need. Oh, and one other thing? Invoices paid online with Harvest only cost ¢50!

A Surprise Ending

After all my frustration with 37Signals’ decisions to create a separate new Basecamp and remove time-tracking I can’t believe I’m saying this, but Basecamp + Harvest might be the perfect right solution for Apt Design. I realize that I may just like the new Basecamp because I am used to the process from the old Basecamp, and I’m going to try and be open to the downfalls of combining these two systems as I give it a try. But with Basecamp’s speed, beauty and ease + Harvest’s estimating/invoicing and reporting my workflow might be better than ever. We’ll see…

The post Picking the Perfect Right Project Management System (for Apt Design) appeared first on Apt Design.

Now, as a whole I think the single-page long-scrolling webpages are a fancy way for designers and developers to get to show off and be cool. Throw in some hip parallax, give each section a different funky design, and in general get your site as noticed as possible with a lotta gimmicks and show. That’s not always the best way to keep the first things first, and it’s not always the optimum experience for the user (see my last example at the bottom).

However, in sifting through the piles of one-page inspirations – especially ones that use a long page method (instead of tabs), I did find some great examples of designs that were original, creative, and still user-friendly. Here they are with a few thoughts about each.

Beatrate

Classy, with a little bit of extra eastern-European glitz thrown in. The site is simple and doesn’t try to do too much. Beautiful photography introduces you to the band, you get a taste of their music, and then you can hire them. It works.

Black Estate Vineyards

This website has won all sorts of awards, and for good reason. The typography is stunning, the layout is well-executed, and the color is…black. The long-page works well here to keep you from getting distracted.

Bounty Beverages

This brewery takes a more fun approach to their one-page design. Though there is enough blue here to go for a swim in, the illustrated road leads on a journery through the whos, whats and whys of Bounty Beverage. The animation is a fun ride, but each stop seems worth the trip.

Chleon

I think Chleon has built an absolutely brilliant page here. The long-page is subject to becoming overwhelming very quickly. They’ve kept that problem at bay with minimal colors, simple iconography and text, and a consistent grid layout.

Djuradj

This web designer has a simple page that gives all the pertinent information you need about him, while showing off his design chops a little bit. Does seem a little empty…

Free Range Designs

This design studio gets it right. Visual separation for each section, easy navigation, and great design. There is quite a bit of detail for a one page site.

Joshua Turner

Another design site. Josh is clear and direct and again the colors are kept to a minimum.

Squarespace

In all my research, this Squarespace page really stood out. While they didn’t include their entire website here, the homepage really assimilates what could be many many pages. Each section stands on it’s own aesthetically, but feels part of the cohesive whole. The negative space really lets the content shine.

Two Fish Illustration and Design

I know what I said about parallax, but I love it’s use here. Catch my attention, show me your work, throw a contact form at me. Quick and easy. (Also eerily similar is this site. I’m not sure which came first.)

Whitmans

Because there’s not really a whole lot that really goes on on a restaurant website, I can understand why there was creative liberty taken here. The single-page long scroll makes the site a little more interesting and sets a good tone for what I would expect from the restaurant.

And one more, as a cautionary tale…

VonDutch

This is the internet, where most people don’t read, they skim. Remember what I said about keeping the first thing first? I’ve skimmed this site twice now and I still have no idea what the site is for or what it is promoting. To be sure the site is beautiful, and someone had a fun time putting together lots of vintage photos. But I have no idea what Von Dutch is or what they wanted me to do on their site.

The post 10 Great Single Long-Page Website Designs appeared first on Apt Design.

Custom design + compelling content = a great website that wins awards!

I worked with award-winning sci-fi author Kay Kenyon a few years ago (read more about our project here) to create a beautiful new website.

Since then she’s been adding great content to her site in the way of fantastic, relevant, and consistent blog posts. Especially popular is her “Introvert’s Guide to Writing” series.
The work paid off. Last week Writer’s Digest gave Kay Kenyon’s site the Website of the Week award. It’s a great honor and one that is well-deserved.

Follow Kay on Twitter.

Want your own award-winning author website? Contact me now to get started.

The post Award-Winning Author Site appeared first on Apt Design.

1. Your Books

Now, I know this seem obvious, but a large focus of your site really should be on your books. They are your pride and joy, your little creations, and probably the reason someone has heard of you and is coming to your site. With that in mind here are some more specifics on what about your books you should include.

A list of all of your published books

This isn’t a place to pick and choose which books you should show. Your author site should include all books you have ever published, even ones that are now out of print. Don’t leave people guessing as to whether the person who wrote the book they just finished is really you or not. You don’t necessarily need to heavily publicize all your works, but they should be discoverable.

Links to buy your books

While your own website might not be the place you sell the majority of your books, not having them available for purchase online would be silly. Don’t worry about trying to setup a complicated ecommerce system yourself – links to Amazon, Barnes and Noble and/or another online store are just fine. If you can, offer your visitor choices as to where to buy their book, but don’t give so many options that you create choice paralysis.

Your latest book

While most authors have a library of published books, they are usually focused on just actively promoting and marketing their latest story. Use your site design to surface and market the books you want to promote. Your homepage is a great place to place the cover of your most recent book and a great place for a teaser about why your visitor should become your reader.

2. A Way to Connect

Readers at your site have made an active decision to seek you out and read more about you. Chances are they are either a fan or are on their way to becoming one. And fans are people. And people that want to connect to other people, especially ones whose work they love. Offer your readers a chance to connect to you.

Now, this can get tricky. You want your readers to be able to get to know you a little better, but you don’t want them coming to your house for a sleepover. I think the balance here is to find a means of communication with your readers that a) maintains a comfortable privacy for you and b) is something that you will use. Then let readers know what this avenue is and offer it to them easily.

In many cases social media is the perfect solution for this. Users can follow you on Twitter or like you on Facebook without you following them back. They can send small messages to you without you having to give out your email address or telephone number. But again, I wouldn’t suggest creating a Twitter account or Facebook page (or any other social media channel) unless you really are going to use it.

3. Upcoming appearances

Taking the connection theme another step, readers love to meet authors. You website should feature pertinent information about you, and your public appearances are hugely pertinent. Whether you are doing a book signing, presenting at a workshop, or even just attending a conference you need to get that info out to as many people as you can. The very first place these dates should go is on your website. If you’re not getting the word out about your appearance, who is?

4. About the Author Page

Your author website is about you – the author.  So give your visitors as much information about you as you can. Make it obvious to find this info by creating an “About the Author” page.

This is a great place to have go-to information for press members that want information about you. Make sure your bio has everything a journalist needs and add more info that gets frequently requested. Another great idea is to have a link to a hi-res photo so that you don’t have to keep emailing your bio photo to people that ask for it.

5. A Call to Action

This is something that every website really should have. It’s a question that I ask all of my clients when we start a project, “What do you want visitors to your site to do?” Don’t be coy here. Make it obvious what you want them to do and offer a big easy way to do it. Is the point of your page to visitors to buy a book? Give them a big “Buy Now” button. Do you want more followers on Facebook? Place a “Like Me on Facebook” at the top of every page.

You should have some sort of call to action on every page, but most importantly on your homepage. Coming off of your homepage, what do you want the user to do?

6. Personality

Your writing is a reflection of your unique personality and style. Your website should be too. The design of your site should be unique to you and your work. Try not to use templates that will make your site look just like every other website out there. Working with a good designer can really help you set create a complete mood on your site. The visual design should mirror and expand the character of your books, while staying easy for your visitors to use and read.

Have any more thoughts about what a good author website needs? Let me know in the comments.

Are you an author looking for a site that can promote your books, help your readers connect with you, and look compelling in the process? Lo and behold, that’s what I do! Contact me to get the journey started. (And review point #5 if you’re wondering why this paragraph is here!)

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