I’m currently swamped with work right now, so I thought I’d turn the “blogable” file upside down and see what falls out. Here are some great links which, though they may not be the newest thing on the internet, are still especially amazing.
A robot that does calligraphy? Affirmative. This robot is rewriting the entire Bible, one character at a time. Next up: outsourcing all things that take patience to robots.
Unfortunately this post was not easy to write. Sadly many authors these days still don’t even have websites (Tom Clancy – where you at?) and those that do often have very poor ones built long ago using outdated code, tables and animated gifs (best-selling author Ken Follett has a pretty poor showing). However, as more and more authors realize how important a presence on the web is new author sites are being built, and they’re getting better. A great author website reflects the nature of the writer’s style, helps fans get to know the author better, provides an easy way for authors to connect to their audience, and remains easy to navigate.
If you are an author and you need a better website (one that would make this list) please contact me today. I can help you create a custom-designed site that is easy for you to update yourself. Let’s not let this industry wallow in 1998 any longer – its time for authors to embrace good web design!
For inspiration and to offer a bit of hope here are a few stand-out websites for authors I’ve found on the web:
Absolutely stunning site that makes great use of a minimal design approach and limited color scheme.
The enormously popular FreelanceSwitch is one of my favorite blogs/websites. I’ve always loved reading it as it continually offers the best advice for bloggers, writers, designers, developers, photographers, and more. The site is dedicated to helping freelancers (or really small businesses) become more efficient, attract more clients, and do better work. When I started my own business FSW and their self-published book helped me a lot. I continue to read the FSW blog daily and often follow advice and tips from the posts there.
My article on the FreelanceSwitch homepage
I also love helping other freelancers and startup companies and recently thought about writing a helpful article and trying to get it published on FSW. I spent some time crafting the post and submitted it. Lo and behold – FSW accepted the article and posted it soon thereafter. I was/am super-excited to be a part of the FSW team!
Here’s how the article begins:
Remember when you graduated from school or first decided to become a freelancer? You likely didn’t have much work to show and had to scramble to fill your portfolio. If you now have a few years under your belt, you’ve probably started to build up quite a collection of finished pieces.
The importance of having a professional portfolio website has been discussed on FreelanceSwitch – it is essential for the modern freelancer. But how do you decide what to include in your portfolio? If you fill your site with only your favorite work it could be focused in the wrong direction and not attract business. If you only display giant commercial projects it may feel like a sterile presentation with no heart. Somehow you need to show that as a freelancer you are both capable in your skills and able to produce high quality, creative results.
I suggest this 5-pronged approach for deciding what you want to include in your portfolio:
I’m looking forward to a continued 2-way relationship with FreelanceSwitch!
WordPress was first built as a blog platform but has now developed into a full-featured CMS (Content Management System). It is easy to design in and develop for. Add to that its easy-to-use backend and scalability and you can see why more and more sites are being built using WP. Here are a few of my favorites sites built with WordPress:
Might as well start with the best of the best. Clean and simple display of the content, with elegant and perfect design. Read More
As I spend time (ie – all day) on the web I come across quite a few interesting and amazing things. Instead of trying to write an entire post about each one I thought I’d throw a bunch at you all at once. Check out some greatness and let me know your favorite!
(via You Look Marvelous)
This article outlines one couple’s attempt. Not as easy as they would have liked, but certainly something to aspire to. I know a couple people trying this as well. Read More
I’ve been on vacation for a few days and seem to have missed the announcement that Google is releasing their own web browser. Its called Google Chrome and they’d like you to think its going to tip the browser world on its head.
Google hired the fantabulous comic book artist Scott McCloud to illustrate an online booklet describing the new browser. In typical the McCloud fashion the artwork is clean and simple, but with wonderful subtle elements. The booklet gets pretty technical, but is a great way to let people learn about this new product.
Kudos to Google, such a huge company, for using great design and illustration to promote themselves.
Today Apt Design is launching its newest venture – www.myPassionProject.com !
my Passion Project is a community-written blog that allows visitors to share with the world what they love to do – quickly, easily and for free!
A Passion Project is what you spend your extra time, money and effort on. Something you love to do. It may be a hobby, a collection, or a creation, but whatever it is you absolutely love doing it. Sharing it with the world on myPassionProject.com can be rewarding, empowering and fun.
I have been working on my Passion Project for the past few months, incubating it from concept to fully-formed idea to an actual website. I have had a blast designing it, developing it, and dreaming of its future possibilities. It has certainly become my Passion Project and I’m happy to finally let everyone see it.
There are already some amazing posts over on the site, so go check it out and be sure to leave some comments or submit something yourself!
Brand New is a website that reviews and critiques new and redesigned logos and identities. Always a good read, they are not always praising designs just because they are new or designed by a famous design firm. Recently they wrote about a logo tournament that ends with just one logo standing.
The tournament was judged by some of the biggest names in the design world. Though the reasons these logos made it into the tournament is a little unclear, the ensuing battle is spectacular. And while we wouldn’t necessarily agree with all of the decisions (we think Apple should have made it further – but we’re a little biased), the overall winner makes sense. Not only is Target’s logo brilliantly simple, their in-house design team has been winning awards (for things like this) across all media in the past few years.
Not everyone agrees with the results of the showdown; check out the comments on that post to get some other opinions. And don’t forget to tell us what you think about the fight to the death here.
At Apt, we are always interested in websites that employ horizontal scrolling. Why? Horizontal scrolling is basically a huge no-no when it comes to web design. It is taught against in schools and railed against online. And for good reason, for the most part scrolling sideways is highly counterintuitive. At least online, where user experience is king and most people are accustomed to going down a page for information.
That makes it all the more beautiful when a website is created in a horizontal fashion and done well at the same time. Such is the case for a new website we found called How To Cook A Wolf. The site is for an (apparently) upscale restuarant in the Seattle area. Georgeous photographs, sparse type, and great layout make this site work. What makes it stand out is the navigation. Visitors have the old option of scrolling across with their scrollbar, but LookAtLao Studio has added JavaScript buttons that slide nicely to the sections of the site.
Makes us wish we would have thought of that.
we’ve been really digging a new video/website called story of stuff lately. it is a short, down and dirty, possibly skewed movie all about how our culture is currently stuck in a linear consumption model.
annie leonard, the host and narrator of this live-action / animated story presents us with the many problems involved in our current materials economy. it is an interesting and perhaps eye-opening look that may make you think about the consumer-centered lives we lead.
after the movie there are a few suggested ways you can help to make things better. we think the list may be a little short and not make much of an impact. but, since we’re not even doing everything on the list yet we’ll start there.
