Designer’s Intuition: Knowing What Web Design Approach is Best for The Client

Hi Everyone!

I apologize for missing you last week. I’ve been busy on a big project (golden pains) and needed to give it my full attention. Things are going well so, I made some time to write about something that is on my mind. Read on…

As I mentioned in a previous post, Content Management Systems (or CMSs) are very powerful web design tools that allow designers to build custom blogs, websites, landing pages and newsletters for their clients quickly and efficiently. While they are a great option, and often my preferred option, there are certain situations where they might not be my first design choice. In this post I’ll list instances where I feel that a CMS solution is best and, conversely, where a hard-coded option would be a better choice. This is by no means an exhaustive list; these are merely the instances that I work with most.

What I’ll talk about:

• Blogs/Photo Galleries
• Long-Term Maintenance: Client as Maintainer
• More Than One Content Creator
• Speed to Launch

Plus More…Read On

Custom Web Design, Logo Design, Brand Development…Want It All? Read On…

Hi everyone!

I am SO relieved to say that this week cooled down. Just a little but it was much more bearable. My kids were able to play outside for a good amount of time without becoming completely exhausted. It was great to get some time to play with them. Life gets so busy that we often forget to take advantage of these little blips in time.

Speaking of freeing up some time…

This week I’d like to talk about a web design tool that is, in my opinion, a huge asset for business owners, event hosts, designers, developers…pretty much anyone who wants to share information of any kind online. The tool that I am talking about is a Content Management System, or CMS, for short. Content Management Systems are very powerful tools in web design that help with the organization and construction of websites and blogs. A few that you have probably heard of are WordPress, Drupal, DotNetNuke, and Joomla. They handle a lot of the back-end (web functionality, compatibility and coding) and file structuring work so that users can focus more on the visual aspects of their sites. I like them because I can build a website or a custom blog for a client and then hand over control of it to them. Once all of the pieces are properly in place, management is much more feasible. Even better, it allows that client to have a professionally designed website without a ton of residual maintenance fees.

Below is a screenshot of a site that I built for a client. Once I established and built the design, the client took over and updated from there.

CMSs make it really easy for me to deliver a full-service, comprehensive design solution to clients in a fraction of the time it would take me to code a site from the ground up. I love that I can flex my design muscles and provide support in other areas of building a site and a brand, such as:

• Information architecture
• Custom color scheme
• Custom graphics
• Logo Design
• Custom Newsletter Templates

…and so much more. Basically, we can focus on building your whole brand, your entire look and feel or personality, another huge asset as you go forward and compete in today’s market.