Designs

Moo MiniCards

On Thursday I got my 10 pack of Moo MiniCards in the mail. Its the free 10pack you get when purchasing a pro flickr account. I had wanted some moo cards for awhile but was a little worried on the size. So, since I was offered a free 10pack I thought it would be perfect to test my business card design on it. I put my order in for the cards on December 12, 2007. Of course due to the upcoming holidays I knew there might be a delay in shipping as they are shipped from the UK. This was fine as I didn’t expect them until early January anyways. As January got here I was looking forward to getting them and what they would look like to see if I wanted to order a 100 pack. January arrived but no Moo cards. After contacting Moo about it and talking with a helpful representative I got a reprint ordered. My reprints were shipped January 17. So, its been over a month since my first order and no cards. I hadn’t doubted Moo as I knew several people in the US and in my area who order and use them without problems. The last week of January came and still no cards. I knew I didn’t want to reprint them again (a waste of money for Moo to reprint a free pack of cards a 2nd time) but wanted to see if tracking could be added in the US if I went ahead and purchased a 100 pack. I was told they can’t add tracking so now I wasn’t sure if I was going to be ordering any future Moo cards. On Thursday I finally got my Moo cards in the mail. I was excited to finally have them after 7-8 weeks of waiting. The turned out great. You can see them here. I loved the size and they fit perfect. I was set on ordering a 100 pack. The story doesn’t end there. Today I got a second pack of 10 Moo cards. It seems the order that I got on Thursday was the order that I put in on December 12 that never made it. The envelope was dirty and I’m pretty sure there is a foot print on it. So, I assume that it was lost in the mail maybe at one of the sorting houses but finally made its way. The order that I got today was the reprint sent January 17. I feel bad that Moo had to reprint the cards which did come but at least now they will get my business as I plan to order a 100 pack next week.

Wireframe

I’ve been working on a wireframe for this site for months. Actually started it last summer and have trashed several versions of a redesign. I think I have finally gotten a design that I like and plan to actually finish and put online. My plan is to get it finished and up in February. I am making several changes for 2008 and even more next month and figure its the best time to launch a new design. I’m not ready to post a screen of it yet but a few select people have seen it and I’m looking forward to their opinions and we will see how things go from there. So, look forward to a redesign sometime next month.

Need Inspiration?

Everybody needs inspiration and I’ve browsed around hundreds of business card designs in the past always looking for more. You can find several great pools on flickr with plenty of great business cards and moo cards. After reading a post on the Project Designs Blog of some inspiring cards he has found I felt like posting my own. My new business cards were printed recently but have not gotten here. They are due here tomorrow so I will be posting them then.

Some original cards. My favorite are carpal tunnel and brother in law. Original here

This is one of my personal favorites.

Creative and clean.

I’ve always loved these and wouldn’t mind one like this myself. To the point.

Much like the above its clean, simple and to the point.

Seen lots of cut-outs and this is one of the few that still look great.

Another favorite that is simple, clean with all the information needed.

As the inspiration for this post ProjectDesigns also has a clean card.

Most ‘grunge’ style cards just don’t work but this one looks great and the inverted sides are perfect.

When cards mimic the name.

And last but not least a simple way to let people know your out of business cards.

Take Out The World

Update:
The errors on the comments have been fixed. I use a plugin that displays favicons next to your name (if you put in a website while posting a comment). However, I didn’t have the plugin activated and had to allow it to scan all comments and attach icons. Note; if your icon doesn’t show next to your name then either 1; you don’t have one or 2; the url you use redirects to a directory and looks for the favicon in the domain directory (ex: If you put yourdomain.com but it redirects to yourdomain.com/blog and you post yourdomain.com, it will look for your favicon at yourdomain.com instead of /blog). I’m not sure why and will look into it.

The layout has changed on here again. This isn’t the full layout that I’m working on but I wanted to make a change from the one column before. This is actually a hacked version of the theme from before. I’m still working on a full layout but this will do for now. Nothing new really as I’m still catching up on things but hope to do something with this blog by August. I added my Pownce status along with Twitter. I thought that Pownce would take my Twitter time however there seems to be a need for both. Twitter is great for quick status updates through-out the day (which is what I do mostly of), however Pownce is good for detailed updates or when you want comments or trying to send something (love the link and file sharing). I also love the Twitter app that I use (Twitteroo) alot better then I like the Pownce App. If I could resize it down more or make it transparent it would help but it just seems so bulky and in the way (even with using dual monitors). Either way Pownce is still great and I just got more invites so anybody still looking for one just let me know and i’ll hook you up.

I have been spending a little time working on 2532|Gigs. Our next version (which is a feature release, v1.3) is full of new features (including custom fields, improved RSS, Facebook App, Y!WE Widget, WordPress Plugin, and more). We are hoping to release by August however today I just trashed the entire show_gigs include() (how you include gigs on your site) and plan to rewrite it. I started a little on it today but didn’t make much progress. I’m hoping to get time and get it done but since I’m trashing what I had and want to rewrite it, i’m not sure how long it will take. Continue reading »

Take The Survey

A List Apart currently has a Web Design Survey online and would like all designers in the field to take the few minutes it takes to complete it. Currently not much is known about what really goes on with webdesigners, including freelancers. So, if you work in a web related field, head over to the survey and take it. It was posted in Issue 236 but they are still wanting people to take it to get a bigger collection of stats.

Minor Updates

I have been really busy with work and haven’t really had time for anything else. I recently finished a ton of updates to the Lawton Housing Authority website and have been spending the rest of my work time on the LawtonSoccer website. I have the design finished and am now working on moving the content over. This is really my first time (re)designing a site that already had tons of content. I’m used to designing the site and having to come up with the content myself or waiting around weeks to get it. This site already has several pages and loads of content and its alot to get moved over as some of the pages are just linked as .pdf or .doc instead of having them part of the site, which just makes everything that much harder. On top of that I’m trying to reorganize the site as currently its hard to find anything… I’m hoping to have the new site up and online within the next week.

Tonight we had soccer practice. Its our last before our first game this Saturday. It will be interesting. Practice is going good and I’m enjoying coaching the kids and everybody is having fun. Can’t wait for the fall season. We plan on going camping this weekend. Our goal is to camp at least once a month and this will be our April camping trip. However, it will depend on the weather. I recently ordered a new tent. Its a two-room 14ft by 10ft tent that is 7.5ft tall. So, it will be a nice change to have plenty of room to stand up in, change, and store stuff. It says it sleeps about 9 (which really means 5-7 if some are kids). We hope to have a few camping trips away from Lawton. One being at Turner Falls (home of a 77ft Waterfall which you can swim at and a few caves to explore) and the Arbuckle Mountains. We also hope to camp at Camp Doris at the Wichita Wildlife Refuge later this year depending on money. We will see how things go.

I still plan on moving this site over to WordPress, however I just haven’t had the time. After I pick some more work into the LawtonSoccer website I gotta get 2532|designs finished and start back on the next version of 2532|Gigs, v1.2. Maybe I’ll see if I can make week days 30 hours instead of 24, I might be able to finish a few more things.