From the category archives:

Design

Making a Killer Portfolio

August 25, 2010

OK, so you’ve got all your amazing projects completed, your client list reads like a who’s who of desirable business and now it’s time to show off all your talent and hard work. Or, more realistically, you’ve got a few gems, a few that need to be in there because they show you can do [...]

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If You’re Confused, Chances Are Everybody Else Is, Too.

July 30, 2010

If you have a new idea—a design, an interface, an app, a product—and you start shopping that whatever it is around, pay close attention to people’s reactions. The reason why we sometimes find user testing a necessary and valuable process is because often we have become too familiar with that on which we are working; [...]

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Less is Best

July 26, 2010

If you want, you can make the simplest task the most complicated waste of time imaginable with almost a guaranteed outcome of non-completion. Now why on earth would we choose to do this? Well, there are a few reasons we tend to do this, and hopefully by identifying them early, you can avoid them and [...]

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Denote for Good, Not Evil

May 26, 2010

We created Denote, a tool to allow for the communication on live sites between client and vendor. It’s up to you to use it for good, not evil.

Denote For Good, Not Evil from TraceyHalvorsen on Vimeo.
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Deconstructing the Bucknell Virtual Tour

May 24, 2010

How do you create a virtual tour for a top university that not only wins a Webby but also increases yield and interest?

1. Find a client who is willing to push the envelope, trust their agency and treat their audience the way their ideal “prospective student” should expect to be addressed – with intelligence and [...]

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Web Thievery. A Blurry Topic, Especially to CatholicOnline.org.

May 18, 2010

When something is this blatantly ripped off, it’s hard not to notice. First look at Visit Philly’s site, launched several months ago, and then look at Catholic Online’s site, just launched.
Not only do the visuals appear to have been stolen and re-purposed, so does the actual code. If you dig around in the catholiconline.org site [...]

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Top 9 Productivity Apps / Services for Web Design Agencies

May 11, 2010

In the spirit of showing appreciation, I am going to list the things we can’t live without here at Fastspot. These are applications or services that save us time and money, and make us look better at what we do. Author Disclaimer Alert! Two of the apps I mention are Fastspot creations, if that bugs [...]

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Build Tools for Your Own Toolbox

April 22, 2010

If you need a hammer, make a hammer. And chances are since you are in need of the hammer, you will make a hammer perfectly suited to the hammerin needing doin. This same truth applies to anything really, if you made it because you needed it, it will most likely be better for your solution [...]

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Don’t Ask Ordinary People What They Think

April 15, 2010

“Great ideas often receive violent opposition from mediocre minds.” – Albert Einstein
Clients often ask me if we test designs. I usually say no. This is different than usability testing, which has its merits. Unless we are testing for very specific things like, “Can you find where the search box is?” or “Where would you [...]

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Are You Prepared for Mobile Visitors?

April 6, 2010

A quick look at your Google Analytics will tell you if you are already late to the game. It is actually shocking how often mobile devices are being used to access Websites these days – just look at the stats on one of our client’s websites.

An example of how we have dealt with mobile issues [...]

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