Monthly Archives: May 2008

Content Management or Not?

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It’s good to be busy again. It seemed as if things went into a bit of a recession over the last few months, but lately things have been getting busier around here. Some nice new clients, some exciting work for existing clients, and a lot of my own stuff on the go has kept me out of mischief.

I’m really finding WordPress to be a pleasure to work with. Semantic, valid code aside, it’s really easy to use, it’s pretty stable and forgiving and whats even better is that my clients seem to love it.

Do You Think A CMS Is Worth Using?

I have been discussing the use of WordPress with a friend and colleague of mine lately, and while we seem to be agreeing to disagree, he feels that a simple site should be just plain old HTML with CSS. We’re not talking aesthetics here, but rather the structure of the site.

Now this guy is no fool. Far from it. He’s one of the most talented and experienced programmers I know and someone whose opinion I regard highly. We just happen to disagree on this.

My take on the subject is that regardless of whether you’re using WordPress or some other content management system; as long as it produces valid, semantic code to the browser, you’re likely making your life a lot easier by using it.

He mentions the fact that setting up a static site is much easier. My opinion is that for a one pager maybe… but if there is more than one page, and things are likely to grow, you are doing yourself or your client a major disservice by not even considering a CMS.

Sure, designing a site and integrating it into a CMS package may take you a little longer than just setting up a static site, but considering the code output to the browser is as good quality, if not better than most hand coders/dreamweaver’s output… where was I going with this? I’m sure you can figure it out.

Look at the benefits of a CMS:

  • Add a page on the fly.
  • Add a news item, page element or add to your gallery/existing pages on the fly.
  • Restructure page ordering, take them down and work on them till they’re public ready again.
  • All of this and more without touching Dreamweaver, a code editor or even and FTP program.

Well, I’ve managed to convince myself. I guess thats what matters to me.

Joining The World of Photo Sharing and Social Networking

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Flickr ScreenshotCall me slow, or whatever. I have finally decided to give Flickr a serious chance. I’ve always known about it and had a profile on there for as long as I can remember. For some reason I always just saw it as another one of those “photo sharing” tools that were okay to post pictures of your last vacation or new toys, but not the kind of thing you want to use to promote yourself as a serious professional photographer.

Times they are a changing. Social media has grown so much over the years that things are actually turning back on themselves… in a good way. At first there was apprehension and a lot of people had the same attitude as mine on the use of things like Flickr.

Surely it devalues the industry? Yes and no. If you’re not educated enough on the topics of copyrights and image usage rights, then you could easily be taken for a ride. If you do your homework however, you have a brilliant medium to showcase your work and you can pick and choose commissions or photo sales from enquirers at your discretion. Just as you would in the world outside of social networking.

Surely you’re mixing it in amongst the amateurs and hobbyists? Yes, but is that a bad thing when you stand out like a diamond in the rough? If Sally and Bob are posting images of their doggies and kitties and trips to the dentist, and you’re posting your high quality images showing a distinct theme or pattern of your strengths… who is someone looking for a photographer likely to call?

Microstock sites are an entirely different discussion, but play a part in so far as the fact that they are slowly feeling the pinch of the professionals coming back with a vengeance on systems like Flickr.

A professional stock photographer has to sell one image hundreds or thousands of times to make the same amount of money a traditional professional photographer can make in the sale of one. Given, the systems are all set up and it’s a different business model targeting a different market segment, but rather than throwing breadcrumbs to the pigeons, I’d prefer to set up a professional shop front and entice the serious buyers in.

I’ll be integrating my photostream into this site in due course, but while I do that, please check it out on Flickr.

Stage One Of My Re-Branding – The Logo

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Allchorn Design Logo Redesign

I’ve decided that I am going to re-brand myself. Starting with a new logo. Quite honestly, I’m sick of my glassy globe with cheesily gradiented AD.

The direct metaphor of the earth representing the “world” wide web being the audience of my creations is replaced with a pretty direct graphic representing design in the form of a fairly realistic looking fountain pen drawing a vector line over the d.

If I remember correctly, I did the fountain pen illustration a few years back in a concept for use on one of my websites, but never managed to fit it in anywhere. Some aspects of the vectors aren’t quite up to the standards I set for myself these days, but thats just a matter of tweaking it.

I will refine the vectors, but in the meantime, I’m happy to use it on the web (in 72dpi). Before going to print with cards, I’m going to make it 100% for just about any medium. Right now, it works equally well on white and 90% black, or anything in between.

There is a whole website redesign in process too, which is currently in the theming phase. I’ll hold off on showing that till it’s actually live. Put it this way… it’s a complete change in direction, style and colour.

More soon.