Do Good Design

I’ve been having great fun this week checking out how websites are using short video clips to show people how to do something. I’ll be doing video for the next website Do Good Design is redesigning, Five Senses, and there are a number of benefits to your website if you do it well.

First off, what’s a good educational video clip like? Check out a UK-based website called Video Jug that gives your professionally produced, easy to understand videos on anything … Continue reading »

I like to check in on Flash websites from time to time to see if I need to start using Flash for my clients’ websites. Happily for me and them, Flash is still awkwardly slow and frivolous, so if you’re wondering whether you need a bells and whistles website like this one, the answer is “God, no”.

What’s Flash?

Not sure what Flash is?

Flash is the software most often used in film trailer websites and other websites aimed at The Youth. For years, its developer, Macromedia, has been trying … Continue reading »

What’s your sign? Colour sign, that is.

Your personal birthday colour

Pantone’s created a website, Colorstrology.com, that has a colour for each day of the year, your astrological chart by colour.

So for anyone born today, your colorstrological — sure, that’s a word — chart reads:

“You can help many people if you keep true to the spiritual part of your nature. It is important for you to stay connected to generous and loving people, as partnerships are an intricate part of … Continue reading »

So you’ve started knitting and have mastered the knit stitch (otherwise known as garter stitch). You’re feeling good, confident, ready for your next challenge.

Bring on the Easy Peasy Baby Hat

With this hat, you use 4 needles at a time, also known as knitting in the round. It’s easier than it sounds.

You simply knit using the garter stitch on one needle at a time, then move to the next needle. Here’s a great video how-to from Knittinghelp.com.

the specs

Yarn: Colinette Prism (about … Continue reading »

Colour inspiration is often the easiest when I go straight to Mother Nature.

When I start a web project, one of the first steps after the critical Planning stage is to create the colour scheme. Depending on the message my client is trying to send, I’ll think about what colours would be the most appropriate according to colour psychology.

But the exact shades and combinations often take their cue from a photo … Continue reading »

In my quest to find local, hand-dyed, even handspun woolen yarn I came at last to Etsy.com.

It’s like an eBay for artists and craftspeople.

Originally, I started looking for yarn using the old Google.co.uk search. I tried phrases like “hand dyed yarn” or “handmade yarn Scotland”.

Ruling out the yarn shops, I found a few websites — all of them difficult to find useful information on the colours, materials and story behind their yarn.

That didn’t yield … Continue reading »

Scotland has launched joint plans with Wales to become the first Fair Trade nation.

A Fair Trade Forum is meeting today, 27 October, to discuss how to make this possible.

The plan is to work with local authorities and universities as well as businesses to get a lot more fair trade products. A basic website, Scottish Fair Trade Forum, has been set up to tell people more about events and news.

Fair Trade means giving producers around the … Continue reading »

Now that I’ve started knitting and become obsessed, I’m on a mission to find yarn that tells a wonderful, ethical story, like this one from Elvincraft that I’m working on at the moment.

I want to build a treasure trove of craftspeople who create yarn that’s:

• from sheep that are raised in Britain, preferably Scotland
• hand-dyed, ideally with natural dyes
• organic or from a well-managed farm
• produced by a small business or by a person

… Continue reading »

I’ve written up a case study on Orkney Crofts in the Portfolio section as an illustration for what makes “the best website”, which is what our client asked of us.

We’re just starting the build phase of OrkneyCrofts.com, meaning that we’ve done the design and site map and now need to actually build it.

Happily, this is where I get to turn over all my work to my partner Robert, who does the exacting job of transforming pretty pictures into hardworking code. Then … Continue reading »

“Think globally, act neighbourly.” That’s the motto of The Farmers Diner, a downhome country style diner in Vermont that’s featured in Barbara Kingsolver’s book,Animal, Vegetable, Miracle that I’ve been reading lately.

It’s got me thinking about buying food and good locally — why it matters more than a good bargain.

Let me tell you more about The Farmers Diner. The guiding rule for this eatery is that all the food comes from farms within an hour’s drive. What I like about it is it’s not fancy, not for gourmets. It’s for … Continue reading »