by Corey Freeman

A recent client I had asked me to design a logo, and for the graphic, he wanted a “blog.” To point out that a “blog” is an entire site and there is quite possibly no graphic on this planet that looks like a “blog” seemed kind of insensitive, so instead, I did my best to associate blog with an image.

This incident did get me thinking, though. What do you do when a client asks for something that…doesn’t really exist? How do you suddenly coin an image? I don’t think there’s anybody in the blog-o-sphere that could say “this is a blog – see?” with a simple white graphic. The subject matter is so widely interpreted and so profound that it seems insane to try.

The approach is simple: you have to do your job. Designers are hired to innovate, to meet a client’s needs, and to make them look good. Somebody made the rss button. Somebody made the comments icon. Somebody made an icon to represent every term you know for the internet, and if you’re approached with the opportunity to be one of those people, take it. Set yourself apart from the other designers and break the mold given.

If you’re absolutely stumped for ideas, Google for icons, get some Flickr images, and just search the web to try and define the concept the client is asking for. Go around and ask on forums, and really dig into it. The more you understand the concept, the easier it will be to work.

Working with perplexing clients may be strenuous, but you might end up creating something you didn’t realize you could, and ending up with a great example for your portfolio. What do you guys think? How do you deal with a client that makes no sense?

This post was written by Corey Freeman, the author and owner of Diligent Design. Get more freelancing, design, and blogging tips from Diligent Design – Now with podcasts!

I’m really big into naming things, which is probably why I own two gazillion domain names and several businesses. Until recently, I always used my MacBook Pro’s thesaurus dashboard widget to find synonyms. Now there’s a great way for visual people to visualize words - The Thinkmap Visual Thesaurus. It really could be my favorite new tool.

Why is it so cool? Instead of working like a normal thesaurus, with lists of words and their meanings, the Visual Thesaurus acts more like a mind map - a web of sorts. Synonyms are spread out in web formation so the user can truly visualize the meanings of words. You can even go directly to the web to search for images. How cool is that?

At $40, the desktop version is definitely worth it. Go on over and check it out now!

Well, not “when” but at what point? How do you measure success for yourself?

I haven’t been designing long. Most would still call me fresh out of school. But one thing I knew when I first started designing for clients instead of friends is that I needed to find a measure of success for myself.

I don’t make a fortune doing what I do. In fact, I don’t even make a true full-time income yet. At least not what I consider a full-time income to be. But I do have happy clients - and clients that come back for more.

When I had my first return client, I decided I was officially successful. My work was just what they wanted and when they needed more, they came right back to me.

So how do you measure success for yourself? Money? Fame? Doing what you love? I would love to hear your thoughts!

Dear Apple,

I love you. I really do. Since the first day my fingertips touched the silky-soft aluminum of my new MacBook Pro one year ago, I knew I would love you forever. But, like many relationships, ours has its pain.

You released an amazing new operating system and I couldn’t wait to get my hands on it. I eagerly waited as Leopard was installed on my MBP. And, for a few weeks, life was good. Time Machine makes backing up a breeze, and spaces allows me to manage my work in a whole new way. But…

…things quickly went south. My MacBook Pro no longer goes to sleep when it’s attached to my external screen. All of my Adobe CS3 programs crash on a regular basis, as do Firefox and Mail. Reinstalling the operating system did not work. I could go back to Tiger, but who wants to when Leopard has so many great features? I’ve become especially fond of Spaces.

The nice guy at the Apple store told me he would have to take my MacBook Pro away for a couple of weeks. Don’t you guys know that my MBP is my my livelihood? It’s how I make my cash! And since I’m not a big-time corporation, I don’t have another Mac as a backup.

I’ve basically lived with these problems since then, but I’m afraid I can’t any longer. I need a reliable work horse to get my work done on time, and the sturdy Mac Pro is very much out of my price range. I can build a PC that is more powerful than the Mac Pro for about a third of the price.

I don’t want to do it, but I’m afraid it’s time to say goodbye. I’ll still use my iPhone, so we can keep in touch. Just know that the day-to-day computing power I need will no longer come from you.

If you can’t get your shit together and provide me with a stable, reliable, creative computing experience, I have to go back to what I know works. If you can’t provide me a replacement MBP (I’d even take an old iBook, at this point) while you whisk my computer away to fix issues that YOU caused, I have to turn to something reliable. In fact, my husband’s PC never crashes, and he puts as much strain on his (if not more) than I do.

So thanks for the short run. I’ll truly miss seeing you on a daily basis.

Apple, it’s over between us. Have a nice life.

Love,

Bee

Just a quick post to let my readers know that Firefox 3 is really screwing up my lovely theme. I’m working on fixing it. In the meantime, it looks fine in Safari and IE. So sorry! We’ll be back to normal soon!

I’ve been designing for print for quite some time, and website design is a very new realm for me. To help me learn all I can, I installed a Firefox add-on called the Web Developer’s Toolbar. This little puppy is too cool!

It’s especially helpful if you’re trying to learn CSS, HTML, or any other number of web languages.

I like to use it to view the CSS of web pages I visit, as well as view ALT information for images. It also has built-in validation tools for CSS, HTML, Links, and Feeds.

Use the “Outline” feature to outline headings, frames, and other website elements. This will help new designers get a feel for how pages are laid out.

This is a great add-on to have in your virtual pocket while you cruise the web. It’s an excellent learning tool, and a fabulous information source!

For more information and to download the Web Developer’s Toolbar for yourself, check out the home page at www.chrispederick.com. Enjoy!

How in the hell did I miss this? I Stumbled this article tonight and felt like shouting from the rooftops. I absolutely HATE designing for IE. I’m so stoked!

Read the article!

Last year, when I wanted to start yet another web-based business, I searched for a way to build a community-type website that also incorporated a blog. My main concern, however, was that I had some flexibility with the site layout. I found all of that (and more) in Joomla!.

So I dug up a few free templates that I liked, but none of them had that high-quality look that I wanted. Needless to say, I joined the theme club at YooTheme. I struggled with YooTheme because the moderators spoke (or wrote) broken English, and the tutorials and help sections were severely lacking. After about a month of fiddling and learning, I got my Joomla! site (with a gorgeous theme) up and going.

Now, a year later, I’m looking into Joomla! again. I decided to join the theme club at JoomlArt. I’ve been a member for one day, and already I’m struggling with the same issues as with YooTheme.

But in all my fiddling and researching, I’ve found Joomla! to have a higher learning curve, more complex installation and configuration, and less support (at least for the themes) than Wordpress or any other content management system I’ve come into contact with.

So my question is, do everyday designers use Joomla! at all? I just know what I went through to get my sites the way I want them, and I’m curious if other designers think that learning Joomla! is worth it. Share your thoughts! Maybe once my new site is up and running, I’ll share the URL.

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If you want to give Joomla a shot for yourself, check out Joomla.org and iJoomla for installation info and themes.