Discovery Worksheets

tellmeaboutyourself

When we meet with clients in the discovery phase we take LOTS of notes and learn everything that needs to take place within the functionality and identity requirements in order to develop a stellar mockup and work plan. We were getting along just great, but I knew we could be streamlining the process. Thus, our Discovery Worksheets were created. We have used them a handful of times and so far they are working out fabulously. Not only do the worksheets help us organize our notes, but the questions give the meeting a flow or at least a systematic starting point.

If you ever hire us to create a website for you, these are some questions to expect. If you are a Web designer, feel free to grab this info an make it your own:

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On the chopping block

Only one design lives.

Client: Bethany Womens Healthcare

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The importance of testing Web browsers

wwwTo make sure your website looks great and works all the time, no matter who’s looking at it from where, we Web designers have to do a lot of testing. 

All browsers handle or “parse” HTML and CSS differently, and that also includes the different versions of the browsers. We physically view the sites on the different browsers during Web builds to see if everything is displaying and working correctly. For the most part Firefox, Safari and Chrome are very comparable in the way they handle code and display and are really the best choice for end users in general. Internet Explorer, however, is the beast of burden in the Web design industry and, unfortunately, is the most widely used.

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Free Websites for Causes

logo-01_SMALLYep, that is correct. A recent client of ours came to us for logo design and he had this great cause and was doing great things and we just thought, “if only we had to time to REALLY hook him up.” Then we started thinking about it more, and wanted to make it a priority to budget time and funds for a pro-bono website build during a typically slow period of the year for us. Thus, A Cause to Design was born.

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Holy cow!

black and white cow grazingIt’s been forever since I’ve made an appearance here! The truth is we’ve all been burning the midnight oil at Liquis HQ because there’s lots of fantastic projects going on. The reason I bring this up is because… drum roll please… … … we’re hiring! We’ve only got a couple more days to accept resumes so if you know anyone who’s interested, have them check out the details on the AIGA Arizona website

What’s the big deal? Why your website matters & tips for getting noticed:

web_coding_collageBy now you hopefully understand that your business should have some sort of Web presence. These days, customers and clients are looking for YOU and you need to be accessible. Putting your business in the phone book doesn’t cut it anymore and in reality, the Web has replaced these old school methods with tools like Google, Facebook and Yelp. Now we can type in key words and find exactly what we’re looking for with an abundance of information, images and reviews that give us a pretty solid impression about who we’re dealing with.

So what kind of impression are you giving people who find you? Are you even findable? Here are some surefire tips to get you noticed:

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Our process for Web & graphic design development

Untitled-1 copy

This pic shows how we go about putting a mockup together… It all starts with some pencil (and a lot of erasers) until we’ve got a solid idea and then Brad works his magic. Okay… so down to the nitty gritty. Here’s how we do things around here:

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Neat jQuery examples and tutorials… Yay!

jQueryBlogImagejQuery is a JavaScript library that allows Web designers and developers to incorporate simple animations, handle events and add AJAX interactions with just a few lines of code. One of the main benefits, besides the use of more efficient code, is that designers/developers can incorporate more information into a Web page and still keep the aesthetics of a clean and snappy interface. To find out more on how to use and incorporate jQuery into your web projects start here. I have also included some links to examples and tutorials to what I feel are very useful jQuery tools below. Let the fun begin!

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Phoenix Design Week begins!

phxdwWPAll of us here at Liquis are getting anxious for the inaugural Phoenix Design Week to commense tomorrow. We have a busy schedule ahead attending exhibits and conferences and luckily a few new client meetings in between. I’m thinking all of this creativity will have a positive impact on upcoming work and I know we’re all excited for the challenge.

In light of Phoenix Design Week, we’ve not only put together this fun video as part of the event’s 12 Seconds promo, but we also gave our own Web site a revamp so we can put our best face forward and represent!

Stay tuned, we look forward to sharing some take aways from the event in upcoming posts.

Is your Web site CRAP?

www.vintagetub.com/blog

www.vintagetub.com/blog

There is more to the design of a Web page than just some text and images. There are certain principles of design that need to be considered and depending on how (or if) these principles are used, will define if your site is CRAP or not.

CRAP stands for contrast, repetition, alignment, and proximity, the four main principles of good Web design.

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