Photo Courtesy: Vincent

DSLR cameras generally have a higher image quality than point-and-shoot cameras, and for sometime were the preserve of the professional. Increasingly, the price of DSLR cameras is dropping, and manufacturers are extending their ranges to accommodate amateur photographers and those on tighter budgets. Camera specifications can seem confusing at first glance, but there are several key features, options and extras you should bear in mind when selecting your next DSLR.

1. Size of the Camera, Sensor and LCD

Photo Courtesy: penmachine

One of the first and most basic considerations when selecting a DSLR is the overall size and weight of the camera. A variety of sizes are available, so choose one to suit the type of photography you plan to concentrate on. With studio-based portraiture and similar types of work the weight of a camera is less important, while travel and wildlife photography, for instance, may require lighter models.

In a DSLR camera the image quality is influenced by the size of the image sensor. In general terms, the larger the sensor the better the image, because a larger surface area allows for larger pixels. Different cameras can have the same resolution of megapixels fitted on different sizes of image sensor; a smaller sensor means smaller pixels, increasing the image noise and producing a fuzzier picture quality in comparison to larger versions.

DSLR cameras have a reflex mirror and optical viewfinder, meaning what you see is what you get. They also have an LCD screen to view-find and review images. Consider the size of the LCD when selecting your camera since a slightly larger screen can make a lot of difference in image visibility.

2. Resolution, Focus Systems and Optical Zoom

Photo Courtesy: Alex Buhrmann

DSLR Cameras today commonly have an image resolution of between six and ten megapixels. The choice of resolution depends on how you intend to use the photographs, and bigger is not necessarily better. Six megapixels should be sufficient for small prints or using the images for Internet and email; ten megapixels is only needed if your intention is to heavily edit the photos in post-production or produce large-scale prints.

Most contemporary DSLR cameras achieve a high level of focus in auto focus (AF) mode but there are variations to look out for. Different models have different numbers of AF zones distributed across the image frame; generally the more zones the better the AF performance.

There are two types of AF zone: cross and linear. Linear zones focus detail in one direction, either horizontal or vertical, while cross AF zones are better since they focus detail both horizontally and vertically. The majority of DSLR cameras use cross-type focussing for AF zones in the frame’s centre, but some models employ only linear-type zones in other parts of the frame.

Camera advertising often boasts the total zoom, a figure reached by multiplying the digital and optical zoom. The digital zoom magnifies the image digitally, as the name implies, while the optical zoom works by physically altering the lens position. The optical zoom is the number to look for. High zoom lenses have a 12x zoom, but a 4x lens is agreeable with most photographers’ requirements.

3. ISO Settings and Flash

Photo Courtesy: tarunactivity

DSLR cameras offer a good range of ISO settings, the equivalent of film speed in old-fashioned cameras, adjustable to suit lighting conditions. Some DLSR cameras, however, offer far higher ISO ratings, enabling photography in low level lighting.

Low-end DSLR cameras sometimes include a built-in flash, while higher models have a hotshoe so an external flash may be attached.

4. Shutter Speed, Burst Mode and Semi Automatic Mode

Photo Courtesy: tsuihin -TimoStudios

Most DSLR models provide a good range of shutter speeds, but if you’re interested in capturing fast action or sports photography look for a camera with a higher maximum shutter speed.

Another consideration for sport and action photographers is the Burst Mode. This feature enables a very fast burst of images by holding down the shutter release, sometimes a series of many images per second. Different models have varying rates and number of images possible in each of these bursts.

Many DSLR cameras have automatic and semi-automatic modes for specific types of photography (portrait, landscape, night etc.). Low-end models tend to offer semi-auto modes, while the more professional cameras demand manual control adjustments to meet shooting conditions.

5. Facial Recognition and Anti-Shake

Photo Courtesy: D’Arcy Norman

Facial recognition technology detects a face, or multiple faces, within the image frame and corrects the light and colour levels accordingly.

Many DSLR cameras use anti-shake technology in lenses, while some newer models feature image stabilisation (IS) technology built into the camera body. There are three types of IS system: optical and mechanical IS, which physically counter shake in the photographer’s hand, and digital IS, which enhances the image quality when the subject is moving. Some cameras combine optical or mechanical IS with digital IS, offering the advantages of both systems.

6. Dust Protection and Connectivity

Photo Courtesy: Axel Buhrmann

It’s essential to keep your DSLR clean and dust-free, especially avoiding contamination of the image sensor. Some models feature the useful addition of dust protection and self-cleansing systems.

Most DSLR cameras use USB to transfer images to computers and printers, but there are also options for FireWire and WiFi connectivity to take into consideration.

7. In-Camera Editing

Photo Courtesy: pointnshoot

While professionally minded photographers will apply digital post-production to their images, many DSLR designs feature in-camera editing. These enhancement and editing tools may include red eye reduction, blemish removal, cropping, zoom and panoramic image stitching.

About the Author

Tom Walker is a UK based writer and designer who works with a specialist provider of HP laser toner, inks, paper and other printing accessories. You can read his other creative writing on CreativeCloud where he waxes lyrical on the subjects of advertising and the arts.

Many outspoken technology leaders and taste-makers have come out against Flash like Leo Laporte and Ryan Block. Laporte (of TWiT) has argued that because it is a closed platform, he prefers the public support the new upcoming rich media features that HTML 5 and CSS3 will offer. Ryan Block (of GDGT) is weary of Flash and feels its value is dubious.

Recently, Apple’s lack of iPhone support for Flash and the non-story that has been is telling in itself. A generation of web users using the most popular smart phone of the moment are adapting to the post-flash era… and enjoying it because it excuses them from “monkey-punching” ads and ridiculous impractical interfaces in favor of usable, readable websites.

From my point of view as a front-end web developer, I believe that people are flat out fatigued by Flash and prefer a more straight forward web experience. I’m not saying Flash is not useful, but please keep it to where it is best utilized and where web users expect that type of content. For example — streaming media, animations, advertising, mini-sites, movie-sites.

Adobe Flash at its best is a familiar environment where designers and developers alike can start to create so-called “rich” content with powerful animation and scripting tools. That means there are little limitations and the potential for creating spectacular interactive content is out of this world. The reality is that most people use it as a homepage slide-show and an excuse to introduce non-web safe typography. The innovation is not there for most cases and only a select few studios actually exploit the “ground-breaking” features of Flash.

Movie websites like Avatar are perfect for Flash.

Flash is at it’s best when the company at hand has the resources to deploy Flash media and is committed to delivering uniqueness and originality to the public despite the cost. The best example would be movie studios. They offer a premium product and are interested in presenting it to the public in a innovative way to promote the movie. The content lends itself to be a temporary spectacle and they ask studios to “go crazy”. In this instance, I believe Flash is the ideal solution.

So once again, Flash has its place but I think that finding a platform that doesn’t require a thousand dollar software investment to accomplish relatively simple tasks is in everybody’s best interest. The article below states the case of finding alternative methods for rich interactive content.

Flash Is Not An Open Platform

HTML, CSS, Javascript are open technologies that are independent of any company or business. The foundation of the internet is built on these open platforms and that is one of the reasons why it has become so intergal of our lives. Anyone can start developing websites with just a rudimentary amount of physical hardware, software and advanced knowledge of the platforms.

HTML, CSS, and Javascript frameworks are developed independently and are not directly influenced by profit.

For any developer to start using Flash as a solution they would need good hardware, expensive software and expensive training.

The real world implication of this for developers is that we are enslaved to Adobe and are subject to their decision making processes. Adobe is a publically traded company with profit as it’s core motivator. Product releases, features and support are all in their control.

As an example, at my studio we have to upgrade to CS4 because some of customers use it. We just upgraded to CS3 about a year ago and now we’re forced to upgrade to CS4 already! For such an expensive suite, you’d think that Adobe would allow CS3 to atleast read CS4 docs right? Nope. We’re completely handcuffed and the alternative is to ask our clients to save down for us… which is unacceptable.

The argument against this is that Adobe is implementing new features that older versions can’t work with… but who decides on the release dates? Who decides whether the features are worth our investment vs. actual usage? The answer is Adobe does and the reason they do it is to make more money.

The new versions of HTML5 and CSS3 are being thoroughly reviewed and approved by the W3C which works to create web standards and facilitate developers with the best technology to make websites.

[Edit: Sometimes proprietary software is not evil and the reasons vary. Adobe Photoshop for instance is the cream of the crop in terms of photo manipulation and although expensive — it has a long shelf life, incredibly useful for all types of image-based file formats and plays well with other editors. Another product for example, ExpressionEngine CMS — built a better mousetrap and they offer it at a fair price. Both proprietary, but they are able to overcome that by being fair, offering a better solution and co-existing with other technologies well.]

Accessibility Issues

Adobe has definitely improved this area of Flash over the years with natively exposing text to screen readers, the Accessibility panel and making most mouse-defined events available via the keyboard but it’s still not a slam dunk.

You can take steps to further optimize accessibility but they require a lot of effort. Considering most developers have a hard enough time doing this for non-flash websites, it’s not going to be a high priority. Do you see yourself making HTML equivalents, self-voicing, and text natively accessible? This often directly contradicts why you use Flash in the first place – ultimate flexibility and freedom to create rich content.

Even when using the acessibility features, the reality is that it’s going to be a jumbled mess to these viewers unless careful attention is considered for the animation from the start. Is it worth the extra development time?

If you do plan on working with Flash, check out Erik Johnson’s Adobe Flash Accessibility: Best Practices for Design @ Six Revisions

Flash Is Difficult To Learn, Difficult To Keep Up With

Flash is an application that requires it’s own programming language, a blend of feature-sets that cross-over from other very different application environments and ultimately needs to be inserted into another type of file which is handled differently depending on the browser you’re using.

Seriously.

I like to think of myself as someone who endorsed Flash since the late 1990s and have taken college-level and continuing education courses with Flash superstars such as Josh Davis to keep up with it. Learning Flash and keeping up to date with it is monumentally difficult and my experience is that it’s not practical.

Flashkit is a popular tutorial website for Adobe Flash. It’s easy to learn how to be a Flash hack but being a true professional requires a true commitment to the platform.

The return on investment (ROI) is very low for most people because Flash is not used enough by most developers on a daily basis to justify the intense work you need to learn and keep current. Speaking for myself, I have enough to deal with developing best practice HTML/CSS websites on a content management system without having to jump into the intense, isolated and specialized Flash platform.

Which brings us to…

Flash Is An Expensive Proposition

Studios that specialize in Flash are expensive and deservedly so. Most designers are not capable of delivering high-quality Flash content because of the steep learning curve Flash often requires. That’s where these Flash studios come in to help your company out.

I worked in a company a few years back where the website was built entirely in Flash. The website supported a few retail locations and while not frequently updated, it was updated enough that the hourly charges for upkeep was definitely a hindrance. A simple notice of a sale or a PDF download required a couple of hours of work which we always tried to group together in a package of work for them to complete for us. The time wasted and lack of efficiency is just heartbreaking and the ROI (for the company) is rarely measurable over traditional methods.

Instead of putting all your eggs in one Flash basket… isn’t it more wise to be agile and versatile to current trends like tracking analytics, seeing the patterns and being able to quickly adapt, change and optimize? Bottom line, if Flash can’t generate measurable results for both the client and the developer, is it worth the effort?

The School of Visual Arts offers Advanced Flash for $900 as a Continuing Education course.

Flash Isn’t User Friendly

I hate upgrading my Flash player. I often skip any content I see that won’t allow my current Flash player to display it and I’ll delay upgrading for months until It browbeats me into upgrading. After a decade of this, I’m very tired of doing the upgrade dance.

It’s unacceptable to me that the content is unavailable to me even in a “gracefully degraded” version. For a product that is as ubiquitous as Flash has become, I find it ridiculous that I have to do something extra to make it work. As Flash is used to power interfaces and house actual content, it should not act as barrier to your content… EVER.

I have to come here, download, install, close the browser, open the browser…

I don’t believe stealing five minutes from my life to view Flash content is an acceptable practice. Flash is not user-friendly, the problem is we’ve simply gotten used to the idea we can be treated this way.

It’s Simple:

• Flash Is Not An Open Platform
• Flash Has Accessibility Issues
• Flash Is Difficult To Learn, Difficult To Keep Up With
• Flash Is An Expensive Proposition
• Flash Isn’t User Friendly

Tired of this?

In certain situations Flash may be appropriate but now better alternatives exist…

Alternatives:

jQuery has gained incredible traction from developers and contributors alike to create rich experiences with a light weight footprint. It’s available under MIT and GPL licenses for free and requires training in a non-proprietary language that is more useful than Actionscript.

Expression Engine is a CMS that offers a lot of great features that can replace some of the functionality that Flash offers. Not so much with moving graphics but randomization, colors and intelligence can help you offer rich content with out Adobe Flash.

Typekit allows you to use non web-fonts on your web page with just a single line of code. Typekit has garnered some early buzz and is made by web design veterans including Jeffrey Veen of Google Analytics fame. This is a better alternative than the “Flash Font Replacement” techniques out there (I know from personal experience, thank you very much) and a nice alternative to using Flash for typography purposes.

Google Analytics allows you to work smarter, not harder with your content. Replace Flash with a HTML based alternative and see what people are really clicking on. Build off of the data that you can collect and learn from it to deliver better solutions.

That’s the argument I’m offering in the case against Flash, please use what you feel is best to solve your client’s needs.

Just no Flash intros!

Questions? Comments? Please contribute to the conversation.

The History

Patrick Griffiths and Dan Webb are credited with coming up with a simple CSS and javascript-based dropdown menu that was originally published on ALA. With the influence of ALA over the years, the popularity of the Suckerfish menu technique has grown in popularity and the basic concept of their technique — using the pseudo :hover class as the trigger — drives many a dropdown across the interwebz.

With the now outdated IE6 slowly being taken out to pasture, modern browsers are even more optimized to use Suckerfish-style menus. IE6 for those of you who forgot — did not support the pseudo :hover class and that’s why the simple javascript is necessary at all. It triggers the dropdown action for that browser. While most of us still try to support IE6, it’s no longer a top-priority as it once was.

Patrick Griffiths and Dan Webb have updated this landmark menu technique since the original and called it the “Son of Suckerfish Dropdowns” on their now defunct HTML Dog website. They’ve expanded the functionality to include multiple levels and reduce the javascript as well as other compatibility enhancements.

Visit Patrick Griffiths and Dan Webb’s “Son of Suckerfish Dropdowns” @ HTML Dog.

See an example from HTML Dog.

Why Suckerfish Dropdowns?

It’s Lightweight and Easy To Use
Using this technique requires using three web languages. HTML, CSS and Javascript. The HTML and CSS portions are already necessary if you plan to have a menu of any kind and the javascript is there for IE6 and even then it’s just few lines of code supplied to you that you don’t have to edit. For those of you who have searched around for dropdown menus, you’ll know it’s really tough to find a simple solution that works on a standards compliant browser AND the IE6s of the world. There is always a caveat… intense javascript based on conditions, tables, intense CSS and etc.

It’s Standards Compliant & Accessible
The dropdown menu structure is marked up as a regular ol’ HTML list. It’s styled by CSS. The javascript can be used in conjunction with the CDATA tag and hence be seen as character data and pass validation.

It’s Popular and Well Supported by the Community
Every implementation of the technique will be unique and without a doubt — you’ll have a bug. The great thing about Suckerfish dropdowns is that it’s now pretty mature and well adopted by the community. Issues have been documented and supported and many work-arounds and fixes are already available online a google search away.

I had the common Suckerfish :focus problem where parts of the menu would remain visible or “sticky” depending on how the :focus was triggered on IE7. I looked around and found a simple fix here and voila, problem solved!

So although you may not have the same problem, you can be sure you’ll probably have better luck finding help for Suckerfish dropdowns over the other techniques.

It’s Versatile
I’ve been using it as a vertical menu for the most part but it works the same way with some tweaks as a horizontal menu as well.

Also, why does it have to be a menu? Use the basic concept to hide and then open up a content box using the :hover class to trigger it. For instance, a Trivia Question box and they roll over a button to display the answer. The possibilities are endless!

Six More Years of Suckerfish?
With the new features in CSS3 and HTML 5, I can’t wait to see what type of new progressive enhancement we’ll be seeing in years to come. Rounded corners, transparency, border-types, embedded media… all being used in imaginative ways with the basic Suckerfish techniques is a wonderful thing.

In the future when IE6 is nothing but a bad nightmare buried deep in our past, we won’t need the javascript portion of the technique making it even more easy to develop for. I prefer to use Suckerfish based menu techniques in general because of the reasons outlined above and I hope you consider in making your choice next time you do the dropdown dance!

Did I Miss Anything? Correct me or add to the conversation in the comments!

We’re also going to go over some of the differences between more common selectors just so you know you’re efficiently implementing your code.

COMMONLY USED SELECTORS (like squirrels)

UNIVERSAL SELECTOR:

* {color:blue;}
This is applied to all elements unless it has a explicit selector already applied. The most common usage is probably those who are using it to reset values or apply universal values (duh!). For a quick fix — it might come in handy if you were doing a website demo and wanted to adjust all the font-sizes in your website by adding a font-size: 125% temporarily for the people in the back to see better.

TYPE SELECTOR:

body {background-color:blue;}
This is applied to to all matching elements. Whether it be a default or a custom Class or ID selector (see next), the match is found and the style is applied.

CUSTOM CLASS & ID SELECTORS:

.emergency {color:blue;}
#wrapper {background-color: blue;}

These are custom selectors that are formed by either using the dot notation or the hash mark preceding the name. The usage of these are basically Class for multiple instances and ID for single instances. You can target elements by directly adding them preceding the dot or hash marks.

p.sidebar {color:blue;}
p#content {color:blue;}


DESCENDANT SELECTOR:

body p {color:blue;}
This is applied to to all descended elements of another selector. So that means all children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren will have the style applied to them.

CHILD SELECTOR:

ul > li {color:blue;}
This is applied to only the children of the parent selector. This means you can target a specific depth of the element rather than have styles applied to the entire ancestry.

LESS COMMONLY USED SELECTORS (like red pandas)

ADJACENT SIBLING SELECTOR:

h2 + p {color:blue;}
This is applied to the adjacent sibling of another element. In other words, you might want to target an element that you know immediately follows another. For instance, in the middle of your web page content you have a text call-out with a h2 header. You can have all the instances of a p be styled differently to indicate that it’s a call-out with a background value. Also, this only applies to elements — so text in between the elements will be ignored. (This only works according to HTML document tree). See Eric Meyer’s Website for more on this…

SIMPLE ATTRIBUTE SELECTOR:

a[class] {color:blue}
This is applied to any element with a matching attribute. For instance, you want to apply a style on every link on the page with a class associated with it, even though they belong to different classes.

RARELY SEEN SELECTORS (like unicorns)

EXACT ATTRIBUTE SELECTOR:

a[rel="next"] {color:blue}
This is applied to only elements with the exact matching attribute. This could be useful if you’re trying to style specific attributes or even if you’re trying to style a group of obscure attributes like a set of rel and rev links. (They’re obscure to me because I don’t often use them! ha!)

PARTIAL ATTRIBUTE SELECTOR:

a[rel~="party"] {color:blue}
This can be applied to elements with space separated values. For instance it would work for class=”party” and class=”party august” but not class=”party-time”. So you can see it would be useful if you used these selectors to group a set of targets together by naming them a certain way.

BEGINNING SUBSTRING SELECTOR:

a[href^="/party"] {color:blue}
You can apply this selector to grab a element based on the beginning substring. This is useful if you want to style a set of elements that are grouped in a certain way like the beginning of a url for instance.

ENDING SUBSTRING SELECTOR:

a[href$="/document.pdf"] {color:blue}
You can apply this selector to grab a element based on the ending substring. This is a showstopper for sure! I think it’s good usability to alert users what type of file they are clicking on and this is a great way to consistently label files for your users visually (you still might want to include the file name or file type in the text but this helps them scan).

ARBITRARY SUBSTRING SELECTOR:

a[href*="typesett.com"] {color:blue}
You can apply this selector to grab a element based on any substring in the attribute. If you can find a pattern with an occurring substring on your page, you can exploit it to target only those same substrings.

LANGUAGE SUBSTRING SELECTOR:

body[lang|="en"] {color:blue}
This is used for selecting elements with a lang attribute. This is useful for differentiating content in different languages.

I’ve actually known this to be the “match or starts with” selector. Some people use it like this:
img[src|="party"] {border-color:blue}
and what it would do is find party.jpg or party56.jpg but not august/party.jpg.

Props to Jake Vance for the image!

Comment If You Have Anything To Add Or Correct!

Other Articles You Might Like:

CSS Rehab – 3 Step Program To Getting Clean
5 Innovative CSS Techniques You Should Know About

#1 — Making the Usual, Unusual.

Instead of the usual neatly organized drop-down sub menu of options, we have a custom drop-down shelf! This is a great concept for the young demographic visiting their website who are in interested in the lifestyle aspects of the brand. Beyond that though, it’s a way for Converse to show how relevant they still are by employing innovative web design techniques.

http://www.converse.com/

#2 — Kill a Fly with a Shotgun.

David Airey is a great designer and a vocal blogger based in Ireland. Even though I frequent his website, I’ve never clicked on his explanation of RSS. When I did, I saw he decided to answer that question with a video of all things (linked from commoncraft). He could have accomplished this with a sentence or two and a tidy little diagram but the sheer pomp magnificence of a video makes it monumentally more interesting.

Instead of a standard text/photo “About Me” page — why not produce a gangsta rap video to tell your life story? That may be extreme but that’s the point! Do something normal but in extraordinary ways to shake things up. Usability theories are centered on making something easier to use. However, if you can figure out how to make something more difficult but more interesting it may be worth it to risk connecting with your audience better.

http://www.davidairey.com/what-is-rss/

#3 — Nice to Meet You. Again.

Mature websites may have taken years to get to where they are now, slowly building and growing with every added piece of content. It only reasons that newer members of your community may not be familiar with your past brilliance. Why leave it up to them to stumble onto your old content in a search or list somewhere? Take the initiative to introduce your content and your website properly to your new viewers. Point them to your most poignant and relevant posts. They’ll appreciate it and understand the significance of where your website has been and where it’s going.

http://www.alistapart.com/articles/ALAprimer/

Like this article? Comment!

Della Backlash

After an initial backlash from the premiere of the mini-site, they toned down some of the design and messaging but even with the updates it still feels borderline offensive. The most appalling messaging was in the “tips” sections where they opted to offer subject matter on calorie counting, recipe management and fitness. Rather than go that route, they could have highlighted useful functionality that women would appreciate such as size, portability and ease-of-use.

True, everybody looks at those features but you can write messaging that speaks to women specifically without offending them. For example, size and portability — if you’re a female looking to replace your heavy laptop, then this ad speaks about how the product helps you instead of pandering to female stereotypes:

“Flat Out Stunning”. If the headline was in pink, would women start uncontrollably buying Macbook Airs?

On Demographics

Corporations go to great lengths to understand the demographics of their customers so they can develop strategies. Sometimes, with the help of consultants and or specialized firms they make actual profiles of customers that are remarkably detailed. For instance, a profile may include gender, age, income and location but you may be surprised that they also gather information about offspring, sport team affiliation, television shows, hobbies and amount of disposable time for any given day.

The consultants and firms gather that information via paid surveys and the like with full participation of the customers so I’m not concerned with privacy but with how it’s used. My former company of employment (fitness industry) looked at that information and developed special programs that were beneficial to them such as if they had kids — they looked into child-care related offerings in addition to our core messaging centered around fitness. So our messaging would be; “We offer fitness and we make it convenient for you and your family” rather than pandering to women like; “Since you have children, you’ll like our fitness center” — which can be made more offensive if the visual design was overly skewed towards women.

Did They Fix It?

Unfortunately, despite the internet backlash — Dell still doesn’t seem to understand the essence of the problem. While it may be okay to target a specific demographic, they have choose to tone down the pandering rather than completely scrap it. Take a look at the new “Tips” section and see how instead of playing female stereotypes they overly simplify:

Sorry, but I’d say most females in 2009 are perfectly capable of operating a computer beyond these insultingly basic tasks. Seriously, #4 is referring to USB key drives right? IMO, that’s almost as offensive as the original!

As for their “featured artist” page, I question it’s entire premise and wonder if they should rename it “Pander-Land”. Dell is not making creative software like Adobe so I don’t understand the significance of having a “featured artist” page and not a “featured professional” page highlighting all the great female students, scientists, programmers, artists and other professionals out there:

In a traditional case study, individuals are featured to highlight their achievements relative to the product you are selling. It’s a great tool because it works as a testimonial, success story and highlights the product in ways a fact sheet can’t. So I find myself wondering why Dell chooses to forgo a traditional case study and instead opts for a simple bio and a video entitled “Darling Robyn: How to Score at Vintage Stores”. To me, it’s laziness or extreme pandering. I don’t understand what a female computer shopper is getting from this page.

Doing it Right

From Della, we understand what’s wrong but what can we do so that our future projects don’t suffer from the same mistakes?

1 — Research

It takes thoughtful consideration to bring a useful and effective website to the masses — even more so for one targeted to a specific demographic. Every industry is unique and different but if you do the leg work in finding out what is and is not acceptable then you just need to stay within those guidelines according to your judgment. Look at other websites that actually do a good job with design and messaging to women, such as:

Breastcancer.org uses an appealing palette, tasteful art direction in photos, illustrations and graphics as well as non-gender specific usability choices to deliver an effective website.

2 — Practical Benefits to Women

Instead of pandering, find out what women would love about your product and communicate that to them tastefully. In my experience, if you think the worst of your users, you’re really thinking the worst of yourself. You need to rise to the challenge and find a way to properly communicate your message without having to resort to blaming them for being what they are and using outdated stereotypical design concepts and ideas.

Although not specifically targeted to women, here’s another example from Apple that touts a universal benefit that would be well appreciated by women. For technology products, the benefits are usually non-gender specific. Dell perhaps could have done a better job offering answers about concerns females often have about their products that men don’t.

3 — Do Testing

The effort involved in testing will far outweigh the effort involved in trying to quell public outcry for the offense your website will have caused (as evidenced by Della). The problems with the Della website could have easily been avoided because they were so blatantly distasteful. I believe proper testing could have potentially caught this problem and saved them before they went live.

Female Dell employees were probably involved at some level creating the website but my best guess is that they were not in decision-making roles. Also, if they did testing — I don’t believe they assembled as diverse a group of testers as they should have. Assembling a range of female testers in age, tech savvy and profession should have been a priority for them if they did testing. Other than that, I would have also made sure I did a direct comparison to the normal website so the testers could understand the techniques used in targeting them and offer feedback. If the Della team did that, I would think the testers would have responded the same way the internet has.

Some people like Cnet’s Matt Hickey believe gender neutral is the way to go — like Dell’s normal home page for example.

Common Sense

Most men and women can both stand to be better educated about computers but Dell chose not to innovate by doing something new and perhaps helpful to the community. For instance — creating a non-gender specific mini-website that offers “how-to” advice on a variety of computer issues that would attract the less tech-savvy females (and men) they seem to covet. Another idea is to challenge your female demographic by offering a contest to any female who has bought a Dell notebook to create a video that helps educate people on the environment. My point is Dell took every shortcut along the way and paid for it at the end.

Around the internet:

What Do Women Want in a Laptop? — Jenna Wortham of the New York Times offers a level headed summary.

Big Aaargh! for Dell’s Della — Virginia of BlogHer does a great job rounding up reaction.

Dell Unveils New Site That Even My Dumb Vagina Can Understand. — Slackmistriss goes off on Della in one of the most entertaining posts

Dell’s Revamped ‘Della’ Site For Women — Forbes chronicles how Dell is allowing some negative comments about the campaign on the website.

Dell unveils Della website to help women choose which totally cute laptop they prefer — Engadget cracks some good jokes at Della’s expense.

Other articles you might like:

Tropicana Rebrand – THE AFTERMATH

Agree or disagree? Comment!

1 — Keep Work That Has Lasting Value

The meaning of “important” is different for everybody but if you want to keep an efficient archive where you can easily find your work, don’t be afraid to part ways with non-essentials. Many people believe that their archives serve as an overview of their work and careers. Does having three versions of the same postcard you designed at your first job really deserve a spot in your Hall of Fame?

Having said that, keep other items from that project that shed more light on the actual design process such as sketches, print-outs, client testimonials and Polaroids. For those iffy items whose fate you just can’t decide upon — scrap the physical version and make sure you have it on disk to make your heart feel a little better. Don’t worry, those postcards are in a better place and will live on in our hearts forever.

2 — Logically Group Your Work Together

This depends on what type of designer you are — whether you’re an in-house, freelance or design studio employee. When I was a in-house designer, I grouped everything by year and all I had to do was go to the year and the piece would usually be chronologically ordered (by stacking newest on oldest). Freelancers often group their projects by clients but under circumstances they like to group by type of project.

For example, my friend is a screen print designer and prefers to organize by apparel, paper medium and weird stuff like Frisbees. Now that I work in a studio atmosphere, I prefer to actually archive by year and type of project. So in the future, all I’d need to remember is the year and I should be able to find the type of project because they are grouped together (different than when I was in-house because grouping by client was more easier as their projects were similar in tone and subject matter). Do what makes most logical sense for your individual needs but year, client and category are good places to start.

3 — Store Your Work In Trusted Archive Quality Containers

There is no way around this one. You’ll need to get your mitts on suitable vessels for your work to ensure longevity. Go online and get yourself some acid and lignin-free archive safe folders, boxes, tubes and what have you. Paper is often treated with acid because it aids writing but over time it breaks down paper.

That can translate to making your work brittle and yellow. Lignins are a natural substance found in wood (and therefore paper) that breaks down over time to create acid… which means brittle and yellow once again. If you’re in a bind but want to archive on a budget, buy some acid-free paper and cut it up to buffer your most valued pieces while in storage. You can invest in some proper containment units when you have the means to do so.

4 — Label It

You scoff at this suggestion now but we’ll laugh last when you’re confronted with several seemingly identical boxes staring you in the face when you need it most. For all the all-star lazies out there — take some post-it notes, capture the year, client and project of as many pieces you can muster and slap it onto the inside box lid, tape it to the exterior of the tube or someplace easy to spot. That’s the minimum you need to achieve to have some semblance of find-ability later on. Hopefully, if you organized your work logically, you’ll be able to find work contextually despite not doing careful inventory.

For every one else, take the time to label the box with what’s inside and perhaps even devise a simple system you can document. For example, you can have 3 boxes labeled A, B and C. Each letter can represent a year, a range of clients or a category of projects. The first box (or whichever vessel is most accessible) can be accompanied by a documented key explaining how the system works. Anybody who has ever had to remotely ask a wife, parent, sibling or roommate to search for something while you are away will see the value in this step. The amount of work you put in towards labeling will directly correlate into how easy you can find things later on (especially as the archive grows).

5 — Store It Somewhere Safe Away From Sunlight & Water

Sunlight and water are the two arch enemies you must avoid at all costs. That means using your best judgment in keeping away from washing machines in the basement, anywhere near aquariums of any kind, a closet that has any appearance of water damage or anywhere else that has even a hint of danger.

If where you’re currently residing doesn’t offer a safe and hospitable environment for your archive think about leaving it in storage. Whether that be paid storage if you’re in a urban city like NYC or yo’ mama’s house if that’s an option for you. It’s a risk you don’t want to take because these items are often irreplaceable.

6 (Bonus) — Digital Archives?

Data media is cheap compared to the past, I keep my work on hard drives and back it up on DVD. Experts suggest that you keep equipment so that you can still access the old digital files but my personal preference is to export a high-res PDF and leave it at that (for closed projects and clients that are not coming back [thanks, Nick]). If I desperately needed something from an old project, a high-res PDF will suffice almost all of the time. I would not keep an old computer or a zip-drive around anymore for the sake of backwards compatibility and instead focus on transferring them to new technology.

Other articles of interest:

Demystifying the Use of Service Agreements
A Designer’s Guide to Copyright

Your comments are appreciated!

1 — Information

You can make a strong statement with what you don’t say. Depending on the type of business, you can get away with not saying much on a card. It can draw attention to what you really want them to do, such as visit the website. Conversely, you can pack a card with tons of data as long as it ties in with a concept. The business cards for my design firm have a lot of random personal information but it often leads to easily striking up conversations and getting to know clients better.

2 — Concept

Having a unique overall concept instantly captures attention. It can also be a double edged sword because since it has so much cache in the client’s mind — it should be relevant in some way. Sometimes being overly clever is akin to trying too hard. However, if you can make it work because you’re taking advantage of some sort of unique factor in your name, company, or industry… that’s fair game.

3 — Shape

I think shape is one of the most underrated ways to make your card stand out. My experience with my personal cards being slightly smaller than the norm is that it’s a detail that people always notice. Now imagine if you did some sort of die-cut or choose a shape completely divorced from what people think of in business cards… you and the card would be instantly memorable.

4 — Material

CAUTION… when leaving the realm of 100lb paper you can get into hit or miss situations because of how well the piece is produced. Other issues such as price and how annoying it becomes to carry around come into play too. On the opposite spectrum, using cheaper substrate can be just as bad because the card may require you to hand craft each one or the material may be very delicate. However, when successful — these cards are total show stoppers.

5 — Color

This may be one of the easiest ways a designer can set themselves apart while not straying too far away from the pack. Colors play such a huge role in the way people perceive things that a smart designer can use that to their advantage and design a great card without having to resort to exotic tricks and the trendy technique of the moment.

6 — Texture

This is one of the human senses that I think designers forget about sometimes for business cards. Whether it’s an emboss, varnish, substrate or special process — it’s always fun to watch people focus on just the feel of the card rather than the look (which we are more used to).

7 — Size

Risky as it may be, size can be a playful and instant attention getter. Dramatically bigger or smaller somehow always says something about the card owner as well from my experience. The challenges of this can be tough as a large card is cumbersome but a small card can easily be misplaced.

8 — Versions

Often unappreciated because people rarely see all the cards together as a set, having multiple versions can serve as a nice conversation starter if they notice that each card is unique. If you’re like Jason Santa Maria (as seen below) and participate in conferences/meetings where you might have a stack of cards out — a nice functional trick may be to lay them out so they can see the cards as a set if you designed them that way.

9 — Alternate Purpose

These type of “business cards” often generate huge buzz in design books and magazines because they’re almost like modern art. At it’s best, people will never forget you because of it but at it’s worse you might need to make a second set of cards because let’s face it — you’re not gonna carry around a box full of wooden laundry clips every where you go.

10 — Part of a Business System

A jaw dropper of a card is all well and good but if it is a total disconnect from the rest of your business system, you may have consistency issues. Alternatively, if you make your business system some sort of circus to help buoy the card’s extravagance that can make you look like you’re “trying too hard” (which can appear unprofessional at times).

Business cards at their best display some basic information while showing a bit of your personality. There is a fine line you have to look out for depending on who you are, what type of work you do and other factors but I support those who are willing to take a bit of a risk and throw some caution to the wind for the sake of innovation. If you concentrate on two of the ten listed elements, you’re well on your way to a quality card.

You may also like:

20 Astonishingly Intricate International Metro Maps
A Designer’s Guide to Copyright

Comment if you like the article!

So what’s copyrightable?

Any project you work on that is original and creative is copyrightable. While you can’t copyright things like an idea or a style because they lack a specific finished form, specific finished expressions of an idea or style can be copyrighted.

What can you do with it?

The designer who owns the copyright has exclusive rights to license, reproduce and make derivatives from it. You can ask anyone who infringes on your copyright to stop and or take legal action against them. For you to be able to collect statuary damages though, you need to have the work registered with the Copyright Office before the infringement happened.

Can I ever lose it?

You can transfer ownership of a copyright through a written agreement signed by the designer. When you die, you can transfer the ownership of the copyright to someone else and it will continue for another 70 years.

Do I need to put copyright notices on everything now?

Designers are designated the copyright owner of their work as soon as it is created. However, putting the notice on your work has advantages… legal advantages. When you put your copyright on your work it informs the public that it is owned by somebody and that they can be liable if they choose to infringe. You can weigh the pluses and minuses and decide for yourself what is and what is not worthwhile to put a copyright notice.

What is a copyright notice supposed to look like?

A copyright notice is composed of three elements:

• It begins with the alert: “Copyright”, “Copr.” or “©”
• The designer’s name (or what they are known as to the public)
• The year of publication

Fully constructed it looks like this: Copyright Joe Smith 2009

Do I need to register my work as well?

Registration is an official acknowledgment by the Copyright Office that you have an exclusive copyright. It will be most useful to you if you need to sue. Otherwise, the application fee is $30 and you’d have to make an individual decision if your work requires that type of protection.

How does Fair Use apply to designers?

There are instances when using other people’s copyrighted work is not necessarily harmful and that’s what Fair use is. When debated in court, they look at many factors like if profit was made, the amount, the nature of the work and does it have a real effect on the value of the original copyright work.

As an in-house employee for a company, do I own copyright of my work there?

Human resources will usually have you sign a work-for-hire document that specifies that the work you produce is property of the company. So unless you have a written agreement that states otherwise, the company retains the copyright exclusivity.

What if I work for a design firm?

A design firm employee is no different than any other employee, so the same rules apply unless you have been allowed to retain copyright ownership. Furthermore, design firm partners are considered employees so they too require an agreement or the same rules will apply to them.

What if I’m a freelancer?

Once again, it’s considered work-for-hire so freelancers do not retain copyright. Companies who frequently work with freelancers usually make this clear when hiring. For freelancers working with smaller businesses, they should include copyright ownership language in their service agreements to prevent miscommunication.

If you have any specific issues with copyright, you should seek professional guidance. This article is meant to be a brief guide to help quickly educate designers on the importance of their copyrights. Visit the Official Copyright Office Website for up to date documented copyright information.

Other articles you may be interested in:

Demystifying the Use of Service Agreements

Did this article help you at all? let me know in the comments!

Tip #1 — It’s All in the Timing, Baby

For those who didn’t know, Tuesdays have shown to get the best “open” rates for email campaigns. Tuesday is probably just that perfect time of the week where you can catch your potential clients and customers after they’ve finally got back to speed from the weekend yet still have plenty of time to read your email before the coming weekend. Most report that it usually declines after this point with Wednesday and then Thursday being the next best days to send a email blast out. Keep in mind that everybody’s business is unique, so it may for your individual industry. Some of my friends who are in the bar/restaurant business send out emails with drink/meal specials on the day of so they can tempt their customers all day hopefully ending with them visiting later on.

Tip #2 — Add Me to Your Address Book

Do not ever underestimate the power of the spam filtering that people have. Spam is so annoying and dangerous to individuals and corporations alike that they use varied methods of just keeping the inane and dangerous garbage out of their lives. Believe it or not, adding a little bit of text — “Please add example@website.com to your address book to ensure delivery.” in a prominent area in your sign up area is an incredibly underestimated and often neglected practice that can yield tremendous benefits. I would go as far as adding it to the newsletter/campaign as well somewhere just in case your newsletter has been blocked but has miraculously made it through on rare occasions.

Tip #3 — Don’t Underestimate the Importance of the Subject Line

Not only does the subject line help you make it pass the spam filters and into the mailbox — it is the text that entices the receiver to open the email. Here are some quickie recommendations:

• Keep the messaging short and simple and 50 characters or less
• Read the subject line out loud. Hearing it aloud will allow you to hear the flow of it better. See if your co-workers can comprehend what the email is about just from listening to that
• Never use ALL CAPS
• Never use the words: Free (Can’t resist? Just never first in the sentence and be very careful with punctuation), Help, Percent off, Call Now, Discount and Reminder (or anything sexual or “naughty” if you want to be sure to clear the spam filtering)
• Be very careful with punctuation if you use it. Multiple exclamations is just asking to be filtered
• Localization Helps — Mentioning a city or town name can be effective
• Don’t be afraid to test — tweak length, keywords and tone until you hit the sweet spot

Tip #4 — Have a Consistent Sending Schedule

Generally, bi-weekly or monthly is a good frequency as most people find the time between messages to be just long enough so they are not annoyed. You want the recipient feel that they might miss something if they don’t scan it this month. Most people are curious and if you craft a consistently good newsletter — it can become a part of a recipient’s routine. It’s worth it to the sender as well because from my experience, it can be cumbersome to generate a ton of emails . It all depends on the type of business but for those who care about sending an email that always has genuine value with quality content — it can be tough.

Tip #5 — Build Your Lists as Much as You Can

When you premiere that first newsletter/email campaign… think if it as the start and not the ending. Every chance your business affords you should add names to that list. Trade shows, seminars, sign-up forms, events and even social networking should be a chance for you to get some names for the list. After a client meeting — ask them if they’d be interested in your mailing list which includes your newsletter subscription. If you work at a bar — ask your bartenders to help inquire clients they’ve newly befriended. There are many many way, but just realize it’s a never ending process. Be warned that permission is key as your potential client may not like you so much if you “spam” them (which it is if you don’t ask for permission to send).

Tip #6 — No Video and Flash Allowed

Sorry , my new media maven buddy — that stuff just doesn’t work. However, that shouldn’t stop you from offering that content elsewhere if that is the goal of the email campaign. Just design the email blast so the singular goal is to get them to click the link to view the new media as easy as possible. Don’t deceive them by having a image of a YouTube style graphic and expecting them to play it but entice them with a fetching screen cap (whatever that might be for your purposes). The point is, new media is revolutionizing the internet and how people communicate and you shouldn’t let email browsers prohibit your company from offering that type of content.

Tip #7 — Stop With the Ginormous Image as The HTML Email

Yes it’s simple and allows you to design without knowing any code at all and always displays perfectly — but nobody will see it! This is what spammers do so it will be highly likely it will be damned to spam folder hell! Also, email clients by default don’t display images. So that means it will become yet another hurdle that you’ll have to jump over to get your email message to your clients and customers. My advice is to find a quality email campaign service with lots of templates and choose one that floats your boat. Anything is better than sending simple big image emails.

Tip #8 — Take the Time to Test

Since a lot of businesses are doing email marketing, the propensity for blunders is occurring more frequently. A simple and effective practice is to make a checklist and turn it into a routine that you build in time for. It can be simple like — spell check, correct list, tested all links in the test email and plain-text is set up. When you click that “send” button you want to feel secure that you’ve done your due diligence in making sure your clients see you in the best possible light. Here’s a testing tip: don’t use dummy text. When you send it to the test list, it’s not going to be a accurate delivery because dummy text triggers spam infiltrators preventing it from arriving in the inbox (causing confusion and unnecessary headache).

Tip #9 — Is Your Sign Up Form Perfect?

Rightfully so, most people and businesses will concentrate their best efforts into their website. If it’s built right, it’s the ultimate go-to for impressing your audience and generating results (whatever that might be). Naturally, you’ll want to strike while the iron’s hot and get them to sign up for the newsletter/mailing list to keep the client relationship strong long after they leave the website. It’s a good idea to make sure the sign up is in a logical and relevant place that they will surely not miss during the browsing session. The sign-up form itself should not be cumbersome to fill out — look at your competitor’s website and try to only harvest the info you can’t live without.

Tip #10 — Design Your Layout Width Between 500 to 600 Pixels

You have no idea how people are viewing email, whether online or via a dedicated email client. Even if they have a web mail address they may be forwarding it to a client or using POP and IMAP features. Play it safe, 500 to 600 pixels is not that restrictive — this is the sweet spot for a email preview pane. Furthermore, when you see how people are using the preview panes you should try your best to follow simple user patterns such as logon on the top left and content in proper hierarchy so the viewers can scan. As Steve Krug says — “Don’t Make Me Think”.

Comment if you have any questions!