Barrett Morgan Design LLC's blog

BMDllc moved into an office at The Labor Party!

Before the move to a regular office the membership space was utilized for over 3 years! Co-working actually works guys...

Check it out...

You can't talk about S.E.O. without talking about posting fresh content on your website.

If you manage your own site, you are now the publisher for your company.
You are in charge of getting the word out about your business, what you're up to, and the amazing details of it all.

The internet loves fresh new content. If you're not a writer you might want to hire one.

If you're doing this yourself, where do you start? Here are a few pointers to help you out (what I've shared with my clients time and time again).

One of the most important questions to ask yourself when designing is 'who will experience it'?

Defining who your users are first allows you to focus your efforts towards their needs.

Once you know who your users are, you can define your user's paths. How will they navigate your design and what are the end goals of their experience. How will their needs be attended to, without any interruptions.

Your website should be fluent (and brilliant) across every device with a browser.

Typically your website looks perfect on a laptop or a pc. What happens when a mobile user pulls it up? Do they have to pinch and zoom to find content? What about your navigation and layout, does it get in the way of the content that they are looking for? Are buttons big enough for large fingers or is your website only user friendly with a mouse?

Spring is the season for trade-shows! I was approached by Cladding Corp to help design their space in the upcoming AIA 2012 National Convention and Design Exposition. 

Drupalcon Denver

I was just coming back from a show myself in Denver, Drupalcon, where I learned more about Drupal, and how huge it really really is. Loved it.

Anyways it gave me great insight into good and bad booth concepts. The booths that created an atmosphere and had welcoming engaging people were the most rememberable.
 

The latest trend on Social Media has been to share photos with refreshing life quotes on them. The quotes are typically harmless and uplifting saying something about your personality. Some though are harsh, and witty, making you aware of people’s ‘other side’.

The irony though is that sharing these unique quotes is an action of grouping users together with each person who has shared it, making it less and less unique.

Delivering the latest desk to Sasnak was quite the task. This two piece workstation is heavy. I wanted to shoot some photos of it before it was installed so we stopped by a friends walnut grove for some photography.

It was quite the scene. @MicahDerr and I heaving around the pieces, trying not to scratch anything, and making sure the delivery truck wouldn't harm the fresh coat of finish on the dirt roads.

Here’s a story about a brand that we are thankful for.

So I saw a cool patagonia shirt about living within your means over at their online store. A pair of scissors cutting up a credit card. goo.gl/AGZ7r

I wanted to get it for my wife but I didn’t want to pay with a credit card online. We don’t live near a patagonia store. We do live near a retailer who carries some of their products but it was a new release and I was eager.

Ever hear people ask "What should I promote this time of year?" or "What type of features would drive more sales during this season?"

The trouble with that style of thinking is that by the time you gather your thoughts and ideas, conceptualize your plan with your designer or branding agent, the season you are going for has long passed.

It's best to be focused on promoting the NEXT season. Or even 2 seasons from now.

When I take a step back and look at how Wichita has grown with the economy and has ebbed and flowed with the recession, I get excited.

It makes me wonder “What’s next?” The recent city plan is a remarkable design for developing our downtown to be a thriving community. But what’s going to drive this city’s economical bottom line to increase rapidly enough to stimulate this development?

Businesses are going to have to grow, innovate, and develop new things that will get consumers excited again, even during tough times.

After the Business Summit a couple months back there was a lot of motivation to develop my own professionally printed business cards and brochures.

There was a great response from everyone who received either of these at the conference I went to in Orlando. The brochure helped its recipients have a much better understanding of what I do... I'm not just a web design company anymore. It walks you through my love of design & how it can translate into all of your business which helps build you a better brand.

A lot of people think design is in the details. That is a very true statement, but good design is creating less details for your users to worry about. The more simple your design, the easier your shopping cart is to check out of, the easier it is to subscribe, unsubscribe, review, comment, the less steps it is to do anything, the better the experience is for your users.