What is unique web design?
Many small business owners who I work with are very interested in having a custom fit web design that says “I am quality and my owner is professional.” They don’t want to have a web site that looks cookie-cutter. They want something that really lets their individual personality shine through. They want a web presence that is one-of-a-kind and unique.
What, though, really makes a web design unique? Many web design templates do have a very generic, cloned feel. Though, on the other hand, there are some that are very aesthetically pleasing. However, when it comes down to it, no web design is completely unique. Nothing in this world is. Everything is inspired of something.
What makes a design unique is the combination of brand, colors, typography, position, and so on. In design, component composition communicates concept. How those components are composed affects how a certain concept is communicated to the viewer. Components like the logo, photos, text and navigation can be composed by being grouped together, spaced out, positioned along grids, scaled down and up, rotated and so on.
So, we know what makes a design unique, but what makes it look professional or well done? This again has to do with the composition of the components and what concept they need to communicate. The design of a web site should feel like it was done with a specific purpose in mind and not just slopped together out of laziness. That means that the web site has a very clear and evident concept or message. Consistent composition of components will emphasize the concept being communicated.
You should ask, what is your website’s concept or message? What words do you want the viewer to feel? Tense or comfortable, excited or calm, sophisticated or simplistic, mature or youthful. Answer this before you design your web presence and, more than likely, you will have a professional-looking, well done web site.
Thank You for the Reminder…
It is superbly refreshing to be shown that no one is really original. Well, at least that no one is so original that what they come up with has never been seen before.
This video(third in a series of four) demonstrates that everything is inspired by something and that the way we become inspired is by first copying something already out there. Am I the only one that felt a certain stigmatism about copying other people’s ideas? Really, our society and technology wouldn’t be what it is today without copying other’s ideas. This is one reason I feel very dark about patents and copyrights. I understand the business logic for them, but despise them based on my more altruistic motives.
So, without further delay, I give you Everything is a Remix – the elements of creativity.
Everything is a Remix Part 3 from Kirby Ferguson
Added bonus:
this video exemplifies how drastic differences(smoke signals vs video chat) are more obvious than gradual changes(PC vs Apple). This should make you giggle a little bit, if you have any humanity in your soul. 
What Does Open Mean For Business Today?
photo credit: O'Reilly - Oscon 2002
The advent of open source software has sparked a big debate in the global economy, an economy that is so used to secrecy for the sake of control. Open is a trend that is not going away. Open source software is created by volunteers from all over the world at no cost to the end users. These volunteers work for free because they need something, not because they see money in it(ie: http://zenfoc.us). They help themselves while helping others in the process.
But what does open mean for business today. Does open reduce the potential for profit(aka making a living)?
What Apple doesn’t know
You think they would learn from their own choices…
Mac rebuilt their OS on an open source Unix kernel and it gave them great flexibility with the tech crowd. You can run so many development tools on OS X natively while at the same time having quality software at your fingertips(think Adobe). However, their iPhone OS is a different story.
Taxing the Rich: Why it’s the right thing to do
Rich Dad, Poor Dad. This is a book I am slowly reading through to try to better grasp financial stability. There is one ideal that Rich Dad believes in that I do not.
Taxing the rich punishes those who succeed and rewards those who fail. This makes no sense.