Web Design and Drupal Development Blog

Today sees the launch of another client's website, Black & White Radio, one we're very excited about. It's the first music based site we've put together and one we're very fond of.

If you're a fan of 20's to 60's music then Black & White Radio is for you! We're huge fans of that era of music, as you will have noticed by my last post 50 Years of Motown, and can honestly say we've been listening since the early test transmissions.

B&W's motto:

'Welcome to Black & White Radio, the little antique shop on the radio high street.'

Packed full of classic tunes all day long, we find it hard to turn off. Sadly we're not in sunny Spain (home to B&W Radio (Javea)) to listen over the air waves so instead we listen over the rather new fangled method of the interweb.

Today marks 50 years of the iconic record label MOTOWN, bringing us such greats as Smokey Robinson, Gladys Knight & the Pips, Marvin Gaye, Stevie Wonder, Diana Ross and the list goes on.

My favourite music blog has a couple of classic clips of two Motown greats but I thought I would pick out some record sleeves that caught my eye stylistically.

Some great photography mixed in with nice typography means these album sleeves stand the test of time. You can't beat owning a bit of vinyl, shame I don't have a record player to play them on!

In need of an online email marketing platform, we found at least three that fitted our criteria of a good feature set, ease of use and cost effective pricing. We opted for our monkey cousins over at MailChimp!

Having searched on Twitter for an alternative to Aweber and iContact, then having read the Outlawdesign blog review of MailChimp we hooked up and swung into action.

The pricing structure was the most competitive we could find, especially if you're like us and only sending out an email every quarter. Buying credits that match the number of emails sent instead of a fixed monthly fee, suits us just fine.

BBC3 recently put together a short film, titled 'Fearless' starring Johnny Vegas, Ralf Little, Natalie Casey and Matt Berry, designed to promote BBC3's risk-taking approach to programming.

The short opens with Vegas describing why he is about to try an Evel Knievel-style stunt...

"A lot of people would think I'm mad, they'd say 'Johnny, no, don't do this'," he says. "What do you mean, 'Am I fearless?'. No, I'm not a fearful person."

Our client Moto-Stunts International helped with the motorcyle stunt and really enjoyed the day's filming which adds to their TV appearances going back to shows such as 'Game for a Laugh', 'Beadles About' and more recently 'Scrap Heap Challenge' on Channel 4.

You can view the BBC3 comedy film on MSI website. Don't miss MSI's Fire stunts filmed for Jeremy Clarkson's (Top Gear presenter) latest DVD 'Thriller', due in the shops now.

Busy times lead to a slow flow of blog articles but do not fear, I've got some corkers lined up in the next few weeks!

Results from my Blog Survey '08 are on the way, so if you haven't given me your feedback click through now!

We've also got a complete site redesign coming your way for 2009. You should always be reviewing and monitoring your brand and marketing strategy, which is why we're about to tweak our design to leap into the new year all fresh faced and bushy tailed.

Recently we started using MailChimp for our email marketing so they'll be a round up of its' pluses and minuses, so far it's chimptastic

Plus there's a great little article on what you can learn from Kung Fu Panda! Oh yes, design and Kung Fu Panda, what a combination

Coming sooner than you think!

RSS is such a great way to keep up-to-date with all the latest news from some of the top people in their fields of interests.

I've updated my feeds again in the past week and thought I'd share them with you. If you have a business and no doubt a website then you'll find lots of interesting links. The primary one on each line takes you to the blog itself and then I've also supplied a direct link to their RSS feed.

If I had to pick out just a couple of blogs that I really enjoy then Seth Godin, Get Elastic, Smashing Magazine and Chris Brogan are all unmissable.

Those people wondering what that orange square is all about should check out this post on what RSS is and how it can help you gain quicker and easier access to your favorite blogs.

Enjoy the list :)

Blogging

When it comes to your website take a leaf out of the London Underground's book of branding and design communication.

Your website design should send clear signals about what your brand stands for and in what direction you want people to take. Usability is a big issue for Transport for London as much as it is for your web design.

If you're searching for some clarity on the subject of web design/usability then I hope this post gives you some answers. Let people of the train first and then take a seat, mind that can of pop, put that free paper to one side and enjoy the ride.

Things The Tube Can Teach You About Web Design