So Chris made these two all pretty-like! It might be cliched, but I’m a huge fan of Helvetica (can’t you tell?), and I plan on using modern fonts in addition to the bug. Evenly spacing the letterforms in the name helps block out the design. Chris threw in some color after looking at the black-and-white and chose a few at random (I’m still looking through PMS swatch-books), the final one will come a bit later. After discussion, I wanted to go with the combined letterforms, keeping a more ‘angular’ look. I wanted the ‘Y’ to stand out a bit, so we talked about differentiating with color.

Chris knows that I’m a huge drooling fan of International Yves Klein Blue (IKB). This will pose some issues as there’s no way to (100%) properly display that color exactly with RGB hex values, but that’s one reason I love it. The color is very interesting, Klein had to create a new color that he felt would best represent his artistic interpretations (he had chosen, early in his career, to represent air and the sky as his elements). It blends a brilliant amount of chemistry, color theory, and amounts to something like super-science in color. Of course, all this means much longer drying times as well as costs surrounding the pigment, but what can you do?

Chris and I are both huge William Gibson fans and having both worked in advertising, can readily identify with the brilliant, eccentric Belgian: Hubertus Bigend. The character owns a suit in IKB simply because the blue makes others uncomfortable.

In addition to exploring color, we discussed the shadow of the letterform (would removing the shadow in favor of a border ruin the effect – making the logo bug too ‘flat’) as well as emphasizing the ‘Y’ shape (through adding color in the branch of the ‘W’ – would it ruin the ‘a-ha!’ of the ‘Y’ or would it harm readability of the ‘W’?) or leaving it the hell alone. Here are those concepts:

I’m still thinking over color choices, I’m looking into swatches of oranges to pair with the IKB. I’ll post the finished product when I finally choose a few colors and then decide on the ‘Y’ shape. I’ll also post my new site personas later on today. I needed to move through those before hitting the wireframes.

I’ve started work on a redesign of everything.

I don’t just mean this site, but my resume, my cover letter design, my branding, my business cards, invoices, my Tumblr, my Twitter, everything.

I’ve not gotten to really get involved in my personal projects in a while so I’m deciding that I’m going all out on this project. I want to model everything after early-mid 1960s style ‘golden age of air travel’. I love the aesthetic that was produced at the time, but more importantly I love the concept of a user experience I’ll never be able to enjoy.

Air Travel used to be grand: everything was branded just so, every need was catered to, and the airlines encouraged an experience rather than just a service. I wasn’t alive to enjoy it, so I’m sure I romantize the experience a bit; but I’m enthralled with all the good design from huge companies really pouring money into a hard sell. I wish more companies would put that kind of money into their user experiences again, but with travel, sadly, I worry those days are long long gone never to return. Flying is now an uncomfortable chore, a thing you have to remove clothing to do, something that makes you feel flustered, and generally user-unfriendly.

I’m looking through lots of old inspiring tags, boarding passes, and materials from that era, trying to pick out graphic design elements that I can put my own twist on, update and make modern. I want to showcase how important every facet of the user experience was to the continued success of an industry and hopeful the exercise will make me a better user experience designer for it.

I’ll post wireframes, sketches, personas, and designs as I make them, so watch this space for big changes!

I recently lost a potential contract to price. My main competition came down to a price that was about 1/5 less than mine, but the client wanted to work with me more. I assumed that meant that the client would find the money needed for what they assumed was going to be a better experience. They really wanted me to drop my price and match the competition. The first rule in service pricing is this: There is always someone who will do it cheaper. Always.

The issue, given the poor state of the American economy, constantly boils down to price. Is the problem price because the service has been commodified: “How much is one Website”? Is the problem price in that all money is being shunted away from advertising?

If the problem with the price boils down to commoditization of services, I’ve always found that treating the idea of the services as a large investment commodity (how much is a car?). If, on the other hand, the price boils down to a shift of funds away from advertising and into R&D or other aspects of the business.

In the short term, that makes good sense: marketing and advertising are actually investments – you spend the money now for greater brand recognition, greater leads, better sales tools, and so on in the long run. The shortsighted part though, is that those groups who continue advertising efforts through tough economic times come out over 200% ahead of their competitors who cut back during a recession. By reevaluating & re-channeling advertising dollars, by reaching for creative but cost effective solutions, and choosing to really getting to know the customer base; companies can thrive.

One example of cost saving is e-blasts. Sure, as a programmer I don’t like to code them nor do they make me much money because they are pretty quick to design and code; but they make, on average, forty dollars to every dollar spent. Direct (snail) mail pieces on the other hand? 5 dollars to every one is the best one might hope for. Re-evaluation of the whole strategy with a cool head can often return large dividends.

Please comment and let me know some ways you helped get around price and educate your clients. Or, if you think I’m full of crap, let me know! Either way, share your experiences in the comments.