She made a physical sitemap or flowchart of their website so she could picture the hierarchy and flow of the website. This sitemap allowed her to move things around easily and make “big picture” changes before touching (pun not intended) the actual website. This also helped her wrap her head around some of the decisions that were made before she was brought on board and to focus on some of the hidden pages on the website that have direct links to them such as their product pages.

This is much easier to visual than normal sitemaps with only boxes & lines. It also helps you ensure your prospective buyers and brand community can easily find things because you’re on the adventure with them.

If you’re making big changes in your company and to your website, this might be a great place to start.

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But here’s what I do know:

I know Fat Tuesday is the last hoorah before lent, a sort of clash of interests where gluttony, excess and general debauchery are played out to their ultimate extent before a long period of self-denial and sanctity. This in itself sets up the dual mentality of this whole situation: The earliest customs involved chasing a fattened pig through town and using up the last of the butter. But from the looks of the New Orleans specific breed, I am expecting a little more than that.

I had my first slice of King Cake a week or two ago, anxious to get a taste of what lay ahead. I’ll admit to having never consumed such a bright combination of purple, gold and green. There’s another curiosity: those colors. I see that gold again in the colors of The Saints and the purple along too in LSU’s gear, both colors speaking to a sense of royalty and old nobility. Green less commonly so, but perhaps green signifies the fresh burst of life spring will herald? Or does it bring to mind money and excess?

Now Mardi Gras hardly seems to need to market itself. Almost all of the collateral I’ve seen needs to only display those colors and the message is clear, just as iconic as the Christmas red and green or Halloween orange and black. Treatment of those colors, and all those associated messages and images range from elegant to outright tacky: the event is, after all, being portrayed for evening ball goers along with party animals. From what I’ve seen so far, different parties have different aims. Perhaps a more well to do, older crowd would respond better to a mysterious image of a porcelain mask and champagne heralding their Mardi Gras celebration; while someone just looking for a boisterous good time might want to see less restrained images, with piles of beads and excessive décor.

This imagery....

....or this kind of image

As a designer, one has to determine what voice to speak in to reach a desired audience. This is what I’m out to learn about New Orleans Mardi Gras. I’ve seen a bit of how Mardi Gras is sold, but I feel I must experience all aspects of the event to be able to determine what methods are valid and what are not, and to be ready in the future to sell it if need be.

I have already witnessed a streetcar full of masked revelers, costumed drunks hanging out of the windows and tossing out beads. I’ve heard talk of Krewes, and exclusive parties and balls, prices ranging in the hundreds for entrance. The few floats and parades I’ve seen have been decadent, chaotic crowds circling around. And of course I’ve experienced the madness of Bourbon St. I’m expecting some combination of the above elements.

Check back up with me next month for a new perspective after the festivities have passed.

One of my many tasks here at the Planet is to come up with creative ways for our team to interact, have fun and stay healthy. Recently, while searching for some imaginative ideas, I ran across this wonderful article by Andrew Tarvin called “101 Ways to Create Humor at Work”.

Along with take a nap at work and dance in the elevator, here are a few more of my favs:

• Be Hularious: Hold a hula-hoop contest.
• Be Inspired: Start off each day by watching an inspirational video.
• Be a Storyteller: Pick a story from your weekend to share with others.
• Be Happy for 60 Minutes: Organize a happy hour with your co-workers.
• Be Original: Brainstorm your own unique way of bringing humor to work.

Bringing humor into the work place just might be one of the best investments you can make for yourself and your employees. Research shows that happy people are healthier people and laughter creates some mighty powerful brain-altering chemicals. In fact, if you were to buy all the chemicals created by a good laugh they would carry a pretty hefty price tag. And yet you can create these chemicals for yourself and your co-workers at no cost by simply engaging in laughter.

The chemicals produced by laughter have extraordinary positive healing effects on your body and mind.  They boost your immune system, improve your outlook on life and diminish symptoms of depression. Researchers have found that your state of mind has everything to do with the functioning of your immune system. By engaging in laughter, you can boost both your mind and your body.

But what if you can’t find anything to laugh about? Here are some ideas I’m working on: I posted a crossword puzzle on the refrigerator. Now when we take a coffee break everyone gathers around to figure out the clues. I’ve implemented spontaneous 15-minute “fun break” at least once a week – our first “fun break” we played a game I created. I call it the “Treasure Hunt Word Search”. Here are the rules:

• Pick out a word that is 10 or more letters.
• Draw the letters on paper and cut them out individually.
• Hide the letters around the office (outside or inside).
• Tell everyone how many letters they have to find.
• Give them 15 minutes to find all the letters and unscramble the Word.

Read my blog post next month to find how Design the Planet continues to make our workplace healthier and happier. In the meantime, visit our Facebook page to see pictures of our latest venture into creative play and health through laughter and, while you’re there, post some of your own ideas for generating laughter at work.

So come on everyone, join in. Find ways everyday to get laughter into your life and work environment, even if it means being a little weird, it will mean a wealth of health.

So, how can you earn a high search engine ranking?  There’s an entire profession devoted to determining the factors that a search engine uses to rank pages, but there are two main factors that everyone should consider: “votes” and “on-page content”.

The content on your web page is a major factor used to rank web pages. So have really good content! Here are some tips to make sure your web page’s content will rank well:

• Your site’s structure should make sense, even to a machine.  If your page has sections, make sure each page is in the correct section. If your page has event listings, make sure the listings are in the “events” section.
• Your pages should link to each other in a way that makes sense.  If you run a restaurant website and you’re home page talks about pizza, link to your pizza menu using this text.  Don’t link to your content using phrases like “click here for the menu”.
• Content on your website is easy to find.
• For local businesses: Include your phone number and address on each page.  This will help you rank better for users who are in the city that you serve.

In the next post in this series, we’ll cover what “votes” are and how you use them to improve your search engine rankings.

Two measures of adjustments used in typography are kerning and leading. These two aspects of typography are particularly important because their value can offer the greatest amount of customization to a group of text in order to achieve a desired look and feel.

Kerning is the process of adjusting the space between characters in a font, usually to achieve a visually pleasing result. Kerning differs from tracking which is the uniform adjustment of spacing applied over a range of characters. Very often a designer will take advantage of kerning to exploit the individual shape of a letter to create interesting visual relationships between other letters in a group.

Tighter kerning or tracking can compliment the overall shape of the word, forcing the viewer to see the word as a whole shape rather than individual letters. Tighter kerning can also help illustrate interesting negative spaces between letters, and other spacial relationships which can become a design element in itself.

Loose tracking gives a sense of airiness and openness. It brings more attention to the individual letter instead of the overall shape of the word. Loose tracking can also express boldness and expansiveness, commanding a large area to communicate an idea.

Leading refers to the distance between the baselines (bottom) of successive lines of type. The word comes from lead strips that were put between set lines. When type was set by hand in printing presses, slugs or strips of lead of appropriate thicknesses were inserted between lines of type to add vertical space, to fill available space on the page.

Closer leading fits more text on the page, but decreases legibility. Looser leading spreads text out to fill a page and makes the document easier to read. Leading can also be negative, in which case the lines of text are so close that they overlap or touch, creating a desired design.

There is rarely a time when a designer uses a software’s default values as the finished text. Creative use of kerning and leading can result in a variety of emotions and drama in type design. Kerning and leading are just a part of what develops into an overall type treatment that will successfully brand a business. When type treatments are consistent across a business’ branding, a visual continuity is achieved throughout products and services, providing the desired effect of the type to all aspects of branding.

Here are some inspiring resources and examples:

www.typophile.com
www.ilovetypography.com
www.smashingmagazine.com/tag/typography

#3 Curlz

Curlz is a font you see on invitations for events that are supposed to be fun and exciting, but its overuse has caused it to look silly and amateur.

#2 Papyrus

With its rough edges and antique look, you’ll notice Papyrus used in the massage and spa industry, for (Mediterranean) restaurants and menus, representing jewelry shops, and on organic food packaging. Papyrus has become so commonplace that it’s a poor choice for any company wanting to stand out.

#1 Comic Sans

Originally designed as imitation comic book lettering, Comic Sans is one of the most overused fonts created—there are even sites dedicated to banning the font. Comic Sans is childish, immature and never taken seriously.

The fonts listed above should never be used to represent your brand, but the list goes on… Click here for a full listing of fonts to avoid »

Why does it matter what fonts I use?
Choosing an unsuitable font makes your brand:

• convey the wrong message
• look unprofessional
• illegible and unreadable
• look too generic
• confusing and unmemorable

What if I can’t find the perfect font?
Hire a design firm, because:

• design firms have tens—if not hundreds—of thousands of fonts at their disposal
• designers are aware of trends and fonts that may soon look dated
• if a perfect font can’t be found, a custom font or type treatment can be created
• design firms work hard to make sure your brand is unique and conveys the proper message

So, whether you’re flowing content into your website or typing up a document to be used in-house, refrain from using the fonts listed above and you’ll find yourself a few steps closer to a more professional, memorable brand.

We enjoyed having Florida visit us and look forward to hearing about their visit to New Orleans.

Recently, Design the Planet teamed with Touch Studios to redevelop the clerk’s website which included apps for mobile devices including iPhone, Droid, and Blackberry and a mobile website. Users can access key information from the clerk’s office including real-time election results straight from their smart phone.

View the recently launched redesign of the Jefferson Parish Clerk of Court website.

Challenge
The closely held business was struggling to remain relevant in a market filled with strong national competitors such as Office Depot, Staples, WalMart and Sam’s. LAOP’s logo reflected a stagnant, unchanging image, and customers failed to appreciate the store’s value-added services and their more-than-just-office-furniture philosophy. If LAOP was to survive for the next generation of owners, it needed to make changes to keep the brand relevant and the company competitive.

Solution
Design the Planet partnered with LAOP to identify and define their unique brand differentiation and value proposition. This information was the basis for updating the company’s identity into something fresh and energetic. The redesigned action-oriented, forward-moving logo represents a company heading into a bright future. It includes a modern chair design and icons of office supplies referring to the company’s diverse offerings. Design the Planet also recommended changing the uniforms worn by delivery drivers and the sales team. This change improved the team’s perceived professionalism by addressing cleanliness and style issues. Along with these modernizations and changes to the branding, team members were trained on brand service paradigm and expectations. The company’s fleet of trucks was repositioned as a fleet of roving billboards to promote the brand with truck-side advertisements. These and other on-going changes have revitalized LAOP’s brand in a positive way.

Results
Through Design the Planet’s rebranding efforts, LAOP has moved into position as the brand-dominant local office supply and furniture store. The push to become a re-energized, competitive business gave the company’s internal brand community a much-needed boost, increasing employee morale and enthusiasm. LAOP’s new branding and attitude based upon its cultural promise was a breath of new life, and a successful strategy resulting in a significant growth in sales.

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About
Nacho Mama’s is a fun and festive restaurant that works hard to produce great food and good times, while keeping people coming back for more through their attention to flavor and hospitality. For a restaurant that’s used to being unique, Nacho Mama’s annual Cinco de Mayo celebrations weren’t standing out despite offering live bands, contests, and special prices.

Challenge
Nacho Mama’s original Cinco de Mayo festivities were not unique enough to differentiate their Cinco parties from others. With three separate locations all trying to gather a crowd, the brand needed help distinguishing itself in the minds of their brand community.

Solution
Design the Planet developed the “Cinco de Mama” campaign, which specifically tied the holiday to Nacho Mama’s and made it uniquely their own. The new event title cut through the media clutter and a comprehensive month-long celebration culminating in Cinco helped them stand out from other celebrations. To create excitement for the event, Design the Planet began a Countdown to Cinco de Mama which positioned Nacho Mama’s event as the place to be for Cinco in the mind of the brand community long before other parties were ever mentioned. Design the Planet utilized a multimedia approach, including a specific Cinco de Mama website and Facebook ads targeting specific consumers, such as fans of the bands featured at Cinco de Mama.

Results
By utilizing a branded, stand-out celebration title and theme combined with pre-event promotion and engagement activities, Nacho Mama’s enjoyed a 30% increase in event sales across its three locations. Design the Planet’s creative approach and unique spin helped the client exceed sales and attendance goals. Cinco de Mama is designed to be an original campaign that can be reused from year-to-year to keep party-goers coming back for one-of-a-kind Mama’s fun.