As a driver from Dayton to Chicago, I pull into a gas station where I’m offered a subsidized price on the gasoline I’m about to purchase if I’ll transport a secured and GPS enabled package 200 miles up I-75. I can then opt to take it further or leave it there and buy my own gas.

There are obvious security concerns, but if it was a validated organization I might be more willing to participate. I would certainly like a less expensive gas bill. The logistics of this are a bit crazy, but there must be a way to get fewer semi-trucks on the highways.

Thoughts?

Isaac, with the Apple TV remote.

Couch Context

There are many things that my son, Isaac, and I have in common. We both enjoy playing with trains, chasing each other around the house, wrestling on the living room floor, picking on his mother. And, while all of these things are great, one of our most enjoyable pastimes is watching movie trailers.

We have an Apple TV at the house and Isaac and I will regularly spend a half hour on the couch watching all the Pixar (or other similar) movie trailers over and over. Something about this medium entertains us both in a way that others can’t seem to manage. I suppose it’s because the Trailer Editor is tasked with cramming so much into such a small amount of time. Whatever the reason, we truly enjoy it.

Hurry Up and Wait

It’s common for us that, after selecting “Play Trailer” on the Apple TV, we’ll be presented with a progress indicator as the trailer loads and Isaac will immediately begin telling the TV to “Go. Go. Go. Go.” We found this funny to begin with, and so encouraged him to continue in this behavior. However, now it is seeping into other parts of our lives. The other day, Isaac and I were sitting on the couch messing with my iPhone and I launched a racing application that I have. It started with a progress bar and he immediately began shouting “Go. Go. Go.” I was a bit surprised, mostly because this progress bar’s design was significantly different that the ones we see on the Apple TV.

Good Things Come NOW

As the speed of people’s internet access increases and their patience decreases, I have to wonder if we’re disproving the old adage, “Good things come to those who wait”. Isaac wants the good stuff, and he wants it immediately, but the truth is that good things come faster and faster every day. I’ve toyed with the idea of some kind of web-based social experiment which would determine if people would sub-consciously over-value something that required a longer wait time.

Isaac and Dad

I suppose until I have the chance to run that experiment, I’ll keep shooting for faster load-times and lighter markup and CSS…

Ford F-150 Monster Truck

Earlier this week, one of our family friends dropped off a few presents for the kids. Isaac received this monster truck with over-sized tires and an apparent appetite for destruction.

Needless to say, he loves it.

This particular truck is battery operated and has two buttons on the top. One which makes the toy move forward (rear-wheel drive) and one which makes the truck sound like it’s driving over smaller, meeker, more foreign-made vehicles. While he and I have had a blast loading this truck up with different stuff and sending it roaring across the living room floor, I can’t help but notice how cheaply it is made. When we first got it out, there was hot glue dripped randomly across the top of the truck, one drop of which had landed on a button, making it impossible to push. The body of the truck is glued to the frame with the same adhesive goop. From the time we opened the packaging, the body has easily separated from the frame. There is also glue hanging out the front of the truck, covering up it’s “teeth”. See the photos below for details. With all of these lousy manufacturing mistakes, what really stands out to me that this truck is overly-branded as a Ford product.

Touchpoints for Everyone

As a Partner at an idea studio in Dayton, Ohio that places great emphasis on brand, I find myself obsessed with these kinds of touchpoints. Unfortunately for Ford, this is actually a reflection on their brand. As you can see from these photos, the have placed their logo liberally on the truck.

I can imagine the meeting where this kind of decision was made. Perhaps someone suggested they find an inexpensive way to put the Ford name into the minds of little boys all over America. Maybe they didn’t consider the fact that one or two parents would also receive some kind of brand impression from the product. I would venture a guess that the negative impression on the parents outweighs the positive impression on the kids.

A Better Approach

So what should Ford have done? To start with, I’d recommend that they get their hands on any product they plan on allowing to carry their logo. An alternative would be to manufacture a high quality toy truck, somewhere in the USA, that came free to any parent that purchased a new Ford truck. This way you know you have a “Ford-friendly” family and you are reinforcing that positive emotion. Just throwing a load of trucks with your logo on them into every dollar store across the country doesn’t do much for your brand.

How to Learn from Ford’s Mistake

Something as simple as this may seem harmless. And, perhaps Ford hasn’t done any damage to their reputation by doing this. However, if it were my company, I wouldn’t settle for “made in China” brand awareness. This also applies to packaging. Anyone who’s opened an Apple product can tell you that they create an experience from the moment you hold their product in your hands. The key message here is to spend adequate time evaluating areas where you can effectively increase your brand’s value.

A good place to start would be a brand analysis…

Made in China

At least the truck is good for hauling these “Vensafi” batteries (proudly made in China) which came pre-installed in the truck and died within the first ten minutes of play.

Handcrafted Coops

Perfectionism Runs in my Blood

I can remember back to a summer from my childhood, probably twenty-some years ago, when I was staying with my Grandma and “Gramps” at their farm in Pennsylvania. My Grandfather was working on building a new chicken coop and I was (not really) helping. As we neared completion, he realized that one of the 2x4s he’d cut was about a half-inch shy of it’s ideal length. Of course, we needed to make a trip to the hardware store to buy another 2×4 so that it could be done right.

For a chicken coop.

While my grandfather was like this about most of what he did in life, my perfectionism is a little different. I call it “selective perfectionism” – I’m sure you can guess what that means. There are a select few areas in my life where I am desperately passionate about doing things right. My business partners will tell you, one of these areas is coffee. Another one is website design and development. This is a great thing if you’re a potential client, but it presents a set of unique challenges to me and my team as we strive to build beautiful, perfect websites.

Recognizing the Problem

Before we get too far here, I want to make it clear that I believe there is a time (and a budget) for carefully crafting every pixel and every line of code. Unfortunately, most of us don’t have clients that can afford (or schedules that flex to accommodate) this kind of work. The problem with us perfectionists is that we know a little too much. It’s that knowledge of our craft which pushes us toward the death spiral and the same knowledge which, often times, convinces us to chose the absolute best approach whenever we’re faced with options. I believe that there is always a “best solution” out there for any given problem. As business owners/website designers/software architects, we need to develop our ability to look at the paths before us and select the one that is the best fit for a specific project.

So, how do we do this?

Everyone responds a bit differently to these kinds of situations, and each project presents it’s own unique challenges. However, there are a few simple things we can do to help prevent ourselves from falling into the spiral.

Establish (and Remember) Clear Goals

Take some real time to think about the two or three core goals of a given project. This isn’t something that you can do on your own, it requires feedback and buy-in from your customer. These goals will later provide a filter through which all project decisions can be examined. Having this higher level of understanding for your project will keep you in tune with what’s best for your client. Remember, we’re not designing for awards, we’re trying to grow our customer’s business.

Trust a Non-Perfectionist

At the risk of sounding a bit trite, it can really help to have a “perfectionist accountability partner” available. Quite simply, a logical individual who will listen to you explain the options and provide a sensible point of view. Often times, I find that simply explaining the two or three ways I can see to create a solution provides the clarity I need to make the right choice. In this case, two heads really are better than one.

One note here, you may want to avoid using the person in charge of the budget for this. I have nothing against the money folks, but often their feedback is to chose the quickest way to solve a problem. Remember that this is a balancing act, it requires compromises and a real desire to serve your clients. Whoever you trust with this responsibility must share this understanding.

Talk to your Customer (Gasp!)

It’s funny to me that each time this suggestion comes up we seem to laugh it off. I believe the reason we don’t take this seriously is because we don’t think our customer’s are smart (technical? creative?) enough to make an educated decision. While there may be some truth here, the reality is that these are the folks paying for the product you’re going to deliver. They aren’t experts in your field. They may not have a design or programming degree. But they should be invested enough in your project to listen to what you’re considering and provide some feedback. If they’re not, this is the perfect opportunity to get them involved. It may even lead to an increase in your overall budget. Trust me when I say that you (and your client) will be much happier with the end product if this kind of communication is common in your process.

The Takeaway

Over time, perfectionsim will eat away at your profit and morale. As experts in our field, we should strive to provide a level of quality that exceeds the expectations of our customers. But we should also be willing to compromise when it’s best for our clients. Working through these kinds of issues with your team can help with efficiencies and prevent teammates from feeling under-appreciated. It’s difficult, but it’s worth the effort.

One was a high-paying customer who made a few bad business decisions and began paying the price for that with market-share. When they finally realized the need to invest in marketing through this crisis, rather than avoid it, they thought they should seek out a less expensive option. This is OK, we’re not the cheapest in town, we’re the best.

The other was a one-person small business for whom I “did a favor”, helping them to get started with a simple website. If you have to chose a client to lose, this is the one you let go. (By the way, don’t do favors for people. I’ve learned how bad this is for the market since I did this. Clients are educated by this and they’re learning the wrong lessons, but I’ll save that for another post.) So why would this upset me?

Well, I don’t want to sound condescending, but in both cases, the organization replacing my company was (quite obviously) inferior.

That’s really all it was. My client was “firing” me and replacing me with someone who had nowhere near the technical skill or design sense that I offered. Being the perfectionist that I am, these situations severely pained me. I pride myself on providing a level of quality and professionalism that nobody in the Dayton area offers. I am always pushing myself, and always pushing my clients, to take calculated risks and find a solid balance between form and function. I spend a LOT of time writing semantic markup, separating style from content, ensuring accessibility and working to create a usable experience for my customer’s customers. The truth is, most of this stuff doesn’t mean much to a business owner. Wanna know what they think is important?

SEO.

Now, I understand that not all potential clients think this way, but this was the key factor that pulled both of my clients away. The website development firms replacing me were both offering search engine optimization as one of their primary services. While I understand that there are a few SEO folks out there doing some good work, for the most part, I agree with Derek Powazek. Build something good and take care of it, then you’ll get good results. What business owners don’t really understand is that all the stuff I listed above that sets my company apart is the stuff it takes to “build something good”. In essence, what I offer is SEO, I just don’t call it that because it’s common sense stuff. It’s what everyone should be doing.

Telling me that your web development firm offers SEO is like telling me that your computer does multimedia.

The Amiga 4000 Baby

I wish I had the statistic on the number of people who bought a computer because it offered “multimedia capabilities”. Maybe you’re even reading this article on a computer that is capable of multimedia. Congrats if you are. Please send me a photo (if you can figure out how to get the pictures off your camera).

Alright, I’m taking this a bit too far, but you get my point. Every reasonable computer out there is capable of doing the kinds of things we classify (or classified) as multimedia. Managing your photos, music, video, etc. However, when people don’t understand something, they follow the buzzwords.

To Business Owners

Don’t hire a company to build you a website if they try to sell you SEO in addition to the web project. They are scamming you. Find a firm that actually knows how to build sites properly, someone you can trust, and let them do what they do best. Even more importantly, don’t move away from a company that understands all of this simply because some other organization is promising you amazing search engine results. Make sure you’re communicating these desires/goals with your firm.

In both of these cases, my client never even mentioned any specific goals. (NOTE: I understand that I have some responsibility here. Both of these cases happened before we were using any kind of measurable results with these projects. I should have had these conversations in a much more specific way than I did.)

All of that being said, just building something right isn’t going to put you on the first page of Google. That takes time and a commitment that most organizations are not willing to give. It takes a content strategy and an understanding of your audience. A good website development firm knows this and will walk you through these concepts up front.

How Could I have Prevented This

I’ve asked myself this question many times. I honestly believe that the real failure in both of these situations was communication. I needed to communicate more regularly with my client about what they were needing and expecting. They needed to communicate more regularly with me about things they’d like to see change. It’s a two-way street, but we (as designer/developers) need to lead this charge. Being proactive in your client communication will dramatically change your business for the better.

The “Graceful” Part

When this happens to you (hopefully it won’t, but when it does) make sure that you remember your brand. You probably want to be known as an organization people desire to work with, your response in difficult situations will show your true colors.

Also remember who own’s the site. Most work for hire contracts explain all of this and typically, your client owns their site files. This doesn’t necessarily mean the hi-rez (original) photos or the PSD’s you layed out, or your FLA files. Of course, this is dependent on your contract, but in general, you should be gracious through this. Show them that you’re not desperate, that you have their best interests in mind, and that you want them to be happy with their design firm selection.

I’m not saying you shouldn’t try to make a case for them staying with you, but do so with respect. Avoid the political temptations of belittling the “new firm” in front of your client. Nobody wants to work with someone who does that. In general, ask yourself what would be best for your client before making any rash decisions. In fact, it might be a good idea to have a trusted friend or partner review any correspondence to make sure you’re not being over-emotional.

This is tough stuff. However, in situations like these a little grace goes a long way.

Got a good “losing a client” story? Share it in the comments below.

iPhone Makeup Kit

Your Makeup and Your iPhone

So my wife and I are walking into Kohl’s and happen across this display. I’m generally a nice guy, but this caught me off guard. A makeup kit that looks like an iPhone? Seriously?

Now don’t get me wrong, I appreciate beautiful product design just as much as the next guy. But ripping off a smart phone design to sell makeup seems like a stretch. Either the beauty industry is desperate or Apple’s product designers are unbelievably good.

Close to Home

While this may not be a huge deal, I did listen to two of our designers today struggle through a design review with a client who really just wanted us to “make it look like Apple’s site.” I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard this. As an idea studio, one of the challenges we face is to push our clients past the easy solution of copying some other cool thing and onto creating their own cool thing that other people will want to copy. It (obviously) takes a lot of work, a lot of persistence, but it is worth it.

A Success Story

On the flip side, at a recent FORGE lunch, a different client of ours was mentioning how one of their competitors in another country just completed a re-brand. They mentioned how similar the new identity was to the system we just launched for our client. They were willing to step out, take a little risk and it’s put them in a position where their competition has no choice but to fall in line behind them. Copyright and Trademark issues aside, this is a good thing.

The Moral of the Story

Now, I know that the economy is tough right now. Believe me, I know that marketing budgets are usually the first to go. But I also know that (as one of my partners would say) organizations which continue to focus on their brand through difficult times will come out ahead. If you are a business owner, now is the time to push. Find an organization that will take the time to understand your market and help you establish a premier brand. Then watch your competition fall in line. Behind you.

I had the opportunity this evening to sit down with a few great web guys from the Dayton area. We all have a passion for making the web beautiful and accessible, we all work for or own local, small businesses that provide web design and development services as a primary offering and we all want a group to discuss these things with. Here’s who made the first meeting:

• Mike Ward [Mike Ward Design // @mikeward]
• Jeff Friend [Forward Media Group // @forwardmedia]
• Nathan Rambeck [Rambeck Group // @nrambeck]

We met at The Greene and chatted about CSS, JavaScript, Drupal, all kinds of geeky stuff. I’ve provided a list of links below to some of the cool stuff that came up.

• blueprint css framework
• blueprint css grid generator
• 960 grid system
• apple-style pagination
• cool fixed-top nav bar
• css sticky footer
• using sprites in css to speed up page load
• firebug
• yslow
• typekit
• forge your dot org
• hover intent
• wordpress flutter
• hsla color in css3
• cool retro design
• css3 support in modern browsers

Wow. Looking back at this list, we probably have enough topics to keep us busy for the next six months. I’m also pretty sure I didn’t get everything. Obviously, we didn’t go into depth about all of these topics, but we touched on all of them at some point or another. I’d venture to say that these are the kinds of things we plan to focus on as a group. It’s the stuff we’re dealing with everyday and we’re always learning.

How Do I Get Involved?

If you’re interested in participating, the only requirements are that you work for or own a small business that offers web design or development as a key service and that you’re a nice person. Leave a comment below and a link to your site if you’d like to be considered for invitation. We’re always looking to meet folks who care about web standards.

I have been telling myself that I need a blog for about 4 years. Oddly enough, work has kept me so busy, and I’ve made other things a priority, so it’s not gotten done. What you see here is the quickest way I know to start sharing some of the thoughts rolling around in my head.

I’ve also put up some basic contact info, in case you need to track me down. This can be found over at bencallahan.com.

About What?

My plan is to write about what I do: making websites. More than just that, I hope to introduce some information that may be helpful to folks looking to build a site for their organization. There are so many snake-oil salesmen in the “website design” or “website development” business. I’d like to answer some of the questions, right some of the wrongs and provide a glimpse of how FORGE does things. The right way.

I also plan to discuss some of the hot topics in the industry and perhaps to look ahead a bit – providing the perspective of someone who does this stuff everyday.

In Case You Were Wondering

My father actually is a Podiatrist, so I suppose this article is a little closer to home than you, or I, may have expected. Not quite a “shoemaker”, but he does some fantastic modifications…