CREATIVITY What is creativity? Creativity grows. It evolves. It learns. It understands. It's a process of the mind, the product of experience. The best way to achieve creativity is through patience and experimenting. Never leave a thought untried or an idea unwritten. Do all you can, give it everything you have and more than likely you'll end up with something creative. TRUST Trust is key. I need to trust you and you need to trust me. To the time I bid on the project to the time I complete the project, we have to trust each other. Trust that I will give you the best estimate I can, to put all the time I said I would, to create original designs, to use all my knowledge, experience, and creativity that I have, and to complete the project when I said I would. I have to trust that you will be there for me, when I need content, feedback, and more ideas. You have to trust you will get what you paid for and I have to trust I will get paid for the work. PRODUCT "I am the product." When you use my services, you are investing in me. You are buying years of experience, knowledge, and imagination. I don't come in a bottle, or a box. You can't take me off the shelve and try me on for size. I am a person. A product you can trust, talk to, and love. LOVE AND APPRECIATION One of the hardest things to place a price on is yourself. I scale each project by time. I try to measure the resources, the materials, and the exposure. I take everything into account when quoting a job. I'm not the cheapest and I'm not somewhere in the middle, I'm fair. FRIENDSHIP I think of my clients as friends. We can share ideas, opinions, and advice in an honest way without judgment or obligation. I feel being straight-forward with issues makes for a comfortable working environment. Design Thoughts Here are my top 10 thoughts on designing a website. 10) Think about the target audience always. 9) See what your clients like, and draw inspiration from what they consider to be meaningful. 8) Don't waste too much time on Web-design bells and whistles, they just ain't worth it. Example: Sounds used on interface elements are funny the first three times you roll over them. After that, they're just annoying. Same with Flash intros... always include a skip or incorporate flash inside the interface. Always give the user the options to move on or watch/read/listen. 7) Be honest with yourself. If you have any doubts whether or not it works, then it probably doesn't work. Try again. 6) Experiment. Test. React. Undo. Redo. Change. Modify. Repeat. Oops. Fix. Reboot. Walk. Breathe. Sleep. Work. Create. Perfect. Done. 5) Users are completely uninterested in learning anything about how your site works. They came for your content. 4) I like to be innovative when possible, but know when it's time to do what's right. 3) Remember it always takes twice as long as you think it's going to. Rushing to get it done doesn't get it done any faster and ends up taking longer to complete. Get it done right the first time. 2) Things that look like they were created with a computer can seem lifeless. Life is beautiful, step away from the keyboard and use your own mind once and awhile. 1) Less is more. Keep it simple. The power of good design is in its simplicity. Define the essence.