How Google Works

How does Google manage to find your website. Really! With over 182 million sites on the web (and billions of pages) as of 2011, how do they find your website?

This terrific and quick little video shows you what happens when a user types in a search in google, and how it decides to give you the results you see. View Video >

Understanding how this search and indexing works, can ultimately help you make decisions in the planning process and design of your website.

PROCESS OF DESIGN: Kamloops Symphony Season Design

Kamloops Symphony Orchestra 2011/2012

Every year, the KSO creates new season materials for their performances. The brochure is the first printed piece created with the new look. Here, you see a design process from original client-typed word docs to completed brochure.

This is a snapshot of a typical design process when you work with Dansk Design Group - starting from a blank canvas to a unique design.

1. TIMELINE
- first step is to establish a timeline for the project
- printers book up quickly, people with sign-off authority go on holidays and deadlines still loom
- we planned this print job to run in time for the last performance of the 2010/2011 season

2. CONTENT TO DESIGNER
- text comes in as word document, unformatted
- indicated image placement in body copy, including captions
- hierarchy of text is indicated
- high resolution images sent via email as jpg's or tif's
- forms and tables tabbed in word doc

3. INITIAL DESIGN CONCEPTS OF NEW SEASON LOOK
- present up to  3 design directions
- client chooses direction and we fine-tune concept, colours and imagery
- establish font treatment and style sheets, colour palette, image treatments and design elements
- confirm sizes, number of pages, stock, costs and printer

4.PROOFS #1 #2, AND MAKING REVISIONS
- full design and layout in proofs #1 and #2
- final and last layout in proof #3, with only very minor spelling changes

5. FINAL TO PRESS
- send press-ready pdf to printer
- Epson or Blueline proof printed and ready for client sign-off

Switching to WordPress and Google Analytics

QUESTION OF THE DAY:

"I switched my website from my existing web designer to a WordPress site. Why can't i view my stats from the beginning?" Heather

ANSWER:  
I will break it down with an analogy, cause i'll lose you on this one.

let's pretend you have a car - a Toyota.
and i have a car - a Nissan.
and i have just found out that my car is - uh oh - empty!
let's say you just put gas in your car. so it's full.
now just because we both have cars, and you have gas and i don't. doesn't mean we can swap gas. it doesn't work that way.

websites are kind of like that.
in this case - the original html website your web designer created is the Nissan and the WordPress site you now have is the Toyota.

when you switched to a WordPress site from the original site designed; this google analytics was setup in the backend. the designer had to copy a unique code created by google (like the gas of a car) into the actual html code of the page (the car). so the designer would only have the data, until the site is switched to a WordPress site.

the google analytics account has to be re-setup for the the new WordPress site.

Did You Know: Anyone can have their own, free google analytics account! Once you start, i promise it will be addicting. https://www.google.com/accounts/NewAccount
once setup, look for the 'google alerts' link. it is that easy!

Where metadata appears - and why it matters

One of the most frequent questions i get asked when designing websites is "What is metadata?!"

In a nutshell, metadata (made up of three components: title, meta descriptions and meta keywords) is crucial in the planning of a website. This is one of the ways that google and googlebots will find your site, in addition to how your website appears in a search engine.

Metadata is composed of words and phrases you choose. These words are put into the html structure of the pages of your website, inside of the head tag.

Below is an example of typing in Canucks into google. You can see the TITLE of the page as it appears as well as the META DESCRIPTION. The META KEYWORDS are words you choose (put in the html file). These don't appear in a browser, but are used to find your site.

CMYK - what language is that?

The most often layer of confusion for clients is when i start talking about their project being printed in CMYK. This is when i get excited, and they look at me like a deer staring into headlights with a slight "huh?"

When you print over 1,000 quantity of your print project, it usually goes on the press. Enough said - this stands for Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and Black. And yes - the Black is 'K'. Plates are printed in this order with 4 plates for the project. Then they are layered together, one on top of the next to reveal the composite image.

These images show how the plates will be separated at the press.

1. CYAN

2. MAGENTA 

3. YELLOW

 

4. BLACK

The composite image looks like this - a full colour pdf image.

2011