And it hit me: we are not emergency designers.  We never have been.  We ask tough questions and spend time in discovery and research.  We dig and dig before we ever start designing.  We make recommendations.  We’re not “yes” people; we’re “why” people.  When you tell us your website needs a feature, we don’t just agree; we ask why. Then we push you (and ourselves) to dig up a better answer or provide a foundation to back up your request.

And yet, we end up “hurrying up” more often then I’d like.  We tend to take on emergency projects even though they don’t fit our general mold of process and project management.

It’s not that we can’t build a site quickly; we certainly can.  It’s more along the lines of our initial approach to a project.  Once we get to the design and development stage, we’ve already done our due diligence and the process can fly. But we like to know we got there with good reason and research.  We like to know the stakeholders are all on board with what we’re about to produce, and we like to know that every conversation that needs to be had has been had.

We’ve had a virtual onslaught of new project inquiries in the past few weeks.  And that’s a great thing, of course. We’ve been working hard on great projects and launched this gorgeously redesigned site and have been out writing, speaking and getting to know folks. Our clients give us fantastic referrals to everyone and anyone. We’re busy and loving it.

Of the new inquiries, a handful are really great, qualified, well-fitting projects for our team. Clients who want us to spend the time digging and learning and researching before we build; who want us to labor over the details and create really polished, beautiful web and mobile apps.  Who want us to thoroughly test the products before they launch.

And another handful are looking for “emergency” designers to take over a project that went south or start on something immediately that was supposed to be done last week (I need this 200 hour project launched by mid-February!).

Next time you have an emergency, open this box.

To these emergency clients, how fast we can get them a proposal reflects on how fast we can turn the project around – when in fact, the two are not at all related.  We need time to spend doing our research before creating a proposal. We need time to determine the best platform and approach and our own resource assignments.  It’s a complex matrix and it all takes time to do it well.

That said, we’ve taken on quite a few projects that weren’t going well and turned them around – but those clients recognized that the process would take both time and hard work.  They brought us realistic expectations and we turned out some awesome work.

It’s amazing when expectations meet reality, isn’t it?

I’m feeling liberated in this realization.  It’s yet another “red flag” for my arsenal of client selection tools that help us determine fit for new projects, and a step forward in solidifying our approach to design and development.

Do you find yourself providing emergency design services?  How to you react and how do those relationships turn out?

Better late than never, right? We’ve had a crazy November but it’s slowing down a bit, just as it should, so we can spend more time with our families over the holidays.

For that, I’m thankful.

Big Sea has grown by leaps and bounds this year. We’ve had the opportunity to work on some amazing projects, with amazing people and have brought on amazing talent. It’s been a growing-stretching kind of year; a finding-our-groove kind of year.

For all of these things, I am thankful.

Thank you to the talented Jessica Barnett for helping get us organized and on-task. For showing me how important it is to spend the time necessary to dig through the minutia and for making me slow down and think when I want to push forward.  To Charlene Foote for your enthusiasm, creativity and hard work.  For taking the chance on Big Sea and taking over the creative reigns.  To James Sylvanus for the same enthusiasm, and for being awesome in every way, presenting the possibilities and opportunities for improvement.

Thank you to Jared Fager and Mike Van Winkle, for listening to me rant and being available with helpful, friendly and thoughtful critique.  To Aubrey Goodman for sharing passion for a pipe-dream – and making it happen. Thanks for being friends and colleagues.

For the past three years, I owe just about every bit of gratitude in me to the amazing Keith Morgan, who is patient beyond words and incredibly skilled at his craft.  You’ve talked me off more than one cliff and helped me hit “delete” rather than “send” on quite a few occasions.

I’m thankful for our amazing clients, who trust us with their vision and their fortunes.  We really do have some strong partnerships and I hope that 2012 brings even more success.  Your passion, creativity and boundless energy for your project provide inspiration and motivation beyond compare.   I am eternally grateful that I’m able to help so many people build their dreams – and that doing so is my dream (I love my work).  I’m making plans to help foster these partnerships in the next year in ways that previously weren’t possible.

And yes, Thanksgiving has passed but I’m feeling grateful and reflective (again) this holiday season that I’m able to live a life I love, surrounded by kind, passionate people who support me, my business and my family.  We work and work and often overlook the little things that make it all possible.

For all of these things and more, I am thankful.

You see, it’s been an amazing trip.

I’m still riding a buzz that comes from geeking out with fellow nerds over $1400 meatfest dinners and after-party beers. We talked about client woes; project constraints; where WordPress is going and why Drupal is so much more complex than it should be. We talked about the future of our industry and why we’re so excited to be a part of it. About the very little history we have on which to build our practice and process. About finding our way in the sea of constant changes and opportunities.  About our kids and spouses and home offices.

These aren’t just other fellow nerds though.  (This is where it gets good.)

These friendly faces are the leaders in our industry.   They’re the people who wrote the books.  Who carve the paths and blaze the trails (even if they don’t realize it).  Who spend their free time exploring the limitations and breaking down the walls and teaching our up-and-comers.   And here they are, sitting around a dinner table with other speakers, conference attendees and even a few volunteers – and me.  Wow. 

I’m floored by their humility and accessibility.  I’m honored to have shared the stage and a bit of my knowledge.  And I’m ecstatic to be a part of such a supportive community that recognizes that success for us as individuals is directly correlated to the success of our industry as a whole.

If you want to check out my slides (which are probably only partially useful without my copious notes and insightful, funny comments (yes, they were hilarious thankyouverymuch)) then here you go.

Nobody tells this to people who are beginners, I wish someone told me. All of us who do creative work, we get into it because we have good taste. But there is this gap. For the first couple years you make stuff, it’s just not that good. It’s trying to be good, it has potential, but it’s not. But your taste, the thing that got you into the game, is still killer. And your taste is why your work disappoints you. A lot of people never get past this phase, they quit. Most people I know who do interesting, creative work went through years of this. We know our work doesn’t have this special thing that we want it to have. We all go through this. And if you are just starting out or you are still in this phase, you gotta know its normal and the most important thing you can do is do a lot of work. Put yourself on a deadline so that every week you will finish one story. It is only by going through a volume of work that you will close that gap, and your work will be as good as your ambitions. And I took longer to figure out how to do this than anyone I’ve ever met. It’s gonna take awhile. It’s normal to take awhile. You’ve just gotta fight your way through.

I couldn’t have said this better myself, but I explain this sort of thing to a lot of people fairly regularly (you know who you are!).

Reposted from http://nprfreshair.tumblr.com/post/4931415362/nobody-tells-this-to-people-who-are-beginners-i.

In addition to the great networking and ideas that come with that many minds in one place, I came away rejuvenated and validated in my practices and approach.

The first session was Social Media Hospitality, presented by Brian Simpson, Director, Digital Media Vikram Chatwal Hotels, NYC. Brian spoke realistically and frankly about why we need to stop building our audience and start trying to engage the people who are already our fans. Stop worrying about the ‘Likes’ and focus on the conversation.

The lessons that he really hammered home for me included:

• Stop talking about how awesome you are and start engaging. Start working yourself into the conversation.
• An audience will watch you fight your battles; a community will help you fight. Use social media to help you build a community, not an audience.
• Don’t respond to every single social site comment – reduce the signal to noise ratio.
• An agency can never articulate as clearly or communicate as well as a voice from inside your organization.
• A great way to monitor your social media success includes taking lots and lots of screenshots of conversations, tweets, mentions, comments, and posts.

My favorite quote of the day reminds me that the social media space is crowded and loud. Its a noisy, busy place and we need to work hard to build true relationships organically and sincerely – not be the loudest voice. From Buddha, in all his wisdom, “Don’t speak unless it improves the silence.“

What is Front End Design Conference? It’s a conference geared toward the design of websites.  The visuals and aesthetics that make web-based communication possible.  The ideas and strategies and thought processes behind why we click where we click (and how to make people click).  The “why is this green” or “can we move that next to this?” of building a website.  Believe it or not, good web designers don’t just throw things on a page and call it a day.  There’s a why and how and a best practice schema to which we adhere in order to help guide visitors and influence click behavior.  Gasp!  So much to think about!

Not a web designer?  The Front End Conference line-up really encompasses web-based communication of all sorts – not just web design.  The topics are relevant to anyone with a website who wants to learn more about how to use visual communication to get a point across or influence action.  Marketers, bloggers, small business owners – there’s information relevant to all of you.

Topics include:

• Learning to love ideas: Brainstorming 101
• Taking your designs from wireframe to design
• The art of self-branding
• Design in the details
• CSS organization and workflow (ok, this one might be geared directly toward web designers)
• Fuel your brand (but this one is great for anyone!)
• Principles of UI design

Conference organizer Dan Denney put together a great lineup and an exciting weekend of events.  There’s an awesome after-party planned at the Lobby in downtown St. Pete.  On Saturday, stick around for a Tampa Ignite meeting at Studio 620.  Sunday, he’s got a guided photo walk around downtown St. Pete – sure to be very cool.

Learn more and register:

• Front End Design Conference and blog
• Facebook
• Twitter
• Tampa Ignite Meetup
• List of attendees

See you all there!  We’ve got a big contingent representing Big Sea (and their own amazing talent) so please say hello.

But this year, I really really wanted to go.  I am running a web business, working on social media plans, engaging daily with new technology and testing new ideas – I really should be at one of the top interactive conferences of the year, right?  And the music – oh the music!

This year has been big for Big Sea.  Like mega-uber-big.   So it wasn’t in the cards.

Just to make myself feel better, here are a few reasons I’m not at SXSW this year.  (I’d make a list of why I should be there but it would be waaaaay too long.)

1. I opened an office!  Big Sea grew and grew beyond the scope of my back deck and home office.  I found I needed better separation of work and home life, and needed people around me too.  I’m an extrovert, after all.   Anyway, opening the office meant new computers (and of course, they can’t be anything but Mac), rent, all of the expenses I didn’t have when working from home.   Financially, it didn’t make sense to spend a few grand on the conference this year.
2. I have a 15 month old daughter. I know my husband and parents are more than capable of caring for her in my absence, but I would miss her!  Ok, this isn’t a really strong reason, but it’s a contributor.
3. We are swamped.  I had 4 new client meetings this week, am trying to push 2 HUGE development projects forward to launch April 1 and simultaneously finish 2 fairly large design projects.  In addition, I need to keep up with the numerous and ongoing needs of all of my clients. New web content or features, eblasts and ideas galore.  Not that this ever changes.  I’m always swamped, and I always feel guilty taking time away.
4. I’m afraid of flying. Nope, not true.
5. My cat needs to get her tonsils out.  Also no.
6. It might rain.  (I love rain.)

So I’m out of reasons, and the first three are pretty lame.   I should be there.

See ya next year!

My biggest learning this week:  Think it all the way through. Design.  Content strategy.  New opportunities.  Site structure and implementation.  Be clear about what’s next.

A few golden nuggets of the week:

• When someone approaches you with a golden opportunity, understand that in most cases, they’re expecting the same in return.  One hand washes the other, so to speak.  This can work for you or against you – but think it through from both perspectives.
• When you’re designing an interface, it’s ok to break UI rules if it works best for the user – especially when no one else is going to use it.
• If you’re going to try to do something different, to be bold, be sure to think through the entire implementation – not just the homepage.  Where do we go from here?
• We all have to make compromises and need to learn what to fight for and what to let go.  This is a hard lesson when it comes to design, but we need to remove emotion from the equation and keep it as impersonal as possible.
• Even if you think something looks awesome, if the colors remind someone of a childhood trauma, it’ll never fly.  (That’s ok.)

It was a week of big lessons – but I anticipate there being a lot more “hey here’s a cool JQuery technique I tried!” next week as I get rolling on actual design and coding again.

More than that.

It’s been a hectic few months.

Big Sea is busier than ever. Which of course is a good thing (make that a great thing!) but I find myself forgetting to pause.  To step back. To close my computer and to turn off.

When you work for yourself, it’s hard to find an off switch.  Emails come in and you respond – because it’s not really work, it’s just finishing a conversation.

I don’t even think of it as something I’m expected to do or as work, really – but I’m starting to realize it’s consuming me and affecting my relationships with my family, my friends, my self.

How do you do it?

Do I start setting a schedule of ‘work time’ and commit to keeping my laptop shut (and iPhone off) during the off hours?

I don’t feel obligated to work after-hours – I do it by choice because I really love what I do and am invested in my clients’ success (as cliche as that sounds, these projects consume me).

I need to take some time to unwind so that I can recharge  Not a vacation (although that would be awesome), but a daily/weekly change of habit.   What do you do to unplug?

You’re entering into a relationship that is going to last a very, very long time because seriously?  Moving websites from one server to another is a pain in the ass.  A serious headache.  Incompatible versions of PHP? Check.  Out of sync SVN repositories? Check.  Inability to render filetypes?  New IP requiring reissuance of SSL? Folders of uploaded assets not committed to the SVN repository?

Should I go on?

Everything we’ve encountered is a small problem unto itself;  together they form a huge headache and a couple days of troubleshooting.

So my warning is this:  a web host decision is a much bigger commitment than you might think.

• Do a little research and read reviews before you make that commitment.
• Find out how their customer service responds to issues.
• Is their default server setup compatible with the software you want to utilize (i.e. WordPress)?
• Does your web design team have any advice?

And if you take nothing else away from this warning, just stay away from GoDaddy hosting.  Please.