I Have Officially Become Cross OS Capable

  By Robyn | 11/07/2012 - 15:48 | DTAT
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Today I received my new Android Tablet. It is a brand no one has ever heard of but the price was right and I had some Amazon vouchers and Bob’s your uncle, I have a tablet.

Why an Android?

Couple of reasons. The first being the aforementioned price. As much as I am lusting for an iPad of any size, shape or form, I just don’t have the money right now for even a third hand, first generation refurbished model. They are still around £250 – 300. The Android I bought from Amazon was £104.00, partially paid for by Amazon Vouchers from a survey thing I did for Mumsnet.

The second being, in all seriousness, cross OS capability. It’s the same reason I’ve started a Blogger blog and use a myriad of browsers. I can’t help my clients if I don’t understand what they are doing.

I have no idea if someone is going to ask me to create graphics for an Android OS some day, but I am ready if they are. To learn how to do and to be able to test it.

The finally reason? I just wanted it, dammit.

Isn’t that sometimes reason enough?

Let’s Talk About Social Media and ‘Going Viral’

  By Robyn | 07/07/2012 - 18:30 | Social Media
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I was amused today when a person posted on a bloggers list I post on with a cryptic message about a online/phone meeting. There were about 10 words, a date, a time and a US phone number.

Upon asking for more information I was told to call in and I’d find out as they were building buzz to go viral. When I said, no, not at international rates, I was told to Skype which is free. When I pointed out, no, it’s not, unless there is a Skype name, I was told to bugger off. A bit more politely, but not by much.

And then the leader of the bloggers board asked for more info and suddenly there was more info and a promise to set up a Skype name…

So, why was all this a problem?

First off all, don’t be rude to people who might want to join whatever it is you think you are doing. It’s counter productive and off putting.

Second off all, that’s now how you go viral. Sure, you can be cryptic. But you have to be interesting and cryptic.

And finally, figure out the best way to do something like this. Some how I don’t think many UK bloggers are going to dial in at 430p UK time to an Iowa number to find out why you are holding whatever it is you are holding, not without a big name, a la Apple, HP etc. Also, find out how the tech actually works. Telling someone that Skype is free to a regular phone number is a lie, pure and simple. Even though it was said in ignorance. Don’t be ignorant. Learn.

There are many things that put me off. Ignorance is at the top of the list.

On Being A Small Business And Finding More Clients

  By Robyn | 03/07/2012 - 13:53 | DTAT
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As my son approaches starting school every day, even if it’s only three hours at a time, I approach adding to my client base. And finding it isn’t easy.

Why not? Well, because who, today, doesn’t already have a website? Or, if a new company, who, today, can’t build their own website? There are 10,000 different ways of building a website for your small business that needs no expertise or, really, talent. There are templates and online sources and friends and neighbours and your brother and your uncle and that guy down the street. They all do websites.

So how does someone who is trying to do it for a living find someone who is willing to pay her?

I have no idea.

Which is why that isn’t what I concentrate on here at Designed To A Tee.

For one thing, I am not a programmer. I’m a designer. Oh I know some programming languages. HTML, some CSS, I’m working on learning PHP. But they are not my forte.

My forte is making things look pretty. Making them pleasing to the eye. Making them readable and usable.

So I am not looking for new websites to build. I’m looking for old websites to make better.

If you own a small, or medium, or even large, business, let me ask you a question:

When was the last time you checked your links? Made sure your pictures were fresh? Added a recent news item to your news page? Sent a Tweet? Wrote a post for your blog?

If the answer to any of those question is ‘more than a month ago’ I want you to talk to me. See what I can do for you.

Because everyone has a website.

Not everyone can keep them up to date.

The Shape of Things

  By Robyn | 03/08/2011 - 20:13 | Design
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I’m sitting in my son’s room trying to get him to fall asleep. I have taken my glasses off to use my iPhone as my eyes are so bad it’s actually clearer to see up close. But that means everything beyond the end of my nose, literally, is blurry. And the only light is from his night light and the iPhone so everything is shadowed.

And so I study the shape of things.

The big rectangle that is his closet.

The half round of his humidifier.

The smaller rectangle that is his bed rail.

The tiny square of a light switch.

The cubical nappy wrapper.

I look at the shapes of things and wonder. Why are doors rectangular? Why not round?

And light switch plates, same question. Never seen a round one.

Thanks to my work with Northern Ireland Science Park I have seen multitudes of plans for a variety of buildings. All very high tech, modern buildings.

And still the straight line and the square are king.

Not just buildings. Why is my iPhone a rectangle? Or the pictures that make up the keyboard I’m typing on; why are they squares.

I’d really love to know.

Although This Has Nothing To Do With Design

  By Robyn | 23/06/2011 - 14:42 | Media
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It still interests me and should interest others in NI!

Game of Thrones, the US HBO series based on books by George R.R. Martin, has been renewed for a second series. And is to be shot, once again, here in and around Belfast.

I think it’s very exciting how the film industry, US and otherwise, have ‘discovered’ Northern Ireland. It really started with City Of Ember, which was, I am pretty sure, the first US major motion picture to be shot on Queen’s Island at the Paint Hall.

Northern Ireland Science Park, a client of mine and former employer, are based in that area and we were invited to tour the set. I couldn’t go, can’t remember why, but the rest of the staff of the Park did and said it was very cool.

It’s very nice to see this sort of thing happening here. It should be a sure sign that the troubles are over although the events of the past few weeks don’t match that statement.

But we can live in hope that movie companies, and design companies, and computer companies will continue to bring themselves here to NI. Because we could sure use the business!

Northern Ireland Design

  By Robyn | 04/06/2011 - 08:34 | Art, Design, DTAT
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There has been some chatter lately about NI and design. How do we, as NI designers, get the word out and show what we can do? How do we compete on the global stage?

I am, of course, not a native, having only been in Belfast for nearly 7 years. However, I never used my design skills, not really, before I moved here. My moving here relates directly to my using my design skills and opening Designed To A Tee.

So I don’t have the years of history behind me, the knowledge of how things must have stagnated during the troubles. I do know, today, that if you search for “Graphic Artist Belfast” on Google you get proximately 150,000 results. London? Over 5 million. Northern Ireland? Just over 1 million.

Granted, Belfast and even Northern Ireland is not very big, even when just compared to London, never mind the UK or the world. But I do think it’s an indication that NI needs some art. Some design. Some movement on the world stage.

I also searched Google Images for Northern Ireland Design. And found some interesting things.

For example, did you know the new London Bus was designed by Northern Ireland firm Wrightbus? So every time a London person takes the bus, they are engaging, even if they don’t know it, with NI.

So things are happening in all sorts of design studios across the country. And those things are pressing out into the world.

DTAT even has an American customer, BSR Software. I did their logo. They were my first client.

So we’re out here. And we’re going to keep popping up where you least expect us.

Won’t that be fun?

Well, At Least Three People Are Reading This

  By Robyn | 02/06/2011 - 20:27 | Art
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Of course one is probably my mother…

But, ya know, you could comment. Tell me about yourself. Where do you live? Are you a designer as well? Or someone I know from Mumsnet?

Yes, I post on Mumsnet. I like the internet. A lot of my friends live there. :)

In other news; rather sad to hear about this building being being torn down. Not that I am even exactly sure where that building is, because I am not, but because I love old buildings. I love hearing about their history and thinking about what might have happened there before.

I also love new buildings, all shiny and pretty and unmarked.

It’s part of the reason I love Belfast. Because next to a building built yesterday, is a building built over 150 years ago. Literally. Right next to Customs House, built 1856 is The Obel which opened either early this year or late last. They even market themselves as “An obelisk set in old Belfast.’

And let’s not forget Northern Ireland Science Park on which sits the Titanic’s Dock and Pump-House from where the RMS Titanic was launched.

The old and the new. Side by side. In my city.

It’s so NEAT!

So, Why Designed To A Tee?

  By Robyn | 31/05/2011 - 08:03 | DTAT
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Tee is my nickname all over the internet. You’ll find me under Tee2072 on Twitter, Delphi Forums (although I don’t really post there any more), Mumsnet and a zillion other places.

The Tee is from when my oldest niece was learning to talk. We think she couldn’t say Auntie Robyn and so shortened it to Tee. And it’s stuck. More people call me Tee these days than call me Robyn.

The 2072 is from some site I went to join, Delphi maybe, that already had a Tee and randomly generated the 2072. So it means nothing. I could make something up, I guess. Let’s see…2072 is the year I am planning onto my next plane of existence. ::nods:: I’ll be 103. I’ll be ready by then.

And the name Designed To A Tee? Come up with in a nanosecond by a friend when chatting about starting my own company. I said ‘I need a name’ without even blinking she said ‘Designed To A Tee.’ I still owe her a fiver for that!

Yes, people think it has to do with golf. Or uniform design. I heard that one recently.

I know nothing about golf.

I’d be happy to design you a uniform though, even though I’ve never done that before, if you’re interested in that sort of work.

SEO and Conflicting Information

  By Robyn | 28/05/2011 - 08:55 | Events
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I attended Yell’s Clicking with Customers Event last week. It’s a free event that Yell puts on to talk about marketing online with them and with Google. It’s free because a good bit of it is ‘Buy Yell!!’ :)

The thing I found interesting was the conflicting advice. At Pulse Online Productions’ online marketing seminar a discuss of keywords led to the revelation that your company name should not be one of your keywords. Even if you are a new business.

At Yell’s they spoke over and over again about name searches and the power of your company name.

So, is this conflicting advice or different angled advice?

When I first started writing this down I thought it was conflicting. But the more this blog has come together in my mind I am coming to realize that it is just advice from two different angles.

The presenter at Pulse’s event was from a social media company,WSI. Their job is to get your website and social media to work for you. So their theories would be to give a company fairly broad advice in terms of keywords, I would think. I can imagine that to them ‘Graphic Design’ is a better keyword than ‘Designed To A Tee’ just because it’s broader. So your site would, theoretically, show up on more searches or more AdWord placements.

The presenter I heard from at Clicking with Customers was from, no surprise, Yell. Who are essential your old phone book, online and searchable. So, naturally, they want to encourage name searches along with keywords. But, I would assume, their keywords. In other words, the sections that would have been in your traditional yellow pages, such as Restaurants, Tailors, etc.

So although there seems to be conflicting advice, it’s not really. It’s just a different approach based on your business model.

I am still working on Designed To A Tee‘s SEO and Social Media presence. But I think I am probably going to combine together everything I am learning to create a comprehensive, cover all bases as much as possible system. Using the company name, the company initials (which is going to also be registered as a domain soon) and, of course, what I do, to drive business.

What does everyone else think?