Our Geek Life

Designing for Small Business Clients

Posted by shegeek on August 11th, 2009 | 2 Comments »

So you need a teapot

You hear on the news that a new gourmet tea shop has opened. Your mother-in-law loves tea and is coming for a visit.  Your rush out to purchase this highly coveted tea but realize you don’t have a teapot.  It doesn’t need to be a fancy teapot; just an ordinary, every day teapot.  The color and material are not all that important. But you need a teapot and you need it now. 

You run into the closest store, ignore the recommendations of the trained salesperson, and pick up a teapot from the clearance rack.  After rushing home you add the tea to the pot, pour in the boiling water and wait 3 minutes.  You present the tea along with delicious cookies to your mother-in-law and wait for the accolades.

Based on the picture above it seems rather unlikely that you will receive much in the way of accolades, don’t you think?
 

I want it now!

As an indy web team that develops sites for small businesses and ministries, we are often faced with the challenge of explaining the importance of sound design and usability.  A high percentage of our clients are less than tech-savvy.  They do not understand geek-speak. They don’t understand what goes into designing a website.  They just know they want a website. Continue Reading

Breakfast Revolution

Posted by shegeek on August 2nd, 2009 | 1 Comment »

Can you smell what the g33k is cooking?

We are a pancake family.  I love French toast a bit better than pancakes, but we can keep that between us. *wink

Last weekend during g33kapalooza, I whipped up the truly mouth-watering and decadent Nutella stuffed French toast.  It requires a little bit more effort than quick and easy, but it’s definitely not labor intensive.  The hardest part is waiting for the french toast to bake.  These rich and uber-tasty stuffed breakfast sandwiches are not for every day, but for a nice brunch I think they are a must!  I suggest serving these with real maple syrup, bacon (real or veggie) fresh berries and mimosas.

I had every intention of making brunch this morning.  A visit a while back to Bakerella’s site (one of my favorite sites), I was determined to make the blueberry pancakes with orange maple butter that she made at the end of June.  Lingering exhaustion and a long list of to-do’s meant I was not able to make brunch.  It was more like brinner, but it was worth the wait.

I did alter the recipe a bit, and will alter it further when I make these again. And, oh yes, I will make these again. I felt like the batter was a little too poofy. We like thinner pancakes that are a bit crispier at the edges. I’m thinking that adding more buttermilk will help with this. They were still completely wonderful, make no mistake.

So what do you think of our Sunday Brinner? Are you hungry yet??

Discerning and Deciphering

Posted by shegeek on July 31st, 2009 | No Comments »

A quoi ça sert? (What’s it for?)

Asked by President Jacques Chirac of Prime Minister Tony Blair upon being shown the Millennium Dome – which has no discernible function.

Born to question

That I am an analyst is a predisposition, being both genetically imprinted with some random mutated analysis gene and further etched by the environments in which I have always existed.  My mother says I was always asking who, what, how and why so it started quite young.  My choice of careers (I’m on number 4 at this point) has also continued my grooming and maturing as an analyst.  I was encouraged to ask questions and to delve into the inner workings of things which suited me just fine.  It probably annoyed a lot of my family, but that curiosity and need to understand has served me well.

• Why is it done that way?
• Who decided it needed to be that way?
• How is this supposed to work?
• What are they trying to do?

Questions are good things in my line of work.  They are meant to spark discussions, to inspire, to energize and excite.  They are used to dig and probe and uncover.  Answers are meaningless without understanding the questions that lead up to the revelations.  When you’re designing things like products and websites, those questions and answers are the foundation for your work product and eventually, the realization of someone’s visions and dreams.

So I often ask myself – am I asking the right questions? Continue Reading