Outlaw Design Blog

WTF is Going On?

Danny Outlaw — Fri, 27 Aug 2010 14:39:52 +0000

Seeing as how this is the first post I have put up in months and that the current design of the site is a bit bizarre, I’m sure you all have two main questions:

Where the hell have you been and whats up with the site design?

Lets start with where I have been.
As some of you may know, my wife was pregnant. The baby , Jackson Cash Brosche, caught us off guard and came a month early. Needless to say, I have been adjusting to my new life as a work at home dad. Jackson is now just over two months old, and while things havent slowed down, I’m a little bit more experienced at working from home and being a dad at the same time.

Here are a few pictures of the latest addition to the Outlaw family.

What’s Up with the Website?
Over the last few months my design business has grown to a point where I can now only take on projects that interest me and spend the rest of the time marketing and working toward my personal goals. Now that I have more time, I have decided to put much more effort into the blog than I have in the past. The overall direction of the site will be similar in nature, but in a more educational manner. As we all know, gone are the days of list posts. Content is back on its throne as the king. As such, you will begin to see less posts, but much more detailed and in depth ones.

I guess I haven’t fully answer the question about why the site looks like a working wireframe.

The last major redesign of Outlaw Design Blog really helped set its style and brand. So it is only fitting that this new layout should follow in those footsteps. One of the key elements of the previous redesign was the illustration work by Rob Palmer. This time around I have decided to work with the ubber talented Rogie King of Komodo Media.

I’m having Rogie illustrate the site in sections, so I thought it would be neat if you guys could see the design grow and morph into the final design. Think of this current design as a live work in progress. Im hoping that you all don’t think this idea is super lame, because as you can see, I’m already committed to it.

So, in a nutshell, thats WTF is going on.

LessConf – Day 2 – Clay Hebert founder of TribesWin

Danny Outlaw — Sat, 22 May 2010 19:26:13 +0000

Clay Hebert – Founder of TribesWin

Don’t go to business school. Plain and simple.
Don’t be brained wash into thinking you have to get a “real job.”
There is no road map for success, so don’t look for one. Make your own.
If you are amazing., you shouldn’t have a resume. Be so remarkable that people find you.
A resume just gives you a chance to be lost in the stack and says that you are average.
Buy your kids domain name. This will be the resume of the next generation.
The only skills you use from school in the real world is following directions.
Book Recommendation: The War of Art

Sponsors of LessConf
Tech Drawl
Georgia Tech Research Institute
Storenvy
Balsamiq
Postmark App
Beanstalk App
Chargify
We Are Titans
Mail Chimp
Make Love Not Porn
Mixergy
Shrinking App
Sticker Mule
Groove Shark

LessConf – Day 2 – Peldi Guilizzoni founder of Balsamiq

Danny Outlaw — Sat, 22 May 2010 17:45:26 +0000

Peldi Guilizzoni – founder of Balsamiq

Balsamic turned a profit of $12,539 after the first month and has broke $2 MIL this year.
Do the time. Learn your industry from the ground up from people more experienced than you.
Book Suggestion – You Need to Be a Little Crazy
Read everything your “heroes” or “mentors” do and learn from them as much as possible.
Don’t feel restricted to follow only one methodology from one of your heroes.
Start a company to make meaning, not money.
Book Suggestion: Guy Kawasaki: The Art of the Start
Be so good they cant ignore you.
Its easier to start your price high and lower if needed. Doing it the other way is much harder.
Customer service is still user experience/UX
Great list of links: bit.ly/theregoesmyafternoon

LessConf Sucks

Danny Outlaw — Sat, 22 May 2010 16:50:28 +0000

LessConf Sucks from Allan Branch on Vimeo.

LessConf – Day 2 – Alex Hillman cofounder of IndyHall

Danny Outlaw — Sat, 22 May 2010 15:57:34 +0000

Alex Hillman – Cofounder of IndyHall

Coworking office spaces offer the opportunity to not only bounce ideas off peers, but to teach and help others.
By visiting coworking offices you open yourself up to building profitable relationships and lasting partnerships.
Don’t be afraid to take on a business partner who compliments what you lack in skills.
Good businesses start with a lot of sweat equity before hand. There are no real overnight successes.
Alex is currently working on a book about the coworking experience and how to build a coworking space in your city.
Having a partner to check in with can help keep you in check.

Less Conf Weekend

Danny Outlaw — Fri, 21 May 2010 12:41:05 +0000

Just a quick heads up, I will be at the Less Conf this weekend and will be posting short blogs over the course of the weekend. If you aren’t sure what Less Conf is, check out this post I wrote a while back. You can check out their website as well at http://lessconf.lesseverything.com/

They have a ton of great speakers lined up including the 37 Signals guys and Cameron Moll! So be on the look out for some cool notes and photos.

Episode 23 – Exploit What You Are Good At

Danny Outlaw — Mon, 10 May 2010 14:35:51 +0000

I’ve been doing a lot of reading lately, mostly business books. All of them have lead me to the same conclusion and that is;

To be successful as a freelancer it’s not about being good at what you want to do, but about exploiting what you are amazing at.

Win a Free Ticket to Less Conf

Danny Outlaw — Wed, 14 Apr 2010 18:21:56 +0000

The guys from Less Everything are putting on a pretty awesome conference in Atlanta this year. This two day event includes speakers like Jason Fired of 37 Signals and Cameron Moll. Do I really need to say more? The tickets for this event cost $402, but Outlaw Design Blog has a free ticket to giveaway!

I will be at both days of the event and will post daily updates from the event. So look forward to great notes, ideas, and advice from some of our industry leaders.

How to Enter

All you have to do to enter for a chance to win the ticket is sign up for the mailing list for Outlaw Themes, our soon to be premium wordpress theme project. You can signup here: www.OutlawThemes.com

About the Event

– Official Website

What
LessConf is a conference with talks ranging from startups to design to marketing to business. It’s a casual two-day event in Atlanta Georgia with awesome speakers here to inspire you. Each speaker will have a 45 minute talk followed by a 15 minute Q/A session.

Who
It’s for people creating “things”, communities, followings, businesses offline & online. If you’re into design, UI/UX, code, biz dev, marketing, entrepreneurship, social media or blogging you should attend.

When & Where
Georgia Tech Research Institute
250 14th Street, NW
Atlanta, Georgia 30318

How to Combine Print and Online Marketing

Danny Outlaw — Wed, 24 Mar 2010 18:07:28 +0000

I recently gave a presentation at my local Meetup group, The North Georgia Entrepreneurs Group about how to combine online and print advertising. I thought I would share some of my notes, resources, and ideas on the matter for you guys here on the blog.

Is print marketing dead?

We here it all the time that print is dead. But what does that really mean for us as freelancers? Obviously this is a big deal for industries that have relied on print for such a long time. News, magazines, and direct mail marketing are all industries that need to find a way to adapt in order to survive. This isn’t new information and something many of us have been saying for a long time. But, have you ever stopped to think about how this effects the little guy?

I am under the belief that as print “dies” it will actually become more popular. As the use of print fades, it will actually become more of a novelty and thus attract more attention when used.

Think about it, its always the fads that die out ad then come back that seem to get the most attention.

Why still use print media for marketing and advertising?

Wither you want to admit it or not, there will always be a place for print advertising. However, it will never be as important as it once was. Odds are, there will always be a need for business cards, postcard flyers, and other simple print related products. Even if there isn’t always a need for these items, you will always have people who prefer them to the digital format, or in addition to it.

Another thing to remember about printed materials is that some industry call for them a lot more than others. Some industries have a much greater need for printed materials and probably always will. Places like restaurants, photographers, and artists will always have a need for these things.

What online marketing is best for me?

There are 1001+ books, websites, blogs, and podcasts out there to answer this question. I will however, speak from my own experience as a designer on how I have used online marketing. Obviously I use a blog and vidcasts as a marketing tool to help build up my brand. This is something everyone should be doing in some shape form or fashion. I’m not suggesting you go out and create a “me too” type design blog, but rather one that your clients can look at and see you as a professional based on what you have to say.

I also use some online advertising to help drive traffic to my business websites. I do a little direct advertising on websites who visitors are likely to need a website design. Places to like blogging blogs, niche business websites, and other similar areas. I also occasionally use Google Adsense when I first launch a new site to test out its content and layout.

How do I combine the print and online marketing?

Now this is the true $100,000 question isn’t it? The truth is, there is no real easy way to track the ROI of print advertising for your online business. There are a number of techniques you can do to help give you a better picture of the success of print marketing, but it is still really nothing more than a guess. Below I will outline a few various ways you can use printed materials to help drive traffic to your company website:

1. Turn Your Business Card Into a Coupon
If you are like many small business owners, you give out or leave your business card with almost every person you come in contact with. While the traditional business card is a business staple, many people underestimate its value as a marketing tool. Yes, having your contact information on it is important, but is that really enough to get people to visit your website? Why not turn your business card into a coupon? Adding a simple line that says, “redeem this card for a free social media strategy consultation” is a lot more likely to get people to contact you.

2. Create a Synergy Between Your Print and Online Image
Many designers already know that keeping a cohesive look between ads, website, and marketing materials is important. But, you would be pretty surprised ( or maybe you wont!) at how many small business owners aren’t aware of just how important this is. Using your logo on all your materials is not enough to create a cohesive look. You need to make sure things like colors, fonts, photos, logos, all match up. You don’t want someone thinking they went to the wrong website because it looks nothing like the flyer they have do you?

3. Create a Custom Landing Page for Printed Materials
First, let me say that this is not the same thing as creating a custom URL to try to track ROI from printed materials. Adding a www.mysite.com/nytimes url to your ad the auto redirects to your homepage is a fools attempt to track conversions. The majority of people out there, even the dumbest ones, are smart enough to know they don’t need to type that into the browser. What you need to do is create a landing page that is specific to your printed material and that persuades them to visit that url directly. For example, say your are a wedding photographer, you could create a custom landing page with a contest for seniors to get a free 8×10 print. In this instance, people are a lot more likely to visit the contest url before the root url, thus helping you track your ROI from printed materials.

4. The Power of Curiosity
Many small business owners are afraid of this tactic, but many could greatly profit from it. That said, this idea won’ work for everyone. The idea here is to say as little about your business as possible. For example, if you were a designer, try only printing your website url on the card. Obviously you can’t really track this method, but it is still worth while. Many people will be intrigued at what you do and want to see what you are all about. On a side not though, you need to have a somewhat descriptive url for this to work well.

5. Drive Traffic from Your Website to Your Printed Material
Say what?!? How does this work you are probably asking yourself. This is another tactic that requires a little more work, but one that could work very well for the right business and industry. The idea here is to make your customers have to do some work to be able some sort of discount or special from you. One idea here is to blog about a special on your website. Then tell your readers in order to get it, they must find your “secret flyer” at local downtown retailer. If launched correctly, this could lead to a nice little viral marketing campaign.

Episode 22 – Updating Your Portfolio

Danny Outlaw — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 16:15:24 +0000

I like to think I become a better designer everyday. While this is great from a skill level point of view, it is also a little bothersome. How could becoming a better designer be a drawback you ask? Well, mostly because it makes me look at my older work like it is a piece of crap.

I constantly look back at work I did even a month ago and feel like it is subpar compared to whatever I am currently working on. Sometimes it even makes me feel bad for the client. I think to myself;

“How on earth did they OK that design?!”

It is this feeling that makes me question if I should not show some of my past work in my portfolio. On one hand I feel like I shouldn’t show any work that I am not proud of or isn’t my best work. The problem with that logic is, that at the time I made those designs it was my best work.

So, should I assume that potential clients can see and appreciate the progress of my design skills? Or will they just see the older designs as a poor reflection of my skills?

This is where the other hand comes in and makes me think I should post almost everything that I have ever done.

I guess there is no right or wrong solution here. It is really what you feel most comfortable doing. My solution is to do a little of both. On my new portfolio site I will be showcasing about half a dozen of my own personal favorite projects. I will then have a past project archive page where people can view work chronologically if they want to see some more work.

This way they can see what I feel is my best work up front, but can also see that I have done a lot of work over the years.

What is your take on this?