Why Learn PHP?

A while ago, I wrote a post that had some people going huh, why’d you put PHP there when there are so many other languages you could have chosen?

Admittedly, I did overlook some potential candidates–Ruby on Rails comes to mind. Also, like any programming languages, PHP has its quirks and limitations, which make some programmers cringe. However, it would be well worth your time to learn PHP.

As more and more individuals and businesses come online, many of them are turning to content management systems (CMSs) in order to quickly and easily manage their site. Three of the top open-source CMSs–WordPress, Joomla, and Drupal–are all written in PHP and many businesses hire developers to create and maintain their sites. WordPress.org reports that 22% of all sites in America are currently running WordPress.  That’s a more than decent market share–and an enormous potential customer base!

PHP is pre-installed on most hosts, making it easy to get your hands on. There are also localhost platforms that you can install on your own computer to test your work prior to launching it.

Its capabilities,while not unlimited, are certainly remarkable. Facebook, with over 800 million active members and more than 900 million objects–apps, groups, pages, ect. is built with it!

So, how do you go about learning PHP?

Start at the very beginning.

Over the next several weeks, I will be publishing a series over at 1stwebdesigner.com detailing how to create your own WordPress theme and plugin. In addition, I now offer tutoring which will give you some one-on-one time to get started on or brush up your PHP skills

Simple steps to improve your designing techniques #1

Graphic design is a field in constant change, both creatively and technically.  It can be easy to get caught up in learning new technical skills, but it is just as important to focus improving and pushing the limits of our creativity.

As Designers we need to make a point to continue educating ourselves as much as possible and become more active in the field of design.  Here are a few tips, exercises and practices that have help me continue learning, strengthen my creativity and become an all around better designer.

  • Collect, collect, collect – Collect designs that inspires you.  File them away and wait…they will turn into a great source of inspiration when needed.  (if you cant’ take it home, use your phone and take tons of pictures)
  • Read Graphic Design blogs – Take advantage of the web and search for Designer’s Blogs, they can be an easy source of information and update for every designer.
  • Start a Design Blog – It makes you more aware of the Design Community and more accountable of your own work.
  • Fake projects, why not? – If you find yourself with some downtime (hope is not much), create some fake projects.  Develop a brand, create a logo, stationary and design marketing material for this brand.  This will let your creativity run without limitations, It’s easy to get caught in a routine when clients dictate and your work is no longer “yours”.
  • Do it again – What goes through your mind when you see your first designs?  Exactly, that’s what I figured.  Once in a while redo your old designs, analyze what you did wrong and experiment with your new knowledge.

Being a Graphic Designer is a work in process, if you are committed to your career and to develop your designing style you will be successful.  It takes time, patience and lots of mistakes in order to improve your designing techniques.

What is your key to stimulate your creativity and improve your designs? Share in the comments below.

Brag About Your Business More: Client Testimonials

Feedback form These days we have so many ways to talk about our businesses, products, and services both online and off. From talking about a new addition to your business or soliciting visitors to your brand using social media. The point is, we’re always looking for ways to grab attention to our business. Enter Testimonials. There usually isn’t too much focus on grabbing the feedback we receive from clients when finishing a new design project. Usually the great gratification is a nice email or phone call appreciating the hard work and efforts followed by a nice check or direct deposit. However I’d like to challenge you to sift back through some of your conversations with not only your recent clients but ALL of them in an attempt to modestly “brag” about your design skills.

Testimonials sometimes come in few different ways. Could be a follow-up phone call from a firms executive team thanking you for putting together such a great new website redesign. Or an email from a marketing director who never worked with a designer that actually put to life their exact thoughts for a brochure.  Personally, anything you can get in writing is fantastic because you’ll always have their words exactly. A phone call is good too, but try to ask them if they wouldn’t mind being quoted and their testimonial being used on your media.

So how do you use all this to brag? Let me show you a few great ways:

On Paper: A hand written letter from a client may be harder to get than some other means. But most won’t mind typing up a few sentences (or paragraphs), in Microsoft Word and printing it on their company letterhead and mailing it to you. I’ve actually visited a few storefronts where they had a cork board in their entrance that was full of letters from clients. It immediately give you a sense of validity towards that establishment.

Via Email: A really easy and may be a more common way of receiving a testimonial is via email. This is because it’s short, direct and to the point. You can even provoke a client to send you one by pre-emptively sending them an email asking for their opinion or grace of your recent or past work.

From a Phone Call: This one could be a bit tricky. Since we’re all busy, phone conversation usually start one way then drift to another before the call is ended. So remembering what was exactly said (verbatim) may be a bit tricky if you don’t write things down immediately after the call. Also getting the “ok” at the end may sometimes be hard or awkward to ask for.

From Your Website: A great way to capture testimonials that’s almost effortless is your own website. It’s already up right? Why not make it work a little more for you. Setup a page that can be linked from your Contact Us page that will be solely for testimonials. I’ve provided some links to some nice examples below. You don’t have to get crazy elaborate. Mainly you want to have an example of the work you did next to the text of your testimonial along with the clients name. Maybe first name and last initial to keep a bit of their identity hidden.

 Testimonial Examples Link 1

Testimonial Examples Link 2

So after all this, I’d love to hear your own success and stories with testimonials. Share with us in the comments below. We can all learn from each other.

 

Changes for 2012 in Design Theory

Design Theory LogoSo we’re pretty excited about the upcoming year. It would seem as though this year flew by pretty quickly now looking back. We’ve learned so much about the design industry yet feel there is still way more to learn. We’ve learned and met a lot of you readers both online and in person and look forward to meeting more as the next year rolls in.

There’s a couple of reasons for the excitement. Aside from it just being a new year and a sense of renewal in life and business; we are expanding the content we’re going to be writing about in this blog. It will be a bit more personal, transparent, and more diverse. We’ve brought on a new intern and look forward to her contributions to the blog as well as the Design Theory brand. I won’t get into that too much just yet until we’re ready to officially introduce her. As for the personality, you’re going to hear a bit more about the team. Who we are and more of what we do individually to contribute to this firm. The transparency I think will be interesting.  Giving you an in-depth look at what we really do, what programs and apps and tactics we use, and honesty on things we feel need to be said in terms of reviews and strategies.

Video interviews are coming! We’re going to get out there among our business partners and find out what makes them tick. What makes them successful, and what makes them stand apart from their competition.  We’ll also be highlighting some firms that are doing it right in the fields of

  • IT and Technology
  • Social Media
  • Marketing
  • Design
  • and more

So we’d also like to hear from you. If there’s something you’ve been looking to get a real answer on that can help you and your business, feel free to ask us. You’d be surprised at the questions we get via email and phone from our clients each week that sometimes are similar between them. We’re hear to help!