Zerply Blog

Behind The Project: Font Lens

Tue, 18 Jun 2013 04:40:00 -0700

Font Lens is a promising new tool by Brooklyn based designer and budding developer Ian Cox. It’s a font management tool that enables you to beautifully preview your local fonts in your browser. We asked Ian a few questions about his latest venture.

So what lead you to create Font Lens?

I wanted a beautiful way to view and organize my fonts. After testing a handful of popular font management tools, I realized that they all looked and behaved like iTunes. Font Lens takes an entirely different approach by focusing on the viewing experience of the fonts themselves. By providing generous white space and an unobtrusive interface, Font Lens attempts to emulate the experience of looking at a well crafted type specimen.

How does it work exactly?

Font Lens stores a personal backup of your fonts in the cloud and provides a simple way to view them quickly and easily. The App automatically creates image previews for each of your fonts and the preview text can be customized on the fly. Font Lens is fully searchable too, allowing you to test your favorite typefaces in just a few keystrokes. No need to click the search bar. Just start typing anywhere.

What has been the biggest challenge to launch?

Right now the biggest challenge is scalability. Initially the app was just for myself which kept things simple but as I started to build for multiple users the needs of the app changed significantly. I’m having to consider accounts, passwords, storage and security.

How much of your time have you dedicated to this project?

The amount of time I spend working on Font Lens seems to grow as more and more people show interest in the project. Getting notifications that new people have signed up for the beta keeps me excited.

What has been the reaction so far?

Visually, Font Lens seems to be making a strong first impression with people. I think it’s due to the fact that the app gives the whole screen over to the viewing experience rather than filling the frame with organizational tools, menus and excess meta-data. When I’m choosing a typeface for a project, I look for something that has the right look and feeling. It’s hard to make the right choice when the font preview is small and surrounded by clutter. Overall the response has been very positive. I’m looking forward to receiving more feedback once the beta becomes available.

When do you expect to launch?

It’s tough give a solid date at this early stage. There is still a good amount of work and planning that needs to be done to get it ready for public use. You can sign up for the beta at fontlens.com and stay updated by following us on twitter @fontlens.

What are your future plans?

I’ve been using Font Lens to help me out in my own work and I’m excited to get it out there for other people to use. When it’s ready I’ll release it to a small group of beta testers and we’ll see where it goes from there.

You can find out more about Ian and his work at: zerply.com/ian-cox

NSA Refuses to Monitor Zerply's Database

Mon, 10 Jun 2013 07:08:00 -0700

Last week, we awoke to some disturbing news - the NSA was monitoring big name technology companies like Verizon, Google, and Apple, but completely overlooked up-and-coming startups like Zerply - a professional network for creatives.

Our team flew into action, emailing, tweeting, making phone calls, and sending suspicious packages of varying size containing phrases like, “Zerply users demand to be given the same scrutiny other social networks have received from the NSA.”

The response? Absolutely nothing.

So we called the NSA directly. Here’s an actual transcript of our conversation.

Zerply: I thought we were cool, yo. Where’s the Prism love? What the hell, guys?

NSA: Prism is classified. The NSA is not in the habit of spying on a massive number of companies -

Zerply: Whoa, whoa, whoa. Let me stop you right there. We know you are singling out specific companies and we just have one question - you’re monitoring Google and gang - why not us, you bastards?!

NSA: Sorry, are you inviting us to monitor your database?

Zerply: Hell, yes. We have almost 100,000 users and still, nothing. What’s a company got to do to get some attention around here?

NSA: Let me get you in touch with one of our secret sales agents. Hold please…

Frank: This is Frank. I hear you want to have your database tapped, let me just get some quick information, ok?

Zerply: Finally.

Frank: What does Zerply do?

Zerply: We let designers, developers and other fancy pants creatives share pictures of what they’re working on.

Frank: Great. Few more questions. Just to let you know, if we act quickly, we’ll get you Super Crystal Edition Watchlisted (SCrEWed). I see here that you’re making this call from home sitting in your underwear … let me zoom in - they look to be Fruit of the Loom adult-size Spiderman underwear - coding some kind of tagging feature, is that right?

Zerply: …

Frank: Are you there? Oh, I can see you’re suddenly sweating profusely if the camera being used by the sniper across from your building is to be trusted. You might want to take a deep breath.

(pause)

Frank: Ok, I went ahead and collected the other information I needed about Zerply. I’m sorry, but it looks like you don’t store enough personal information about your users for us to invest the energy to hack your service. Sorry about that. (click)

—-

There you have it.

This is just one more piece of damning evidence proving that the NSA is engaged in a highly discriminatory practice of only spying on large companies. We need to demand equality in having our privacy rights violated across all services whether Zerply or Google. Who’s with me, people! Internet unite! (Register for Zerply)

Behind The Project: jotdwn

Wed, 05 Jun 2013 06:58:00 -0700

jotdwn is an extremely useful little tool for grabbing contacts details on the fly. Creators David Weiss and Daniel Bates looked to focus on collecting the info you really want to know - where you can find people online. We talked to David and Daniel about their latest side project that will help convert offline networking to online connections.

What inspired you to create jotdwn?

David: Business cards are great, but at the end of the day, I want to hop online and see what my new connection has created. If I meet a Web Designer, I want to browse their online portfolio or maybe check out their Dribbble profile. And when I meet a Web Developer, there’s nothing better than checking out their repos on GitHub to get a sense of the technologies that he or she uses. After meeting tons of new creative people at conferences, like An Event Apart, I thought it would be great to build an app that quickly saves these social network links. That way I don’t have to worry about hunting down a business card. I can just open up the app and start following them on Twitter or view their portfolio instantly. With jotdwn, it’s now easier to save the information you really want from you new connections, with a greater chance of actually connecting with them later on.

Have you iterated much from the initial concept?

Daniel: Quite honestly, the final version of jotdwn is relatively close to the initial design sketches that Dave presented to me nearly a year ago. We knew we wanted a minimalist 2-button navigation at the top for adding and viewing your contacts and a straightforward form for entering each of the social network links. There were only very minor deviations from the actual design (such as icon and placeholder text placement) and virtually none in terms of the app’s functionality. I think the majority of iteration came while trying to agree on a logo!

How did you guys end up working together, have you collaborated before?

Daniel: Dave and I first became acquainted in February 2012 while sharing an office at GigMasters.com. As Senior Creative Developer and Web Designer (respectively), we worked closely on a number of projects, sharing ideas and lamenting about our lousy sports teams. We found that both of our work styles complemented the other’s, and we decided to embark on developing jotdwn. Eventually we both moved on from GigMasters but are keeping in touch and planning our next endeavor.

How much time have you dedicated to building it?

David: There was a fairly large difference between “time to build” and “time to launch,” mostly because we both had major life events take place (It’s funny how having a baby or buying a house can eat up a significant amount of your free time!). We spent about six weeks designing and developing jotdwn during the spring of 2012. We both had full-time jobs so we devoted nights and weekends to the project. We actually had a working beta version of the app ready for our trip up to Boston to attend An Event Apart. We got some good feedback from colleagues at the conference and decided to move forward with the project. Towards the end of 2012, we finally had some more time for the project and continued making refinements. The first few months of 2013 were devoted mostly to testing and in May, we publicly launched jotdwn.

What’s the response been like so far? Any future plans?

David: We’re excited to see what the response will be! Apart from our Twitter followers and a few hundred people that subscribed to our launch list, jotdwn is waiting to be discovered and used at conferences, meetups and anywhere else creatives gather. We’re looking forward to seeing jotdwn mentioned in blog posts, tweets and communities like Zerply. Hopefully that will translate to more jotdwn users and more social networking!

jotdwn is free to use, simply bookmark the site to your home screen and start saving contacts. Never being a fan of business cards, I naturally love this simple and lightweight networking solution. But don’t just take my word for it, try it out and let David and Daniel know what you think.

So You Want To Write A Book?

Tue, 21 May 2013 06:08:00 -0700

It’s never been easier to author a book, but what are the keys to writing a successful publication? New self-publishing tools, crowd funding platforms and distribution channels may have increased accessibility for budding authors, but marketing and networking are still a hurdle to many. So we’ve gathered tips from three successfully published authors to help you along: Jeff Finley author of Thread’s Not Dead, Josh Long co-author of Execute, and Mike Rohde author of The Sketchnote Handbook.

Build your network

Writing a book is an exciting and yet daunting prospect, like any big project the question is often, where do I start? As Josh Long states, it’s essential to “write for yourself first, because it’s more authentic” but also because there are likely “at least 1,000 like-minded people to build your future on.” A good way to test that theory is to do as Mike Rohde suggests and start off by building a network of people that are interested in what you want to share. If you are passionate about interior design for example, blog about it, get known and recognised as an expert in that field. A great way to gain recognition in a given field according to Mike is to give back to the community, “share and give lots of feedback” because those relationships you build will be valuable going forward. Mike developed his presence in the sketchnoting community “by just doing it and being an example and encouraging others”. He cites Jeffrey Zeldman as his inspiration for his emphasis on serving the community before self promotion, as a result Zeldman is recognised as the leading light in the standards based design community. As Mike suggests, it’s not just because of his own knowledge, but because he identified and lifted up others, “the funny thing is the more he celebrated and promoted others, the more credibility he had as a leader”. Being a self professed expert won’t help sell books, but being recognised by others will take you a long way, as Mike sees it “the more you try to take for yourself the less perspective you have but the more you give away, the more respect you will gain.”

Don’t do it yourself

When Jeff Finley put together his book he enlisted the help of a wealth of recognized contributors, which he firmly believes helped “achieve a broader perspective”. Another plus side to that is you can have those same contributors help promote the book, and follow Jeff’s suit by offering commission on sales through an affiliate program. Bottom line is producing and promoting a book is hard, get as much help as you can! Mike was challenged on this point after hearing a Ted talk by Amanda Palmer titled “The Art of Asking”. She spoke about how receiving help was often just a matter of becoming comfortable with asking, something that Mike discovered to be true. As Mike became proactive in reaching out with requests and invitations he found mostly positive responses, “we sort of make this assumption that people don’t have time for you, and maybe they don’t, but you won’t know until you ask.”

Share the journey

Another way to build an audience before releasing the book, is to share the process from drafts to printing. After signing his contract for The Sketchnote Handbook, Mike decided to share his ideas while developing the book. He was inspired by his friend Austin Kleon who whilst writing his book “Steal Like An Artist” shared all his ideas and resources on his tumblr and actively tweeted about the process. Mike likened the idea to communicating progress with clients and so made the decision early to document his journey with blog posts, instagram and twitter enabling people to follow along and give feedback. As a result people became excited and talked about the book, moreover “because they felt part of the process they were happy to share the end product.” Unless you have a fanbase like Apple, veiling your book in secrecy won’t do you any favors. Letting people have a sneak peak will help increase awareness and build a sense of ownership among your followers that can turn into loyal endorsers of your book.

Make it great

Although it’s far easier to stick to a digital version, both Josh and Jeff recommend doing at least one physical book for credibility sake. With the sea of ebooks floating around these days often written by dubious experts, releasing a paper version if nothing else does set you apart as a serious publication. Your digital sales may still outweigh demand compared to the more pricey hardback version for example, but there is always the option to print on demand. This is the route Jeff took for his hardcover edition, as he used Lighting Source and distributed the book to Amazon and all major online retailers.

Whatever editions you produce, there is a consensus that every version must be an equally high quality experience. Josh extols the value of using “premium materials and building a premium ‘crafted’ analog or digital experience”. However, Jeff believes that many publishers make the mistake of letting mobile editions become afterthoughts instead of asking questions like “what can you do to make the experience reading your book on an iPad remarkable?”. Another important aspect to consider is recording an audiobook, for as Jeff points out “there are those who love to listen to books while they do other things”. Mike capitalised on this demand by recording an accompanying podcast series with exercises that help readers stay engaged with the book and continue the learning process. Certainly from a sales perspective, being able to include extra ‘digital assets or products’ from your contributors will enable you to make a higher priced “bundle” which Jeff believes will ultimately “make it more enticing to buy.”

If you are working on a book, we’d love to hear about it! Share your journey by uploading work on Zerply, get feedback and build that network. Jeff, Mike and Josh are just three examples of how you can connect with an audience that love the things you’re passionate about.

Behind The Project: Air Dodger

Mon, 20 May 2013 06:59:00 -0700

Black Bears are a small mobile game studio in Tambov, Russia. If they’re not making games they are playing one. Making games they want to play is the secret to their humble success, and their latest game Air Dodger fulfills another dream. We talked with designer Andrew Davidenko about their love of games and their new release.

Tell us a little about Black Bears, how you came together and what you have done so far?

First of all, the core of our team is a group of friends. We met each other about five years ago and created our own little production studio. We were just making simple websites back then.

This is how Bnet started. We wanted to move forward so we started to make mobile apps. Then after some time of making apps for other people we had gained enough experience to start creating our own projects. The first one we made was an experimental augmented reality game called Woodla. But as I said, it was more of an experiment than a game. We realised we wanted to focus on real games for the mobile platforms. We started with simple ones but still tried to make them very unique and original. That’s how we came up with the unusual running game — Gingy (a running simulator with a gingerbread character). The next one was a Christmas game AirHippo (A flying hippo that delivers gifts to kids).

By that time we were really into mobile technologies. The only thing we didn’t like always like was the limitation of a phones small screen. There are so many good purposes to use a smartphone with a TV screen, but the inability to do it was kind of frustrating. We thought wouldn’t it be awesome if you could play with your friends on a TV screen using your smartphones? So a part of our team created a prototype for a device called SocialBox which would allow you to do all those things. We actually use it at our homes right now and hope that someday we’ll launch the production of those devices.

But our main direction is mobile games. Recently we launched the new website for our team - Black Bears, and released a brand new game Air Dodger.

What is the concept behind your latest game Air dodger?

Wow, Air Dodger is something that we’ve been working on for quite a while, almost half a year. The main thing about this game is its mechanics. You’re busy exploring the universe and you come across a bunch of monsters. Your ship doesn’t have any guns so you have to kill the monsters with their own weapons. It is based on a classic game that perhaps you will recognise. We added a lot of new features, with the main one being the opportunity to rob the stations of other players and collect different constellations and artefacts. Try it, it’s interesting.

Speaking of technical details, the game works on Cocos2D.

Where did the inspiration come from for this game?

We are inspired by the process of creation and the result of this process. It’s amazing how a bunch of people can work day and night to make a game that they are passionate about and be able to share that with the world.

As a team we’ve played a million games, we’ve been looking at the real world, we’ve been fishing, we’ve been watching our users and receiving positive feedback. All that inspires us to always create something new and to make it as cool as possible.

What’s your favorite aspect of this latest game?

Mechanics, multiplayer abilities, originality.

What’s the greatest challenge of creating a successful game?

It takes a lot of inspiration and dedication. It’s not that hard to create a good game if you love what you’re doing and have enough experience. My advice is “make games you’d like to play yourself and don’t forget about the users”.

The challenge is building a decent audience. It’s hard to break into the market as an independent studio competing with all the big players we have on the market nowadays.

You can find out more about Andrew and his work on his profile: zerply.com/qingool

Behind The Scenes at Storenvy

Thu, 16 May 2013 07:10:00 -0700

This week we take a glimpse behind the scenes of Storenvy - the marketplace for indie sellers. We learn how their growing team is creating a dead simple solution for would-be merchants that helps consumers discover more of the things they love. We talked to CEO Jon Crawford for the inside scoop.

What is the mission of Storenvy?

Storenvy is a on a mission to empower the next generation of online merchants and consumers by building the first truly universal commerce that anyone can use and understand. Our company was founded on bringing great UX, amazing design, and excellent taste to e-commerce.

How do you think the ethos of Storenvy has contributed to its success?

It’s everything. The unique way that we look at the world, the way we solve problems, and the way we interact with our community is our defining characterstic. There’s almost nothing “business as usual” about the Storenvy team or product. Storenvy is a real person to us. It’s someone you can have a relationship with, learn from, and talk to. We’re reinventing the way people shop and run online businesses because we’re creating it out of who we are – a group of down-to-earth people solving real-world problems for businesses and shoppers that they love.

What is the work environment like at Storenvy?

Our newest hire, Jeremy, said this was the nicest group of people he’s ever worked with. It’s a very relaxed, collaborative, and friendly vibe. Everyone is fairly self-directed and super devoted to their work. We end every week with a company-wide meeting where we sit in front of projector and show off anything cool we’ve worked on that week. It typically involves a few drinks and then often spirals into a dance party DJ’d by one of our designers from his Macbook. We like to work hard and play hard. :)

What characteristics are you looking for in a Storenvy team member?

I look for someone who gets obsessed with a problem and can’t put it down until they’ve solved it. I look for people that are positive and encouraging to be around. People who hope for the best in others. People who have great UX sensibility oozing out of their pores. People who want to empower the little guy by using technology to even the playing field. People who are next-generational thinkers who embrace change because it makes them feel more alive. And most of all, I look for people who can become brand ambassadors to represent Storenvy to the world.

Are there any interesting perks with working at Storenvy?

We do a few things to make life more fun like cater lunch 3 days/week, give people money each month to spend on the Storenvy marketplace, and we have a pretty great office in the Mission. But honestly, the best perk is being a part of a small, tight-knit team of people creating real value in the world for real people. We help tens of thousands of creative people process millions of dollars in sales each month. This is the only perk most of us need.

Tell us about the position that is open and what an applicant might expect?

We have a pretty killer 2-person design team, but we have a lot of product to design and build. We’re looking for one to two more Product and UI designers to build and define the product roadmap. Some of the early projects will be storefront themes, iOS and Android apps, support for selling digital files, and more.

Storenvy is looking for a Product Designer on Zerply

How to Get Hired Like a Badass

Thu, 09 May 2013 07:29:08 -0700

I assume the only reason you’re reading this is because either: (1) You like the word ‘badass’ in your article titles as much as I do, (2) You want to be hired on the basis of your badass-ness instead of, say, being hired on the basis of being the Archduke of Everything-Just-Lands-In-My-Lap Mountain.

People who choose to get hired like a badass are rare. One of the reasons they’re rare is because 99% of the time, they are part of the creative class who can call products into existence all by themselves if they had to. They are renaissance people. They figure stuff out and get sh** done. They do jobs they didn’t know how to do yesterday. They are generally not sales people. As someone formerly stuck in a sales role with an inner badass dying to break out, I can tell you that sales people are valued for being careful and for wooing people with the right words at the right time - not for being badasses. Badasses could not give a flying fart about the subtle intricacies of double-speak.

So if that’s what they are, what does it mean to be hired like a badass? First, it means wanting to be hired because you’re awesome. Being hired because you can do the job. Being hired because your work will make your co-workers think smarter and work better. Being hired because you possess that rare, nameless virtue, that says: when instructed to dominate an idea, I will hunt it, rip its head off, skin it, stuff it, and set it on my desk as a beautiful work of art. I may not be the best in the world, but I fearlessly make stuff and I make it well. If you want to be hired on this basis - you’re halfway there.

If you don’t want to be hired because you’re awesome, it either means you’re not awesome and should be figuring out how to be, or because you ARE awesome, but are afraid that you’re not. As evidenced by discussions I’ve had with lots of Zerply users, many, many, many people are in the latter camp. If you’re in this group, your default “hire me” tactic is probably wooing a recruiter into thinking about what a great interviewee you are instead of focusing on showing off how badass your work is. In either case, do you know what the real solution is? Make awesome stuff, let it speak for itself, and illegitimi non carborundum (don’t let the bastards get you down). *Sidenote: Sometimes, you just need to make money and are obligated to reprise your role as Mr. or Ms. Lookatmyinterviewskills - fair enough - but once you get the job, strive to become a badass.

Here are some things that don’t matter that much if you want to be hired like a badass: impressive interview clothes, confident smiles and handshakes, minty breath, perfectly coiffed hair, ever-so-carefully hidden tattoos, the ability to wear a bluetooth earpiece at all times with a chatty disposition, and a natural wizardry in the dark arts of remembering first names. These are Dale Carnegie-esque ways to “win friends and influence people” and they have their place, but they also don’t score you points in the game of being hired like a badass. If they feel especially false to you during an interview, guess how false they’ll feel in two weeks when you have to stay in character all day to maintain the illusion birthed by your 3-hour improv show titled “Interview Day”?

So, what matters if you want to be hired like a badass? At Zerply, we like helping really fun startups like AirBnB and Square hire badass designers, developers, and other creatives. One of the best things about Zerply is how quick it is for us to figure out if someone is a badass. It goes something like this:

“Let’s search for web designers for that Square position.” *click* “Oh wow, look at all these pictures this person shared on Zerply, Dribbble, and Behance. She’s done a lot of stuff. She’s a badass. I’m going to see if she wants to apply.”

“Next.” *click* “This dude, on the other hand, tagged himself as a web designer, but I’m 99% sure he’s not a badass. He has almost no work uploaded anywhere on the web even though he says he’s been doing it for four years. Square would punch me in the face if this dude applied.”

In brief, perhaps the easiest way to become a true, blue badass is to share your work like crazy. Share pictures of your sketches. Share pictures of pictures of pictures of sketches. Share finished work. Share pictures of the silly toys that sit on your desk in your workspace. Share random pictures of yourself shooting Nerf guns at your coworkers. Share images of side projects you’re working on that have nothing to do with your day job. This kind of openness demonstrates a fearless disregard for whether a recruiter dislikes who you really are. This openness says, “I am not a person who trifles with falsely curating a tiny image of who I am. I’m a human. I make lots of awesome stuff. I’m a badass.”

Find out more about our growth hacker and resident badass on his profile: zerply.com/ajwinn

Mike Rohde: Sketchnote Master

Tue, 07 May 2013 05:29:00 -0700

There’s a revolution taking place in the world of note taking and Mike Rohde is leading the charge. Sketchnoting is a visual form of note taking that is fun, easy to grasp and improves recall. We talked to Mike about his journey to discovering Sketchnoting, his book The Sketchnote Handbook and what the future holds.

The internet has brought about an era of information overload by both hosting and inspiring the sharing of knowledge at unprecedented levels. We can all agree information is good, but the ability to process it is hard. In the visual age we live in, note taking would seem a practice that has long been in need of disruption. Chunks of text may satisfy our need to document our learnings, but do they really work for gleaning the essential ideas we need to take on board and revisit? Mike Rohde is one such person that believes something needs to change.

A UX designer by trade, Mike had been working in the design industry for over 20 years, starting off in the print field, before eventually taking the leap into web design in the late 90s. He’s gained valuable experience working at all levels of the industry from student intern to art director and designer for internationally recognised brands such as the European Space Agency, Miller High Life and Sargento cheese.

In his time, Mike has learned that design is often about constraints, the trouble with his note taking, was that there were none. Mike would regularly use the biggest note book he could find and an erasable pencil to try and capture everything he learned, even going back to add in details. This method of catchall note taking is no doubt recognisable to us who have suffered hand cramp tirelessly scribbling every last iota of information at a lecture or conference. The good news for us is that Mike and his Sketchnote army are here to say there is a better way!

It was back in 2006 that Mike became frustrated with his note taking and decided to try a new method. He switched his pencil for a permanent pen and downsized his notebook to that of a moleskine. The challenge was to now filter ideas and capture only the important ones using sketches and minimal text to illustrate them. The result was a much more attractive set of notes that were easy to digest, and best of all, actually fun to take. Mike recalls his first attempt at taking visual notes of this kind being at Adaptive Path’s UX Intensive Conference in Chicago After the conference he posted his notes to Flickr to share with the speakers and fellow attendees, but much to his surprise the notes drew interest from a much wider audience. Even people who were not at the conference and had no idea of the context could appreciate the ideas captured in his notes. All this convinced Mike he was on to something, and in the following months he took his pen and moleskine to a number of events including SXSW. He continued to gather a following on Flickr aswell as being featured on blogs, and was soon being invited as a guest by conference organisers and later as an employed official sketchnoter.

Those early sketchnotes captured the imagination of countless frustrated notetakers. Since then, a community has evolved of sketchnoters applying the method in their professions, including teachers, lawyers, doctors and engineers. Other notable sketchnoters that Mike is keen to pay homage to are Eva-Lotta Lamm and Francis Rowland, both UX designers based in the UK who have really mastered the skill of visually capturing ideas. Others such as Sean McCabe have used their illustrating skills to create beautiful sketchnotes, which has lead many to mistakenly see sketchnoting as a new form of art. It was for this reason that Mike started Sketchnote Army to highlight the sketchnotes of regular folks who may not identify themselves as the artistic type, but do a great job of communicating ideas. According to Mike “everyone can draw to different degrees” but your level of ability should not be a hindrance to sketchnoting.

As interest grew in sketchnoting, Mike was approached by Peachpit press about writing a book, which has now been published along with an accompanying video and podcast series. The Sketchnote Handbook is a guide to getting started in sketchnoting, its packed full of tips and tricks and most importantly exercises to help you develop. One of the major goals Mike set out to accomplish was to get readers to understand that sketchnoting like drawing is essentially about communicating ideas, its not art.

The book covers a number of topics including the evolution of sketchnoting, the skill of listening, formulating structures, and exercises for readers to develop their abilities. Its essentially the basic tools to get you going in sketchnoting, with the big idea being that “anything you want to draw can be built with just five simple objects”. According to Mike you can draw almost anything you can conceive with just a circle, triangle, square, dot and line. He believes that when a person starts to think in this way, they can begin to see things in a simpler form enabling them to quickly sketch out their ideas. Example sections in the book include: typography, how to draw people by Dave Gray, and an exercise by Austin Kleon using a grid of nine squares to create nine faces using just a few simple lines. All of the exercises are aimed at helping the reader develop a quiver of go-to drawings to help communicate ideas on the fly.

But what about the future? Currently Mike is working with an educational designer to help develop a curriculum that explores and goes beyond the content of the book, that will form the basis of a series of workshops to help keen sketchnoters hone their skills alongside peers and mentors. Until then you can buy his book, listen to his podcast and get your regular dose of sketchnote inspiration.

You can find out more about Mike on his profile: zerply.com/Rohdesign

Why Do I Need Zerply?

Wed, 01 May 2013 10:25:00 -0700

“Ok it’s beautifully made, but what use is Zerply to me?”, we’ve heard statements like this many times over. It’s often motivated by misunderstandings of Zerply’s purpose or guilt over the lack of account activity. Professional networks like Zerply can often be seen as a disruption to the happily employed creatives workflow, or a roll of the dice for job seekers, but in reality a professional profile is something all creatives should invest in.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the average 18 year old today is said to go through 10.8 jobs by the time they are 42. In the next four years, it’s predicted that 50 percent of the workforce will no longer be classified as employees but freelancers, consultants, independent contractors, contingency workers, entrepreneurs and the like. The average length of a job for someone in their twenties today is just 13 months, with multiple crossroads on the professionals journey where a body of works will come in handy.

Today’s generation is said to value freedom and independence more than recognition, titles and rewards, with a fulfilling professional life seen as working on interesting and meaningful projects. With this in mind it’s important to proactively market yourself, showcase your ability, hone your skills and stay curious. Today’s job market is afterall clearly no longer about climbing the corporate ladder, positions for life are a thing of the past, graduates instead are increasingly looking for opportunities with more purpose than paying the bills. A recent Harris Poll, suggests an enormous 97 percent of Generation Y workers are looking for work that allows them “to have an impact on the world.” To find these opportunities it’s still good to know people, but more importantly social proof of who you are and what you’ve worked on is more valuable than ever.

Charting your professional path with a professional profile is important for everyone, because it’s a continual process, not something to simply dust off when you need to apply for jobs. The truth is employers don’t read resumes, so before you open up that Word doc, know that only 19 percent of recruiters at small companies actually look at résumés they receive. What companies do want to see is your online presence, so make sure you’re leaving behind an easily found trail of accomplishment. That’s why we created Zerply as a tool for your work life, it helps you document your careers projects, showcasing your work, skills and collaborators, all of which highlight your reputation over affiliation. Along the way we’ll recommend opportunities, serve you inspiration and beautifully frame your profile for impressing those clients and employees.

Zerply is dedicated to helping creative professionals share, grow and make. It’s a big vision for a future that we believe in, and we are just getting started.

UX Designers Guide to Getting Hired

Mon, 29 Apr 2013 08:38:00 -0700

Kenny Chen is a User Experience Designer passionate about creating better experiences through thoughtful design. We talked to him about the best ways to showcase and validate your skills as a UX designer.

What is a UX Designers typical job description?

In the world of user experience, no two job descriptions are the same. One of the great things about being a UX Designer is that there is no typical day. Each day is different and there are always problems to be solved - big and small.

One day could be full of research - talking to users, looking at competitors, or analyzing existing data of how users are using your product. The next day could be sketching ideas, putting it into wireframes, and presenting your solutions.

Another day might be creating mockups or prototypes and running usability tests. Testing often is a great way to know you are headed in the right direction and to find usability problems early in the process.

Then there is the day to day of working with coworkers or clients to communicate your vision and ensure your product has a great user experience.

A lot of your job responsibilities will depend on where you work and with whom, whether it be a big company, a startup, an agency, or just freelancing and if you are part of a bigger UX team or the only UX person in the company. In my case, I lead the user experience at Wallaby Financial. Since it’s a small startup, in addition to the UX work, I am also helping out with product management, visual design, growth hacking, QA testing, and much more.

What kind of skills would a UX candidate need to have?

While there is no “typical” job description for a user experience designer and having a traditional design or technical background does help, there are skills that all good UX designers need to have:

Curiosity - A user experience designer is always curious about how things work and why they work this way. They are fascinated with human behavior – how people think and act in different situations. With curiosity comes questions and with those questions come answers through observation, research, and testing. Don Norman once said:

“I question my own ideas and that’s the only way to make progress, always curious, always questioning.”

Empathy - A user experience designer advocates for the user. To do that, they have to be able to put themselves into another’s shoe – understanding their emotions and feelings. To truly design for the end user, one must understand the struggles and pain they go through when interacting with a particular system.

Passion - A UX designer’s job doesn’t just go from 9 to 5. They live and breath it in everything they interact with. When they buy a movie ticket through a touch screen kiosk, use the latest iPhone, or try out a new feature for their favorite website, they are thinking about ways that the experience could be improved or ways to connect people to one another. They not only have a passion for innovation and technology but also in creating passionate users. People with passion look for ways to make things happen.

Problem Solving - A UX designer should be able to take something complex and make it simple and communicate the solution in a variety of ways to different stakeholders, whether it be the small details and micro interactions to the visual designers and developers or at a more high level to the CEO or client.

How important is showing experience of working on actual products?

Showing experience of working on actual products is important because it shows you have the ability to impact the way people are using your product.

For a UX designer, it is often difficult to showcase your work because often times you are only showing the end result. The real work that a UX designer needs to demonstrate and show is the process, artifacts, and thoughts that led to the final product.

While showing work of actual products is important, it’s not a deal breaker, especially if you are just out of school or trying to transition to the field and might not have as much experience under your belt. Also, if you’ve spent your career working in places where there is a NDA, it might be difficult to show some of your work.

My personal UX website only shows the end results because of some of these NDA restrictions but I send to prospective employers an additional portfolio document that illustrate my work (wireframes, site maps, flow charts, etc) with permission from the respective companies.

Are side projects useful for showcasing your skills?

Side projects are useful in showcasing your skills because it allows you to work on something you love and helps you learn along the way. As a UX designer, I especially like side projects because you can experiment with different and new interactions that might be deemed too risky when business factors come into play for an actual product. Side projects are especially great if you don’t have much actual product work to show.

Many years ago, while job searching, I was frustrated with having to go to many different job sites to look for openings so as a side project, I consolidated them all into one UX job site. What started as a side project to help myself has has now helped many find their next UX gig and companies find their new UX designer. I’d recommend everyone start a side project because you never know what might happen - companies like Twitter and Craigslist started off as side projects.

How important is it to have endorsements?

All endorsements are great. If you freelance or work at an agency and mainly work with clients, endorsements from the clients show they are happy with your work and can help get you additional work. Endorsements from co-workers show you are great to work with and get the job done. As a UX designer, you are designing for the user, so another type of endorsement you can get is that of your users. Often times, I take the greatest pride reading user’s positive comments and reviews for a product or feature I worked on.

How would an employer best validate a candidate’s skills?

An employer would best validate a candidate’s skills by accessing their previous work and their process in arriving at specific design decisions. Some like to give a sample problem to see how you would go about brainstorming and whiteboarding a solution. Personality can also be a factor as employers like to see you are passionate about the product . I find that my favorite and most rewarding work has always been one where I was heavily invested into the product. Many expect anyone seeking a career in UX to have an online presence so if you don’t have your own site, a profile on Zerply is a great place to start.

Find out more about Kenny on his profile: zerply.com/kenny-chen

Check out the latest job opportunities on Zerply: zerply.com/jobs

Behind The Project: Simplipay App

Fri, 19 Apr 2013 01:08:00 -0700

We talked to Indonesian UX/UI and Web Designer Budi Tanrim about his work with Canadian startup Simplipay.

What is Simplipay all about and what does it help with?

Simplipay is a Canadian based payment technology company. We are developing technology to revolutionize the way people pay and get paid, unlocking the true potential of smartphones and re-imagining what a wallet is and can be. Simplipay will allow users to safely pay with their phone and merchants to accept payments through the use of a phone. Our innovative new system eliminates the risk involved in traditional credit transactions and makes every transaction more convenient.

Our new mobile wallet platform, provides an array of user and merchnt benefits. We provide Daily Deals, Loyalty Programs, E-Receipts, and a convienient new way for people to Pay. With the use of the technology we use everyday (smartphones), we hope to breath new life into the stagnant payment industry. Simplipay will help guide Canada into a new era of payment.

What’s your role in the project and who do you work with?

I work as Senior Designer and Front-end Developer in this project. I was responsible for the application design itself, the icons for website and control panel design. Cool stuff!

What’s your favorite feature of Simplipay?

Hm.. It’s hard to answer this question. I love all the features from Simplipay, but my favourite feature would have to be our Dynamic QR system of payment. It really is a new level of safety when it comes to mobile payments and we are proud to have developed it.

Have you learnt any new skills working on this project?

Absolutely. Fortunately, this time I learnt how to work faster in an effective way. The deadline was really tight but at the same time I had to produce great design in every pixel, so wireframing really helped me out this time to get the nice UI/UX stuff and screenflow.

I always love every single project because each of them has a different situation and goal that forces me to learn something new.

What do you see as the biggest challenge to its success?

Simplipay exists in a two sided market. We require adoption on both Merchant and User sides. This presents both a challenge, as well as a benefit. We have the challenge of advertising and aquiring two seperate groups, though it also provides us with traction and pushing power, if the aquisition can occur. If we can gain ground in both sides of the market, we can fare much better against future competition, when it arises.

You can find out more about Budi Tanrim and follow him at: zerply.com/buditanrim

Nathan Yoder: Americana Illustrator

Thu, 18 Apr 2013 04:12:00 -0700

Twenty-three year-old Nathan Yoder is a former Oklahoma native now plying his trade on the west coast with Sevenly. We talked to him about how his unique hand drawn illustration style reflects an important discovery of his artistic voice.

You’ve been through a shift in style the last couple years, can you tell us how that came about?

Previously I was working at an advertising agency in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Back then I really loved to work on logo designs, so whenever there was a branding or logo job it would find its way to my desk, and drawing out type for logos really got me interested in typography.

At Hampton Creative every monday we would have our meeting where we would go over all the projects from the previous week and also discuss what we would be working on this week. So before it was my turn to speak I would sit there with my sketchbook and draw out what I ended up calling ‘Welcome to the Weeks’ since it was every monday. I’d draw out the date and hashtag it on instagram. This became a personal ‘one up’ challenge where I had to raise the level each week adding more details to the point where it would now take half the day rather than half the meeting, and eventually I had to take illustrations home to finish. It was mainly through instagram I started getting a lot of feedback and even requests to buy prints, thats when it really started to hit me that I could actually do something with this.

Hampton Creative 10 year annivesary

You seem to have established a real strong and unique style, how did you discover that?

I think my biggest problem for a long time was that I liked to many different styles. Growing up I would always replicate and draw out photos, or copy illustrations. I got to the point where I was really good at replicating and became comfortable with many different styles. Part of my problem was that I was thinking about these styles too much, looking at so much inspiration on the web from other artists that it often became noise that prevented me from discovering my own voice as an artist. I actually found my own artistic voice by accident (going back to those ‘Welcome to the week’ pieces), I was just drawing them for fun, not to impress anybody, but I think that allowed the purest version of me to come out on paper. It was 100% my own style, my own voice, and I wasn’t taking myself too seriously. It was the design community on instagram that showed me I had something with these pieces by recognising the style that was there. From then it was about developing technique and educating myself further on type: why type looks the way it does and how characters interact with each other etc, all of which helped me refine the personality that was already there.

How would you describe your style?

I would want it to be labelled, almost kind of Americana. I love the working class, 50’s America, where you would find type used to label crates or shipping containers, or type that was written out on guys tool boxes. I’m not sure I could properly assemble a phrase that would encapsulate that well, but thats kinda the direction at least.

Do you think that style or era is in vogue right now?

I think so, it seems like in America there has been a trend where every kind of product has been refined, taking technology to extremes. All of which is great, but I think a lot of people are longing for that natural, hand touched piece rather than always that pixel perfect, computer generated type of art. I still think thats going to be attractive for a very long time, but in contrast to all this really clean and perfected design, there is a longing to the simpler times. Life seems super busy right now, things are moving faster and faster, and this style represents those simpler times of white picket fences, and that working class lifestyle when jobs revolved around trades, where men and women used their hands to create, before production moved overseas and became mass produced with machines doing the making. That nostalgia definitely brings an appreciation for the authentically handmade goods.

What’s your design process?

Assuming its a type piece, I do try to involve some kind of illustration along with the type, as I feel thats a nice contrast and often a good centerpiece to revolve the type around. Once I’ve established what I want to add to the type, I usually start in a small sketchbook to rough out the idea more quickly - the smaller the book the faster. Once I’ve flushed out the initial idea there, I’ll move to a bigger sketchbook. Now that I’m working at Sevenly, they are wanting to speak into the design a little earlier, so I’ll work in pencil and then tweak it later. In the past I would try and work straight with pen because I find that when I work with pencil I tend to spend too much time drawing and erasing and not moving forward. Working just with pen forces me to move forward and broke a lot of hesitancy in me, but I have noticed that I do work faster thanks to working with only pen for that season. I always start with a skeleton of the type, almost like stick versions of type, just single stroke lines, to map out the positions or layout, and once I’m happy with that I’ll go back and thicken the lines because you can always add, but you can’t take away when working with pen. Type has a skeleton and then the personality is around that, so once I’ve drawn out that skeleton I can decide how I want it to look, what kind of serifs I want it to have and so on.

Can you tell us more about your new gig at Sevenly?

It all happened pretty fast, I got a call from Sevenly last month, I flew over here for an interview like two weeks later, and after the interview made the decision to come out here. Three weeks later I moved from Oklahoma to the west coast. I was really excited as I knew about Sevenly before, so I was stoked to hear them get in touch. Sevenly is a for profit company that represents non profit companies. Their concept is inline with their name, every seven days we support and feature a new cause or charity that is helping people in some way, whether that’s helping kids with mental illness or preventing sex trafficking etc. There are so many great charities out there that need help in raising awareness, so every seven days we represent a charity on our website by releasing several different t shirt designs and more recently posters and other products that will help shed light on some of these awesome causes. With every purchase $7 goes to the charities.

Its been really great, one of the biggest things for me was the genuine nature of the people here and the great working environment. Because of what they do and stand for from the outside, its refreshing to see that they embody those same things from the inside in their company culture. I’ve connected and fitted in real fast here and just really stoked to be working with the artists here, to collaborate, talk and learn. I’m drawing now full time, whereas before I was just drawing evenings and any little snippets during the day where I could get to my sketchbook. I’m definitely learning more and more everyday as I’m working full time in a position where I’m required to draw, illustrate and do type, so it’s been really great.

Do you have any creative aspirations for the future?

I’ve been trying to use a paintbrush more, and now that I’ve started with type I’ve been wanting to work with something bigger, be that signage or whatever. The fine point sharpie has been my go to pen for some time, but a part of me wants to rediscover the old mediums of lettering. I’ve been experimenting with fountain pens, which has been cool as it enables you to get more effects using the liquid ink. For example, sometimes I can kind of smear it, creating a real cool and authentic look, thats a little less perfect, something we often try to achieve unnaturally. In the same way in the past few weeks I’ve been trying to use the paintbrush more.

In the future I’d like to sell more prints to the point where I could maybe do some clothing design, but I’ve really enjoyed going more in the direction of fine art. I’m not sure if I’ll ever be able to 100% make my living from doing that, but I’d love to do a show somewhere, and fill a space with pieces in different forms or installments. I’m really excited to see what those next things are, ultimately I do want to help people through what I’m doing, whether that is inspiration to do whatever they do better, or its more directly like it is with Sevenly helping causes.

You created a short video ‘Inspired to Inspire’ about your vision that has encouraged many, can you tell us the thoughts behind that?

Its funny, it feels like almost everything has happened over this past year, but its been one of these key moments in my life where a lot of the decisions I’m making right now are going to affect the direction of my life. I’ve been having a lot of chats with my dad, and he’d been challenging me to establish a vision for my life, until then I never really stopped to ask what that really meant. But I was reading a book by Simon Sinek called ‘Start With Why’, just before my website went live, along with all these other business books which would normally bore me to death, but ended up being really interesting stuff. The book talks about how businesses look at their target market and often create focus groups to try and figure out how they can better connect with these customers, but in the process they often forget who they are. The book suggested that what they need to be doing is seeking greater authenticity so that they can attract the people that are naturally attracted to who they are, rather than changing to be what they think the customers want. He suggested that whatever we are working on, we don’t need to be looking at the target, but rather ask what’s behind us, driving us towards the target. So for me that really connected, and I took a step back, and stopped looking ahead for success but asked what is going to drive me there?

Growing up I was self taught in most my skills, I never really had any mentorship to show me where I was going right or wrong, I made it out OK, but it was definitely a little harder. I’m driven to find those people that are in the same place that I was and inspire them to do what they are doing better by sharing the knowledge of my journey to help them along. That’s the thing that drives me and gets me excited. A lot of times we can get lost in why we do what we do, or why we are here, and I was in a place where I was doing design but at the end of the day I’d still be left with the why question. There are many things I could do that may or may not improve peoples lives, or I can try to figure out why I have the gifts I have and what I want to use that for. I’d rather my talent be used to help others further their skills, because I see a lot of people out there that are discouraged, who have what it takes, but need a voice of encouragement or somebody to step in and tell them they are doing something right.

Inspired to Inspire

If you had one piece of advice for those aspiring creatives out there, what would it be?

There was a lot of stuff i had to learn before I found my artistic voice. On one side I would say, be really aware of your surroundings and look to learn new things, try not to be closed off, but rather humble enough to ask the questions you need to ask in order to grow. Don’t be afraid of asking questions that might make you look clueless. Sometimes we are afraid to ask the influential people, but that could be all it takes to gain that little nugget that will help you move forward. But on the other hand, you need to be conscious of your surroundings not drowning out your own voice in the noise. So grow and be observant, but at the same time step back every once in awhile and do whatever it is that YOU enjoy doing. Don’t let trend pressures drive you, but follow your own direction. Take time to realise what it is you like to do when you have free time, for me that I was naturally drawn to my pad and paper. Eventually I recognised and ran with that, rather than being lead by what others wanted or expected of me.

You can find out more about Nathan and check out his work on his profile: zerply.com/NathanYoder

Behind The Project: ChoreMonster

Thu, 11 Apr 2013 04:33:00 -0700

Many creatives spend countless hours of personal time working on side projects, in the hope that one day they’ll be rewarded for their curiosity, and find something that really sticks. For veteran freelance designer Paul Armstrong, ChoreMonster was the ticket that launched him into a new phase of his career. We talked with Paul about the transition and what makes ChoreMonster a winner.

What is ChoreMonster all about?

ChoreMonster is a suite of web and mobile apps that makes chores easy for parents and fun for kids. For parents it’s a simple management system where their kids earn points for completed chores which they can use toward real life rewards. For kids it’s a tangible way to work toward a goal for something you really want and if you’re a member, kids earn tickets to the Monster Carnival where they earn these fun monsters (among many other things).

Do you feel being a designer founder has helped shape your product for the better?

Absolutely. I’ve been able to help shape the entire tone of the product — from brand visuals, UI, communications, and illustration style. I’m not just given the task to implement formed ideas or processes, but I help in the formation of those ideas and processes. Rather than adding icing and decoration to an already baked cake, I also help add ingredients and put it in the oven. Does anyone have some cake, I could really use some cake.

What is it about ChoreMonster that makes it engaging?

One of our biggest goals was to improve the family dynamic when it came to working together on household chores. Remove the tension — the nagging parent and the whining kid. Parents love that their kids actually enjoy doing chores, and even beg to do them (literally happens). Kids love that they can actually earn something they want and keep their parents accountable. And the icing (mmmm, icing) is the added engagement of spinning a wheel to get the prize of these monsters (who have their personalities, likes and dislikes)

This is one of your many side projects, but how did it become a full time gig?

It’s the only side project that had a legitimate means for me to earn a living. While I’ve done numerous side projects that could have turned into careers, my responsibility is first to my wife and my kids. ChoreMonster was accepted into a local (Cincinnati) accelerator program, The Brandery and given $25,000 to develop our idea over a perdio of 3 months. During those 3 months I was also working full time with Wiseacre Digital — because we did not know if things would work out. Within weeks of graduating from the program, we were blessed enough to a $200,000 seed investment from a local venture firm (CincyTech) which cemented the switch to working with ChoreMonster full time. We’re now moving into Series A round of funding and growing our team and improving and enhancing the product.

What’s been the most challenging aspect about moving into a CCO role from freelancing?

I’m not sure there was a challenge. I had spent over 10 years (attempting and often failing) to run my own business. I was designing, developing and programming; but also managing clients, tracking time, and sending invoices while keeping an eye on my pipeline, juggling the pursuit of new work and keeping the old work on task. That was a struggle. Now I have a pay check, full benefits, an accountant and lawyer, developers and can focus on what I do best (or at least what I think I do best). I think it happened at the exact perfect time in my life and I couldn’t be happier.

You can find out more about Paul and ChoreMonster on his Zerply profile: zerply.com/wiseacre

Finally: See Your Next Opportunity

Tue, 09 Apr 2013 09:10:00 -0700

Dear Zerply Members,

As you may have noticed Zerply has been going through some exciting changes over the past couple of months, and there was some press about it this morning. In early March we launched our Hack Design integration, allowing design students to upload images of their work directly to Zerply for feedback. As a result, your engagement doubled, and we realized that there was a lot of potential in showcasing your experience through images.

In the weeks since, we’ve let more and more people upload images and link to portfolio sites. To say that we’ve been impressed by the quality would be an understatement. We’ve seen everything from animations to iPad apps and book covers to GitHub repos.

Many of you have been asking for a way to connect with good opportunities through Zerply, and today we’re finally ready to unveil our beta jobs product being used by a few companies that we think you’ll really like.

Promoted Opportunities is our new tool allowing awesome companies such as Etsy, Kickstarter, Square, Yelp and AirBnB, to broadcast their latest job offerings to relevantly skilled Zerply members. For example, if you’ve tagged yourself as a ‘UI Designer’, you’ll see opportunities in your Featured feed posted by Square and AirBnB, who are currently looking for people that particular tag.

You can also check out companies’ profiles to see which Zerply members are employed there, and what they’ve been working on lately. We know that applying for a position can sometimes be an anxiety inducing experience if you don’t know what to expect. We hope that letting you spy on the stuff your future colleagues are making will help you decide if it’s a position you might like.

If you like what you see, you can either click the job’s ‘I’m Interested’ button, or go to the company’s profile and click ‘Watch’ (similar to ‘Follow’, but for whole companies) to see new opportunities as they’ve posted. The best part is that you don’t have to jump through hoops and rebuild your resume in a certain way. All you need is a Zerply profile and steady stream of beautiful work.

Please let us know what you think. We’re new at this, and we want your feedback to get it right.

Feel free to email me anytime: c at zerply dot com

Cheers,

Christofer Karltorp

Co-founder & CEO

Joost de Valk: The Web Optimizer

Mon, 08 Apr 2013 05:09:00 -0700

Joost de Valk aka Yoast, is an SEO marketing consultant who has built a successful company by finding his niche as a Wordpress SEO expert. Yoast has assisted global brands such as eBay and The Guardian, as well as producing plugins that have accumulated almost 10million downloads.

Joost (center) and his Yoast team

How would you define yourself?

I used to say consultant, but now I have started my own company. Right now we are in the process of getting rid of clients and focusing on products more, so I guess you could call me an entrepreneur.

What does SEO mean to you?

It means a lot of different things to a lot of different people, but the end goal is that people want to rank higher, get more visitors and make more sales, so that’s what we help people with. But there is a lot of snake oil and a lot of people selling weird stuff around SEO that either does, or doesn’t work, or just works temporarily, which is why the trade has a bit of a bad name. But in the end, today good SEO means getting your site in order technically, then writing awesome content, and have people link to that awesome content so you can get found, which is a bit of a three stage rocket.

How have the social networks changed the SEO landscape?

Slightly. News gets out more, and faster, but stuff gets less links because people tweet it. In the early days of blogging I’d easily get 1000 links to a good article, and now I get 1000 tweets and 20 links. Which isn’t bad, its just that it’s changed the dynamics for everyone and also for Google, who are trying desperately to make something of all the ‘social signals’ as they call them, but they are not going to replace links anytime soon. The primary marketing factor in competitive markets will remain. After you’ve made the technical works, you have a top notch technical site, you have good content, then the primary marketing factor is and will remain for a while - links. And not just the amount of links, but where those links are coming from, what kind of authority sites are linking to you.

Is Google+ undervalued?

You have to be on Google+ as a company that takes social serious, it’s growing quite fast, and it’s probably going to have a serious search impact, but is it undervalued? Probably not, it’s probably valued right where it’s at the moment, which is a not very good social network with some search implications.

Is Wordpress the best blogging platform out of the CMS’s available?

I don’t really care about the best, but it’s the biggest and it’s the one we use, and we write plugins for it because there is a market. It’s probably the best platform for writing a blog or new site, but to use it as a CMS for other sites is sometimes a stretch. Sometimes people would probably be better off using Drupal or a proper e-commerce platform, instead of trying to merge Wordpress into being everything for everyone. But for new sites or a blog, it is by far the best for simple 50-100 page websites, it’s awesome! It’s just that as soon as you have 20,000 products that you want to sell or 200,000 content pages that you need to maintain, then you need to question if Wordpress is really what you want to use.

What do you make of the hype around content marketing as a strategy?

I hate the word ‘content marketing’, it’s marketing! Of course you need content to do marketing but you have to have a story to tell people. People come up with ‘storytelling’, which is also bullshit too. It’s always been a part of the world. I studied theology, and whether you believe what is in the Bible, it’s a good story thats been sold for 2000 years, and that’s what people keep doing. In the end, you have to have a good story for your product, because of the way the internet works today and how easily people can call you out when you have a crap product. You actually have to have a good product with a good story, and then suddenly marketing becomes easy, then content marketing is simply writing about what you are doing and how people are using it etc. Which is cool, its just, is that really a new marketing strategy? Or are we now just properly scaling up what we should of been doing for ages?

A lot of PR folks are talking up the need for authenticity in advertising today, what are your thoughts?

We only went away from that 80 years ago when mass media came up, we started to suddenly do mass marketing and you could lose your authenticity because you didn’t actually have to talk to people. With the internet and all the social networks, you do actually have to talk to your clients again, and people will tell you ‘its shit’, if it is shit. For 50 years or so people got away with having bad products and selling them anyways, because of mass marketing with no checks and bounds. Now social basically brings back that marketplace where people talk about your product. If advertisers need to regain authenticity, it probably means companies first need to fix their bloody product.

What is the best content strategy: curation or creation?

There is a lot to be said for both: I prefer creation, but in a world with so much information, curation is probably just as important as writing content. There are a couple people who curate content around search that I follow, because I know that they follow all the important stuff, and I can keep up with everything just by following them. So you can build a pretty solid reputation off both, and depending on what you are trying to sell, both are probably equally good approaches.

What’s one of the most common content strategy mistakes?

Companies want to sell their own product and often they have a story in their own heads, instead of asking their clients how they are going to use it and what they are doing with their product. That is probably the most common mistake: to speak in your language instead of your customers. Which is a common SEO mistake as well, because you can call something the way you would call it, rather than thinking of the keywords people will use looking for your product.

What should you start with: keywords or content?

Depends on what kinds of sites you are creating. If we talk to a client about rebuilding a site, and they are just a local business selling something, then we start with: what are your products? what are you selling? and what will people search for when they are trying to find the product you’re selling? We would turn that into a site structure and work it from there. If we have all these pages to make sure that we are found for all the things that we want to be found for, we create a site structure, and then on to design, because that normally determines what your design will look like, and you work your way up.

What is the best content for building an initial audience?

You have to add value, which is hard in most cases because if you start in the Wordpress world for example, most of the important stuff about Wordpress has already been written. You have to find your niche, what your good at, and then make sure that you write articles that are so good that people can’t ignore them. That is usually a lot of work, my first article like that was my Wordpress SEO article which is like 5 years old now, and I’ve rewritten it like 5 times since, but it still brings in about 1/5 of the traffic to my website because it’s been linked to over and over again. People see it as the definitive guide because it’s long and comprehensive. You have to find your niche like that, and that’s quite hard in saturated markets.

Are podcasts a good example of shareable content?

Creating podcasts or creating anything of value is absolutely a good strategy you just have to realise that Google can’t search audio. You need to have a text version of it as well, so it usually means double the work. I think it’s very important that you own the location where that content is stored, so if you put a very long story on Facebook then it’s basically quite useless for your SEO. Whereas if you put it on your own domain and people link to it then you can actually do stuff with that traffic. I’m very much for social and outpost strategy where you talk to people on other platforms, but if you create stuff you should do that on your own website. It’s not hard to get people to visit your site from these platforms if you add value, but if you break that trust, then you are gone, you have to add value and keep giving.

Joost is the founder of Yoast, an SEO consultancy and producer of Wordpress plugins. You can find out more about Joost at zerply.com/yoast

Serious Play #007 “Design is a form of problem solving,...

Thu, 04 Apr 2013 11:22:00 -0700

Serious Play #007

“Design is a form of problem solving, never forget that”

Wells Riley (zerply.com/wellsriley)

Serious Play #006 “Don’t waste your time solving the...

Tue, 19 Mar 2013 08:36:00 -0700

Serious Play #006

“Don’t waste your time solving the wrong problems”

Whitney Hess (zerply.com/whitneyhess)

Photo by John Morrison of Subism Studios.

Chromed Out Zerply!

Fri, 15 Mar 2013 07:22:00 -0700

Now adding work and keeping your profile fresh is a synch for those who rock Chrome as their browser. The all new Zerply Chrome extension enables you to add work to your portfolio on the fly, as well as informing you of relevant notifications from your profile.

FEATURES

Add work to your portfolio
Get notified as people interact with your work
Easily follow conversations you’re a part of
Fast access to updating your profile

With the extension you can add your project work directly from the browser as you create it, keeping your portfolio fresh. The unobtrusive notifications periodically update to let logged in users know about the latest related to them.

Here are some of the 5 star reviews we’ve had so far:

Wells Riley ”This is probably the best way I know of to share designs I’m working on with other people. Simple but invaluable tool!”

Timo Lehes ”Super smooth way of adding work to the stream. Great to get notifications of feedback.”

Ben Levy ”Love that plug-in. Just another way Zerply things about its users first. Way to go guys!”

We’d love to know what you think? Add the extension from the Chrome store and give us a review.

Serious Play #005 “Everything we make of value is about...

Wed, 13 Mar 2013 04:11:00 -0700

Serious Play #005

“Everything we make of value is about people”

Randy J. Hunt (zerply.com/randyjhunt)

Image courtesy of Randy J. Hunt

Ismael Burciaga: All Things Creative

Mon, 11 Mar 2013 07:31:00 -0700

Texan designer Ismael Burciaga is the new art director at Arkleus Broadcasting, and founder of Circles Conference: an event with a focus on creative inspiration for those working with non-profits. We pitched Ish some questions about his career path and what makes Circles conference so special.

As a creative you’ve worn many hats in your career, talk us through briefly your path thus far.

It has been one awesome journey. It hasn’t been easy but the outcome thus far has been incredible. When I was attending college in 2003, I wanted to be a Forensics Pathologist. However, my third year into Biology, I decided to change majors and head over to Architecture. But during the end of my first year in Biology is when I discovered Photoshop. I was sitting at home one day and my father asked me if I could make him a flyer for his church. He had mentioned to me that he had an application on his PC called Photoshop. Long story short, I ended up loving it. So while I continued my studies, I kept doing work for my father and soon that lead to designing for all of his friends.

In 2004, I got my break. A local artist in the area named Kari Jobe saw my work and asked if I could begin doing her promotional work and CD artwork. At this time I was charging pennies for my work. I didn’t know the industry standard, but I loved what I was doing. Soon Gateway Church in Southlake, TX saw the work I was doing for Kari and asked me to join them full-time. After my first year of Architecture, I took the position. By this point I was already in my 4th year of school with no degree so I decided I could use a break. During my 3-4 years at Gateway, I learned the fundamentals of typography, layout and design. I learned how to use Illustrator, InDesign and Dreamweaver. I have to give credit to Gelson Rocha and Paul Sirmon of Buzzbomb Creative, who took the time to teach me what I needed to learn.

In 2006, I left Gateway to start Church Media Group with two friends. This was my first role as a Creative Director. At first it was just me; soon I started bringing in other designers and by 2012, I had six designers working for me. It was fun to be able to see them not only do great work but learn and increase their knowledge in design. In August of 2012, after about seven years with CMG, I left and joined forces with Oven Bits in Dallas.

This was short lived. Not because I didn’t like what I was doing, but because I had the opportunity to work with a TV Network. One thing you will learn about me pretty fast is that I have a passion for film. I could be at the movies three times a week if it didn’t cost so much. I think I have seen almost every movie and TV series on Netflix. So my goal here is to eventually produce a TV series down the road where “Bones” meets “Dexter.”

But for now, I have lots of branding to do and directing. For the first time ever, it felt good to have a design agency design our brand. I have always been in the seat of a designer and not the client. I am sure the agency didn’t think I would be hammering down on kerning, typefaces and layout. Oh well, that is my life now.

What do you feel is your best achievement of your career thus far?

My best achievement thus far would have to be meeting Daniel Mall. We actually met before I knew he was a designer. He is one of the most humble guys I know, and he was also a key factor in introducing me to friends who were my mentors for years.

Do you have any creative aspirations that you have not yet had the chance to tackle?

Yes. Film. Someday I want to become a Director of Photography. Hence the reason I took the Art Direction position at Arkleus Broadcasting.

You have a bunch of fun stuff that you have done in your free time like ‘BBQ War’, ‘Album Art Collection’ and ‘My Favorite Key Art Posters’. Do you think these side projects are important for creatives?

Yes. Being able to do these side projects has allowed me to learn a lot of new stuff. I learned more about jQuery and Wordpress. I had to learn how to call in categories and change up templates. If I didn’t take on these side projects, I would not have had the chance to increase my knowledge in these areas. And because of the side projects, ‘BBQ War’ and ‘Album Art Collection’ were featured in a few different issues of .Net Magazine and published in a few different books. If you are a creative and have an idea for a side project, go for it. Don’t hold back. You will learn a lot from doing these and you never know what will come of it.

What is your all time favourite BBQ dish?

This one is easy. BBQ ribs!

What is your all time favorite key art poster?

Oh man, this is a tough question. I have too many favorites. I would say THX 1138.

What is your all time favorite album art design?

Another tough question. Any CD artwork by Invisible Creature. I have been following them since they were known as Asterik Studios. They always did a fantastic job manipulating photos and texture.

You are the founder of Circles conference, which has just announced its 2nd annual conference dates. Explain to us the vision behind Circles.

The vision behind Circles is simple: To bring together designers and creatives who work with non-profit organizations under one roof and learn from our industry leaders. I have been to several conferences in the past few years and noticed that most topics are HOW-TO’s. The ones that really grabbed my attention were the sessions where speakers shared their journey and processes. At The Future of Web Design in New York back in 2011, the CEO of Instagram inspired me when he talked about his process of making Instagram a three-step post, while Hipstamatic took more than eight steps to complete a post. That same year, Ryan Singer spoke at Front End Design Conference and I was inspired by the development of 37 Signals.

I remember going back home full of inspiration. When I starting thinking about the types of people who attend these conferences, I realized that most attendees come from Fortune 500 companies to small non-profit organizations. Then the vision came to me while I was at Church Media Group and noticed that there wasn’t a conference specifically geared for non-profit designers. So I immediately connected with a few friends and shared my vision and they were excited about it. They soon became my first speakers. When I saw how quickly they came on board with my vision, I knew other designers out there would also love to be a part. Last year was very successful; thus here goes our second annual conference.

Do you feel it’s important to engage with the community, attend conferences/meetups? Do you have any examples how that has benefited you personally?

I do. I think it is very important to attend conferences or local meetups in your area because it allows you to interact with others who do the same thing you do. For me interacting with others who share my passion has allowed for me to learn from my peers. It has allowed me to find more work and make lifelong friends. It also has allowed me to meet some of my mentors I looked up to and become friends with them. So if you are longing to learn more about design, one way that will help is networking with other peers. You never know what can come out of those relationships.

Perhaps one of the most unique aspects of a conference of this scale is the location: Grapevine, Texas. Why was it important to you to host the event there?

Location is key. There are not a lot of conferences in Texas besides SXSW in Austin. Grapevine is a suburb of Dallas and it happens to have a small town feel. The venue is located in the heart of Grapevine, within walking distances to restaurants, coffee shops and wineries. It is also 15 minutes from the airport and there are many hotels nearby. My goal is to make it very simple for attendees to get where they need to go without having to rent cars or take cabs.

I noticed your ‘Sponsor a Creative’ campaign for Circles. Seems a pretty novel concept; what’s the thinking behind that?

To be very honest with you, I love giving. If I could allow every person to come for free I would do it in a heartbeat. However, putting together a conference can get very pricey. I also know it can be tough for people to purchase a pass, a plane ticket and a hotel room all at the same time. I don’t want someone to miss out on the chance to learn or be inspired because they can’t afford it. Last year I announced this concept two weeks before the conference started and 10 people were sponsored. What really touched me was when I saw that an attendee had sponsored two others and because of her generosity, they were able to attend a conference they couldn’t have afforded on their own. The people willing to give are out there, and I want to give them the opportunity to sponsor others.

You can find out more about ‘Sponsor a Creative’ and book your place for Circles conference 2013 at circlesconference.com!