Contrast the Blog is currently running an article titled SEO is Bullshit that has had me thinking. While a little bit more blunt than I would be, I can’t help but find myself agreeing with some of the witty rant: SEO is using deodorant instead of washing. SEO is masking bad coffee with sugar. SEO is cramming instead of studying. SEO is using pain killers instead of going to the dentist. SEO is taking weight loss pills instead of exercising. SEO is a comb-over. SEO is Scientology. SEO is Paris Hilton. SEO is the Zune. SEO is the morning-after pill. SEO is astroturf. SEO is not the real thing. SEO is cutting corners. SEO is not the solution. SEO is bullshit. I personally... 

Freelanceswitch.com has been a great resource for me over the past couple of months when I first noticed it through a design inspiration site. Every article that they have posted has always served as a great resource, and now they are putting that knowledge into an amazing eBook. The book covers every aspect of freelancing, from establishing yourself as a brand, to setting your hourly rate. I would recommend this book to anyone who is looking to get started in freelancing, or even be more efficient and profitable if they already freelance. Click here see the official product page and find out more!  More →

Let’s take a look back to two and half years ago. Back then I was a senior in College with one extra semester of school left to complete my degree. I had 3 co-op work experiences under my belt and a partially completed portfolio that needed to be refined and finalized. However, I was aware that if I wanted to stand out amongst other candidates in the job market, have some more real-world design projects in my book would help differentiate myself. So being recently turned on to Craigslist for researching potential apartments for my big move to the windy city in the upcoming months I thought to peruse the “gigs” section. Up until this point I had enjoyed the Craigslist... 

Sitepoint has always proven to be a great resource for website marketing ideas. the articles listed on the site have always served as a great introduction to a number of topics. However, recently they have decided to add a section called contests which has upset a number of people including myself… This section has become a hotbed for underpaid spec work that the section should be boycotted immediately. I just randomly searched through the listings to find not a single listing with a reward of over 400 dollars. These listings are for things such as identity systems, logos, printed materials, and complete websites. Now who in their right mind would offer these services... 

Jason Fried has been giving a great presentation regarding project management, and productivity which I will be posting a summary of later tonight. However I wanted to step away from the presentation to let you know that he just announced that Campfire is now available on the iphone. So point your mobile safari browsers to the site to see. update: Well the SEED Conference was just amazing, however it has left me just utterly exhausted and with soo much information that I could never make any sense of it tonight. However I guarantee that I will be posting some of my thoughts on the event tomorrow (All of them extremely positive). As a side note, I was randomly drawn to receive... 

A little more than a year ago, I was rapidly approaching graduation and putting the finishing touches on my print portfolio. However I knew that I would need to get my book online if I was going to compete against the other designers for a great position. After I landed a position and as I began to learn more about the web I soon realized that my portfolio was severely lacking any sort of search engine optimization and I would never land any freelance work through it unless I made a change. Having designed a number of portfolio sites for work, I have learned a couple of tricks that can help optimize any artist or designers portfolio. These tips and guidelines can be used... 

Well, I do not want to turn this blog into a site devoted to endless lists full of links, however I was called out when I wrote my first article about designs that do not have the typical “web 2.0” aesthetic. Here is the comment from Adam that led to this sequel: I think from now on so called lists of well-designed sites should not include any sites from creative services companies. These sites are made by designers for designers, and not for the general public, and hence defeat the point of truly useful design. No one really uses these sites on a day to day basis. If you want a really compelling list then find sites that are usable outside the design community.... 

I just recently purchased my tickets to the SEED Conference that is going to be held at IIT campus in Chicago on January 18th. Jason Fried, Carlos Segura and Jim Coudal are hosting the conference that is about discussions on design, entrepreneurship, and inspiration. As a designer and a self-proclaimed entrepreneur I can’t wait to see what these design greats have to offer. Apparently the first SEED Conference sold out extremely fast, and according to the blogosphere was a huge success. At only 145 attendees it should prove to be a very interesting and welcoming conference. I will be sure to post my review here after the event. As of writing there are still spots available,... 

Unfortunately some of the most successful blogs on the internet today suffer from some of the worst design choices ever. I however do not blame the designers or the blog owners themselves, as a lot of these have become very common in blog design. My time spent browsing the blogosphere has allowed me to compile a list of the most annoying choices in blog design today. 7. Liquid Content Columns I know that this is going to really upset a lot of developers, but liquid layouts rarely work. While there are a few sites out there that do it well, the majority of the sites that attempt it just suck. Unfortunately this is just not good typography, on larger resolution monitors the... 

In my article Why the Web is Killing Creativity in Design I argued that the so called “web 2.0” aesthetic has actually caused more problems than good for designers. This article proved to be a huge success and has been one of the most popular articles I have written for Positive Space. Earlier today, reader Robert Ross posted an amazing response in support of my post that comes along with 40 years of experience. His response is amazingly well written, so well in fact that I felt it was deserving of its own post. This response also reinforces the idea that if we as designers really want to utilize our talents to their fullest we should create the opportunity for ourselves,...