So here it is, blurred name and contact but everything else left exactly as is. An original hand drawn info-graphic of bad things happening to bad people. Even the skewed layout is original. Click the image to see every methodical detail that went into this beauty.

And that’s all I’m going to say. What do you say?

I do have focus: Real Estate.

I like the real estate industry and position I am in. Never bored. Everyone is always in a decent mood. Right now websites are flying out the door and people seem to want to push technology to the maximum as a form of proof of (insert your communication here). Hopefully advertising campaigns will come back like lawn bowling once everyone realizes that being the first in technology is … just being the first in technology. Or that they might want to communicate something more.

The real problem I have with the real estate industry is this: Real Estate Agents are viewed as being lower than used car dealers. Real Estate developers are viewed as the reason people are homeless and living on the street. (There is an anti-real estate development poster on the wall of the complex I live in). Talk about friendly neighbours.

This is why when I see work like this flier I cringe. When I tell people I do real estate marketing, do they think I do this?

This person needs more than just listings. She needs more than a new picture photo-copied on canary coloured paper. She needs a plan that doesn’t involve bringing down the entire industry.

I put it up for you to have a laugh. For me? it’s not that funny.

DIY Days from Sabi Pictures on Vimeo.

- Paul Klee

I compose music when the mood strikes but I dislike the process of recording. Perfecting studio recordings is not my idea of fun. I think I’ll just start doing this, play it through once and let that be it. So this is as good as it’s going to get.

My music is relatively simple, melodic and easy to remember. I enjoy writing as if for television. This one in particular might work as a drama. If you want to use it or record it, please contact me.

This song is called Patricia.

Fridge vs Avocado Green, Stainless Steel, White…

Running Car vs Paint Colour, Shape window tints….

3 bedroom home plans vs spacial environment and finishes inside and out

Having worked in the construction industry for years before taking the design career by the horns has helped a lot in web design. A single building is drawn by an architect,  many engineers and a designer. The architectural drawings describe how it’s built, the engineering describes what size pipes, wiring, supporting walls etc. And the design drawing give the finishes. They almost always all work together at some point in the planning process.

Creating a web site can be just as complicated as house construction.

The web developer is like the architect. If there is no final wire frame (plan) in mind then that becomes part of the solution. The developer must create a website that allows for the design to be altered by the user.

The web designer brands, colours and re-shapes the functioning website.

If you hire a designer to develop your site, hopefully they will contract out the hard coding parts and not attempt to do it themsleves.

If you hire a developer to design and brand your site, hope fully the same will apply as above.

Very rarely do both co-exist in one person with any degree of success. It’s a simple fact of left brain right brain thinking.

No where in this post is SEO mentioned. That’s because SEO not just part of website construction alone and has nothing to do with branding and design. If SEO is important to the website owner (and who wouldn’t), it get’s built in as part of the development. It is then taught to the owner on how to use it, what content to write and where to put it. If SEO is the most important thing on your website list, don’t ask for it last.

We’re all familiar with blog posts and one of the familiar parts is seeing a number of  links at the bottom of every post wanting you to “share-this-article”. They are called Social Bookmarks. People who are active in the blogosphere push those buttons because it nice. It’s a new social etiquette like letting others on the elevator first or holding a door for someone, clicking those links helps the blog owner increase search ratings. Bloggers and commenter’s are usually one and the same and we have our blogs we like to visit. They become friends.

This blog has never been about search rating but it is fun to watch traffic after blogging some opinionated article and experiment with different forms of SEO. I never added any social bookmarking links because they are ugly. (but who cares about my opinion). A few clicks for the sake of ruining the look of my page wasn’t worth it.

Enter the Sexy Bookmarks Wordpress Plugin found during a search for client work over at TribalYell. As soon as I found it I knew it was a winner and it would soon be on my blog too. Easy to install like any plugin in the latest versions of Wordpress. Click “add new” in your plugins menu, search for “SexyBookmarks” and click install. Go to the admin section for Sexybookmarks and choose which bookmarks to display. Enjoy.

So now you see them, Feel free to click on them. The makers of the Sexylinks plugin will thank you.

I don’t know why my friends are sending me this stuff. I love all my clients.

How much does it cost is a common question for a design business’s email inbox supplying websites to Realtors. Of course no one minds answering. It’s what we signed up for in this line of work. But there is no easy short answer to the how much question because everyone is different – or are they?

Almost all inquiries about how much a website cost to design and build are coming from people without any branding what-so-ever. It seems a common trait in the real estate niche but for a small few. In any other business there is a plan in place but in real estate the end result is the plan and most web designers working in this real estate niche are creating the visual branding as part of the web-design and including it in their price.

“My web guy designed my logo” is a pretty common thing to hear when a sign guy needs the printable artwork to work with or a printshop is trying to put together the business cards and all they have to work with are crappy web graphics.

So the question how much is a website isn’t the really the question.

This is a week filled with meetings. Meetings with people who are in the business of designing for real estate. Together we will work to discover the true nature of the problem and come up with a unique solution – or two.

Help us reclaim your back alley with Christmas lights, caroling and mulled cider.

This year, join us and decorate your alley.  Light up your windows, balconies, and fences on the alley side with the spirit of Christmas and Solstice.

At our location (2137 West 1st Avenue) we are decorating the alley between 1st Avenue and York Street, from Arbutus to Yew Street. Then on Sunday Dec 20th at 8pm, we are Christmas caroling and handing out mulled cider  in the alley.

Join the Facebook Group and tell us how you’re turning your alley into a livable area.