The main requirements for the site are simplicity and ease of use. It has to be easy to navigate and use as it will be used by a group of people that very much differ in both age and technical understanding. I need to make it easy for them to find content, understand what is in front of them and interact as they wish. Long story short, my older relatives need to easily watch a video, find previous videos and understand how to leave a comment. *Quite a bit more difficult than it might sound as we well know.

The only other requirement is that it be something my son would enjoy and find visually appealing were he just a bit older. The enjoyable part here is that I have full creative freedom in both design planning and aesthetic, one of the major factors that makes personal work so enjoyable. (in my opinion)

It’s in the very early stages of design but here is a peek. (Blurred of course for that top secret effect) While I have decided to move forward developing the site in WordPress given certain security requirements, namely the ability to have members only content, I originally considered creating it as a tumbler theme so this is something I may do additionally as a learning experience.

It’s been an exciting but rough few months since that time. Turns out I was fairly spot on when it came to my critique as I have noticed a substantial drop off of new project enquires when compared to previous months among various other metrics. Hey we all make mistakes, at least I am willing to make them on my own dime rather than on that of my clients. It’s been a bit rough to hold myself back from moving too hastily in this current redesign we are working on for the simple reason that I know it needs a change. But I have managed to make the time and hold myself back, do this properly.

The process itself has led to quite a few interesting discoveries and new plans for the future of Papertree. What it has become is not only a site redesign but more of a total rebrand that will allow Papertree to progress into the year ahead.

For now I will have to continue to wait while it goes through some of the final checks and developments but here are a few sneak peak screenshots for your enjoyment.

Link to article: The myth of the page fold: evidence from user testing

Additional reading on the subject.

• Unfolding the Fold
• Blasting the myth of the fold
• Staying Above the Fold in Web Design

What do you think?

Midnight Inbox Beta Released via http://www.midnightbeep.com/ – looks like an all in one organizer for the mac and well worth checking out. Having just settled into and purchased Things a few weeks ago I can’t say that I’ll be jumping ship any time soon but if there where an app to tempt me into doing so I am pretty sure this would be it.

Five Simple Steps – A Practical Guide to Designing for the Web – by Mark Boulton, was released today, pretty sure this is a must read. Grab a PDF copy now http://www.fivesimplesteps.co.uk/

Another Mac App – Espresso (Public Beta) for Mac web development has been released. Again, pretty settled with my current web dev package but I will more than likely give this one a spin. It’s been talked about for some time and looks like it’s going to definitely live up to the hype. Check it out now at http://macrabbit.com/espresso/

And last but not least, some beautiful free social networking icons here. (Looks to be in French, but the icons speak for themselves)

Hope you enjoy!

Anyhow it has been a crazy couple of weeks and I have just barely kept on top of it all. A little over three weeks ago now I was given the opportunity to take on a rather exciting project that goes by the name of Sohobiztube.com. (If you have looked at my portfolio lately, you might have noticed that this has been added.) I took over this project at after the initial groundwork had been put down and was tasked with delivering a new design and a few key elements that where missing. There is still much work to be done but it is coming along excitingly well. From here we will be cleaning up the code, improving SEO and adding some exciting new features to boot. This is a special project and will require a separate post to cover everything I have to say, but with an article in the local business section in que for tomorrow I at least want to touch on the subject.

Due to prior commitments I also found myself working simultaneously on various other projects which I will be adding to my portfolio over the course of the evening. One of them being a local small business called True North Resources which can be found at www.truenorth-resources.com. The other being an excellent project for the Austin Taiwanese Presbyterian Church in which I was given the opportunity to take one of Brian Gardner’s themes and totally customize it to their liking. I am extremely pleased with the way both have turned out and I am excited to share more on the projects themeselves.

Oh and if you have not already guessed all of these projects involve WordPress in some way shape or form.

I continue to forge ahead with a ton of new and exciting projects on the way, but consider this my official return to blogging. Looking forward to sharing what I have learned!

A lot of the people involved in the discussion pointed out that there was no trend here at all but a variety. That is the beauty of it and shows that we are once again making progress in developing the web. A year ago you might have scoured the various “galleries” to notice an overload of glossy buttons and shiny gradients, the “original web 2.0″. Not to say that there isn’t still a place for this type of design and for some it works very well, but to see that we are branching off into a variety of directions is an idea I welcome with open arms. If you were to browse the local magazine rack only to find that it was filled with hundreds of publications all based off of the same design, would you get excited about it? Variety as they say, is “the spice of life”.

These are my thoughts on the trends, what are yours?

Living and working in the area, I interact with your potential customers on a daily basis allowing me to gain a better understanding of what they might be looking for. Together we can plan a strategy for creating your website and taking the next step by launching your online presence.

If you are in the Delafield or Oconomowoc area and would like to discuss your project please feel free to contact me any time.

So that’s it, before I get short of breath I am going to wrap this thing up and put on a few final touches before I head off to the day job. Thanks again for stopping by, I hope that you like what you see and come back for the grand finale.