Design: Whirled

I started this blog some months ago, but had technical problems with the platform. Sorry about that, as I really liked the theme design. So, after a bit of cut-and-paste, everything is here, now. What’s next? I have to get the hang of WP.

As a graphic designer for print, working on the web is somewhere between a challenge and a bore. I don’t really have an interest in it as a creative outlet, but find it a necessary evil. I’m trying to approach WP with a better attitude, and hope to create a blog that feels like me: not just words, but also splash and color.

Bear with me while I poke at this thing, ok? Now, why isn’t my Twitter feed showing up?

I’m crazy for CrazyEgg!

We all value the data that we get using services such as Google Analytics. Boring graphics, charts, and rows of numbers may be useful, but as a designer, what do they do for you visually? Not much.

There is one analytics service I’ve found that addresses this issue. CrazyEgg offers a free analytics service with an array of features to help you visualize the actions taken by visitors to your site, along with numbers, if you must. Using color hierarchies, lists, animated confetti, and my favorite, the heat map, you’ll get great data, and have fun with their colorful and creative ways of presenting it. The heat map show where visitors are actually clicking on your pages, which gives me ideas of where I should either place additional graphics, or add links to existing ones.

Their free service is limited to tracking four pages, but it gives a more than generous test drive. You choose the pages, and the number of page visits for it to track. Check in to see how your pages are doing, and have fun with the creative presentation of your data. Ahh. Isn’t that better?

Let me know how you like CrazyEgg.

Design: Whirled is a forum for things related to the profession and business of design. What interests me as a graphic designer for print media is running a better business; becoming a better designer, but on my terms; providing great service to my clients; and supporting ethical practice in this field. Then there’s typography, grammar, weird signs, decay, freelancing, vernacular expression, outsider art, travel, world design, and much, much more.

Yes, there’s a lot I’d like to cover. And uncover. For today, a simple intro and a Welcome to D:W is it. Please subscribe and follow along as I move through the world of design and business and more.

Rock Langston, toptomato, www.tomatographics.com