Daily Post – v3.0 is coming!

It's coming

That’s right, brianhansondesign.com v3.0 is coming. After recently signing up for Google Analytics I have found that the bounce rate on my website is pretty high. Also, my page views are very low. Basically what that means is, people are finding my site, taking one look at my home page, and gettin’ the hell out of Dodge. I’m not sure if a simple redesign of the home page will get the bounce rate down and the page views up, but I want to go beyond that anyway. I’ve never been completely thrilled with where my social links are, and I have more to add now too. Plus, I think I need to do away with the Weekly Sketch session and try to figure out something a bit more relevant to a potential customer. Now, I’m hoping that in the next few days I may get some side work, which would obviously put a redesign on temporary hold, but I wanted to let you know that it’s coming. Get ready for sketches, screenshots, thumbnails, and mock-ups coming over the next few months.

Daily Post – Business cards

Now I feel like I'm really in business

This weekend I finally received my first batch of business cards. I ordered them from VistaPrint about a week ago and, I have to say, I was very pleased with the way they came out. Especially considering that they were free. That’s a great thing about VistaPrint, they are constantly running deals where they give stuff away for free. All I paid for was the shipping.

I kept the design fairly simple for this first batch. At the moment, I just wanted something that I can hand out to people that lets them know what I do and has all of my information on it. Eventually, I am going to work my way towards a more elaborate card, but for now, this design works fine. If I do run out of these soon (although I think 250 cards should last me a while) I will order the glossy finish as opposed to the matte finish. The matte kept the cost at $0, but I think it’ll be worth the upgrade to get the glossy next time.

Daily Post – Contest update and new designs

I like my chances with the Entropia logo

So, my Big Richard logo design lost. They haven’t selected a winner yet, but my entry has been eliminated. I have to say, of all the contests I’ve entered so far, this is the one I for which I am most curious to see the winner. There were so many raunchy designs in the competition it’ll be interesting to see what the final winning logo is. In other contest news, I entered three more logo design contests today. I’ve already lost one (the three HealthySoil logos in today’s image) one is complete and I am still in the running (caricole) and the third (Entropia Digital) still has a little over two days left. I think these contests are helping me with my logo designs, but I’m not sure. I still don’t feel as if I’m spending enough time on them and getting little to no feedback from the contest holders doesn’t help me in figuring out what I am doing wrong. I do feel as though I am getting better, though, so that’s what I’m going with for now.

In other news, I have updated my profile on 99designs and Styleapple and want to link to them here. Adding these extra sites to my repertoire (not the right word, but I’m brain-cramping on what is) is making me think I am going to have to do the social links on my website. Maybe I’ll do something in the footer with them. I’m not sure what to do. This makes me think that version 3.0 of Brian Hanson Design may be coming sooner than I originally expected. Stay tuned.

A new mission

As you may or may not know, Brian Hanson Design is a brand new company. As such, my client base is very small at the moment, as in practically non-existent. I do have a couple of projects up in the air that I am awaiting final word on, but until I get that final word, I don’t have much to blog about. So, because I don’t want this blog to sit idle for weeks at a time (as it has been) I have decided that I will post sketches and design ideas every weekday. I already have a daily sketch section on my site, but I will not be posting those sketches here. Also, I may decide (if I like an idea enough) to post the steps of an idea from sketch phase to completion. Regardless of what it is I decide to post, I will be posting every weekday starting on Monday, December 28^th. As always, comments and feedback on these post is welcome and appreciated.

The redesign is complete

You can now see the new and (hopefully) improved Brian Hanson Design. I’d like any and all feedback on the new look and feel of the site. I’ve found that designing for one’s self can be extremely difficult and having honest criticism from others is very useful. When I was trying to decide what kind of layout I wanted for the new site, what pieces I was going to display in the portfolio section, and everything else that goes along with a design, I realized that I have a hard time looking honestly at work that is for me. When designing for others I can see what’s working and what’s not, in what direction I can take a sketch, and when to just scrap an idea completely. For some reason, when designing for myself, that ability seems to fly out the window. Knowing that I have such a difficult time deciding what I like and what I don’t when designing for myself, I now realize that when I eventually start work on version 3.0, I need a clear, concise plan of attack. I basically have to treat myself as I would a client and work on my own site as if it were someone else’s. Until then, though, I would appreciate your opinions on the site and welcome any criticisms, praise, suggestions, and notification of any errors on the site. Thanks everyone.

I know it’s new, but I’m changing it anyway

Well, I know that Brian Hanson Design has not been around for very long, but that doesn’t matter. It’s getting a face-lift anyway. I find it very difficult to be content with designs I come up with for myself and my website is no exception to that rule. My color scheme will be remaining unchanged, but everything else will be different. The biggest change will be that Brian Hanson Design will no longer be a one-page portfolio. There will now be a home page, portfolio page, services page, and an about page. I currently have the home page and the portfolio page done and am working on the other two. I have changed the layout pretty drastically and I’ve also completely redone the thumbnails. They are much larger and, at the moment, do not have a roll-over state, which is something I don’t know if I am going to do or not. The changes are coming soon, hopefully before the end of the year. You can view some screenshots by clicking on the thumbnails below. Let me know what you think of them.

The new home page

New portfolio page