The Navig8 Blog

Looking after your domain names part 1

People often get in very sticky situations when it comes to domain names and their registration and renewal.

It can be confusing for people to understand the relationship between their domain name, their email address, their website and how it all fits together in the big world wide web.

So, I'm going to try and explain how it works, bear with me.

Choosing your domain
First of all, you need a name. Let's say you start a mobile disco company and your name is Dave. You decide that you want to call your new company 'Dave's Mobile Disco'. Very good. But I suspect there may be a few other Daves out there working the decks. The first step is to see if your domain, or web name, is available. Almost any domain name registration company will have a domain search facility on their website. So you search. www.davesmobiledisco.co.uk and www.davesmobliedisco.com have already been registered by another Dave (probably in California!). So, Dave starts putting in hyphens or looking at other types of domains, and ends up with; www.daves-mobile-disco-online.org.uk. Dave, listen, nobody will ever remember that.

Lets explain the different types of domain;
.co.uk this is for UK companies and a good solution
.com is the 'global' version and all the big boys aim for it
.net is the poor cousin and doesn't really hit the mark
.org, or .org.uk should be used if you are a government body or a charity

There are lots of other domains types out there, like .me or .mob, but these tend to be specialist and back up your 'main domains'.

It is increasingly difficult to find a free domain these days. Which is why you end up with companies like www.ubeemobo.com or whatever.

Think laterally, think clever.

Registering your domain
You can register your domain yourself, and you should. But when you set up the account with the domain registration company, MAKE SURE you keep a record of your username and password. Not just on your computer, but print it out and keep it in a safe place. You then have ownership yourself, it's yours. This also means, when you put in your old Hotmail address as a contact, when the domain comes up for renewal, you will be sent an email saying 'renew your domain' and if you miss that email, because you stop using that account or can't be arsed to check it very often, you run the risk of losing that domain and some sneaky fellow will snap it up. Then they own it, and it's very, very hard to do anything about it.

It is OK to let an agency register the domain for you, they will make sure (if they are nice people) that you are listed as the owner and they are listed as the technical or administrative contacts.

You an opt in, or opt out of this thing called the 'Whois look up'. It's a list of the domains registered and tells anyone who cares to look, who owns the domain, and their details. It's not a bad thing in itself.

If look after you own domains, remember, your email and website will disappear if you do not renew them, this happens a lot. If I had a penny for every time a client rings me screeching, my email has gone down and my website has disappeared, only to find they have not responded to the reminder email...

So now you own your domain. Essentially, it's like a patch, or a forwarding service, it is nothing in itself except a name. You don't even have to use it, it can just sit there.

Most domain registration services offer two services; hosting and email. You don't have to use them and most of the time, it's not always the most appropriate. Let's see if I can explain how the next bit works... in Part 2

Colourful designs

Colour can be a bit of a minefield in design. I once asked for a colour reference and I was sent a Dulux colour chart!

First things first, no matter how expensive your kit is, what you see on screen will not be what you see on the printed sheet. It is also unlikely that it will look the same on other peoples' monitors either. Macintosh and PC monitors vary hugely, then there is the lighting conditions, the monitor settings and whether the user is wearing rose tinted glasses or not. You should never be in a situation when your printed job has been delivered and the words �it doesn't look like that on screen� come out of your mouth.

Here's the science bit; things look different on screen to the way they look on printed paper because there are different types of light involved. One is projected light, the other is reflected light. There is also a thing called gamut.

Gamut is the scope of something, in terms of colour it is the range of colours that a certain technology or process can display. Back to that in a minute.

Reflected light is what you see most of the time, reflected off paper, off flowers, reflected off someones face. Your eye can only see a certain spectrum of colours, it has a limited gamut, colours like infrared and ultra violet, humans can't see, they are out of our gamut.

Projected light is usually fired out of 'guns' inside a monitor, it uses a mixture of three colours, to create colours. These are Red, Green and Blue (RGB). Assuming the range your monitor is set to millions of colours, there is a wide range of colours that can be shown, all within the human gamut (otherwise you wouldn't be able to see them).

'Traditional' litho printing does not have a gamut as big as the human gamut. The technology isn't there to show all the colours our eyes can see. Monitors, however can show a wider range of colours and they can appear brighter.

Colours used in litho print (and almost all digital print) are made from inks. In the case of full colour (or four colour) printing, these are cyan, magenta, yellow and black � CMYK, the 'K' stands for Key Colour.

Colour modes and colour pickers
It is always best to select the colours using the correct colour picker (or palette) and that fit in the right gamut for the output. So, if you are doing a full colour job, use the full colour picker and sliders. If you are doing a CD-ROM, use RGB and if you are designing a website that needs to accommodate the lowest common denominator in terms of a screen technology (excluding mono) use Websafe colours.

Rule of thumb for colours:
Use CMYK for full colour printing
RGB for screen outputs
Pantone or similar for 'spot colour' printing
Websafe (or 16x16) for low-end websites where the lowest common denominator in terms of technology needs to be accommodated.

Credit crunch

Things are getting tough 'out there'. We are are enduring an economic downturn � it is a good time to moan.

Some things never change, one of them being asked to work for free, or a 'free pitch'.

It's really nice to be asked to estimate on new work, by new clients, or existing clients. But often in the brief, we are asked to provide design ideas, at no fee. There are a couple of things worth moaning about here.

Firstly; there are not many professions out there that get asked to work for free. Try asking your mechanic to fix those dodgy tappets first before you commit to the full service. Graphic designers are always being asked to work for free. Our portfolio, our client base, or experience should be enough to make a client feel comfortable when selecting an agency.

Secondly; at the pitch or tender stage, if you present ideas to the client, it's your one chance to get it right. When people see what you present, they take the work on face value. As far as they are concerned, this is it, and decisions are made on what you present, understandably. The problem is, we all know that the design process is a collaborative one, you should involve the client in the process and a pitch brief isn't always the most comprehensive document in the world. As a busy agency, you have to take a view on the effort and time you are prepared to spend and proportion the time accordingly.

I can understand a clients caution when a new agency is in the running, but if you have worked for the client before, it's a shame.

Lastly; the majority of our work, the best stuff, is concept based. Coming up with the idea, a good, relevant, workable solution is our gold � it's where we really earn our money. Laying out a leaflet in house style can be done by almost anyone, but bringing together a strong piece of communication takes a bit of brain power and a big dollop of creativity. And a lot of time.

With some of our clients, we get paid a nominal fee to pitch. It in no way covers the time (or sometimes the materials cost) spent, but it does show that the client is serious and respects the agency's position.

No matter, free pitches are a part of our life, if you want to compete, you have to compete, so to speak. But if you are a client, bear in mind how it feels and treat us gently.

Anyway, it's nice to moan.

Lionel Blair on ice

It's been a crazy week this week. From what started out as a simple e-card for Elizabeth Finn Care has mushroomed into a part viral, part Flash online game.

Lionel Blair, the tap dancing, 'Give us a Clue' host is one of the celebrities that supports Elizabeth Finn Care and he offered Tea for Two(with him), to the lucky winner of a prize draw.

We developed a game (www.lionelblaironice.co.uk) and Lionel came down to our office and tap danced all over the place. He recorded some simple voice overs.

It's quite unusual for a charity like Elizabeth Finn Care to even consider something like a Flash game. It goes to show you that even when dealing with a typical organisation and potential audiences, new techniques can be applied to deliver engaging, relevant marketing solutions.

Navig8 hosts the campaign, which has a 'Forward to a friend' functionality, an 'enter the competition field' and a discrete 'join the mailing list form'. All of which should help Elizabeth Finn Care's marketing team gather data.

As a little extra, we developed a very simple reporting tool for the client, just to track the campaign, see below a screen shot taken before the official launch of the campaign.

Interesting to see that the first competition entry was a journalist from Hello! magazine!

Our MD had a chat with Lionel who he described as 'up for anything' about producing some You Tube videos. He leapt at the idea!

Should be fun...

En or Em...erm

One thing that really separates the men from the boys in the world of punctuation, is the wrong use of a dash.

A good graphic designer knows the difference between an En dash and a Hyphen and when to use them. It is astonishing to see professional design groups turning out work where hyphens are used all over the place. Maybe they don't think it matters � but it does.

Definitions first; Hyphens, En and Em dashes are punctuation marks. Demonstrating them online is going to make life tricky, because web browsers don't really care about dashes, and although there is correct HTML mark up for ensuring your dashes do what they are supposed to do, not all browsers agree. So until the browser war is won, or lost, or ignored, using them can cause odd bits of code to appear instead. Wikipedia has a listing and offers up the various bits of code required.

Below shows correct usage:
Hyphen: a short 'dash' used to show a break in a word as it goes onto another line, or to join two words together, like black-cab. It is a minus sign, that is why it sits next door to the plus sign on the keyboard.

En dash: a dash (sometimes called an En rule) is one en in length, usually the width of the letter 'N' in the typeface you are using.

Em dash: another dash, one em long, the width of the letter 'M' in the typeface you are using. The actual length is governed by the point size you are using.

Confused? Don't blame you. It is tricky because, in the first instance we are dealing with relative sizes. A millimeter is a millimeter, even in space, but, like the 'x-height' of any given typeface, the perceivable size varies. You notice this when you change a large chunk of text from one font to another, the document changes length. En and Em sizes change with the font, but it doesn't matter, it's all relative.

Usage
There is confusion around the correct usage of an en dash as opposed to an em dash. But there is absolutely no confusion about when not to use a hyphen.

Hyphen usage: A hyphen is a joining character, it joins words together like 'e-mail' or is used to show the join between the a broken word that has been pushed onto the next line, because the whole word will not fit on. You see this a lot in newspapers.
On the keyboard: A minus symbol

En dash usage: is used to show a range, or transition. There should be no spaces either side of it. For example 'The address of the pub is 22�24 Gin Lane.'
On the keyboard: option+hyphen

Spaced En Dash: is used in the same way as an Em dash (see below), and this is where a drop of confusion lies, strictly speaking, you should use a Em dash, but tastes and fashion change � even in punctuation � and the majority of stickler editors ask for a Spaced En dash, rather than Em dash, like so; 'you must use a spaced En dash � like so � or the Editor will moan'.

Em dash usage: is used to show a pause, a bit like a comma, but longer. Like this; I went down the pub � I always do when I want to discuss punctuation.
On the keyboard: option+shift+hyphen

You wouldn't think there was such a hoo-ha about using dashes, would you!

Exhibition stands for humans, not snails

Designing for exhibition and display.

We've got quite a bit of exhibition stand design on at the mo. Designing for exhibition or display requires a slightly different approach.

When you are designing an exhibition (or a poster for that matter), design it as you would see it. When you walk into an exhibition hall, the stand is likely to be in the distance, so visually it will be small. So when you are designing it, view your designs small, or print it out and stand back. Does it leap out at you? Are you drawn in? Does it make you want to go up to it and find out more? If it does, then it's likely that the punters will feel the same way.

Use this principle:
What's that?
Where do I find out more?
What do I do now?

What that means is, the first thing the user should see, should grab their attention and make them go 'What's that?'. As they get drawn in, the second level of information should be apparent. Typically it is a bit of text that outlines the main 'offer'. By now, the viewer is at the stand, or has her nose pressed up against the poster. What do I do now? Well, that depends, it could be phone the box office, visit the website or speak to the slippery salesman.

If you are designing a six foot exhibition stand or a sixty foot banner, you can't set your document up at that size. So you have to design to scale. Keep things simple, quarter size is the norm. If in doubt, call the exhibition company that you are going to use to output the graphics, they will be more than happy to tell you what size to set the artwork up, some of them will even give you a template to work from.

Remember that humans are going to be looking at the stand. What I do, once I have set up my file, is put in a guide that is at the eye height of an average person. That way you can position important information at, or just above, eye height. I've seen lots of stands where the call to action is a 12pt bit of type, two inches from the floor. This will appeal to snails, if your stand is for snails, that's fine, but not for humans.

Also, people have a habit of getting in the way of exhibition stands, they put tables and leaflet dispensers in front of the display. Find out if the client is going to have a table in front of the stand and make sure you position content high enough so that delegates can read it without looking up other peoples' skirts.

Slow boat to China

I've just got back from Hong Kong after visiting the print plant in Shenzhen, China.

We print our larger catalogues and books there. The quality of work and service in China is exceptional.

This year we have printed a number of jobs in China, these include Tommy's Teenage Pregnancy book and the Community Playthings catalogue.

Careful print buying can save an awful lot of money, but can also be a minefield. Below is a list of things to look out for and expect when buying print abroad.

Make sure you check and double check the estimates, they tend to do things differently in China.
Check what additional charges there might be, for instance if you need to make a revision or re-proof.
Get everything in writing.
Delivery and customs clearance will increase costs and timescales significantly.
Be prepared for strict payment terms, often paying 50% in advance and the remainder before delivery.
If you have concerns about using printers based abroad or you are establishing a new relationship, go over to the plant and press pass � you will learn a lot, make sound business contacts and put your mind, and your client's mind at rest.