The other day I received a phone call from another web design/development company looking for some help with an ExpressionEngine implementation.  During our conversation the caller asked (near as I can recall) “We’re, like, real designers (emphasis hers).  Have you ever worked with real designers?“

I keep re-playing that moment in the conversation trying to figure it out, and wishing I had responded differently.

What I said was, “Well, before starting my business I worked for several years at Herman Miller, and I don’t know of another company - at least here in West Michigan - where design was so important and such a strong part of the brand.“

In other words, I didn’t answer the question.  At least not directly. 

What I wish I would have said is, “Well, tell me what you mean by “real designers”?

After this conversation took place of course I got naturally curious about this company so I went to their website.  And it was - you guessed it - all Flash.  Every bit of it.  And their portfolio was more of the same—lots of Flash work.  In their defense the project they were looking for help on wasn’t all Flash - but it still used Flash in a very prominent way with a number of movies that needed to be randomized in a header area.

I really wish I knew the reason behind the question - was this a sense of pride in their own work, or a commentary on my own portfolio?  While I never pitch myself as a “designer” I have, over the past 12-ish years of building stuff on screens, probably “designed” hundreds of processes, interfaces, and reports.  Does that qualify me as “real”?  What about the talented local guys I work with who do focus more on the design aspect of web development - would they be considered “real”?

What I can’t help but think - after reconciling the conversation along with the accompanying company site and portfolio, is that I’ve placed myself in a bubble of web development professionals who, for the most part, “get” the web and understand how design decisions can affect site performance, usability, search engine indexing and placement, and accessibility.  And I’m reminded that outside of that bubble are still people and companies who continue to thumb their nose at those bottom-line business concerns in favor of fluffy designs meant to look good in a portfolio. 

If that’s what being a “real designer” means - putting my own goals before my clients, then I guess my answer to the question is “No, I guess I haven’t worked with “real designers”.

I’m probably making a much bigger deal out of the conversation than I should…it’s just been one those interchanges that stick in my head. 

As my wife will testify—I’m terrible at remembering birthdays.  So it’s with no great surprise that I’m late to announce that Boyink Interactive has turned five years old this month.  Getting to the five year mark has always been in the back of my head - mostly due to so many people quoting the old “Most small businesses fail in the first five years” saw—even though there seems to be some disagreement with those numbers.

In my case - when I think through and try to figure out why I’m still here doing what I do, I find that I honestly can’t take credit for much - if any - of it.  I could say I’ve “been lucky” in getting clients, or in my association with ExpressionEngine, but the truth is I don’t believe in luck of that type.  What I do believe in is a God who has seen fit - for reasons I simply cannot comprehend - to bless me with work, and a style of working, that so perfectly fits who I am.

So it’s with my deepest, humblest, most sincere gratitude that I thank God, my family, my clients, and every other person whom I’ve met or become acquainted with during the last five years.  Thank you - for getting me out of someone else’s cubicle and into a work/life mode where I’m around my family most of the time, my days aren’t dictated for me, and paychecks are much more meaningful.

There’s another five-year anniversary this week - yesterday marked my fifth year of blogging, and my first post created via Radio is still hanging on (even though I requested that it be taken down, I never got any response, evidently Radio Userland is a bit short on customer service).  Whodathunk that experiments with a little doo-dad called a blog would prove so critical to the business over the years.

At any rate - enough self-congratulatory talk.  Thanks again for your support, and now you can return to your regularly scheduled program.

I’d like to welcome Boyink Interactive’s newest client - HighAndes, the Dublin, Ireland-based company behind the forthcoming TrakAx software.  TrakAx is an Audio/Video editing tool for taking your own videos and still pictures and editing them together to music tracks.  TrakAx will be available for both the PC platform as well as for mobile devices.

The planned site will include software downloads, user forums, and a loop library where audio loops will be available for purchase.  It will use ExpressionEngine for content management, and it will be integrated with a 3rd party eCommerce provider.

It’s going to be a fun project, and I’m looking forward to working on it!

A while back I started using Twitter, mostly because I didn’t “get it” and wanted to figure out if it had any business benefits.

I found one - search engine placement. After only a few short weeks of use my Twitter page is showing up at #3 in Google results for a search on “Boyink”.

Lesson learned - use Twitter, with a link to your business site from your Twitter profile, to boost or protect your site’s position in search results.

I’m pleased to announce that the mannais.org site has been re-launched with a new design and added event calendar.  I’m still making some changes and refinements, but wanted to get it pushed live.  The design is an open-source template that I found and integrated into ExpressionEngine - a very cost-effective way of building a nicely designed and featured website for a small church.