The design phase used to be the most time consuming part of our project but now it’s the smoothest. Where we once sought buy-in along the way with wireframes, style tiles, and finally two finished design concepts we now only deliver a single, fully fleshed out concept. While internally designing with the same tools, we’ve […]
Everyone agrees usability is important. Yet every day unusable websites find their way online. It isn’t a matter of professional versus amateur designers, as both parties violate usability principles. There is a deeper, more complicated problem. I see two common causes for usability blunders: Informed designers don’t have enough strong enough arguments to talk management […]
Named one of the top 10 islands in the world by Conde Nast and top 10 sustainable islands by National Geographic, Mackinac Island is a familiar vacation destination to Michiganders and beyond. The island’s tourism bureau is responsible for providing information on all its events, activities, lodging, shopping, transportation, dining, and more. The new responsive […]
From the inception of WordPress VIP I’ve wondered what it was like to work on a VIP-hosted project. The hosting platform is notorious for being strict on code and process. On occasion, 3.7 DESIGNS would start a project that seemed like a good fit for the platform, but inevitably the projects would never get off […]
You may question first how reliability has anything to do with design, but it’s one of the most important aspects of design. I prioritize it over both usability and aesthetics. By the end of this post you will understand why websites commonly fail due to reliability issues and what you can do to prevent reliability failures […]
There is no greater factor in website success than the planning phase. You might be tempted to start planning with consideration to time, budget, and functionality, but doing so is putting the cart in front of the horse. Before you can figure out what you need to spend, how long it will take and what […]
The longer you work with WordPress the more often you find yourself needing to do something slightly beyond what’s immediately obvious. Sometimes it’s modifying a portion of the admin, other times it’s using a custom walker to pull a field into the menu system. If you’ve ever dealt with custom roles and permissions you know […]
Having recently returned from WordCamp US, I find myself wondering if we’re not paying enough respect to an important part of our community. Having met lots of new people, I noticed that how one uses WordPress comes up within the first few minutes of conversation. Many of those I met responded by saying they were […]
I am writing this a few days after WordCamp Ann Arbor 2015. This was the second WordCamp where I was a lead organizer and the fourth WordCamp to which I provided overall assistance. Based on the feedback we have received thus far, WordCamp was a success. Attendees learned and networked, sponsors were able to support […]
I’m sure you can picture a time when you’ve been ready to start a new design, opened up Photoshop or Sketch, stared at a blank canvas and felt totally clueless about where to start. This used to be a common issue for me but less so these days. While there is always some low level […]