I was delighted to be asked to lead some introductory web design learning for Access to Business delegates recently. One aspect was explaining some key terminology around website design. I thought I'd share some here - both as text and images.

Website
“…a set of related web pages located under a single domain name, typically produced by a single person or organization…”

URL
Universal/Uniform Resource Locator: the website address, identifies a certain location on the world wide web  (www. …..) 

Web Designer
Is concerned with how a website looks and feels: colours, images, logos, layout

Web Developer
Looks after the CORE, inputting code for optimum performance, technical aspects, making sure it works

Domain Registration
This is registering or booking the name of your website for your use, you can’t have a site without this

Web Hosting
‘Renting’ the space on the world wide web for your website. Normally for a set period of time. Hosts link website domains to the world wide web

Content
All the items that make up your site: pictures, words, videos, links etc. See the list later

Accessibility
How accessible is your site for your users and for people with disabilities?

CSS Cascading Style Sheets.
HTML Hypertext Markup Language
In simple terms HTML is the language of the text and CSS is the language of page design

SEO
Search Engine Optimization is the process of improving the quality and quantity of website traffic to a website or a web page from search engines

RESPONSIVE LAYOUT
Responsive layouts are adaptable and change depending on the user device. They optimise the page to fit as much content on as possible. 

RESOLUTION
The term used for the number of pixels in the vertical and horizontal elements of a screen. Also relates to the size and quality of the images you use on your website

Favicon
The tiny icon next to the site name on a web browser tab

SSL certificate
It enables encrypted connection The tiny icon lock or hazard triangle to show if your site is ‘secure’. It shows that the web service host has demonstrated ownership of the domain

​See examples of my website design HERE.

READ MORE HERE

I was pleased to be asked by Access To Business in Wolverhampton to lead some introductory training in website design for their clients. Although more of a brand and print designer, I have created several sites for customers, using a web builder. I'll be adding these to my portfolio page.
Along the way and with some research, I was able to share some simple but important 'Do's and Dont's' of web design and I will share these here over a few separate posts.
Starting with: REASONS YOUR BUSINESS SHOULD HAVE A WEBSITE

You can read more about this in an article.

We feel really lucky to have been able to continue working during a global pandemic, when so many other individuals and businesses have lost work due to restrictions and lock downs. The business model of Alex Vann Design has always been to facilitate 'remote' working as a lot of our customers are business owners themselves and can't always make face to face meetings - although of course that would be perfect, in an ideal world.

Please take a minute (well, 2 minutes and 20 seconds!) to watch our review video above which showcases some of the standout projects. Otherwise, here are a few selected images below along with a slideshow.

The variety of work has been really pleasing. A lot of branding and logo design which is our specialty alongside document design, garments, website, flyers and leaflets and business stationery. 
Alex also completed some private portrait commissions including his first coloured pencil drawing (above).
You can see more of Alex's portrait work here: Alex Vann Portraits Gallery

We hope you are staying fit and well as we find ourselves in unprecedented times, a global and invisible threat to our livelihoods, communities and loved ones.  Like most small businesses, AVD has had to adapt quickly to be able to offer a high quality service to our customers. As a positive by-product of having more time on our hands, why not use this time to 'reset' your business aims / design / marketing. Here are some ideas:

You could use this time of Covid-19 to review your business:

• Write a growth plan: where are you going, how will you get there?
• Write a marketing plan: our friends at Obsidian Content Creation recently shared the importance of continuing to market in these tough times.
• Logo design: we are specialists in this (see some recent examples below), just get in touch
• Order print of leaflets / business cards production and delivery to an address of your choice (see some recent examples below)
• Review / rewrite your business plan
• Research new customers
• Use Office for National Statistics to back up your business's claims
• If you use conferencing apps, why not have a pull up banner made with your branding on to use as a backdrop instead of pots and pans in your kitchen! (see below)
• Apply for funding available to you (this is the kind of thing WE tend to put off during 'normal' working times
• Review your website: we can support with this
• Our sister company Real Arts Workshops has launched a web page full of creative activities that AVD has designed for families to do during Covid

If you are delivering training or attending business meetings using video apps, why not order a branded pull up banner from £70 for a more professional  look?

A nurturing logo symbolising the growth of knowledge through high quality education, simply denoted in three strands of the business, Home, Online and School

A highly personalised and illustrated logo for this brand from which certain graphic elements are pulled to create a fabric print

My good friend the writer and performer Billy Spakemon approached me early in 2018 about an idea he had for a children’s story about Black Country artist Charlie ‘Chas’ Grigg and asked if I would illustrate it.

​I’d already been involved in a creative project about Chas called ‘Our Best Kept Secret’. A group of fellow Black Country artists, writers and musicians contributed work about Chas for a series of live shows to raise funds to get a blue plaque which was installed at Rood End School where Chas had attended as a boy. Read the article. 

Me, performing at one of the fundraising events for Charlie Grigg's blue plaque

​Billy knew I also did graphic design and illustration and so asked if I would illustrate a new story he’d written which tells Chas’s story for a young audience, about 6 years old and up. The message is an important one, that young people CAN feel that if they have a dream (like being a professional artist) then they should follow their dream, put the effort and tenacity in. Of course I said yes and then began the task of bringing Billy’s handwritten script to life. 

I began by drawing outlines in pencil, then inked them and combined elements to make the required image. This example shows MY hand(!) drawing one of Chas's actual characters, Bloop (see above).
I then scanned the drawings and coloured them on the computer using Adobe PhotoShop®.

It took a lot longer than I originally imagined. I have empathy now for Chas, having to produce drawings for comics for strict deadlines, it’s a lot harder than it looks. I wanted to use a style that resonated with Chas’s own work – bright, colourful and full of wit and charm – and I hope I have done him justice and that people of all ages enjoy the story and images.
The finished book is 48 pages, 210x210mm in size and printed on gloss art paper.  Please Contact me if you’d like a copy @ £5.99 each. Early indications are that the book is selling well.