Being more Webby - The Milky Way

An excellent master class this evening by Eslpeth Briscoe aka Milky. Focusing on being more web savvy in promoting ourselves and getting up those ranks in Google and so building our network and optimising our assets (that would be web presence!)

A good turn out of people from this year and the last few graduating years and a real mixture of knowledge levels all addressed and enabled a bit more.

I came home a bought a couple more domain names to add to the growing list and then began adding some more links to the blog and even pondered re-url-ing this blog to make it more searchable. That may have to wait until the weekend.

A vid and notes to follow on the OCGD blog.

The Virtual World of communicating

I had just had an interesting email 'chat' with a well known Garden Photographer. Her website wouldn't show me the images it promised to hold and suspecting it was some browser issue I emailed to let her know.

At first she explained the complicated hover and scroll set up her designer had come up with to let the viewer navigate more than 3 of her beautiful images. Sounds cool but it probably isn't for anyone but him or others who like geeky gadgets on websites and have the time to play with them.

I let her know that it still wouldn't work on my Firefox install. Now the reply was simple, but in this world of virtual comms what you say, don't say, and how you say it carries a wealth of meaning that conveys your 'tone'. And the tone???... sharp, irritated and not too polite.

Interesting as had I been a buyer, as I may have been in the future, I got a good idea of how short this professionals fuse is and how she may potentially behave in front of clients.

I love her work, but I would think more than twice about putting her forward for work.

So it is another lesson for me to be careful how I communicate virtually and the virtual tone I use with strangers.

Taking a stand

It's good to see someone taking an ethical stand, morally and professionally.

http://gardendesigncourses.blogspot.com

Modified Diagonals

Teach says modify the diagonals after some heavy hints I find the notes in the course materials. Spent the afternoon fighting with modifying the diagonals, then my niece called and asked me to edit her CV and job applications for investment banks...MUCH simpler. Did that for an hour, fixed my printer, well half fixed and then went back to the diagonals.

D said this will be bread and butter client work which means it needs to take MUCH less time and to be MUCH more creative. I need more practice at this then. Have organized to design a friends garden over xmas which is similar in that the house sits in a large plot, very rural, awkward green spaces. It'll be excellent practice.

Better get back to modifying diagonals without losing the plot totally!

Project 2 - (draft) design 2

Well the 45 degree angle is pleasing the design still has a way to go but I like it in principle.

From OCGD