“Chameleon” places eighteen of the most common social networks’ logos (plus one shameless self-promo!) upon a simple, semi-transparent background that allows the colors and textures of your site to show through. No matter your style, Chameleon will work with it.

Search the web for social media icon sets, and you’ll find no shortage of gorgeous, specialized designs. Need something to fit with the Web 2.0 look? Plenty of options. Doing the grunge thing? Got that, too. The hand-sketched look, huge 3D constructions, kitschy-cute—it’s all out there for the taking.

But on a recent project, I was looking for a “workhorse” set that would work well across a variety of styles. I’d been using a fairly standard set for a while on a number of projects but was ready for a change, and didn’t find quite what I was looking for out on the interwebs. So, I finally decided to delve into that favorite sport of web designers, and designed my own social media icon set.

What You Get

Apple

Blogger

Delicious

Digg

Facebook

Flickr

FriendFeed

Google

Last.fm

LinkedIn

MySpace

RSS

StumbleUpon

Technorati

Twitter

Google Wave

WordPress

YouTube

Eric Heinzman

 

Chameleon Social Media Icon Set by Eric Heinzman is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.

Based on a work at www.ericheinzman.com.

The logos used in these icons are copyright their respective companies and I claim no copyright in their creation.

In every design project, there is a point in the process where you ask yourself, “Do I want to use cutting-edge features and techniques, or will I be better off playing it safe?” The question may arise early on during high-level strategy discussions, or later on when weighing options for how to handle a specific component, but how you answer can have major impacts on how well your site meets your needs. As in most things, the answer depends on your particular goals, markets, and circumstances. If your brand involves an early adopter component, then taking chances on the latest and greatest aligns well with your strategy, but if you are more in the technological mainstream, proceed with caution.

Assess the Risk

In designing for the Web, pushing the envelope often equates to exploring the limits of what we can do with current browser and platform technology. Since the tools your audience uses can vary widely, deciding whether or not to build a cutting-edge feature usually comes down to listing the pros and cons of going forward with it. Some typical responses are:

Pros

• Pushing the limits forces you to think more creatively and critically.
• Pushing the limits also presents the possibility of uncovering previously unforeseen opportunities you can take advantage of.
• Discover and solve problems related to the feature before your competitors.
• Promote an avant-garde image.
• Build a reputation as being ahead of the curve.

Cons

• The latest technology may be theoretically nice, but practically useless to the vast majority of your audience.
• Your user base uses older technology that cannot support the newest features.
• Code may have to be turned over to less skilled maintenance staff.
• Immature technology can be buggy. If something doesn’t work, your audience won’t be impressed with your efforts to be cutting-edge – they’ll just think you’re inept.
• Usability may suffer if you stray too far from expectations.

Your Turn

Obviously, your list will vary and be specific to the feature you’re considering. Comments are welcome – what pros and cons to cutting-edge features and techniques have you encountered in your web design projects?

Image: Skydiving 2009, by divemasterking2000 on Flickr

The Charlotte Art League’s redesigned website recently went live, the result of nearly four months of effort by an all-volunteer team. As the committee’s chairperson, I managed the project from concept through launch and handled the majority of the design and development work.

Challenges and Requirements

Building a website for a non-profit like the Charlotte Art League (CAL) presents a different set of challenges than the ones you typically find in the  for-profit world. Volunteer-based staff, low or no budget, and outdated technology require patience and diplomatic skills to successfully bring a web project from dream to reality. An additional factor that requires a different mindset is that the central goal of the organization may not necessarily be simply to sell more widgets.

In the Art League’s case, a number of different committees and initiatives exist that require attention. Obviously, member artists want to sell more art, but activities like community outreach, art education, and studio rentals are all fundamental to the mission as well. The website has to simultaneously address the needs each of these various stakeholders, while remaining true to the organization’s overall mission of enriching the community through the arts.

WordPress to the Rescue

The new site is built in WordPress, using a custom theme I developed for this project. We opted to use WordPress not only because of its power, search engine friendliness, and design flexibility, but also to take advantage of its capabilities as a multi-author content management system — it’s definitely not just for blogs anymore! WordPress’s CMS capabilities were especially attractive because updating the old CAL site was an inefficient, time consuming process. While content could be sourced by any number of sources within CAL, content destined for the website had to be first sent to the web administrator, who then made updates manually. This system created a workflow bottleneck that resulted in an irregular posting schedule, with the site frequently being months out of date.

With the WordPress CMS, authors are now able to log in under their own unique usernames and edit their own content. The level of access can be controlled, so that non-technical users don’t accidentally modify files that affect the site’s operation. Basic word processing functions are provided using a familiar interface, and WordPress saves the revision history of documents — no one has to fear losing or ruining their data.

Keeping It Fresh

Another advantage of WordPress is that the post management functionality that powers WordPress blogs could be adapted to manage CAL’s home page, keeping it constantly up to date with content featuring current events at the gallery. We decided to keep commenting turned on. Even though the site isn’t technically a blog, hosting some stimulating discussion about art is a great way to build community and ongoing engagement with the organization. And thanks to a little bit of PHP tweaking and some help from plugins, the current “post” that constitutes the home page features the “Happening Now at CAL” banner. Archived versions of the post won’t display the banner, adding a subtle cue to distinguish between current and past events.

The Way Forward

Now that the initial phase of the release is complete, work has already begun on the next round of enhancements, including an online gallery offering works for sale as well as individual pages for member artists to display and sell their work.

DISCLOSURE: Since completing the work on the Charlotte Art League (CAL) redesign, I have been offered and accepted a spot on CAL’s Board of Directors, completing the term of a board member who had resigned.

For those of you who are unaware, BarCamp is a “technology and media un-conference.” Unlike typical conferences, where attendees pay upwards of $1000 to experience a highly choreographed package of industry leader presentations, workshops, and networking, BarCamp follows more of a grass-roots, DIY model. Instead of following a pre-selected agenda and lineup of speakers, BarCampers themselves vote on who presents what at the start of the day. If you have a topic that you want to talk about, you get a chance to give your pitch before the entire group. If enough people want to hear what you have to offer, you get a spot on the schedule (hopefully not up against the “How to Make Money Online” session), and voila! you’re now a featured speaker.

Being a first-time Bar Camper, I didn’t have anything prepared to present, so I mostly observed, learned, chipped in my two cents here and there, and met a few people who I had only previously “known” through Twitter. Unfortunately, I was only able to attend the afternoon portion of the day, so I missed out on quite a bit of the fun. I’ll make up for that next time – I’ll make it a point to have a babysitter lined up well in advance. But from what I did experience, I’ve come away with a few impressions:

• BarCamp is like herding cats. Kudos to the organizers for putting it together and keeping it on track. Although it seemed a bit chaotic at times, a semblance of order eventually emerged. If you come into such an event expecting to follow a smoothly run program where everything runs on schedule with flash and pizzazz, you will be disappointed. But if you’re in tune with the whole improvisational, DIY, can-do ethic, you will find rewards.
• BarCamp is about participants, not spectators. There’s a blurry line between audience and performer. More than one spontaneous discussion arose among Campers who weren’t currently attending one of the “official” sessions.
• BarCamp can be a great vehicle for creativity and innovation. Given the open nature of topics for discussion, the fact that a broad cross-section of fields and disciplines are represented provides fertile ground for new ideas.
• BarCamp should frighten proponents of staid methods and technologies. This is the kind of place where people who know what they’re doing can compare notes, generate ideas, and figure out ways to get around the roadblocks thrown up by institutional over-investment in past glories.
• BarCamp is cool.

Were you there too? Been to a different BarCamp? Only wish you had?

1. Twitter goes mainstream. Remember when your mom first got email, and would call you on the phone to tell you that she was about to email you? Some time next year, she will email you to announce an impending Tweet.
2. The spinning .gif makes a comeback. The era of Bad Web Design is now long enough in the past that conversation pieces such as animated logos, Flash intros, table-based layouts, and the blink tag can now be claimed as ironic retro-chic design statements.
3. Social media penetration indicates corporate health. Companies executing a well-defined social media strategy tend to fare better in the recession than those without, since they can use SM tools to connect better with their customers, identify new markets and opportunities, and in general be ahead of the curve in making the adjustments necessary to succeed through the economic turmoil. However…
4. Social media still doesn’t become a core business strategy, because the correlation above won’t become widely apparent until late 2009 or early 2010.
5. IE6 just won’t die. More consumers will delay replacing their aging Windows systems over the next year due to economic factors, so expect the gradual phasing out of IE6 to slow – bottoming out at 13% of the browser market in 2009. In other words, don’t toss those conditional stylesheets just yet.
6. A major metropolitan daily newspaper goes Web-only. Pretty low-hanging fruit, as predictions go. The Christian Science Monitor’s move is seen as a bellwether that carries over to the beleaguered print news industry as they abandon their current, broken business model.
7. Automakers sell new cars online. Speaking of broken business models, the Big 3 and their foreign competitors look to trim overhead costs by allowing car purchases online. The concept of dealerships changes, as those that survive maintain a much-reduced stock primarily so you can take a test drive before you select your make, model, options, and financing online.
8. National online job network. As part of his economic recovery and jobs program, President Obama will authorize the creation of a national network to match unemployed job seekers with available positions and training. Applicants will receive incentives to train for green technology jobs.
9. MySpace prevents a suicide. Concerned webcam voyeurs call 911 in the nick of time to rescue a distressed teenager. But the mainstream media fails to pick up the story since it’s not obvious how such a story will help to sell newspapers.
10. The Beatles are on iTunes! No, wait – that was last year. Or not. Or maybe 2010.

Image: “Time Spiral” by Gadl on Flickr.