Archives for November 2024

Deaf Chats

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Flyer ccow 9

Coming out of Covid and starved for socialization, I co-started the regular deaf coffee chats at Caffeinated Cow. We started out as a small group of 4!

We much appreciated Caffeinated Cow for hosting our social chats. Flyers were created to support and complement Caffeinated Cow’s own branding, creating an instant visual connection within the community and to Caffeinated Cow.

Consistency help to continually visually remind viewers that this is a regularly held event at a favorite local spot. And as we introduced specific topics or themes, the announcing flyers reflected both novelty and reliability.

Flyer ccow 001
Flyer ccow 11
Flyer ccow 12
Flyer ccow 10
Flyer ccow 13
Flyer ccow 8
Flyer ccow 7
Flyer ccow 14
Flyer ccow 9

There are more flyers. Did I not save them?

The Caffeinated Cow deaf chats has since grown even more popular and is now held weekly.

Disclaimer: This chat is now coordinated by ASL with Julie.

Content Management System

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Now that we’ve covered the preliminaries of having parking space (hosting), and reserving it in your name (domain names), let’s talk about the car itself.

A majority of websites today run on a CMS, that means a

Cms

Content Management System.

As the name says, It’s a way to organize your files on the server in a way that gets seen by the world (meaning seen online) yet from within an easily workable system (meaning you can easily make the changes yourself).

It is the most popular type of vehicle used these days for a website.

There are many choices and types of CMS from Drupal to WordPress to Wix to custom. Covering all ranges of prices & complexity.

In my next post in this series, we’ll talk about why I use WordPress

More from the car metaphor series:

My Day Job

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Mostly I’m a muse all the time, but gad, that could get boring. So, I have what I affectionately call “my day job.” See, I pretend to be this ultra-multi-talented graphic designer. These days now, I’ve done my fair share of muddling along -one couldn’t just start right off as famous right away you know, had to build up some of that street creed ‘first and all, yo man.

It’s easy — time and again I find I need to let my boy muddle on his own for a while whether it be in his office or in the room with the big shiny stainless steel things, no matter to me, I go and play at my day job, this one, at Anna Blueberry Digital Media, which is where you found this blog in the first place. Being a muse may be all grand and heady, but the bills still gotta be paid.

I’ve been plodding along as a designer for a little-ish-long while. From since as a little girl when I designed and created rather than played, into my teens when so often did I rearrange all the furniture it was predicted I’d be an interior designer, till by the time I hit adult hood, it logically become the “career” to chose since around here these days, one apparently must have one. I totally played by the rules, went back to school, and bemusedly graduated with an expensive BS degree in Visual (Design / Business) Communications just as the job economy has a major collapse. Sheesh.

So what did I do? I started out playing according to the script: beg for jobs. Heck, I’d even do some for free. Mostly I was scared of wasting a 70k overly priced college education. Don’t get me wrong, I learned a lot, and coupled with my natural giftedness, I am: really good at what I do. I would have only picked a less expensive approach next time around. But since it was so expensive, I wasn’t in a hurry to forget my learning, so I begged, I practiced, heck, I even worked for free, branched out into web development, gained more confidence in managing.

Logo Meanhornet

I still remember now, that initial thrill, after our neighbor popped over to tell us the “mean hornet” logo I designed for his local youth rugby team had been put up on their website, printed up on t-shirts and bumper stickers… when I actually SAW one of those mentioned bumper sticker pull out in front of me on a van directly ahead of me. What a pick-me-up moment that was when I realized my work’s actually hitting the street.

I’ve seen since, more of my work decorating vehicles in the neighborhood. It’s nice knowing I’ve helped those individuals/local businesses communicate themselves as well as become more visible in the community.

Yo, I’ve definitely got street creds these days.

Hosting

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Hosting

A hosting account is a lot like an empty parking space in a parking lot – it’s your own digital space (or server) in the virtual world that belongs exclusively to you.

This hosting account account comes with a control panel, its password lets you drive any-kind-of car onto your server. It can be a variety of things but most commonly you probably just want to have your website there, maybe also to store other files online, and/or host your own e-mailboxes…. or whatever really.

Hosting Providers

I list a few examples of possibly familiar hosting providers at the bottom of this about hosting page; they range from the most infamous to relatively known, as well as including local, priciest, and cheapest (=bad service) to give you an idea.

Here at Anna Blueberry Digital Media, I’ve attempted the best mix when it comes to price, quality, & great, responsive service. I’ve worked with my hosting vendor since 2007 and am proud to stand by Sure Support’s quality, timely, 15-minute responses to any issues.

Purchase Hosting

Order hosting for your own purposes or as a part of your website package at Anna Blueberry Digital Media

Start Here
More from the car metaphor series:

 

Deaf Blue Cats

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When the Covid pandemic first hit, I was at a phase where I felt I needed to be ‘bigger’, where I wanted to offer much more to my clients than my confidence felt adequate offering.

I met about then, online, a new friend who had complementary skills to mine, and together, we launched the Deaf Blue Cats. We had so much fun developing and branding ourselves, as well as doing projects for several new clients, that I hardly even noticed the isolating aspects of the pandemic.

Although this partnership did not last post-Covid, I polished my web skills and learned new ones.

A fun logo:

Made so many ‘faces’ to represent the variety of services offered:

Business cards with a QR code on the front sends people directly to the website, with contact information on the back:

business card, front
business card, back

Ads that were used on other websites and social media:

And of course, a lot of hours went into the website:

The Deaf Blue Cats blog serves a heavy double-duty as both a portfolio and a blog, with multi-layers of categories and tags…. What can I say? I find information design fun. Nerdy, nerdy me.

Anyhow. The website looks much the same since I left it behind. My ex-partner sits on it now. Check it out for the cheesy iconography I’m capable of.

Domain Names

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A domain name is what identifies an online space as yours. It’s your identity, and the easiest way for people to find you —by typing it into their browsers.

1. Research & Register your Domain Name

Your website doesn’t get recognized (or found) until its hosting site has a domain name attached. Your online ID, www.your-domain-name.com, makes it easy for people to find your website.

Usually the domain name will match with its business name, but not always. Researching your domain name options is an important part of starting up business / website. If you have trouble or feel lost in deciding on a domain name (for example, the name you want is already taken or is very long), come talk to me.

2. Attach your Domain Name

Then, like license plates needs to be attached to your car, your domain name needs to be attached (configured, or “pointed”) to your hosting server. Easy-peasy.

To Register a Domain Name

does not cost a whole lot (ranging a fluctuating $10-$15/yearly last I checked).

**Regarding Domain Name Registrations: Please understand I am only involved in the business of hosting. While I complementarily bundle up your domain name with hosting purchases & renewals, I am not otherwise in the business of domain names registrations. If you want to DIY your name registration separately, I suggest using a service like NameSilo.com.

More from the car metaphor series: