This past Friday, Derek and I, had the pleasure of attending the Front-End Design Conference is St. Petersburg, FL.

This was one of the first design conferences that we had been to, so we weren’t sure what to expect. We arrived around 9am and were greeted by a slew of friendly people.. not to mention free coffee and breakfast too! After getting our name tags and swag bags, we made our way into the main room. I sat down in my chair, opened my laptop and noticed I only had about an hour of battery life, and 20% battery life on my iPhone!!! So I was that guy scouring for an outlet and ran his charger across the walkway…

Dan Denny, Front-End Design Conference Founder, kicked off the day by introducing himself, explaining what the conference was all about, and thanking the sponsors. The format of the day was basically two speakers, break, two speakers, lunch, etc…

There were a number of great speakers that were crazy informative and extremely helpful. I’m only going to cover a few, but all were great.

The first one up was Larissa Meek, from AgencyNet, who gave a great presentation on  brainstorming. She covered the difference between idea storming and brainstorming, the pros and cons of individual vs. group sessions, and gave a few great techniques to help you generate ideas. You can view her slides from the presentation here!

Next up was the comical Niki Brown from Metropolis Creative. Niki discussed the importance of of details in design including: Color Schemes, Typography, and PLAID!

Lea Alcantara started off her presentation, ” The Art of Self Branding,” with an audience exercise. She instructed us to switch seats and sit next to someone we didn’t know, introduce ourselves and take two minutes to get to know that person. Afterwards, we wrote down three adjectives about the person we just met and disclosed them to each other a little later. I got, ” personable, proactive, and central florida haircut!” Not sure what that last one means, the girl I said it was a good thing, so i guess I’ll take it. The purpose of this exercise was to find out how others perceive us. This was my favorite presentation, because I just finished reading ” Celebrity Branding You,” by Nick Nanton, and could really relate to everything she was saying.

The next presentation was on taking your designs from wireframes to finished products. But, I was too busy staring at Meagan Fisher’s unbelievable slide designs to remember what she talked about (jk)!!

Meagan broke her process down into four categories – Get to know the project, Develop the strategy, Bring it to life, and Make it shine.

Next on the agenda, LUNCH BREAK! Lunch consisted of White Russians, Bloody Mary’s, Burgers, and running in the rain.

When we got back, Jina Bolton, from Crush + Lovely, was setting up for her presentation on CSS Organization & Workflow. My background is primarily in Print Design, and I just started diving into code. Jina was extremely knowledgable, but most of what she covered was over my head. Hopefully next year, I’ll be on the same page!

Sarah Parmenter was up next with a presentation on the Principles of UI Design. I think everyone fell in love with her accent, as soon as she started talking! Sarah discussion was focused mainly on iPhone App design. She went over both good and bad design and showed examples of each, as well as showing us some projects she had worked on.

After the conference was over we headed to the “After Party!” Free appetizers and drinks.. count us in!

Overall, the conference was AMAZING!! Dan and Cherrie you all did a very impressive job putting it all together! We met a ton of great people including Vishal from GrooveShark, and Mitch from Freshbooks. Everyone was soo friendly and you could tell they were actually interested in what you had to say! We look forward to staying in touch with everyone that we met and attending next year’s conference!!

Front-End Design Conference Recap is a post from: MAKEMEALIVE

The day has come…. it is Quit Facebook Day possibly attempting to overshadow the day americans are respecting our troops!?
It started a few weeks ago when facebook privacy settings and user capabilities became a larger issue then before. Privacy issues have slowly been an ongoing concern but now it may be crossing the line for some users.  When we look at facebooks future goals, user privacy becomes a major concern. I am all for other social networking options and believe facebook is developing a strong hold on our socializing thru the internet. Especially, because of there recent patent filings (i e newsfeeds).
Let’s be serious though. This boycott isn’t going to make even a small dent in facebook users today. There are way to many sheeps with blinders on these days. If you can reach a majority audience, there are so many who follow without question. I am willing to explore other alternative social media options, although as of now nothing compares to Facebook.
What do you think about this facebook boycott? Is it necessary?
Do you feel facebook cares about your information?

Quit Facebook Day is a post from: MAKEMEALIVE

Don’t have the money or time to make it out to a conference? Well, you’re in luck!

Think Vitamin, presents “100 Things,” an ONLINE business conference. On May 11th, ten extremely successful web entrepreneurs will be discussing ten different business topics and breaking them down into ten steps. I like the idea of broadcasting conferences over the internet for those of us that can’t make it to every conference we would like. Although the cost of a ticket ( $300 )is still a little high, you’ll be saving money on travel, lodging, and eating out! Bringing the conference online allows for unlimited attendees. Hopefully, after a few online conferences, the hosts will realize they can cover costs with a lower ticket price and higher number of online attendees.

What do you think about online conferences? Will you be attending 100 Things?

Online Conference about Business & Startups is a post from: MAKEMEALIVE

I have been looking for simpler ways to manage my life online.  I currently have about 5 email accounts that I manage through my email client.  I have all my social network accounts and some of those I even have multiple accounts for.

Even talking about it makes me want to pull my hair out!  I am looking for a simpler way to do all this with out it intruding my day to day too much.

After looking around I ran into Threadsy.com.

Threadsy is a social communications platform based out of San Fransisco, CA and founded by Rob Goldman and Udi Nir.  They received there series A funding in 2008 and have been dedicated to developing the most user friendly communication tool since. It recently opened its doors for beta testing by the public.

The goal of Threadsy is to group together all of your email, twitter and facebook accounts into a real time social communication interface right in your browser.  I have found it to be the best designed UI for on the web for this application.  The only downside I have found at this point is that it doesn’t include anything for tumblr and a few other key social networks.  I am sure they will scale to that in the future.

I am very impressed and will continue to use it.  Check it out today and let me know your thoughts.

It’s all about the UI. is a post from: MAKEMEALIVE

Have you ever asked yourself this question?  I know I have…

Time is a funny thing.  It never stops.  As an self employed person I find myself always pushing things back or even squeezing things in.

Some of you have a vision or something you want to work on but have a real job that pays you to be there.  I know, it is hard to justify working on something else.  Well if you ever want to stop working for someone else and making them money then you need to figure this out.

I myself have a graphic design and printing company.  I am working on this blog, which you are reading right now and am developing an intense web application all at the same time.

The other day, I went to the doctor and they reminded me I never got my blood work done.  They looked at me like I was out of my mind but to me forgetting about my health is normal. lol

Then I really started thinking about it….

I spend so much time trying to juggle everything that I do.  I forget and drop the ball.  Am I spread to thin or do I just not know how to properly manage my time?

There are so many great tools out there, most even free that help assist you in managing your schedule and tasks.

Here is a list of a few we use ourselves…

Google Cal- Google has created or acquired some amazing tools outside there search engine to truly run our lives.  The best is Google Cal.  You can integrate it into ical, Microsoft…etc.  Create groups and so much more. Best of all it is FREE.

Action Method- Behance Network has created a web, mobil and physical application to better help organize your tasks and lists.  There is a free level to and some paid levels.  It is very good for project management.

37signals- This company I could go on for days about.  In the world of multiple projects and people spanned all over the world 37 signals has created some great applications to improve organization and enhance communication.

Remember the Milk- This is a great application for task management.  Set to-do in levels of priority and share them with others.  They have created a mobile application for both iphone and android which is a plus.  It can be integrated with ical and google calendar as well.  It is free to use but to have RTM you must upgrade and pay for the pro version.

This is just a few examples.  But really, what does it matter if you don’t use them and get into a system of incorporating into your daily life?

That is my problem.  I set them up and don’t use them.  It is truly easier said then done to train an old dog.  Whenever I try to do it before I leave the house in the morning I wake up too late.  If I tried right when I get to work I have too many toys and work in front of me remember.  I’m easily distracted.

So what did I do to overcome this you may wonder.

I decided to consciously analyze my day.  From doing that, I figured out that I do things without thinking in a pattern anyways.  I always get to work and check my email first thing and start falling into the moment of the day instantly.  So, I figured a great way to better organize my day and be productive was to do this before I start my downward spiral.

I create a to do list right away and update my calendar.  It take only 15 min. Then when I begin checking emails I have an organized list to begin fitting things in a prioritizing.

Done Deal!

Try it out and see how it works for you. If you have a method that you do please feel free to share and give advice.

Why isn’t there enough time in the day? is a post from: MAKEMEALIVE

Hey,

We are creating the promo video and viral content for IMPRESSTO.com “the creative storefront community”!  We decided we really wanted to try our hand in some animation.  So where is the best place to start??? Stop motion!  It was a much better idea then it actually was to execute!  We designed each animation frame by frame in illustrator and took screen shots b/c we wanted to get the illustrations in the actual element of the illustrator software.  It was a long and tedious creation but we had a lot of fun and are excited for everyone to see the final product!  COMING SOON!!

BEHIND THE SCENES. VIDEO 1!

Impressto Promo video! Stop Motion 1 from Derek Kohn on Vimeo.

BEHIND THE SCENES 2!  Syncing frames with scratch audio!!

STOP MOTION PROMO VIDEO 2 from Derek Kohn on Vimeo.

IMPRESSTO.com NEW PROMO VIDEO!! Sneak peak! Stop motion animation. is a post from: MAKEMEALIVE

Let’s talk on competitors.  Do you focus on what your competition is doing?  Where they are advertising?  How they are developing?

Why???

If you are striving to be like your competitor then what do you bring to your market?  How are you different and how are you going to stand out?

When starting a new company or growing an established one, we feel it is important to know who your competition is but don’t pay attention to them.

I guess I’m saying the “war” business strategy is crap!  Let’s take a pro hockey team for instance.  If you are trying to win the Stanley Cup would you focus on the best team in the league by watching all there games and obsessing over being like them??  No! You know who they are and play your game and strive to play your game better!  Practice and focus on making your team stronger and not on what other teams are doing.  I’m not saying don’t know who your competition is and what they do.   I’m saying establish that and focus on being you!

I feel that any company that is innovative and successful follows no one.  That is a large key to success.   If you know what you want to be, and focus on what is best for you and your company, that is where innovation happens.  We at MAKEMEALIVE don’t focus on where we can find a niche in the market and try to exploit it.  We focus on stuff that pisses us off and we wish it could be easier and better.  So we make it.  Its that simple.

That is why we are developing impressto.com.  Not out of seeing a profitable market.  We want to make it easier and more fun for creatives to share and market assets and products…etc because we want it.  Basically we are building it for ourselves.

When you are developing your business or coming up with a marketing strategy, don’t pay attention to anything but doing something different.  Being different is what pushes industries and change.  Ignore your surroundings and competitors and push to exploit what you believe in and people will see that and you will be successful.

IGNORE YOUR COMPETITORS! Who cares what they do. is a post from: MAKEMEALIVE

Hi everyone! I know I haven’t been posting for a while but have been super busy running LOOK and getting several projects off the ground. A lot of our new web application projects are moving away from using search engines as a form of marketing but rather using SMO (social media optimization ) to get traffic to websites. This shift in business has lead me to create this post below….

I am somewhat not surprised that our marketing focuses have shifted this way due to the exponential growth of all social media platforms. My favorite one of all is Facebook, since I had been an “early adapter” of this website since it’s inception. Although Facebook has not been consistent in its structure of defining what audience or business model it wants to run, where in most businesses this would mean epic failure, I feel as if facebook has been able to maintain steady growth due to its technological contribution to the social media community. Since my time of using it back in “2003″ by referral of a couple of technologically savvy fraternity brothers… Facebook has grown tremendously in what they are offering.

“Facebook has expanded their audience base to every demographic, from your grandmother to your girl friend’s dog.”

We can now play addictive flash based games all the way to sell our old couch ( that has probably been peed on) to one of your unsuspecting friends…… this is why on March 13th 2010 Facebook is now the number 1 most visited website on the internet daily… Surpassing Google… sorry Google Buzz, you can’t keep up! JUST LOOK AT THE NUMBERS

Feel Free To Disagree… Our MakeMeAlive Readers Love to Have Intellectual Debate! (No Alcohol Required)

FACEBOOK, the Google killer?! is a post from: MAKEMEALIVE

Recently there has been a lot of talk about location based social media services, with two companies in particular that have been getting the most attention.  Gowalla and Foursquare are currently the “new big thing” in mobile social media, and it has everyone taking sides.  The two companies are direct competitors that offer very similar features with a few minor differentiating twists.  The competition for market share is said to be about neck and neck at the present moment, which is leading to heated brand loyalty battles for those that are picking sides and arguing which service is better.

The mobile based services are used by users on there smart phones, where you can check-in to places and be rewarded through activity and other “gamey” type features.  In Foursquare for example, one of the main objects is to become the mayor of places that you frequent a lot.  Only one person can be the mayor at a given time so it can stir up some heated competitions.

In addition to the fun aspects of Gowalla and Foursquare, those that catch on early to the unique business benefits that the services bring will cash in big time.  If I was a retail business I would be going above and beyond to spread the word that I am pampering my mayors with VIP treatment and all kind of incentives.  If you think about the competition for the mayorship that would ensue and how many repeat customer visits and new customers that would bring.  Some businesses have already been smart enough to take advantage of this, but I know we haven’t seen anything because it’s going to get Gowalla and Foursquare crazy.  Just wait until the masses catch on.

The hype behind these new companies and other location based services, is not all good.  I’m not one to be very paranoid, but I do think it is necessary to use caution when using these services to tell the world where you are at, or where you always hang out.  Besides the scary stalker issues, I foresee a lot of relationship drama stemming from people being where they shouldn’t be and so on.

I am currently giving Foursquare a serious shot and so far it has been kind of fun to be honest, but I am not sure how long I’ll think it’s cool.  I guess we will see…

What are your thoughts on Gowalla vs. Foursquare, privacy issues, etc.?

“Location Wars” Continue to Heat Up is a post from: MAKEMEALIVE

KKR & Co. is in talks with Warner Music Group to launch a break-up bid for EMI Group Ltd., the Sunday Times reported, they did not report where they got the information.

KKR wants to acquire EMI’s music publishing division while Warner is seeking its recorded music unit, the Sunday Times said.  The companies have not yet been in contact with EMI and will not be making the bid official until financial issues with Citigroup Inc. have been resolved.

Keep posted for more news on this acquisition.  What do you think about the consolidation of the music industry giants?  How has it effected the industry?

Warner Music Group to bid on EMI GROUP is a post from: MAKEMEALIVE