From my web design portfolio:
Websites & identity that tell your story: web design, development, content, strategy, SEO // See what I do »
The Caravelle Resort (www.thecaravelle.com)*
The Slater Company (www.theslatercompany.com)
GoCashiers (www.gocashiers.com)
Southern Tide College Ambassador Program (ambassador.southerntide.com)*
ShootoutGoals.com (www.shootoutgoals.com)
North Shore at Lake Marion (www.northshoreatlakemarion.com)*
Chucktown Deals (www.chucktowndeals.com)
Strand Management Group (www.leasemyrtlebeach.com)*
For your reading pleasure
Classy: Spirit Airlines Muff Diving
I’m usually open to creative and/or obscure humor. But this is just one big fat failure. I can’t see how they plan to increase sales by sending out references to “muff diving.” In case you don’t know what that is, ask your frat boy buddy. Definitely do not ask your mom.
Maybe Spirit Air knows I’m in their 26-32 male demographic and focus groups have told them 26-32 males looking for deals find muff diving jokes funny. Maybe they’re trying to get negative attention in the media by offending people in order to spread their brand and hope people stumble on over to their website to see how cheap their fares are. Maybe their advertising budget is so small they had to hire your frat boy buddy to write their ads. I don’t know.
I raised an eyebrow this morning when I read this, and I wanted to share. Comments appreciated.
10 great examples of vintage fruit crate label design
I’m working on some ideas for a mural design for a potential client. They suggested I check out FruitCrateArt.com which has a huge collection of vintage fruit crate labels. These are my favorites from the site.
Moonbeam Brand Citrus
Best of the Web should encrypt passwords
I just signed up for Best of the Web because I’m finally taking my own advice and working on some SEO. In their confirmation email, they sent my username and password. That is not secure. Since they just sent my password to my email account, my guess is they probably store it in their database not just unsalted but unencrypted whatsoever.
This is bad practice. You would think a site as big as BOTW would know better.
Meanwhile, my session expired and I was automagically logged out with a JavaScript alert to make me feel safe. Too bad a real hacker could sniff my connection and have my password already.
Thoughts?
Doing it all as a “web designer”—how do you describe yourself?
I wrote before on finding a decent job title as someone who builds websites since “web designer” doesn’t do it for me. I just took A List Apart’s 2009 Web Survey, and this single question brought the problem up again in my mind. What do you call yourself when you’re more than a designer?
Anyone else find themselves in this position? I’m not saying I’m a bona fide expert in each of these, but I work within these subsets of the web often and have enough of a proficiency to say I am competent.
Yet from job title to clients (and former employers), I’m supposed to be pigeon-holed into one or two of these.
How many of you out there cover the whole spectrum?
(Non-) planning for 2010: A growing web design & development shop
I sat down to figure out a plan for 2010—to ride the momentum of 2009 and avoid the mistakes from my first year in business as a freelancer—and I realized something. I can’t possibly plan my next full year in business (or quarter for that matter).
What I can figure out is a loose strategy for how to approach the year. Beyond this simple seed of planning, I’d better not waste time trying to predict the future. If you asked me in January 2009 for a simple snapshot of my company—just one year ago—I would have never described where I am now.
The only real full-term plan is to…
From the Flickr Commons: HMS Undine
I love schooners. I worked as a deckhand on one for five summers in Maine. I was flipping through the Flickr Commons and happened on this photo. Love it.
The caption on the bottom says, 92 - HMS “Undine” - Fort MacQuarie, Sydney - ([Illegible intial] King Photo, Syd.)
2009 A List Apart Web Survery
This really is a great resource. All web-related professionals should take this survey. It only takes about five minutes.
CSS Beauty really isn’t that beautiful
I don’t mean to hate on CSS Beauty, but when you’re an influential web design blog with the word ‘beauty’ in your name, shouldn’t you keep up with the times and actually be beautiful? Maybe they should call it CSS Irony. Here’s a link to CSS Beauty in case you want to see it for yourself.
Happy Holidays!
It’s funny how many people have wished me a “Merry Christmas.” I even heard someone say, “There’s nothing wrong with saying ‘Merry Christmas.’” (And there isn’t.) I happen to say ‘Happy Holidays’ myself, but I don’t mind when someone wishes me a Merry Christmas. Why do we get so uptight about it?
See all entries
* refers to site designed as full-time employee of Fuel Interactive
Random Samples
Better user experience with storytelling | Francisco Inchauste / Smashing Magazine
Beat Wal Mart bloody with a blog in 5 steps | Michael Martine / remarkablogger
Mad-Men yourself -The end of productivity as we know it | Emily Crews / Sartoriography
The best execution of a horizontally-scrolled website I’ve seen to date | Eric Johansson / ericj.se
Single bluefin tuna nabs $177,000 | Shino Yuasa / AP/Yahoo
Branding Yourself and sharpening your image | Alastaire Allday / allday.cc
Inspiration for restaurant websites | Jack Herbert / inspirationti.me
Wild claims by politicians in 2009 | Bill Adair / PolitiFact.com
Dolphin intelligence | Jonathan Leake / Times Online (UK)
The Design Police are watching you | unknown / Design Police
A plethora of SEO resources | unknown / SEOmoz
Invoice like a pro: examples and best practices for designers | Kat Neville / Smashing Magazine
25 Ways to promote your website or blog | anonymous / YouTheDesigner
5 free ways to promote your website | anonymous / MakeUseOf.com
Recommended cameras | Ken Rockwell / KenRockwell.com
Amazing Berlin giants street theater (photo montage) | various / Boston.com
Myth of the “fold” in web design | Joe Leech / cx partners
How to promote your Facebook fan page | Mari Smith / Why Facebook?
Design Charts | various / Toxic Design
Video: RSS feeds in plain English | Lee LeFever / Common Craft
How to get free books to review on your blog | Nick Evans / Problogger/Macheesmo
The Principles of Successful Freelancing | Miles Burke / Sitepoint
Project Honeypot | Fighting spam and comment spam / Unspam Technologies
Pure Imagination: An interview with stop-motion filmmaker PES | Marc Ostrick / eGuiders
Build your own social home | Chris Coyier / CSS Tricks
Facebook faces furor over content rights | Carolina McCarthy / CNN/CNET
10 Harsh Truths About Corporate Websites | Paul Boag / Smashing Magazine
How to use Twitter as a Twool [Flash presentation] | Guy Kawasaki / VizEdu
Perfection is pointless: Tips to help the creative perfectionist | Matt / Spoonfed Design
Interesting article about coworking for freelancers | Alex Hillman / Mashable
Dogs on the job: corporate canines | Career Hell / www.careerhell.com
Obesessions - €2500 in pennies | Sagmeister / ministryoftype.co.uk
Innovate or die | Randy McClain / The Tennessean
Retro web design examples | various / Smashing Magazine
Around the world in 42 days and $5,312 | Strange Maps / Wordpress
Rothkography - abstract photography contest | Bryan Bedell / Coudal Partners
Logo mashups | Mario Amaya / Different Thinker
Gotta love eduardo recife’s work | Recife / misprintedtype.com
Six new directors who are making music video cool again | Jake Swearingen / Wired
When did modern art begin? | Jonathan Jones / The Guardian, UK
Russian Poster Set | various / Flickr
25 beautiful macro photography shots | various / Smashing Magazine
Website question?
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(843) 696-7237
Twitter: @mccambridge
A LOT OF PEOPLE HAVE ASKED about the background photo on this site. It was taken on the beach by Fort Moultrie on the harbor side of Sullivan's Island, SC. The old, wooden sea wall has been there as long as I've lived in Charleston. The beach is a great place to watch the ships and shrimpers come in and has one of the best views of downtown Charleston.