http://www.seanmccambridge.com/ en sean@seanmccambridge.com Copyright 2010 2010-02-02T17:07:06-05:00 http://www.seanmccambridge.com/articles/page/classy-spirit-airlines-muff-diving/ http://www.seanmccambridge.com/articles/page/classy-spirit-airlines-muff-diving/#When:17:07:06Z 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. 2010-02-02T17:07:06-05:00 http://www.seanmccambridge.com/articles/page/10-great-examples-of-vintage-fruit-crate-label-design/ http://www.seanmccambridge.com/articles/page/10-great-examples-of-vintage-fruit-crate-label-design/#When:18:19:22Z 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 See all 10 labels... 2010-01-06T18:19:22-05:00 http://www.seanmccambridge.com/articles/page/best-of-the-web-should-encrypt-passwords/ http://www.seanmccambridge.com/articles/page/best-of-the-web-should-encrypt-passwords/#When:18:24:00Z 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? 2010-01-05T18:24:00-05:00 http://www.seanmccambridge.com/articles/page/doing-it-all-as-a-web-designer/ http://www.seanmccambridge.com/articles/page/doing-it-all-as-a-web-designer/#When:05:15:41Z 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? 2010-01-05T05:15:41-05:00 http://www.seanmccambridge.com/articles/page/non-planning-for-2010-a-growing-web-design-development-shop/ http://www.seanmccambridge.com/articles/page/non-planning-for-2010-a-growing-web-design-development-shop/#When:12:17:39Z 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… 2010-01-04T12:17:39-05:00 http://www.seanmccambridge.com/articles/page/from-the-flickr-commons-hms-undine/ http://www.seanmccambridge.com/articles/page/from-the-flickr-commons-hms-undine/#When:04:05:55Z 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.) 2010-01-04T04:05:55-05:00 http://www.seanmccambridge.com/articles/page/2009-a-list-apart-web-survery/ http://www.seanmccambridge.com/articles/page/2009-a-list-apart-web-survery/#When:19:23:48Z This really is a great resource.  All web-related professionals should take this survey.  It only takes about five minutes. 2010-01-03T19:23:48-05:00 http://www.seanmccambridge.com/articles/page/css-beauty-really-isnt-that-beautiful/ http://www.seanmccambridge.com/articles/page/css-beauty-really-isnt-that-beautiful/#When:04:27:30Z 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. 2010-01-03T04:27:30-05:00 http://www.seanmccambridge.com/articles/page/happy-holidays/ http://www.seanmccambridge.com/articles/page/happy-holidays/#When:00:30:34Z 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? 2009-12-25T00:30:34-05:00 http://www.seanmccambridge.com/articles/page/10-reasons-why-most-blogs-suck/ http://www.seanmccambridge.com/articles/page/10-reasons-why-most-blogs-suck/#When:04:58:00Z In no particular order: Writing for Twitter clicks instead of a real audience.Bad design/no variation in layoutLazy writing: little thought, very little research, no editing.Writing for SEO keywords.Short posts about the same thing we’ve read 1,000 times before with no depth.Being too informal and/or biased, i.e. not sounding the least bit objective.Being to formal and uptight, i.e. sounding like a corporate megalopoly.Inconsistency: not posting regularly.Not knowing what one is talking about but talking anyway, a.k.a. ignorance.Rampant use of top-10 listsBonus (edit): Not allowing comments. (Thanks, @thetylerhayes) I have been guilty of all of these at least once.  I’m working on it.  :) You can reach me on my Twitter account: @mccambridge. 2009-11-20T04:58:00-05:00