Useful Tech/Design links

• Paul Stamatiou on How to configure your web host for Google Apps ~ paulstamatiou.com
• 37Signals on Processing credit cards ~ 37signals.com
• Smashing Magazine on Best Practices for Bullet Proof Email Delivery ~ smashingmagazine.com
• Darren Hoyt on Developing a magazine layout using Wordpress ~ darrenhoyt.com
• Molly E. Holzschlag on Grid based design ~ alistapart.com
  

Some recent work:
Plymouth Vineyard website: www.plymouthvineyard.org.uk
Brain Team Consulting: www.braint.net

Deadlines Kill Inspiration

I sometimes have the feeling that some clients seem to have an idea in their mind that being a designer is just pressing some buttons on the computer and 'voilà' a work of art is born. If only it was that easy! Designing to me isn't something that can be automated to reach the maximum production. It's an unpredictable mindset that some days works well and other days it's just procrastinating and staring at an empty canvas. ~Veerle

Fessing up
I've been meaning to redesign my blog for almost a year, but just haven't gotten round to it. Part of it is down to time. I spend so much time working on the web these days that I should really go running instead of spending my non-work-time designing and coding.

The other part is that I'm such a perfectionist that I find it really hard to settle on a design for myself. Somehow it's easier to visually define someone else than to do the same for myself. Every day I'm inspired by different and apparently contradictory design work, so choosing a style I can happily live with is a nightmare.

I'm also hoping to relocate at some point. This might involve Wordpress and a non-blogspot domain name...we'll see. I do seem to have a strange feeling of allegiance to Blogger.