I'm a huge fan of doing pro bono web design jobs. I do tons of work for local Chicago non-profits and charities I believe in as a way to boost their design quality and website functionality where they would otherwise have gone with something inadequate. It's also a great way to flex my brain muscles and sharpen my skillset and do some good. For example, when I decided to learn Drupal, I took on a number of Drupal projects as a way to learn the system. That said, there are a number of challenges faced by designers when attempting to start a pro bono project. Here are some guidelines to make sure you and the client get the most out of the pro bono project:… Read more »

I see a lot of big names in the web business saying the future of the web is, "Content."  There has been a popular conversation about Lorem Ipsum Killing Web Design. These two thoughts are connected in that they all say, "Content is King." That the purpose of the web is to support the content and the web will grow and grow with new types of content. The whole web will be a big, huge content fest! I think they're valid observations, but I disagree completely.… Read more »