The US government portal meant to give United States citizen’s information about the government and the ways to go about getting things from passports to information from the many government entities has recently been given a face-lift.

On July 2, the site rolled out several improvements: A new search tool; navigation; a mobile apps store; and public engagement platforms on government challenges, public dialogs and performance metrics. The revamped website also features a scrolling graphic at the top of the home page that highlights the most requested government services and information.

(Source: Fierce Government)

Here’s the website (front page):

What did it look like before?

Considering the sheer amount of information that needs to be packed into the website, it still manages a very clean interface.  Many of the extra little elements  find ways to display a lot of information into the small space, namely with the spiffy navigation menu towards the top.

Now, on to the design tips.

More than likely you don’t have as much information on your own website that the US government does (which is why I’m using their page as an example).They have monumental amount with their many agencies, warnings, updates, and other data they have and post up. Notice, it’s not all on the front page.

You can take to heart a few things that USA.gov website can show the average website owner.

• Navigation should be logical, and easy to use: When someone is looking for navigation they tend to look towards the top of a website, or to the right or left of the content.  It should be clearly labeled and easy to use.
• Keep information on your front page clear, concise, and minimal.  The front page of your website  can use teasers or other information to draw the user further into your website to the content (as opposed to having it all on the front).
• USA.gov is meant to be used by all ages, by the public at large.  Many of those same people aren’t entirely computer savvy, so when you design or consider a re-design of your website having that clear and concise content and navigation can help.

Another piece to take away? Re-designs can do wonders, but should be used sparingly.

This website (paradox9) has been re-designed countless times.  All using completely different templates, and without much overall thought or consideration to elements or anything else.

Do not do that.

For those in the same habit:

• While a re-design can be just the thing many websites need to start drawing in more people, if you re-design at every chance it will do more harm than good.  Instead, think about and carefully plan the changes.  Design (or pay someone to design) your website logically and with careful attention to the placement of important pieces and the plan you have made.
• Create (or install) your template and do not put it live immediately.  Test it out for a while and make note of anything that needs to be changed.

Settling on a great design may mean paying someone.

While I did the redesign myself, I also have enough coding background to do that.  If you don’t know any code, and php and html give you night sweats-look into designers to do it for you.  There are many out there to choose from.

At times designers have to cram a ton of statistics into a considerably small space, the information needs to convey it’s importance, and still be visually appealing at the same time, all together it’s not a small order.

There is an entire group that are half statisticians and half artists who are able to convey an absolutely incredible amount of information in a very stylish way.

While you may not need to show quite as many stats as the examples below, they prove to show that you can still be informative and beautiful.

Government Red Tape

From Good magazine’s Flickr set and Random Walk.

Via: VectorDiary

Via:

Energy Star Infographic (Via: EnergyStar.gov)

Via: WinAndMac.com

Via infographicsnews.blogspot.com

Graphic from Público. Spanish budget for 2008

The Resume Infographic (Via: HappenUpon)

Infographics – Der Status der Welt

Via: Athleticsnyc

From The Genetics and Public Policy Center

Found Via: infographicsshowcase.com

This along with the first post image via: I Love Infographics

Right off the bat, there needs to be some apologies for that punny title, so consider this that apology.

Facebook has a new position that is giving it even more control of the web.  While the OpenGraph is still being adopted and heavily debated over, considering the amount of people using it already, it looks poised to take over Google’s link positioning.  Google’s algorithm depends on websites linking through to each other, while Facebook’s OpenGraph is more user-oriented.

People are coming down on the new features fairly hard, some are worried about privacy others just aren’t sure.  This could all be the normal concerns that new technology tends to create, but they could be validated soon.  Facebook also announced the new rules for their advertisers and they don’t have to delete your information anymore after 24 hours, naturally this is one of the main points of contention.

The new ‘Like’ button runs off your own group.  For instance, if you click the like button at the top of this article, only you and your own Facebook network will see it.  It don’t post to your profile, or really much else than show your approval of an article or website to your Facebook Network.

Right now it just seems to be eye candy for those fairly limited websites that use it.  One day sure, it may replace Google’s linking algorithms, and websites will be forced to conform to a new web standard, but until it is picked up a lot more than it is presently, Google simply isn’t going anywhere.

While they may be able to to position itself as the new web standard, how many people will now turn to Facebook instead of Google?  Would you?

There is a school of thought that any traffic is ‘good traffic’, unfortunately it simply isn’t true.  There is both good traffic and unproductive traffic, and the SEO of your website will decide on which one you will ultimately receive.  If you are checking your search statistics and are finding that many are getting to your website after searching for unrelated terms to your business, you are suffering from not-so-great SEO.

Before you pull your hair out trying to figure out how to fix it, there are some simpler things you can do to help.  Some of those options are a bit more time intensive, but they are workable and will help you improve your relevant search rankings.  Before you continue, make sure to write out a lists of terms that you are looking to rank better for.

Start Now: This is an under-utilized but good choice.  If you have a lot of content and a lot of visits that you don’t want to lose start writing posts now geared towards correct SEO.  Use keywords properly and often, the list you made can also serve to give you some post ideas.

Rewrite: If you don’t have too much in the way of content already on your blog, you can seriously consider just rewriting your present content with the keywords you listed in mind.

Start Over: Consider starting over only if you feel that your website is truly hopeless.  Generally speaking, this should be only used if there are absolutely no other options,  this option used far more often than it really needs to be.

Constantly updated content is the key to better rankings and more popularity with the search engines. By incorporating your main keywords into your posts, the search engines will see them and you will rank better.

Friendgiftr is a new company with its roots directly traced to social media and social networking, the  inspiration behind it came from the virtual gifting applications in websites like Facebook (where you can use real world money to give friends little images of various things).

It is interesting to see what companies come up with to integrate real world things into the virtual networks and while there may be some vaguely similar things out there, it’s Friendgiftr’s full integration of real world and virtual interaction that makes it stand out.  I recently had the chance to ask Friendgiftr’s CEO Rob Carpenter a few questions (found after the jump).

What originally inspired your idea for Friendgiftr?

Friendgiftr was actually inspired by the very early stage virtual goods phenomenon on Facebook. We realized that users were willing to pay $1 or more on fake cupcakes and smiley faces, and thought to ourselves, “why not allow people to send real goods, too?” The idea then grew from this to incorporate multiple social media sites, mobile devices, and other forthcoming innovative shopping channels.

If you do give someone a gift card, but they may prefer another- are there any options for them?

Absolutely. I’m glad you asked the question. We allow the customer to exchange the gift card given to them or split it across multiple merchants free of charge and without the buyer knowing. It’s a really neat solution so that they giver gives what they want and the receiver gets what they want. It’s a win-win for everybody.

What do you think makes Friendgiftr different from the ’other’ gift card merchants out there?

Friendgiftr is the first e-commerce 2.0 company, meaning we enable people to buy in new contexts and on new platforms. Whether it’s bringing brand name e-commerce to Facebook or to the iPhone, Friendgiftr is transforming the shopping experience in profoundly creative ways. While we know we won’t be the only ones doing this for long, we’re happy to say that we’ve pioneered the social media and mobile e-commerce spaces. We’re also hoping to lead the way in developing many new angles for shoppers to make purchases in the future, too.

What are your goals for Friendgiftr for the future (anything you may like to add to the website, new things in the works, etc)?

We can’t strategically or tactically say where we’re going next, but we can say is that we’re expanding very aggressive both vertically and horizontally, and will have some major announcements that will have some pretty big implications.

Is there anything else you may like to add or say?

E-commerce is changing in real-time, and there will be many new exciting opportunities from many businesses for customers to shop more quickly, conveniently, and securely than ever before. We’re happy to be among the first to help re-define the industry in the new decade, and hope that many more companies join the movement. Shoppers are going to have a lot of really great choices in the coming months and years.

Check Them Out: You can also check out the available apps here: Friendgiftr Apps

I’ve had Willard Wigan’s artwork here before (his piece is #2 on that list), and honestly- I just can’t get enough of it. He uses an enviably steady hand to create such tiny pieces that when he has a showing, viewers look through microscopes to see them.

His work is no stranger to the internet, sure- but it’s hard to see* these amazing pieces and not be stunned.  Even his tools are incredible, from microscopes to single hairs- there’s little to not be impressed by.

But, enough of my talk, below are some of his older pieces, and seriously- visit his website for more.

Willard Wigan’s miniature art:

*Pun not intended, unless you laughed- then it was.

While I did make this, I can’t really take too much credit.  The above image was generated using a freeware program called Paint.NET (freeware).  It has both Mandelbrot and Julia Set generators, and really- stunning, right?

The Mandelbrot Set (according Wikipedia):

In mathematics the Mandelbrot set, named after Benoît Mandelbrot, is a set of points in the complex plane, the boundary of which forms a fractal. Mathematically the Mandelbrot set can be defined as the set of complex values of c for which the orbit of 0 under iteration of the complex quadratic polynomial z_n+1 = z_n² + c remains bounded.^[1] That is, a complex number, c, is in the Mandelbrot set if, when starting with z₀ = 0 and applying the iteration repeatedly, the absolute value of z_n never exceeds a certain number (that number depends on c) however large n gets.

While admittedly, I’m completely lost in the definition above- they are a series of fractals that no matter how much you zoom down- they look the same.  These fractals are all around us, and in everything (leaves, flowers, etc).  They comprise life.  The Mandelbrot set shows these as you zoom in.

Not to mention that they are completely stunning. 

When you are looking at the actual set this is the ‘starting image’:

As you zoom in, the image is still the same, although you are looking at one small area of a much larger image.  It’s fascinating.

It’s all based in mathematics.  Considering that most of us aren’t capable of picturing what complex formulas would look like in a ‘more visual’ form, it is rather helpful, the images help the public at large appreciate it easily.  .

You can see more from the same wiki page’s gallery: Wiki Fractal Gallery.  These things really go to show that beauty is all around us, we just have to pay attention to it.

After the jump is an guide on how to make your own brushes in Photoshop (shown in Elements, but it’s the same with the full Photoshop).  While the process is basically the same exact way as making a pattern, for the sake of ease I decided to make a separate tutorial.

First, find (or make) the image you want to use as a brush.  Above I used a very simple dot pattern cut from the image to the left in the project area (keeping in mind that this is only for the purpose of this tutorial).

It may help to create a higher resolution new square to make the brush.  I tend to use 300 ppi, but if another works better for you, use that.

If you opened a new image earlier with the exact size already click on ‘Edit’ –> Define brush.  Otherwise first define the area using the marquee tool (the tool with the dashed line). 

Choose a name for your brush. This is mostly for easy navigation.

Select your brush from the brushes area.

You are all set.

Enjoy!

As a note, I’m not entirely sure if this applies to the full Photoshop program, but the brushes in Elements don’t seem to stay after you choose another set (just something to keep in mind).