Posted by admin on Oct 1, 2009 in
Design & Development,
Mutiny Designs,
News We received this testimonial from Joe Venuto:
Mobile Consulting, Inc. and MIGEW.com
“Mobile Consulting needed to reinvent our website and Michigan’s Global Entrepreneurship Week needed to develop one. Merlee and Chris of MutinyWare exceeded my expectations with their work on MobileConsultingInc.com and MIGEW.com. Both sites secured everything we were looking for. Working with their team was a pleasure. They are professional, knowledgeable, efficient, informative, creative, and completed the projects ahead of schedule. I look forward to developing my professional portfolios with MutinyWare. Thanks Merlee and Chris!”
Joseph Venuto
Mobile Consulting Inc.
Michigan Global Entrepreneurship Week
Tags: design, development, Mutiny Designs, testimonials, website
Posted by mbos on Sep 29, 2009 in
Design & Development,
Mutiny Designs,
News 
Michigan Global Entrepreneurship Week
We just completed the site design and development for the Michigan Global Entrepreneurship Week initiative.
We met Joe, the owner and founder, at an Ann Arbor Spark meeting. We had worked on his company website for Mobile Consulting, Inc, and he asked us to setup a site for MIGEW as well.
Joe had already had a design layout for migew.com, and we discussed how best to set up a website on short notice. After some consideration and discussion, we recommended that the site for migew.com be a WordPress blog. This would enable the site to be setup quickly, would allow for quick and easy updates, and also automatically incorporate a content management system. By customizing a WordPress template to match the originally desired design, we got the look that Joe was hoping for. Also, by utilizing some WordPress plugins, we were able to gain the functionality that he was looking for as well.
Please feel free to check out MIGEW.com and see how you can participate! Also take a peek at our design services and portfolio at Mutiny Designs.
Tags: design, development, Mutiny Designs, website, wordpress
Posted by mbos on Sep 23, 2009 in
Design & Development,
Mutiny Designs,
News 
Mobile Consulting Inc.
We just completed the site design and development for Mobile Consulting Inc. Mobile Consulting is a company that provides a service to help you lower your cell phone costs. By negotiating ethically with your current carrier, Mobile Consulting can lower your monthly cell phone bill, as well as save you money on device and plan upgrades. Mobile Consulting offers a 100% money back guarantee with their services 
We met Joe, the owner and founder, at an Ann Arbor Spark meeting. We got to talking, and matched up our needs, resulting in MutinyWare being selected to complete the design and development of the website.
When coming up with the design for mobileconsultinginc.com, we wanted the site to be bright, bold, friendly and welcoming. By utilizing fresh, bold colors and graphics, we have achieved this goal. We also customized their blog to match the site, and reworked their logo slightly to co-ordinate as well.
Please feel free to check out Mobile Consulting and their services. You can save money on your cell phone bill as well! Also, don’t forget to visit Mutiny Designs to see some of our work, and what we could possibly do to boost your online presence.
Tags: design, development, launch, Mutiny Designs, website, wordpress
Posted by mbos on May 4, 2009 in
Design & Development,
News Due to the huge response we have been getting about our web site design and overall branding, we have decided to add a service to the MutinyWare fleet.
Well, it’s not really an add-on…more of a transition. I have had my own freelance web design business for several years, and have operated under Merlee Designs. Since starting MutinyWare, I have been considering shutting down Merlee Designs, and only continuing work for my existing clients. However, due to requests and the response to MutinyWare, I have instead decided to transition Merlee Designs into Mutiny Designs.
I have put up a website – www.mutinydesigns.com – and have put my existing portfolio there. Within the next couple of months, I will be shutting down the Merlee Designs site and redirecting it to Mutiny Designs.
Though this has been a bit of a difficult decision, I really do feel it is the best way to go. Merlee Designs has been a huge part of my life for many years, and it is almost like abandoning a child. Putting all of my effort into one basket though, is definitely a good thing. MutinyWare is very much my passion, and where I want to spend my efforts. Consolidating the two businesses makes this easier, and allows me to focus on one brand, that of the Mutineers!
If you are in the market for some design work, need a refresh on your website, or need to get your brand together, please drop by Mutiny Designs and drop me a note. I would love to hear from you
Tags: design, Mutiny Designs, portfolio
Posted by mbos on Apr 15, 2009 in
Design & Development,
General As I have been delving more into the world of Twitter, both for MutinyWare and personally, I have found a variety of very cool backgrounds, and was quickly faced with the necessity of creating my own custom backgrounds.
Trying to determine the best screen size, image size, and where to locate important information, quickly became important in creating my designs. Below I will detail what I have come up with, and also offer a Photoshop template to get you started to creating your own custom Twitter background.
Screen Resolution
Screen or Display Resolution is the size of screen that your visitors will be viewing your website/Twitter in. More accurately, is the actual pixel dimensions of their computer display.
From: http://www.w3schools.com/browsers/browsers_display.asp
The current trend is that most computers are using a screen size of 1024×768 pixels or more:
Date Higher 1024×768 800×600 640×480 Unknown
January 2009 57% 36% 4% 0% 3%
I typically design for the 1024×768 or 1280×1024 dimensions. Keep in mind that many people may have a widescreen display…such as I do. In this case, you need to make sure that your image isn’t square, but adjust the dimensions. Ex. 1280×800.
Twitter Specs
Note: The sizes below are approximate, but very very close to being accurate.
- The width of the Twitter space, including the side bar is 763 pixels.
- The space above the Twitter feed, where the Twitter logo and menu reside, is 71 pixels.
Photoshop design template preview
The Design
Below are some bullet points to keep in mind when creating the design.
- If you want to only use the left side for your primary image:
- keep in mind the resolutions
- you can make a smaller image, fading out the background to a solid background color to match your Twitter settings
- Remember that your design may be partially covered up if visitors have a lower resolution or resize their browser window
- The design is always anchored to the top left corner of the browser window
Here is a great site to get some inspiration, and see how others have done their backgrounds: http://twitterbackgroundsgallery.com/
When browsing the above samples, make sure to actually visit the Twitter site for those designs, and resize your browser window to see how the look is affected.
Here is a Photoshop template to help you get started! Happy designing!
Tags: design, template, twitter
Posted by admin on Mar 25, 2009 in
General,
Recommendations 
Photograph of the cards
Well, we received our first set of business cards from the printer this week, and I cannot tell you how happy I am with them!
First, about the design….I love it….but then, I designed it But in all seriousness, we wanted to have a business card that stood out from the crowd, one that had a little extra umph….it’s always good to get noticed! After reading many blogs about business cards, and what ideas other people had, I came up with the thought of making one that looked like a playing card. So, we have a business card that bears a resemblance to a playing card, but still carries on our theme.
Finding an online printer that would print in full color, and with rounded corners on the card was a bit more tricky. There are quite a few that do it, but the cost was pretty high. Finally, I came across Business Card Planet. They offered the full color and the rounded corners, and their price was definitely acceptable. We gave them a try, and boy am I glad we did!
When the cards arrived, I was so excited! I opened the boxes and took out a card, and was immediately impressed. The card has a hefty feel to it, and is full gloss on both sides. I have to say, this is one of the nicest feeling cards I have yet to see. Kudos to Business Card Planet!!
Below you can see the design.
Business Card Front
Business Card Back
Tags: Add new tag, design, marketing
Posted by mbos on Mar 10, 2009 in
General If you build it, they will come. This is the extent of many peoples’ thought on developing a product such as web-based software.
And of course, initially, when a great product idea pops into our heads, that is what we tend to focus on as well….product development.
Then reality comes a knockin’ and as development is progressing and our Master Shipbuilder, Chris, is in programming hell, I, the designer…start realizing everything else that needs to be done prior to launch. Things such as:
- Product website
- Help documentation
- Forums
- Marketing
- Support
- Payments
Now, of course, if one already has other products on the market, some of this is already in place, such as Forums, Support and Payment systems. Others, need to be done each and every time. This is where a small level of panic starts to set in, and I join my partner in hell
All of this is par for the course however. The only truly scary part for me is the marketing. I am no sales person, and doing the whole social networking thing is difficult enough. I think, first order of business, is to find someone to take this on for us!
Tags: design, development, marketing, Products, website
Posted by mbos on Feb 24, 2009 in
General About our design style and the naval theme
Why is everything MutinyWare in a naval theme?
Well, for one, mutiny is traditionally associated with a ship. For another, to put it very simply, ships and nautical elements are just very elegant and cool.
There is much to be said for old and ancient shipping. There was an amazing amount of craftsmanship; they were beautiful; they were powerful; and they were elegant. It would have been such a shame to have a name like MutinyWare and not take advantage of the incredible visuals that go along with it.
The same adjectives that describe ancient ships, also apply to our products. We strive to create a well crafted, beautiful, powerful and elegant solution to industry needs for software. By utlizing old-world concepts, we bring a new level of sophistication and elegance to our modern technology.
Along with the visuals however, it gave us the opportunity to name our products after ship types/styles. By doing so, we were inherently naming our products with a unique name, rather than a name that is obvious, typical and corporate.
Tags: design, theme, website
