We’ve been told not to judge a book by its cover, but if we really heeded that bit of advice, the graphic design world would lose a valuable market.

Creating a book cover design is much like making a website mockup: there is limited space and time to visually attract someone to want to learn more.

These are some of my favorites:

Loneliness, by John T. Cacioppo & William Patrick

Devil in the Details, by Jennifer Traig

Cool It, by Bjorn Lomborg

(This one is a personal favorite because the red/orange gradient doesn’t necessarily have to be a stock image of flames, but it still evokes the idea of massive amounts of heat.)

The Last Days of Publishing, by Tom Engelhardt

Part of the “I Can Read Movies” series:

One of my clients, Martin Bakari, recently won second place in the Palm Beach Opera Voice Competition. I just love when my clients are a big deal. You can read the review of the competition here.

I’ll be checking the analytics to see how the competition affects his top keywords. Check back here soon for findings.

It may be a bit narcissistic, but I love knowing what people are saying about me. Google Analytics makes it easy to research who’s linking to you and why.

Another traffic source GA gives is top keyword phrases.

I was making a quick analytics report to send over to Sydnee when I noticed this:

Check out the second top keyword. ::giggle::

I recently launched the website of my friend and reigning Miss Alaska, Sydnee Waggoner (http://sydneecole.com). Sydnee’s a very genuine, bright, and motivated young woman with a phenomenal voice. She will sing an operatic aria as her talent at the Miss America pageant next Saturday night. (9PM on TLC)

And when a woman is beautiful and successful, along with fans she will undoubtedly garner critics and haters,  and in internet lexicon, “trolls.”

Trolls are people who post a variety of negative comments, usually meant to disturb and antagonize an online community. They can pretend to be someone they are not, create lies and rumors, and sling insults. Because of trolls on their twitter and youtube pages, a number of young celebrities have chosen to shut down their social networking pages. With frequent comment moderation, no one should have to quit blogging or posting. A variety of strategies exist on how to handle trolls:

• What comment? Just like that belligerent drunk guy at a bar, trolls will say whatever they want just to provoke a fight, but you can choose to take the high road. Ignore the comment. By now, most blog readers know the intent of such commenters and continue to keep the conversation on-topic.
• Create a filter. On Wordpress, you can create a list of blacklisted words that can not only include profanity, but any other words or phrases that you don’t want to appear on the site. For example, if pageant girls really were as catty as the stereotype (they’re really not), a pageant girl’s blog may ban the mention of  any other state’s contestant.
  Another example is if Scott Brown didn’t want people to discuss his “modeling” days; his blog may blacklist the phrase “cosmo.”
• Ban IP addresses. Another option is banning the user by blocking their ability to comment or access to the entire site based on their IP address. Though this is also common on message boards, a huge draw back is that you not only ban one troll but any number of legitimate commenters. Because several people may use the same IP address, like people who share a connection at an internet cafe, you could potentially ban more than just a troll; you could block interaction.

To prevent any inflammatory comments from such trolls, Sydnee and I decided that for the moment her blog would be styled text that she would send to me and I would upload. In the future, I think it would be really fun to enhance the site with more interaction.

So as a final note on the topic of moderation, I just want to remind bloggers that  it’s your blog and site and you absolutely have the right to create your boundaries of discussion, especially if you’re concerned for your image and the readers’ toleration for profanity and libel.

And as for trolls, haterade-sippers, and critics etc, whether they be on the web or otherwise, don’t treat their negativity as a threat.

It’s more likely that they feel threatened by you.

Web designers’ block happens. You’ve got the pen and paper, maybe even Photoshop open, but no creativity spills out.

What do you do? I’ve read a couple ideas on how to get inspiration: everything from working out to going back to those textbooks from required art history college courses.

I like home decor magazines. Bear with me while I explain why.

The same questions you ask yourself before redoing a room or an entire home are the same questions you’d ask a client when they approach you about designing their site:

• - what kind of feel are you going for
• - what colors do you like
• - who’s staying here
• - do you like textures

So when I can’t think of anything, I run out and get a copy of Elle Decor. The textures, furniture, framing, decorators all vary so much that after reading an issue, I’ve got a couple of ideas I’m excited to produce.

Here’s an example.

Motivo is a a Ceasarstone product. It’s similar to textured contact paper that can be applied to furniture like cabinets and walls.

The ad above is visually impressive because of the lighting on the textured wall, the contrast between that and the border at the bottom, and the simplicity. In comparison to other ads, there is very, very little color, but because of its lush texture, it isn’t necessary. What ads can you think of that uses so little color to promote a product? Kind of unheard of.

Anyway, I was working on some mockups for an opera singer, and couldn’t think of anything. As soon as I saw this ad, i got straight to work. I came up with the one below and a few others. The client ended up choosing another design but I’ve gotten some praise with this one.

(Like the mockup? Want something similar? Contact me!)

Despite all its plugins, I can’t help but think that Wordpress will never be as trendy as Tumblr for two major reasons: content and style.

Wordpress content is usually lengthy, somewhat academic.
Tumblr is more bits of random musings, which can be just as thought provoking.

I’ve seen too many Kubrick themed WPs out there. Yeah, it can be a hassle for someone that knows little about php and permissions to install and edit a theme.
Tumblr looks better the simpler the color scheme.

Now, I’m probably not one to talk about simplicity. Hell, I have jungle leaves on my site. But something about the low-key aesthetic makes me think of elegance and restraint.