Design Inspiration or Plagiarism

Smashpop (Jason) has been sharing with his friends about how another blogger had violated him. Artistically, that is. Well, I’m not here to rant on how this blogger copied that blogger.

Instead, I’d like to discuss about how some who were most likely inspired by another source, coincidentally end up designing their blog too similar to the original.

This is what the original looks like:

And, this is what the inspiration resulted in:

Sometimes our intentions aren’t bad. And sometimes, it’s when realizations come from our friends or others that reach us then only we’d realize them. So given the benefit of the doubt, this blogger may have been over inspired.

There was an article I read before on how you can be inspired but be not over inspired. It’s a really simple technique by identifying what is it exactly which inspired you. Was it the detail? Was it the color? Was it the texture?

After you’ve identified this, then you store it either in memory or as a reference in your personal space.

It’s the easiest (and laziest) line to say, “I like everything”, but it’s more fruitful and helpful to be able to identify what is it you really like.

What inspires you most about your own blog design?

P.S.: Jason, if you read this, the guy looks like he wants to become you.

3 Simple Ways to Improve Your Online Brand Experience

A brand may be the logo designed for your company. But, branding is about sharing your brand philosophy and vision with your customer. Well, that’s my take of it.

In the words of a branding consultant; Scratchdisk Creative, their description of branding in 140 characters via Twitter:

Actually in all simplicity, branding is how people perceive and experience you. That’s it!

By the way, Scratchdisk Creative is a member of Level5 Creative. So is, Simpleet Solutions.

How consistent is your branding?

As the question says. Where have you applied your branding? And I’m not talking about only business cards, brochures or any other offline marketing collaterals. What about your online branding?

Here’s a brand which isn’t only inspiring but has many other brands under its network. I really liked how they’ve brought their branding experience online although it may be subtle. So, let’s have a look at Envato.

Envato website

Envato Twitter

Notice the subtle branding. Yes, what Envato did was bring forth their background across the website and Twitter. Unfortunately, I emailed Envato if I could have an image reference of their business cards but I didn’t get a reply. So, all we could do is assume it carries the same subtle branding.

Benefits of a consistent branding strategy

From the article, you could tell I’m looking at branding from not only an online point of view, but offline too. And based on my observations, I’ve found myself believing a consistent branding strategy:

Increases credibility

You are who you say are from the moment you passed your business card to a potential customer. They’re immediately attached to the branding experience you’re sharing with them.

Increases professionalism

Consistent branding tells customers you’re serious about your brand. There’s something so important in the brand which you want to be carried to all channels and platforms.

Increases brand experience

With an increase in credibility and professionalism, it’s obvious even your brand experience will get a boost from a consistent branding strategy.

At the end of the day, it goes to show, it’s a damn good brand!

So, what are the 3 simple ways to improve your online branding experience?

You can start with your website, blog (if any), Twitter (if any) or if you’re not active in social media then look towards your offline marketing collaterals – business cards, brochures and etc.

By the way, what other examples of a consistent branding strategy have you found?

FlyFM Twitter Users Exposed Their Own Mobile Numbers

It’s not the first time someone or an organization accidentally exposed their fans personal details. Does anyone remember the time Youth Malaysia exposed more than 300 blogger’s emails? Yup, that was like a year ago in 2008.

Well, looks like it’s happening even on Twitter now. Except this time, the mechanics run by a radio station to giveaway freebies exposes their fans personal mobile numbers.

Maybe it was out of sheer excitement the Malaysian Twitter users forgot whatever they published on Twitter was publicly viewable on another user’s account, unless the user protected their updates. But, seriously, this was a very bad practice when you’re using social media.

It’s nearly the same scenario as how you don’t want every Tom, Dick and Harry to add you in Facebook. And I bet we all remember the social network which had the problem. Which was why I moved to Facebook.

So anyway, you might want to remind yourself to not pass personal details publicly over social media. Most social media platforms offer a direct method to communicate with another user. Otherwise, you might want to not ask users for personal details over a public channel.

The Importance of Quality Website Hosting

Danny: My dearest readers, here’s a guest article from Joanna. She contacted me to share her experience and knowledge in website hosting. This article made the cut because it was short and sweet. So, here’s your chance learn up on the importance of quality website hosting.

Ok, so you are going to start up a website that you expect a lot from, visitor-wise, but are not really sure about what type of web hosting you need supporting it. This is understandable as the hosting market constantly is expanding with new forms of web hosting. It can of course get confusing at times. Although it might be tempting to start with a cheaper form of hosting, such as shared, it is not always the wisest thing to do. Once you start to notice an increase in the number of visitors it can prove to be quite difficult, unfortunately, upgrading your hosting account. If this happens chances are that your site will crash at times.

It is with this in mind we thought that it could be a good idea looking into Virtual Private Servers, Dedicated Servers and the new trendy Cloud Computing. These are all types of web hosting that can handle a lot of traffic.

Virtual Private Servers

This form of web hosting is somewhat more expensive than shared web hosting but it will still not set you back as much as dedicated hosting will do. VPS Hosting can be good if you are expecting to be somewhere in the middle regarding the number of visits to your site. The hosting is highly customizable and it splits a single server into several virtual servers. This is for example good when you are updating your site as it can be done in the second VPS, without your visitors noticing anything. Doing so will minimize the possibility of experiencing bugs on your site while it is live.

Dedicated Servers

Dedicated Server Hosting is one of the most expensive forms of web hosting but it is also one of the strongest and most reliable types of hosting on the market today. And to be honest – it does not cost a fortune, only about $80 to $200 per month. This is the perfect form of hosting if you expect a steady, and substantial, amount of traffic to your site. Dedicated Servers comes as both managed and unmanaged. Unmanaged is for those with a lot of technical knowledge and managed is good for those that just want the basics and want the rest to be handled by the hosting provider.

Cloud Computing

There is a new shining star on the hosting heaven and it goes by the name of cloud computing. The big difference between cloud computing and classic hosting is that it is elastic which means that you only use and pay for the amount of hosting you are using. This is good for websites that will have peaks and lows in number of visitors. The downside of cloud computing is that is still pretty expensive and hence dedicated servers might be a better alternative. However, cloud computing can also be a good complement to your dedicated hosting.

This piece has been penned down by Joanna, who has been part of web hosting search and been in the industry from quite some time now.

Maybank2u Allows You to Reset Your Password Online

Woohoo! You can’t imagine how glad I am when I glanced at the news panel last I logged into my account. Because it’s so common for any membership based website to allow users to retrieve their forgotten password. And finally, Maybank2u has this feature ever since they launched around year 2000. Yes, nearly a decade.

Last time, the only available options you had when you forgot your password was to call the toll free number or visit the nearest branch. Both options required you to waste time. Only differences were you’d speak to a machine (then person) on the phone and not a person directly at a branch.

But yes, thank you Maybank2u for finally having the option to reset my password without wasting my time. Now, all I’ll have to do is wait for the TAC code whenever I need to reset my password followed by the details:

• Login username
• ATM Card No./Credit Card No./Access No.
• New IC/Passport/Armed Forces/Business Registration No.

In addition, could I also put in the next request to simplify management of favorite accounts for corporate accounts?

Especially a way to eliminate the hassle of having to use phone banking and remembering not only the access number but a 6-digit pin number too? Because I’ve already more than 10 online passwords to remember. So, think about it, please.