December 26th, 2009 §
Working from home (yes, the secret is out), I thought it would be OK if I never announced my hours of operation. After all, I work all the time. Literally. Ask my wife.
However, for the sake of mental health, familial stability and domesticity (I work to live, not vice versa) , I have had to make certain rules. It’s a basic tenet of life that boundaries are a necessity. So one rule I had to make was that I didn’t work on weekends.
Except maybe Saturday mornings…maybe!
The problem is that there are many people – especially clients – who do work longer hours and all days. Not everyone has the same restrictions or boundaries.
So, I have found it necessary to announce ahead of time when I am available for work, how I manage phone calls, emails,etc, and announce when to expect replies.
Business Hours are as follows:
- Monday to Friday : 9am to 5pm.
- Deliveries: as above, plus Saturday 9am to noon. Saturday mornings set aside for web updates, final project deliveries, etc.
- In-person meetings: by appointment. Evening meetings available after 7:30pm
- Skype/Web cam meetings: by appointment.
- Email/Voicemail: Expect replies within four business hours.
- Lunch: 1pm to 2pm (subject to change)
- Closed: Saturday noon to Monday 9am. Expect email and telephone replies Monday.
- Holidays: Christmas Eve to Boxing Day; New Years Eve to following business day 9am.
NBurman Design will be closed on all Canadian Stat Holidays:
- New Year’s Day – January 1
- Good Friday – April 2
- Easter Monday – April 5
- Victoria Day – May 24
- Canada Day – July 1
- Labour Day – September 6
- Thanksgiving – October 11
- Remembrance Day – November 11
Exceptions may be made for emergencies only, but will be billed accordingly (regular rate + 50%)
I hope this makes the question of hours of operation a little clearer. Thanks for understanding!
October 5th, 2009 §
1. While editing a post, or creating a new one, type your text, and highlight the words you want as the link. Click on the anchor button (shown highlighted in green).
2. In the pop up window, enter the web address where the link should go and change Target to Open Link in New Window.
3. This is how your link should look. To edit the link behaviours, click the chain icon again, or click the broken chain to remove the link.
May 20th, 2009 §
It’s no good bragging about your own achievements – let other people do it for you! Here you can read what other people are saying about NBurman Design.
Find out for yourself | Visit the Website
“Nick is an adaptable creative designer who understands how to incorporate new ideas into effective presentations. [His] top qualities: Personable, High Integrity, Creative.”
Ted Dare
Marketing Consultant, The Marketing Greenhouse
“Nicholas is a fundamentally strong business owner and a fantastic artist. He is very pleasant to work with. I have only dealt with him as a supplier but based on the way he conducts business, I have no hesitation recommending him as a service provider. I contacted Nicholas during my search for graphic designers in Calgary because of his impressive portfolio. We are a high quality print supplier to many graphic designers in Canada and I was looking to expand our business into Alberta. Nicholas showed his professionalism when he was willing to listen to what I had to offer and was open minded to seeing samples of our work (unlike many people who do not want to be sold anything, while they are out there trying to sell themselves – ironic, I know). He liked the work we did and placed several orders for himself and several of his clients. He was quick to pay his bills, which is another sign of professionalism. Nicholas, it was a pleasure to work with you in the past and I look forward to dealing with you in the future as well!”
Igal Rogalsky
Account Executive, CanB Business Solutions
“Working with NBurman Design has been an experience well worth anyone’s business. His competitive rate is truly one far stretched dollar. Nick is quick to tackle any challenge presented to him and is extremely knowledgable to help guide you on how to reach your market. His creativity and professionalism show in all his websites. ”
Karla Heintz Nutrition with K
“Nick helped me out with some company branding issues including logo and business card design. As my business grows, I would definitely use NBurman Design again for a professional looking website and advertising media design.”
Mick Keller Keller Productions
“Snow Sound Studio has done nothing but attract business and prosper from the excellent work that NBurman Design has done for us and we look forward to a long business relationship.”
Noel R Snow
Owner, Snow Sound Studio. Author, “Etiquette of Jamming”
February 10th, 2009 §
While advice from a graphic designer about why you need a graphic designer might appear to be self-serving (“Brush Like a Dentist”, says the dentist), there are some things that only a graphic designer is likely to point out.
As a professional, your business will require a lot of you. You need to keep at the top of your game, keeping one eye on the competition and another on your customers. Just like running up a down escalator, if you stop for a moment, you are moving backwards.
Can you afford to stop and learn everything you need to know about your visual brand?
Just as there is more to your business than meets the eye, graphic design is more than a pretty picture. While many people do have good taste, it takes more than a keen eye to present your business properly and effectively on the web, in print and with motion. And with all the things you need to do, there are as many things that you need to avoid to ensure your design is received properly and communicates in the way it should, both technically and esthetically.
Bad design is like a road – full of potholes and cracks, making your journey less pleasant. You don’t enjoy the journey, and once you get there you are probably still thinking about all those problems you encountered along the way. Good design removes the problems that prevent viewers from enjoying the content and helps you get your point across more effectively.
When it comes to a program like Adobe Photoshop, there is a LOT to learn! Just take a look at the dozens of names in the splash image when it opens up. This is not a little photo touch-up app that a couple of programmers decided to throw together to make a little cash on the side. Photoshop is a major photographic editing tool used by professionals worldwide. There is a bucketful of tools to get to know and learn to use properly. Just understanding the tools can take weeks (I’m talking full time, not playing around during commercials while watching TV). Knowing these tools is how it takes a professional a few minutes instead of hours to complete a job.
But that’s just one application. Do you have time to also learn InDesign, QuarkXpress, Illustrator, Quicktime Pro, Dreamweaver, Acrobat and Flash? What about HTML, CSS, PHP and various content management systems?
Make a good impression the first time with an experienced, professional designer who will make you look your best.
January 10th, 2009 §
Screenshot
When it comes to problem solving, particularly with websites that don’t look like they ought to, proving what your screen looks like can be a problem.
The easiest way to show what your brand new website really looks like (on your computer, that is!) is to take a picture of your screen, also called a screenshot.
To do this under Mac OS X, use the following keystrokes:
- SHIFT-COMMAND-3 This will take a shot of your entire screen (or screens) and save it to a file on your desktop. If you have two monitors, you will get two files.
- SHIFT-COMMAND-4 This turns your cursor into a crosshair which you can use to drag between opposite corners of the area you want to capture.
- SHIFT-COMMAND-CTRL-3 Takes a shot of the entire screen and copies to the clipboard.
- SHIFT-COMMAND-CTRL-4 The crosshair method, which then copies to the clipboard.
- SHIFT-COMMAND-4, then SPACE. Turns your cursor into a camera. Click on the frame you want captured.
By default the image saved will be in a PNG format. To change that to a more useful format, like PDF, you will need Terminal. Don’t worry. Even though the Terminal is the favoured tool of many geeks, it’s quite safe to use by everybody else.
From the Finder, navigate to the Applications folder, then open the Utilities folder. Double click Terminal and type the following (or copy/paste):
defaults write com.apple.screencapture type pdf
Logout or restart your Mac, and when you login again, all screenshots will be in a PDF format, which you can email more happily than a PNG.
Oh and here is screenshot of Terminal:
Terminal
Yea, I’ve tweaked it a bit, so yours will look a bit different…
October 15th, 2008 §
No I won't install it for you.
This is an easy one to answer.
No!
I’m sorry to hear that your PC is making scratchy noises, can’t understand a thing you type in the browser and thinks your website is grey and not green. It’s tough to deal with email that doesn’t make it or attachments that disappear in mid-air. I know how frustrating it is to have a computer that doesn’t do what it should.
But this is where I say no. There are simply way too many permutations of hardware and software, especially with Windows based computers, so there really isn’t a simple answer to your problem. It’s not my job to fix computers, and I am not qualified to handle the consequences of a failed repair job. As a graphic designer, my responsibility ends with the files uploaded for the website or the artwork produced for the print job. Frankly, you might not want me messing things up even more!
If you need your computer fixed, there are lots of resources available. Many computer stores have a technician department where you can get advice, a diagnosis and installation help. Try the Yellow Pages under Computer Repair.
Good luck!
October 1st, 2008 §
Please bear with us.
My favourite word to dislike in the English language (I’m sure I could find more unpleasant ones in other languages) is the word ’should’. As in, ‘it should work’.
Yes, it should work. Emails should transmit instantly, websites should always be up and running, attachments should always be exactly what you attached, and all computers should show your website the way it is designed.
Replace the word should with can.
The reality of technology is that sometimes there is no reason for that technical hitch. Hopefully it is temporary, and hopefully a work around is not necessary, but sometimes second best is the best.
This is not a cop-out, an excuse for incompetence or an admittance of guilt. Emails do sometimes take longer than a few seconds (I’ve seen some take hours, even days); sometimes attachments get corrupted; sometimes a server somewhere goes on vacation and the website you were looking for cannot be found.
Please bear with these little hitches – go for a walk, phone your Mum, whatever you do for a short break.
Service should be back to normal soon.
June 24th, 2008 §
While I practically live on my Mac (or Macs, I should say) I’m not allergic to Windows! In fact, I design all websites sitting alongside a PC that I use strictly for testing. So yes, your website will look perfectly ok on practically every computer in the world. Kinda.
Kinda, because you cannot allow for all the strange things that people do with their computers. Some people have certain abilities, like javascript or Flash, turned off. Some even have images turned off. So while I can make allowances for about 90% (a reserved number, it’s probably much higher) of all users, there are going to be one or two that slip between the cracks of compliant web code.
I should mention that the PC I use for testing is purposefully kept decrepit, ancient and slow. The chances are pretty good that a huge majority of people will have a computer a lot faster than this one. If you don’t, I’m sorry. Please search between your couch cushions to buy a new one. Seriously, there are computers on the market going for less than the cost of a meal for two that will outrun this PC.
Other than using my POS PC for testing, I also call on the advice, support and feedback of a select team of amateurs to check out sites I build. They make sure that even more people online will get the same or very similar experience.
Testing testing and more testing. Even when I use the best computer in the world!
June 24th, 2008 §
When people ask what kind of computer I use, I unapologetically reply that yes, I use a Mac. So why the lengthy reply to a simple FAQ?
I know what they are asking. The person doesn’t usually care what kind of computer I use, any more than when I say that I sketch out ideas first, they care what kind of pencil I use.
What they are asking is the next question in the FAQ list. But to round out my answer, let me state my reasons for using a Macintosh.
First, the Macintosh, in my experience, is a much more stable work environment. Installing and uninstalling software, upgrading, backing up and other maintenance duties are a breeze. There are many smaller features that just make it more pleasant to use too. The lack of likely viruses make it a much more sensible work choice, since the chances of me getting a virus are practically nill. I say ‘practically nill’ only to hedge my bets, just incase some parental basement dwelling ignorant waste of space with a shortage of social skills and awareness decided to write a virus that would affect all of us. The chances are slim, but there you go. Running a Mac is just a much safer option. I’ve spent too many days trying to rid a Windows machine of a particularly sticky virus, and I’m not going to do it again.
Call me an Apple Fanboy, I don’t mind. But I love my Mac and there ain’t no changin’ that!
June 24th, 2008 §
Easily the most asked question, and the easiest to answer.
The Price List is available for download as a PDF.
