We are pleased to announce that the website we built for musician Mina Chang (minachang.com) has been nominated for Site of the Year at CSS Creme. The site was built entirely in WordPress and was a last-second project, so that makes us extra happy that it’s getting the great responses from the design community.

Oh, and, of course, be sure to support us and cast your vote!

I can look out my window and find inspiration in the rain, the trees, the grass. I can go to the mall and watch people; looking at their clothes, their movements, the way they present themselves. I can watch a movie, play a game, surf the web, go for a bike ride. Normal everyday activities should be able to bring inspiration – and they do.

What inspires you?

We’ve been listed on several design galleries (such as thebestdesigns.com and cssheaven.com) and even favorited on many, featured on some, and chosen as an “editor’s pick” on w3csites.com (a site that only accepts your design if all of your files validate completely). We were even featured in an article about lighting effects on Smashing Magazine, which was pretty exciting in and of itself.

But none have brought me the sheer joy that this review brought me. It is expertly written and just to see that people really do “get” the design and why it is the way it is, well, that just makes all of the hard work worth it.

The Camp Creative Group are a design agency who live by the moto “Fall in love with your design” and it is their very own website that I have fallen in love with.

To read the review in it’s entirety, visit wecritiquedesigns.com.

Q1. How do you want visitors to describe your business? List as many descriptive words as you can think of.

This question is focused on your customer’s view of your business, how you wish to be perceived. The more descriptive words that you can list here, the better. Since many descriptive words can be slightly subjective in nature, listing more will help the designer to get a better feel for what exactly you mean.

Q2. Describe your target audience. How old are they and what do they do for a living?

You’ll want to provide any information that you know about your target audience. This even includes how adept they are at using a computer. It may include very specific things such as the type of pets they own. This is all relative to your business, but it is a very important question and will have great impact on your design.

Q3. Who is your main competition and what do you do better and/or different than them? Feel free to comment on the design of your competitor’s campaigns.

List your key competitors and their websites. If you do something different or better than them, let us know so that we can focus on that difference. This will be something that really sets you apart from your competition. Think about why customers should choose you over your competitor(s). If relevant, you may comment on their design and things that you feel work or don’t work for it.

Q4. (A) How would you like someone to react when they first see the design? (B) What is the most important thing you want people to do when they see your design?

Part A of this question is all about their feelings when they see your design. You may want to create something surprising, or alarming, or on the other hand you may want something calming.

Part B deals with action. Do you want the person viewing your design to call you? Email? Visit your website? Fill out a contact form? Purchase an item? This should be whatever you think is the most important thing a user should do as soon as they see your design so that we can create a successful call to action.

Q5. What do you think is the most important aspect of your project? What should people notice first?

This is more of what the design should actually focus on. Is there a specific product you are trying to push? Is there a discount you want to offer? Perhaps you are offering a free download on your website, or maybe you want to focus on your blog.

Q6. Do you have official branding guidelines that must be adhered to?

If you have a brand developed and can provide us with guidelines to follow so that your website adheres to what is already established, please provide that information here. Some companies actually have a pamphlet describing brand guidelines that they can provide to designers to ensure that their brand’s integrity remains intact. Clients may provide this in addition to the questionnaire.

Q7. List a few designs that you like and what you like about them. If applicable, list features that you do not like about them as well.

We suggest that those filling out the questionnaire go to a few design galleries to see nice designs and list the ones that they like here. This gives us an idea of design styles and personal tastes of our client, which helps us to create a design that will be something they can live with as well. I find it especially useful to know things that clients don’t like about a specific design so that I can shy away from those practices. It also helps if you can provide reasons as to why you think a certain design style might be applicable to your project.

Q8. Personal Taste: What is your favorite automobile? Favorite musician (or music genre)? How would you describe your personal style and how would you like that reflected in this design?

While appealing to the target audience and getting them to react appropriately is the number one goal of any design, I still think it is very important for every business to incorporate the personal style of its principals into its design. This gives a unique and personal touch, and also enables the design to be loved and last longer internally.

After all, if you aren’t happy with your company’s design, you won’t be able to get behind your product or service 100%, and that will cause failure just as much as failing to communicate to your audience will.