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Pokémon Go coming to the Apple Watch later this year
Apple officially unveils ‘Apple Watch Series 2’
iWork apps get real-time collaboration, demo’d live in the keynote
Apple has announced that iWork apps are finally getting real-time collaboration, allowing multiple people to simultaneously edit documents, Google Apps-style.
Apple has demonstrated the capability by performing a live edit of the keynote presentation on stage.
Filed under: Apple
Apple announces ‘Super Mario Run’ coming to iPhone App Store
Apple unveils the new iPhone 7, preorder now, available 9/16
5 Ways to Utilize Lessons Learned After a Project
When do Your Best Ideas Come to You? Most people seem to have flashes of brilliance and insight when they are driving, lying awake in bed at night, or in the shower. A great idea comes to you and it’s so colossal and important that you’re sure you will have no problem remembering it. What typically happens to these ideas? They are most often forgotten, even the ideas you were sure were going to make you rich! You promise yourself that this will never happen again. You buy a small recorder to keep with you in your car, put a pen and paper on your nightstand – you never want to miss one of these breakthrough ideas again.
It’s the same thing when you’re going through the life-cycle of the software projects you manage. Someone comes up with a great idea that will make the next similar project easier to implement. You forget to write it down and it falls between the cracks. Or, someone identifies a process that is broken in the way the projects are executed. You tell them you appreciate their feedback and then forget to write it down. Another great idea down the drain.
As a project manager it is important to make time at the end of a project for you and your project team to identify and reflect upon the lessons learned. These lessons should be recorded so that the knowledge gained can be added to the project management planning templates and shared with others.
In order for your project team members to add insight during the project debrief, you as a project manager must communicate to them that you want them to capture information about lessons learned from the outset. How else will they know to take time out of their busy project schedule to write their learning down. Here are some suggestions to help project managers plan a software project that incorporates lessons learned from previous projects.
1. Tell Everyone That They Are Each Expected to Bring Some Lesson Learned to the Final Project Review
In order to plan a software project that is based upon lessons learned, as project manager, tell your team that there is going to be a post-project review or debrief. Inform them that you very much appreciate their feedback, thoughts, ideas, suggestions, and comments on what could be done on the next project to make it run even smoother.
2. Reduce the Barriers to Communicating Feedback About the Project and Lessons Learned
Your goal is to make capturing lessons learned as easy and non-obtrusive as possible. Is there a simple form you want everyone to fill out? Or a location on a shared drive that you want people to record their ideas? The goal is to keep ideas flowing as freely and quickly as possible. As project manager you encourage everyone to help improve the next project and/or process.
3. Value Open Honest Communication Whether Positive Feedback or Constructive Criticism
One of the ground rules is that there must be absolute candor with no repercussions on those who take part in this exercise. This is something you will quickly learn when it comes to how to plan a software project that utilizes lessons learned. The environment must be a “safe place” where people can freely speak their mind. In order to learn how to plan a software project utilizing lessons learned you must be open to hearing both positive feedback and constructive criticism, even about your own performance as project manager.
4. Make Providing Feedback About the Project Fun
Once you have established a safe place for people to candidly speak about what could be done to improve the next project, the next step is to make it fun. You can do this in a number of ways. Consider having a contest that rewards different categories of suggestions. For example, you could reward “the most ideas”, “the most outrageous idea”, “the most time-saving idea”, or “the most money-saving idea”.
The award doesn’t have to be huge or expensive. The goal is to make it fun, something that stands out from their day-to-day routine. This could also include some type event where you bring everyone together to reward performance of those project team members who made the biggest impact.
5. Follow Up on People’s Feedback, Implement Positive Changes and Share the Lessons Learned
To end, it is critical when you plan a software project that you follow-up on the lessons learned. It will seem insincere to ask your team to provide suggestions, reward them for their behavior and then ignore their suggestions. If this happens, the team will soon see that these are lessons learned in name only and quickly lose interest.
The post 5 Ways to Utilize Lessons Learned After a Project appeared first on Project-Management.com.
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iPhone 7 News Hub/Live Blog: Watch Apple unveil new iPhones & Apple Watch 2
It’s Wednesday, September 7th and Apple’s iPhone 7 event is about to kick off at 10 AM PT/1 PM ET.
We already gave you the run down on what to expect: iPhone 7, iOS 10, macOS Sierra, Apple Watch 2, and likely some new accessories, but Apple could always have one or two more surprises in store.
Below we’re keeping track off all our coverage from the event with handy links to everything in our News Hub, and we’ll have pre-event coverage and the latest from inside the event in our Live Blog below that.
Filed under: Apple
The 5 Most Important Elements of Successful Project Management
As a project manager, it’s your job to successfully guide a project through to completion within a specific time and budget. As a their leader, your team will look to you as a teacher, mentor and problem solver; you will need to be ready to help them with any questions or problems. Also, you need to communicate with the client. They will expect that you are organized and up to date with all elements of the project. Here are some tips to help you streamline your process and increase the efficiency of your team.
1. Have Clear Project Goals
Make sure you have all the details in front of you before you start. Get everything in writing so that a detailed timeline and a realistic budget can be drawn up and agreed on by stakeholders. Having this at the beginning, will make you instrumental in choosing the right team for the project. You will be able to select members whose skill-sets are right for each task. It also helps you avoid ‘scope creep’ when the client wants little things added here and there. When this happens, suddenly the project can look very different than how it started. Even though it’s likely that the project will change slightly before its completion. When you outline clear project goals at the start, you will maintain control of the project.
2. Be Dynamic
Once you have your plan in place, remain flexible. All sorts of things can happen which could change the plan slightly. But if you can anticipate these and are ready to act when they come up, you will find yourself better equipped to deal with them. Before your project starts think about potential issues that could arise, how to prevent them, and, if they arise, how you will resolve them. You need to fulfill your role as a team leader in these situations and deal with these issues confidently and calmly.
3. Communication
You need to ensure your team clearly communicates with one another. Make sure that everyone knows what the aims of the project are and how to achieve them. Any change to plans need to be understood by the team members and they must be able to discuss any concerns freely. Short and regular meetings keep everyone updated, instead of long and infrequent ones. In doing this, you will be able to spot any problems emerging more quickly. Therefore, having meetings frequently, you will maintain a high level of motivation and morale within the team as it helps everyone feel included and promotes a good group dynamic.
Make sure you’re communicating with the client. Keep them updated on progress or any potential problems and of course listen to their feedback. This way, you won’t run the risk of them becoming unhappy with any steps you have taken.
4. Stay on Track
One of your main tasks as project manager is to make sure that the team is working well together – that they are on the right track and sticking to the schedule. There is project management software which can help you track the progress your team is making. Online Kanban boards, even a physical one in the office, helps you visualize your workflow, facilitating efficient use of time. If everyone in the team has access to the board, they can update their progress, making status-update meetings quicker. Gantt charts also work in a similar way, helping you to visualize the tasks that need to be done against the time they are likely to take for completion.
5. Review The Project to Improve for The Next Time
To finish, when the project is over it’s imperative that you examine what you did during the project and learn from your actions. It’s important to work out exactly what worked well and what didn’t. In order to make sure your company maintains its edge over any competitors you must always seek to improve. Encourage your team members and clients to give you feedback to help with this. Stay up to date with what’s going on in your company and any new project management theories between projects. Project management is a continuous process of analyzing, prioritizing and reviewing in order to make right decisions quickly. Final tip, stay focused and organised at every stage and you will do great work.
For more tips on project success check-out this video.
The post The 5 Most Important Elements of Successful Project Management appeared first on Project-Management.com.
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Latest DIRECTV app plus upcoming online-only package is the holy grail of cord cutting
If you’ve been waiting for the all-in-one mobile TV solution that will let you finally get rid of your old-fashioned cable TV subscription, the latest DIRECTV app together with AT&T’s promised streaming services look set to at last make it a practical proposition.
The latest DIRECTV app lets you watch both live and recorded shows anywhere – including the ability to download shows from your home DVR to your mobile device to watch without a net connection. And if you’re on AT&T, DIRECTV streaming doesn’t use up your mobile data allowance.
Right now, you still need the cable connection and home DVR box, but that looks set to change in the final quarter this year …
Filed under: Apple
Free Shipping is Tough— and It Might Not Be Your Best Option [Infographic]
Businesses of all sizes struggle with offering free shipping. Yet, 80% of U.S. shoppers cite shipping cost and speed of delivery as a heavily influential factor in if they buy a product from certain brand. Free shipping can, then, increase conversion rates, and give your brand the leg up it needs to close more sales and win more customers for the long haul.
Of course, that is, if you can make free shipping sustainable –– and not many can. Even Amazon struggles with free shipping profitability, and –– not to point fingers –– but they started this whole free shipping frenzy!
Know this though: free shipping isn’t the only shipping trick you should have up your sleeve. And, free shipping isn’t the right choice for every single brand. It depends on what you are selling, where you are selling it and to whom you are selling it.
That said, here’s a handy chart to help you determine the best shipping strategy for your brand. Shipping shouldn’t be a drain on your revenue, nor a reason why customers aren’t checking out. There’s a balance. Here’s how to find it.
How to watch the Apple iPhone 7 event on iOS, Mac, Windows, Android and more
The Apple event starts in a couple of hours at 10 AM PT. We are expecting to watch Apple CEO Tim Cook and the rest of the executive crew launch the new iPhone 7, second-generation Apple Watch and maybe some other surprises. But how you can follow along at home? We’ll be bringing live coverage on 9to5Mac of course but how to watch the live video stream?
Filed under: Apple
Are You Addicted to Work? [Flowchart]
How many of you out there wrestle with the urge to work outside of normal working hours?
If you have a hard time taking a break from work to the point where your physical and mental health are on the decline, it’s very possible you’re actually addicted to work. And you wouldn’t be alone: 27% of workers claim to be workaholics, and an estimated 10% might be clinically considered work addicts.
Working too much might not sound like a serious problem. In fact, nowadays, complaining about how much work you have has become a mark of social status for some people. But letting your job take over your life can have serious health repercussions — not to mention hurt your relationships with others.
Thankfully, there are things you can do to break your work addiction if it’s becoming a problem, like asking your friends and colleagues to keep you accountable, practicing mindfulness, and redefining what “success” means to you.
So, are you addicted to work? Quiz yourself using the flowchart below from The Business Backer. If it looks like you’re addicted to work or are at risk from becoming addicted, then keep reading for helpful tips on taking control and learning to live a healthy, balanced lifestyle.
20 of the Best Personal Websites We’ve Ever Seen
Ah, the job search.
Some refer to it as a full-time job in itself, others compare it to dating, and several cats over at BuzzFeed think it just plain sucks. But it doesn’t have to be that way …
When you’re applying for a job, you’re typically asked to submit a resume and cover letter. Maybe your LinkedIn profile. But there are better ways to stand out against your competition, and building a personal website is one of them.
A personal website can serve different goals, but perhaps what it does best is provide you with an opportunity to tell your story. And with 53% of employers reporting that the resume alone did not provide enough information to determine if the candidate would be a good fit, that storytelling element can really help to improve your odds.
If you’re thinking about creating a personal website of your very own, check out the examples below that hit the nail on the head.
18 of the Best Personal Websites We’ve Ever Seen
Resumes
Whether you create a single-page site or a larger portfolio, the web resume serves as a more personalized option for sharing information and demonstrating your technological skills — and it can be used by all types of job seekers.
Even if you have very little work experience, you can leverage a website to build a better picture of your capabilities and yourself as a candidate, while leaning on your traditional resume to provide the basic background information.
1) Gary Sheng
Unlike a standard resume document, Sheng’s website makes it easy for him to include logos and clickable links that allow his software engineering and web development skills to shine.
We love that visitors can choose to scroll down his page to view all of the website’s categories (“About Me,” “My Passion,” etc.), or jump to a specific page using the top navigation.
The “My System” section reads like a company mission statement, and this personal touch helps humanize his work and make him more memorable.
2) Raf Delorez
Delorez’s web resume is modern, cool, and informative. It shows off his personality, branding, and developing skills in a way that’s still very simple and clear. Not to mention, his use of color and saturation in his photo puts a face to his name in an eye-catching way.
Want to get in touch with Delorez? Simply click the CTA located under his brief bio to open up an email that’s pre-addressed directly to him. Or select one of the social media icons to connect with him on platforms like Twitter — where his cover photo happens to seamlessly align with the branding of his website. Well played, Delorez.
3) Brandon Johnson
Johnson’s incredible resume must be seen to be believed. Beautiful images of planets help to compliment his planetary science background, and animations make his resume more of an experience than a document.
In terms of design, the textured, multi-layered background adds greater depth to the two-dimensional page in a way that evokes feelings of space and the planetary systems, which Johnson’s work focuses on.
As an added bonus, Johnson managed to squeeze in some witty “Easter eggs,” like this message that appears when you try to select the “OFF” button that appears under the section on hyrdrocode:
4) Quinton Harris
Harris’ resume uses photos to tell his personal story — and it reads kind of like a cool, digital scrapbook. It covers all the bases of a resume — and then some — by discussing his educational background, work experience, and skills in a highly visual way.
Not to mention, the copy is fantastic. It’s clear that Harris took the time to carefully choose the right words to describe each step of his personal and professional journey. For example, the section on storytelling reads:
NYC, my new home, is filled with the necessary secrets to not only propel my craft forward, but my identity as an artist. With every lens snapped and every pixel laid, I am becoming me.
5) Sean Halpin
Halpin’s resume is short, sweet, and to the point, which is authentic to his voice and personal branding outlined on the site. The white space allows his designs and copy to pop and command the reader’s attention, which helps to improve readability — especially on mobile devices:
Best Practices for Resume Websites
- Code your resume so it can be crawled by search engines.
- Offer a button to download your resume in PDF so the hiring manager can add it to your file.
- Keep branding consistent between the website and document versions: Use similar fonts, colors, and images so you’re easy to recognize.
- Be creative and authentic to yourself. Think about the colors, images, and media you want to be a part of your story that you couldn’t include in a document resume.
Portfolios
Building an online portfolio is a highly useful personal branding and marketing tool if your work experience and skill set call for content creation. In fact, photographers, graphic designers, illustrators, writers, and content marketers can all use web portfolios to show off their skills in a more user-friendly way than a resume or hard copy portfolio.
6) Tony D’Orio
It’s important to keep the design of your visual portfolio simple to let images capture visitors’ attention, and D’Orio accomplishes this by featuring bold photographs front-and-center on his website. His logo and navigation menu are clear and don’t distract from his work. And he makes it easy for potential customers to download his work free of charge.
Want to give it a try? Click on the hamburger menu in the top left corner, then select + Create a PDF to select as many images as you’d like to download.
Once you open the PDF, you’ll notice that it comes fully equipped with D’Orio’s business card as the cover … just in case you need it.
7) Gari Cruze
Cruze is a copywriter. But by turning his website into a portfolio featuring images from different campaigns he’s worked on, he makes visitors want to keep clicking to learn more about him.
His site’s humorous copy — specifically in the “17 Random Things” and “Oh Yes, They’re Talking” sections — serves to show off his skills, while making himself more memorable as well. These pages also include his contact information on the right-hand side, making it easy to reach out an connect at any point:
8) Melanie Daveid
Daveid’s website is a great example of “less is more.”
This developer’s portfolio features clear, well-branded imagery of campaigns and apps that Daveid worked on, and she shows off her coding skills when you click through to see the specifics of her work.
While it might seem overly minimal to only include three examples of her work, Daveid did her portfolio a service by including her best, most noteworthy campaigns. At the end of the day, it’s better to have fewer examples of excellence in your portfolio than many examples of mediocrity.
9) The Beast is Back
Christopher Lee’s portfolio is busy and colorful in a way that works. When you read more about Lee on his easily navigable site, you realize that such a fun and vibrant homepage is perfect for an illustrator and toy designer.
His web portfolio highlights eye-catching designs with recognizable brands, such as Target and Mario, along with links to purchase his work. This is another gallery-style portfolio with pops of color that make it fun and give it personality, thus making it more memorable.
Best Practices for Portfolio Websites
- Use mainly visuals. Even if you’re showcasing your written work, using logos or other branding is more eye-catching for your visitors.
- Don’t be afraid to be yourself. Your personality, style, and sense of humor could be what sets you apart against other sites!
- Organization is key. If your portfolio is full of photos, logos, and other images, make sure it’s easy for visitors to navigate to where they can contact you.
- Brand yourself. Choose a logo or icon to make your information easily identifiable.
Blogs
Consistently publishing on a blog is a great way to attract attention on social media and search engines — and drive traffic to your site. Blogging is a smart way to give your work a personality, chronicle your experiences, and stretch your writing muscles. You might write a personal blog if you’re a writer by trade, but virtually anyone can benefit from adding a blog to their site and providing useful content for their audience.
10) Everywhereist
This blog looks a bit busier, but its consistent branding helps visitors easily navigate the site. The travel blog uses globe iconography to move visitors around the site, making it easy to explore sections beyond the blog.
It also features a “Best Of” section that allows new visitors to learn about what the blog covers to get acclimated. The color scheme is warm, neutral, and free of excess clutter that could distract from the content.
11) fifty coffees
fifty coffees chronicles the author’s series of coffee meetings in search of her next job opportunity, and it does a great job of using photography and visuals to assist in the telling of her lengthy stories.
The best part? Each post ends with numbered takeaways from her meetings for ease of reading comprehension. The high-quality photography used to complement the stories is like icing on the cake.
12) Minimalist Baker
I’m not highlighting Dana’s food blog just because the food looks delicious and I’m hungry. Her blog uses a simple white background to let her food photography pop, unique branding to make her memorable, and mini-bio to personalize her website.
13) Kendra Schaefer
Kendra’s blog is chock-full of information about her life, background, and professional experience, but she avoids overwhelming visitors by using a light background and organizing her blog’s modules to minimize clutter. She also shares links to additional writing samples, which bolsters her writing authority and credibility.
Best Practices for Blogs
- Keep your site simple and clutter-free to avoid additional distractions beyond blog posts.
- Publish often. Company blogs that publish more than 16 posts per months get nearly 3.5X the web traffic of blogs that published less than four posts per month.
- Experiment with different blog styles, such as lists, interviews, graphics, and bullets.
- Employ visuals to break up text and add context to your discussion.
Demos
Another cool way to promote yourself and your skills is to create a personal website that doubles as a demonstration of your coding, design, illustration, or developer skills. These sites can be interactive and animated in a way that provides information about you and also shows hiring managers why they should work with you. This is a great website option for technical and artistic content creators such as developers, animators, UX designers, website content managers, and illustrators.
14) Albino Tonnina
Tonnina is showcasing advanced and complicated web development skills, but the images and icons he uses are still clear and easy to understand. He also offers a simple option to view his resume at the beginning of his site, for those who don’t want to scroll through the animation.
15) Bobby Kane
Kane’s site is aesthetically beautiful. And thanks to the cool background photo and minimalist site design, his experience really stands out. He further shows off his design and coding skills at the very bottom of his site, where he demonstrates his ability to code background design changes. This small touch makes his demo more interactive and will make visitors stop and think, “that’s cool!”
Want to check it out? Pull down the arrow at the top of his site to refresh the background.
16) Robby Leonardi
Leonardi’s incredible demo website uses animation and web development skills to turn his portfolio and resume into a video game for site visitors. The whimsical branding and unique way of sharing information ensures that his site is memorable to visitors.
17) Samuel Reed
Reed uses his page as a start-to-finish demo of how to code a website. His website starts as a blank white page and ends as a fully interactive site that visitors can watch him code themselves. The cool factor makes this website memorable, and it makes his skills extremely marketable.
18) Devon Stank
Stank’s demo site does a great job of showing that he has the web design chops and it takes it a step further by telling visitors all about him, his agency, and his passions. It’s the perfect balance of a demo and a mini-resume.
Plus, we love this highly personal video of Stank describing his passion:
Best Practices for Demo Websites
- Brand yourself and use consistent logos and colors to identify your name and your skills amongst the bevy of visuals.
- Don’t overwhelm your visitors with too many visuals at once — especially if your demo is animated. Be sure to keep imagery easy to understand so visitors aren’t bombarded when they visit your site.
Need help updating or building your personal website? Learn more about the specifics of writing a great bio and creating your personal brand.
What’s the best personal website you’ve ever seen? Share your thoughts in the comments below.
Some refer to it as a full-time job in itself, others compare it to dating, and several cats over at BuzzFeed think it just plain sucks. But it doesn’t have to be that way …
When you’re applying for a job, you’re typically asked to submit a resume and cover letter. Maybe your LinkedIn profile. But there are better ways to stand out against your competition, and building a personal website is one of them.
A personal website can serve different goals, but perhaps what it does best is provide you with an opportunity to tell your story. And with 53% of employers reporting that the resume alone did not provide enough information to determine if the candidate would be a good fit, that storytelling elements can really help to improve your odds.
If you’re thinking about creating a personal website of your very own, check out the examples below that hit the nail on the head.
17 of the Best Personal Websites We’ve Ever Seen
Resumes
Whether you create a single-page site or a larger portfolio, the web resume serves as a more personalized option for sharing information and demonstrating your technological skills — and it can be used by all types of job seekers.
Even if you have very little work experience, you can leverage a website to build a better picture of your capabilities and yourself as a candidate, while leaning on your traditional resume to provide the basic background information.
1) Gary Sheng
Unlike a standard resume document, Sheng’s website makes it easy for him to include logos and clickable links that allow his software engineering and web development skills to shine.
We love that visitors can choose to scroll down his page to view all of the website’s categories (“About Me,” “My Passion,” etc.), or jump to a specific page using the top navigation.
The “My System” section reads like a company mission statement, and this personal touch helps humanize his work and make him more memorable.
2) Raf Delorez
Delorez’s web resume is modern, cool, and informative. It shows off his personality, branding, and developing skills in a way that’s still very simple and clear. Not to mention, his use of color and saturation in his photo puts a face to his name in an eye-catching way.
Want to get in touch with Delorez? Simply click the CTA located under his brief bio to open up an email that’s pre-adressed directly to him. Or select one of the social media icons to connect with him on platforms like Twitter — where his cover photo happens to seamlessly align with the branding of his website. Well played, Delorez.
3) Brandon Johnson
Johnson’s incredible resume must be seen to be believed. Beautiful images of planets help to compliment his planetary science background, and animations make his resume more of an experience than a document.
In terms of design, the textured, multi-layered background adds greater depth to the two-dimensional page in a way that evokes feelings of space and the planetary systems, which Johnson’s work focuses on.
As an added bonus, Johnson managed to squeeze in some witty “Easter eggs,” like this message that appears when you try to select the “OFF” button that appears under the section on hyrdrocode:
4) Quinton Harris
Harris’ resume uses photos to tell his personal story — and it reads kind of like a cool, digital scrapbook. It covers all the bases of a resume — and then some — by discussing his educational background, work experience, and skills in a highly visual way.
Not to mention, the copy is fantastic. It’s clear that Harris took the time to carefully choose the right words to describe each step of his personal and professional journey. For example, the section on storytelling reads:
NYC, my new home, is filled with the necessary secrets to not only propel my craft forward, but my identity as an artist. With every lens snapped and every pixel laid, I am becoming me.
5) Sean Halpin
Halpin’s resume is short, sweet, and to the point, which is authentic to his voice and personal branding outlined on the site. The white space allows his designs and copy to pop and command the reader’s attention, which helps to improve readability — especially on mobile devices:
Best Practices for Resume Websites
- Code your resume so it can be crawled by search engines.
- Offer a button to download your resume in PDF so the hiring manager can add it to your file.
- Keep branding consistent between the website and document versions: Use similar fonts, colors, and images so you’re easy to recognize.
- Be creative and authentic to yourself. Think about the colors, images, and media you want to be a part of your story that you couldn’t include in a document resume.
Portfolios
Building an online portfolio is a highly useful personal branding and marketing tool if your work experience and skill set call for content creation. In fact, photographers, graphic designers, illustrators, writers, and content marketers can all use web portfolios to show off their skills in a more user-friendly way than a resume or hard copy portfolio.
6) Tony D’Orio
It’s important to keep the design of your visual portfolio simple to let images capture visitors’ attention, and D’Orio accomplishes this by featuring bold photographs front-and-center on his website. His logo and navigation menu are clear and don’t distract from his work. And he makes it easy for potential customers to download his work free of charge.
Want to give it a try? Click on the hamburger menu in the top left corner, then select + Create a PDF to select as many images as you’d like to download.
Once you open the PDF, you’ll notice that it comes fully equipped with D’Orio’s business card as the cover … just in case you need it.
7) Gari Cruze
Cruze is a copywriter. But by turning his website into a portfolio featuring images from different campaigns he’s worked on, he makes visitors want to keep clicking to learn more about him.
His site’s humorous copy — specifically in the “17 Random Things” and “Oh Yes, They’re Talking” sections — serves to show off his skills, while making himself more memorable as well. These pages also include his contact information on the right-hand side, making it easy to reach out an connect at any point:
8) Melanie Daveid
Daveid’s website is a great example of “less is more.”
This developer’s portfolio features clear, well-branded imagery of campaigns and apps that Daveid worked on, and she shows off her coding skills when you click through to see the specifics of her work.
While it might seem overly minimal to only include three examples of her work, Daveid did her portfolio a service by including her best, most noteworthy campaigns. At the end of the day, it’s better to have fewer examples of excellence in your portfolio than many examples of mediocrity.
9) The Beast is Back
Christopher Lee’s portfolio is busy and colorful in a way that works. When you read more about Lee on his easily navigable site, you realize that such a fun and vibrant homepage is perfect for an illustrator and toy designer.
His web portfolio highlights eye-catching designs with recognizable brands, such as Target and Mario, along with links to purchase his work. This is another gallery-style portfolio with pops of color that make it fun and give it personality, thus making it more memorable.
Best Practices for Portfolio Websites
- Use mainly visuals. Even if you’re showcasing your written work, using logos or other branding is more eye-catching for your visitors.
- Don’t be afraid to be yourself. Your personality, style, and sense of humor could be what sets you apart against other sites!
- Organization is key. If your portfolio is full of photos, logos, and other images, make sure it’s easy for visitors to navigate to where they can contact you.
- Brand yourself. Choose a logo or icon to make your information easily identifiable.
Blogs
Consistently publishing on a blog is a great way to attract attention on social media and search engines — and drive traffic to your site. Blogging is a smart way to give your work a personality, chronicle your experiences, and stretch your writing muscles. You might write a personal blog if you’re a writer by trade, but virtually anyone can benefit from adding a blog to their site and providing useful content for their audience.
10) Everywhereist
This blog looks a bit busier, but its consistent branding helps visitors easily navigate the site. The travel blog uses globe iconography to move visitors around the site, making it easy to explore sections beyond the blog.
It also features a “Best Of” section that allows new visitors to learn about what the blog covers to get acclimated. The color scheme is warm, neutral, and free of excess clutter that could distract from the content.
11) fifty coffees
fifty coffees chronicles the author’s series of coffee meetings in search of her next job opportunity, and it does a great job of using photography and visuals to assist in the telling of her lengthy stories.
The best part? Each post ends with numbered takeaways from her meetings for ease of reading comprehension. The high-quality photography used to complement the stories are like icing on the cake.
12) Minimalist Baker
I’m not highlighting Dana’s food blog just because the food looks delicious and I’m hungry. Her blog uses a simple white background to let her food photography pop, unique branding to make her memorable, and mini-bio to personalize her website.
13) Kendra Schaefer
Kendra’s blog is chock-full of information about her life, background, and professional experience, but she avoids overwhelming visitors by using a light background and organizing her blog’s modules to minimize clutter. She also shares links to additional writing samples, which bolsters her writing authority and credibility.
Best Practices for Blogs
- Keep your site simple and clutter-free to avoid additional distractions beyond blog posts.
- Publish often. Company blogs that publish more than 16 posts per months get nearly 3.5X the web traffic of blogs that published less than four posts per month.
- Experiment with different blog styles, such as lists, interviews, graphics, and bullets.
- Employ visuals to break up text and add context to your discussion.
Demos
Another cool way to promote yourself and your skills is to create a personal website that doubles as a demonstration of your coding, design, illustration, or developer skills. These sites can be interactive and animated in a way that provides information about you and also shows hiring managers why they should work with you. This is a great website option for technical and artistic content creators such as developers, animators, UX designers, website content managers, and illustrators.
14) Albino Tonnina
Tonnina is showcasing advanced and complicated web development skills, but the images and icons he uses are still clear and easy to understand. He also offers a simple option to view his resume at the beginning of his site, for those who don’t want to scroll through the animation.
15) Bobby Kane
Kane’s site is aesthetically beautiful. And thanks to the cool background photo and minimalist site design, his experience really stands out. He further shows off his design and coding skills at the very bottom of his site, where he demonstrates his ability to code background design changes. This small touch makes his demo more interactive and will make visitors stop and think, “that’s cool!”
Want to check it out? Pull down the arrow at the top of his site to refresh the background.
16) Robby Leonardi
Leonardi’s incredible demo website uses animation and web development skills to turn his portfolio and resume into a video game for site visitors. The whimsical branding and unique way of sharing information ensures that his site is memorable to visitors.
17) Samuel Reed
Reed uses his page as a start-to-finish demo of how to code a website. His website starts as a blank white page and ends as a fully interactive site that visitors can watch him code themselves. The cool factor makes this website memorable, and it makes his skills extremely marketable.
18) Devon Stank
Stank’s demo site does a great job of showing that he has the web design chops and it takes it a step further by telling visitors all about him, his agency, and his passions. It’s the perfect balance of a demo and a mini-resume.
Plus, we love this highly personal video of Stank describing his passion:
Best Practices for Demo Websites
- Brand yourself and use consistent logos and colors to identify your name and your skills amongst the bevy of visuals.
- Don’t overwhelm your visitors with too many visuals at once — especially if your demo is animated. Be sure to keep imagery easy to understand so visitors aren’t bombarded when they visit your site.
Need help updating or building your personal website? Learn more about the specifics of writing a great bio and creating your personal brand.
What’s the best personal website you’ve ever seen? Share your thoughts in the comments below.
Comment: ‘Bluetooth-like’ connectivity could be iPhone 7’s secret weapon
Six Colors’ Jason Snell (via Daring Fireball) posed an interesting question in his preview of today’s launch event: how will Apple justify the removal of the headphone socket? Will it do so loudly or quietly, and what will it sell as the benefit?
What’s going to be interesting is how Apple explains the move. Does it play it off quickly with a shrug—“wireless is better”—or does it go into detail? Does the jack’s removal get blamed on some other great iPhone feature that required the space? Does Apple have a bigger story about wireless headphones that it uses to distract from the removal issue?
I’ve already suggested that Apple has been preparing the ground for some time now, but I think yesterday’s KGI report contained a rather large clue as to how Apple will sell the move …
Filed under: Apple
Final iPhone 7 leaks before official unveiling show new black color, redesigned LED flash and waterproofed SIM tray
Apple will be announcing the iPhone 7 for real in just a few hours, but if you are itching for the latest, we have one set of purported new iPhone images for you before Apple’s event at 10 AM PT. The photos apparently show a working 4.7 inch iPhone 7 unit in high resolution.
The pictures feature close-up looks at the new larger camera, 4-LED camera flash, redesigned rubber gasket SIM tray and a shot of the new ‘dark black’ iPhone 7 color variant. More photos after the jump …
Filed under: Apple
Apple Store goes down ahead of iPhone 7 and Apple Watch 2 event
As is typical with an Apple keynote day, the company has halted business from the Apple Online Store with its usual “Please check back soon” message. Apple takes down its website to build hype for imminent product launches. At 10 AM PST, Apple will kickoff its fall media event where it is expected to unveil its new iPhone 7 and a second-generation Apple Watch.
The site says: ‘We’ve got something special in store for you. And we can’t wait for you to see it’.
Filed under: Apple
Chinese customs fast-tracking iPhone 7 shipments to U.S. & elsewhere, claims report
How to Optimize Your Instagram Posting Schedule
Are you using Instagram for your business? Do you have a plan to consistently deliver value to your followers? To maximize engagement, you need a smart posting schedule. In this article, you’ll discover how to improve your visibility in the Instagram news feed. #1: Find Out When Your Followers Are Online If you have the […]
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– Your Guide to the Social Media Jungle
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