While many of us know design is much about the way something looks, it is also about how it works or rather how others interact with it. A website for instance, do you know that there are certain unspoken requirements? Here are a few pointers for you fine Pennsylvania crafters on how to keep your website looking and interacting with visitors at it’s best.

• Contact Information. Have your contact information ready available, regardless of where someone might be on your website. That includes your phone number, email address, and physical address (if that applies to you). You always want to provide this information or an easy way to reach your contact info to visitors so that if they have a question, they can easily ask and you can easily respond.
• Horizontal Scroll. Don’t let your site scroll horizontally unless it’s intention is to do so. Some may accidentally create a site that’s too wide or doesn’t fit a typical screen, and this causes unnecessary scrolling.
• Music control. If you have music on your website, give your visitor the option to turn it off or it may turn them off from your website.
• Advertising. While advertising is a great thing for you as an online entrepreneur, some ads can get in the way of communicating with visitors of your site. Make sure the ads fit the feel of your site and work well with the overall design. If they impose on a visitor, that person may leave and never come back.
• Links. Make your links neat and tidy. You don’t want them to stand out too much, and you don’t want them to be nearly invisible either. Find a good balance that works for the site and for you.

While this list can go on and on, I hope it gives you a better idea of how not just the overall look and feel of your site can effect a visitor’s experience. Sometimes it really is the little things that count.

I wanted to touch on the subject of when it is time to hire a graphic designer, but really there’s no set time. The best time can only really be determined by you. When you feel as if you are growing and need a professional look for your brand, then you will want someone who understands the in’s and out’s of branding and the principles of good design. Experience is key when it comes to a graphic designer, and while that’s very important in making your choice, you will also want to speak with them (on phone or in person) so that you know you’re a good fit together.

Hiring a graphic designer is like making a new friend. You’re going to go through good times and bad times, and most important of all, they are going to (hopefully) be there with you from the start of your business into your most successful days. So knowing that you can deal with each other on a regular basis, is an absolute must.

For a well written article on the subject visit Oh My! Handmade Goodness for To Hire or Not to Hire: Working with a Professional Graphic Designer, where she shares her experience from the realization that she needed a professional and then touches on what a designer can do for you.

Up-cycled shirt

Based in Lancaster, PA, Jen Hartman designs hand cut, hand stitched hair accessories and up-cycled clothing, using bright colorful felt, buttons and fabric. I talked to Jen about her inspiration, beginnings and how she balances crafting while raising her two daughters.

“I have been crafting, thinking and actively creating for as long as I can remember,” says Jen. “As a child I made pillows and doll clothing for my toys. As a teen I enjoyed raiding my father’s closet for ‘vintage’ clothes and adjusting them to fit me and my friends. (early day up-cycling) I have dabbled in collage many times over in my lifetime, have always adored photography…Being artsy is just in my blood.”

Jen describes herself as “a 36 year old ice cream-addicted mother of two sweet, saucy, adorable little girls (ages 5 and 7), and wife to a dashing, supportive, artistic well, just plain awesome husband.” As well as keeping her entertained, Jen’s two daughters were the inspiration for her Etsy shop, Peachy Tuesday. “When my girls grew to be preschoolers and their hair started to “accept” doo dads, I started buying barrettes, headbands and clips galore. Eventually after being unimpressed with the holiday hair accessories I could find I made some holiday headbands of my own. They gained rave results from friends, even strangers!

Funky headband

“I made some hair clips using the same style and the same occurred. I enjoyed looking at the hair doodles on my happy little ladies, but the friendly compliments were wonderful as well. In addition to making hair accessories I have always adored photography. Consequently, I photographed everything I made, and posted the pictures to Flickr. A friend of mine, also a crafter, saw my pictures and urged me to sell my hair goods. I wavered, feeling little confidence, but eventually decided why not?”

Jen has been selling on Etsy ever since and has recently started looking into other outlets to raise the profile of her accessories. “I recently attended my first craft show in Lancaster, at Landisville Camp Meeting. I will be setting up Crafty By Nature at Shupp’s Grove in July and August as well. In addition I have sitting on my desk, an application to become a consignor at Hodge Podgery in Harrisburg.”

Jen’s items are bright, different and extremely cute and she is right on the mark with what attracts her buyers. “I feel like the abstract nature of most of my headbands and embellished clothing is different from tons of things available out there. I love playing with color, Hand me a pile of crazy colorful felt and I go nuts!”

Another funky headband

Like many artists and crafters, Jen sometimes struggles to find time for everything, especially combined with raising two little girls! She says, “I have never calculated the number of hours I spend with Peachy Tuesday related things. I sure feel like it is full time! I do also work part time at night in the image department of a direct mail magazine, AND by day I am a CEO of household/momma. Both of my little girls will be in full-day elementary school in Fall 2010. This monumental time will be sad in many ways but I do look forward to having a lot more time to work on Peachy Tuesday.”

Jen Working

“I work in my kitchen, my office and living room. Sigh, I’d love to have a studio. It is a goal in the next two years to have our attic bedroom converted to a studio space. For now working amongst the chaos of the high traffic areas of my home is just fine though.”

As Jen grows her business, gaining support in the local area is essential. “The handmade scene in PA is great! I attribute so much of what I have learned and gained from the awesome support I have found online with the hand-makers here in PA. Honestly, if it was not for all the support I have found making online friends I’d have closed up shop long ago!”

For more information, visit Jen’s Etsy shop, follow her on Twitter and check out her Facebook Page.

Ellie is a UK-based designer of handknit and crocheted accessories. In her rare time away from the needles and hooks, she can be found scouring Etsy and Folksy for cute and quirky handmade items, and chatting to indie sellers via Twitter, Facebook and blogs. Ellie sells her creations via Etsy.

I can’t remember when I first was aware of Design for Social Impact or their WPA Poster collection, but it’s one group you don’t want to miss. The mission of Design for Social Impact “is a creative organization that combines artistry & activism to call attention to important social issues.”

They also run a live archive that contains the collection of posters created under the New Deal’s Federal Art Project.

So you ask, why is this organization and collection important to our national history? One day when information is being beamed directly into our brains, we will have forgotten all of the hard work that has gone into developing this country thanks to the hands and sweat of our ancestors. And for one organization to take on the responsibility of seeking out, collecting, and displaying the works created by hand, is a great thing. It was initiated in 1935 and some works still stand among the most-significant pieces of public art in the country.

The FAP’s primary goals were to employ out-of-work artists and to provide art for non-federal government buildings: schools, hospitals, libraries, etc.

My friend’s dad Nelson, has been creating digitized embroidery for quite some time, but most recently he’s been showing off his Lancaster County Hunting Pouches. Created by hand, the 1770′s reproductions I imagine are as beautiful in person as they are in these photos. Each pouch is custom made and allow you to select your design.

Nelson Reinard is the owner of Reinard’s Digitizing & Design and handmakes the pouches and even offers custom hand-carved powder horns. And I know this may not be everyone’s cup of tea, but placing a unique item in a home or giving it to a friend may be just thing they never knew they wanted.

This week’s challenge: slither (read on for details)

What if I made a New Year’s resolution to challenge myself consistently?  What if this challenge involved a weekly prompt to jumpstart my creativity?  What if this creativity led to experimentation with different artistic mediums and styles?   What if this became addictive?

“Contagious” by Paula Mills

Illustration Friday is a site created by Penelope Dullaghan and Brianna Privett. They post a submitted topic each Friday and allow you the entire week to come up with a creative answer.  The choice of medium and style is wide open and you do not have to be an illustrator to join in the fun.  IF is an example of another online creative community offering constructive feedback and motivation for its participants.

“Manifestation” Susan Sorrell Hill

Join me and the HiP community in my pledge to create weekly (in this case, every other week). It’s easy.

• We’ll do this every other week
• You’ll create your piece related to the week’s theme
• Post it on Illustration Friday’s entry page
• And in our Simply Linked form below
• Every other week, I will choose several entries to share with the HiP community.
• And will announce the next theme

The IF challenge this week is slither.

See you in two weeks!

Megan Greenholt has a BFA in illustration/printmaking and a MA in art therapy. Warwick Hills sits by a creek at the bend in the road. An art studio, gardens, animal friends and children are nurtured here.

Eating Dandelions is a show coming up on May 15th described as “Work from the twisted minds of Pennsylvania screenprinters and their vision of Springtime.” The show is presented by Masthead, a print studio and gallery for all things screenprinted. With a focus in teaching the community about the process and offer opportunities to create your own prints.

Screen printing is a specialty printing process and requires a lot of manual labor (in many if not all cases), where a printer will use a squeegee like tool to pull ink over a screen with the image where the ink squeezes through the tiny little holes on the screen to create a printed piece. Each color requires a separate “pull” – so the more colors – the more time it took to create. They are done in limited runs, making them even more special.

The story was about Gustavo Dudamel, music director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic. He was talking about taking a piece of art and making it your own (listen). I’ll paraphrase it:

It’s like when you cook soup, you think ‘today, I’ll try it with more pepper.’ You taste it and you think ‘ooh, that’s better.’ Then you try something else and soon it becomes your own personal recipe. It’s more personal.

Is your craft your own?

The work is clearly yours because you made it. But the style may be too similar to another maker’s work. If it resembles someone else’s work you’re stopping your creativity too short. Even if they’re copying you, you need to push yourself to be different.

Take the plunge. Do something others don’t do or don’t know how to do. Set yourself apart from others working with a similar style/medium. Experiment with color or materials or mash-up two ideas/concepts into one. What if it were upside down, inside out, backwards. What rules are waiting to be shattered?

Change is essential in the craft world. You must set your work apart from everyone else’s or you’ll get drowned out in all of the noise. In process, you’ll catch the attention of others.

For more on the subject, read the Dare to be Different post on Fine Art View.

The Duffel in rosewood by moop

circling around slouch bag by tremundo

reusable snack bags by fabrik

Biggie Buttercup Bag, Almost Argyle by PrettyCoolClothes

perfect burger tote bag by girlscantell

Delightful & refreshing, work by StaunchStudio (Lykens) made on recycled wood.

Primitive mini painting on recycled wood original art Peony

Primitive painting on recycled wood original art Farm Fresh

Primitive mini collage on recycled wood original art Paper Barcode 2

Kate, along with her husband, bring together farm, food and design at The Steel Fork. They also design and create sculptural metalworks using recycled farm machinery – Gatski Metal. Kate is also the mother of two busy little children.