My Day in Design, February 2011

It's the Philadelphia edition of My Day in Design. These are items I found while cleaning out my grandparents' old house. There's some architectural elements, and some cool vintage graphic design. Enjoy!

SEO: Quick Tips for Libraries

If you've already heard a bit about SEO, you may find the idea terrifying, because the potential scope is so large. It can be a huge project requiring a great deal of time and expertise. But please don't run away screaming; I've got some quick tips that can get you started.

(I already know what SEO is; I want to skip straight to the tips)

Or you may be wondering, What on earth is SEO? Well, I'm glad you asked, because I've been doing some reading, and I'm learning a lot.

SEO is Search Engine Optimization. Basically, this means "making sure that people who are looking for you (whether they know it or not) can find you. So: you want them to be able to find you if they google you; for example, if they type "marketing non librarian." You want them to be able to find you even if they can't remember the name of your organization: "publicity not a librarian" (you can see that I don't turn up here at all, so I obviously need some tips!) Ideally, you want to be at the top of the page when someone searches for what you do: "library marketing blog" (again, not in the list.)

This applies to libraries in a big way. Don't you want people to be able to find you when they search for "teen events [yourtown]"? Or "job search help [yourtown]"? Or when they search for your annual "humpty dumpty festival"?

Of course you do! And there are some very simple things you can do to help this happen.

1. Web pages should have meaningful titles. Don't just have the title of every page say "Mytown Public Library." Include some descriptive information, such as "Mytown Public Library - Job Search Resources" or "Mytown Public Library - Teen Events." (By "title" I mean the stuff that goes inside the "title" tag, and shows up in the bar at the top of the window. But this could also apply to the headings you use.)

2. One topic per page is best. If something is important, it needs its own page. If your annual Humpty Dumpty Festival is a big deal, don't bury it in a mile-long listing of events - give it its own page, and this will help search engines find it.

3. Put relevant text on the page. So you've created a page for your Humpty Dumpty Festival. Don't just upload a pdf of your flier and leave it at that. Add some text that will make sense if you see it in the search results: "The annual Humpty Dumpty Festival is held the third weekend in September at the Mytown Public Library."

4. Don't put important information in images or in Flash. Search engines can't find words in images or Flash. So if important information - like the topic of a page or the name of an event - is only displayed in an image or in Flash, Google will not find it. If you're using images to convey information, be sure to use alt tags on the images. If you're putting information in Flash (for instance, in a slide show) then make sure the information is also available elsewhere in text format.

5. Links are important to search engines. In some way that I don't fully understand (yet), it changes your search rankings when you link to people, and when they link to you.

How do I get people to link to me?
I don't know! This is a tough question. I can offer a few suggestions:
-Take advantage of your community partnerships; offer to link to their site if they can link to yours.
-Add your events to online event listings. Your local paper, or other local sites, may have a section where you can list your events for free. This builds links, and as an added bonus, you get free publicity!

I'll leave you with a few articles about SEO.
This claims to be a list of basic tips, but it's not; it's a quick run-though of the potential scope of search engine optimization:
http://www.businessinsider.com/10-basic-seo-tips-everyone-should-know-2010-1#monitor-where-you-stand-1

This is one of the nicest bare-bones guides I've seen:
http://ezinearticles.com/?Bare-Minimum-On-Page-SEO&id=1843695

A super-intensive (and graphically excellent!) beginner's guide: (full disclosure: I haven't read it all. But what I read seemed good!)
http://guides.seomoz.org/beginners-guide-to-search-engine-optimization

Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell: a Love Letter

Don't worry, I'm not going to use the direct address. No odes here. But I am going to use this opportunity to talk about some of the many things I love about this book.

Why I love the cover:
I like the striking black and cream, and the simplicity of the design.

I especially like the starkness of the raven.

I love the font. I love the unevenness of it. I love the sharp point on the second stem of the N. I love the sweeping tail of the R. I love the asymmetrical slants on the beaks of the T. (Sorry if the terminology is confusing. Just look at the T and how it is asymmetrical, you'll see what I mean.)

And I love how well the odd, antiquated feel of the cover goes with the content.
Which brings us to...

Why I love the novel:

Pacing. This book doesn't rush; it takes its time revealing character, setting, system of magic, and story. There are footnotes. But by the end, I was utterly gripped. I stayed up until 4 in the morning to finish this book.

True unpredictability. I really enjoy not knowing what will happen, and the events of this book are truly original.

Love of books. It's a pervasive theme throughout the novel, and (of course) it rings deeply true for me.

Atmosphere. Victorian, gloomy, and mystical. Reminds me of the art of Arthur Rackham - check out this site and particularly, this image.

"Getting the magic right." When I read a fantasy book, one of my criteria for rating the book is the system of magic: is it well-conceived? Is it consistent? Essentially, is it believable?

Well, the system of magic in this book is well-conceived and believable, but for me it goes one step beyond that. When I read this book, there's a part of my brain that goes "Yeah! That's how real magic is!" It's much like I feel when I read a book with a child character, and the child character actually behaves like a child. I think "Hey, they got it right! That's what a kid would really do." Well...apparently I believe in magic, and apparently I believe that real magic is structured the way it's structured in Jonathan Strange.

Which is funny, because if you were to ask me, "Hey, Kate, if magic is real, what's it like?" I would describe something completely different. I would maybe have cited "Poison Study" or "The Name of the Wind." But neither of those books rings true for me the way Jonathan Strange does.

My Day in Design, December 2010

So today I carried my camera around and snapped photos of things that caught my eye. It was really fun, and a great exercise as well - it kept me constantly thinking about the many designs and design elements around me. (It also inspired me to become the proud owner of a Flickr account.)

Here's the best of the bunch! I'm hoping to treat you all to this little bit of self-indulgence about once a month.

(This make take a minute to load.)

Font Hatred

My boss recently sent me a link to this article:
http://greatergreaterwashington.org/post/8451/sign-font-will-affect-perception-of-silver-spring-library/

The shocking conclusion? Font matters! (Gee, do you think?)

But what actually struck me was this quote:
"Please, for the love of Gutenberg, do not despoil the facade of this wonderful new building by setting the 40-foot "Silver Spring Library" sign in Arial," pleaded Brad.

Goodness, what a reaction! But this isn't at all unusual - people who care about fonts tend to care A LOT. Case in point: the unbridled hatred of Comic Sans: http://bancomicsans.com/

Personally, I find this hilarious. I mean, Comic Sans is a goofy font, but I think it's goofy on purpose, so what's wrong with that? Of course, like any type of humor, it's appropriate in some situations and not in others.

Here's an article about why designers hate the font:
http://www.thedesigncubicle.com/2008/12/why-exactly-designers-hate-comic-sans/

And a humorous rebuttal: http://trueslant.com/lewisgrossberger/2010/07/09/you-hate-comic-sans-well-i-hate-you-so-there/

I rarely see a good objection to Comic Sans itself, just objections to its ubiquity and comments about situation-appropriateness.

Which brings me back to Arial. I was surprised to find that while Arial does not have a web page devoted to its destruction, it seems to be just as widely despised.

In fact, I found the objections to Arial much more coherent:

http://martigold.com/designblog/?p=18

My first thought in response to all these objections was "Ridiculous! I don't hate Arial!" But actually, I AM kindof sick of it. I like sans serif fonts for many library applications, but I always find myself looking for another font before I'll go with Arial, especially when it comes to large lettering.

I don't know if we'll ever be able to get away from Arial overuse. It's easy to read and widely available. Also, some of our publications were born using Arial Narrow, and it's been extremely difficult to convince my coworkers to consider changing the font. Sigh.

I'll leave you with this brief article about fonts not to use: http://modernl.com/article/5-terrible-fonts-that-you-should-not-use-in-print-design

Now, I think "never" is too strong a word - I use these fonts sometimes - but I still think it's worth reading the article, being aware of the opinions, and starting to think about your font choices.

Apparently this is a big deal?

So if you're seeing pink everywhere, this might be why.
http://www.pantone.com/pages/pantone/Pantone.aspx?ca=4&pg=20821

Interlude: What I'm Reading

The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms and The Broken Kingdoms by N.K. Jemisin

I actually just finished the second book, The Broken Kingdoms. But reading it made me want to reread the first book, so I'm reading The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms right now.

I'm a huge fan of these books. The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms swept me completely off my feet - I was carried away by the story and the characters. At the risk of putting off any male readers, that book has everything a girl could want in a story. Actually, it might be okay if the male readers are put off; I always felt like The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms was a distinctly feminine book. I don't mean in a trashy Twilight kind of way - the main character is a great example of a strong female lead - but the themes, the obstacles, and the inner action create the feeling of a story by women, about women, and for women. It's fantastic.

The Broken Kingdoms is only tangentially related, so The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms can stand on its own; you could stop there if you wanted. The second book explores the world and the system of magic in greater detail. Personally, I think the first book is superior, but I still enjoyed the second book, and I'm excited for the third book to appear.