Nur Ahmad Furlong

Category: Design

Latest Work here at nomad-one.com
The last few months have been really hectic for me as I posted here before with a few setbacks but I’m glad to say I’ve bounced back and things have returned to normal. I’ve completed a few nice little WordPress design projects all with their own interesting twists to them. I’m always amazed at just how many really great WordPress plugins exist to fill in the extra functionality needed.
www.strictlyhalaal.com
The first of them, a site which hasn’t launched yet but is pretty much completed is www.strictlyhalaal.com, which serves as a listing/directory site for “halaal” certified businesses.
Strictlyhalaal.com uses a few great free plugins:
- GD Star Rating allows for users to give each listing a rating.
- Collapsing Categories Plugin created that cool expandable category list on the homepage
- Ad Minister allows you to created widgetized ad spaces to add dynamic ads or content
Next up is Learningcurve.co.za
Learning Curve is a dedicated education technology supplier, representing premium brands such as Adobe, Apple, Dell, Autodesk and Toonboom. This was the first time I have setup an e-commerce website using WordPress and proved to be quite a challenge to begin with but also turned out to be a really valuable learning experience, no pun intended.
To power the e-commerce side fo things I used the wp-ecommerce plugin, which is a really powerful yet free plugin system allowing you to turn your WordPress site into an online store in a few clicks. Customizing the online store’s appearance was a bit of a mission for starters but it’s worth learning the ins & outs of this plugin, developed by the boys at www.instinct.co.nz.
I can’t unfortunately divulge the sales figures for the first 2 months, but lets just say I was more than pleasantly surprised. It’s great to see your work directly benefiting your client’s bottom line, especially immediately after it’s implementation.
Last but not least is Duomarketing.co.za
This is the first time I make use of a Woo Theme to develop a client site. I’m very impressed with what the guys at WooThemes are up to, and even more so when I took a little lookie under the hood of one of their themes. The theme options part is really well done, some of the code still boggles my mind a bit, but it allows the user to easily switch stylesheets for a change of colour and style.
The widgetized areas on the homepage works out quite well also allowing you to add pages into certain block of the homepage layout. The cost of the premium theme definitely adds value to the mix as it allows the client to aquire some really great features for a fraction of the cost of cutom development.
March 31, 2009
A sniff at a nomad-one redesign
Being snowed under for way too long as meant that some of the initial elements I wanted to add to the previous re-design of this site were left out. To be honest the design hadn’t lived up to my expectations form the very begining and has some serious usability problems as well. Having lived with version 4 of nomad-one.com for some time now I think a re-design is definitely way overdue. After pondering over where to start for a while I made a few notes ad a few sketches and dove straight into some look & feel mocks in Photoshop. This time I’m planning to develop something which interprets the nomad concept alot more literally, hopefully with a bit of a digital feel in part.
I’m still at wireframe stage but would appreciate some feedback from anyone out there with regards to the little mockup above and also how you think I should improve on my site based on the current design & layout.
So I need to know about:
Colour, Graphic Elements, Layout, Usability, Readability, Functionality and last but not least, Content, the area I think probably needs to most focus.
March 27, 2009
Skye News WordPress Theme by Elevate & nomad-one
Earlier in the year, a well known premium wordpress theme developer(Nathan Rice) announced that he would be embarking on an open source wordpress theme project and that he was looking for designers who wanted to collaborate with him. Of course as a wordpress nut I jumped at the opportunity and offered my services.
I whipped up a this quick design and zipped it through to him a little later. Since then Nathan has been quietly busy getting his ducks in a row with what has now launched as www.elevatethemes.com, a freemium theme project.
The design I sent Nathan has formed the basis for what was released as the first elevate theme called Skye News. Nathan has significantly simplified the design, but has packed some really great features into the coding of this new release which can be demo’ed here.
I think what I’m going to attempt is to download this baby and try to style it to look a little closer to my original design which I will then send to Nathan to add to elevate themes as a Skye News alternative.
Go check out elevate themes yourself and if you’re a bit of a theme design why not chip and and send some designs of your own or offer to code up someone else’s design?
Check out www.elevatethemes.com and gime a shout if you like the theme and need some theme customization.
November 17, 2008
Mail & Guardian online launches new site
Fresh off the back of successful launches of Tech & Sport Leader platforms, the Mail & Guardian online has gone live with a fresh design.
I was tipped off by Vincent Maher and had a little discussion about what they’ve changed and why. It’s clear one of the main areas of focus was content as it should be in a news site. This news site seems to pack in loads more content and fits it all in comfortably.
Usability with a splash of Ajax
Being able to quickly access the type of content you’re looking for is important for a site of this size, and with a nice little ajax slide down you can click right through to just about any part of the site through a hidden menu.
Further down the page the sliding menu of top stories is quite effective though it could help being higher up on the page.
Tabs are used in the sidebar for the “Leader Platforms” and an even more interesting tabbed tag clouds section which allows you to browse popular tags by tag, people and places. It all makes for an adventurous journey through what’s happening in the world around us.

Personalisation is very much a part of it
The login panel is also revealed nice & smoothly through some quick & easy ajax, something I need to apply to a few areas of my own site when I have some time.
Signing up and logging in gives you access to some nifty features like printing multiple stories for research purposes, or following the history of a particular issue and checking out your last accessed story.
I’ve only spent about 20 odd minutes on the site, but can already see some heavy thought and research has gone into what features to add, how to add them and how to tie them all together.
Thinking about Semantics & reader history
I can’t wait for the newly planned feature of suggesting new content based on previous reader history. The site is making a serious move towards the new web in a very understated manner. No flashy frills but lots of power under the hood.
Aesthetics, Branding & User Interface
I initially felt the brand had been lost and that the design could do with a little neatening up, but it seems even this has been researched and considered. Many times designs that are too neat and orderly can become a little dead.
I do however feel that what has been established on Thought, Tech & the other “Leader” website’s has been lost a little on this one. I still feel there is a little room to tighten up the user interface, but it’s a work in motion and I’ve already made a few suggestions like increasing padding very slightly.
Extending in all directions
Something which the M&G online has focused heavily on is diversifying it’s offering. From one starting point the reader can venue off in so many directions depending on their interest and need at any given time. Beside’s the blogs and leader platforms, there are a wide range of offshoots which keeps interest going.
Looking for a job?
Not interested in reading?
Share your African story. Readers can share their own African experience and earn money as well in the African Voices Project.
All in all G&M online have created a space where diverse need are catered for in an intricately woven online space. I’d probably do a few things differently, but this has been a ,mammoth task and it’s always easier criticising from the sidelines.
So what do you think of the re-design?
June 23, 2008
What do you think a Logo design should cost?
I Found the following article very apt with regard to the current perceptions by many business people regarding the benefits of a good logo and what they are prepared to “invest” in it.
Jacob of Just Creative Design wrote Why logo design does not cost $5.00 in which he mentions:
Many people don’t understand either the value a well designed logo can add to their Brand Image or the effort it takes to design a logo which will add that value.
Misconceptions part of the problem
It’s extremely frustrating dealing with clients who don’t appreciate the time, effort and consideration required to develop a logo which does justice to what they are trying to sell. Many people think the designer should go off on their own with a company name and re-appear with a brilliant perfectly suited design.
Briefing a designer is very much about setting constraints, boundaries for the creative process not to cross, which will make for a more targeted and relevant solution.
I have also found people do not want to engage with the design process and expect to see a final perfect design which solves all their problems with actually spending he time to convey to the designer what their business is all about.
My perspective on Logo Design
Logo design or any design for that matter has got nothing to do with guess work. It’s also got little to do with dreaming up great ideas out of nothing. It takes alot of thinking, researching, exploring, questioning and experience to bring together all the elements needed to realise a great looking and functioning logo.
So what do you think a Logo design Should Cost?
What have you paid or have you heard of others paying?
Post your comments below
June 9, 2008
Checkout the new WordPress Meetup site
Heads up. Today is WPCPT3 at the Bandwidth Barn from 4pm – 7pm. We’ve just launched our new theme designed by yours(that’s me) truly and coded by Paul Weingartz who did a fantabulous job. Check us out at www.wordpress.org.za
May 28, 2008