Collages.net approached us with an already wildly successful company and product; from their website: “From posting to printing, Collages.net offers professional photographers a complete workflow solution.” However, they were missing one thing: a blog that would enhance their preexisting services and fully engage their long list of talented clients.

So, Blog What? Design stepped in to provide a variety of solutions for Collages. First we designed a blog, through collaboration with a fabulous in-house design team, that mirrored the original brand and concept of the company’s website. Then we integrated features such as optimized search, poll management, and a unique “photo of the week” section in their sidebar. These options, along with the great tools Wordpress automatically builds into each site, created a blog that is updated nearly every day and receives comments on every post.

Take a look at the work we did for Collages.NET here. 

It’s just about that time of year: the time for fresh new beginnings, baby animals being born (ohhh, how cuuuute), and our favorite: spring cleaning!

1. I’ve been sweeping up around Google, and finding link backs (even from way, way back) for BWD. Here are some of the very kind awards and features we’ve been given.
What I enjoy most are not just the features themselves, but the other sites BWD is placed next to. Thank you very much!

• An award for “Best Web Visual Design” at WebHostingSearch.com in Feburary 2009
• 38 Unmistakable Vector Illustrated Characters from Design Reviver in May 2008
• 31 Creative Examples Of Mascots To Grab Your Attention from virology.tv in November 2008
• “Featured Site” award badge on css based
• “Featured Shot” on BrowserShots Excellent tool, by the way!
• Part of the inspiration - websites collection from Bart-Jan Verhoef
• Part of this lovely Flickr set titled “Interaction Design”
• 70+ Very Impressing Website Header Graphics from httpartist in January 2009
• 20 Sites with Beautiful Character Illustrations - v2 from deziner folio in March 2009 (Who has an awesome tag cloud display!)

2. Blog What? Design will be acquired by a new company in the coming months. I have decided to go ahead with a few members of my team here at BWD and create a new media company to act as an umbrella for all sorts of ventures. BWD will still continue to run in its existing form… but will be slightly revamped in terms of its design and business structure. Look forward for some exciting new ventures and projects from Media Plate Studios!

Also: around five new projects long overdue to be in the portfolio section!

WordPress version 2.6 made it’s debut a month early just two days ago on WordPress.org. This latest version is called “Tyner” after a famous jazz pianist. The screen cast which details the release even has his snappy music as an accompaniment. Take a look!

Don’t feel like watching the video or reading the release post? Here’s what’s new in WordPress 2.6:

• Post Revisions: Wiki-like tracking of edits
• Press This!: Post from wherever you are on the web—easily grab any photo, video, quote, or bit of text from the page you’re currently viewing.
• Shift Gears: Turbo-speed your blogging—download all of your basic WordPress scripts to speed up your blog while you’re working on it!
• Theme Previews: See a theme applied to your site before your audience does.

Contact us to have your blog upgrades to WordPress 2.6 today!

I wonder why my post titles have had so much to do with the current state of the season lately. Either way, Happy Spring!

It’s an exciting time here at Blog What? Design! We are currently taking on new projects for the May - July season. If you are interested in receiving a quote for your project, please contact us. However, please note that we will not be able to complete your project before this time period.

Additionally, our starting prices have gone up from $700 to approximately $1200 per project. Business has been competitive and we would like to provide our clients with the best service possible.

One final note: I have been experiencing an infinite number of problems with my e-mail within that last two months thanks to my transfer over to Gmail. If you have not received a reply, please e-mail me at your convenience.

SO! There’s been quite a bit going on this side of the Hudson lately! I feel like I owe an explanation for the lack of activity. Maybe not, but here’s my life within the past few months anyways:

• Ahmadinjad came to Columbia University amidst great controversy. I had a few hearty political debates with around three cameras in my face at all times (as did every other student that day). Check out some interesting photos from the event.


• I got through my first semester of college! Woohoo! And no. Unless we’re Facebook friends, there are no “interesting photos” so see from that.


• I have reaffirmed my belief that New York City is the best city in the entire world and that every undergraduate who isn’t attending college here is seriously missing out.


• I interned for two months at College Humor as a web developer—owned by Connected Ventures. I subsequently learned that working for free is not cool.


• I became online editor at The Columbia Daily Spectator. Since the beginning of the semester I have launched an entirely new blog network—entitled SpecBlogs—completed many upgrades for the publishing company’s websites, and have many big plans in place! (Including some super awesome web applications never before seen by any other College Daily… no Harvard… not even your ”Crimson” will be putting out stuff as cool as us.


• I hatched up a brand new business plan… which involves fashion and websites; these are very obviously two things I truly enjoy. More on this possibly soon…


• I bought a black fedora and I wear it everywhere.


• … because I have finally started to take on new projects at Blog What? Design and will hopefully be blogging quite a bit more after the semester settles in.

And life couldn’t be happier Anyways, that’s it for now!