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Heidi-Ho Neighborinos!!!

By
Services for Real Estate Pros with Durgle

Mingalaba, ActiveRainians! My name is Craig Keller and I'm the new kid on the block here at ActiveRain. Today is my first day as the new Visual Designer. I am a designer, which almost guarantees that I have the writing skills of a well-trained chimpanzee... This is especially true in my case. Anyhow, I have been designing websites and user interfaces for 9 years; the last 3 1/2 as a self-employed freelancer. I learned how to use Photoshop when still had a version number on the box (version 6.0 to be exact). I started out designing graphics as a hobby, mostly horrific photo montages with graffiti fonts and superfluous use of the "Satin" Blending Option. It was horrible, but I didnt think so at the time. Gradually my work stopped inducing seizures, and became less and less frightening to small children. Once I had a grasp on the principles, I took it and ran. I am a student of my craft, this is what I do for fun, this is my passion, this is my life's purpose...


So, I've been sitting here for the last 45 minutes staring blankly at the screen, re-reading and re-writing the same paragraph over and over. I think what I'd like to do is do a little sharing with you; because after all, sharing is caring and what I care about most as a designer is the user. I'd like to begin our little sharing pow-wow by talking about what I love in design for the web. I love clean user interfaces, plain and simple. To me, there is nothing quite like a clean user interface with tasteful use of white space, pixel perfect graphics with attention paid to details like texture, layout, and lighting. I am also a firm believer in usability; I pride myself on my ability to design interaction. I look at every interface that I design from a user's perspective not just before deploying it, but from the get-go... im talking when im sketching it out in my canson notebook. I HATE visiting websites that pay little to no attention to how a user will interact with their site. It is crazy to me. Like when a website tells me how to interact with their site in a way that isn't logical, or forces me to click excessively to achieve a simple task (UGGGHHHH). Because I HATEEE poor interaction design so much, I make sure to think through each and every design thoroughly to make it as elegant, and efficient as it can possibly be. I am very passionate about my work, and I am very excited to be here at ActiveRain and given a chance to share my work with you.

Comments (70)

Jeremy Blanton
Myrtle Beach Homes Blog - Myrtle Beach, SC
Myrtle Beach REALTOR®- myrtlebeachhomesblog.com

Welcome to the team man!  Glad to see I am no longer the only east coaster.  BTW, did Bob, Jon, or Jeff tell you about the initiation of new staff members?  It was really brutal on me.

May 27, 2009 05:16 PM
Jina St James
St James Team: The Cutting Edge, Realtors - Colorado Springs, CO
The Key to Your New Home

Craig...glad to have you on here. It is nice to have someone that has a sense of humor. Gotta Love that

May 27, 2009 06:36 PM
FN LN
Toronto, ON

Craig, welcome aboard to ActiveRain.  I look forward to your UI enhancements.  When you make your enhancements, don't do it the way Microsoft enhances their UI in Microsoft Office.  Microsoft loves to take one-step actions in older versions and convert them into multi-step actions that are less intuitive and more time consuming.

May 27, 2009 10:44 PM
Judy Jennings
Top Agent Plus - Middleboro, MA
Tap into Judy's real estate expertise & resources.

Heidi-Ho to you too Craig. It looks like we are in for an adventure and I am looking forward to seeing what unfolds. Welcome to AR.

May 28, 2009 12:06 AM
Chip Jefferson
Gibbs Realty and Auction Company - Columbia, SC

Hello Craig and welcome aboard. I am looking forward to seeing some clean design here. No devils or demons ok?

May 28, 2009 12:10 AM
Larry Story ALC
Total Care Realty - Greensboro, NC
Beneath it all is the Land, Covering all of NC

Craig welcome to the Rain!  I also look forward to your work here on AR.  I am sure you will bring a fresh look to what many of us think of as a virtual home.

May 28, 2009 12:14 AM
Bill Gassett
RE/MAX Executive Realty - Hopkinton, MA
Metrowest Massachusetts Real Estate

Hi Craig ~ Welcome to Active Rain. You have joined a great team!

May 28, 2009 12:40 AM
Missy Caulk
Missy Caulk TEAM - Ann Arbor, MI
Savvy Realtor - Ann Arbor Real Estate

Welcome to AR, what a day to start with all the glitches. Glad I got my commenting in early yesterday. I just tried to comment on Brad's post about the glitches and his post wouldn't let me, so guess there is a few left.

May 28, 2009 12:49 AM
Joe Pryor
The Virtual Real Estate Team - Oklahoma City, OK
REALTOR® - Oklahoma Investment Properties

Your dad must have watched the Steven Allen Show. Louis Nye, one of the men on the street used to greet Steve with Hi Ho Steverino! I am going to youtube to see if i can find the clip.

May 28, 2009 01:45 AM
Patricia Aulson
BERKSHIRE HATHAWAY HOME SERVICES Verani Realty NH Real Estate - Exeter, NH
Realtor - Portsmouth NH Homes-Hampton NH Homes

Glad you are one of us.  Good Luck and welcome!

Patricia Aulson/Portsmouth NH Real Estate

May 28, 2009 01:59 AM
Tim Maitski
Atlanta Communities Real Estate Brokerage - Atlanta, GA
Truth, Excellence and a Good Deal

Welcome, I hope you are successful here.

I'm hoping that  your layout design is better than the layout of this post.  Where's the white space? It's very difficult to read that wall of words.  I'm sure you just wanted to get something up quickly and forgot about the visual design of this post. 

May 28, 2009 03:23 AM
S&B Real Estate Team
Capstone Washington Real Estate, LLC - Vancouver, WA

Welcome to AR Craig! Looking forward to the positive changes you'll be bringing to the site!

May 28, 2009 03:42 AM
Home Loan Search.Online
Home Loan Search Online - Newnan, GA

Welcome to AR. You are a much better writer than any chimp I've ever met. I'm looking forward to seeing your designs.

May 28, 2009 06:03 AM
Laraine Shape
Comey & Shepherd Realtors - Glendale, OH
Selling Cincinnati...one kitchen at a time

Craig - You're weird.  We need more people like you here on AR.  Is there really a road called Long Cow-Filled?  And if so, how did you manage to get the first house there?  Laraine 

May 28, 2009 06:43 AM
Lisa Glowacki
Lisa Glowacki - Rhode Island & Massachusetts - Tiverton, RI
Real Estate Broker - RI & MA

Hey Craig, Welcome and nice to meet ya.

May 28, 2009 07:04 AM
Jon Zolsky, Daytona Beach, FL
Daytona Condo Realty, 386-405-4408 - Daytona Beach, FL
Buy Daytona condos for heavenly good prices

Craig,

66 welcomes, not bad by any means. If you are very successful, you will be "punished" by way more comments in the future, sort of like Active Brad, who is simply overwhelmed by the comments.

Good luck to you

May 28, 2009 07:22 AM
TIM MONCRIEF
Tim Monciref - Austin, TX
Over 2,000 homes sold…..

Welcome!  Wild pic... Love it.  Try using HTML and imbed pics for pop.......

May 28, 2009 08:23 AM
Don Fabrizio-Garcia
Fab Real Estate - Danbury, CT
Owner/Broker/Trainer - Fab Real Estate

Are you really in New Fairfield?  So am I. 

May 28, 2009 12:23 PM
DriveBuy Technologies
DriveBuy Technologies - Austin, TX

Yes Craig! Give our sore eyes some relief from this aesthetic nightmare! JK, but there is always room for improvement! 

May 30, 2009 11:45 AM
Bob Stewart
ActiveRain - Seattle, WA
ActiveRain Ambassador

YES!!!!!!!

Glad to have you on board Craig.

May 30, 2009 02:19 PM