It takes a lot of work (and a little Photoshop magic) to look this good. For the past five years, I have had the opportunity to craft the image of beauty for one of our long- standing custom apparel clients.

Unlike high-end New York fashion photographers, we work with real mid-western girls, not professional models and shoot 25-30 garments a day. We’re looking to capture energy and personality—a certain pizzazz that enhances the apparel and appeal. In our quest to capture this vitality, sometime hairdos and perfect pleats suffer.

Over the years I’ve learned how to create hair styles that Miss. America would die for, cover-up blemishes better than Cover Girl and smooth wrinkled dresses for a perfectly pressed look. Below is our check-list of what we do to every image to ensure a radiant appearance. We refer to it as the “treatment”, but it’s nothing more than what a day at the spa and a valet could do for you.

• Hair refined and shaped to eliminate fly-aways

• Teeth and whites of eye’s whitened

• Complexion smoothed, to create even skin tone

• Body hair minimized

• Arm pit folds minimized, smoothed and lightened

• Unwanted wrinkles and folds removed

• Buttons and trim are straightened

Removing body hair is much tougher than you probably think it would be. I keep telling our client we should just invest in a case of Nair® hair removal cream, but we never do. So I have tried numerous techniques to minimize the unwanted body hair. Thanks to Google, I found a treatment that worked extremely well. You’ll want to add it to your Photoshop toolbox, http://www.radiantpics.com/skin.pdf

We’ve always heard the sayings “it’s the little things in life that mean the most” and “a picture is worth a thousand words .” Both of these sayings direct to quite simple things that mean much more than the item/act alone. For example, these could be the small conveniences in life like heated seats in a car, or even tiny things from day to day that brighten a mood such as a little surprise note on your mouse saying how fun you are today (also related: building up my ego).

How many times have you heard of an idea or seen a new product and your first thought was “I’ve thought of that before!” or “I could have done that!” MANY of these ideas are simple, so simple that you feel dumb you didn’t think of it first. To go even further, many of these “I’ve thought of that” products can even make your life easier.

Example #1: Yanko Design has created an iPhone case playing off the use of elasticity. Check them out, you’ll wish you would have thought of it.

Example #2: A reusable water bottle (you’re welcome, environment) by Vapur that rolls up for easy storage and transportation when not in use.

Daily, I am inspired by the minds of others, the way others think, the knowledge others possess that I can’t fully grasp. On the other hand, I’m proud of the things that come easy to me that others just don’t understand or seem to generalize. These simple products that others have created keep me guessing, and thinking of the next big idea that I can bring to the table. I have yet to come up with my “ah-ha” product/idea, but I assure you I’ll be working on it.

What products do you regret not being the creator of?

“Willow Shrub” has a special meaning to every member of the Willow team. It’s an endearing phrase used for our “employees” and is thrown around the office and with clients quite regularly. Being a “shrub” is kind of a big deal.

Today’s company-wide Pin Buster Project was a great “shrub” bonding experience and involved creating a framed message board to sit on everyone’s desk. The board, created out of a simple frame and a printed insert, allows everyone to write messages to each other using dry erase markers. The frames allow our “shrubs” to share positive affirmations with each other on a daily basis. What better way to start your day than with a positive note from a coworker telling you why you are such a great “shrub!” This Pin Buster only took us 5 minutes and a few inexpensive frames to bust…but I know it will lead to lots of great messages being shared around the office.

The Project: Framed Dry Erase Message Board
The Participants: All Willow Shrubs
The Results:

Some might say Pinterest is a craze, obsession, or huge time suck, but it is also a great place to find and explore your creative side. Projects ranging from sewing, cooking, painting, drawing, gift wrapping, decorating, and more all provide creative outlets.

Though we are not all designers, we each are creative in our own way, and it is important that we experiment and step out of our comfort zones. In an effort to explore different creative outlets we’ve decided to dedicate one lunch a week to trying our hand at creative projects – that have nothing to do with our work. Pinterest is where our initial ideas will come from, so we’re calling this craft time “Pin Buster Time” and we’ve already identified 3 projects to try.

Today was project one. A necklace made from t-shirts. We all brought in a t-shirt of any color from home. The proper tools were provided by our very own crafty/do-it-yourself girl Sarah. There were the daring ones who brought in t-shirts in bright colors and the safe ones (and possibly more practical ones) who brought in various shades of gray, because, well, gray goes with everything, right?

In doing this, not only did we discover that DIY projects are not as time-consuming and difficult as we think they are, but we also found that taking time away from our desks to explore new creative outlets is a great way to fill us with new energy to put towards the rest of our day.

If you have any crafty ideas you’d like us to try, let us know, and we’ll add them to our list.

It occurred to me recently that the hyperlink is the foundation of the Internet. There would be no Internet if the pages or items weren’t linked together.  Consequently the navigation on any site is easily the most important factor! A site can be the most innovative design ever created, but without threads to tie the pages together, it’s worthless.

When we start a web project here at Willow, one of the very first things we do, even before the designers create beautiful pages, is to create the site information architecture. Utilizing sitemap tools, we create a list of all the pages that will be included in the site. These pages are carefully sorted into categories and the logic of the navigation system is carefully thought through.

Once we have the basic structure figured out, it is up to the designers to make it visually interesting. There are a plethora of sites that have navigation showcases. And when you look through these, it will become clear that the sky is the limit when it comes to navigation design.

Vertical navigation

Horizontal navigation


“Unconventional” navigation

Navigation can add a lot of work to the design and development process. But with solid pre-planning and good organization, the work can be fairly easy and you end up with a website that is remarkable and outstanding.