listen up

Our thoughts

Okay, real talk, blogging often is hard shit. We care so much about you and your time. We don’t write posts for the sake of writing posts. If we have a passionate topic, you’ll see it here. Otherwise trust we are probably just busy making something great for the citizens of the interwebs.

Inspiration from everything

As designers, we like to say inspiration can come from anything. The following video showcases just this. Mine Kafon is a project from Massoud Hassani, a designer who grew up in Kabul. Using childhood toys, he modeled a land mine detonation device. It’s fascinating to see how much like his toy the final result is.…

Read more

Why should my company blog?

We build WordPress sites here at factor1. We love using it, and love what we can do with it. WordPress is most commonly known for its blogging tools, but has really risen to the top for Content Management Systems (CMS). I recently saw some stats that WordPress now powers 22+ million sites, and 40% of…

Read more

Email newsletters and you. A true story.

So often we all get busy, and our once monthly newsletter goes the way of quarterly, then yearly. It’s okay. Admitting you have done this is the first step to recovery. No judgment from us, we have the same issues. But lets talk about why email newsletters are important, and how you can best manage your newsletters.…

Read more

5 tips to planning a website that works

Planning a website can be a big task. All the content, users, ideas, and don’t forget the SEO and images. Pretend your friend Tom just remodeled his house. An amazing kitchen, knocked out down wall and turned a spare bedroom into space for the master bathroom and closet. Now you see how happy they are,…

Read more

letting creative flow

Just a great example of a big, giant, corporate site, having some fun. Lowes.com has a promotional banner highlighting their new paint calculator. The focus is partially on wasting less. So what better way to highlight that message than show some wasted paint. Dripping down the entire home page.   I applaud their creativity and…

Read more

Where do I set my user photo?

Many of our sites run wordpress. We loooove wordpress around here. But a common question we hear, is where does the users profile photo come from? In comments, author biographies, etc. Easy answer.  We rely on the Gravatar system created by wordpress. Gravatar, or a “Globally Recognized Avatar” is an image connected to your email…

Read more

Walking the tight line

Sometimes we get busy. Sometimes very busy. I can personally attest to this. I’m pretty sure most of March and April flew by me in a blink. Oh I know stuff happened. Projects, birthdays, trips, events, but it’s a blur. Not sure about you, but when I get busy, I focus in. I skip social…

Read more

Fire the committee

Fire the committee. No great website in history has been conceived of by more than three people. Not one. This is a deal breaker. – Seth Godin. This statement is true in so many aspects. Look at politics, giant companies, churches, and non-profits. The more brilliant people in a room, the more no one can decide a single…

Read more

Sopa & PIPA. A Cause for Concern

Lets pause today for a copyright, legal rights, and the internet conversation. We are creators of content, hosts of sites, and believers in free speech. So first off, we don’t normally take political sides, and neither bill is specific to one political party. The Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and the Protect IP Act (PIPA)…

Read more

The importance of mobile friendy websites

The internet use on a smart phone may be one of the fastet growing modes of communication and consumption we have ever experienced. The overall adoption rate is growing faster than radio, tv, and the internet experienced. In some countries the internet is really only available on mobile phones, like in sub sahara Africa for…

Read more