• Skip to main content

Nancy Fields Graphic Design

Personalized profitable websites for coaches and authors

  • Website
    • Authors
      • Authors Website Templates
  • About
  • Before & After
  • Blog
  • Contact
  • Website Profitability QUIZ

dance

Dancing With Fear

February 2, 2015 by Nancy Fields 1 Comment

Dancing young couple on a white background

Mid-way through Seth Godin’s latests book, What To Do When It’s Your Turn (and it’s always your turn) the words “dance with fear” jumped off the page because dancing is my passion. Soon my mind was filled with memories of walking into my first dance class — in my early-fifties.

It began the day I spoke with my friend, Liz, after a Pilates workout. When I inquired why I hadn’t seen her for a few months she told me she was taking salsa dancing lessons.

“I’ve always wanted to learn how to dance,” I offered, enthusiastically.

Liz gave me Anastasia’s phone number and encourage me to get in touch with her, adding “She’s looking for followers.”

Two days later I walked into my first dance studio.

“Can you believe the room is full of attractive single men who want to dance…and no women? I need to put this on YouTube!” remarked Anastasia.

My dance partners spun me around until I felt like vomiting, but I kept coming back because 20 years prior my ex-fiance, a Parisian, accused me of “dancing like a peasant.” Who needs all those heavy sauces, anyway? And besides, Americans flail around the dance floor like untamed puppies. It’s our God given right!

Still, the fear of looking like a peasant grated on my ego, and fueled my desire. Much to my surprise and delight I soon discovered that the lively music and Latin movement lifted my spirits so high, I felt happy for days afterward — which brought joy into every area of my life, and work.

Do you want chips with that?

Filed Under: dance

Design is…

November 5, 2013 by Nancy Fields Leave a Comment

WordCamp Boston 2013 was held at the impressive Microsoft New England Research & Development (NERD) Center building in downtown Cambridge. The NERD building received a prestigious “green” award, and it truly felt good to be inside this building: great air quality, limited carpeting, colorful restrooms, and community spaces designed with collaboration in mind. It also had spectacular views of the Charles River, which is lined with golden maple trees this time of year. An added benefit was having lunch on the 10th floor and looking out on 20-30 sailboats navigating the river on a breezy Fall day.

Thinking about Microsoft’s NERD building reminded me of a talk at WordCamp about designing for the Internet: “Stop Making Things Pretty & Start Designing,” given by Chicago designer Michelle Schulp.

How would you define ‘design?’

When asked, most people think design is color and composition. It’s that, but so much more. Unlike art, which is a personal expression represented visually, design looks at the whole picture, because design is really about problem solving.

As a designer I work with my clients to help solve their marketing problem. In order to do this, I need to understand the big picture:
1. who they’re trying to attract: their perfect customer’s age, income level, and gender
2. their business model, and
3. what goals they’re trying to achieve: i.e. more sales; greater visibility; and/or message clarity so that more people know who they are and what they do.

As a website designer I focus on:
1. how their website looks to the user
2. how it’s experienced and
3. how it works.

As a problem solver I’m focused on:
1. how well the website communicates, so that any prospective customer can quickly decide if the product or service is what they’re in search of.

Website design in 2014

In late October, 2013, Yelp, Inc. announced that 64% of people using their online service are searching using mobile devices.

Mobile is changing everything because
• time is money
• more than 50% of all web searches are now done on a mobile device, and
• that percentage grows at least 4% every year.

If a website doesn’t download quickly on a mobile device, it will eat away your perfect customer’s data plan. So, today, it’s all about quick downloads and ‘getting to the point’ in under 3 seconds.

Website design, then, must solve the problem of how to communicate quickly and effectively, in order to give the visitor the most positive experience possible.

Design adds value

A well designed office space, like Microsoft’s NERD Center building, can create a positive work environment, plus encourage collaboration and innovation: that equals sales, sales, and more sales. Similarly, a website that’s planned for ease of use, and with your perfect customer in mind will lead to a positive user experience, which in turn, leads to more sales.

Good design is not an afterthought. When done well, it is the big picture that “…inspires and transforms an idea into a blueprint for something that adds value.” (Michelle Schulp)

Filed Under: business, dance, WordPress

Gotta’ Dance

October 16, 2013 by Nancy Fields Leave a Comment

Have you ever said to yourself, ‘if I didn’t see it with my own eyes I would never have believed it?’

I’ve been taking Salsa lessons for the past four years, and Tango lessons for about two. I love to dance. It invigorates and sustains me, so when an email arrived from my Tango instructor saying he’d decided to change things up a bit, and add Salsa to the last hour of the Tango class, I began to count down the days to Tuesday night Tango & Salsa. [Read more…] about Gotta’ Dance

Filed Under: business, dance

  • Home
  • Contact
  • Facebook
  • LinkedIN

Copyright © 2023 · Infinity Pro on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in
This site is not a part of the Meta website or Meta Platforms, Inc. Additionally, This site is not endorsed by Meta in any way. Meta is a trademark of Meta Platforms, Inc.