Gotham Gal 3.0

Comments (Archived):

1. http://gothamgal.com/2014/0…the many things (and more i’m sure) i didn’t know about nyc.it always strikes me how much work is required to achieve simplicity.

2. “his and her blogs” — that’s good 🙂

   1. ha

3. You’ve so inspired me to move to wordpress.I love the simple, clean design of both your blogs.. I do like her colors better though. 🙂

   1. i can’t do red. red is the color of losses

      1. That’s a very finance perspective.In sports, teams with red have been associated with victory and a psychological advantage.

         1. The red on GG’s blog is especially nice. And seems to fit her. Definitely says “win” — and “live boldly”

            1. She is bold

      2. I could never wear a red and white striped shirt to trade in. Never. Psychologists have done some studies with colors. In the military, they don’t use red on screens because it stimulates emotions of fear. I know traders that change the color on their charts and eliminate reds because of that.

         1. Orange is the new red.

            1. Orange and Blue…..Illinois colors and Knick colors-and that school in northern NY.

            2. Beaujolais is the new red, duh.

            3. Actually skin contact is the new white.

            4. Lost me.

            5. Thought I might ;)I just wrote a post over coffee that wine geekiness is the new normal and you’ve proved me wrong within 10 minutes of pushing it live ( http://awe.sm/fK0jf )!My buddies new wine bar is opening in a week so come downtown and I’ll make this clear while you taste what naturally delicious is all about. http://awaldstein.tumblr.co…

            6. yum

         2. UConn.

            1. They crushed ND didn’t they. Wow, Breanna Stewart is a helluva player. Sweet moves around the bucket and carries herself really nice getting up and down the floor.

         3. Red does seem to work for Fast Food and matters of the heart.

      3. It’s not red, it’s burgundy. Geez!

         1. Crimson, dude.Which is hard to say without also saying “Roll Tide”

            1. Or Harvard, which to a Penn guy is annoying. Are you from Alabama? My wife is from Clanton.

            2. Thankfully, no. (No offense to your wife but she will probably understand my sentiment — however, very glad to benefit from the best of the South by marrying into a Southern family without having to actually live there!)My husband is from Pensacola (i.e., LA or Lower Alabama) and did a Masters and played Rugby at U of A — his sister and her husband did their undergrads there — and of course the circle of friends that come with that. So a bit of Crimson Tide in my world.

            3. No, she loves it. We will be visiting her best friend that she lived with for a while next week. Clanton is known as the heart of the heart of the South.Funny story, I’m sitting there with a thin guy nicknamed and only referred to as “Tubby” another guy they call “Rowdy”, and the Patriarch named “Pig” They ask me: “why the hell do people call you Sugar?” Could only shake my head.

            4. Ha! I can envision this. For all my talk, my early years (until age 9 and then visits back to my grandparents) were spent in a part of Southern Illinois that is essentially “the South.” We had those nicknames in my small town: Pig, “Pappy Cat”, Man, “Good Man”, Moochie, Jelly, “Big Wheel”, et al, and a lot of people with the word “Big” or “Little” in front of their name.It’s a culture.

      4. Red is defintely not a NY color, just doesn’t do it for Broadway Theaters Wall ST or VCs.

         1. The Big Apple is not a Granny Smith…

      5. Interesting that Rohan likes the red. He’s in asia I believe.Colors are very cultural.I’m wondering if the major e commerce providers alter their site delivery colors by region along those lines or have done any testing. Or if the color is consistent across the world (by my theory it shouldn’t be).You remember the famous “nova” means “no go” fiasco with GM auto taught in business school I’m sure.http://www.npr.org/2011/10/…(It’s been debunked but it was definitely floating around when I was in school. Regardless there is truth to that).

         1. Rohan is in the U.K. Not for much longer, but that’s his story to tell. 😉

            1. I’m remembering Rohan had a connection to Singapore (which I just verified by looking at his linkedin page).Flag of Singapore show below. (See how easy that was, but in any case Singapore is in Asia).

            2. He is not FROM Singapore. But your point, if valid, would still stick.

            3. There is a flattening of the world from a market perspective. This stops when you think about selling and marketing into Asia. I’ve done it for years. Never done it without an in country partner

      6. RED; Levi’s, Adobe, Toyota, Vodafone, Pirelli, Coca cola, Mitsubishi, Canon, 3M, espn, Quicksilver, Ducatti, Darth Vader’s tube light. People love red, buy “Red” products.

      7. …and of bosses. (think, “power tie”)

4. I like both of them.I’m jotting notes to redo mine. It’s overdue time.

   1. Funny, I was just thinking the other day that I might borrow some ideas from yours. Didn’t you just redo recently.

      1. I’m always iterating.I don’t need a new do as much as a brush off and a rethink, as I’ve considered some new handles for wine and my agency, and contemplating the intersection of these in different ways.

         1. I might have some ideas.

            1. Glad to hear and please do share if you’d like.This is driven by a rethink of my relationships to my businesses that is quickly sorting itself out. Luckily I have a treasure trove of handles and URLs stored away.

5. And her picture taking is really good.Who do you use for hosting & are they also the same? And are you paying more on WordPress hosting than you did before?

   1. Good question.I’m beyond the end of my patience with Blue Host and will change in the lull after my next project ends.

      1. http://inmotionhosting.com/ is has a good reputation and is not expensive. I use them for one of my WP clients and have been very happy with them.

         1. Thanks.Gathering recommendations.

         2. Web hosts are always YMMV. Depends on how much they are overselling their product as well as the others that are on the same virtual equipment. Also most people are not constantly monitoring their sites (and may very well have some of the static portion cached). So it’s not like they will even know when it’s not working correctly.The saying that I remember from 1996 is appropriate “the good provider today is the shit provider of tomorrow”.Especially egregious is any host offering or using the word “unlimited”. If you read the fine print you will see exactly what they mean by that. It means “until we decide you are using to much”.Personally I think if your website (and business email) is important to you (and it should be) you should be finding a solution that is better than one at $5.99 per month.

            1. I used to use shared hosting with Dreamhost which was acceptable until I watched a Google Ventures workshop on page speed. However I had noticed its reliability declining anyways. It seems to me that the way to go these days is either managed hosting (i.e. Squarespace, WordPress VIP) or get at least a VPS at a reputable provider (Linode, etc.)

      2. I use MediaTemple (they were purchased by GoDaddy). I pay $50 and it’s OK, but I would change if there was a better one.

         1. There’s really three pieces to this: Blog hosting–if I loose this for an hour now and again, life goes on. My sites with transactions–an hour is a nightmare. Email domains–the worst one as rules are changing and the hosting companies all basically suck at this.

6. Both blogs are looking great. This past weekend I also made the move from using Tumblr as my blog to squarespace. I almost went with wordpress which I am familiar with but after a bit of research and playing around I decided to try squarespace. So far I love their simplicity and the different integrations they have built. Next task is to actually consistently write!

7. Curious. Did you consider Squarespace, and if so, what gave WordPress the edge?

8. GG blog is looking real good. Is it the color? I like the comments start a lot

9. Blogs are the new water coolers.GG’s comment and tweet buttons outlined in color (more than yours, which are more subtle) read as a call to action, which is great.I have been neglecting blog, but just posted about the Cosmos, and if you are watching the series, then stop by http://bit.ly/OtKVVl. I’m sort of surprised I don’t hear more people talking about it. It has some great updated science from Sagan’s. Also, my co-founder did some astrophysics, so discussions around that part of it are great. We have been geeking out on it.

10. new! improved! nicely done. i’ve switched to medium; i am assuming comments will be extended.https://medium.com/@lauriek…

11. Looks great. Congrats on both.

12. .The graphical presentation of blogs — Alex has it right, watercoolers — is now the realm of real graphical design and its seductive powers.There are a number of new sites (e.g. Harry’s, Bustle come to mind) which are so attractive in their elegant simplicity as to feel like sitting next to a bubbling brook.At first, everything was overload. Too much info, now it’s a bit like caviar. I like caviar.The sheer breadth of the WP offering makes it very difficult to overlook.Fred’s blog: “You look mahvalous!” delivered in your best Billy Crystal voice. [Assist Jeff Carter.]JLM.

    1. Agree that indeed the Wilsons are looking great.The # of blogs that actually cross over into community realm where people hang out is really damn few though. Not getting read but that average over what 40 +comments per post and has both regulars and out of towners hanging around.I’m sure they are there or maybe there are just so many communities you can hang out in.

    2. Harry’s is a really nice site.Totally gets the marketing “shovel the shit” award.To wit:Our team of more than four hundred German engineers, designers, craftsmen, and production workers build and operate sophisticated, custom equipmentNote the emphasis on the word “engineer” going first followed by “designers, craftsment” and then last “production workers”. Missing are any office personnel or management of course. (They don’t need them?). Obviously the last item is the thing they probably have the most of. I mean difficult to believe they have a large amount of what people would consider “engineers”.I’d hardly say the equipment (from the pictures that are on the site) is sophisticated. It’s probably custom of course because it’s not like there are thousands of factories that need to build razors. And in this type of business you are always rejigging things to your likely from existing machines. Anyway it’s essentially manufacturing equipment. This would be similar to if you were buying some old office building and touting a decades old HVAC system as being “sophisticated”.Also stuff like this:We give 1% of our sales and at least 1% of our time to organizations that prepare people for personal and professional success.Isn’t 1% kind of slim for things like this?Of course the best part is the short easy to remember domain name (I own a bunch just like this and along with the name I can throw in my own marketing shovels at no extra cost.)I do like the site. Somehow though the marketing is to slick for my buying tastes [1] although it does work in selling product.[1] Bells and whistles go off. Not like this is Phil Sugars favorite power tools or similar.

       1. .They are selling something so pedestrian and mundane that it may require a bit of mythology to present it well.I am only interested in the quality of the graphical presentation as an exemplar of a “clean” site. I offer no brief for the business.Having said that, I sent a couple of men a set of their stuff and they were wowed. I have a vintage silver shaving set that I use when the mood snags me and still like to lather up. Otherwise I just shave in the shower.I like an old school touch like that from time to time.Old HVAC systems are definitely not sophisticated.JLM.

          1. Having said that, I sent a couple of men a set of their stuffThere is an idea there for sure. Not to send Harry’s stuff necessarily but what to send as a thank you to a business acquaintance that strikes the right balance of quality and price. There is an entire industry (premium and incentives) that deals with this but it’s geared more toward rewarding top sales people and little old ladies opening savings accounts.This is something Brandon Burns could do. A site with a bunch of classy things (or even high tech things) hand selected and shippable all organized simply and presently cleanly. A little bit of Harry’s, a little Sharper image, a little wander and trade.After all there are (as you know) a whole slew of people helping other people on the internet that get little more than a “thanks” in a email for the help that they give. A nice memorable gift every now and then would go over well.

             1. .In the impersonal world of email and texts, the gentle touch of a bit of Old School thoughtfulness stands out like never before.I am a hand written note and small gift kind of guy.JLM.

    3. I believe the word is “mahvalous”

       1. .Nice volley at the net. Well played. Assist credited above.JLM.

13. Really like GG’s new blog look. Seems more her brand than the previous. Wish the links on her Portfolio page opened in a new tab. All external links should open in a new tab, imo 🙂

    1. I loved that she listed her portfolio — that’s new right?Why is it that those pages always make me feel that I am in a candy store?

       1. It used to run down the right rail, as I recall. Though it seems like there are a lot of new additions on the new site.She definitely has some neat ones 🙂

14. gotham gal site design is definitely nice on mobile but it doesn’t work well on desktop for the logo presentation (if you want to call it a logo).The logo is way to overpowering for the page, to large and the fact that “gotham” and “gal” are the same weight, font and kerning doesn’t emphasize the right things. Your eyes are stuck on the word gotham.Emphasis is really “gal” combined with “gotham”. Not just “gotham”.When you first view the page your eyes are drawn toward the word “gotham” not scooped up by the entire concept “gotham gal” or even for that matter the more important part “gal” where the focus should be.I’m not a fan of the color red for this either. That’s more a personal taste issue. I think red is to threatening of a color (great for chinese restaurants combined with gold leaf perhaps).My main point is that the logo doesn’t provide memorability for the blog name or identity for joanne (needs either a picture or a caricature at the top with the logo) to provide some softness and balance.A tag line and/or short sig type blurb would also be a good idea.

15. Well done GG and Nathan! On the theme of wordpress, and curating great content – I’d highly recommend this blog. http://www.chrislema.com/maybe-rea…Might even fit @fredwilson:disqus ‘s investment view of the value of online communities

16. I like it! Though the feed burner url isn’t up to date yet.

17. bam

18. Some great posts on GG’s blog. I especially enjoyed the one about her experience in retail. Also all the food pics made me hungry. 🙂

    1. I’ve made a few of her posted recipes. 🙂

19. how has wordpress become so popular if it takes working with a coder to make even a straightforward blog like this work?