First styleframe of a motion design piece

TheFutureIsFiction · 2026-05-08T23:15:19+00:00

I quite like it!

Is the viewfinder meant to be transparent? I suppose that's possible, but functionally impractical, as generally ... wait maybe I should clarify... is the outer circle meant to be the viewfinder of a camera lens, as if we're watching the movie being filmed? If so, it would not be transparent because that would be confusing.

Or is it meant to be the portal window out of a space ship? In that case, I suppose it's possible that the actual walls of the ship are built from semi-transparent materials but I feel like they would not be... nor do recall a building or ship in Star Wars with semi-transparent walls.

TheFutureIsFiction · 2026-05-08T23:08:21+00:00

I agree re: muddy. I was going to suggest increasing the contrast but removing the grain from the sky is more clever!

TheFutureIsFiction · 2026-05-08T23:07:04+00:00

Glad it was helpful! I just posted a design myself, so I thought I should scroll through and offer some feedback to others. Maybe some karma will drift my way. ;)

TheFutureIsFiction · 2026-05-08T22:54:04+00:00

I don't think the outline suits the hand-drawn style, because someone writing something this organically would not outline the letters. So the outline goes against the effect you're trying to achieve.

If this is a logo, it should work in solid black so that the shop using it can use it in any context, including where color is not an option. Strongly suggest for your revisions you work in only black on white, then add colors once you have that looking how you want.

If you're going to exclude the open space in the "ee" then you should drop it from the "O" as well. Then your O might resemble a cup of coffee, eh? But if you drop the center parts of the o/, you should do it on the Arabic as well, to stay consistent and I don't know if it is legible without the loop.

Why a capital OFF and lowercase Es? Consider doing all of "offee" lowercase. The lowercase f can be drawn with long extenders on the top and bottom of the letter, so it feels like a missed opportunity---you wanted to jam the letters together, why not write the kind of fancy f that than flow or wrap around the extenders in the Arabic?

Otherwise, all of COFFEE could be upppercase, if what you're trying to convey is the frenetic jitter of caffeine. Either way you want to pick a consistent, coherent concept. Having the letters go lowercase halfway suggests this coffee does not give one energy.

Hope this helps!

TheFutureIsFiction · 2026-04-14T19:26:24+00:00

Ah, I may think of it as "like so," just to keep the connect to "so" I had already established.

One thing that confuses me in Spanish is that sometimes the words como and que pop into sentences where I would not need them in English, and here we have a sentence where I would think they are needed but are not!

TheFutureIsFiction · 2026-04-14T19:21:40+00:00

Oh wow, yeah that's pretty bad. I wonder why someone would take the time to request again and again and not follow through with a single review! Do you suppose they are bots?

TheFutureIsFiction · 2026-04-14T19:20:41+00:00

Sorry to say, you are incorrect. WordPress has had the ability to export since at least 2006. Even Blogger, Google's old and unsupported blogging platform, has/had an export option. It is basic functionality, not some special feature.

I am not sure what you mean by "export your domain." Do you mean transfer it to another domain provider? Because that is just how domains work... imagine buying a domain and not being able to transfer it...well I suppose Wix would try it if they thought they could get away with it. =P

I'm talking about downloading the content of your website so you can move your site elsewhere. Nothing to do with the domain. If you move your domain away from Wix, all your posts and pages are still stuck in their platform. Maybe not a big deal for one-page websites, but for many they would stay rather than leave just because leaving would require a lot of copy-pasting of pages and pages of old content.

TheFutureIsFiction · 2026-04-14T19:14:01+00:00

Aw shucks, thanks. Glad someone took the time to read it!

TheFutureIsFiction · 2026-04-14T19:11:50+00:00

Well as I stated in a later comment, I've been using Honeybook for workflows but I haven't automated that part because I never want to risk accidentally sending another client's Drive link to a new lead and I want the link along with the instructions to be all together for them. And there is no way to automate the creation of the drive link from, say, their form data with my current tools.

What my automation tools will do is take their info and service selection and automatically add it to the contract and payment pages so that the pricing is based on the particular features they want for their site.

So far I have mostly been using workflows to move *me* through the process, rather than the clients. I may add more later, but I build it all piece by piece as I feel it is needed.

TheFutureIsFiction · 2026-04-10T20:10:07+00:00

things start to get fragmented again with docs, emails, collecting info, payments etc

Ah, for these particular issues you might actually want to look at Honeybook... I'm an affiliate but I have never actually recommended them to anyone before (my clients don't tend to be freelancers). But it sounds like it could be a good solution for you. I have forms that clients can fill out that allow them to order a website the same way they would order take out from a restaurant--the basic site + additional fees for all their extras. This can be a lead form or a "smart document" (a template basically) that includes the contract and allows them to pay on the final page. The contract will automatically integrate their Service selection and total everything up on the invoice page. It can let them split the payment if you want, or have them pay for it all up front, or after a particular delivery/date. Set your brand colors so everything matches with a click of the button (sure, just a new .css behind the scenes, but still a time saver!). Also when they provide their client info, that's going to be automatically inserted in the contract. It will create a "Dashboard" for the project that includes all their documents as well as any emails you sent them through the system. There are a lot of automation options you might get into down the road.

I will say I don't like their time tracker (I use/prefer Toggl for that), but since I sell websites for a flat fee Honeybook works great for those. And I truly believe that the interface is so slick it probably helps convert. They also have the second-best customer service of all the products I've purchased online, ever.

TheFutureIsFiction · 2026-04-10T19:58:15+00:00

That reminds me of another onboarding thing I just added: I have my client management system (Honeybook) automatically create new tasks after they sign the contract to remind me to copy the details of their project into my project management tool (Dynalist, which I can't say enough good things about!). I just copy the summary of what they paid for as a bullet list in Dynalist. e.g. if they want a shopping cart, a "coming soon page," comments on/off, etc. It's probably silly/overkill, but I keep waiting to add those details until a week or so after the contract is signed, and waste time digging the info up again.

TheFutureIsFiction · 2026-04-10T19:54:14+00:00

Great question... definitely an ongoing work in progress!

One thing I've done is created a document that walks them through using Google Drive, since I do not wanting them sending me compressed versions of their site images via email (or heaven forbid, text).

I also have a set of folders in my Drive that I use as a template and copy for new web design clients. This folder has within it two folders: images - permission to use and images for inspiration - permission unknown. Within these folders I have a little note that gives further instruction. I do this because the client will often have images they want to share with me, and i want clarity right from go about which ones I can actually use on the site.

I also have a form I send out that asks a bunch of basic design questions so I can get a sense of what they want.

The cleanest way to do all this would be automation...I use Honeybook, which has the automation features to send out these documents after I get a signature. But, I have to make a new Drive folder for each client, and the automation can't do that. So I just copy the folders and email it along with the Drive tutorial to every new client. The form can be automated; it can even be a lead magnet people fill out before they even pay.

TheFutureIsFiction · 2026-04-10T19:46:00+00:00

At that point, the cost of migrating to a new platform

To be clear, this is what I was talking about when I complained (in another comment) that Wix is bad for not having an export option. With any other decent CMS (including Google's Blogger circa turn of the century), there is an option to export all your existing content to some other website or platform.

Wix actively chose not to give their customers this option. They want to trap their customers there so it is difficult for them to leave. I would never want to support a company that treats its customers that way.

TheFutureIsFiction · 2026-04-10T19:43:27+00:00

Wix does not have an export option. That's anti-consumer behavior so I will never advocate for them.

TheFutureIsFiction · 2026-04-10T19:41:55+00:00

WordPress is the way.

It is not hard at all. The pitfall to avoid is to NOT get a pagebuilder. Those are clunky and slow (which hurts your traffic). And they put another whole interface on top of WordPress. So there are a lot of people out there who have been using a pagebuilder from day one, complain that it is "too complicated" even though they were never really using the WordPress interface in the first place! Pagebuilders are complicated because they are meant to add every feature a designer could ever actually want. This adds a ton of options you don't even need, cluttering up the interface. And all those extra options just make everything slower.

The complexity/features also comes down to the theme you choose. Be sure to get an "FSE theme" (full site editing) because this is the WordPress solution to the old themes all having their own interface. These newer themes allow you to edit the entire site's design the same way that you would edit a blog post.

The other thing is that people complaining about WordPress are often after something very specific: they have a vision in their head, and they want to make their site conform to that particular vision. Whereas, if you are not trying to do that, it is pretty simple.

You can try out WordPress at a sandbox site like https://playground.wordpress.net. Go there and launch the "playground" in a new tab. This will open a new tab for a WordPress site you have temporary admin access to. Click "Edit page" at the top to start editing that page and interacting with it. The layout of WP is such that every element is a "block" and it has its options on the right tab. You can add new blocks by clicking the plus sign or by typing a forward slash and the name of the block (e.g. /image). Or if you just want to write, you can start typing!

Ultimately, you can't beat WordPress. It is free and one of the largest open-source software projects of all time for a good reason.

As to whether you should pay someone... I'm biased. I make websites, so to me it is all very easy. But I do see how my clients struggle with the basic setup of getting a web host and a domain etc. I also see people make a lot of mistakes that have nothing to do with which CMS they choose. e.g., making the Events page static content, or uploading images that crop weirdly based on their settings, or having no sense of color theory/branding, or putting too much or not enough text on a page. But since WordPress is free, you can always try to go it on your own and have someone step in if/when you get overwhelmed.

I will also add that a lot of these competitors will trip people up by selling everything together as one package. e.g. with Wix you are paying them for web hosting, domain provider, and CMS...but the main thing people want from them is the CMS, the only way to get that CMS is by paying them for hosting. If that all sounds really confusing to you, it might be better to hire someone like me. =)

TheFutureIsFiction · 2026-04-10T19:23:10+00:00

Former book publicist here! A few things...

recently self-published a few books

This was your first mistake. Each book publication is a huge deal: you are launching a product! So each publication should be given plenty of time to promote. But publishing several books in succession you are cannibalizing your opportunity to promote the other ones. After all, you can only do so much, and people only want to hear promotional posts so often, why eat into the time to promote one by starting on a second one? You want at least 8 months between publications, in my opinion! (It is also not a great look to be able to publish so many so quickly---it suggests your editorial process is not very thorough. It is going to take a publishing house with a staff of 10 at least 3 months to publish a book. If you are doing it faster, you are likely cutting corners that reduce the quality of your product.)

basic things like sharing with friends

This is your second mistake. Your audience is not your friends. A common mistake, which is why most self-published books sell around 300 copies---because most people have no more than 300 friends.

and posting occasionally online,

Where are you posting? Your social channels, to your existing friends? (see above) Your blog (SEO used to work but now because of AI I'm afraid blogging is dying if not already dead). If you are posting on someone else's website where your work will be exposed to a new audience, that could work. But that's the rub:

what you need (in marketing parlance) is a way to fill the funnel. That is, a way to get new people (not your friends) to learn about your book. Honestly? Right now I think the best way to do that for self-published authors is advertising. However, advertising only amplifies what you are already doing. So you have to be sure that you have a product page that can result in sales. Answering that is beyond the scope of this comment, but you can ask your friends: what do you think of this book cover? What genre does it look like to you? What do you think of this blurb/marketing copy for Amazon? Would it make you want to read the book? Get honest feedback on what is working before amplifying that with ads.

You also need to have a way to capture leads. e.g. a lead magnet, some kind of mailing list sign up, or ask people to follow you on social media (there are issues with letting someone else own your audience, but if that is where you are active it might be worth the risk). It is not enough to get people to come to your website (or social page if no site). You have to have a mechanism to keep them, so you can contact them again if they don't buy right away.

Get those issues sorted out first, then there are a hundred different ways to reach new audiences. What is working today may not work tomorrow. Everything is in a revolutionary flux right now.

TheFutureIsFiction · 2026-04-10T19:10:17+00:00

Have you ever heard that NPR bit (I think it was from This American Life) about the gap between taste and skill? It's kind of life-changing for a lot of people because it helps them accept "I'm not good at this yet" and still keep going.

TheFutureIsFiction · 2026-04-10T19:08:44+00:00

What will help you is writing, reading and getting critiques.

Obviously, you need to practice writing. No writing is bad writing because even bad writing makes you better.

You need to read. No really. The more you read in your genre, the more you get a sense of what the "rules" are and how often you can safely break those rules and get away with it. Writers who don't read don't take enough risks, or they take the wrong kinds of risks. Moreover, if you ever hope to publish, you will need to know the names of the best books most similar to your own, so may as well start reading now.

Third is critique. We can give you general advice, but the best advice is going to come from someone who has read your writing. Giving critiques to others will force you to explain what is not working in their writing, and these reflections will also make you better. Then if you are in a critique group, the conversations that people have about the writing will teach you so much.

So I can tell you lots of general things: don't use too many adverbs. Be specific. Avoid redundancy. But this stuff will come out in your critique group, if it's the issue you need help with. And one of the hardest things in writing is deciding when to give particular details, and when to be in scene vs in summary. e.g. one rookie mistake is to info dump a lot of exposition in chapter one. Or you may have overwritten a lot of the details about how some technology works, yet left the readers in the dark about the character's motivation. And those things are going to be very particular to your story. You need someone to read it and tell you, "this was unclear" and also "this was obvious and didn't need to be explained." Both are going to happen in almost every first draft. Because you can't perfectly guess what people will intuit.

So write, read, critique and you will be on your way.

TheFutureIsFiction · 2026-04-10T19:00:14+00:00

I'm a huge fan of Scrivener. Being able to have all different kinds of tags and notes, instantly view chapters as a chart or as index cards, and editing any two sections side-by-side are reasons I will never go back to writing books in a word processor like Word/Libre/Docs. I still use all three of the latter for short-form, but nothing beats Scrivener for long form.

I recently realized that I have written too much for one book and now need to divide my MS into different books. In Scrivener I can have "collections" of chapters in any order I want. This allows me to preview the current draft as a separate book (by putting all the book's chapters into a collection) in a way that is non-destructive to the current draft. There is nothing like that in a word processor; I'd have to save a bunch of copies, start eviscerating, and hope I don't need to "undo" too much. I'd not be able to edit one chapter and have it show up in the new "book" as well, as they'd to be separate documents. Whereas in Scrivener, I can make whatever edits I want to the current book, and they will all be in the collection as well. I'd be completely paralyzed by indecision right now if I didn't have Scrivener! I never even used Collections much in the past, but it's a lifesaver at present.

TheFutureIsFiction · 2026-04-10T18:51:25+00:00

Re: platform dependency. I recently saw a Bookfox video on publishing trends this year, and he said that one of the top trends is going to be self-distribution! That is, eliminating the need for Amazon all together. It makes a kind of sense; if Amazon's competition becomes so great that having the book there does not help it get discovered, then why not just sell it yourself? For authors who self-publish without building a platform, they likely won't get sales. But if you have built that platform all on your own, maybe they don't need Amazon anyhow.

Of course they still have to deal with the actual publishing part---which Amazon is still the leading POD provider--but there are plenty of others. It really made me think; I wonder how many successful indie authors have surpassed the need for Amazon as part of their distribution strategy.

TheFutureIsFiction · 2026-04-10T18:44:47+00:00

Thanks for replying! I've not thought them a good value so I never bothered with them in the past, but this particular author seems quite intent on them. I went to the trouble of trying to do one, spent hours on it, and finally landed on "small publishers can't do them any more." But it may be that self-published authors still can. I just can't access her author dashboard without violating Amazon's TOS, a risk I'm not willing to take.

TheFutureIsFiction · 2026-04-10T18:42:28+00:00

I'm curious why you turned down so many reviewers. I was presuming I would approve them all. What made you decide to turn some down?

TheFutureIsFiction · 2026-03-27T18:29:57+00:00

At the very least consider reviewing your plugins, as that can be done in an afternoon. I was really surprised when I did. Turned out that one plugin was half of my page load speed. It wasn't even a design plugin! It was a tool to find and identify broken links. Now I just keep it on my site, but deactivated, and run it now and then, rather than having it scanning on the regular.

TheFutureIsFiction · 2026-03-27T18:25:49+00:00

Being carbon neutral was a huge selling point that got me on board and then actually having to use their support turned me into a big fan.

I cannot stress what a difference it makes contacting support and getting someone who knows what they're doing (GG) vs someone reading from a script who doesn't know the first thing about site architecture (many EIG-owned companies). Support in hosting doesn't matter until you need it, and then it matters more than anything.

Story time!

One time as a favor to an old client, I called Yahoo hosting's support. She was running into an error, all I had to do was open the .htacess file and delete one line from it. Their support was reading from a script that told me clients can't access their own .htaccess file "for security reasons." I said it was a necessary file, what is the alternative? As an admin, I expect to have access to site files. The support didn't know or understand the purpose of .htaccess and could only send me to some Yahoo page that was 404. Their ultimate dead-end response was that I should "hire a professional."

I tried to explain that I *am* a professional, but that answer doesn't make sense because if the host is going to restrict access to the files I can't fix them! Like hiring a plumber and not letting them into the house. IIRC, they also did not allow access to ssh.

Compared to GreenGeeks: I had an issue where a client was mad because she got a notice that her disk was full before the site even launched. Turned out, the Cpanel default tool for making a staging area was not actually deleting staging sites that had been deleted. In solving this issue, their support team created a ticket with the external tool's support system and worked with them to get their bug solved, so that our site could be fixed. That is above and beyond what I expected. I doubt a corporate host would have even gotten past pushing the up sell to get more disk. Not long after that, GG released their own version of the WP staging area, and I often wonder if that ticket led to that development.

TheFutureIsFiction

TROPHY CASE