Galxyz (pronounced: galaxies) is an intergalactic, scientific adventure that takes kids across the galaxies as they unlock curiosity particles in their quest to battle the evil King Dullard. The game is designed for grades three through twelve, and the players learn scientific concepts – such as gravity – as they advance through the various levels, while also developing their problem solving, collaboration and creativity skills.

Galxyz is the brainchild of Osman Rashid, whose previous startups include Chegg, a textbook rental service, and the educational software platform Kno. Backing the Galxyz venture is Relay Ventures, Andreessen Horowitz and Emerson Collective.

Royal Deer Design is proud to be working with Osman Rashid, providing web design and web development support: www.galxyz.com.

At Royal Deer Design we have the pleasure of working with Dan Smith, who as you may know, can teach you guitar.

We are excited to announce that over the weekend we launched his brand new, custom built, responsive WordPress website, which you can find at DanSmithGuitar.com.

Dan Smith flyer in a Chelsea deli

Dan Smith Website before redesign:

After redesign:

Our Public Notice in  The West Sider:

And an another one in NY Law Journal:

Here are a few mistakes that small business owners can do when it comes time to start putting together a new website.

1. Take the time to learn your target market.  Instead of putting the primary focus on getting a website posted as fast as possible, take the time to learn who would want to use or buy your service or product.  From there you will be able to think of a better design.
2. A web design that is too flashy or busy.  The goal for the ideal website is for visitors to be able to find what they are seeking within three minutes.  Also, you will need to take into consideration visitors that use their mobile devices to view websites.  A busy website will be too hard to view.
3. What do customers do next?  Many websites are informative, but there is no direction.  A website needs to tell the customer where to go next if they want the service or product.  Purchasing the product or service, contact us, or subscribe to a newsletter?  Have a destination for your potential customers.
4. Do homework before hiring someone to design a small business website.  Have an idea of a budget and understand you get what you pay for.  If you pay very little for your site, you might expect just that.
5. Don’t get complacent.  Your site needs to have fresh content and have weekly changes.  When a website stays the same for long periods of time, people get bored and lose interest.

To avoid these common mistakes always take your time and realize that rushing and doing to many things yourself can be harmful.  A good website is put together in time and it has all of the necessary research completed to ensure the site is fluid and functioning.

Flat design consists of a few key components that make this design so simplified.

With the proper fundamentals and the ability to break down the barest elements, minimalist design is achievable and getting in touch with the current trends is simplistic.  Here are a few examples that will help a web designer get the simple web design appearance.

Less is More – this statement was popularized by architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe.  The goal is using less to achieve more of an effect, which will achieve a simplistic yet functioning simple web design.

Omitting Needless Things – only focus on things that contribute to the content or function.  A terrific example is a simple grey background.  With simple typography and minimal effects, a website can have the simple flare that is desired.

Subtract Elements – crafting a simple website can also be achieved with subtracting elements until the site just doesn’t function anymore.  A great way to get this appearance is a simple single column body with a three-column footer.  Anything taken or added from this look would make the site less user-friendly.

Making Details Count – the most important fact about details is making each individual is a vital contribution.  Minimalist web design can be funky, yet modern and clean with sophistication.

Color – minimalist web design takes on a very interesting approach when color is added.  The right color or accent will be able to make the design of the website ideal.  The color white is also the backbone to any minimalist website.

Minimalist web design has been around for a very long time, and there are plenty of trends to this unique design.  The key is taking away from a website to the point it’s lifeless, then bringing back subtle hints until the desired look is achieved and of course – user-friendly.

How does matchist work? Imagine being a freelance developer or a development shop that can now focus on actual work instead of trying to scout out jobs and dealing with all of the legal and payment process. Not only are developers able to have better time management, but the projects are all specifically matched to their skills and experience levels. Matchist takes pride in making sure each freelance developer and/or development shop is the real deal in their particular field and even checks with former clients during the screening process. The overall screening is to make sure freelancers and shops can be given a job and it’s successfully completed.

Entrepreneur Stella Fayman is no stranger to development when it comes to being a part of a new company. She was a founding member of FeeFighters, a venture backed payments startup which was acquired by Groupon in 2012. She also was the co-founder of Entrepreneurs Unpluggd, a website dedicated to entrepreneurship education. A column in Forbes and she was also recently named one of Crain’s Chicago Business “20 in Their 20s.” Therefore, she has a strong background in developing and executing an idea. She and co-founder Tim Jahn saw a terrific opportunity to better assist great projects and recruit top of the line candidates for the completion of each development project.

Royal Deer Design is looking forward to all of the projects headed our way and will continue to strive in quality work with our client’s best interest always being our number one priority.