About pixelingo
pixelingo is a small studio founded by Carolyn Wood, providing user-experience focused writing, editing, and content/creative strategy for businesses (micro to massive), nonprofits, (as well as site design and other services for artists). Based in a grey, drizzly, secret hideaway, we have clients from Japan to New York to Belgium. Welcome to our unwebsite, the long and skinny site, the site that Time forgot.
Contact
Twitter: @carywoodfor more information about our services.
pixelingo's Philosophy
If you'd like to use my web services, I take my job seriously—and work on every detail until the page cries out for mercy. But, working on the web (or for print) should be fun, even when the subject matter is all business. I want to laugh, to create, to solve puzzles, and to enjoy the collaboration. Not a laugher? There are scads of people out there who'd love to work with you, drain the very life blood out of you with everlasting dreary meetings, and make you jump through countless hoops. Creating a great site, though it requires some sharp thinking and clear, enthusiastic communication, should be much easier than that. The only hoops around here are of the Hula variety.
I admit I have a few rules. For example, jargon and business buzzwords are strictly forbidden. If you simply adore words and phrases such as “leverage” and “deployment of the strategic geegaw,” I'm not your gal. I insist on every detail being Just Right and Very Professional, but corporations and their customers are made of real, live people who are no more interested in plowing through thick, unreadable filler than anyone else. Instead, let's have an adventure with words, pictures, stories, interaction, and share it with your visitors—we'll aim for just enough so that they eagerly return, plates licked clean, saying, “More, please!”.
Recent Projects
Writing and Working on Ligature, Loop and Stem site
Scott Boms and Luke Dorny, founders of the design consortium ButterLabel, are men with a love of type and design—and a drive to be free to express themselves creatively when they work. They've just launched the delightful site Ligature, Loop and Stem, where they offer original limited edition typography-related pieces. Delicious. Their initial focus is on the ampersand and my prediction is that these will be snapped up like homemade waffles with a side of crispy bacon.
Working on creative ideas and text was pure, groggy, late-night joy. Collaborating with Scott was a dream. Hmm, maybe it really was a dream. I should go check. So should you. Oh, and don't forget to look for the three Easter eggs. Fun! Keep your eye on this site. When you're cryin' in your beer because you missed out on these very small editions, don't say I didn't warn you.
Writing for the Duoh! site
Just about everyone in the world who creates top tier websites has heard of Veerle Pieters or seen her stunning blog, logos, illustrations, and sites. Along with her partner in life and work (in Belgium), Geert Leyseele, they've finally squeezed in just enough time in a packed schedule to redesign Duoh!, their company site. They came to me for fresh words about their business, and writing that reflects who they are and what potential clients want to know about working with them. I wrote the main text and headings, contributed some ideas, and only went into the individual portfolio descriptions to do some tidying up. I also may be contributing an article once in a while to their news section, especially if days suddenly last 36 hours. This was a wonderful project full of brainstorming, laughter, and a common obsession with details and love for what we do. I learned a few things along the way about them. For example, they designed the logo for an airline in Spain. Can you imagine seeing your work in all its glory on the side of an airplane? Also, that man Geert is a formidable member of the team, not a shadowy figure in the background.
Of course, every site requires different text, if it is to be true to its brand, story, personality, or offerings. The writing I did for this site was distinctly Duoh! both in tone and in the information we chose to include. Not only would I write something quite different for a manufacturing company—I'd write something quite different for another web design company. As I say in the section I wrote about the project for Veerle's blog, in general I strive for lively authenticity.
In conclusion, lucky me! See Veerle's blog for our description of the project, and see their gorgeous new site.
Other Web Work
I'm currently working (or have been working fairly recently) with FurtherAhead (that smart guy Derek Featherstone's company), the incomparable Veerle and her company Duoh! in Belgium, the wonderfully talented Elliot Jay Stocks and Jon Tan in the UK, Lea Alcantara of LeaLea fame, the lovely Dan Rubin and his brother Alex Rubin, the mighty men of Method Arts (Mark Bixby and Brian Warren), gorgeous and geeky Stephanie Sullivan, and other champions of the web standards and accessibility world. I'm also working directly with artists (I. Love. Artists.) and businesses, including the ginormous Sabre Travel Network. Interested in working with me? Just zip an email in my direction.
A List Apart
I have just decided, after three spectacular years on the editorial staff, to move on from the venerable A List Apart, the mother of all web magazines, founded by the legendary Jeffrey Zeldman. My title was Acquisitions Editor, and just recently Director of Acquisitions. I looked for and worked with prospective authors for the magazine. Before joining up with ALA I was editor in chief of Digital Web Magazine for a few years. I had the enviable opportunity in both cases to work with great talents, find and nurture new talent, and constantly learn from people who know what they're talking about. And stay up too late at night. And have discussions about em dashes.
About This Site
This is the section in which geniuses like my friend Jonathan, at snook.ca, regale us with the story of the development of their sites, and how they used highly technical languages so frightening in their complexity that they would make me burst into tears. So, here goes: pixelingo, although technically valid, and using markup and code that is certainly good enough for mere mortals like, well, you and me, was constructed using XHTML, CSS, a can of sardines, a rusty bar of soap, three slightly burnt marshmallows, a jackhammer, and a dusty tablet of Purple Haze that I found under one of our sofa cushions along with two Cheetos, a penny, and a saliva-encrusted dog toy.
Copyright © Carolyn Wood. All Rights Reserved.