Down To Earth, And Being People Focused

I've got sick and fed up of pretending to be something I'm not. I'm a sole-proprietor, I don't have a staff. Enormous ego at times sure, but staff? - no. At the same time, I think it's time to 'personalize' Floating Point and to communicate to the population that it's a friendly service that I provide. There are any number of non-descript 'is there anybody home' websites there. I want people to visit Floating Point and feel the enthusiasm for decals oozing from the page, and that there is a warm-bodied person behind it.

So, I'm gradually working through the web-pages, swapping 'us' for 'me', 'we' for 'I' and basically making it very down to earth. I hope that in doing so the 'personal' touch comes through and that people feel more comfortable approaching FPDI out of the blue.

Consequently, I'm gradually removing all the 'mydesign@' and 'info@' vague email addresses that just scream 'bottomless pit'. They'll be replaced with links to my personal box, which of course is 'leighton@fpdimages.com'. I'm sure this will attract spam like there is no tomorrow, but I don't care. I don't like emailing 'info@' - there is no connection to a person, I can't think for the life of me why anyone else would want to either.

Moving on. I've been delighted to provide Janet Parke with numerous samples of my fractal printing service, by her invitation no less. I'm very excited about this as Janet is a recognized leader and skilled teacher in the world of fractal art.

It occured to me that if someone is printing an image that is very precious to them, then they want someone to care. Servers don't care, a typical shopping-cart website is like talking to a brickwall. So I pulled out all the workflow that involved people talking to servers to make their purchase. There is a place for efficientcy - so the online purchasing still exists in most other parts of the store, but I recognize that fractal printing needs something 'different'.

Instead, people are now directed to contact me directly, and I'll do all the legwork for processing and receiving payment of an electronic invoice.

I'm hoping that this will be a much more personal experience for my clients. I'm sure I've alienated those people who do just want to talk to a server and get through as quick as possible, but I think most people want a bit of acknowledgement. That is to say, that someone - not something - is going to make sure it gets done right. The medical world has known about this for centuries - it's called 'bedside manner'.

Well, that was quite a long post, and I need to turn in for the night. Keep your eyes on the website as it gradually 'humanizes' it way through another small set of changes. Send me your suggestions if you have any - as always...