Good value combined with beautiful, timeless design are some of Trillamar’s core values. HGTV’s Sarah Richardson feels the same way about renovation projects.
Yes, the cable channel HGTV (a.k.a. Home and Garden Television) is heavily tivo’d in our house. It’s very satisfying to watch a horrendous space, be it a home office or a kitchen, transform into something stylish and functional. Especially if you’re lying on a sofa not lifting a finger.
For those of us who are web practitioners, we can learn a lot from HGTV’s designers, such as my absolute favorite, Sarah Richardson, who renovates and decorates a different house each year on her show Sarah’s House. As the visionaries for our projects, she and I are under similar constraints — time, money, structural requirements, etc. We must understand design and engineering and make informed tradeoffs between the two.
core value #1: good value
Sarah and I use similar strategies in the building process — use a mix of basic and fancy components to get your best bang for the buck. For instance, I often use WordPress as the content management system for web projects. I liken it to Ikea. You can get basic, oft-needed functionality for a unbeatable price.
On the other hand, there are areas where you just can’t scrimp, such as hiring a quality developer, which is the equivalent of a contractor in the HGTV world. A talented software developer is just like Sarah’s contractor Vito. Not only can he build anything you can dream up, he can and should recommend a more efficient way to do something if he sees it.
core value #2: beautiful design with longevity
Striking a balance between timeless and fresh is key to designing anything with longevity. If you do things right, web sites and home decor will stay fresh for a good while without without needing to bring in pros like me and Sarah Richardson. I love putting myself in a category with Sarah Richardson. While we’re at it, let’s throw in my other fave Candice Olson. Hey, why not create a visual or two…
Building web sites with beauty, longevity, and good value is how we put our core values into action every day. Professionals like Sarah Richardson, Candice Olson and Lucinda Brown (pictured above in our imaginary Trillamar Award Ceremony) know that building a stylish and superbly functioning web site (or home) is an art form. It is a pursuit that requires lots of, ahem, research and inspiration. Fire up the tivo!
