On Induction weekend this year – July 27-30 – it was an ideal time to be in Upstate New York at the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in Cooperstown where they celebrated their annual Hall of Fame Induction ceremony and weekend-long festivities. This year Tony Gwynn and Cal Ripken Jr. are the inductees. And while you’re in the baseball state of mind, take a look at the Hall of Fame catalogs I’ve got in my portfolio.

Writing at the Marketing Profs Daily Fix blog, Gerry McGovern observes a trend that websites are putting a higher priority on their visual design than their usability. It’s true that Web users demand high levels of easy-to-navigate and usable content, but I’m not sure I’d agree that the most usable sites are necessarily ugly by definition. I’d suggest that successful sites emerge from a kind of online natural selection – if the combination of looks and usability are there, people will return and continue to find value in the site.

There’s no argument that online content is an information medium, but we mustn’t count out its power as a visual medium as well.

Assignment: Freelance copywriting.

Client: Sater Design Group

Challenge: Perform interviews, conduct research and copywrite feature articles and section introductions for a Florida-based luxury custom home design firm.

Sample Copy:

Usually there are many, many issues for home owners to consider when it’s time to choose a builder, floor plan and designer in the creation of their dream house. Location, modifications, materials, budgets – the list can go on and on.

For Theresa and Bob Asbury, however, the list of important factors when they chose the San Filippo plan boiled down to four primary factors: their children, aged 15, 10, 8 and 5. “This is an awesome house for kids to grow up in and we’ve got plenty of room here,” says Theresa. “When they get old enough to where they hang out with their friends, we’d rather their friends be hanging out here.” That motivation – to find a comfortable and roomy house for the Asbury kids – had very much to do with choosing a plan designed by Dan F. Sater, II.

Additional articles that I wrote for this issue include: