One of the goals we attempt to achieve in the work we do here at Blazer Six is to make sure our solutions are easy to use. It’s not just about getting the job done and launching a website that looks good to visitors — it’s also about giving clients the ability to publish and manage their content. Poorly implemented features will lead to more support requests, frustration — which doesn’t reflect well on us or WordPress — and at worst, it could waste valuable time and money. Quite simply, we’ve found that if it’s not easy, then the feature most likely won’t be used.

Managing media outside of the built-in workflows has always been a particular pain point and our solutions over the years have evolved to help address some of the shortcomings, but to an extent, they always felt less than ideal. Usually, they involved leveraging the Thickbox media popup, adding data attributes to media elements, and polling the iframe to attach events and update text that couldn’t be filtered when necessary. They could be far from elegant from an implementation perspective, but they made working with media easier from a management standpoint.

In the time since last writing here I experienced a watershed moment — I bought a $40 cowboy ribeye from the butcher. It was everything a $40 steak should be and more.

I also hit 30 years of age; an appropriate time for reflection.

Some people write insightful songs upon the passing of their youth. I write platitudes. At the same time, the following cliches are also my truths, things I have learned and take to heart. I hope you can glean some nugget of worth.

We’ve been working on a WordPress theme for a few months here at Blazer Six. When completed it’ll be part of a larger project that we’ve teamed up with several other designers and developers to build. The project isn’t ready for prime time yet, but the theme is for musicians, and as such I needed several media icons that matched our design.

I originally created a limited set with the intention of turning them into an icon font; the initial icons can be seen on Dribbble. My goal was to maintain one line width and make sure everything aligned to the pixel grid at 16px. Any multiple of that should align as well and look just as crisp.

My niece, who will turn a year old in a month, just discovered her tongue. It’s been there the whole time; darting in and out at the sight of an approaching spoon, but it wasn’t something she was cognizant of. Her mom recently posted a picture on Facebook of her sitting in a highchair directing it at the camera. Obviously, something clicked. I don’t mention that to embarrass my niece, or her mom, but to draw a parallel to starting a business. Six years ago Brady and I ventured into self-employment after our previous employer was acquired, and for a while it felt like we were just discovering our own tongues.

Now that we’re six (what is that in business years?) I’d like to think we have a few more synapses firing. We have a better idea of who we are and where we want to go. Of course that could change in the next six years, but we wanted a logo that reflected our growth and ideals; our character.