This blog has been a bit neglected on the design site lately.  Luckily a few days ago Woothemes launched a free theme (which if it was premium I’d happily pay for!) Their layout, typesetting and overall look and feel fitted my needs like a glove.

Load it up and tweaked the .css styling a bit, added what is now my signature arabesque tiled background along with the big N logo and this is the end result.

You could call it an Eid gift for the blog.

I am working on www.NasihaDesign.com – an online store and design blog.

Initially it’ll be stocking T-Shirts, Armbands and hand crafted Ramadan greeting cards.  We plan on launching at least one new design tshirt per month.  I would like to get in touch with artists who would like an online showcase to sell and promote their works. I will also be commissioning projects to said artists on an ongoing basis.  The focus is not only on selling goods.  I would like to feature any Islamic & Eastern art worldwide on the blog, perhaps interview prominent designers, painters and so on.

If you are interested or know of anyone who would have an interest in this, contact me or leave a comment below.

About Ideate: Fresh new ideas. It’s about small business. It’s about South Africa. It’s also about money, innovation, progress, and gob-smackingly brilliant concepts. Most importantly, it’s about the people who come up with these concepts. We aim to examine the crazy, hyper-charged world of the small business owner, the serial entrepreneur – and hopefully learn a few things on the way.

Read the full interview here
http://www.ideate.co.za/2009/04/09/1-min-with-a-superhero-naeem-mayet-from-autostylecoza/

Autostyle Motorsport has won the award for Best Automotive website in 2006, 2007  & 2008.
Will we win 2009? I sure hope so.

A layout overhaul is already underway and should be up in a few weeks time and and a few other plans are in the pipeline to keep us ahead of our competitors as well as grow our online presence.

March 2009 saw Autostyle receive its highest ever traffic, 144 000 visitors viewing 1.79million pages. I’m curious to see where we rank up on WASA (websites association of  South Africa)

click to enlarge

In the real world,

- March 15th, Married! – Naeem.co.za & Saaleha.com – a union of internet junkies
- Honeymoon to Singapore, Langkawi Island and Malaysia’s Kuala Lampur
- A few weeks later, trip to the far east – Hong Kong and China’s Shanghai, Guangzhou & Beijing
- Hijacked! Got my South African colours when 2 gunmen stormed my home and made off with my car.
- The Autostyle Durban Motorshow – even bigger then before.
- Recovered! My Audi was recovered in Soweto, in mint condition with a newly fitted windscreen.
- Bought another house. This time on the doorstep of our local Masjid, bigger with alot more ‘room for potential’.
- Autostyle voted 2008 Best Automotive Website. That’s the 3rd year in a row.
- Autostyle moved into its stunning new  Johannesburg showroom.

My online adventures never cease to amaze me, always learning new technologies, ideas & meeting all sorts of amazing people.
- WordPress is my App of the year!
- MyUmmah.co.za is fast establishing itself in the South African muslim niche. What started as an online storage for Islamic content I find – now receives over 11 000 page impressions a month with just over 6000 visitors.
- Kasa.org.za A quick wordpress powered website for Khitmatul Awaam: South Africa’s first non profit hajj & umrah foundation.
- SoccerStuff.co.za – A little sideline service from our Autostyle team. We do loads of imports and many agencies & corporate gift companies we work with indicated the need for custom branded soccerballs. Yes we are jumping in on 2010mania
- MuslimJobs.co.za – a little job portal for our muslim community, plans are to revamp it and add some extra features to it.

2009 promises much more new projects, challenges and more importantly trying to uphold a balance between work, life and most importantly becoming a better muslim.

2008 proved that the Almighty truly does work in mysterious ways.
There is Hikma (wisdom) in all the good & bad we go through.