All Posts, Marketing, Web Design
When it comes to designing a website, there can be a lot of opinions thrown into the hat from all parties. Opinions from the designer, who usually is considered the authority figure. From a company’s marketing team. My favorite are the opinions from the executive team. Now all of these opinions can be good and valid, yet all could be irrelevant when it comes to what opinion matters most; your potential client’s.
Website redesigns are touchy to me. When a client calls our office and asks about how much it will be to overhaul their entire website for a more modern look, our first thought is “great, let’s do it!” Especially if their existing site hasn’t been touched in over 3 years. We explain the importance of having social plugins, e-commerce, responsive web forms, and more. However it almost always is in the perspective of that site/business owner.
I’ve been doing some reading on effective landing pages and site designs, and I have to admit that I don’t always design or develop in the mindset of the online visitor. They’re the ones that spend the 7 seconds deciding whether or not a website has what they’re looking for before continuing on or bouncing off the website to another search result. This is a really important aspect to put into perspective. We’ve all heard the lines “a brilliant website means nothing if no one sees it,” or “content is king,” and so on. However if a potential customer or client doesn’t understand your website, or doesn’t feel comfortable enough to stay on and contact you or buy something your website is pointless.
Here are some points you should consider about your website; whether current or in development:
Lead Generation: Having a compelling call to action will not only help your sales team, but if tracked on a regular basis it will tell you what content people are hungry for.
Readability: Aside from complex wording, slang, or simplistic; your content needs to hit home with your target audience. It needs to resonate to their exact need for your product or service and they should understand that (hopefully) in the first few words or sentence on whatever page they landed on in your website.
Visual Candy: Not all customers and clients are into a wordy website. Some prefer rich and high quality images, graphics, and logos. Things that make them imagine themselves in or with your product or service. Lets face it, a good TV commercial for a piece of clothing will stay in your head until you visit the mall and feel compelled to buy it, or it will immediately turn you off.
Problem Solving: We’re all in business to solve a need right? If your homepage or landing page can effectively address your reader’s issue, you’ll draw in more leads than your biggest competition. Simply because of how you addressed the problem, you’ll win a clients vote of confidence – at least enough for them to give you a call or email you.
Market Research: This may sound like a big R&D project, but it really isn’t. There are many ways to poll people to get their opinions on things as a consumer. The data is out there, and we all know data doesn’t lie. So take the time to do some questioning and research to put into your website. You’ll not only have a greater confidence in your work, but be backed by hard evidence from doing your homework.
Really think about these things the next time you plan on redesigning your website or before you start a new one. One of the things we are proud of doing is sitting with our clients and really trying to get inside of their minds and really get to know what makes their business strategies so unique.
Have something to add? Please do so in the comments below. Your suggestions are always welcome!
Social Media
If you haven’t heard by now, Google is making a shift toward a more transparent user experience with their applications. Much like how Facebook has cookies that keep an eye on where you go on the internet, Google is looking to read and capture your online data too. I shouldn’t say it like they haven’t been already, more like Google is being a bit more open about how they’re going to use your user data across their applications and online experience.
Lets start off with what exactly Google says about the information it collects from your system:
Cookies – When you visit Google, we send one or more cookies to your computer or other device. We use cookies to improve the quality of our service, including for storing user preferences, improving search results and ad selection, and tracking user trends, such as how people search. Google also uses cookies in its advertising services to help advertisers and publishers serve and manage ads across the web and on Google services.
Information you provide – When you sign up for a Google Account, we ask you for personal information. We may combine the information you submit under your account with information from other Google services or third parties in order to provide you with a better experience and to improve the quality of our services. For certain services, we may give you the opportunity to opt out of combining such information. You can use the Google Dashboard to learn more about the information associated with your Account. If you are using Google services in conjunction with your Google Apps Account, Google provides such services in conjunction with or on behalf of your domain administrator. Your administrator will have access to your account information including your email. Consult your domain administrator’s privacy policy for more information.
What’s going to happen is Google is going to be a lot smarter in targeting you with ads that are way more relevant based on your browsing and search history. For example: Sending an email to a friend about some outfits you saw at H&M that were on sale will get you ads not just from H&M but other clothing companies. Or if you’re on another website (while technically still logged in to Google) and browsing some topics on politics, or web design, etc, Google will track that and show those ads to you while you’re in Gmail, Google Plus, Search, and any other place they decide to stick ads.
The privacy risk is that Google is getting to be that “all-knowing” platform. Knowing how many hours a day you spend online, what you shop for, what you type or email to friends and clients, what websites you visit most frequently. It’s like a marketers dream to have all this relevant information on a consumer. Though they may not be giving your full government name, it’s going to seem pretty personal as you start to take notice.
So what can you do? For starters disable cookies on your browsers. Your first line of defense is there. Though some websites will actually stop you from using their site when they notice your cookies are disabled. If that becomes too much of a hassle, consider using a separate browser whenever you’re using your Google applications. Then you’re general search and browsing history will be limited to separate browsers. Another tactic is to have your browser clean out your history and cookies after every session. These may all seem cumbersome and time-consuming and Google is betting on that and general lack of vigilance. The choice is yours.
All Posts, Graphic Design
There is a point in a designer’s career, that you will, if you haven’t already, come in contact with a client that wants to rule the entire project. They pick on the colors, the layout, and the typeface (Comic Sans anyone?). Everytime you try put in your two sense, you’re shut down. I mean, you wouldn’t hire an mechanic to fix your car and tell him that he is doing it all wrong, would you?
Before you give up and drop every curse word in the book (hopefully after the clients leaves or hangs up the phone) continue reading for ideas on how you can bring some light on a difficult, mindset client.
Education . . . when does this happens?
Before signing the contract! It’d be easy to say that education happens all the time during a design project. While that may be the case, if you haven’t set expectations properly up front, you are probably going to have problems later on. Learning how to educate your clients certainly will be the key of your success on the “battle for designs”. When a project begins, it’s important to establish that you are an expert and that your opinion is grounded in research and professional experience. Why? Because establishing your own credibility is important to getting them to understand that there is more than just a “gut feeling” behind your decisions.
Clearly explain your concept, just after taking the time of listening to the clients concept
Lack of communication and miscommunications can often destroy an entire project. When your client have a concept in mind, you should be able to take their ideas into consideration. They chose you because you are the right person for the job and you must treat it this way. Make sure to listen to their ideas and make sure they listen to yours. And hopefully come to a happy medium.
Your client have a “listening time”, use it wisely
Carefully listen to their idea, immediately after your time has come and you most use it effectively. Explain them why you will like to use certain fonts or how your color scheme would be more effective than the ones they had in mind. Explain your ideas and reasoning carefully. Use the basics; who, what, why and how. Please don’t use your fancy design jargon. Save that for the playground! Act professionally and simple on your explanations, this will increase your chances of having more say with the outcome.
Visual explanation…
You can show them a comparison of the two concepts, their idea and yours. This would require more time and effort but it would help them visually see the difference. Show them books or other examples of good, effective design which would assist helping them gain a broader, more visual idea of design. While showing these examples, follow the same procedure as above, and provide them with precise detail on why and how they work.
A big challenge for any designer is to learn how to manage clients successfully. Educating them has always been the smartest way to maintain good relationships. It is very important that you take the time to do this regularly in order to develop a pleasant experience for yourself and your client.
All Posts, Web Design
Remember when you first started out as a designer? That overly ambitious feeling to get any kind of work no matter what you’d be getting paid. Sure we all remember those days. Even if they were a few months ago for some. What quickly follows after your first few projects is the feeling of “wow I did all that, for all that time, and only charged what?” Or better yet, finding out what a friend or same level competitor is charging for the same kind of work you’re doing. Yea that doesn’t feel good at all. That’s the bite or kick in the ass we’re talking about here.
There’s really no such thing as taking one for the team when you’re an established designer. By now you’ve learned to accept or reject projects based on requirements, budget and your availability schedule. Though, for some reason these types of projects still come across our desks and even seem appealing due to our own temporary financial situation. Let me show you some points on what to look out for:
Budget: This one is first because you should be able to tell right from the initial consultation (free of not), whether the potential client will appreciate the amount of work you’re about to put in. We all know great designers and developers put in way more hours than they charge.
Timeframe: My “spidey” sense goes wild when someone tells me they need a full website done yesterday. The reverse of that situation is accepting a job when your schedule is already booked to the rim. Be cautious of your time. There is a healthy balance to adhere to and that’s to make sure you stay inspired and energized to continue to produce great work.
Accepting Jobs Outside of Your Scope of Work: This is a big one for me. I’m always concerned with landing a job that looks better to the eyes on my wallet than the better judgement of my mind. Taking on a client or project that you’re unable to comprehend on completing either on your own or with your support team is never a good thing. Not that you’ll be incapable of producing the job but the time that may be spent on learning or coming up to speed on platforms you’re not familiar with will drag you down.
Miscommunication: This could be a huge volcano just waiting to erupt. This happens all to often when a contract line item isn’t realized, a mockup version is confused in email transmissions, or timelines are misunderstood. All of these and more usually start off as small instances. Left unresolved or uncorrected and they’ll become that huge problem that drains all of your time, attention, and emotion from all of your firms business.
Ever been bit in the ass by something you overlooked? Share with us in the comments below.
Graphic Design
Graphic Design Trends for 2012
While there are key classic practices that should make your designs safe every year in terms of projection and content, you will not be able to guarantee its effectiveness if it stays static. The key to continuous success with your work, is for you to always develop them with the current trends in mind. In this special guide, we will go through some of the most important trends that you will want to include in your custom designs this New Year 2012. If you can integrate this properly enough, there should be little issues and more success.
Design trends for this year are bold and aim to grab audience attention.
Logos: Create streamlined logos and graphics – For 2012, all designers are upgrading their logos and graphics to more streamlined variations.
Simplicity rules: Simple designs are in right now, and the reason for that is, well… simple.
Type can be design: In the absence of complicated visuals, typography is playing a larger role in design. Those designers who know how to put typefaces to work to their best advantage will come out on top.
As we move together into a new year, we are promised some amazing advances in the world of technology and design. Evolving your brand through web design, print design and even architectural design are ways that you can stay ahead of the competition and encounter new demographics in your market.
