Design

How to Solve Your Customer's Problems and Make Money Doing It

Emma Ruehl — Mon, 31 Jul 2017 19:51:54 +0000

How to Solve Your Customer's Problems and Make Money Doing It

Emma Ruehl Mon, 07/31/2017 - 2:51pm

You’ve invested the time and effort to craft a solid sales message and marketing campaign. The offer is great, the price is right, and people should be flocking in your doors and email inboxes to purchase. You’ve even paid a company to help get your website to rank in the top five of Google’s search results page, and your site’s traffic has soared as a result. But somehow, the sales aren’t rolling in.

Turns out, ranking #1 in Google doesn’t directly get you sales. Helping people does.

Back to the Drawing Board

At the heart of every potential sale is a person with a problem. Is your business the right solution to the problem? Does your prospect feel understood, cared for, and compelled to partner with you to work towards a solution? Before you sell, it’s imperative that you understand the person and the problem. Otherwise, you’re marketing blindly. Here’s where to start.

1. Stop Trying to Think For Your Customer

Instead of developing products and messaging around inferences and feelings, ask the consumer directly. Start with a simple survey asking about their pain points (there are a ton of great chat bots and survey tools out there right now), interview people as they use your site to uncover frustrations, and read through your reviews and testimonials.

Photo via Olark.

Uncover why your prospect went looking for a solution and other approaches they’ve tried. Why have your customers chosen you? What almost stopped them from choosing you? Before you prescribe the solution, flush out the problem, and observe it from multiple angles. It’s your goal, as the Master of the Solution, to better understand the problem than your prospects and customers.

2. Build Content that Resonates with Solution-Seekers

Your prospects and customers don’t want content shoved down their throat. They want to encounter messaging that speaks to them and their problems. Have a conversation that brings them to the conclusion that you are the right fit and worth their dollars.

Screenshot via Hubspot

Much of the best content comes directly from the mouths of your customers, which is another reason why surveys and interviews are critical. There is no better way to help someone feel understood than to translate their very own thoughts and feelings into helpful messaging. Did a prospect express frustration around cost? Include messaging about value, or offer a free trial. Even better: when you know their pain points, include a list of features that directly addresses those pain points.

3. Rid Design of Disruption and Trend

So many brands are latched on the heels of the latest design trends. Heard of parallax? Ghost buttons? Hero rotator images? Perhaps you’re not familiar with the terminology, but no doubt you and your competitors have toyed with one or all of these design trends.

Look familiar? Screenshot via ABC.

It’s rare that businesses choose design elements based on actual research; typically, design is dictated by a template you purchased, or someone on your sales team saw an effect on a competitor’s site and thought it would be “cool” to implement on yours. If everyone else is doing it, you should be too, right?

The problem with trend is that it’s often broken from its original context and applied to a million different projects, despite relevance and suitability. When design dictates development and content, you end up with a pretty portfolio site that is irrelevant to your target audience. And all your money goes to making a piece of art that no one buys.

The best design adds to, and doesn’t detract from, user experience. It’s a supporting player that should be the last thing people notice. It should help logically guide users through your site architecture, keeping interest up and building trust in your brand.

Easy to digest and navigate site via Ted.

At the end of the day, your content is the star of the show. It is what resonates with your customers at their core, communicating that you can solve their problem and solidifying the connection that supports a lasting, mutually-beneficial relationship.

4. Invest In an SEO Strategy that Seeks to First Answer a Query

At the heart of SEO is simply being the best answer to a particular query; it’s inherently about solving problems. No doubt, you’ve searched yourself for product or service pricing, clicked on one of the top search results that you expected to contain pricing information, and much to your disappointment found no pricing but a barrage of CTA popups and contact forms.

Screenshot via Google

What happens when people don’t find what they’re looking for? They’ll exit your site. They’ll delete your email. They’ll go somewhere else because there will always be someone else who is actually solving their problem.

Be a smart marketer and lead your team to new thinking. If your business has been stuck in a rut of one-sided communication and has no idea what your customers and prospects actually want, be the voice for them. Seek to understand pain points and solve the problem; don’t add to a million other voices trying to tell consumers what they want. If you put in the effort to understand your prospects, they will reward you.

Web Design Trends Are Cool, But Design for Your Audience

Michelle Burk — Wed, 23 Jul 2014 14:52:18 +0000

Web Design Trends Are Cool, But Design for Your Audience

Michelle Burk Wed, 07/23/2014 - 9:52am

It seems like the possibilities of web design are becoming endless. I began designing and teaching myself a little bit of coding as a kid during the times when decorating your web page with flashy graphics, scrolling text, and putting a border around everything was cool (or, more like the only thing you could really do with web design).

Now, roughly ten years later, it is amazing what we can do with a couple lines of code thanks to HTML5 and CSS3. Here are a couple of trends that I have noticed gaining popularity in web design.

Videos

The evolution of HTML5 gives developers and designers the chance to create interactive and fully immersive websites. Recently, I have seen a number of websites taking a leap from welcoming users with an animated jQuery slider to utilizing the entire desktop screen with a video.

These videos add subtle movement to the website and may be a pure design aspect, or actually tell a story about who the company and/or person is and what they are all about.

There are advantages to this new feature in web design. From personal experience, I am probably more likely to patiently watch a video informing me about your business than wait for a slider to finish its round of images; a video engages my interest to click through your website and learn more about your company.

While it can be more difficult to pull off using a video as a background on your website, the effect it adds to your website is stunning and worth it.

Flat everything

Love it or hate it, we can probably thank iOS7 and Windows 8 for this push in the design world. So, take away those gradients from your buttons and think twice before you add a drop shadow to your text.

Many websites and designers are stripping away details from icons, text, and layouts to keep things as minimalist as possible — flat colors, simple shapes, and grids make up a lot of a design.

Why is this becoming so popular? Mobile devices. With many users visiting websites on mobile phones and tablets, it is crucial for designers and developers to consider how their website content will look on all devices.

Taking a flat and simple approach to a website design allows for easier responsive design and helps your website look better on smaller screens.

Single-page websites

Another thing I have noticed in web design is an effort to fit everything on one page. Rather than clicking through your website, users can simply scroll through one long page and (in theory) get all the information they need.

My take on this — a little bit on the fence.

On a desktop, it is too easy to scroll quickly through the website, skimming through text and graphics and leave without much thought.

This is not to say I can’t appreciate a well-designed parallax scrolling website (I actually love them). I just have a few thoughts on what I believe makes one successful.

Break up your content. Separate content sections on the page with different color backgrounds. This lets the user pause and take in the content in each section of the website.
Navigation bars are not obsolete, even if there is only one page. Having a navigation bar at the top of your website that jumps down to certain sections of your webpage saves time for the user looking for specific information.
Tell a story. If you are going to have only one webpage, make the user want to scroll down to the bottom. Putting great thought into the arrangement of your content and design and the message of your company are essential when it comes to a scrolling website.

So which of these work best?

In the end, these are merely trends and things could change in the next year — or even in a couple of months. The best you can do is find what works best for your audience while keeping things modern, unique, and memorable.

Graphic Design is Everywhere. And Businesses Need It.

Michelle Burk — Wed, 18 Jun 2014 15:05:06 +0000

Graphic Design is Everywhere. And Businesses Need It.

Michelle Burk Wed, 06/18/2014 - 10:05am

The other week I was browsing around Tumblr, a habit I often times find myself doing. I randomly stumbled upon a post with a screenshot from a segment of the Today Show featuring the “Top 5 Most Useless College Majors.” Slated on that list at number four was "Communication Arts & Graphic Design."

Useless? Really? I was taken aback by this. In our consumer-based society, we are exposed to countless works by graphic designers every day.

Design + your life

Let's think about this scenario:

You wake up at 6:30 for work and head into the kitchen for some breakfast. You glance through your pantry and grab a box of your favorite cereal. You might not put much thought into it, but that box was designed by a graphic designer so that you can recognize the specific brand amongst the numerous choices of cereal at the grocery store.

While you eat your breakfast, you read the morning news. You pull up your choice of news app on your tablet, featuring a recognizable logo designed by a graphic designer. This brings you to the home screen, featuring a user interface designed by a graphic designer so you can navigate through the news and find the stories you want to read.

On your way to work, you decide to grab a cup of coffee. You pull into the drive-thru line of Starbucks and browse the menu — designed by a graphic designer — to find the coffee that seems most enticing.

When you place your order, you pull up to the window and are handed a cup of coffee, with the Starbucks logo, designed by a graphic designer.

Before you even get to work, you are already exposed to a variety of works by a graphic designer. That number only increases throughout the day: websites, mobile apps, products at the supermarket, movie posters at the theater; all of these things are designed by someone with a supposedly useless degree.

Design + your business

I cannot stress enough the role good design plays in the success of your business. The design and branding of your business is what gives your potential customers the first impression of who you are and what your company is about.

In the case of the Internet, your company's website says a lot about your business. I can say from personal experience that if a company has a poorly designed website that causes frustration as I navigate through the website (technical term: cognitive friction!), it leaves me with a poor impression of your company.

I’m not alone in this. According to Stanford Persuasive Technology Lab, almost half of the consumers evaluated stated that design was the number one criteria when evaluating a website's credibility.

When creating a website, nitpick the details. Create a well-designed website that intrigues users and makes them want to dig through and find out more about your company.

When creating an advertisement, imagine a consumer flipping through a magazine and pausing at the page of your ad to admire the awesome design and take in the information. Hardly anyone would stop to admire a poorly designed ad (unless it's that bad; in which case, you still failed).

Successful business design

Okay, so you have your business, and you want some attention-grabbing designs. Keep these two tips in mind — even if you're designing on a small budget — if you want to achieve a successful design.

Consistency is key

Once you have you established your brand (color scheme, logo and fonts), stick with it. It's okay to mix things up a little, but make sure the designs for your business are consistent and align with the overall look and feel of your company.

Keep things simple

One of my art history professors said that simplicity is the hardest form of writing and I believe that applies to design, too! It's easy to overload with information and images on a certain design or website because it doesn't feel "finished."

Refrain from putting too much stuff on your website. Don't overwhelm the viewer with all sorts of images and text — it distracts them from the goal or message of your company. Strip away unnecessary content and allow the user to take in information easily.

Keep your designs interesting. While you want them to be simple, make them interesting, too! Finding the perfect balance between "fresh" and "simple" is what makes something well-designed.

While creating designs can be a bit of challenge, once you have established your brand, the visual aspects of your business should be able to come together smoothly.

More on branding and design

[Image: Matt MacGillivray, cropped/resized]

Making Blister Packages Reusable

Gabrielle Kinderknecht — Wed, 09 Apr 2014 15:27:05 +0000

Making Blister Packages Reusable

Gabrielle Kind… Wed, 04/09/2014 - 10:27am

When creating packages we aim to sell the product, but did we think about how the package gets used after the product is opened? For manufacturers and designers this is something we consider when building a plastic package such as blister or clamshell. We have the opportunity to make sure the plastic we are using is recyclable and if possible reusable.

For my next project in my Senior Advanced Projects Practicum class, we are actually molding our own blister or clamshell packing with an apparatus my professor assembled. My objective is to design a reusable package. I hope to create awareness of how we can help advance our environment.

What is Blister/Clamshell packaging?

Blister or Clamshell packaging is made out of PVC (polyvinyl chloride) or PS (polystyrene) plastic which is heated (known as thermoforming) and then pressed over an object to mold a shape. You mostly see these packages is in toys, cosmetics, kitchen utensils, gum and pharmaceuticals.

Blister? Clamshell? There’s a difference between the two.

Clamshell packaging is shaped to have a fold or hinge in the middle to create a double sided package, so that the consumer can view the product from all angles.
Blister packaging is when the plastic is molded into pockets that hold the object. It usually has a backing of cardboard or foil.

You have probably seen these different products in...

Blister packaging	Clamshell packaging
Gum packaging	Cosmetics (such as eyelashes)
Medications (pill form)	Children's toys
Cosmetics (such as mascara)	Industrial products
Electronics	Electronics

The perks

Although blister and clamshell packaging is not the prettiest it’s really popular because it deters people from removing the product before it’s paid for. It also protects the product especially when it has to deal with medications.

Another plus is being able to see a product from all angles. A consumer can interact with the product — see it from all angles, get an idea of its size, weight, function, and visual appeal — without damaging it.

The downsides

Plastic is recyclable, but most blister packages are not. I only mentioned two types of plastic used to create the mold. There are actually more types of plastics used depending on which country you live in.

In this article on recycling blister packages, they show different labels that are required on Blister and Clamshell packages. There are seven different labels that show what type of plastic it is.

For example, PVC plastic should have a label that looks like the image to the right, called a resin code. This means that PVC is only recycled into decks, paneling, mudflaps, roadway gutters, flooring, cables, speed bumps, and mats.

Most companies don’t produce the resin code or label on the product and thus cannot be recycled, so they are trashed. Here are the different types of plastic symbols that say what can be recycled and what cannot be recycled.

Besides not being recyclable there is also “wrap rage.” Clamshell packaging is well known for injuring consumers trying to open the product.

You’ve gotten those packages that are completely sealed in and you need hefty duty scissors or any sharp object you can find to get the darn thing open. Yeah, it’s wrap rage when you get pissed off trying to open something so difficult and then end up hurting yourself.

(Need a laugh? I really enjoyed reading these testimonials of wrap ragers.)

Create something reusable

Today, many companies designing these packages are taking into consideration the idea of reusable packaging. Blister packs aren’t recyclable, so designing them needs to include more thought on how they can be made reusable.

My goal for my blister packaging project is to create a mold that is reusable. My approach is to create a brand that is a canine dental company that sells treats that are used to clean pets’ teeth.

I will create a package that contains 3 items and use a clamshell to seal it. This way the consumer is able to store the unused treats in the package while still maintaining the taste.

Another classmate plans to package toy skateboards inside a mold that will act as a skate ramp, so that after the package is open the child can reuse the plastic by interacting with the plastic mold.

Green packaging

It’s great to see companies who use blister or clamshell packaging make those packages reusable, if not recyclable. Even if you’re not a manufacturer or designer you can still help make sure that blister and clamshell packages are being recycled.

Do your part to help our environment and make sure that you see the resin code or label on the packages you’ve purchased. You can improve your local community and the environment by letting manufacturer companies know that the resin code is important when making these packages.

Why You Should Make Your Content Look Great on All Devices

Gabrielle Kinderknecht — Wed, 12 Mar 2014 14:46:01 +0000

Why You Should Make Your Content Look Great on All Devices

Gabrielle Kind… Wed, 03/12/2014 - 9:46am

Today, responsive web design is a way for developers to create smooth transitions between various viewport sizes using media queries. The media queries tell the browser, if a person is viewing from 320px width device, look like this (a condensed version of the desktop version to fit a mobile phone).

Desktop, tablet and mobile phones are common devices we see today. Within those 3 categories, each have different resolution sizes. For example, the different resolution size between an iPhone5 (1136 x 640 pixels) and a Galaxy S4 (1080 x 1920 pixels).

Responsive Web Design was created to comply with future devices and even accommodate older devices without having to create HTML markup for desktop, tablet or mobile.

Know thy user

Before even considering a responsive website, it is important to understand who will be viewing your website and on what device. For example, I almost always look up restaurant locations and hours through my iPhone or iPad.

In “Mobile Path-to-Purchase” it was found that mobile search behavior – by people who search the Internet for good food using their phones or tablets – has a nearly 90 percent conversion rate.

So if you are in the food business it is probably a good idea to have a mobile and tablet version of your full site.

Knowing your user will help you decide how to build a user-friendly site. In many cases, having a fixed site will be the best solution if most users view your site on a computer.

In some cases, designers will choose Mobile First, creating an HTML markup and CSS of a mobile version and then build up to tablet and desktop.

I love Joshua Johnson’s insight on Mobile First: Why it’s great and why it sucks. Again, there are so many approaches to consider but understanding who you will serve your content, will help make the best decision.

Displaying content properly on each device

In responsive design we develop a full version of desktop and use degradation to minimize the content that is served on a tablet and mobile.

Let’s examine Enochs, a beautiful responsive website in the UK. Go ahead and grab the bottom right corner of your screen and move it in and out. Take a look at how the content moves around and how the navigation changes.

The nav goes from a single row navigation, to a two-column two-row. Then in the mobile, they keep the two-column two-row but include it between the header image and intro paragraph.

What about the rest of the layout?

There are no really big differences between desktop to tablet version. The biggest change in layout is in the mobile version, which you see all the content stacks to fit the width of the mobile.

Did you see how long the mobile page gets? Yeah, I know, I hate scrolling infinitely to get to the never-ending bottom too. They have placed an anchor on all versions of the website which takes you back to the top navigation. Even with the anchor, it does not help because all that content on the desktop is not needed on the tablet and mobile version.

This is what I mean about displaying the content properly. A mobile user just needs certain amount of content that is most important. In my example, they display the interactive game, as shown on tv, etc..

A mobile user is probably just looking for the menu or contact information. Did they really need to keep all that content?

Hiding content can cause slower loading

Just like in Joshua Johnson’s blog post, he and several developers have agreed that one con to responsive design is that you can hide content from the desktop to display certain things on the mobile site.

You can hide content through your CSS stylesheets but it will still upload all the HTML content. Since they share the same HTML markup it can make mobile user experience slow. This is a side effect to responsive design that could be solved through mobile first.

Building minimally and progressing

Using mobile first approach is a backwards process in which developers focus on the mobile design first. This allows designers to prioritize content into its simplest form — mobile — and then have it respond to larger devices.

Many choose to design for mobile first, so that they do not design a heavy-content site on desktop and then have to “hide” content.

Offer the right flavor

Now it’s your decision to choose the best solution in building a website. Understand who your market is by researching how many users access your content through what devices. Take advantage of what responsive design can do for your company.

Reach out to your consumer, hold their hand and walk them through your web content. Do not let them to wander to other sites because you gave them a banana split sundae when all they wanted was an ice cream cone. Yes, it’s true that they cannot always get the flavor they want but it is your job to give them several choices to fit their needs.

Be the right flavor from the start by researching what they like. Be dynamic, go responsive.

Steps to Designing a Personal Logo & Portfolio

Gabrielle Kinderknecht — Wed, 22 Jan 2014 15:18:42 +0000

Steps to Designing a Personal Logo & Portfolio

Gabrielle Kind… Wed, 01/22/2014 - 9:18am

In my last semester at University of the Incarnate Word I will be creating a personal identity for my Senior Seminar class. I am excited to create an identity but I know it will not be easy to create something that will be memorable to designers who view my portfolio.

Sketch, sketch, sketch

I put a lot of emphasis on sketching because this is where initial concepts start. My professor mentioned to start drawing and throw away the first five concepts because the first ideas are the easiest and probably have already been done. Sketching several concepts will help you come up with the best solution possible.

In my seminar class, we are to complete 50 different concepts. The next phase will be to choose at least five strong concepts to move forward with.

If you are struggling with ideas the best thing to do is start a word list, here are some from my word list:

Gabrielle Kinderknecht
Gabie Rose
Graphic Designer
Illustrations
Typography
Rose
Kinderconnect

Having this list helps you focus on what you want to communicate in your personal logo. Now to start sketching based on a word list, it is good to try variations like typographic approaches of your signature or initials — for example, Andrea Van Der Ree’s personal logo. Other approaches include illustrative solutions, type as image, etc.

After you decide on a logo the next step is to create an identity. The design in your marketing kit need to have the same graphic vocabulary as the logo, so that all pieces are unified.

Marketing kit

A marketing kit includes a business system (letterhead, envelope, business card, and website) and a leave-behind. When looking for a job it is always great to leave behind something other than your business card so that the potential employer has a small piece of your portfolio at hand to go back to.

For example, a leave-behind can be a small case study corresponding to an existing piece in your portfolio. A case study shows the process and phases of a project like sketches and progressions that assisted in achieving the final solution. More examples are brochures, self-promotional flyers, creative packages or printed images with key portfolio elements.

Building your own website or having your portfolio online on Behance can help you market yourself to potential clients or firms. Online portfolios are very important since most employers search for you online before considering an interview.

Early stages of a portfolio

When building a personal identity it is necessary to start making revisions to 10 to 12 existing projects that you are considering putting into your portfolio.

There are several types of portfolio layouts you can use. For my class our portfolio is required to be “bounded book style” so it is easier to change the order of projects or replace damaged pages when they are worn out. Flaunt is a great book that shows examples of portfolio styles and interview recommendations, etc.

After your personal identity is complete, you will need a portfolio case in which to store your work. You can order high-quality cases from KLO Portfolio, Pina Zangaro, or Fast Portfolio.

More information on portfolios

In my next blog, I will talk more about layout, size, and general answers to how a portfolio should look like and be to attract employers and clients. So stay tuned for next month to learn more about to how build a successful portfolio.

Twelve Internship Lessons

Oliver Yin — Wed, 11 Dec 2013 14:42:53 +0000

Twelve Internship Lessons

Oliver Yin Wed, 12/11/2013 - 8:42am

There are a lot of things that I learned from my internship. So much in fact, to list them all would cause the list to degenerate into a long, boring set of paragraphs few would want to read. Therefore, I believe the best course of action is to put my newfound knowledge into song. Sung to the tune of The Twelve Days of Christmas, here’s what I learned during my internship.

On the twelfth day of Christmas, Digett gave to me:

Twelve Tricky Tricks

...I stashed quite a few more tricks in my toolbox dedicated to common problems and neat eye-candy: using CSS, some PHP, and other assorted technologies, like CSS sprites and sticking sidebars.

Eleven Softwares ‘Plenty

...featuring Drupal, Jekyll, Weebly, phpMyAdmin, gitHub, Wordpress, Pantheon, Rackspace, LastPass, FileZilla, and Google (and more). Exposure to these platforms were eye-opening.

Ten Phones a Flying

...and now I am hopelessly focused on building mobile apps and websites following responsive design. Seriously, we need more mobile friendly sites out there!

Nine Business Insights

...just sitting in the office gave me a bit of insight into the professional world — it was my first “official” internship and entrance into a professional setting. Certainly a far cry from individual and school work.

Eight Passing Buses

...where going to the office forced me to explore San Antonio and learn the VIA bus system. It certainly helped me figure out how to more efficiently plan trips.

Seven Silky Practices

…in working with my projects and independent research, I learned what to do and what not to do, both in reading and in experience. (Oh god, the flash sites.)

Six Future Languages

...self research about HTML5 and WebGL as a potential replacement for Flash is intriguing, and I definitely plan to learn more next year.

Five-eee Awesome People

...Mark, JD, Valerie, Amy, Jonathan. You guys (and gals!) rock.

Four (Plus) Funky Projects

...and in no particular order, Padgett, ACH, Kendall County PTO, CSR, CiviCRM, and many more that may or may not have been left out in terms of useful and insightful projects.

Three Empowered Words

...reviewing my skills in CSS, Javascript, PHP, HTML, SQL, and general management really showed me where I still need to work on and what I can improve even more.

Two Moving Goals

...where I learned the valuable lesson that requirements, tools, and even the very foundation of a project are subject to change at any time.

And an Internship at the Digett Office

Thanks to everyone at Digett for having me, and thank you, the reader, for singing along.

From this sophomore to you, have a great year!

Flash: Amazing Presenter, Horrible Advertiser

Oliver Yin — Tue, 19 Nov 2013 19:12:26 +0000

Flash: Amazing Presenter, Horrible Advertiser

Oliver Yin Tue, 11/19/2013 - 1:12pm

Taking a side between HTML(5)/Javascript/CSS and Flash for creating dynamic content is akin to taking a side between devoting one’s self to using only a fork or a spoon during meal time.

Sure it is possible to choose, but you would be losing out on the benefits of both light-weight mobile-friendly framework and the raw power and support of a full-fledged multimedia presentation foundation. In the presentation layer, it is hard to recommend the use of one over the other. You could conceivably use both to make an amazing website.

When it comes to websites, though, you should stick with HTML/Javascript with its text-focused content suited to web crawlers. Flash-only websites have numerous problems that have to be carefully considered when evaluating if such a website is worth building.

Advertizing woes

A typical website built mostly with HTML will have text and other assorted data that a web-crawler could easily parse through for search engine rankings. Embedded Flash apps or multimedia in HTML pages can still be tracked down by surrounding it with a text description of what it contains (search engines have gotten better about extracting text and files that Flash interacts with, but it is still not perfect nor crawler-friendly).

However, a website built entirely on Flash does not have that same luxury. Try being informative about your site in a few words without being banned for spamming key words without any “content” that the crawler can’t see. Have fun!

Flash and mobile

Additionally, Flash isn’t supported on the vast majority of mobile devices. Why is this a problem? It means that people on the move who have heard about your website through word of mouth or read it in an advertisement can’t look it up on the spot.

Nearly two-thirds of cell phone owners use their phone to go online. For those that do look you up right when they hear about you, they are presented with a blank screen and possibly a black box. For those that make it past that, they see a slow, unresponsive site viewed through an underpowered device that can crash from all the work it has to do. To those people, the first thing they see is what appears to be a broken site.

First impressions matter. You want to wow them into viewing more of your site, not scare them away with a negative impression that the site is flawed (which may not be the case at all on a desktop!). HTML websites degrade well enough, even those not optimized for a smaller screen, at worst it is still (somewhat) readable. Flash websites degrade to an unimpressive blank screen.

Flash isn’t bad

That is not to say that Flash is bad. Flash just has more trouble advertizing itself without your intervention. If HTML is flexible and adaptive to anything thrown at it, think of Flash as a focused philosophy one can take on web design. Extreme control, desktop-based, presenting great interactive experiences and amazing visuals that can impress even the most cynical audience.

Just know that one has to work much, much, much harder to ensure traffic on a site that loses the assistance of search engines and the benefits of being available through mobile devices.

Need marketing help?

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Rebranding: The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

Gabrielle Kinderknecht — Tue, 22 Oct 2013 14:19:47 +0000

Rebranding: The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

Gabrielle Kind… Tue, 10/22/2013 - 9:19am

Today companies are making sure they keep their brands up-to-date and fresh. Many ask why they want to change their current brand, brand essence, logo, packaging, etc. There are several factors that are considerable when thinking about changing a brand identity.

For example, the brand may be outdated, the strategy and communication has changed or their brand and products are being overlooked. Companies are always looking for new ways to market themselves, challenge their competitors and come out on top. Rebranding should always focus on the company’s communication to their target market.

You can re-design logo, brand identity, packaging and/or essence

Redesigning can be an extensive process in trying to figure out how to relate to the current culture, but also stay true to what your brand is and overall what your main communication is to the consumer.

First step, like every design process, should be research. Understanding the company’s goals and positioning can really help guide the designer to approach rebranding in a specific way.

Second would be to create a Creative Brief. A Creative Brief includes a background of the company and their products or services, a mission statement, specify who the target market is, who the competitors are, and the style and tone that will be communicated. Most importantly it also includes the reasons for the redesign and how this will improve the company's brand identity. Here’s some good information on mastering the creative brief.

Third, start designing new concepts. The concept should remain the same and build graphic vocabulary throughout all designs and mediums. The brand logo should be cohesive with the packaging, tagline, interior design, website, stationary system, etc. This creates a brand essence and keep consumers connected with the overall communication.

Starbucks rebranding

In 2011, Starbucks decided to rebrand their identity by updating the logo to fit their company’s needs. As a consumer, I think redesigning Starbucks logo by taking out the type “Starbucks Coffee” helped improve the overall image. They kept the same branded colors, as well as their circular shape to contain the logo.

Today, since Starbucks is so well known the design seemed old, with its bold heavy text making the composition compact. The black color did not help add to the design, instead only giving the image contrast since the female is intricate. Consumers did not see black as a branded color for Starbucks. Discarding the black helped simplify and clearly communicate their brand.

The simplified version of the logo really helps focus on the embellishments of the woman, which fits with their brand essence and target market; most consumers who purchase Starbucks are men and women aged 25 to 40 who “tend to be urbanites with relatively high income and have professional careers,” says Renee O’Farrell. Starbucks’ rebrand is a great example of how the brand identity remains cohesive throughout its packaging and essence.

Be careful! rebranding can gain negative responses

Although many companies have been successful in rebranding, there are several companies who have failed in re-creating a brand image that represented the company as well as its consumers.

Let’s look at Tropicana, a large company who has struggled to maintain their image.

(The carton on the left is the old Tropicana packaging and to the right is the redesign by the Arnell Group.)

Many consumers were unhappy with the new redesign, and many stopped purchasing Tropicana when Tropicana changed their packaging. According to AdAge, Tropicana’s unit sales decreased by 20% in less than two months of their package being displayed on shelves.

After two months of sales decline, Tropicana announced that they were dumping the new redesign and switching back to the old design. Watch CEO Peter Arnell Defend Tropicana's Redesign.

Why Tropicana failed

In the old packaging Tropicana focused on three main pieces of information: Tropicana, No Pulp, and Pure and Natural Orange Juice. The old packaging helps consumers easily find the product that best suits them by using a large colored band at the top.

The hierarchy seems to be unclear in the new redesign; the composition and size of the text does not help the customer easily find the important information that helps them decide which container to select. The main focus on the redesign is “100% Orange,” and the thin label at the top of the box makes the package less user friendly.

Although the typography looks more modern on the redesign, it does not relate to what Tropicana sells. The old packaging uses typography to its advantage by creating a typeface that has nice curves and is smooth, resembling the product. They use a serif small caps typeface that creates an elegant and professional feel. These variations of typeface and size are consistent throughout the design.

Tropicana has always used the orange with a straw as their imagery. The redesign completely dismisses this and chose to display what is inside the orange — its juice, which they are selling. The imagery is not cohesive with the text that reads “100% Orange Juice” because many consumer prefer to see the real orange reiterating that it is natural.

Even the brighter colors on the redesign do not help create that “natural” feel to the consumers. The old package uses more rich, bold colors that help remind the consumer of nature.

Don’t be scared to rebrand your company

Companies should decide to rebrand not just to “update” their brand, but also to make it better. They should look at the positive aspects of how the consumer relates to their current brand and the negatives. Then they should improve on the negatives instead of changing the brand image completely like Tropicana chose to.

Fonts: Making or Breaking Mobile Design

Oliver Yin — Wed, 16 Oct 2013 14:24:18 +0000

Fonts: Making or Breaking Mobile Design

Oliver Yin Wed, 10/16/2013 - 9:24am

Take a few steps into a crowded room, a park, or a street. At least someone will have a mobile phone or some equivalent that they are using to surf the web in some form or fashion. So the next time you sit to plan a website, you may just want to consider what kind of impact those fonts can have on that carefully crafted webpage.

Screens and screens and screens

Not convinced that the mobile market is worth talking to?

Let’s play a game. Start by naming as many mobile devices as you possibly can! Here are a few: iPhone. iPad. Blackberry. Nexus. Galaxy. MS Surface. Lumia. etc. etc.

Now imagine how many people use these devices.

Parents. Managers. Employees. Students. Customers.

That is a lot of people. And that number of people just keeps growing and growing. You would not want to miss potential customers because you had overlapping text that made your site unreadable, now would you?

What's so different compared to desktop browsers?

The biggest difference is that, compared to desktop or even laptop computers, screen space is a commodity in short supply. This, combined with the inherent portability smartphones and tablets bring with the table, leads to a browser experience that is more optimized for bite-sized, on-the-go presentation of information.

What does mean for presentation? All of a sudden, flashy animations take a back seat to the importance of the content, which is most often represented in the form of text. It is all the more important to make that text stand out as much as possible, and while there are plenty of techniques, fonts are the most basic way to make that happen.

What makes a good font?

Like tools, all fonts have different moods and uses, so a font should be representative of what it is trying to represent.

The difference between serif and sans-serif is not as large due to the increased resolution on newer devices, but sans-serif is slightly more readable on older devices.

Just a few small tips:

Less commonly supported fonts should include CSS’s @font-face rule for safety in case the font does not exist
Browsers use different typefaces for your chosen font, so for maximum support, be wary not to confuse OpenType (OTF), TrueType (TTF), and Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) file types together.

If a problem related to fonts refuses to be solved, I find that messing around with the above helps a lot!

Just remember: fonts are to be loved, not ignored. Have some fun with them!

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Rebranding: The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

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Don’t be scared to rebrand your company

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Fonts: Making or Breaking Mobile Design

Screens and screens and screens

What's so different compared to desktop browsers?

What makes a good font?

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