"Business Creative" Web Design

Moving From Blogger!

2010-04-06T00:44:00.000-06:00

Stu Macik_Broken Sky Studio Web Design and Development, Denver Colorado

This will be my last post here on Blogger, I've moved the Blog over to my own domain at http://www.businesscreativewebdesign.com.

Hope to see everyone over there!

-Stu

Designing For Business Is “Coloring Between The Lines”

2010-03-22T10:07:00.000-06:00

Stuart (Stu) Macik, Broken Sky Studio Web Design and Development, Denver, Colorado

One of the nicest compliments we hear from clients at Broken Sky is that we’re able to design and develop websites that are aesthetically very attractive while also being very business centric in purpose. This is because we believe that “thinking different”, in terms of design, is critical to our clients marketing success in what amounts to hand to hand combat out on the web.

Personally, I like to think of designing for business as “coloring between the lines”. While there are definitely some rules that need to be followed on a business site, they don’t all have to be regimented or black and white. You CAN be creative and pragmatic at the same time. Here are a couple of tips from a “modern design” point of view that may help you realize more success from your site.

First off, consider that less can be more. The generous use of white space can have a profound impact on your design. Use white space to highlight and off-set important information as eyes will travel directly to those areas. Also make sure that your text has “room to breath” by making sure that your text size and line spacing is sufficient for the font your using. Nothing is more frustrating than straining to read information that is too small or cramped.

Second, consider “flow” from left to right instead of top to bottom. With the advent 16:9 and 16:10 monitors (instead of the old 4:3 CRT monitors) modern web design has widened to take advantage of the new technology. This allows you to use that screen real-estate to get more information in front of your potential customer with less scrolling.

At any rate, these are just a couple my “best practices” for “Business Creative” design. Hopefully, you can take advantage of these ideas and have a great performing website.

-Stu

Why Some Websites Just Seem..."Better"

2010-03-12T16:24:00.006-07:00

Stuart (Stu) Macik, Broken Sky Studio Web Design and Development, Denver, Colorado

One of the best pieces of advice that I can give anyone looking to acquire or build a website for their business is to take the time to learn a little about where the web is trending in terms of look, feel, and usability. I’m constantly amazed at the large number of websites out there that look and feel like they came straight out of the way-back machine (circa 1995-1998). What’s even more disturbing is that many of them were built in the last couple of years by web design companies who haven’t seemed to noticed that “what works” (and more importantly for business, “what sells”) has changed since 1998.

Perhaps you’ve heard or read the term “Web 2.0” used and wondered what it means. Well, quite simply Web 2.0 is where web design evolved to emphasize aesthetics and usability (along WITH content) to create websites that are visually more appealing and easier to use. In my opinion, we are currently at another transformation (Web 3.0?) that adds to what Web 2.0 gave us. Now we also have options for displaying content dynamically with Javascript (jQuery, MooTools, etc.) that add to the user experience by creating interaction which, from a business perspective, can help a potential customer stick around and check out your site.

I guess what I’m saying in a nutshell is, give sites that just feel “better” a longer look and take notice of what makes them different. I think what you’ll find is that “modern” sites have a design aesthetic that feels clean, uncluttered and polished (as opposed to cramped, crammed and multi-colored). They have navigation that is user friendly and they get their message across quickly and succinctly.

If you can understand exactly what it is that you like about those sites you think are “better”, you can then find a designer who specializes in current design styles or at the very least have a better idea of what works and sells on today's web.

-Stu

Your Customers and Attention Span (Part 2)

2010-02-24T16:02:00.005-07:00

Stuart (Stu) Macik, Broken Sky Studio, Denver, Colorado

When I’m considering “content” in relation to a potential customer’s attention span on a site, I like to think of the situation using a “billboard” analogy. Your potential customer is a driver making their way down the highway (in this case the information superhighway) and your site is the billboard. When they see your “billboard” it’s only going to be a few seconds before they pass it and so the way your message is presented is critical to making them slow down and stop to take a more in-depth look.

When you think about it this way you begin to understand the fact that you only have a few seconds to get the “driver’s” attention before they’ve moved past your “billboard” and on down the road to your competitor.

The question then becomes how do we grab their attention and make them slow down and stop at your site so you can interest them in your goods or services. Well here are a few ideas that I take to heart with every site that I work on that may help you as well. Remember that we are talking about business websites here, not artists sites or other non-business sites, we’re talking about branding and growing your company.

First off, have a professional looking logo that invites attention. Not only is this important as an overall branding practice but I feel that it can be something that very quickly says “hey, this site feels professional, maybe I need to check it out”. It’s been shown that most site visitor’s attention goes to the top-left of the page initially so that’s always a good place for your logo although I have used a top-centered approach as well with good results.

Second, have a concise statement telling what you’re all about offset in some way from the other text/content on the site. Remember you only have a few seconds so don’t make it too long. Make sure it stands out by either using a larger font size, a different color or by having plenty of “white space” around it but make sure that its the first thing the potential customer notices and reads after seeing your logo.

Also, make sure that the site is clean and uncluttered with plenty of white space and a general feel of having some sense of order to it. This is very inviting and professional to customers but is also one of the hardest things to accomplish in design because the natural instinct is to try to cram as much content as possible into the available space. Resist it though and you can get that internet “driver” to park and stay for awhile…and that’s half the battle!

-Stu

Your Customers and Attention Span (Part 1)

2010-02-21T15:24:00.008-07:00

Stuart (Stu) Macik, Broken Sky Studio, Denver, Colorado

It’s seems that many of us have had our attention spans shortened with the advent of so many “instant” technologies and nowhere is that more true than on the web. I’ve seen research that indicates that a website has anywhere from 3 to 15 seconds to grab a visitor’s attention with the majority of site visitors falling into the under 10 second range. I would say from talking to others as well as my own personal experience that 10 seconds is probably about right.

This accentuates the need to provide core information on a site in a way that will maximize those precious few seconds that you have to make that all important first impression. I’m going to cover “content” in part 2 of this topic but first I want to talk about page-load because, in my mind, page-load is half the battle when it comes to the attention span problem with website visitors. People just don’t want to wait for a website to load. Here are a few ideas to help speed up page-load times that I use personally in my own web design and development business and have been very effective for me.

First, assuming that you have a decent hosting provider (and most of the better known ones are ok) the first thing that you want to do is to have as few HTTP requests as possible on your webpage. An HTTP request is whenever your web browser fetches a file (a page, an icon, a picture, etc) from the web server. HTTP is a request/response protocol, which means your computer sends a request for some file (i.e. get me the file 'home.html'"), and the web server sends back a response ("here's the file", followed by the file itself).

While all of this only takes a fraction of a second, the number of requests along with the size of the files determines how long your page will take to load. This is critical to consider because pages with large numbers of requests combined with graphics (images) that have not been optimized for display on the web can lead to those very slow loading pages that we’ve all experienced at times when browsing. Several simple ways to cut down HTTP requests are to combine multiple images into one (when possible), use graphics judiciously (only when needed to enhance content) and keep page lengths reasonable (this also helps with cutting down on page scrolling as well).

Second, as mentioned above graphic (image) size is very important to page load time. All graphics should be “optimized” for use on a web page in a program like Photoshop or Illustrator using the “save for web” function that these programs provide. I take optimization of images one step further however in that I’ve found that I can cut the size of most images another 10-20% from the Photoshop/Illustrator output and still have effective quality for web display. This would be done with a more specialized program but suffice it to say, all images should at least have some optimization to speed up their display on the page.

Third, an often overlooked factor in page-load speed is the use of “valid” HTML in the development of a page/site. HTML is the “mark-up” language used by developers to display your content to the visitors of your site. When the page is not coded to agreed upon (by browser makers and developers) standards set by the W3C (World Wide Web Consortium), it can slow down page loads as the browser tries to figure out what the code is attempting to tell it to do. One way to check if your pages are “valid” HTML is to use the Validator at the W3C located here. The validator is a very useful tool because it will even tell you specifically which code is invalid and often how to fix it.

Last, I would like to take a second to mention that the use of Flash can also be a problem in the “page-load” category because Flash is a comparatively slow loading technology compared to HTML/CSS/Javascript development methods. We’ve all been on a Flash sight and watched the little progress bar telling us that it is “loading” and been frustrated at having to wait for it to finish. It's for this reason that I use Flash sparingly (for banners and headers only) but that's a topic for another post.

Anyway, hopefully these tips will help your business have a faster loading site and help with at least half of the attention span problem. In the next post I’ll cover “content” in relation to attention spans and how you can help customers stay on your site long enough to create interest in your product or service.

-Stu

The Difference Between Web Design and Web Development

2009-06-12T14:45:00.005-06:00

Stuart (Stu) Macik, Broken Sky Studio, Denver, Colorado

While it may seem obvious to some, the difference between website design and website development may not be as easily understood by someone not familiar with web terminology. Here’s a quick explanation for those wondering what the difference between the two terms actually indicate.

Website Design is the actual design and layout which makes up the look and feel of a site. This would include the design of the color scheme, navigation, graphics, and general layout which could perhaps more easily be described as what a visitor actually sees when they visit a site.

Web Development, on the other hand, is the “behind the scenes” coding of a design using markup languages such as HTML or XHTML (frequently with CSS styling) as well as the implementation of scripting languages such as Javascript and PHP.

Many web design companies use both a Designer and a Developer (Coder) on a project each using their unique skill-set to achieve the end result. Designers are hired specifically for design (knowing nothing about coding) and Coders are hired specifically to code what the Designers give them (knowing little about design).

In smaller companies, such as here at Broken Sky, very frequently the design and development are done by the same person having starting out with expertise in one area (in my case Design) and having to get training in the other (for me, coding).

The advantages, in my mind, of having someone with both design and development skills on a project are that they can bring a project to life with a responsiveness to the client that two different people going back and forth would be hard pressed to match. Of course, you must take my opinion through a filter as we are a small design company, but we’ve all experienced the frustration that a larger business with a more fractured structure can induce.

At any rate, I hope this makes understanding website design and development a little clearer. As a side note I wanted to mention that I would also include in Web Development the general “know-how” of getting a website up and running. This would include the intricacies of email, hosting, etc. but that might be a looser definition of development than some would like, it’s just that I believe a Developer should have all the skills necessary to get a site operational and functioning properly.

-Stu

My First Business Website

2009-06-02T15:05:00.008-06:00

Stuart (Stu) Macik, Broken Sky Studio, Denver, Colorado

One question I’ve found that’s definitely on the mind of businesses putting together their first website is “What should my website be like for my type of business”.

It’s a question that’s not easily answered in general because every business (and business model) is different and unique in its own way, but there are a few simple guidelines that I think make perfect sense for first time website owners to adhere to that can insure a useful and productive site both now and into the future.

1. Don’t get outrageous. That is, unless you’re not looking to grow your business or make a profit. I say this because study after study has shown that business websites with odd color schemes, weird graphics, and strange content are extremely “off-putting” to the average consumer. Most customers simply want to get the information they need to make a decision whether to get in touch with a company or not. Anything that gets in the way of helping customers complete this basic objective is counter productive to the goal of helping them want to do business with you.

2. Stick to the basics. This is the technical side of #1 above meaning that you should stay away from “gimmicks” like full-flash websites. While this is a topic unto itself, suffice it to say that there are many, many reasons to stay away from this type of site not the least of which is that, from a business perspective, too much flash content can drive customers away. While I have nothing against Flash as a tool (I use flash headers and banners all the time), I don’t like full-flash sites for businesses depending on a consistent user experience to draw in customers.

3. Content is king. No matter how beautiful your site is, if it doesn’t say what your customer wants to hear it’s basically useless. This is why a knowledge of copy writing for the web is extremely critical to the effectiveness of the site. The copy has to be concise and to the point because you often only get a few seconds to make an impression to a potential customer.

4. Professional = $. Any accomplished Web Designer/Developer knows the axiom “that it’s the look that makes them stay to hear what you’ve got to say” and in my opinion you can only get “the look” from a Professional Web Designer/Developer.

I’m obviously biased, in this belief, but I know from having built second generation sites for clients with “amateur” first sites that when it comes to Web Design and Development you get what you pay for. A professional can make you look professional because he has the tools and know-how to make it happen. The brother-in-law down the street, while having good intentions, just doesn’t cut it when the goal is to increase profits and grow your business. It’s an investment that every business owner should take very, very seriously.

-Stu

Do I Really Need A Website?

2009-05-28T20:04:00.002-06:00

Stuart (Stu) Macik, Broken Sky Studio, Denver, Colorado

Inevitably, one of the first questions I get from new business owners these days is "Do I really need a website for my small business?" I think the answer lies in the fact that I’ve never been asked that question from one of my clients with a larger, more established business because they already know the answer is a resounding Yes. In fact, the question I hear most often from clients with established businesses is "What’s it going to take for my site to be effective against my competition?" The question of needing a website has already been established through real world experience.

So if you’re asking yourself this question, let me relate to you what some of my clients with established businesses have told me about the benefits of having a professionally designed and developed website.

1. It evens the playing field. Almost every business has some kind of website and though in some situations no site can be better than a bad one, there is practically no debate as to the value of a professionally designed and developed site in a competitive business environment.

2. It gives “Easy Access” to your business. Even small service companies can benefit from a web presence in that a website becomes an easily accessible on-line business card that establishes credibility in the marketplace. For larger companies, a website becomes an easy, cost effective way to market to potential customers.

3. It says “I’m A Professional”. Of course the caveat here, once again, is that the site must be professional in appearance, content and usability. A poorly designed or written site can just as easily say, or perhaps more likely shout “Hey, I’m an amateur”. We’ve all visited sites where we’ve said to ourselves “You know, based on this site, I don’t think I want to do business with these guys”.

These are but a few of the benefits I’ve heard over the years but I think they make the point that a professionally designed and developed site is a sound investment for any business wanting to grow and prosper in today’s business climate.

-Stu