challenge
Think before you design.
One of the primary things the we at World Wide Creative concentrate on before embarking on the design and development of any website or online community, is to conduct a thorough study and analysis of our clients’ niche market. Read Further
typography
It’s amazing how much detail goes into a website. Think of the functional components, programming technology, tags, site navigation and the personas. Phew! And that’s before we even touch the content.
Design is the glue that holds everything together. Read Further
standard bank
I was checking in on Muti today when I saw Coda’s entry ‘Standard Bank redesign’. I clicked through to check it out, and was gobsmacked by what I saw. [For our international readers, Standard Bank is South Africa's second biggest bank. Bear in mind that in South Africa, banks are hugely profitable and should really have a big budget for this kind of thing.] Read Further
What makes a great designer? I compiled this list after a decade of trying to be one. (This list applies to graphic designers as well as web designers.) Read Further
This article, maybe more than any other, explains why website design costs a fair amount of money if you want to get it done right. Great stuff from Joel Spolsky once again (lifted from his brilliant blog – Joel on Software).
Joel talks about the website designed by their chosen design firm. Joel goes through all the design phases and then tells them to ’start all over again’. Hectic. To the website firm: we feel your pain, whoever you are. This is something that we’ve experienced more than once.
We understand from the client’s perspective, and from our point of view, the site must be exactly right. Throw in browser compatibility at the end of the process, and you realise why the small guys are getting killed out there.
Web design is not for the faint hearted, fellas.
Obviously the answer is a combination of both, and this is a highly fought over and debated topic.
How can you approach a company with a poorly designed site and tell them they need a new website, when you know they are getting very low bounce rates and they have a very profitable website? This is a lot harder to do than approaching someone who has a beautiful site but is not converting any traffic.
The Trust factor is an important element of the design. If I come across an old looking website, even if it is very easy to use, I am hesitant to enter my personal details when purchasing.
Just this week I was browsing the web and came across the Cape Town Lodge Hotel website http://www.capetownlodge.co.za/. Whenever I drive pass this hotel I always think wow, that looks like a trendy vibrant place to stay. So I was very shocked when I saw their website. I expected my impressions of the hotel to be reflected in the look and feel of their website.
However, I cannot complain about the usability. On every page the navigation is clear and actionable, and all information that you would require is on the site. The only thing I noticed was once you leave the home page you can not get back there which is a shame as the homepage has all the pictures of the hotel on.
Once again the dilemma has appeared, If this website is profitable for them (because of the usability) why would they want to change the site?
At World Wide Creative we take the approach of a site storm before any website is designed and built. The whole team comes together and ensures the design will reflect the brand and marketing objectives as well as compliment the usability of the website. I believe we have some of the best website designers and web marketing experts in South Africa and with this combination we do not even have to choose between usability or design? (Shameless self promotion, I know)
- Nicola
Ok – thanks everyone for the feedback on ‘creating a profitable website’ design. This is the final permutation of the layout before we ‘chop it up’ into HTML. Now I will launch into setting up the pay-per-click campaign. Yeeha!
Home page (below)
Gallery page (below)
First things first: We have to pick a company and build a website before we can start the Pay-per-click campaign. We chose my wife’s new profession, painting, as our company. The reasons for the choice are as follows:
The ‘company’ is called Art Revision; has one ‘employee’ – my wife; will be run under the World WIde Creative accounts; and will sell replicas of famous paintings for around 200 or R2500 in South African terms. She is really good at making copies, and is now getting pretty confident with the brush.
So here is the first design. I have stuck to a tried and tested formula as we don’t want to get too complicated.
Any thoughts or feedback are welcome. One question I’m not sure of is should we have a newsletter sign-up form?
- Fred
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