A little over a year ago I decided I wanted to get into web development, so after doing some research for a few days, I learned that HTML was pivotal in understanding the web and how it all works. CSS, Javascript, PHP, etc. followed, but HTML was the language of the web, so I needed to learn it.
(a sidenote here: if anyone reading this thinks they want to work on any kind of web job, they are fooling themselves if they think learning HTML isn’t important. It is. I spent a few weeks learning it and I use it every day on my job. A little bit of learning is a powerful thing when it comes to the world wide web employment rush)
In those first few weeks of learning HTML, I created basic basic websites that only had text on them or maybe one image, just learning how they all worked and how to put them together. Basic language: “The cat sat on the mat” type stuff.
Those were basics, and the basics could do very little as far as dynamism goes. But with technology advancing so much these days, it’s possible to now build a website that feels like a moving, living creature responding to your movement.
Living things move. Plants grow and move. Rocks do not. Dead people do not. It’s a somewhat good assessment of something to know if it’s living- does it move?
Taking that same instinct to web design and development, does your website move? Have you ever been on one that does?
The human eye and ear is drawn to movement. We like things to change and move, especially in response to our own movement.
So, why haven’t websites capitalized on this?
Many have.
And they’re better than the websites that haven’t.
Getting inspiration from this article in Smashing Newsfeed (is that British or what?), the question of what we know about a website or online brand before we even let them speak for themselves.
What do I mean?
Take the recent Pinterest craze.
Did you find it randomly through a search for the website or what it does? Probably not. It’s most likely you heard about it through the news or through a friend posting on social media, or even word of mouth (’twas the case for me). Already, whether you were aware of it or not, the brand was being advertised, and don’t underestimate our ability to whittle down a concept, brand, or idea to what is most important to a person. We do it all the time.
Did you see “The Artist”? What was it about?
It’s a silent movie about the transition from the silent era to talkies, and focuses on an actor who is declining in fame alongside an actress who is ascending. And they love each other.
There you go. I just whittled down 2 hours of film into two sentences, well, one normal one and a much shorter one. But before you even saw the movie, you were given an idea and an image, something to create in your brain to form expectations and anticipation before you even saw the product.
So, what does this have to do with design?
Your website or brand is undergoing this same scrutiny and sizing done by your users. How can you control for it?
Go through your website. What stands out to you? If you had to say what your brand was about in one sentence, what would it be? Does your website communicate that or is it all muddled? I’ll let our a secret about the internet only the most savvy know about: people don’t want to do a lot of hard work when browsing the web. They want quick and easy answers. Whether or not you like this, it’s the way of the web. Does you webpage meet that culture and accommodate?
Find the one thing your brand is about and make it prominent in every place where a person can find you. Shoes for impoverished children. Sharing cool images and ideas with your friends through pins. You get the idea. Know what it is in one sentence and publish it everywhere, even on the brand itself.
That should be all in getting better control over the conversations you’re having with potential users. Make it easy for people to talk about you, and especially say the things you want them to about your brand.
Taking inspiration from this photo we found this morning, it brought up the reality that many of us are holding our breath as we’re visiting websites.
What I mean by this is that there’s expectation, hurried, shallow breathing that happens when we search the web or visit a website. Our brains are one step ahead of where we are, looking for the answer to the question that seems so important.
This isn’t a bad thing. Please hear me.
We have questions and the web is about answering those. Where is this new Italian restaurant? What are the Oscar Nominees for this year?
And so on.
But it becomes bad when it becomes habitual. When we’re overlooking the aesthetics of the web.
But whose fault is it? Is it ours or have we just learned to use the web in this old and tiring way?
Apex says a well-designed website will get people to unlearn these habits. To slow their breath rather than hold it as they scroll through a page.
There’s a massive difference between these two experiences: holding your breath in anticipation and slowing your breath through awe.
Apex creates awe on the web through well-designed websites.
A website that slows your breath is one clients and businesses will remember.
It’s one you want to share, it’s a website people will return to in order to see more of what the site has to offer. It adds a human touch to what can be a very dry experience of browsing.
Also, knowing when to hold someone’s breath with the design and when to slow it can be crucial in getting conversions on a webpage.
This great post from Smashing Magazine (btw Smashing Magazine is a must-stop site for any web design that wants an healthy, in-depth look at both web development and design, particularly with WordPress. Their posts are infrequent, but oh boy when they do post something, it’s always enlightening and remarkable.
They cleverly compare an innovation in music originating with Bach with the recent emphasis on mobile web browsing and an interesting point arises, I’d say the biggest point between the two, and it’s probably not one people would expect.
It would seem that the older medium (traditional browsers on a desktop/laptop) would be more direct, simpler, and have more of the excess fat trimmed, but that’s not the case.
What we’ve noticed is that mobile browsing is far more direct and focused on a single goal, and far far less tolerant of fluff than traditional web browsing.
Think about it, people don’t surf the web on their phones.
They have a very specific agenda when they get on their phone browser.
The reasons for this are obvious:
People are usually in the middle of something when they browse on their phone. This could them waiting in line, or in the middle of a conversation to settle a dispute (we’ve all been in one of those I’m sure).
Mobile broswing is far less comfortable than desktop browsing. The screen is smaller, usually the wait is longer, etc.
So, what’s the designer lesson in this?
Make a mobile website about one thing. They’re not interested in pop up ads, side games, anything that would take their attention away from their goal. If you ever doubted the fact that a website should be about a single call to action or theme, then leave that doubt far behind you when you’re designing for a mobile website.
Think about the mentality of a user when they’re logging on to a site you designed. This is probably a user that’s more rushed, more distracted, and wants the bottom line, always.
We can thank Jay Mug for the wonderful image that began this post.
With today being the first day of fall- I find it appropriate to talk about the exciting changes of the season. Yes, we are all excited about the Starbucks Pumpkin Spice Latte (with soy – hold the foam) but many other things are changing as well. In the world of Social Media that is.
Myspace.com is (trying) to revamp the site to excite users and turn ‘em back to our old social media obsession. The new site will feel more like Facebook with a cleaner interface and more white space, and will focus on an individualized activity stream according to TechCrunch. If you look at Tom’s page (nostalgic, right?) you can get a glimpse of what the changes will be. The official drop date is October 15th.
The new, better Twitter has slowly started to take form. On the site the familiar timeline will see be there- but underneath the tweets there will be a lot more content revealed. The video better explains the changes but we are excited to see what they got!
Although Facebook is rather busy counting down the days till they get to see themselves on the big screen- they have realized the annoyance of games in newsfeeds and are working on fixing it up. Because honestly, does anyone really care that your imaginary cow ran out of food in Farmville?
So! This week was as eventful as any other! We had a bit of a crazy start! As Alli, our new addition, had troubles getting back from her vacation! Apparently, some crazy thought it would be a great idea to go around the runways, un-authorized…great! She did make it safe and sound the next day!
Lastly, our fearless leader (Josh) will be out of town for a couple of days to enjoy the sights and sounds of Germany’s Oktoberfest! Of course, he will be only observing the festivities and would never partake in the insane amounts of drinking that occur every year. We all hope that you enjoy all the sights and sounds of Oktoberfest, Josh! We also await your safe return anxiously!
Cementing my role of “resident videogame connoisseur,” I’m pretty pumped to hear about the newly-announced LoveSac Speedrun Classic this October. LoveSac make some really awesome furniture, and now they’ve letting you play some really great games… while sitting in really awesome furniture.
To commemorate the momentous occasion, LoveSac are creating a limited-edition Pwnage PillowSac, which sports a retro-themed color scheme and logo, plus a certain code that’s well-familiar to any child of the 80s. Winners from the events will receive tons of awesome LoveSac swag, as well as a custom Powerglove trophy – yes… it is so bad.
An excuse to take a trip to Boston, sit in some ridiculously comfy chairs and play a lot of Nintendo? Count me in. Head over to Destructoid.com for more details and a poll to pick the games that’ll be played during the events.
This week! Amazing as ever! It was a four day week due to Labor Day and it went by fast! Davis had a HUGE BBQ blow-out to christen his new home, Josh rode his hog down to D.C., Gabo hung around town and Alli partied it up over at Jerz.
The big news this week is the beginning of Fashion Week, making it a very busy time for us. Our clients, Beth Shak and Walter Steiger definitely have full schedules for this occasion. They’ll be attending various events and living it up in style (be sure to follow what they’re up to on Twitter at @bethshak and @waltersteiger to check out what they’re up to).
In other news, classic-rockers and our clients, Heart partnered-up with Etsy.com to give away a bunch of stuff from their new album, Red Velvet Car, through Etsy.com’s “Treasury Contest”. If you don’t know what a Treasury is (I sure didn’t), go check them out at Etsy.com.
Finally, and this is unrelated to anything else, we bring you a small piece of internet geekery, courtesy of our resident geek, Davis. He brought to our attention the YouTube Time Machine; an interesting contraption that helps you see videos from as early as the first sound recordings of the 1860’s to the car commercials we know and love today. Check it out at YTTM (which stands for You Tube Time Machine…clever).
And for the last, last thing we’ll bug you with (promise); in the spirit of fashion week (and, I guess, videos) we’ll leave you with a clip of a bunch of models falling and tripping (HILARIOUS!) during their runway walk.
In what is possibly the best app demo video I’ve seen, the guys behind Birdhouse explain why you, An Important Businessperson, need to purchase their app.
Described as a “notepad for Twitter,” Birdhouse is designed to let you jot down your ideas whenever, and then publish it later. You know, it’s perfect for those times when creepy people approach you on the subway platform, and you can’t tweet about it due to the lack of cell service. I’m considering it, only so I can be filled with the inner joy that comes with being fave’d. It’s available for $4 on the iTunes app store.
