Some of the team are flying the We Love Twitter flag. See what they have to say about the industry and nose into their personal thoughts about design, copy, dev and IA. Start following the We Love Team.
While you are there why not tweet us via our rather lovely and revamped Twitter page. Join the conversation.
Thanks to @gopalraju for the twitter bird icons.
We have already established communication, problem solving, understanding code, attention to detail, time management and human behaviours as core attributes of a designer (see Part 1 and Part 2) and in this article we continue to delve into what makes a successful designer.
Look at websites and analyse WHY the designer has utilised certain elements
It is one thing to look at a design and like it, however it is only when you make the effort to understand the reasons why you like it, that you can actually learn from the design.
When analysing a successful, or just as importantly, an unsuccessful design, it is important to consider why the designer has placed particular elements in certain positions, what they are aiming to achieve through their design, and what message they are trying to get across to the viewer. It is often an interesting exercise to consider how the message of the design could be totally changed by altering a particular aspect of the design.
Another point to consider is that you should always look at other designs subjectively. Whether you like the design or not is almost irrelevant. The more important question is whether or not the design is successful in meeting its objectives by effectively communicating to the target audience. As an aside, an unsuccessful design is not always a reflection of the designer’s ability but is quite often a product of the restrictions, or requirements imposed by the client.
Make the user happy
Some of the most successful web and mobile designs in the past twelve months can credit their success not to their innovative services or offerings, but simply to their execution. As designers we should aim to be making the users’ experience as simple and as enjoyable as possible, regardless of how menial or basic the task may seem to be.
As designers, we should always strive to deliver an “experience”. Users want to be able to connect to the designs in their day-to-day lives, and we should respond to this by offering design in which they not only feel comfortable using, but also actually enjoy using. We should appeal to people’s emotions. Make them smile, make them laugh, make them happy but most importantly make them forget that they are actually having to complete the task at hand. A user may not always recognise a “good” user experience, however you can guarantee that they will notice, and be turned off, by a bad user experience.
After attending The Future of Web Design conference in London recently I can safely say it is a pretty exciting time to be involved in the digital industry.
As was to be expected there was a lot of discussion about the capabilities (and limitations imposed by particular browser/s) of HTML5 and CSS3. Admittedly, it is very exciting to be able to utilise these tools when designing for the web, however a few of the speakers touched on some points which I think are of much greater importance when it comes to the real future of web design.
Paul Boag mentioned that we should forget about the new technologies for the time being and focus on improving our Marketing, Copywriting, Contextual Understanding, Strategy, and Psychology skills. This is very much in line with what I believe makes a good designer, so I thought I would use this as a basis for what I, personally, would like to see for the future of web designers.
Over the coming weeks I am going to discuss in detail the often overlooked attributes which I feel make a successful designer in the creative industry.
What I hope to achieve is an increased awareness of the design industry outside the specific “digital space” and a more considered approach to the use of the new technologies which are available to us. Ultimately I would like us all (as creatives) to work towards avoiding an era of over-used CSS3 effects and being faced with a repeat of the original Photoshop filter overload.
So, while it is easy to get excited and spend all of our time learning the new technologies, I urge you to hold back and concentrate on improving your foundations skills before anything else, and only utilise the new technologies when the right project comes along.
Battle for the World Cup buzz goes to Nike in early rounds.
via USA TODAY (please note: Contextual links below will take you to USA TODAY result pages)
But the early “winner” in buzz is Nike, neither a World Cup sponsor nor partner of the sport’s governing body, FIFA.
Social-media monitoring firm Meltwater Buzz looked at online buzz May 24 through Thursday for 11 top sponsors, partners and other key marketers and found outsider Nike had 26% vs. 20% for Adidas, a FIFA partner, and 11% for Sony, also a partner.
Credit Nike’s “Write the Future” soccer ad that launched May 20 on Facebook, says spokesman Derek Kent. It’s had 14 million YouTube views.
For big-spending marketers who rely upon social media such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube to economically create brand buzz fast, the importance of successfully riding the wave of global events such as the quadrennial World Cup can’t be overstated. “It’s a unique opportunity to tie your brand to the greatest sporting event in the world — in real time,” says social-media consultant Jay Baer. “So much in social media is about brevity, which lends itself perfectly to soccer.”
Last Friday, I, along with several other Kent agency representatives, went to a Creative Strategy meeting organised by MediaTree and The Kent County Council. The objective: How best to strengthen Kent’s creative proposition in the short, mid and long term.
It was a good session that dealt with the issues of being ‘outside of London’, the diverse cultural variations of a large county, defining what makes working in Kent attractive (and what doesn’t), adopting European mindsets – where the focus of an industry isn’t so centered around a single locale, getting creative at a grass routes level, Kent’s Brand (or lack of), identifying and retaining the talent and support from our local government to grow what is an already important industry to the county and country.
After years of working in London, as well as all over the world for top tier agencies, I walked away with even more conviction of what I already believe to be true – knowing that creative Kent has a growing and relatively untapped creative potential. And, as potential is core to success, that this should be explored via inter-agency thinking with council support to help activate and encourage ideas. That there are companies in Kent that are making a difference to our industry, that push boundaries without the blinkered and repetitive approach of many London based agencies. That here is a place that allows exploration of idea and space to grow. An alternative, and a good one at that.
That people who fail to understand what Kent has to offer, that beat the London drum far too loudly, are in fact intimidated by the challenge. Who wish to be just another number, rather than a valued player. Someone who hides behind others decisions and doesn’t really want to think for themselves. There is ample opportunity to work for the ‘Big Brands’ in Kent… and to ‘own the project’ with it. They just have to open their eyes.
I look forward to continuing these conversations with MediaTree, the KCC and likeminded agencies. Expect more. The Future is Digital Kent…
It is now my fourth week at the manor, so I thought it was about time I write my first blog post… and seeing as though I am We Love’s new copywriter – what better than a blog about writing for digital…
Writing for digital is very different to writing for offline communications.
You have to get right to the point, and fit what you have to say in a fairly small space. Copy has to be short and concise – clarity is key, if users are going to engage with it. Traffic to your site will be turned off by a big block of copy – users won’t spend time reading and reading, so it is important to keep copy to a few key points.
When writing for digital, don’t stray away from your brand guidelines and vision. They are just as important as in print copy. Your audience need to relate to your brand and are used to the way you communicate with them. Stick to the core elements of your style guidelines for digital, or you will confuse your audience.
Users will tend to skim content when reading websites but you have to remember that they are a proactive audience and are on your site to seek information. Break up copy into short paragraphs and use appropriate subheadings where required.
Example of website doing this well: http://www.misofunky.com/index.php
(Miso Funky, lovingly handmake homewares and accessories. The copy on their site is short and concise but still has a personal touch to it – posing questions to engage the user and create a relationship to build on.)
Interesting read over at Apple, Steve Jobs has come out and stated the reasoning for Apple’s refusal to incorporate Flash into their handheld devices.
It seems to be a very honest article, and there are some good points in there which do give a lot more weight to their argument.
This little gem did the rounds a while ago, but I re-found it yesterday and so thought I’d re-share with you all.
A list of terms coined as ‘bullsh*t’ by the Local Government Association was issued to Councils stating they were no longer allowed to use these words/phrases….bluesky thinking, bottom-up and outside of the box being just a few.
It’s amazing how many of these terms we all use across marketing every day… but just how much bullsh*t do you talk?
Within a week of opening our new boardroom in the Manor, it has already been claimed by the IA’s as their War Room. Before we could even hang up the picture frames or get the TV on the wall, the room has become a mass of paper, markers and post-it notes!
After a very active (exciting) week of brainstorms, discovery sessions and much more across some very long hours, I managed to snap a quick photo of the state of the room after everyone went home last night.
It’s exciting times at the moment, and we are working on some very cool projects so we look forward being able to share them with you in the future!
Having caused my holidays to be cancelled at the last minute, I haven’t been “The Volcano’s” biggest fan this week. However I came across these photo’s this morning that enabled me to look at the thing in a whole new way! Pretty amazing I think!
If you would like to say hello or require some much needed love injected into your offline and digital presence, get in touch:
Give us a call: +44(0) 1622 685605
Send us an email: info@welove72.com
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We Love...
Springfield House, Sandling Road,
Maidstone, Kent, ME142LP
