Professional Speaker | SpinWeb President/CEO
  
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Well said:
I admit that I’ve been guilty of subscribing to the “you’re just born with it” school of thought when it comes to taste but I’ve come to realize that this is somewhat elitist and also just plain not true. Additionally, it serves as a cop-out and an excuse to avoid the responsibility of having good taste.
Don’t be lazy – learn to understand the details that matter.
Thanks to Douglas Karr, I discovered a very useful list of usability rules that make good sense to review every now and then:
50 Web Usability Tips that Help You Attract and Retain Web Visitors.
A nice reminder that little details matter.
Recently, many of our new clients at SpinWeb have expressed interest in what our process is for creating web sites. At SpinWeb, we have a highly systematic and proven process for designing, building, and deploying professional web sites successfully. The following is an explanation of how that process works and will offer a better understanding of why we do the things we do and what we are actually doing as a site is being created.
Blueprint
The first step in creating a professional web site is the blueprint. Just as you would not build a house without a blueprint, we don’t feel that a professional web site should be built without a blueprint. The blueprint process starts with an interview with our client during which we ask a series of questions that uncover the needs and goals of the web site. At the end of this process, we deliver a detailed document that outlines the framework of the web site, including site map, workflow, module attributes, and other pieces of information that will define the outcome of the web site. This is the “road map” that the design team uses to design the site. By creating a blueprint, we are able to identify necessary changes and requirements early on before actual design begins. This saves time and money. To see an example of a web site blueprint, please feel free to contact us.
Design Comp
After the blueprint is finished, the design team then creates a design comp. The design comp is a set of image files that represent the look and feel of the site. This is typically an image of the home page and and interior page of the site and is a full design of what the finished site will look like. This gives our client a chance to review the design before the next step begins so that any necessary changes can be made early on, which again saves time and money.
Build-out
Once the design is ready, build-out begins. Using the house analogy, this is where the beams, structure, and walls are put in. During the build-out phase, the design team creates the CSS/XHTML code that will frame the site online. During this phase, the design team not only writes the code, but also tests the site on all the major operating systems (Windows, Mac) and web browsers (Internet Explorer, Firefox, Safari) to ensure that the site displays properly on those platforms.
Freedom Deployment
After the site is built out and tested, it is typically deployed in Freedom, which is the application suite used at SpinWeb. Freedom allows our clients to manage their web site using only a web browser. With a site deployed in Freedom, the web site owner can post news and events, edit content, manage online forms, post photos, send Broadcast Emails (like this one), manage products, and more from their own computers. All these updates can be made within minutes by anyone in the client’s company who is authorized. As we deploy the site in Freedom, the design team implements and styles each module to ensure that it is integrated properly in the site and that it follows the design guidelines of the site. For example, if the blueprint and site design call for an events calendar on the home page that lists three upcoming events, the events module must be implemented and styled on the home page.
Internal Delivery Review
This is the finish line. Once the site is fully deployed, we hold an Internal Delivery Review. This is a formal presentation that the lead designer makes to the entire team at SpinWeb. During this review, management (along with others in the agency) asks the lead designer to go through the entire site and demonstrate the functions and pieces of the site to ensure that everything works correctly. Special attention is paid to details like page styling, online form behavior, the structure of notification emails, code elements (such as proper title tags), e-commerce functions, and anything else that is a dynamic component of the site. If anything is found to be incorrect, it is either corrected on the spot or it is captured in a final list of items to correct. The site is only declared finished once this list is closed. Once the site meets SpinWeb’s high standards, it is ready for delivery.
Client Delivery and Training
The site is now ready to deliver to the client. At this point, we train our client on how to use the site and manage content. During this stage, our client posts and updates content and gets the site ready for launch.
Launch
This is the moment you’ve been waiting for! The site is finished and is ready for launch. At this point we review it with our client and make any last-minute minor changes that may be requested, and then launch the site. Because of the care and attention given to the process at each stage listed above, SpinWeb sites typically launch very smoothly and successfully.
Hopefully this insight into our web site creation process has been helpful in understanding what is happening at each stage. Though is takes time and attention to reach the end result, we feel that our web sites are so beautiful and successful that they are well worth the wait. To learn more about this process, please feel free to contact us.
I was registering online for an event this week using a credit card and experienced a usability hiccup on the organization’s web site that I found noteworthy. As I was completing the final steps of the registration online, I clicked submit and instead of being greeted by a confirmation screen, I received an intimidating red error message that said “Your credit card has been declined.” Ouch! No one likes to hear that. However, I knew the card was fine so I tried to think of other reasons for the error. Then I realized that the billing address I had entered was not the one that was associated with the card. I edited my registration and lo and behold, the registration was completed successfully.
While I was able to figure out what the problem was, others might not be so fortunate. How many other customers decided to give up after the first “Declined” message and abandon the registration process? This anecdote illustrates the importance of descriptive error messages. In this particular case, a better error message might be something like:
“There was a problem with your credit card. It was declined by the processor which could be due to a number of things. Some possible causes include insufficient funds, or perhaps the billing address you entered is not the address associated with this credit card. You may want to double-check the billing address you entered. If you continue to have trouble, please call us at 800.555.1212.”
This error message is much more useful that the first one because it gives the customer some useful troubleshooting information as well as a phone number to call as a last resort for further help. It also does not accuse the customer of having a bad credit card, but rather presents some possible scenarios and does not make assumptions, thus keeping the transaction neutral. The scenario above is one example, but user-friendly error messages are important any time your site asks for user data. This same principal can be applied to social networking sites, online forums, or even simple contact forms.
Is your web site inadvertently turning away good customers by displaying cold, unfriendly error messages? Take a look and see if some improvements can be made. A few small changes can turn lost sales into loyal customers.
This really brightened my day. Working in a creative field, we are constantly fighting against the subjective, sometimes misguided desires of our clients despite the fact that we have been hired as the experts to provide creative services. It’s always nice to see that other creative professionals go through the same challenges. Enjoy!
I enjoyed Douglas Karr’s recently blog entry titled “What’s in it? Where is it? How? Web Marketing Strategies“. In it, one particular point rang very true for me:
Aesthetics of the site. The layout and theming of your site needs to reflect the professionalism and attitude that you wish to portray. I used to say not to worry about this – it was all about the content. I was wrong, though. Larger sites are seeing a gain in traffic with a new design. Want to open a Web 2.0 site? Make sure it looks like a Web 2.0 site!
Very true! This is one of those concepts that is sometimes difficult to explain to businesses or convince them that it’s important. I see so much effort being placed on getting traffic to a web site but often times not as much effort is placed on how the site looks once the user arrives.
Great design matters. The better your site looks, the easier it is to convince your customers to buy from you.
Rob Alan recently sent me a link to an article titled “Logo Misapplication” by Andy Rutledge. I enjoyed the meat of the article and agreed with much of it but I felt compelled to reject some of it. For starters, what I agreed with:
“No, this new logo will not fix your crappy company.”
Right on. While I do feel that a great logo can do great things for a company (which I will get to shortly), I do agree that it takes real work to fix, improve, or grow a great company. It takes more than a fancy logo. It takes time, effort, cleverness, wisdom, vision, and many other things to truly support a strong logo.
Next:
“Your logo is not your brand.”
Agreed. A logo is a pivotal visual representation of your brand, but a strong brand is made up of much more. A strong brand is supported by a clear vision from company management, sincere buy-in and execution by the team, and a commitment to excellence. A company’s brand is made up of its logo, marketing message, print collateral, web site, color palette, customer service, verbal cues, language, culture, personalities, philosophies, reputation, customer experience, and much more.
So where do I disagree?
“It is hard to look across the table at these business owners and explain to them that building an identity that supports an ideal counter to their practice or ability is the wrong move.”
“Of course the best course of action for most of these clients would be to build a healthy, honest, formidable company. Having done that, their current logo will likely work just fine.”
I feel that the spirit of this message is incorrect and does a disservice to a company’s efforts to reach greatness. I have seen numerous examples of logos and identities that actually help propel companies toward greatness when they otherwise might be stuck. While a logo can’t “fix” a broken company, it can be part of an impetus that sparks a rebirth or refresh in the organization.
Oftentimes during a consultation I will encourage my clients to allow us to create a logo that represents where they want to be in 5 years. Creating a logo for today is short-sighted and, in my opinion, a waste of time and money. Instead, a great logo should exude optimism and professionalism that transcends the current situation. It should be a beacon of inspiration that keeps the company pointed in the right direction. When this happens, team morale improves, executives find new inspiration and passion for their companies, and customers take notice. Though sometimes difficult to measure, these effects should not be discounted when creating and executing strategies for company growth and success.
In conclusion, you certainly should not hang on to unrealistic expectations for your logo. However, don’t underestimate the influence a great logo can have when building your brand for the future.
This week, Matt forwarded a great article to me from SiteProNews. The article is titled “Websites: It’s the Experience Stupid“. The article had a great point to make about the experience that you provide to your audience. However, the point that spoke to me most of all was this one:
“Today every business has a website but so many are sterile, impersonal and lack any kind of meaningful experience for the visitor. Businesses spend so much time worrying about driving traffic to their websites that they forget what happens when people arrive.”
I’ve gone on similar rants before about this and it is one of my biggest pet peeves. So many businesses are indeed obsessed with search engine traffic, rather than a great design and a great user experience on their web sites. Step one is to create a beautiful and pleasant user experience on your web site and ensure that your message is compelling. After that, you can start driving visitors to your site. Reversing those priorities is a waste of money.
Thoughts? Your comments are welcome.
Tara from SpinWeb sent out a hilarious link today. Do yourself a favor and take a break to watch this video:
http://www.makemylogobiggercream.com/
While this gave us all a good laugh, it is also sad commentary about the challenges we face as creative professionals. Do the things in this video spoof really happen? Yes, sometimes we do get requests to “make the logo bigger”, “get rid of the whitespace”, or otherwise simply ruin the design based on the short-sighted whims of the CEO or Director of Something-Or-Other. Do we love our clients? Yes. Do we want our clients to at least listen to our recommendations? Yes. As creatives, we certainly don’t want to slip into a the trap of arrogant complacency. However, we were hired based on our expertise and track record. Keeping that in perspective will make for a happier team and a more successful project.
