Usability | Michael Reynolds

Posts Tagged ‘usability’

Smart, simple solutions

In: Design| Lifestyle| Marketing| Productivity| Technology

30 May 2010

There is an abundance of complexity in the world. It occurs pretty much everywhere. Companies create products with way more features than we need, bosses over-complicate policies and procedures, and our government passes ridiculously complex legislation that no one even has time to read.
We do it to ourselves, too. We think we need big, complicated [...]

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Tags: abstraction, branding, complex systems theory, complexity, complicated, computational complexity, Design, Marketing, online tools, simple solutions, smart, solutions, spinweb, usability, website

Better usability in conference websites

In: Design| Marketing| Technology

26 May 2010

As a speaker, I attend and present for a lot of conferences. As an attendee, I register for events online and consume information primarily online via the conference website. As a speaker, I submit proposals for presentations with the intention of presenting at the conference.
As I analyze conference websites, I see a lot of opportunities [...]

Top 5 things to consider when redesigning your website

In: Design| Marketing| Productivity| Technology

29 Apr 2010

I had a wonderful time speaking for ISAE yesterday and serving on a panel on website redesign projects. After my keynote presentation and a great lunch, we had some excellent Q&A around what leads to a successful website redesign project. Special thanks to Katie Voorhest for inviting me to speak and for being one of [...]

Nonprofit web design and why it matters

In: Design| Marketing| Technology

15 Apr 2010

Modern websites should follow some standard best practices in design and usability in order to be effective as marketing and communications tools. Smart businesses understand that following these best practices leads to increased sales and revenue.
However, nonprofits also need to understand how design and usability affects their revenue. Nonprofits are interested in many of the [...]

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Tags: blog, blogging, charityvillage.com, communication, communication tools, Design, donations, invest, Marketing, non-profit organization, non-profit technology, nonprofit, nonprofit status, nonprofit website, nonprofits, usability, web designs, website

Don’t send me “e-news”

In: Design| Marketing| Technology

19 Mar 2010

I see a lot of email newsletters. They vary in their degrees of design quality, content, and general appeal. However, over 90% of them (made-up statistic for CJ McClanahan) fall into the trap of being simply “e-news”. Some of the titles are even things like “March E-news”, “E-news from Company XYZ”, or “March Newsletter”.
These are [...]

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Tags: Design, email, Marketing, usability

Credit union website design tips

In: Design

17 Nov 2009

In today’s market, credit unions are enjoying renewed popularity among consumers due to their membership-driven policies, personal service, and local community ties. Many people are drawn to these features of their local credit unions and are starting with research on the web.
For this reason, progressive credit unions must capture the attention of these researchers with [...]

How design affects credibility on the web

In: Design| Marketing| Technology

4 Nov 2009

I hate ugly websites. I realize that I have a particular bias as a result of what I do so I’m sure that is to be expected. In fact, people often have fun with me by sending me links to ugly websites just to see how much I cringe.
All fun aside, however, how often do [...]

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Tags: Design, indiana, indianapolis, Marketing, spinweb, usability, website

Top 10 Information Architecture Mistakes (Jakob Nielsen)

In: Design| Marketing| Technology

11 May 2009

Every now and then, Jakob Nielsen publishes a great article that really hits home and embodies all the rules we are trying to explain every day as we create web sites for our clients. Take a moment to read this one:
Top 10 Information Architecture Mistakes
It’s a great review of some of the little details that [...]

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Tags: Design, usability, website

Improving the Usability of your Pricing

In: Marketing| Productivity| Technology

5 Apr 2009

Our Creative Director at SpinWeb, Rob Alan, sent me this blog post today that I absolutely loved:
Is there a better way for you to price your product? – (37signals).
I was very happy to see it because it validates something we’ve been doing for the past year – improving the usability of our pricing.
As an interactive [...]