Design Revolution

Building Engagement In

There are ways to BUILD engagement into a website's design. Here are three secrets to promote engagement not included in this excellent Slideshare:

* Place Email Subscription High Up and Prominent. 
* Include curated User Generated Content on every page.

* Create CTAs with CONTRAST.

Email Subscriptions
When your "Subscribe To Our Email List" Call to Action is high on the page in a Can't Miss It spot you communicate a clear "we want YOU" signal. 

UGC Everywhere
When you curate User Generated Content to your site you communicate how well you listen and care for community members. The website isn't all about YOU and what you think the inclusion of UGC says.

CTAs
I see to very common mistakes in websites I'm asked to review as Director of Marketing for Atlantic BT in Raleigh (http://www.atlanticbt.com ): NO CTAs or poorly contrasted CTAs. I PREFER CTAs to be buttons and usually test red, orange or green (depending on the background color). I'm convinced there is no ONE magic CTA color but the contrast is what makes a Call To Action helpful or not, clicked on or not, converting or not.  

Closing The Computer
Design is about LIFE, LOVE and PASSION. Online and computers are part of our lives, but only part. This fascinating throw back exercise, design by hand, forces students to THINK in an old way, a good way (at least as long as the computer is still available :).

Excellent article on color's hypnotic power over behavior, brand preference and life. 

Responsive To Visual
Excellent infographic summarizing current web design trends from responsive to larger images and more of them. I would add in @Scoopit's Lean Content Movement ( http://www.atlanticbt.com/blog/the-lean-content-movement/ ), but excellent summary of what is happening now.

Great process share.

Top 10 Minus 2
This is an excellent post, but I removed two of the top 10 tips. I removed #4 Type because it isn't clear. Unique type in an image is fine since you know how it will render. Unique type in body text can be a disaster because you don't know how it will render.

The Internet is a billion computers all with different setups for type. When you render an exotic type in HTML text the receiving computer must have that same exotic type or it renders as a more common type (Arial, Veranda).

Let's call this "type roulette" and it is to be avoided. Exotic type in .JPGs or .PNGs or .GIFs (best format for type only images) render exactly as you see them. Type in body text is dependent on the receiving device so I tend to use non-serif universal type (easier to read non-serif type online).

There are ways to select how your type will render when it isn't available on the receiving computer, but I don't like the variability of playing font roulette. Type plays an important but floating point role in website design. I pick a type that will WORK, look pretty much the same on all receiving computers and be easy to read. Don't play font roulette.

I also removed #6 - Drop In Full Screen Photos
Yes this idea can be done well, but your designer better be VERY good. I prefer lots of white space on a website design. White space creates spacing and so highlights design elements NEXT to it. Strange to think of creating highlights by using negative space, but if you think of every great picture or painting you love there is always the use of negative space.

Warhol was famous for using BLACK to create his negative space. Great photographers such as Annie Leibovitz frame negative space in like huge arrows getting your eyes to go where they want them.

You may be the one in 100 designer who can use full screen photos and still create design tension and navigational hierarchy, but odds are better to say USE WHITE SPACE than full screen photos.

Four Pillars
* The User.

* The Content.

* The Design Framework.

* The Visual Design.

Combine Lean Web Design with @Scoopit's Lean Content Marketing and you will be dangerous :).

Responsive & Web 3.0
Put aside the SEO benefits, creating responsive design is beyond important because the future is about having your content look great no matter what type of devices is receiving.

Responsive design also forces a new framework on your content marketing THINKING. Your content marketing begins to get away from the static and more toward the dynamic.

Since the future of web design is dynamic making this move now has many benefits.

Responsive

Web 3.0

Snippets and Tags (Responsive)

Yes (Web 3.0)

Flexible images (Responsive)

Yes & controlled by code (Web 3.0)

Focus on the visual (Responsive)

Yes (Web 3.0)

No but easy to modify (Responsive)

Dynamic create in real time on fly (Web 3.0)

Internet marekting consistently shows those who embrace the future earliest and strongest reap the benefits. The time for your website to be responsive is now.

A great Question was asked on SlideShare (where the link goes), here is that question:

Gael de Talhouet, Global Digital Director at Henkel Hi Martin, Great pres. Now, you worked for P&G so you will understand my question : I perfectly get story telling for brands like Patagonia, but what can that mean for detergent or dishwashing brands ?

My Answer
Every brand must build an emotional connection. Tide does 'Loads of Hope' when they bring truckloads of washers and dryers to disaster relief areas so people can have clean clothes. When they do that the brand's dimensions include emotional connection and social relevance. If you think of Jim Stengel's book Grow you realize Tide is about PRIDE and so restoring pride after a disaster is perfectly aligned with the brand. Good question. Hope that helps.

Great infographic. Don't assume because it is reponsive it is GOOD or EASY (it is neither) and beware SEO complications.