1. PRIDE (VANITY) — excessive love of self — is pretty easy to recognize if the site is obviously ALL ABOUT YOU. Your company is wonderful, you are wonderful and your product or service is, of course, wonderful — all of which may be true — but if this is your focus, most likely you’re not as concerned as you should be about gearing your site to your clients’ or customers’ needs.  ”What are the benefits to the customer?” has been the marketers’ mantra for as long as I can remember. Not only do you need to connect with your visitors but you must anticipate how they are going to navigate your site.

At Ericson Mitchell, we stress that creating a personality for your company is the essence of your brand. But the personality is not YOU so lose the CEO or president’s photo on the first page of your site — unless he or she is Oprah, Cesar the Dog Whisperer or someone else well enough known to be an integral part of the company’s brand.

2. GREED — an excessive desire for more than one needs — is all about asking for too much from your visitors. Let’s say the consumer is ready to buy your book, for example, and he is about to hit the red BUY NOW button and he notices a few more options:
CLICK HERE to download our latest white paper,
CLICK HERE to sign up for our newsletter,
CLICK HERE to read our privacy policy.

You have provided enough DISTRACTIONS to get him to another page and he’s off on another tangent. The more alternatives you provide to take action, the less likely you are to get the sale. The same is true for asking for too much information on forms — streamlining them makes it much more likely that visitors will actually finish providing the info you need before they’re interrupted by something — and gone.

3. GLUTTONY – wanting more of everything, over-indulgence — is frequently manifested in so many sites, the ones we all run across and exit as quickly as possible. You only have a few seconds to engage a visitor and if your site has TOO MUCH of everything– too many images, too much content and too many typefaces — the result will feel chaotic to the viewer, who will not know where to start reading and probably move on. In the world of web design, we call these “clown pants” sites. The “white space” that designers love so much is not to make sites look pretty but because it helps guide the viewers through your site the way you want them to experience it. Often, less really is more.

4. ENVY — desire for what another has — can result in sending out a generic message on your website. Don’t copy what your competitors are doing. Be clear how you are differentiated from them and emphasize that. Their websites may not be all that effective and when it comes to usability, visitors are more likely to compare your site with the experience of sites they visit frequently and are comfortable with.

6. SLOTH Ask yourself some questions. When was the last time you updated the content in your site? Does your site look stuck in the 1990′s? Are you taking advantage of Google Analytics or even just the statistics provided by your hosting company? The really great thing about the web is that the metrics are so easy to access and you can find out where your visitors come from, what pages they visit, how long they stay, when they visit, etc. Much of this information is FREE. And Content Management Systems are now so much more sophisticated and easy to use that excuses are harder to find for not staying current.

And finally 7. WRATH.  Probably expressing anger on your site is not an issue, unless you want to attract other angry people. Provoking anger is a different story. Visitors who become frustrated navigating your site or annoyed by not finding what they need will give up and go elsewhere. A recent survey by Hostways came up with seven biggest pet peeves:

• Pop up ads
• Being required to install software to view the site
• Dead links
• Confusing navigation
• Required registration to access content
• Slow loading pages
• Ineffective site search tools

70% of respondents said they would be unlikely to purchase from a site that annoyed them, that they would probably never go back and — that they never want to hear from that company again. An irritated visitor is usually an ex-visitor.

Are you inspired? Pixability, a company that helps small businesses make videos, has the following tips for making your own videos:

1. Get a simple-to-use camera. The Flip camera and Kodak Zi8 are recommended. Make sure the camera allows for easy downloads.
2. It’s the content, baby! What are your best customers passionate about? Tell stories that give your audience the information they are searching for.
3. Shorter is better. Viewers have short attention spans, so don’t squeeze too many messages into one video. Less than two minutes is optimal for the Web.
4. Hold still. Grip the video camera with both hands and keep a stable shot for at least 10 seconds.
5. Lights, camera, action. Turn on all the lights when shooting, and never shoot someone whose back is to the sun. Have your subjects speak loudly, and avoid background noise.
6. Deliver the right message. End with a call to action.

You can read more about Pixability and web videos in the article Claim to frame: Helping businesses polish images published in the Boston Globe on 5/25/10.

Analysis by Smart Alice Web Design, smart web design for businesses who want a unique and effective presence on the internet.

Copyright 2010, Alice Gebura, All Rights Reserved.

Then I wrapped it in black fabric and startled it with a spotlight pointing up towards the face!

I took this image and used Photoshop to paint around the face and hands with black.  Then I used the perspective tool (Edit – Transform – Perspective) to distort the proportions.  Finally, I used Curves to saturate the colors for a more lurid effect.

Photos by Alice Gebura    Analysis by Smart Alice Web Design, smart web design for businesses who want a unique and effective presence on the internet.

Copyright 2010,  Alice Gebura,  All Rights Reserved.

• Straight lines
• 90 degree angles
• Absence of  negative space (space between objects)
  

The photo to the left shows an Ikebana arrangement.

Example of Ikebana

Notice the following:

• Simplicity, only 3 elements: white calla lilies, pink azaleas and black tray
• Curved lines, no straight lines
• Only 5 upright flowers grouped as 3 + 2, creating negative space between the vertical elements, the stems
• Negative space between the horizontal elements: calla lilies at the top,  azaleas and tray at the bottom

Despite the sparse, simple aesthetic, its visual interest  pulls you in and keeps you there.  Isn’t that what we want for our own web sites?

I gave some thought to how I could  apply this to web design.  I believe when you drill down and understand your goals and core values and how to realize them, you arrive at a truth that can be expressed simply and effectively.

If you don’t really understand who you are and what you’re doing, what better way to cover it up than to keep piling on more and more until you get a web site that looks like this:

Analysis by Smart Alice Web Design, smart web design for businesses who want a unique and effective presence on the internet.

Home Page, Web Site of Louis Lortie

Monday, March 1 marks the 200^th anniversary of Frederick Chopin’s birthday.  In honor of one of my favorite composers let’s talk about the web site of pianist Louis Lortie.  For me this web site is the epitome of why we bother to build web sites.  Louis Lortie is a  concert pianist and recording artist.  At his site there is a great depth of information about him, his career and discography, and, most interesting, it showcases his thoughts about music interpretation and its challenges.

Here’s the treasure you’ll find on just one page, Chopin:

• An excerpt from the score of a Chopin Etude
• A series of videos
• A photo of Chopin

The series of short videos showcase  Lortie playing two of the Chopin Etudes (a glorious aural experience) and Lortie, at the piano, talking about his approach to playing the etudes while playing excerpts to illustrate his thoughts.  As each video plays, its title  changes from black to lavender so you can keep track of where you are in the series.  Or, you can click on the one you want to hear.  Great user interface design!  Notice that underneath the video the timer is presented as a musical staff!  Clever design!

Chopin Page, Web Site of Louis Lortie

My only criticism is that the text on the home page is hard to read – a result of using a justified right margin and the italic font with very little line spacing.  The  opacity factor on the font doesn’t help either.

Lortie has created a passionate web site with great depth of information that gives us a window into his soul and the beauty of the music he plays.

Analysis by Smart Alice Web Design, smart web design for businesses who want a unique and effective presence on the internet.

In a nutshell, when information is easier to mentally process, people feel attraction and belief.  The opposite,  disfluency – making things difficult to grasp,  creates a cognitive roadblock that makes people wary and uncomfortable.

While this might seem intuitively obvious, evidence abounds that plenty of businesses (and web designers) don’t get it.

Bennett’s article is a terrific resource for more information on fluency and disfluency and the supporting research.

For the purpose of this blog let’s take a look at the practical implications of fluency and  disfluency in terms of web design.  Keep in mind this is all based on research, not my own preferences.

Disfluency:the art of making things difficult -

Web Design that Loses Business

Here are some characteristics of a disfluent web site that will leave web site visitors with a negative impression.

Inaccessibility

• Unfamiliar words (for example, technical jargon and acronyms)
• Names and words that are difficult to pronounce
• Complex syntax
• Illegible text (see my previous post The Dog and the Lotus)
• Missing information or convoluted instructions
• Functions that don’t quite work

Sensory Overload

• Overcrowding the page
• Visual distractions
• Multiple columns of disparate text
• Little or no white space
• Flickering animation

Inconsistency

• Confusing navigation
• Poor organization

Fluency:the art of making things easy to understand -
Web Design that Encourages Business

Here are some characteristics of a fluent web site that subliminally suggest to visitors that your business is reputable and trustworthy.

Repetition

• Consistent navigation and page layout across the web site
• Artful repetition of key ideas(note: repetition is good, redundancy is bad – know the difference)

Clarity

• Legible fonts and color coordination
• Plenty of white space
• Language and syntax that everyone can understand

Simplicity

• Message boiled down to its essence
• Graphic design and content that are easy to assimilate (accessible) both visually and conceptually

Web Site Analysis: The Glass House

Let’s take a look at the web site for The Glass House and see how well it does fluency wise.

Repetition: The grey box is repeated throughout as the background to the title (I like the opacity that reminds us of the see through quality of glass), the background in the drop down menus, and the background for other important pieces of information.

Clarity: The site contains a lot of information,  notice how it’s been logically organized and categorized.

Simplicity: One column layout, plenty of white space.

Verdict: Fluency.  I’m convinced this is a reputable organization dedicated to professionalism on all levels.

Analysis by Smart Alice Web Design, smart web design for businesses who want a unique and effective presence on the internet.

Blue Box Layout

The Guthrie Theater web site has a great layout. Blue boxes in all different sizes contain information, photos, slides – I really like the blue and gray stripes behind the horizontal navigation links (someone tell the webmaster to fix the padding on the second line of links so they’re centered) and the way they change colors as they stretch beyond the content area.

Innovative Navigation

The web site for artists Louviere + Vanessa: New Orleans is definitely outside the box. I love their images. To navigate the site you use your mouse to draw an arrow in the direction you want to go. You’ve got to try it and see what you think of it. It’s really strange, but I love the user interaction. If I were truly trying to find information, this would be a disastrous experience. But the site is an art gallery and it’s so much fun to wander through the gallery with this unusual navigation gizmo. Gotta find out how they do it!!

Analysis by Smart Alice Web Design, smart web design for businesses who want a unique and effective presence on the internet.

Photo: from the Mel Brooks movie “Young Frankenstein”

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is a big deal these days.  For anyone who doesn’t already know what it is, it’s basically doing whatever you can to make sure your web site shows up on the first page of search results given a specific set of words (keywords).  You can pay a search engine directly for this or you can contrive through content manipulation to make it happen.

Before computers, how did a local business get noticed? Besides the usual marketing activities, you could  list your business in the yellow pages.  Remember the days when businesses named themselves “AAA Roofing” or “AAA Mattress” so they would show up first in their category?   Marketing companies are charging big money under the premise that they can use SEO to do the equivalent of “AAA” for you on the web.

There’s no doubt you can artificially promote your site, but I’m skeptical about what works and how much it’s worth.  For example,  I was hired to write web page content for a business I’ll call The Widget Company.   What I wrote was then sent to a 27 year old vice president of SEO at a high priced marketing firm. (That a 27 year old could be a vice president should be the first tip off something isn’t right.)

To increase the probability the web site would come up first whenever a user typed “widget” on Google,  he stuck the word “widget” in front of every possible noun he could, usually creating awkward noun strings.  And stuck the word “widget” inside of product names, creating incorrect product names.  He also introduced grammar and spelling errors. For this The Widget Company is paying a retainer of several thousand a month.  Does anyone besides me smell snake oil?

Because The Widget Company is always running promotions of various types, there is no way to prove a cause and effect relationship between SEO and increased web site activity, in spite of the multitude of charts SEO people create to back up their claims.

But one fact is irrefutable – SEO did create awkward to read text that would have also made the company look like yokels if I hadn’t been able to go back and correct the bad grammar and spelling.

Why is The Widget Company paying for it?  There is one answer – fear.  The management doesn’t understand technology and this creates insecurity. And, as long as everyone else is doing it, they’re afraid they’ll be left behind if they don’t do it, too.

There are some common sense practices to follow regardless of SEO. You do these things because they enhance user interface design, impart information, and help people navigate your site.

• Ascertain key phrases to identify your business and message and use them strategically – in page titles and headings, for example.
• Write straightforward text and organize it logically.
• Present it with legible, user intuitive typography.

You can also artificially plug keywords into your content, but it probably won’t do much good.  Search engine companies are always rewriting search algorithms to ignore such tactics.

Lets do a reality check.  How many web sites are there in the world?  If you own a floral business, isn’t it sort of wacky to think you should come up on the first search page when there are 28,700,000 other florists out there?   However, Google is happy to list you on the first page when a user enters a type of  business and a zip code –   if you’ve included zip code/location information on your web site.  And that’s common sense, you shouldn’t have to pay thousands of dollars for it.

Frankly I’m skeptical of SEO and paying a bunch of money to snake oil salesmen preying on people’s lack of experience with technology.  Common sense, good writing, and strategic marketing along with intelligent web design should be all you need for visibility in your local market.

Commentary by Smart Alice Web Design, smart web design for businesses who want a unique and effective presence on the internet.

“The strength of an image lies many times in what we exclude from it.  Putting more things into a scene can often dilute the strength of the message. Keeping it simple is key.”

Web designers would do well to follow this advice.  Similar to creating a landscape, creating a web site should isolate and focus on what’s important by carefully selecting and streamlining graphic components.  We create something ugly and unfriendly when we clutter a page with multiple ideas, extraneous information, or unnecessary functionality.  Choose one idea and execute it well.  Don’t add stuff just because you can.

Redundancy

For an example of what I’m talking about, let’s visit the Harvard Parks & Recreation web site.  The left column provides links to the rest of the site.  When I mouse over the Main Page tab, the same content links appear (see screen shot on the left).  Why do I need to see the same links twice?

Ugly Graphics – and lots of them

There are three different graphics on the home page.

Landscape photo – used as background for title. Note the gray, out of focus, pixelated photo.  If you can’t find a great photo locally (hard to believe), why not spend $3 for a decent image from iStockPhoto?  The landscape theme is relevant, though.  The message it conveys is “lake/recreation/swimming/boating/fishing.”

Tree logo in the left corner. Suggests a conservation theme.  Relevant?  Not really.

Lawn – close up photo used as background. The obvious message to me is lawn care. Also worth noting are the unnecessary functions that create more visual clutter.  The text next to the check box is barely legible.  Just because it’s easy to count and display visitor numbers, doesn’t mean it should be included.

Three different graphics with three different meanings create visual and mental confusion.  Extraneous functions and poor design contribute to usability issues.

A Simple But Effective Layout

An example of a simple yet effective web site is that of screenwriter Zen Freese.  The coffee stain graphic, the horizontal lines, and the tape are things that remind us of the writing process. We write at our desk, cup of coffee on top of the last draft, taping the latest revision to a page in progress.  Our tools, represented by the two fonts, are a typewriter and a pen.  The message is clear.  Nothing extraneous distracts us from the message.

Web design is about common sense way before it is about how much functionality or other junk you can stuff onto a page.  Keeping it simple for both impact and usability is key.

Commentary by Smart Alice Web Design, smart web design for businesses who want a unique and effective presence on the internet.

How many businesses get caught up with slick, flashy web design but forget to take care of basic information? How many times have you had to click Contact Us to get to a phone number? I’ve visited sites where the phone number or location are seriously buried.

If you want people to call you or locate your place of business, put that information in a prominent location on every page, and never beneath the fold. Consider other factors that contribute to visibility: contrast, font size and color, reverse type, and so forth.

Check out these business sites and see how long it takes you to find the phone number.

Analysis by Smart Alice Web Design, smart web design for businesses who want a unique and effective presence on the internet.

Copyright 2009, Alice Gebura, All Rights Reserved.