Intellisites, the smart choice for web design

I’m hungry. Let’s talk about restaurants.

Everyone likes going out to eat. And when we go to restaurants, we tend to have certain expectations about how the experience will play out. We assume, for instance, that there will be a menu. And that there will be an opportunity to place an order. And that after we’ve ordered, someone will cook the food for us and serve us. It’s not lack of creativity that makes most restaurants follow these norms; they are rules that work, and restaurant patrons are most comfortable when this pattern is followed.

If you entered an unfamiliar restaurant and discovered that it did not have a menu, for instance, chances are good that you’d feel a little uneasy. All legitimate restaurants you’ve been to before have had menus, so you’d be likely to question what type of establishment you had entered. And even if you got to order whatever you wanted and the food was delicious and you enjoyed your experience, you’d probably leave there thinking, Well, that was kind of weird.

Following the Unwritten Rules

This idea applies just as well to web design.  When we enter a new website, there are certain patterns we expect it to follow. For example, we expect that the elements that will help us navigate from page to page will be located on the top or side of the screen. There’s no reason why a web designer couldn’t make a diagonal row of navigation buttons that extends from one corner of the page to the other. But instead, web designers stick to the unwritten rules of web design because they want to follow their audience’s expectations and help them stay comfortable as they browse.

So while IntelliSites is on the cutting edge of creativity when it comes to web design, don’t worry, we do believe in keeping some things conventional. We realize that meeting your audience’s expectations helps you to earn their trust, and we want people to leave your website thinking happy thoughts about your company rather than thinking, Huh?

All right. It’s really time to eat.  I’m off to a regular, restaurantly restaurant with a menu, a cook, plenty of food, and no surprises.

Keeping a solid relationship between you and your web designer can make the web design process a lot easier. So how can you keep the relationship strong?

• Know your likes and dislikes. Do a little homework before you meet with your web designer for the first time. Look at websites of other companies in your industry and see what you like about their sites. Do you dig your competitor’s photo gallery? Do you hate another company’s color scheme? After you’ve seen a couple of existing websites, think about what you want your site to look like and what capabilities you’d like it to have. If you have clear ideas and expectations, it will make our work a lot easier.
• And stick with those likes and dislikes. The relationship between web designer and client tends to get a little strained when the client gets fickle. Stick to your instincts – the first ideas that came to you were probably the best, and if you keep changing your mind about what you want, your web designer is going to have trouble keeping up.
• But be flexible. Although web designers like their clients to know what they want, web designers also need the freedom to run with the ideas and adjust them to make them realistic. We want guidance from our clients, but we also need our clients to trust us to fine tune their ideas in order to make them work.
• Buy your web designer expensive gifts. One of these would be nice
• Communicate. With any relationship, communication is key. Once in awhile, we have a client that is tough to get a hold of, and that makes the design process very difficult. The quicker you can return our calls and e-mails, the stronger our relationship will be (and the better your website will be).

Work with us on these things, and we promise to deliver the creative problem solving and great design you need to make your business stand out on the web.

Know what I like most about specialized clothing stores like J. Crew? They’re focused.

They know what their customers are looking for, so they don’t need to worry about having every conceivable style of shirt.

With what you might call “retail whitespace” built in, it makes it very easy for your first time visitor to scan the store, find the section they want, and get there quickly.

Does your website provide that kind of experience? (I bet you can tell what I’m going to say next. Ready? Here it comes…)

IT SHOULD.

I’ve compared websites to retail stores before. In talking about brand and page design, I’ve mentioned that your site needs to be consistent, clean and well presented.

But it needs to be scannable too.

For the purposes of this discussion, we can divide your site’s visitors into two categories: First-time visitors, and return visitors.

Your first-time visitors may need a bit of guidance. And the layout of your site is just the way to give it to them. There are loads of different ways to do it. Ways like making your home page copy engaging and entertaining, or offering first time visitors something for free. These ensure that you’re delighting your visitors right from the get-go, thus making yourself memorable and encouraging return visits.

Your repeat visitors need some guidance to. Just not to the same places. If they’ve already taken advantage of your freebie offer, it’s time to pull them in a little deeper.  Make sure there’s something on your homepage that their eye will naturally fall on. Maybe a ‘get a free quote’ button. Maybe a “get to know us better” button that leads into a gallery of your work. There are loads of different options, but you need to make sure you’re giving these visitors an easy path to engage with you.

In the same way that nice retail clothing stores make it easy to find what you need, so should you make it easy for your visitors.

Ever seen one of these?

That’s an eye tracking study by The Eyetrack III group. It shows all the points at which a person’s eye rested while they were reading a website.

The study shows that the top-left corner of your website is viewed first and most frequently.  Then, most people just read headlines, and that people read about five headlines per page regardless of how many headlines there are.  You’d better make them count!

Tell me how this thing lays out

Web site layout can be one of the hardest things to talk about when discussing a web design. Everything is based on everything else, you have to take context into account, and decide what elements of a site you’re going to feature.

Honestly, it’s enough to lay you out!

We’re of the opinion that layout, like particle physics and cutting your hair, is best left in the hands of professionals.

If you’re not convinced, that’s ok. If you want to take a whack at designing your own layout, make sure you keep these 4 thorny concepts in mind:

1: Content Hierarchy

Make sure you pick the correct point sizes for the body copy, header and all subheaders. Establishing a clear hierarchy of content is crucial to getting results from your site.

2: Correct Dimensions

Ever notice how most novels are about the same size? Newspapers, too, all seem to be about the same size. Magazines, picture books, coloring books…they all seem to be about the same dimensions as each other.

Web sites are the same way. For the most part, they all fall within a certain height and width range. It gets tricky when you start trying to place elements within your web site. You’ve got to figure out which elements are the most important, which ones will lead into which other ones, which ones will be clickable and where those clicks will go, etc. etc. etc… It’s brain-tangling work, and without the right knowledge and tools, you’ll find yourself with a sloppy, unprofessional, and possibly not even functional layout.

3: “Scannability” (yeah, that’s a word)

If someone comes to your web site looking for a specific piece of information, how quickly can they find it? Ultimately, you’ve got to plan for all different kinds of visitors to your site.

Some will be the kind who just stumbled onto your site, and need you to approach them with some written copy and say “Hi! My name is Dimitri and this is my web site where I sell Chinchilla food. You’ll find wet food, dry food, food in a bag, food in a can, even food in a collectors edition glow-in-the-dark margarita glass (salt optional)! If you have any questions, just click ‘contact me.’”

(If you know any Dimitris who sell Chincilla food, please apologize to them for me).

But you’ll also get those visitors who come to your site knowing exactly what they want to feed their chinchilla. They are not interested in your introduction - they just want to find a bag of Chinchilla Biscuits and move on. You’ve got to make it easy for these people to scan your site, make a quick purchase and go. It’s easy business to get, but only if you’ve laid things out right.

4: Whitespace

Here’s one you’ve probably heard all about: Strategic use of white space creates rest opportunities for your visitors eyes, along the path you intend for them to follow.  And it calls attention to those important items.

To prove it:  try looking at a billboard filled with small words.   Next, look at one that just says “This Billboard for Rent”.  Which one stands out?

The bottom line is that it’s crucial to provide your visitors with space on your website. You want to lead them gracefully through the elements of your site. You don’t want to club them into oblivion with “buy now” button after blinking “buy now” button.

Are you convinced yet? Hopefully by the time your do-it-yourself flowbee haircut grows out, we can sit down for a chat.