Marketing and customers are two words that have been around for years. Transactions have been a part of cultural norms most likely as far back as the caveman days. I’m not sure where or when the actual word “marketing” became widely known, but certainly the concept is not new. How we market however, has evolved as both customers and commerce have progressed.

Marketing used to be all about “push”.  Essentially companies just shouting the value of their products hoping to incite people to go buy them. It was a one-way medium. That worked for a while and then a theory popped up that suggested the customer become the center of marketing efforts and the traditional 4P’s (Product, Price, Place and Promotion) became more about Consumer, Cost, Convenience, Communication – you got it, the 4 C’s. I don’t think any of this gets lost in our new digital age, but I certainly would argue the world of social collaboration, digital engagement and interactive strategy have birthed many new ways to engage with consumers.  This in turn has dramatically changed our approach to creating marketing strategies that build intimate connections with consumers.

So what should we be considering instead of the traditional marketing approach? We need to begin the process of looking at these marketing concepts a bit differently. Online and digital strategies have changed the way consumers engage, influence and make purchasing decisions. There are apps for everything from buying a movie ticket to depositing a check. We can search in Facebook, Bing, Yahoo, Google and Twitter for anything imaginable.  There are influencing reviews on everything from doctors to restaurants. E-commerce is now in Facebook. All of these items designed in a way to leverage a new evolving marketing mix. So what should we be thinking about?  Hear me out on this…in a recent brainstorming session here at LB we referred to it as SSED:

• Place is now about Search Engines and discoverability – location, location, location.
• Promotion is now about Social influence and engagement – real-time engagement and influence.
• Product has become more about Experience – creating a more intimate connection.
• Price has become second to Design in many ways – functionality and utility over cost.

I am not suggesting we dismiss the previous P’s and C’s, yet that we simply allow for new factors (you guessed it… the SSED’s) in the ongoing marketing game. Interactive strategies must embrace these new paradigms and create digital footprints that leverage each of these new tenets to create a wholistic marketing strategy. Interactive is now as important as traditional mediums. The intricate details and objectives of each must be woven together in a way that complements and provides a 360 view of the consumer and subsequently how we build connections with them. Websites and social mediums are the new storefronts and it is critical they be created and ultimately designed in a way to maximize this new SSED approach.

It’s a whole new ballgame and B2B and B2C marketing is requiring the balance of the traditional 4P’s with these new and engaging ways to market in real time. Search, Social Influence, Experience and Design are all going to play a larger part in how we evolve marketing strategies and leverage the digital landscape. 

We live in an age of intellectual capitalism where thought leadership, total team engagement and a vested interest by all are the ingredients to success. In other words, attitude is everything.

Most businesses cannot propel themselves to new heights with the outdated practices stemming from the manufacturing age of the early 20th century. Business in the interactive world faces the same dilemma. Our ability to produce outstanding results, while differentiating ourselves from the competition, is a direct correlation to the attitude and effort of every team member involved.

Now, why is attitude so pivotal to an interactive agency? I was hoping you would tell me! But it doesn’t look like that can happen, so let me provide a few of my own insights into why attitude is so important.

First of all, the breadth of technical capabilities in our industry is endless. Overwhelming, actually. The world of Internet-based languages like HTML, CSS, Javascript and Flash combined with the application languages of Java, .NET, Actionscript and PHP, create ample opportunity develop something compelling and interactive online. Having a can-do attitude to first try and understand these elements as well as implementing wherever possible is key.

Don’t limit yourself and/or the ideas you bring to the table. Shoot high and create awesome design and interactive concepts. Remember that outstanding results come from infinite possibilities in the world of web.

Another point to consider is that the market is simply undereducated. While many clients think they are experts just because their office suite provided Photoshop, unfortunately you have to “nicely” convey to them that, in deed, they are not. Though you appreciate their opinion, even if it irritates you, you can’t let the fact that they want to also look like experts undermine the quality of your work.

It’s comparable to the fact that because we own a car, we should all be NASCAR drivers…no thanks. The work, knowledge, and expertise that goes into great interactive design and development is just as complicated as building an F-16 or even the Golden Gate Bridge. Not everyone has the skills to do this.

Yesterday’s mechanical and electrical engineers, scientists, and architects are today’s online programmers, designers and information architects. We have an opportunity to connect, understand, and educate clients to ultimately establish a long term relationship. We must be empathetic to the market and likewise seek to evolve cost effective means of education and ways to engage customers in our process.

Finally, the industry is young. At the age of 29 I feel like a senior citizen. Yet compared to the traditional advertising and marketing agencies who have years of experience, our learning curve is much different. The industry is young and those that service it are even younger. The industry expects you to really jump in and teach yourself what you don’t know. Overcome the obstacles of business as if you’ve been in the field for 25 years. Be ready to do what it takes to survive. That tenacity only strengthens your team.

Ultimately, attitude is the difference maker with an interactive agency that claims to be cutting edge. Constantly seeking ways to improve the quality, delivery, and effectiveness of your product helps offer results that are completely unique in every instance.

An attitude reflective of engagement, innovation, and “can do” combined with a desire to constantly learn and expand your skill set, sets the bar high. This approach creates a successful business model. Open new doors for yourself and your business.

I ask myself, is there a language to graphic design? Are there governing “rules”? What makes a good design, good? How can the pros make it look so easy, yet when I try designing, it looks unorganized, full of clutter, unsettling, boring, and something I like to call digital vomit?

Okay, enough with the questions, here are some answers.

There are two basic governing bodies in design: elements and principles. Everything in a design falls into these two buckets, and more often than not, a design utilizes several of both, tying each one back to another.

First learning the vocabulary of design and then realizing how to practically and creatively apply the pieces, is part of what separates a professional from an amateur. It’s the skillful use of the elements and principles in design that bring our concepts to life.

Entering semester one of design school…

The elements of design are the basic building blocks of any idea. To make the concept of “elements” simple to understand, think of them as the physical attributes of a design, such as line, shape, or texture.

The principles of design can be thought of as the application of those design elements, or how we actually use them in a design. A lot of this skill comes from natural intuition, but it’s crucial to be able to understand the philosophy behind design. You must be able to speak intelligently about the concepts and creatively use them to build and rationalize impactful designs.

Let’s talk about the basics of design elements:

Line: used to define shape, the path of a point, has many characteristics of its own such as direction, width, and length.

Shape: a perceivable area, when a line intersects itself to create a contained and defined area, can be geometric or organic, any positive shape creates a negative shape, edges of shapes create lines.

Type: if graphic design is the synthesis of content and form, then we must have type! Type not only communicates with written words, but it is also a powerful design tool and can be used to create other design elements, such as shape and texture.

Texture: a surface quality, can be real (not in the realm of web design) or implied, the actual or simulated tactile quality of an object in a design.

Value: the range of lightness or darkness of color.

Color: also known as hue, has three properties - chroma (pureness of hue), intensity and value.

Space: the illusion of depth, the areas around, between, and within a design - both positive and negative.

Now, let’s talk about the basics design principles:

Balance: the concept of visual equilibrium, equalizing visual weight of elements, can be symmetrical or asymmetrical.

Scale: overall size of an element(s), proportional relationships of design elements, can be used to create dominance and emphasis.

Unity: relating design elements, the sense that everything in the design belongs, creating harmony.

Pattern: keeping your design to a certain format, using similar elements throughout the design to create cohesion, can also be thought of or described as rhythm.

Movement: the illusion of movement, suggests action and/or direction.

Contrast: juxtaposition of opposing elements, refers not only to the difference of color but also scale and direction, used to create interest, focal point, movement.

Emphasis: the focal point of a design, used to create a visual hierarchy of elements and/or information.

This list is not comprehensive but it at least gives you the basics.

Thinking a little more in depth about the philosophies, it’s easy to point out that principles of design are a little more complicated than elements of design. In my opinion, that’s because principles are more conceptual and objective, while elements are more tangible and subjective.

Certain interpretation of principles can obviously mean multiple things seeing as the definition of anything objective can be blurred. For example, using pattern in a design creates “rhythm”, yet many times you will even see rhythm as being defined as its own principle. Confusing, I know, but don’t pull your hair out. Seeing examples of these elements and principles being used in application should only help you.

So let’s take a look-see at a few design pieces, and I’ll point out some of the dominant factors and how they compliment each other, or tie back to one another over and over again.

Here are a few logos. They are simple and easy to understand.

If you had to guess the dominant design element being used in this piece, what do you think it might be? Line maybe? Yep, it’s line!

I love the beauty and simplicity that the basic use of line can create. As for a dominant principle, this piece is a perfect and simple example of symmetrical balance. That’s easy, right?

Here are a few more, great, logo designs that utilize simplistic beauty from the concept of line alone (well okay, and type too):

Now, notice how the use of variations in the width of the line creates interest, direction and drama.

Okay, moving on to some more complex examples, we go to another logo…

First of all, how cool is this logo? Let me just answer for you. Really cool! There are some great elements and principles working together here. Watch how the pattern - or repetition - and close proximity of these shapes form such a tight unity within the design, that it creates a texture. The dark background provides a really nice contrast as well.

This poster design relies heavily on the use of a simple line, which creates shapes and textures. The use of space, more specifically negative space, plays an important role in this piece as well. The watercolor washes behind provide color, contrast, texture and shape, which helps define the negative space shapes. It has asymmetrical balance but feels like the weight of the elements are evenly distributed.

This magazine cover design is another good example (though less obvious than previous examples) of line usage, creating a heavy sense of movement and direction. The edges of the geometric shapes are where the use of line really plays out in this piece. Bright primary colors add to the sense of movement by creating contrast, not only with each other but also with the darker less saturated background.

This also creates contrast is the mix of smooth vs. gritty texture. The use of negative space that is made by the runner’s silhouette creates emphasis - again with contrast and scale - and becomes a focal point.

Typography plays a large role in this design by displaying information, being used as a design element, and by giving emphasis to certain pieces of information.

So can we begin to see how heavily the relation of design elements and principles rely on, and play off of, each other?

The table of contents design in this magazine shares many of the same elements and principles as the cover (creating a nice unity and rhythm to the overall design of the magazine), but the dominant element here is line by way of shape, which creates definite direction and movement. Secondary principles created by the use of line are repetition, rhythm, and unity.

What dominant elements do you see in play here? If I had to pick three, I’d say color, shape, and type. Texture is another big one being used. The swirls at the top create nice shapes with playful movement while the large scale and white color of the text, which creates contrast, helps to give the type emphasis. Texture lends unity to the piece. The amount of contrast and space around the text vs. the swirly shapes at the top, give it an interesting balance.

Okay, okay, for the sake of not getting into novel territory (because I could do this all day), let’s take what we have learned so far and see what elements and principles are being utilized in the following examples. Have fun! And be sure to study – you never know when I’ll be issuing a pop quiz.

As the use of personas has become a de facto standard in the web development process, there appears to be a missed opportunity with interactive web design. The application of user personas, or behavioral archetypes, in the design process offers many benefits, and can help guide decisions on a project. It also holds stakeholders accountable to maintaining user-centered design. Unfortunately the gross application of personas does not leverage as one of the greatest assets of interactive design. And maybe it should.

The need really stems from the fact that personas have a multiple personality disorder. The two obvious examples apply to Amazon and Netflix. A persona for either of these brands takes on multiple personalities, some of which are never accounted for. For instance, when I rent the movie Iron Man on Netflix, I am fulfilling my archetypical behavior. But when I use the same account to rent the movie Dora the Explorer for my niece, my persona just falls apart. On Amazon I may make a purchase decision as a husband, brother, father, or as a business person. These multiple personalities are often not accounted for in the user experience planning phase, and what you are left with is a mess of recommendations and misunderstanding from the service provider’s perspective.

A similar concept also applies to social networks. Senior user-experience researcher at Google, Paul Adams, recently gave a presentation called “The Real Life Social Network”, where he demonstrates how the current paradigm of social networking fails to truly understand user relationships by pooling all of your relationships into one mass. Clearly the complexities of human relationships extend much further than those considered during a user experience exercise, and the tools we are given in the interactive world are merely a gross over simplification of a user.

The application of user personas in design suffers from the same unintended consequence. In the online space the terms of “friend” and “recommendation” have become meaningless. If these online interactions were turned into real world experiences, we would suffer from moving from one socially awkward situation to another. There are ominous terms like the “Semantic Web” which hope to help alleviate these socially awkward situations, but still remain a light at the end of the tunnel.

The opportunity we have yet to explore in the interactive space is how to appropriately qualify our customers each time they visit our website. Great interactive experiences avoid creating socially awkward situations for the user by understanding the context of a use case first. Before you give personas carte blanche in developing your next interactive design project, be sure that you are truly taking care of your users, and their multiple personalities.

Are You a Web Designer?

It seems our industry is in the middle of a conundrum as to what one should call themselves when asked the pivotal question of “what does your company do?” The easiest, most laymenesque answer is “web designer” and for 99% of the U.S. population you would get a nod of understanding. Now to the more experienced audience this term seems very arbitrary. Does that mean you design only? Do you program applications? Do you offer marketing? (Fill in Blank of any other website related profession/service) etc., etc., etc. If you sell cars, you are car dealer? If you sell landscaping services, you are a landscaping company. It just seems like it should be so simple. To the point of this blog lets just take a gander at the various names circling the industry and what they could possibly mean just for fun’s sake.

Web Designer - This term would typically reference an individual, perhaps a freelancer. In most cases this person wouldn’t just “design only”, rather possess some basic HTML skills so they could actually put together an entire basic website. Anyone that actually does only design would probably refer to themselves as a Graphic Designer.

Webmaster - This term is a bit outdated, but there still is a high demand for it. A Webmaster is simply the person you call to keep your website up to date, fix, etc. Basically a Webmaster is hired to let the world know that the entity behind the site is still breathing. In most cases the Webmaster is the Web Designer who built the site to begin with. Now do you see how this works?

Web Developer(ment) - This term would insinuate that the company/individual has some application programming abilities in the form of PHP, .NET, Java, or God forbid some other type of painful, archaic language. Skill can very extensively, but nonetheless you should at least get these guys to build you a “hello world” application.

Interactive Agency - An Interactive Agency (at least a real one) is typically going to be your high end, full-on, online marketing campaign company. They typically use various forms of media and promotional techniques to turn a website into a marketing juggernaut, of course, that is if they are good.

Web Agency - A Web Agency is a company that has progressed by truly combining the graphic design, web designer and web developer skill sets and can internally produce anything that can be done specifically for the web. While this type of company may specialize in other services such as Internet marketing, they have their roots in traditional web development.

In my last blog I discussed the differences of various types of web companies that exist in today’s market. One key factor in the overall cost of a website is the utilization of the team environment versus individuals simply working on a project. Operating a team at an efficient level of production for a web development project is simply not a task for the feint of heart. I will be the first to admit that any single individual can technically be more efficient than a team, however that does not directly correlate to more output and/or a better product. Ultimately, if the team is managed effectively it CAN be more efficient. With some companies, especially low cost ones, the only team aspect you are getting is an assembly line style production performed by individuals. Regardless of the industry, assembly lines are geared for one single purpose; to produce a large volume of the EXACT same product. If you are into custom cars or have ever had the pleasure to watch “Pimp My Ride” on MTV, you will notice that they always consist of teams working towards a single vision and common goal of producing a completely custom product. Each team member contributes to this vision with their own area of expertise. So what unique aspects do you get from a team when building a website?

1. Ideas - The world is full of “ideas” people. While some are more creative than others, the true creative individual doesn’t just spawn creative thinking in their sleep. They gain inspiration from their environment and more importantly other individuals dedicated to a common purpose and goal. Each team member brings their unique expertise and experiences to the table to come up with GREAT solutions that most people could not accomplish as individuals.

2. Thoroughness - The larger the project, the harder it is to collectively think of all of the ins and outs that go into its creation. It would take one heck of a person to single handedly think of the thousands of elements that go into a large scale project, and the odds are that they will miss something in the end. With a team, similar to ideas, you get each individual’s strengths to contribute to making sure every point is covered. Some team members are user interface experts, while others are great at testing, and more. There are so many more proficiencies in the web industry beyond just designing and developing. Furthermore individuals that are simply great at everything are extremely rare or are extremely full of it.

3. Productivity - An individual, working as an individual, must be extremely self-motivated and/or have some strict guidelines to work within. It is easy to distract an individual and likewise if that individual has other responsibilities you would be hard pressed to ever gain that their 100% attention. I have seen websites produced by individuals take months with mediocre results and I have seen teams do the same amount of work within days and produce stellar results. Teams motivate and feed off of each other. There is no greater motivator than competition and no one wants to be dragging the rear.

All of the benefits of a team producing a website are consistent with the same elements of a great sports team or a military unit. When it comes to a web design company you might pay a little extra for a true team, but the odds are the results will be faster, better, and more inline with your end goal than the luck of a draw of choosing than the alternative. Is lifeBLUE a team? You bet we are!

Not to long from now 4G wireless coverage is going to change how the mobile device world works. No longer will high speed internet be relegated to a 100 yard radius around your home. It will extend out beyond your home, office, and internet cafe into every corner of whatever major city you live in.

Things are going to change.

Things are going to change a lot.

As the internet world truly integrates with the mobile world, internet marketing will change drastically. Gone are the days where gaudy banner ads are the way to go. Those lovely little text ads will change forever.  Our social media outlets will no longer be tied to a desk. To reach the masses, creativity will be required.

Typically, the strongest part of any marketing campaign has been the “art” side of creative marketing.  That is also changing.  While graphic art is and always will be just as important to any marketing endeavor, the user interface has now risen to meet it in importance.  Here are a few reasons why.

Technology is no longer a spectator sport.

People want to interact with things on a tactile level.  Even with television, which is largely a spectator oriented technology, people gravitate to the content they can interact with.  Shows such as “Dancing With The Stars”, “American Idol”, and others have proven this for years now.  People like to contribute to their entertainment.

In the web world the sites that are used the most are sites that involve two things.  First a simple, usable interface that lets users do what they want without reading a manual.  Second, visitors can put their two cents in.  This is why Facebook has taken the world by storm.  People can use it without a Masters degree in computer science and it’s all about them.

People want to know and they want to know now.

People know that information is out there and they want it quickly and in a simple way. If you don’t provide that they will find it elsewhere. There are so many sites out there that do the same thing and 90% of the time the most successful site has three basic elements: clean design, relevant information, and most importantly it’s fun to use.  The site that does these three things (plus some good marketing) has the best chance to be a success.

Brand is no longer just about a logo.

Brand loyalty is now built by usability as well as visual appeal.   Take Google, they don’t have the greatest logo, a stunning visual design, or little pretties everywhere.  In fact, they do quite the opposite.  There is one woman who has been there since nearly the beginning who’s job it is to ensure that the user interface remains clean.  She is paid huge sums of cash to tell the designers to keep it simple.  People love Google not because it has a “WOW Wee” design, but because it is easy to use.

None of this negates good design.  In fact, it helps define it.  Good web design is defined by how the user will react AND interact with it.  If a design is good looking and hard to use, it is still bad design.  If a design is both then magic happens.

Now that the web is everywhere, user interface is everything.  Design, development, and implementation of a marketing campaign deeply depends on how a user feels about using that marketing.  It’s a good day for the internet because the user is finally the primary consideration.

Power to the users!