The days when print design principles guided digital design are over. The web and online media have come into their own as communications venues – and as such have broken free from print conventions like “below the fold” and the idea that fewer words are better. In fact, digital design often takes a dramatic departure from print because of the way people use it, which is exactly what drives the latest digital design trends. But it isn’t just about looks as you’ll see in our latest white paper. Function, hardware, and user expectations are also big components. [Read more…]
Design
Kompeteyouwin.com because every business depends on having a winning online presence.
Kompani Group has launched another incubator brand, and we named it Kompete because the space they operate in is extremely competitive and the services offered by Kompete can be vital to any company which finds itself in its own very competitive business environment.
This new web design and online marketing company is a new breed of no-nonsense interactive company, where functionality, cost effectiveness, design and strategic ideas are guaranteed. Kompete’s mission is to always to seek to empower the client to manage their websites in-house, thus allowing Kompete to focus its efforts on delivering online results for the client’s business. Their unquenchable thirst for new ideas and tireless advocacy of working smart assure the clients that their online solutions will outperform their competition’s online efforts, today and in the future.
Kompete offers cost effective smart web site packages for any size budget, and their crew is passionate about creating winning online solutions for any type of business model. Their creative, technologically advanced, and flexible interactive solutions will stand the test of time, propel lead generation, online orders and impress visitors. At Kompete you always win, because they understand that their success is only through their clients’ success.
What exactly constitutes good web site design, and why should you care?
Usability and the utility, not the visual design, determine the success or failure of a web site.
Since the visitor to the page is the only person who clicks the mouse and therefore decides everything, user-centric design has become a standard approach for successful and profit-oriented web design. After all, if users can’t use a feature, it might as well not exist.
Most users search for something interesting (or useful) and clickable; as soon as some promising candidates are found, users click. If the new page doesn’t meet users’ expectations, the Back button is clicked and the search process is continued.
- Users appreciate quality and credibility. If a page provides users with high-quality content, they are willing to compromise the content with advertisements and the design of the site. This is the reason why not-that-well-designed web-sites with high-quality content gain a lot of traffic over years. Content is more important than the design which supports it.
- Users don’t read, they scan. Analyzing a web-page, users search for some fixed points or anchors which would guide them through the content of the page.
- Web users are impatient and insist on instant gratification. Very simple principle: If a web-site isn’t able to meet users’ expectations, then designer failed to get his job done properly and the company loses money. The higher the cognitive load and the less intuitive the navigation, the more willing users are to leave the web-site and search for alternatives.
- Users don’t make optimal choices. Users don’t search for the quickest way to find the information they’re looking for. Neither do they scan web-pages in a linear fashion, going sequentially from one site section to another one. Instead users scan; they choose the first reasonable option. As soon as they find a link that seems like it might lead to the goal, there is a very good chance that it will be immediately clicked. Optimizing is hard, and it takes a long time. Scanning is more efficient.
- Users follow their intuition. In most cases users muddle through instead of reading the information a designer has provided. Users act like “If we find something that works, we stick to it. It doesn’t matter to us if we understand how things work, as long as we can use them. If your audience is going to act like you’re designing billboards, then design great billboards.”
- Users want to have control. Users want to be able to control their browser and rely on the consistent data presentation throughout the site. E.g. they don’t want new windows popping up unexpectedly and they want to be able to get back with a “Back”-button to the site they’ve visited before: therefore it’s a good practice to never open links in new browser windows.
Making Design Matter is now evident on WolkDesign.com
Making Design Matter.
The new Michael Wolk Design Associates’ web site has been launched. Kompani Group helped Michael Wolk convert his old site into a more user friendly showcase of his work. Check out the new site at www.WolkDesign.com
Making Design Matter. That’s our philosophy at Michael Wolk Design, and just like our design itself, it works on several levels. Making implies action. Our creative process doesn’t end in thought or discussion – it ends in creation. Every idea is developed to its fullest potential here, rather than passed off to someone else. Design is what we make. Anyone can create something functional, and anyone can create something beautiful – but true design will always accomplish both. PRATT had a motto – “Be true to your work and your work be true to you.” In my experience, being true to your work means allowing design – rather than money, politics, or other outside influences – to control the energy. Design is design; everything else is everything else. And we make design matter, in the sense that it needs to be physical. It transcends fantasy and speculation; it is exciting and inspiring, while remaining firmly grounded in the reality of time constraints and budgets. Most important of all is making design matter. Design matters to me – it’s what i love to do, and it’s what i do better than anybody else. Making Design Matter is what I stand for.
Who is the best damn chef in Miami?
Who is the best damn chef in Miami, and which chef has the most contagious personality. We think we know the answer. Check out the new Chef Michelle Bernstein website. For Michelle we developed a site that has a simple and easy- to- use content management system which allows her staff to update textual content, press releases, and photos throughout the site. The integration fits perfectly with the design work created by Matt Cohen from CAT5 creative. Using a hybrid development strategy we have allowed search engines to index the website while allowing elegant flash slide show functionality. The same methodology was used to build and release two smaller satellite sites for Michelle Bernstein’s restaurants, Sra. Martinez and Michy’s Miami. Maybe now she will consider adding the roasted pork squares on a bed of water melon back on the menu? Anyway, Kompani Group wish they they never got pulled from the menu in the first place.