New weekly feature

I will be starting a new weekly posting called "Around the web in 80 clicks" which will be a collection of links to articles which caught my eye and don't need much of a comment from me.

I must admit that I am ripping off modeling this concept after the Signal vs. Noise blog's Sunspots Feature . In fact I actually got the idea based on a link to an article about simplicity and sense in web navigation which mentions "Every time you add a word to a web page, you take something away". This can be true in all forms of communication, as I have stated here and here

It's time to take my own advice...

A picture is worth...

Pictures can be very powerful. However, that unbridled power can sometimes portray the wrong message a thousand times more efficiently than one word. Kathy Sierra demonstrates this on her Passionate Users blog (one of my faves).

The picture above is a sign posted at a local trailhead. What does it mean? (Getting it wrong, by the way, means a $50 fine.) It's supposed to mean, "Each human can have no more than two dogs under their control." (this is a leash-optional trail) And while most people could--after cocking their head to the side--figure it out, I have to laugh about what else this sign says like:

"You can have a German Shepard, and an Old English Sheepdog, but SPRINGER SPANIELS ARE STRICTLY PROHIBITED!"

Contrast this with a suggested alternative :

RECOMMENDATION:
Use only one breed of dog in the graphic. Or better yet, use an abstract representation of a dog rather than a specific dog type.

Having three different dogs is misleading--it makes it appear that the breed of dog matters, when the sign is about the quantity of dogs per person.

She then applies this understanding to web page design as well:

If two buttons on a website are blue with round corners, they'll be interpreted as having some common function. If one of them is a navigation button and the other is a transaction button, there's a problem.

She goes on to explain other considerations that make the new sign more effective.

It seems to make so much sense, yet this forethought is not put into a lot of graphics that are created. So much of advertising and design is based on the mood and message of the picture that often accompanies the text. If the image does not capture the attention of the viewer, the message is usually not seen. If it conflicts with the text, it just leaves the viewer confused.

Make sure that you use the right one thousand words.

HaYom blog on awful design

HaYom has a scathing indictment on the state of design in the frum community. The idea of saying more with less that I posted before is a concept which is totally lost on people.

The non-frum world would never accept this fly-by-night design done by people who just discovered Photoshop and filters, yet in the frum world this is not only accepted, but considered nice! Overdone is nice to frum people. I can't figure out why.

People have no idea where to draw the line (pun intended).

The right equipment and a complete knowledge of the programs do not necessarily make a nice product. There is talent and skill involved as well as an eye for design. I mean, learn the color wheel for heaven's sake before you try to do a real design job. I see people all the time who've taken graphic design courses (the 3-6 month type of course). Most of the time the work they do is terrible. Sure, they know the programs well, they know the tools, but they lack an eye for it, they lack talent.

I couldn't agree more. Everyone wants more words, more pictures, more elements, more font styles. I don't understand how consumers don't get so distracted by all of this. Looking through the Torah Times yesterday made my head spin! The problem is that when you are dealing with a client, you never want to sound condescending and pompous about knowing what is best. It is a very fine line to tow.

Is marketing expensive?

To define whether or not marketing is expensive or inexpensive, we have to look at the effectiveness of the campaign and not at the up-front costs. You can spend $100 on a half-page newspaper ad and barely recoup your costs. That would be expensive marketing. You can spend $600 on the design and placement of an ad in a trade magazine, leading to a few prospects and thousands of dollars in sales. That would be inexpensive marketing because it was effective.

In all aspects of your business, you make decisions to spend money on things, whether it be merchandise, technology solutions or office space. In the big picture, you are looking at the benefit of what the item or service provides as well as the price tag. Marketing is a means of increasing your bottom line. It is worthwhile to have a creative marketing strategy to that end; looking at the benefits that will be provided by the marketing methods and not at the up-front price tag.