Web Tips 101 : The Importance of a Little Analysis

If you’ve attended any of The Byne Group’s seminars, you’ve probably seen
the following formula:

Promise + Experience = Your Brand

An often neglected, yet supremely important, way that clients experience
your brand? Your website.

For all of you whose websites look and function like they were created by your nephew Ned… that’s because they WERE created by your nephew Ned! Sure, Ned’s got mad skill and probably created a super fab flash intro, but are your users able to find what they need, and does the caliber of your website match the caliber of your organization?

Here at The Byne Group, we believe using a website should be easy and pleasant. It should accomplish the user’s goals (They need to find what they are looking for quickly), and your goals (communicating your key message to them).

What’s the most crucial step in your website’s development? A little strategic analysis. Not only does it save time and money in the long run, but you’ll end up with something that looks great and meets your needs.

Here are a few of the things we look at:

1). Your functional requirements. Do you need to manage your own content? Does it have to conform to your corporate style guide? What accessibility laws must it obey?

2). Don’t forget your stakeholders. What does the CEO expect to see? What features does the fundraising committee need?

3). What tone and personality should the site have? What “voice”?

4). Who is your target audience? Who is using your website now and what information are they looking for?

5). If you build it, how will they come? Look at search engine optimization, social networking, and other ways to drive traffic to your site.

-Jennifer Zapf, Art Director

IKEA'S Big Change

A couple of weeks ago I received the new IKEA catalog in the mail and promptly cuddled up and enjoyed some moments of fantasy about the beautiful clutter free Swedish mod apartment I could have one day. As I was perusing the home decor bible, I noticed that the headline type and some other elements did not feel as streamlined and clean. In the past IKEA was one of the fore-runners of the streamlined and clean Bauhaus style.

Well, it turns out I was right ... IKEA has changed their catalog and store signage typeface from Futura to Verdana. To the dismay of MANY of their design-minded clientele. Actually dismay seems too subtle of a word, it’s more like outrage! There is currently a petition online to get rid of Verdana with over 6,000 signatures. Not to mention 100's of blog postings and online articles including Time, New York Times, and Business Week.

For those of you that don't know the history of the two typefaces I will explain things a little.

FUTURA
A classic modern typeface following the Bauhaus design philosophy designed by Paul Renner between 1924 and 1926. He followed the Bauhaus esthetic in that he avoided creating any non-essential elements making use of geometric proportions with no serifs** or frills. It has a crisp, clean form and gives the feeling of efficiency and forwardness.

VERDANA
Designed in 1994 by Microsoft with the intent to create a new typeface that had exceptional readability online at small sizes. Because it was designed for small on-screen text some design elements were overlooked ... and the outcome was a clunky and awkward type when it was displayed large.

For someone who hasn't studied typography or worked with it extensively it’s hard to understand how important small typographic details can be in marketing design. The space between individual letters and the way shapes of letters move our eyes can determine how long people will look at an advertisement or how captivating it will be. The feeling of the type treatment can make or break the feeling of an entire Marketing piece!

Anyway, so Ikea's rebuttal to the outrage was this statement, "Verdana is a simple, cost-effective font which works well in all media & languages." Basically they choose Verdana for functionality over aesthetic. I think it’s hard for many of us to look at things from IKEA’s perspective. I mean, their catalog is the third most printed publication in the entire world after the Bible and Harry Potter! Most of us are not generating marketing pieces on such a global scale. One of the most important things Verdana and Microsoft's design has helped is to quickly and easily translate languages. If this helps them to keep their production costs down and therefore maintain their fantastic price deals ... then I suppose I can be at peace with Verdana too.

**Serif definition: any of the short lines stemming from and at an angle to the upper and lower ends of the strokes of a letter. Usually horizontal lines for example the feet of the letter "h" in Times New Roman.

http://www.idsgn.org/posts/ikea-says-goodbye-to-futura/
http://www.underconsideration.com/brandnew/archives/verdanagate.php