Category Archives: Design
What Can You Learn from a Comic Book? Part 2
January 18, 2010
This two-part post originally ran as one, in slightly longer form, on The Content Wrangler. For part 1, click here . Abridged with the author’s permission.
Comics can make you laugh, cry, gasp in wonder, or shake in terror, and they can also make great instruction manuals, training aids, white papers, or any other type of [...]
Posted in Design Leave a comment
What Can You Learn from a Comic Book?
January 15, 2010
This two-part post originally ran as one, in slightly longer form, on The Content Wrangler. Abridged with the author’s permission.
When I utter the word ‘comics’ most people immediately think of spandex-clad superheroes, talking animals or a gang of perennial teenagers who never seem to graduate high-school. There is a common misconception that comics are a [...]
Posted in Design Leave a comment
On Not Giving Clients Exactly What They Want
March 17, 2009
Photographer Brad Trent tells the story of shooting a medical manufacturing facility for a spread in Business Week at his Damn Ugly Photography blog. Going in, he knew he had to get a picture of the assembly line, but to his eye it was a pretty standard shot that didn’t do a lot to make [...]
Posted in Design Leave a comment
One Word, 15,000 Pictures
February 19, 2009
Our friends at junta42.com do more than match us up with prospective clients. In their recent webinar, they taught us a new parlor game with a useful business message.
To play, go to iStock, one of many online sources for royalty-free stock images, and type “bacon” into the search bar. Guess how many images you’ll pull [...]
Posted in Design Leave a comment
Make Every Page a Welcome Mat
August 14, 2008
Anyone creating Web sites should have long ago abandoned the idea that a home page is the only way visitors enter a site.
In this age of search engines, any page can give a visitor the all-important first impression and also do the work of selling, educating or entertaining.
Many sites, if they monitor traffic at all, [...]
Posted in Design Leave a comment
Who’s Nibbling at Your Web Site?
August 9, 2008
Most Web sites brag about products, services, or programs. Better sites offer proof in the form of success stories or case studies. They may also toss in analytical white papers. These real-world resources give site visitors a reason for feeling confident in whatever is being sold.
But, as Jakob Nielsen points out in “Writing Style for [...]
Also posted in Audience research and strategic planning Leave a comment
How to Design an Award-Winning Book Cover
July 25, 2008
Designing effective book covers, to the frustration of publishers everywhere, is more an art than a science. Fortunately, a few loose guidelines apply.
Betsy Kulamer, Vice President of Washington Book Publishers, reports that WBP used the following criteria for selecting the winners of the WBP 2008 Book Design and Effectiveness Awards. To see images of the [...]
Web Site Visitors Want It NOW
May 29, 2008
It’s not your imagination. The world is moving faster and people are less patient.
I switched from dial-up Internet access to a broadband connection only four years ago, and I’ve already forgotten what it was like to wait for Web pages to load. Now, when pages don’t load instantly, I’m irritated and tempted to move on [...]
Also posted in Framing content in print and on the Web, Industry trends 1 Comment
Why They Call It Web Surfing
May 11, 2008
Web content managers: Do you wonder whether it makes sense to manicure your splash pages? Choose every word with care? Well, the jury is in.
It makes enormous sense.
Web design consultants have long advocated brevity. Many words make for glazed-over eyes and short visits. But now a scientifically reliable study “Not Quite the Average: An Empirical [...]
Also posted in Framing content in print and on the Web Leave a comment
Design Concepts for Copywriters