This evening I read a great article by Jared M. Spool of User Interface Engineering about the importance of the check out process in an eCommerce website. All the shopper wants to do is buy from you so don’t make it difficult on them. I wanted to share this article with you. Enjoy!!
Throughout my life I have been very fortunate with the blessings and gifts I have received that have put me in the position I am currently in. My parents, my education and my community have been an instrumental part. As a business owner I believe that it is just as important to make an impact within our community by giving back via our talents and services – designing and developing websites. I have always lived by the fact that the same hole you give through is the same size hole you receive through. It is our mission to provide one pro-bono project to an organization of our choosing each quarter. To date Galvin has donated in-kind hours totaling over $20,000. In a tough economic enviorment this is a challenge but it has only helped us grow. The people we give our services too have been truly giving back to us by connecting us to other business owners and thought leaders within the area who we are then able to do business with. Over the years we have worked on many pro-bono projects but just this year we have been fortunate enough to work with the Arthritis Foundation and their Jingle Bell Run, Sigma Chi Fraternity, Providence Cristo Rey High School, Catholic Business Exchange and Right to Life Indianapolis. If your organization is interested in what we are able to provide please contact us and we will consider your organization.
I read this article in the opinion section of The New York Times the other day, and was very interested in the reactions from its readers. The article “Designing Through A Depression”, written by Alison Arieff, former editor in chief of Dwell, commanded a diverse range of comments that were either in agreement or overtly contentious.
The article discussed the influence that frivolous design can have in a time where people are cutting back on many things they once thought were a necessity. Expensive furnishings, extravagant tech-toys, and limited editions are still respected, but omitted by the consumer… and designers’ responsibilities will now focus on client goals rather then their own.
A reader from the aforementioned article commented about his friend’s job designing dashboard instruments for General Motors. His friend had designed a speedometer that worked great at night, but was practically unusable in bright daylight. He had said to his friend, “a great deal of time and effort has been expended to develop instruments which can be read easily and accurately under all conditions. Why don’t you put one of those in the new cars?” And his friend replied, “if we put the best possible speedometer in the cars today, what are we going to do for next year?”
I wasn’t surprised with this reply. Yes, businesses walk a fine line between providing the latest and greatest products, while at the same time withholding certain advancements to maintain a long term product line-up. Companies will always have their priorities, but designers should have theirs as well. Designers need to make sure the client knows what they are investing in will make their brand strong for years to come.
I believe the future of web design can be this bright. Ms. Arieff stated in her article that designers should aim for longer use and fewer materials. In my opinion, in this economy it also holds true for web development. While we might not build with raw materials, we do however build with ideas that shape what the end result will be. The product needs to be strategically planned for the long run; a website that exudes the brand, is communicating the goal and is easily updated.
BuyAMeter
Smart design has now become a priority because it’s quick and to the point; allowing the user to have their experience and move on with their day. BuyAMeter.org is one example in the article which I believe she used to show design has its purpose no-matter what state the economy is in, and purhaps even more critical in its current state. This site has one goal; awareness. The goal is reached by the design and functionality working together. The newspaper visually represents the information and also is a cue on how to navigate the site. The content provides an interesting point-of-view and informs the user within seconds. This site is not functionally expensive, it has no chrome, but does its job; leaving a lasting impression on the user.
Not every site is able to be as conceptually engaging, especially with consumer-based sites. No matter what the final soultion is or what the goals are, the process is the same. Web design isn’t a question of form over function; it is a question of using form to propel the function. As graphic designers our “purposeful pursuits” will be to produce something that is built to last.
I have a Blackberry and I love it but here are a few rules on how to use it while on a sales call:
Dale Carnegie knew what it took to build solid relationships and he never wrote an email
In 1936 Dale Carnegie published “How to Win Friends and Influence People” and it is still a true classic today and for days to come. I was first introduced to the Dale Carnegie methods by my brother David while I was in high school. David can sell ice to an Eskimo and is always very personable and I always admired that. During high school and college David kept on sharing Dale Carnegie’s advice and methods with me and kept encouraging me to read the book. So finally I decided to buy the book right after my college graduation. I remember being on the Greyhound and heading up to Detroit and I could not put the book down. Although Dale Carnegie wrote about everything our parents taught us while growing up he takes it to the business world and explains how to develop meaningful and fruitful relationships.
We have all been in those situations where we see an acquaintance in a public area and we are not sure if we should go up and say hello. The thought crosses our mind of “maybe he doesn’t want to say hi to me”, “he won’t remember me”, “he is more successful than me why would he want to talk with me”, or my favorite “I’ll just pretend I didn’t see him”. But everyone loves to be said hi too. Stick out your hand and say hello they won’t get mad at you and it can truly do wonders for you. I can’t tell you how many quality business relationships I have created by just going up to someone and saying hello. To be successful you have to work with people and really get to know them. The only way to do that is to talk with them and continue the relationship. Dale Carnegie says that the sweetest sound to everyone is their own name. The best way to remember someone’s name is to look them straight in the eye and repeat it to them after you meet them.
So how does technology compete with Dale Carnegie? My theory is simple – make a call instead of sending an email, take someone to lunch instead of sending them a e-greeting, go up and say hello to someone instead of texting or tweeting then. Although I believe in technology and I nurture it I don’t believe it can be more meaningful than a personal touch. I am still a true believer in the basics of relationships – Put your hand out and shake the hand of the individual across from you. But keep in mind that technology can help offset the personal touches and continue to improve the professional relationships. Oftentimes I will be stuck at a traffic light and will think about a client or an old friend. I will then send them a quick text, before the light turns green, wishing them a nice day. I may read an article about a client and then send it to them via email. Use a good balance of personal touches and technology and your relationships will grow.
My first job out of college was with 3Com in Chicago, IL and I was part of a team that brought a new internet product to life – Audrey. Audrey was to do for the home life what Palm Pilot did for the business life. It was supposed to be the central hub for the home. It had everyone’s calendar, email, browse the web, to-do list, you can leave notes, gather your favorite news, stocks and scores, view and store recipes and shop online. We went to market in October 2000 and it sold for $499. I remember being so excited to go to Best Buy and see it on the shelves and say to myself “I helped build that”. Heck, we even got on Oprah. Looking back this was a great first job out of college. I got to live the dot-com boom, travel the country from dot-com start up to dot-com start up, stay in 5-star hotels, eat at fancy restaurants, work very late and long hours and most importantly I got to be a part of team that invented this product. There were a lot of smart people on our team who came from all over the country to work on this. I got to work with the channel team (I still miss those folks). We designed and developed web channels so people could browse from cached website to website.
Ergo Audrey
But Audrey was short lived. Shortly after launch the dot-com bust began. We began to see our content providers go out of business one by one. People began losing trust in the internet and were not buying Audrey. But we felt the biggest issue was that we were ahead of the times. Consumers were still buying buying their first computers and were getting online for the first time. So buying a fancy internet appliance was not something conceivable and so 3Com cut Audrey and the Internet Appliance division.
Verizon Hub
Just recently I began seeing TV commercials about Verizon Wireless’ new phone – the Verizon Hub. I nearly jumped out of my chair when I saw the first commercial. It was almost like seeing Audrey all over again. I have to admit that although envious I am excited to see the Hub launch. The Hub is meant to serve as the family hub – similar to Audrey’s approach. Yes, Audrey was ahead of the times but I am convinced that it paved the way for products like The Hub and hopefully more to come in the future. I also believe that everything happens for a reason so because of Audrey’s failure I have been able to start up my own business. I learned a lot during my days at 3Com and I thank the guys at 3Com and especially Jen, Daniel and Chris for showing me the ropes, giving a rookie a chance and being a pretty darn good team.
In the past few weeks the Galvin website has changed a few times. I am enjoying the fact that we have turned ourselves into our own client. This is something we have struggled with in the past. But putting together solid internal processes has allowed us to do so. In our weekly marketing meeting Kiley encouraged us to make some adjustments to the website to increase activity and convert the user. The adjustments made was based off of metric reports, suggestions and marketing initiatives. Here are a few reasons for the adjustments made.
Galvin Creative Technologies new website design
Featured Project – The user’s eyes move left to right and the intention was to quickly show the user a featured project.
Larger Font – Increasing the fonts of “Website Applications” was intended to highlight what we do.
Recent Work – As a website design and web application development company our expertise is judged by our portfolio and case studies. This is a call-to-action we want our visitors to see and take action on.
Nice work, Kiley and Travis!
I had the opportunity today to listen to a podcast on www.raintoday.com about how important it is to make every deliverable of a professional services company exceptional. As a web design and software development company means that we are a professional services company – we are in the people business. Although it is important that our projects look great and function the right way it is even more important for us to fully understand the business and the goals of the client. But being in the people business means we need to be conscience of every touch point we have. This includes everything from the signature line in an email to the final presentation given to a client.
There are 3000 web designers in a square block (an exaggeration to make a point) and each one of them has a design or technical skillset that attracts certain clients. So as a web design and software application company don’t think that its your designs and technical skillset that sets you apart. Most likely it is the relationship and experience you give to the client. Then its up to you to make sure you nurture and treat that relationship well.
Every touch counts and here are 11 ideas to let clients know you care:
This evening I was thinking about the sites I use to work on since I starting working in the web world in 1996. I recalled how I use to design with wallpaper and tile the background of web sites, the scrolling text, the blink tag, paint shop pro graphics, gray, gray and more gray. Then I began looking online and came across a nice article to read by Design Reviver. I remember these sites and recall how cutting edge they were in 1997, 1999, 2000 and so on. But then I began looking at sites from 2006 and 2007 and how dramatically and quickly the user interface design has changed. Simpler is better these days. There is more concentration on a true guided path and helping get the user to the information they need quickly. We preach that we don’t want to make the user work for where they want to go. The simplicity of web site design has improved the user experience. It truly was fun to go back in time and see all these web sites.
I look forward to what UI design will bring in the coming years.
Galvin Creative Technologies is glad to be able to house our infrastructure at Bluelock, an Indianapolis, IN data center. We were fortunate enough to build a relationship with the good folks over there and we want to pass onto them our congratulations on two successful years. dBusiness just released a nice article about their accomplishment (http://indianapolis.dbusinessnews.com/shownews.php?newsid=179032&type_news=latest).
Because of the complexity of the web software applications built by Galvin Creative Technologies we need a partner we can rely on. Bluelock’s VMWare has helped our company and our clients grow within a very robust infrastructure.
I have seen wordle posted throughout the internet and today I decided to play with it. I find this to be a good tool.
Every web application project we approach always starts with a discovery phase. During discovery, we assess the business problem, the solution needed, the budget, the timeline, the requirements, and the technology environment. Our most common approach is to develop in a .NET environment, but there have been times we have had to develop in PHP or Ruby on Rails. Fortunately, our web applications development team is diverse and very experienced in these languages. Therefore, during discovery we are able to determine the best application development approach based on various requirements. There have been times we have consulted and determined Ruby on Rails is the best approach to take. Here are a few reasons:
Below is a case study of Galvin Creative Technologies‘ most recent Ruby on Rails development project.
Online Placement Test for University of Indianapolis – The Modern Languages Department at the University of Indianapolis allowed incoming students to take a placement test for German, French, and Spanish language classes. In the past, this was done on paper, had a manual grading process and was then approved by the registrar. This was a time-consuming process and the incoming students would not be notified until weeks after they took the placement test. Galvin Creative Technologies developed an online placement test system that allowed incoming students to take the test online, receive an immediate score and immediately be placed in the appropriate class. Now, instead of waiting weeks to be notified, an incoming student knew the results the moment they hit submit after taking the placement test. The other major benefit of this application is how it communicated with the registrar office. The test scores and placements were immediately sent to the registrars office for verification and final approval. A few other features of the online placement test system included:
Although .NET is our most common approach we are thrilled to be developing in Ruby on Rails.
Google Alerts can keep you updated on any internet activity as it relates to clients, prospects, certain individuals or whatever other information you need to prospect. Go to http://www.google.com/alerts, enter your search term, type of search (comprehensive is recommended), how often and your email address. Then every time there is internet activity you will get notified.
DON’T FORGET. YOUR WEBSITE WILL HAVE CONTENT.
After every website project our internal team regroups to learn what went good and bad with the project and make improvements. It has been a recurring problem that content becomes an issue for deployment. In our most recent project for Hendricks Power we underestimated the amount of time it would take to migrate the content from the previous website to the new website. Our project processes are now adjusted so that we budget time for content strategy and migration. It just seems that content is that 800 lb. elephant that nobody wants to discuss but always becomes an issue.
When managing your web projects take content into consideration, put a variance for things that can go wrong and plan accuratly so it is not rushed at the last moment.
Lastly, remember, a website relationship does not end when the project is complete. After launch put a plan in place so content, call-to-actions and designs can be manipulated for better success.
When selecting a company to work on your web site or web application make sure you look at the character and the relationship first. Price will always be an issue but if the relationship has value then price will always work out to benefit both parties.
Last week at this time I did not believe in Twitter until this weekend. When talking with our design team and our internal web committee I listened to their sales pitch on implementing a Galvin Tech Twitter account. I honestly thought nobody would be interested in the fact that I am drinking coffee, creating a proposal or whatever else I want to tweet. I was wrong. I played with it and over the weekend I could not get enough of it. There are a lot of social media web sites out there and I can only keep up with my Facebook and LinkedIN account. But after seeing the power of Twitter I am sold. To our web design team – thank you.
Getting Real
A few weeks ago I brought an old book back out – 37signals “Getting Real”, dusted it off and handed it to one of our UI developers, Travis, to read. Today, while pouring a cup of coffee, Travis informed me that 37signals does not believe in the practice of developing Use Cases. I had to look into this more becauase I have been an advocate of this book. I agree with the 37signals web application development approach and I recommend the book to a lot of people but today I am more of an advocate for the discovery process and especially use cases. Our software application development methodology follows a rigorous discovery process with many deliverables. We took this process and implemented it into every type of project and that includes the simplest of web sites. By developing accurate Use Cases our projects have had much more definition and prevented scope creep. When doing a build/debug/build methodology relationships get tarnished, costs grow, timelines get delayed and scope creep is difficult to manage.
Everything else preached by 37signals is spot on. When developing complex web applications the project manager and the client need to define priorities that fit into the budget and the timelines so that the project can go live in a “simpler state”. After the first launch you better have a good game plan and dedicate yourself to the release schedule you promised.
When a project starts make sure you always go through a Discovery process and define the budget, timelines, priorities, functional requirements, design requirements and technical requirements. Develop a requirements workbook and from that define the use cases. Although it seems like a lot of upfront work it pays for itself at the end of the project.
One other thing….test, test, test, test.
Date Posted
May 10/09
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