Robust web content management tools are a great way for you to take control of your company’s website, but there are limits and guidelines that should be followed to maintain the integrity of the design.

The ability to update your website is a feature that most of our clients want, and our content management system can allow you to update images, add pages, delete pages, and change web copy in a moments notice.  While experience in html, xhtml, css, javascript, and other programming languages isn’t necessary, it is important that the updates are handled by one or two people who have been properly trained.  The primary concern would be accidental page deletion, though regular website backups will allow you to retrieve the deleted page if that should ever happen.  Some questions that will need to be answered include: What happens to the navigation when a page is added?  What if I add a picture that’s the wrong size?  Can I change the font from black to lemon yellow?

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The recent passing of musician Vic Chesnutt prompted me to visit the itunes store to complete my collection of his work. As I browsed his albums, I began to think about how his album covers reflect his music. That led me to muse about how successful websites visually reflect the work and spirit of companies.

What kind of “music” does your company make?  Does it strike the bold chords of a Beethoven piano concerto? Or mirror the serenity of Handel’s Water Music? Is it a multi-layered, Hüsker Dü wall of sound? Does it dance to the mellow, lilting reggae beat of Bob Marley?  Perhaps it’s a bit of Frank Sinatra – confident, smooth and cool?  Maybe it’s even Elvis Presley in a glittering, sequined Vegas performance – replete with gyrating hips?

Your website should show the world who you are with more than just a tagline — the layout, photos, fonts and colors you choose should reflect who your company is — not simply what it is. In order for your website to do just that, it’s essential to reflect on your company and culture. Is your corporate culture loved more by the management or the people they lead? In what ways does your company give back to the community?  How do your goods or services make a difference in the lives of others? How do your future plans apply to the above questions?

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Careful pre-planning is essential to ensure that your website functions well, has the desired content, and looks great when you go live — and a wireframe helps you do just that.

A wireframe is a series of diagrams that serve as a virtual road map of your website. Sorting out the details in the wireframe stage helps to prevent cost overruns because changes at this early stage are generally very quick and easy to make.  However, changes can be costly if they’re made after the developers have already started to build the site.

Every detail of your site can be addressed with wireframes including: (more…)

Another year is quickly coming to a close, which means it’s a perfect time to peek around the corner to see what the new year has in store for web graphic design.

1.  Typography is king. There is a trend towards jumbo headlines, mixing contrasting fonts, and finding other ways to break up the monotony of type-heavy websites and add beauty to pages so that images are no longer mandatory. http://www.leemunroe.com/typography-inspired-websites/

2.   Control freaks, unite. Speaking of type, Kernest offers free and commercial fonts to embed into your website to move beyond the plain and well-worn handful of safe fonts that designers have grown to loathe.  The only downside to Kernest is a brief change in font rendering when the page is first opened.  There’s always a catch, but this is big news and a leap in the right direction. http://www.kernest.com/

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Alvin Lustig.  Right.  Wait – Alvin who?  While his name may not come up in most water cooler conversations, Alvin Lustig was one of the greatest designers who ever lived.  He studied architecture with Frank Lloyd Wright at Taliesin and like Wright, he was also a master of many design trades — graphic design, architectural design, type design, furniture design, interior design, industrial design, and textile design. And he did them all very well.

Lustig believed that good design in all facets of life could lead to better living. He is perhaps best known for his groundbreaking book jacket designs of the 1940s and 1950s, as well as his work for the magazines Look and Fortune. His print design was heavily influenced by avant-garde abstract painting, and his designs helped to move the field away from the tame home-and-hearth postwar era and into the modern jet age.

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Ah, the Seventies.  The Gremlin, The Saturday Night Special, denim furniture and macramé.  If your logo hearkens back to this era and hasn’t been updated, it is time to consider bringing it into the modern era, Baby.

Will It Cost a Lot of Bread?
A logo can be a significant investment to a company, because a change may require new signage, vehicle graphics, packaging and trade show displays – in addition to the numerous correspondence and marketing materials you have in inventory.  Cost has to be considered, but also consider the cost of doing nothing and maintaining the status quo with a logo that represents a different company from the distant past.

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As our economy rebounds, many businesses will continue to run leaner graphic design and printing budgets – both out of caution and habit.  Since parsimony is here to stay – there are many tips and tricks that can be utilized to yield dramatic, high-impact results from even a Jack Benny-style budget.

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This week, we explore the other aspect of web site design – Graphic Design – the process of generating the “look and feel” of the website, to follow our previous article on information architecture’s structural role in web design.

Effective web graphic design begins with the gathering of essential information. Before you begin designing, consider the following. What branding guidelines should you follow? Examine your current printed sales materials. Find web sites you like and determine why you like them. Determine what colors are essential – and which ones you have an aversion to (maybe mauve or margarine?). What mood should be conveyed? What images are essential? By examining these facets, you’ll be able to narrow the focus of the design, while targeting your site objectives.  (more…)

“A pink rose is a salmon rose is an orange rose is a hot pink rose”

My apologies to Gertrude Stein.  When we’re all in the same room looking at a rose, its precise color will be experienced by everyone in that room– barring a visual impairment or the wearing of rose-colored glasses.  The perceived color of this rose will vary slightly throughout the day, depending upon varying natural lighting and a blend of artificial lighting.  Now if we’re all on different computers looking at a digital image of that same rose, the color will probably vary greatly.  Light pink on one computer becomes dark salmon on another.  Magenta may look more like fire engine red on another. (more…)

Receives Silver Award for Eco-Friendly Design of Holiday Kitchens’ Live Green Brochure

Thomas Marks & Associates and Peritus Design (TMA+Peritus), a strategic interaction agency specializing in the interaction between businesses and customers through branding, public relations, print, web 2.0 and social media marketing, announces it has won a 2008 Silver International Davey Award in the Green/Eco-Friendly category, for the Holiday Kitchens Live Green brochure. “It’s an honor to be recognized for the design and writing of the Live Green brochure by the International Academy of the Visual Arts,” notes Kathy Marks, TMA+Peritus Managing Partner. “Every element of this piece is eco-conscious and it truly represents the eco-friendly principles of our client, Holiday Kitchens.” (more…)