What the New iPad Resolution Means for Your Website

RCC ipad resolutionA couple of years ago it became quickly evident how ubiquitous the iPad had become amongst our C-level and VP clients. I recall making a critical first website design presentation to a new client only to find the CEO disconcertingly playing on his iPad while I was presenting. After a few minutes of this, the CEO looked up with a grin and showed us his screen on which was our website design in perfect proportion with great resolution. He was quite pleased, and it confirmed to us that the device criteria on which we tested our work had officially expanded.

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Illuminating Marketing Statistics from the NEDMA Marketing Technology Summit

Last week, we attended the New England Direct Marketing Association’s Marketing Technology Summit, and were treated to presenters from Google, Overdrive Interactive, HubSpot, Eloqua, and more. The conference centered on ways to utilize marketing technology to promote your brand, engage visitors, and create strong online relationships with future and current consumers.

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5 Starter Tips for Mobile Design

mobile designAs the mobile channel advances toward its tipping point, we are all learning best practices for mobile design, which are not always consistent with web design. Here are 5 key points to keep in mind with your mobile sites.

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Current Trends in Website Navigation

Clients as Information Architects

That our clients have become more sophisticated web users is a reflection of the web not being a new medium anymore. We’re finding that our clients are increasingly thinking like information architects about how their audiences will navigate to desired content. It is a time for web designers to examine long-held notions of what constitutes a good UI.

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From amazon.com to the Harvard Business Review: How B2B websites are becoming more B2C

It’s exciting to see the world of possibilities open up for B2B websites. In the past, B2B sites have often been “brochure-ware,” with predictable, one-size-fits-all content presented in a static drill-down hierarchy. One had to look at consumer sites, like amazon.com to understand the concept of a “user-driven” experience. Since website users were often transacting business, consumer sites innovated new ways to capture and keep their audiences, like amazon.com did with personalization.

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Getting to #1 in Google, at What Cost?

On many occasions our clients say, “We want to be #1 in Google.”This is a worthy goal, but too general to result in success. It does however, lead to interesting follow-up questions, like “For which search terms do you wish to rank?”

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The Subjective Side of Web Design

Sally Field Oscar speechIn the sciences, there are facts and formulas, in mathematics, equations. Lawyers have documents and laws and mechanics fix broken things. Only in creative professions can you do things right but still potentially get it wrong. Website design is one of those professions in which the subjective opinion of the viewer – whether they simply “like” the site or not – can determine success or failure, even when “the mechanics” are correct. Read more
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What Factor Determines Website Navigation Most?

I was talking to a European client this morning, He was asking me for examples of websites with navigation typical of an American company. While the client was perhaps looking for cultural distinctions, I thought that website navigation was an interesting topic and one that we are asked about often. The subject warrants a series of posts, so for the sake of brevity, this post will present the macro view. For this discussion, I will address the B2B space.

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Every Web Project is a Branding Project

Well, almost. Regardless of the fact that we provide integrated services, often when a client comes to us for a website, they are not thinking about branding, yet it is often the issue that will make or break the website. Branding is often considered more of a consumer concern or maybe just an expensive “nice-to- have.” Of the six key components of a website development project — Content, Information Architecture, Search, Design, Interactivity and Programming — “content” is nearly always the chief area of focus, where the most time is expended and where differing opinions can affect outcomes and timing.

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5 Tips for Creating an Effective U.S. Website

We’ve been asked recently by some global companies seeking to increase their U.S. business,“What makes an effective website for the U.S. market?” This article is addressed to them but the answer represents general best practices. Read more
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