Category: web design

Half of the team here is vegan, and we’re all animal lovers so we were thrilled to help Vegan.org, the home of Vegan Action, spruce up their site. They came to us looking for a sleek, modern design that was responsive and helped users learn about veganism, and to help companies sign up to become certified vegan.

The old site (pictured below) was not responsive and hard to navigate.

We  gave the site a fresh look, and made it fully responsive.

If you know a vegan business, send them to www.vegan.org and they can apply to get officially certified and use the certified vegan logo!

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If you or someone you know is a web graphic designer, please take note of our latest job posting below.

We’re a small but rapidly growing creative agency looking for a web designer to join the team. Our company focuses mainly on website design and development for a variety of local and national brands, so you’ll never get bored of the same old thing.

Job:

• Branding/Logo Design
• UI/UX Design
• Responsive Graphic Design from Wireframing to Comps for Entire Websites

You will be working on unique web-based redesign projects using the latest technologies for both small and large assignments. This may include designing new logos and branding, determining site structure, audience strategy, wireframe and style tile production for client approval, and generating final site comps that will then be developed into live websites. We place an emphasis on modern design and strive to use new web technologies that will improve the overall UX.

Requirements:

• Exceptional design aesthetic, solid typography skills, and an awareness of contemporary design trends
• Working knowledge of UI/UX and what it means to make a functional consumer interface
• Knowing how to visually and verbally convey ideas
• Working knowledge of web standards and browser capabilities
• Being a self-starter, comfortable working on projects independently, sometimes with loose parameters but firm deadlines
• Experience working on large-scale projects for an extensive user base
• Experience creating wireframes, style tiles, and comps for responsive websites
• Extensive experience with Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator is a must
• Positive attitude and good communication skills (a sense of humor never hurts)
• Ability to give and receive feedback/criticism, work/brainstorm in groups

Experience:

1-3 years experience in web-based graphic design in an agency setting is preferred. Knowledge of WordPress and some coding experience is a plus.

Benefits:

• Dog-friendly office
• Flexible hours
• Opportunities for growth and advancement
• Relaxed working environment, casual dress
• A healthy work-life balance
• Centrally located in the Fan/Museum District

Salary is commensurate with experience.

To apply, please send an email to janna@marcredmond.com with a cover letter, resume, and portfolio.

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Hoping to revamp your website? We’ve compiled a list things to consider before building your first website, or revamping an old design.

Ease of use
Keep your site easy to navigate, and content should be short and sweet. Don’t get caught up adding bells and whistles and forget crucial business information like contact info, hours, and the physical address of your business.

Content structure
Your site should be “wide and shallow” meaning the first level is for those who know what they want and decide quickly. The second level is for consumers who need detailed points to be convinced. Keep paragraphs to three lines deep, or less. Good website structure will also enhance search engine optimization (SEO.)

 Chart from Cicada Online.

Have a clear call to action (CTA)

A call to action is an instruction to people visiting your website such as “subscribe now” or “click here.” As Kathryn Aragon points out, CTAs have three key elements: “A no obligation statement that removes or reduces risk, tell people what to do next [click the button below], and encourage people to respond right away.” 

Social media buttons
Connecting to your businesses social media accounts helps you market your business to new clients, will keep you top of mind for established clients, and leads to improved SEO. Make sure you are actively updating content, it’s worth the investment. Utilizing a website like Hootsuite can help you save time by scheduling multiple updates at once.

Zig when everyone else zags

As large header background images have become popular, some sites are standing out by using bold, sparse text only. Check out the refreshing simplicity of this front page:

As an added benefit, simplicity can lead to faster load times. A one second delay can cause a 7% loss in customer conversion TagMan explains. Good hosting is another key factor to keeping up speed. Paying $4/mo for hosting is tempting for small budgets, but poor hosting can also affect your rank in search engines since many search engine algorithms detect webpage loading speed.

A good website is part careful planning, intuitive design, and logical organization.

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When thinking about responsive design (a website design that is mobile and tablet friendly) the key things to consider are simplicity, ease of navigation, and quality of images. You want a site that adjusts gracefully from computer, to tablet, to smartphone.

Think about what users need the most, and only that content should wind up online. Make your product or service as easily accessible as possible. People are looking for ways to save time, and they’ll take the most convenient route to get what they need.

A few we like:

&pizza

&pizza immediately establishes itself as a great date spot, and the menu is easy to navigate.

Nixon

The same filters are available across devices, and the menu is simple and easy to navigate.

The World Wildlife Fund

The WWF puts it’s cause at the forefront of their site, and makes it easy to donate, or learn more.

Black Friday and Cyber Monday saw a record breaking $1.5 billion in sales. Paypal reported a 62% increase in global mobile payment volume. Follow that up with Small Business Saturday, and local companies have a lot to gain by making themselves easily available via mobile.

If you’d like our help making your site mobile friendly e-mail janna@marcredmond.com.

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I’ve launched three new websites in the past two weeks with my clients! I’ll be adding them to my portfolio soon, but in the meantime I’ll share them here:

The first website was for GENTAG, Inc., which holds intellectual property in the field of high-tech wireless sensor technology. Their technology will enable ground-breaking wireless medical sensors, geolocation devices, and a lot of other cool stuff including wireless sensors that don’t need batteries! It’s been exciting working with GENTAG’s team to create the website they really wanted. We’re still fine-tuning some things, but it’s shaping up to be a great site for an exciting high-tech company.

Shortly after the GENTAG site was live, another client of mine was prepped to launch. Christopher Walker, founder of LidsLash, invented a solution to a problem a lot of people have, and that’s losing or having sunglasses fall to the ground. LidsLash is a gadget that magnetically and conveniently holds sunglasses on your hat. He timed the launch to be ready for the Redskins Training Camp in Richmond, so they could sell LidsLash through Shopify on their iPads to an ideal audience. We launched the website just in time, and LidsLash is proving to be a great success!

Last, but not least, was the launch of the new Affordable Faces Photography website! Linda Spencer, a fantastic wedding photographer, got in touch with me a few months ago needing some help building a site just the way she wanted it. She had some experience with WordPress and had already created a site herself. But it just wasn’t looking exactly like she wanted.  So, Linda enlisted my help, and we worked together to create her vision.

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Some useful tips on creating swatches for your website by pulling colors from photographs.
http://design.tutsplus.com/tutorials/create-color-swatches-for-your-designs-from-a-photograph–cms-20696

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Some good advice to keep in mind when you’re thinking about your next web project.

http://diythemes.com/thesis/how-to-hire-a-web-designer/

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