Article Prospect Experience Design Stop. Look. Listen. by Justin Kerr on January 23, 2014 Last summer I gave myself a personal challenge: become a better designer. I didn't sign up for any design courses or read books on typography or color theory. I didn't attend any design conferences or subscribe to a trade magazine. Instead, I applied an old elementary-school lesson for when you approach a set of train tracks: Stop. Look. Listen. Read Now About
Article Prospect Experience Design How to Test a Website in Ten Minutes by Christopher Butler on January 16, 2014 Usability testing is the most important thing you can do to… well, really, I think the sentence can end right there. If you are a designer, usability testing puts you in direct contact with users and the information you need to make the right thing the right way... Read Now About
Article Content Strategy Why We Ask Our Clients So Many Questions published on January 14, 2014 Planning is a central part of any Newfangled project, and good planning starts with a lot of questions. In order for us to build a strong web platform that really represents the unique nature and value of our clients, we need to first understand who they and their prospects really are. Read Now About
Article Prospect Experience Design The way you design web content is about to change. by Christopher Butler on January 14, 2014 Six months ago, we began rethinking how we create web content. We were tired of the limitations that page templates and content management systems constantly introduced into the creative process, and tired of the power they had to turn an excited client into a disappointed and resigned one. We wanted to bring freedom and creativity back to web design. This is the story of how we did it... Read Now About
Article Prospect Experience Design 2013 Year-End Design Resource Review by Justin Kerr on December 20, 2013 A quick review of my browser bookmarks reveals a crowded menagerie that rivals anything you'll see on the show Hoarders. I can't help it. Any time I come across a new tool or resource that I think will (however remotely) help me be more efficient or creative, I add it to my ever-growing stash. In the spirit of the season, I am sharing some of my favorites that I've discovered this past year. Read Now About
Article Prospect Experience Design 2013: The Year in Review by Christopher Butler on December 17, 2013 Wow, 2013 is just days away from done. Hard to believe. For us, it's been as exciting and action-packed a year as you could imagine. We welcomed new friends to our team, launched some really great new sites, moved into new offices, and are getting ready to welcome a little one into the world (any day now)! Of course, we also shared some good content with you. Below are some of our favorite things that hit the web in 2013... Read Now About
Article Prospect Experience Design Parallax Websites, the Right(ish) Way by Dave Mello on December 10, 2013 Building a parallax-based website to be SEO-friendly and reasonably fast requires some unique work-arounds. We'll take a look at some of them, and look at why, in most cases, they're probably not worth it. Read Now About
Article Prospect Experience Design How to See What a User Sees by Christopher Butler on December 5, 2013 A few weeks ago, I spoke at the HOW Interactive Design Conference in Chicago. As a member of the Advisory Board, I’ve helped to shape the programming of this conference for the last three years. We’ve learned a ton, and I saw many of those learnings applied in this year’s event. It was definitely the strongest one yet — a great location, a great crowd, and fantastic content. One of the talks I gave was on usability testing, which I’d like to share with you below. As you’ll see in the agenda, a big portion of it involved doing live usability testing from stage. At some point, I think HOW will release video of this. In the meantime, I’ll provide a few big takeaways from a couple of the tests we ran... Read Now About
Article Prospect Experience Design Parallax is the New Flash published on December 2, 2013 Parallax design is the hot new trend, but it's not always a good idea to base your site around it. Parallax can have major implications for SEO, usability, and the conversion rate of your site. Worst of all, Parallax is the single easiest way to make your site look dated in the next 18 months. Read Now About
Article Prospect Experience Design Button Usability and the Bagel Shop Conundrum published on October 30, 2013 Your users look at a lot of websites, and are really familiar with most of the standard conventions out there already. Fight cognitive dissonance and usability problems in your designs by using all of the knowledge and experience your users already have. Present your calls-to-action in a way that doesn't confuse or send mixed messages. Read Now About