Mark Knoles

Website Performance: Speed Matters

2011-06-20T11:39:00.001-07:00

Athletes know that the key to success in their arena hinges on performance. Through training and lifestyle choices they literally engineer their bodies to achieve results, fine tuning every aspect of their game. They know that running faster, jumping higher, and throwing farther than their competitor will give them a critical edge.

In a similar way, the performance of the website is one of the most important but often neglected aspects of development. And virtually any website can experience benefits from fine-tuning its performance.

Four Key Reasons to Fine Tune Website Performance

With so many people using a broadband connection, what’s the value of fine tuning the performance of website? Here are four key reasons:

Not everyone has broadband. Access is growing, but there are many people who still lack broadband access. This is especially true in the case of international audiences.
Latency—the amount of time from the moment a user requests a web file to the time it is delivered—plays a major role in customer retention. Moments count, and the longer the user must wait, the more likely he is to navigate somewhere else. This is true not only for the homepage (but critical there), but also for the rest of the site.
Search engines notice. The performance of your site is actively noted by search engines, and it can have a direct impact on rankings. Sites that perform well have a better chance of being understood as relevant for the end-user.
Mobile is major, and growing. 3G data connections may be common enough but average speeds are still much less than cable or DSL connections. 4G, while becoming more available, is a smaller fraction of the market due to less coverage, higher costs, and specialized devices.

A Multi-Faceted Approach to Improving Performance

Unfortunately, many prepackaged website tools and templates don’t render optimized code and assets as they attempt one-size-fits-all solutions. This can lead to unnecessary bloat and unacceptable load times.

In reality, when it comes to improving performance, there is no one-size-fits-all solution. Rather, it’s a package deal, a combination of:

load-balancing
server environment and settings
applications
coding
file management
optimization techniques

These all play important roles in the speed of a website or application, particularly when targeting mobile devices.

Of course the fastest site to load is one without graphics, media, or interactivity, but it’s also the least useful. On the flip side, it’s important to understand the impact of each component of the site and properly balance that impact with the quality of end-user experience.

This type of strategic analysis and improvement can dramatically affect the speed of a website, thereby making it more user-friendly, accessible, and search-engine relevant.

Usability: Look Great, Work Great

2011-05-25T15:08:00.000-07:00

As the Internet continues to play a greater role in everyday life, websites have become increasingly complex visually and functionally. Ten years ago, many websites were generally text heavy pages punctuated by clip art and animated GIFs. That’s because the language of the web was much simpler and there were major constraints on bandwidth. And with those limitations, usability and user experience were largely limited.

Thankfully we live in a very different world today. Particularly in the US, many of those limitations are quickly disappearing – in fact, the next generation of mobile data services are exponentially faster than dial-up, not to mention the proliferation of broadband access. Yet with this greater freedom comes a correlating responsibility to preserve usability.

The challenge of usability

All of these changes have only served to highlight a very clear need in web development services – the user experience. And a major benchmark of successful web design is the quality of the end-user experience. Can users navigate the site efficiently? Can they find relevant content quickly? Are the features of the site responsive?

A common mistake in web design is to design only for the brand, when in reality it’s the user who will be the one making decisions about where to navigate, what to look at, and how quickly to move on to another section or site. And while it’s important to create visually compelling experiences and well branded solutions, it can be easy to overlook this simple principle: if a site’s users can’t find what they’re looking for, are frustrated by unintuitive interfaces, or don’t find that interface responsive, they will leave.

Designing with the consumer in mind

In the real world, the equivalent of poor usability would be designing a store’s floor plan so that the merchandise is located on the first floor, support is located on the second floor, and checkout is located on the third floor. That’s bad enough – then imagine there were only stairs and no elevator. You can bet that no customer will be staying there for very long, and eventually practical constraints (e.g. a city code) will demand some changes.

Of course, one of the things on the web that makes it so appealing – freedom – is also the same thing that makes it more difficult to spot similar problems online. For the majority of the web experience, regulations similar to city codes just don’t exist. But they don’t need to – the web is the ultimate democracy. Your users are that governing body making rulings (judgment calls) about your site, and they will vote with their presence about whether your site is usable or not. Visitors will reward good practices because they work, and they will avoid (and certainly not recommend) sites that are difficult to use.

Usability improves the brand experience

Good usability practices anticipate the needs and actions of the users—and demographics play an important role. Understanding not just what users might do, but who they are will influence why and how they choose to take those actions. This is a crucial component of usability that should influence the design of a website.

Remember, usability is an aspect of your brand. Just like your point-of-sale, just like your support services, just like your headquarters – your website should provide an intuitive floor plan for your customers to interact with. And it should integrate well with your other online and real world services and applications, so that the experience is a consistent representation of your organization’s brand and values.

Creating a Successful Web Presence

2011-05-20T13:44:00.000-07:00

For anyone whose organization conducts any type of communication or service via their website, there’s good news: the Internet is getting better. And while the methods for connecting online have multiplied – think mobile devices, apps, net connected TVs, and more – this only proves that the Internet is becoming more useful and more important to our everyday lives.

But there’s a catch…

The catch is that the same techniques that worked for websites in connecting with your audience a few years ago may not be as relevant – or may even be completely irrelevant – today. It also means that in addition to the central website there are many additional methods available for connecting with your audience. That means it’s critical for organizations with a web presence to understand how to integrate their online communications and presence with the changes that are sweeping the web.

Relevance, quality and performance are at the forefront of our minds as we are developing websites and applications for our clients. In this upcoming series, I’ll be highlighting some important components of web design and development that create a successful brand presence online. So stay tuned!

Inspiration is Oxygen for the Creative Soul

2011-05-10T11:32:00.000-07:00

Inspiration is oxygen for the creative soul. It’s what moves the heart and mind to action. It’s what gives us energy and emotion.

A person doesn’t have to be an artist to be creative—creatives are found in every field and industry, and they are often out-of-the-box thinkers and problem-solvers. They see things differently, work differently, and discover meaning where others see chaos.

But creatives also need inspiration. Creativity requires energy, even great personal effort, on the part of the individual or collective group. It’s not easy to think differently.

Creative individuals need inspiration to help them move beyond their comfort zone, to stay motivated. A person can’t exhale without first inhaling. Creatives need to “inhale”, take in their surroundings, circumstances, external factors and process them, analyze, and refocus.

Oxygen gets broken down, repurposed, converted. The creative soul needs the same from inspiration. It needs nourishment, cultivation, and blessing.

If you’re a creative individual, no matter what your field or industry, don’t forget to stay inspired. It’s easy to stay busy, be occupied, and try to knock out tasks as quickly as possible. That’s okay. Just remember that you’re at your best when you’re breathing—refresh your spirit and take in some inspiration. You’ll be glad you did.

All in a Name (and a Logo)

2011-04-15T17:01:00.000-07:00

I was recently asked about the Take Flight Creative logo – was the inspiration and what does it mean?

Some background

From the standpoint of our driving philosophy, quality is a cornerstone of our process – quality of experience for our clients and quality of the end product. And it’s what drives everything we do.

Some clients come to us with a very specific idea about what they’re looking for, and we think that’s great. For us, the opportunity to creatively bring their vision to life is incredibly exciting. And often, even though there our specifications to be met, that doesn’t exclude creative possibilities – it just helps in the definition.

On the other hand, other clients rely on us to help them define what they’re looking for. This is a great experience for us because it allows us to get inside the mind of the organization, to see things through their eyes. It’s a great joy to see that “aha moment” – when the client says, “I didn’t know it until I saw it – that’s what I was looking for.”

Bringing it together

All that to say, Take Flight Creative isn’t about us – it’s about our clients, to see their business, their organization, their product, their services take flight with high quality, creative marketing services. By injecting fresh ideas into our work, we want to help our clients reach new heights in their brand and marketing.

That’s because we believe that logos and websites and graphics and printed materials and video and all of these things that we produce are vitally important to our clients, and that means providing the best services and the best results we possibly can.

Our logo

Aside from the name and letterforms, the distinctive feature of our logo is the singular broad wing. We considered several variations in style since, most readily, the wing might be associated with a bird, such as an eagle.

But only utilizing a single wing is intentional. That’s because it’s not a bird, or an angel, or a dragon, or even a unicorn for that matter! :) The wing is our role. We want to provide the creative solutions that take our clients’ values and vision and see them soar. And we want to make every detail count.

That’s why when it came to designing our own logo, we took a very hands-on approach. The wing was originally hand painted – by yours truly – and then converted digitally, to convey a sense of motion and artistry. Creativity is dynamic, and there is often more than one way to do the same thing. So as people producing creative work, our logo is a call to remain open-minded about the possibilities of creativity.

The sky, after all, is limitless. To what new heights can fresh ideas take you?

Understanding Branding

2011-04-11T13:35:00.000-07:00

As someone who works in the field of marketing, branding is a term I hear and use very often. It’s not uncommon that I’ll have someone say, “I’m not sure what you mean – what is branding? And what does it mean for me?”

At a fundamental level, branding deals with the perception of an organization based on an encounter or experience with it. Branding is about identification. Just like branding is used to identify a particular ranch’s ownership of cattle, the branding of an organization is used to identify its products and services and their unique place in a particular market.

Logos & Identity Marks

Logos and identity marks are integral parts of branding, and generally they are the starting place for defining the image of an organization. The style, the layout, shapes and icons, fonts and letterforms, colors and other elements all come together to define and represent the total range of services and experiences related to that organization.

And while logos are the association with branding, branding can also include taglines, styles and formatting, sales presentation, customer service, collateral materials and more. So branding can not only describe the logo or identity, it can also describe a range of components experienced by consumers as they interact with the organization.

Yet branding isn’t just for identifying an organization. Products and services themselves can be branded. And so branding can be used to guide an audience through a variety of products and experiences while still operating under a parent brand.

Real World Example: My Disney Dining Experience

I’ve been to Disneyland many times throughout the years. Within Disneyland are all kinds of attractions, rides, stores and vendors. Each of these has its own brand – for example, one of my favorite restaurants there is an old style family diner. Even though I am at Disneyland, from the moment I stepped into the diner it is designed – branded – to evoke a very specific experience. But I haven’t left Disneyland, I’ve simply encountered a dining brand (yum) that the Disney company has chosen to associate with its overall experience. And of course there are dozens of other diners and attractions with their own flavor. But don’t forget – even Disneyland is merely a subset of Disney Parks, which is itself a branded division of the Disney company.

Branding vs Marketing

Branding is sometimes used interchangeably with the term “marketing”, but the two are not the same even while they may go hand-in-hand. Marketing is usually broader outgoing communication with a call to action, often to attract attention to products, services, or even brands. Branding on the other hand usually deals with the specifics of how those products, services and brands are perceived. Marketing and branding overlap in that effective marketing starts with a clearly defined brand that identifies the source of the marketing communications.

So what does branding mean for you?

The Disney company is not the only organization who can benefit from branding. Entrepreneurs, small businesses, conglomerates and Fortune 500 companies alike need quality branding. Good branding sets the organization, product or service apart in the marketplace, and makes it easily identifiable and properly aligned with its audience.

Branding starts with your organization name, is identified through your logo or identity mark, and represents your unique combination of values and services. It should appeal to your target demographics and help identify your organization or service. It should also be something the leadership of the organization feels good about – after all, it will also serve as an internal rallying point for daily operations.

Bottom line: quality branding will get you noticed by the right people in the right places.