Tablet devices are also becoming part of this technology boom and such devices are slowly replacing laptops in both the home and business.  This presents a number of challenges to both small and big companies and in particular how they will interact with their customers.  Most businesses don’t have a responsive website that changes size to reflect the device it is being viewed on, and with the ipad mini outselling it’s bigger brother in the first quarter of this year, it’s clear that these devices are hear to stay and will change rapidly.  Smaller-sized devices (around 8inch) are projected to have a bumper year, so it’s not just ipads, tablets, iphones and other smart phone that will be used to view your website and interact with your business.  Responsive Web Design, over the next couple of years, will become (if it hasn’t already) standard and understandably design trends for the immediate future are clean and uncluttered where content is readable across all devices (this will be huge for ecommerce).  Buttons that are clicked, links that are followed and copy that is written may all need to change so they have a desired impact.

Whilst these devices and their screens are only a small slice of the above mentioned customer interaction pie, they demand the effective delivery of any message or call to action so it can be understood or carried out.  Look at your analytics packages now and see the multitude of devices that are browsing your website…

It is not unheard of for one particular friend of mine to come back from holiday with over 2000 images, only to be whittled down to 25 of the very best to be produced proudly in one of those fantastic ‘photo-books’ that you can create online through various providers (we quite like www.photobox.co.uk). It’s amazing how even the most amateur of photographers (by their own admission) can capture some truly awe-inspiring images with a good camera.

Can you take your own?

If it’s not appropriate for you to take your own photography, perhaps because you need a very specific kind of product shot, then you may want to consider hiring a photographer (we can make recommendations to you). You should also remember that most web design companies such as Redhead Media will have access to literally millions of stock photographs and illustrations.

But I’m not just talking about good photography here. I wanted to quickly talk about using attention-grabbing photography on your website – the sort of photograph that serves a very important purpose – it makes the audience want to read the text that accompanies it.

A picture tells a thousand words

If you think about it, newspapers do it all the time. How often have you gone to the petrol station to pay for your fuel, and felt drawn to long line of newspapers, all dry and inviting in their little Perspex boxes. I would say that your attention is carefully ‘grabbed’ by the photographic editor of that paper, who chose an image for the front page that would generate some kind of response ranging from pure shock (tabloid) to curiosity (broadsheet). Of course this is backed up by the other all-important ‘attention-grabbing’ method – the ‘headline’, but for now I wanted to focus on image. After all – ‘a picture tells a thousand words’ and can be processed by our brains much faster than words can. In fact, according to research by 3M, humans process images 60000 times faster than text! This is because we take in all the data from an image simultaneously, while our brains process words in a sequence.

I’m not suggesting that you need to employ shock tactics of the tabloids in order to get the attention of your website users and entice them to read more, but here are a few things to remember when considering the photography/images used on your website:

• Remember who your audience is – it is their attention that you want to ‘grab’.
• Use bold colours (it’s a obvious one but worth mentioning). Even the most corporate, white-background design can be enlivened and made incredibly interesting with bold, colourful images.
• Use people and faces – humans are drawn to other people’s faces, especially if they are attractive or interesting-looking, or have an interesting expression.
• Use an image that people may not be expecting, but find a way to make it relevant to your text – for example, a web design page might use an image of a sharp, gleaming kitchen knife – it is unexpected but may be backed up by the headline ‘Cutting Edge Web Design and Development with a Difference’

Appeal to your audience

In summary; remember the important role that images can play in drawing attention to the key sales messages on your website. Think about the use of colour, faces, expressions and ‘the unusual’ or ‘unexpected’. Always appeal to your audience, and of course back it up with great copy, that encourages them to take action. You have their attention – now make the most of it!

Why does it matter?

Huge amounts of time, money and effort are spent on creating attractive, useable websites that reflect the company, the brand and the services or products to their best advantage. Sales funnels are set up, with a view to driving enquiries or sales or some other action such as social sharing. But what happens when your potential customer views your website on their iPhone or tablet? Does it still look good? Is it still easy for them to navigate your website, read your information and to take some kind of action (such as ‘Buy Now’) or ‘Share on Facebook’?

Just take your website’s main menu bar as an example. When viewed on a smart-phone how small to the menu options become, and how easy are they to select with your finger, without selecting about three options all at once? If a significant proportion of your users are viewing your website on their smaller devices then this is a problem that cannot be ignored.

What is ‘responsive web design’?

Sometimes simply referred to as ‘flexible design’, ‘responsive web design’ is phrase coined by Ethan Marcotte, and is essentially a way to solve the problem of optimising websites for use on multiple devices . The main principle of this is to make everything flexible using design/coding techniques such as fluid grids, flexible images and media queries.

Do I really need a ‘responsive’ website design?

By looking at Google Analytics you can see what percentage of your users are already using different devices to view your website. Keep in mind though that even if it’s a small percentage, it is most likely a growing number. That’s why we like responsive design – it ‘future-proofs’ your website for when more and more of your users view your site on an ever-growing range of different devices.

To find out whether you could benefit from responsive web design, contact us today on Haslemere 01428 788170.

Recent projects incorporating responsive design:
Melanie Downing »
Jellybean Pottery »