Seeing as our smartphones are the device users have in their hands ALL of the time, it’s the best way for you as a business owner to engage your brand with your target audience. Consumers are using their downtime to surf the Internet and read about what you as one of their favourite brands are doing. This is really something any business should be making the most of, and if that’s not enough convincing, here are a few ideas on how you can be a part of the mobile revolution!

Email Marketing

Get your e-newsletters mobile friendly!  Think about it, I bet you are one of the 42% of people who opened an e-marketing newsletter through your mail app on your mobile device, or one of the 23% who opened it with your iPhone or one of the 11% on your iPad or 9% on your android. It should come as no surprise that you need to make sure your newsletters look just as beautiful through a mobile device as they do on your computer screen.

Make life easier for your customer

Some businesses may think they need a mobile site as well as an app to own a bit of people’s ‘real estate’ on their phones. By having both you would definitely own some space/land in their phones but there is no longevity in doing that and if your app has no purpose, it will soon be forgotten!  When you are deciding whether to build an app, you need to offer your customers one with a purpose that gives them a utility and an additional way for you to interact with them on a daily basis. Great examples of this kind of app would be the big 4 banks and how their apps make life easier for consumers! Log into your bank accounts, transfer funds and see balances in a quick and easy way!

Rich Media and Advertising

Think outside the square – smartphones are equipped with sensors and tools such as cameras, accelerometers, gyroscopes, microphones and speakers – giving you the ability to create an interactive advertising campaign where you can ask users to shake or record sound and image – rather than brand building, mobile ads can have one direct call to action, which is app downloading!

Think about video

Video is arguably one of the best forms of content you can have for a mobile device. Reading on a mobile device is not the easiest thing to do, so having video content is a great way to get your information to a customer in a quick, easy and beautiful looking way.

Check your stats

You may be surprised to see how many people are actually viewing your existing site from a mobile device! You can see how many visits your website receives through a mobile device via Google Analytics which is set up so you can see exactly how many people browse on a mobile device and their behaviour whilst on your site. Stats show that typically from 30-50% of website visitors come in via a mobile device in Australia!

Having a mobile device means that you can access information from anywhere, sitting on the train, on the tram, waiting for a bus, in a cafe.. you get the idea. For businesses, this means that you can engage with customers no matter where they are or what they are doing. Stats show that your clients are more likely to engage with your business if you have a mobile friendly site compared to rates of engagement with a non-mobile friendly site. We suggest you have a look into your website’s Analytics and compare the bounce rate of visitors from a mobile device to those from a web browser!

The opportunities and ideas for turning your business into a mobile friendly one are endless, and the statistics and figures are growing steadily each day.

Smartphones are now something we cannot live without so it’s time to get mobile friendly and join the revolution!

Compulsive organiser. Spreadsheets are my spirit animal. The words “line item” and “status” are music to my ears. Just as long as they don’t involve more than basic maths – then it’s like navigating my way through a vat of custard with just a solar-powered headlamp to guide my way. Spreadsheets and me – it’s a love/confusion relationship.

What does your daily job involve?

SPREADSHEETS! Ahem. First of all is turning over to today’s I Can Haz Cheezburger page on my desk calendar. Then cup of tea to fortify myself for email catch up and constructing the day’s to-do list. The rest is a highly organised blur of talking to people on the phone, pestering developers and designers in the office, thumb wrestling Steve for resources (not to mention the best new projects), and updating spreadsheets. Occasionally I’ll take breaks to water the office plants, eat lunch on Gertrude Street, and tease Laura about her office music choices.

What are your biggest challenges / challenge as a Project Manager at Salsa?

Sometimes I wish I could ‘just fix’ issues that are making my clients anxious. Balancing out everyone’s needs amidst the well-oiled cogs of our development team machine can be difficult at times, but balancing acts are all part of the daily life of… duh-dahhh! a project manager. *strikes pose*.
(The other challenge is that I am the only soy milk drinker in the office, and have only about half a teaspoon’s worth in each cup of tea… so the carton inevitably goes off before I finish it. It’s a hard life!)

If you had one free hack day to do ANYTHING you want what would you do?

In my previous life (read: job) I was a front-end developer and sort-of designer as well as a PM. On a free hack day I would probably make nicer CSS skins for my favourite open source web projects. (Mainly for selfish reasons: so I enjoyed spending time using them a lot more.)

Where do you think web development is heading or what would you like to see Australia do more of?

I would love to see more beautifully designed mobile apps that uses local data in Australia – for example, a well-designed weather app that uses the BOM API, more fleshed-out “shops/cafes/etc near you” apps, even local public transport apps that are easy to use – that sort of thing. And I don’t mean just one – I mean a range of apps with different looks and features I could choose from. The USA seem to be doing amazing things with their local data, I’m full of envy (and hoping that’s where Australian development is heading!).

To kick things off, we are starting with hard-working Alexis, one of our creative Developers.

How do you think of yourself/your job?

I think I’m lucky to be in a choice company building cool websites, though it can get really challenging I think that’s actually have the attraction. People here seem to think it’s funny I own a collection crazy of t-shirts. I tend to think they’re lucky I’m wear any shirt at all and I wonder why they haven’t also got a collection of T’s after stopping by threadless.com

What does your daily job involve?

My daily routine generally involves being more “awesomer”. Making fun of Jon our BA. Trying to pick the brain of Ningning (a technical lead here at Salsa) it’s fun asking him questions about composite MySQL index’s and seeing how long I can follow the conversation for (personal best time yet was 42 seconds). And in-between all that, doing a little work.

What are your biggest challenges / challenge as a developer at Salsa?

The coffee machine. Seems to work for me about 50% of the time, other times it dribbles water out of the portafilter, reducing pressure, resulting in a poor crema on my coffee. And on occasion the pressure will build up so when I release the portafilter coffee grinds will jump out at me, this makes me sad. And this one time the pressure in the steamer “waffle waffle blah blah”…

If you had one free hack day to do ANYTHING you want (as a developer) what would you do?

Build a html, css, js complier to minify Silver Stripe templates before the cache is created. This would probably take more like a week to complete, but would be an awesome tool to automatically reduce page load on sites. We don’t use Silver Stripe here so I would possibly opt in to sculpt a Hello Kitty doll to sit in reception.

Where do you think web development is heading or what would you like to see Australia do more of?

Ummm heaps? The web seems to have been moving in multiple directions for a while. From cloud based application development, high-end media sites and rich interactive games. Technologies like Hadoop will be on the rise with the need to accommodate and process more data, one of the buzz words for 2012 was “Big Data“. A handful of Australian companies have started to adopt Hadoop practices. Personally though I would like to see more traditional goodness. Solid designs, focused on promoting content, with harmonious UI, all built to modern standards. “Anyone can make the simple complicated. Creativity is making the complicated simple.” Charles Mingus

Pinterest is currently one of the fastest growing social networks online, and is the third-largest social network behind only Facebook and Twitter. If you are an online retailer especially, it’s highly recommended that you take your business into the world of Pinterest and start pinning your products! The power of people sharing your pins will only benefit your store with all pins being linked back to your product page (where they were first pinned from).

You can visit Salsa Digital’s very own Pinerest Page and see how it works, follow boards or companies who inspire you, and re-pin from boards you like.

Click here to visit our page:

From January 2007 to January 2009 home loan interest rates increased by nearly 2% in Australia, rising to almost 10%.  Dinner conversations amongst mortgage holders and, more particularly, prospective mortgage holders, had an un-nerving tendency to discuss whether to “fix” one’s home loan or go with a “variable rate”.  Folk that needed absolute certainty chose “to fix”, others that could be a bit more flexible decided to “go variable”.  The “go variable” folk benefited from the large drop in rates in the following year.  Their dinner conversations could go back to wine… or perhaps their next website project.

Flexibility in website projects, if budget constraints allow, can also result in better outcomes for clients.  Increasingly Salsa is gearing its project delivery process to better accommodate change and uncertainty rather than attempting to make choices about function as part of the pre-sales process.  Clients that are able to defer functional and design decisions and work with an indicative project cost through a structured scoping phase with Salsa experts (Business Analysts, Project Managers and Creative Designers) are launching functionally rich and well resolved websites.  …Their next dinner parties are able to discuss wine and as well as beautiful websites.

So, how’s Salsa doing this?

A Scope/Discovery phase

For medium and large complexity websites, and selected small sites, Salsa recommends a formalised Scope Phase as the first part of project execution.  The Salsa team – encompassing Business Analysts, Project Manager and Creative Designer – work with client stakeholders to develop a good understanding of the key project drivers, critical success factors and goals: the project’s vision.  Salsa then runs structured workshops to probe the functions of the site, the creative inputs and any technical considerations/constraints.  It is at this point that clients that are able to remain flexible (and work with an indicative budget) are able to take advantage of options presented by the Salsa team.  This level of discovery allows consideration of options that could not have been envisaged during the sales process.  Flexibility is rewarded.  The output of the Scope/Discovery phase is a Functional Specification which forms an agreed baseline for the project and allows for a re-estimation of the project’s timeline and cost.

More traditional project execution methods – and Salsa has learnt the hard way the downfalls of such techniques – attempt to lock to project functions and costing when a proposal is presented as an output of the sales cycle.  Complex projects invariably suffer from this inflexible method of execution as quickly complex discussions around scope, baseline detail, assumptions and the project’s vision result as soon as the delivery process initiates.  Time is wasted and the client team is afforded no quick/easy path to change aspects of the site as they work with Salsa.

Agile Delivery

Armed with an agreed Functional Specification as an output of the Scope and re-estimated project timeline and cost, Salsa employs an agile delivery model to offer further flexibility in the Salsa delivery approach.  Essentially Salsa further extends the period where clients are able to make reasonable level of changes to the site, including while it is being built.

Keys to Salsa’s agile delivery model are:

Iterations

Functions are grouped sensibly, allowing the site to be developed in packages of work.  Key iterations are presented to the client allowing them to see progress and make informed decisions on remaining functions.  Often the early iterations are designed to deliver the more complex features as a risk mitigation exercise.

Primary Process Flows

Iterations are frequently designed to demonstrate primary process flows, end-to-end, as quickly as possible.  Clients are able to validate the project’s vision early in the project’s build.

CRs and Swaps

While the Functional Specification is the baseline for the project, and has a baseline cost, all projects have changing requirements as they evolve.  As such, to remain flexible, Salsa offers a lightweight process for low complexity change requests.  A client is easily able to make tweaks to the baseline with minimal process overhead.  More complex change requests may require an update to the Functional Specification however Salsa has a mature process allowing for this level of client requested change.  If the client really wants to make a change, they can.

The agile delivery model – where Salsa and the client are able to remain flexible – in general results in a well resolved website entering client testing (user acceptance) and subsequent launch.

UAT/Launch

Having committed to a scope/discovery phase, and having used an agile process to deliver the project, clients in general have a more enjoyable UAT and launch experience.  The client is more proud of the finished product because it is much more nicely resolved and has had sufficient feedback opportunity during iteration to tweak key aspects.  Adoption of the site in the client’s organisation and, more particularly, by the client’s clients, have a much greater chance of success.  Testing and launch benefit from all parties remaining flexible.

A Final Word

So if you find conversations turning to interest rates at your next dinner party and become a bit bored, deflect conversation back to wine – that is, unless you want to bring up your beautiful new Salsa-designed and -built website on your smartphone.

When greeted with an empty field it is extremely important not to be overawed by the mission ahead. You are responsible for the lives of your team, but you must not let this emotion affect your judgement – level headedness is absolutely critical.

The first sector that you clear will always be safe; the enemy has afforded you this one luxury, but do not be fooled into complacency – this will bring you closer to your grave.

Your second clearing is very important and will determine the future course of your plan. Do not step in the top left perimeter of the field at this time. The odds of uncovering a mine in this location are 50% higher than any other sector in the field.

At this point there are two strategies one may follow. A rookie minesweeper will take incredibly high risks in order to uncover a safe portion of the field, whereas the more experienced sweeper will act more carefully and calculate where next to proceed.

HUT HUT HUT!!

Speed is extremely important; there are many fields to clear and every passing minute the enemy approaches. One must clear as soon as possible without taking unnecessary risks. There are two ways to clear sectors:

• Mass production – flag all detected mines before clearing any more sectors
• Sprint – alternate between clearing and flagging

Ultimately it is a combination of the two that will give you the maximum speed required to clear the field in the shortest time.

I FEEL THE NEED… THE NEED FOR SPEED

Mavericks are always to be found in the defence forces and the minefield is no exception. If you have seen ‘The Hurt Locker’ and respect SFC James’ method, let me send you a home truth – that is Hollywood. It is not real. Minesweeping is not a game – it must be taken seriously as there are many lives at risk.

There are two common traits found in mavericks:

Non-flagging – mavericks believe that marking sectors with flags is a waste of time and that the positions of mines can be easily recorded in one’s memory bank. This is fraught with danger and minefields are paved with the remains of egotistical intentions.

Guessing – some mavericks will take 50/50 risks when there is simply no need. Clearing a mine 20 seconds more quickly is not worth the destruction of an entire squad.

REDUCED PERCENTAGE DECISIONS

Even the most experienced sweepers will sometimes need to take a 50/50 guess. Unfortunately this is a dangerous business and the minesweeping squad is not filled with part time grocery stackers. If you are presented with no other option but to guess the position of a mine, do not delay this decision. Clear your many as quickly as possible and sacrifice yourself if need be. By clearing the rest of the field first and leaving the guess until the end, you have simply delayed the inevitable and potentially wasted time that could have been used clearing other fields.

STRIKING THE RIGHT CHORD

‘Chording’ is an advanced technique whereby you can clear a number of sectors in one sweep once you have flagged all mines in the area. This technique takes practice and should not be used without careful initial practise. One must learn to crawl before they can walk – respect the chord. It is not my place to teach you the one-point-fiver tactic. It will come to you when you are ready.

FIGHTING FATIGUE

Minefields can be large and test the stamina of even the fittest troops. Remain hydrated at all times and ensure you have an adequate supply of energy bars. Stay focused and do not allow your mind to wander with thoughts of Budweiser or your ‘gal back home’ – you will be with her soon enough. You are protecting your nation and that is a privilege you should never take for granted.

MISSION ACCOMPLISHED

Whack on your aviator sunnies! You’ve earned yourself a drink and deserve a back-rub back at camp. Mine-sweeping is not a job for boys and today, you have shown yourself worthy to be called a true ‘Minesweeper!’ Compare your time against the big boys and prepare yourself for your next big mission!

My notes:

Creativity is not a talent – it’s a way of operating.  The most creative people are those that invest the time in moving into that mode regularly.  Creative people don’t necessarily have a higher IQ than their less creative associates.

You can only be creative when in Open (Playing) Mode.  To be creative, you must maintain an Open mode for a long enough period of time to allow your creativity to be activated.  When working on resolving an issue, or completing a piece of work you should of course operate in closed mode;  focus on just getting the job done. Try to remain relatively Open at other times to maintain the ability to be creative.

Most people work day to day in a Closed mode – there is a never ending list of tasks to get done, and we mechanically work through them one by one without any reflection or pondering time to really allow us to more creatively solve problems, find new ideas or inspiration.    We choose the first solution to a problem that comes to mind as it’s the path of least resistance – there is so little time to get anything else done – snuffs creativity.

5 steps to create some structure around being creative:

1. Space

You need some space away from interruptions and typical daily demands.  No disturbances.  No calls, no emails, no conversation, no interrupting actions, procrastinating.  Close the door, turn off the to-do list in your head.

2. Time

The space needs to be created within a certain period of time.  Start and end at a specific time.  A specific, limited, secluded period of exact time is required, otherwise it isn’t valued.   When you commence the play time, ignore the racing list of thoughts in your mind.  Let it pass.  Don’t allow it to take over your play time.  At least half an hour is required to let this pass – then 1-2 hours of Open time before a break is required, and then perhaps move back into your normal mode of operation.

3. Time

(yes, again) Giving your mind as long as possible to come up with something original.  The more time you can allocate, the more creative you’ll be.

4. Confidence

Nothing will stop creativity as much as the fear of making a mistake.  Remember you’re experimenting – you need to be open to anything that may happen.  Whatever happens, is OK.  You should not be anxious about something being wrong.  You’re either free to play, or not.  Risk saying things that are silly, illogical or wrong.  There is no such thing as a mistake.  Any dribble may lead to a break through.  If you’re being creative with others, ensure they’re positive forces and support each other.  Otherwise creativity = 0.

5. Humour

Gets you from Closed mode to Open mode quicker than anything else.  Humour is an essential part of spontaneity and playfulness.  It’s necessary for creativity.  Feel free to giggle all you like while in your space/time oasis.

While in your space/time oasis keep your mind around the topic you’re trying to resolve.  If the pondering time is invested, the idea will come – maybe not instantly – maybe in the shower, maybe at breakfast the next day, but it will come.

To give you a little background, I am Gen Y and Female. This means I grew up in the 90’s staying up past my bedtime talking on the home phone, dialling up on my 56K modem, chatting to friends in MIRC, ICQ and MSN asking the questions A/S/L? to strangers, until my parents would yell at me to get off the computer and let my sister have a go. Networking meant going out and talking to people in Real Life, hanging out and speaking.

Nowadays, all I need is my smart phone, a few hash tags and followers and I won’t miss a thing! And by thing, I mean that important post about where the #TacoTruck will be located for dinner, or the witty comment about elections, or what pose my friends cute cat is currently doing or what hash tag is currently trending so my hipster soul knows where I should be. This of course is all very important information, which if I choose not to participate in, will lead my Klout score to drop below 50, meaning I won’t be known as influential as hoped.

As a little insight into the madness of social media, this year alone;

MYSPACE

relaunched itself to the world with heartthrob Justin Timberlake backing it – combining everyone’s favourite elements of online media with the hopes of taking over the world again.

FACEBOOK

changed its rules and privacy settings a million times, introduced cover photos and the timeline, bought out instagram and generally made me hate it even more than before, yet I still remain addicted to posting my thoughts and wondering what all of my “friends” are doing.

INSTAGRAM

introduced it’s online profiles, because… well I am not actually sure why we needed that – turning it into yet another handy tool for online stalking.

TWITTER

also took a turn (also a step closer to facebook) and has allowed users to tailor and customise their profiles so that they look more like websites, with a stylish little banner behind your profile pic, as well as opening up the conversations more by allowing you to click on a post and read responses, I could continue, but I don’t want to bore you with the details you either already know, or will simply continue to grow with (unknowingly).

I guess in summary, the truth is social media is forever evolving, it’s actually totes cray cray, my best advice in keeping up (if you want to) is to click on #hashtags, speak with @ in front of the person you are speaking to, download every app and connect your accounts in klout to see where you are at. And if you want to be an influencer and not just a listener, add more cat pictures to your profile.

2012 has been the most stressful, fun, exciting, successful & all round manic year of Salsa’s short life so far!

To give you an idea, here is a quick summary of Salsa’s 10th year:

1. My ticket which stated what terminal I need to be at
2. The pilot, who gave a brief explanation that there was a second terminal in walking distance outside the terminal I was in
3. The signs directing me to the terminal

Everything was going well until I ended up in the parking lot… frustrated and confused. I then had to backtrack, and think about which sign it was that was not correct. I guessed which one and then walked past it, hoping that there would be another sign soon that would be correct. In the end I was fine, and I managed to get the flight as they were calling my name.

You might be wondering how this relates to web design? Well, basically a successful website will direct their traffic efficiently to their destination with little frustration and ease.

Considered taxonomy is crucial in deciding your navigation. Keep it clear, concise and obvious.

Use simple language that everyone will understand.

Iconography can help. But an icon needs to actually be identifiable to assist in a direction. Sure they can look good, but if you are relying on them to direct the user to something it is best to use an icon they have seen before. I must admit, I can’t stand it when I go to the bathroom and a restaurant/bar has tried to get creative with the image of the male and female identifiers. I’m sorry but if I have to look at BOTH signs and then make a decision based on what I think it more masculine or feminine it defeats the purpose. Worse still, what if I decide through the wrong door…

Use consistent methods throughout. Using colour can help direct a person through your site. If you consider road signs: red means stop, whether it is a traffic light or a sign your identify it as having to stop, orange means you slow down, and green good to go. They are used consistently allowing little confusion. Using colour consistently can help if it has been used thoughtfully.
These are just route-finding tips that you apply to help your audience navigate through your site. Similarly to an airport, people arrive at different points; you need to consider that a homepage is not always the first contact point. Think about your audience and keep it simple for them to understand when they land at any point on your site.