It’s been a year since the initial launch of the iPad and a month since the launch of the iPad 2. The tablet revolution is here and it’s here to stay.

If your website uses Flash (for video, messaging, eye candy) then I hope you’ve thought about what your iPad users are seeing in lieu of Flash. Steve Jobs does not mince his words when he tells us that Adobe’s Flash application will not be integrated with iPad.

Do you care about iPad users?
Who are tablet users? Techies, moms, college kids, toddlers in the back seat? In my opinion, tablet users are a passive audience who are casually observing the web. They are most likely: watching videos on YouTube; checking in on Facebook; reading the day’s news.

Who is the audience for your website? What are the chances that they are dialing up your site from a tablet? If you think even 10% of your site’s audience is coming to your site from a tablet, you should be seriously thinking about WHAT they see when they get there!

Does your site need Flash?
What purpose does Flash serve on your site?

• Eye candy for animated billboards
  MicroArts is a big proponent of using “billboards” to convey a brand’s messaging. Why not use jQuery to achieve a similar effect.
• Video
  Adobe claims that 75% of video on the web is in Flash. If you can, why not embed a YouTube player?
• Really cool sh*t
  When MicroArts is challenged to develop cutting edge technology, sometimes Flash is the only answer. However, be sure to google around for some jQuery techniques that may do the trick!

I often tell people that one of the best parts of my job is that it is constantly evolving. New technologies bring new challenges. Make sure that your brand evolves, too!

Year 2010.
Lately I’ve been on a kick of researching and writing about upcoming trends for 2010 in the design world. At the very least your website design and development should be staying with the game in terms of what is hot and what is not in the design world, but more importantly, why not be ahead of the game? In my latest research I stumbled upon the hand written design style. I fully support the prediction of this style becoming a widespread trend throughout website design and development and here are my top three reasons why.

1. Bringing it back to the roots.
As I’m sure you’ve seen in fashion, in print advertising and a wide plethora of other design mediums, style-based trends move both forwards and backwards throughout history. Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you might have noticed that the 80’s are back in style. Trends come and go and often times resurface again. Where did design begin before the computer emerged? Paper. During my college studies for visual communications, before we were ever even allowed to use a computer for design, we were strictly hand rendering designs on paper. Bringing this basic hand rendering style of the past into the future of website design is going to do wonders in the world of internet marketing. Not only does is it give you the freedom to manipulate things exactly how you want them to be, but it gives your website the look and feel of being meticulously crafted and well thought out. It takes a lot more effort to render things by hand than with a simple filter application.

2. Multiple levels of meaning.
Some might say that the (re)introduction of hand rendering brings a child-like feel, but I would argue that it is all about the style that you render in. A thick, chunky, curvy hand rendered font with stick figure drawings will surely bring an amateur feel to your website design. But what about writing that appears on blue prints? I would say an architectural hand rendered font doesn’t suggest a child-like style, but rather, a more professional style, representing a mindful and comprehensive process used to achieve an end result. Styles such as this appear clean and well thought out, while maintaining that focused thinking was put into creating purposeful work. The style you render in will certainly affect the look and feel your website has.

3. Break the rules. Break outside the box.
Why hand-write something when you can simply type it? I say, why not? Between the move to computer-based design and the arrival of web 2.0, I think we became stuck in a world of website design that was flat. It consisted of generic shapes and basic web-safe type that all looked the same. This is because most designs were made up of preset, computer-generated pieces. We no longer live in a world where the vision you see on your screen has to be flat. Be bold. Bring shading and shadows to your website design; bring hand rendered sketches and letters straight from the paper to create the world that exists on your screen, and ultimately strive to reflect the physical world that we live in.

Will the hand rendered style become one of the big trends in 2010? I can’t say for sure, but I can say that we’re already using it. Are you?

Have your own predictions on what will be big in 2010, or simply looking to take your website design and development ahead of the game? Contact us. We’d love to hear your thoughts!

Check out some of our recent work for examples of effective use of hand renderings

Hand-written cut-outs to call out our work within our home page billboards.

Hand-drawn logo to convey ideas behind brand’s mission.

Branded apparel utilizing hand-drawn lettering

Search Advertising is one of the most efficient and surefire ways to get your brand appearing favorably within major search engines. Using search advertising, advertisers, marketers and organizations can target the key search terms and phrases their most-valued prospects, customers and stakeholders look for every day.

Sounds pretty simple, right? The basic principle of search advertising or Pay-Per-Click (PPC) is a simple one—drive brand awareness and traffic to your site and ultimately improve your marketing ROI through new business. Sometimes, however, the process seems so simple, many of the most important things that impact overall performance and ROI are overlooked. Those who use search advertising must remember that effective search advertising involves two primary focuses:

2. Getting your ad to appear, be noticed and get clicked for the keywords you desire. With a website set as the default location, you should be able to direct visitors to your homepage or subpage. But DON’T STOP THERE.
3. Once searchers click your ad, they need to enter an engaging, relevant and actionable environment that directly pays off what the keyword or concept they searched. Getting the visitor to take the desired next step/action or “conversion” doesn’t happen automatically. You need to build optimized and targeted landing pages for each ad and each unique set of keywords. This is critical to ensure a positive return for every dollar you invest in search advertising.

So, with that in mind, here are five simple rules for building effective landing pages.

1. Create the ultimate call to action (CTA). On your page(s), clearly provide one simple way visitor can take a next step. This is different for every company and every brand; it may be a free download or something more complicated, such as sharing demographic information in exchange for a coupon. By having one call to action, you won’t overwhelm every visitor with additional ways for them to interact with you. Also, make sure you amplify the button for your CTA and make the signup process as simple as possible with as little fields as possible.
2. Write an integrated, compelling and relevant page headline. To make your headline integrated, simply include a keyword (or two) directly from the ad headline appearing in your ad. To make you add compelling, make sure to include an actionable benefit or reward, such as “learn,” “save” or “download.” To make your headline relevant, keep in mind who your audience is and speak directly to them.
3. Visually engage the user. Tell a story with the ad copy, page headline and the supporting visual.
4. Convey reputation, trust and security. Back up your work with examples where possible. Make your landing page look professional and secure. Remember that people need to trust you before clicking an advertisement.
5. Less is more. The least amount of information, design and development it takes you to produce a compelling and trusted environment the better. Try not to overwhelm visitors with any over-the-top Flash displays or fancy navigation formats. Keep it simple.

With properly crafted landing pages, you will increase the potential value of every new visitor who was intrigued by your search advertising efforts. It’s a big opportunity so take the time to create the appropriate environment for each ad group.

MicroArts specializes in landing page design and the implementation and management of search advertising campaigns. Need help? Give us a call!

Inbound Marketing is the new way to market your brand. Webcasting is key to any online branding experience. Reach your audience via video interviews, online demos, webinars, etc. If you are new to web video marketing, here are some best practices to keep in mind:

1. Short is sweet.
   Attention spans don’t last long on the web. Focus on the first 10 seconds of your webcast. Do something to grab your audience and keep them engaged.
2. Provide video that is appropriate for your audience.
   Is your video meant to be informative or entertaining? Corporate audiences will look for interviews, webinars and demos; while the more casual audience will be drawn in by music, action and spoof videos.
3. Webcasts don’t have to be expensive.
   You don’t need the most expensive equipment to post a quality webcast online. You should, however, spend extra for an external microphone. The external mic will provide much better sound quality (as compared with camera-mounted mics).
4. Choose the right setting for your video.
   Lighting is important. Try not to shoot in front of windows – the scenery may draw you to do so, but the back-lighting will not transfer well to video. You’ll also want to avoid tile floors and / or empty rooms. You may not pick up on the echo immediately, but your web audience will.
5. Publish your video on YouTube.
   Publishing your video on YouTube is the quickest and easiest way to get the Flash-based code to promote your video. Flash is the best way to show video across platforms and browsers.
6. Use YouTube Insight to track your success.
   This free and easy-to-use service will tell you:
   • Where are your views coming from?
   • Who is watching your video?
   • What is engaging in your video?
7. Remember SEO for your video.
   When describing your video, be descriptive, straight-forward, and use relevant keywords. Give your video a good title (include keywords AND make them intriguing).
8. Embed your video in blogs.
   Make it easy for your audience to provide you with feedback. By embedding YouTube code on blogs any feedback will be tracked back to your YouTube Insight account.
9. Promote your video.
   Use Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter (FINT) to promote your video. Be sure to link appropriately based on your audience. Paid promotion of your video is not a worthwhile option. While vendors can promise you visitors, they cannot promise the visitor will watch your video.
10. Analyze and repeat.
    Use the stats you have garnered from YouTube Insight data. Read the posts you received from your viewers.

    Take what you have learned and put that knowledge toward your next webcast.

Creating a webcast can be challenging, let alone learning how to market it. Don’t let it overwhelm you. Again, webcasting is key to any Inbound Marketing campaign.

Check out this recent video from our Principal Brand Director. This video is housed on our homepage and has been watched more than 200X in 2 months. When you are done watching – give MicroArts a call to learn how we can help brand your webcast.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BnguXFwFu1U

Of course, it’s not always that easy. The trick to successful GUI design is to be able to find the right balance between familiar design and really interesting stuff! Effective online branding engages the user. The last thing you want to do is to become bland and boring in the name of almighty consistency.

Using a certain shape, but varying the color or vice versa is a very subtle way to engage users, distinguish between different design elements but still be consistent with functionality. We see it all the time in everyday life-a stop light, for example, where each light is the same size circle, yet conveys a different message.

This same idea can be applied as a directional sense in GUI design to direct users where to go. It can be as simple as using a red button to go back and a green button to go forward. Each circle represents an action to GO somewhere; the color provides the direction WHERE.

Not only is consistency important for the design of an object, it’s a crucial factor in location. Buttons, warnings, news flashes, results, and directional text should always appear in consistent locations. When a user, for example, enters information that is going to yield results, it’s important the results always appear in the same manor and same location to avoid confusion. This directs users to look in familiar places. In fact, they expect to. If the location changes, users may become frustrated searching for information and leave the site altogether.

GUI design as an element of brand design
This brings up one other important element of the GUI design: human behavior. Remember, a brand is more than a design; it’s an experience. So how can you use GUI design to enhance the customers’ experience? We won’t say that Internet users are lazy; but they don’t want to work hard. The more clicks it takes to get somewhere, the greater the risk of losing users to another site. To avoid a lot of clicks, designers need to create the most efficient use of space without overcrowding the page.

In the end, good GUI design makes the online experience as comfortable as possible. The Holy Grail remains a design that remains digestible, directional and yet still engaging. When you find that, you’ve enhanced your online branding greatly.