Prioritizing Audiences pays off

Posted on May 10, 2013 by bevin

In my last blog post I described one process for prioritizing your audience for the web and why that might be important. To help you visualize that further, I’ve taken website from a well known company to help you see how that translates into the design of the site.

Nike

Since we picked on Nike with the swoosh in my post on logo design, I’ll continue that trend and continue to use them as a good example here, because they’ve obviously put a lot of thought into their websites and designs.

No doubt Nike has many many audiences, all of whom are important to their success, they sell many different types of athletic products, and as a public company, they also have to look out for investors. So taking a look at their homepage, the first prioritization I see is pretty telling.

Nike has chosen to prioritize this homepage with a strong call to action for their Fuelband. This is a product that they are currently pushing, and it crosses many of their audience groups. You’ll notice that in the very uncluttered design, they aren’t confusing the user with the myriad of different things that they are selling, but instead focusing on one core product. This focus can change as they release different products.

The other audiences start to be addressed when you hover over the navigation at the top of the page. You’ll notice a few different ways that they categorize their users. Since they are an athletic company, they’ve categorized them by sport in this particular dropdown. This was likely the result of studying which products were typically bought by a subset of athletes playing a particular sport.

When you choose a particular sport, you are taken to a new site that has products (and a design) specifically tailored to that sport. In this screenshot of basketball products (below) you’ll see that it becomes an online store. This store is also able to be bookmarked (e.g. it’s a site not a search), so the basketball user can return and buy more basketball items.

Returning to the main site, there is a shop link, for those who may want to shop in the more traditional categories of Mens and Womens, shoes, apparel etc. So the traditional shopping experience is preserved for users who prefer to shop in this way.

But where’s the shareholder information?

You’ll notice that one key audience is not addressed in these various links….the shareholders. There’s no information about Nike’s Board of Directors, no “About the Company” and certainly no profile of the CEO. Why? Because in Nike’s case, the users don’t care. They know about the company, and they are interested in one thing — the products. Knowing how Nike performed in the stock market is completely unimportant to them.

Nike knows, however, that you can’t completely ignore your shareholders, and they do need to distribute that information, so there is a link all the way in the footer, to a Nike Inc. subsite that looks and feels completely different, and shares that information that is important to people checking out the company or those that have invested money in it.

So it’s apparent that for Nike, the users that are the primary audiences are those who are actually buying their products. They aren’t cluttering up their site with news and information that is irrelevant to someone trying to buy a pair of sneakers. They have clear goals for each of the subsites and when you visit them, you know exactly where you are.

Nike’s site is complex, and large. What do you do if you have a smaller company with less content? In the next blog post I’ll share some examples gone right.

But it’s for everyone, they are all important!

Posted on May 6, 2013 by bevin

Prioritizing user audiences can be a very difficult task. Obviously, to all of us, there are a multitude of audiences that the website must serve, and we really don’t want to say that one is more important than the other (at least not out loud…as that might be embarrassing!) However, we know that to not prioritize the audiences often leads to a confusing and mediocre website, so what do we do?

There are several approaches that one can take to prioritize audiences, depending on the type of website that you are designing. The first method is my go to for the majority of the websites developed. For these websites, we typically start with writing user stories, and then move into developing a User/Task matrix.

These User Stories plus the Task Matrix help us to identify and sort two key pieces of information regarding our users. The first relates to the emotions involved in what they are doing. Either through user interviews (the best way) or using our imaginations (the not-so-good way but often done when research budgets are impossibly tight) we envision what a representative user or three from each audience is thinking, feeling, and attempting to do when they access your site. So, for instance, in the case of a stakeholder, are they worried about their investment? Do they check your website for the latest PR and news to be sure that you are doing what they want to see? How motivated are they to do what you want them to do, and is long term decision-making impacted for a conversion (as in, donating a lot of money or land) or short term (figuring out where to go for lunch, or donating smaller amounts). We capture these in our User Stories (we even use photographs of representative imaginary users, to help us envision and relate to them more clearly).

From the user stories, we develop the User/Task Matrix by looking for commonalities and grouping them together. For instance, perhaps the Stakeholders, Media, and Bankers are all looking for the same information and attempting to perform the same tasks. We’ll outline those and group them into a broader category of audience when possible. Often this matrix may turn into a flow chart as we look at the expectations of each audience as they flow through the website, particularly if the tasks build or are multi-step.

Interesting pathing and targeting will begin to fall out of this process. For instance, you may discover that the two audiences that you thought had vastly different needs, have very similar needs from an emotional standpoint, but very different needs from a tasking standpoint or vice versa. These are factors that impact the design decisions made for your website.

In the next blog post, I’ll share examples of visible design decisions made on popular websites so that you can see how this kind of thinking flows into the design. But for now, remember, we’re not talking about how important they are to you on a personal level, but rather, how we will address them in the design decisions made. This is critical to creating a design that delights your users and results in conversions for you.

But how will they do what you want them to do, if you don’t know what you want them to do?

Posted on May 2, 2013 by bevin

“It’s nice to meet you. Okay, so let’s talk about this website. What is your website for?” I said, as a young project manager with a new client in an early scoping meeting.

“The website needs to be a best-in-class website that provides everyone with exactly what they need at the moment they need it.” said the marketing manager.

I gulped, thinking to myself that perhaps this was going to be harder than I thought.

“Who is your website for?” I asked,

“Our website is for customers, family of customers, our stakeholders, government agencies, our lending institution, and of course, our insurance agency.”, came the reply from the marketing manager.

I blinked and swallowed, slowly, choosing my words carefully, “And how would you prioritize those customers?”

“They are all of equal priority,” insisted the marketing manager, “no one should be ranked higher than the other.”

The purpose of your website

In my over 15 years designing, building and managing websites and website development in a variety of venues, I’ve often wondered why it’s always the purpose of the website that is most difficult part of the website’s design. I finally realized that it was related to the way people think about the website – in terms of functions. Often, it’s a conversion (read: sales) tool. It’s a tool to ensure that you have the credibility that you need with lending institutions and partners. It’s a tool to ensure that you are communicating information with shareholders in an effective way. It’s a tool to ensure that your employees know what the company is about.

As a tool, we often think it needs to be a swiss army knife.

The challenge with that, however, is that like any swiss army knife, it really doesn’t do any one thing very well. Sure, the scissors will cut a thin string, but have you tried to use them to cut twine? Have you cut down a tree with the saw? Or tried to fend off a wild bear with the knife? (Okay – don’t try that last one at home, kids…)

When you’re talking about a website, the swiss army approach is often the least effective approach, but it is the most popular with stakeholders. The problem with this, is that stakeholders direct and pay designers. Then when the website fails to meet conversion objectives, the decision is made that the design was poor. So another redesign is attempted and another designer is hired, the design is done, kudos are had, and the conversions fail to happen.

The design is the product of the decisions made along the way. Each design decision comes back to three key questions:

What is the website for?
Who is it for? And how are you prioritizing the audiences?
What do you want them to do?

Incidentally, the conversation above did really happen, and the client and I did come to an agreement about who the website was for, and what we wanted them to do, but it was a difficult conversation.

In the next blog post I’ll talk through some ways of prioritizing your audiences and what that can mean for your website.

A word or two about logos

Posted on May 2, 2013 by bevin

We are approached often by clients interested in logo design. They see something they like (and everyone mentions the swoosh) and decide that they want one just like Nike’s.

Who doesn’t?

Logos, however, are about way more than making a pretty image that you feel will represent your product, and there are some guidelines that are really important to use in thinking about how to create a logo.

Graphical vs. Typographical

Nike’s swoosh is a graphical logo, known to designers as a symbol-based logo. Most people believe that their logos should be symbol based, but there are some very real issues to consider when thinking about a symbol-based logo (and they aren’t the only options!).

Symbol based logos are best when the name of the business is too long, or too familiar sounding. So, a fish-selling business name of Halibut (for instance) might use a really nice symbol based logo to distinguish itself from the other fish sellers that might have that word on the packaging.

Symbol-based logos, do, however, have a major downside. Associating the symbol with the brand can be a costly marketing effort. You have to use repeated marketing to anchor the symbol to the brand name in consumers minds. Which means that without a large marketing budget, a symbol based logo isn’t usually the best choice.

So very often, to our clients, we recommend typographic logos. They are very effective for companies whose name is unique, and, it can anchor the name of the company in the mind of the consumer. Our previously used Halibut example, were it the name of something other than a fish company, might be fantastically treated with a nice clean font with minimal decoration.

Keep in mind, your logo can evolve with time, and most do, moving from a typographic logo to including more symbolic elements as brand recognition occurs.

How long should it take? How much should you spend?

It’s a difficult answer, and with a lot of the free or low cost logo competitions out there, we can see why it’s difficult to hear from a studio a number that is larger than you expected. Remember two things, first of all, logo design is about way more than just putting graphics on a page. Extensive research into your brand and the market is typically done for a logo, as well as brainstorming sessions to determine what the logo should feel like, what it should evoke in people. Then once decisions are made regarding direction, the designers will create sometimes 25 or 30 different versions as they think through what works and what doesn’t work to create those feelings. This can take quite a bit of time. Then typically there are reviews, refinement, more brainstorming sessions. The work goes on until several comps are finally shown to you. Those logo comps that you see are most likely the product of at least a 160 hours worth of effort from the logo designers, strategists, and account reps.

So why not use the cheap services?

You will want to use your logo for a long time. And it is a strong deciding factor between purchasing decisions and brand impression. It’s your company, all wrapped up into a 25 x 400 pixel image. It will be the first thing that most of your clients or customers see, and whether it’s a good or bad logo, it may be the only thing they remember.

The vibe of a tribe.

Posted on March 28, 2013 by Robin

We call ourselves Firebrand Tribe for a reason. A tribe is about people who come together freely, who share a vision but not a hierarchy. We are a network of individuals who draw strength from the diversity of our talents and ideas. When you find your tribe, you actually feel it – that electricity of human synergy, that state where we become more than the sum of our parts. It’s a beautiful energy to be surrounded with when you are working on something you love. And every so often, you run into someone who is clearly existing in that same space. They share the same passion of purpose, of making the world a better place. It’s that attitude of intention that sparks when you meet.

I’m a firm believer in passion of purpose, and I find when I’m more attuned to it’s existence, I find more people who exist in that space. That’s kind of magic, you know? So let me introduce you to two people who I recently met and discovered their vibe resonated with our tribe own values: Timothy Taylor (@TEE_YUM) and Chad Littlefield (@ChadLittlefield). Chad was a recent TEDxPSU speaker and spoke about the power of positive social risk. Of meeting new people. Of putting ourselves out there to connect with others whom we might not otherwise interact. Both Chad and Timothy work with World in Conversation, an organization that facilitates dialogue among students, groups, campuses, countries. So what is so important about conversation? This is what: After each dialogue, 66% of participants who responded report that they think differently; 87% have new insights because of this conversation, and 88% of them agree that something will be different in their lives. All because they took the time to interact with someone they might never otherwise “see”. That is a lot of positive social risk. Of doing good in the world. It’s so awesome, you need to see it for yourself. And these guys? More awesome people that are striving to make a difference. To make things better in this world, one person, one dialog, one project, at a time.

That’s our kind of vibe.

Beware the I’ds of March.

Posted on March 15, 2013 by Robin

As an avid reader of Shakespeare, I learned early on that Julius Caesar was no fan of March 15. It was then he met his undoing, stabbed to death by conspirators in the senate, even though he’d been warned to “Beware the Ides of March.” You’d think that a smart person would listen to warnings but, sadly, Caesar felt he was above some good advice. I think this happens to all of us more than we’d like to admit.

“I’d like to work out, but I just don’t have the time.”
“I’d better get my time tracking in order.”
“I’d be a lot happier if my workroom was organized.”
“I’d like a raise but I just don’t know how to ask for it.”
“I’d really love to go outside but I’ve got too much work to take a break.”

Part of me blames this lack of motivation squarely on this time of year. The month of March is like a tease — it’s cold and dreary, but with the occasional warmish, sunny day that gets our hopes up only to dash them upon the next wintery mix-covered ground. I can think of at least three big March snowstorms that killed my hopes for spring and, frankly, putting a modicum of faith in a groundhog is just begging for disappointment. Then there’s the whole Daylight Savings conundrum, where I’m finally starting to gain some sunlight in the morning, only to lose an hour and wake up to darkness yet again. Doesn’t that seem like a setback to you? Too much time indoors means I don’t have any new sights or sounds to get my motivation jump started. I start to feel listless, tired, uncreative, and just plain sluggish.

Let’s face it: If I don’t do something, March is going to be the death of me.

photo credit: Doblonaut via photopin cc

I think that, unlike Caesar, it’s time for me to start listening to these whisperings and take an active step to do something about it. Grab the leash and take the dog for a walk. Use the weekend to organize my workspace — and find my desktop — so I have room to breathe when I work. Open a window. Make a To Do list and start my way through it. Even if I’m jumping up to fill my water bottle, I’m seeing a little progress and forward movement. Sometimes, that’s the only way I can drum up motivation in this month. And, when all else fails, realize that the Ides of March marks the halfway point of the month, and it’s all downhill from here.

I’m already feeling a little spring in my step.

Time for a Pep Talk.

Posted on February 7, 2013 by Robin

Meet Kid President. He’s nine, and I think he’s got his act together better than most people. He’s my creative inspiration for the week, and it’s just in time. February can be a cold, quiet month, where creativity and passion hibernate away until spring and new growth. But you know what? We were made to be awesome. Just listen to Kid President — the world needs you to stop being boring. Yes, you. Boring is easy.

But what if there were two paths? I want to to be on the path to AWESOME, too. I think one of the reasons this video resonates with me is because I feel like I’ve been boring lately; not really focusing on digging into the creativity well and seeing what I’ve got deep inside. Yes, it might take a little longer these days, but I think creativity and passion shouldn’t be put away for the winter. So I’m listening to the peptalk and brushing off the blogging skills. Time to start putting a lot more thoughts on the blog, so stay tuned and hold me to it.

Because we were made to be awesome.

Iterate, Iterate, Iterate

Posted on November 19, 2012 by bevin

You may have noticed that our website is undergoing some changes. Maybe you didn’t notice (and that’s okay). What you’ll see is that we are not going through a massive redesign process but instead iterating through changes.

Why would anyone do a thing like that?

The beauty of the web is that pixels can be moved around easily, things can be changed and shifted easily. It’s not like the print world, where there is a great expense to change things. True, there are some things that are more difficult than others to change, and it’s likely you’ll run up against a thing or two as you roll ahead with any development project.

But as technologies and development methodologies have moved along, we’ve learned to adapt to that rapid pace and built things so that they can be changed with relative ease.

This philosophy is bleeding over to other things too. The increase in the ability to communicate so quickly electronically and broadly is causing a shift in how people think about communications. Rather than printing a memo that will live on in eternity, I can now view my communications as a conversation. From conversation threads on tools like Facebook to the way I craft my messages on this blog, even though the data is out there permanently (so I can’t be totally willy-nilly), I can go back and clarify, edit, change, modify with relative ease.

As we iterate through changes in the website, it doesn’t necessarily mean that we’ve made massive mistakes in the design process, it simply means that as we move forward we get new information, and we’re able to adapt to that new information, making us more agile and able to be current. We can update when we’ve had an epiphany, we can tweak when we get new data, and we can backpedal if we’ve changed something for the worse rather than for the better. Our website has become, like so many other sites in this electronic age, a conversation with you, our users, one that is always in progress, always ready for new content, new ideas, and new design.

This concept of “unfinished iteration” is foreign to some people and offensive to others. But to us, in our culture, it means that we’ve made good decisions along the way but are not tied to those decisions. It means that we are always open to new information because needs change along the way. And we need to be able to change with it.

There’s a bonus to all of this, and it’s that end-users also get benefits when you iterate.

Okay, maybe it’s not just a bonus…maybe it’s part of the core reason we do this. End-users get a chance to adapt to your design too. People have an easier time adapting to little changes one at a time than massive-scale changes (unless the impact of the redesign is so big that it requires different mental metaphors…more on that later).

They also get to give you feedback. I’m not talking about asking them what they want (that’s another post for another day) but I am talking about having the ability to test your changes as they relate to conversion goals. Let’s say you decide that you want to move the shopping cart button to another place based on what you know now. You should (I hope) have baseline data for that change. You know how often people click the button in it’s current location. So first, you perhaps change the button’s color (it was grey, you want it to be a big orange button, because people see those). You do that to the website and then you keep track of conversions. Does it have a positive impact? A negative impact? Hm….interesting. Then you move the button…and you measure again. What does that do?

Those analytics help you make good decisions about what your users are doing. Even better would be to conduct some usability studies to really get at the nuggets of information, but if you don’t have that kind of time or money, you can still connect with what your users are doing. Make a change, and have some conversations. Watch a couple users actually complete a task on your site. See where they hesitate. Can they find that big orange button now, or is it still not where they expect it to be? Combining these user observations with watching the analytics will help guide you down that path to finding that sweet spot where design meets usability.

With a full scale redesign, you can’t isolate the changes like that. There are so many variables that it can be difficult to determine which ones are affecting the conversion funnel. There, you need the usability studies and A/B testing to determine whether things are working or not. With the iterative process, however, you don’t. It can be a little frustrating for those who like big “ah ha’s” or “ta da’s”. Get used to it. It saves you time and effort, and keeps you current and always moving forward with good information.

That’s what you want, right? I know it’s what we want — every time we iterate.

Freeing our fingers

Posted on November 14, 2012 by bevin

As you may have noticed, the Firebrand blog has been kind of sparse. I’ll be the first to claim responsibility for that issue, mea culpa.

For a long time I fooled myself with “cobbler’s son” excuses or “we’re too busy” or even my favorite the “everyone knows that already” excuses… all of which, while technically true, were the very things that I railed against while working in communications for other people.

“Make time,” I would say, “it’s important for people to know what you have to say.”

I’d like to kick my (younger and sanctimonious) butt right about now. However, I was right.

You do need to make the time. Carve out 15 minutes, 20 minutes, however long it takes you to pound away at the keyboard and say something.

I looked for an image to help illustrate my fear of writing something stupid. I found this creepy iStock photo instead. Thank you, iStock, for the nightmare fuel.

The bigger issue was one that I really struggle with. It was this paralyzing fear that everyone already knew anything I could possibly say. My thoughts were inconsequential, stupid, pedantic… you put the word out there and I was afraid of it.

Strangely enough, as I was cleaning the house last night and looking for a good housecleaning schedule for working moms, I realized… there’s an audience for every content.

So what if they know it already? It will validate what they think.

So what if it’s wrong? They will start a conversation.

So what if it seems obvious? There’s probably someone who hasn’t realized it.

So what if it’s something that “everyone knows”?

At the risk of sounding like a motivational speaker, you have your own unique perspective. You will bring something to that content that no one else has, whether it be your voice, your perspective, your knowledge, your passion… and even if it resonates with only one person, it will have been worth writing.

I vow to start writing more. I vow to stop being afraid and to keep being authentic. Maybe something here will resonate with one of you. Maybe not. It doesn’t matter. My goal isn’t to be brilliant. My goal is to share. I want that to be your goal, too.

And stop being afraid. Your content is amazing, as are you.

Enter the Mantis.

Posted on September 24, 2012 by Robin

Here at Firebrand, we love to share our love for our clients and friends — and we love how the mantis demonstrates that same devotion for what he holds dear. We think the mantis is the perfect embodiment of our passion, and now we’ve got the perfect embodiment of the mantis. Meet Milton Earnest, the Tribe’s personal mantis, made real by Hannah Black, local toymaker and illustrator. Milton normally inhabits our studio and offers his quiet support, but we started to wonder: What if other people had their own Milton to remind them to love what they do? Talk about a way to ignite passion!

picture of Lola, our lovely Cafe Lemont barista, with her new Milton

Our lovely Cafe Lemont barista Lola, with her new Milton!

So thanks to Hannah, we now have the ability to offer you an opportunity to own your very own Milton. If you’re so inspired and love the idea of your own mantis to inspire you to do what you love, then we can make that happen. For $27 (tax included) and a good home, you can choose from our collection of Miltons to find one that speaks to you and ignites your passion. Let us know if you’d like a Milton of your own.

Don’t forget to share your image with Milton with us! Because we love to see the creativity, smiles, and passion that occur when people see Milton. After all, sharing that is really what we’re all about.

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