On the Eighth Day of Creative: e.Digital

As told by Visual Designer, Lisa Inoue

On the Eighth Day of Creative, I’m excited to share a sneak peek into some work we’re doing for our client e.Digital. Since our initial kickoff, I’ve been inspired by their twenty-four year history of creating game-changing foundational technologies that are at the core of wireless headset, digital audio/video recorder and portable music player markets. The more I’ve learned about their vast innovations that fuel many of the consumer products we rely on every day, the more excited I’ve become about the opportunity to work on this project.

Tasked with revamping their brand identity to portray them as the innovation leader they are, I worked closely with our ACD to explore, and design various logo concepts. With several great logos to choose from, we have since landed on a winner which you can see a teaser of in the included photo. We’ll leave it to e.Digital to share the full reveal, so hang tight.

With the new identity in place, we moved into phase two which includes developing a new digital strategy and creating a website that just as the logo, portrays e.Digital as the leader in foundational technologies. My favorite part of this project was hearing about their milestones throughout the years and translating those into a stunning timeline of innovations that will be a focal point of the new site. As much as I’d love to share that, we’re a matter of weeks away from launch so you’ll just have to wait it out.

edigital

Digital Marketing in San Diego | Jacob Tyler

On the Sixth Day of Creative: Thorsnes Litigation Services

As told by Brand Director, Sean Connacher…

On the Sixth Day of Creative, I’m hedging my bets on sharing the latest creative/strategic/business-driving work we are developing for our friends at Thorsnes Litigation Services.

This company has built a strong reputation delivering end-to-end litigation solutions to its end clients — everything from depositions to e-discovery to trial support (presentations/graphics/etc). We are currently working with them to strengthen their brand so that it represents the true value they provide to clients, and overhauling their website so that it is more intuitive and drives users to convert. As partners we’ve mutually identified and agreed upon a handful of exciting new opportunities, all of which are still ‘in the oven.’

Photos? No can do! We’re on an NDA basis and the last thing I’m going to do is give our friends — who happen to be in the litigation business — a reason to be litigious.

Happy Holidays Jim, Erik, Emily and Julie!

ReBranding Company in San Diego

On the Third Day of Creative: Neofluidics

As told by our Visual Designer, Carli Cohen…

On the Third Day of Creative, I’m excited to share the project that we did for our client Neofluidics – a start-up seeking to improve and disrupt technologies in the world of Microfluiducs.
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This was an especially intriguing project for me as I got to dive in and learn the technology behind the company while spending time in their labs. I was able to to get a first hand look into how Neofluidics is challenging a field that has remained unchanged in over fifty years.

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It was an awesome experience to work with such a passionate and driven team. To see their brand come to life from the beginning of the process to the end could not have been more rewarding!

To learn more about Neofluidics and to see our work, check out neofluidics.com

Branding by Jacob Tyler

On the First Day of Creative: Visionary Realms

As told by our ACD, Rick Gray…

On the first Day of Creative, I’m stoked to share the work we did for our client Visionary Realms – a gaming company that is revolutionizing the MMO(Massively Multiplayer Online) Genre by setting new standards for immersion, quality and vision. What sets them apart from all others is that their games are not just played, but rather experienced, shared and remembered by their fans for a lifetime.

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Tasked with creating a brand identity that their ever-growing community of “true gamers” could get behind, along with a corporate website and a site to announce the launch of their highly anticipated premier game, Pantheon, we had our work cut out for us. Just as their games promise to provide an exciting challenge, so to did this project. In the Jacob Tyler way, we worked hand-in-hand with the Visionary Realms team, collaborating on concepts, executions, and even providing art direction that will effect the actual Pantheon game itself. 

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With the goal of positioning Visionary Realms as the leader in the MMO genre, a truly social space to live in, what better way to gauge our success than with their Facebook community. With in minutes of posting the launch of the Pantheon site to their wall, the buzz was astounding. Likes quickly grew well into the hundreds, as did the comments. We heard things like… 

“Outstanding Site!!!”

“Looks nice… A little too nice, sucked me right in!”

“The site looks awesome! Rejuvenates my interest!”

“Wow.. that is awesome ! didn’t expect that ! truly sick work “

“Site looks nice! and works good on Mobile Phone!(Easy navigation), Great work!”

The Visionary Realms community was thrilled with the work we provided for the Pantheon site, and equally as supportive of the brand we built for the parent company. Our success is a result of many facets of our overall process, but much credit is due to our unique discovery approach where we’re able to truly understand both our clients organization as well as the desires of their audience.

Check out Visionary Realms at: visionaryrealms.com

Check out Pantheon, The Rise of the Fallen at: pantheonmmo.com

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Website Design in San Diego | Jacob Tyler

Avoiding Unnecessary Complexities

Since first watching the TED talk by Roman Mars entitled, “Why city flags may be the worst designed thing you’ve never noticed” I’ve been on a mission to avoid unnecessary complexities – not only in my work, but also in my daily life. As humans, we tend to overcomplicate things time-and-time again. Such is the case with these poorly designed flags. In order to elude this path and avoid complications, I often remind myself of the phrase, “Keep it simple, stupid.”

KISS

Coined by the U.S. Navy in 1960, this phrase known by the acronym “KISS” was used as a design principle stating that most systems work best if they are kept simple, rather than made complicated – making simplicity an essential goal to achieving great design. According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, the word Simple is defined as: Not hard to understand or do; having few parts; not complex or fancy; not special or unusual. If it were up to me, this definition would be revised to subtract the idea of simple meaning not fancy, and not special or unusual. If something has simplistic qualities, that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s boring or not special. What it boils down to is effectiveness. In order to be effective and accomplish success through simplicity I look for three key factors.

  • Does it have deep meaning or reasoning?
  • Does it accomplish the predetermined goal?
  • Is it relevant, yet interesting?

To avoid the association of simple meaning boring, the third one is key. Often times, the most simple designs are the most interesting which is a direct contradiction of simple being associated with not unusual. And in most instances, creating a simple design can be a major challenge. 

“Simple can be harder than complex: You have to work hard to get your thinking clean to make it simple. But it’s worth it in the end because once you get there, you can move mountains.” 

— Steve Jobs 

Going back to the TED talk, the most successfully designed flags, the ones that are flown proudly through their cities streets happen to be the most simple, yet they are also the ones with the most meaning and by far the most interesting. In order to create these rare beauties, it requires much thought and strategy. In his talk, Roman shares five principles of successful flag design according to the North American VexillologicalI(the study of flags) Association. As he mentions, these five principles can be applied when designing just about anything. 

  • Keep it simple
  • Use meaningful symbolism
  • Use two to three basic colors
  • No lettering or seals of any kind
  • Be distinctive
From left to right: Denver, Colorado; New Orleans, Louisiana; Ocean City, Maryland; Mesa, Arizona;
From left to right: Denver, Colorado; New Orleans, Louisiana; Ocean City, Maryland; Mesa, Arizona.

While the study of flag design may not sound all that appealing to everyone, I encourage you to watch the the talk, as you will not only walk away curious about your own cities flag, but also feel inspired and entertained by all that Roman has to say. While I agree with these five principles as a way to avoid unnecessary complexities, especially in the art of flag design, what it all comes down to is the top item on that list and understanding that simplicity is essential to achieving great design. Should you find yourself treading the waters of complexity, just think of the U.S. Navy and, “Keep it simple, stupid”.

Jacob Tyler | San Diego’s Best Branding Agency

Microsites and Landing Pages: A Primer

Just about every business has a website – or at least should. But a website is not the only venue through which you can market your business on the web. The rise of online marketing and its various tactics have given birth to new forms of web engagement – including the microsite and landing page. Generally, both are an addendum to – or an extension of – an existing website, but each serve a particular function in guiding people along the buyer journey. Let’s take a look at the basics:

The Microsite:

What is it? A microsite is a lot like it sounds – a small, bare bones version of a traditional website. Comprised of no more than a few pages, microsites are built around a singular message (i.e., a new campaign, product or service offering).

What is its purpose? Microsites help to develop brand awareness around a particular product or service. By focusing on a simple and clear message, microsites cut through the clutter of a traditional website and allow potential customers to learn about a product or service in a quick, painless and easy to digest manner.

The Landing Page:

What is it? A simple, single page or form – usually hosted on an existing website – intended to drive a specific action.

What is its purpose? The landing page is singularly focused and intended to spur action (i.e. – download information, sign up for a free trial, subscribe to newsletter, etc.) and move a potential customer from awareness to consideration and eventually, purchase.

The Bottom Line:

Microsites and Landing Pages are great vehicles to enhance your marketing efforts and help drive sales. In some cases, they can even be utilized in place of a traditional website. Microsites and landing pages offer similar benefits, and determining the right solution for your efforts is entirely dependent on your needs.

Benefits of microsites and landing pages include:

• Quick deployment (3-4 weeks vs. 3-4 months for a traditional site)

• Can be used as a short-term solution for specific goals and programs

• Promotes a specific call to action (CTA)

• Build brand awareness organically

• Easy to measure campaign engagement

• Simple navigation

• Allows for direct interaction with a specific promotion or campaign

• Great medium to tell a brand story

Want more info on this topic? Fill out the form to the right and let’s chat!

Digital Advertising in San Diego by Jacob Tyler

Is Anyone Watching This? – Video Ads and Viewability

In the beginning of this millennium, around when the DVR became ubiquitous and the Internet realized its potential as the platform for content delivery, the television ad was pronounced dead. The perpetual march of technology, combined with a growing distrust for traditional advertisements, was implicated in the TV ad’s demise. The death certificate, however, was written far too early. After all, the advertising spend on the 2015 Super Bowl was the largest ever, and shows no signs of slowing down. Sure, less people view ads on televisions these days, but the visual advertisement continues to dominate the media landscape – by way of the Internet. Both advertisers and publishers have increasingly focused on video ads over the last few years, resulting in both more video ads – and more questions about their effectiveness. Advertisers, in short, want to know – “Is anyone watching this?”

Web pages draw a much less captive audience than do TV screens. Visitors move about freely, clicking links and refreshing pages to locate the content they desire, rather than having it fed directly to them. Merely placing a video ad on a page offers no guarantee that the ad will be seen. Rather than base ad costs and effectiveness on delivery metrics, advertisers and publishers are now relying on a metric called “viewability, ” created by the Media Rating Council, which measures the percentage of the time a particular ad is seen. An ad is considered “viewed” when at least 50 percent of its pixels are on screen for more than two seconds. Viewability is an evolving metric, but it represents a shift in the way advertisers are doing business.

Google’s recently released State of Ad Viewability report offers some important insight on ad visibility, including where ads are being seen, how often they’re being seen, and how format and placement affects viewability. The following are a few major takeaways from the report:

Averages

The average video ad viewability across the web (not including YouTube) is 54 percent. With YouTube, it’s 93 percent. The difference between YouTube and non-YouTube ads isn’t quite as striking as it appears, since only the YouTube numbers accounted for viewability on mobile devices.

Heard, Not Seen

Video ads that played in the background (in a separate tab, etc.) but were not technically “viewable” still resulted in a 33 percent increase in ad recall, when compared to those who had no exposure to ad at all. It’s better to bee seen than heard, but better to be heard than nothing!

Going Mobile

The massive shift to mobile devices, including smartphones and tablets, is reflected in viewability data. YouTube video viewability is 94 percent on mobile devices – due largely to the fact that videos often utilize the entire screen on these devices.

Why Videos Fail the Viewability Test

The majority (76 percent) of videos not seen were due to the video playing while in a background tab. The remainder (24 percent) was due to visitors scrolling away from or clicking off the ads in less than two seconds.

Size Matters

Unsurprisingly, viewability increased step by step with screen size. The largest format (848 x 477) had an 87 percent viewability rate, while the smallest (300 x 250) had less than 20 percent viewability.

It’s All About Location

Google’s report showed that not only player size, but also location on the page is an important factor in viewability. Ads placed at the top of the page vertically, and in the center of a page horizontally, had far better viewability rates.

What Does it All Mean?

While viewability is an important step in determining where advertisers should focus spending, it doesn’t tell the whole story. Ad content, audience identification and a solid marketing strategy will ultimately determine an ad’s true effectiveness, and move potential customers from viewing to conversion.

 

Jacob Tyler | San Diego’s Best Branding Agency

Are You Ready for Mobilegeddon?

In April, Google officially rolled out its “mobile-friendly” search ranking update. In short, this means that Google will now boost the rankings of what it considers to be “mobile-friendly” pages – and penalize pages that it does not – on its mobile search. The update is intended to reflect the rise of Internet access through mobile devices, which now constitute more than half of all Google searches. The update is expected to negatively affect many websites – popular industry blog TechCrunch found that 44 percent of Fortune 500 companies failed Google’s mobile-friendly test – and could impact revenues for those websites who do not meet the new mobile-friendly standards.

Let’s take a look at the basics of the new search update and what it means for your website.

What will change?

  • The mobile-friendly update will impact web page search rankings based on accessibility and usability on mobile devices.
  • The change affects only search ranking on mobile devices.
  • The update applies to individual pages, not entire websites.

What makes a website mobile-friendly?

According to Google’s blog, the following basic criteria will be used to determine “mobile friendliness” in search results:

  • Websites that avoid software that is not common on mobile devices – like Flash.
  • Websites that use text that is readable without zooming.
  • Websites that size content to the screen so users don’t have to scroll horizontally or zoom.
  • Websites that place links far enough apart so that the correct one can be easily tapped.

Is my website mobile-friendly?

If your website features responsive design or adaptive design, or has been configured specifically for use on mobile devices, it may not be affected by the new search algorithm. Older, more “static” websites, however, will likely suffer a loss of ranking under the new search rules.

To determine if your website is mobile-friendly, simply paste your URL into Google’s quick and easy mobile-friendly test.

How can I optimize my website for mobile?

Google recommends responsive web design as the best way to ensure sites remain relevant across all platforms. According to Google’s blog, responsive design:

  • Makes it easier for users to share and link to your content with a single URL.
  • Helps Google’s algorithms accurately assign indexing properties to the page rather than needing to signal the existence of corresponding desktop/mobile pages.
  • Requires less engineering time to maintain multiple pages for the same content.
  • Reduces the possibility of the common mistakes that affect mobile sites.
  • Requires no redirection for users to have a device-optimized view, which reduces load time.
  • Saves resources when Googlebot crawls your site.

In a nutshell –

The new mobile search ranking is an undeniable shakeup of the status quo, but should eventually optimize the search experience for both consumers and businesses. If your website lost rank status on April 21, it can regain that status once it is optimized and becomes mobile-friendly, as Google will reclassify the newly updated site.

If you would like to learn more about how to optimize your website for mobile, fill out the form to the right and let’s chat!

Jacob Tyler | San Diego’s Best Web Design Agency

Design For The Internet of Things

Technology continues to march on, and the world continues to become more connected. The next great wave of technology is expected to be the “Internet of Things.” What is the Internet of Things, you ask? Basically, it refers to anything connected to the Internet – a list that grows longer by the day. Soon, our appliances, cars, furniture and– who knows – maybe even our pets will join the endless potential of the Internet of Things. The best contemporary example of this phenomenon is wearables, like the Apple Watch. Wearables are a logical next step in technology. After all, why pull a phone out of your pocket to check your email when you can just look at your wrist! More than email though, wearables have the potential to house multiple applications. A restaurant, for instance, could alert guests that their table is ready, or their takeout order is prepared. A washing machine could be started remotely, or a lawnmower could automatically perform its duties with a tap on one’s wrist. Already, wearables like the Fitbit track your activity and monitor your sleep. Undoubtedly, the uses of wearables will continue to evolve.

Wearables pose a new challenge for web designers. While responsive web design will optimize websites for wearables like the Apple watch, designers must make additional considerations when creating designs and user experience for the “small screen,” including:

Device Utilization

An important consideration for design is determining the utilization of the wearable platform. For instance, a business that delivers pizza may have a large portion of its customers interacting with them through the wearable device, whereas a B2B construction company might only require its phone number to be easily accessible through the device. Designers should set priorities based on the portion of expected use of each type of device.

Text-Heavy Simplicity

 Small screens – the Apple watch clocks in at about 1.5” – require very basic, simple and easy to use designs. Text is key, as even those with 20/20 eagle vision will have a difficult time reading text on such a tiny screen. The utilization of large text and readable fonts should be design priorities.

It’s All About U/X

When it comes to designing for wearables, user experience is by far the most important aspect. Creating a good user experience requires a deep understanding of both the intended functionality of the site/device and the preferences of its intended users. Users should be able to easily navigate and inherently understand how a design works. Optimally, there should be zero learning curve.

Have you considered utilizing wearables in your business? If you’d like to discuss, drop us a line!

Website Design in San Diego | Jacob Tyler

Google to Penalize Non-Mobile Friendly Websites in Search

If you’ve been putting off upgrading your existing website to a responsive web design, it’s officially time to reconsider. Starting on April 21, 2015, Google will begin penalizing non-“mobile-friendly”(read, non-responsive websites) by downgrading those websites’ rank on Google searches. In short, this means that non-responsive sites will essentially lose hard-won SEO rankings with the flip of a switch. Imagine standing in line for a ride at Disneyland for two hours, and just as you reach the front, a trap door opens. It’s kind of like that.

Google stated:

“Starting April 21, we will be expanding our use of mobile-friendliness as a ranking signal. This change will affect mobile searches in all languages worldwide and will have a significant impact in our search results. Consequently, users will find it easier to get relevant, high quality search results that are optimized for their devices.”

Like it or not, the Internet is Google’s domain, and we’re all just living in it. Google may be our overlord, but it’s not necessarily a vengeful one. The new search rankings are designed to reflect the undeniable trend of people accessing the Internet via mobile devices – smartphones, tablets, etc. Mobile access has reached a tipping point, quickly outpacing desktop access, and Google’s new search algorithm reflects this reality. The news isn’t a surprise. Web developers and SEO experts have been expecting this development for the last couple of years as mobile devices exploded. We knew it was coming, we just didn’t know exactly when. Now we do. And it’s not bad news – it’s an opportunity. Not just to upgrade your website, but to rethink it altogether.

The rise of mobile hasn’t just changed the devices we use to access the web, it’s changed the way we consume content. Our information consumption tastes have veered from buffet to à la carte. We expect singular information on demand – where’s the closest restaurant, what’s the current temp in Boise, how much do beach cruiser bicycles cost, etc. Of course, not every business deals in singular information. But the best websites are constructed as if they do. Upgrading to a responsive website will not only improve your search rankings, it will give you a chance to rearrange your information architecture. By applying an “inverted pyramid” information flow, you can ensure you most important information – your contact info, your basic services, etc. – turn up first in mobile searches, allowing you to then guide your audience through a linear, user-friendly information discovery.

The digital landscape is shifting once again. But it’s not a hindrance. It’s a chance to get ahead of the curve. Contact Les Kollegian at Jacob Tyler Brand Communications if you want more information about Responsive Design or how we can help convert your current Website.

SEO by Jacob Tyler in San Diego