Internet Usage and Social Trends

In order to get a better understanding of the current internet trends, I decided to conduct some research and so consulted the office for national statistics.  The results of this research brought up some interesting findings.

* Internet Use Is Growing Rapidly

* Linked To Socio-Economic & Demographic Factors – Age, Location, Occupation

* 96% 25-44 yr Olds Use Internet Everyday

* Professional Occupations 91% Usage Rate

* 90% Use Internet For Email

* 76% Use Internet To Find Out About Goods & Services

* 49% Post Messages & Use Social Network Sites

* 43% Upload Self Created Content To Websites

These statistics help justify and demonstrate the importance for businesses to have an online presence or some other form of digital marketing strategy.

Social Networking Tips From Mozilla (firefox)

I found this website really helpful in outlining the power and effectiveness that social networking can have for a business.  The more I read about social network sites, the more Im being to realise their importance in society and the potential that they have for advertisers and marketers.  The site also contains handy sections that describe and outline all the major social networking sites (Twitter, Facebook, Flickr etc) and also provides tips and advice on how to make the most of them from a digital marketing perspective.  I think that I should most definitely research this further and include social networking in my marketing strategy.

The site can be found at:

http://www.mozilla.org/causes/serviceweek/digitalmarketing/

Logo Design

                                                                                                                                                                These are examples of logo ideas that I have been experimenting with and designing in photoshop.  The first logo is the final logo that myself and my group have chosen to be our fictious businesses actual logo.  Im quite happy with this design as it is quite simple and clean.  Iam especially happy with the use of the coloured dots beside the text.  

Final logo Design

Concept Logo 1

Concept Logo 2

Concept Logo 3

Concept Logo 4

Variation of Concept 4

Digital Marketing Planning

 

I came across this whilst doing some research into marketing plans in order to see what should be taken into consideration whilst compiling and developing one. I have found this very helpful in explaining exactly what it should contain and think this will come in useful when creating a digital marketing strategy for the painting and decorating firm.

Facebook Page & Advertising

Facebook is one of the world's largest social networks. With over 250 million active users, Facebook has more than 1 billion photos uploaded to the site each month, 10 million videos uploaded and more than 5 billion minutes are spent on Facebook each day.

From these statistics we can see the massive marketing potential and reach to consumers for businesses.  As part of my marketing strategy for Innovative Interiors, I have decided to create a facebook page.  This will work alongside the companys normal website and will allow users to take part in discussions etc.

It can be found here:

http://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/pages/Newcastle-Upon-Tyne-United-Kingdom/Innovative-Interiors/117889454942282

Advertising

The use of social media advertising will be an extremely beneficial medium in raising awareness.  This will achieved through the use of Facebook advertising.  The benefits of facebook ads are that they allow you to actively control and target exactly which demographic is exposed to it.  The ads will be targeted at facebook users that fall into the key demographic of (25-35, young professionals, living in newcastle).  The ads can also be aimed at people with specific interests e.g. painting, art etc.  Another beneficial aspect is that they are also relatively cheap and a business can use "cost per click advertising".  This means that a business only pays for advertising whenever a user actual clicks on the advertisement.  This is great, especially as my company is quite a small firm that doesnt have massive budgets.

Below are examples of what the facebook advertisements would look like when launched.   There is also information on exactly who the ads are targeted at and the duration and costs of the campaign.

The ad as it would appear on facebook pages

Info on targeting etc

Minimal Website Design

Today I was just looking around the internet for inspiration for my website when I came across two very good collections of "minimal" websites.  I really like the less is more appeal of these sites and think that i would like to incorporate this style in my design.  I personally think some of the most attention grabbing sites are those that use a very neutral background (such as white) but have accents of very loud colour e.g. lime green or orange.  This would also be good for my site as its purpose is to represent an innovative painting decorating firm but we shall see when i try a few templates.

The collections of minimal sites can be found here:

http://www.webdesignerwall.com/trends/50-minimal-sites/

http://www.dreamincoloronline.com/20-amazing-minimal-websites/

How To Stand Out From The Crowd

http://boagworld.com/design/standout/

This website demonstrates and outlines the need for a businesses webpage to stand out from the crowd and be noticed in such a vast mass of content online.  The most obvious reason for this is that visitors will remember your sight and want to visit it again.  This article also suggests three main reasons why in almost every industry websites are always the same.  These are:

• Laziness – It is easy to follow the crowd blindly. To stand out you must innovate and challenge established practice. That takes effort and a lot of thought.
• Fear – A fear of getting it wrong. What if you upset your users? What if you misjudge what they will like? Its safer to do what others have done because that has been proven to work.
• Shortsightedness – Too many organisations only look at their own sector for inspiration. They look at what the competition is doing and copy it.

In order for my website to avoid falling into this trap I must ensure it is different and more inspired than that of competitors.

Website Homepage Concept

After carrying out some research into website designs,  I have came across a number that make good use of minimal design.  I persoanlly think that websites that are not "busy" and cluttered are more aesthetically pleasing and have more impact as the saying goes - "less is more".  This has inspired me to create a website that follows this trend.  Below is my first concept design of the Innovative Interiors website homepage  This was created by using Adobe Photoshop CS3.

***** UPDATE *****

After showing my inital homepage design to friends and family I recieved some helpful feedback that allowed me to improve it. One thing that was mentioned was that the coloured image that takes centre place was too empty looking. To ammend this I decided to add some images of what would be examples of the business's work. This not only helped the aesthetics of the page but it also makes it clear to visitors exactly what the company does.

Contact Page

This is the first of two concept ideas for my websites contact page.  This is an important section of the website as it lets the customer know how they can get in contact with the company and where they are located.  I have decided to carry on the minimilistic feel of my website which I think makes it clearer to the viewer exactly what information is where.  As well as phone number, email etc I have also decided to include a map for ease of location for the visitor if they want to visit the business.  This map is not however interactive as with some websites.

Below is the final of my two concept designs.  For this design i have decided to scrap the large image and small google map.  Instead I have included a form which allows the visitor to sign up to the companies mailing list which is important for marketing purposes.  I have also decided to include a large map which is represented by the large grey square.  I intend to make this a google map which is fully interactive and have found a really good tutorial that shows how this can be achieved.  There is also a link to the companies facebook page which again is important for customer interaction.

The tutorial can be found here:
http://answer.recipester.org/question/1280/how-to-add-google-map-to-dreamweaver

What Does Your Website Say About Your Company?

http://boagworld.com/marketing/be-yourself/

This article is helpful in identifying the reasons why website design is important as it needs to portray the image of what the company stands for.  It also offers tips and advice on how to achieve this.

Portfolio Page Concept

As the company I am designing a website for is a decorating firm its important that its work be available online for potential customers to see and get an idea of what kind of quality work they do.  Below is the first concept of my portfolio page design. 

Although Iam happy with this design, I feel that it could be more dynamic and perhaps interactive.  After some research I have found that interactive gallerys can be created in dreamweaver, however this requires the knowledge of Flash software.  Despite this set back and potential problem I have found a soloution!!!

There exists software that will create a flash based photo gallery for your website in a few easy steps and all you then have to do is put the correct files and coding in your website.  The software is called SV Builder and is free and easily available on the internet.

User Experience Is Not Just About Your Website !!!

http://boagworld.com/business-strategy/user-experience/

Mobile Apps, Augmented Reality and Virtual Home Design

This is an area that I am really interested in and believe that It has so much potential.  As part of my businesses digital marketing strategy I would like to incorporate some of this technology.  Through my research I have found various examples of such technologies that exist and are already being used for the purposes of Interior Design and decorating.

This video shows augmented reality apps for I-Phone and I-Pad that allow a person to take a picture of thier room then manipulate it in various ways.

This video demonstrates how computer software can be used to build a virtual model of a home and then various things such as wallpaper, paint etc can easily be changed in order to try out new styles without the expense and time of actually doing it first.

Virtual Design Page

After researching the possibilities of using technology to assist in interior decorating, I have decided to incorporate a gadget on my website that will allow visitors to create their own colout schemes.  I have taken inspiration for this idea from a website that already utilises such technology but instead for graphic design and such.  The website is kuler.adobe.com which allows people to create and share colour schemes based on single or multiple colours.  Colour schemes are also reccomened and people can save and vote on each others.  This again increases interaction and involvement.

Below is my first and very poor concept :)

 

The following design a final and much greatly improved and revamped version.

As this is only a concept and I do not possess the complex technical skills to code this and make it interactive, it will appear on my website as above.  It would be my intention if this was for real to allow the visitors to use the colour wheel to select a primary colour.  From this a spectrum of complementary shades would be displayed and similar colour schemes reccommended.

Dreamweaver & Photoshop Skills Assessment

Throughout this module I have found Dreamweaver to be quite difficult to use.  Although I can now make a simple website using both Photoshop and Dreamweaver, it wasnt any easy journey and there are so many more things to learn.  Through the use of many online video tutorials on youtube however, I have learned new skills and have definitely improved my technical skills and knowledge.  I think that Just like Photoshop, I will experiement and play around with the software in my spare time and eventually become what I would call profecient in its use.

 As for Photoshop, I have not found it difficult to use at all.  This because i have been using it for around four years for my own projects and i would say thay my working knowledge of its features and functions is very good.  If i ever do have any problems though or require assistance with a particular task, I can always use google and find a wealth of helpful tutorials.