Sometimes you get the chance to work on a project from the intelligence gathering stage, right through to the realisation of communication strategy and a design outcome.

The work we’ve done with Emmy Monash has been on a project such as this. Through focus groups, surveys and stakeholder interviews we distilled the essence of the company brand at a pivotal time in its history. Emmy will soon build a new aged care home designed by Bates Smart, a first for the architects best known for Melbourne’s astounding Royal Children’s Hospital.

Yesterday the new website went live and, in structure and restrained design, it embodies the philosophies of freedom and quality Emmy espouses.

Read all…

New research, both in Australia and the US, has found that Baby Boomers continue to expand their online behaviours, with a continued increase in their online purchasing habits.  Bricks and mortar retailers are feeling the impact, the results of which have been well documented in the Australian media last week, with the significant drop in profits for David Jones, owing much to their late adoption of an online strategy.

Australian online retail businesses are warned to discount older consumers at their peril, with a new survey revealing 71% of those aged 50-64 make online purchases from domestic retailers.

Read all…

Ever been to a website and felt an immediate sense of visceral revulsion (like this - arghhh!)? Or perhaps been quite impressed by the interface and then spent a frustrating eternity trying to find what you are looking for (help!!)?  Inevitably this ends in a ‘what were they thinking!’ moment. And then you leave – never to return.

The answer to the question is they weren’t thinking much or not nearly enough! And certainly hadn’t adopted best practice in User Experience design (UX).

UX is the intricate process of producing a website. Planning, research, design and development are all steps in the UX process, often running concurrently and involving specially trained people. The cohesive interrelationship of each person and each task will lead to a successful website defined by a seamless and rewarding experience for visitors (‘users’).

We sometimes work on projects where an external designer without UX experience is tasked with ‘producing a skin’. Visions of prosthesis? Or perhaps wrapping a present, all tied up with a neat bow!

If this ever gets suggested to you, alarm bells should ring. Designing a visual identity or a brochure is a skill to be admired but the leap to website designer is wide. The wider the gap the more it’s likely to cost in getting expert help to support the development team or repair the damage. That’s why we never outsource to India or Uzbekistan.

The designer works within the process taking research and content and arranging it into a visual output.

Read all…

Last Friday I attended a lunchtime seminar hosted by the Victorian chapter of the IABC on Crisis Communication.  Rhod’s opening  blog focuses on Qantas from a pr perspective already this issue,  so I won’t cover that specific case study here.  One of the observations from the session focusing on social media  talked about  the importance of understanding the difference between having an ‘online presence’ and ‘online engagement’.  The issue with the Qantas team was that they thought an online presence and a cool (?) idea was enough. However, without focusing on stakeholder engagement the campaign sank like a lead A380. A ‘new level of comfort, innovation and style’ indeed.

Read all…

There are few places as nice as Bondi beach to train, do Pilates or get a deep muscle massage. Not surprisingly there are plenty of personal trainers operating around Australia’s most iconic beach. A quick look at their websites though and its clear, there’s probably a little too much ab-gazing and not enough engagement. A market waiting for real customer service! Read all…