Category: Articles 🔎

Technical writing is often thought of as proposal writing or instructional writing. However, the principles taught for technical writing span across many industries, especially the creative. Here are just three “technical” lessons that you should consider when writing for a website or a quick ad.

1. Give Me Active, Or Give Me Death

Verbs can be expressed in active or passive voice. Active voice is a subject, verb, object formula. It’s more direct. And when we’re dealing with the need to reach audiences that are swamped by advertising daily, I would argue that being direct is the most important thing we can do as marketers. Passive voice, by contrast, is very often elusive and difficult to understand. By its nature, passive voice creates longer strings of words and gives you no responsible party for the action mentioned. Remember: clarity is key.

2. The Right Tone Zone

Many people confuse voice, tone and personas. So, let’s clear the air on what these things are, so we can accurately understand tone. Tone is more of an attitude about a subject, whereas persona is the voice a writer creates. And voice is often used interchangeably with tone. The only difference is voice, in a literary sense, refers to the truthfulness or authority of the author. Allow me to borrow this quote from my former professor, Dr. Hirst: “The best way to understand tone, I think, is to regard it as the servant of persona.”

So, why worry about tone? Because it links directly with everything. Tone will define your attitude, whether or not you use jargon, what words you use … everything! So—to make a short story long—find the right tone for clients.

3. Writing Ethically

In advertising, audiences vary greatly. With that variance comes the need to write ethically; meaning our words need to be true, helpful and inoffensive. That’s why we research before we start projects. It’s so important to not offend your audience in advertising, either intentionally or unintentionally. Do you say hearing impaired or deaf? That’s a very important conversation to those who are deaf. Being inclusive isn’t hard, but you have to know the difference between these words and what they mean in respect to the people who are inclusive of them. Gender-neutrality can spare you some time as well. Humankind, doctor, police officer, nurse, chair, home maker; not mankind, lady doctor, policeman, male nurse, chairman, housewife. For clarity on certain issues, refer to your stylebook—The Associated Press, for example.

There are so many more technical writing lessons on coherency, punctuation, word usage and more. But I’ll leave those for you to find. Just know that the advertising world is constantly adapting, so make sure your writing principles are up-to-date. Link up with professionals that have the cognizance you desire. And as always, Designsensory is here to help anyone with questions about advertising in any context. Go use those new skills!

If you’ve ever looked for a new content management system for your website, you know there are hundreds of choices out there to sift through. Which one is the best? There’s no easy answer, because each CMS holds unique features that work for different industries. To help cut through the clutter, we’ve outlined the pros and cons of three commonly used content management systems here at Designsensory.

WordPress

WordPress is a free platform (though it doesn’t provide hosting) that was initially developed for blogs. Nowadays, it’s a robust system that’s supported by thousands of mostly-free extensions,  suitable for a wide variety of needs such as blogs, marketing and eCommerce. The WordPress CMS is quick to set up and publish on the web. It’s also easy to use, whether you’re new to or experienced with content management systems. If you do need help, WordPress has an active community to support you.

Despite its theoretically limitless customizations, however, many of the ready-made themes look the same. If you wish to create a custom theme or extension, or tweak existing ones, advanced coding knowledge is required. Also, WordPress is known to have exploitable areas in its security. Luckily, WordPress frequently revises the CMS to circumvent this. The downside is that these frequent changes often break extensions and, subsequently, your website.

Squarespace

Squarespace is a paid platform, although hosting and a dedicated 24/7 support team is included. Unlike WordPress, where you install plugins as needed, Squarespace comes as an all-in-one package that covers most features of website building. Squarespace’s drag-and-drop design is both simplistic and user-friendly.

A consequence of this ready-made and simplistic package, Squarespace’s major drawback is it fits your website into a mold. For example, the templates, which have limited customization, rely on large, high quality image backgrounds, and third-party extensions are not supported. Also, while Squarespace boasts is eCommerce functionality, it’s not as robust as other systems. Finally, Squarespace reserves the right to remove your site at its discretion.

MODX

MODX is a free platform that provides hosting through MODX Cloud. It provides a clean interface, a high level of security and built-in search engine optimization. Like other content management systems, extensions add additional functionality and are easy to edit with code.

MODX’s biggest drawback is that it takes time to set up, and setting it up requires coding experience. Pre-made themes do not have built-in customization features, and the number of extensions are fewer than other content management systems. If you need help, MODX lacks support and documentation.

ExpressionEngine 

ExpressionEngine is a paid platform; although, it does have a feature-limited free version, and hosting is not provided. It’s suitable for a variety of uses, with its wide variety of extensions; people new to content management systems should find it easy to use. If you need help, ExpressionEngine provides both official and community support and documentation.

The biggest drawback to ExpressionEngine is the licensing is expensive up front. Furthermore, certain functionalities are separate charges, limited to three websites per purchase. And while the CMS is easy to use, the unique way of adding content will seem awkward at the beginning. Also, coding knowledge is required to set up the website, and adding extensions are unnecessarily complicated.

What’s the Real Difference?

Still can’t decide? Don’t worry. The good news is that content management systems are more similar than different. As developers learn from each other, the systems are likely to become more streamlined. If you feel like these four systems don’t suit your needs, there are plenty more to choose from, including Designsensory’s own DSX, which can be tailored to suit your website’s needs.

Whichever system you choose, keep upgrading. Content management systems will become more usable, more powerful and more familiar. Contact us to set up a web consultation!

Justin Gibson, Designsensory’s quality and support technical manager, was gracious enough to explain the ins and outs of Version Control Systems. Read on to find out what a VCS is, why you should care, and why it’s good for Designsensory and our clients.

Simply put, a Version Control System (VCS), also known as Source Code Management (SCM) or Revision Control System (RCS), is a way to track files over time and view who made the changes and what the changes were. The VCS helps developers make the behind-the-scenes magic happen without worry of losing their work or overwriting something that they may need back. There are a few VCS software options out there. DS uses one called “Git.”

So, how does it work? In Microsoft Word speak, it’s similar to hitting the “save as” button for every change in the project. The VCS constantly creates a new “save point” as coders work on it, without killing the old file. Think about a presentation you’ve worked on. You might have saved each new file with an altered, descriptive name. If you shared the file to be edited by others, you would hope they saved under a new name so you knew which was the most recent/relevant. And then the challenge arose: which file name ending with “final” or “latest” was really the final or latest? Or, heavens forbid, what if you needed to then add changes to that so-called “final” file? It’s a system that made liars of us all. 

Writing code doesn’t so much resemble a linear progression as a fractal phenomenon. Coding projects tend to be much, much larger and more complex than the average presentation or business proposal, so manually tracking each change becomes almost impossible. And managing this with multiple coders simultaneously working? Forget it. 

The VCS makes it simpler to do a long list of project-related tasks:

• Backup and Restore
• Synchronize
• Short-Term Undo
• Long-Term Undo
• Track Changes
• Track Ownership
• Sandboxing
• Branching/Merging

It’s a tool that simplifies the tracking part of a project. It’s the kind of thing that makes coders wonder how in the world they ever got along without it.

VCS also helps check you as you go. If two coders write conflicting changes in the project, the VCS will flag it, which prevents mistakes and glitches. There are other ways to tag and make coding notes in the project through VCS.

VCS is great for a team of coders, but it also works well for personal coding projects. It protects you against erasing hours (or days!) of work in one Mountain Dew-fueled session of coding madness.

There you have it! VCS demystified for the technical non-expert.

A strong social media presence is an important part of your business’s marketing strategy, whether you’re a new business or you’ve been around for years. Social media platforms are constantly evolving, and it’s tempting to join every platform and start posting. But the truth is, it’s best to choose the platforms most applicable to your business and manage them well. Here’s a guide to help you choose which social media platforms are right for you and how to best manage them.
 

Facebook

By far, Facebook has the most users, making it the obvious choice for promoting your business. Over 70 percent of adults have a Facebook account, with ages 25-34 being the most common demographic.

Do:

• Create a free business page and share the page on your website, through e-blasts, etc.
• Create a marketing calendar to determine what you’re going to post about and when you’re going to post it.
• Consider paying for ads to grab the attention of your targeted audience.

Don’t:

• Go in without a plan. Once you build a follower base, you don’t want to lose them. Creating an effective social media marketing plan will help you grow your followers and keep them following you.
• Neglect your page. You need to be sure your company is ready for social and staffed with someone who can manage it. If you don’t have a person in place who can manage your page(s), we can help.

Twitter

Twitter ranks right up there with Facebook when it comes to top social networks. It’s a great platform to address customer service issues, but because of this, it’s important to be active in replying to tweets. The average twitter user follows five businesses, so it’s a smart place to start a conversation with your audience.

Do:

• Create a free business page and share the page on your website, through emails, etc. and maintain a marketing calendar.
• Reply to tweets as quickly as possible.
• Consider adding GIFs and emojis into your posts, when appropriate. Gifs are commonly found on giphy.com.
• Activate Twitter analytics.

Don’t:

• Tweet only about yourself. Retweet others!
• Post long urls; they’re messy! Be sure to shorten like bit.ly.
• Hashtag everything. The hashtag is used to highlight relevant keywords or phrases. Stick to a short hashtag if your content relates to a popular keyword.

LinkedIn

Boasting 450 million active members, LinkedIn is the place to engage other businesses, their decision makers and other professionals, including potential employees and business partners. It’s one of the few social media sites that has more male users than female.

Do:

• Build a company page.
• Customize your content for the professional network.
• Post company updates.

Don’t:

• Just post job openings. Also consider posting your company’s blog entries, sharing industry-related news and celebrating company successes.
• Post like you would on other social media sites. It’s a business audience, so keep it uber professional.
• Remain silent. Connect with other businesses, comment on articles and build respect among your peers.

Instagram

With more than 400 million users, Instagram is a fun way to reach your customers through pictures. It has a younger demographic and even boasts a strong global audience, with 90 percent of its users being younger than 35.

Do:

• Use Instagram stories.
• Link your Instagram and Facebook accounts.
• Be sure you have enough visual content to maintain your page.

Don’t:

• Be mindless about your content. Tailor your content for the individual platform.
• Hashtag everything. Highlight relevant keywords or phrases within your post with hashtag; otherwise, don’t hashtag at all.
• Neglect advertising on Instagram.

Snapchat

Since 2011, Snapchat has grown to 150 million daily users. Did you catch that? Daily! It’s a fun platform to interact with your audience, if your audience uses it.

Do:

• Use other social media platforms to lead people to your Snapchat account.
• Consider creating On-Demand Geofilters for a company event.
• Show transparency. If showing your company’s true colors is important, consider Snapchat as the way to do it.

Don’t:

• Share the same old content. Snapchat is the place to be engaging and creative. You’ll grow a following with unique content.
• Overly polish your content; Snapchat is raw and fun.
• Just post pictures; use videos, too.

Pinterest

The digital scrapbooking start-up site Pinterest has over 100 million users, and those users spend nearly an hour and half using it each month on the site. Since nearly two thirds of its users are women, you’ll really need to know your audience and gage whether it’s the right platform for your business.

Do:

• Pin relevant industries’ pins.
• Create multiple boards and hundreds, if not thousands, of pins.
• Think outside the box and create boards that indirectly relate to your company.

Don’t:

• Exclusively pin your company’s stuff or overly promote yourself.
• Just pin; also optimize your pins with keywords.
• Forget about Promoted Pins, as a way to reach a larger audience.

YouTube

With nearly a third of the people on the Internet using YouTube, it’s definitely a platform you’ll want to consider adding to your social media repertoire. Behind Google, YouTube is considered the second largest search engine in the world.

Do:

• Invest in the right equipment.
• Optimize your content for search engines.
• Keep up with trends and post relevant content.

Don’t:

• Post only one type of video; post both company commercials and internal videos.
• Be afraid of posting longer content.
• Forget about embedding your YouTube links on your company’s website.

Considering any of these social media platforms? Let’s have a chat and discuss what’s right for your business.

We do a lot of technical work here at Designsensory, but even the most logical, tangible part of what we do is driven by something completely intangible: emotion. Branding is all about emotion. It’s all about the pursuit of that magical, sometimes elusive gut feeling you get when the right words pair with the perfect image on an optimal platform.

Before we ever get to that end goal, there is a mountain of work revolving around emotion. What feeling are we going for? How do we evoke that? How do we communicate it to the client, other designers collaborating on the project and, ultimately, to the wider audience bearing witness to the final product?

Mood Boarding

Enter: the mood board. It’s a visual representation of the stylistic direction for the project. It allows both clients and designers to weigh in with a quicker, deeper understanding than words alone can bring. This organized collage of images, colors, fonts and phrases saves time in both production and explanation, and allows for easy initial feedback on what does and doesn’t work.

Mood boards bring about a meeting of the minds among clients, designers and internal project collaborators. Mood boards are not about rendering something specific, but about gathering consensus on direction.

How is it used?

Client-facing and internal mood boards serve the same purpose: they get us all on the same page. We use mood boards early, as a colorful invitation, but we can introduce them later to direct a new aspect of the project or narrow our focus. 

Mood boards work intuitively and quickly, so they allow us to present several stylistic directions to the client. We often create something safe for the brand, but we include something that might be uncharted territory as well. In this way, mood boards allow us to showcase our range of creativity, and sometimes the client might surprise us by loving the unconventional direction.

The mood board is helpful for branding options, too. For example, in creating the flex branding system for Roane Alliance, we created a mood board with examples from other companies for the branding system we envisioned. The mood board brought texture to how the interconnected logos could be used, and helped the client choose the final branding system.

Mood Board = Springboard.

Because mood boards are heavily built on imagery, they convey more in few moments of presentation than an entire written or spoken presentation. Cartoon imagery might convey a playful or even edgy tone, while saturated photographs draw in the viewer. These things do more than inspire the client to choose a branding direction; they provide a working guide for the design and content team. The mood board becomes the springboard for the design process.

Mood boards help us cross the finish line, too. Even when we present the final product to the client, we reference the mood board. It’s the common thread in our communication, showing how the spark of an idea transforms into a full-on presentation.

According to Intechnic, if content is king, then usability is queen. It doesn’t matter if you have fantastic content on your website if users cannot find what they’re looking for. On the blog today, we’ve got five tips for creating a user-friendly website.

Concise, “Scannable” Content

Most people tend to skim web content rather than read it word for word, so it’s important to make sure your web content is “scannable.” Do this by keeping paragraphs short, breaking information up with headers/images and keeping the language simple. As a rule of thumb, keep the writing on your website at a 5th-grade reading level.

Speed

If your page takes four seconds to load, 25 percent of users will abandon the page. That number jumps to nearly 50 percent at the 10 second mark. Why is that? Well, simply put, people are impatient. To speed up your website, make sure your images aren’t oversized, and the site is free of flash players and excess coding. Test your website’s usability with Google’s PageSpeed Insights tool.

Good Design

Contrasting colors, good use of white space and a clear font are all things to consider when designing your website. Looks count when it comes to website design; users are likely to leave your website if it appears to be straight out of 1999. It’s also important that your website is intuitive so users don’t become frustrated. That brings us to the next tip…

Logical Navigation

The key to organizing large amounts of information is simplicity, and, to do that, you need a good navigation. Every page on your site should be within two clicks from the homepage, and the best way to make this happen is with a simple navigation. Aside from strategic placement on all pages, your navigation should include all main pages, follow your sitemap and include a search bar.

Pro tip: Help users navigate your site, and find the information they’re looking, for by linking to relevant pages within your site as well as external resources. Plus, it is good for your SEO ranking.

Mobile Optimization

Just do it. It’s almost 2017.

Interested in investing in a new website for your brand? Contact us today!