Walking and Talking on the Web
By Mary HobsonDuring the last week I have looked at hundreds of commercial web site design firms - I'm doing some work for a PR and marketing company, who already has a web site, but it's rather pedestrian and they want to infuse some pizzazz into it. So as we often do work together, they asked me to throw some ideas for web design services into the arena.
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Web Design Services for Maximum Impact
It seems to me that there are two high impact effects for a marketing Web site: those of sound and animation. My feeling is that you have to use both with caution, but they can be really effective if you use them carefully and with flair.I've listened to more wall paper music with a compelling beat than I care to think about, but I've also found sites with really clever use of speech and music, adding to the effect of the site without trying to take over my mind.
Web site animation can be pedestrian, funny, sophisticated, eye-catching or straight forwardly off-putting. I saw some really great short cartoon sequences - one stays in my mind, for a dating agency. It took around 4 seconds to load (which is quite fast, considering the fact that I'm sitting in the middle of Moscow, Russia).
The Web site animation lasted around one minute. What made it so great was that the creators had thought of all the angles, used movement carefully so that it had maximum impact, and the whole sequence told a story.
Web Site Design Firms Use Online Training
I talked to several web site design firms during this exercise - about what it took to be able to deliver sound and animation on a web site. Of course, the key is using well tried animation packages, of which there are several on the market including Flash, and Cool3D; another important thing is employing well-trained designers to deliver your web design services.Training is the key, and every company I talked to used online courses to make sure that they had all the techniques available at their finger tips.
Source
- http://www.flash-style.com/flash_version/flash_version.htm
- http://www.flash-style.com/flash_version/flash_version.htm
- http://www.privatehand.com/
- http://www.viaden.com/services/flash_animation.html
- http://www.ulead.com/cool3d/runme.htm
About the Author
Mary Hobson is a consultant for technology start-ups in Russia. She has also worked as an executive officer in a defense facility and as a university lecturer in computer science and management information. Mary earned her first degree in textile marketing and subsequently studied education and computer science at a Master's degree level.Posted on June 10, 2005 at 3:21 PM
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