Creating a look for yourself on the web
They say that the hardest thing to do is come up a concept for yourself. Boy is that true! I have no problems creating sites that are on-target for my clients. But when it came to coming up with something for myself; doubt, procrastination and designer’s block set in.
I had to go through three versions of www.mygraphicsnotebook.com (my first website) before I came up with the design that really suited me. The reason I had three is because I hadn’t done enough planning for the previous two.
Ideally, I had to create a site that would include these objectives:
- What look I wanted for my website
- What the goal of my site was
- Who I wanted my audience for my site to be
- A clear call to action
- An extension of the rest of my promotional materials
The main problem my two previous versions was one of appropriateness. The websites were perfectly good (design-wise) but they were not appropriate for the audience I wanted or the image I wanted to project for myself and my company. There also lacked urgency or any call to action.
VERSION 1:
The first thing I did was obsess about having my website look like a notebook (after all, my company name is “My Graphics Notebook“). In keeping with my theme, what better idea then to have tabs for my navigation?The big issue with this site was that there was no incentive for my visitor to do anything once they reached my site. There was no compelling offer, no downloads, no call to action, and no real urgency to my site.
They got to see a huge, overwhelming portfolio that had no clear meaning about what to do once they saw it. It was clearly unfocused. And there was no unity or continuity to the site.
VERSION 2:
The next thing I did was think that the “notebook” didn’t look “real” enough. I thought that was the design problem. Content-wise, I created lots of call to action, a newsletter, a blog, bonus content, lots of contact forms and selected only the best pieces of my portfolio and talk about them. Then if the visitor wanted to see more brochures, for example, I would then send them a “secret” link to my brochures page.
This one worked better but wasn’t perfect. Why? I didn’t reflect me nor my pieces. It also would not attract the audience I wanted — unless that audience was MTV or the like. Most definitely not the professionals I wanted…
What image do you get when you look at this?
VERSION 3:
It was for this final one that I really sat down and thought things through. I decided to forgo the literalness of the notebook idea. By this point, there was no purpose to it. I then decided I needed more punch to the front page. I wanted to keep all the elements of version 2 (newsletter and 2 bonuses) but I also wanted people to take a look at my case studies.
I wanted a more modular design and also make better use of color and type since those are my passions and were not reflected in previous versions. I also wanted a signature look that can be expanded into different variations.
C O N C L U S I O N
- Always plan beforehand
- Never get tunnel vision! Don’t become obsessed with one idea.
- Always, always, always view your website as an extension of the rest of you promotional materials. It is a part of your brand.
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