3 to 5 years ago it seemed like the more content and graphic elements you could cram into an 800 pixel width the better your site was. The “good” sites (the ones that seemed to mesmerize people) almost looked like robots and/or machinery with metallic rendered interfaces. Designers were building small audio players into their interfaces and text scrolled by – all “adding” to the experience. Blips and metallic noises accompanied every interaction, and of course you heard a “swoosh” like the doors on Star Trek as text rolled into frame.

These days, in the age of Web 2.0 and 3.0, the trend has reversed. Good designers are minimizing content, letting key messages stand out, and keeping the interfaces clean and easy to navigate. My question is: will the old flash “robot” sites ever be cool again? (ignoring of course the immense limitations of flash).

Other trends in life are totally cyclical. Styles of music, fashion and art are all coming back and fading away and coming back again. Will that be the same for web sites? The web is too new to have seen a trend come back around (forgive me, here is a recent site (2007) for Borat http://www.borat.tv/ that dictates maybe the old 3-frame gifs are coming back!)

I guess if it is true, and they do come back, the great thing is we are the first generation getting to see the history of the web unfold.

A web site is very much the same.  When a visitor lands on your site for the first time they will take in a lot of information (whether contained in your text or not).  They’ll see your logo, the background colours, the fonts on the page, the photographs displayed and how they are displayed—within an instant.

It is the right combination of all of these elements that makes a great website.  Your logo is at the top of this totem pole.  If your logo demands attention, is creative, employs a great colour palette and creatively conveys the business you do, it will set the tone for the website.

Surely, like me, you have visited pages where a rookie designer has forced the logo into an image placeholder that isn’t the same size.  The result is a disjointed and often fuzzy appearance – this is not to be overlooked, if a customer senses you don’t care about this element of your own site their confidence in you to care about them is diminished.

Conversely, when a great, simple logo is displayed with 100% crispness and is allowed to breathe on the canvas, the path to having a great web site is open straight ahead of you—and is yours for the taking.

This leads me to my most important word of advice…let your web site breathe.  Negative space is perhaps more important than the space you have filled with content.  This will allow the content you are introducing to take centre stage and will eliminate competition between your core messages.  There is nothing worse than a site that is designed to have every aspect attract attention.  Let the most important component naturally be viewed first, non-consciously by the visitor.

Keep your logo visible and use it intelligently throughout the site to re-enforce your brand at every step through your site.  The visitor may not know much about your product yet, but at least give them a feeling of comfort and ease when they land on your site and you’ll find they are staying longer and visiting more pages.

In business, logos and brands are equally important as they are in music, clothing and consumer goods. Your business may not gross like Coca Cola but that doesn’t mean your brand is any less important to your success. The key is presenting a moniker that people will like and associate with your business—however, it must be noted if AC/DC was a terrible band that 4-letter logo would mean nothing. A logo is nothing without some degree of “quality” to back it up. Keep this in mind too, when the Young Brothers started AC/DC nobody knew who they were, not one single person. They built that brand the same way you are building a brand for your business now.

When used as a noun, the word “brand” can refer to a company name, a product name, or a unique identifier such as a logo or trademark.

Before the old wooden split rail fences were used in ranching to keep one rancher’s cattle separate from other cattle, ranch owners “branded” their cattle so they could later identify their herd as being theirs.

This practice later made its way through a number of facets of business and industry including handmade wares, bakes goods, and all of the goods associated with the dawn of the industrialized world. It didn’t take long for high quality products (the cattle and wares) to become identifiable in the minds of consumers by the symbols and marks placed on the goods by the creator or owner. The buying public would actually look for certain marks because they had mentally associated those marks with better beef, higher quality, and a degree of sophistication.

The modern concept of branding grew out of the packaged goods industry and the process of branding has come to include much, much more than just creating a way to identify a product or company. Branding and advertising strategy today is used to create emotional attachment to products and companies. Branding creates a feeling of involvement, a sense of higher quality, and intangible qualities that surround the brand name.

WE ALL KNOW FAMOUS BRANDS – Nike, Mac, Coke etc. A question we often hear: How can I get my business or product to become a part of the list of most identifiable brands in the world? It’s easier than you might think.

Concentrate on your cattle! Your cattle may be logo and web designs (like the work we do) or they may take the form of consulting work, retail goods, or other work. So long as your work is great and people grow to favour the work you do in your field – your “brand” will rise to the top. Now, of course, with a great “symbol” on the end of your branding iron (a great logo!) combined with great work and a great product you’ve laid the ground work to appeal to the consumers sense of emotional attachment. Maybe one day I’ll be wearing a t-shirt with your business’ logo on it while I am out mowing the lawn. I’ll leave that to you.