We Sell What We See: Make Your Own Brand Top of Mind!

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Posted December 28th, 2009 in Brand Experience, Design Projects, Social Marketing | 8 Comments

Something has been on my mind for a while, and I’ve waited to write it because I have no data for this theory that’s been formulating in my mind, and haven’t had time to research to see if there is corroborating data somewhere out there that I can give you.

competing-for-attnHere’s my theory: we sell what we see. First, a little background so you know where all this is coming from. During 2009 I became involved in various business ventures… I launched Twitterface, my web-based Twitter client. I went away from a company name I had used for some years (this one, Fresh ID) and set up We Heart Studios with a lot of cute, focused names associated with it like We Heart Tumblr and We Heart WordPress. I created a long-needed “personal brand” for my pithy musings that have nothing to do with business. That brand got a lot of attention online for some reason, but it doesn’t really communicate what I do. I helped LightThread (who we partner with on lots of projects) as we tried to get more work here in the Kansas City area – in fact, we almost launched yet another new brand to focus on integrated marketing, then pulled back from that. All of these things have been competing for my attention.

So coming into December, I had a lot on my mind… and I felt disconnected from my own company branding. I am a little mystified regarding the way people view me and how few people know what I actually do – I am mostly on “marketing” or “social media” lists on Twitter, which is so vague. That’s unsettling as someone who needs to make money from creative services, and mostly enables social media from a technology perspective, rather than being a speaker on it or author or something. In short, I felt I needed a brand overhaul and continuity, something I both relate to because it typifies me, and can use in a corporate setting to do what I do to earn a living. This can be hard for a creative type – we like so many things. But what I resonated with most is my old company name, Fresh ID… I have had a company with the name “Fresh” in the title since about 1997. After some thought I realized I needed to commit to it fully, with my whole being, and so I have finally made Fresh ID an LLC and am in the process of rebranding everything to fall in line with my core offering.

What has this to do with you? Well, I want you to think about something. In the day-to-day, sort of always online life that many of us now lead – a true mix of business and pleasure at all times, what is it you’re looking at, physically? Are you looking at other people’s brands more than your own? This may seem unimportant, but consider for a minute: do you see branding for Twitter, Tweetdeck, Facebook, YouTube, Google, etc. more than yours? And if so, what are you focused on? Do you have a brand that represents you both online and in printed materials to give people? Whether you’re self-employed or work for a company, is that brand and all it stands for top-of-mind and in your face, every day? And if so, do you love it? Do you get the value behind the words and colors and images? Does it stand up well next to competitors? Is it vibrant and exciting to you, or stale and outdated, or non-existent? Are you proud of the brand you represent, so much so that it’s part of your life pretty much 24/7/365 days a year and you want to share it with people?

Because my theory is, we sell people on what is most present in our lives. This is where I wish I had some numbers or studies to give you, but I don’t. All I have is my own semi-psychological nature and human factors observations to offer… really, just an intuition about this. I think that with my personal branding being most present for me, and my various other ventures being dabbled in and scattered around all over the internet, I was unfocused when it came to a unified message. So I have taken steps to bring my own brand into alignment with what I can do for people (intelligent design with a universal view), what I can offer (lots of creative/tech/socialization services) and what lights me up (making products.) And I’m really, really excited about it. I have some visuals of my new branding to show you, and will do a dissection in another post of how I created the Fresh ID brand and the various elements I used, for those who are interested and want to do something similar for themselves, or at least want to understand the visual dynamics of a strong brand.

Below are Fresh ID-branded Twitterface & Twitter pages & a Ning Workspace design (we’re going to try using it in private mode to manage projects) plus a prototyped business card, which you’ll see all complement this site and blog design:

freshid-twitterface

freshid-twitter

freshid-ning

freshid-bizcard

This site you’re in right now is the umbrella for all I will focus on in 2010. It’s not quite finished, so bear with me, but this is where my blog is now, and it has its own little name, The Arboretum. I like to think of The Arboretum as being where we can all hang out, discuss, think and learn from each other. I have moved my Design for Users blog into this site so that I can share all the thoughts I have on user experience and customer care, as well as point to the products we offer, show portfolio pieces, list services and explain our differentiator, since we are primarily a B2B services company.

Twitterface is going through some changes and we will be changing its name eventually (partly due to Twitter’s request that product names not contain the word Twitter in them.) And of course I will continue to work on projects with my friends at LightThread. But this is going to help me focus on what’s truly important and enable me to keep my own brand top-of-mind in the coming year.

This was my best decision so far, because bringing everything into this one business site is going to ensure I am in and out of my own company site much more than I was before. (I will keep my personal tumblr for playing, talking about cooking, music and other personal passions, etc.) We will be going further with this idea, as we develop ID Clouds (more on what that is later) that makes working online more pleasant and keeps us in our branded environment, because I truly believe we are selling what we see.

What do you think? What are you looking at everyday? Is your focus as sharp and your mission on target? If not, let’s talk about it and get you on the right path. If you have a brand you love and are proud of, share it with us so we can learn from what you’re doing!

The Art of the Signup

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Posted November 2nd, 2008 in Design Projects, User Experience | 14 Comments

There is no single best way to have users sign up for an account online, because there are too many variables to be considered for this aspect of the user experience. Varying factors can include security, purpose of the account, understanding of the user at the time of signup, what information they must have ready and what they will have to do next, among other things. So to point to a cool new site – even a competitor’s – and say “I want a one-field signup process like that!” does not necessarily serve your needs or your user’s. In fact, there is an awesome site I recommend to people that suffers greatly from a confusing signup process because they tried to simplify it too much.

I have been thinking about this a lot, because we’re examining the VisualCV signup process (I do consulting for them) plus I needed to develop a process for a product my partner and I are about to release called Twitterface.
 
Twitterface is an alternate Twitter interface that is browser-based. It offers distinctions like multiple accounts, and a modified brand experience, and so the potential for pain is moderate, but not too severe for Twitter users. Since the software can’t be used without a Twitter account, the vast majority of our audience should find our settings and design options familiar, and will likely want to move quickly into the site so they can see if this is a product they want to add to their Twitter toolkit or not. Here are step-by-step prototypes of the signup process for Twitterface: 
 
Step 1: Signup from the Home Page
One of the first problems I ran into is that users will need a Twitterface account, which is separate from their Twitter account (although they could use the same name/password if they choose.) This is because we will have settings we keep track of for people so their account is easy & pleasant to use. I am hoping this signup form makes that clear by specifying the words “Twitterface URL” but user testing will have to be conducted to make sure.

 
Step 2: Add Primary Twitter Account
Now the user needs to add a Twitter account that will be considered (by us) their primary account, for the purpose of setting up a personal account on their Twitterface page & responding to search tweets. Users will be able to add multiple accounts here before moving on, or they can start with one.

 
Step 3: Select Twitterface Options
The user is asked to select the number of accounts to show on one web page, and their level of security for logging in and out.

Step 4: Choose the Page Design
A default Twitterface theme is selected, but the user can either change it or design their own interface, including background, logo, colors and icons. Because that sounds like a lot to do in the signup process, I made it easy by telling users they can come back and do this later.

Signup Done!  User Sees New Twitterface Page
A four-step process may seem like a lot to do before arriving at the point of the product, but I feel it is the smoothest way to enter the user into our system. An alternative would be to let them signup and dump them straight into their Twitterface page, where they would need to figure out how to go down to the settings and make all the changes we just had them set up in a few steps. That idea didn’t feel very pleasant to me, despite the appeal of getting a user in front of the product immediately.
 
After we have a working prototype of the product online, I will do user testing and ensure this is as smooth as I want it to be, and the design may be adjusted. It is an art to guide users through complex or unfamiliar steps while employing the restraint to have them do enough to get started and begin learning the software, but not too much. I hope I struck the right balance with this design.
 
If you’re an application designer, think about your user’s first few minutes. Could you take them through a guided flow so that they ultimately arrive at the product with some understanding of the different components? If not, what would it take to provide this kind of path? If you look at the prototype screens carefully, you’ll see a lot of guided text on the sides of the page, and buttons that indicate next behavior (they don’t just say “next” or exist on the page if they aren’t needed yet. I also included “hints” about how to swiftly complete the step and keep moving in some cases (see the light blue “psst…” text.) This extra programming effort usually results in a significantly more simple experience for users in the interface. It’s well worth it!

Getting people to signup is a marketing and conversion issue not covered in this article, but the signup experience itself is your user’s first impression of using the product for their own benefit. I’d love to hear your thoughts about this design and see other great examples of signup processes. Link me up! :-)

Rainbow Mum Site Launch

Posted May 22nd, 2008 in Design Projects | 0 Comments

Rainbow_mum

I recently did a quick project for my best friend, who has a son with Asperger’s Syndrome. She is very active with other mothers in her community whose children have autism-related conditions, and wanted to reach a larger audience of mothers so they can band together and help each other.

Check out the Rainbow Mum site and branding, and if you know anyone whose children or family members live “on the spectrum”, send them over!

Link: http://rainbowmum.com/