If your goal is to have a website that wins design awards, then we're the wrong company for you. But if what you want to achieve is to use the Internet to sell your product our service as effectively as possible, then you've come to the right place. Because here at Caroff Communications, or primary mission is to help you sell, and all of our designs are driven by that fact.










About Production

The followup to good design is clean production. What does this mean? It means building a site (once it's designed) that works well on all platforms.

You'd be amazed at how good a site may look in Explorer, when it's a mess on AOL. Or how a purchase page can work extremely well on a PC, but fail on a Macintosh.

It's tricky to produce a site that fares well in all circumstances. It takes knowledge, skill, hard work, and incredible attention to detail. But it just may mean the difference between someone buying your product or service -- or leaving to get it from someone else.
Good design is transparent

If people are focusing on the design of a site, it means that some of their focus is taken away from the purpose of that site. So if your site is meant to provide information, build good customer rapport, gather information, and ultimately sell your product or service, than you don't want to force viewers to concentrate on the site itself.

The look of your site should be as simple as possible, while maintaining a cohesive, professional appearance that represents your company well. You want the impression made by the appearance of your site to be subconscious. Once people start concentrating on the design, they stop concentrating on the other things you want them to do.

Established Techniques Work

Your site doesn't have to be groundbreaking -- it just has to be effective. If viewers are used to seeing phone numbers and addresses in a "contact us" section, then call it that! No need to think of a unique name for it.

And take advantage of time-tested principles of usability that have worked for print publications for hundreds of years. For instance, use upper and lower case, because ALL CAPS IS HARD TO READ. And be careful with white text on a black backround, even though it looks really cool. (Don't use it when you need to have a lot of text). There are dozens of rules like this that good designers know and follow.

Heirarchy is helpful

The human brain is designed to process a certain amount of information at one time. Odds are that you are going to have more information on any one page than a person can process at one time. So help your viewers by employing hierchical design: use size, color, and layout to guide them through the information in a logical, orderly fashion. What should they look at first? Are related items grouped together? Are the graphics simple and easy to understand?
Here is a perfect example of how different your site will appear on monitors with different resolutions.

User-friendly navigation is critical

Don't ever forget that the most important person in your customers' eyes is . . . themselves! Organize and present the content on your website from their point of view. What are their priorities? What questions do they have? How do they see your products or services? (Often, your customers see what you offer in a totally different way then you do. Learn how they perceive you.).

Once you understand how your customers think, you can set up your site to be easily navigable -- from their point of view. You'd be amazed at how often viewers become frustrated by not being able to find what they want -- and how quickly they'll abandon your site to search for one that does give them what they need.

Avoid obstacles

Don't give in to the temptation to use excessive technology (Flash movies, Java, fancy roll-overs, etc.). While all these applications do have their uses, you have to be careful. Ask yourself this question: "If I were the viewer, would this really help me get what I want?" More often than not, the answer is "no."

Know the medium

Unlike print (or even television, for the most part), your website looks different to different people. Depending on whether the person viewing your site is using Mac or PC, Explorer, Firefox or other browser, and most importantly, what type and resolution of monitor, your site's appearance will change. Good design takes this into account, and works well in all situations.

It's not easy to achieve this; your site designer has to be familiar with all the popular formats, and how they handle websites. But it's worth the effort. Because it's critical to the people who are viewing your site! If you make the effort, you'll be rewarded with a more effective site. And that's what good design is all about.