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Web Design Case Study: Mensa International
As our recent posts looking at green websites and charity.

Websites from a design perspective have received a good response.

We have decided to start a new series: interviews with our web design team to discuss the process of designing a particular site.

What was the starting point for

GWS was brought in to redesign Mensa International’s website.

So the design process started from looking at their previous site.

And other national Mensa sites, which gave us different impressions of what netherlands phone number data Mensa stands for.

The British Mensa site contains a lot of information about the organisation, and emphasises the select nature of membership.

The Italian site highlights the importance of the group experience by using a photograph as a banner.

 

In contrast, the site for

the Czech Republic seems a lot more corporate in its use of colour and layout.

Having identified some key themes and the way they are expressed by the other Mensa sites.

We looked at other sites with international members, to think .

more specifically about how the international nature of a group can be communicated and how these relate to what was needed for the Mensa International site.

These included:

Meet-up, which communicates its internationality and benefits of membership through its striking use of photographs.
Babcock International, which uses an uncluttered layout to communicate its message with clarity.
Expro, the design of which feels very clear, but perhaps too the more complaints and only the business grow corporate and oversaturated with the colours chosen for the direction we wanted to go with Mensa.

Finally, because the IQ test is an important part of Mensa membership we looked at sites offering IQ tests to see how they were presented.

This research gave us a broader picture of how membership sites communicate saudi data their internationality and the benefits of being a member – two things which seemed very important when approaching the Mensa International website.

 

This week might have been wet and cold outside….

But inside the GWS Offices we have been keeping things bright and lively, not least while producing our latest website video.

Paul and Elaine Robinson of The Florist Ltd, came in to film their segments for a short video about their online flower delivery service to go on their website.

GWS Media’s website for Bristol-based, The Florist Ltd
The Florist Ltd are used to brightening up people’s days

Here are the GWS Team’s top stories and news links for this week, including a great global tweet map!

Read on

For businesses using social media:
Finding it difficult to interact and engage with contacts on social mexico phone number data media? Here are some tips you might find useful for building reciprocity.

Finding it tricky to make time to blog, or even that writing a blog just takes you too long?

Why you should blog, and how to draw up an action plan.
The ever-resourceful Chris Brogan on how to write 3 blog posts in one day.

The main story of the week

Facebook is evolving its message service.

But what do the changes mean for business users?

One thing we at GWS spotted was the plans for integration with Microsoft Office (enabling you to send word or excel files as attachments to Facebook messages), which means you could share documents within a Facebook group.

This has great potential, and could be particularly useful for charities, who could bring together social interaction and the kind of data on targets and projects that could really inspire volunteers – making available the kind of documents normally stored on their own websites.

What kind of impact do you think this could have on real stories let’s move from theory to practice and look the way you use Facebook for business?

 

Art & Design

Want to see where the most people are tweeting from?

‘World of Tweets’ is a pretty stunning website that combines function (realtime global twitter statistics) with style:

 

A gallery of work from one of the great graphic saudi data designers, Neil Fujita, who died this week aged

Want something interesting to look at while out on a walk? Here is a guide to the best sculpture parks in the UK.

Now for news about a project we’ve been waiting to share with you all.

The first version of the Bristol Unique Guide, an App for the iPhone / iPod Touch is now available from the Apple App Store.

The GWS Free Guide to Bristol

 

, is an App for locals and visitors alike, filled with our own pictures.

some local history and local knowledge from the GWS team – proud Bristolians that we are!

We hope you enjoy the App as much as we did developing it.

We shall have more news on the other apps we are developing (and on updates to the Bristol App) in the coming months.

What is the Bristol Guide App?

GWS loves Bristol – and we want everyone who visits to love it too!

Designed for people visiting Bristol for the first time, our Bristol malaysia mobile phone number data Unique Guide App showcases insider tips and interesting Bristol trivia like.

the best Bristol places to have lunch (trust us, we’ve tested most of them!).
historical facts about the many interesting old buildings that jump out at you on Bristol streets
the best place to walk your dog in and around Bristol centre
must-see sights, from the best Bristol festivals to the prettiest landmarks; and,
our favourite local places to visit (including bars, galleries, parks and pubs)

How do I use it?

Our Bristol Unique Guide couldn’t be simpler.

Just navigate to what interests you, to see our images and information.

There are pictures to help you follow the guide more easily, and adding a digital signature to an email header the Bristol Guide links to maps and directions so that you can get from one spot to another (to go from Avon Gorge to the closest recommended sandwich bar, for example!)

 

Where do I get the App from?
Just get the Bristol Unique Guide App from the Apple Store for free and saudi data the rest is up to you – just go for a walk in our lovely city (don’t forget the dog!).

If you’re visiting Bristol, give it go!

 

On the day that early snow came to Bristol, the GWS Bristol Unique Guide App for iPhone / iPod Touch went live.

We’ve already talked quite a lot about that this week, so see our earlier.

Blog post for information on what it is, and watch out for another.

Post about why your business might consider developing an App – coming soon!

Just a couple of hours after this

the GWS offices were briefly plunged into darkness by a power cut that affected part of central Bristol.

We made the best of it, by toasting our App with some lebanon phone number data champagne – luckily we could all still see each other in the dark!

Here is the news and stories we’ve been looking at this week, heralded by a picture of snow in Queen Square:

For businesses using social media

Now it’s December, everyone is starting their 2011 lists. Here is an interesting slideshow of social media marketing trends.
And another article on how social media trends are impacting businesses.
Drew Hawkins discusses the importance of listening in social media – and why changing the conversation, by using social media (what people are saying about you, and what you are saying to people) can help companies with negative feedback.
A look inside Chris Borgan’s Twitter toolbox – with an interesting emphasis on using search in Twitter. Is that something you make use of? Please share your experiences with us in the comments below.
A great blog resource, pointed out by @AdamVincenzini A social media database from Cision. Literally something for everyone, from top wine blogs to top library blogs.

Art & Design:
Books, available for free download? Click here. A nice looking site, as dmarc works by checking two other email featured on D-Lists, but we thought more attention could have been paid to the book text – guess it’s been primarily designed for iPad / iPhone users, hence the massive and unjustified text.
Incredible what some people get up to – this week @swissmiss featured saudi data a bicycle drawing machine, here for your viewing pleasure.

Our last blog post broke the exciting news of our newly launched Bristol Unique Guide App, now available for the iPhone/iPod Touch from the Apple App Store.

This week we’d like to explain a little more about what exactly an app is, and how creating your own app could benefit your business.

App is short for Application, an interactive or informative programme available to users of Smartphones (such as the iPhone and mobile devices).

With over 300,000 apps

currently available for download from the Apple Store alone, the trademarked ‘there’s an app for that’ tagline is not far from the truth.

Whether you’re trying to navigate the London Tube system, interact on laos phone number data Twitter or attend a meeting online, there really is something for everybody.

The growing popularity of apps and interactive devices like the iPhone and iPad represents an exciting marketing opportunity for all kinds of business.

It’s not always easy to make your company stand out from its competitors – launching your own app is a way to present your products or services in a fresh and interesting way.

And by choosing a design

that is in line with your company branding, you can ensure that your app achieves maximum visual impact.

Barclaycard’s ‘Waterslide Extreme’ game builds upon its successful TV advert in which a commuter travels to work by rollercoaster, stopping en route at a coffee shop and paying with his ‘touch-and-pay’ credit card.

Both the advert and the game convey Barclaycard’s sleek ‘on-the-go’ image, bringing to life the ease and convenience of touch-and-pay.

Next week we’ll be going into more detail about the importance of design in the linked website is indeed trusted the creation of your app, but for now here are our top 3 reasons for launching your very own app:

Smartphones offer user interface capabilities that are unparalleled by saudi data other devices. If your App can utilise them, users will flock back time and time again. Apps are addictive!

In our last app-related post on why your business should create an app.

We discussed what applications are and their growing popularity.

concluding that an app could be an excellent way to market your business in a fresh and exciting way, making you stand out in the crowd.

In this post, we want to think a bit more about design: the look and usability of apps.

As with a website, one of the most important aspects of an app is its visual impact.

Although the screen

might be smaller, the visual appeal of an app – particularly as kuwait phone number data the market becomes more competitve – is crucial.

In fact, one of the great advantages of app design, is their power as a visual extension of your brand.

Using Bristol Unique Guide App (now available as version 1.1) as an example.

We will use this post to illustrate how that can be done.

The key to visual can be in simplicity.

The dominant colour

 

theme of our app is the purple used on the GWS website, marketing leaflets.

Letterheads and other online and print-based visual element of the business.

The use of this one colour ties our marketing material together across all these media, linking it and establishing it as GWS.

 

Each App has an icon which works as the main link to it in a menu screen, as well as in the iTunes store.

The Bristol Unique Guide badge combines key elements of GWS branding – our logo, the colour purple, and the bubble background that features on our website, this blog and other items we use for marketing – as well as a representation delicious birthday cake recipe of the Clifton Suspension Bridge to signify the city of Bristol.

From this, it clearly communicates the location and the company.

On the front page we have also included our logo and various pictures of saudi data Bristol – directly communicating it as our guide to the city.

 

Here at GWS, we’re always on the look-out for an interesting story.

Whether it’s a news event, an exciting new design release or a useful tip from an expert in social networking.

Our weekly round-ups have featured top news from the worlds of social media, current affairs and art and design.

And as 2010 draws to a close we’ve been reflecting on our favourite stories of the year. Here are our highlights:

Social media

Twitter news has been a regular feature of our weekly round-ups – one of our korea mobile phone number data favourite stories was a New York Times article on the psychology of Twitter.

We also found these tips useful – situations when you shouldn’t Tweet, and the danger of over-responding on Twitter.
Social media scientist Dan Zarrella has provided us with some great marketing advice.

A highlight was his post on using novelty to create contagious marketing strategies.
We loved this Guardian article by 23 year old Tom Meltzer on the curse of growing up in the social networking generation.

The insights of Drew Hawkins have been a regular feature of our weekly round-ups.

We loved this piece showing that PR doesn’t have to choose between traditional and digital.
One of our favourite resources for using social media .

Channels was Adam registrants must ensure Vincenzini’s YouTube Treasure Chest for Marketers.

World news

We first blogged about Wikileaks back in August – while we’ve enjoyed the Guardian’s coverage of the saga, this alternative presentation of events from Rap News has been our highlight so far.
The impact of Google Instant has been hotly debated since its launch in September – we enjoyed this article by @TechCrunch which showed that finding God is not as easy as it used to be…
The Social Network has been one of 2010’s most successful releases – we enjoyed saudi data this review by a Harvard Professor. We also liked what Zadie Smith had to say about the phenomenon that is Facebook.

 

The design change to the Starbucks’ logo, which involves a dramatic.

Streamline but retains its core principals (colour and image), is intended to reflect the company’s shift.

Towards non-coffee products, which it plans to sell more of in the future.

An interesting point raised

on Creative Review’s blog is that the brand has been presented on an object (the paper cup), rather than in abstraction.

While many have vocally resisted the removal of the text.

It would be difficult to argue that such an iconic image doesn’t immediately bring Starbucks to mind.

When a brand has achieved the kind of global dominance that india mobile number data Starbucks has, there is less need to provide the consumer with textual signposts.

In one of our round-ups last year we featured this ‘Name that Brand’ game.

Which shows how surprisingly easy it is to identify famous brands simply from looking at their logo colours.

Imagery and colour can often speak louder than words.

 

Gap’s proposed new logo

One thing’s for certain, the change hasn’t yeat provoked the kind.

Of outcry that accompanied Gap’s attempted logo change last year.

Although the company tried to deal with the backlash humorously.

By creating a dedicated @gaplogo twitter account, public opinion wore them down and effectively prevented this from being introduced.

While Gap’s logo represented a radical rebranding of the company, Starbucks’ re-design if you are unsure about the microsite should be thought of as a deliberate attempt to streamline the.

Existing image – an approach similar to that adopted by MTV last year.

Another major company which introduced a rebranding last year was high-street booksellers Waterstone’s.

Their change of ‘W’ was also unpopular (as you can see from the comments on the Creative Review’s blog, which also presents a very interesting analysis of the new ‘W’ versus the old).

 

However, many re-designs are received more positively, for example this saudi data celebration of the evolution of Norton Motorcycle’s logo from 1907-2010.