I was contacted today by a colleague for whome I had recently designed a static banner, she requested that I animate it, when I asked why an advert with one simple message needed animating she told me that during a presentation to her superior she was reprimanded and told it should have been! – I was stunned that a senior member of our company should have such an uninformed view of online advertising, and worse still be preaching it to their staff!

As a fairly experienced designer of adverts from print to web I understand the balance between customer satisfaction and user response quite well, I also have equally successful examples of both static and animated artwork; unfortunately sales teams don’t have this wealth of experience and prefer something esthetically pleasing or dynamic to wow a client and make the sales pitch that much easier for themselves, while I sympathise with sales teams wanting to keep their task simple in difficult times I can’t help feeling that it’s ignorance that makes the pitch difficult, not the dynamics of the advert.

Let me explain why I feel ignorance is the issue – Banner advertising has been around for a number of years now and web users are more switched on than ever before, at the same time various web browsers along with off-the-shelf software make it relatively simple to block banner advertising, one click and a web site’s ads are gone which is not good news for companies that have a banner advertising website model!  This is where the ignorance of sales people and teams starts to become a real issue, their need to keep the sale simple will inevitably damage advertising effectiveness as users either stop visiting your site or just simply block your advertising content.

My ethos is ‘less is more’ – yep not the first time you have probably heard this, but as far as I can tell there are three clear types of banner advert -

1. The adverts with one clear message and minimal text
2. Adverts for brand awareness only and again minimal contact copy
3. Those with a few clear key messages. 

 For me the first would be static this is because the simple message is the important part of the advert, it needs to be on screen for as long as possible giving the message the best chance of being absorbed by the user, while the second is using general content with no clear call to action, this naturally could use subtle animation to draw the users eye without distracting them too much (colour blends and changes would work well), the third where content is an issue I would use interactive animation i.e. when a user rolls over the advert an extra element is presented. 

Using the correct advert type for the content you are presenting is key, but because of the fear some businesses have of the Internet coupled with a lack of understanding the industries most in need of these revenues may simply cut their own throats.  Many web design blogs and websites have adopted the static advert model and seem to be making money, maybe the media industry should pay attention to this!

To prove that this can be successful Fusion Ads delivery network deals in only static advertising and currently delivers over 20,000,000 page views per month to its design network – Seems this is working quite well and may just be worth keeping an eye on.

I think some animation is necessary and sometimes you simply cannot get around it but it certainly shouldn’t be the industry standard.  If you have to animate an advert to make the sell then the advert is probably not going to succeed!

Slowly advertising is going to change and banners will disappear, so adapt now it will make a huge difference to the future and life of all online services.

See related article – http://nasarik.com/is-it-too-late-to-save-the-web-from-over-the-top-advertising/

Over the years I have encountered a number of bad practices with website design and content,  usually these are requests by clients who are trying to squeeze every last penny out of their website, but sometimes it is web designers who are creating a project for themselves rather than the end user.  I understand that sometimes it is impossible to always keep to your standards while keeping your client happy, so here are a few tips to aid you in the design and build process.

Do keep your website functional

Since the birth of the Internet web designers have always felt the need to over complicate the aesthetic of websites.  During the early years web designers seemed hell bent on overloading websites with gif and flash animations while not spending any time thinking about the structure of the pages and the framework of the site.

When creating any site think about what you want to achieve with the design and the content.  A site should be intuitive by nature, adding animation may just distract and confuse; think about the content and structure, it isn’t the trendy parts of the site that will make it a success but the quality of what the user finds that will make any website work.

Don’t assume you know everything

As a designer it pays to be open to new ideas and opinions, be careful not to run with an idea just because you think it will work brilliantly or look great.  Spending a large amount of time on a job can mean that you become too close to the project.  I’m not saying don’t trust yourself, just be sure to get as much opinion as possible.

Do think about the user

After building your pages spend some time testing the site, look at it from a neutral perspective.  Things like links opening in new windows or pages with limited or useless content can be very frustrating for an end user, keep any site as self contained and as complete as possible that way the user will trust you and your content.

Testing a site yourself should be a standard part of any project, however, getting others to test can be equally helpful and informative, alternate opinion can help you realise issues you didn’t see during the early stages of design and build, which in turn will help give a more complete end user experience.

Don’t compromise on design

Remember you are the designer and with knowledge and experience you should be able to confidently advise.  Content should be clean and clear online, allow content to frame itself and avoid unsightly borders, also try and spread content evenly over more than one page rather than cramming it all into an unrealistic area.

Always make a design whether personal or commercial unique, avoid passing trends as this can make the site date too quickly and will only bring the need for a re-design forward.  If you create the site for the client in a fresh style that suits their brand you will be more likely to please from the outset.

Summary

You are a designer, so explore all possibilities, listen to those around you, keep things unique but most of all don’t assume you know everything.