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29th September 2008

The experts who study our habits when it comes to surfing websites have been closely monitoring how we click and search for years now. As the Internet grows and changes, many patterns are emerging. The one thing that is really clear from these studies is without doubt the most important. The amount of time your website has to make an impact is getting shorter and shorter.

Your web design has to make an impact, and fast

Put simply, your site has to get it's foot quickly and firmly in the door, but they're closing faster than they ever have. Your web design and company branding has to have an immediate impact otherwise the customer that has just found you, will be gone just as quickly. The quality of your site has to be higher than ever and users are expecting more for their time.

Not only does your web site design have to be eye-catching to stand out from the crowd your online marketing needs to be just that little bit smarter too. You have to make sure you're sending out email campaigns that are as good as the other emails regularly landing in your customers email inboxes. And you haven't got it easy, your emails will be sitting right alongside campaigns from the likes of Internet heavyweights amazon.co.uk et al.

Compete directly with strong design and branding

It all comes down to one thing. Great design. By getting your design and branding 100% right you'll be in a position to compete directly with your competition while keeping strict control over your budget spend.

And with the current economic downturn people are researching purchases for longer and spending more carefully. A well thought out strategy to keep your design and branding at the forefront of your customers minds is crucial.

Sir John Sorrell, chairman of the London Design Festival (LDF), promotes design as a force for good that will see the UK through the economic slowdown it currently faces. ‘I believe that the greatest creativity happens in adversity,’ he says. ‘And I believe creativity in adversity is the key to success. I believe in the power of design to solve problems and [foster] innovation.’

When the going gets tough, design gets going

He continues, ‘Design for me is the powerhouse of the creative industries. It is the catalyst that restarts the economic engines of nations.’ Sorrell was speaking in London to an audience of LDF partners and media. He said the sixth festival, scheduled for September, will ‘take place in a very different context to the past five’. ‘The past ten years have seen a pretty good time – and the past five years a boom time – for design,’ he said. ‘This time, there is doom and gloom around, but when the going gets tough, design gets going.’ SOURCE Design Week

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