The standards and best practices in creating HTML Email are different compared to creating HTML for a web design. Instead of checking for cross-browser compatibility, it’s necessary to test to check how different email client types render HTML and CSS.

The Email Standards Project [www.email-standards.org] is an organization leading the way to improve the web standards and accessibility in email. They are working with both the designers and email client developers to ensure that emails render consistently. Currently, acid test is conducted on several of the email clients to determine the level of support. Based on the acid test, they’ve determined which commonly used CSS are supported.

For example, in Google Gmail, there is partial or no support in following high priority styles:

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“ A wealth of information creates a poverty of attention” 

-Hebert Simon.

Whether it be print collaterals, corporate identity or a website, the best element you could ever apply to a design is the one thing that’s been on the page before you even start…space. I will be showing the importance of space through its relationship between elements and how it affects the overall appearance and aesthetic.

“White space”, or “negative space”, is referred to as the space between graphical elements around a subject. These elements vary from text, images, shapes, etc. When used properly, it can be very effective! It often relates to importance, elegance and professionalism. Space is beautiful. Space shows sophistication. Space shows you know how to use it. So don’t be afraid of using it!

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When I was younger I served tables in a restaurant and one of the main training mantras that management tried to instill in their servers was for them to “Delete the Wonder” for their guests.  This meant that you should always keep the client aware of what was going on and to preemptively ask questions and foresee needs that they may have.

Today as a creative director this mantra still rings true with me.  Most issues with projects steam from a lack of communication, miscommunication or the designer not managing the clients’ expectations.  So with this said how can you as a designer “Delete the Wonder” with your client?

Step 1: Introduce your client to your creative process!

After a project is green lit the first thing that should be done is to have a kickoff meeting to review the scope of the project, introduce the team that the client will be working with throughout the project and most importantly introduce the client to the creative process.  Every designer has a different creative process that they use but here is a sample of a process that through my experience I have found to be very successful with web related projects.

Sample Creative Process:

1.    The Creative Brief
2.    Research
3.    Requirements
4.    Brainstorming
5.    Wireframing
6.    Presentation
7.    Revisions
8.    Final Presentations
9.    Sign-off from the Client

Step 2: Keep your client focused!

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Recently EMG worked on a non-profit website for “The Ecology Center.” I was blessed with the opportunity to create the fun, interactive headers on each page. YIPPPY! If you check out the WEBSITE HERE, you can mouse over the headers to trigger animation.So now you’re probably thinking, “How’d we do that?” Well, let’s move on as I guide you step-by-step on how this was achieved.

Step One: Concept & Design

Once the look and feel was handed over to me, I needed to develop a creative direction for each header in terms of the layout and content. If you’ve noticed, the home page flash header has an assortment of colors spanning across through the depicted nature scene. To proceed, EMG decided to split each colored section to represent a different sub-section for the website. After splitting up the homepage graphic we added some more elements to bring the images to life. Check out the screens shots below.

 Step Two: Import & Layout in Flash Read the rest of this entry »

Is social media a dead space for Advertisers now?  Certainly not, however, according to this article that was forwarded to me by a friend (thanks Spore); Randall Stross from the NY Times seems to lean in that direction.  I have a few issues with this article, or perhaps, I take issue with the case study presented as well as the social network platform that was used for this particular Advertising promotion.

The case presented was about Crest White Strips which Proctor & Gamble ran a large promotion.  This article discussed P&G’s campaign on Facebook, specifically, and how they felt the campaign fell short of the desired metrics.

According to the article, “Independent experts on Web advertising” has identified “a myriad of difficulties in making brand advertising work on social networking sites.  Members of social networks want to spend time with friends, not brands.”  This is ludicrous.  First off, I would like to know who these “Independent experts” are, and see what level of involvement they have with social networking sites and advertiser campaigns.  As an avid social networking user, I feel that the above quote about users wanting to spend time with friends and not brands is a completely inaccurate statement with a caveat that the brands that are trying to engage the users must position their campaigns in a way that is enticing to that brand enthusiast.

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As one of the few coders who were first introduced to XHTML prior to HTML, I was fortunate enough to not acquire the bad habits of HTML. However, I did have my share of encounters of bad HTML over the years. Back then, I remember being asked to fix a style issue on a page that was coded in all caps with no CSS style and why the page looked different in Firefox and Explorer. Today, these are the habits of the old. And now, there is XHTML to resolve such issues.

XHTML is the “new” HTML and it stands for Extensible HyperText Markup Language. XTHML is a form of XML which is designed to describe data. XHTML, on the contrary, is stricter and cleaner version of HTML. XTHML is the Word Wide Consortium’s (W3C) Recommendation, considering that all new browsers support it. Basically, this is the proper method of creating web pages.

Here are guidelines to write XTHML:
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I really enjoy attending User Experience events. This is one place where I can tell people that I am an Information Architect, without them looking at me and say: So I guess you design houses then?

Trust me, I get that quite a lot at other social gatherings, like birthday parties, weddings and high school reunions…

So, I was at this Los Angeles Designers Meet up recently and a young lady in her mid 20s asked me a question that I have not thought of in recent years.

Her: What would be THE one principle that you have stood by throughout the years in your line of work?”

(I deep thought about my past 10 years in the User Experience field and replied)

Me: Well, it has to be KISS Usability or Keep It Simple Stupid Usability.

(I went on and elaborate)

Me: In fact, it’s easy to make things difficult but it’s difficult to make things easy.

But the key when it comes to usability is to focus on just one thing.

I then shared an article that I’ve recently read, with her. It’s called “Choice Kills Usability” by John Rhodes and here are some key points from that article:

“One of the easiest ways to improve usability is by focusing on just one thing. When you present something to the user, be sure that it’s just one thing. All too often we try too hard to offer people several options.

The reason many people love Google.com is that it offers just one thing: Search. A single-minded focus has enormous implications. Users can clearly understand what Google is about and what it does. Even new users to Google are instantly put at ease because of the outlandish simplicity.

There are branding implications as well. When people think about search they think about Google and when they think about Google they think about search. This brand strength translates to billions of dollars of market capitalization…”

“…billion dollar companies down to gritty little sales pages can benefit from ultra focus. When you eliminate clutter and choices, usability invariably goes up. When there is a single purpose of a web page, product or service everyone wins.

Next time you’re thinking about giving your customers 100 choices, think about the effort that it takes to investigate each decision. Think about the cognitive effort required to sift through option after option. Look, if you “know” there is one best choice; eliminate the junk and focus, focus, focus.

Choice kills usability. Not always — But when you are in doubt about adding features, choices, and options, take the safe path.

Provide a clear vision. Be practical. Focus for usability. “

So, next time, when your customer wants the “About Us” link to be repeated on the header, footer and again on the infamous quick-links section, just because they said it is not prominent enough. Think again, try to recommend a solution that focus and make that “one link” more obvious and prominent.

The footer definitely has much greater use than just repeating what’s in the header and so is the quick-links section. I guess that may be a topic for my next chat up and a blog to follow.

Allow me to take you back to high school English class, when all but the bravest of introductory paragraphs began with a deeply thought out quote snatched from the thickest book to be found in the non-fiction nether regions of the library (or media center - for the younger ones in the bunch).

“The effects of technology do not occur at the level of opinions or concepts, but alter sense ratios or patterns of perception steadily and without any resistance. The serious artist is the only person able to encounter technology with impunity, just because he is an expert aware of the changes in sense perception.” - Marshall McLuhan, “The Medium Is the Message,” Understanding Media

Brilliant, right? The last few weeks, I’ve been revisiting some texts I too hastily read back in the day, and when those words went from page to perception for me yesterday, I was utterly floored. I’m pretty sure I made some sort of sound of astonishment to mark the occasion, too. I mean, come on. Not that I fully grasp the fullness of McLuhan’s statement even 24 hours after I read it, but it’s clear the implications of just this single set of words and ideas are massive - for EMG, for my role and responsibility within the company as well as for me personally not to mention what this means for everyone who considers themselves a serious artist (whatever this means should be saved for a later post!).

Now, since I’m writing a blog post and not the novel I’ll never write, I’ll stick to the first couple ideas McLuhan’s prophetic prose brought forward for me - specifically regarding EMG as an organization. First off, EMG functions best when all three of its operational efforts - Strategy. Artistry. Technology. - are organically giving and taking, working toward unified project-specific goals, and McLuhan’s belief’s about the Artist and his or her unique ability to identify and respond to Technology’s impact on the user illustrates the wild need for Artistry when developing effective Technology solutions. And, if what McLuhan says is true - that a “serious artist” is the ONLY person able to engage in technology without being significantly changed by the technology itself, an artists’s input and inquiries from a user perspective is vital to an effective process for us and an effective end product for our loyal client.

This leads to another thought, and this one’s about why the EMG team works as well as we do together. Artists of all kinds have found a 9-5 home at EMG - painters, musicians, composers, essayists, directors, producers and even a quilter or two to start a short list - and up until now I thought our good rapport had more to do with personalities than job function. But, after considering the artist’s role and responsibility for shaping technology, an artist at EMG is in his or her element - continually shaping technology from a place of difference as McLuhan proposes. So, it’s okay that the user scenarios we propose in meetings seem to come from left field sometimes, and it’s okay when we need assistance from time-to-time understanding what seems so logical to techies and analysts because it’s essentially an artist’s job to see things differently. As artists we are - for better or worse - hardwired to be in tune with the way an audience accesses or perceives a message or process as much as we are equipped to create artful products to best serve these sense perceptions - in their endlessly unpredictable and dynamic glory.