Ideas, insights and inspirations.

My family recently took a trip to Portugal and Spain. Be it my first time in Europe, I could compose a never-ending list of all the things that astounded me — from the decadent pastries to the new and exciting symphony of language that filled the air. The thing I found most astonishing, however, was the intricate architecture that sculpted each building we passed, on every street we ventured down. In these cities and towns, some over 500 years old, everything is a piece of art. From the cobblestone streets to the burnt Spanish-tiled roofs, every building brightly etched in a different color sidewalk chalk. I spent every day of our trip 10 steps behind the rest of the group, handicapped by my awestruck wonder and need to photograph every inch of the masterpiece before me. Even every door was a beautiful creation. Each original and treated with an attention to structure and detail that could not be ignored by … Continue reading

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The fold. A term I hadn’t heard before coming to Elliance a little more than a year ago. If you’re sitting there clueless like I was, the fold is a term coined by the newspaper industry to describe the natural fold of a newspaper. You know, because newspapers always come folded in half. In the newspaper industry, the information above the fold is vital to sales. Since newspapers stack on the shelf at the grocery store, the stuff you throw in the top half has to be exciting enough to make readers want to purchase the paper. Sometime after scrolling was introduced to the internet (mid to late ’90s) web designers stole this term and started applying the same concept to the wonderful world wide web. Except, their thinking was that they had to cram all the important information above the fold because people simply wouldn’t scroll down, even if they had the means to do so. This may have been … Continue reading

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When it comes to connecting with potential customers and other key audiences, your website is perhaps the most important tool you have. But no matter how brilliantly designed and well written your website is, it won’t last forever. It needs to be refreshed or redesigned to keep up with changes in design and technology trends. If you’re considering a website redesign, here are a few questions you need to ask: Does your website reflect your brand’s current reality? The visual design of your website may be one indicator that it’s time for a refresh, but dig deeper and you may find that your brand position is no longer being accurately represented or, even worse, may have never been clearly established. Is your website generating a consistent supply of qualified leads? While reversing this trend may require adjustments to your overall business strategy, it may also require a reexamination of your supporting web strategy and tactics. This could also indicate the … Continue reading

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