November 9th, 2010
Insight Article, Visual Design
As both a designer and Creative Director I spend a good bit of my day looking to arrive at a “right” solution for our clients and more importantly, the appropriate solution for their users. It’s not a struggle unique to us here at NavigationArts, on the contrary; it’s the age-old battle that applied design presents with each and every engagement: “Will it resonate?” “Will it be readily adopted?” “Is it brand strengthening?” and so on.
When the design team shows up, so does subjectivity. As I have never found a reliable “creative solution decoder ring,” we’ve had to rely on alternate methods to ensure that we do all that we can to remove as much of the subjective as possible and to understand the visual desires of our clients.
We use worksheets and questionnaires. We conduct interviews. All of these steps are taken in an effort to gain a greater intimacy with our client’s respective brands. One question we like to pose is, “Are there specific websites, either in the competitive landscape or not, that you aspire to be like?” It’s a simple enough question and one that reveals significant insight into what visual priorities/ styles resonate with our clients. The answers to this question vary widely but with one exception; on nearly every occasion, someone in the room mentions Apple.com. Regardless of the industry in which they operate, regardless of their respective business goals and existing brand visuals, the majority of clients aspire to be like Apple.
This obvious trend got me thinking… What is it about Apple’s site that makes it so universally desirable? I decided to spend some more time on the site and form some of my own conclusions. (more…)
Matt Schleyer
