Posts Tagged ‘one page website’

Recently, we were asked to submit a bid for a decently large-scale design job. The job entailed design work for 2 campaigns for the University of Alberta – two campaigns focused on sustainability. These campaigns needed branding as well as a variety of print and digital design.

The question we had was how to properly respond to a bid for a job focused on sustainability. We could go the paper route and use FSC-certified paper, but we decided to go one step further and create a one-page website as our “Expression of Interest”, or proposal. Our thought was to create an environmentally friendly proposal, and no printing = no trees. Our hope was that it would set us apart from the other design studios asked to bid on the campaigns, as well as showcase the fact that we’re already thinking environmentally.

Unfortunately, it didn’t work. The job went to another design group in Edmonton (I’m not sure whom, but I’m sure it was well-deserved).

These things happen with RFPs and the like; what can you do! Good news is, we thought that our web proposal was interesting enough that some of our readers might enjoy it; if you’re one of those people, click here to view the sustainability web proposal.

As you can see, we went with a natural/”green”-inspired design. We used some textures and distressing to replicate the look of print, combining that with some jQuery Tooltips to bring the interactivity of the web into play. We’ve stripped out personal information and numbers, but everything else remains unchanged from the proposal we sent in. Have a look and let us know your thoughts and what you might have done differently!

Web users are bombarded with information on a daily basis, and it’s been shown that the way users read on a computer is completely different to how they read offline. Skimming content is the name of the game, and if the user doesn’t immediately see what he or she wants to see in a few seconds, off they’ll go into the internight to find what they want.

That’s right, website designers and website owners: most people who come to your site will hit & run.

This revelation can be a harsh one, and especially tough for designers to inform clients of. Clients all too frequently get caught up in the excitement of launching a new site, which can lead to major scope creep and feature bloat on a site; all of a sudden, a simple site has turned into a 75-page monolith, despite the designer/developer’s requests to keep it in the tracks.

When, Why & How: One Page Website Designs

But increasingly often, these monolithic sites aren’t required – in fact, they may prove a detriment as unless they are superbly designed, chances are it will be difficult for the user to find what they want within a few clicks, leading to a higher bounce rate than desired. It’s important to remember that a lot – I may even say “most” – viewers aren’t going to be nearly as interested in the website, or the business in general, as the website designer or the business owner. With that in mind, it’s important to embrace brevity, clear information hierarchy and structure in a web design. One (increasingly popular) way to do this is via the one page website.

One-pagers won’t work for all sites, obviously, but they can work for more than you imagine. The benefits to a well-designed one page website include

  • potentially lower cost to the client
  • high usability
  • information brevity
  • increased conversions
  • opportunity for unique design decisions and more.

Let’s explore these  benefits a bit more deeply. Read the whole article >

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Paper Leaf Design is a small but mighty graphic & web design studio in Edmonton. This is our blog, where we wax poetic on design.

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