Web Site & Web Application Design
Background
An entrepreneur had a concept to provide a unique set of correspondence services via the Internet. He approached Reid to work as Chief Marketing Officer to help build and launch the business. As such, Reid had full responsibility for developing the company and service positioning, marketing strategy, brand identity ... and, of course, the Web site.
The service allowed users to use their regular email programs to write and send letters that are printed and delivered or faxed for them. Plus, they can send email that looks just like printed mail. We came up with the name LetterClick for the service.
Issues
LetterClick home page
This was not just a Web site project; we had to design both the site and the interface to the service itself. We began by investigating who the users would be, what information and functionality they might expect to find there, and how they would use the site.
The site needed both a public side and a members-only side. The public area would explain the services and their benefits to, hopefully, compel visitors to sign up. The member area would provide the functionality to enable members to manage their accounts, set options, and so forth.
Solution
Step one was to determine the content and interactivity for both the public and member portions of the site. With these determined, we developed the information architecture for the site, and then designed a user interface and navigation schema that is consistent on both sides of the site.
We developed an appropriate, friendly look and feel for the site. This included the navigational graphics and a color palette, based on the logo, that was bright and friendly while being business-like.
We designed the interactive pages of the site – registration, member controls, etc. – first, as these were the more challenging pages. The layout of the informational pages was then designed to coordinate with them. Finally, we wrote the content and developed all the visuals for the site.
The result is a Web site that successfully provides visitors with the service information and examples, leading over 10% of them to registration. The member side provides a level of usability that has resulted in remarkably few technical support queries.
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