Graphique Communications Design

I’ve been in the design and branding business for about 20 years now. Yikes! And a lot has changed. When I began, the Web was an infant that no one knew how to control. TV, radio and print ruled. Since then, the Internet has flourished into the monster it is today. Innovations have been utilizing it as their springboard everyday. If only we knew how how to use these innovations effectively right out of the gate. Most don’t come with instruction manuals. But I do see one new marketing and design innovation, finally hitting the US, that is well worth some attention. And it’s not on the Web; it’s in print!

Yes, you heard me right. Print. That old sawhorse that hasn’t had an innovation in it since direct-to-plate. Yippie! I’m talking about BeeTaggs, QR Codes and Datamatrix. You may have seen them on some magazine’s here or there. Or maybe not. As a basic description, they are square versions of UPC codes. Each version has its uses, data limitations, designs and looks. So what, you ask? UPC codes have been around forever. The difference is that these codes can be read by mobile phones; transporting the owner to an online destination. I prefer to think of them as ‘Printed Hyperlinks’.

So what, you ask again, and more impatiently this time? The benefits and uses include:

- Print campaigns and contests that take you to a website with the click or wave of your phone
- Not having to remember or scribble down website or email addresses
- Instant digital communication of business card information
- Creating additional buzz with your existing campaigns
- And anything else you can dream up

We’re all looking for a leg up these days in the crowded marketing world. We spend an inordinate amount of time scouring over all of the new innovations or sites trying to figure out how to exploit them. Well, here’s one innovation that seems useful, fun and pretty straight forward. No instructions necessary.

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A new twist on an old element of website navigation.

How well a website is navigated by the end-user is ultimately the truest test of its success. In my day-to-day travels around the internet I find too often you get some pretty horrible uses of drop-down menus. Mistakenly, web designers often feel the only way to provide navigation to a website with ‘deep content’ is to have drop-down menus that often go 2-3 levels deep. This may have been a by-product of slow, page-load times due to low bandwidth. End-users didn’t have the patience to wait for a page to load only to find out what they want is still a few clicks away. Now that broadband use is so prevalent and search sites like Google and Bing are often the fastest way to get direct access to content, web designers are using the drop-down less and less.

If you study modern website navigation you’ll find that many sites still need this navigation element, they just use it differently. Amazon uses it sparingly to allow you to ‘browse’ if needed, but a seasoned Amazon shopper will go straight to the search box. Other forward thinking web designers have taken a new approach, using what many in the industry have dubbed the ‘Mega Drop-Down’. This new approach provides more navigation options for the users, and options are  often organized in groups to emphasize connections among items. Like it’s predecessor, the aim of the mega drop-down is to provide a tool for digging into the sections of the website in a clever and tidy way.

A simple example can be found on the website developed for Aviary.com, an online software company. The menu here creates a graphical way for users to differentiate several online product offerings. For me, it promotes discovery as well.

Last years redesign of the White House website also gave us a good use of the mega drop-down. A very simple execution that gives the website a more modern feel and lets the public find information on what is ultimately a very content-rich website.

A more complex example can be found at the Porsche North America website. You can see in the example below that the web designer has created a useful navigation tool for the entire Porsche line of cars. It becomes a way to see the entire structure at a glance without ever having to click to a new page.

One of the the most advanced uses of the mega drop-down can be found at the Phillips USA website. Considering the diversity of their product line, a hybrid-style menu like this was a genius move and very forward thinking in its application. While it does use Flash to achieve this effect, it manages to keep the user engaged with simple, icon-driven menus to drive you through the product lines quickly. Below, you can see the home page before you click and then the menu that comes up after.

So the drop-down menu is not dead. Web designers have found situational uses for it that create functionality for delving into deep website content. Drop-down menus do in fact organize content into small, uncluttered elements, but if not done correctly, they can be just as bad as a messy layout. Use them wisely and your customers will thank you for it!

There are a few more examples listed below to further illustrate best practices in drop-down menu design. Feel free to provide your own example links in the comments.

Food Network - http://www.foodnetwork.com
Action Envelope - http://www.actionenvelope.com
Samsung USA - http://www.samsung.com/us/
Boxee TV - http://www.boxee.tv

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Like most things, the success of the Google’s first-ever foray into branding and advertising on TV will take time to assess. There will be those who claim ‘genius’ on the part of Google. Others, like myself, were left a little confused.

The commercial is simply a closeup of the Google home page set to some background piano. The person searching, possibly a male, is searching phrases related to France: getting a job in France, moving to France, eating in France, romance in France, long distance relationships, etc. We then hear a baby cry in the background and the search becomes one for how to put a crib together...which doesn’t really makes sense since cribs tend to come with instructions. And all cribs are different, so even if you did not have the instructions, I would expect specifying the brand and model of crib would be crucial. 

Putting all that aside, I believe they wanted us to feel that Google is with you throughout your life journey. From moving to a new place, meeting someone and starting a family. However, I took it that the person performing the searches took a job in France, had an affair there, and is now back in the US, stuck at home with his wife and baby.

Cheater!

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Hello and thanks for visiting designIQ, the official blog from Graphique Communications Design focusing on the worlds of marketing, web design, print design, new and traditional media. I’m Doron Krinetz, Principal, Creative Director and all around good chum here at Graphique. This year marks our 10th year in the design and marketing biz. And what better way to celebrate, then to finally get off our duffs, design a new website and start blogging. Check our new site out when you have a moment.

In case you are new to the fold, Graphique designs websites, advertising and print collateral for businesses small and large. Over the years we've developed SEO, branding, marketing and social media skill sets. Our ultimate goal as a company is to deliver custom marketing and design solutions that are aesthetically and functionally engaging, and drive ROI.

It is with that goal in mind that we decided to launch designIQ. On our blog, we hope to provide insight, create arguments, develop relationships, enlighten, learn, review and discuss all that is related to marketing and graphic design in both old and new media.

You’ll be hearing from my partner in crime, and in life, Stephanie Krinetz. As Principal of Graphique, Stephanie is pretty much the face of the company. Or at least the prettier face. She is both a marketing guru and quintessential networker. And there’s Curtiss, our Senior Web Designer and resident Mac fanboy. He will be keeping all of us up-to-date on some of the latest Internet trends and technologies that can help your business. And who would I be if I weren’t putting in my 2 cents. You’ll be hearing from me as often as I can tear myself away from ‘24’. C’mon, the new season just started.

We also expect to hear from you as well…clients, peers, and everyone else interested in our viewpoints and willing to share their own. Please visit our Comment Form Guidelines, there are not too many. Just keep it clean, pertinent, fun and of course, real!

Thanks for reading,
Doron Krinetz

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