Ernest Szymula @ernestsdesign - Tumblr Blog

Researching Web Agency Websites

Creating websites that engage users ✅ Bringing the art to the cart ✅ Start expcting more from your website, one pixel at a time

The first website I decided to look into, Gekkoshot. I really like the animation they put on the header of their site. It makes the website that little bit unique. Immediately the company lets the user know that they can "get a free quote", this is good for attracting clients who have no time to look at other parts of the site. The site then shows off one project they must be most proud of before going into showing their achievements; 14 years of experience and 5 star Google reviews.

They then show off more projects. I feel like the presentation of this is a little weak though, even on desktop the project showcase photos are hard to see. It feels like more focus was put into showing that the sites work on mobile, desktop & tablet. In my opinion this isn't the best approach, most clients will want to see what the companies other projects look like. Instead, they are being shown very small illustrations for each project. The illustrations of all three devices blocks the actual look of the site which is a shame in my opinion because of how good the sites actually look.

The website features simplistic colours which are created with different tones of green and blue's. That combination of colour seems very nice because it lets the company show off different tones depending on what they are showing.

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The next website I decided to explore, GreenPixel. Immediately I am not a fan of the purple/green colour scheme because its telling me two different things. This is personal but for me the green expresses nature and calmness whereas the purple is energetic and enthusiastic. The design of the website is great however. The illustration for the header looks great, they immediately show off their clients and add some animation to aspects of the site making it more interesting. They relate to the client by showing off common frustrations. They then turn around and state how their company can make life easier for the potential clients. They show off the journey that the client will go through from start to completion of the project which is great because it means clients will understand the process more before it begins. The obvious benefit of this is that since the client understands the process, they will be more likely to choose that agency.

The biggest downside of this site is that no project is shown in the homepage. The client will want to see other work, it is a super important part of looking into web agencies and with GreenPixel, they decided that the projects will have their own separate page. The problem with this is that it creates more hassle for the client. The client expects to see some introductory past projects since this is common practice within the industry so they might ignore the navigation bar thinking it will be somewhere within the homepage.

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There is soo much to talk about KOTA. Lets start with the background that moves with your mouse, super unique and I love it. The wording that is used; youthful, energetic, rebellious and cool. It is somewhat different from the typical brand diction used by many other agencies. The first display of past projects is great, it has good timing that gets you excited about what they do and is big enough for everyone to get a glimpse at what the outcome actually is. They then showcase what their design work encompasses; beauty, thought and impact. A great way to show what the agency does with clients' websites. Each of their project showcases the name of the brand they worked on, a description of what was done and the things that got changed such as the website or branding.

The downside of this section is that the pink colour scheme is a little heavy. It is used in many occasion but stands out most in the photos. As the mouse moves over images (down in the work section) then the pink takes over the images and makes it a big contrast against the black background used in that section.

Project Conclusion

This is it… The 359th post. This is (probably) going to be the last post of my university life. It has been a long and hard journey that had its ups and downs.

Through the duration of this project, I noticed the biggest change in how I was handling the workload. I noticed how much faster I was creating my illustrations, how much more efficiently I was dealing with coding problems regarding HTML & CSS and how much better my app and website design was looking.

But one change that I am very proud of is my typing. I used to write with very advanced words that were making my written content harder to read. This changed when I listened to Dan’s explanation of why doing this was unnecessary. This change is very meaningful for me, I feel like my typing is much more “personal” now not only in my blog posts but even in everyday conversations on social media. It also means I am spending less time writing because I’m no longer double-checking if my sentences make sense. I know they do because I write them as I think of them instead of dwelling on how to make them longer.

Even before I started university, I wanted to create a boxing app/website that would advance the sport forward. I wanted to make a boxing project that was innovative, motivational, fun and educational. Now my biggest dream has been accomplished. Like I mentioned before, so many people give up the sport after just a few sessions. Motivation, fear and seeing others do so well are all valid reasons why people feel discouraged to come back into boxing clubs. This does not mean the end however; I still want to launch the app within the App Store(s). To do this however, I still have to include video tutorials to make the app much more effective in the teaching stage and I still want to add a lot more sessions. I want the app to last a lot longer than the initial 24-day introductory period, I have already half-achieved this with the introduction of the challenge mode but more needs to be done!

The biggest advantage for me was that I played to my strengths with this project; I mixed my passion for design & boxing to create this app. I knew what newcomers to the sport needed and had coaches, participants and martial arts forums to turn to for help. My project was driven on feedback and understanding and I feel this makes the app unique.

The biggest weakness of the project is that I wanted to quickly advance to the prototyping stage. I feel like I could have focused more on sketching more interfaces, trying out different monograms and playing around more with different colours. This weakness was reduced by the fact that I experimented with the app layout, colour, fonts and monograms later on which led to that huge rehaul and changed the apps direction. I can’t help but think what the outcome would be had I stayed longer in the sketching phase. I’m interested in this because the updated app idea came along when I was experimenting with the digital wireframes.

In conclusion, the project has been a big success in my eyes. Not only am I proud of the work I have done but I am also happy with how much I have progressed myself. The project has exceeded all expectations I had, I can proudly say that this app is something that can function in the real world like any other professionally designed app. That is a huge win for me, and hopefully for the boxing community it will be too.