Websites

[Pab]

A few days ago our designer put together the first mock up for our website redesign, and although it meets many of our requirements, it lacks a warm and welcoming feel. Not just about colour... I mean the look and feel.

I said I'd pull together some examples of warm, friendly and welcoming company websites to help inspire the design, but I cannot think of any off the top of my head.

Short of trawling search engines for random websites, can anyone think of any such sites that describe what I've mentioned? Any that stuck in your head? Alternatively, advice on where to find a site that showcases lots of other sites would be great. I can then have a dig.

Many thanks,

 

[GreenLaser]

Are you talking about social bookmarking sites?

 

[OldWelshGuy]

one mans 'warm and welcoming' is anothers idea of hell.

You need to start with more basic than that
ie.
colours
edges
background
layout
etc

 

[Pab]

Just because you like something doesn't mean I will, so I appreciate it's completely subjective, but I was seeking the opinion of others anyway for inspiration.

 

[londonlover]

Why don't you take a look at Elance - do a quick search for providers and there you will find hundreds of web designers showcasing their portfolios, so you'll be able to quickly look at lots of different designs until you find something that's what you had in mind.
You don't need to sign up for a free account to view the portfolios. Hope this helps.

 

[PETTE]

Another option would be to browse website templates websites. You'll probably find lots of examples their to match your requirements.

Or you could use pictures, good website development companies might relate the design to the pictures or color schemes you provide.

Here are a few which I think might help.

http://themeforest.net/item/the-clothes-shop-wordpress-ecommerce/full_screen_preview/64132

http://www.mygoldparty.com/index.html

http://www.3dmagicaldesigns.com/?page_id=103

http://www.goforonline.com/

http://www.psd2html.com/

 

[bluecm]

Try

http://www.cssimpress.com/
http://www.website-gallery.com/
http://siteinspire.net/

 

[Eagle]

Why don't you take a look at Elance - do a quick search for providers and there you will find hundreds of web designers showcasing their portfolios

Exercise caution though - there are a lot of rogues there and the lowest bidder isn't always the best one to go with.

 

[Dawg]

Just a quick question. Why "warm and welcoming"? Is that what potential customers are looking for in a translation service?

I'd be looking for professionalism, and for a global reach--(even if I only wanted English French the feelgood factor of a company being multilingual would impress). I'd be looking at getting a quote, and at the speed and reliability of the service.

I wouldn't be looking to make chums or have a jolly time in translation-ville. So is "warm and welcoming" as important as other factors which might help conversion more?

 

[bluecm]

What no jolly time in translation-ville

 

[fisicx]

Agree with Dawg, the colours and layout you use will only have an effect for a few seconds, after that it's down to your content and navigation.

So if the site and pages are built logically, it's going to be an easy job for your designer to set up a range of CSS styles that you can use to split-test the effectiveness of your theme.

 

[Pab]

Just a quick question. Why "warm and welcoming"? Is that what potential customers are looking for in a translation service?

I'd be looking for professionalism, and for a global reach--(even if I only wanted English French the feelgood factor of a company being multilingual would impress). I'd be looking at getting a quote, and at the speed and reliability of the service.

I wouldn't be looking to make chums or have a jolly time in translation-ville. So is "warm and welcoming" as important as other factors which might help conversion more?

Good points well made.

The problem is, as we see it anyway, when you and a number of your competitors all have these things, you need to look at additional ways of standing out. It's not about "making chums" or having a "jolly time". People buy from people, so if we can relate or appeal to them on a personal level as well as offering the required services at the right price etc, it's going to help.

 

[Pab]

So if the site and pages are built logically, it's going to be an easy job for your designer to set up a range of CSS styles that you can use to split-test the effectiveness of your theme.

Absolutely.

 

[JMCDesigner]

You could try templatemonster.com, you can categorise search style.

And I would elaborate that yes, making something that looks appealing and inviting is vitally important. If you had a scruffy looking, unshaven lad in a tracksuit and baseball cap offering to sell you something, and another in a business suit, a relaxed demeanour and a welcoming smile. What's your gut reaction? And I mean in a split second, not after you've mulled it over.

Yes so its business, not about being all chummy...but it's about making the extra effort and 'scrub up' for your customers, and showing that you give a monkies about their custom. Relate to them on a personal level, definitely

 

[Not so daft]

Agree with Dawg, the colours and layout you use will only have an effect for a few seconds, after that it's down to your content and navigation.

I agree that content is king and all that. But the initial attention grabber is not content, its design (ie. look / colors / layout / fonts / letter spacing / leading etc etc). So design does play an important role. Take your own site for example. Sure it might have smashing content, but from a design standpoint its ****ing awful. Orange and browns, big square boxes and that god awful font. To top it off it says "Effective Web Design" maybe you should re-word that to say "Effective Web Content" cos you seem to know very little on the 'Design' side of things. Now getting back to the original point, surely your designer should have an whole arsenal of reference sites / material if he's struggling to come up with something?

 

[Not so daft]

You might also want to sort validation out, its pulling up 181 Errors and 48 warnings.

 

[liams7]

"Not so daft" i think i love you

 

[fisicx]

Take your own site for example. Sure it might have smashing content, but from a design standpoint its ****ing awful. Orange and browns, big square boxes and that god awful font. To top it off it says "Effective Web Design" maybe you should re-word that to say "Effective Web Content" cos you seem to know very little on the 'Design' side of things.

Agree about the colours (I using the site to do some testing on the effects of colout on bounce rates) but what's wrong with the font, it's only verdana?

You might also want to sort validation out, its pulling up 181 Errors and 48 warnings.

Where? My handy dandy firefox plug in has a green tick and the W3C only reports one error that I'm still scratching my head over.

Had this discussion many times on the forum and there are as many differing factions are there are definitions of design.

The general consensous is that the design incoroporates the planning, architecture, structures, programming, usability, accessibility, content, navigation, testing and of course the layout.

I'd also argue that what you think is a stunning layout others may not like at all in the same way that someone who likes lots of widgets, gizmos and special effects will turn their nose up at a minimalist site. That's just the way it is.

But thank you for your comments.

 

[Pab]

Where? My handy dandy firefox plug in has a green tick and the W3C only reports one error that I'm still scratching my head over.

I think the validation comment was referring to my current site. The design comments were referring to yours.

 

[fisicx]

I think the validation comment was referring to my current site. The design comments were referring to yours.

Then be still my beating heart.

I was experimenting with colour combinations and even though not liked by DSD (and others), the orange/brown combination actually has the lowest bounce rate! Next week's test is going to the a purpley scheme to see how that fares.

Have you ever had a play with this cracking tool: http://colorschemedesigner.com/

 

[PETTE]

Thanks for the color Scheme link.

 

[Kev Jaques]

Colours help convey emotions and can cloud judgement especially by committee so testing is a great way to get a balance that works for your potential customers based on fact rather than opinions.
You only have to look at the recentish colour issue that Google tested (too many?) shades of blue to find the right one.

 

[fisicx]

Agree there Kev.

Don't ever rely on the members here to provide the perfect solution as most of the time they aren't your prospective customers.

 

[bcmedia]

I was experimenting with colour combinations and even though not liked by DSD (and others), the orange/brown combination actually has the lowest bounce rate

Seriously, I doubt you could make a more rancid colour scheme if you tried. LOL, its f*cking awful!

I mean that in the nicest possible way - Purple and Green should be the next scheme