- Web Design - Sink Or Swim: HorsePowerCalculators.net

[EdenAdvertising]

WARNING: The Internet may contain traces of nuts

[mqemphatic38]

Great job guys with this episode. Aure, in a very short amount of time, you did make the home page vastly easier to visually digest. Ryan, I love to hear you speak about breaking down the design and what works. We speak the same "designer lingo" and it's refreshing to hear your ideas/views. I also do the squint test and the flip test from time to time on my designs.

There is one major FAIL though. Can you guess it? I'm a little shocked this slipped by you guys who are Senior Level Designers.

[GtheJAR]

I'm studying design, and this video inspired me:]] thanks for your work!!!

[Pacdisciple]

Slow down and quit interrupting him! Annoying spaz!

[artisinresidence]

I really like Jose, but these segments with Aure are just way too cool! Thanks for providing both the analytical aspect as well and the creative design elements of this industry. Keep up the great work!

[CapitalNoise]

Just looked at their site a week later. Another example of when good design ideas go wrong.

I'm guessing they hired some kid on craigslist to build it for less than $300... and at the end they got what they paid for.

[artisinresidence]

Indeed :) @CapitalNoise

[nuclearhappines]

@CapitalNoise Nope, I built it myself. Life in a startup is an iterative process. Other things like make your product better sometimes trump things like having your site look amazing. There are other considerations as well. Aure used a good looking engine on his mockup but I can't sell the idea of performance using a 1 cylinder scooter engine.... so even if the graphic is a lower quality, its resonance with the audience is higher. That being said. There will be other iterations.

[HuotMediaDesigns]

@nuclearhappines Your site should be a good balance of looks and product quality. Use stock photos while you wait for high-res images of your own. Using quality images will give the customer the confidence that your company is quality. I have customers who refuse to purchase images or take their own, and then wonder why their bounce rate is crazy high. Just my opinion, use a png with trans bg in-place of the grey box behind the engine. It breaks the page up too much.

[nuclearhappines]

@HuotMediaDesigns Thanks for your feedback.

Link me to it and I'll use it on the site... how's that ?

PS: don't make assumptions about my conversion and bounce rate without seeing my analytics.

The design launch has had no appreciable affect on our site analytics or sales.

However the beta of our new product, which is consuming most of my time, has result in a surge of inbound links and over a 30% boost in traffic to that page.

I love great design... but great design can't move a bad product

[HuotMediaDesigns]

@nuclearhappines I'll pm you the link, it may cost you $5 or $10 for the image, but it is on a white bg so you should be able to drop it out pretty easy in photoshop, If you need help with that, you can msg me. As for your conversions, I wasn't making any assumptions about yours, I was just saying from my exp. Thats great your having such success. If you ever change your nav structure make sure you setup 301 redirects. It will keep your place in search engines as well as avoid broken links.

[thedcmule]

I think like, that guy says like, like, like a lot.

[ThisWeekIn]

@thedcmule Ha! That's my nervous excitement kicking in. I'll tone it down going forward. Thanks for the heads up.

[HuotMediaDesigns]

Very nice job. I always enjoy your shows. As a webmaster and freelancer I am always looking for inspiration, and better ways of doing things. Thanks for taking the time.

[thegroop]

@HuotMediaDesigns let us know what topics you would like us to cover. Thanks for watching.

[ThisWeekIn]

@HuotMediaDesigns Thanks a ton. Let us know what you would like to see from us in Sink or Swim: we'll address any and all design questions in this segment!

[HuotMediaDesigns]

@ThisWeekIn Thanks for the reply. I am away on vacation and didn't get a chance to catch this weeks episode, but one for future segments: What are your thoughts on css sprites. Should we use them and are they worth the extra time in trying to optimize your site?

Thanks,

Nick

[aurecast]

@HuotMediaDesigns thanks for watching! I would definitely recommend css sprites as a good way to optimize your site. We can discuss more next time.

[intcomaz]

keep it coming! I do enjoy learning about the business aspect of Web Design because it has helped me to incorporate that to my practice. And the last couple of episodes I learned that web design is much more than pretty graphics. But I have to admit that I found thisweekin Web Design hoping to find a show that discusses more design. YOU GUYS ROCK!

[ThisWeekIn]

@intcomaz Thanks so much. I think this will really work if we keep the high level of discussion around the business and management of web design in the main show, and dig deep into design in Sink Or Swim bonus content. If you can, could you share this clip with your friends? We're looking for as much feedback as possible on this one!

[FiniteHelp]

@ThisWeekIn Yeah I too was honestly a little disappointed at first, because I was expecting more development, design, etc but I stuck with it. And actually I am very happy I did because I learned a great deal about the business aspect of it that I had no clue of before. I knew so little I didn't even know what I was missing and I've come to really enjoy the whole business side of the show, it is highly beneficial. These technical snippets are awesome though and I hope to see more of them.

[ThisWeekIn]

@FiniteHelp Thanks! I don't think you can find the kind of business discussion that Jose talks about anywhere else. Aure and I are always trying to add in a little bit more design focus, but the planning, business, and client relationship insights Jose gives every week are the most valuable elements of our show for certain.

[intcomaz]

Awesome Job Aure! I love the show and believe designers could see more segments of sink or swim.

[ThisWeekIn]

@intcomaz Oh man, we're stoked that you liked it! We haven't had a chance to focus too much on design during the main show so we figured we would break it out into some bonus content. Want more?

[sheeplols]

@ThisWeekIn Yes, much more of this please! It's an easy and fun way to learn!

[ThisWeekIn]

@sheeplols We'll definitely do more, Aure is incredibly fast at breaking down a site/logo and rebuilding it back up!

[PlasticHampster]

Wow that looks great! Nice work!

[ThisWeekIn]

@PlasticHampster Thanks for checking it out! Do you have a site that you would like to see on Sink Or Swim?

[CapitalNoise]

Aure is Amazing.

[ThisWeekIn]

@CapitalNoise Thanks for watching, and let Aure know! Give him props on his twitter over at @aurepa