Hi, this is an extension of the beginning of a discussion that arose out of the the site critique for dinkybox.xo.uk. I'm interested in shifting the discussion a little from what a site design is, to what a site owner (or designer) does to acheive it.
During the discussion Jo at pinbrook said the following:
-quote-
Ok apologies in advance to the site owners of my examples - no offense is intended they are just the sites that come to mind as we have been discussing them recently
examples of Smart Theme deployment
stage 1 http://www.cardsatyourfingertips.co.uk is an example of pure actinic layout without design
stage 2 http://www.integratedlabels.co.uk and http://www.treatmentgels.co.uk have started the process with colour integration and logo design
stage 3 http://www.dinkybox.co.uk - takes it a stage further
stage 4 is a site where it isn't apparant which layout was used
-quote ends-
I'm interested by this idea that some sites are 'designed' and some are not. Perhaps we could put it this way:
1: Layout without design
Actinic has a number of layouts or themes which you can choose from when starting your site. Each of these site has a number of boxes which you fill in with your logo, text, product images. If all you do is fill in the boxes as prompted by actinic then you will get a functional site that is pretty good looking to the average user.
2: colour integration and logo design
Some site owners have begun to play around with certain settings that actinic makes it fairly easy to adjust. They have also begun to think more about how the files they put in; their logo and product images, match up with the elements that actinic has provided in the layout. The site owner has begun to try and create a more coherent feeling with their site.
3: A stage further
The site owner has begun to manipulate the page templates to make the store what they want it to look like. I think this stage encapsulates people like me who don't always completely understand what they are doing and can't always get the results they want. This is because we spend time running our sites rather than developing so knowledge has to be relearned all the time.
4:
Uses the actinic functionality but doesn't need the design the prompts that actinic provides to create the site, though they may have begun with them. This type of site is more liekly to have been created by a designer who consistently designs with actinic and has control over what they are doing most of the time. I run catalog, so I'm not in a position to say whether owning developer opens this option to more people.
The crucial question for most of us is whether a greater control over the design can create a more successful business.
I'd love to hear from anyone who is happy to share what they do when they build actinic stores, and if anyone has any stories about how design increased sales then of course I'm sure we'd all love to hear them.
I develop my site alone, I often sit down with a spare few hours and think that I would like to make the site better but am at a loss as to what to work on or how to do it. Its the specifics rather then the generalities that defeat me.
Any thoughts from anyone who has made it this far are all appreciated
During the discussion Jo at pinbrook said the following:
-quote-
Ok apologies in advance to the site owners of my examples - no offense is intended they are just the sites that come to mind as we have been discussing them recently
examples of Smart Theme deployment
stage 1 http://www.cardsatyourfingertips.co.uk is an example of pure actinic layout without design
stage 2 http://www.integratedlabels.co.uk and http://www.treatmentgels.co.uk have started the process with colour integration and logo design
stage 3 http://www.dinkybox.co.uk - takes it a stage further
stage 4 is a site where it isn't apparant which layout was used
-quote ends-
I'm interested by this idea that some sites are 'designed' and some are not. Perhaps we could put it this way:
1: Layout without design
Actinic has a number of layouts or themes which you can choose from when starting your site. Each of these site has a number of boxes which you fill in with your logo, text, product images. If all you do is fill in the boxes as prompted by actinic then you will get a functional site that is pretty good looking to the average user.
2: colour integration and logo design
Some site owners have begun to play around with certain settings that actinic makes it fairly easy to adjust. They have also begun to think more about how the files they put in; their logo and product images, match up with the elements that actinic has provided in the layout. The site owner has begun to try and create a more coherent feeling with their site.
3: A stage further
The site owner has begun to manipulate the page templates to make the store what they want it to look like. I think this stage encapsulates people like me who don't always completely understand what they are doing and can't always get the results they want. This is because we spend time running our sites rather than developing so knowledge has to be relearned all the time.
4:
Uses the actinic functionality but doesn't need the design the prompts that actinic provides to create the site, though they may have begun with them. This type of site is more liekly to have been created by a designer who consistently designs with actinic and has control over what they are doing most of the time. I run catalog, so I'm not in a position to say whether owning developer opens this option to more people.
The crucial question for most of us is whether a greater control over the design can create a more successful business.
I'd love to hear from anyone who is happy to share what they do when they build actinic stores, and if anyone has any stories about how design increased sales then of course I'm sure we'd all love to hear them.
I develop my site alone, I often sit down with a spare few hours and think that I would like to make the site better but am at a loss as to what to work on or how to do it. Its the specifics rather then the generalities that defeat me.
Any thoughts from anyone who has made it this far are all appreciated
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