Must Design
75.6K views | +0 today
Must Design
Design Is Revolutionary
Your new post is loading...
Scooped by Martin (Marty) Smith
Scoop.it!

Designing For GooglePlus: Top 10 Brand Pages on Google+

Designing For GooglePlus: Top 10 Brand Pages on Google+ | Must Design | Scoop.it

We've had a HUGE Day over on GPlus today. I wrote a post about why G+ is magical thinking (https://plus.google.com/102639884404823294558/posts/F5fXyrkTPCr ) and my post got picked up by my friend Mark Traphagen (@MarkTraphagen) and it BLEW up into an amazing conversation.

Given the MONSTER day we've had I thought it would be a great idea to share some of the most successful G+ Brand pages. GPlus is a massive Blue Ocean for most.  Blue Oceans are where your content gets MORE traction with less work. Red Oceans are where your content requires more investment to generate LESS return.

GPlus is really a set of TOOLS. Incorporating Hangouts, maps, communities and other widget-like tools. The first website or agency to figure out how to combine those powerful tools in unique combinations is going to WIN big. Some of these examples approach the top of the mountain, but G+ has more power than even anyone here captures.

No comment yet.
Scooped by Martin (Marty) Smith
Scoop.it!

Web design trends for 2014 | Infographic + @ScentTrail Trend Predictions

Web design trends for 2014 | Infographic + @ScentTrail Trend Predictions | Must Design | Scoop.it

What do we predict will be the web design trends in 2014? Here is an infographic with our predictions

Marty Note
Here are my thoughts on web design in 2014.

1. Code Free = Disagree, not in 2014, I have tried Webydo and it is as hard to master as code so why bother, until there is a tool that is EASIER than code we will continue to code.

2. More CMS based site - Agree and this is another way of saying more blogs acting like websites. Good idea to read my Websites vs. Blog post on Curatti.com earlier in the week to know how to keep the things that matter from a "website" as your blog fills both shoes: Websites vs. Blogs Which One Is Better and Why http://curatti.com/websites-vs-blogs/ .

3. Single Page Sites - Disagree - I GUESS you could have a robust enough social presence that a single page site would be fine, but you give up a lot and you are asking a single page to accomplish a lot. Google doesn't rank websites they rank web pages, so pagespread (# of pages in Google) can help build traffic via SEO (that is left of it anyway).

A single page website is only viable for strong mobile or social players and somewhere there has to be an engine generating NEW out into the world. If you use a single page, push NEW out and then wipe it clean that is simply CRAZY with the way traffic is parsed and how we gain authority today. Oprah could have a single page site, how an average website could achieve all that is needed with a single page is beyond me.

4. Interactive Infographics - Agree with this one. The Infographic has legs, or should say the idea of visualizing content has legs. The infographic is an expression of a larger movement - our desire to understand things FAST.

Other 2014 Web Design Trends I see include:

* Lean Design - This movement plays off of #4 and the strength of the marketing visualization movement. Creating more understanding faster is a trending trend.

* Social Net Tapestry - Website designs MUST be social and agnostic about social nets. Including Facebook, Twitter, GPlus, YouTube, Scoop.it, StumbleUpon and 10 more I can't think of right now in ways that make sharing easy, rewarding and not overwhelming is a trend no one has figured out all that well yet, but we will begin to see novel ideas that build on the social media  "widget" idea in 2014 (only much better let's hope).

* Content Curation - we must build websites in 2014 that are focused on KEY CONVERSATIONS and become agnostic about where those conversations happen. Own the conversation, own the traffic.


Curating content INTO a website (or blog) is an important trend no one has quite figured out yet either. Start with traditional ORM (Online Reputation Management) tools. Use ORM to crack some APIs so when something relevant happens to your company, brands or products out there in social media's north forty you

  1. Know about it.
  2. Filter it into your content by having ways (filters) to attach curated content into existing themes. 
  3. Gamify contributors so reward is generous, immediate and competitive.


* Appification of Everything - the Mobile Revolution is not about the phone. It is about redesigning our THINKING about how information creates interaction, engagement and conversion (so a small thing lol). Thinking of everything we do online as an app we will be improving is a very "Mobile First" way to think. Those who understand the "Appification" of everything will win BIG as the rest of the world catches up in 2014.

* Gamification - If your website design doesn't find ways to profile, reward and share (curate) content from contributors you will fall hopelessly behind in 2014. The social web is here, despite few understanding the breadth of that that means, and websites need to promote an ever increasing amount of User Generated Content (UGC). Best way to do that is by using game theory to create web design.

 

No comment yet.
Scooped by Martin (Marty) Smith
Scoop.it!

25 Beautiful Content Heavy Website Designs Inspire

25 Beautiful Content Heavy Website Designs Inspire | Must Design | Scoop.it
There are many of content heavy websites out there, but very few seem to take good design into account. We take a look at those that do.


Marty Note
Content can KILL a website design. Content needs to be well thought out. How can you tease the click without frustrating your visitors and readers? How can you share all the content you need to share without wrecking your design? Here are 25 examples of how to use content as a helpful design element instead of ending up on content's rocky shores.

No comment yet.
Scooped by Martin (Marty) Smith
Scoop.it!

Rethinking Real Estate Marketing Online - Stories, Storytelling & Heroes

Rethinking Real Estate Marketing Online - Stories, Storytelling & Heroes | Must Design | Scoop.it

My real estate agent Stephanie Lane just sold my home in Durham so I could move funds into my nonprofit Story of Cancer Foundation. I was thinking about how I would help redesign StephanieLane.com even as friends such as Phil Buckley (@1918), Mark Traphagen (@MarkTraphagen) and Bill Gassett (@MassRealty) have been thinking about creating a new real estate online design revolution.


This post is about that revolution and about why the old print based real estate model, something still exerting pull, doesn't and will never work online. 

Wrote a companion piece to this titled, "5 Could Tell You, But Then Would Need To Tell You Internet Marketing Secrets SHARED" about the "inside baseball" reasons I made the decisions I made in this design sketch.

http://sco.lt/54ZJmj  

No comment yet.