5 Reasons Why Your Company Needs a Professional Website

It’s 2018. People spend almost over 10 hours a day in front of screen, but some businesses still don’t have their own websites. With social media, some organizations may not think it’s necessary to have their own websites, but that’s simply not the case. Having a website gives your business a leg up on the competition, even if the competition already has a website. Read on to find out the top five reasons your organization should invest in a professional website today.

man working on a website

1. It’s a platform you own and control.
It’s great to be on social media, but when algorithms change (I’m looking at you Instagram) it can be frustrating. When you have your own website, you get to control exactly what information is out there, and when and how that information is displayed to users. When you have your own website, you’re not subject to anyone’s control — you make all the decisions. You can also make it as unique or standard as you’d like. The greatest thing about having your own website is that it’s YOURS.

2. Grow your audience.
Having a website means you aren’t limited in who you reach. It’s the World-Wide Web for a reason. Even if you’ve only got one brick-and-mortar shop, you can reach hundreds of people who never would have otherwise known that your business existed. Having a website also provides your business with another platform to sell goods or services. In a world that can feel large and distant sometimes, a website can connect your business with all the corners of the globe.

3. Gives your business credibility.
People are increasingly turning to the Internet for answers to their questions. This is even more true for people that own smart-speakers like Google Home or Alexa. When someone searches for “the best pie in Nashville,” you want your website to show up. You might not be on the first page at the beginning, but with a professionally designed website and a digital marketing firm on your team, you’re website is sure to rise in the rankings.

4. Easily provide information.
Websites are increasingly important to get information out quickly to all consumers. Yes, you can put this information on social media, but your website is a one-stop-shop for all the information any consumer may need about your business. Not everyone may be on social media, but almost everyone can find a website if they have an Internet connection, which should answer any questions they may have. This is helpful when your store hours change, when you’re having a sale, or when there is a community event happening. Having a website truly makes it easier to communicate with your mass audience of consumers. And you can control whatever information gets out there and how long it is available.

5. Save money in the long run.
Traditional marketing is still important in the digital age, but when developing a website and social media presence, organizations can cut down on traditional marketing costs. It might cost an initial start-up fee to design and deploy a professional website, but having a website makes it easier in the long run to promote and advertise.

Are you looking to build a professional website? Contact Cabedge today! With a team of experienced web developers and web designers, we can create exactly the website your business needs to get on the map.

two women around a computer working on website design features

Top 5 Website Features You Need to Promote Your Company

Starting a website can be intimidating — There are so many elements to incorporate and platforms you can use to launch your web presence. Where to start? Before you shell out thousands of dollars to design a custom website, start with the basics. Think about your branding, your company goals, and your mission. How are you going to translate that to a website? Check out these five basic website features that every site should have (and might be missing).

guy on a computer working on website design features

1. A beneficial menu.
Arguably one of the most important things about your website is your navigation. It’s important for people to be able to travel on your website organically (by clicking on links), therefore, you should make it as easy as possible. Your menu should be focused on helping the people who are visiting your website find the information they need. It should be straight-forward and easy to digest.

2. A well fleshed-out about me.
Skip the jargon and talk about what your company really does! It’s important for people that are coming to your page to be able to understand exactly what you do, even if it’s incredibly complicated. Try to summarize what your company offers to consumers in one or two sentences with simple language. Make sure to talk about where you’re located, how long you’ve been in business, how many people are involved in your organization and your overall goals.

3. A clear contact page.
Help people get in contact with you! This is arguably one of the most important aspects of your website because you want people to be able to get in contact with you easily for questions and business opportunities. Make sure to put your preferred form of contact information as well as all other methods of reaching out to you. Phone, email, fax, and physical location are some of the ways people can reach out, but don’t be afraid to think outside the box and include a contact form or your social media links.

4. Social media links!
Speaking of social media links… Help people that come to your website find you on other platforms! Similar to having a clear contact page, including links to your social media allows users to find you on multiple platforms. It makes it easier for people to keep up to date with your business and furthers the relationship past a simple website visit. If people follow you on social media, you are more likely to stay at the forefront of their mind, and therefore, hopefully, make more sales and connections.

5. FAQ page/search bar.
This is especially helpful if you work in a confusing industry or have a lot of competition. It will help visitors answer their questions faster, and it will make them feel more confident and comfortable working with your organization. The search bar function is only important if it actually works and benefits the user. If a search function isn’t necessary for your website, invest in creating an FAQ page. Make sure to include actual questions people may have, and don’t just rehash your about me.

Looking for help to take your website to the next level? Contact Cabedge today! Our team of website designers and content strategists can help you flesh out your design and make sure you’re catering to your consumers needs.

style guide amongst other books

6 Reasons Your Company Needs a Style Guide

You’ve licensed your company. You’ve worked with your first clients. You’ve got your name out to friends and family. Now what? Now, it’s time for a style guide. Style guides are utilized by organizations that want to keep a consistent brand and portray a consistent image to the public. Style guides incorporate branding information like fonts, colors, and image size and placement requirements, but they also include tone that should be used in copy, regulatory information and basically anything else than an employee or branding agency should know in order to replicate the brand.

Your style guide should be easily referenced in case graphic designers or team members are replaced. Someone should be able to pick up your style guide and be able to recreate your brand exactly how it was envisioned. Let’s get into the top six reasons your organization needs a style guide today.

style guide card that says less is more

1. Consistency.
The number one reason for any organization to create and utilize a style guide is to cultivate consistency in a brand. Because everything is listed right there in the style guide and, ideally, it is available to everyone that will be promoting the brand to an audience, there’s no reason for colors or fonts to be misused. The style guide outlines the exact way the brand should be used, which ensures consistency from everyone that is creating promotional content.

2. Save time and money.
Keeping a style guide means that your company can save time. It means new employees won’t have to constantly ask someone if the Oxford comma is used, what color blue is in the logo, and how the font should be aligned. With an easy to reference guide that answers most questions I new hire will have about the brand, the style guide almost serves as a training manual. If your company is copy heavy and you have a style guide that outlines all controversial writing rules (like when to use a dash and how to use commas) it can save on the time an editor will have to spend on the information on the second round. If you’re saving on the editor’s time, you are in turn saving money. It’s a win-win situation!

3. Answer questions before people can ask them.
Similar to saving both new and older employees’ time, a style guide also answers questions before someone even has a chance to ask them. When employees have a resource document to refer to, it means asking fewer questions and wasting fewer people’s time. A style guide should also anticipate most people’s questions, so having one available means telling employees to refer to it before taking the question up the chain of command.

4. Aids in your professionalism.
It might seem silly, but having a style guide takes your organization from one level to another. It might take some time to set up, but once you have it, it will serve your organization for many years to come.

5. Makes it easy for consumers to recognize your organization.
In line with creating consistency for your brand, a style guide makes it easier for consumers to recognize you. If your brand looks the same everywhere it appears, consumers are more likely to recognize it no matter if it’s on the side of a building or on a business card in their hands. Consumers will also be able to recognize key fonts your organization uses as belonging to you if they really stand out (think Coca-Cola, Nike, and Lego).

6. Makes transitions/new hires easier.
When you can hand a document over to a new designer rather than sit down for days on end answering questions, it makes personnel changes easier. While no company ever wants to deal with high-turnover, having a style guide makes it just a little bit easier to undergo personnel changes.

If you’re wanting to create a style but don’t have a good idea of where to start, reach out to Cabedge today. We have experience in creating and managing brand standards, and we’re more than happy to help you start your style guide!

typography

7 Tips to Making the Most of Your Typography

Typography can make or break your design. The difference between Arial and Verdana may not seem that important, but at the end of the day, readability, adaptability, and functionality are crucial when it comes to the fonts you choose. Fonts can serve as an extension of your brand personality and elevate your website design to the next level. Check out the 7 tips we have for making the most of the typography in your website design.

1. Minimize the amount of fonts you use.
Typically you should limit yourself to 1-3 fonts. If you use any more than that, it starts to look muddled and messy. A pro tip for using more than one font is to use the various fonts in a typeface. A typeface is the kind of typography you are using. A font is the different forms that typeface comes in. For example, Helvetica is a popular typeface. When you make it bold, thin, or italic, you’re using a specific font. It brings dynamic design to your website, without making it feel crowded with too many fonts.

2. Use complimentary fonts.
When you use more than one font, it’s important to pair complementary fonts. Typically, serif and sans-serifs look good together and san-serifs and scripts mix well (as pictured above). When pairing fonts, they should be from different families. Pairing a serif and a serif doesn’t provide enough contrast to make the design look intentional.

3. Choose an easy to read font at any size.
It’s important that the fonts you choose can be read at small and large sizes. Because you might also want to use these fonts on print collateral, you’ve got to make sure they transfer. There’s no guarantee that people will be reading your website in the font size you designed it in — with the power of the digital age, people can adjust the size of the screen to their preferences, therefore you’ve got to make sure the fonts are legible no matter what they are resized to.

4. USE ALL CAPS SPARINGLY.
All caps can be a great stylistic choice (as seen above for Fifty Licks Ice Cream), but only in small doses. All caps can be effective for headlines or labels, but putting an entire paragraph in all caps can make it difficult to read for users.

5. Use text as a design element.
Text can be used to indicate hierarchy throughout the page, it can direct a users attention to specific areas of the page, it can indicate how someone should feel about something. Text can do a lot of things. That’s why it’s important to pick the right text to convey your message across your website. For example, in the image above, the typography is the main design element. Pairing a large text with a smaller text shows hierarchy and situating certain text over the rest of the text makes the message pop. It’s simple yet effective.

6. Don’t just accept the tracking and kerning. Feel free to change it!
Tracking is the space between an entire set of letters/numbers. Kerning is the space between a pair of letters/numbers. Changing the kerning or tracking can transform the display of text. This is more acceptable in header or display text. We don’t recommend playing around with the kerning/tracking of a body of text, it’s too much work. But if you’re working on typography for a logo or header of a website, it’s worth the time to adjust the tracking or kerning or that display text.

7. DO NOT STRETCH A TYPEFACE.
You should never try to manipulate the size or shape of a font. By “manipulating” we mean stretching or shrinking. You can change a font size or switch between bold or thin faces, but when you manually stretch a font, or manipulate a font, you are changing the structure the designer intended for the font. Not only does it make a font look odd, but it compromises the designers original intent.

If you need help choosing typefaces for your website design, reach out to Cabedge. We have a team of designers that are ready to help with your web design needs.

 

 

 

people standing on the sidewalk with the words passion led us here

Cabedge Ranked As Top Nashville Website Design Agency

Cabedge Design was ranked by Agency List as one of the top design firms in Nashville, TN. With so many other contenders, it is honored to be ranked on such an impressive list.

Cabedge works with clients in a variety of fields to create unique website designs tailored toward personal brand identity and user experience. It prides itself on its ability to design custom interfaces to match any clients need. Cabedge knows how important it is to have a website in the modern age that reflects an organizations mission, vision, and offerings to clients, and that’s why it works every day to provide top level design consulting and implementation services.

Agency List compiles lists of organizations in the communications field including design agencies, digital marketing firms, video production groups and more across the United States. It serves as “a professional resource to help businesses, students and industry professionals find the top advertising agencies in over 60 markets in every state across the country.”

As a Nashville-based website design firm, Cabedge prides itself on staying up to date on modern design trends and being able to provide expert advice to those seeking help with designing their website.

In addition to website design services, Cabedge also offers SEO management, website development, and content creation services to clients that partner with them. Reach out to Cabedge today, and it sure to help you revamp your website and reach your marketing goals.

Thank you again to Agency List for recognizing Cabedge’s services!

 

How Gestalt Principles Can Be Incorporated in Web Design

Gestalt psychology stems from German psychologists and scientists of the 1920s who believed that the mind worked subconsciously to make sense of an otherwise chaotic world. There are many principles of grouping in Gestalt psychology that have been used to explain how the mind perceives images, and some of the most prominent principles can be applied to design techniques used regularly in print and web design. Today, we are going to go over seven Gestalt principles that can help improve design.

Law of Proximity
The Law of Proximity states that people group elements together that are close to each other in space. This can be seen in the header or footer space of a website — all of those elements are close together in proximity either in a line or under certain headings, which lets users know they are to be perceived as one unit. You can also see the Law of Proximity exemplified in the example photo above. The boats are clumped together in sets of columns. When looking at the picture, people automatically associate the four columns of boats as two groups.

Law of Similarity
The Law of Similarity states that people group similar elements together. Whether it’s shape, size, color, or texture, these characteristics can lead to people grouping things together in their minds. It’s like looking at a pizza with a handful of toppings and grouping the mushrooms together, the pepperoni together, and the pineapple chunks together. In the image above, people will tend to group the windows together based on the color swatch in the top bar. Therefore, the windows would be grouped by the Law of Similarity in the following groups: yellow, pink, blue, light blue.

Law of Closure
If images aren’t closed, our minds can and will close them for us. For instance, when parts of an image are missing, like a flower petal is out of frame, people still know the image is a flower and can imagine the other petal. With the Law of Closure, people can combine disjointed lines into complete shapes. This is a good design principle to keep in mind when designing logos or website backgrounds. The Law of Closure can be seen in action in the image above because people that look at the image of the moon can instinctively close the shape to imagine the moon whole.

Law of Symmetry
The mind likes symmetry, which we talked about in an earlier blog post dedicated to basic design principles. The Law of Symmetry operates under that notion. It is pleasing to the mind to be able to divide objects into an even number of symmetrical parts. People tend to look for symmetry in design or images even if it may not truly be there. In the above image, the symmetry is pretty apparent in the even space between the windows and the square shape of the windows themselves.

Law of Common Fate
The Law of Common Fate claims that if there is movement, real or digitally constructed, in an image or design, people tend to group similar movements together. People tend to group elements that move in the same direction together. For instance, in the image above of cars moving on the highway, people infer that the white stream and the red stream are moving in opposite directions.

Law of Pragnanz (or Good Figure)
The Law of Pragnanz states that people tend to perceive images as a whole rather than breaking them up into their individual parts. It’s like seeing the steps of how someone draws a cat. Technically, the head could be a circle, the nose could be an upside-down heart, and the ears could be triangles. The Law of Pragnanz at plays means that cat is perceived as a cat rather than the individual elements. We perceive things in the simplest way possible. This can also be seen when looking at the Olympic rings  — people tend to perceive it simply as the logo and not as five separate circles.

Law of Figure/Ground
Disliking uncertainty, people tend to look for solid, stable items in an image or design first. People tend to see the foreground of an image before they see the background. For example, in the above image, a viewer’s eye would be first drawn to the leaves and then to the ground they are strewn upon.

There are many other Gestalt principles that can be applied to design, but these are a good place to start. If you’re looking for more design tips or inspiration, make sure to follow along on the Cabedge blog. If you’re looking for assistance in designing a website, reach out to Cabedge today for a personal consultation.

Timeless Design Principles for Print and Web

Like many things in life, design techniques are always changing. While it’s important to keep up with trends, there are also classic principles that can make any website or print collateral design look clean and engaging. At Cabedge, we are concerned with creating useful designs for our clients. We know that you’re not just looking for a pretty website or beautiful print collateral — you want something that is going to work for your organization for years to come. We’ve got five timeless design principles you can utilize in your print collateral and website design today.

 

Visual Hierarchy

Otherwise known as “emphasis,” visual hierarchy gives your design structure to a viewer or user. It tells someone where they should first direct their attention and can be created through size, color, or position. For instance, if you look at the image above of the Krispy Kreme box, you can see that the brand name (Krispy Kreme) stands out visually because of the color, size, and font choice from the word “doughnuts,” which matches the green dots.The box also stands out from the background because the woman holding it is blurred, making the box more visually dominant. Those are two forms of visual hierarchy.  If you don’t know how to create visual hierarchy in your design, start by highlighting your business objectives and figuring out how to make those stand out in your designs amongst the other information.

Balance

Balance refers to the visual distribution of weight in a design. Balance can be symmetrical, or it can be asymmetrical. Whichever choice you make, there should be an intent behind it. If you’re looking to achieve asymmetrical balance, start with the rule of thirds. This is typically applied to photographs (can be seen above), but can also be useful for web or print design when selecting a website layout. The rule of thirds states that an image should be divided into nine equal parts by two equally-spaced horizontal lines and two equally spaced vertical lines. The important elements should be placed along these lines or at their intersections. Symmetrical balance is exactly what it sounds like — if you can fold it in half and it’s the same on both sides, you’ve achieved symmetrical balance.

Utilize White Space

White space is a design element. It is not just blank space. White space is the simplest design principle you can utilize since it requires no extra work, just an ability to utilize the space given to you. White space also aids in the creation of hierarchy, a principle we discussed earlier. While design concepts like brutalism may be trending now, clean is classic and withstands the test of time. White space serves as a simple contrast tool against other elements on the page. It creates balance and ensures the design doesn’t get too overwhelming for users.

Repetition

People are drawn to pattern and repeating elements. Some of the more famous pieces of artwork utilize this principle of design as well (think Andy Warhol). Repetition is one of the simpler design principles to utilize in print and digital pieces since it requires utilizing elements that have already been created. On a website, repetition can extend to the user experience with similarly designed pages. That makes the experience seamless for the user and aids in unity, which we will talk about next.

Unity

Arguably the most important element of design is unity. It is also the hardest to achieve. Whether it is a piece of art, a website, or a book cover, every element should relate to another ensuring that the design as a whole feels like one piece of work. Unity is hard to describe, but when you see it, you know it.

If you’re looking to create timeless, useful designs for your organization (print or online), contact Cabedge. We love working with clients that want to create streamlined design experiences for their clients. You’ll be contacted by a design specialist to find out your organization’s needs, and we’ll work with you every step of the way to make sure you’re getting what you need.

cabedge blog post

Web Design Principles for the Modern Age

Design principles are always changing, meaning web design principles are changing even faster. Here are the top five trends Cabedge is anticipating for website design in 2018:

Broken Grid Layouts
If you’re not a designer, you probably don’t know about the grid method of design. Basically, you use a grid to lay out all the elements on a page (web or print). Using the grid, you can determine the appropriate amount of space between elements, height of text, size of photos, etc. Going into 2018, designers are going to be breaking the grid to create more white space on the page and interest for the reader. With a broken grid layout, elements overlap and intersect at unexpected points leaving the user pleasantly surprised by the organic feel and appearance of the website.

The Rise of Brutalism
Minimalism has been living in the foreground of the design world for quite some time now. Designs that incorporate minimalist features are clean, utilize plenty of white space, and have key elements that are repeated throughout a website. Going into 2018, designers are seeing the emergence of a very different styles of design that has nothing to do with minimalism — brutalism. Brutalism is most easily described as throwing everything you know about design principles out the window. It’s a movement that says goodbye to design frills and focuses on bringing the user information in whatever manner necessary. Brutalism originates from design in architecture in a post-World War II world. The architecture was raw and free of frills in a world that needed to rebuild quickly, and that is what the web design movement is trying to achieve.

Large, Bold Design Elements
Minimalism is falling to the wayside as maximalist design is on the rise. Maximalist design utilizes bold colors and designs to draw the reader’s attention to the screen. Sometimes it can be overwhelming, but that’s kind of the idea. Along with maximalist design, bold design elements like large oblique and organic shapes are becoming common elements on web pages as design evolves from a minimalist to maximalist approach.

User Interaction
2018 is all about clicking, scrolling, and shifting — essentially, websites want to catch user’s attention by engaging and interacting with them in big and small ways. Web designers are focusing on getting the user to stay on the page with small things like a Parallax effect on background photos and page transitions to engage the user, even when engagement isn’t 100 percent necessary (like you don’t need them to click on the button). Designers are also trying to engage users in a more direct manner by including elements like videos for user to click on to play and watch. Social media is also capitalizing on this element of website design by increasing users options to interact with their friends’ posts. (think of Facebook’s addition of emotions like “love,” “haha” and “sad” to the “like” button).

Video as a Key Element
The auto-play element that Facebook has incorporated on its platform is beneficial for multiple reasons — it grabs a scroller’s attention and gets them to stop and watch something (at least for a few seconds), it increases the video’s view count, and it increases engagement on a website.

Ultimately, adding videos to a page’s design elevates the look and feel of the website while also improving SEO rankings.

Bold Fonts
Thin fonts have been covering our screens for years, but bold fonts are ready to take center stage. Fonts have the power to make or break a brand and a design. It’s important that it’s legible, eye-catching, and stands out among the crowd. There are millions of fonts to choose from these days, and designers are going for bold in 2018. Fonts can be used as the only element on the page for a clean, minimalist design look, or they can be mixed and matched to reach a brutalist design. The choice is yours, but we suggest you choose bold. Also, keep your eye out for serif fonts as they grow in popularity. You can never go wrong with a classic.

If you’re looking to update your website for the new year, contact Cabedge today! With years of experience in web design and a knowledge of all the latest trends, Cabedge is the perfect company to help you accomplish your web design goals.