Design Strategies for Mission Driven Organizations

Web and collateral design is often a low-priority for most non-profit organizations. With tight budgets and ever expanding missions, it can be hard to wrangle up enough support (and cash) to get the ball rolling on a major branding redesign project. For many mission driven organizations, however, a fresh new design could translate into a lot more than just vanity points. Project6 prides itself on creating beautiful and highly engaging/converting web and print designs for non-profits. Here’s a glimpse into our philosophy:

Print + Marketing Collateral Design for Non-Profits

It is vitally important that non-profits and mission driven organizations clearly communicate their purpose, goals, and vision to all of their stakeholders (especially donors and volunteers). When The Global Philanthropy Forum came to us, their marketing messages and collateral were inconsistent and out dated. By dramatically changing their collateral, defining their brand personality, and creating consistency throughout their communications, the organization was able to sell out an annual conference.

Website Design for Non-Profits

Young and growing non-profits are often cash strapped and focused on their core mission. As a result, not a lot of time and money gets put into the web property. As the company grows and becomes sustainable, however, it is important to recognize the benefits of having a modern website. When The Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation came to Project6 for a website redesign, their original website that still built for an outdated 800px resolution monitor. Although the organization had done fantastic work in the past, few visitors wanted to engage with their content simply because it lacked visual appeal. Updating their website also breathed life back into their community of partners, job seekers, and board members. Visitors raved about the content, spent vastly more time on the site, and developed a deeper understanding of the Moore Foundation’s mission.

Project6 Design, founded in 2001, is an award-winning graphic design firm committed to using intuitive design to shape brands and solve complex usability problems. We collaborate with clients to help them portray their brand’s story and to communicate it in a clear and compelling way.  For the best brand, print or web design services, contact Project6, the leading San Francisco design agency.

The Importance of High Quality Photography for Real Estate Web Design

When it comes to building a compelling real estate website—photography is king. Over the years, Project6 has worked with a number of real estate professionals to create quality web and print collateral. Here’s what we’ve learned about the importance of using high quality photography if you are selling real estate:

Stock Photography Won’t Cut It

If you are looking to convey the image that you are a top real estate agent or broker, then you’re going to need to invest in top notch photos of your properties. It goes without saying that home buyers want to see high quality photos of actual homes for sale and not stock photography. Avoid the use of stock photos on your website; even areas like contact pages, headers, and other marketing pages. Instead, only use high quality photos of homes that you’ve represented in the past.

Get More Leads With Great Photos

Great photos of a property can convert a visitor into a lead more than any other factor. We kept this in mind at Project6 when we designed Deleon Realty’s stunning real estate website. As an award-winning top real estate firm, Deleon Realty knew how to close deals; however, their website fell behind the times. We updated their website and focused on their collection of photos featuring incredible multi-million dollar mansions. The results speak for themselves.

When You’re Online: Your Photos Are The Product

When someone visits a real estate website online, your photographs are your best chance at converting them into a lead. Meaning, when it comes to your website, your property photographs are your product. Take as much care and thought into creating beautiful photographs as you would put care into staging a home.

Founded in 2001, Project6 Design is an award-winning graphic design firm committed to using intuitive design to shape brands and solve complex usability problems.  By collaborating with clients, we help them portray their brand’s story and communicate it in a clear and compelling way.  For high-quality brand, print or web design services, contact the top San Francisco design agency.

Project6 Wins Two Top Honors in Website Design

Project6 has again been recognized as one of the top San Francisco branding and website design firms! This time, we’re honored to receive two awards from the Web Marketing Association’s 16th Annual WebAwards for our work with the Environmental Energy Technologies Division (EETD) or Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and the California Maritime Academy.

The WebAward program is an annual website competition (and one of the longest running) dedicated to honoring the best websites across 96 industries. Sites are judged by a panel of experts and is based on seven criteria: website design, ease of use, copywriting, interactivity, use of technology, and content.

For the Environmental Energy Technologies Division (EETD), Proejct6 was awarded an overall recognition for Outstanding Website within the Government and Energy categories. We expertly integrated a Drupal content management system to better showcase the organization’s impeccable analysis, research, and scientific programs. Now, users can effortlessly search and find a plethora of relevant content, tools, and links. Additionally, we created a homepage for EETD that automatically updates as new content, news, and events are created.

The redesign of California Maritime Academy website earned Project6 the Standard of Excellence award in the Education category. Project6 was responsible for the full site redesign and development. California Maritime Academy has a focus on maritime education and it is one of the 23 colleges associated with the California State University system. The goal of the new website was to make content easier to find and use for students and to sync Cal Maritime’s branding up with the rest of the prestigious California State University system.

Project6 Design, founded in 2001, is an award-winning graphic design firm committed to using intuitive design to shape brands and solve complex usability problems. We collaborate with clients to help them portray their brand’s story and to communicate it in a clear and compelling way.  For the best brand, print or web design services, contact Project6, the leading San Francisco design agency.

Magazine Website Redesign for The Greater Good Science Center

Project6 took on the task of redesigning the web presence for the world-renowned Greater Good Science Center. While the organization does a tremendous amount of good work, their website was being bogged down with an array of initiatives, programs, and events from both their magazine and science center. Clearly, the website was ready for a refresh. Project6 redesigned the identity and web properties of The Greater Good with the goal of giving them a site that reflected their prestige. Here’s how Project6 tackled the challenge.

Branding and Identity

First, we used logos to create clear branding differentiators between GGSC’s many sub-organizations: Greater Good Science Center, The Greater Good Magazine, and The Greater Good in Action. This small distinction makes it easier for readers and supporters to quickly navigate to the initiative of their choice. Additionally, the brands helped to create internal consistency and compartmentalization among the GGSC internal content team.

Creating the Online Magazine

The Greater Good Magazine has a lot of content.  They have videos, articles, podcasts, quizzes, and many more types of content just waiting to be discovered. The Greater Good Magazine needed a site architecture as evolved as their content strategy. Project6 created a crystal clear site architecture, made it easy for users find and save their favorite content, and made the whole site responsive for mobile and tablet use. Additionally, the look and feel of the site is timeless and reflects a traditional modern digital magazine style.

Project6 Design, founded in 2001, is an award-winning graphic design firm committed to using intuitive design to shape brands and solve complex usability problems. We collaborate with clients to help them portray their brand’s story and to communicate it in a clear and compelling way.  For the best brand, print or web design services, contact Project6, the leading San Francisco design agency.

Do You Need a Website as Innovative as Your Company?

The greatest entrepreneurs can become so focused on building and delivering an outstanding product or service that they can very quickly outgrow their old branding. Attracting word of mouth customers may become easier, but attracting new customers online may be more challenging if your website doesn’t accurately convey the accomplishments, testimonials, and design of a high quality business. Here are a few examples of innovative Project6 clients who needed innovative websites to boot:

Quality Matters

So you say that you’re a high quality business? Does your website reflect the quality of your brand or its products? If not, then you might be in need of a website refresh. Take our client Lighting Services Inc. for example. They have an amazing business designing, engineering, and manufacturing high quality lighting systems. However, you couldn’t tell that by their dated website. After we redesigned their website (focusing on product taxonomy, stunning imagery, and mobile compatibility), Lighting Services now had a website that reflected their true stature.

Innovation Demands Transparency

The biggest challenge with innovative products is effectively educating customers on the innovation and the value that the innovation delivers. When Project6 was tasked with building a new website and Drupal app for Cartelligent, an innovative new car buying service, we knew simplicity would be key. Clear and concise messaging is essential to communicating new products and services to large audiences—and that was our goal with Cartelligent’s marketing websites. A simplified site architecture, easy to use navigation, and expertly designed conversion funnels transformed their websites performance.

Project6 Design, founded in 2001, is an award-winning graphic design firm committed to using intuitive design to shape brands and solve complex usability problems. We collaborate with clients to help them portray their brand’s story and to communicate it in a clear and compelling way.  For the best brand, print or web design services, contact Project6, the leading San Francisco design agency.

The Role of Informative Architecture in Web Design

In web design, information architecture is the process of logically organizing content so that it can be easily explored by users.  A lot of success on the web comes down to how easily your users (and search engines) can effectively navigate and use your site’s content. Additionally, successful information architecture isn’t a “one size fits all” solution. You can’t simply apply the so called “best practices” of information architecture to every web business and expect similar results. Each business has a unique value proposition, unique customer needs, and a unique way of delivering that value to their customer. This is a huge part of user interface design and often overlooked by many companies when they seek design services.

Here are two Project6 case studies that highlight the importance of information architecture in web design:

The California Perinatal Quality Care Collaborative (CPQCC)

Project6 had the pleasure of redesigning the CPQCC website. From an information architecture perspective, the CPQCC program is massive (they represent over 90% of all neonatal intensive care provided in California). Project6 planned and developed the CPQCC’s new site from the ground up. Our mission was to organize the CPQCC’s wealth of content into an easily usable and up to date resource of online tools, announcements, publications, news, events, and awards. The new information architecture not only beautifully showcased the sheer scope of CPQCC’s work in their sector, but it also enabled the organization to better fulfill their mission.

Sindeo

Sindeo also required expert information architecture, but in a very different way than CPQCC. Instead of organizing a library of content into a usable web resource (like CPQCC), Project6 was tasked with designing a website that clearly told the story of Sindeo’s unique approach to mortgage lending. This required creating and organizing engaging content that allows the viewer to experience the positive feelings of home ownership and how Sindeo could help them achieve it.

Is your design firm an expert information architecture?

Founded in 2001, Project6 Design is an award-winning graphic design firm committed to using intuitive design to shape brands and solve complex usability problems.  By collaborating with clients, we help them portray their brand’s story and communicate it in a clear and compelling way.  For high-quality brand, print or web design services, contact the top San Francisco design agency.

Simple Design Strategies for Effective Homepage Design

The importance of a well-designed homepage cannot be overstated. A great homepage must both capture the eyes and minds of your potential targets. While many companies strive for dynamic homepages with the latest and greatest flashy design, many companies forget that their homepage is also a powerful communication tool. At Project6, our UI/UX experts strive to create homepage designs that both attract and keep customers. Here are two vital communication opportunities that businesses miss when designing their homepage.

Who are you and what do you offer?

While this may seem like an obvious suggestion, many homepages fail to adequately communicate who they are, what they do, and the benefits of their products and services on their homepage. While a homepage is a great location display your awards, testimonials, and other news, its main goal is to quickly communicate your brand’s core value proposition. At Project6, we design homepages that speak volumes. For our client Sindeo, we designed a beautiful website with clean design and crisp communication of the company’s offerings.

Where do you want your visitors to go?

Don’t just rely on your site’s main navigation to usher your users around—even on the homepage. A great homepage design (and page design in general) is one that provides paths to the most important parts of your website/business. We kept this in mind when designing Kigali’s philanthropic website. Even though the cornerstone pages are listed in the main navigation (like “Why Cooling,” “K-CEP Windows,” and “Insights”) we also detailed these sections on the homepage for further clarity and attention.

Project6 Design, founded in 2001, is an award-winning graphic design firm committed to using intuitive design to shape brands and solve complex usability problems. We collaborate with clients to help them portray their brand’s story and to communicate it in a clear and compelling way.  For the best brand, print or web design services, contact Project6, the leading San Francisco design agency.

Project6 Redesigns California State Bar Website

The Project6 team takes great pride in our ability to make information easily accessible and usable for our clients and their users. Working with The State Bar of California, our team went to work to design a new, accessible, and transparent State Bar mobile + desktop website for California attorneys and citizens. The site aims to help provide easier access to information on how to file a complaint against an attorney and other attorney-related resources. Here’s a rundown of some of the overall website improvements we made:

Better Resources for the Public

Working with the State Bar of California, Project6 designed a public resource section that makes it easier for Californians to file a complaint against an attorney, identify and avoid attorney fraud, obtain information on attorney disciplinary history, and access all of these features in either English, Spanish, Korean, Vietnamese, and Russian languages.

Better Resources for Attorneys in California

Project6 also worked with the State Bar to build better resources for attorneys and prospective attorneys in the state of California. Prospective attorneys now have easier access to registration tools and information pertaining to the bar exam. Licensed California attorneys now have control over their attorney records, view pro bono legal opportunities, access to attorney codes of conduct and ethics rules, and obtain information related to fees, licensing, and MCLE requirements online.

Greater Information Transparency for All

The State Bar of California has also improved their site to increase access to justice for all. Californians can now view detailed information on the State Bar’s efforts to promote diversity and yearly legal aid contribution, information on how to access the legal system, and contact information for various legal organizations recognized by the State Bar.

Project6 Design, founded in 2001, is an award-winning graphic design firm committed to using intuitive design to shape brands and solve complex usability problems. We collaborate with clients to help them portray their brand’s story and to communicate it in a clear and compelling way.  For the best brand, print or web design services, contact Project6, the leading San Francisco design agency.

 

Do Design Awards Matter?

Does it matter if your design firm has won any prestigious design awards?

The short answer: It depends.

The long answer: It depends and here’s why…

A legitimate design award is one of many proof signals that businesses can use to determine if a designer’s skills are up for the task. However, not all design awards are created equal. In today’s internet age, just about anyone can create and market their own brand of “design award.” As the winner of many prestigious design awards, here’s Project6’s take on what makes a legitimate design award:

How competitive is the award?

Check to see how many designers were actually in the running for the award. Did 5 designers apply or 500 designers? Is the competition accepting public entries or were the nominees selected by a panel of experts? The Davey Awards, for example, is a prestigious award from the Academy of Interactive and Visual Arts that received nearly 4,000 entries of the finest creative work from the best small agencies, firms, and companies worldwide.

Who are the judges and sponsors?

Also, make sure that the judges and sponsors of the awards are legitimate industry professionals (not just bloggers and “best of” lists). The Horizon Interactive Award’s judging process, for example, involves a combination of an in-house awards advisory panel, an end user panel, and an international panel of industry professionals. The Davey Awards, on the other hand, is judged and overseen by the Academy of Interactive and Visual Arts (AIVA), a 700+ member organization of leading professionals from various disciplines of the visual arts dedicated to embracing progress and the evolving nature of traditional and interactive media.

Founded in 2001, Project6 Design is an award-winning graphic design firm committed to using intuitive design to shape brands and solve complex usability problems.  By collaborating with clients, we help them portray their brand’s story and communicate it in a clear and compelling way.  For high-quality brand, print or web design services, contact the top San Francisco design agency.

Integrating Brand Identity

A great brand identity should clearly communicate your value proposition to potential customers no matter where they encounter it. Here are a few examples of how Project6 integrates brand identity and the benefits our clients experienced as a result:

Zetta

Zetta is a great example of what happens when brand identity and web design are seamlessly integrated. Project6 crafted a new identity for Zetta from the ground up (including new identity, brand design, marketing collateral, trade show booth, and website). A true brand identity is about more than just a logo—it’s about delivering a consistent look and feel of your brand to the customer no matter where they encounter your brand. By creating a set of small and large design rules, we create that consistency. By applying consistent colors, fonts, logos, themes, and icons throughout, Zetta now has a web and print brand identity that is both pleasing to the eye and easily recognizable.

AUL Corp

You may be a leader in your industry, but if your brand identity doesn’t communicate that then you may not keep that position for very long. AUL faced this situation. A clear leader in their industry, but with an old brand message that wasn’t effectively communicating what they stood for. They were in need of a whole new set of marketing tools, sales materials, web design, and product design. We identified the brand’s core strategic positioning factors (like the importance of being human, approachable, transparent, etc.) and invigorated both their website and print collateral with this new identity. The new identity more accurately captures AUL’s true brand character and its position as the leader in the industry.

Founded in 2001, Project6 Design is an award-winning graphic design firm committed to using intuitive design to shape brands and solve complex usability problems.  By collaborating with clients, we help them portray their brand’s story and communicate it in a clear and compelling way.  For high-quality brand, print or web design services, contact the top San Francisco design agency.