Ever wondered what UX Design is? You have probably heard your tech-savvy friends talking about it during a conversation – where you already have no clue what they are talking about. Not quite as confusing as IQ, PQ and OQ acronyms for the quality control industry but UX stands for User Experience. The experience of being the clueless odd one out is frustrating. Most of the time it makes you feel dumb. Continue on reading, as I’m keen to share what I know and enlighten you about the subject regardless if you’re just curious or wanting to branch out from your old discipline of design. So let me guide you through the “What”, the “Why” and the “How” of the subject. Basically the baby steps for now, because we’ll be here till the proverbial cows come home.

What is UX Design?

The spectrum of User Experience Design

Why UX Design?

How can UX be done?

Example wireframe

To ensure the highest usability and quality Google has launched their new update in their algorithm especially for mobile friendly usage all around the world. The update was over thereports/news for the last two months like a hot beverage. With being mobile friendly now a crucial part of SEO. Launched in 21st of April Google named this update “Mobilegeddon”. It even sounds exiting, doesn’t it! In any case it’s new and it’s trendy and it should matter the most right about now.

Exmaple of GOOD and BAD

MobileGeddon FAQ

Some of the key features of Mobilegeddon:

• With this update you will be able to see mobile apps in their best ranking according to app indexing. But this facility will only be allowed for  users who are signed in.
• Mobile ranking factors will completely change its ways by determining through their new algorithm website rankings according to the site’s Mobile Usability.
• According to Google, most users will get more accurate search results which is suited for their device.

mobilegeddon facts

Reasons behind Mobilegeddon

The right thing to-do:

mobile friendliness

Google said this is expanding on its mobile ranking demotion algorithm launched back in 2013.

Recently there’s been a huge buzz about the digital industry thriving in the UK, with countless of digital marketing agencies and tech startups such as self-storage comparison site like WhatStorage. Now is the most popular time for starting a digital agency in the country, especially in Bournemouth and Poole of Silicon South. Thinking of starting a digital business in Bournemouth? That seems to be the trend! Graftene, a Bournemouth based web design digital agency explain what they’ve learned while setting up their web development and digital marketing business. Bournemouth, a coastal British town, is home to a number of creative digital agencies that provide services and products such as website design, app development and digital marketing services. It is the top emerging cluster of the digital industry with 24 percent of the start-ups created within 2013 and 2014. The digital industry has played the most important role in the UK’s economic recovery with new sectors and businesses emerging continuously. The first Tech Nation report has provided amazing insights of the current and ongoing situation of the digital economy in the country.

“12.4pc of our GDP is attributed to technology and digital business, that’s the highest in the G20. We are the most digital nation in the world and it is important that government policy makes the most of this enormous potential.” -Baroness Joanna Shields, Chair, Tech City UK

What is Tech Nation?

Bouremouth statistics-1

A closer look at numbers and facts

What makes Bournemouth so special?

“Bournemouth has a vibrant network of meet-ups and events, feeding off its community of creative and app development agencies.”-Matt Desmier, Founder Silicon Beach

The top three digital industry sectors in Bournemouth:

• Marketing and advertising
• Ecommerce
• Games development and production

The top five capabilities of the Bournemouth cluster:

• UI and UX design
• Mobile and tablet development
• Visual and audio design
• Content and media production
• Digital marketing

Bouremouth statistics-2

Creative start-ups of Bournemouth

So you want to be the next digital start-up in Dorset?

The core of these steps boil down to the following actions:

• Define your idea
• Define SMART goals
• Research the market
• Plan your business
• Find sources of funding, suppliers and possible partners
• Register and set up your company

Common mistakes and things that you should be aware of when starting a business:

• Risks and failures are a part of having your own business
• You must be ready to face all kinds of challenges and obstacles
• A major part of business failures is due to lack of planning, especially financial planning
• Hiring the wrong people can often be very harmful
• Inadequate research, especially of competition

Get help and support from other organizations and initiatives:

Selling online is twice harder than putting the products in grocery store. Even if the other products in an aisle with the same function, how a product packaging design makes a huge buying decision making factor. So how does a buyer decide to buy one product vs. another? Is it the colors, logo, price or how it is placed or perfectly well-done dieline? Too many options to consider for a simple decision to do – to buy or not to buy . First ensure that product packaging content is accurate. Software such as Global Vision Quality control platform helps to eliminate any errors in packaging.

Using this cues we have listed will enable you to make necessary moves for your products to sell on your ecommerce store.

Packaging influences subconsciously

– first impressions last in business. Basically the product is a representation of the company. If the company promises quality and experience. It should be telling the customers that in the packaging itself.

Product Convenience and Keywords

– effective alignment of product name, keywords and description helps customers find the product they are looking for. Making the decision to purchase easier.

Recognizable Icons

– Icons easily captures customer’s eyes in products. When a product has a personal and emotional touch even for an icon that promotes environmental awareness it suggests straightly that they need to purchase the product. A lot of best selling products are triggered by emotional memories since most of the consumer’s decisions to buy a product are based on its needs. So what better way to utilize that advantage than getting your products selling?

Typography and Colors

– just as keeping your website clean, clear and concise and pleasing to the users. So as the products should be easily read and have direct impact to the customers. And by that means, customers should be able to read the packaging easily without the migraine of so many redundant typography and flashy distracting colors.

With careful planning and consideration of your users, customers, products and packaging design, you can easily use your product as a powerful marketing tool for your business.

One of the many web owner problems last year was getting penalised by Google. This sneaky tactic is commonly referred to as Negative SEO; where people create bad or spammy links to competitor’s website so that whenever Google crawls their website they get penalised. Its a method to get around Google’s success in cleaning the web with spammy link building that hinders spammers to play with the system and get the ranks in their favor so they take out competition with sneaky attacks instead.

So how would you spot an Attack?

– A sudden spike of links usually gets google’s attention and if google finds this links bad the website gets penalized.

– Usually blogs are common victims to these attacks as links are posted into the blog comments. We call it “comment spamming” and its thorn by the side.

– With intense scan and audit you will see that a specific keyword will be target for the attack.

Timing is key. Just like many aspects of your personal life, you don’t want to go on a holiday on the holidays to avoid the rush. Or hold a very important meeting when everybody is surely late by 8am. The concept is also true to creating content for your social media marketing. If you want your content to succeed in social media you’ve got to strategize well before you publish.

So what type of contents gets attention and shared a lot by people?

– giving the audience a fun or graphic representation of the brand or sharing a momentous occasion of the company.

– usually these kind of posts answers a problem, gives a thorough explanation on how to go about it and focus on that topic solely.

– provides the readers a sense of purpose to help out or provide a point of view on a certain situation or topic.

– giving further information on specified topic and references to a certain topic.

– focus on a certain topic, and then give out number of points and a brief conclusion.

As a business owner you understand that you need to be found online as well in order for your business to continue to grow. But you don’t have any idea what to ask or look for when you are considering a company to design your website? You are not alone. From our experience, finding a good web design company tends to be a bigger frustration to many business owners. There are a lot of companies out there that make a lot of claims but only a few that stand out and walk the talk. We have listed the 5 most important things to look for in a Web Design company.

Tip – Design

Tip – Price

Tip – Web Maintenance

Tip – Marketing

Tip – After Service

Its true with Mobile Apps, what will make an app successful in the market can fail miserably to other apps. That is why the dramatic increase of localization testing on mobile apps over the last decade. We have listed top tips that you should understand when localizing mobile apps and expand to the international market.

So how can you ensure that the success of your app locally equals to success world wide?

Develop an App for the international audience before going local

Simple UI

Understand Global Cultures and Sensitivities

Market Partnerships

Search engine optimization helps grow awareness and attracts sales eventually. The general rule of thumb for marketers is, if the customer wont buy on the first time then make an impact that when they think of a certain product they immediately think of you. We know the problem that is why Graftene have listed some of the best realistic solutions that are effective marketing tactic that converts to sales.

Here are the tips in getting the attention you seek.

1. Be different. Defy the norm.

   Be the purple cow, or the green ox. Stand out among the crowd. If you cant stand out then editors have no reason to publish you on front page.

2. Hire a good copywrite

   Spend on a good content writer to write about you and your company. Lets face it. A company that doesn’t have a real business owner will not be considered by the customers. A real life person showing up in their website and talking and sharing a little bit about their life and story shouts legitimacy in their passion to help out and that is what customers want to see and read.

3. Be Visual

   Utilize Visualal platforms like pinterest, google plus, facebook among others in reaching the mass media. Emotional intelligence is a skill set and your customers are in the social media 24/7. So why not be there and be in front of them.

4. Engage in forums, social media websites and emails

   Work with your team to create a successful email template to be used within the company. Update “about”page and social media profiles often to show genuine profiles that reflects the business expertise. And when people compliment your posts and company take screen shots, or video clips to show to as tangible testimonies.

When you build a company or a brand, everything you hear about the logo and its importance is true. And yet still fall to the trap of having friends doing it for you than letting an expert doing the design. To further highlight how important the logo is, think of it this way: your logo will be your image. Its by far the image that will mark in your customers subconscious if not yet conscious of your existence (for customers that haven’t yet bought your product). Imagine an image that that pops into your head the moment you hear a name of a company or service. Its the first thing that customers think of first before saying your company name. When a graphic designer creates a logo that precisely represents your company brand, your products, services, works that will brand at all the vast majority requires artistic professional eye, attention to detail, knowledge of different platforms and dedication of process. Whether the logo is for a corporate established business or a start up, logo can withstand test of time and build the name with the business. Once you have decided on a logo and have started the business and getting clients, there is no changing it. Its yours for life and becomes your representation of your brand. If ever you do get board with your logo, you logo can always have an update depending on the milestone or the holiday celebration.