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Raincastle's Web Design & Branding Blog

Posted by Paul Regensburg on Jul 15, 2015 8:15:00 AM

Five Examples of Great B2B Storytelling Websites

Good storytelling is the new frontier for the website.

As Responsive Design homogenizes the look and feel of websites (I love the usability but dislike the cookie cutter designs that Responsive Design so often engenders); now, more than ever, we need compelling content to break through the visual monotony and fuse the "brand experience" with the "user experience." This is especially true in B2B, where it is easy to "live above the neck" in a world of features, functions, dense and often technical content.

Here are five websites that successfully use compelling storytelling to build their brands.

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Tags: B2B / user experience / website / brand / Web Design Strategy / branding for websites / brand storytelling
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Posted by Paul Regensburg on Jun 2, 2015 8:25:00 AM

Is Removing Top Navigation a Web Design Trend to Avoid?

For the most part, I'd answer yes, but at the same time, it may be inevitable.

By the time a web design trend is recognized as such, it is a fait accompli, and practically all new sites begin to look the same. Take a look at the most recent web trends such as Parallax scrolling, long scrolling pages, use of icons, full bleed images, infographics and the list goes on.

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Tags: information architecture / SEO / user experience / mobile / design / design trends / responsive design / navigation / trends / mobile web / analytics
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Posted by Paul Regensburg on May 19, 2015 8:30:00 AM

Do People Read Long, Scrolling Web Pages?

Mobility has rendered the long scrolling web page the design standard for modern websites. But does it work? By work I mean does it provide a good user experience for your visitors and do people actually scroll down to that 3rd, 4th, 5th panel and beyond? Even as someone that is creating scrolling sites, I've had a gut feeling that few visitors venture "beneath the fold," just as few Google visitors venture past page one of Search results. So I did a little research to either support my instincts or cause me to reflect on my dinosaur delusions.

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Tags: web design / user experience / design / design trends / Web Design Strategy
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Posted by Paul Regensburg on Sep 29, 2014 1:05:00 PM

An Effective Web Design Strategy Starts with Your Brand

We've talked about Market Strategy, Brand Strategy and Content Strategy, so why do we need a Web Design Strategy? Because, of all of these strategies, only your Website Design Strategy is externally facing. Let's put Website Desgn Strategy into context to clarify how these strategies work in tandem.

Using a funnel metaphor, your Market Strategy is your highest level strategic decision, in which you define the markets for your products and/or services and determine whether your market approach is industry specific, solutions or applications-focused or some combination.

Once this is determined, your Brand Strategy encompasses the way you describe what you do, for what audiences with a compettive value statement, which sets you apart from your competition. You socialize this brand internally, and externally at every customer and employee touchpoint.

The power of a relevant Content Strategy — based on sound Market and Brand Strategies — is to create a program to disseminate and exchange your valuable content across all media and over time, which leads us to your Website Design Strategy.

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Tags: web design / B2B / user experience / brand messaging / design / content marketing / brand / brand positioning / design and business / Web Design Strategy
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Posted by Paul Regensburg on Aug 1, 2013 4:05:00 PM

5 Reasons Why You Need a Website Content Editor

I've seen many clients, who with the best of intentions fall into the same rut year after year. There are certain universal truths about successful websites; one of them is that on website projects that include a quality content editor as part of the dedicated team, the process is smoother, stays on schedule and client satisfaction is high.

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Tags: web development / copywriting / user experience / brand messaging / content creation / writing / brand
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