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Steam Studios | 5620 Pats Pt. Winter Park, FL 32792 | Visit us at: www.steamstudios.com |
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It's served us well for the past year, but we must bid adieu to an old friend: our oh-so-clean, white-space-heavy website. Make way for our, um... oh-so-clean, lots-of-gray-background website.
Now we know what you're thinking: Why on earth would we want to change what is obviously a paragon of aesthetically pleasing graphic design? And the answer is... Because we can.
We're designers who (gasp!) LOVE design.
Actually, we don't just love it, we eat, sleep and breathe this stuff. And we're not content. Ever.
If it were up to us, we'd design everything we could get our grubby little hands on!
And that's the nuts and bolts of it: .
This philosophy has guided us all last year and will continue to spur us forward in the years to come. Sure, we could've been like the other guys and launched a good-looking site right out of the gate, then rested on our laurels for 2, 3, maybe even 4 years. But we've always felt that the best design is the stuff that changes, shifts, and grows. Whether it be for us or for our clients, great design comes from a willingness to shake things up.
And we plan on shaking things up for a long time to come.
www.steamstudios.com (But make sure you finish reading the newsletter, too!)
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Check out Monster Vice at: www.monstervice.com
Samson received the croissants and blue cheese from his "Steam Christmas Wish List" (as featured in last months' newsletter). Sadly, no Powerbook as of yet. Keep your chin up, buddy... you've got a whole year to get off Santa's "Naughty List".
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When a potential visitor logs on to the Internet and opens your website into a browser window, they know nothing about your company.
It's vital to recognize that your website
is a reflection of your business. A potential client across the ocean (or even down the street, possibly) doesn't know you from your competition. If your website is poorly built, this reflects heavily on your company.
I know what you're thinking, "my cousin's friend's brother can build me a website." It's true, just about anyone can build you a website, but, as the old axiom goes, you get what you pay for. It takes years of hard work and dedication to learn the intricacies of building professional web pages. Our advice is to leave this important job to the professionals (i.e. us!). This doesn't mean a kick-ass website has to put you in the poor house. Here are a few things to consider:
- You don't have to put your entire business on the web. Try to include only the best features of your business on your website. All you need someone to do is make that first phone call or walk into your store to make the sale.
- Use pre-existing logos and artwork. An expensive part of web design is branding your company. If you already have a look and logos that work for you, try to stick with them.
- Do some of the work yourself. You can write the text and take the photos.
- Save your money if you're not going to promote your website. Search engines are our friends. Do not build a website if you're not going to spend the money to promote it.
So what makes a great website? The first thing you need to consider when building your site is that there are billions of websites out there. Your site has to stand out from the rest to capture your audiences' attention. This means professionalism, and...
- Content is King. Original content is the most important trait of a great Web site. Please don't forget to update your website regularly.
- Be well-organized. People have to find what they're looking for easily. If a visitor has to search for information, they'll leave your site.
- Your website should download quickly. If people have to wait too long, they'll leave your site. To ensure fast download times, optimize, optimize, optimize.
- Choose colors that make sense. Bright colors appeal to the human eye, but don't go overboard. Also, white text on a dark background reads best, however, white backgrounds are standard.
Don't get too fancy; sometimes less is more.
- Good interactivity engages the user and makes your site memorable.
Obviously, there's to building a great website then what we've listed. But these tips will get you on the right track quickly and easily. . Anyone can say, "Yeah, yeah - I build great websites." But if you don't like his or her work, chances are, you won't like your site, either.
Feel free to look at our portfolio: www.steamstudios.com/portfolio.html
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www.houseind.com
You know you're a geek when you drool over well-constructed typography. And nothing's more drool-worthy than House Industries' ultra-stylish fonts. The printed word never looked so good... |
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www.emilystrange.com
Sure, anyone can slap a cartoon character on a shirt and bilk you out of
your hard-earned dollars. It's that rare company that'll make you feel cool while doing so. Enter Emily the Strange: goth girl extraordinaire. She's smart, sassy, and created solely for selling t-shirts. |
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www.neopets.com
Remember those Tamagotchi virtual pets? Didn't think so. Neopets are cooler anyway. Design your own virtual creature and explore a fun-filled world of magic and wonder. And contrary to the last sentence, it's still fun even if you're over 9 years old.
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Next time you're at Borders, pick up the January ish of Create Magazine to see our first ever ad! Now, we're not saying you have to buy the magazine, but if you could flip to the page that our ad is on and show it to everyone in the store, we'd really appreciate it.
(Sample Issue Image: Not current issue.)
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You are receiving this newsletter because you're a friend, associate, or client of Steam Studios, LLC. If you received this email by mistake, or just don't like us (now how on earth could that be?!), and would like to unregister from our mailing list, please click here. |
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