{"id":65955,"date":"2018-10-10T10:35:42","date_gmt":"2018-10-10T14:35:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.acscreative.com\/?p=65955"},"modified":"2018-10-10T10:35:42","modified_gmt":"2018-10-10T14:35:42","slug":"looks-arent-everything","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/acsredux.acscreativedev.com\/?p=65955","title":{"rendered":"Looks Aren\u2019t Everything"},"content":{"rendered":"

ACS Creative is (you guessed it) a creative agency. All of our team members are, for lack of a better term, artists<\/em> in their own right. We have a trained eye for what looks good and constantly strive to stay at the forefront of the latest web and graphic design trends. From color theory to typography and everything in between, the work we put out there is creatively engineered to be beautiful down to the last pixel\u2014but that\u2019s only half the story.<\/p>\n

A Website Needs to Work<\/h3>\n

Whether it be informational, transactional, or measured by leads and inquiries, every website has an objective. You might have the most stunning layout and site design in the world; the pride of your brand and envy of your competitors\u2014but if it doesn\u2019t accomplish its basic purpose, none of that matters. A website needs to work<\/strong>. See beyond the pretty colors, animated icons, video backdrops and ask yourself, \u201cIs this serving my audience in the most functional, efficient, and effective way possible?\u201d<\/p>\n

\"iPad<\/p>\n

Take it from Craig<\/h3>\n

There\u2019s no denying the power of elegant design. A gorgeous, flashy website can make even the most trivial products seem like the next big thing. However, design without function is merely a pretty billboard. Nothing should come before making sure your site behaves, performs, and operates the way it should to drive conversions. This sentiment has never held more true than it does on Craigslist.org. A wildly popular classifieds platform that has clearly rejected any tendencies toward fancy aesthetics\u2014all while placing in the top 15 highest traffic sites in the U.S. year after year.<\/p>\n

Of course, Craigslist is an extreme case. I don\u2019t recommend launching a website with all black text, white background, blue links, and zero visual stimuli whatsoever. Although, you can\u2019t deny its ease of use! There is no shame in having a beautiful site full of bells and whistles, as long as the design elements don\u2019t hinder your visitors\u2019 ability to do what you want them to do (buy a product, submit a form, subscribe to a newsletter, etc.)<\/p>\n

Every Business is Different<\/h3>\n

We hear \u201cmake my site look like apple.com\u201d quite often from new clients, and for good reason. It\u2019s a handsome, million-dollar website\u2014that is for sure. However, if you look closely at Apple\u2019s homepage, you\u2019ll notice there really isn\u2019t much web design<\/em> involved at all. They rely on a collage of exquisite photos of their ingenious devices to draw customers in. Unless Tim Cook is reading this blog post (Hey, Tim), you are not Apple. No, you are a law firm, a landscaping company, a jewelry store, a catering business, a fitness instructor\u2026 the point is, you need to find YOUR own balance between fashion and function when it comes to your website. Every industry is different; every business is different; and every visitor is different. There is no one-size-fits-all formula. It often takes some trial and error before you get it right. Be patient, listen to your customers, and try to remember; looks aren\u2019t everything.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A stunning website is only half the story. If it doesn\u2019t accomplish its basic purpose, you may need to simplify.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":68235,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[12,9],"class_list":["post-65955","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-websites","tag-design","tag-user-experience"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/acsredux.acscreativedev.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65955","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/acsredux.acscreativedev.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/acsredux.acscreativedev.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/acsredux.acscreativedev.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/acsredux.acscreativedev.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=65955"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/acsredux.acscreativedev.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65955\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/acsredux.acscreativedev.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/acsredux.acscreativedev.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=65955"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/acsredux.acscreativedev.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=65955"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/acsredux.acscreativedev.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=65955"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}