Why You Should Get Excited About Emotional Branding

Globalization, low-cost technologies and saturated markets are making products and services interchangeable and barely distinguishable. As a result, today’s brands must go beyond face value and tap into consumers’ deepest subconscious emotions to win the marketplace.

The Role Of Brands Is Changing

In recent decades, the economic base has shifted from production to consumption, from needs to wants, from objective to subjective. We’re moving away from the functional and technical characteristics of the industrial era, into a time when consumers are making buying decisions based on how they feel about a company and its offer.
BusinessWeek captured the evolution of branding back in 2001:

“A strong brand acts as an ambassador when companies enter new markets or offer new products. It also shapes corporate strategy, helping to define which initiatives fit within the brand concept and which do not. That’s why the companies that once measured their worth strictly in terms of tangibles such as factories, inventory and cash have realized that a vibrant brand, with its implicit promise of quality, is an equally important asset.”

I’d take it a step further and suggest that the brand is not just an important part of the business — it is the business. As Dale Carnegie says:

“When dealing with people, let us remember we are not dealing with creatures of logic. We are dealing with creatures of emotion.”

It’s Time To Get Emotional

In a borderless world where people are increasingly doing their research and purchases online (75% of Americans admit to doing so while on the toilet), companies that don’t take their branding seriously face imminent demise.
Enter emotional branding. It’s a highly effective way to cause reaction, sentiments and moods, ultimately forming experience, connection and loyalty with a company or product on an irrational level. That’s the ironic part: Most people don’t believe they can be emotionally influenced by a brand. Why? Because that’s their rational mind at work. People make decisions emotionally and then rationalize them logically. Therefore, emotional branding affects people at a hidden, subconscious level. And that’s what makes it so incredibly powerful.
Neuroscientists have recently made great strides in understanding how the human mind works. In his book Emotional Design: Why We Love (or Hate) Everyday Things, cognitive scientist Donald Norman explains how emotions guide us:

“Emotions are inseparable from and a necessary part of cognition. Everything we do, everything we think is tinged with emotion, much of it subconscious. In turn, our emotions change the way we think, and serve as constant guides to appropriate behavior, steering us away from the bad, guiding us toward the good.”

Emotions help us to rapidly choose between good and bad and to navigate in a world filled with harsh noise and unlimited options. This concept has been reinforced by multiple studies, including ones conducted by neuroscientist Antonio Damasio, who examined people who are healthy in every way except for brain injuries that have impaired their emotional systems. Due to their lack of emotional senses, these subjects could not make basic decisions on where to live, what to eat and what products they need.
Emotions are a necessary part of life, affecting how you feel, how you behave and how you think. Therefore, brands that effectively engage consumers in a personal dialogue on their needs are able to evoke and influence persuasive feelings such as love, attachment and happiness.

Creativity Is Critical

What does that mean to marketers? Good ideas are increasingly vital to businesses. And that’s good news for creative professionals and agencies.
A Wall Street Journal article titled “So Long, Supply and Demand” reports:

“Creativity is overtaking capital as the principal elixir of growth. And creativity, although precious, shares few of the constraints that limit the range and availability of capital and physical goods. In this new business atmosphere, ideas are money. Ideas are, in fact, a new kind of currency altogether — one that is more powerful than money. One single idea — especially if it involves a great brand concept — can change a company’s entire future.”

As Napoleon Hill says:

“First comes thought; then organization of that thought, into ideas and plans; then transformation of those plans into reality. The beginning, as you will observe, is in your imagination.”

Emotional Branding In Action

Let’s look at some examples of branding and campaigns that go for the heart and, in some cases, hit the mark.

WestJet Christmas Miracle

WestJet Airlines pulled on heartstrings this past holiday season with a video of Santa distributing Christmas gifts to 250 unsuspecting passengers. The Canadian airline expected around 800,000 views but blew their competitors’ campaigns out of the air with more than 35 million views.

How the WestJetters helped Santa spread some Christmas magic to their guests. (Watch on Youtube)

Coca-Cola Security Cameras

While surveillance cameras are known for catching burglaries and brawls, a Coca-Cola ad released during the latest Super Bowl encourages us to look at life differently by sharing happy, moving moments captured on security cameras. You’ll witness people sneaking kisses, dancing and random acts of kindness.

All the small acts of kindness, bravery and love that take place around us, recorded by security cameras. (Watch on Youtube)

Homeless Veteran Time-Lapse Transformation

Degage Ministries, a charity that works with veterans, launched a video showing a homeless US Army veteran, Jim Wolf, getting a haircut and new clothes as part of an effort to transform his life. Degage Ministries told Webcopyplus that Wolf has completed rehab and is turning his life around, and that the video has so far raised more than $125,000, along with increased awareness of and compassion for veterans across the country.

A video of a homeless veteran named Jim, who volunteered to go through a physical transformation in September 2013. (Watch on Youtube)

Creating Emotional Connection

While neuroscientists have only recently made significant strides in understanding how we process information and make decisions, humans have been using a powerful communication tactic for thousands of years: storytelling. It’s a highly effective method to get messages to stick and to get people to care, act and buy.
The stories that truly engage and are shared across the Web are typically personal and contain some aspect of usefulness, sweetness, humor, inspiration or shock. Also, the brand has to be seen as authentic, not manufactured, or else credibility and loyalty will be damaged.
To get the most success in creating an emotional connection with people, stories should explore both brand mystique and brand experience, and the actual product or service should be integrated. A brilliant example is The Lego Movie, released by Warner Bros earlier this year. The Lego brand delivered a masterful story, using its products as the stars. The brand got families and kids around the globe to shovel out well over $200 million for what could be the ultimate toy commercial.
Designers, developers, copywriters and marketers in general should take a page from moviemakers, including the late writer, director and producer Sidney Lumet. He gave the following advice on making movies: “What is the movie about? What did you see? What was your intention? Ideally, if we do this well, what do you hope the audience will feel, think, sense? In what mood do you want them to leave the theater?” The same could be asked when you’re developing a brand story: What do you want the audience to feel?
Even product placement, where everything from sneakers to cars gets flashed on the screen, has evolved into “branded entertainment.” Now, products are worked into scripts, sometimes with actual roles. A well-known example is in the film Cast Away, in which Wilson, a volleyball named after the brand, serves as Tom Hanks’ personified friend and sole companion for four years on a deserted island. When Wilson gets swept away into the ocean and slowly disappears, sad music ensues, and many moviegoers shed tears over… well, a volleyball.

Making Brands Emotional

Connecting people to products and services is not an easy task. It takes careful consideration and planning. US marketing agency JB Chicago found success sparking an emotional connection for Vitalicious, its client in the pizza industry. Its VitaPizza product had fewer calories than any competitor’s, however, its message was getting lost among millions of other messages. Explains Steve Gaither, President of JB Chicago:

We needed to bring that differentiation front and center, letting the target audience, women 25-plus interested in healthy living, know they can eat the pizza they love and miss without consuming tons of calories.

A relationship concept was formed, and a campaign was soon launched with the following key messages: “You used to love pizza. And then the love affair ended. You’ve changed. And, thankfully, pizza has too! Now you and your pizza can be together again.” The agency then tested different ads, each centered on one of the following themes:

• sweepstakes,
• 190 calories,
• gluten-free/natural,
• “You and pizza. Reunited. Reunited and it tastes so good.”

The brand idea outperformed the other ads by a margin of three to one. Bringing a story into the equation resonated with the target audience.
Gaither also shared insight on a current story-building project for StudyStars, an online tutoring company whose brand wasn’t gaining traction. JB Chicago overhauled the brand and created a story to demonstrate that StudyStars is a skills-based tutoring system with a deep, fundamental approach to learning, one that ultimately delivers better outcomes.

“We needed to find and build camp at a place where skills-based tutoring intersects with the unmet needs of the buyer. We needed a powerful brand idea that enables us to claim and defend that space. And we needed to express that idea in a manner that is believable and differentiated.”

Seeking a concept that would look, feel, speak and behave differently, JB Chicago crafted the brand idea “Master the Fundamentals.” It suggests that learning is like anything else: You have to walk before you can run, or else you will fall. So, the agency is setting up a campaign, including a video, to show that students who fall behind in school due to weak learning of the fundamentals don’t just fall behind in the classroom — their struggles affect every other aspect of their lives.
Here’s a snippet of the drafted script:

Title: Pauline’s Story

We see a beautiful little girl in a classroom. Pauline. She is 8 years old. We can also see that she’s a little lost.
A quick shot of the teacher at the chalkboard, teaching simple multiplication, like 9 × 6. Back to Pauline. She’s not getting it.
We see Pauline again at age 12, again in class. She is looking at a math quiz. It’s been graded. She got a D.
There’s a sign hanging from her neck. The sign says “I never learned multiplication.”
We see Pauline again, now at 15. She is home. Her parents are screaming at each other about her poor academic performance. The sign around her neck is still there. “I never learned multiplication.”
We see a young waitress in a dreary coffee shop. It takes us a few seconds to realize that it’s Pauline, age 18. She is tallying a customer’s check.
A close shot of the check. Pauline is trying to calculate the tax. She can’t do it, so she consults a cheat sheet posted nearby. She’s still wearing the sign. “I never learned multiplication.”
She figures the tax out and brings the check over to an attractive collegiate-looking couple, who thank her and head for the door. She watches them leave.
Their life is everything hers is not. Their future is everything hers will never be. Slate (text) states StudyStars’ case, and the video ends with an invitation to visit studystars.com.

JB Chicago created a story that draws us in and links to emotions — possibly hope, fear, promise, hope, security and other feelings — according to the person’s mindset, experience, circumstance and other factors. The key is that it gets to our hearts.

Emotional Triggers

Different visitors connect to and invest in products and services for different reasons. To help you strike an emotional chord with your audience, veteran marketer Barry Feig has carved out 16 hot buttons in Hot Button Marketing: Push the Emotional Buttons That Get People to Buy:

• Desire for control
• I’m better than you
• Excitement of discovery
• Revaluing
• Family values
• Desire to belong
• Fun is its own reward
• Poverty of time
• Desire to get the best
• Self-achievement
• Sex, love, romance
• Nurturing response
• Reinventing oneself
• Make me smarter
• Power, dominance and influence
• Wish-fulfillment

How Does It Make You Feel?

As emotional aspects of brands increasingly become major drivers of choice, it would be wise for designers, content writers and other marketers to peel back customers’ deep emotional layers to identify and understand the motivations behind their behavior.
So, the next time you ask someone to review your design or content, maybe don’t ask, “What do you think?” Instead, the smarter question might be:
“How does it make you feel?”

6 Predictions About How We’ll Use Technology In 2014

Each year, we wonder what the upcoming 12 months will bring in terms of trends that can help us do more with our businesses. Over the years, we’ve benefited from technology trends like social media, cloud computing, and software as a service.

So what will 2014 bring, technology-wise?

#1. More Analog Tasks Will Go Digital

If you’re old enough, you know why we say we have to “balance the books” when it comes to accounting. It’s hard to imagine not using accounting software. This year, I predict the average small business owner will start using digital versions of paper and analog tasks like:

• Employee scheduling (that’s what my company does)
• Keeping track of calendars and appointments
• Tracking travel expenses and scanning receipts

#2. We’ll See More Outsourcing and Virtual Teams

More businesses are letting go of the idea that a team can only be functional if all members work in the same physical office. That opens the door to working with freelancers and dev teams in other locations, as well as letting your staff work virtually. This can help you realize major cost savings if you don’t have to worry about the overhead of an office.

#3. We’ll Get a Better Handle on Analytics

So Google took our keyword data and made it harder to figure out how customers were coming to our site. While this necessitates us changing how we view analytics, it also invites new solutions. I suspect we’ll see several new types of analytics companies presenting options for us to analyze a customer’s behavior before and after arriving on our website, without our Google training wheels.

#4. Voice Recognition Will Become Commonplace

If you’ve been a newer-gen iPhone user, Siri’s old hat to you. If you’re an Android phone owner, you were probably delighted last year when Google rolled out its voice recognition program. Expect to see more widespread adoption of voice tools, as well as integration into different platforms.

#5. Tablets Won’t Be as Novel as Business Tools

Even just a year or two ago, it was a shock to see a restaurant using an iPad to take orders. We’re not seeing complete adoption in the restaurant industry just yet, but we are starting to see more industries using tablets in creative ways, such as doctors using them to record notes while with a patient. Tablets are now affordable enough to be “just another office tool.”

#6. Wearable Technology Won’t Get Far…Just Yet

If you’re tired of hearing about Google Glass and not actually seeing mainstream adoption, you’ll probably be happy if the hype dies down a little. And I suspect it will, though fashion designers might (should, anyway) get involved to make the innovation more user-friendly and fashion-forward.
It’s always interesting to ponder what technology holds for us. We live in exciting times, don’t we?

Satellite Internet vs. Ethernet: Why Satellite is Years Behind

There are plenty of times and places to apply satellite based network services. Many people who have remote locations run an entire branch on one satellite modem. However for a larger network infrastructure or for packet heavy communications, Ethernet services perform vastly better. That’s why businesses are weighing satellite internet vs. Ethernet.

Understanding How Packets Create Network Speed and Quality

Even Satellite Today understands the problem that even advanced satellite modems encounter, data packet partitioning. When information passes through a network, it sends packets of data to the end destination. These packets can be large or small, but each bit of information that needs to be passed is bunched into a packet for the network.
Satellite modems are very capable of sending large packets of data, however they run into issues if they need to send a lot of packets, such as 20 people using VOIP providers to communicate. The modem may be able to handle eight large packets of data, but when it starts to receive more packets than it can handle, quality will suffer if the modem has fail safe protocols, or lock up and reboot. For this reason, it is especially important to carefully consider not only the data speeds of the satellite modem, but also the packet capacity as well.
Ethernet services work on a slightly different principle to take advantage of the hardwired, reliable connections called Asynchronous Transfer Mode, or ATM for short. Instead of allocating a number of packets and sending large volumes of data across the network, Ethernet modems chop up that large data into smaller packets and give them a 16-bit code of address information called an ATM tax in the IT world. This packet allocation protocol allows the network to handle infinite number of packets coming through because at the receiving end, that 16-bit address line tells the receiving modem how the packet is meant to be reassembled.

What Does This Mean to the Large and Small Business Owner?

There are some remote locations where satellite internet is all that is available. In those situations with smart IT planning, a hybrid system of Ethernet routing and a satellite modem can adequately satisfy the needs of the business or operations. However, the reason satellite internet is years behind, is that even with a well managed suite of Ethernet services, the satellite modem and data transfer protocols will always be a bottleneck that can be compensated for, but never alleviated.
An Ethernet based network resulting in a cable or fiber-optic network connection creates a lateral network. Rather than data circulating naturally, only to slow down at the smallness of the pipeline, Ethernet with its ATM protocol can perform almost outrageous feats of networking such as sending one ultimate data files through two routers using standard ATM packets, coping with hundreds of different packet sources requiring data communication of both large and small file size, and Ethernet services also provide IT teams many opportunities to redesign the network to alleviate congestion, or clamp down on an insufficient network.

Making the Ultimate Decision

When deciding on your routing and modem technologies, you the business owner know best what to do for your company, but consider these pivot points before you invest too much in either technology.

1. Consider the actual size of data files passed over the network.
2. The number of packets transferred at one time, think about how many computers, devices, and VOIPs are connecting to the modem.
3. Fiber-optic and cable line development, which can give you more bandwidth often at a cheaper rate, which disfavors satellite.
4. A long distance from cable and fiber-optic services make satellite ideal

I hope this explains Satellite Internet vs. Ethernet. I’d love to hear your comments.

The Need for Return On IT

The latest developments in technology have changed the way world does business. It shrunk the world and now created a global market place where a company in Cork no longer competes with local businesses only but also has to compete with businesses from Bangalore or Shanghai. This in turn created newer challenges where businesses had to increase their efficiency, performance, profitability and competitiveness through more technological initiatives.
As companies attempted to focus on technology initiatives, the actual implementation sometimes created a gap where they have been broadly applied to justify a myriad of IT budget expenses on technology / product acquisitions and seismic shifts disguised as process improvements.
And when this use of technology in business evolved further, the number of redundant applications grew – many of them becoming legacy systems with no clear indication of the business need they support. This defeated the fundamental theme of technology implementation, which was more about reaping greater rewards from simpler steps but not the very reverse. Technology stops delivering at that stage when we have a complex eco system with no clear roles and responsibilities defined.
The need to economically align IT systems with business in a dynamic environment should be the key driver behind the new ROI(T) efforts. In the current economic scenario it is more than ever relevant that we optimize operating expenses by more effectively using IT and business investments.
We need to recalibrate the orbit of IT around the world of business and initiate efforts that reach an adaptive state where progress stems from a general trend toward adoption of higher standards, combined with a greater awareness of good governance techniques, such as metrics and incentives that help bridge the two worlds.
A methodical approach needs to be carried out for evaluating the ROI(T) that aims to understand the complete inventory of applications and carry out a rational analysis that would help in reducing cost and complexity from IT systems. This needs to be done for as simple IT system as a web site to a more complex ERP systems etc. As with every implementation, having an overall IT strategy where the role and relevance is clarified with clear road map helps. This overall strategic direction leads to the following steps on a need basis

• Set overall IT policies and direction, with the customers’ needs in mind — but don’t seek to control every operational detail.
• Establish an IT steering committee to set priorities and approve standardization plans. Business value is the filter to be used.
• Define infrastructure and architecture strategies that drive business value, such as making a office “green,” and establishing performance controls.
• Implement service level agreements between IT and business units that guarantee uptime but also promote alignment through use of business metrics.

Thoughts?

8 Industries That Increase The Power Of Social Media

Companies have recognized the power of networking for their growth even prior to the Internet rise. If an entity builds a good network, it creates contacts with many more customers, increases its sales, expands to new markets, and makes a positive influence on its industry. Many successful companies have separate departments with the main responsibility of developing new business. This aspect of development was made much easier with the rise of social media.
There isn’t a business or organization that cannot benefit from a carefully planned and well-executed social media campaign. It doesn’t matter which industry the organization belongs to, it can always find the right social media platform that will enhance its success and growth. However, it cannot be denied that social media have a stronger influence on particular industries more than others. Here we will list the industries that have been exceptionally influenced by social media.

#1. The gaming industry

When you connect gaming applications with social media platforms you get the sense of friendly competition that attracts a countless number of users. Gaming companies that gave a social angle to their games have changed the dynamics of this activity in ways we couldn’t imagine before social media changed the world.

#2. The education industry

It doesn’t matter what old-school educators think of tweeting, social media has become a great place for students to find learning sources and teachers to connect with their students and inspire them to get involved in discussions and project beyond the classroom environment. There are many ways to use Twitter in a classroom, all of which enhance the effectiveness and fun of learning.

#3. The recruitment sector

When LinkedIn and other similar tools gained approval in the business environment, professional networking became a whole new concept based on social media. Finding new talents and opportunities became incredibly easy with these platforms.

#4. The food industry

When you think of food, you think of Instagram. When a company wants to announce the opening of a brand new restaurant, there is no better place for that than on social platforms. Restaurants and companies promote new dishes and products on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter, but they also use social media to announce changes in their menus or production lines, or provide updates on upcoming events. Lately, more and more mobile food trucks announce their locations to Twitter followers every day, so more customers can find them easily.

#5. The television industry

Getting sneak peeks and teasers of upcoming episodes has become the new trick for attracting more viewers and keeping them hooked. Social media are also used by televisions for posting live updates and inviting viewers to comment and vote. Face Off, Project Runway, and other TV popular shows use Twitter and Facebook to connect with their viewers, listen to their opinions, and provide material that will keep them interested in the program. Social media has taken the viewership to a much higher level of engagement.

#6. The music industry

The number of music talents that came out of YouTube is impressive. This platform, along with MySpace, has helped many musicians to cultivate interest and sales. Promotion is not the only thing the music industry gains from YouTube – this concept is also a great mean of marketing that costs significantly less than traditional marketing methods.

#7. The fashion industry

All supermodels, magazines, designers, and fashion houses have social media profiles where they connect with their fans. Social media is a great place for promoting the latest shows, trends, and events to potential customers. The fashion industry also finds potential in social media platforms when it comes to securing future sales by forecasting fashion trends.

#8. The film industry

Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and other social platforms are useful for all active participants in the film industry, whether they are directors, actors, promoters, or producers. With the use of social media, the film industry gains access to an incredibly large audience that can be converted into fan base.

Web1.0, 2.0 or 3.0 – where am I?

Online or offline, one frequently hears references to web1.0, web2.0 and web3.0 and possibly wonders where exactly are they with using the web in their business ! In this post, I will write about some of the main features (or characteristics) of all three terms and also suggest an approach to measure how effectively you are using theses features.
We must remember that terms like web2.0 are marketing as opposed to technical terms which are coined to define new ways in which people can use the web and as yet, there are no agreed standard definitions.
In the beginning…
If your business has a static website, where the content is rarely changed, then you could be considered to be at web1.0. The emphasis with web1.0 is that a user browses for information, but the information on websites is static and the user would not be able to interact or comment on the information.
On the other hand Web2.0 is…

There are a number of characteristics of web2.0, one of which relates to collaboration and sharing information across the web. Examples of this include blogs, wikis, podcasts and social networking sites. These examples highlight how the web has become a publishing platform, where information can be easily shared, updated and commented upon.
Another characteristic is the greater user interaction; either with other users or by running applications using their browser. With web2.0, the web is now a platform, where rather than using the traditional client installations, people can access and use applications via their browser without any regard to the operating system on their pc (or laptop, pda or mobile for that matter).
Also, most web2.0 applications are open source, enabling a user to modify or expand an application, if they wish.
Moving onto Web3.0
With web3.0, the emphasis will be on the use of intelligent searching and the context of information, rather than the presence of keywords. Currently with web2.0, a user selects a set of keywords to define their search for information on restaurants or holiday destinations etc. Then it is upto the user to scan the information on each of the pages selected by the search engine to assess their relevancy.
In web3.0, the search engine will not only focus on keywords, but also interpret the context of your request to provide additional relevant information. For example, if you are making travel arrangements to London, a web3.0 type search may also suggest a particular type of restaurant or theatre show that is near your hotel based on your previous web searches.
Web3.0 is still evolving with research into areas such as the semantic web and hybrid intelligence.
How effective is my use of the web
One way to measure the effectivness of your use of the web is to borrow some principles from a web maturity model. There are five levels;

1. Initial – where the use of the web is ad-hoc with no controls
2. Repeatable – where the use of the web for your business is a stable process well known throughout your business
3. Defined – there is now consistency in the use of the web and a greater undersanding of how and why the web is being used
4. Managed – where there is a set of metrics used to assess the effectiveness of the web (e.g. Number of visitors or downloads)
5. Optimised – where your business is now continually improving the use of the web

It is important to remember that these five maturity levels can be applied to any of the uses of the web from web1.0 to web3.0.
So how effectve is YOUR use of the web?

Most Used and Abused Web Design Trends of All Time

You sit down in front of your computer to work on a web design and then create or download an animated Matrix background for your Geocities website. You’re so cool. Fast forward 10 years, and you say to yourself, yikes, what was I thinking?! We’ve all been there. As a matter of fact, I’m personally guilty of copying many of following trends.
Trend isn’t a bad word in web design. In fact, the items on this list inspired an entire generation of web designers. All of these ideas were so huge that they created a mass following. That’s a good thing. The problem comes when we’re happy to create a clone of a great design and let it rest at that. Great designers push themselves to be ahead of the trends, or they twist the trend into something uniquely their own. The problem isn’t that you were inspired by the Matrix, it is that you didn’t re-imagine your inspiration into something different. As you look through this list, remember the reasons why you may have once loved these web design trends. It will help you understand why they were so popular, and what you can learn from them.

Reflective Text or Objects

Mirrored objects are one of those web design trends that seem to constantly resurface. We love it for the sense of realism and dimension it brings to a static 2D image, but most of the time it’s done incorrectly. It takes more than simply flipping an object upside down to make a mirrored image.

Aqua Buttons

There’s no way this list could exist without the prominent mentioning of aqua buttons. These shiny, glassy, light blue buttons gave the impression of 3D even though they took less than 10 minutes to make in Photoshop. Amazingly simple, aqua buttons were a ubiquitous trend that finally died down around 2005.

Flourishes

Unfortunately this web design trend is still in its 14th minute of fame. These embellishments are often created to emphasize an artsy site, and can be done very well, especially if the designer is particularly gifted in graphic art. The problem is that this look has been seen in an obscene amount of sites, and is no longer fresh or unexpected. The flowers are dying.

Desktop Design with Coffee Cup

Don’t forget the coffee stains somewhere in the design. I’ve never quite understood the perspective on this design. Is the viewer supposed to be standing up and looking directly down at the desk? That’s the only way this view makes sense. This trend must be stopped.

Animated Globe

Fortunately, this web design trend has come to an end for most websites, but it died a long death. This popular “rotating” earth was usually attached to the site’s logo. Most businesses which displayed it weren’t even international. It was your local mom and pop shop showing they could have a fancy animated gif, too.

Comic Sans Font

There was a time when Comic Sans was everywhere and, despite its name, it wasn’t funny. Comic Sans was the font many misguided designers used to convey a sense of playfulness on their websites. Comic Sans has stirred an unholy amount of hatred over the years, and yet it continues to exist as a font. Fortunately, every designer knows to steer clear of this font like the plague.

Overused Stock Images

How many business sites have we visited where there’s one of these images on the front page? Of course, clients request these types of stock images all the time, but as designers, we have to show them what else is possible.

Torn Notebook Paper

It’s nice to see realistic elements on websites, but the paper look lacks originality. The overwhelming amount of paper textures and tutorials make this a definite trend to avoid for a trend-setter.

Polaroids

There was a time when everyone incorporated Polaroid-type objects into their design. This retro trend has outlived its usefulness. Polaroids may be a fun throwback, but it’s doubtful that anyone born after 1990 has ever seen one in person.

Oversized RSS or Twitter Icons

We get it. You want us to subscribe and follow your random thoughts. We want to, but putting up a huge RSS icon that’s half the size of your web page is just obnoxious and insults your visitors. The same goes for Twitter. Keep these icons classy and non-obtrusive.

Auto-played Music

Music is awesome, but it’s wrong to impose your music selection on your visitors. What if they’re listening to their own music? Unfortunately, there was a time on the internet when bored office workers had to surf on mute for fear that they may enter the wrong website. Fortunately, most designers have dropped this trend, but it still seems hot in Eastern Europe.

Counters

Here we have the sad web design phenomenon of visitor counters. In the early days of the internet, web designers used counters as a way to (sadly) collect visitor data, but more often to impress visitors with an impossibly large amount of web traffic. These counters were notoriously inaccurate and everyone knew it, because no one believed you had over a million visitors into your Homestead account. Fortunately, the web counter trend is dead, and happily so.

Marquees

Scrolling text across any part of a website is considered a marquee. Marquees were so cool in the late 90s, but soon lost its seem once designers realized that websites are not headline news networks. We all seen way too many marquees in Comic Sans font.

Frames

Frames. Frames are probably the saddest trend on this list. The only thing that saved us from frames was the supreme importance of the search engine. Designers started realizing that it was no longer optimal to have five or six pages to incorporate one home page. Frames were ugly, difficult to deal with, and had way too many moving parts.

Splash Pages That Make You Choose

Flash or HTML? Old site or new site? Full screen or normal screen? Your visitor does not need to face these crucial choices before entering into your website. This trend is still popular amongst designers who don’t realize how to effectively manage both old and new, html and Flash. By the way, no one likes full screen. Keep it simple. Don’t give your audience these types of choices or they may choose to leave.

Intro with No Skipping Option

This design trend forced visitors to sit through an impossibly long (no matter the length) introduction to your site with no means of escape. The trend supposed that every visitor to your site was a first-time one, and never took into account the possibly of repeat visitors.

Black Backgrounds

This is a delicate subject, but black backgrounds are an overused trend. Dark is nice, especially if you find surprising new colors to re-interpret a mood such as a deep blue or a hazy gray, but black is out.
What do you think this list is missing? We’d like to hear from you.

35 Inspirational Software and Application Websites

In web design, trends are very easy to spot, and they greatly impact us as designers because we are often inclined to follow those trends. You will notice many trends based on the type, or category, of site you are looking at. One category of websites that follow similar trends are software and application websites. This includes everything from Mac applications to web-based apps.
No matter what type of app, the trends are always visible.

One of those trends is the use of a strong and attractive introduction. The introductions welcome the user and provide a very brief but informative description of the software or app. Also, you will notice the use of screenshots, often placed within this introduction. Not only that, the screenshots for web-based applications all follow the trend of placing the screenshot with the browser, generally Safari. There are many software sites that don’t have screenshots though. Instead, you will see that they often include a detailed and vibrant illustration in the introduction.
Furthermore, you will notice trends in navigation. Most sites will use a very simple main navigation bar. The throughout the sites are often similar, too. Software sites usually include pages such as About, Support, Pricing, Features, Tour, and sometimes blog. Finally, you will notice throughout these pages strond use of icons. Icons are an excellent way to support text based elements within a content heavy design.
With all that in mind, take a look at these 35 excellent examples of well-designed software and application websites. To view the full page in further detail, follow the link of the screenshot. Pay attention to the numerous trends mentioned above, and how each one helps the overall usability and visual aspect of the website.
GoodBarry
An eCommerce CMS with many features including Email Marketing, Analytics, and CRM.

Warehouse
A web-based Suberversion browser.

Silverback App
A usability testing software for designers and developers.

Product Planner
This is an excellent web app which allows to plan the flow of web products by looking at other successful plans.

Quick Snapper
An execellent screenshot software for the Mac.


LittleSnapper
Another top screenshot application for Mac.

Postbox
This app offers ways to organize, find, and view mail in an easy manner.

Invoice Machine
This is a simple and easy invoicing service, which is excellent for all freelancers.

Checkout
An award winning sales software for running business. You can easily work with sales, orders, receipts, invoices, and much more.

Espionage
This is a folder protection and security software for Mac.

The Resumator
A very easy and pain free resume building software.

Onehub
A secure and easy way to share files, manage products, and collaborate online.

Invoy
One more invoicing software for the Mac.

Ronin
Yet another excellent invoicing application, but this one is web-based.

freckle
An excellent time management time tracking application.

EventBox
An easy way to organize social networking information from services including Twitter, Facebook, Reader, Flickr, RSS, and Reddit.

Coda
Coda is an award winning web development software. It is arguably the best web development software, competing with Adobe Dreamweaver.

Pixelmator
Pixelmator is one of the top image editing applications and specifically for the Mac.

Traffik
Traffik is a business and corporate CMS.

Things
Things is one of the best task management and productivity applications for Mac.

Socialcast
This is a powerful corporate social networking application.

MailChimp
MailChimp is one of the top HTML email marketing solutions.

Present.ly
Another corporate communication tool/

Espresso
Another awesome development software for the Mac.

Gist
An organized and easy way to track clients in every aspect, from emails and links to news feeds.

Mint
Mint is the premier tool for budgeting and money management.

SousChef
Helps you organize, find, and store recipes with some awesome features.

Anxiety
This is a to-do management software that is easy to use.

Versions
This application helps you to work with Subversion on your Mac.

Evernote
An excellent application that helps you keep track of things by allowing your to create notes, voice notes, screenshots, and more.

WebNotes
Allows you to take notes and highlight content in a web page. You can then organize and share the notes.

ZenSender
A simple email marketing web application.

Miro
Miro is a great app that can play almost any internet video file, and brings access to HD TV shows and podcasts.

Icerberg
Iceberg is an application development software, and allows you to easily create costum applications, and access to an extensive application library.