web design

Thinking About Redesigning Your Website For 2018?

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Responsive Web Design Detailed on a BlackboardDuring this time of the year, my company Global Wire Associates starts to get calls from other businesses and nonprofits about getting help with reorganizing their digital strategy for the new year, namely their online presence.  Websites play a central role in online marketing plans today, and now is a good time to start the process so you can have a brand new website up and running on New Year’s Day.  How users interact with your site can make or break your business.  Before you do the redesign, create a checklist of wants and needs for the website, conduct a content audit, and answer the following questions.

Has your mission statement changed?  Usually, when the organizational goals and missions change, the website should also reflect this change as well.  Is the current mission clear to all users when they come to your website?  

Has the purpose of your website changed?  This is slightly different from the company mission as this more relates to technical aspects.  For example, do you want to sell products and services online?  Then you have to redesign your website to support e-commerce.

Is your content working for you? After you do a content audit, you might realize that you need to clean up the website’s text, images, and/or video.  Like we say here all the time, it really doesn’t matter how fabulous your website looks.  If you don’t have great content on your site, most people will not only not care about your web presence, but they will also not care to learn more about you or your organization. Having high-quality content on your web presence is a top priority for establishing both your credibility and your brand.

Is your website usable? A great website is one where users can easily navigate it to find what they want and have a reason to stick around long enough to convert to or became more engaged customers.  

What is your competition doing? You need to constantly keep track of what your competition is doing, and how you can get the competitive edge.  Is there something you can do different that would get the attention of customers?  

Is your website responsive? Google search engines are now giving higher rankings to websites that are mobile-friendly, or websites that can be viewed easily on mobile phones and tablets.  A responsive website adjusts to different browser screen sizes, rather than to different devices, without compromising the quality of the content and site design. A responsive website is also a better return on investment for your website and your company’s marketing strategy.

Are you thinking about your 2018 digital strategy and need some help?  Contact Global Wire Design at info(at)globalwireonline.org.

Design Highlight: Global Exchange Reality Tours

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Reality Tours

I had the opportunity to be the web and graphic designer on an educational project with a team to build an e-commerce website from scratch. We decided to redesign the Reality Tours part of the Global Exchange website because we really liked the mission of the organization and thought they were deserving of an updated website that showcased their values.

Global Exchange is an international human rights organization based in San Francisco. One of their initiatives is called Reality Tours, a educational travel program that supports progressive values and people to people connections.  I traveled to Jamaica and South Africa with them years ago, and learned a lot about myself and the people I met in those countries.  The Jamaica trip focused on how free trade has negatively impacted the island’s economy, while the South Africa trip addressed race relations, HIV/AIDS and human rights in general in the post apartheid era.

I was given the task of redesigning the website with a more up-to-date, polished look. The current website uses many dark colors with tribal motifs. In the redesigned prototype, I chose to use a minimalist theme with black text on white background and simple, clean code so there would be more emphasis on the images representing the many tours offered worldwide. The website uses responsive design.  Due to the controversial nature of some of the tours and the goal of Reality Tours to give an alternative view of these countries, I made sure to pick images that reflected the different perspectives. I chose the brand identity “Where do you want to learn today” to help users think about what it would mean to travel on these tours.

The design for the logo was also clean and straightforward, as we wanted to emphasize the global reach of Reality Tours with simple black and white. Social media and email sign up share the top space with the logo to make it easier for users to share content online. The responsive navigation is the color red because we wanted users to be able to “travel” through the website with ease. Redesigning the website was a wonderful experience of bringing communication and social justice together.

Check out the website prototype here:

taliawhyte.com/realitytours/website

Why I Started Global Wire Design

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Global Wire Design

As you may already know, my company Global Wire Associates, just launched a new brand in our family. Global Wire Design is a creative studio that will support GWA’s mission by providing high quality, accessible digital solutions for small businesses and nonprofits.  I have been approached by many entrepreneurs about wanting a website that meets their needs, but they are afraid of the cost.  My staff and I have been discussing for months how we can better serve our clients.

The decision was made to merge our web design and digital media services into one section.  Global Wire Design will not just focus on creating websites; we want to create an online experience that engages users while communicating the message and brand of the company or nonprofit.

Global Wire Design’s services include, brand identity development, content strategy, interactive design, multimedia integration, responsive design, search engine optimization, user experience strategy and web design and development.  Whether you want a website designed from scratch or use a content management system like Wordpress, we can create an online experience that meets your needs while saving you some money.

To find out more about Global Wire Design and to see a partial portfolio, go to globalwireonline.org/design

For a price quote or more information about us, email info (at) globalwireonline (dot) org.

Introducing “Women Talking”

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Women Talking

People have always asked me to put together an online portfolio that specifically showcases my best video work. The opportunity was presented to me to create an interactive journalism website doing just that. Most of these interviews were done for WGBH TV, the PBS affiliate in Boston, while the others were done on independent commission. I chose to focus on women interviewees not only because of their diverse backgrounds and opinions, but also because they are all women of color and their voices are generally either limited or not represented positively in mainstream media. My hope is to begin to change that conversation.

It took me two months to conceive and design the website.  I hope you like it.

taliawhyte.com/womentalking

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