2010 Retrospective: 25 Impressive Awareness/Action Web Site Designs

I compiled a list of website designs that impressed me the most in 2010. They all are examples of kick ass design but more importantly each and every one of them inspires change, encourages action, and brings people together. I also looked at the way they are coded to see their potential in reaching the fast growing mobile market.

The list has two categories: Flash vs. HTML/CSS. There are a few sites where Flash is necessary because of the animation, interactivity or video components. But I also examined the graceful degradation of these sites. Did the site design make it necessary to build the experience in flash? What is the experience of the user on a non-flash device? Can you still get basic information? Still participate?

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Host Better Client Kick Off Meetings: Get Interactive

I am sitting in a conference room with a notepad and pen- a cardboard coffee filled box as the table’s centerpiece, getting ready to kick off a several hour-long meeting with my new clients. My project manager and I will spend the majority of the time reviewing the clients answers to a questionnaire they filled out previous to the meeting; walking them through their goals, dreams and any foreseeable speed bumps with their new site. We have all the things we need to have a productive and insightful Q&A style meeting. We start off with asking them to explain the overall goals for the website. A few more questions in and I see about half of the eyes in the room glaze over. The topics are not boring- it’s just that the discovery process of one team getting to know another can be repetitive for a lot of people in the room.

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Why Less is More: Limiting Choices Encourages Action

In the age of information and technology where people are bombarded with choices and overloaded with visual stimulation, it’s very important to to consider the age old theory- less is more when designing and planning your homepage. Many studies have been done to test the theory and one of my favorites is by psychologist, Sheena Iyengar at Colombia:

“The jam study showed when you present 30 flavors of jam at a gourmet food store, you get more interest but less purchasing than when you only show 6 flavors of jam. All of a sudden, it became an issue, or at least a possibility, that adding options could actually decrease the likelihood that people would actually choose any of them.” (see the complete interview between Jared Spool & Barry Schwartz for more compelling examples)

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Visualizing.org

Unveiled at the Why Design Now? Conference hosted by the Cooper Hewitt National Design Museum, visualizing.org is a place where you can share data visualizations for global issues. This is an absolutely brilliant solution for people to create and share information that will help us gain deeper understanding of these often times complex issues.

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