I don’t need to go into detail about how the film was branded and marketed, managing to appear in almost every area of pop culture, from jewellery and current fashion trends to 20s inspired remixes of hit songs. I’d rather talk about how the character of Jay Gatsby taught us about the joys and perils of branding decisions.

Spoiler Alert:

If you still haven’t seen Baz Luhrmann’s The Great Gatsby, go watch it today and then come back and read this.

5 Lessons Gatsby Taught us about Branding

1. Be consistent. Everything from clothing choices and hairstyle to language and conduct was consistent for Jay Gatsby. Each element was calculated to portray a certain kind of gentleman and any time he was in the public eye, this branded persona was upheld. Yes, the “Old boy” talk did get a little tiring, but it sure was consistent! 
2. Think about the details. When a business is forming their brand, they need to think about obvious details like a logo to use on their letterhead and website, but think about how many areas were dripping in Gatsby’s brand. His floors held his logo, his car was undeniably “Gatsby”, and every detail during his parties communicated his message of lavishness. 
3. A little mystery is invaluable. Entire products are built around mystery (like Caramilk bars!) and the desire to know about the company only draws people in more. Each time a detail is revealed, you feel more attached to the brand and move deeper into their inner circle. 
4. Too much mystery might kill you. There’s something to be said for company secrets. A food item has a special sauce; a gadget uses a special plastic; a face cream has a special ingredient. Unfortunately, many brands confuse transparency with divulging secrets and leave their customers confused and lacking trust in a brand. McDonald’s is a perfect example of what happens when a brand decides to become transparent and show that they have nothing to hide.
5. Tell a good story – and make it true. Stories are Gatsby’s bread and butter. They add to his legendary status and are passed through his social circles as if a commodity. In a real life situation, stories give the public a narrative to hold onto and because our own lives are made up of stories, we naturally connect to them. That being said, don’t tell tall tales. They will usually come back to bite you.

If you’ve seen The Great Gatsby, we would love to hear what you thought about Gatsby’s personal brand. Comment below or visit us on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, or Tumbler.

In case this is your first blog visit, you might want to know more about us. We are Trifunk, a web design and branding company in Toronto. Hang out on our site and get to know us!

The post A Gatsby Lesson in Branding appeared first on Toronto Web Design, Website Designer, Webdesign Designers.

A bunch of fans preordering their favourite band’s new album to help them pay for recording makes sense. Heck, even funding the development of a new tech gadget isn’t a huge shock. But can the possibilities stretch beyond single products or events and into skyscrapers?

(Notice how we skipped right over a certain campaign hogging the headlines in our city?)

Lorenzo Franceschi-Bicchierai from Mashable recently posted about a new building in Columbia – funded by its residents!

“If you thought crowdfunding was only good for Zach Braff’s movies, weird Segway-like transportation devices and dancing robot alarm clocks, think again.

In Bogotá, Colombia’s capital city, crowdfunding will build a skyscraper, thanks to the donations of 300,000 residents who contributed a total of $170 million. Rodrigo Nino, CEO of Prodigy Network — the company behind the crowdfunded effort — thinks this model can be replicated and even improved upon.

In fact, Nino wants to crowdfund an entire city, as he announced at last week’s PSFK Conference 2013 in New York. It’s why he launched My Ideal City, a website where Colombians can contribute to their cities by sharing ideas and funding projects.”

Giving a city’s residents the ability to put their finances behind their skyline seems like an interesting way for the community to collaborate. Instead of giving construction power to only a select few, this idea might provide an opportunity for a large number of people with lower incomes to have a say in what goes into their neighbourhood.

Obviously, the idea of an entirely crowdfunded city is still resting in the minds of people like Rodrigo Nino, but it’s certainly a concept to keep track of.

Tell us what you think about crowdfunding a city by commenting below or by getting in touch via Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, or Tumblr!

Along with sharing interesting information about the online world, Trifunk Media is a web design company in Toronto, Ontario. Contact us if you have a project you would like to talk about!

The post Crowdfunding: Grab your friends and build a city appeared first on Toronto Web Design, Website Designer, Webdesign Designers.

Yes, it’s Father’s Day.

Dads, we’ve spent hours browsing online so that you don’t have to and have compiled a list of the best Father’s Day gifts of 2013. It was a tough job, but someone had to do it.

Feel free to leave this webpage open on your desktop and casually gesture to the screen when your loved ones are in the room.

In true Trifunk fashion, these gifts are more than the standard power tools and barbeque supplies. They are for the kinds of dads who appreciate awesome technology, artistic design, and just plain cool stuff.

1. Team Art Colouring Books

If you’re a dad, there’s a good chance that you have been roped into colouring with your kids. I’m not complaining. I mean, hanging out and colouring is kind of awesome. The only problem is that I’m not all that interested in the subjects of my kids’ colouring books. I would much rather colour pictures from Mad Men or of Paul Rudd. Yes, both of these books exist and would make great Father’s Day gifts.

2. BIS Publishers 75 Tools for Creative Thinking

Fathers who are also entrepreneurs could benefit from this deck of cards. Each card gives ideas for boosting your creativity and getting inspired. They aren’t industry specific and might actually help in parenting situations!

3. Berkley Illustration Print

Realistically drawn animals dressed up like humans? Sign me up! These whimsical and yet somehow sophisticated prints are perfect for an art-loving dad. They have a childlike feel to them, which will remind any father of the wonderful kids who gave the print to him.

4. Harry’s Shave Stuff

In true Father’s Day gift giving fashion, we need to pass along a shaving gift idea. We’re suckers for good design, so Harry’s slick sets caught our eye. We recommend the classy Winston and suggest that you kindly hint that Harry’s offers auto replacement plans so that you’ll never be without a razor. (Also, their website is beautiful, which gives them bonus points from us web designers)

5. Earl Backcountry Survival Tablet

Even us city dwellers need to head to the wilderness and let off some steam every once in a while. Please, for the sake of your children, take this tablet with you so that you can find your way home. It’s packed with features like: backcountry navigation, detailed weather forecasting, a walkie-talkie, and an emergency radio. Equipped for solar charging and able to withstand whatever nature throws at you, there’s a good chance that this tablet has better wilderness skills than you do.

Earl was crowdfunded, but they’re still letting you get in on the preordering. Your kids won’t be able to wrap this for you to open on Father’s Day, but they can order it and listen to you talk their ear off about it every day until it arrives!

If you’re a fan of any of these products, we would love to hear from you! Check us out on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and Tumbler!

If you loved this Father’s Day gift guide, you might also like the one we did during the holidays: Trifunk’s 2012 holiday gift guide for the business-minded.

The post Not Your Typical Father’s Day Gift Ideas appeared first on Toronto Web Design, Website Designer, Webdesign Designers.

You might laugh, but some websites are absolutely stunning to look at, with cool graphics and all kinds of fancy design techniques, but they are completely useless when it comes to usability. I’m sure you’ve been to websites like this and I’m sure that they were annoying.

We test the functionality of a website based on whether or not our grandmothers would feel comfortable navigating the site and whether they could do so without help and without frustration. If a website passes this usability test, we know that someone visiting the site won’t be distracted by a confusing layout or be unable to find what they’ve come looking for.

The most beautiful and complex website is utterly useless if no one can use it.

Contrary to what we’ve implied, we don’t employ our grandmothers to sift through the websites we design and tell us whether they’re easy to use. The Grandmother Test takes into account…

5 Usability Questions You Should Always Ask

1. How well can someone use the website as soon as they see it? 
2. Are they able to perform basic tasks efficiently or do they need to spend time searching around? 
3. Do they remember how to use the site when they haven’t been on it for a while? 
4. When they’re using the website, do they make mistakes and have a hard time figuring out how to get where they’re going? 
5. Does the user like using the website?

 “On the Web, usability is a necessary condition for survival. If a website is difficult to use, people leave. If the homepage fails to clearly state what a company offers and what users can do on the site, people leave. If users get lost on a website, they leave. If a website’s information is hard to read or doesn’t answer users’ key questions, they leave. Note a pattern here? There’s no such thing as a user reading a website manual or otherwise spending much time trying to figure out an interface. There are plenty of other websites available; leaving is the first line of defense when users encounter a difficulty.” – Nielsen Norman Group

 

Is your website easy to use? If you’re concerned that your visitors are frustrated when visiting your site, get in touch. We would be happy to evaluate your usability!

Are you following us on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, or Tumbler? 

The post Usability Testing: Grandma Knows Best appeared first on Toronto Web Design, Website Designer, Webdesign Designers.

That being said, I’m still a designer, so I wanted to use some of my favourite web design trends and techniques to make something that was both easy on the eyes and would keep my pint-sized audience interested.

What could embody all of these objectives? A parallax scrolling website about the 10 plagues!

Kids are a fun demographic

Designing a website with children in mind is a little different than the average web design project – it lets you run wild with creativity. Using bold colours is always encouraged and you can push animation a little further than you would for a business.

As with any design project, we spent time thinking about what images kids would connect with and since our topic was the 10 plagues, we were able to add funny-looking animal animation and grotesque boils. Did I mention that we had fun?

Holding their attention

The biggest challenge anyone faces when designing a website for children is maintaining their interest. Because our site needed to be quick and simple, we didn’t want to add a game element (which is a good way to keep kids focused), but still needed movement and a story to keep them attentive.

We used parallax scrolling to give the students control of the narrative, while skipping the need to learn how the site “worked”. With limited time, we didn’t want to waste any of it by having to teach them which buttons did what.

For education sake

The 10 plagues is a biblical story that the students at my daughter’s school learn about, which meant that this website served a purpose beyond just looking cool and showing my daughter’s class what her dad does for a living. With each generation becoming more and more internet savvy, it’s important to integrate the web into classrooms and make use of this unlimited learning resource.

Who knows? A future Trifunk web designer could be sitting in that class!

Feel free to pretend to be a first grader and check out the website here: The 10 Plagues

Connect with us on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, or Tumblr and let us know what you think of our 10 plagues web design project!

If you’re looking for a web designer in Toronto, drop us a line and tell us what you have in mind.

The post Plaguing around with web design appeared first on Toronto Web Design, Website Designer, Webdesign Designers.

The suspense kills me.

I used to think that I suffer from this curiosity alone, but considering that in 2012, people chose to watch video ads 4.6 billion times, I know that there are others like me.

Growing, growing, and still growing

Web video was the fastest growing ad format in 2012, which means that we are about to see more and more of those little “Play” buttons as 2013 continues. You’ve probably already noticed that companies are using web videos to explain processes or display products – and you’ve probably also noticed that you understand these processes and products a lot quicker than usual.

An informed customer is a satisfied customer

Web video brings out the visual learner in all of us and allows us to understand new concepts at a faster pace and in more depth. 52% of consumers are actually less likely to return a product if they’ve watched a video about it. There might be a bunch of reasons for this decrease in returns, but it’s fair to assume that consumers who watch web videos have a better handle on the products they’re buying and as a result, have accurate expectations.

Brio makes awesome web videos and animation

We’re thrilled by the launch of Brio, a new web video and animation studio in Toronto. They offer their clients creative and professional web videos and animation, taking care of everything from script to storyboards and voiceovers.

I don’t want to toot our own horn, but we did their web design and it came out pretty great. We used parallax scrolling so that we could keep the website at one page, but still give the effect of different sections with different information.

If you’re looking for some new web video or animation for your website, make sure to get in touch with the fine folks at Brio.

If you’re not looking for some new web video or animation, read this statistic:

“If your video ads prove enjoyable to a viewer, your chances of getting a sale increase by 97%, brand preference by 35%, and brand association, 139%.” – Unruly

I bet that changed your mind!

Are you already following us on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and Tumbler? Ok, good. I was concerned for a minute there.

The post Announcing web video experts: Brio! appeared first on Toronto Web Design, Website Designer, Webdesign Designers.

Chris Hadfield was in the news as he passed off command of the International Space Station and came back to earth, but he has been on our radar for months with his incredible social media activity from space.

His social media success got us thinking about how we can apply his techniques to, you know, life on earth. As it turns out, a lot of what Chris did right wasn’t just hang out in space. We’ve taken some of his best moments and showed the universal audience building techniques behind them.

5 Social Media Lessons We Can All Learn From Chris Hadfield

1. Produce Quality Content

   I realize that we all can’t tweet about what it’s like to make a peanut butter and honey sandwich in space, but we can all make sure that we are using our platforms to deliver valuable content. Research interesting links to post or share your own expertise. Your followers will have little patience for your eating habits unless you’re a massive celebrity (or in space – did we say that already?). Take the extra time to publish information people will want to read.

2. Know Your Audience

   Hadfield could have easily focused all of his posts on other astronauts or people associated with space programs by using jargon and refusing to address quirky questions the average person would have about living at the space station. If he did, he would have alienated (I couldn’t help it) the rest of us non-astronaut folks and missed an incredible opportunity to share the International Space Station with the public. Talk about great exposure!

3. Have a Conversation

   Many people seem to develop an “It’s all about me” attitude when they use social media. Hadfield was so successful because he tweeted back and forth with his followers and allowed them to participate in his posts. He answered questions like, “Can you cry in space?” by demonstrating exactly what would happen. The more engagement, the more people invested.

4. Be Creative

   If you’ve been following Chris’ posts, you’ll know that he has done things like talk to William Shatner from space, show us what happens if astronauts throw up, and teach us how to clip our nails in space (just in case we ever find ourselves in such a situation). Think outside the box and find those parts of your industry that your customers might not know about. Give an insider’s perspective to your business.

5. When in doubt, record Bowie

   If you haven’t seen Chris Hadfield’s rendition of Space Oddity as he says farewell to the International Space Station, stop whatever you’re doing and watch it. You’ll thank us later.

Speaking of social media, check Trifunk out on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, or Tumbler.

If you’re looking for some help with social media or web design in Toronto, get in touch!

The post Social Media, Astronaut Style appeared first on Toronto Web Design, Website Designer, Webdesign Designers.

Now, with a shift to mobile, web designers are stepping back and realizing that fancy graphics don’t translate to the small screens. All of a sudden, new technology is actually limiting design!

The good news is that design trends are shifting along with the limitations and we are seeing a movement towards flat design, which looks pretty awesome. Nick Bilton recently posted his observations about flat design in his article, “The Flattening of Design” on the New York Times’ Bits blog and it was so good that we thought we should include some of it here.

“There are cultural and technological reasons for this new look and feel.

Steven Heller, co-chairman of the M.F.A. Design Department at the School of Visual Arts and author of more than 150 books on design culture, said that part of the push toward flat design was to try to escape the overabundance of design that looks digital, where things ‘have started to look cliché.’

‘Every so often there is a new fashion that comes about in design for any number of reasons, not the least of which is technology, and now there has been a reaction to mechanistic-looking design where you press a button and get a specific look,’ Mr. Heller said. ‘In response, designers have started to turn to flatness.’

One of the biggest drivers for this stylistic change is being forced upon designers by the constraints of smartphones.

Justin Van Slembrouck, design director at Digg, the social news site, said that while some design decisions were made as stylistic choices, ‘it is increasingly being driven by mobile, where you’re designing for the lowest common denominator so you can’t load a site up with heavy graphics.’ He added, ‘The end result, with flat design, is that it all feels less cluttered.’

In some respects, flat graphics can be seen as a nod back to early print, specifically Russian propaganda war posters. At the time, before computers — yes, there was such an era — designers were forced to create flat images because of printing constraints. Now it seems to be happening again, but with screens.

When today’s graphics are too busy — layered with gradients and elaborate typography — people are forced to try to navigate a clutter of information in a very small space. On a smartphone screen, for example, a flat icon of a musical note can tell a story much quicker than an intricate picture of a shiny sparkling CD.” – Read the whole post here.

You’ll notice that we love the clean look of flat design. You can find it lurking around our site and the other sites we’ve worked on. In fact, one of our other favourite web design trends, parallax scrolling, works great with flat design. Read our blog post about parallax web design to learn more!

Have you said hello on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, or Tumblr yet? No? We’ve been sitting online waiting for you!

The post Mobile sites favor flat design – and we’re ok with that appeared first on Toronto Web Design, Website Designer, Webdesign Designers.

You’re right. Instead of staring at meaningless numbers on a page, graphs allow us to see their visual relationships to each other. We’re all familiar with the appetite inducing pie chart and know that being able to see how these numbers look as a visual space helps us understand their impact.

So what’s new about an infographic?

Infographics have been around for a long time, in various forms, but a specific style shot up in popularity in the last few years, thanks in part to their shareability on social media. Infographics are among the most shared items on places like Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, and LinkedIn.

No one wants to read raw numbers about How Canadians Use the Internet in 2013, but we will happily look at a well-designed poster giving us the highlights in an easily digestible package.

Wow, we are great at finding subtle ways of slipping our design examples into a blog post. I guess that by mentioning our subtlety, I’ve ruined it.

Moving on!

How can an infographic work for you?

We’ve designed infographics for a bunch of different industries and the main purpose is to show your audience some statistics to back up your marketing. No one needs to explain why this is effective, but the magic is that one group of images in an infographic format can reach a TON of people when combined with your social media.

3 Reasons Infographics are Worth Their Weight in Gold

1.  If you are the one creating them, you become an expert on that niche topic.
2. Infographics can be embedded into other websites, linking back to your site and helping your SEO.
3. As your infographic is passed around the internet, like a cool new hockey card, your company is advertised along with it. Linking your brand to valuable data is quite frankly good for business.

If you need another reason, get in touch with us. We can share more about how we use infographics and about the results our clients have seen from our infographic designs.

Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, or Tumbler and we’ll let you know when we post new infographics. We’re always cooking up exciting projects!

The post Trifunk Dictionary: Infographic appeared first on Toronto Web Design, Website Designer, Webdesign Designers.

Bellroy makes wallets. Seems normal enough – until you go to their website.

When we’re designing a website or making a marketing strategy, one of the questions we ask is, “How is your product or service solving a problem for your consumer?” This simple question can provide direction for the content of their site and can become the basis for their branding and marketing.

For Bellroy, the problem is that bulky, paper-stuffed, back pain-inducing wallet you have shoved in your back pocket. The solution? “Slim your wallet” (I took that right from their site tagline. See what I mean?)

The best way to show the great web design and branding elements in the Bellroy website is through the story they tell through their page “How to Slim Your Wallet”.

Case Study: “How to Slim Your Wallet” by Bellroy 

1. The Beginning

As with standard storytelling, you need to set the scene. In this case, Bellroy is demonstrating to their customers that, whether they realize it or not, they have a problem. With simple design and movement through parallax scrolling, they paint a picture of a man suffering with an overstuffed wallet. They add actual facts to prove that the mass you’re probably sitting on as you read this is really an issue.

In a moment of brilliance, they make a George Costanza reference and really could have stopped there and sold some wallets.

2. The Middle

Many companies will miss this part and go straight from problem to solution. Bellroy cultivates brand culture with the middle of their story and gives simple tips for slimming your wallet without their product.

Uh oh. They’re giving away a reason for their customer not to buy what they’re selling.

Not true! They are developing brand trust by showing their customers that Bellroy’s goal really is to help out with the giant wallet disaster – regardless of whether or not you buy from them. Plus, you need to adopt their strategy in order to use their product successfully.

3. The End

“Combine these new skills with some smart design and you are almost there,” says the site. This is where Bellroy shows the features of their product, which conveniently answer any lingering doubts about the reality of a slim wallet. The only logical choice is to pick your favourite and then shell out the cash.

As an added bonus, they have created awesome product videos to go along with the images and descriptions. No stone seems to go unturned.

Trifunk is a web design agency in Toronto. We also help our clients with things like branding, marketing, SEO, and social media. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, or Tumbler.

The post Web Design and Brand Stories Done Right: Bellroy appeared first on Toronto Web Design, Website Designer, Webdesign Designers.