Motive Media LLC

What we've been up to…

Mon, 09 Mar 2009 22:43:00 GMT

So we have not been very "active bloggers" as of late. We that's mostly due to the fact that we've been extremely busy! What have we been up to? Well here is a peek at a few things we've been working on over the last month or so…

Re-Launch of Se San Diego website. We had a bunch of updates and revisions that were done to the Se San Diego website and it was launched a few months back. www.sesandiego.com

Re-Launch of Senston Homes' website. Senston Homes of Southern Utah came to us with the need to update their company's online image. This was due to the exposure that the company has been getting from a development in Arizona called Sand Hollow Resort. Senton Homes is the Preferred builder for the Sand Hollow development. www.senstonhomes.com

4 Paws Only Identity. Motive Media was commissioned to develop an identity for the 4 Paws Only boutique and grooming center in Brooklyn, NY. They needed an image that had a playful appeal that did not look too elementary. We created a logo mark that focused on the "Dog" and "Clean" aspect of the shop. The resulting mark can be found here 4 Paws Only Logo

Spark Venture Co. The partners at Motive Media learned a long time ago that everyone has an idea. That idea is usually a multi million dollar business waiting to happen. The problem? 9/10 times that idea goes un-realized due to financial constraint, lack of direction, or one of a million other issues. We wanted to stop that trend. Then Spark Venture Co. was born. Taking your ideas and helping you realize your dreams. SparkVentureco.com

Violet's Office website re-launch. Violet's Office needed an image that better reflected what their true brand represents. Professionals that can get the job done, and with no hassle. So Motive Media worked with them to develop their new website. VioletsOffice.com

Violet's Office re-brand. Violet's Office needed an image that better reflected what their true brand represents – Professionals that can get the job done, and with no hassle. So Motive Media worked with them to develop several typeface logos that were simple, elegant, and representative of the message they are trying to convey.

Best Western Moscow, ID website Launch. We worked with Drake Cooper to create a website that will allow the Best Western Moscow to market outside of the corporate "bubble" and to the customers they want. Motive Media was in charge of CSS/HTML and interior page design. The project was a great success. Best Western Moscow

…for now thats all I have the energy to publish! We're also working with a lot of other companies both local and international on projects ranging from a website for a Winery in Napa Valley, CA to a few new Magazines that we're managing from Article layout and design to Ad Design and Management. Look for our new projects as we'll try to keep this blog updated a bit better with updates!

Thanks for reading!

Great Presentation at Boise Graphic Design Group

Fri, 30 Jan 2009 17:02:57 GMT

I was happy to see how many people showed up and took part in our second time hosting the BGDG. I was planning on uploading some video and photos this morning but unfortunately I have lost my cord to my camera. They will have to wait till Monday unless I can find a cord before the end of the day. We had some great debates about new vs. old company logos, with some fresh perspectives from some members who had never been here and seen or herd of the company. We also had a great speaker showcase his work and how he was able to produce it. Stay tuned for some more information and a recap.

Boise Adobe Graphic Design Group Meetup

Thu, 29 Jan 2009 16:53:57 GMT

We are having the Graphic Design Meetup today but instead of at the library we are hosting it at the Water Cooler. We will have some great speakers today with Jeremy Ryan from Publicis Marketing Group. We will be putting up some photos and summary of the meeting after it is over. To find out more about the Meetup check out Boise Adobe Users Meetup Page or you can follow us on twitter at BoiseGDG.

Apartment Decorating & Design : Inspiration, Ideas, Pictures

Wed, 28 Jan 2009 21:14:51 GMT

Ozhan Hazirlar has created some apartment inspirational interiors that are just amazing. The design and decorating of these apartments make you forget that it is in fact an apartment not a overly sized house. When you think of the word apartment most people instantly get taken back to post high school and college era where they were living in a small 2-3 bedroom apartment with 3-6 room mates. When in fact there are many apartments that are much bigger then an average house or townhouse you would see.

<blockquote>Apartment decorating can be challenging due to it’s limited nature and decorating is all about personal taste and expressing yourself through the design of your home. Now for those of you who are looking for a few fresh and minimalist ideas for your apartment here are some ideas to spark your creativity and style from Ozhan Hazirlar</blockquote> Article information, photos, quote are via – Freshome More Photos Below

More photos are below

15 Key Elements All Top Web Sites Should Have

Fri, 31 Oct 2008 16:24:00 GMT

Hey everyone, its been a while. All of us here at Motive Media have been very busy with new and current projects while watching all the tree's loose their leaves and weather begin to turn to winter. To our surprise it actually when from 70 degree weather to the next day snowing all day, so I guess their won't be an autumn this year just straight from summer to winter. I have been working on a couple of articles and demonstrations to release to not only educate all of our viewers but also our current clients and all future friends on what we do here at Motive Media as well as what really goes into building a fully customized website. Before I release some of these articles, I found a pretty good example of what every site really needs to have. Sort of a check list that all great websites have. Thanks to Freelance Folder for posting this very helpful article about 15 Key Elements All Top Web Sites Should Have.

Freelance Folder goes on to talk about many key points on what every top web site should have including things such as Good Visual Design, Meaningful Content, Sign-Up / Subscribe and Statistics, Tracking and Analytics. So enjoy and read all about it at Freelance Folder.

iTunes 8 : New Visualizer

Wed, 17 Sep 2008 16:28:00 GMT

iTunes 8 has some pretty cool *features* ~ " get you to buy more music features " but one that caught my eye this lovely morning was something I had not even thought about Apple updating.

The new visualizer on iTunes 8 is just amazing! I wish I had a video screen casting program so that I could record it and show everyone. For now you will have to just check out the screen shots I took and uploaded to Flickr or go download iTunes 8 for your self.

Strangely for some reason I was not able to upgrade from 7, I had to go to Apple's website and download it from there. Either way this is a great update to challenge Microsoft's xBox 360 visualizer.

Showtime LA

Tue, 19 Aug 2008 00:40:00 GMT

So we have been pretty busy around the office lately with new clients, project deadlines and such. We recently launched a new website for one of our clients for Showtime LA

Here is a little bit about the event. We are very excited about the event and the launch of the new website.

From the ingenious mind of Producer/Songwriter/Musician Lawrence Franklin comes the world's greatest entertainment firm/record label, Dream Projects Entertainment. The record label division of Dream Projects focuses on nothing but great music covering most genres. The Dream Projects Entertainment record label will set high standards for the entire music industry by releasing music that has the power to touch everyone.

In addition to a great record label Dream Projects Entertainment specializes in the productions of high profile events, from Concerts and Award Showcases to major industry parties. All of which held in the hottest venues. The foundations of Dream Projects Entertainment are stronger then even the hardest stone, because we are built on the moral principles of God, and we believe that through Christ all things are possible. So please be advised that music’s next great face has arrived.

User Experience in Webdesign : Part One – First Impression

Tue, 17 Jun 2008 18:11:00 GMT

User Experience

When you think about a user's experience for websites, most designers and developers will automatically start talking about clean code and accessibility. This is a very good aspect of a user's experience to think about and is in fact very important. You must also think about many other aspects of the user's experience, as it is much more then just clean code and accessibility.

First Impression

From the moment you start typing in that cool new website your friend told you about on Twitter in your browser to when you leave saying "I have had enough" and close the browser window is all part of the user experience. You need to take into consideration the entire time the user is on your site and what the user experiences from start to end.

The start and end of a user's experience on your website can dramatically invoke feelings towards your company or even change their views on your service. The first impression is just as important as the last impression they are given once they have finished using your site. The importance of "The First Impression" has been a long time know fact in many industries and facets of life. Your first impression on a date, how you greet your new boss, applying for a new job, it is all about the first impression you convey to the user. When a user has not had their entire life to know you and your business, the first impression is the most important information they receive to start guiding you off of.

"Unpacking your iPod is like 'undressing your girlfriend for the first time'." - Andy Budd

The first type of impression that a user experiences comes from the speed of your website loading followed by the visual design and layout of the site.

"Web users form first impressions of web pages in as little as 50 milliseconds (1/20th of a second), according to Canadian researchers. In the blink of an eye, web surfers make nearly instantaneous judgments of a web site's 'visual appeal.'" - First Impressions Count in Website Design

The Halo Effect

The Halo Effect? Wait weren't we talking about web design not Halo and the Xbox. Wrong Halo. "The halo effect refers to a cognitive bias whereby the perception of a particular trait is influenced by the perception of the former traits in a sequence of interpretations. – Wikipedia.org". The 'Halo Effect' was made popular by a man named Edward Thorndike. Edward would conduct psychological studies on commanding officers on how they would rate their soldiers. He found that the commanding officers would find a single (good or bad) trait in the officer and use this to define and form their view on the soldier. Most soldiers would in turn either get "all good traits" or "all bad traits", either 5 stars or 1 star if you will.

Now what does all this have to do with web design? Since we know that people tend to see one good trait or one bad trait in a services, person or company and use that to form a view about them, then we can safely apply this to the user's experience on your website. Your websites design, layout and colors and invoke a lot more feelings then you believe. Your web presence will effect the way a user sees you and your company.

Professional High End Design can dramatically help keep your visitors at your site and in trust good feelings about your company and or service.

Having a well planned out means of conveying your services and information will keep user's coming back and spending more time on Your Website instead of Your Competitors. As simple as creating a easy to use navigation can increase your site's turnaround and bounce rate. Many users will become confused and leave a website if it takes to much time to locate what they are looking for. Having your information nested deep into your site under many links will do this to a user. One of your major goals on your website should be to make your information available to the user as easy and quickly as possible. Hiding all your links in a drop down menu and making user guest just will not cut it anymore. Remember the KISS principle, Keep it Simple, Stupid.

"In brand marketing, a halo effect is one where the perceived positive features of a particular item extend to a broader brand. " - Wikipedia.org

A excellent example of this helping out the rest of a company's products is Apple's iPod. The success of the iPod has in turn helped create a "glow" around all other Apple products. The iPod and now the iPhone has had such a positive effect on the way user's see all other products created by apple. This is what having a professional web designer and developer can do for your website and company.

5 Keys to a succesful website

Tue, 10 Jun 2008 21:20:00 GMT

5 Keys to a successful website

Design and Aesthetics

All too often people are so focused on getting the job done for a good price that they completely disregard the need for high quality Design and Aesthetics. Its true! Many companies will sacrifice so much to save a few bucks, when they don't know who they are really hurting in the end. Themselves! If you think about it for a second and really ask yourself "What are my customers or users going to be looking at while browsing my site?" THE GRAPHICAL LAYOUT! Don't get me wrong – content is King, However you need to note that high quality design helps to instantly gain credibility and to create a positive user experience. (I'll get into that later). You want users to come back right? Well if you have a beautiful site you have a much better chance of that. We have seen so many times that our customers will be doing a good amount of sales through their outdated website, and all they need is a face lift to really open the gate to make some major improvements to their bottom line. For example: We just finished working with a client out of AZ, (due to NDA we can not disclose the name) who had a very outdated website. They we're pushing around $50,000 of online revenue with this older site. They came to us in need of a face lift (among other things) to really help them capture a larger amount of the revenue to be made. We got them going with a brand new site, and to both of our amazement they did just under $50,000 in the first two weeks of launching the new site! Now that speaks for itself. Design and Aesthetics are so key and we see it time and time again! With that being said I hope that you agree that the graphical representation of your company's image is so very important.

Good Quality Content

Content is King! In the information NOW world we have come accustomed to, it is so important to have relevant content that really communicates your message clearly. (Not to mention it needs to be posted in a timely manor) The whole point of the web is information. Whether that be information on a product or service, or about the most recent developments in the election, it is so very important to have a message that is relevant to the purpose of the site. We recommend Content Management Systems (CMS) for most of our clients. What this does is creates a system for the site owner to update and edit content "on the fly" from any internet connection. It can even be done on your PDA device! This gives the ability to give your audience what they need NOW! The CMS is a great tool and its very powerful, but its just a tool to help you publish great content. If your site doesn't have great information then users are going to be quickly discouraged and will hit the back button. Thats why Content Is King! You can make a site look great and have all kinds of amazing features and message boards, but if there is nothing attracting a user there besides eye candy they wont stick around. We usually suggest hiring a copywriter to write all the content for the "Static" or Mostly Static pages on the site (ex. Home page, About Us, History, etc…). Just as you'd hire an electrician to do your new lighting system you should hire a copywriter to take the message you want to communicate and effectively structure it to captivate your audience.

Clear Calls to Action

Calls to action or CTA, is something like a "Buy Now" button, or a "Contact Us Now" link. Its something that Calls the user to do something. If your user has to dig through a plethora of graphics, pages, and text to find a way to buy your product or service you need to re-evaluate your Call to Action placement. This is same concept can be applied to the navigation of your site. If a user has to "find" the navigation, or rollover it to see that it is in fact how to get from page to page then your designer was probably just thinking "oh this is neat" rather than thinking about the actual user and how it may be difficult for them to navigate from page to page. A lot of times developers and clients alike will loose sight of the fact that they are creating a gateway for the customer or "End User" to access vital information and they need a way to ask questions, get more information or even set up a face to face meeting. Without clear calls to action the user has to "dig" to find them. Vital calls to action should be on every page in the same location throughout the site, just like the navigation.

Information Gathering

Let me start out by saying that Data Mining is a multi million dollar industry. With that being said don't you think it'd be a good idea to collect some data for yourself? I'm not suggesting that you sell the data or even distribute it. (we do no such thing) What I am saying is that if you persuade a user to submit their information by holding drawings or giveaways, this gives you an avenue of blasting specials, and updates to people who have visited your site in the past. Even if two or three people choose to take you up on the offer thats extra money in your pocket as well as giving all of your customers a reminder that you're still here.

Great User Experience

The user experience is what is created when a user is on your site. Its the experience the user is having. They can be negative and positive. We want all user experiences to be positive. Thats why we think this is an important key to a successful website. Think of your website as an information theme park. You want people to tell other people to go to your site. Wouldn't it be great to hear adjectives like "Great, Nice, and Sexy" when they talked about your website!? Now if someone was saying things like "Frustrating, Confusing, and Cluttered" you'd be a bit concerned in how your "theme park" was operating. If that is the case it might be a good time to kick around the idea of an overhaul.

I hope these five keys will help you in developing your site. The web is an ever evolving beast and as time goes on I'm sure we'll add to this list, and I'm sure there are many more that people could add to it to make it better. Thanks for reading!

It was a great Weekend – Back to business!

Tue, 27 May 2008 22:21:22 GMT

I just wanted to take a quick breather and update you all on what we're up to here at Motive Media.

Well it was a great Memorial Day weekend here in Boise. The weather was amazing until around 5:00pm on Monday. It rained all evening, but other than that it was great! I didn't go out of town or anything fun this weekend but I am proud to say I got a lot of things done around the house! I mowed my lawn, Cleaned the garage, and Cleaned up my "man cave". (oh yes – I have a man cave) Everyone here at Motive Media were going to meet up on Friday night and hit up the Go-Kart track at Fastlane here in Boise, but those plans fell apart. :( Just as every weekend does this one came to a close and fast forward to right now — Its Tuesday. We had Quizno's for lunch, and I'm sitting here writing a blog.

Right now we're working on a myriad of projects like the new and improved Greg Olsen Art , an interactive website for Venga Ventures, and we're also re-branding ourselves! This is very exciting! We've taken on a whole new approach to our focus. We're not just a website development and graphic design shop anymore! We've taken on the role of an "Advertising Media Company". I'd go into great detail about this, but I want to wait until we launch our new site. I don't know how to explain our new site except that its much more…"us"!

Thats it for now. Thanks for reading!