It's All About Functionality

There's an eternal debate in web design of good vs. evil, aka functional vs. flashy. Many designers and developers make their money by pitching clients on designs that are the flashiest, hippest, coolest, and whatever other catchy buzz words they can throw at it. While that pads the wallet of the designer, it doesn't do much for his/her client.

We've all been there, we go to a site and instantly say "COOL!" as we watch a Flash intro and then the rest of the site Flashes in fast enough to cause a seizure. Then comes the greatest challenge you've ever encountered: navigating the site. While the site looks really impressive and expensive, you can't find any of the information you're looking for. Don't worry you're not alone, you join the millions of others who hate navigating poorly organized sites, not to mention the search engines that can't even read the text on a Flash site (yup, that means no Google ranking).

While no one agrees more than me that a site should have a really great design and a WOW pop that lures people in, the first and foremost consideration when designing a site should be functionality and organization. After all, that's the first concern on the minds of your site visitors-they come to your site to gather information and learn about your organization, not to watch a fireworks show.

We're not opposed to using Flash in designs, but we just make sure to use it with discretion. There's no need to sacrifice the usability of a site, just to crank up the price and impress 5% of your visitors. The best strategy is to have an appealing, professional and coherently designed site that engages visitors while giving them easy access to the information that they came to find.

New Media Campaigns specializes in professional and functional web design. Our sites are designed to look great, engage visitors, articulate your message, and work the way that visitors expect them to.

So, the next time you're facing a tough choice about how much Flash to use on your site. Save us all the headache (literally) and go with a classy design that looks great but is still easy to use.