A common theme from new clients is that they have difficulty tracking their communications and interactions with prospects and customers.

How do you manage thousands of contacts? Do you know who navigates your marketing funnel and at what stage? What marketing and sales efforts are most valuable to your business? While the answer isn’t surprising, the number of options and considerations might be.

 software is vital for any modern marketer. It allows them to manage their prospects and contacts, track their touchpoints and communications with them, and determine which strategies and tactics are most effective at driving results.

Over the years, VIA Studio has worked with many clients on onboarding, managing, and utilizing CRM platforms to achieve their goals. We have experience with enterprise-level CRM projects for large organizations and small to medium-sized business-level CRM integration for start-ups and local companies.

Salesforce and Microsoft Dynamics 365 stand at the pinnacle for large-scale organizations, offering unmatched functionality and customization options, albeit with a price tag to match. They can can quickly reach six-figure annual investments in licensing, onboarding, and administration. Here's what we've learned.

Best-in-class with Sales Cloud, offering detailed pipeline visibility and forecasting.

 Tailor Salesforce to fit your business needs by trimming unnecessary features.

 Can be overwhelming for those without the need for intricate systems. 

 External integrations add cost and management overhead.

 Seamless connectivity with Microsoft tools like Outlook. Users don’t have to spend time switching between platforms and accounts to do their jobs. They can focus on their tasks and know their activities are actively logged into the platform.

 Advanced analytics and reporting capabilities through 

 Custom setups require significant development effort. The time commitment is massive.

 Additional cost for Microsoft licenses, unless already integrated into your IT infrastructure.

lacks many ready-made process automation 

For smaller budgets and simpler needs, HubSpot and Constant Contact offer powerful, user-friendly solutions without the enterprise-level investment.

 User-friendly data organization and sales analytics.

 Intuitive automation flows and scheduling functionalities.

For an advanced technology platform, their sales tactics were developed in the 1950's, requiring you to call them on a phone line.

 Full feature access can become pricey for some businesses. Do we love most of what HubSpot offers? Yes. Is it worth what they charge? Unfortunately, only if you’re a certain size company (with a certain sized budget). There are still some automation processes that we would love to have in HubSpot, but the costs sometimes don’t justify the features and functionality.

Constant Contact recently purchased a tool we used called SharpSpring. These notes take both tools into consideration.

 Easy to use with extensive support and prebuilt templates.

 Exceptional service with quick response times.

Basic functionalities that might not suffice for advanced users.

Choosing the right CRM is a strategic decision that impacts every facet of your operations. VIA Studio's extensive experience across the CRM spectrum ensures you make an informed choice, balancing budget, functionality, and ease of use to find your perfect match.

If the path to CRM enlightenment seems daunting, reach out. We're here to illuminate the way, crafting a CRM strategy that aligns with your business ambitions. 

Marketing

Development

Strategy

Unlocking Growth: Choosing the Right CRM Tool for Your Business's Scale and Success

Dynamic display ads are the recommended way to run display campaigns on Google Ads and the Google Display Network. Dynamic ads with animations and motion graphics are more likely to catch a user’s attention and result in a click.

However, not all campaigns have the budget or time to create a full suite of HTML5 display ads recommended by Google Ads. Rather than using static image ads, .gif display ads can offer a nice balance between production cost and end results.

The Problem: Google Was Rejecting Our .gif Display Ads

The Google Ads platform is picky about which .gif assets it allows to be uploaded for use. Even worse, in our experience, we kept receiving the same error message that didn't even correctly identify the problem with the assets we were trying to upload. “We've detected strobing or Flashing effects. Make sure the frame rate of your ad is less than 5 FPS for GIFs. 

" kept popping up, despite our .gif display ads being below 5 FPS. So, what do you do?

In our experience, the answer lies within specifically, how you are exporting the animation from After Effects into a .mov file and then, what method you are using for compression and how you are converting that compressed file into a .gif. Previously, we created .gif display assets as a video file exported from 

 at 4fps, then converted that .mov into a compressed, web optimized .mp4 using 

's free video compression tool and lastly, to a .gif using Photoshop’s import “video frame to layers” feature, or 

free video to .gif conversion platform. It's a process, but one that met the picky standards of Google. Until it didn't. 

Assets produced this way were being denied by Google Ads and causing frustration. We had to figure out why. It took some trial and error, but the solution to this issue is relatively simple. Once you know it.


The Solution: Export .gif Ads as PNG Sequences from After Effects

The solution that we found to make Google Ads accept our .gif ad assets was instead of exporting them from After Effects as a .mov and converting that .mov file to a .gif file; we exported as a "png sequence" for each ad. Essentially a series of images/frames rather than a movie. This allowed us to have full control over the mysterious frame rate issue and the png images/frames rendered higher quality as a frame by frame animation rather than a .mov file, converted to an animated .gif. We then used the png sequence and brought the series of images into Photoshop to create the .gif files for use in Google Ads. A step by step breakdown of this process:

Create your dynamic animation for the display ads in After Effects

Export your dynamic display ads as a .png sequence from After Effects

Import your series of images into your Timeline in Photoshop as “frames”

Customize your frame rate, timing and tweening 

Export for web from Photoshop as a looping .gif

A few parameters that Google Ads has in regards to these ads that you should keep in mind include:

The simpler the animation, the easier this is to meet

Animation length must be 30 seconds or shorter - 

Recommend a short, looping animation. You don't have a users attention for long with display ads. Make the movement more ambient rather than necessary to the message  

Animations can be looped, but the animations must stop after 30 seconds

Animated GIF ads must be slower than 5 FPS - 

Make sure you set your frame rate in step 1 - Go to After Effects > Compositions Settings > Frame Rate to adjust

Full Display Ads Specifications from Google

So there you have it, use this process to create .gif display ads accepted by Google Ads. There are other ways to do it, but we've found this process to provide the best quality, the most control and the best chance to meet the 150kb max file size requirement.

Remember, if your budget or production timeline is tight, .gif display ads are the perfect solution for your next campaign. Good luck!

How To Upload .gif Display Ads to Google Ads

Over the years, VIA Studio has worked with various social media publishing tools, including 

, and more. However, two tools have truly stood out and won our hearts — 

. These tools have consistently delivered exceptional results, making us confident recommending them to our clients and partners.

Social media posting tools allow marketers to manage their social media profiles and accounts through one central hub. Their primary function is scheduling and posting content directly from the tool. Managing social media profiles individually can be time-consuming and make reporting difficult, as metrics, features, and capabilities can differ across social media platforms.
Beyond that service, they can offer additional functions like content and graphic creation, social listening, inbox/comment management, and more!

The first platform we have had a lot of success with for our clients is 

. Agorapulse has a streamlined and easy-to-use interface, and once all of your profiles are connected, the post calendar can clearly show everything that has been recently published, as well as what is scheduled for posting in the future.

Another benefit of Agorapulse is its social listening system. With social listening, marketers can understand how their brand is perceived on social media and the web. Users can create actionable searches to discover what their audience says about their brand — and competitors. Agorapulse listens and captures conversations from social networks, thousands of news websites, and millions of blogs.

In addition to its ease of use and social listening capabilities, Agorapulse’s reporting features are an excellent way to evaluate social performance and discover ideas for future content. We have found particular success with grouping our posts by content type (service offerings, holidays, direct marketing, etc.) using tags to get ideas on what platforms best support different types of content and what days/times are ideal for specific posts. Additionally, marketers using Agorapulse may discover that specific platforms are best suited for certain post types - Agorapulse makes these sorts of insights possible. Finally, all of this reporting can help provide marketers with ROI on their tactics to discover their right social strategy.

The base Agorapulse package costs $49 per user/month. Since the cost is per user, we recommend setting it up with a shared email if multiple team members need to use it. Otherwise, that cost applies to each user.

We typically recommend the Professional pricing plan for our clients ($79/month), especially since plans can be upgraded anytime if additional features are needed.

This is a huge benefit if a member of the creative team is managing your social media. You can easily create and schedule well-designed and well-branded posts using Creative Cloud Libraries and/or Brands, Adobe Cloud files, and Adobe Stock. Having creation and scheduling in one place is a huge productivity boost.

Even if you don’t fancy yourself a designer, 

 has A LOT of templates for you to use, which can give your postings a professional look.

Since Adobe is all about design and creative, the app is very good at developing content like video reels, stories, etc. Scheduling is also built into the mobile app.

Adobe Express allows you to collaborate with other team members on the same files and content.

Adobe Express currently allows up to 3 accounts per channel (Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, TikTok, Pinterest, and Twitter)

The biggest downside is the lack of monitoring and response, which is why we also love AgoraPulse!

Adobe Express is less expensive than Agorapulse but also doesn’t have the “social listening” features. Pricing starts at $9.99/month per user.

Whether you are an agency, an in-house marketer, or a small business owner, a social posting tool can help elevate your social content and make your work more efficient.

VIA Studio also recognizes that some tools suit certain needs better than others. We would definitely recommend Adobe Express for users focused on content and graphic creation. Meanwhile, Agorapulse is a better option for marketing-oriented users who are concerned about performance, market share, and ROI. If you need both, they can even be used together!

If you are interested in onboarding a social posting tool but don’t know where to start, 

! We can get you started on social media marketing, create a social media strategy specific to your business and needs, and even provide social graphics art direction to elevate your social presence.

Boost Your Social Media Game: Agorapulse vs. Adobe Express

As a Strategist, I have overseen numerous marketing campaigns. In my personal life, I have also overseen countless fantasy football teams. Between my time as a marketing strategist and a make-believe football coach, I have found many parallels between the roles.

I hope to share insights between my professional and personal experiences in this article.



Like in the campaign planning stage, every offseason, you have to do your research on the personnel and strategy changes in the NFL. Players sign with new teams, new coaches with different schemes are installed, and a brand new batch of players enter the league through the NFL Draft. Showing up on draft day for your league blind to these changes will leave you at a significant disadvantage for the draft and the season.

fantasypros.com is a good place to start your research

When planning campaigns, be sure to do similar research on market trends, new platforms and functionality, and review data from previous campaigns to get a better idea of what your campaign strategy will look like.

A thoroughly researched campaign and fantasy football team lay the groundwork for future success.

Heading into your fantasy football draft, like setting up your campaign, it is critical to know your competition's tendencies. Are there certain players, positions, or teams that they favor? Do they have specific draft tendencies? Knowing your competition will help you succeed in your draft.

Like a fantasy football draft, knowing your competition in marketing is vital. Do they have strengths greater than yours that you must work against? What about unique value propositions that you must counter? Are they currently running promotions that might undercut your promoted goods or services?

Researching and having answers in both cases will help you succeed no matter what your competition might throw your way.

Like the conclusion of a fantasy football draft, your campaign's launch is just the beginning!

You cannot treat a marketing campaign as a set-it-and-forget tactic. You need to work throughout its run to get the most out of your budget, targeting, and creative. Reacting to performance data and letting it inform your optimizations is key to a well-performing campaign.

For example, are particular messages outperforming others? Pause your lower-performing ads and dedicate more of your budget to high-performing ones. Are repeat customers making more purchases than new customers? Put more budget behind your remarketing ad group.

Like the campaign’s launch, your fantasy football draft is half the battle of your season. It is your opportunity to build out your roster for the season. But what happens when one of your players gets injured? Or your star wide receiver gets suspended? Or you see a rookie who you believe has the potential for a breakout season.

Justin Jefferson’s injury last season threatened many fantasy football teams.

You must play the waivers and replace him with someone offering better value. In fantasy football, like in marketing, it is essential to continually look for opportunities to improve your team or campaign.

While working to improve your team or campaign throughout the season, it is essential to remember the bigger picture or prize.

It can be easy to get too focused on the data/optimizations and week-to-week matchups of a fantasy football season.

However, what you do in the short term should not have lasting impacts in the long term. For example, what if a particular audience gets inundated and annoyed with your ads because you are targeting them exclusively? What about when you reach the finite limits of your existing customers or remarketing audiences?

Like a marketing campaign in fantasy football, you need to make short-term decisions week-to-week, but you can’t let them impact your overall season. If a player gets injured in week 1 but could potentially return mid-season, is it worth dropping him for the short term if he won’t be available to you later when he returns? Or, how long do you stick with a struggling player simply because you invested significant draft capital in him?

When making in-season decisions or mid-campaign optimizations, remember to see the forest through the trees and keep your eyes on the ultimate prize: maximizing your return on campaigns and the championship in fantasy football!


What I Learned About Marketing from Fantasy Football

Email development has always been the bane of a web developer's existence. You have to use outdated methods and don't have access to the full modern web to create a nice looking email that thousands of people will see. It's like asking a Nascar mechanic to create a car using only tools from the 90s - it can be done but its more than a pain.

With time, however, email development has become easier and more developer-friendly. Gone are the days of creating the email entirely with images and then cutting it up. Now you can breakout out the tables and creating a responsive email that looks good on all clients, even Outlook.

The largest part of developing emails is how the email is actually rendered by the email client. While this seems pretty straightforward at first, the fact that every email client uses a different rendering engine or has its own quirks turns what should be pretty simple into a much larger beast. There are versions of Microsoft Outlook that using `margin` does not work, however, using `Margin` does. Keeping on the Outlook theme, it either uses Microsoft Word or Internet Explorer as a rendering engine. You don't have to be super tech-savvy to understand maybe using Word to display essentially a website may not be the best thing...

However, as time has progressed the rendering engines have gotten better and more standardized. While there are still a lot of quirks, you can build something and be fairly confident that it's going to look good across the board. With the iPhone and smartphones forcing email clients to account for media queries and Gmail dragging everyone along, it's not too bad developing emails.

Outlook is no longer the dominant client as the Apple Suite and Gmail have taken over.  Mobile reigns king as well with the top client being the mail application on the Apple iPhone. 

Bar graph by Litmus of the top email clients.

The top email clients use Apple iPhone according to Litmus.

Top 10 Email Clients Overall

When I first started out in the web development industry as an intern, my first task was updating emails for clients. Even in 2013, this was a process of opening up the email in a HTML editor like Sublime and going thru the spaghetti code trying to make the changes. After a few weeks of email development, I understood why the intern got that job.

Today, the process is much more smooth. Here at VIA, we use three tools primary - 

. The first tool, MJML, is a development tool that allows us to create clean code and modular emails. It also includes a library of tested skeleton components that we can use in the emails and know they work already. It also will build the email and take care of any quirks and will inline and optimize the email. Using this tool has cut down on development time tremendously.

MailChimp is used primarily to manage email campaigns, contacts, and gives marketers the ability to visually edit email templates. MailChimp has the ability to import templates created elsewhere and use tags to create editable areas. Custom templates can be reused and customized for different campaigns. Gone are the days of having a developer create each email for the marketing team.

The other tool that we use extensively is Litmus. Litmus is an email testing tool that allows you to see your email in any of the major email clients. For instance, we have the ability to see what the email will look like in Outlook 2007, 2016, iOS Mail, and Gmail all the same time. It also has other features such as live editing and accessibility tools. With Litmus, we don't have to have the actual devices on site - no old Windows machine with Outlook on it.

When designing an email, a designer and developer at VIA first sit down and go over the constraints. We use the tried and true width of 640px as the base of the email and then try to design everything as blocks with no overlap. There is also a reminder on what modern CSS attributes, such as box shadows, do not work for emails. Previously, since it was a giant image being cut up or a much simpler email design, there was no need for dev and design collab.

Once we have a design approved by all parties, development starts. The email is cut up into the blocks and each is developed as a component in the email. Using MJML we are able to import these components into the main email file. In the end, we end up with a nice folder of components and an external stylesheet that is easy to navigate and make changes.

From there the email is imported into MailChimp, our email campaign tool of choice, and content loaded in. The email is then sent from MailChimp to Litmus to be tested in the major email clients. Typically there are the normal changes and then a set of Outlook only changes that have to be made. These revisions is typically resolved in one or two tests and then the email template is updated in MailChimp and sent for final approval.

Once this email template has been created and tested, it can be reused by the VIA marketing team without any help from developers. No more interns having to make changes.

View All Entries in the Email @ 50 Series:

Part I: Email @ 50: Email Marketing Still Works... Half a Century Later

Part II: Email @ 50: The Art of Email Design

Part IV: Email @ 50: Retrospective + The Future of Email

Email @ 50: Email Development

You’ve probably noticed a sudden proliferation of your friends on Facebook asking for donations for their birthday recently on Facebook. But underneath that is a major new feature for any non-profit that has a presence on Facebook (I assume that’s all of them!).

 – and we’ve just recently set this up for our friends at 

 Do With Facebook Donations … but there are workarounds.

It’s pretty simple, really – Facebook users can donate money using a credit card on the desktop in or in the Facebook mobile app, and it goes directly into the account you specify when you sign up – and Facebook takes ZERO fees.

Like any non-profit verification process, you’ll need to provide proof of your status, etc. This is 

what Facebook says you need to get access to these Charitable Giving tool

Be a 501(c)(3) organization registered with the IRS.

Have a bank account registered with a licensed financial services institution. Bank account details, including the bank name, bank account holder’s name (organization’s name), and a legible and official bank letter or statement dated within the last 3 months.

The date of birth and address of the charity’s CEO or executive director.

Add a Donate Button to your Facebook Page

The most noticeable thing is that you can add a “Donate” button to your Facebook page, like so:

Similar to those birthday fundraisers, anyone on Facebook can now fundraise for you. On your page, you will now see a “Fundraisers” option. You can share this link with any Facebook member, and they can start a fundraising drive for your organization.

The donation creation form looks a little something like this:

Another hidden gem is that anyone can add a DONATE button to one of their posts, just by choosing “Supporting…” from the “Feeling/Activity” button:

They’ll be asked if they’d like to “Add a Donate Button”, like this:

And it will eventually appear like so in their Facebook Feed:

What You CAN’T Do With Facebook Charitable Giving Tools (But There Are Workarounds):

You Can’t Create Ads That Drive People to Donate (on Facebook)

Nope, can’t do it. However, if you’ve created Facebook ads before, you’ve likely see the “Donate Now” call-to-action button for ads. 

 button is actually for offsite donations, and it works like so:

But, You Can Create Ads for Offsite Donations

This has nothing to do with Facebook Charitable Giving tools, but does give you a way to ask for donations, if you have a website that is taking donations for you.

This works like any other off-of-Facebook targeted ad, except you should change the call-to-action button to “Donate Now” instead of “Learn More”:

Which will look a little something like this:

Louisville Leopard Percussionists on their website

And, if you’ve never witnessed them before, I suggest this charming video where Ozzy Osbourne and his family are brought to tears at their professionalism and joy while they perform his hit 

Facebook Donations: How to Add Charitable Giving Tools to Your Non-Profit's Facebook Page

Articles, insights, events and announcements from VIA Studio from every discipline we offer. Sharing our knowledge with our community. Sign up for The VIA Monthly email to get a digest in your inbox.

The Journal

Approaching web builds at the component level is a great way for design and development to meet in the middle.

Every web project starts by examining the brand’s story. 

What are we trying to communicate? To whom? What is most important? These answers are what inform work like the sitemap, navigation, site-wide CTAs, information architecture and overall content strategy. Considering and empathizing with your user and aligning their needs with the goals of a project, can help determine what needs to be said as well as where and how to say it.


The content outline deliverable is what summarizes the site’s narrative. It’s a document that defines content needs and informs the wireframe work to come. This Google doc may not look like much, but thoughtful content work in the beginning of a project is what essentially shapes the entire website. 

Once we have a content outline in place, we let that drive layout decisions and determine component, UI and content needs from there.

If the content strategy and outlining work is the blueprint, the wireframes become the foundation, structure and support for the eventual build. We’re not shopping shutters just yet, we’re making sure the house can stand the test of time.

Achieving Consistency and Cohesion through Componentry

Now for an interface inventory. We start by breaking out each element from wireframes into categories - UI, cards, menus, lists etc. to determine the needs for a project. 

Components are what become the “building blocks” for your site. Once you have a library outlined, you can begin to infuse the brand. Component by component, leveraging a brand’s personality and starting to establish a style guide foundation - Colors, heading styles, underlying grid, spacing etc. 

Then, taking things a step further by setting styles and effects. This is where it’s important to have fun and flex the brand, but also be mindful of rules, consistency and feasibility. Applying design to each component, 1 by 1, allows you to experiment, feel out what’s working, what isn’t and create patterns through properties that carry throughout the design and ensure consistency, trust and cohesion for the entire site experience.

Tweak, iterate, test and finesse. Designing components is the fun part. And once you build a core set, you’re on your way to being the proud new owner of a scalable, design system. The 

component library that you establish is a subset of the full system

. The library is essentially a repository of reusable modules that developers, or the admin can then utilize when building pages. And guess what? It doesn’t have to end there! Design systems provide a flexible framework that allow you to easily grow your library of core components at any time. This provides your website with the capacity to scale and evolve without compromising on consistency or quality.

For a more comprehensive look at creating a full design system, check out this post:

A set of rules and guidelines that act as a single source of truth for digital interpretation of your brand. A design system is essentially a complex digital brand guide. The building blocks for any web work.



Introduction to Design Systems

Creating a Design System in Figma

Here are a few examples of open source component libraries to pull inspiration from:

Design

Component-Based Web Design

We had the opportunity to partner with the 

Southeastern Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies

 (SEAFWA) to create imagery that promotes inclusivity in fishing and outdoor recreation. The project objective was centered around capturing the true essence of diverse experiences and celebrating the joy that comes from casting a line into the water. In the photography we provided, we set out to showcase people of color, multi-generational families, people of all ages, and women enjoying fishing in locations that would resonate across the Southeastern states.

Promoting inclusivity in fishing and outdoor recreation is crucial for creating a more equitable society, expanding access to outdoor spaces, fostering environmental stewardship, building stronger communities, and inspiring future generations. By actively embracing and encouraging inclusivity, we can ensure that fishing and outdoor activities are enjoyed and cherished by all.

, I played a pivotal role in shaping the overall aesthetic of our recent photoshoot. It was crucial to find the perfect photographer for the project, and without a doubt, Aubrey Janelle stood out as the ideal candidate. Her impressive background in outdoor photography, combined with her exceptional ability to direct and make people feel at ease in front of the camera, made her the perfect fit. This was particularly important since all our models were regular individuals, and ensuring their comfort was a top priority.

Our Fish and Wildlife contacts came through with some fantastic options for models in our photo shoot. They tapped into a pool of talent, including Fish and Wildlife employees, friends, and even family members. This added a wonderful sense of ease to the photoshoots because many of the models were familiar with one another which created a comfortable and relaxed atmosphere that translated beautifully into the final shots.

We carefully selected locations that were representative of the region, ensuring that our imagery could be relatable to a wide range of communities. From the sandy beaches of Florida's coastline to the serene lakes and rivers of Kentucky, we captured moments of connection, laughter, and shared experiences. 

Bringing together all the essential elements of the photo shoot was a mammoth task, but VIA's Project Manager and Production Coordinator, 

 absolutely nailed it. She worked her magic to coordinate everything from the models, locations, travel arrangements, on-set snacks, and meals, to the scheduling of the shoots. Chelsea's expertise shone through as she seamlessly organized our trips from Portland, Oregon to both Florida and Kentucky, ensuring a smooth experience for Aubrey and me. Not only that, she flawlessly managed the run-of-show schedules during the shoots and made sure everyone stayed hydrated and in high spirits.

Our journey in Florida began with early morning photoshoots, where we eagerly awaited the rising sun on the captivating coastline. The incredible hues of dawn painted an otherworldly backdrop as we captured the essence of families and friends bonding over the shared love of fishing. 

We documented the joyous moments of saltwater fishing, both on boats and right from the shore. The photographs captured the thrill of reeling in prized catches, the laughter that filled the air, and the pure delight on the faces of those casting their lines into the ocean.

In Kentucky, we immersed ourselves in the serene beauty of freshwater fishing, setting out on kayaks and pontoons to explore the abundant lakes and waterways. 

This was a place where women took center stage, showcasing their fishing skills with confidence and grace. Our lenses captured the camaraderie of families and friends, as they embarked on fishing adventures together, sharing stories and creating memories.

...And we did! Throughout our journey in Florida and Kentucky, our project showcased the diverse fishing opportunities of the Southeastern states while emphasizing the significance of promoting inclusivity in outdoor recreation. Our photographs captured more than just the thrill of the catch — they depicted shared experiences among families, friends, and women who were united by their love for the sport.

These images exceeded the client's expectations

and have resonated with people far and wide, sparking conversations about representation and inclusivity in the fishing community. Let's use this project as a reminder that fishing has the power to unite people from all walks of life, celebrating our unique stories and the beauty of coming together in nature.

If you or your team needs help planning or executing a campaign, VIA is here to help. Whether you're in need of photography, video, marketing services, or anything in between, we've got you covered. Explore our 

Olivia Harmsen - Kentucky Fish and Wildlife, R3 Coordinator

Emily Abellera - Florida Fish and Wildlife, Public Information Specialist II

Reel Stories: A Photography Project Exploring Inclusivity in Fishing

Beautiful little hidden, contained product moments that revolve around a single use case. Micro-interactions may not always look the prettiest (the best of them may even go unnoticed) but they can be the difference between a user achieving a task or not.

Be consistent, purposeful, and guiding. These are the 3 things I always consider when adding animation to a site design or app.

Multiple interactions or animations happening at once will detract the user from the goal at hand. Decrease the users mental load time. Create a system or a few rules or interaction types. This will reinforce a users understanding rather than confuse the situation.

What is the goal for your user? How can the animation/interaction 

 to that purpose? Communicate an intended purpose. If animation slows down an experience or increases the users mental effort, it isn’t helping.

Make these experiences lend to the storytelling. What is your user doing and how can the UI help guide them? Purposeful and guiding animation can help draw the users attention to what is happening and compliment the understanding, while reducing confusion.

Let’s take a look at some examples and why they are successful:

 Keep the user informed through feedback and validation. Increases engagement.


 Provide the user with action/reaction. Delightful. Immediate feedback.


Apple iOS use of thumbs up action on phone.

Mirco-interactions such as liking a text are a vital part of the user experience.

The Journal

How Marketing Amplifies Value: A Strategic Approach to Growth

Marketing

What I Learned About Marketing from Fantasy Football

Strategy

Navigating LLMs: Hot Takes on the Most Popular Large Language Models

Design

Component-Based Web Design

Development

An update on the current WordPress situation

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