Johnson’s fountain, tween crowds at North Beach, tribute bands on First Fridays, summer has officially hit Racine. Summer is the season for relaxing, rejuvenating, and recharging. The weather is hot, the pools are open, and the school doors are shut.
At the birth of the World Wide Web, website designs were just that – static, unchanging pages of text connected to one another through “hyperlinks.” Eventually web development came to include images, sounds, and video, but their nature remained the same. When truly interactive features were necessary, website developers often created them for proprietary browser plugins like Java and Adobe Flash. This meant confining the most interesting interactive elements to a small box within the webpage.
For years, Apple has defined success with innovative product releases. What started with the iPod years ago rolled into a cultural phenomenon. But weighty competitors like Google and Microsoft have since upped the ante. They’ve thrown their own products, powered by Android and Windows 8, into the ring. A volatile market has never been more competitive. Now, Apple, the company that redefined branding, has the enormous challenge of branding itself all over again.
It was a snowy, blustery night on March 8th, 1999. I remember it vividly as I walked to the window of the Gateway Technical College classroom just minutes before 7pm as I was about to teach my Medical Terminology class. I recall peering out at a particular tree which was being blasted by the wind. I thought to myself, “What an awful night.” It was at that very moment some 250 miles northeast of me, that my only brother, Allen Saint John Weslaski, age 33, tragically died in a car accident.
Social networking can help a business large or small increase their public awareness, gain contacts, and get their business’ “face” out to millions. Social networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn are in a sense a modern concept of the six degrees of separation. A business can follow certain people or companies and those in turn can follow your company. Followers from all over the world can find your company. Being able to increase your viewing public without actually going to each individual person or business is a huge advantage for the modern company.
When it comes to Internet speeds, the country that created the Internet lags far behind much of the developed world. The United States has about an average 6.7 Mbps (Megabytes per second) download speed compared to a global average of 2.6 Mbps. South Korea leads with 15.7 Mbps, followed in order by Japan, Hong Kong, the Netherlands, and Latvia. One of the primary reasons for America’s poor performance is our obsession with wireless networks, which simply can’t compete with the speed of wired networks.
Though social media has diminished its use in other ways, email is still a crucial communication tool in the business world. According to a recent study by the McKinsey Global Institute, the average office-based employee spends as much as a quarter of their day reading and responding to email. With everyone spending so much time on email, it may be easy to think that one has mastered the art of email writing.
As predicted, we are swamped with website work and proud of it. Currently we have at least 15 websites in progress, and a dozen more quoted and coming soon. Along with the 450 current website clients, Image Management is going gangbusters.
We knew the economy was picking up, as I gave proof of in my previous blog post. This is only the beginning of what is expected to be a banner year for Image Management. We stand by our reputation as being the leader of website design, development, and hosting in southeastern Wisconsin.
Designing the right logo for your business can be an intimidating process. Your logo is the centerpiece of your corporate branding. It needs to create instant recognition while conveying the personality of your company. Effective logo design requires active participation from both the client and the designer. This article describes important considerations to anyone looking to design or re-design their logo.
Many see their website as just a virtual billboard, offering clients a visually appealing advertisement that will eventually translate to sales. While establishing your brand is a crucial first step, there are many other goals that your website can achieve to increase sales and customer loyalty. These include providing comprehensive resources to educate clients, increasing communication with existing clients, and generating direct sales through e-commerce.