A typeface is a family of related fonts. And just like a family, typefaces comprise different members with distinct characteristics. There are regular-sized, heavy, tall, and small fonts. Condensed fonts are the taller and narrower members of the family.

What are Condensed Fonts?

As fonts build a typeface, their use is categorized based on their characteristics. A condensed font is considered a narrower version of a standard typeface. Its narrow width and tall characters make it a good choice for filling tight spaces or lines of type.

Due to their tall, narrow nature and because the letters are more closely spaced, condensed fonts are known to be more challenging to read than regular-sized fonts. However, this unique characteristic can be leveraged to make a lasting impression on readers.

Pros and Cons of Condensed Fonts

Typography can do a lot for graphic design, like influence, entice, and even put off audiences. That’s why it’s important to recognize its merits and uses. Whether you’re working on an infographic, signage, web design, or any graphic design project, you can find a use for condensed fonts. 

However, you must understand a font’s strengths and weaknesses before using it. Here are the pros and cons of condensed fonts you should consider:

Pros:

• Save space — If you’re working on a project requiring a limited line or space, condensed fonts are a viable option. You can put up to twice as much copy in the same space using condensed fonts than regular typefaces.
• Good for subheadings — Using subheaders is a great way to break the monotony of text in a long piece of writing. Combining headers and condensed fonts can give your audience a much-needed breather when facing a block of text in your design.
• Can decorate headlines — Condensed fonts can add visual appeal to a site or page. If used with few words, the tall letters can make headlines pop. This is a great way to make headlines or short lines of text on a page more noticeable, especially when intentionally spaced out.
• Provide contrast — Tall lettering can emphasize an idea or tagline in graphic design. It can also be used to make a comparison between important points and less significant ones. Using a different font for titles can make your website stand out and appear less serious.
• Introduce modern visual elements — Due to their tall and narrow nature, condensed fonts can add a modern or stylish look to your design. They can be great for stand-alone texts that can help grab your audience’s attention.

Cons:

• Unreadable with a small size — If you’re working with lots of text, you might want to avoid using them. Using small sizes and cramming as much text into a line as possible spells disaster for your site’s readability.
• Can make lines look cluttered — When used correctly, condensed fonts can bring a short line of text to life. If overused, it can make even a short sentence look like a chore. Stringing too many words using a condensed font can make your design look cluttered and disorganized.

Examples of Condensed Fonts

Some examples include:

• Helvetica Condensed
• League Gothic
• Arial Narrow
• Garamond Narrow
• Futura Condensed

There are more examples out there which can be downloaded for free. It’s wise to look at which fonts you can use for websites, products, and commercial purposes since some have specific permissions. Other fonts for desktop and web use must also be purchased for various applications.

Tips and Tricks

There are ways to leverage condensed fonts to improve legibility and design styles. You just need to know when and how to use them to make your work stand out. Here are some tips if you’re planning to use them:

1. Use condensed fonts sparingly

Condensed fonts are a great way to accentuate or complement your site’s overall design. They can do more than just emphasize lines you want to pop out from the screen. As stated above, tall and narrow fonts can be used for headers, subheaders, and titles.

It can be easy to get too excited when using a font for the first time. Limit the use of condensed fonts to maximize their effect. Sometimes, less really is more.

2. Increase the size

Condensed fonts get their shock value from their height. Take advantage of this and increase the size appropriately. Scale your titles or interesting lines to make them look appealing. 

Increasing your font size is an effective way to emphasize a section or line of text. Remember to add a little spacing between the letters to account for the font’s tight tolerances.

3. Choose color combinations that work

Your font choice is already bold and in-your-face. Use color combinations that complement it to bring out the letters more. You want your audience to see the text and what it says. Putting too much color or using the wrong shades can make your design awkward.

4. Use plain backgrounds

As you try to make your design stand out, you might be tempted to add a few elements to the background that can add clutter and noise. Steer clear from busy backgrounds and use a plain one instead.

You already have tall letters to work with. Make those the prominent elements of your design instead of adding a background so tacky that it chases away your site’s visitors.

5. Use in tables or charts

Condensed fonts can add neatness to a design if used properly. Try using them if you’re working on an infographic, table, or chart. These fonts can organize your text and optimize your space to make the content easier to digest.

Again, use a few words for different blocks of text and increase the font size if needed. Keep things tidy and sophisticated, especially when working with facts and figures.

A Time and Place for Everything

Like with most things, there’s a time and place for using condensed fonts. Knowing when and how to use them will enable you to bring life to a line of text or create a story using your font choice.

Condensed fonts have their merits. You must understand what they can do and know the appropriate time to use them. Try using them on trial projects and see which fonts and approaches work for you. There’s no harm in trying.

The post What are Condensed Fonts and Why You Should Use Them appeared first on Designerly.

Weebly website designer is one of many platforms you can use to build your website, but is it worth trying out? With so many web design options available today, it can be hard to find the best one for you. This guide covers all the pros and cons of Weebly, its pricing system and a few alternatives to consider. 

What is Weebly? 

Weebly is a code-free website builder and hosting service. You can use it to purchase a domain, host a website, and create and customize sites for everything from blogging to e-commerce. Thanks to a collaboration with Square, Weebly has become a top choice for creating online stores. 

Weebly Pricing Tiers

Weebly offers a few different pricing tiers, all of which are very affordable. It starts with a free tier anyone can use, which includes a generous amount of features. It’s worth noting websites made with the free tier have a “.weebly” label at the end of their web address. If you want to remove it, you’ll need to upgrade to a paid plan. 

There are three paid subscription tiers on Weebly: Personal, Professional and Performance. The Personal plan starts at $10 per month. It allows you to customize your domain name and adds some premium features like a shipping calculator and shipping label generator. 

The Professional plan starts at $12 per month. It includes everything in the Personal plan plus some additional features geared towards small businesses. These features include advanced site statistics, ad removal and a domain at no extra cost. 

Finally, the Performance plan starts at $26 per month. It includes everything in the Professional plan along with some premium e-commerce features. One particularly advantageous feature is the ability to accept payments through PayPal, which is not available on lower pricing tiers. 

Pros of Weebly

Why should you use Weebly website designer rather than similar services or custom web design? There are a few benefits worth considering. Key among them is price. Weebly is very affordable, even among other no-code web design platforms. Most website builders have a free plan, but Weebly’s is more generous and less restrictive than other free alternatives. 

Additionally, Weebly is great for e-commerce. Their collaboration with Square resulted in a robust set of tools for online businesses, particularly small businesses. The combination of advanced site statistics and versatile shop tools makes Weebly a good option for online businesses that are new to web design. 

Weebly’s theme library is smaller than that of Wix or WordPress, but the themes they do have are clean and responsive. So, there may be fewer customization options but the simplicity and reliability of the available themes may be helpful for beginners. Page editing and theme swapping tends to be quick and easy, as well. 

Cons of Weebly

Weebly isn’t for everyone. It has certain limitations and drawbacks that make it less ideal for some users. For example, the limited theme customization is one of its biggest disadvantages compared to other website builders, let alone custom web design. Weebly has fewer pre-built themes than alternative platforms, as well. 

Weebly website designer is also rather limited in long-term flexibility. It is extremely difficult to migrate your website from Weebly to any other platform, including WordPress. A significant amount of the process is manual since these website builder platforms don’t have cross-compatibility with one another. 

This might not be a concern for beginner web designers, but it’s worth considering if you plan to grow your website. While Weebly does have some great features, there are plenty of reasons someone might want to migrate their site away from Weebly. If this is a concern for you, you may want to look at other web design options. 

Finally, the mobile page generation on Weebly sites could be better. Pages look good on desktop, but the translation to a smaller screen often leads to lackluster mobile sites. 

This is especially important for e-commerce sites since surveys show 76% of consumers are buying goods on their smartphones. A poorly optimized mobile site could significantly impact a business’s impression with mobile shoppers. 

Alternatives: WordPress, Wix, GoDaddy

Weebly is ideal for people who are new to web design or website builders as well as anyone who wants to make a website for free. Its design and features are very beginner-friendly and the paid tiers are all affordably priced. 

However, there are a variety of reasons why Weebly might not be the best option for you. If you’re looking for an alternative to Weebly website designer, you have a few options. 

One obvious choice is WordPress. While it may be a bit more intimidating for beginners, WordPress is a much more robust hosting and web design option than basic site builders like Weebly. It has thousands of themes to choose from, tons of compatible third party plugins, a huge community of users and the versatility to adapt as a business or site grows. 

If you’re looking for another website builder with a little more flexibility and variety, take a look at Wix. It’s a bit more expensive than Weebly but offers hundreds of themes, so there’s a lot more design variety. All paid plans on Wix also include a free domain. Wix has more compatible third party integrations than Weebly, as well. 

Another alternative website builder is GoDaddy, which is especially good for ecommerce websites. GoDaddy includes more themes than Weebly, although customization is limited. It’s great for anyone who wants to get their site up and running as fast as possible while still delivering a good UX. GoDaddy also has more SEO tools and better mobile performance compared to Weebly. 

Who Should Use Weebly Website Designer? 

Weebly is best suited for web design beginners and small businesses. It is very beginner-friendly with affordable pricing and an approachable interface. Weebly’s simplicity makes it easy to use but also limits the potential for growth and customization. So, growing businesses, large organizations and users who want more design freedom may be better served with a different web design platform.

The post Weebly Website Designer Pros and Cons appeared first on Designerly.

Have you ever received a postcard from Kohl’s with a coupon for their upcoming sale? How could you ever pass up 30% off a new wardrobe? Like many companies, Kohl’s has mastered the art of direct mail marketing using a high-quality postcard maker.

Postcard makers are ideal for companies to create stylish postcards for their target audience. If you want to do the same for your business, this guide will walk you through creating an effective postcard campaign.

What Is Postcard Marketing?

Who said direct mail marketing was dead? In fact, postcard mailers have one of the highest returns on investment. According to the Association of National Advertisers, postcards have a 92% ROI — more than any other mail format.

Nearly eight in 10 marketers say direct mail is a critical component of the multichannel campaign mix — most use three to four channels for one campaign. Those who aren’t using postcards are simply missing out. 

Although postcard marketing is an old-school marketing technique, it boosts campaign performance by reaching your target market right in their mailboxes. For instance, printed cards may include announcements, special offers, and discounts. 

One survey predicts U.S. spending on direct mail marketing will reach more than $43 billion in 2023 — a year-over-year increase of $41.7 billion.

5 Online Postcard Makers to Try

You can find numerous postcard makers online to meet your direct mail marketing needs. Here are five of the most popular online tools to help you create stunning print cards for your target audiences.  

1. Canva

Canva has quickly become one of the most favored graphic design platforms worldwide. Its postcard maker is easy to use, with hundreds of stylish postcard templates to choose from.

Upload your own photos and graphics, or use one of the millions of stock images provided by Canva’s library. For those who’d prefer not to spend more money on direct mailers, Canva allows you to share your postcard digitally through social media or email.

2. Visme

According to its website, 20,525,288 marketing professionals from 133 countries use Visme’s postcard maker. Choose from numerous templates and customize your postcards to your liking. Visme has an impressive collection of vector graphics, stock photos, and fonts you can use for free.

Of course, the company will print and mail them directly to your customers. However, Visme will also let you send your postcards in an email or share them on social media. 

3. MailJoy

MailJoy uses a drag-and-drop editing tool to create direct mailers for your marketing campaigns. You can customize your postcard with the many fonts, colors, and templates to stay on brand. MailJoy also provides images, or you can upload your own.

Import your contacts and segment them into lists to more efficiently target your recipients. Name the lists according to the custom campaign to differentiate mailers for your audience.

4. Postalytics

Choose between three different postcard sizes — 4×6, 6×9, and 6×11 — for direct mailers to market your business. Whether in HVAC or finances, Postalytics offers postcard customization features to appeal to your target audience. 

Postalytics will send your postcards into printing and mail them to recipients after you import your mailing list. The website also provides tracking and campaign analysis to measure its success. 

5. Mailchimp

Although known for email marketing, Mailchimp’s postcard maker enables you to create visually stunning promotional prints for direct mail. Marketers can send postcards worldwide to 27 countries while automating recurring mailings monthly or 3–6 months — often a time-consuming, repetitive task.

Marketers can utilize Mailchimp’s address finder feature to find existing and potential customers. Likewise, the company can send abandoned cart postcards automatically within 24 hours if someone leaves an item in their online shopping cart.

Tips for Creating an Effective Postcard Mailer

Marketers must customize postcards strategically. For starters, they must design a recognizable mailer according to their branding. Fortunately, postcard makers provide numerous customization opportunities for designers to create an attention-grabbing mailer. As you flesh out your postcard campaign, remember the following tips.

Choose the Right Postcard Maker

Postcard makers come with different features, so it is essential to compare each package. You must also determine which design package fits into your marketing budget. 

Do you want your postcard maker to include special campaign tools like contact integrations and automatic reprints? Some may also offer a QR code for your prints. Analyze your business goals to choose the right program.

Stylize the Card

A captivating postcard should grab your audience’s attention. Approximately 87% of people believe logos can pass as artwork. Some will hold onto a postcard if it is done well.

Use eye-catching — but readable — fonts, bold lettering, sleek colors, and short text blocks. You don’t want to overwhelm the recipient with long text. 

Add High-Quality Images

While most postcard makers have extensive image libraries for you to look through, you should be your own photographer. 

Align images with your brand. For instance, an electrical contractor might include a photo of themselves wearing a uniform with the company’s logo. Likewise, a retailer should only have images of products available at stores. Travel companies, especially, can have lots of fun creating postcards using high-quality images of dreamy destinations.

Hook the Recipient

Ensure your text is concise and matches your brand’s overall tone. Your postcard is a continuation of your online messaging. 

If you are announcing a new store opening, write “Visit Us at Our New Location” in bold letters. You want your announcement to stand out on the card. Another example is Old Navy, which usually puts its Super Cash amount in bright colors on the front of its mailer so it is the first thing customers see. 

Personalize the Card

Using postcard makers with contact integrations will allow you to personalize postcards to your existing and prospective customers. 

A dentist’s office might send personalized postcards to patients during holidays and birthdays. Meanwhile, an organization might send a personalized “thank you” postcard after receiving a donation.

When customers feel appreciated and are addressed directly, they are more likely to spend more with your brand.

Measuring the Success of Postcard Marketing

There are several ways to measure the effectiveness of your postcard marketing campaign. However, you must clearly define your goals and objectives before setting up the metric. Measure your postcard success and ROI in the following ways:

• Coupon or QR code: Measure how many responses you get by offering a discount, then see how many people use the postcard discount compared to how many mailers you send.
• Consultation calls: Determine how many people call the number you provided on the postcard for a consultation or inquiry.
• Unique URLs: Add a unique URL on the postcard for customers to search for — the link will bring them to a landing page, and you can measure your campaign’s success.

Your approach to postcard marketing highly depends on the type of business you are running. An accountant may use different metrics than a retailer or contractor. 

A Postcard Makers Is a Practical Direct Mail Marketing Tool

A postcard maker is helpful whether you’re a seasoned marketer exploring direct mail marketing for the first time or are interested in creating postcards for friends and family. Create beautiful postcards using an array of pre-made templates and customization options. Of course, injecting creativity is most important for a fabulous mailer.

The post Create Postcard Campaigns Like a Pro With a Postcard Maker appeared first on Designerly.

Have you ever gone on vacation and brought home a stack of brochures to commemorate your trip? Perhaps you grabbed a brochure from a doctor’s office to learn more about the latest treatment or medication. One might be surprised to learn these sleek pamphlets aren’t as pricey as they think. In fact, companies can use free brochure design tools to create their marketing materials on the cheap.

Brochures are effective for building brand awareness and attracting new customers. Companies use print or digital brochures to introduce their brand, services, and products to the public.

Marketers can find numerous free brochure designs online, enabling them to customize their pamphlets according to their brand aesthetic. Let’s dive into creating a cost-effective brochure to spotlight your brand further. 

Why Create Brochures?

Brochures might be the easiest way to get the word out about your brand’s mission and offerings. According to The International Association of Visitor Information Providers, 35% of readers share brochures with friends and family. Overall, one printed brochure will circulate among 3.5 readers. 

In a world heavily saturated with digital advertising, brochures are well-liked among marketers and consumers alike. For one thing, they are easy to distribute. You can distribute leaflets to targeted individuals, adding a personal touch to your tangible marketing initiatives. 

Brochures also encourage interaction between customers and businesses, allowing you to go into detail about what makes your brand and its offerings unique.

Some industries benefit from brochures more than others, such as the following:

• Health and wellness: Deliver information about a medicine, treatment plan, or preventative measure
• Automotive: Advertise a specific car model and its specifications
• Retail: Showcase new products and provide coupons, discounts, and sale information
• Real estate: Highlight newly listed homes and recently sold properties in your area
• Higher education: Inform prospective students about a college’s program offerings, campus details, and contact information
• Hospitality: Entice visitors with high-quality imagery of hotels, excursions, restaurants, and festivals
• Travel: Encourage tourists to some of the most remarkable destinations on Earth

A 2018 Bentley University survey showed 85% of people learned about a business or attraction from a brochure, while 61% intended to buy tickets or products they read about. Another 73% said brochures would encourage them to change their travel plans.

Free Brochure Design Templates: A Starting Point

Many websites offer free brochure design templates — but it’s only a starting point. Creating an eye-catching brochure means you must put your creativity to the test. 

Look for graphic design tools with plenty of customization options to integrate your brand’s color scheme, fonts, and overall aesthetics. Consistency between your brand and brochure ensures familiarity with consumers. 

A clean layout also matters — 61% of website visitors will not return if prime user experience is lacking. The same goes for printed marketing materials. You want to impress readers with a clean, readable brochure so they can get all their information quickly.

The type of brochure you’re interested in creating is also an important consideration. There are several types of brochures you can choose from, including the following:

• Introductory: Introduces critical information for readers to learn about your company, products, and services
• Informational: Provides detailed information or instructions about a specific product or service
• Menus: Ideal for users to order takeout and delivery from a restaurant
• Maps: Directs readers throughout campuses, campgrounds, offices, or other locations they may be unfamiliar with 

Of course, the type of pamphlet you choose should coincide with the correct format. For instance, brochures are often folded in accordion style, bi- or tri-folds, single- or double-open gate folds, or something else. 

What About Digital Brochures?

Many companies publish promotional and informational brochures online as live documents, downloads, or gated and ungated content.

While printed materials tend to be more personal, digital brochures allow you to incorporate other media like video, audio, quizzes, and other interactive features.

Brands might turn to digital “pamphlets” to tell their story in an engaging and visually pleasing manner. Savvy creators lean into user experience to improve navigation and presentation, making viewing more memorable and exciting for readers. 

You can also measure and track your success, gaining insight into essential customer behaviors. For instance, your brochure might accumulate views and shares, enabling you to adapt your content as necessary.

5 Free Brochure Design Websites 

If you’re interested in maximizing promotional materials for your brand, you’re in luck. Access to free brochure design templates is merely a click away. Tap into these five graphic design tools to create a brochure that will resonate with your target audience.

1. Canva

Canva has quickly become one of the top graphic design tools for generating promotional materials, ensuring a more straightforward process for designing and distributing brochures than ever before. 

Create an account and search through the different brochure templates. Once you’ve found the right one, customize it by adding some of Canva’s 2 million graphics and order your prints.

2. Microsoft Word

Did you know you can create brochures in a Microsoft Word document? Select “File” and “New” to search for brochure templates ideal for your business goals.

You can also create a brochure template manually by modifying the page orientation from “portrait” to “landscape.” Then, adjust the page size under “Size” and “Page Layout.” Tri-fold brochures are typically 8.5 x 11 inches or 11 x 17 inches.

3. Vista Create

Vista Create has hundreds of premade brochure templates for you to choose from for your print marketing materials. What appeals most to creators is the site’s library of 70 million royalty-free photos, videos and vector graphics. 

Business accounts can also add up to 10 team members to collaborate on brochures and other promotional documents. 

4. Adobe Express

Create a free Adobe Express account to customize your brand’s ideal brochure design. Adobe Express offers hundreds of templates for various industries and a wide range of royalty-free Adobe Stock images.

Those who want to apply their brand identity to all future marketing materials can upgrade to the Adobe Express Premium plan. With a membership, you can automatically add logos, colors, and fonts people will recognize.

5. Google Docs

Google Docs presents a unique ability for you to collaborate with your team to create a free brochure. Like Microsoft Word, Google Docs has premade brochure templates you can customize. 

Invite team members to the document to share their ideas and make necessary changes. Sometimes, multiple heads are better than one when creating engaging promotional materials. 

Tips for Creating an Effective Brochure

Your brochure must be attractive, concise and accurate if you want people to read it. As such, there’s a correct way to create an influential pamphlet. Keep the following tips in mind as you begin layout your free brochure design template:

• Determine your brochure’s purpose — to introduce, inform, or direct.
• Write excellent copy, ensuring it provides all the necessary information.
• Include a call to action to tell readers what they should do next.
• Choose fonts wisely and limit yourself to one or two.
• Select high-quality images.
• Proofread and edit everything, from content to media.
• Know where your brochure’s folds are.
• Decide what type of stock paper to print it on.

A Captivating Brochure Design Will Make the Rounds

If you choose the best brochure design for your brand, it will make the rounds among numerous people. Start viewing your marketing materials as artwork to ensure you end up with a product you’re proud of.

The post Building Brand Awareness With Free Brochure Design Templates appeared first on Designerly.

What is fascinating about neon fonts is that any font could turn into a glowing, hot pink sign if you are a skilled enough designer. The standard serif could turn heads in front of a nightclub with enough pizazz. However, there are some quintessential elements to neon signs that many recognize, which we will analyze today. 

These neon fonts will provide that classic, 80’s vibe you’re going for, especially if you have a client looking to light up their customers with intrigue and excitement. 

1. Bayshore

It is easy to imagine this font as shining glass tubes. It has the informal, handwritten vibes that give it an easy-on-the-eyes feel. It is stylized enough to where it won’t confuse readers, and vanilla enough to be used for designs outside of neon. You could easily see this as the title for a retro film or spread out across the chest on an awesome band tee.

Cost: Free

2. Neon Lights

You can’t get more on the nose than a font called Neon Lights. This font has a more angular, bubble-letter look. To make it interesting, it has appealing  lines in letters like G and N. The font has special characters like several currency symbols and letters with every accent you could ask for. There are no lowercase options in this font set, but why would you want them when the font stands out so gloriously in capital letters?

Cost: Free

3. Neonisans Monoline

If you’re comparing the first two fonts on this list, this is a delightful blend of both. It isn’t angular as you would expect certain neon sights, but it has defined lines with nice curves to make it modern — as the name suggests — while being nostalgic. It has upper and lowercase options that seamlessly connect through lower lines. This font is perfect for translating into an actual neon sign. The numbers and special characters do not do this, but if you’re using this font to make an actual sign, it should make the process simpler.

Cost: Free

4. Selfie 

The bold and curvy lines of Selfie would make a memorable neon font design. Though most of the images demonstrate the font slanted, it is flexible. Use this to craft a flyer for an upcoming coffee shop gig or an ad for the front pages of your website discussing your next sale. The extended font family for commercial use includes Selfie Light, Standard, Black, Printed, and Flag variants.

Cost: Free for personal use and $19.80 per style for commercial licenses.

5. Lost Wages

Lost Wages brings the tube-like style mixed with a little space-age inspiration. It comes at sharp angles with sweeping curves. A straight line above the lowest point pierces the letters for an eye-catching look. The pack has fewer special characters — only the lone ampersand. However, it has a variety of accented letters so you can craft a sci-fi book jacket or thematic restaurant sign with this hip neon font.

Cost: Free

6. Hastron

This unassuming script font looks like it could be in the same family as Bayshore but with thinner lines. Hastron is not as wide as some other neon fonts, giving you more options for utilizing space. The cursive handwriting is perfect for beachy tourist attractions or as a header for a website. 

Cost: Free

7. Fuse

The image for this font says it all — it looks great in every color, especially with the rectangular border on it to highlight its style. The gaps and multi-line design makes it one of the more unique options on this list. Because of the way it’s laid out, even lights won’t blur its edges. 

Cost: Free

8. Neon Ballroom

Neon Ballroom is like the sibling to Fuse, but it is filled in. It also takes a more modern twist with the cut-off lines within letters, creating more distinct visuals. Because of this layout, it is easy to conceptualize how the colors would radiate from the center lines to give that neon font aesthetic you’re going for.

Cost: Free for personal use

9. Zapped Sticks

Imagine neon lights stacked on top of each other — there you have the appropriately jazzy Zapped Sticks. Despite its trippy appearance, when you put lights around the letters, it shines wonderfully and distinctively. The layered effect provides a pop to standard neon fonts, making it jump off the page with more dimension — especially if you’re using this in print or digital mediums.

Cost: Free

10. Lineat III

Lineat III is ready to provide neon lights to every industry. The design is intended for everyone, from sports and entertainment to industrial niches. The fun-filled lines end in sharp corners like a curling wave to give it more nuanced interest. The font looks good surrounded in neon colors and lights or plain and by itself. 

Cost: Free for personal use and starting at $19 for commercial use

11. Yasemin

This font is more decorative than your standard swirling, script fonts. It has an edge appearance. Letters have lingering lines, extending some across the length of the word. Some of the tails interweave and all of the capital letters have curls that wrap around the left side. Imagine this font on a stylish business card or gift bag, and it would grip anyone’s attention.

Cost: $24

12. Las Enter

The name of this font does make it feel like it would be the sign welcoming tourists to Las Vegas. It is one of the most voguish of the bunch, looking good in all differentiations, whether it’s italics, bold, or underlined. Angle it however you want to excite viewers into thinking they’re about to head into a party, regardless of what this neon font says.

Cost: Free for personal use or $69 for a commercial license

13. VV Neonica

This isn’t just a single font — it’s a whole collection. In the display image, you can see how one font translates to provide variation in a single design. The font package also includes the decorative elements like clouds and guitars to dress the background of your design. If you’re looking for a comprehensive package, this is the neon font for you.

Cost: $1.83 per style

14. Electric Holic

This unique neon light font includes dots to add extra glitz to the design. It looks more electric, resembling circuitry. The font works best in larger sizes so viewers can see the finer details, so large signage and advertisements are the way to go when using this neon font.

Cost: Free for personal use and commercial use requires a subscription

Jazz Up Creations With Neon Fonts

Neon fonts are a solid, thrilling choice for appropriate designs. With a few curves, a gentle script could provide a flashy elegance. More squared-off edges give that futuristic aesthetic a client might crave. Whatever the mission, these neon fonts deliver variety and inspiration, whether you’re making a traditional sign or an innovative banner ad. If you’re feeling adventurous, consider adding an animation to make the font glow literally as viewers enjoy its radiance.

The post 14 Neon Fonts to Light Up Your Design appeared first on Designerly.

Trying to capture users’ attention can be challenging with all of the websites and content pushed on the internet today. With the average user’s small attention span, delivering concise, targeted content is more crucial than ever. That’s where microsites can serve you well.

These compact digital platforms are laser-focused on a singular purpose. While they may appear minimalistic at first glance, these sites are more powerful than what meets the eye. A good microsite design can enhance your brand’s online presence and deepen the connection with your target audience. 

Yet, you may be wondering how a microsite can amplify your company’s next campaign. The best way to design a captivating microsite for audiences is to put these tips into practice. 

What Is a Microsite?

A microsite is a mini website designed for a specific purpose, be it showcasing a product, promoting an event or implementing a unique campaign. Unlike a company’s primary website — which can hold vast amounts of content — a microsite operates under a separate domain or subdomain. Although it’s connected to the main brand, it stands alone, offering a distinct digital experience. 

Microsites hold immense power because of their versatility. While they’re a smaller site compared to the main company’s site, they allow you to reach highly specific goals with a certain kind of audience in mind. You can tailor them to particular stages of a customer’s journey, from initial awareness to the final purchase. 

Whether a company wants to target a particular segment, narrate a compelling story or test new content ideas, microsites are the go-to solution. 

The Benefits of a Microsite

When you design and launch a microsite properly, it can be a great way to market a business and provide value in various ways:

• Build brand awareness: A highly engaging microsite focusing on a specific campaign, product or service can promote a brand and boost its online presence across various channels. 
• Improve SEO: A microsite created around niche keywords can rank better in search results. This allows your company to drive organic traffic and further enhance the brand’s visibility.
• Increase brand engagement: Due to their targeted nature, microsites captivate visitors with relevant content. This crafts deeper interactions and prolongs site visits. 
• Generates leads: Microsites have specific calls-to-action (CTA) you can optimize for lead generation. They effectively capture visitor details for future marketing efforts.
• Demonstrate expertise: They act as knowledge hubs on particular topics, showcasing a brand’s deep understanding and expertise. This builds trust with visitors and encourages them to learn more from your company as you continue to deliver value.
• Reaches new audiences: Microsites allow you to address specific needs or interests by remaining highly relevant to audiences your primary site cannot reach.

Overall, microsites are about precision. They allow your brand to zoom in on particular aspects of the business and engage with audiences in a more targeted manner. 

How Do You Create an Engaging Microsite?

When considering how to start designing an engaging microsite, devising a strategy is the first step to capturing and retaining an audience’s attention. An effective plan includes clear objectives, understanding the target audience and curating relevant content. Starting with a strategy will ensure your small website will be appealing in addition to serving its main purpose. Here are the steps to help you achieve this.

1. Define Your Microsite’s Goal

The first step is to know your microsite’s objective — what is its core purpose? Will the goal be an informational supplement post-meeting a client or the main engagement touchpoint? Such considerations shape your messaging.

Aim for a singular, clear objective. For instance, to get users to sign up, keep the site clear of distractions. The idea is to guide visitors directly to your main goal. 

2. Create Clear Messaging

In this step, you must decide what you want visitors to grasp. Clarity is key in promoting product features or aligning with the company’s mission. Ensure your site’s content has a central message so users immediately recognize the product’s value proposition.

3. Limit Branding Specifics to the Main Objective

When creating a microsite, align branding closely with its primary goal. Whether promoting an event or launching a brand, the design should remain streamlined and focused. Avoid overloading with multiple branding elements — excessive colors or graphics can sidetrack users and dilute the core message and purpose. 

4. Establish a 6-section Limit

Microsites thrive on focus. Ideally, you should limit your content to one page to reduce clicks and boost user retention. A simple navigation bar can use anchors linking directly to on-page content sections. You can also use this suggested layout:

• A logo
• A hero banner
• Four to five core content pieces
• A call-to-action
• A footer

5. Provide Next Steps for Users

Conclude your site with a clear directive for users. Tailor your CTA based on customer needs to guide them toward meaningful engagement. Incorporate more than one CTA throughout so you cater to different stages of the customer journey. This will ensure you have multiple touchpoints for user action and interaction. 

6. Measure, Analyze, Refine

Before launching, link your microsite to an analytics tool. Tools like Google Analytics offer invaluable insights into customer engagement. Post-launch, regularly evaluate this data to inform stakeholders and gauge the site’s effectiveness. After the campaign concludes, reflect and refine based on the results you gain. 

Components of an Engaging Microsite Design

Any web designer can create a microsite. Yet, a good design should be thoughtful in how it can engage users, retain them and influence the customers to take action. Here are some elements you could consider incorporating into a small site design:

• Incorporate immersive elements: These elements, such as videos and animations, draw users into the content. Immersive site components should be about creating an experience that leads to longer site visits and better content retention. How can you engage users through interactive site elements?
• Implement personalization: The content should cater to the user’s browsing habits. When visitors feel the content speaks directly to them, they’re more likely to engage and take desired actions.
• Add micro-interactions: These tiny design elements respond to users’ actions, like a button changing color when users hover over it. Micro-interactions enhance user experience and make the browsing journey more enjoyable.
• Use gamification: Quizzes, polls and point systems can motivate users to engage more deeply. Gamification adds an element of fun and challenge, encouraging users to explore further. 

Make a Microsite That Captivates Users

Microsites offer a place for innovative content, unique messaging and unconventional approaches. Above all, they craft tangible value and allow companies to increase conversions. Web designers incorporating these tips and design suggestions can captivate their audience and create a truly unique user experience.

The post Designing Engaging Microsites: The Key to Captivating Audiences appeared first on Designerly.

Design methodologies are all over the place, with varying priorities and insights into how to make the perfect creations. Instead of focusing on one — unless that is your preference — designers and small businesses should feel encouraged to pull the highlights and best strategies from every corner, formulating a curated strategy that works for your personality and workflow. Atomic design is an entire approach that considers user interactivity and productivity, so what is the overview so you can start applying it to your work?

What Is Atomic Design?

Atomic design combines the creativity of design with the practicality of science. It is based on the book of the same name by Brad Frost, and it explains a web design framework. He urges designers to view web pages as living systems rather than a collection of stagnant pages. He took inspiration from other industries, including chemistry and industrial architecture.

The point is to view a website as a mixture of separate processes, all the way down to the atom. It engages designers to view user experience and workflow from a microlens, expanding until they understand the implications in a macro sense. Interface elements comprise pages and entire sites, so if you attempt to work with a collection of items without considering how it impacts smaller pieces, you may compromise performance or accessibility.

Another aspect of atomic design is teaching designers how to scale. Websites are moldable and infinite — bandwidth and servers permitting. So, when you take on a well-established project, you must look at it as starting from scratch. How does everything work together to provide the experience people expect from these web pages, and how can you manipulate those elements to achieve your design goals?

Just like in science, smaller parts make up atomic design. It is time to take a look at your website-creating process through a microscope.

The Five Aspects of Atomic Design

To better understand how to execute atomic design strategies, you need to unpack the facets of a web page with atomic design terminology. To do so, you must return to your high school classrooms. 

Atoms

Looking at the chemistry definition of an atom will explain that it is the quintessential building block of matter. There are aspects of design that equate to this metaphor. Frost describes the atoms of web design as aspects that, if taken away, everything else would lose context and fall apart. Atoms include web elements like HTML and buttons.

Molecules

As you can see, atomic design elements build upon its essential parts. Groups of atoms form molecules. The idea is that atoms join to create more holistic and versatile web experiences, primarily when they work together to enhance each other’s strengths and properties. Examples include contact forms that incorporate atoms like buttons and fonts.

Organisms

Get enough molecules together to form any organism — like you, the designer, or your webpage. This is when the molecules diversify their utilities. The molecules work together to develop working aspects of the website, such as a storefront, interactive gallery, or navigation bar. The organisms are replicable.

Templates

This is the point when you get into non-chemistry language. Based on how atoms form molecules and molecules include organisms, you might have guessed that organisms formulate templates. A group of organisms acts like a puzzle, piecing together to create an entire contact page, complete with navigation, submission forms, text boxes, and other layout aspects.

Pages

You have officially graduated to the highest aspect of the food chain — templates construct unique pages. Though every page has a template, not all templates are alike, and sometimes, a duplicate template generates an entirely different page experience. It is the consumer-facing part that exhibits your brand and shows off all your hard work. 

Applying and Experimenting With Design Components

Knowing and applying atomic design to a blank slate or long-term client are different stories. It is not as daunting as chemistry, and now that you have the primer for the design system, execution is more straightforward. First, you take all of the aspects and break them down even further:

1. Raise atom awareness: Outline all of the atoms in the system.
2. Forge molecular bonds: Map out how atoms connect to form molecules, noticing how some atoms flow to multiple molecular structures.
3. Construct organisms: Place molecules with each other to build usable website components, like search bars and headers with logos.
4. Assemble templates: Craft a layout, seeing how all organisms work together and inspire symbiotic UX.
5. Finalize pages: Generate as many individual instances of templates as you need to fulfill site requirements and user intent.

Atomic design does not stop. To champion this method, gather data about how it is performing. Experiment with webpage elements based on speed, interactivity, and visitor crawl rates.

It requires developers to notice patterns in how they work and design. How can they expand their mindset to see how molecules work outside their mental constraints? What new design structures unfold because you see more connections between atoms than before? How does this utility translate to the website viewer, improving their customer journey?

Advantages of Employing Atomic Design

You may have unknowingly always thought of web design in an atomic way. You understand that if a page doesn’t function well, go back to the code, the tiniest parts that make up the whole, to discover the root of the issue. Having atomic design principles in mind provides the most considerable advantage by ensuring certainty. You always have a reusable guideline to follow when designing and problem-solving. 

It increases the likelihood that you will perfect your design craft. The more you understand what makes users excited about your websites, the more you can refine the elements. 

Speaking of consistency, identifying elements with atomic methodology makes everything seamless between pages. It means not only is your design process constant, but users will also develop familiarity with the site because it caters to their intuition and experience. Because the atoms and templates are not brand-specific, they are reusable. As a designer, it means you develop a consistency that translates to expectation when looking for contracts or clients.

It immediately impacts productivity and workflow, which translates to improved interfaces and user experience. Visiting users can feel clunky components when a website’s foundation is faulty or not harmonious. Using atomic ideas assures clients and yourself that visitors will have positive brand associations based on the website functionality.

Using Atomic Design to Level Up Your Work

Who knew science and creativity could blend so naturally? Consider atomic design in web development. UX helps designers and visitors equally. It encourages site optimization and prioritizes flow because it recognizes the value behind even the most minor components. It also improves productivity when drafting a website structure because you consider every aspect exactly when it should receive attention. 

It layers until it creates a beautiful website. Though rebranding a website by changing a template in one fell swoop is tempting, atomic design reminds designers to take a step back to view the atoms first.

The post Atomic Design: Everything You Need to Know for UX and Workflow appeared first on Designerly.

In business, every company wants to achieve success. Therefore, staying organized and focused is key. The key to achieving this is through KPI (key performance indicators) reports. KPI reports provide meaningful data that help you see how well you’re reaching your goals. Understanding what a KPI report is and how to use one can be the key to improving your business.

Businesses should be able to streamline processes and make informed decisions for improvements. To ensure they’re reaching organizational goals, they must gather and analyze information to gain a wealth of insights. Yet, with the amount of data available today, improper interpretation and utilization can lead to missed opportunities — this is why KPI reports are necessary.

What Is a KPI Report?

A KPI report is a valuable tool providing a snapshot of your company’s progress toward its objectives. It measures various aspects of your operations and shows you where you’re doing well and could improve. 

A KPI report will include specific business metrics relevant to your company. It can be in the form of a graph or table, providing you with a visual representation of the set KPIs needed to measure performance. Each KPI is presented alongside its target so you can quickly see whether you’re on track.

Typically, you may find your reports presented on a document, providing various insights in a digestible format to make extracting information easier.

KPI reports are especially useful in marketing. They reveal how effective your marketing campaigns are, how many people you’re reaching and much more. It’s more than a collection of numbers — these reports are powerful narratives that help you make sense of your endeavors.

The Importance of KPI Reports in Marketing

In marketing, KPI reports act like a roadmap guiding you toward your marketing goals. Whether you’re increasing brand awareness, boosting customer engagement or driving sales, these tools offer a way to measure your progress. They allow you to align your day-to-day efforts with big-picture objectives, ensuring you stay on course. 

Moreover, these reports give you insight into long-term data trends. As a marketer, you know that digital marketing can take time before you see results. Whether it’s SEO or email marketing, a report can help you answer questions about how to reach your long-term goals. Therefore, they provide actionable insights to make the right decisions.

KPI reports are also important for enhancing your understanding of campaign effectiveness. They give you a story about your marketing activities. For instance, are your social media posts engaging or are your emails leading to website visits? With answers to these, you’ll know how to transform your marketing efforts into a clear, understandable narrative. From there, you achieve better strategies and results.

The Components of a KPI Report

In a KPI report, you use key metrics to keep track of your campaign performance. A KPI is a data point. You use them as milestones to determine if you’re on the right path to success. So instead of guessing if you’re getting closer to your goals, KPIs provide quantifiable data to show your progress. 

Yet, marketing requires you to choose the right KPIs for your objectives because different marketing goals need different KPIs. For instance, if you aim to increase brand visibility, you would look at website traffic or social media followers. If your focus is on sales, conversion rates may be your go-to KPI. 

The key is to select KPIs that align directly with your objectives to get a clear and accurate measure of your success. A typical KPI report could include a mix of the following KPIs, depending on your marketing objectives:

• Return on marketing investment: This measures the profitability of your marketing efforts, showing how much you earn in return for what you spend. 
• Website traffic: A website is a critical asset in marketing. Businesses use this KPI to measure the portions of incoming traffic and how long users stay on the site.
• Social media engagement: Marketers measure their social media performance through comments, likes and follower count.

How To Create a KPI Report

Creating a KPI report can go as planned if you follow the right steps.

1. Establish Marketing Objectives

The first step to creating a report is defining your marketing goals. Maybe you’re aiming for increased brand awareness, higher sales or better customer engagement. Once your goals are clear, decide how you’ll measure them. For example, if it’s sales, the number of units sold or profit made can be good measures.

2. Choose Your KPIs

Next, choose the right KPIs to track. These should directly relate to your goals and be quantifiable. For instance, if your goal is to improve customer engagement, you might choose KPIs like website visit duration or the number of comments on social media. 

3. Collect and Analyze Data

Once you’ve selected your KPIs, it’s time to collect and analyze the data. Numerous tools are available to help with this, from Google Analytics for web traffic to Hootsuite for social media engagement. Consider the different types of tools used to collect your data and choose the right one to fit your business’s needs.

Then, collect data over a specific period, and analyze it to see how well you’re meeting your goals.

4. Structure and Visualize Your Report

Start arranging your KPIs in a logical order, and use graphs or charts to visualize your data. Or, you can use a reporting software that does this for you since manual reporting can take time. A tool like this will make your report easier to understand and see your progress.

 How to Use a KPI Report Effectively

When using a KPI report, you must absorb the information, reflect on it and let it guide your next steps. Look beyond the numbers and gather the story they’re telling you. Do they show you’re getting closer to your goals, or do you need to change your approach?

Based on the data, this is where you need to make decisions. For instance, if a particular marketing campaign could perform better, it may be time to adjust your strategy. Maybe you need to target a different audience or tweak your message. Let the data guide your decisions.

Keep in mind that it’s important to review your KPI reporting and update it regularly to reflect the changes in your marketing environment. You may need to adjust your strategies based on the insights from your report. Therefore, active engagement with your information is key. 

Set Yourself On the Right Path With KPI Reporting

A KPI report can make your marketing efforts much more effective when you understand and use it effectively. They guide you, informing your decisions and pushing you toward your goals. Start getting hands-on with it today and gain all the insights it has to offer. With KPI reporting, you have the tool needed to steer your marketing to success.

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Whether you’re interested in designing your own web application or considering a career in graphic design, you probably have questions about the process. Here are the answers to some of the most common queries people ask about web app design.

What’s the Difference Between a Web App and Website?

A website usually serves to inform users. Website visitors can view the information on the page, but they often cannot interact with it or manipulate it in any way. Examples include the New York Times news site or business websites that post copywritten blog content. 

A web app is a specialized type of website where users can input data, complete an action or interact with the content in some way. The definition can be rather broad, but it often includes sites where users can make an account or place an order. Examples include Airbnb, Amazon and Facebook. Because a web app is interactive, its design is slightly more complicated than that of a static web page. 

Should You Design a Web App or Website?

If you’re launching a product or want to give your business a stronger online presence, you’ll need to decide whether to design a website or web app. There are benefits to each decision — it all depends on your personal needs. Some reasons to choose a website include:

• Ease of use: Since websites aren’t interactive, people can easily navigate them. 
• Accessibility: Websites can load better on mobile devices or in areas with slow service.
• Development speed: Because of their simpler design, websites are faster to develop than web apps. 
• Cost effectiveness: Designing a website is usually cheaper than developing a web app. 
• Flexibility: It’s much easier to update a website than to fix a functional UI error on a web app. 

On the other hand, consider designing a web app for these benefits: 

• Functionality: Web apps can create, store and edit data, making them useful for businesses that need to track and organize large amounts of information. 
• User experience: A web app can help people order products or book tickets from the convenience of their own home. It’s a more interactive experience overall. 
• Scalability: It’s usually easier to scale web applications than websites. 

Do You Need a Degree to Design a Web App?

You don’t need a formal degree or certification to become a web designer. However, the field is growing rapidly — experts project it will grow 23% from 2021 to 2031 — and having a formal education can help you stand out. 

If you want to do web app design for clients, consider getting a degree in the field. Many colleges offer associate, bachelor’s and master’s degrees in web design and graphic design. There are also online courses that award certificates on the subject. 

It’s common for web designers to take the Adobe Certified Associate exam, and many online courses and certification programs will prepare you for it. This test demonstrates a web designer’s skill in the Creative Cloud software most graphic design companies use. 

Even if you don’t get a formal education in web design, you can still become a graphic designer if you have a solid portfolio. A portfolio showcases your best work and gives clients an idea of what you have to offer. 

How Long Does Designing a Web App Take? 

It depends on your project’s scope and overall complexity. Four to six weeks is a typical timeline for designing a barebones application with minimal features, while creating a more complicated web app with robust features can take well over 10 months. 

An example of a simple application you could probably design in a few weeks is a weather app. It may only have one or two screens users can flip through, and users don’t need an account to access it. In contrast, banking, social media and gaming apps are more complicated and will probably take several months to finish. In addition to having multiple screens, they must also have features like user profile creation and privacy measures in place. 

What Is a Product Specification?

The first step in web app design is to write up a product specification. This document — also called a product spec or feature spec — describes the web app you will be designing, including how it will look and what your product does. It covers how people will use your web app and any special features it will have.

If you’re working for a client, they’ll probably give this document to you. If you’re working for yourself, however, you’ll need to create your own product spec from the ground up. 

It’s important not to skip this step even if you know exactly what you want your web app to do. The product spec serves as a blueprint for your web app design and will guide you through the development process. It can be a pretty lengthy document, especially if you flesh out what each page and function of your web app will do. 

What Is a Product Roadmap?

Once you’ve written your product spec, the next step for many designers is to create a product roadmap. This flowchart can show how your web pages are linked together, including how users will click from one page to another and which links they’ll click on to do it. It will give you a much broader overview of how your web app will function. 

Or, you can design a roadmap that visually outlines the steps you need to take to launch your web app. It’s a helpful tool for tracking the progress of your web app design. 

How Much Does Building a Web App Cost? 

Just as the time needed to design a web app varies by project, so can the cost. On the low end, a very simple web app that doesn’t require any backend development may cost as little as $5,000 to build. For a full-featured application with multiple functionalities and features, it’s not unheard of to pay a team of developers as much as $250,000. 

Can You Create a Web App Without Knowing How to Code?

Although coding is a very useful skill for designing a web application, there are several no-code app builders that let you design an app in a more user-friendly way. Rather than coding, you’ll simply fill in a template to build your application. 

No-code app builders often have a drag-and-drop interface where you click to add images, videos, text and forms to your app. You can also select from different color palettes and fonts. Companies like Glide, Bubble, Webflow and Adalo offer no-code web app builders. 

No-code app builders don’t offer you as many customization options as learning to code and building your own web app. However, they can save significant time and help even complete beginners get started with designing an application. They’re also useful for drafting outlines and brainstorming ideas for how you want your design to look. 

The Benefits of Web App Design

A web app allows users to engage with a business in a more interactive way than they could on a website. It drives interest in a product or service, helps people find a company through search engine optimization and lets customers place orders. Whether you want to design your own web app or help a client, hopefully the answers to these common questions give you a better understanding of the topic. 

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Businesses often talk about buyer personas and their target audiences, but there is a place for creating user stories and utilizing them for various development processes. Honing in on the details of what drives users helps create a clearer message that resonates. What is a user story?

User stories don’t have to be novels. They are short descriptions of how a user might interact with a product or feature. Most companies use a script to write their user stories, which we’ll include below. Your brand needs multiple stories to cover different products and different features of each one. 

When you apply a user story to product development, you’ll receive fewer support calls and greater customer satisfaction. Your marketing will be more effective, meaning you spend less money on advertising but get greater results. Follow the steps below to create and implement user stories into your business processes. 

1. Know Your Users

According to The Population Project, the current global population is approximately 8.048 billion people. The good news is that you don’t have to cater to each individual. Most people fall within types of users and you can speak to each group and still reach them on an emotional level.

For example, if you sell children’s pajamas, your user is likely a parent or other relative of the child. Their concerns may be more than just how cute the PJs are. They may worry about fire safety rating, if the outfit is warm enough, type of material used and a host of other things. 

Start by looking at any feedback you’ve received from customers. What are they writing in reviews? Have they called to complain about anything? Gather up all the information you have about your audience.

Really dig down into your current customer base. Survey them to find out what they care most about and how you can meet their needs. The more you know, the better you can create a user story and make a product that meets their needs while giving them the information they most need to use the item effectively. 

2. Break Down the Benefits

What is a user story without considering the benefits to your customers? Start by considering your audience’s pain points. What do they care most about? What emotions drive their concerns? For the pajamas example, fear of a child getting hurt or being uncomfortable might drive their buying behavior and use of the product. Someone with a child with sensory needs might care about the material used or if it is soft enough. 

Once you have an idea of the pain points, it’s much easier to hone in on the benefits your product currently provides or should provide. You may need to add some features if you aren’t meeting user needs.

3. What Is a User Story Without a Script?

Many companies save time by following a general prompt to write their user stories. It goes something like this:

As a [fill in who your user is/type], I want to [add an action] so [the benefit they get from the product or feature].

So, in practice, one of your user stories might go like this:

As the parent of an autistic child, I want to put pajamas on them so they aren’t uncomfortable while sleeping.

You can get as specific or general as you want, but the more you can hone in on the benefits and needs, the better your user story will be. 

4. Collaborate With Stakeholders

The user story only works if it aligns with the values of all the stakeholders involved with the product. Get feedback from leaders in the company, customers and any investors. The user story applies to more than just the person buying the item. 

What is a user story without input from all these people? You must gather details from everyone via surveys and by paying attention to the ways various factions use the item. You may need to tweak your story to include more than one user type. 

5. Focus on the Unique Value Proposition (UVP)

When building your user story, consider how the customer’s needs align with the UVP of your product. Going back to the pajamas example, let’s look at how this might work for product development and marketing. 

Research shows your target audience wants a soft material in children’s pajamas. You also know that a percentage of your audience is conscious of the environmental impact of producing new textiles.

You might choose bamboo materials because they are more sustainable, renewable and the result is butter soft material. Your user story would change the material you use for your pajamas but you’d also focus on the benefits of bamboo pajamas in your marketing materials. 

6. Rinse & Repeat

Once you have some user stories in place and you’ve applied them to product development and marketing, you should look at outliers. What customer base have you not yet served but is a possible demographic? Spend time creating a story for each type of client and seeing how well your service or product fits their needs and narrative. 

What Is a User Story’s Worth to Your Business?

User stories help build your company over time. Your messaging will become clearer and you’ll know which things to focus on and what you should develop next to keep your audience happy and coming back for more. 

The post What Is a User Story & How to Create One appeared first on Designerly.