Web Design and Build

The project proved much more difficult as the subject matter was so elusive. The client wanted the website to convey a calm and steady feel, but there was so much information that could potentially be contained in it. The trick was to supply that information for the serious reader, but not to overwhelm the casual reader.

The live website can be viewed here.

Start with Why

The Golden Circle

Every organization—and every person’s career—operates on three levels: what we do, how we do it, and why we do it. We all know what we do: the products we sell, the services we offer or the jobs we do. Some of us know how we do it: the things that we think make us different or stand out from the crowd. But very few of us can clearly articulate why we do what we do.

The WHY is the purpose, cause, or belief that drives every organization and every person’s individual career. Why does your company exist? Why did you get out of bed this morning? And why should anyone care?

Companies that inspire, companies that command trust and loyalty over the long term, are the ones that make us feel we’re accomplishing something bigger than just saving a buck. That feeling of alliance with something bigger is the reason we keep wearing the jersey of our hometown sports team even though they’ve missed the playoffs for ten years and counting. It’s why some of us will always buy Apple products over other brands, even if Apple isn’t always the most affordable choice. Whether we like to admit it or not, we are not entirely rational beings. If we were, no one would ever fall in love and no one would ever start a business. Faced with an overwhelming chance of failure, no rational person would ever take either of those risks. But we do. Every day. Because how we feel about something or someone is more powerful than what we think about it or them.

There’s just one problem with feelings. They can be tremendously difficult to express in words. That’s the reason we so often resort to metaphors and analogies, like “our relationship feels like a train heading at high speed toward a rickety bridge” or “when I get to the office, I feel like a little kid on the playground again.” Even though communicating our feelings is hard, the payoff is big. When we align emotionally with our customers and clients, our connection is much stronger and more meaningful than any affiliation based on features and benefits. That’s what starting with WHY is all about.

And here’s the best part, this whole concept of WHY is grounded in the tenets of the biology of human decision making. How the Golden Circle works maps perfectly with how our brain works.

The outer section of the Golden Circle—the WHAT—corresponds to the outer section of the brain—the neocortex. This is the part of the brain responsible for rational and analytical thought. It helps us understand facts and figures, features and benefits. The neocortex is also responsible for language.

The middle two sections of the Golden Circle—the WHY and HOW—correspond to the middle section of the brain, the limbic system. This is the part of the brain responsible for all our behavior and decision making. It’s also responsible for all our feelings, like trust and loyalty. But unlike the neocortex, the limbic system has no capacity for language. This is where “gut feelings” come from. It’s not our stomach. It’s a feeling we get about a decision we have to make that we struggle to explain.

That separation of powers is the biological reason we sometimes find it difficult to put our feelings into words (“I love you more than words can say”), explain our actions (“The devil made me do it!”) or justify our decisions (“I don’t know … it just felt right”).

We can learn, however, to put words to those feelings. And those who do are the ones who are better able to inspire action in themselves, among their colleagues and with their customers.

PilatesJoburg

What a delight to create this clean and simple website. This Pilates Studio is in Johannesburg. The client didn’t want any complexity in the website, and the studio is small, personal and very charming. Definitely less is more!!

Click here to view.

How To Guides

One of the most recent projects has been the creation of a range of How To Guides in Atlassian’s Confluence product.

Whilst Confluence is an easy tool to use, busy people don’t have time to create anything more sophisticated than a basic textual page. These How To Guides provide quick and easy access to cheat sheets that provide a few simple steps to creating what they want.

The page layout is novel for people who are used to creating textual documents. The How To’s also give them ideas about how documentation can be formatted and arranged.

Ads for Youth Groups

youth

Advertising to capture the attention of the youth provides the opportunity to break away from the old – anything is allowed – bright, bold, different.

Its great to break the rules – no capitals, no proper sentences, funky colours. Sweet!

 

Plato Week Posters

Plato poster

What a delight to be able to refer to the classical traditions of ancient Rome!

The steadiness of the law and justice based on Plato’s work was the basis for these designs, while bringing in classical borders and that sky blue that is so reminiscent of Greece.

Sanskrit in Africa

How wonderful is this combination? Sanskrit in an African theme!

In case you don’t read Sanskrit, these are variations of the four great … as follows:

  • Tattwamasi
  • Ayamatmabrahma
  • Ahambrahmasmi
  • Prajnanambrahma

Web Design1

web design

My fascination and love of web development started back in 2013. A marketing company developed a website for a non-profit I was a part of. They did such a poor job that I ended up re-designing the whole website. It was a complex site with over 50 pages, so as a novice, I took on quite some task. I found that I loved combining the functional aspects of a website with beautiful images.

The website doesn’t exist in this form any longer.