Creativity

Video marketing & the art of visual storytelling

Posted on | by moocow

Nowadays video is a vital part of any marketing strategy. And at Moocow, our aim is to always be ahead of the game when it comes to advertising, branding and how to successfully market your business. Below offers a quick insight into some of the techniques and styles of video top marketers are using.

 

360° video

360° video has most of us mind blown, with viewers being able to visually take a step into almost any landscape imaginable. Observers feel as though they are part of the experience and using video on your web page allows visitors to your site to be more interactive. When it comes to marketing, many of us find that the adverts which are most popular are those with a narrative that hit home. More and more businesses are using video as a device to create a visual storyboard that the customer can identify with. By the end of 2017, video based websites will reach as high as 80%. Google VR View is a Javascript API that allows you to upload 360° videos to your website, a handy tool if you’re wanting to give your website audience a cinematic experience of their own.

 

Cinemagraphs

Cinemagraphs work by combining Hi-Res images with a video that loops a selected part of the image, making it animated. This makes an already eye-popping image even more magical, allowing viewers to see photographs come to life before their very eyes. These short snippets of animation are becoming increasingly popular, with many social media sites adding tools to create your own online, an example being Instagram’s Boomerang which allows you to upload and create a short repeated video clip. Marketing trends for 2017 are set to become more and more visual, with businesses wanting to create backdrops to their sites that entice and excite their audiences. Working hand in hand with the use of parallaxes and animated backgrounds, using cinemagraphs with your website could be just the thing to get your new website off the ground.

 

GIFS

Many are divided on the opinion of GIFS as either highly entertaining or highly annoying. But which is it? Although having to scroll through meme after meme when on social media might seem like a bit of a chore, you can’t underestimate the high rate of followers and likes often associated with such trends. When used correctly GIFS and other animated photographic techniques can be the perfect way to give your website that wow factor. You can use your own images or video clips that are relevant to your products and business brand, if you’re wanting to steer clear of anything tacky. And there’s plenty of online sites that can easily assist you in making your own GIFS in as quick as 5 minutes, so it’s not a lot of time out of your day to create something that could potentially blow up on your social media sites.

 

How tech and design industries are providing support during COVID-19

Posted on | by moocow

Big names in tech, design councils, universities and others alike are all coming together currently to provide phenomenal support to those working within the design and technology industry.

Whether it’s advice, social interaction or resources to help work forces and teams train, learn or continue with their work, there’s plenty of help to be found. We’ve compiled a brief list of excellent support to you as business owner, freelancers or employees within design to keep you on track and feel supported.

Design Council

The Design Council have set up ways to staying connected virtually as designers, through Zoom meetings and other virtual online community support. It has stated that it is dedicated to providing additional help to all who work within design, and the importance of keeping businesses within the industry afloat. They are a hub of information for all within design and are providing additional information for freelancers on how to support themselves currently.

Arts Council England

As a feature of Arts Council England’s Digital Culture Network, any business or worker within the creative industry sector can contact the network’s Tech Champions for advice and help on enhancing their digital skills. It’s also planned that there will be continuing free resources and webinars available additionally too.

Zira

Zira has set up a free and easy to access tool called Bounce Back to help employees who are unable to continue their normal work due to COVID-19. The program chiefly shows users how to steer themselves around the issues of losing work load, being furloughed or work opportunities ending. It also doubles up as a community for users to keep in touch with former employers, and has a “job marketplace.”

Universities, Shaw Academy and Future Learn

Universities and other academic facilities are offering free courses, diplomas and training on a huge variety of subject areas. Many of these courses would originally come with quite a large price tag but have been deducted to offer support to others during the pandemic. Courses and training is available over a period of weeks online, and have many subjects relating to tech and design such as graphic design, social media and viral marketing, photoshop skills, business and management.

Survey Monkey

Survey Monkey has set up specialised survey templates for teams and work forces to use to supply support to those whose work schedules have changed, are working from home or are continuing as key workers. They can help to enable productivity, check on employee well-being or keep teams up to date on projects.

The Dots

The Dots have created a specialist ‘Ask The Community’ forum in support of the COVID-19 pandemic. It offers answers and support on questions relating to freelance work, working from home, sharing worries, tips and advice. There’s also areas to arrange opportunities for work and collaboration between others, allowing you to connect and network with new businesses or other creative workers.

 

Our Best Web Design Blogs & Free Tech Courses to Tide You Over

Posted on | by moocow

Companies across the UK are set to face dramatic changes in the way day-to-day business operates during the Coronavirus outbreak, our own team at Moocow included. During this time, we remain committed to providing you the best online advice, keeping you up to date on all the latest tech news, with recommendations for resources and tools that can be implemented from home.

First up, we’ve compiled a top ten list of what we believe are some of the best web design blogs on the internet, packed full of helpful tips, tutorials and freebies to get you going in all areas of design.

The Moz Blog

Founded originally by Rand Fishkin, The Moz Blog is one of the most popular blogs in the world of web design. The site offers leading advice on improving your website and design, up to date knowledge on the latest SEO advice, and insights into producing outstanding content using successful web marketing. The Moz team have also announced that during the COVID-19, their Moz academy will be free for all, offering access to over a dozen essential courses and training.

https://moz.com/blog/moz-academy-free

Design Bombs

An online magazine packed full with in-depth articles on coding, design and general web news. The site also offers design freebies, including icons and WordPress Plugins and Themes, helping you to get the most out of your website. Subscribe to their site and you’ll have access to a bunch of handy online tools.

Backlinko

Named by Forbes magazine as one of the best places for “next-level SEO training”and advice, the Backlinko blog offers you articles and tips on SEO and achieving higher rankings and traffic to your site. Formed by SEO expert Brian Dean, this blog is the go to place for SEO tips.

Vandelay Design

A blog dedicated to providing tips and tutorials for all your design needs. From coding and UX, to business marketing, blog design or photoshop skills, the site is filled with detailed insights on all design processes, offering extra tools, services and WordPress themes too.

WPKube

A blog dedicated to all your WordPress needs! WPKube is the best site for all your WordPress queries, the blog comes with how-to guides, tips and extras including WP themes, modifications and plugins as well as all the latest news keeping you up to date with what WordPress has to offer.

CSS Tricks

Created to offer advice for both amateur and professional designers and developers, this blog includes helpful hints and technique tips for using CSS, including code snippets and tutorials. As well as this, there’s a forum you can join to ask the coding community for extra help.

SitePoint

A great tech blog for anyone wanting to get hands on knowledge and experience with learning to code, using HTML5/CSS, JavaScript, or PHP. With courses and guides ranging from mobile app development to responsive design, it’s a great site with easy, learn-able advice and access to a wide community of coders.

Tuts Plus

The Envatotuts+ blog filled with courses and in-depth guides on coding, web design, photography, video, business, 3d graphics and game development. Includes access to lots of freebies, a forum you can access through the blog and really useful activities getting you equipped in all areas of design.

Hongkiat

A great design blog for designers and bloggers of all kinds, offering web design and photographic inspiration, useful tools and tips to get your knowledge up to date, including guides on using social media to market your business and getting jobs within the tech industry.

1st Web Designer

A leading UK blog focusing on UX design, typography, WordPress, JavaScript, and CSS. Great for seeing what’s trending in web design and getting you the low down on all the latest tools and design inspiration.

 

International Women’s Day and the Importance of Diversity in Tech

Posted on | by moocow

In honour of International Women’s Day, we wanted to highlight the importance of women working within technology, and the lack of diversity and inclusivity seen in many tech and design companies.

More than 2.1 million people in the UK are currently working in the tech industry, and despite such large figures, only 16% are women, according to a report from the Inclusive Tech Alliance. They stated that “over a million more female employees would need to be hired to reach gender parity.” Additionally, a mere 15% of the digital tech workforce in the UK are from BAME (Black, Asian, and minority ethnic) backgrounds, with senior/board member positions being at only 8.5% according to another recent report from search agency Inclusive Boards.

Many companies will have no female representation whatsoever, or representation from BAME or other diverse communities. It’s hugely important to create awareness and have greater opportunities created to make the tech industry a more equal and inclusive career path, and what better way to celebrate this than with International Women’s Day in mind. At Moocow, we’re proud to have a team of fantastic designers, developers, writers and technical staff from a diverse range of backgrounds, with representation from female tech experts, those from the LGBTQ+ community and those with disabilities. With an office at the heart of Brighton, we’re proud to have a workforce that’s inclusive and socially aware, as well as great in their field.

Secondarily, we wanted to offer some tips and advice to any women, young or old, looking to pursue a career path in the tech and web design industry…

Don’t be put off choosing scientific subjects to study!

No matter what tech job you’re dreaming of, don’t let anyone stop you from studying exactly what you want to do. Gender should not limit your choice of career path. If you studied in a different subject previously and are wanting to enter into a new choice of career, it’s never too late. And when certain education routes get a bit pricey, there are many different ways to gain qualifications, including ones that don’t come with a price tag. As well as bursaries, scholarships and Arts Council Funding, many companies will actually offer to train people for free. On top of this there are boot camps and hundreds of online training programs and resources that can help you transition into a tech role if you don’t have the qualifications needed for a specific job. And if you’re looking to learn code, there are thousands of sites that can help you, Codecademy, HackerRank & edX are to name a few.

Stand your ground when it comes to your career path

Confidence is key. Have a good perception of your own skills, the abilities you have and what you can achieve. If you don’t feel confident in your own abilities, it can be hard for others to feel the same. In interviews, prove you are the right person for the role, use active language that shows off your talents instead of being passive, state direct plans you have and show just how much you can benefit their company. Be bold and never feel intimidated, no matter how terrifying the interviewer may appear! (Although we hope they’re as nice as us)

Have a plan and find mentorship

Always take time to refine your skills, practice really does make perfect. Finding mentorship within a working role can also be really beneficial, so be sure to place yourself in an environment where you can be surrounded by professionals in your chosen field who are as passionate about your goals as you are. Most importantly, never give up on what it is you want to achieve. It can be hard seeing friends or colleagues achieving their goals faster than you or at different rates, but the job you’ve been waiting for could be just around the corner. Hard work always pays off, and whether it takes you 1 year, 5 years or even 10 years to reach the job you’ve always wanted, it’s always worth the wait.

#HappyIWD2020

How to Create Great Video Marketing Content on a Budget

Posted on | by moocow

Video marketing is a key part of any successful ad campaign. When you’re scrolling through content online, the competition is tough, and what sets businesses and brands apart from one another is their ability to stand out visually. Our team at Moocow constantly strive to be at the top of the ladder when it comes to web design, branding and how to successfully market your business.

Video is the king of content, with visual marketing being one of the single best ways to generate a greater audience to your site or brand. More than 80% of all internet traffic is video, with both national and small independent businesses opting to target their audience through video content on their websites and social media.

For many however, the idea of creating striking video imagery or cleverly put-together filmmaking is either not their strong suit, or perhaps do not feel they have the budget to expand. This is where a great new video editing platform can help.

Veed offers amazing features and tools to allow you to design fresh and unique video content, marketable to your own brand and style. Signing up allows you access to tutorials and support to help grow site conversions and followers, a creative space to store all your files, images and other online content, and offers simple and easy to use interfaces and editing tools to get your videos just how you want them. Packages vary in price, but include low cost and free options also!

If Veed’s not for you, there are several other online editing platforms available, so why not browse and take your pick? The take home here is that, whatever option you choose, be sure to make video content a centre part of your marketing strategy, and there are options out there to suit any business size or budget.

 

Using WordPress as a Platform to Generate Leads and Sales

Posted on | by moocow

At Moocow, we pride ourselves on having the most up to date knowledge on the latest web news, tips and trends. With technology and techniques developing daily in the new decade ahead, Moocow are continuously working hard to help find new ways to develop your business.

We believe WordPress ranks above all the rest as a hosting platform. The open-source CMS platform works as an ideal model for creating a wide variety of sites for both small and large businesses, and is ideal for generating new leads and boosting sales. Below are a few ways WordPress can help you network better, get your site up to scratch and allow you to create new business opportunities.

Contact

Make sure your contact information is up to date, you can display your details and a map to your location using the contact form and map widgets. This makes it much easier for potential clients to be able to get in touch with you and see if your location is within reach if travelling.

SEO

WordPress offers a good deal of SEO support, in the form of tools, plug-ins and guides. These can help you optimise your site personally for search engines. Yoast SEO is a particular favourite amongst users, providing excellent content and SEO analysis and helping you track your performance.

Social Icons

Making sure your website uses icons that easily connect to your social media is also a must. Social media is one of the most highly used search tools when discovering a business or service. Social media widgets help create options to directly link you to your Facebook, Twitter and other social network sites.

CTA Buttons (Call To Action)

A ‘call to action’ button is always helpful in giving your clients an extra push to view certain areas of your site, particularly if you want to draw attention to a particular page or sale within your business. These buttons are also useful for adding “Buy Now” or “Search Now” buttons allowing customers to browse and purchase from your site with ease.

Testimonials

Having a testimonials feature on your site is a great way for potential clients to see reviews of your business. WordPress has excellent widget features that can create visually creative ways to present customer reviews instead of having an endless page of lengthy, written testimonials.

WooCommerce

WooCommerce is an eCommerce platform specifically designed for WordPress used by entrepreneurs worldwide. The entirely customisable platform is an extremely popular tool for businesses both large and small, making selling online a breeze and allowing you to create online checkout systems for all experience levels.

All I want for Christmas is the 2019 End of Year Designer’s Toolkit

Posted on | by moocow

What better Christmas present can we offer you at Moocow than tips and tools to get your company up to scratch with the latest design software and technology know-how.

We’ve made it through 2019 and are soon to see in the New Year, but not before UX Tool’s end of the year Designer Toolkit Survey, comprising a breakdown of the greatest design tools and programs over the past year that designers have used worldwide. From the best in brainstorming, userflow, sitemapping and UI design, we’ll be sharing the top 7 platforms for seeing through your project from start to finish.

Sketch has been coming up top in everything, and is the highest ranked tool on this year’s survey for brainstorming, userflow and sitemapping, wireframing and UI design. It really is an all-rounder, and is a really clever tool to implement across all areas of a project.

Figma was another top choice, with its powerful design features it was another most used product for brainstorming, wireframing and implementing top quality UI design.

Whimsical was program of choice for userflow and sitemap tools, offering a range of practical and helpful collaborative flowcharts, mind maps, wireframes and sticky notes to assist in the demonstration and presentation of your project or business.

Adobe XD was another favourite for UI design. A powerful tool that can support in the production and planning of user friendly designs for websites, mobile apps, voice interfaces and more.

InVision Studio has been another strong contender for this year’s top spots. Self-proclaimed as “The World’s Most Powerful Screen Design Tool”, the clever collaborative design platform has in-depth prototyping and vector-based drawing capacities.

Draw.io has been listed as another of the highest ranked platforms for userflow and sitemapping. Although it may seem a bit on the basic side, it’s actually a very nifty and free online diagram software for creating flowcharts, process diagrams and network diagrams amongst many more.

Last but not least is Zeplin, for all your hand-off design needs. Zeplin acts as the perfect addition to help hand-off your designs and style guides with accurate specs, code snippets and assets.

We hope this acts as a perfect stocking filler for all the design geeks out there this festive season. Season’s Greetings and a very Happy Christmas from all of the team at Moocow Media!

 

Web Design Trends for 2020

Posted on | by moocow

As we approach the last stretch of 2019, businesses and designers alike are preparing for the creative trends set to take over 2020. With AI and interactive design becoming an evermore sought after technology, it’s not surprising that plenty of new web design features plan on largely incorporating websites with voice user interfaces, chat bots and other similar functionalities. But what else is trending?

It’s predicted that asymmetrical designs, broken grid layouts and microanimation will all be trending components for leading web design for 2020. A continuing popular feature is bold colours and minimalist layouts, which are proving to be a persistent theme from previous years. Take a look below to see some of the most in-demand styles and layouts to help you have that light-bulb moment and get your website prepped to be ahead of the game for the new year.

 

Microanimations and Illustration

These subtle, yet hypnotic creative twists to your web page design, can make all the difference in capturing a new audience, as well as showcasing your talent digitally which enables a sense of professionalism, no matter what industry you’re working in. Audiences like illustrations and animations that are unique, bold, colourful or fun, and add that little bit extra to help show personalisation of your company or products.

 

Source: Heco

Source: Ariel Wollek/Wix

Source: Smashmallow/Gifox

Source: Webflow

Source: Proud & Punch

 

Minimalist Layouts

Minimalist layouts allow for a stylish, sleek finish. Aim for homepages that aren’t text heavy, focusing more on visually appealing to your customers, whilst still bearing in mind the importance of a fast loading web page. This style of layout is great for not overloading the viewer with too much information, and works great for artistic or creative businesses looking to keep their site chic, but simple.

 

Source: Elegant Seagulls Design

Source: Yumi Lambert

Source: Club of Waves

 

Bold Colours and Typography

Bright colours and bold typography, with geometric, sans-serif or freestyle fonts are particular favourites for graphic design in 2020. Colour is psychologically proven to have a relationship with mood and has been used as a clever marketing tactic in advertising for years. Making your home page proudly loud is a great way to draw in viewers and mesmerise customers with websites dazzling and dripping with colour.

 

Source: SKTR./Awwwrds

Source: Black Futurism Festival 2019/WebDesignerDepot

Source: Adobe

Source: Gautier Maillard

Source: Nuture Digital

Why Bespoke Illustrations are Trending in Web Design

Posted on | by moocow

At MooCow, we pride ourselves on having the most up to date knowledge on the hottest web trends. With technology and techniques developing daily, take a look at what 2017 has in store for the world of web design.

Whilst many businesses are still opting for a traditional approach of plumping up their sites with bold typefaces and pristine layouts, others are jumping on a slightly different bandwagon. Hand drawn illustrations are a hot pick for up and coming web sites, with many of the creative industries choosing to adorn their sites with hand drawn graphics and typography.

Not only is it a fun way to personalise your site, it allows your web page to be custom crafted and show off your talents if you’re a master doodler yourself. Brands often set themselves apart by having unique and off-beat logos, designs & layouts, so you never know – having your web page plastered in drawings and free-style artwork could actually make you the next web page super star.

A few of our favourite sites that showcase some serious talent when it comes to illustration include Legwork Studios, Future Living and Proud & Punch. Take a look at their sites or have a look at the Awwwards site for award-winning design inspirations.

 

5 Cost-Effective Alternatives to Photoshop for Professional Image Editing

Posted on | by moocow

When it comes to good design, we all love websites that are packed full of awe-inspiring imagery, and photos that really make you feel like you’re there in that exact moment. We can’t all have the skills of a professional photographer, but what we can help with is showing you how to edit your photos to a professional standard, without having a major price tag attached.

Don’t get us wrong, Photoshop is great. But not everyone wants to pay high prices when there could be a cost effective alternative. So after doing a bit of research, we’ve tracked down 6 Photoshop competitors, all with excellent editing tools and all at a much lower cost. And best off all, the majority of them are free.

Pixelmator (£28.99)

An impressive image editing app for Mac, Pixelmator offers fast powered tools to help alter and enhance images to make professional, high quality photos. The app has excellent retouching and special effects options, and tools to draw or paint. You can save to any format or upload on social media sites, and comes at the lower cost of £28.99.

GIMP (Free)

A free and open-source image and graphics editor, great for image retouching, free-form drawing, photo manipulation and adding graphic design elements. It’s available to download on a wide variety of operating systems, including GNU, Linux, OSX and Windows. A good option if you’re not in a position to invest any money on your editing tools.

Acorn (£28.99)

A nifty download for photo touch ups and edits with great options for creating photo collages, adding text and shapes, or creating new images. There’s plenty of instruments for editing, special effects and cloning. You can also remove image backgrounds and create logos with easy to use tools. Although not free, its price matches with Pixelmator and is still a fairly cost effect alternative.

Pixlr (Free)

An online photo editor that’s free to use and doesn’t involve a download. You can use this site anytime you pop online for quick image editing and touch ups. It’s equipped with all your general editing tools, and has options for creating fonts, logos, borders and backgrounds. A brilliant and cost effective alternative that will get the job done quickly too. You can download any images you create in various formats or upload online too.

Paint.NET (Free)

A free Windows download tool for image editing, Paint.NET is extremely easy to use and great for those with no image editing experience whatsoever. Although a fairly basic download, there’s still plenty of options for special effects, blending and layer adjustments. It also mirrors several of Photoshop’s classic tools such as curves and contrast control. A great download for minor tweaks and retouches.