Windows to the Soul

Imagine you rent a beautiful store for your business. You spent thousands to furnish, restore or renovate. The result is a presentable beautiful space and a minuscule amount of money in your pocket for marketing and a website. You end up with a cheap website just to put your business out there on the web.

If your eyes are windows to your soul, websites are the same for your business. Only this time, you have the control in your hands, use this opportunity to tell the story. Your website should present the true essence of your business and brand. It can’t be truer if your store or restaurant actually is a one of a kind beautiful space. Have your designer bring your imagination to life in the form of your brand, your website and translate the story to your physical space in the future. If you are struggling with your actual building, your website should convey the dream you have, make people inspired by the future. (This, however, doesn’t mean to put up pictures of other spaces and deceive your client! a topic for another day)

In today’s technologically advanced world, people always check out the place online first before they decide to visit. If your website is a turn-off, your customer might not end up at your door.

Cleveland Museum of Art:

Let’s take the example of our very own Cleveland Museum of Art. Check out a few images of the building:

 

Check out some more images here if you are not familiar with the building: Image 1 & Image 2

A Picture is worth a thousand words. The Museum is a fascinating building with its spacious, bright and open courtyard that unites the old building to the new seamlessly, celebrating the individual essence of both with purpose and vigor.

All of that, though, does not translate when you step out of the view and on the screen. This is what the Museum portray on their own website:

It is nothing like the inspiring beautiful space it is in person.

THE MET (Metropolitan Museum of Art in NYC)

Let’s look at this successful example: The MET Museum in NYC, have a similar Ambiance as the Cleveland Museum of Art, only it is multiple times bigger and extravagant. Look at their website in the screenshot, but do visit here.

The slow-motion loop video is striking. It is very effective in engaging the visitor and painting a mesmerizing picture of this space. One reason for it being that powerful is the unchanging message and CTA that remains constant throughout the loop. I think the only thing distracting on the website is the red navigation bar.

 

Conclusion:

As Web Designers, we need to design websites as an extension of the space. If designing for an actual building or space, visit the space or get your client to send you images and walk-in videos of the space to get a feel of it. Look at their plans for the near future. Have them spend on professional photography that captures the true spirit of their business. We have all seen graphic Designers do a great job of creating a brand for the business. I have seen websites follow the brand seamlessly all the time but often due to lack of resources, expertise or vision, the website portrays a completely different and usually not a pretty picture. Let’s educate ourselves and change that!