In our first newsletter we spoke a little about the possible future of fonts for the Internet and how new services and technologies were emerging that would make it simple to use “non-web-safe fonts” on our websites.

As a quick recap, the current issue with fonts on websites is that in order for a website to display text in a specific font, that font must be installed on the user’s computer. The list of fonts that are (almost) guaranteed to be on every computer is tiny (around 10). This gives us extremely limited options when choosing a font for the text of a site.

Thousands of other fonts are available to use but are restricted by licensing and cannot be distributed.

We have, however started testing and using third-party web font services such as Typekit. These services take care of all the licensing requirements and allow us access to vast libraries of fonts.

So, at the end of the day what’s the advantage of all this font business? Simply put, beautifully designed websites with typography to match that is clean, accessible, user friendly and search engine friendly.

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The Internet, and therefore your website, is now totally mobile due to the surging popularity of phones and handhelds like the iPhone, iPad, Blackberry and other smart devices. These ‘mobile internet devices’ are capable of browsing the internet in almost exactly the same way you are used to on your computer, albeit on a slightly smaller scale.

Although on devices such as the iPhone you are able to zoom in to a small part of a page to read the content or interact with it, this is not how the page was intended to be viewed. It was designed to be viewed and used on a larger laptop or desktop monitor.

Not only is size and scale becoming more of a factor in websites, but the ways in which the user can navigate and interact with a site are growing. Keypads, directional buttons, remote controls, video game controllers and touch screens are now all viable methods for browsing the internet and are only going to become more popular.

The solution, fortunately, is not to create a number of separate websites that cater for all the different sizes of display and types of input, but to build one responsive and adaptive website that can automatically scale in size, reorganise in layout and adapt in orientation to suit any type of screen or device.

Not only is this the most cost effective way but it is also the most simple and the most easily managed way of providing websites to the vast array of connected devices we find ourselves surrounded by.

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We have recently been working on logo design, website and magazine adverts for 123 App. The design consistency can be seen throughout each piece which is imperative to the overall brand identity. Over time this type of consistency builds a visual language allowing the viewer to recognise and make a connection to your company through colour, typeface and layout.

If you would like us to take a look at the overall design consistency of your business please give us a call. We’d be happy to discuss the presentation of your business and make suggestions to assist with the efficiency of your brand identity.

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We have recently got the decorators in to brighten up our building. The outside is now a cheerful shade of blue and it means you certainly won’t be able to miss us. Our inside environment has been changing too with some new additions to the team in the form of plants. They’re much quieter and make a lot less mess than the rest of the team.

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