Joining us today is Joana Galvao, cofounder of Gif Design Studios, an award-winning digital agency specializing in brand identities and design. Joana dives straight into explaining design best practices, leading to an episode that’s chock-full of actionable tips that listeners can immediately put to use to create a more effective, conversion-oriented website. We go beyond what makes a website bad or good, and talk about the nitty-gritty that can make an unparalleled website.
Find Out More About Joana Here:
Joana Galvao
Joana Galvao on Instagram
@JGalvaoDesign on Twitter
In This Episode: [01:13] - What makes a website really bad, in Joana’s opinion? She answers by also addressing why it’s important for a website to be good. [03:22] - Stephan talks about a popular trend that he’s really sick of because it doesn’t create a great user experience. He and Joana then talk about how long you have before a visitor loses interest, and what you need to convey in that short time. [06:27] - What sort of feeling does Joana suggest creating, and how does she start the process of getting to the right feeling? [09:09] - Joana talks about who is in charge of creating the mood board that she has been discussing. She then addresses how she goes through the process of creating a mood board. [12:31] - How does Joana come up with an iconography style for each of her branding projects? [14:06] - Stephan responds to Joana’s point that you don’t need a website to be successful. [15:29] - Joana addresses what the costs are for doing a website build from beginning to end, including everything she has already mentioned. [17:39] - Joana likes to find out a client’s needs and curate a team based around those needs. [19:44] - Is copywriting included in the costs Joana has been discussing, or is it an additional cost? [20:42] - Joana discusses the concept of having a brand, and explains what a brand is. [23:01] - Joana addresses the question of whether she does focus groups or surveys to identify clients’ pain points. [24:58] - We hear Joana’s thoughts on challenges, which she thinks are a great way to get clients invested in you. [27:03] - Joana discusses things that do (and don’t) help with conversion by sharing a story about a rumor that was going around a few years ago. [28:48] - Stephan brings up a related point: there’s a big difference between correlation and causation. [31:27] - What is Joana’s view on parallax? [33:08] - Joanna briefly covers some best practices for typography. [36:07] - Joanna goes into more depth about images for use in headers, addressing whether they need to have a deeper meaning or just look good. [37:24] - Is there a way to leverage metaphors in the design? Stephan offers an example to clarify what he means by this question. Joana then discusses a couple of stock photo options. [40:27] - Stephan and Joana talk about a few free stock photo sites. [41:44] - Joana recommends a Chrome extension called
WhatFont. She then explains what font foundries are. [46:04] - What one piece of advice would Joana like to offer listeners that she hasn’t already provided? [49:50] - How can listeners get in touch with Joana to work with her or learn more about the next steps? She answers, then offers listeners a generous free gift! Links and Resources:
Joana Galvao Joana Galvao on Instagram @JGalvaoDesign on Twitter Gif Design Studios The Guardian UK Smart Marketer Digital Arts Magazine Sally Hogshead on Marketing Speak Tier 11 Ephraim Olschewski on Marketing Speak 99designs Jeff Bezos Scott Oldford Stephan Spencer’s Five-Day SEO Maximizer Challenge Stocksy Death to Stock Pexels Unsplash WhatFont MyFonts Creative Market
