Online innovation in 2016
July 5, 2016In 2016, Andrew W Morse was again invited by WMA founder Bill Rice, to join a select group on the international judging panel of the WebAwards.
With a long history of visual communications and digital media, the founder of Digital Tsunami has considerable expertise to analyse and comment on submitted sites.
Judging criteria
Created in 1996 (the same year in which Digital Tsunami was founded), the WebAwards is dedicated to setting a standard of excellence for web development. The judging panel assesses the components of:
- Aptitude
- Copywriting
- Design
- Ease of use
- Innovation
- Interactivity
- Technology
For the judges, it is instructive to view a number of sites which excel in interactivity and innovation. These exceptional sites are viewed in context of the mainstream. The vast majority of submitted sites; while they may be well constructed, well organised, well written and visually attractive; do not deliver impact or engagement.
Innovation and interaction
There is a big emphasis on usability and innovation. Yet these are not new concepts. Last century, websites and software was referred to as being ‘user-friendly’.
Now, brands can spend tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars, on information architecture; requirements specification, technical specification and functional specification documentation; usability analysis with eye-tracking and focus groups; and User Experience (UX) analysts; to ensure that functionality is as simple and intuitive as possible, to minimise abandonment rates and ensure happy customers.
In a world of immediacy, rapid change and global exposure, true innovation is evident, but hard to distinguish amongst the plethora of media we see every day.
Digital Tsunami has been fortunate to work with clients who appreciate the value of proven innovation when appropriate to the target market.
Three examples
Amongst Digital Tsunami clients, three prime examples of current innovation and interactivity stand out.
For a national educational organisation, Polymer 1.o was utilised to provide a simple, impactful and effective interface for teaching school kids to ride bikes safely. The Let’s Ride site was built with the developers beta pack and released on the same day that Polymer 1.o was launched. It can’t get much more innovative than that!
For a Chinese property developer, of paramount importance, was a responsive site which integrated both vertical and horizontal scrolling and video on all devices. Digital Tsunami delivered a bilingual (simplified Chinese character and English language) site which fulfilled this imperative, and used photography and succinct text to promote one of the most luxurious and well-engineered residential complexes in China: Master Residences.
For a government water management authority, simple, clear and editable interactive maps were a focal point. The lrwg.com.au site features interactive Google maps overlaid with location markers for: catchment areas, rivers and creeks, weirs and dams, fishways; nationally and regionally significant wetlands; as well as past and current watering events. These maps enable the plotting of water courses and the setting of irregular catchment areas, to dynamically demonstrate the impact of the water releases upon both farming land and the environment.
As a judge for the WebAwards, Andrew W Morse applies an awareness of current technologies, accessibility and efficient functionality, to consider all websites.
Digital Tsunami can do the same in your sector, and ensure that your brand communicates effectively with your clients and customers.
From Our Clients
The launch .. was a success. We were able to present this live on a Wireless connection during our Sydney, Australia sales conference on a location with very limited internet bandwidth. This proves the technology used .. renders light webpages which are easy to download on a browser.
Comments I've heard from our employees were all positive and reflected precisely what we were looking for: a simple but concise, clean and effective webpage.
We acknowledge the timeframe given to you was extremely short but nevertheless you have sucessfully delivered the project on schedule .. the critical success factor was communication and availability of Digital Tsunami's team.
I am very glad we were able to partner with such a professional team as yours and I am confident any other initiatives with you will be as successful.
Digital Tsunami provided an outstanding service throughout the whole web development process. Andrew spent extensive time early on to understand our business in order to provide additional conceptual and strategic contributions to the brand and corporate identity of Kinetic Defence Services to ensure the message was clear, precise and appealing to the target audience.
The development process was smooth and efficient and enabled us to have an input throughout to guarantee total satisfaction with the final look and feel of the site.
It is clear from the enthusiasm and professionalism shown, that Digital Tsunami views each client as a long term partner contributing ideas above and beyond the development of the site and we look forward to involving them in future marketing initiatives.
We were very happy with the development process and the outcome. The objectives have all been achieved, in terms of usability and ease of use in updating the site. You definitely nailed both of these.
Thanks to you and the Taishan production crew. Andy and the rest of the team were outstanding. Their professionalism was evident the entire time and they seemed to build a nice relationship with the factory employees, which led to a real spirit of cooperation. My sincere thanks for a job extremely well done.