What Does RAD Stand For?

You might be wondering why we chose RAD websites as our name. While we do think of ourselves as pretty awesome, that isn’t the reason why. We believe that to succeed in the online world today, you need to think radically different than your competition. Like in a Steve Job-ish kind of way.

According to Urban Dictionary (and of course we believe everything the Urban Dictionary has to say), RAD means totally cool. It is an abbreviation of ‘radical’–a term made popular by the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles television show. RAD is primarily used on the West Coast by people who find words like ‘cool’ and ‘awesome’ to be tired and overused. RAD is generally considered to be much higher praise.

While RAD has a couple of different meanings, to us, it stands for Really Awesome Design. We are passionate about how the website looks and we don’t just take any project that comes away. We believe in this overhyped, oversaturated world, success comes by being unique. A website should showcase your personality, your abilities, and who you are as a company.

Why is being RAD important?

You might believe calling yourself RAD is silly (and childish), but we boldly disagree. Having a RAD website is more than just the look and feel of a website. It is also how the website operates and how you navigate through it. Without a good user experience, your customers will quickly bounce off and go to another website – most likely your competition.

When we take on a project, what do we do ensures that your design sense comes through. For starters, we know all the latest design trends and we couple that with the latest WordPress technology which is like a Mike Tyson one-two punch.

For every client, we assign a project manager who will outline with you the exact process and ensures deadlines and expectations are met. Your project manager will communicate with our various team members, ensuring that your vision is reached. The project manager has a critical job of being the go-between between you, the client, and the men and women who specialize in their area of expertise.

While design is what we are passionate about, equally as important is the backend stuff. This is the programming of the actual website and what happens after all the design elements have been created.

Your website is sometimes the only thing your customers see before they decide on a purchasing decision. You want that sucker to be so eye-poppingly RAD Website that it attracts customers up the wazoo.

And you’re in luck. Because when you hire us, that’s what you get. Now we’re going to dive into a couple of elements that you need in order to get a RAD website.

Visual Website Design (AKA “RAD-icalness Stuff”)

Many people come to us, wondering how we can start. How do you make your site look great? The answer is both simple and hard at the same time: start with your brand. Ask yourself, “What do I want to accomplish with this page?” If a page doesn’t have a clear purpose, consider getting rid of it.

Your brand is your image. Everything from the colours you use to the fonts you choose affects people’s perception of who you are. What do you want people to think when they see your site? Edgy, modern, satirical, professional?

You can convey those things through your design. Just take a look at the psychology of colour – different colours convey different emotions. Red and orange are bold colours. Green is eco-friendly. Blue emphasizes trustworthiness. Beyond colour, you also have font choice. And yes, there is a psychology behind font choice as well. In fact, almost everything you choose as a secret psychological effect.

Regardless of the font, you choose for your logo and branding efforts, you should always choose readability over emotional feel for your main body font. Typically, that means sans serif fonts, as they read the best on the web.

Lastly, we’ll talk about photographs and images. They, of course, are a major part of website design and yet so many people do it wrong. Great photographs and images add that extra wow factor to your website. They help explain a key point and give the eyes a break. And they definitely help sell your products and services. For example, if you’re an eCommerce site, you want your product photos to be high-quality and show tons of different angles.

Technical side of a Website (AKA “Geeky Stuff”)

The Geeky Stuff can be a whole blog post by itself but we’re just going to talk about one important aspect: mobile friendly designs. Why? Because over the last couple of years this is the one aspect of the Geeky Stuff that has changed drastically.

Mobile First Design

Every year people spend more and more time on their mobile devices, but many (if not most) websites still aren’t fully optimized to account for different screen sizes and load times. In fact, smartphones now account for over 51% of all online traffic, and tablets came in at just over 12%. And that number is growing.
Mobile optimization takes a look at site design, site structure, page speed, and more to make sure you’re not inadvertently turning mobile visitors away.

Here are some other things to look out for when designing a website that are supercritical.

• Site Speed
• SSL encryption
• Google Analytics
• Google Business

So What’s A Non-Designer To Do?

Call us at RAD websites of course. We’ll do a free consultation, giving you suggestions on how to build a new website or overhaul your existing one. We are here to lend a helping hand, not pressure you into buying something you don’t need. So give us a call and let’s talk.