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Jan
16th

Go Small

By Matt Brown — 5

mikey-site

Earlier this week, I threw together a quick ‘microsite’ for a friend of mine who’s breaking into acting. It’s an incredibly simple website — just a single screen with a headshot, his contact info, and a resume PDF. The design is stark, but also very clear and direct — it’s function is solely to supplement his printed headshot, and it does so without any distractions. I love designing small sites.

I’ve been thinking, for quite sometime now, that the microsite model is a perfect fit for many small businesses. It should go without saying that, in 2009, it’s downright unacceptable to either 1) not have a working website at all, or 2) have one that dilutes or diminishes your message and brand. A microsite is a great way to ensure that you have a functional web presence while maintaining the strength and consistency of your brand. And yet, I’ve yet to see many freelance or web agencies explicitly offering microsites as a design service. Why not?

Undersize me

There are many advantages to creating a small website. Most obviously, a microsite project can often fit into a small budget. They’re often a fraction of the cost of a traditional, brochure-ware style site. But the benefits of a microsite go far beyond thrift — they’re an excellent design challenge, one that forces both the designer and client to focus on the content and intent of the site.

A small site crowns the content king — not the navigation or technology. When you have only a page or two to design, all the “web junk” that normally needs to be considered can be taken off the table. You don’t have to think about deployment strategies, or CMSs, or navigation hierarchies. All you have to focus on is functional copy and a punchy design.

Anyhow, looks like I’m going to be testing the waters on this idea, soon…

Simple, little site.


5 Comments

  1. Grant
    Jan 16th

    Dang, you read my mind. I’ve been pitching smaller sites to clients for a while now. For some of them, it’s absolutely perfect (and, I’d argue, more effective).

  2. Matt Robin
    Jan 16th

    Dunno Matt, nicely done as it is, that’s less of a microsite and more of a ‘splashscreen’ if you ask me… :(

    I like the ‘simple, little site’ idea though.

  3. Geof Harries
    Jan 16th

    Fun idea. I actually foresee the copywriting being considerably more important than the visual design. Keep the text concise and memorable; those attributes will be key to success.

  4. Keith
    Jan 16th

    Love microsites.

  5. Matt
    Jan 16th

    @Geoff: I think you’re right on — copywriting is such a vital part of any successful site, especially a small one. The nice bit about a microsite is that there’s usually less copy to address, so more hours can be spent working over the content that matters.

    @Matt: Yes, this is definitely the smallest small site (just a screenful?) there is. I linked to it just to illustrate the concept, rather than serve as the typical example. I’d say that a small site is any website < 3 pages, with flat, one-level navigation.

    Thanks everyone!