THE NEW REALITY OF COVID RELATED PRODUCTS
The COVID-19 pandemic has affected the world on a global scale, in the sense that we’ve had to change the way we live our lives, how we connect with people, how we complete daily tasks, how we learn, and how we work.
The pandemic has also affected the business world. Several different new ways to do business on a virtual plane have emerged, where web design studios like ours needed to do their part to adapt and create new products and services to answer new demands and new needs.
Like the rest of the industry, we’ve adapted very fast to this new reality and helped our Edmonton customers keep their own customers informed and support their brand. We’ve created a few physical signs and banners, but most of our efforts have been digital.
Despite the urgency of the situation, we, as professional web designers, also needed to stand behind our own brand. The messages and the means must continue to look professional and the visual quality remains paramount to communicate clearly and simply what needs to be done in these stressful times.
Here are some examples that we, at Creative Coco’Nuts, developed for the last several months: social distancing floor decals, custom forms for websites, popup messages with COVID related information and new procedures, ecommerce platform to increase online sales and reduce contact, newsletters to inform clients of changes, social media posts, etc.
These types of items might be here to stay, so here are three quick points that you need to take into account for all your COVID related products.
SAFETY FIRST
No matter the size of your business, you have to communicate key information about safety, security and prevention measures to your target audience.
Despite the pandemic, and maybe because of the pandemic, all remains a matter of communication. People are stressed and need to be informed. Time spent on a mobile device has dramatically increased these past several months, and people crave information right here and now.
During the first months of the pandemic, COVID related signage turned out to be indispensable for some essential services that could not be exclusively virtual or digital, such as pharmacies, hospitals, government offices, grocery stores, etc.
However, more often than not, physical signage needs to be complemented by an expertly designed communication online. If, let’s say, your physical store was not deemed an essential service, the only way to communicate with your client base was through you web site or social media accounts.
STAY CONNECTED
Thus the importance of a well designed site that could inform your customers that you would be coming back soon or an Instagram post that would say “We’re thinking about you. Stay safe.”
During the pandemic, all types of products and concepts have been developed to stay connected and actually made necessary by physical distancing measures. Many businesses have turned to expert web designers to keep in touch with their customers to convey calm or just to “check in”.
Digital communication aims to keep the customers or audiences engaged if a physical business or office is closed, which is still a possibility, as we don’t know how the pandemic will evolved. For retailers, it means that customers must still be able to purchase before they can operate to full capacity.
Another new need in terms of signage, apart from communication and connection, is that you must have a well designed plan when your physical space reopens, if you have one, no matter your area of expertise. If new procedures are in place, you will need signs to explain them.
SHOW YOU CARE
Please don’t take a sharpie and write “Stay 6 feet apart” on a crumpled piece of paper (yes, some people do that)!
Communicate effectively and professionally by hiring experts who will develop a custom web design that will convey the following ideas: yes, we are following the health authorities’ guidelines and we really want to protect the safety of the public at large. We are doing our part, and we will continue to have that special link with you.
As mentioned before, life has changed as we know it, in Alberta and everywhere else in the world. Your brand awareness will need to be supported by the best creative web designs, as well as the new experience that your customers or your target audience will have to go through.
This new experience needs to be as flawless as possible of course. We are more and more accustomed to fill out COVID questionnaires, but we don’t want to waste our time if a form is poorly designed…
Once the pandemic is over, the world as we knew it will have changed, new habits will have formed in the community at large and the rest of the market. We will continue to adapt and create new and necessary products, to preserve the flow of information and prevention.
Check our web design portfolio for all your COVID related products, and most importantly, stay safe!
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