When used right, vivid photography and images have the ability to add value and depth to your brand and can help support your message. Below are some creative ideas for using imagery in your website’s design:

Slideshow

Considered one of the most popular outlets for showcasing images, a slideshow on your website’s homepage and/or interior pages can be a great way to showcase content in a convenient and organized manner. Slideshows, especially with image sliding capability, are recognized by almost anyone who uses the Internet and are therefore highly usable.

Scrolling Images

When used in the right context, scrolling images can be ideal for presenting many images in a quick manner. Scrolling images on a site can be used for logos, products, company awards, etc. Due to the fact they are often dynamically driven to scroll automatically on a page, they tend to be a successful way to attract attention.

Flash-Based Design

Flash technology provides one of the most creative outlets for showcasing imagery. Using Flash components on a site can be an effective means to entertain, build loyalty, and provide a more engaging online experience.

Headers

Often underutilized, website headers can be prime real estate for images. Given a header’s position at the very top of a website’s page, consider using headers to feature banners, advertisements, or other such imagery.

Collage/Scrapbook Style

A unique and creative approach to showcasing imagery involves displaying it in a scrapbook or collage style. This style can be used for various purposes and is often developed to be an interactive and fun tool for site visitors.

Background

Large images, whether photography, illustrations, or even video, can be used as a part of a website’s background. This type of use can often make a bold statement and can immediately evoke a particular impression about a brand or organization.

Chicago Park District | Spotlight on: Government Website

The Chicago Park District recently teamed up with Americaneagle.com for the redesign and development of their website. The project included a full redesign of the site, implementation of event and program registration software, the development of a mobile website, a bidding and procurement tool, and much more.

MARS Candy Company | Spotlight on: E-commerce Website

MARS chose to develop their e-commerce website for the Seramis brand on the idev® E-commerce Platform. This platform allows MARS to quickly and easily add, edit, and delete products, product information, and much more. Additionally, the new site was designed to serve as an informational resource by providing visitors with a plethora of information on plant care.

Connecticut Junior Soccer Association | Spotlight on: idev^® Youth Sports Platform

The Connecticut Junior Soccer Association recently launched the new www.cjsa.org.  The newly redesigned site is built on Americaneagle.com’s idev® Youth Platform, giving CJSA access to Americaneagle.com’s idev® Content Management System.  The Content Management System allows CJSA to update site content, post news announcements, upload photos, manage events, and more.

Motion Hand and Physical Therapy  | Spotlight on: Healthcare

Motion Hand and Physical Therapy teamed up with Americaneagle.com for the redesign and development of their website. The new site features a graphically pleasing yet user-friendly interface as well as the idev® CMS.  The CMS allows for quick and easy updates so that patients always have the most up-to-date information.

Plews & Edelmann|Spotlight on: Product Catalog

Plews & Edelmann, a leading designer, manufacturer, and distributor of a broad range of automotive parts and tools, recently redesigned their Web presence. The new site was designed to showcase Plews & Edelmann’s 7 brands and corresponding products, ultimately encouraging visitors to find a retailer and make a purchase. To accomplish their goals, Americaneagle.com implemented a user-friendly product catalog that enables visitors to sort by brand and category.

FanFare Eatery|  Spotlight on: Dining

FanFare Eatery, a new sports-themed restaurant, chose Americaneagle.com for the design and development of their first website. The launch of the website coincided with the opening of restaurant and was designed to reflect the quality of food and service provided by FanFare Eatery while maintaining a sports theme.

Kent & O’Connor| Spotlight on: Law Website

Kent & O’Connor recently launched the new www.kentoconnor.com. To encourage user interaction, Amreicaneagle.com created a customized navigation tool that displays unique graphics for each navigation path. These graphics are displayed when a user hovers over a navigation element. The new site now serves as a marketing tool, encouraging visitors to select Kent & O’Connor.

International Positive Psychology Association|Spotlight on: Association

The International Positive Psychology Association (IPPA) teamed up with Americaneagle.com to develop a website that appeals to both members and non members. IPPA members can now login to view password-protected pages, including a customized article resources tool. For non-members the site serves as a user-friendly informational resource.

UIC – Department of Pathology | Spotlight on: Mobile

The University of Illinois at Chicago’s Department of Pathology teamed up with Americaneagle.com to develop a new mobile website to compliment their current online presence. The new mobile site was designed to display much of the same content as the desktop site but in a mobile friendly format. Users can now access the department directory, directions and program information from the convenience of their mobile device.

Open The Books Mobile App | Spotlight on: Mobile App

The Open the Books App is an app version of an existing website that Americaneagle.com launched, openthebooks.com. The app uses a mobile phone’s GPS location to return the salary history of Illinois government employees in a specific area. Users can also search by zip code or last name. The app is currently available for free in the App Store.

1. Content of Email: Just like a mobile website, keep in mind the size of images and graphics. The bigger your email file is the longer it will take the recipient to open the email. If it does not open within a few seconds, the person will most likely move on to their next email. An alternative option you can add to help readers view your email is to offer a link to view it as plain text or as a Web page.

2. Give a Digital Option with Promotions: If you are offering a coupon or special deal that requires the person to print a coupon or the email itself, give them the option to just bookmark a page in their mobile browser. Alternatively, you can have a QR code come up for the discount so that customers do not have to print anything out. This allows for one less step in getting the deal.

3. Subject Line: As with traditional email marketing, we recommend having a subject line shorter than five words. If you look at your own email on your phone how many words show up? Not that many. If you can’t get your message across in the first give words of your subject there is a big chance the person may skip over that email or delete.

WeatherTech | Spotlight on: Graphic Design

WeatherTech recently teamed up with Americaneagle.com to give the WeatherTech family of websites a graphical facelift. In addition to a refreshed graphical interface, Americaneagle.com also upgraded several website features, including: interactive Flash elements, product education center and more.

Hackensack Univ. Medical Center | Spotlight on: Healthcare

Hackensack University Medical Center (HUMC) recently teamed up with Americaneagle.com for a complete redesign of their online presence. The new website was designed to fully represent the medical center as a premier national healthcare leader. Americaneagle.com updated the look and feel of the website to coincide with the new brand image of HUMC, resulting in a professional yet aesthetically-pleasing website.

City of Galesburg, Illinois  |  Spotlight on: Municipality

The City of Galesburg, Illinois recently partnered with Americaneagle.com to develop a new website aimed at promoting the economic development in the city. The new site provides improved access to government programs, news, policies, documents and more. In addition, it provides an enhanced economic development presence to foster entrepreneurial and start-up companies within the area.

American Apparel & Footwear Assoc.|Spotlight on: Association

The American Apparel and Footwear Association (AAFA) chose Americaneagle.com for the recent redevelopment of their association’s Web presence. Americaneagle.com worked to match the website’s design with AAFA’s new brand identity. In addition to the new design, Americaneagle.com upgraded AAFA’s CMS to allow for improved front-end functionality.

Bella Cosa Jewelers|  Spotlight on: idev^® E-commerce Platform

Bella Cosa Jewelers recently redeveloped their online presence on Americaneagle.com’s idev^® E-commerce Platform. In addition to the many dynamic e-commerce store features, Americaneagle.com also developed a custom diamond search feature on the site. This feature enables customers to quickly and easily sort through diamond inventory by various facets.

Suffolk County Water Authority| Spotlight on: Government

Suffolk County Water Authority, the largest groundwater supplier in the country, recently underwent a complete overhaul of their website. Americaneagle.com helped improve the water authority’s administrative capabilities by enabling their website administrators to easily post content to password-protected employee-only pages. The new site also features a customized vendor database.

Spectrum Technologies| Spotlight on: International

Spectrum Technologies, a manufacturer that produces agricultural measuring equipment, recently partnered with Americaneagle.com to develop a new website with their international business in mind. The new site features unique functionality that allows the site’s content and functionality to change depending of the visitor’s country of origin.

Craig’s Shoes | Spotlight on: E-commerce Website

Craig’s Shoes partnered with Americaneagle.com for the redevelopment of their e-commerce website. Americaneagle.com built the new site on the idev® E-commerce Platform. This flexible platform allows Craig’s shoes to expand with new products, departments, etc. Additionally, the new site features an eye-catching and user-friendly graphic design that will help attract customers and generate sales.

Chiasso | Spotlight on: Mobile Website

Chiasso, a retailer of modern home furnishings and accents, recently launched a mobile version of their e-commerce website. The new mobile site was developed to accommodate the growing number of consumers that relay on wireless devices to surf the Web. The customized user interface effectively displays Chiasso’s product offerings and was built to achieve optimal usability. Customers can now quickly and easily place orders from the convenience of their mobile device.

WSS | Spotlight on: idev^® E-commerce Platform

WSS, a leading shoe retailer in Southern California, recently launched a new e-commerce website on Americaneagle.com’s idev^® E-commerce Platform. Americaneagle.com worked with the shoe retailer to develop a robust online e-commerce system that would increase sales and engage new and existing WSS customers. The new site reflects WSS’s brand and makes it easy and engaging for visitors to find items and make purchases.

Community High School District 99 | Spotlight on: School

Community High School District 99 recently partnered with Americaneagle.com for a complete redesign of their website. The new website incorporates a flexible homepage design, photo gallery, calendar system, department/staff directory, online forms, and much more. As part of the project, Americaneagle.com built 3 separate websites: 1 for the district, and 2 sites for individual district high schools.

ACHE  |  Spotlight on: Healthcare

The American Council for Headache Education (ACHE) chose to redesign their online presence on Americaneagle.com’s multi-site platform in order to make changes to both www.americanheadachesociety.com and www.achenet.org. This new multi-site platform allows site administrators to login to one central CMS and make changes to both sites.

Chicago Auto Show 2012 |Spotlight on: Association

The Chicago Automotive Trade Association (CATA) recently launched a new website for the 2012 Chicago Auto Show. CATA has been turning to Americaneagle.com every year for redesigns and enhancements. Indeed, the site for the 2012 Auto Show was revamped with a bold new design and several upgrades to functionality, including: a new homepage image slideshow, Flash accents, an interactive floor plan, and more.

Lynchpin BioMedia |  Spotlight on: Informational Website

Lynchpin BioMedia came to Americaneagle.com with no existing online presence and the goal of developing a site that would communicate their creativity, expertise and competence to potential clients. Americaneagle.com designed a customized design that appeals to all audiences while reflecting the Lynchpin BioMedia brand and showcasing their unique services.

Pharmacy Automation Supplies| Spotlight on: idev^® E-commerce Platform

Pharmacy Automation Supplies (PAS) recently launched their new e-commerce website on Americaneagle.com’s idev^® E-commerce Platform.  This platform enables continuous revenue generation through well-crafted navigation, search functionality, purchasing paths, and merchandising tactics.

Cosmedent | Spotlight on: B2B Website

Cosmedent teamed up with Americaneagle.com for the redesign and development of their online store. Americaneagle.com built the new Cosmedent store on the robust idev^® E-commerce Platform, giving Cosmedent the unique ability to continually update the website with new products and information. The site also includes a resources library and other educational materials.

ACP Annual Conference  | Spotlight on: Mobile Website

The American College of Prosthodontists (ACP) recently launched a mobile website for their annual conference. The new site allows members attending this annual meeting to quickly and easily view schedules, speakers, exhibitor lists, and much more all from the convenience of their mobile phone.

Hackers are becoming increasingly savvy and malicious in their pursuit of cardholder information, particularly primary account numbers (PAN). Ensuring that this data is unavailable is critical to protecting brand image, especially as breach incidents quickly become front page news.

The smartest and simplest solution to make data unavailable to hackers is to remove it from the environment entirely. Many companies today still house payment data in databases within their own networks to facilitate payments, reconcile accounts, and perform customer service activities. However, the risky exposure to data theft is extremely high.

With solutions available today, those same retailers can entrust the storage of that highly sensitive data to a secure third party service provider that houses the data in their own PCI-certified compliant data vaults, significantly reducing security risk to the retailer.

If the solution is so simple, why aren’t more retailers moving to this platform? The answer; Most retailers falsely believe that giving up access to that data hinders them from performing market analysis or customer service activities..

Both these concerns can be alleviated as service providers are considered partners in keeping data safe. Service providers will not restrict a retailers’ access to data, and allow for retrieval if needed. (Note: Reintroducing payment data into a retailer’s environment will bring related systems back into PCI DSS scope).

A reputable payment security service provider will also offer services allowing a retailer to continue performing reconciliation and back office activities just as they did before. These services generally include generation of format-preserving tokens, which are strings of data that replace PAN data in the retailer’s systems (ERP, data warehouse) but retain four digits of the account number enabling customer identification. [For more information on payment security solutions, download the Enterprise Payment Security 2.0 white paper.]

These solutions not only help lessen risk of liability to a retailers brand in the event of a breach, but also decreases overall costs associated with managing an internal security program. Leveraging a payment security service provider negates the need for high management overhead, as it is primarily outsourced and shaves costs associated with PCI DSS compliance, as tokenization solutions reduce overall scope of the audit. [For more information on how tokenization can reduce PCI DSS scope, see the PCI Security Council’s “PCI DSS Tokenization Guidelines” information supplement.]

^*Identity Theft Resource Center, http://www.idtheftcenter.org/artman2/publish/lib_survey/ITRC_2008_Breach_List.shtml#

Garrett Popcorn | Spotlight on: E-commerce Website

Garrett Popcorn, a gourmet popcorn company, teamed up with Americaneagle.com for the redesign of their e-commerce website. The new site features a custom-built Flash Tin-Builder Application that allows site visitors to personally select tin size, design, popcorn flavor, and fill combinations.

Stuart Weitzman Canada | Spotlight on: International Website

In an effort to cater to a wider international audience, Stuart Weitzman chose Americaneagle.com for the development of StuartWeitzman.ca. The new Stuart Weitzman Canada features a unique product rotator tool and convenient one-page checkout. Additionally, the new site features navigation and complete site content translated into French with Canadian shipping options.

Gordon Sinclair | Spotlight on: Product Catalog

Gordon Sinclair, a leader in providing high-quality promotional items throughout the U.S., recently redesigned their Web presence. The new site was designed to showcase Gordon Sinclair’s line of promotional items and ultimately to encourage visitors to request a quote. To accomplish their goals, Americaneagle.com implemented a user-friendly product catalog that enables visitors to sort by department and sub-departments.

Canal Radiology | Spotlight on: Healthcare Website

Canal Radiology chose Americaneagle.com for the redevelopment of their online presence. In order to meet the needs of their patients, the site is available in both English and Chinese. Not only is the site’s content available in English and Chinese, but it also features Flash videos in both languages. The new site provides a user-friendly interface for all visitors.

Gianna Rose Atelier^® | Spotlight on:  E-commerce Website

Gianna Rose Atelier^®, a leader in the design and manufacture of fine, triple-milled soap and personal care gift soaps and accessories, teamed up with Americaneagle.com for the redesign of www.giannarose.com. Given that Gianna Rose is a brand of Casswell-Massey, the new site was designed to match their design and branding standards.

BuyProud.com Inc. | Spotlight on: idev^® E-commerce Platform

BuyProud.com Inc., an online retailer of products made in the U.S.A., recently launched the newly redesigned www.buyproud.com. Americaneagle.com worked with BuyProud to implement the idev^® E-commerce Platform. The site’s intuitive navigation allows for customers to easily find what they are looking for. Customers can now easily shop by gift occasion, recipient, vendor, or item.

Idaho Youth Soccer | Spotlight on: idev^® Youth Sports Platform

Idaho Youth Soccer chose to implement Americaneagle.com’s idev^® Youth Platform for their website. With this unique platform, Idaho Youth Soccer now has an identifiable website with an easy-to-use backend.  Using Americaneagle.com’s  idev^® Content Management System, Idaho Youth Soccer can easily update content, post new announcements, upload photos from tournaments, and manage their events calendar.

MDI Access | Spotlight on: Construction Website

MDI Access chose Americaneagle.com to design and develop a website to match the quality they deliver to clients across the country. The goal of this project was to develop a site that not only encourages increased usage by MDI’s existing client base, but also entices site visitors unfamiliar with MDI to reach out for more information. The new site also features an impressive portfolio section which displays MDI’s breadth of telecommunications infrastructure experience.

Proviso Township High School District | Spotlight on: School District Website

The Proviso Township High Schools District reached out to Americaneagle.com to develop a site that provides the end user with an up to date, highly relevant, and engaging website experience. To accomplish this, Americaneagle.com designed a graphically pleasing yet engaging website that highlights district news, events, and more.

Effective Organization

By effectively organizing your navigation, you can ensure that site visitors can easily find exactly what they are looking for. The best way to organize your navigation is to first determine how your audience will likely browse your website. Organization can be by audience type, product department, category, etc. Simplicity is often the driving force behind successful navigation. Drop-down menus are a great way to help filter down on a broad navigation item and establish a hierarchy, but keep in mind that too many sub-menus can also negatively affect usability.

Follow Web Standards

While there are many options to be create with Web design and navigation, it is also critical to follow standard Web convention when it comes to navigation location and naming. This will ensure that your website’s navigation is understandable and usable by the average user. Most websites utilize a top menu system, with additional navigation options often presented in the left or right rail of the page. Naming should also follow standard protocol. Recognizable words include, “Home”, “About” and “Contact”.

Consistency

Navigation menus should always be consistent throughout the site. Always use the same design, fonts, style and titles for navigation options on each page of a website. This consistency helps establish familiarity on each page and helps users from getting lost on the site.

For more information on how to plan and implement your design strategy online, download our quarterly magazine eaglevision.

Lose Your Broker| Spotlight on:Financial Website

Lose Your Broker (LYB) is a communications company dedicated to providing information on how to achieve above-average investment returns. LYB recently worked with Americaneagle.com to build a website that would allow them to sell their book online while also supplementing it with the formulas and tools it describes. The site also includes a fully-functional portfolio builder with intra-day updated stock quotes, integrated charting system, and much more.

Logan’s Sausage| Spotlight on: Dining Website

Logan’s Sausage chose Americaneagle.com to redevelop their website in an effort to better represent the quality of their sausages and to improve the way general information is presented to their site visitors. The new website features a navigation hierarchy that allows visitors to quickly find information, recipes, and product information for each of their sausage types.

Lycée Français de Chicago | Spotlight on: International School

Lycée Français de Chicago, a French international school located in Chicago, recently chose to utilize Americaneagle.com’s Multi-Site Platform to create a user-friendly website that is more technologically serving to the school and its many audiences. Specifically, the Multi-Site Platform helps accommodate their international audiences by presenting site content in both French and English.

Schaumburg Township Republican Organization|Spotlight on: Association

The Schaumburg Township Republican Organization (STRO) teamed up with Americaneagle.com for the redesign and development of their Web presence. The new site features improved graphics that are reflective of the STRO and their members, user-friendly navigation, and much more. STRO can now provide site visitors with the most up-to-date information on Republican party news, events, elected officials, and more.

Alexian Brothers Health Systems|Spotlight on: Portal

Alexian Brothers Health Systems, a large network of hospitals and medical offices in Northern Illinois, recently launched a custom-built Brand Asset Management Portal. Members can now login to the portal to browse and search document categories, download documents, and more. The portal also has a customized documents repository that enables Alexian Brothers to upload up to 20 documents at a time, set document details such as description, keywords, and more.

Wyoming Youth Soccer | Spotlight on: idev^® Youth Sports

Wyoming Youth Soccer recently launched their new website.  The newly redesigned site is built on Americaneagle.com’s idev^® Youth Platform, giving Wyoming Youth Soccer access to Americaneagle.com’s idev^® Content Management System.  The Content Management System allows Wyoming Youth Soccer to update site content, post news announcements, upload photos, manage events, and more.

Market Day |  Spotlight on: Mobile Commerce

Market Day, the nation’s largest food fundraising company, recently chose Americaneagle.com for the development of their new mobile commerce website. The new site is easily accessible from all mobile devices, including iPhone, Android, Blackberry, etc., and allows customers to quickly access key Market Day information, account tools, order products, and much more.  Furthermore, customers can now easily re-order their favorite Market Day items directly from the mobile site.

Park Ridge Public| Library Spotlight on: Mobile

The Park Ridge Public Library recently launched a mobile version of their website. Not only is the new site easily accessible from all mobile devices, but  The new site also allows patrons to quickly search the library catalog, view account details, library events, programs, and much more.

Americaneagle.com | Spotlight on: Mobile Website

Americaneagle.com is proud to announce the launch of our new mobile website! The new site provides our customers and visitors with a mobile-friendly format to view our solutions and services, read company news, learn about events we will be attending or hosting, view information on our idev® platform, and more.  The site also includes links to our social networking pages, company blog, and contact forms.

In a stagnant economic environment, the median growth rate of 2011 Inc. 500|5000 companies remains an impressive 94 percent. The companies on this year’s list report having created 350,000 jobs in the past three years, and aggregate revenue among the honorees reached $366 billion, up 14 percent from last year.

To read more about Americaneagle.com and Inc. magazine Click Here.