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Kencinnus Design :: www.kencinnus.com :: is my personal site where I show potential clients who I am and what kind of work I do. The clients that I am looking for are typically owners of small to medium sized companies who have a product or service to sell on the Internet. They may already have a web site that they themselves have put together or maybe they hired someone else to do it for them. In either case they are no longer satisfied with it. They realize now that it takes a tremendous amount of skill, experience, time and patience to create a great web experience. Maybe they do not have a web site yet, but they are interested in one. These people may have visited one of my clients' web sites, noticing my link at the bottom of the page, and want to see more of my work. Perhaps a friend who gave them my URL told them about me or maybe they even got it from me directly.
The first thing that they see is a blinking green "12:00" on a black screen that reminds them of their VCR. (Of course I know that the <BLINK> tag has thankfully been removed from the HTML specifications and that only older Netscape browsers support it, but this may be it's one legitimate use. It's the hated amateur hack on what is supposedly a professional's page. What great fun!) The statement below the VCR display reads, "If this is your VCR, then..." Of course this plays on the joke about people who can't program their own VCR. It let's visitors know that help is only one screen away and that they can smile and begin to relax. If it were offensive to them then they probably wouldn't want to be my client anyway.
After the first screen has loaded and while they are reading it and having a good laugh, the large Kencinnus Design logo graphic is downloading very quietly into a single unnoticeable pixel on the screen. This puts it into the visitor's cache memory and so when the page automatically advances to the second screen or when the visitors click the hyperlink on the word "then..." the second screen loads and almost immediately the logo appears. They aren't stuck waiting for it to download while they're staring at a blank space where it will go. The logo and the answer to the question asked on the first screen will take up most, if not all of the screen real estate "above the fold", which is the area of a web page viewable without scrolling. It still took time for the logo to download but they were given something to do that added to the message I want to give them while it was happening.
The question from the first screen is answered on the second screen by stating that I want to design their web site. This should make the visitor happy to know that they have found someone who is willing to do the work for them. But can I do it? Am I qualified? What kind of service will they get from me? Well, so far it has been prompt, to the point and courteous while utilizing a touch of humor.
The Kencinnus Design logo is large and it introduces an unfamiliar word: Kencinnus. The word is derived from concinnity, which is defined on the logo itself. If visitors are curious then they may notice that the logo is linked to another page. Should they explore that link then they would be rewarded with a personal anecdote about the way the name was chosen.
Under the logo are three words: Personal. Professional. Performance. Together they sum up the service that is promised to every client of Kencinnus Design. Individually they are links to areas that potential clients will need to explore before they can make a decision to hire me as their web designer.
The word Personal promises visitors that I will be available to handle their requests. It says that when they need me I will be there. Indeed when they click on it they are taken to a screen with my personal address, email and ICQ number that they can use to get in touch with me.
The word Professional says that potential clients can expect me to know what I'm doing. It speaks to their need to know that their project is going to be handled competently. When they clink on this word they are taken to a screen that contains my resume. The resume is plain and simple, serving only to offer my credentials.
The word Performance is there to convey a sense of value. The work that will be done for the potential clients will exceed expectations and make an impact on the visitors to their own sites. The proof is in the pudding and so when they click on this word they are taken to a series of screen shots.
The series of screen shots below the Kencinnus Design logo show the front pages of many of the sites that I have done for myself and for my most satisfied clients. These graphic images are optimized in Adobe PhotoShop 5.5 to be as small as possible (in file size not screen size). They download quickly but still they do add up. They could have been placed on a separate page but there is a reason why they weren't. They exist "below the fold" on this page because then they can download while visitors are digesting the contents above the fold. When visitors are ready for these images then they will have already been displayed on the page. This is possible, even in Netscape, because I did not put them into a table, which Netscape won't display until everything in the table is downloaded.
The screen shots are also all on one page to make it easy to view my web design portfolio. Scrolling up and down the page makes it easy to visually compare and contrast the styles used from one site to another. If the images were on different pages it would make this much more difficult to do. I feel this is of value to my potential clients. Once they pick out one that is attractive to them then they can click on the screen shot to read a case study about that site or to visit it directly.
I've treated my potential clients with due respect for their time and bandwidth. I haven't used any fancy technology that would make my site inaccessible to the majority of Internet users. I've presented my work and myself in the most appealing way that I can think of and in the most appropriate manner for the type of people I hope to impress. The contact page is there for when they decide to ask me how much it will cost for me to do their project. We can talk.
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Case Studies :
:: Case Study
:: Worm Digest
:: Happy D Ranch Worm Farm
:: Rainbow Worm Farm
:: Number Nine
:: My Family
:: Enviro-Care
:: Telecom Today
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