Designing a Website Mascot
Mascots are appealing figures in a variety of settings and venues; sports teams, children’s events, and holidays all benefit from the inclusion of a memorable and positive mascot, which can help to add to the presence and personality of brand. While mascots in traditional media may attempt to become interactive through the creation of slogans or even the appearance of costumed professionals at promotional events, direct usefulness with customers and potential clients is rare. This level of interaction, however, is fully possible through the medium of the internet; many web design specialists are capable of creating website mascots that can help guide visitors through the experience of a site while having great branding benefits on the side. Able to take the form of specific human characters, or to represent an original personality, even if abstract, site mascots can be a great addition to a web project whether the focus is search engine optimization, shopping, event listings, or any other field.
The process of designing a website mascot involves asking questions about sites, their owners and objectives, and their targeted audience, as is the case with most other projects on which web designers work. Getting a clear picture of the company and products or services being offered, a designer can fashion a character that represents the personality of the brand and is also relevant to the site’s content. Understanding the site owners and their intentions for the web project can add an additional layer of appropriateness to the creation of a mascot; an SEO expert just breaking into offering e-books and other services to the public with the hopes of becoming a major market player may have very different needs for a mascot than an establish women’s clothing retailer looking to take their business from Austin Texas to a coast-to-coast audience.
Knowing as much as possible about a site’s intended audience is also crucial to successful mascot creation. Gearing a mascot towards younger visitors is great for a youth-oriented site, but applying the same character ideas to a site specifically for older adults may flop. Location is important as well; using a local accent for a mascot representing an Austin Tx company can help endear the character to site visitors. Once these considerations have been thoroughly weighed, a designer can begin the process of crafting the visual appearance of the mascot, and creating a set of materials, often including videos or comic-like panels, for application on the site.
Greeting visitors and helping them become more familiar with a site and its functions can be achieved through an interactive module that allows visitors to choose between different options or respond to mascots’ queries with the mouse or keyboard. As a kind of personal website assistant, the mascot can make on-site experience much more memorable, helping to instill a positive brand impression in each visitor. Though only a few sites make use of this versatile design element, mascots can bring extraordinary value to the quest to obtain, retain, and entertain the internet audience.
Web Development
NuArtisan
7000 N Mo Pac Expy Ste 200
Austin, TX 78731
(512) 712-5359