The past few years brought seismic shifts to the social media landscape, thanks to the rise of TikTok, Facebook’s massive rebrand initiative as Meta and Elon Musk’s rocky acquisition of Twitter. Authentic content is on the up (see: the rise of BeReal), and people are starting to lose trust in influencers. De-influencing, defined as the act of telling people what not to buy on social media, is trending after the now infamous Tarte Dubai trip, despite the industry growing tenfold since 2016. Is the influencer a dying breed? No, but the state of influencing is changing. Here’s what agencies can expect in the year ahead. The state of influencer marketing 2023 Although the influencer marketing industry was valued at $16.4 billion in 2022—an 18.8 percent increase from 2021 — it pales in comparison to the 42.3 percent increase from 2020 to 2021. Still, when people ask, “is influencer marketing on the decline?,” the answer remains a firm “no.” Here’s why: The huge spike in influencer marketing from 2020 to 2021 is largely credited to the pandemic, so those numbers would be hard to replicate in a year of standard consumer behavior. Still, the average growth rate per year from 2016 to 2022 actually exceeds it, at 46.9 percent, according to a recent Oberlo report. That’s not to say influencer marketing doesn’t have its controversies. At the end of January, beauty influencer Mikayla Nogueira rattled TikTok with a controversial sponsored post for L’Oreal where she was accused of wearing fake eyelashes to show the “after” of a mascara product, and has since been accused of editing other images on Instagram. It all raises an eyebrow towards the future of influencer marketing. So, what will influencer marketing look like in 2023? Partnerships might look different than they did in years past, but there are still opportunities to work with influencers. Here are some influencer trends to help your clients nail their social media strategy in the current climate. The rise of micro-influencers and nano-influencers One of the reasons consumers used to trust influencer recommendations is because influencers on social media felt like people they know — like friends. Once considered more trustworthy than traditional celebrities, many have since amassed enough of a following to elevate their status to something of a mini-celeb. To that end, it’s not always the biggest stars with the largest following that will have the greatest impact on your campaigns. Reach influencers with smaller audiences that best align with your target demographics. Micro-influencers (between 5,000 to 100,000 followers) and nano-influencers (fewer than 5,000 followers) operate within niche communities and typically receive the greatest levels of engagement. Indeed, brands exhibit a strong preference for working with nano- and micro-influencers over macro-influencers and celebrities, according to Influencer Marketing Hub’s State of Influencer Marketing 2023: Benchmark Report. Thankfully, those are easier to find and connect with now than ever. The influencer pool only continues to expand — with some estimates putting the count at 37 million influencer accounts on a single platform today — and people continue to carve out more and more specific topics to specialize in. Agencies shouldn’t have a difficult time locating the best match for their clients, no matter how narrow the scope. Even better, sticking with smaller influencers is also friendlier on your clients’ budgets than trying to pin down those competitive celebrity accounts. It also enables you to work with more than one influencer, branching out by targeting different niche markets with different collaborations. AI influencers and computer-generated spokespeople Who can forget when Microsoft released Tay seven years ago, only to rescind the Twitterbot just 16 hours after launch when it started posting inflammatory and offensive remarks? More recently, LensaAI, an app that produces ‘magical avatars’ based on ten user-provided images has been accused of demonstrating sexism in AI. There’s still a lot to figure out in this space. The plus side of working with a virtual influencer is that you can fully control brand representation from these artificial entities if you oversee their output and don’t leave anything to automation. As the technology (and subsequently our collective understanding) develops, this may be something agencies and their clients will want to consider. User-generated content (UGC) Do you need to pay an influencer to become a fan of your client’s brand … or can existing fans and followers become your influencers? In some cases, fantastic testimonials and outspoken fans resonate so deeply with prospective customers that they can play a major role in decision-making and significantly increase conversion. Not to mention, this is a more authentic expression of your brand since you’re featuring people who truly want to share their positive experiences as opposed to people you’ve paid to do so. Start by interviewing real users, then turn their stories into influencer-worthy content that you can promote across social media. The longer-term collaborator It’s not uncommon for clients to jump at the opportunity to work with big, recognizable names. But their budget may only cover a one-time sponsored post. Instead, discuss the potential benefits of finding an influencer who is passionate about your client’s brand and willing to work with the company on a longer-term contract, involving multiple posts and mentions over time. Consistent content featuring your client’s brand will make the relationship feel more authentic to the influencer’s followers and generate stronger interest and higher conversion. For example, your influencer might share a post featuring your client on their account — and a few weeks later, appear at one of your client’s events (and post from it). This is especially useful if you find local influencers who can make regular appearances or those who have lots of connections within the community your client is targeting. Some ways to find them: Browse LinkedIn to learn who’s connected to your client’s industry-relevant groups Research local events and learn about keynote speakers and organizers; attend those where networking might help you get a better grasp of the key players are in the local area Monitor what your audience is sharing and talking about; your perfect influencer might not have the highest following on a personal account, but they might still be generating buzz among the groups that best represent your demographics These deeper relationships can go beyond a series of social media posts, developing into long-term brand ambassadorships. Such influencers can also provide valuable insights for new product development and offer creative input for marketing campaigns. The in-house-fluencer Who says companies can’t create their own influencers? Put an existing employee in the spotlight on social media and boost their presence among the brand’s target audience. In some cases, a clear candidate might come to mind — whether it’s an entry-level hire with an acting background, or a particularly charismatic CEO or other senior leader. Agencies can offer their assistance in assessing the best candidate to ensure their personal brand aligns with the needs, values, and messaging of the company. For B2B marketing, this strategy is commonly employed by having senior leadership teams post “wins” and industry insights on LinkedIn — it can be further amplified by appearances at conferences, webinars, and other events. For B2C marketing, highlighting one individual’s presence across customer-facing channels and encouraging direct engagement between the in-house “celebrity” and customers can enhance trust. It’s always easier to connect with an individual than a company, but no one says that individual has to be a stranger with 30K followers and a mastery of Instagram filters. Sometimes, it's better if it’s someone less known - but more real.

“Design system” and “style guide” are two of the most common terms in design. When designers discuss a product, they often mention one or another during the conversation. Although both terms are not new, there are still a lot of misunderstandings regarding what exactly they mean. This article explains design system vs style guide, what design features each has, and how product teams can utilize both to make their design process more efficient. What is a design system? A design system is a collection of reusable functional elements, including components and interaction patterns, that allows product teams to create a unified, consistent experience across all digital products that an organization offers. Components, design tokens, pattern libraries, and guidelines are the four main categories that make up a design system. Let’s dive into more detail. 1. Component A component is a modular piece of a user interface, such as a button, card, or data table. Think of a component as a building block that allows designers to create a product. Well-designed components share two integral properties—reusability and modularity. First, components in a design system are designed to be reusable, meaning they have a visual consistency that allows them to be used across a brand’s multiple products and projects, without having to be redesigned each time. For example, the same call to action button can be used for a contact form or as a primary call to action button on the landing page. A component’s second necessary property, modularity, means that it's possible to combine a few components to create a new component. For example, you can combine a button and a card and create a component card with a button. 2. Design token Design tokens are the visual design elements of a user interface, such as color, typography, spacing, and more, represented as variables in a common format, such as CSS style property, that are used to construct and maintain a design system. No matter what design the team creates, whether it’s a mobile design or CMS web design, design tokens make it easier to turn the design into code. For example, suppose you specify a token with a name “primary-color” and set a value for it. When developers will implement your design, instead of hardcoding a value, they will use the token “primary-color.” So that the CSS code will look like this: “h1 { color: primary }”. 3. Pattern library A pattern library is a subset of a design system; it's a collection of design patterns that can be used to build user interfaces. Common examples of design patterns are navigation menus, data input forms, etc. The goal of a pattern library is to provide a repository of well-designed patterns that can be used to create consistent and efficient user interfaces. A pattern library allows designers to create specific components and write guidelines for using them to create consistent and efficient user interfaces. 4. Guidelines Guidelines are the set of rules and best practices that advise how product teams should use components and visual styles. Unlike style guidelines, which we’ll get into more below, design system guidelines describe how components should behave functionally, and how users are expected to interact with them. Explicitly written guidelines help onboard new designers to the product since they help them understand how to make the interface functional and visually consistent. Within guidelines is a subcategory called brand guidelines, or a set of rules and standards that define an organization's brand identity, including its visual elements (such as the brand's logo, typography, and color palette) and the tone of voice that the organization uses to communicate with its audience. The difference between a UI kit and a design system A UI kit and a design system are both tools for organizing and managing the design of a product, but they serve different purposes. A UI kit is a collection of pre-designed graphical user interface elements, such as buttons, forms, and icons, that can be used to create user interfaces. On the other hand, a design system is created specifically for a particular organization. The goal of a design system is to provide a unified and consistent design experience across all products and platforms that this organization offers so that every element in a design system aligns with the brand's established standards. Why do designers use a design system? There are several reasons why product teams should use design systems: 1. It's a single source of truth Design systems become a single source of truth for all designers involved in the product design process. Whenever designers need to create a new design or modify an existing one, they rely on the design system to get all the required information. Having a single source of truth is especially important on large-scale projects when multiple designers or design teams work together to create a product. Design systems help to avoid situations when different team members do the same work twice (i.e. design the same component) or when team members create their own unique set of components that conflict with other parts of the designed product (visual or functional inconsistency). 2. It allows for scalability Design systems make it easier for the design team to update design elements. As a product grows and becomes more sophisticated, the ability to introduce changes in the design without significant reworks becomes integral. 3. It encourages teamwork Well-crafted design systems result from the co-creation of designers and developers involved in the product design process. Since both parties contribute to the design system, it helps to establish a strong bond between two teams—not only do the teams share the same visual and functional language when building a product, but they also actively collaborate during product design and development. What are examples of design systems? Here are some of the most well-known design system examples: 1. Material Design by Google Material Design is a comprehensive design system that includes visual design guidelines, interaction patterns, and a library of reusable components for designing and building digital products. Material Design was originally designed for Google's web products and Android, but because this design system is so versatile, it can be used for different product types. 2. Atlassian Design System Atlassian, a company behind Jira and Confusion, has a solid design system that provides guidelines, components, and style guides for creating visually and functionally consistent experiences across the Atlassian product suite. What is a style guide in design? As the name suggests, a style guide is a collection of visual styles used in a product design, including colors, typefaces, imagery, and negative space. A style guide is a part of the design system that defines the visual language of the product. Style guides can serve as a reference for designers and developers, providing a guide for creating new design elements that align with the established standards for the visual language. Design system vs style guide: what's the difference? A style guide is a subclass of a design system that defines the visual language of the product. A style guide only covers visual styles such as colors, typefaces, and white space (like kerning, leading, margins, padding, etc). On the other hand, design systems go beyond just the visual design—the components are created on top of the visual styles defined in the style guide. The design system also specifies the rules that help product team members use design consistently. For example, a design system might determine the exact font size that should be used in a component, like an input field. Consistency, efficiency, scalability Those are the benefits that design systems bring to the organization. Design systems and style guides offer design features that make it easier for designers and developers to create cohesive and user-friendly products even as products and platforms evolve and grow over time. By establishing a solid foundation for a product's visual and functional design, design systems can help streamline the design process and support collaboration between people involved in the design process.

BeReal, the French photo-sharing app that tapped into a desire to reimagine the social media experience, is at a juncture. After a year that saw the app downloaded a whopping 93.5 million times and consistently top the Apple and Google App charts, user stagnation has set in, leading some to believe it’s destined to become the next Clubhouse. Centered around authenticity, BeReal’s core feature is a daily notification that encourages users to share a “genuine” photo of themselves and their surroundings within a randomly selected two-minute window every day. While its candid concept undoubtedly struck a chord with people – particularly Gen Z – BeReal has failed to move beyond its initial idea nor launch a model that can be monetized. This impasse presented an opportunity for incumbent platforms to step in and copycat its feature, resulting in the likes of TikTok Now and Instagram’s Candid Stories, leaving BeReal, its investors, and users wondering what’s next. Some brands such as American Eagle Outfitters, e.l.f. Cosmetics and Chipotle have dabbled in the platform, offering promos and discounts but with limited success because, ultimately, BeReal provides no functionality for marketers. “A few well-known brands are still using it,” says Matt Navarra, a leading social media consultant who has previously advised the likes of Google, Meta and Pinterest. “But its own terms of service say an advertiser is not permitted on the platform, and it has no features to help brands. In fact, it inhibits brands because you have a limited number of friend connections you can make.” Shachaf Rodberg, Wix’s marketing trend analyst, says people’s growing disenchantment with brands portraying an always-positive, inauthentic side helped catapult BeReal’s popularity. That coincided with an increasing desire by people to be part of – and restrict their content to – smaller online circles, a trend further driven by Covid-19 when most of us were stuck at home yearning for meaningful human contact. “People are moving towards smaller social groups, and posting and sharing in DMs or on WhatsApp, and not showing everything to the public,” explains Rodberg. “You can see it particularly with Gen Z. They have a public persona different from what they share with close friends. This has contributed to the drive towards authenticity. People are getting fed up having a public display, and even those who want to become influencers are still looking for closer relationships.” While it remains to be seen if and how brands can use BeReal meaningfully in the future, the platform’s phenomenon – and the rise of other apps like Poparazzi, Locket and Slay – tells us that people are longing for a more intimate and real experience online. With this in mind, Rodberg shares five ways you can help clients be relevant to those consumers seeking authenticity. Show your vulnerable side People connect with brands that show a human side, according to Rodberg. And humans are not polished or perfect. He highlights the case of Amercian olive oil startup Graza, which recently disappointed customers by delivering their holiday gifts late and poorly packaged. Rather than get PR executives to pour over the most suitable response, company chief executive Andrew Benin wrote a lengthy email entitled “Learning from our mistakes” and hit send to over 35,000 customers. Littered with grammatical errors and typos but expressing genuine regret, the correspondence received an overwhelmingly positive response. That’s not to say every company head should be given free rein on crisis communications, but it’s a lesson in how it can pay to be raw and honest with your words rather than stiff and safe through corporate speak. Put your people in front of your brand Companies that put their founders or employees front and center make real people an extension of the brand. According to Rodberg, it’s an excellent way for brands to resonate with consumers by making them feel they have a direct relationship with the company. He cites AI platform Gong as a company whose employees produce engaging content and become thought leaders on social media. Customer communications platform Intercom is another company that knows how to put a face to its brand. Editor-in-chief of Entrepreneur magazine, Jason Feifer, believes companies can successfully utilize their people externally and show authenticity by nailing their thought leadership strategy. Inject personality where you can Humor and personality can go a long way for brands and give consumers a sense that they’re engaging with companies on a human level. Rodberg sees brands like Burger King, Air, Wendy’s, and Ryanair as leaders in this space, winning over audiences with their smart, timely and sometimes audacious social media content. “It's like when you go on Twitter, and it feels like the person in charge of the Twitter account is running the whole company,” he says. “They just happen to do it through a brand’s account. It can be tough for brands to let go and trust an employee or team with that freedom, but if done right, it’s a great way for them to connect.” Before injecting personality into your social content, know your platforms and behave according to the channel. Your Twitter persona and its content might not resonate with the LinkedIn posse. However, keep your tone of voice consistent throughout to build familiarity with your audience. Take your audience behind the scenes To deliver a product or service, every company undergoes a process, whether in production or through a supply chain. Rodberg believes this offers brands an opportunity to bring people behind the scenes to show how they do things and create a sense of transparency between brand and consumer. Software company 37signals does a great job showing users under the hood, creating videos such as ‘A week in the life of a product designer’ where an employee shares their screen and goes into fine detail about their day-to-day work. A glance at the comments section tells you it’s highly relatable content. This transparent approach to marketing, championed by founders Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson, is becoming ever more embedded in the 37signals brand. Think about how your clients can let the outside world in and make their audience feel like they’re getting a rare glimpse of something special. Encourage customers to share their stories User-generated content created and shared by a community of brand advocates is a surefire way to show authenticity and build trust among your audience. Workspace platform Notion has an extensive community shouting about its products, which it files under the Spotted on YouTube section of its YouTube channel. Then there’s the super creative wheelchair cover design company Izzy Wheels, which has built a massive following of happy online customers (cleverly called ‘spokes-people’) who proudly share their purchased designs on social media. User generated content also fits nicely with the lo-fi content trend being adopted by both small and large companies, something Wix Partner Daniel Azarian foresees continuing beyond 2023. Consider these tactics to get your clients’ authentic expression out into the world. According to Rodberg and Navarra, irrespective of whether BeReal finds its place within the social media landscape, people’s desire for authenticity will remain. “For the next few years, I don't see it changing,” says Rodberg. “In fact, I think it will come into sharper focus because that’s the expectation of the market. More and more brands will have to adjust their strategy to connect with these customers.” Navarra predicts a similar outcome. “Being ‘authentic’ has become a bit of a cliché or an overused buzzword in the past few years,” he says. “But the need for brands and creators to build an honest, deeper connection with their audience is an ongoing requirement.”

Nick Babich, an Israel-based UX and product designer, has had an unlikely assistant in his workflow of late: ChatGPT, the viral AI chatbot. Over the last few weeks, Babich has asked ChatGPT to write dummy copy for his app and website designs, sketch out layouts, and even generate font and color pairing ideas. Since its launch in November, Babich says he’s been able to integrate the chatbot “in almost all areas of product design that don't require creating media content.” ChatGPT’s primitive interface, developed by the Microsoft-backed research firm OpenAI, which counts Elon Musk as its co-founder among several others, has become a familiar sight online. Over a million people have so far queried it to instantly generate op-eds in Oscar Wilde’s voice, program websites from scratch, and even plot multi-act movie scripts, and the chatbot has spewed out authoritative responses. However, the way ChatGPT strings together sentences often means these responses, though look convincing, are often riddled with factual inaccuracies. Its language model is trained to look for patterns in huge reams of text scraped off the internet and learn from them to guess the next word. But that means the chatbot can’t tell which sources its system’s relying upon, or whether the content it’s generating is correct or biased—so much so that some platforms like StackOverflow, a Q&A site for engineers, has banned AI-generated codes altogether. While ChatGPT’s inability to fact-check itself has prevented most users from depending on it for any real work, it’s proved especially ideal to replace the most iconic piece of gibberish: Lorem ipsum. Lorem ipsum filler text (body type) in typeface sheet manufacturer Letraset's 1974 catalog. Images courtesy the Herb Lubalin Study Center of Design & Typography. For decades, Lorem ipsum, a scrambled passage from two-millennia-old Latin literature, has belonged in every designer’s toolbox. It’s the most common placeholder text developers use to demonstrate their projects’ visuals, like typefaces and layouts, before they go ahead and populate it with the client’s actual material. Pick any design template and there’s a good chance its textboxes will feature Lorem ipsum by default. But it’s also become more and more common for clients to expect messaging to be a part of the ideation journey from the beginning, and designers have found it harder to effectively show the intent behind their work, and how it fits into the business’ vision, when relying on the industry’s historically-used text filler alone. And that means the meaningless Lorem ipsum text has appeared increasingly anachronistic—leading designers to look for smarter dummy content generators. With ChatGPT, which can produce paragraphs on any given topic, many feel their search has ended. Ask ChatGPT to write “HTML code for an AI startup’s website” or a dummy copy for it, for example, and the chatbot will instantly generate a response with the proper outline. Babich isn’t alone. Mark Vogelaar, a Netherlands-based art director and designer, similarly has adopted ChatGPT to write filler copy, starter design briefs to test new tools, and even gain feedback on his designs by describing them to the chatbot. Vogelaar doesn’t believe dummy content like Lorem ipsum lets him check whether his design successfully communicates a message as easily as ChatGPT can. “I realized my goal was not to design an interface; it’s to design great communication,” Vogelaar explains. “It's so much easier to check if a design is good when there is (almost) real content in there.” At the same time, however, many feel replacing Lorem ipsum with realistic text beats the point and the reason why it became omnipresent in demonstrating typefaces in the first place. It’s long known that Lorem ipsum is the result of altering a passage from a Latin essay called “On the Extremes of Good and Evil” written by the influential Roman statesman and philosopher, Cicero, in 45 B.C. But the origins of its use are often contested. While some—most notably, the Hampden-Sydney director of publications Richard McClintock—theorize that an unknown typesetter centuries ago scrambled it into mostly gibberish “to not distract from the page’s graphical features,” there’s no evidence to back it up. Instead, Alexander Tochilovsky, curator of The Cooper Union’s Herb Lubalin Study Center of Design and Typography, explained that though a text by Cicero was used as typeface samples as early as the 1734, the “actual Lorem Ipsum text was scrambled and edited in the 1960s” by Letraset, a typeface sheet manufacturer. It supposedly copied the text out of a 1914 Cicero book, which had the word Dolorem split onto two different pages (do--lorem). From there, it was carried over to digital fonts via publishing software like Aldus Corporation’s PageMaker 1.0. What’s more important, the motivation behind adopting Latin text for English typesets for centuries was “that the potential customer was able to judge the appearance of the text set in a font of type rather than read it,” adds Tochilovsky. Lorem ipsum filler text (body type) in typeface sheet manufacturer Letraset's 1974 catalog. Images courtesy the Herb Lubalin Study Center of Design & Typography. Which is why today as designers ditch Lorem ipsum, the transition has been polarizing. Karen McGrane, a designer, and partner at the digital consulting firm Autogram, keeps a file of classic lorem ipsum handy and steers clear of novelty text generators. She believes people tune Lorem ipsum text out more easily and “focus on the conversation about the design.” While McGrane might consider using ChatGPT to generate random Latin words, she’s not looking for realistic text, as she’s concerned “the client would read it and make comments on it.” She adds, "The entire point of ‘lorem ipsum’ is that you don’t want them to read the text.” Bibach agrees, and will continue to use “lorem ipsum” when he wants to exclusively “focus on the visual hierarchy of elements rather than text copy.” But whether designers like McGrane are on board, it likely won’t be long before generative text chatbots, such as ChatGPT, replace “lorem ipsum” as tech firms race to integrate them into their existing services. Microsoft, for instance, is soon expected to offer ChatGPT-like abilities inside its ecosystem of tools, including Word, Outlook, Bing, and more. Adobe, similarly, is experimenting with generative AI options inside its creative suite, and several third-party ChatGPT plugins are already available on its latest acquisition, Figma. Australia-based graphic platform, Canva, will also let users build elements for marketing projects with the help of AI. Fiverr, a marketplace that connects freelancers and businesses, added AI categories for discovering creators who are well-versed not in creating original art—but in getting the most out of generative tools like ChatGPT and Midjourney. Most recently, web development company Wix Studio (which publishes FWD) announced the launch of an AI assitant within its Wix Editor. Tochilovsky, for one, doesn’t necessarily think this is a negative development. In his role as a typographer, his advice to students is often to use a “sample of text that approximates as closely as possible the text that will be in the final document.” The problem with Ipsum generators, he adds, is that their text never looks real enough. “I guess in this sense ChatGPT could be a great option,” Tochilovsky says. “The ability to create sample text based on style, tone, context, etc, would be actually quite helpful.”

In conclusion, starting a story from the end is an excellent way to engage your audience and capture their attention. See what we did there? Telling stories in a non-linear way can add mystery to your content, and more storytellers are using it to their advantage. Let’s take a step back At the start of 2023, Netflix released Kaleidoscope, a show told across eight episodes served randomly to viewers (which ultimately creates over 5000 permutations of the story). That makes it highly unlikely any two people will watch the show unfold in the same order. Of course, it’s not the first time the streaming company released an experimental TV show. Most notably, shows like Black Mirror: Bandersnatch and You vs Wild allow viewers to choose the story’s path, changing the outcome in the process. While nonlinear storytelling isn’t a new concept, it’s recently being applied to fields like web design and content marketing to achieve business results. SputnikDesignTeam.com is the perfect example of this, a collage-like website that splits off into different case studies depending on which item the user selects. Other notable web experiences include Aino agency, Gakko.io, Unseen.co and this unique and unexpected BetterUp report website. If you’re looking to try your hand at nonlinear storytelling, here’s how your agency can leverage it to create more unique, personalized and/or unconventional stories and designs. Don’t start at the beginning “One trend we’ve spotted that will take off in 2023 is the concept of telling a story mid-way through instead of at the beginning. It’s the ultimate hook - whether it’s decoding a trending topic or sharing a sound bite that’s bound to stop viewers in their tracks and make them want to play catch-up,” according to LaterBlog. This is a great way to kick off an AIDA marketing creative, creating a sense of intrigue that compels the audience to further research a topic on their own. You can do this in a podcast, on a social media post (it’s hugely popular on Tiktok), in a blog, or even in drip email marketing series, you just have to make sure you aren’t being too cryptic so your audience can actually follow the trail you’re leaving. Look to pattern disrupt In web design, unconventional navigation is on the rise. Perhaps the most obvious nonlinear example can be found in Non-Linear Studio’s website, which runs true to form with unconventional scrolling patterns that captivate and afford more robust interactivity. Other creative agency examples include Jam3, Build in Amsterdam and Anton & Irene, each of which combine unique scroll and hover effects to let users hone in on selected projects. To take the unconventional web design route, start by running a competitive analysis to determine the customer journey and messaging of other agencies and brands in your space. It helps to know how others are structuring their clients’ information architecture to get a better sense of how to differentiate your projects. From there, you can start to break conventions either with small easter eggs that surprise and delight your customers (ie: hiding elements out of plain view to pop up unexpectedly or using an interesting scroll pattern), or else constructing an experience around the feature entirely. Emiozaki’s portfolio website does this well, built to function as a mobile experience on a computer. Lean into the chaotic By definition, nonlinearity has elements of randomness and complexity. Leveraging these elements as a design or marketing principle can increase engagement, raise awareness and incentivize action. Adaptive web and graphic design Daniel Spatzek heavily embraces the chaotic by seemingly breaking all the rules of design (in a tasteful manner) on his portfolio site. Nathan Riley does the same with his own spin on things. Creative agency Poratron invites people to randomly check out different portfolio entries by randomizing which one pops up when clicking. It’s a fun element that injects a Kaleidoscope-like element of excitement into the experience. Though starkly different from one another, what each of these websites have in common is a great deal of complexity that empower users to explore. It’s difficult to get right, so make sure you’re usability testing your website to ensure your audience is into it. Think systematically about the story you’re telling Nonlinearity typically involves greater user engagement as it’s more personalized and sometimes relies on the audience to cocreate narratives. Of course, that means you have to take a systematic approach to storytelling rather than thinking episodically - will it still make sense if you switch the pieces around? And how do the parts ultimately add up to the whole? Seen.space is a bold website that explores the interplay between race, ethnicity and the creators’ careers told as a collection of DMs. Lastly, wtfff.nl tells the story of 5 young people who were blackmailed, shamed and abused for their nude photos based on how the user navigates the site. And let’s not forget TheOtherSideofTruth.com, which tells split narratives through both the world truth and the Russian perspective on the Russia-Ukraine war using brilliant interaction design that combine horizontal and vertical scrolling. Departing from conventional ‘this then that’ storytelling through clever marketing and design is difficult to pull off yet powerful when done right. Challenge your agency to tell stories differently to captivate your audience’s attention.

Social media has had a whirlwind of a year. Elon Musk acquired Twitter, Meta recorded its largest loss ever in the neighborhood of $3.6 billion in Q3, and there’s talk about banning TikTok in the U.S. It’s already been banned on government devices and some university VPNs. In the wake of all this change, new social media platforms are planting roots. Almost as soon as Musk purchased Twitter, hundreds of thousands of users fled in protest. In late December, rising social platform Mastodon (which had around 300,000 users in October) reached 2.5million users by introducing a clever feature called ‘movetodon,’ which allowed Twitter users to easily find their friends on the new platform so they wouldn’t have to ‘start from scratch.’ Since then, the platform peaked and dipped, losing about 30% of its new traffic in a matter of weeks according to The Guardian. This is just one of many companies duking it out. Polywork is looking to steal Linkedin’s professional crowd, while BeReal, Poparazzi (billed as the ‘anti-Instagram) and Discord (particularly popular with gamers and developers) are leading the new generation of social apps vying for major market share. (Check out our Freelancer X community on Discord.) Of course, the emergence of new platforms is nothing new: Vine came and went, as did Peach and Google+, and Clubhouse’s growth has stalled. What has changed is that for the first time, there’s a growing perception that Facebook and Instagram might actually get dethroned. So, what’s a social media marketer to do? “With social media, everything changes so quickly that most brands don't make decisions until stuff actually happens,” says Lirut Nave, Wix’s head of social media. That’s a mistake; not only is stuff happening right now, but brands should stay proactive so they never get caught by surprise. “We see features getting dropped every day, different promotional abilities getting paused, and the popularity of the platforms themselves is subject to change every few months.” Therefore, Nave recommends having your overall strategy in place but staying adaptable by making necessary changes, shifting budgets and reprioritizing based on what works. “You always want to know where your audience is going,” she says. “If they're going to leave TikTok or if Twitter's gone tomorrow, which new platform will you use to grab that audience segment’s attention?” Start with your audience, she says, not the platform, and work your way back. “Try to get as clear as you can about where clients spend their time and what they’d like to see from you.” Here are some more best practices as you navigate this new world. Don’t ignore the big players The rise of these new platforms marks a departure from previous ways of framing digital interactions (think: likes, comments, shares and saves), focusing more on authentic online exchanges such as having actual conversations, building community and capturing unedited moments of your life. Yet, despite reporting record losses last year, it’s still the big fish’s pond. Facebook maintains the most monthly active users (2.9 billion users), and Linkedin remains the biggest social media for professionals. Expect the ‘legacy’ players to pivot their strategies to reflect market changes, perhaps even mimicking certain features like when Instagram copied stories from Snapchat, or how Alphabet rolled out YouTube Shorts in response to Instagram Reels and TikTok’s success. For now, we’re likely to continue seeing the Metas and Twitters of the world playing ‘feature catchup,’ but don’t let changes in consumer preferences catch you by surprise. You should keep your eye on emerging platforms, but Nave says there's no point in making massive overhauls. “Social media is quick. It’s more about spontaneity and keeping up with where your target audience is moving.” Educate AND entertain your audience “Edutainment” is the future of content, and it's exactly what it sounds like: entertaining someone while teaching them something new. Think: thought leadership content that’s equal parts thought-provoking and attention-grabbing. A perfect example of edutainment is After Skool’s YouTube whiteboard explainer videos, as well as @rishfits’ mobility training Instagram and Emily the Recruiter on Tiktok. Notice how the content tends to be quick, snappy and sometimes lighthearted depending on the brand’s tone of voice. This is true across all channels. Develop your video capabilities If ever there was a time to expand into video, it’s now. YouTube Shorts are growing 135% year over year according to Rootnote.co, and the average American now spends 80 minutes on TikTok per day, says The Washington Post. “There's no question that short form video content will continue to dominate because it's the easiest format to consume,” as Susan Kaplow, Wix’s head of content and design, said in What agency work will look like in 2023. “Marketing is no longer about whitepapers or long articles anymore, rather it's creating content that’s approachable, real, honest and to-the-point.” That goes double for video. Help the rest of the leadership team understand the risks that come with failing to bring in these capabilities asap, then paint a specific vision for what will be possible with these additional resources. To that end, it helps if leaders share more online and offer a window into the business. “People are craving realness. They want to be seen, heard, and entertained—not sold to. Thought leadership will still resonate, but only if the leader is approachable” Kaplow adds. (If you really want to stand out, leverage nonlinear storytelling.) Stay true to each channel With increasing uncertainty as to which platforms will dominate in the mid to long-term, Nave recommends doubling down on the social media that's proven to work for your business. “Don’t try to do everything at once - you’ll end up producing content that’s only 50% of the way there,” she says. “Do what you can do well, whatever is closer to that 100% quality bar.” That means your agency probably isn’t on every channel but does a great job tailoring content to one to three platforms instead. “If your strategy is to create general content and post it across all platforms, you probably won’t get the same performance across each of them,” Nave says. “That said, there’s value in working on one platform that’s more visual, say Instagram, one that’s more video-based (maybe TikTok) and one with a more professional network such as Twitter or LinkedIn.” That’s not to say that repurposing your work isn’t an effective strategy, but a large part of that entails making necessary tweaks to stay true to each platform. That includes tactical changes, like reformatting the dimensions of a post or captioning videos, as well as strategic changes, such as the goal of the content on that specific platform. Use your resources wisely Just because an emerging platform is generating buzz doesn’t mean you should dive in headfirst. “If you have minimal resources, it just means you have to prioritize better,” Nave says. “You always want to create great content, so never sacrifice quality, even if that means taking longer to post.” Before pulling resources from one department to reinvest them in new social platforms, start by determining whether the platform is worth your time to begin with. That might still take some time and effort to identify, but it shouldn’t take all of your time and effort. “If you're a small agency, you don't necessarily want to put your resources into exploring something you still can't figure out unless you feel like it's a perfect fit for your offering and you can really go deep with it. Big brands have this advantage, of course, where they can test out their budget and let the people decide, but if you're a smaller agency, my advice would still be to put your resources where they're most valuable.” Use the Pareto principle to allocate resources effectively - that is, spend 20% of your time creating experimental content to test, and 80% of it doubling down on what’s already proven to work. Looking forward As it always has been, the true value of social media lies in, well, your social network. That’s why Linkedin continues to be a mainstay for B2B clients, and why Twitter’s declining popularity has many marketers on their toes. While the social media landscape continues to be rife with uncertainty, the best advice is simply to make great content for your audience wherever they are, and stay nimble so you can move with them if they migrate.

Last November, actor Adam DiMarco, who plays Albie Di Grasso (self-proclaimed "nice guy") in season two of HBO’s White Lotus, tweeted out a poll: “watch the entire white lotus opening credits/theme song every week OR skip intro?” Over 75% of people responded with the option: “Whole theme song babyyy.” They’re not alone. In fact, the entire internet’s been lusting over the show’s heady opening credit sequence, designed by Seattle-based Plains of Yonder creative directors and co-founders Katrina Crawford and Mark Bashore; and its score, by Montreal-based composer Cristobal Tapia de Veer, since it premiered. And the fandom hasn’t stopped just because this season ended. The title sequence has gone viral in its own right, especially on TikTok, where soundbites trend as much as hashtags or aesthetics. Most are a variation on a simple take: don’t skip the opening credits. And they’re garnering millions of views. In January, the Rijks Museum even showcased paintings in its collection using the credits’ editing style. It’s not often that a title sequence enters the zeitgeist of general pop culture. While Crawford and Bashore have a hard time explaining why exactly it went viral, Crawford has one working theory: like the show, the title sequence design tapped into something human and primal. Here, we chat about why they lean into ambiguity, the difference between an art direction and an idea, and their advice to designers on how to tell better on-screen stories. In the words of White Lotus character Lucia Greco: “Let’s fun.” Image 1: A WIP illustration. Courtesy Plains of Yonder. Image 2: capturing reference images on site in Italy. Screenshot Plains of Yonder BTS video. Plains of Yonder designed the title sequence for season one of White Lotus as well—how did your design approach evolve for season two? Mark Bashore: It was a little different from season one. We came up with the wallpaper concept [for season one] out of the blue, among other concepts that were pitched by competitors. It’s very different for a main title because it’s almost a throwback in its beauty and simplicity—and everybody was of course wondering what the new version of that would be [for season two]. Mike [White, White Lotus director] shot some scenes at a villa that had these murals on the wall, and he goes, “I feel like that would make a really good base for a main title for this year.” This was actually more challenging because you have to build a story out of this room full of existing paintings, versus starting in the clear. So, how do we make a story from these really old paintings? Katrina Crawford: We used a lot of backgrounds and architecture from the actual walls of the villa. They’re 16th century, so we had to paint them [with illustrator Lezio Lopes] to look like they're 16th century. But that didn’t look like a Mike White TV series. There's a lot more bite, and more modern elements. That’s why we wanted to bring an edge to it, while looking like it was part of the wall. That was more difficult to do. [Seasons one and two] share a lexicon in terms of simple illustrations, but hopefully it feels like an evolution. Famed tv and film designers on how they get users to press pause. Production designer Patrice Vermette on how he built the world of Dune Pyrotechnics, puppeteers, and type: Karin Fong's titles show collaboration at its best How the TV title card has changed since Girls How did you use pacing to keep the user—or in this case, the viewer—engaged? How important is pacing to experience in a digital space? MB: It's almost the most important thing, even more so than design. When you get up around 90 seconds, you have to have a beginning, middle, and end—whether it's main titles or short brand films, or whatever else we do. And that can be done through music, imagery, sound design, or hopefully all those things, to bring a sense of surprise. People's attention spans are short. There's a lot they can watch. And there's a lot out there in all categories that stay in third gear, and after about 30 seconds you're like, “I know where this goes.” White Lotus has three really distinct chapters that are in the music, imagery, and the pacing of the edit, which starts to ramp up hard when the music changes. We used very quick slides, so there might be a castle on fire, which zooms down to a fisherman, which zooms to [sexual imagery]. So four images all push together in about five or six seconds. That’s where the music starts to ramp up into this sweaty club lead. It's a huge departure, almost like a totally different title sequence, than when it started. They're almost like two different movies. Details from the opening credits. Images courtesy Plains of Yonder. KC: Mike White described the show as “a bedroom farce with teeth,” and it's completely focused on relationships between people. Even the pacing of the title sequence mimics a relationship. There's a romantic beginning, and then you start to notice things about them, like, they didn't pay the check, and then you take it to a new height at the end when things start to go crazy. We had fun with a viewer’s expectation of beautiful, romantic paintings, and then, suddenly the birds are pecking feathers out of each other. All of that happens before the show starts, so we're in the mindset of the psychology of the show when we get there and we're ready to think about these things: the dirty looks, jealousies, and cheating. It's subliminal. Title cards, which have a succinctness that incentivizes users to watch another episode, have been on the rise among streaming platforms for a while now. Why was a longer title sequence the right fit for White Lotus? KC: A title sequence can live on its own nowadays. They become their own tiny stories. We didn't know this at the time of creation, but HBO also used the title designs for other aspects of campaigning the show, so it became the show brand, like an outer wrapper. MB: It's hard to create a mood with a title card. We're not font people. I can't even name the typeface in White Lotus. It’s on every computer on the planet practically. It's not the most important thing. Mood is what we're good at, and making you feel something. I think it's a little overstated to say a font, or a five second title card with a spectacular camera move on type, can achieve that. At least for us. It's not where we apply our trades. KC: We think about the psychology, and it is very tricky to do with something that's up for five seconds. Illustrations for the White Lotus title sequence. Images Plains of Yonder. What advice would you give designers to better tell stories on screen? MB: One of the things we've seen over the years is that people get too attracted to a style. Maybe it's something that's very popular right now, or a trend, or a look. That's an art direction, not an idea. Years ago, I had a mentor who would look at storyboards for main titles, commercials, everything, and oftentimes he'd say, “that's an art direction, that's not an idea.” It's a harsh thing to say to somebody, but it's also the most honest thing. You have to separate the two, and come up with a mood. It's not stylistic, or an art direction, but it's a feeling. Like a dream, or something like that. So many people gravitate toward a style first and then they shoehorn in the show. In the best title sequences that we see, you can't put your finger on the style. You're putting your finger on how it makes you feel. The use of metaphor [is also important]. There's so much rational information out there, and the tools are so powerful that you can just put stuff in front of an audience, and pretty soon you realize you’re just impressing people with spectacular tools. Our favorite moments were when people would debate online about what something might be about, like, “is that what I think it is?”. How does that play out in your White Lotus design concepts? KC: Like, for Theo James’ [title slide], there’s a naked statue and a dog peeing on the statue. People have asked us, “which one is Theo James?” And my answer is maybe neither, maybe both. They cover different aspects of his personality, right? People are really busy, and if you're taking someone's time, even moments for these tiny sequences, reward them for watching. MB: The wallpaper is funny. Wallpaper is a terrible idea for a main title sequence because wallpaper doesn't move. Flat art and television don’t belong. But that's why I like those title sequences. They’re instantly different because they're not made for TV. [Related: Famed production designer Patrice Vermette on how he built the world of Dune.] It seems to also make smaller animations that much more noticeable. KC: That's great that you noticed that because we took some out to keep it super minimal. The eyes moving on the fountain felt important to me—as though it's winking at the audience. I did like that there's this little interaction, and there are little story lines. Some of them connect directly to the show, but some don't. Like the boar hunt that goes through [the credits], and the guy coming back with the boar on his shoulder. Yes, it references masculinity and all these different things, but it's also an extra story line that's fun. We really think about trying to respect the audience, that they're intelligent, and can figure out and make their own stories, by making things open-ended enough so there's room for interpretation and divergent thinking. Moments of subtle interaction and layered storytelling. Images courtesy Plains of Yonder. Sound design was also incredibly important to the title sequence’s popularity–it went viral on social media. Why do you think your collaboration with composer Cristobal Tapia de Veer was such an effective pairing? KC: I’m guilty of hitting skip, but there’s certain ones you never skip, right? They are integral to your experience. It’s that portal effect. 99.9% of the time, that happens when there’s magic between the visuals and sound, where the music so perfectly encapsulates the world and they’re not just running on parallel tracks. You can put music under something that looks great—but are they synergistically creating something new? Cristobal's work is amazing. People are very excited by it because it tells a story. It has a whole narrative construct. Did you design the title sequence with social media shareability in mind? KC: It was a side effect. MB: It’s just one of those things, like catching lightning in a bottle. Once in a blue moon does a TV title or show make that jump into culture where people have heard of a show but never seen it. That happened with White Lotus. The music. The vibe. It's a phenomenon you cannot engineer. If anybody could, they'd be super rich. It just happens once in a while, like with The Sopranos and Game of Thrones, when it makes the jump and it's no longer a TV show. KC: Those things are extensions of a universe. It's another point for people to interact with the White Lotus sphere. It's a parallel way to have more of something that you enjoyed. So the title sequence is also like a brand extension of the TV show itself. KC: Yeah. I think of the music in the same way. There's an attempt to try to get to the authenticity of what is being said. We're not just making quirky things. It's a certain animal for a reason. It's because, “okay that cat is a predator, and it's both beautiful and alluring, but it also has this innate nature to devour.” I think that's felt. I think when we see something that's really intentional, we feel it intuitively in our body. White Lotus title sequence illustrations. Images courtesy Plains of Yonder. Are you returning for season three? KC: We haven't heard anything. We would love to work with Mike and his team. All of them are amazing. Anything else we should know? MB: Our only regret is that we didn't create a contract where we can sell the wallpaper. I can't tell you how many designers from all over the planet have been like, “my bathroom needs this monkey wallpaper. I will pay any price.” We're just kicking ourselves. We don't own that artwork, but man, if we did, we'd be in a whole ‘nother business. We'd be out of this TV game in a heartbeat. This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity and length.

Leaping into freelance life requires bravery. Building a freelance business requires strategy, and getting more freelance clients takes work. Few know this better than freelance web designer and creative consultant Brad Hussey, who quit his steady agency job over a decade ago to start a web design business of his own. Since then, he’s worked with clients from (almost) every country in the world and launched web design courses that have helped over half a million creators. From Hussey's experience, designers that are fresh to freelancing are often guilty of taking on any task they can find just to stay afloat. But “complexity kills progress,” Hussey says. “The more you add in, the more you put on your plate, the more things you’re doing, the worse you do.” His solution is simple. Follow a "rule of ones": one client persona, one offer, one marketing channel, one conversion method, and a commitment to this focused approach for at least one year. In a recent webinar, he broke down his "rule of ones" into a step-by-step guide that can help you build a client Rolodex of your own, develop business strategies you’ll actually stick to, and apply the tips he wishes he knew when he was starting out. (Read more about how a freelance community can grow your business.) 1. One client persona You might be familiar with user personas, which segment users into similar groups. But personas can apply to clients too. Just think of them as profiles of your ideal clients. By honing in on the type of person you want to work with, you’ll be more likely to find, connect and collaborate with them. Hussey suggests you include these details when determining a client persona: demographics (the societal groups they fit into), geographics (where they are), psychographics (their attitudes and values), and behaviors. Honing in on one client persona also allows you to better “understand who they are, and what they suffer with,” according to Hussey. He recommends interviewing folks who mirror your clients’ persona to acquaint yourself with their needs and learn their language. By putting in this leg work, you’ll be better equipped to craft a pitch that solves their problems, in a framing that’s familiar to them. Meaning, ultimately, they’ll be more likely to hire you. 2. One offer After defining who you want to work with, identify what you can provide for them. Many do this on a client-by-client basis: 61% of the freelancers who joined Hussey’s session, for instance, tailor each offer to the client they’re working with. On surface level, this approach seems logical, since every client is different—to some extent. However, bespoke offers are too complicated to be scalable. Save yourself time and work with a fill-in-the-blanks offer model that builds on client persona information from step one. By specifying your skills and expertise, client pain points, the valuable outcomes your solution will provide, your delivery method, timeline, and price, you’ll have the building blocks. If you solve for this formula using that info, you can distill a single offer fit for every client, says Hussey: “I help [target client] solve [problem] by doing [solution].” 3. One marketing channel To make the most of your bandwidth as a freelancer, Hussey recommends you consolidate your marketing approach. Since freelancing breeds a sense of urgency, it can be tempting to share your business with everyone you’ve ever known, everywhere they’ve ever been. By doing this, Hussey says you’re setting yourself up for failure: “You get no traction anywhere and you wonder, two months in, why nothing’s happened.” You won’t have time to create tailored content for each marketing channel or social platform. Plus, this more generic marketing won’t speak to the specific type of potential customer that you want to reach. [Related: How to generate leads in Wix Marketplace] Hussey suggests beginning with one marketing approach, focused on the channels your persona is most likely to use, and how likely they are to be ready to hire you. For example, if your goal is brand awareness, Hussey says to put your efforts into a single social media platform. If you want to get your past customers to consider you for their next project, try your hand at email marketing. To reinforce this strategy, he insists on staying consistent and measuring results. Only switch channels or adopt new ones once you’ve seen success within a given timeframe (e.g. two business quarters). 4. One conversion method Once you’ve established a marketing strategy, provide a clear path to where clients can sign up with you. Direct traffic to a single endpoint, whether that’s a contact form or a landing page where clients can request a consultation call. From there, it’s all about execution. Identify your call to action, conversion flow, and the tools you’ll need to execute it. You’ll also need to set up a structure to review and analyze this. Set success indicators, a timeline for reviewing progress, and a target number of conversions so you can continue to improve the outcome. When new customers start to come to you off the back of this, Hussey recommends adding social proof, like testimonials from existing clients recommending your services. Client reviews are “worth their weight in gold,” according to Hussey. 5. One year After establishing a brief and process, the hard work begins of both maintaining and optimizing it. “Follow your plan for a year and regularly review and adjust the plan on a quarterly basis to ensure progress,” says Hussey. In his experience, freelancers abandon approaches like this when they don’t see immediate results. It’s one of the most common mistakes he sees among his peers. One way to avoid this pitfall? Seek out fellow freelancers that can keep you accountable. While it might be a bit too late for new year’s resolutions, that doesn’t mean you can’t try something new. “You don't have to wait until the new year to start something,” says Hussey. “You can start tomorrow. Tomorrow's your new year.”

Client success is agency success. But it often feels like agencies need to work twice as hard to keep clients happy in a competitive, rapidly changing landscape (or just keep them, period). Web design and brand optimization agency Zoek knows how to delight clients over the long haul. It’s how they landed notable clients like Papa John’s, Sylvan Learning and Century 21, while boasting a 94% retention rate. We caught up with Kellyann Doyle, Zoek’s marketing operations manager to discuss some ways to ensure client success. Set realistic goals “First, we always make sure we set clear and realistic goals with our clients,” says Doyle. “That’s where a lot of people fall short. They don't have realistic goals. So the number-one thing we focus on is making sure we have the right goals in place.” Doyle says that agencies should always make sure that their clients really understand what they're looking for. If they're trying to build a website, for instance, is the underlying motive to garner traffic, or to say, have a home for their brand? Are they using it in their marketing efforts? Are they selling products? “From there, we can really start to understand what they would consider success to be in the first place, and then make sure we’re building strategies around their definition of success,” she says. “That way, when we hit those marks, they're actually excited about them, versus getting disappointed when unrealistic expectations aren’t met.” Manage expectations It’s important agencies test their messaging and general marketing efforts for clarity. You don’t want to spend precious time on call with prospects explaining what you do - that part should already be understood - rather, you should show them how your services eliminate their pain points. (Related: How to generate leads for your agency) “It’s once we actually start talking to the leads that we start converting them into customers,” Doyle says. “Now, the biggest thing we focus on is making sure that our onboarding process is top notch, starting with an in-depth questionnaire that gets quite nuanced, followed by a meeting to go over their answers and ask them to expand, or set a more realistic timeline.” All sorts of different factors might go into site creation, so you’d rather know them all upfront instead of discovering them during the design and development process. As the agency, it’s your job to develop that understanding of what’s needed (and expected) in order to deliver against those goals in a timely manner. Prioritize timelines by budget This may seem obvious, but budgets are a good way to prioritize how much time you give to each client. “We do work with business owners that might only have $500 a month to spend on marketing efforts, and others that have upwards of $10,000, and so those are going to be two completely different strategies,” says Doyle. She adds that normally people with smaller budgets might have shorter term strategies in mind, say, to get a website up and running, or enlist a professional agency’s help with a rebrand. Conversely, longer term strategies typically involve SEO growth strategies; people trying to build and evolve their brand from the ground up, not those pursuing a side project or extra work. “And so, our timelines depend on who we're working with and what their goals [and budgets] are,” Doyle says. “If they’re not looking for SEO services and they’re not looking to create a whole new brand, maybe they just got their cosmetology license and want to do hair on the side, then a simple website might suffice. We’ll prioritize it as such.” Find clients who understand the need for long-term marketing “A lot of people don't seem to understand that marketing is an investment. It's not something automatic where you see results right away. And so whether that investment is just one month, or six months, or a year, clients need to understand that it’ll definitely take time to start seeing that money back.” Perhaps counterintuitively, the right agency will communicate this truth up front. It’s best to let clients know if certain expectations are unrealistic, rather than getting to that point further down the line. This ties back to the previous points about setting realistic expectations for your marketing initiatives, managing client expectations from the start, and prioritizing clients who understand that true client success is a marathon, not a sprint. Leadership must commit to being available for clients “You might have 100,000 customers, but you want each one of them to feel like they're the only person you’re worried about,” says Doyle. To that end, she recommends setting up meetings as much as possible to demonstrate genuine effort in staying close to each client. “Everyone speaks to a sales representative first, but eventually they’ll have a project manager or an account manager depending on what service they have,” Doyle says. “We make sure the client always has two points of contact: the sales rep and the dedicated project or account manager.” It may seem like an unscalable practice for most agencies to uphold, so follow in Zoek CEO’s footsteps. Doyle explains that their CEO often responds to messages sent to the company’s general inbox. “Sometimes he’ll get notifications at five in the morning that someone forgot their password, and he’ll be the first to respond to help them reset it,” she says. “Him leading with ownership and accountability has really helped the rest of us step forward to the plate.” While we’re not saying leaders should stop everything they’re doing to address lower level concerns, it’s critical that everyone has a direct pulse on customer needs, pain points and general sentiment. Stay close to the customer As the saying goes, it’s best to underpromise and overdeliver. In order to do that, make sure to set realistic goals, manage expectations, prioritize timelines by budget, find clients who understand the need for long-term marketing, and make sure leadership commits to setting time aside to engage with clients.

This article was written by a human. It’s worth stating from the outset because if much of the hype around the latest advancements in AI technology is to be believed, most content can be covered by bots. Take OpenAI’s language model ChatGPT as an example. Launched in November 2022, the AI-based chatbot system uses Natural Language Processing (NLP) to generate conversations, responding to questions with relevant, human-like answers. When prompted to produce an introductory paragraph for an article that questions what AI means for the future of creativity, it provided the following: “In a world increasingly dominated by artificial intelligence (AI), the future of creativity is uncertain. AI has the potential to automate many creative tasks, from writing to art to music. This could lead to a world where creativity is monopolized by machines, with humans relegated to a supporting role.” AI would suggest that it can take a leading role in creativity. Still, it’s not a bad effort and a glimpse of just how far the technology has come, and where it could go. But hype and cynicism aside, what is the real value AI offers creative industries, what are its downsides, and what can agencies do now so they don’t miss the boat? Some key players and their AI tools While OpenAI is the company currently making the most waves in generative AI – buoyed by Microsoft’s investment interests and the idea that systems like ChatGPT may someday replace Google – many other businesses are inventing similar technology to create ‘original’ content. And, as ChatGPT alluded to, it’s across the entire creative spectrum: fine art, poetry, long-form articles, video and music. To generate content, these programs are trained on datasets of existing content that hold text, images, video files and code scraped from the internet. Covering AI music generation, you have the likes of Amper Music and Soundraw enabling users to create melodies in minutes. For text-to-image generation, Astria, OpenAI’s DALL·E 2, Midjourney and Jasper create images and art to match your message. AI video makers such as Alai and Synthesia are generating convincing avatars that speak to camera. Latte is taking much of the creative effort out of social media content, while OpenAI has a range of competitors vying for top spot in AI writing, including Copy.ai, Rytr and Writesonic. The list goes on, including Wix’s AI Text Creator, which it recently opened to Partners who are building sites for clients. While much of this software is still in its infancy or at beta stage, it is already disrupting creative industries. Some creators, like artist Refik Anadol, are fully embracing the tools and pushing the boundaries of contemporary art. Others, like designer Ammaar Reshi, are doing the unthinkable, producing work that would typically take months or years in just one weekend. Musicians like Nick Cave have weighed in, describing ChatGPT’s efforts to write a song in his style as “a grotesque mockery of what it is to be human.” While the future of journalism and publishing was called into question when tech news outlet CNET was found to be employing “automation technology” to write financial explainer articles under the guise of ‘CNET Money Staff.’ They later said that it was for research purposes only. Such stories remind us what an extremely grey area AI is, as we try to figure out how to use the technology for good. Indeed, we must navigate many ethical issues, like plagiarism, copyright law, quality of output, environmental impact, misinformation, bias and job loss. It’s a journey fraught with risk, but as with any emerging technology, there is much to be gained. Can AI replace human content writers? With ChatGPT forming much of the current AI conversation, it’s no surprise that the future of creating content is under the spotlight. For Laura Ramsay, content lead at Wix Partners, the emerging tech evokes both caution and excitement – excitement about how it might make us work more efficiently but caution about it replacing the human touch. “It will save a lot of time when researching topics, writing briefs, and for technical writing, knowledge base and UX,” she says. “However, we can’t guarantee that its answers will be relevant or up-to-date. Most importantly, the tone of voice, feelings, emotions and nuances that are carefully developed and told by the personalities behind the brands can't be replaced by a machine. It can serve many purposes but replacing actual writers to create original, smart content? I'm not convinced.” Ramsay believes AI can make the research phase of content creation much more efficient. It can also be used for inspiration when brainstorming ad copy directions or unique angles. For agencies, she says it saves time and money on repetitive tasks, such as writing eCommerce product descriptions, SEO duties like sorting Google search keywords into clusters, pitch support and proposals, but when it comes to writing brand stories and website copy, Ramsay believes personality is still key. The truth is, many agencies are still at the experimentation stage of using AI. According to the 2022 State of Marketing and Sales AI Report, 45% of marketers classify themselves as AI beginners, 43% say they’re at an intermediate level, while just 12% say they are at an advanced level. Expect more agencies to dive deeper in 2023, which many are calling ‘the year AI goes mainstream.’ With all this in mind, we spoke to six Wix Partners to hear how they’ve been using AI tools in their everyday work, plus see how it might impact their professions. Take a hybrid approach Matt Konarzewski, founder of Vision Marketing, is deep in the AI rabbit hole. He says agencies must adopt the technology to remain relevant to clients on all things digital. He’s been using AI tools for his agency blog. In one recent post, How to revolutionize your SEO strategy with Wix, he used ChatGPT to generate text, Synthesia to create video and Midjourney to build social media graphics. Konarzewski says AI will boost the speed of development, design and content creation, but expresses concern about the volume of “random content” that will flood the internet and how it might affect Google’s guidelines for SEO. Still, he believes agencies must take a hybrid approach and supplement their day-to-day work with AI tools to get the best results for clients. “With AI, we need to shift our creativity to different areas and work together with robots to achieve desired outcomes for our clients faster and better.” Don’t be afraid of AI. Leverage it. Carlos Cortez of S9 Consulting has been using AI writing software such as Jasper, Speedwrite and Copy.ai for the past two years and recently added ChatGPT to the mix. “It serves as a fantastic starting point for writing blog posts,” he says. “It can’t get you 100% there, but it gives you an excellent starting point for producing real content and SEO-driven phrases.” Cortez says AI will allow agencies to be more cost-effective in their content marketing services due to reduced product costs and time. He believes the critical challenge it poses is the reduced barrier to entry for prospects who would otherwise become clients. Rather than hiring an agency to write a blog post, they might use these tools to do the basics themselves. Still, despite the tech advancements, Cortez is optimistic about the continuing need for agency services. “Like anything, AI is just a tool,” he says. “All the greats know you have to grow and adapt with the times. This is no different. Don’t be afraid of technology; figure out ways to leverage it because it will never replace an agency’s expertise.” Integrate AI with your favorite tools Chris Sammarone, CEO of Upcode Studios, has been trialing ChatGPT and DALL·E 2 and describes it as a positive experience in supplementing his agency’s creative services. He’s intrigued about the technology’s potential to augment creative design and content. “We see a few major pros and cons to AI tools, such as the ability to save time and money on labor power and the potential for faster, more accurate turnaround rates,” he says. “Conversely, the potential for aesthetic constraints could discourage more artistic pursuits. We anticipate using these tools for time and labor-saving tasks and potentially fill gaps in our current services.” Sammarone expresses more interest in the research and development of the OpenAI API for his agency’s favorite development platforms. “We’re hoping to integrate this API into our client relationship and project management systems, follow-up processes and customer service workflows.” Create solid UX/UI foundations to build upon Jacob Murphy, founder of Act One Media, has been exploring the possibilities of AI tools but has yet to use them in a client project. “That may change soon, or it may never change,” he says. “AI tools are certainly interesting – and some of them are very cool – but it feels like they lack that indefinable human element that makes design surprising and fun.” Murphy sees opportunities to use AI in the early stages of web projects – a tool to create solid UX or UI foundations that agency teams can then tweak and build upon. His studio will explore these opportunities in more detail, but for now, he’ll leave the true creativity to humans. “AI can use a lot of rules to create something that feels creative, but I’m not sure it can create something that feels fresh or outside the box in the same way a great designer or writer can,” he says. “Maybe they can, and I just haven’t seen it yet, but for now, my feeling is there is something magical about a whimsical turn of phrase in copy or in a design full of personality, and that’s what I’m most interested in.” Automate tedious tasks Matthew Tropp of full-service media agency Blackthorn Publishing uses Jasper AI to generate content for press releases, blog posts and website copy. He says the results have been impressive and require minor revision. He’s intrigued by the potential OpenAI’s latest offerings bring to the industry and sees these tools as a way to produce high-quality client work in faster turnaround times. “AI will likely play an increasingly important role in web design, with the potential to greatly improve user experience and make the process of creating websites easier,” he says. “AI can help automate tedious tasks such as website testing, optimizing images and colors for best display, and can suggest changes to optimize a website’s performance. Additionally, AI can help create website layouts and designs optimized for user experience, helping increase conversions.” Tropp cites computer biases and copyright infringement as top concerns for professionals when it comes to AI, but believes the benefits outweigh the disadvantages and that the technology can revolutionize creative fields. “For me, It’s all about time management and efficiency when using AI,” he says. “It’s really helped my business grow.” Stay ahead of the competition Laylee Bodaghee, CEO at Shadow Knights Studio, predicts that in the next 3 to 5 years, AI will occupy 30 to 40% of most agencies’ capabilities. The studio currently uses systems like Midjourney, ChatGPT and DALL·E 2 to improve workflows and boost output. “To not use AI means falling behind the competition,” she says. “Project management, design, graphics, music, art, writing and more will all be auto-generated with smaller professional teams tinkering to get better outputs from the AI. This will mostly be our trajectory as well.” As AI tools continue to proliferate into most mediums, Bodaghee warns that industries must not allow these systems to exploit people and genuine expression. While she is excited about how the technology can improve performance and bring new ideas to the table, she says we must always encourage the real. (Read more about speculative design.) “The authentic experience will continue to be a currency of the future. Similar to how people still enjoy analog wristwatches, pottery, and crafts, music played by strings, there will always be a role for people who love to create by hand and strike an emotional response. Even when it’s no longer the norm, our team hopes to continue this long tradition of creative work well into the future.” Use AI to augment your creativity, not define it OpenAI says the ultimate aim of its technology is to achieve “artificial general intelligence.” That is, to fully mirror the intelligence, creativity and thoughtfulness of humans. It’s a big ask and a place we’re still some way from. Rather than prompt ChatGPT for a concluding comment on how and when we expect to get there, Bodaghee neatly sums up the overriding view among creative professionals. “With AI, you need to keep an open mind and explore what is possible within its confines or limitations,” she says. “You will find that AI can do a lot of the heavy lifting for you, but nothing is perfect, and many AI systems often deliver wrong answers or bizarre outputs. It will rest on your shoulders how to appropriately package the end product. In short, AI should be used to augment your creativity, not define it.” Ramsay echoes that sentiment and believes there will always be a demand for human creativity. “While we're all obsessed with content, absorbing it at all times and as much as we can, we're still searching for authenticity and connection,” she says. “And that can only be established by real people, with real emotions, with the ability to generate real responses.” Ultimately, with these advancements happening at such a rapid pace, agencies – and creators across all industries – will need to figure out how to make an impact in a world inundated with AI-generated content and where clients have advanced AI tools at their fingertips. You’d be brave to bet against the creatives using their expertise and natural creativity to maintain leading roles in their industries, even if ChatGPT tells us otherwise.

Lines, and their structural cousin, grids, are core elements of graphic design. As any minimalist will tell you, they define visual hierarchy, are the basis for functional ratios, like the rule of thirds and the golden ratio, and provide a sense of minimalist order, functionality, and clarity to compositions. If we zoom in on web design, though, lines are having a stylistic moment, too: narrow or bold, straight or squiggly, they’re prominent in fashion, editorial, e-commerce, media, and portfolios alike, making those websites more similar, at least in look, to wireframes than to sleek, finished products. They're also pragmatic: high-contrast linework is becoming an increasingly common tool for dividing space within an interface, both conceptually and graphically. It's a micro digital-rest-stop, providing order in the age of infinite scroll. The use of lines and linework is in part due to the ongoing popularity of web brutalism, a style that owes its name to the similarities it shares with architectural brutalism, a mid-century movement that prized essential geometric shapes, functionality, and a stark minimalism over ornamentalism. Much like its architectural counterpart, web brutalism has a markedly bare-boned, industrial, and geometric-forward aesthetic, in which the raw elements that constitute it are fully exposed. It’s clear that this visual style isn’t going anywhere. But the linework that embodied it is finding new, and more diffuse applications of its own. A solve for dense content Brutalist linework has become a welcome alternative in the realm of online media. Bloomberg was one of the earliest adopters in 2016, but the best example of how this visual language has evolved since is the news organization Semafor, which launched in 2022. When head of design & creative Al Lucca (who previously held design leadership positions at Axios and ViacomCBS) and product designer Joey Pfifer set out to design the look of news site, they wanted to find a way out the sameness he had been witnessing in competitors: a layout consisting of the hero image, rows of content, and a menu on the left, usually expanding from a hamburger icon. “We tried to pay homage to old newspapers and the first websites, with less elaborate HTML structures,” he says of his approach. The Semafor homepage, which uses fine, gray lines to separate items. Image: Semafor. While some news orgs, like the New York Times and Washington Post, also utilize thumbnail images and more interactive features, like slideshows, to create a sense of visual distinction, Semafor is even more stripped down. It forgoes images below the fold (aside from tiny grayscale headshots next to writer bylines), and makes its text the main focus. “On our site, spacing is really tight, and we had to solve for that somehow. We wanted the density of content,” he continued. “That brought another sort of issue: we need organization; we need separation.” So how do you make a content-dense page look visually distinct, rather than cluttered? The Semafor design team used fine, gray, dotted lines to separate items into a visible, grid-like formation and rendered the main art assets (clocks, a world map) in knocked-out linework as well. For sites that are chock-full of information and heavy on copy, like news outlets, lines give the user a sense of visual separation even when the margins between items are tight. “Lines are essential to good design,” says Lucca. The high-fashion trickle-down effect In eCommerce, lines and grids embody the zeitgeist of contemporary brands, conveying a refined, yet idiosyncratic minimalism. As independent designer Jiyoon Cha told Shaping Design for its piece on the ideas that will change web design in 2023, several formerly niche styles in fashion have had a trickle-down effect on mainstream brands. The brutalist style is one of them. Balenciaga, which has used a linework-heavy brutalist web design since 2017, is one of this style’s forerunners. You can now spot the style on non-fashion and CPG brands like Usual Wines, Mineral, or The Neue Co. Thingtesting, a comprehensive directory of direct-to-consumer brands, makes use of sleek grids and lines on its homepage. There’s also perfume brand DS and Durga and its geometric key art, developed by an architect and perfumer duo, the trend-averse, sartorially-forward Swedish fashion brand Totême, and Gen Z favorite Dieux skincare, with a logo rendered with filigree-like linework. It uses similarly fine lines to separate content and product items throughout the site. The way Dieux uses linework speaks to its practical benefit. Lines create a “resting place” for the eyes while we scroll, and create order in a seemingly chaotic and cramped layout. This is exemplified in the Whitney Museum website, which pays homage both to the contemporary art it houses and to the actual brutalism of its former headquarters. The site uses minimal, fine lines as a functional asset to create distinct menus and sections. These organizing characteristics make them a beloved asset in portfolios of creatives. (Related: parallax scrolling.) A structural tool with design neutrality This is apparent in portfolios such as the one by creative director Clem Shepherd, who used Wix to build it. “In the context of my website, lines are simply an effective way of organizing information,” says Shepherd. “My portfolio needs to demonstrate both an ability to design and to organize, and this must be reflected in the visual decisions I make in the layout of the site.” Shepherd uses lines to clearly delineate the boundaries between each section. “Lines are so fundamental that they can be used with relative design neutrality,” he says. “They guide the viewer's eye without drawing too much attention to themselves, offering structural support with minimal visual intrusion.” Images 1-3: portfolios by Yambo Studio head of production Clem Shepherd, designer Fanny Demier, and designer Yoonjung Chu. Images courtesy the designers. Organization without constraint But lines are more than scaffolding. When creative-growth acceleration company Huge Inc underwent a major redesign earlier last year, the lines of the letter H became the foundation of the homepage design: when you scroll, the H expands and contracts to create a grid-like structure. “Lines have always been a great tool for designers to find a marriage of form and function, as they simultaneously organize content while adding some simple visual interest and flow people through a page, component, or to a call to action,” says Rich Bloom, Huge’s creative director. In all, lines and grids allow for a lot of creative and formal freedom. Says Semafor creative director Al Lucca: “Whether you work with lines or spaces, grids give you structure so you can play with them: playing also means breaking them.”

To niche or not to niche? That is the question. And how niche is ‘too niche?’ Many agencies face this dilemma at some point in their career. They want to clearly define their target audience yet they don’t want to harm their long-term growth prospects by limiting their total addressable market. The sweet spot, therefore, entails finding niches that encourage repeat business and scale. One way to do this is to identify hot emerging niches with no signs of slowing down and dedicating your messaging to that market. This helps agencies stand out from the competition and attract high-quality clients willing to pay a premium for specialized services. As 2023 unfolds, consider these ten promising areas agencies can tap into to score new clients. Personal finance Households across the world felt the sting of rising inflation costs in 2022. In the last quarter, less than half of Americans (45%) said they had at least $1,000 in savings, and over a third (36%) have no savings at all according to a State of Personal Finance 2022 report. Agencies that can design websites, mobile app solutions and platforms for personal finance companies can make recurring revenue with such clients. Think: Acorns, which allows you to invest your spare change; Current, originally an early bank account for teens; Greenlight, which offers automatic allowances, chore tracking, budgeting, charitable giving and debit cards for kids; Klarna, the pioneer of buy now, pay later; and MoCaFi, the mobile-first banking platform for Black and Hispanic communities with traditionally less access to banking. Sustainable fashion As consumers become more environmentally conscientious, sustainable fashion is becoming an increasingly hot topic. This niche includes clothing and accessories made from environmentally friendly materials and produced in an ethical manner. Agencies can strike long lasting partnerships with brands by offering web design, social media and creative services. Check out brands such as ETÉREA, Pact, Sotela and Dzukou for inspiration. If you’re looking to build powerful brands for sustainable fashion companies, take a look at Wix for eCommerce. Mental health & wellness The ongoing pandemic has put a spotlight on the importance of mental health and wellness. Agencies dedicated to areas in this space — like online therapy sessions and virtual yoga classes — are poised for success in 2023. But just so you know, people can spot ‘fake wellness’ from a mile away, so be sure to authentically commit to the space by including mental health initiatives in your own agency, being well-versed in the lingo, understanding the landscape via competitive research and helping clients get granular with their target demographics to better serve their clients’ unique needs and pain points. Business coaches & online course creators Business coaching is a rapidly expanding space for freelancers according to Forbes, which has translated to more online coaches and course creators than ever before. Three quarters of all clients find their coaches online, according to a recent survey conducted by Upcoach.com. Agencies that design websites and create content for coaches who offer social media marketing, thought leadership, blogging and publishing online courses will go far in 2023. Focusing on individuals may require a different strategy than selling your services to B2B companies, so consider how much you’d need to charge each client to stay viable. Check out Wix’s Online Program to build and sell multi-step online courses of your own. Travel and the outdoors As we near the tail end of the pandemic, consumers are eager to reconnect with nature and go on adventures. An increase in demand for activities such as camping, hiking and rock climbing, as well as travel to remote destinations, has tipped travel brands to focus on more authentic and sustainable experiences. And while many struggle to fork over the cash required to go on such adventures, Gen Z is leading the travel category. According to a report by trndsttrs media, over half of the generation already has an international trip planned for 2023, and 65% report that traveling is the most important way to spend their money. Moreover, Forbes reports that digital nomading has been on the rise since the start of the pandemic, hinting at the idea of servicing hotels and individuals with long term Airbnb accomodations. Telehealth and private medical practices Hospitals and medical practices were also heavily impacted by the pandemic, and many embraced telehealth when possible. The number of physicians using telehealth for virtual visits grew from 14% in 2016 to 80% in 2022, according to a 2022 AMA Digital Health study. Creative agencies can provide a wide range of services for telehealth brands such as designing a visual identity including logos and color schemes to convey the brand's message and values. They can also create marketing and advertising campaigns that raise awareness of telehealth services and educate potential patients about its benefits, and develop educational videos, infographics, and social media and email campaigns to reach their clients’ target audience and explain how telehealth works and what the benefits are. Accessibility With the rise of remote work and eCommerce, there's a growing need for website design that caters to users with disabilities. The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) set the standard for accessibility on websites, and more and more companies are being held accountable for ensuring that their websites are accessible to all users. Web design agencies that can conduct accessibility audits, implement accessibility features and provide guidance on how to make websites more accessible will be well-positioned to take advantage of this growing market. Online learning platforms With more college students learning remotely than ever before, the market for online learning platforms is growing rapidly. Platforms that offer interactive, engaging content and that can adapt to a wide range of learning styles will be particularly in demand, as will the agencies that help them do it. Specializing in learning management systems means your agency will need strong technical and UX proficiencies. Digital fitness Just 7% of US fitness enthusiasts expect to work out exclusively at a gym, according to Insider Intelligence, as compared to the 42% who expect to exercise at home, or the remaining 51% who plan on using some combination of the two. As such, new ‘digital fitness’ products and services have emerged, spanning the full gamut of new age fitness tools, including livestream workouts, at-home products such as Mirror, Tonal, Tempo or Peloton, new VR experiences and wearable apps. Agencies looking to break out in this market can provide cutting edge web designs for emerging brands, branded app experiences, social media marketing and SEO services for big tech clients or online coaches. Here’s how to build a fitness website and more on Wix’s fitness software. Virtual event planning With the rise of remote work and social distancing measures, virtual events became more popular than ever as the ‘url’ alternative to irl events. And though lockdowns and social distancing are firmly behind us now, there’s a newfound understanding of how to leverage technology to improve the experience of gathering for a conference, keynote, panel discussion, hackathon, trade show, career fair or company event. According to a 2023 SkiftMeetings report, 71% of event organizers want to retain virtual elements for their in-person meetings and conferences. There's a growing demand for event planners who can help organizations host successful hybrid events. That includes setting the business strategy, designing the event page, creating a connected app or online experience, publishing social media and email marketing campaigns, managing the live event as it's happening and creating follow-up campaigns afterwards. Looking forward Leaning into emerging niches can mean anything from adding a new customer segment to a full rebrand. You’ll need to update your messaging, but the route you take is entirely contextual and can depend on the size of each addressable market, how differentiated your agency is within the niche, your ability to serve customers in a particular area, as well as the industry’s general trajectory. Of course, you don’t want to isolate your current clients while looking at new niches. We recommend dipping your toes in a new client pool before cannon-balling into what might prove shallow waters. Ultimately, emerging niches present a wealth of opportunity for businesses to differentiate themselves and tap into new markets. By staying attuned to the latest trends and paying attention to evolving consumer needs and preferences, companies can stay ahead of the curve and continue to innovate and grow. Now is the time to think outside of the box and consider new niches to explore.