CU Innovators » Web Design http://cuinnovators.com At CU Innovators, we help credit unions, CUSO's, and service providers create meaningful products and services for their members and clients. Tue, 08 Nov 2011 19:36:13 +0000 en hourly 1 Cinch Online Banking Design Contest http://cuinnovators.com/blog/cinch-online-banking-design-contest/ http://cuinnovators.com/blog/cinch-online-banking-design-contest/#comments Thu, 10 Sep 2009 16:04:15 +0000 Robbie Wright http://blog.cuemployee.com/?p=398 Our design contest at Crowdspring is over! We had over 200 entires and have narrowed it down to a few that we like. I now have even more respect for designers. Design by committee, or rather approval by committee, is tough!

Pick your favorite three!

]]> http://cuinnovators.com/blog/cinch-online-banking-design-contest/feed/ 5 Don't get lost in error messages http://cuinnovators.com/blog/dont-get-lost-in-error-messages/ http://cuinnovators.com/blog/dont-get-lost-in-error-messages/#comments Fri, 14 Aug 2009 20:13:10 +0000 Robbie Wright http://blog.cuemployee.com/?p=359 Problems are bound to happen with any software application or website.  Count it.  Hopefully the vendor of said software or your internal staff has the mechanisms in place to catch any and all errors that may occur, log them, and notify the appropriate people to take action.  Occasionally, system maintenance of some variety will also take down a system for whatever reason.

Garmin, the GPS manufacturer, clearly has this figured out and has realized the importance of providing meaningful messages to their customers when something goes awry.  I use one of those fancy GPS watches to run and cycle with and recently when I went to upload my training info to their website, I received the messages below.  Every time you visited the site while it was undergoing maintenance, you would receive one of these messages.    Additionally, you’ll notice each message is tailor to their specific industry with captions and images that are meaningful to their customers.  If a bank or credit union had error messages like this for their website or online banking, I’d probably switch immediately because it demonstrates their commitment and thoroughness to customer satisfaction.

Garmin error message Garmin error message Garmin error message ]]> http://cuinnovators.com/blog/dont-get-lost-in-error-messages/feed/ 0 Simple and Clean http://cuinnovators.com/blog/simple-and-clean/ http://cuinnovators.com/blog/simple-and-clean/#comments Tue, 23 Oct 2007 17:33:42 +0000 Robbie Wright http://blog.cuemployee.com/2007/10/23/simple-and-clean/ Imagine if you could make a credit union web site as simple (and gorgeous) as Snooth.  A real simple home banking login in the top right corner, and the massive search box in the middle.  Some CU’s are using virtual assistants (like Julie at Coast Capital) and some CU’s are using voice recognition for telephone banking.  Why not take that concept to your website with a search box?  Your members could search for locations or open new account or history or CEO and hopefully find what they are looking for.  Snooth even has, "Can I see some examples" to help those out who would have a hard time using a search box to find what they are looking for.  I’m by no means a web design pro, but this seems like it would make a killer CU site!

]]> http://cuinnovators.com/blog/simple-and-clean/feed/ 12 CU Posts for Website Redesign on Blog http://cuinnovators.com/blog/cu-posts-for-website-redesign-on-blog/ http://cuinnovators.com/blog/cu-posts-for-website-redesign-on-blog/#comments Fri, 07 Sep 2007 23:52:29 +0000 Robbie Wright http://blog.cuemployee.com/2007/09/07/cu-posts-for-website-redesign-on-blog/ Here’s a CU that has posted for a website redesign on a blog with a budget of $500 to $1000 to do some basic modifications to their site!  Awesome way to use a blog to get the word out!  Looks like the bid actually came from an online firm called designquote.net.  If anyone knows which CU this is (they’re in Texas) I’d love to talk to them and see if I can get them up and running with a free WordPress site or at least get Trabian involved!

]]> http://cuinnovators.com/blog/cu-posts-for-website-redesign-on-blog/feed/ 4 CU Homepage on WordPress! http://cuinnovators.com/blog/cu-homepage-on-wordpress/ http://cuinnovators.com/blog/cu-homepage-on-wordpress/#comments Thu, 16 Aug 2007 17:25:07 +0000 Robbie Wright http://blog.cuemployee.com/2007/08/16/cu-homepage-on-wordpress/ Just stumbled onto Mutual Savings CU’s website and it is done with WordPress.  And, I don’t know if sadly is the right word here, but it looks a lot better than many CU sites I’ve seen!  Very easy to navigate and very clean!  It is a great example of how WordPress doesn’t just have to be a blogging engine, but works great as a CMS as well.

]]> http://cuinnovators.com/blog/cu-homepage-on-wordpress/feed/ 12 Flash, Flash, everywhere! http://cuinnovators.com/blog/flash-flash-everywhere/ http://cuinnovators.com/blog/flash-flash-everywhere/#comments Thu, 09 Aug 2007 21:38:43 +0000 Robbie Wright http://blog.cuemployee.com/2007/08/09/flash-flash-everywhere/  

As of late, I’ve been seeing flash websites pop up everywhere.  The latest FI-related one is called Lose Your Lunch Hour.  We’ve seen Dump Your Bank and the Coop Crusader this year.  It seems that lots of FI’s and organizations are spending money on these great looking flash sites, but what exactly is it they do?  How are they getting monetized? (I doubt they are)

Two more examples outside of the FI industry: The Simpson’s Movie and Honda F1 Racing.  These are clearly great marketing tools, but how can CU’s best take advantage of this new trend?  Picking on bankers forever isn’t going to make any money, so how we incorporate great flash with a functional website?  Coast Capital has some cool use of flash, but again, it is not a key component of their functional website.  Maybe VanCity’s We All Profit?  Another great example of a flash marketing website, but how can we use these?

 

 

 

]]> http://cuinnovators.com/blog/flash-flash-everywhere/feed/ 3 maybe I just like the big heads http://cuinnovators.com/blog/maybe-i-just-like-the-big-heads/ http://cuinnovators.com/blog/maybe-i-just-like-the-big-heads/#comments Fri, 30 Mar 2007 06:24:00 +0000 Robbie Wright http://blog.cuemployee.com/?p=101 Like the title eludes to, maybe I just like the big bobble heads on this site, but it seems pretty cool for a CU industry site.

Marketing Association for Credit Unions (Canada)

]]> http://cuinnovators.com/blog/maybe-i-just-like-the-big-heads/feed/ 0 West Coast Bank goes custom http://cuinnovators.com/blog/west-coast-bank-goes-custom/ http://cuinnovators.com/blog/west-coast-bank-goes-custom/#comments Fri, 22 Dec 2006 21:42:00 +0000 Robbie Wright http://blog.cuemployee.com/?p=81 West Coast Bank’s new(er) homepage takes some cues for the likes of Yahoo, Google, and Live and let’s the users of the site customize their own homepage. It appears that the WCB site is actual hosted and managed by Digital Insight, their online banking provider. Look at the source code on the page, and nearly the whole page is redirected to DI.

While I love the idea of CU’s, err, financial institutions, letting their members/customers customize their homepage, I’m not sold on the way in which WCB has put it together. While I applaud their attempt of bringing some Web 2.0 stuff out, the page could simply look better. That being said, it’s still a step in the right direction!

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