When Chris Lona looks at a website he sees potential - potential for a better, more engaging and user-friendly website.

“Companies really do themselves a disservice by having a standard web presence,” Lona said.

Lona takes an innovative multi-media approach to website design and has been ahead of his time for years. His designs not only make websites more engaging, it also makes it easier to use for people with disabilities.

He uses voice narration, music, large type, and visual stimulation. He approaches a website like a presentation. A friendly voice presents the website to visitor guiding the visitor from page to page. Full-page images and limited text keeps the pages simple and visually stimulating.

“It’s an exercise on simplicity,” said Lona.

The narration can be turned off or the user can skip ahead or back at any giving moment. Lona said that visitors navigate through the pages without having to use the mouse which aids the visually impaired as well as quadriplegic people or people suffering from diseases like Carpal Tunnel Syndrome.

“It accommodates people with disabilities and engages everyone else in a more stimulating way,” said Lona, who himself wears an eye-patch as a result of a brain tumor and double vision when he was a senior in college.

Lona said his designs are relevant to Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act which requires Federal agencies to make their electronic and information technology accessible to people with disabilities. Lona is on currently on contract with Seattle City Light to update their website.

“One day there was a blind man riding the bus so I mustered up my courage and asked him questions about being blind. I asked him if a website with audio prompts would help. He said ‘that would be nice’,” Lona said.

“I eliminated the need for a voice reader that talks like a machine. A human voice works so much better.”

Lona has a background in architecture and graphic design and specializes in branding. One of his current branding clients is Ballard Licensing.

While his designs benefit people with handicaps, Lona said his projects started of with the intend to make presentations more engaging and that his real niche is in tourism, travel, and spa and resort websites.

“The whole intent of a resort or a cruise is to enhance the experience but where does the visit start? - a standard, template based site when it could start with an interactive, immersive experience," he said.

“There are just so many practical, pragmatic uses for this design.”

But Lona stated he’s been having a hard time getting his business off the ground.

“Frankly, it’s been really frustrating to get people to see the benefits of this,” he said. Lona said that his designs are far from the template-form websites which means he spends a lot of time educating people on the design and its usage.
“The encouraging things is that whenever I show it to people, people never say ‘I don’t like it’,” Lona said.

Lona said he sees the internet moving towards full screen videos instead of text-based websites.

“The beauty of this project is that the still images only take a minute amount of bandwidth,” he said.

For more information about Chris Lona designs, please visit http://www.cldesignonline.com/projects_p1.htm