It's easy for brand and marketing communications to get so wrapped up in subtleties and details that the core message gets lost or subsumed. Websites (and trade show booth) are two common examples where it’s often possible to stand there and stare and yet be unable to figure out ‘exactly what do they do?’.

One of the nice components of what I’d call ‘web 2.0’ design trends is a focus on simplicity and clarity – often centered around a clear central service statement. Today I came across a prime example at San Francisco based Mule Design. Landing at their site your eye is instantly drawn to a perfectly clear and simple declaration of their purpose. (click the image to enlarge)

The statement itself is followed by an equally clear qualifying statement, at which time users should be fairly clear if they’re in the right spot or not, and can then move onto taking in the other elements of the site’s navigation and information.

Does your site make it this clear exactly what you do?

BONUS: A list of web2.0 companies and their traffic volumes. From here you can go see what a whole bunch of these sites look like, and hopefully see the design trend I mentioned.