Show the Path, Not the Destination
Written by Steve Fisher Saturday, 14 March 2009 09:33
I'm attending a session by Brendan Dawes, Gary Hustwit and Jim Coudal followed by a discussion on the subject of creating more involving, entertaining, successful projects by structuring them in a way that encourages the audience to be a key part of the process of discovery.
Generally speaking you should be pointing your audience in the right direction and then getting the hell out of the way. In film, programming and design, the most satisfying works are those that on their most basic level are created along with an audience, not simply for one. It becomes a conversation.
Generating Ideas
Written by Steve Fisher Saturday, 14 March 2009 08:10
Ok . Fair warning here . This post will be written in point form, stream of consciousness, note taking, mind mapped, "scattered" form. It is all great stuff , but you're going to have to think about the items and expand them yourself. The basis of this post is a session at SXSW by Scott from www.behance.com . You should check them out.
Some people and teams are able to generate ideas over and over.
Content Management System Showdown
Written by Steve Fisher Monday, 09 March 2009 20:14
Just recently I was invited to join up with an elite team of website content management system (CMS) developers and designers from around the globe to compete in an "iron chef" style competition for SXSW (South by South West). There was a long list of specs and a tight timeline, but most important I was able to represent our favourite CMS Joomla on a global stage. Well, actually the stage will be in a room in the Hilton in Austin, but the website can be seen from anywhere.
My primary role was to take the spec design and roll it into a clean and clear CMS template. With the help of Arno Zijlstra who handed off the base framework for the template (very strong start) I was able to implement an elegant design. The development team consisted of Amy Stephen (team leader), Mitch Pirtle (for moral support) and Tibor Toth . Really there were so many involved with support, advice, software add-ons it was overwhelming. That is the beauty and HUGE benefit of open source software, the community behind it all.
The Alberta Sweet 16 Winter Edition
Written by Nicole Wednesday, 04 March 2009 00:52
The first Sweet 16 promotion of central Alberta events throughout the summer wrapped up at the beginning of September. Its success has prompted the Central Alberta Tourism Committee to continue promoting the events that make central Alberta a great tourism destination: even in the winter. This continued campaign starts this week (promoting Agri-Trade and Christmas in Markerville) and runs through til May 1st, 2009. From Stettler's Festival of Lights to Sylvan Lake's Polar Bear Dip in chilly February, there are all sorts of winter happenings to get you off the couch and into your parka.
Camp Harmattan Website: New Project!
Written by Nicole Braseth Friday, 13 February 2009 12:39
Camp Harmattan is a summer camp located just north of Calgary, near the community of Olds. They approached us with the task of redesigning their website to make it more appealing to the people that come to the camp.
We'll be looking to sunny summer for inspiration for the site's new playful look, integrating a content management system and organizing the navigation. As always, I'll keep you posted of the launch!
Kello-Bilt Website: Launch!
Written by Nicole Braseth Friday, 13 February 2009 09:50
I introduced you to Kello-Bilt back in August when we first started working with them. A few months later (my blog is a bit on the late side) and they have an updated website! The new version has been cleaned up and reorganized so that accessing information is easier for the user. Navigation was restructured and we incorporated a content management system into the works so that Kello-Bilt has the ability to update their own site whenever they like.
Though our changes might appear subtle, Kello-Bilt's site is now ready to work harder for them.
Everything we do feels better when it's green.
Written by Nicole Braseth Wednesday, 04 February 2009 12:08
Idea Market's Environmental Policy
At Idea Market we want to focus on doing the right thing. We want our decisions in the workplace to reflect our dedication to limiting our environmental footprint on our world and the design industry. This means working with similarly-minded clients and suppliers, and continuing to shape both our business and our personal choices with the belief that doing the right thing for the environment is doing the right thing for Idea Market.
Why Green?
Going ‘green’ is a simple thing to do. It’s the right thing to do. It’s the way it should be. The question shouldn’t be “why would you do this?”, it should be “why WOULDN’T you?”
Things We’re Doing:
- reduce transportation (carpooling/biking/walking/longboarding to work, grouping out-of-town meetings on the same day, eliminating face-to-face meetings via teleconferencing when possible)
- reduce waste (using coffee to-go mugs, going digital and using less print-outs for proofing purposes, ink refills for the printers, using scrap paper for notes and filling every writable inch)
- reduce energy needs (turning off the computers at night, choosing energy-efficient office lighting and monitors)
- we recycle (of course)
- environmental education (for ourselves: a constant learning process on being more efficient, and for our clients: persuading a “less is more” approach)
- using green(er) options (FSC certified paper, digital proofing, using recycled materials, local printing companies, carbon-neutral website hosting, choosing to do business with companies that also put a focus on environmentally-friendly processes)
Idea Market strives to continue adding environmentally-sound options and behaviours to the list above. By educating our clients, practicing simple policies (such as those above), and choosing to work with and reward “green” clients (we offer a discount for projects that are in-line with our environmental goals), we can do good work while doing good.
Failure to Launch
Written by Carson Pierce Wednesday, 28 January 2009 23:32
A fairly significant project launched recently with a press conference and all the media coverage that naturally follows. And as is often the case now, the project centered around a website that would do all the heavy lifting. Intrigued, I decided to check it out. I typed in the address from memory and was disappointed to find one of those junky sites that indicate that the name is registered, but there’s no website yet. Maybe I got it wrong, I thought, and tried the .com version of the same address. Bingo. According to the address clearly displayed on the site, though, I was right the first time. So the wrong address works and the right one doesn’t; most people will never figure that out and will simply give up. But let’s assume for a moment that they do somehow end up on the proper site.
The homepage featured a bold design and the kind of introductory content I expected to find. So far, so good – now to go deeper. The first link I visited told me that that section was unavailable. Next I went to news. Nothing had been entered yet. Ditto for the calendar. Then I remembered something in the newspaper article that I wanted to check out. A little digging brought me to a page that didn’t quite get me there, but was close. Unfortunately, it also had seven links to the non-existent page, several obvious typos, a broken layout and two broken images. I decided to ignore all this and fill out a detailed form to get access to what I really wanted. It didn’t work. At this point I gave up completely and decided to check out the website designer’s own site... just out of curiosity.
Although their logo was featured prominently in a couple spots, it took a while before I found an actual link to their website. Once I found it, I was faced with more disappointment: their site was mostly down for redevelopment. All that was left was a notice saying as much and an expired event advertisement. Too bad; this was a big opportunity for exposure for themselves and it was simply squandered.
The moral of the story? If you’re going to make a big splash with your website, make sure you’re ready. As they say, you only get one chance to make a first impression and you want to make sure it’s your best. Your site needs to be 100% ready and thoroughly tested before the big unveiling. Text needs to be well-written and carefully proofed. All images and other media files have to be optimized and in place. Functionality needs to be tested inside out.
Equally important, there has to be enough content in place to make the initial visit worthwhile for users. If people see that there is valuable information to be had, they’ll come back for more. If they are faced with an empty site, they will mentally strike it from the record and may never return; there are lots of other places to hold their attention.
How do you accomplish all this and avoid the scenario above? You must have a plan. This plan will include all the steps you need to get you from point A to point Z without missing any of the points in between and without blowing your deadline. It will have things like a content delivery plan that dictates what text, images and multimedia you need and when. It will include a checklist of things that need to happen to ensure success like registering and pointing domain names with time to spare. And it will certainly have a proofing and testing process to catch any typos or bugs before launch. (Leave lots of time for this last one – you’ll need it!)
Curious about the Idea Market plan? This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it about it; we’d be happy to walk you through our tested process of getting your website launched in a hassle-free fashion.
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