POST DIGITAL

ON: Great Design Shops

This past week I was shopping for flash design shops.  After revisiting some of my old favorites  creaktif.com and 2advanced.com I found that they are still at the edge of interactive design.  Check them out.

I noted that they did a ton of brand prototypes with non-traditional navigational expereinces(lots of easter eggs) .  I rarely predict the future of our industry but I think this the future of Expereince Design.  Thoughts?

ON: Jing

This past week I stunmbled on to the Mac version of SnagIt.  (SnagIt is ascreen capturing software) The freeware is called Jing.   What I love about Jing is that it is a small widget that sits unobtrusively in the top right corner of your desktop.  It allows you to capture, video, save and share. Another big plus is that it is cross platform.  Check it out at http://www.jingproject.com/

ON: HP's Project:Direct

Are you interested in directing an original film using specific elements outlined by award-winning filmmaker, Jason Reitman?  If so, you could get the exposure you need to turn your craft into a career.  HP and YourTube have set up a new channel to encourage young aspiring creatives to live out their dreams.

If you win, you're going to a major international film festival where you'll attend surprise industry events, meet with executives from Fox Searchlight Pictures, and show your film at a private event. You'll also see your winning short broadcast on the home page of YouTube in countries all over the world, and you'll win a $5000 debit card.

This is a great way for HP to try and continue its award winning campaign into a second year.  How better to keep the computer personal by facilitating aspiring filmmakers to use it products to create personal stories.  Check it out at http://www.youtube.com/projectdirect

ON: Widsets Go Live

Tommi from Nokia’s Beta Lab brings news that the Widsets app has gone from a Beta version to a live service. The library has over 2,000 widgets that you can add to your device, allowing you to organise your mobile dashboard.

This is a first in what will be a winter of mobile widget launches.

ON: Crescent Heights

The marketing industry is all a buzz about branded content and Procter & Gamble's deep dive with "Crescent Heights".  Some think it is genius. Others are ripping it like Ad Rants.  Here is the skinny... P&G launched an online program called "Crescent Heights." The show features a recent college graduate named Ashley, who hails from Wisconsin and recently moved to Los Angeles to begin a career in public relations. The story focuses on Ashley's work life, love life and acclimation to being in a new city. Intertwined throughout the program is the connection to Tide, which serves as the sole sponsor/creator of "Crescent Heights." Advertisers have been creating funny and unique clips or commercials online, very few of those advertisers own a space online.  In order for a brand to do this you have to do more than produce a funny video. P&G has joined the ranks of Ice Breakers (Watch and Whoa), American Express (2006 Dish Program) and Sears (Extreme Home Makeover) with original programming.  What is really smart about this is a simple strategy that uses technology to blur the line.(Fuse the Blue and start a conversation).

I give P&G credit for trying to leverage online video to create something new and different. The company is credited with inventing the soap opera by sponsoring the "Ma Perkins' radio show and, later, "Guiding Light," so you would expect such an innovator to be one of the first to try to recreate that success in today's digital universe. As television consumption among young adults and children drastically declines, advertisers are trying to engage this audience where they are, which means the Web and eventually mobile. This is a first step by an advertiser to do just that outside of basic video advertising (pre-roll) and sponsorships on social networking Web sites.

I found the quality of the production to be relatively good.  My expereinbce with both Ice Breakers and American Express tells me that a lot of thought went into these segments and it is quite clear that professional production teams were involved.

Another thing to point out is that the show bleeds the brand. Take a moment and focus on how every aspect of the show relates to the product. Bright colors are used throughout, especially when it comes to the apparel of each character, but it wasn't excessive. The actual package of Tide was intertwined through at least three of the four segments I watched, but I wouldn't say its use was over-the-top or too advertorial.  It was access.  Large media companies need to wake up and smell the coffee.  Brands are now doing what you used to do. 

Tide has been so effective with its marketing, and I give them credit for trying something new when it comes to online video, I am not sure if this latest endeavor is going to achieve the desired results. I think the program is geared toward a slightly older audience, which is looking for relevant, entertaining content as well as they may be disappointed upon learning that Tide is the creator. Consumers can be skeptical and I think they will constantly be waiting to be "sold," taught a lesson about detergent or be given laundry tips. I also do not know who tunes in on a regular basis to follow the evolution of these characters.

I suspect we will see an increase in new ideas and developments from major advertisers, especially within the online video arena. I also know there is an opportunity to leverage video for more of these types of creations.  The key is good content. Then they need to generate broad awareness through distribution as well as preparing the content in away that continues the conversation. 

After watching "Crescent Heights," I realized that unlike Ice Breakers Watch and Whoa and American Express' 2006 The Dish program (which was programing that was contectually relevent)  Tide can expect significant perception challenges to overcome - but with the right storyline - anything can happen.

ON: BMW Welt (World)

caught this in the contagious newsletter

In addition to the ‘bigger = better’ trend in branded destinations (the  London and Atlanta’s New World of Coke, The Hershey or M&M Stores in Time Square - the list goes on and on), I noticed that you can barely call yourself a auto brand these days if you don't have a gigantic glass and steel shrine with which to dazzle the world’s motor heads. The latest of these brand destinations is BMW Welt (BMW World). Its primary function is to elevate the experience of collecting your new car to something altogether more ethereal than the mere exchange of a signature for a set of keys.

Located in Munich, the building is the work of architect Wolf Prix, who drew inspiration from the suitably lofty Acropolis in Athens. The facilities include a public gallery, conference suite and a center where children aged 7-13 can learn about mobility. It’s also been constructed as sustainable as possible, with a naturally ventilated hall and solar roof panels.

The remarkable structure is open and bleeds the BMW essence of design and engineering.  The architecture is more than just a shell for the delivery of cars, but reflects the elegance and dynamics that BMW represents.   BMW Welt is one of the first works of a new generation of dynamic communication buildings.

The more of this real world physical or environmental branding I see, the more I can’t help but wonder: Is this the next big shift in social movement and brand communications? Is the importance of digital activity in the real world catching up with that in the online space?

Source: Contagious Magazine

What are your favorites??

ON: Linked In A Box

Are you on Linked in? 
If so and you have a web page or social media profile you have to get Linked In a Box!

Check out the widget below.

LinkedIn Profile

What I love about this is that it begins to bridge the gap between Linked In and other Social networking applications.

ON:Asynchronous Conversations with VoiceThread

VoiceThread, the social annotation tool for adding voice to media, has launched a new Social Player, letting groups annotate shared media with drawing, voice and text commentary.

These items can be embedded on other social networks like MySpace and hi5, and can be added to your own website or blog. These are live annotations that can be edited and modified over and again, so it can be used for gaining real-time feedback from an audience, or group collaboration on a project.

The idea behind VoiceThread’s new Social Player is to lower the barriers to participation from site visitors and users, making it easier to add your voice to media that’s shared online. Some of the features with the new Social Player enable you to send a secure “PitchTread” where users can collect questions from others (clients, customers, etc.), and the ability to create presentations.

ON: eXPerince Design Best Practices Lead To Rich Results

As many of you know one of my favorite things is adding my years of consumer site and media testing experience to the design of web brands.  More and more often, When I sit down to ideate and create I try to find relevant examples that prove the best use of the space combined with knowledge of best Web 2.0 practices and, ultimately, the ability to build usable sites.

Now, after a weeks of designing a sites that I feel good about,  I take a step back and realize that sometimes those three things combined, to most clients, sounds ideal.  But the result seems to produce results that are, to use a metaphor, like plain yogurt. A lot of people like plain yogurt and I'd say that plain yogurt is the safest of flavors, but it is tough to get passionate, sassy or even evangelize plain yogurt. You can put toppings on it, you can mash other things into it, but it is still plain yogurt.

The same can be said of most marketing campaigns.  Now port that into the Web 2.0 world where presentation layer programing allows us some of the most flexibility of true design that I have ever seen. (remember I date back to text links for design)

I think that this is the difference between usability and user experience.  I know that many people in the industry, particularly those in the field of user experience (including myself) , have been working to better define the difference, however, that definition has failed to reach the client-side decision-makers as well as the majority of agency side creatives. They continue to ask for usability and for in-industry best practices.

Here is the difference: User eXPerience is focused on ensuring that the targeted user gets the best experience possible based on the desired outcome for that user. For example, a user gets through a shopping cart without obstruction (in this case, it would be easy to say that the cart was "usable"). That is pretty straightforward and common; we optimize regularly to tighten a checkout process.  In an UXP world we are looking for a "net - net " take away.

With a usability focus, you might provide your users with a different function that pairs them with their desired menu items much more quickly, but we know, from analytics, that they're going to get there and we need them to know something that may improve their experience with the site in the future. Ideally, that is user experience.

I fell in love with User eXPerience after reading my integrated marketing textbook from Kellogg.  There were so many examples of how to improve a user experience through innovation, flow and design of the key objectives.  As most of you know I am generally brought in to clean up messy, flat or unthoughtful user experiences.  That is my job.  A fresh set of innovative eyes with the power to revamp and relaunch.

Recently, I was highlighting the experience design for a site we are building. I had defensible statistics for just about everything; however, there was an audience member who simply could not break away from "web 1.0 practices of lots of clicking/digging to get to a tertiary objective of the site.  It is those old school web design practices that do not allow the user to multi-task in one interface.  In my opinion we were setting up the entire experience to be plain yogurt. And for a site with so much exposure they cannot afford plain yogurt they need a Tasty Freeze.

A persons experience can always be improved, and there is definitely room for usability improvements in all work product. However, we need to step back and ensure that a usability enhancement doesn't diminish the brand, nor does it minimize the overall experience. If we simply focused on in-industry (or competitive) best practices and pure usability (boring), we would end up with sites that mirror one another rather than deliver an experience that best reflects the company or campaign. Consumers would find it difficult to differentiate a brand best connected with on a more personal or emotional level.

Think about the real-world and notice the unique feel of each of these brand experiences: Target compared to Walmart, Best Buy to Circuit City, Dean and Deluca to Starbucks. These are pretty obvious examples of how experience differentiates a brand.  now take that to the web where anything is possible and access is unlimited.

So here is my request to those of who manage brands and interactive departments - quit being a follower. don't design a web site.  develop a brand experience.  LEAD.  Leading is risky - but the pay off is usually paved with rich results.

My Advise: "KNOW THYSELF" - Socrates   "Know Thy Brand" - Mark Gobe

Know your customer and consider his/her experience and what you want his branded takeaway to be.
How do you want your core consumer to feel?

ON: Fuse The Blue

  Joanna Pena - Fuse The Blue Face 
  Originally uploaded by joannapenabickley

As many of you know I am involved in a fun initiative called Fuse The Blue. 

Today was this first taping of "Fuse The Blue". I had to put back on my TV face and hair. 

Stay tuned for episode information.

By the way a big shout out to Gigya - It was a great conversation.