Now blogging at http://www.thepreparedmind.com/pm/

Although I really like WordPress.com, I’ve decided to go back to the WordPress install on my server, at http://www.thepreparedmind.com/pm/. You can find updates there.

@chrisgee

Better Late Than Never. A kudo for SPAM!

A late kudo for the fantastic work done for the redesign and relaunch of the SPAM website! The new design is not only more closely aligned with their offline branding and new advertising campaign, it also allows SPAM to more easily and effectively keep site content fresh and engaging. Great job all around!

.chris{}

The Day Design Conversation Died…

Goodbye, Speak Up

I mentioned it earlier in the week but didn’t have time to post. I’m really bummed about the recent demise of the design blog Speak Up.

Founders and husband/wife team Armin Vit and Bryony Gomez-Palacio this week decided, after 7 years, to close down the popular design blog in part because they said they simply can no longer find the time to write the kind of insightful, provocative entries that made the blog influential when it first launched.

Goodbye, Speak Up

This is really sad news to me. Today I visited one of my favorite design blogs, only to learn that it is being discontinued. By this time next week, Speak Up will be no more.

More about this later.

.chris{}

Even more kudos!

It’s been a while since my last entry but the theme will be similar. More kudos for our incredibly talented team! The Mercury Awards were recently announced for the USA Corporate and Food Products websites categories:

Hormel Brand: Silver Award winner.

Jennie-O Turkey Store: Silver Award winner.

Hormel Foods Recipes site: Bronze Award winner.

BEP Money Factory site: Bronze Award winner.

Hormel Foods site: Honors winner.

Kudos

Kudos to the Jennie-O Turkey Store team, again, for snagging the iNOVA Grand Award in the Food and Beverage Websites category. I’m proud of the work our entire team did on this project and am happy to work with such a talented team every day!

Jennie-O Turkey Store: Grand winner.

.chris{}

Some Props to the NYT

OK, so in my last entry I was pretty hard on the NYTimes.com site and how “slow, plodding and innovation-averse” it — and almost all other similar newspapers — tend to be in an increasingly digital era. Well now I need to give them a few props.

Today, I just found the Times’ “Inside the Playbook” section, where it offers original, 3-D generated videos that break-down certain key plays and strategy in NFL football games. Now those of you who know me, know that I’m a pretty passionate (embarrassingly so, sometimes) Philadelphia Eagles fan, so this was a pretty interesting find for me, personally. See the video grab below:

This is actually a very cool feature. As shown above, it gives step-by-step insight into the strategy employed, as well as a very realistic 3-D rendering of the play itself. The video shown above is the “Explanation” view.

There is also an “Aerial view”:

Aerial view

as well as “Player’s view”:

Player's view

Most of what I said regarding the NYTimes.com site, as well as the rest of the newspaper industry and their sites, still applies. But I wanted to post this because I am very impressed by the use of this interactive technology! Kudos!!!

.chris{}

Steve Jobs Buys Ailing New York Times!

Steve Jobs holding a copy of newly-acquired New York Times

OK, not really. But imagine if you woke up this morning, glanced at the headlines and saw that this HAD happened? If Steve Jobs HAD purchased the New York Times. Now imagine what kind of changes we’d expect to see at the New York Times (or insert any large, ailing newspaper). One thing is for sure, we would cease to see business as usual.

The New York Times would change. And not only would the paper itself change, the industry in general would change with it.

I got to thinking about this after I published my entry The End of Print, As We Know It as well as after publishing Mobile Phones FINALLY Get Smart — Kinda. Think about the backwards, plodding, change-averse U.S. mobile industry before the iPhone was released 1 1/2 years ago. Mobile technology had made shockingly little progress when compared to the pace of technological innovation in most other industries and certainly when compared to the mobile industries in Europe and Asia. The iPod was a jolt to the system of the plodding mobile industry, much as the iPod had been to the portable digital music industry in 2001.

The newspaper industry is every bit as slow, plodding and change-averse as the U.S. mobile industry was. Maybe more so. Faced with substantial changes or death, it would seem that the industry has chosen the latter, as the steep dive in U.S. circulations may only be rivaled by the steep declines in newspaper profits.

Mobile Phones FINALLY Get Smart — Kinda

Apple's iPhone has inspired a flood of next generation smartphones

It’s almost, as Yogi Bera would say, “deja vu all over again”. 7 years ago, after Apple first introduced the iPod, there was a rush of “iPod-killers” that flooded the market in order to compete. However, few of these devices ever caught-on long enough to realize any real commercial success and mount a serious challenge to the dominance of the iPod.

This time around, with the mobile market, Apple is something of a late entrant with its iPhone. In 2001, MP3 technology was still relatively new and no MP3 manufacturer had yet created a device — or desktop music management software — capable of establishing it in a dominent position. Not so with the mobile phone market. Last summer, when Apple first introduced the iPhone, it immediately faced stiff competition against entrenched and established manufacturers such as Motorola, Samsung, Sony Ericsson and Nokia.

That said, since the iPhone was released in July 2007, it has enjoyed a remarkable climb in market share, skyrocketing from 4% at the time of its debut to 23% to date. It therefore comes as no surprise that, once again, the popularity of Apple’s device has spawned numerous immitators from RIM/Blackberry’s Storm to LG’s Voyager.

The End of Print, As We Know It.

In the year 2009, is this what newspapers SHOULD look like?

Newspapers are dying. Magazines are very, very sick and have a very bad prognosis. How bad is it? Mike Elgan of the site Datamation sums up the grim situation in his recent article Media Companies Have Only Themselves to Blame:

The Tribune Company filed for bankruptcy Monday. The company publishes the Los Angeles Times, the Chicago Tribune and other daily newspapers. The New York Times Co. intends to pawn its shiny new Manhattan building to borrow a quarter of a billion dollars just to stop the bleeding. Other major dailies are either for sale, or rumored to be so, including the Rocky Mountain News, the Miami Herald and others. The Cox newspaper group is closing its Washington bureau. Most newspapers have announced layoffs, or will do so soon.

Magazines are faring a little better than newspapers. But the industry is all doom-and-gloom, and everyone is predicting a bloodbath in 2009. Newsweek has reportedly lost between half a million to a million subscribers from its 2.6 million rate base and has announced layoffs. TIME layoffs may total 600. National Geographic, The Economist Group and Doubledown Media are all laying off staffers.

Even books are suffering. Simon & Schuster has laid off 35 people. Random House, Inc. killed its Bantam and Doubleday divisions. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt announced that it would not take on any new authors.

How bad is it? Bad. Newspapers and magazines are getting hit especially hard during the economic downturn. But why? How did we get here? I remember the parade of “The End of Print” articles that were written two booms and 10 years ago. Didn’t newspapers and magazines have ample time — and money — to get their collective acts together? Or did the digital revolution, which we ALL knew was coming, sneak up only on them?

Designing the Holidays

Throwing star magnets could make the perfect gift

With a little more than a week before Christmas, are you still struggling over what to buy that one realative whom you never know what to buy for? Fear not! Core77 has just published this year’s 77 Design Gifts Under $77.

Beware, if you’re anything like me you may struggle not to buy some of these gifts for yourself! In fact, the only reason I haven’t already bought the Shuriken Throwing Star magnets shown above is because they’re apparently backordered until the middle of January!

"I Feel Golden" t-shirt that every designer should have.

This “I Feel Golden” t-shrt from Brooklyn Industries is another interesting gift idea for that creative who never likes anything you buy for them. Most of these gifts are pretty reasonable in price (even an iPhone app for $2.99) and most are pretty good ideas, even if only for a late stocking stuffer for yourself.

.chris{}

Web Design Training for Art Directors

It's not always easy for traditional art directors to pick a web designer

I had a two-fer today. Not only did I find an interesting new blog, the blog from web design firm DSGN + DVLP called the chronicle of a designerd, I also read one of the entries and learned of a course that the blog author — Daniel Schutzsmith — had been teaching at School of Visual Arts called Web Design for Art Directors. Now I don’t know if the course is still being offered — the link provided in the entry only leads to an error page, not to a page offering a description of the class — nor do I think that I personally would be interested in taking the class. I do, however, think the course is a great idea.

With interaction design now such an integral part of almost every marketing, advertising, branding and communications strategy, many art directors and creative directors are grappling with the challenge of of needing to step out of their comfort zones and at times lead projects that involve significant digital components. Years ago, these creatives would have been secure in the reality that such tasks would fall on the web team down the hall and that they would be relied on to lead projects for which they had been trained and had years — if not decades — of experience but today that is not the case.

So where to begin? For someone who doesn’t do this every day, how can they evaluate the skills of web designers? How do they evaluate interactive design strategy to decide which is best for their client? An even better question is, where does one easily find the information they need to bring them up to speed in digital design 101, not from an entry-level designer’s perspective but from the perspective of a senior creative?

For this there are no easy answers. A course is a good idea because over the length of a semester concepts, terminology and case studies can be presented without overloading the course participants. I even think a digital course wouldn’t be a bad idea either. Not everyone is in NYC where they would have the ability to take courses at School of Visual Arts. Also, digital courses would indirectly provide an extra case study for the course, which could illustrate the potential of digital and interactive techniques.

During the early to mid-90′s, I essentially gobbled up every book, magazine article, web tutorial and internet discussion I could in order to make the transition from traditional design to print. How great would it have been if there was some sort of resource that could have helped me along? If anyone out there is currently putting something like this together, I’ll gladly help spread the word!

.chris{}

Kudos for December 2008

Some kudos for this month. We just found out that our amazing digital team just racked up another set of MerComm iNova awards. Each of these sites represents a total team effort and I couldn’t be more proud of all of the uniquely talented, dedicated people I’m fortunate to call my co-workers!

See the work below:

Jennie-O Turkey Store: Gold winner.

 

Cherry-picking Obama’s Successful Digital Tactics

The Barack Obama campaign web site

Shortly after President-elect Barack Obama won on November 4th, I met with a few of our clients and advised them that it wouldn’t be long before companies began to analyze and emulate many of the digital strategies employed by the Obama campaign during the 2008 elections. I fully expected companies to thoughtfully study the various aspects of Obama’s digital strategy, evaluate them and integrate the aspects that best suit their businesses in order to bring their digital efforts into the 21st century.

Silly me!

What I had not anticipated was that clients would begin to cherry pick Obama’s strategies, acknowledging those with which they already have a predisposition while downplaying others altogether. The Obama campaign successfully wove together an outreach and engagement strategy that utilized external social networks (Twitter, Facebook, Meetup, etc.), internal social networks (My Barack Obama), messaging via YouTube, email and SMS (text messaging) in order to excite and mobilize it’s massive base of eager volunteers.

Recently, however, I’ve had the experience of meeting with clients and having them reduce Obama’s digital strategy into one single tactic or killer app: “Obama won because of Twitter!” “Obama won because of all those YouTube videos!” “Obama won because of his SMS campaign!”

Case Study: Interacting with Hormel

Hormel Brand Interactive Kitchen

Recently our team, in conjunction with our partners at Hormel Foods, launched the new Hormel Brand web site. We were challenged with the task of both creating an engaging and memorable interactive experience while also giving information about the wide variety of products housed within the Hormel Brand.

The resulting site features prominently on the home page, an interactive kitchen where users can zoom around and explore areas of the kitchen where they can learn more about Hormel products. We even included an MP3 player where users can preview and download musical mixes to play in the background while they entertain friends and loved ones and serve meals made with delicious Hormel products.

I’m grateful to be lucky enough to have a ton of great clients and client projects to work on every day but this was one of the most satisfying for me for a number of reasons, not the least of which is the fact that we really tapped into the deep reservoir of creative resources at our disposal at Burson-Marsteller. From visual designers, to copywriters, to Flash animators/developers, to developers, to project managers, etc. This project represents a phenomenal effort by everyone involved and I was proud not only to be a part of it but also to have such wonderful clients who truly partnered with us to create something really special.

.chris{}

The Designer of 2015

I know, I know. It’s been a long time since I last blogged. OK, it’s been a loooooooong time since I blogged. That said, I felt this the right topic to wake me from my blogging slumber. And there’s even a PODCAST on the way!!!

The Designer of 2015

The AIGA and Adobe have teamed up and done research, conducted focus groups, and condensed their learnings into a report on the AIGA website that details what the designer of 2015 will look like. The competencies required, trends, etc. Here is the stated rationale:

For several years, it has been apparent that design studios and corporate departments have been looking for a new kind of designer, one that has traditional skills and yet a much broader perspective on problem solving. Because one of AIGA’s central responsibilities is to keep abreast of developments in the industry, we recognized that we needed to better understand the emerging role of designers and to enter into a deeper discussion with educators and design leaders on how to prepare designers for future changes.

A bold statement indeed. I was happy to see that this study had been initiated because frankly, I feel too many times the AIGA tends to look backwards, to the design industry’s past glory days, and rarely to the challenges that face designers in the future.

That reaction, however, is far from unanimous. I’ve seen other opinions that mock a survey that looks at the year 2015, since it is “only” 7 years from now. Of course, that notion ignores the obvious realities of today’s business landscape and the speed of light at which change occurs. The skills, knowledge and competencies required a mere two years from are likely to be very different. 7 years may very well seem like an eternity.

I’m interested to see what else comes out of this initiative. Stay tuned…

.chris{}

Digital In Action recap

Wow! What an interesting week it has been. At Burson-Marsteller (B-M), we just completed the first Digital In Action program at our offices here in NYC. Just to provide a bit of context, Digital In Action is an intense, 2 day seminar aimed at helping B-M employees from disciplines across the company to be able to apply Digital to the way they help their current rosters of clients.

While the first phase of digital training that took place in early 2007, Digital Bootcamp, was designed to bring everyone in the company up to speed with the new digital landscape, Digital In Action took those efforts to the next logical step in showing them how to apply that knowledge to the way they help their clients. In other words, phase I was “this is a Wiki/blog/social network” while phase II was “here are the tools you need to go out and put all of this new knowledge in action.”

It was a great 2 days. I had the pleasure of being a faculty member and team leader for the 2 day session and the group I led was so inspired, they immediately began work on a digital action plan they hope to propose to an existing client within the next 2 weeks! What’s remarkable about this is that these individuals are not from our digital practice. They are traditional PR, advertising and communications professionals who work within B-M. Many of whom began their careers prior to the start of the Internet age.

This week’s program was the first of many to come. Eventually these sessions will be rolled-out globally within B-M. I’m excited about the change we can bring and the prospect of really helping to shape B-M so that the company can help define modern PR in the 20th century just as it did in the 20th century. Judging by the level of excitement generated this week within the company, I have no doubt that will happen.

.chris{}

Consumers break up with Advertisers

The Break Up
Uploaded by geertdesager

Wow! It’s been quite a while since I’ve blogged! And the perfect first thing to get me blogging again is this video (I stumbled upon it on David Armanios’ blog, Logic + Emotion), where a couple is breaking up over dinner. More specifically, the woman (who represents “consumers”) is breaking up with her boyfriend (who represents “advertisers” and definitely traditional advertising in general).

This video is hilarious! Especially the part where the smarmy advertiser insists “What do you mean I don’t know you? I know you, you’re 28-34…” or “I know what you want….. COUPONS!”

Oh, and I can’t forget to mention that one of the most remarkable things about this video is that the creator is a Trade Marketing Manager for Microsoft Digital Advertising Solutions!

.chris{}

Look out David Letterman!

I saw this on the Mashable blog earlier today and instantly was hooked. OnMyList allows you to create your own top 10 (or whatever the number) lists that you can share with others and allow them to vote or comment on.

Here are my top 5 lists for vacation destinations and favorite sports teams.

More to come!

.chris{}

Interesting Content from The Prepared Mind

• design web interactive

“You web/print guys have it sooooo easy…”

The other day, the creative director at my company who is my counterpart on the print design side overheard a discussion between me and our digital senior art director and blurted out “You web guys have it sooooo easy!”

When we asked him why, he replied “You don’t have to spend so much time dealing with typography, kerning, widows, etc. because that stuff is not possible on the web.” Of course, our digital AD shot back “You print guys have it easier than we do because what ends up on the printed page is the same for everyone whereas we have to deal with varying monitors, fonts, browsers and bandwidth.”

Of course, being the only one of us three who has spent at least 8-9 years in the print world and then also in the interactive world (3 of those years overlapped the two worlds), I can honestly say there are unique challenges that designers in both worlds face. Having said that, I would say designers who design for the digital space have it a bit harder. Here’s why.