providing graphic design, branding, photography and marketing expertise to denver and the world
Quote
of the Week:
All solitary dreamers know that they hear differently when they close their eyes.-Gaston Bachelard
Just as I get used to writing "2007" on everything, here comes another year.
Happy New Year, loyal reader. This has been a great year at Notchcode. Lots of creative projects, and clients who actually get the fact that good design gets good results. We did a lot of interesting and worthwhile work. Some notable bits:
- I learned more than I ever wanted to know about Yahoo! Media Group Flash advertising guidelines (thanks, ClickHere, for being so patient). For someone who really loves trying to avoid using Flash, I actually do a lot of it now, and have gotten to the point where I don't cringe when someone asks me to to 20 versions of the same ad, with different specs, programming, actions, and dimensions.
- I got a even deeper into branding methodologies. Finding a good process for building a brand identity from the ground up can be a challenge. I found a great model in Alina Wheeler's work, and have built on it. It really doesn't matter if you are a low-budget startup or a multimillion dollar corporation; if you need branding work, the process is the same regardless of who you are. The difference is the resources you can bring to bear on things like competitive audits, testing, brand expressions, marketing, and the rest. But the philosophy and process is the same for a non-profit with a $5,000 budget as it is for a multinational corporation with a million dollar budget. This year I helped build two really nice brands for very different organizations, with different budgets, and by having a good process in place I was able to achieve success with both projects.
- Print advertising was on the rise this year. I know that some folks keep talking recession, and downturn, but we had a record number of print ad accounts show up at our door this year. These are fun, because I got to work with very specific goals for each campaign, and we applied tracking practices to measure success whenever possible. And I know people keep talking about how print is dead, yaddah yaddah yaddah--it really isn't. If you can build a solid print campaign, it can work very well within a lot of markets.
- Time management and project management is possible in a small office, if you have the right tools. Basecamp from 37 signals has been a great tool in keeping projects focused, on-time, and on-budget. And David Allen's Getting Things Done
methodology, along with tweaks online fron Kinkless, the Omni Group, and 43folders keeps me from wanting to drive my car off a bridge because I have too much to do.
- Sometimes the best projects are the ones you don't get paid to do. I could tell you horror stories about the pro bono work that comes with clients who assume that since you're doing it for free, then you must have plenty of time on your hands to make twenty additional revisions, change the concept right before it goes to press, and otherwise alter the scope of work and make your life crazy. Yes, that is the stereotype, and I have had my share. But I worked on a couple of pro bono project this year that were lovely, notably a re-election website for my local city councilperson, and ongoing work for a photographer friend of mine who makes amazing photographs of people, places, and things. They were both committed to the process, the project, and in making sure things worked well between us. Pro bono doesn't have to make you run the other way; just find projects you really care about, and get the right person on the other end of the project to align scope, expectations, and the rest with you so it doesn't go off the rails.
I got to meet some interesting and passionate lighting engineers. Passionate business executives. Passionate water and land use advocates. In fact, pretty much all of the clients around here were passionate about what they do. Which, obviously, helps make them so good at what they do. So a little unasked-for advice for 2008: be passionate about what you do!
- Once again, I have the most amazing vendors and partners in the world. I am talking about the great folks like Dave at Wandel, Keith at D&K, Tamera at Sprint, Justin at MailMasters of Colorado, the good folks at the local Compass Bank, and so many more. Combined with help, advice, and services from copywriter Jon, cartographer Nick, designer Heather, and SEO-program-dude Knox, Notchcode delivers a large agency footprint in a small agency package. You make me look good, and (more importantly) make my clients look great. Thanks, guys!
Have a great new year's celebration out there, and we'll see you in 2008.Labels: 2007, clients, holiday, work
posted at 4:17 PM Leave your comments here: 1 comments
12.27.2007
The Space Between the Sky and Me: Photos by Steffanie Halley
A few months ago I was cycling along, doing my brisk late fall morning ride through Crown Hill Open Space, when my phone rings. It was SCAD MFA candidate Steffanie Halley calling me to see if I'd be interested in looking over her body of work. She was in town, and her adviser and my prof-of-old, Craig Stevens, had told her to look me up and get my reaction to her images. She was about four months out from staging her thesis show, and had a lot of images to work with. Later that week, I met Steffanie in south Denver and checked out her photographs. They were large, color location portraits of women. Some were fairly straightforward, and others were more fragmented. I saw two or three possible thematic groupings, any of which could turn into a nice show. They struck me as wonderfully mysterious and narrative, with a strong sense of composition and color. Pretty cool, all in all.
I got a postcard from Steffanie this afternoon for her thesis show, titled "the space between the sky and me". Judging from the four images on the card, it looks like a nice tight show, with some great images. I wish I could go and see it for myself. If you are in Savannah in January, go check it out. It's at Alexander Hall Gallery, 668 Indian St.. The opening is on January 11th, from 5-7. If you see Steffanie, congratulate her for me!Labels: photography, SCAD
posted at 3:43 PM Leave your comments here: 0 comments
12.22.2007
The newspaper that time forgot
9News.com reported this week on a wonder of wonders: a newspaper that still sets type in hot lead. The Saguache Crescent, first published in 1882, is run on the same technology that your grandparents (or great-grandparents) would have encountered when entering any printing shop in the nation. The Crescent is one of only four newspapers in the nation that uses hot lead-set type. One of four. And the current publisher isn't training a replacement. So get your 19th-century typographic news fix while you can, because someday it won't be left to read.
Saguache is a must-see town for anyone interested in Colorado history. It's about halfway between Poncha Springs and Alamosa, so not exactly on the way to anything. But the next time you head down to the Great Sand Dunes, or to Durango, stop in and spend an hour or so walking around one of the state's historical agricultural centers.
links to the 9News story, a scan of the latest front page, and some info about Saguache from the Colorado State Historical Society.Labels: colorado, newspapers, typography
posted at 9:24 PM Leave your comments here: 0 comments
12.19.2007
A typographer walks into a bar...
...and sits down next to a beautiful woman. He edges his barstool closer to hers, and says:
"Hey baby, is it just me, or do we need to get our letter pairs more tightly kerned?"
Thank you and good night! I'll be here all week.Labels: humor typography
posted at 7:54 AM Leave your comments here: 0 comments
12.11.2007
Year-end roundup: My Great Clients!
I am a fortunate guy in more ways than one: amazing family, great friends, a beautiful part of the country to live in, being "the boss" (whatever that means), and having great partners to work with. Other people might call them "clients". Here are some snippets about just a few of them. Go check out who they are and what they do, because--who knows? maybe you need them in your life, too:
Gillingham & Associates provides outdoor recreation insurance to outfitters, guides, hunters, campground owners and others. What's cool about them is they are real people, in a smallish company (compared to the monoliths based back east) and they've been helping small businesspeople who love working in the outdoors to keep their businesses safe, profitable, and fun. Plus, they've got a pretty cool brand, which we worked on together.
The Clear Creek Watershed Foundation is a small but energetic group of people up in Idaho Springs that finds ways to keep their little part of heaven sustainable for the ecology, society, and economy--all at the same time. I dare you to try and keep environmentalists, the government, businesspeople, and miners all happy at the same time. These guys actually manage to do it. Hyperbole? I don't think so.
Groople makes things easy for people to come up with great ideas for trips, find the best deals on hotels, airfares, and whatnot, and then go on a trip together. They have a neat little online collaboration tool called GroopVine which lets people get together online so they can get together in Vegas, or Maui, or anyplace else that is a lot of fun.
The Classical Public Radio Network delivers top-shelf classical music performances and recordings to local public radio stations that want the best programming possible, regardless of whether they have a staff of two or two hundred. From Boise to Birmingham, Los Angeles to Columbus, CPRN helps to keep the music alive, as they say, for all of us to enjoy.
Ben Leichtling has written a lot of books and given a ton of seminars on how to keep bullies from pushing you around. I helped him out with some covers, and have done a little more here and there. If your boss/neighbor/spouse/mother is making you feel bad even though you don't deserve it, read his books.
I helped out my local city councilperson, Karen Berry, with a website for her re-election campaign this year. She cares a whole lot about my little town, from urban planning to fixing the sidewalk over the drainage ditch, and is a great listener to every one of her constituents. If you live in District I here in Wheat Ridge, call her up and tell her what you think. I guarantee she'll listen. And actually care (which is rare in politicos these days).
Andy Bale makes great photos. I am (still) working on a website (hopefully) shows them off in the most awesome state possible online. You can see the in-progress site over at balephoto.com. And buy some prints!
The Colorado Organization on Adolescent Pregnancy, Parenting, and Prevention gets the word out to anyone who wants to listen about what we can do to make teen pregnancy less common, and easier for those who go through it. They are nonpartisan, and a great resource for organizations like school districts, NGOs, and governments to turn to for information on what works in the world of teen pregnancy prevention.
I also helped write a book, got a bigger monitor, brewed my 7500th cup of espresso at home since we moved house, cycled "to work" about 125 days this year, and even developed some film. All in the name of work. How cool is that?
This is just a small list of some of the people and organizations I worked with this year. Without them and others like them, I would be working at the local Office Max making copies. So thank you, clients, for a wonderful 2007. It wouldn't have been the same without you.
posted at 9:58 PM Leave your comments here: 0 comments
12.03.2007
Ellen's got a new website
Ellen Bruss, my favorite boss of all time (from back when I had a boss), has a new website up for her firm, EBD. I'd like to say it was an incredible amount of foresight that made me recommend to Ellen that she use the very desirable three-letter "ebd.com" as her domain, way back in the mid-'90s, but really it was that I thought people would be too lazy to type out "ellenbrussdesign.com" into their browser. I can tell you this: I bet her domain is misspelled a lot less than mine.
This new site has a ton of whitespace in it: something we all wish more of our clients would allow into the concepts we create for them. It has a novel navigational grid, which overlays the viewing area. And lots of nice portfolio images from the last few years' of their environmental, collateral, print, identity, and web design work.
So: Yay Ellen, and crew! Good work.Labels: ebd, ellen, flash, interface, web design, whitespace
posted at 4:17 PM Leave your comments here: 0 comments
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