Notes from Notchcode

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

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Notes from Notchcode

2.25.2009

Neil Gaiman causes Armageddon on Twitter

Neil Gaiman, one of my favorite authors (he of current Coraline and long-ago Sandman fame) is on Twitter. And today, when he was nearing his 33,333rd follower, he posted:

Soon there will be 33,333 of you. And then... ARMAGEDDON! Or tea. Hmm.. it could go either way. Okay. Tea it is.

Of course, many of his fans re-tweeted him ("RT" in twit-parlance), adding their own takes on things, such as @miorne's

either we're a lot of tea snobs or huge Armageddon fans. I'm an Armageddon snob, I want it to be *just* right.

Imagine this played out through even a small fraction of Gaiman's twitter-based fanbase, and you can see what happened: Armageddon on Twitter:

and again here:

The revolution may not be televised, but armageddon will certainly be twittered.
Labels: social networking

posted at 3:13 PM Leave your comments here: 0 comments

M.S. Corley redesigns Harry Potter books a la Penguin Series Books

I've never been a fan of the book jacket illustration on the american editions of the Harry Potter series books:

The British versions are better:

But M.S. Corley's conceptual covers are the best:

Corley redesigned the books to look like the classic Penguin book series of days gone by. And the graphic simplicity is perfect. Tells a story without being too busy. Check all of them out, and order a print of one, if you want, here.
Labels: book cover design, design, illustration, whitespace

posted at 2:56 PM Leave your comments here: 0 comments

2.24.2009

A user interface straight from a 1990's German car radio

VW has been using this blaupunkt-style navigation menu interface for a couple of years now, and even when it was new, it looked pretty old.

Takes up a lot of space, too, and doesn't integrate with the look and feel of anything on the rest of the site. Wassup with that, VW? I love the chunky german radios in your older cars as much as the next guy, but what are they doing on my computer monitor?

Labels: branding, cars, interface, usability, visual information, web design

posted at 10:57 AM Leave your comments here: 0 comments

Come up with the best photography "dream assignment" and Lenovo/Microsoft will give you $50K

I'm not usually one to hop onto the contest bandwagon, but this one looks interesting. Not sure how they are going to determine what the "best" "dream assignment" is, but for me it would probably involve a couple thousand sheets of old-emulsion Tri-X, a new Canham 11x14 view camera, and a year of small mountain town across the U.S.....

Current SCAD students: you could do a lot of shooting with a $50K budget! I suggest you enter.

Sign up to get notified about competition rules, etc., here.
Labels: contests, photography, SCAD

posted at 10:48 AM Leave your comments here: 0 comments

TMI

Livestrong.com has a nice calorie counter, for those of us afflicted with the desire to eat everything around us that looks good. It's not quite as nice as Calorie Count, from About.com, but only the Livestrong tool (originally made by The Daily Plate) has an iPhone app for entering, tracking, and managing workout and food data.

I noticed on the web version of the Daily Plate tool, however, a disturbing trend over the last week: Twitter and Facebook integration. I don't know about you, but it seems that sharing EVERY PIECE OF FOOD I EAT with my entire social network seems a bit, well, much. "Too Much Information!", my friends would say. And would any of my professional friends or clients really want to know I had a cheeseburger right before our meeting?

Labels: social networking

posted at 8:47 AM Leave your comments here: 0 comments

2.23.2009

Now I won't have to wonder what that new store-brand orange juice is

...because Tropicana is dropping their bland, "looks-just-like-a-house-brand" orange juice packaging, and returning to their original, more distinctive design. Apparently I wasn't the only one who was confused and/or annoyed by the new look. The New York Times' Stuart Elliott has an article here.

A telling excerpt:

“We underestimated the deep emotional bond” they had with the original packaging, [Neil Campbell, president at Tropicana North America] added. “Those consumers are very important to us, so we responded.”

Among those who underestimated that bond was Mr. Campbell himself. In an interview last month to discuss the new packaging, he said, “The straw and orange have been there for a long time, but people have not necessarily had a huge connection to them.”

Reminded of that on Friday, Mr. Campbell said: “What we didn’t get was the passion this very loyal small group of consumers have. That wasn’t something that came out in the research.”
Labels: b2c, branding, clients, design, food, logo, packaging, typography

posted at 3:34 PM Leave your comments here: 0 comments

2.20.2009

More of my Architectural Photography is up at the Library of Congress

I was doing a search for some images I made up in Estes Park back in the early 1990s, and found that the Library of Congress has digitized more of the HABS/HAER work I did for the National Park Service. It's nice to see these again, since I haven't laid eyes on them since I turned them over to the project manager about 15 years ago. You can see all of the McGraw Ranch images here, including work done by myself as well as several other photographers who worked on the project (the photo datasheets are yet to be digitized, but generally in this series I shot most of the ones that are absent any snow, I think).

I also did quite a bit of work up in Grand Teton National Park, of a sprawling 1930s holiday "homestead" , (home to the first woman to climb the Grand Teton)as well as a now-burnt-down farming homestead on Antelope Flats, and other structures up near Jenny Lake. It was some of the most fun I've had with a camera!

Labels: colorado, habs/haer, photography

posted at 4:29 PM Leave your comments here: 0 comments

2.19.2009

One thing I never thought I'd encounter

I'm reviewing a potential client's existing site today. She wants to add and modify a lot of it, as her market is changing and growing in ways they didn't anticipate when the site was initially built. The original code is almost entirely Flash. They have a great relationship with the original site's design team, and they were happy to hand over the source Flash files so she could make updates and changes, as needed.

I knew the original design firm was based in Russia, so you think I'd have expected to see this when I opened up the Flash project:

Time to break out my handy Russian-to-English Flash Programming Translation Guide, 2nd ed.
Labels: bad english, coding, flash

posted at 4:51 PM Leave your comments here: 0 comments

A tour of $99 logo sites, by Doug Bartow

Ever wondered what you get from a bargain-basement, cheapo logo firm that offers "unlimited revisions" (even "unlimited concepts"!) for less that it costs for a good pair of spinning rims for your Bentley? Well, if you make enough to own a Bentley, you probably have the business sense not to ever find out. Instead, consider this wonderful post from Doug Bartow, who held his nose long enough to get logos from four of the "top" cheap logo companies. As a branding and design guy, he takes a critical look at what was offered up to his fictional company, a (nonexistent) rollerderby team in Troy, New York.

some of my favorite excerpts:

[traditional brand designers] operate under the somewhat antiquated notion that actually getting to know our clients might help us better understand their communications needs, and, as a result, do a better job defining and articulating their message in an engaging and compelling way. Crazy, I know.

...

After about 10 minutes, the "wizard" determined my rollerderby club's profile to be a "strong, confident and sophisticated business." Sophisticated? Perfect, if I were TAG Heuer or BMW.

...

Rather than focusing on clearly understanding the client's business and needs, the general solution put forth seems to be simply providing more and more sketches until something visually clicks—or the client's budget is depleted.

The whole story (and the accompanying logos that Bartow received) are worth a look. The main point is that a good logo comes from knowing the organization, it's hopes, aims, audience, and personality...not easy to do via a one- (or seven-) page form on a website (plus the $99, of course).
Labels: b2b, b2c, branding, customer service, graphic design, logo

posted at 2:17 PM Leave your comments here: 0 comments

2.16.2009

Off-topic: Cycling in west Denver

I ride the same route out in west metro denver every morning: 32nd Ave from about Sheridan, west to Crown Hill, then cross over to 26th, down the hill to Youngfield, then North to 38th. Then back South on Youngfield to 20th, and East, back to Crown hill, then back up 32nd.

Assuming I don't have time to go out to Golden, what other rides out this way would you recommend?
Labels: advice, cycling

posted at 7:03 AM Leave your comments here: 0 comments

2.15.2009

"Creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes."

...from Scott Adams.

Also, as posted earlier, advice via Merlin Mann on Creativity and Courageous Sucking.

image via veen.
Labels: advice, creativity, photography

posted at 10:58 PM Leave your comments here: 0 comments

2.11.2009

Local Business Plug o' the Week: Indra's Net

I do a lot of web design, website development, and website consulting--in addition to the marketing, print design, etc.. Probably 60-75% of my current in-house project load is web work. That means lots of web hosting!

The range of clients' web-hosting-savvy is pretty broad: everything from people who have had a web presence since the mid '90s at the same provider, all the way through clients who are getting a site up for the first time and don't know what they need.

I've dealt with discount and higher-end web host providers, both national and local, and have one recommendation for anyone who wants web hosting done right: Indra's Net.

They have been in the biz forever, and have excellent people, facilities, and services for all sorts of web implementations. 24/7/365 live local support is a given, as is their friendly, non-condescending attitude when you need to get some advice.

They aren't the cheapest. But they are the best I've found. And that makes a difference worth paying for.

The real Bonus: they are right up the road in Boulder!
Labels: b2b, colorado, web design

posted at 2:58 PM Leave your comments here: 0 comments

2.10.2009

There's some new art at the Denver Art Museum

I headed over to the Denver Art Museum this afternoon for some inspiration, and was pleasantly surprised to see some new art on the walls of the Western American Art collection, notably this contemporary realist oil painting by Chuck Forsman, titled "Aggregate":

Forsman is represented locally by the Robischon Gallery.
I'd love to see more contemporary realists featured there, as they tell many of the same sorts of stories I tell in my photographs.
Labels: art, photography

posted at 3:04 PM Leave your comments here: 0 comments

Breaking out of your own self-imposed view of things with SiloBreaker

In researching my last post about Newsweek's redesign article in the New York Times, I found this little site, SiloBreaker, which is an excellent example of innovating a new service that solves a problem created by the very medium it's exploiting. In short, you can enter in a keyword or phrase and get results organized by geographical mapping, trends over time, top people mentioned, and visual network representations of key players. The data is collected from a wide range of news sources, so you're not just getting your news from the same old place. This allows one to look deeply into a topic from a number of geographical, political, economical, and sociological viewpoints.

For example, I browsed through a world map, and clicked on this hotspot poised over Minnesota, and was handed a page dealing with the subject of deportation, illegal immigration, and Liberians=.

There were article links:

And a sidebar of visual mapping information:

very cool, and compact.

Thanks to Loose Wire Blog for the original post!
Labels: information graphics, interface, newspapers, visual information

posted at 8:59 AM Leave your comments here: 0 comments

2.09.2009

Bad news: The Dalai Lama is NOT on Twitter. The Good News: Caesar Millan IS.

What sort of karma do you get when you impersonate the Dalai Lama on the internet? I expect it involves lots of slime mold. Or maybe just eons of telemarketing work....

Caesar Millan, on the other hand, is real. No word on whether he does dog whispering in 140-character, uh, bites.

Labels: social networking

posted at 10:44 PM Leave your comments here: 0 comments

"If you can't get people to pay for what they love, we're all out of business."

That quote (in today's NYT article) from the Newsweek's chief executive sums up why they are redesigning their magazine and focusing on a core audience that is half the size of what it was.

The new rationale is to concentrate on the high-value experiences that a printed periodical can bring to a reader. This is by no means a bad thing. In fact, it's what publications have always tried to do.

The issue here is that the definition of "high-value experiences" has changed. We can get up-to-the-minute news online, and more often than not in-depth analysis (although critics of internet-delivered content rightly point out that readers "silo" themselves pretty quickly, filtering out tone, point of view, and whole areas of content that they don't want to hear or don't agree with; and that this is a bad thing if you are a critical thinker).

So, Newsweek will focus less on breaking news, and more on columnists and commentary, longer feature articles, and more photography and visual information. In the context of the internet and it's never-ending fire hose of information, this sounds like a little island of calm, reasoned content (whether it is or not will remain to be seen).

From a tangible standpoint:

The magazine will replace its thin paper with heavier stock that is more appealing to advertisers and readers. It will also put more emphasis on photography. Pages of a mock issue that Mr. Meacham displayed in his office on West 57th Street in Manhattan show a cleaner, less cluttered layout that has more open space and fewer pages that seem an uninterrupted sea of words.

The print designers at Newsweek must be doing a little happy white space dance right about now.

The Times rightly points out that Newsweek is reaching out to an audience that already has high-value, high-touch periodical experiences with such magazines as the New Yorker, The Atlantic, and others.

In some ways this moves in the direction I've discussed previously, and that others have mentioned in terms of what to offer when the "news" is free for the taking on the internet. You have to create a positive visual experience that relates to the reader on a personal, compelling level to get them to pay for it.
Labels: design, printing, visual information, writing

posted at 10:14 PM Leave your comments here: 0 comments

2.07.2009

Color Study Looks at Effects of Red and Blue

From the New York Times:

Then there was the cocktail party study, in which a group of interior designers, architects and corporate color scientists built model rooms decorated as bars in red, blue or yellow. They found that more people chose the yellow and red rooms, but that partygoers in the blue room stayed longer. Red and yellow guests were more social and active. And while red guests reported feeling hungrier and thirstier than others, yellow guests ate twice as much.
Labels: color

posted at 9:50 AM Leave your comments here: 0 comments

2.05.2009

A Cause Close to my Heart

I first supported Project Angel Heart years ago, helping Ellen create some pieces for their fundraising events. And for 15 years, the Colorado chapter of the AIGA has been putting their heart and soul into supporting this worthwhile effort. I've bid on art at the auctions in years' past, and it's all great stuff! Come on by Feb. 11th and check it out. Deets are below:

AIGA Colorado Presents: The 15th Annual Heart Art Auction

When: Wednesday, February 11, 2009
Time: 5:30-9pm
Location: Colorado History Museum
1300 Broadway Denver, CO 80202
Admission: $20 (for both members and non members)

FOR THE LOVE OF IT

Please join us for an evening of exciting bidding on magnificent handcrafted artwork, live jazz by one of Denver's top jazz ensembles, delectable food, and drinks (open bar this year folks!). AIGA Colorado is proud to have hosted this truly unique event for the past 15 consecutive years to raise money for Project Angel Heart. So please, mark your calendars and come out to support this really great cause -- if for nothing more than for the love of it.

SPECIAL HONOR

Not only does this year mark the 15th year for Heart Art, this year also marks the 20th anniversary of the Colorado chapter of AIGA. To mark this special occasion we will be honoring the 23 founding members of the Colorado chapter and recognize their contribution to the Colorado design community. Many of our founding members will be present and examples of their design work will be on exhibit during the Heart Art event. Please join us for this special celebration as our chapter celebrates its 20th year.

WHO BENEFITS?

Project Angel Heart

Project Angel Hearts mission is to promote the health, dignity and self-sufficiency of people living with HIV/AIDS, cancer and other life-threatening illness by providing nutritious, home delivered meals with care and compassion.

AIGA Colorado

AIGA's mission is to advance designing as a professional craft, strategic tool and vital cultural force. AIGA Colorado is one of the most active and largest chapters in the nation. Our members are dedicated to raising the bar of graphic design through collaboration, communication and contributing support with fellow designers.

Special thanks to our event sponsors: Unisource, Spectrographics Printing, FOILS + DIES Vintage Pressworks, Urban Dwellers, Eye Candy Graphics and Tom Ema, of Ema Design for designing our event collateral. A very special thank you goes to Marian Halliday and Carrie Martin for putting their hearts and souls into planning this very special event.

SUBMIT NOW

We are still accepting donations of handcrafted artwork for the Heart Art auction. While the deadline to drop off your work is this Friday, it'll help us greatly if you alert us that you'll be submitting something. Enter our intent to submit form to let us know you'll be donating artwork. You'll also want to download our artist form ( http://www.aigacolorado.org/events_images/artworkartist.pdf ) that you'll attach to the artwork you'll be submitting so we know whose work we're putting on the auction block! Art work is should be submitted at one of our drop off locations by Friday, February 6th.

Please RSVP here.

For questions about the event or donating artwork, please contact AIGA CO President, Mindy Nies.
Labels: aiga, art, ebd, ellen, food, fundraising, nonprofits

posted at 11:22 AM Leave your comments here: 0 comments

2.03.2009

Browser window tools: how big is my browser?

Came across this today:

And I'm reposting Bakedal's study on actual browser window sizes here because I can never find the link when I need it. Like now. You might also find it useful.
Labels: web design

posted at 1:26 PM Leave your comments here: 0 comments

Followup post on the Zoo from Malenke | Barnhart's Dan Barnhart

Dan posted this comment over at the Denver Egotist, and asked me to cross-post here. It brought up the level of civility and constructive criticism and thoughtfulness on the thread by about a bijillion percent. Thanks, Dan, for the comment. Here it is:

Quite a few levels of bummer here. I wanted to put in a few cents if I may in all humility, and call out for some help for Denver Zoo and all non-profits in this town.

level 1: its a bummer Alan Bucknam had a bad experience trying to reg for Summer Safari. It just is. We've all wanted to put our fists through our computer screens right? Alan, I will see if I can talk to the folks at Denver Zoo and help you get your kids in if I can. No promises, OK?

level 2: its a bummer Denver Zoo is a non-profit and simply does not have enough money to afford a really good purchasing tool because they spend the funds they actually do have on animal conservation in Denver and around the world, keeping endangered species on our planet. I personally appreciate that more. They had such a high number of requests yesterday that their entire POS system (which is the online purchasing function as well) was crippled. They told me they were getting about 5 credit card requests a second. Leaps and bounds more than their meager system can handle.

level 3: its a bummer that Malenke|Barnhart didn’t get to completely rebuild Denver Zoo's purchase tool but there was only so much we could do pro bono and not many agencies do full-scale POS systems. As mentioned before, the site was named one of the top 5 in the world in the non-profit category by the Webby’s in ’07. Denver Zoo was very gracious and extremely thankful for what MB did and continues to do for them. The aforementioned is not meant to be a plug just something to factor in.

level 4: its a bummer we all are flaming one another these days. I mean, it happens every day of the week, publicly online, offline, over coffee, over lunch, over our 4th cocktail. Denver should feel proud that we have such a high level of talent in the interactive field here. Look around, there are some world class digital agencies in this town. We gotta respect that more.

Level 5: Isn't it a bummer we agencies can't do more for non-profits in our town?
A call to all agencies: How can we help our non-profits do more? I know we probably all feel like we do a lot already but CLEARLY, its not enough. Any ideas??? and by that I mean positive ones :)

Hey Alan, can you put this post on your blog page? The more people seeing this the better.

Thanks man!

Dan

So, designers and nonprofiteers: what would YOU suggest to help organizations like the Zoo do great marketing, even after their pro bono benefactors have to turn over the keys to you and head off for other things? Post a comment here and we'll cross-post at the Egotist as well.

Dan, as for item #1: Thanks, but I eventually did get my order processed and have my confirmation number right here in front of me. Very thoughtful of you, and there you go again building goodwill with the Zoo brand (and yours, too. Good double-play! Plus, it was just a nice thing to do. )
Labels: advice, agencies, branding, denver egotist, nonprofits

posted at 11:27 AM Leave your comments here: 0 comments

Mapping the Growth of Target

The guys at Cool Infographics just posted this: An interactive map from FlowingData showing the growth of Target, from 1962 to present:
Mapping the Growth of Target: "

Nathan Yau over on FlowingData.com has done a great job creating an animated map showing the growth of Target stores across the U.S.

Well, fortune was smiling on me last week, and I got a hold of data for Target opening dates and locations (thnx, Cole). So here it is - a map that shows the growth of Target from 1962 through 2008.
Nathan has promised to combine the data from this map with his previous work mapping The Growth of WalMart, into one map where you can see the differences.' So we'll keep our eyes out for that."

(Via Cool Infographics.)
Labels: information graphics

posted at 6:59 AM Leave your comments here: 0 comments

I Lego N.Y.

Christoph Niemann posted a love letter to New York from Berlin, in Lego. Great stuff.
Labels: aesthetics, art

posted at 6:41 AM Leave your comments here: 0 comments

2.02.2009

Photography, and the Tolerance for Courageous Sucking

Another great post about why it's okay to fail:

Photography, and the Tolerance for Courageous Sucking: "
"As I’ve started shooting photos more often, I’ve picked up on some interesting patterns: habits, if you like. And, as I struggle to absorb the insane physics of capturing light with some glass and a black box, I accept upfront that the improvements to my actual photos will be slow, incremental, and, largely undetectable to anybody but me — a fact that’s never more painfully clear than when I swoon over the work of the more talented friends who inspire me (Heather, Ryan and Chris each come to mind here).

"But, being instantly great at this couldn’t be further from the point. Although I started taking photos to become a better photographer, I keep taking them because I’ve learned to love the process. And, luckily, at least as far as I can tell, dedication to the process can’t help but make you a better photographer — or a better whatever, for that matter. "

Read the rest here.

(Via 43 Folders.)
Labels: advice, photography

posted at 10:21 PM Leave your comments here: 0 comments

Hey trolls: check it out: I apologize. Do you get a free sad clown drawing from me?

I wanted to point out that the original virtiol of my blog post from Groundhog Day was directed at the vendors who provided online ticket support for the Denver Zoo, not Melinke Barnhart. That would be Vantix Systems . They could only handle about one transaction every 2-3 seconds, which is fine for normal operations at the Zoo, but overwhelmed them during the registration opening on 2/2.

Patrick, the Marketing Director at the Denver Zoo called me personally to apologize for the trouble for the registration, which I thought was nice, considering as a marketing director he probably had a heck of a lot of other flack to deal with besides some fourth grader's blog post to deal with (see, asdf, you get a mention in my blog! you must feel so special right now). I know this is a growing pain for them, being the first year they've dealt with online registration sales taking place, so I appreciated the call (I'd also note that I corrected some justified misonceptions which I had posted, due to the entire site being branded by Melinke Barnhart, and Melinke Barnhart's site proclaiming that they helped to redesign not only the front-end design, but the back end, as well).

So, to Malenke Barnhart, I apologize for assuming (even though your marketing and the Zoo's marketing intimates) that you had anything to do with the FUBAR moment that took 2 hours of our life that we'll never get back. And to the Zoo, as a current member (and--eventually--a successful registrant of the zoo summer camps) I am glad you're looking into ways to make the registration process smoother. Because the one antidote to bad consumer feelings is prompt acknowledgment of the problem, and movement toward a solution.

And for the clowns who ranted and raved at the quality of the notchcode website: yes, I know: a fourth grader could have done better. But I know (seeing as I coded it in 2002 and haven't really given a crap about it since then). I really don't care. Just let it go and go do some work that makes the world a better place.
Labels: advice, denver egotist

posted at 9:53 PM Leave your comments here: 0 comments

Apparently, the Online Ticket Sales provider for the Denver Zoo Site Sucks

Shame on you, whomever built and tested and approved the registration component of the Zoo site for wasting my morning. Even more of a shame that you've subjected one of your clients to bad service. Especially one that has such high visibility. Here's the story:

We decided to take a few minutes this morning to register our kids for a summer camp at the Denver Zoo. Well, this process, which should take no more than 15 minutes or so, took TWO HOURS. TWO HOURS.

Let me say that again: it took two hours to sign up two kids for summer camp. Using the time-saving miracle of internet technology, which was so wonderfully leveraged for effective customer experiences by Whomever built and tested and approved the registration component of the Zoo site (hey, not Malenke Barnhart, as noted by the Zoo's Marketing Director, and others at the zoo. Thanks for the correction. For the record, they did build the rest of the site).

The summer camp, by all accounts, is lovely. What isn't lovely is the fact that:
you can only sign up online. No phone calls or walk-up registrations.

Each time we tried to register, you only have 15 minutes to complete the process. This wouldn't be an issue, unless

the online ticket sales vendor takes so long to process the credit card information that the order times out, and

you have to start all over again. and again and again. Because the system doesn't save ANY of your information.

Other notes on how craptacular this user experience was:

Not very Safari-friendly. We did have better luck with Firefox, but you'd think that a whomever built and tested and approved the registration component of the Zoo site would oh, say, PLATFORM TEST THEIR SITES FOR USABILITY. Especially when the only way you're allowed to experience a client's program or service is via the web (like, say, when you HAVE to order online to get into a class/program/event). I would note to whomever built and tested and approved the registration component of the Zoo site's programming and QA staff that Safari browser share is above 8%. It's not exactly Internet Explorer in terms of numbers, but if you told your client you were going to give the finger to over eight percent of their audience (and I'm guessing Zoo visitors are even a little more in the Safari category than others), that client would either fire you or tell you to rethink that decision.

There is no distinction between a billing and a shipping address on the website.This might be an issue if you are signing up your grandkids for a class, so the parent contact info might be different than the billing info you need to pay for it. More than half the Family Zoo Memberships my extended family and friends have are gifted from others.

The error page presented by the site (when your purchase inevitably fails) doesn't tell you what went wrong. If, for example, we ham-fistedly mis-entered the credit card info, or failed to enter in a required field, we'd have no idea, because the site doesn't notify us. Bad feedback, site! Bad!

Now, I know that sometimes glitches can happen. I understand that. But as an interface guy who has also integrated merchant account transaction processing into client websites, I know that it's possible to build a site that works, provides feedback to the user if something goes wrong, and allows for testing beforehand to ensure smooth operation. None of that was done here. Well, the testing happened, but it was the users doing the testing, when the site was live, and we weren't being allowed to give the zoo money.

If I were the Zoo, that's the thing that would have me worried: this user experience was so bad, that it was preventing us from actually giving hundreds of dollars to them. What sort of customer service experience is that?

I'd love to submit an invoice to the Zoo, or whomever built and tested and approved the registration component of the Zoo site or to Vantix Systems (the online ticket sales vendor selected for the backend processing). The invoice would cover the two hours we spent trying to do this, including lost revenue, etc.

But I'm sure, that if the experience we had with the Denver Zoo's order process was any indication, all we'd get would be another error page. And no real explanation.

Note: Revised to account for the fact that Malenke Barnhart, acording to the Marketing Director at the Zoo, DIDN'T build the backend of the Zoo site. Read the comments for why we thought they did, and why this post is still relevant to the discussion of providing a good user experience to build brands and effectively promote organizations.
Labels: advice, agencies, customer service, marketing, nonprofits, usability, web design

posted at 11:40 AM Leave your comments here: 1 comments

In case you missed the ads...

...you know, if you weren't TiVo-ing the game, and had to go get mor enachos or pee or something during the commericals, you can view TWENTY YEARS of Super Bowl ads, all in one place, courtesy of the interactive team at the New York Times.

I haven't looked through this year's crop yet, but heard the Doritos ads were pretty good. Thoughts on this year's ads, anyone?
Labels: advertising

posted at 8:43 AM Leave your comments here: 0 comments