March 22, 2016 | Technology

Reach Inbox Zero with Google Inbox

If you use the Gmail mobile app and luckily manage to address every email in your inbox, you’re greeted with the following: “You’re all done!” says something about how Google views email. Taking that same view of treating email like tasks rather than conversations might get you to pristine Inbox Zero more often. Emails are distinctly different from verbal communication. When we talk to one...

March 16, 2016 | Design

Web vs. Print: Key Considerations for Font Use

Choosing a font to represent a brand is really akin to answering this question: What is the specific response we want to elicit from our audience? It’s design specialization at its best. Choosing a font gives a voice and tone to the written communication of the brand. As multimedia designers, we appreciate having a deep toolbox of typography choices that allow us to select the right tool for the...

February 18, 2016 | DesignStrategy

5 Considerations for Effective Arts and Culture Branding

Over the years, our agency has developed a pretty strong foothold in the arts and culture community in the tri-state region. One of our first big breaks came in 2007 with a contract for a rebranding project and comprehensive marketing and design support for the Mann Center, and we’ve been working with them ever since in a variety of different capacities as the organization and its programming...

February 03, 2016 | Strategy

Branding: It's an Evolutionary Process

Despite the way it may seem, no brand worth its salt was created overnight. Rather, the best and most evocative brands are developed over time in what is typically a high-level, iterative process that can be influenced by many factors, including changes in technology, economics, global and marketplace trends, consumer preferences, demographic profiles, and so on. When companies stay in tune with...

January 21, 2016 | Technology

How Every Website in Higher Education Got Their Navigation Wrong

We’ve done quite a bit of research, user experience design, and web development in the higher education space, and it’s probably time I let you in on some secrets about how every college and university site has gotten it wrong in terms of menu and navigation structure. Repeat After Me: “The University Website Should Not Mirror the Organizational Chart” This seems like common sense, but colleges...

January 20, 2016

Going a little further with BEVM CSS Syntax: Creating CSS Profiles

We've been slowly moving to the BEM and BEVM CSS syntax which, if you're not familiar, is detailed quite nicely in the following posts: Get BEM Introduction MindBEMding – getting your head ’round BEM syntax Sassier (BE)Modifers , by Dan Trello As someone who has a penchant for verbose naming conventions, and who's tired of getting into "specificity checkmate" (when you are forced to use !...

January 04, 2016 | Technology

5 Things You Need to Consider Before Embarking on a Startup or Building Your "Killer App"

We get a lot of requests and phone calls from people who want to build the next killer app or launch a startup around a website idea they have. Overall, this is a great thing. In fact, I like that I live in a time when technology has broken down barriers to entry and allowed ideas to become reality more practically than ever. And it gives me a sense of pride to know that I’m in a position to...

December 27, 2015 | Technology

Working With CKEditor Plugins in Drupal 7

Working with CKEditor plugins in Drupal 7 can be frustrating. Here are some things I learned while trying to get several CKEditor plugins to play nicely together in Drupal. The short version If you're looking for the quick and dirty version of what I've learned, I've compiled it into the bullet points below: Drupal will not see individual CKeditor plugins if you include them in a downloaded...

December 08, 2015 | Design

Giving Print Its Props

When electronic media and social marketing hit their stride, some said print was finished. But the reality is print messaging offers a way to really connect with consumers in a world full of distractions. Brochures, magazines, books, and direct-mail communications stand out from the crowd, when done the right way with great graphic design and craftsmanship. Here are some of the top reasons why we...

December 08, 2015 | Design

Letting the Cat out of the Bag: Character-Based Branding

While conceptualizing and designing brand characters and mascots can be a good deal of fun, it requires a serious approach in order to strike the right balance of graphics, messaging, and appeal. Whe n done right, characters bring brands to life, while endearing businesses to their clients — and they provide endless opportunity for engagement, particularly in social media marketing channels...

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