Great breakdown of menu design in NY Mag last weekend, based on what Balthazar’s come up with. If you’re a restaurateur looking for someone to design your menus, you should really talk to us. We love doing them, and I personally find the psychology behind them endlessly fascinating.
The end of the year is a big time for lists, and publications, and publications that make lists. It’s kind of like VH1, except instead of Carrot Top commenting on MC Hammer’s pants or how hot Brooke Shields was in the 1981 Calvin Klein campaign, we have a tweed-coated columnist telling us about the year’s best…everything.
Although I normally skim over these lists skeptically (did Adventureland REALLY make it onto a list for the ten best movies of the decade?), I was blown away by the New York Times Magazine’s’ “9th Annual Year in Ideas” list. It’s full of discoveries that are cool (face-detecting digital advertisements that move and respond to passers-by), relevant (a beer bottle is more effective at cracking the human skull if it’s empty, rather than full), and futuristic (the development of an ethical robot; a Google algorithm applied to the analysis of animal extinction). From start to finish, the list offers a broad and refreshing look at the innovations that will likely shape the kinds of technological, cultural, social and artistic strides that will be made in 2010.
Oh, and for whoever got my name in the Secret Santa pool, I wouldn’t say no to Ruppy the flourescent dog. (It sure beats my invisible one.)
Several years ago we worked with Wilkes University to launch a unique, award winning advertising campaign focused on demonstrating personal attention to prospective undergraduate students and their influencers. We selected specific markets and a high school senior from each that best represented the ideal Wilkes student, got to know them through a series of interviews, and then developed a number of very targeted media buys and messages aimed at generating buzz and raising awareness for the institution. Not only did it garner a significant amount of local and regional publicity, but even caught the attention of national media like The New York Times, MTV, and Fox News.
With the buzz of the campaign waning and shifting marketing objectives, it was time to re-concept a whole new ad campaign that could be used this fall and beyond. With the message of personal attention still at its core, the new campaign uses real stories of mentorship and hands-on learning to educate audiences on what it’s like to “Be Colonel” – a phrase that embodies the spirit of the university.
In lieu of bowling alleys, pizza boxes, fortune cookies, and other niche mediums used in the past, the new media strategy relied heavily on a combination of broad-based tactics like TV and targeted ones such as Facebook. All pushing people to a new micro site developed for the campaign, which houses the TV commercial and several longer videos detailing stories of personal attention, including a surprise stunt conducted by Wilkes’ mascot the Colonel.
TV Spot
To see all the videos, visit BeColonel.com or check them out on our YouTube channel.
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Photo credit: friendswelove.com
Love Letters, a massive public art project between artist Steve Powers and the trailblazing folks at Philly’s Mural Art Program, has been gaining acclaim since this past summer, but I’ll be damned if it still isn’t the cat’s pajamas. Besides, all that cheerfulness and optimism feels just that much better on a windswept 20 degree December day. So if you don’t feel like spending this Saturday watching little kids micturate on Santa’s lap at the mall, take a tour that is run by the Mural Arts folks (though don’t worry, they offer more later this month).
Photo credit: Adam Wallacavage/WSJ
Photo credit: aloveletterforyou.com
Microsoft has been getting a C++ recently.
Windows 7 has some okay marketing, the blue screen of death has been updated to black, and they possibly have an answer for Flash (only 6 years late). One of the better things they did recently was to release Bing. Its free, basically has the same results as Google, and the large background image can trick some tech guys into thinking they are using a well designed site.
Then they went and got all Microsoft on us. I read about the release of Bing Maps and decided to see how they were keeping up with Google. I went to the site to give it a try. I got this window:
Don’t make me download software, show me an accessible online version if you want to break some ground…
I am sure some of you have heard or read about Thounds before. It is a social network where users can share music ideas by recording their inspiration and intuitions. I interviewed Francesco Fraioli, the creator and product manager. For those of you who need a refresh about Thounds, check out the video below.
To begin, would you like to introduce yourself: who are you, what do you do?
Ciao, my name is Francesco, I am from Venice, and I’m an interaction designer. Currently I feel very lucky to be working on Thounds, a startup born from my passion for music.
Can you tell us more about Thounds? What is it?
Thounds was born while I was in school: it was my thesis project at Iuav University for a masters degree in interaction design. Back then it was called Riffle. It is a social network, and it’s the ideal place for those who want to express their creativity in music without feeling embarrassed. The main feature is to capture your musical thoughts by recording it directly from your browser, and sharing it with your friends. This collaboration can lead to a real music track. Actually, “thoughts” is the origin of the name: Thounds is the combination of the words ‘thoughts’ and ‘sounds’.
