Article Professional Writing for the Unprofessional Writer by Christopher Butler on October 2, 2009 I was honored to be asked to share my (limited) writing experience with a class of undergraduates at Boston College. The image to the left is one of the slides from my presentation. The neat thing about this engagement was that it was all done online. I was asked to record a short lecture and deliver an mp3 that could be played for the class. I decided to take it a step further and put together a SlideCast so that I could make some fancy pictures, too... Read Now About
Article Prospect Experience Design Creating the New CDISC.org published on October 1, 2009 The Newfangled team has been pretty busy this week... We just launched another brand new website: www.cdisc.org! This site, for CDISC (Clinical Data Interchange Standards Consortium), is the first that I've seen through from conception to launch, so I'm personally really excited about it! Plus, this was such an enjoyable project to work on! From productive prototyping meetings and gorgeous design to a flawless whitescreen and thorough content entry– everything went so smoothly... Read Now About
Article Prospect Experience Design Corporate Technologies Site Launch published on September 30, 2009 We're proud to welcome cptech.com to the Newfangled family.Corporate Technologies came to us for a complete redesign and reorganization of their website.Clearly, the most striking difference between the old and new sites is Justin's sleek design. Take a look at a side-by-side comparison of the new site design... Read Now About
Article Content Strategy Doing More with Less by Christopher Butler on September 30, 2009 The epitaph on Buckminster Fuller's tombstone reads, "CALL ME TRIMTAB." In life, he used the trim tab, a very small attachment to a boat's rudder that controls its speed and direction, as a metaphor for his own life, which he saw as an experiment to make the greatest impact on the world that he could using the least amount of resources. What a wonderful idea! While he went on to invent many entirely new techniques and structures, I'd venture to guess that Bucky would have preferred to see if a small adjustment could be made to an existing process or device in order to increase its effectiveness and value before going back to the drawing board. Read Now About
Article Guest Post by Eric Holter: Agency Website Gaffe #3 – Flash by Christopher Butler on September 29, 2009 Now that Eric, our former CEO, is off to new heights in his career, I've invited him to contribute a few guest blog posts. This is the ninth of several that he'll share in the coming months... This may be the most controversial of my series on advertising agency website gaffes. I’ve been advising agencies to avoid Flash as their website platform for…, well, ever since Flash existed. Let me make it clear from the outset that I’m not against Flash. It’s a great tool that, when used properly, can have a positive impact on website design and functionality. I am, however, against Flash as the primary platform in almost every case (exceptions would include certain website applications, web-based games, and some entertainment-oriented websites)... Read Now About
Article Prospect Experience Design Post Office Delivers the End of Web 2.0 by Justin Kerr on September 25, 2009 Remember the large fonts, shiny surfaces and lickable buttons from a few years ago? Although there was some confusion about what exactly Web 2.0 was (a movement? a structure? a style?), there were definitely design elements that were emulated, copied and recycled. The United States Postal Service has never been known for cutting-edge anything, but their take on Web 2.0 style heralds the tail end of this trend. Icons that cast a shadow as well as a reflection? Really, USPS? Read Now About
Article Tracking Clicks on Your Twitter Links published on September 22, 2009 Here's an easy Twitter trick that lets you track any links you post-- giving you basic analytics info to help boost your social media strategy.If you follow the steps below, from DailyBlogTips.com, you can see how many of your followers clicked your link, also known as a "click-through rate." Read Now About
Article Email Marketing Guest Post by Eric Holter: 6 Reasons Why Google’s Improved Flash Indexing Isn’t an “Invitation” by Christopher Butler on September 21, 2009 Now that Eric, our former CEO, is off to new heights in his career, I've invited him to author a few guest blog posts. This is the ninth of several that he'll write in the coming months... Last year, Google announced considerable improvements in their indexing of Flash based websites. One of my chief criticisms of many advertising agency websites is their propensity to adopt the Flash platform. One of the biggest problems with Flash has been its incompatibility with search engines. This improvement mitigates this problem–to some degree. After Google announced the new indexing, Brian Ussery performed an in depth analysis of how Google is actually indexing Flash content. Bottom line, there is still a long way to go for a truly search engine friendly Flash site... Read Now About
Article Content Strategy Guest Post by Eric Holter: Agency Website Gaffe #2 – The Splash Page by Christopher Butler on September 14, 2009 Now that Eric, our former CEO, is off to new heights in his career, I've invited him to contribute a few guest blog posts. This is the seventh of several that he'll share in the coming months... It Read Now About
Article Prospect Experience Design Creative Questionnaire: Steven Levesque by Justin Kerr on September 4, 2009 Steven Levesque is an award-winning exhibit and retail designer and fellow RISD alumnus. He graduated in 1990 with a BFA in Industrial Design and is currently the VP of Creative for Bella Group Design Solutions in Coppell, Texas. Read Now About
