Archive for November, 2008
Posted on Nov 26, 2008 by Nicole to Web Design
Award: Best of the Web. Category: Building Products. Competition: Strong. Read the rest of this entry »
Building companies have huge budgets and great products. The goal of the award winning site, Masonite, was to indefinitely match everything that they build, provide, and stand for. Masonite chose THAT Agency to get the job done.
Tags: agency awards, building professionals, website awards, website design
Copywriting is, in most cases, the art of writing cogently for promotional purposes. According to Copyblogger’s “Copywriting 101,” “copywriting involves strategically writing words that promote a person, product, business, opinion, or idea, with the ultimate intention of having the reader take some form of action.” For most copywriters, the intention is to sell, thereby making copywriting a rather lucrative practice-that is, if delivered well. Companies contract copywriters to help strengthen their brand identity and voice (whether it be by writing web copy, articles, press releases and/or blogs), thereby delivering a powerful message to their audience. And since this initial message can often govern reader response, the message need be a cogent one.
Uncovering the formula for good copywriting is one thing; delivering superb copy is another altogether. Concisesness, vivid imagery, and a persuasive edge are all imperative, as these three elements lay the foundation for solid copy. How then, does the wordsmith achieve this sharp, vital message for his or her clients? Once again, I turn to Copyblogger’s founding editor Brian Clark who, like me, attributes successful copywriting to the 4 P’s.
With a solid promise, there’s little peril. As you’ve already learned, your copy must be concise, vivid, and persuasive, each word a dazzling, telling entity that contributes to a strong, unified message. Sound daunting? Maybe, but it shouldn’t be if your promise is solid. Catch the reader’s attention with a promising yet realistic heading. Tell the reader pointedly how she or he will benefit from the product or service you’re offering. The reader will remain engaged if he or she feels that there is something to be gained.
Peak reader interest with a vivid portrait. Language is a powerful medium; culture is testament to that. Compelling words have traversed every genre-from music and literature to politics and religion- galvanizing and inspiring audiences from every walk of life.
Effective language has the power to seduce. Utilize this power by tapping into the reader’s innate desires with vibrant language; tickle his or her imagination with colorful, alluring imagery. As Clark phrases it, “Get the reader to imagine him/herself enjoying the benefit of a desired outcome.” If, for instance, a traveler desires a decadent vacation, titillate his/her wanderlust with an intoxicating nightlife description or sweeping landscape panorama. Draw the reader into the description; make the reader envision himself drifting along azure waters or basking in a balmy climate. Here, verbs and adjectives become your best friend.
Proof can seal the deal. Incorporate statistics to support your assertions- nobody wants a flimsy allegation. Show that your words, however promising, aren’t hollow. Allay reader suspicion with a veritable source, like a study, solid facts, or even a chart (if necessary).
Galvanize your reader. After you’ve committed to the reader-that is, you’ve made your promise, assembled a glowing portrait, and injected some tangible proof-drive the message home with a final, cogent message. Reiterate your initial message, but keep it tight and to the point. Galvanize the reader to make a concrete commitment. Leave the reader feeling resolute and elated, and nothing else.
I know I’m about a month behind on this topic, considering Esquire released the world’s first e-ink cover in October 2008. But, as it’s an ever-fascinating concept, I feel it’s not too late to join in the discussion. As the age-old saying goes, better late than never. 
“The 21st Century Begins Now” reads the formidable Esquire cover, its bold, flashing text leaping from an edgy, black exterior. The phrase, rotating between soft gray font and stark white text, transfixes consumers as they pass by, both dazzled and confounded by the magazine’s innovative visage. How do I know this, you may be wondering? Well it just so happens that I, too, fell victim to its glossy gaze.
I was at Borders purchasing yet another beloved Margaret Atwood novel when my eyes fell unassumingly upon Esquire’s cover, a postmodern amalgamation of sleek aesthetics and electronic ink. Moving words and flashing images comprise the front cover, its images backlit with e-ink; while the inside display is coated with a moving car advertisement for Ford Flex Crossover, its motion powered by a flashing loop. A Special Collector’s Edition, the experimental cover marked Esquire’s 75th Anniversary Issue, of which only a limited supply – 100,000 – was released.
For those of you unfamiliar with electronic ink and electronic paper displays (EDP’s), I’ll gladly introduce you to the technology. According to leading e-ink developer E-Ink Corporation, EDP’s are high resolution, low power displays, like Amazon’s electronic book reader, the Kindle, or the Sony Reader. These EDP’s, which display a “paper-like high contrast” use electronic ink, which carry a charge, thereby enabling it to be updated through electronics. This electronic ink is essentially the foundation for Esquire’s digital cover.
According to Esquire, its e-ink cover took approximately a year to develop, and traveled about 7,000 miles prior to hitting local book stands. The issues’ display screen, electronics, and batteries were assembled in Shanghai, China, using components from at least 7 different factories. Once activated, the devices were then shipped to Negras, Mexico, via Dallas, in refrigerated trucks, thereby preserving the battery life. Once in Mexico, 100,000 covers were then assembled by hand. From Mexico, the assembled covers found their home in Kentucky, where they were bound to the magazine itself. It’s transnational labor at its finest.
Ultimately, the cover’s small circuit board, which contains six button cell batteries, has a life span of about 90 days – a reasonably long life considering its $6 price tag. Greater longevity can be attained, however, when stored in the refrigerator or freezer.
For the most part, Esquire’s e-ink magazine cover was met with mixed reviews, some lauding Esquire for its ingenious hybrid. Others, however, were thoroughly disappointed, considering the rather bulky issue to be a primitive rendering of the world’s first e-ink cover. Either way, it’s a striking innovation, and I’m sure Esquire is quite content to be the pioneer in the e-ink magazine industry.
To see Esquire’s October cover in all it’s flashing glory, check out YouTube’s video.
Posted on Nov 17, 2008 by Jade to General
Thanks to Amazon’s business acumen, avid readers can kindle their literary affinities whenever, wherever. With the infamous Kindle, Amazon’s increasingly popular, portable electronic book reader, literary aficionados can hold—in little over 10 ounces—upwards of 200 book titles. For any avid reader, this is cause for considerable celebration, as the Kindle remedies the often encumbering task of lugging around a book collection. Unfortunately, in today’s society, where convenience reigns tradition often suffers and, as in the case of photography and written publications, the Kindle might very well prove a veritable threat to more traditional methods of reading.
An article in Saturday’s Miami Herald raised this burgeoning issue, one that has conspicuously affected several older mediums already. The prevalent use of both the internet and digital cameras has nearly extirpated once-thriving industries; older cameras have been relegated to the sidelines, and the publishing industry as we know it may be headed toward a rather grave demise. A tragic trajectory for traditionalists, technological innovation continues to tear at the very fabric of convention. 
Using the aforementioned examples as a paradigm, one may consider books as the next possible victim of innovation. Could a device like the Kindle ultimately trump the very existence of the book trade? For the sake of being, well, presumptuous, I will reference a Miami Herald article to explore the question further.
This particular quandary was addressed and summarized quite well in the article entitled “E-books Bringing New Power to the Printed Word”—though mostly to counter the author’s position that e-books will increase and strengthen readership. Indeed, power they might bring to the words themselves, as the Kindle allows for swifter access to an impressive volume of literary works. Since the Kindle’s wireless activity and link to an Amazon account enable direct purchasing of books, Kindlers can essentially purchase e-books wherever they want, as frequently as they want, directly to the device itself.
Why, then, should one drive to the local bookstore, peruse endless aisles, and wait in queues when he or she can download 10 books in a matter of minutes? Similarly, why order a book online only to impatiently await its arrival? If convenience appeals, as the author attests, and the Kindle coddles readers with convenience, then why shouldn’t the reader opt for a Kindle and forgo the bookstore altogether? Will the sanctity of books be lost amid yet another digital wave?
It’s a concern that, according to the article, already plagues the executive vice president for business operations of Penguin Books, Doug Whiteman. “It’s not so much what these devices will impact in the future. It’s that they are having an impact right now,” he says in the article. “You can fit a year’s worth of books, more actually, onto your device. I predict there will be a flood of these things on the market in coming years.”
So what then, would halt another digital revolution, one that wipes out our beloved paperback? Comfort, asserts Peter Rubie, chief executive officer of Fineprint Literary Management. Though he acknowledges in the article that “publishing is one of those industries that isn’t swift to embrace technology” (and here, one must note the dissolution of Kodak), he purports that the book industry will continue to thrive, thanks to reader psychology. “There is a sensual psychology, a special feeling that comes with being able to hold a book and feel the pages, and so forth. And for people who buy lots of books, that feeling won’t change.”
I think for now, it is safe to say that books aren’t going anywhere. At $359 pop, the Kindle is no minor investment, and only true book zealots or those with an abundance of cash might opt for this pricey alternative. And though the Kindle’s high-resolution screen may in fact resemble the façade of real paper, the general public most likely will continue to purchase the real thing. But if Kindle-like devices do in fact persist, and ultimately plummet in price, then we may in fact have a substantive issue at hand.
Tags: Add new tag
There’s often confusion about how nofollow, noindex and robots.txt should be used for good SEO. I’m going to give an overview of the three, including when, where and why you should be using these.
What is a robots.txt file
First, a robots.txt file is simply a file that you can place on your web server which will give instructions to search engine robots with regards to which sections and pages they should not crawl. This is the equivalent of putting a ‘do not disturb’ sign on your hotel room door. While most will obey your request, there is no guarantee. The reasons for blocking robots from visiting site pages and sections vary by website but are usually related to not wanting the search engine to crawl or index select pages or site sections.
What does the noindex meta tag do?
The noindex Meta tag is a simple tag that instructs the search engine not to display a given page in the search index (search results). This tag is often used when a website owner does not want select pages appearing in search. Websites with duplicate content issues often use these tag to remove the duplicate content from the search index.
Placing a noindex tag on a page is different than excluding that page in robots.txt file in that a page with noindex in the header can still be crawled by the search engines and can still accumulate and pass PageRank. A noindex tag will simply put any given page in invisible mode to searchers.
What does the nofollow tag do?
Nofollow tags can be inserted in the header or attached to links to provide instructions for the search engines like Google not to crawl a given link. In essence, this prevents PageRank from being passed from one page to another when nofollow is used. This is done for a couple reasons:
- Spam reduction – Most websites allow users to contribute in some way. By placing nofollow links on any links added by users, you can discourage users from blatantly spamming your website because the links will carry no SEO value.
- PageRank sculpting – For webmasters concerned with the distribution of PageRank throughout their website, nofollow can be placed on links pointing to unimportant pages within their website. For example, a link going to your privacy policy page could use nofollow because it isn’t likely that this page is very important to the search engines. Adding nofollow to all links pointing at this page will mean that more PageRank is passed to the other more important pages on your website.
Utilizing robots.txt, nofollow and noindex can make a noticeable impact on your organic search marketing results if used correctly. However, using them incorrectly can lead to adverse effects such as ranking pages being removed from the indexed and loss of PageRank. Apply them with caution.
Tags: nofollow, noindex, pagerank, robots.txt
Gran Melia, one of Sol Melia’s premium brands now has an online presence like no other. THAT Agency launched the international brand hotel website for Gran Melia, http://www.gran-melia.com. Working closely with their brand and identity to create an amazing look and feel that transcends most hotel sites.
Delicately designing the site around the avant-garde brand was just one of many challenges facing THAT Agency to deliver this amazing website. The site has the ability to book any of Gran Melia’s many hotels all from one central location.
PHP integrated with Flash and table-less CSS based layout gives this site a spectacular and rich look and feel. The user can jet off around the globe to the various hotel sites with one mouse click, and book a room just as efficiently.
The brand site stands as a portal to the more than twelve hotel mini-sites that all embody and uphold the same sophistication and style of the main brand site. The art of seamless integration and timeless luxury, Gran Melia’s new brand site represents the brand itself in unlimited ways.
Tags: Gran Melia, Gran Melia brand, hotel brand site, hotel site design, web site design
Over the past few years technology has progressed at a very fast pace. Along with it the technology behind digital imaging has moved so fast that even photo industry giant kodak was unable to keep up. They recently filed for bankruptcy. Were they mismanaged? Not really – but they were behind the curve with digital photography which ultimately led to their loss of market-share.
For years, die hard photographers discredited digital and rightfully so – the quality wasn’t there. Who in their right mind would do a catalog using digital?
That was 10 years ago. Now its all digital. No more film, no more scans, and no more waiting. Since there is no more film – there can be no more grain either which leads to much clearer photos. Another great thing about the digital photography is the proofing – you don’t have to . You can see the end result while doing the shoot. Believe it or not photographers used to shoot the shot twice. Once with the medium format cam and once with a polaroid back on the same cam to make sure they had the shot framed right. Can you imagine that? Now photogs show up on site with a laptop so they can preview the work make color correction on the spot and even deliver the completed project before leaving the shoot!
All of this has really changed the playing field for photographers and photography in general. To me its exciting because it seems to have made the whole process more accessible to amateur photographers. On the other hand, it has devalued the cost of professional photography.
Recently I had a discussion with a friend who is a professional photographer. For him the conversion from film to digital was painless and the ease of use allowed him to push his creativity to a new level. The hard part for him was keeping up with the unbelievable amount of high quality stock photography. Basically, any photo you can imagine can be purchased online from a stock agency within minutes – and you can get it for almost no expense. Stock photography can cost as low as a dollar an image! This unlimited availability of great images for such low prices has made it very difficult for him to book photo shoots. His customers can now find it online.
As the world progresses technology wise, its important to stay ahead of the curve and adapt to the changes. This rapid change has affected a lot of professionals and businesses. What about all of those little film development huts you’d see in the parking lot at shopping malls? Gone like the dinosaurs.
As usual their are 2 sides to every story. and some have benefitted from the shift. Being a designer, I couldn’t be happier. It has given me control of the shoot. I can either shoot it myself or find it through an agency. This has allowed me to produce better work in less time and saved me money.
Heres an interesting article:
For small and medium-sized advertisers interested in advertising on myspace, the time has finally come. Well, it really came a long time ago, but now it’s easier and more accessible for lower-budget advertisers to run campaigns through myspace’s new myAds Beta advertising platform. Finally, myspace has caught up to, and possibly surpassed, Facebook with an easy to use campaign management tool.
Here’s the lowdown on myspace advertising:
Myspace takes users through a step-by-step banner ad campaign creation process consisting of a few simple steps:
- Select a template: To begin with, myspace offers a number of pretty good-looking premade templates that require little more than quick text edits to create a clear and effective banner ad. At the time of this post, banner ads came in two sizes, 728×90 and 300×250. For the artistically-inclined, myspace allows users to upload images for their banner ad.
- Customize template: Next, you’re given a number of tools to customize the template you’ve chosen or the image you’ve uploaded. Customization options include adding and editing images and text to the template background.
- Target audience: Next, users determine the URL to point their ad to and they also select the targeted audience. Demographics can be targeted by gender, age, location and interests.
- Campaign budget: Lastly, advertisers set the campaign budget. Campaigns are spent on a cost per click (CPC) basis, allowing for a total campaign budget. The minimum CPC for any ad is $0.25 and the minimum campaign budget is $25.
Myspace’s myAds network will no doubt open up a world of opportunity for advertisers whose target audience is, well, just about anyone. As one of the largest social networks on the planet, myspace’s demographics cover consumers of all ages, locations and interests. In my opinion, it’s worth a try for just about any business.
Tags: banner advertising, myspace advertising, Pay Per Click
The latest statistics indicate that 90% of traffic landing on web sites originated with a Google search. That’s a pretty impressive figure for Google but it also says a lot about how people find websites. many people use google as a way to find a site when they may not know its exact location on the web. for example, rather than looking on someone’s business card to find a domain name, its often easier to enter their name or the name of the business and let google spit out some results. Surely one of the resulting pages is the correct one.
And so the million dollar question in the web development world has become – how do i appear first on the list? or for the less ambitious / realistic how do I appear on the first page of results? A good SEO would tell you to make sure you have chosen the right key words, built your pages using table-less CSS, have good keyword density and plenty of inbound links.
TypeChart is a simple and easy to use font CSS generator which comes in very handy when you need just the right “browser friendly” font. It easily allows you to view all web-safe fonts in your browser and it even renders what they would look like in other operating systems.
Along with simply viewing the CSS font showcase you can download the CSS for various sizes and treatments of selected fonts. Overall it’s an extremely helpful CSS font tool for developers and designers alike.
Making flowplayer.swf files play in IE where gzip is enabled
Ipad 2, get ready
THAT Agency launches hotel website for Iron Horse Hotel
2010 Social Media Statistics
THAT Agency designs and develops website for Club Safari
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NYJTL partners with THAT Agency for new website
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A Quick Way to Measure the SEO Value of Press Releases
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