Once we had our direction designing the microsite was the first thing on our plate as is would be the basis for all the other parts of the campaign. Loads of background research was done on our primary target audience and main communication objectives to help narrow down the design decisions. After all the background work like site architecture, user flows, and basic ideas of functionality was completed design work began. As with most project there were some small hicupps along the way. In this case almost half of the entire site design was done before the first hicup took place… the design was all wrong.

The first Home Page we designed

They loved all our ideas but we were headed down a light and fun direction and they were thinking a more dark and professional direction was what they had in mind. So we changed directions. Quickly. This time we hooked up with the Wacom house photographer and did a photoshoot to get our hands on some custom assets we could use to make the design process faster and more successful. While all this was in the works we connected with the Wexley School for Girls in Seattle and began collaborating on some ideas for video assets that would be utilized in both rich media banner ads and on the microsite. The initial idea began with our pitch video and the stop motion, first person style it took on. We created some user personas to give them a better idea of who the work would be speaking to. Based on these Wexley did some scripting, storyboarding, and the ball was rolling.

Back in microsite land, the second version of the creative was spot on for Wacom and they gave us the green light to create the rest of the site designs. The design for the site was done by two different designers, Tom O’ Toole and myself. It was a pretty seemless experience working on multiple files together passing them back and forth till each was completed. This could have been a very difficult experience but because we often work in teams at eROI we found a way to make it work. As design began to wrap up on the micro site design we ramped up the mobile team to create an entirely different design for mobile devices based on the original site. Using the black look and feel our designer, Stephen Asse, simplified the site down to its most essential elements. While design was in progress with the mobile site and the microsite was in production with our resident code ninjas, Christine Baker and Noel Hougland, we started in on and email design and some rich media banner ads. With our long history as an email marketing company we had the email covered but need a little guidance when it came to rich media banners so we turned to San Francisco based Swirl.

————————-( CHUCK!!! I need a little help about the Swirl bit….  Got anything to say here? )—————————-

All the while Wexley has been doing story boards for 3 different videos based on the 3 main user personas. Once the story boards were signed off on production began. Charles, our senior account exe traveled up north to provide any guidance to their team and was an important part of the doughnut eating phase of the project. Seriously, he was the link between our creative team and the vision of the guys at Wexley. He was the glue that held together the concept and final videos. When the initial cuts came through and we got a look at the early stages of the video work we knew we had found the right team to work with. The work was pretty amazing and when we got our first look at the final product we were outright estatic. See for your self.  This had all the makings of a showcase campaign. The eROI team worked together well, partnered with other great agencies, and made an already excited client even more so. With the emails sent, the banner ads live, and the microsite working all there was to do was sit back and wait for some results.

( NEED a bit about click through results on email and banner ads here to make this post look all official.)

Once the campaign was out of our hands we all moved on to other projects. Working on something like this is kind of a strange experience as a designer. You work your butt off for months and then once it’s live your on to the next thing. You stand back, proud of the work you and the team have done, only to move on to something completely new and often times wondering what will happen to that site you loveingly designed. Well in this case it performed wonderfully, was entered into a few marketing and design competitions, and won. Holy cow it won an award. How do ya like that? With all that forethought, careful planning, brilliant design, and flawless execution one would have thought it may have fell by the wayside with the other projects that experienced the same parameters but this one was different. This one was special… What if real life were this easy? This time it was. Big thanks to the team at Wacom for trusting us. We had a great time. If you haven’t yet take a second out of your busy day and visit the site.

Certain songs or genres of music aid me in different working scenarios.  Sometimes I find myself knowing exactly what song or album to play for my current mood or for the task in front of me. If I am on a deadline, if I am wireframing a new site, if I am working late, or if I am just plain old stoked on a design direction, zoned out, head down, gettin’ it done, I know what to listen to to make that task more enjoyable. There are songs for reading your RSS on Monday morning, drinking coffee, ramping up for your week, and there are songs for your Friday afternoon, winding down your open projects, and thinking about your upcoming weekend.

Here are 10 tracks, old and new, and the web-design/interactive dork scenarios in which they feel most appropriate, as those scenarios fit into a 5-day work week.  Try them out and tell me if they work for you too. Hell, you might learn about some new music, get way better at those deadline pushes, or at least grumble a little less to yourself when burning the midnight oil.

NOTE: These choices are based on a combination of the general pacing and mood of the songs, and their subject matter and lyrics. Sometimes more one than the other, sometimes a perfect balance of both. One thing remains consistent: It is all subjective jibba-jabba according to one interactive designer and illustrator’s listening habits. Take it or leave it.

1) It’s Monday morning.

You haven’t quite had enough coffee yet. You have an overflowing inbox, and an upcoming production meeting that will inevitably reveal a mountain of work ahead of you. Most creatives likely use this time to sip/chug caffeinated beverages, check RSS feeds, Facebook, blogs, and news headlines.

I like to keep my Monday morning selections mellow. My brain takes a bit of time to ramp up into full swing, as do my music sensibilities. I need tranquility, and ease in pacing. AA Bondy’s soft voice, and languid cadence seem to do it for me in these scenarios.  And, his albums are conveniently at the top of my iTunes alphabetic library.

AA Bondy - There’s a Reason

2) It’s Monday afternoon.

You’ve made it through the day, unscathed for the most part by the prospect of the week’s deadlines, the countless meetings and project kick-offs.  Somehow, you remain ambivalent to the idea that the aforementioned meetings made it so you really only got 2 hours of real work in before it was almost time to go home.

During those last few work hours, I find it best to realize that once you have made it that far, the rest of the week is a breeze. For one reason or another, Monday mornings seem to be the hardest to make it through, and next thing you know, it’s Tuesday. You will have your feet up at home with an adult beverage of your choosing, watching the boob tube in no time.  Let Oxnard’s Oh No and Long Beach’s Aloe Black serenade you as you glide into Tuesday.

Oh No feat. Aloe Black – Getaway

3) Tuesday morning.

So you made it through Monday, and have arrived at work with the attitude that no project, big or small could phase you.  You are a machine. A machine created to efficiently design or code anything the internets can throw at you, with impeccable attention to user experience, visual hierarchy, and typographic sensibility. “Go time, bitch.” you mumble to your computer as it boots up and you go fill your coffee mug. Perfect for wire framing, sketching, slicing, and file preparation.

Personally, I enjoy upbeat, largely electronic or synthed-out tunes at this stage in my week.  Minimal vocals are preferred, if not spacey/dreamy vocals that I barely can decipher anyways. This is my concentration music. My amiable, productive music. Nite Jewel and Caribou tie here as equally awesome productive morning music.

Nite Jewel -What Did He Say

Caribou - Sandy

4) Wednesday, late morning.

You have a call with a client at 3pm. You need at least an hour, to be safe, to prep for your presentation, so that means the designs/code need to be buttoned up by around 2pm. You look up at the time and it’s already 11. Shit. Gotta cancel those lunch plans. Time for a good old deadline crunch.

This is a scenario when I turn to punk and good ol’ rock and roll. The first albums that pop in to mind when I think of “go fast music” are by Portland’s own, The Thermals. 2003 and 2004’s More parts Per Million and Fuckin’ A have just the lo-fi, energetic grittiness that somehow makes deadlines and time crunches seem laughable.

The Thermals -Brace and Break

5) Wednesday, late afternoon.

So, as often happens, your deadline crunch made it so you had to push all other responsibilities off for the first half of your day. You now are looking at a bit of a late night, and as everyone around you packs up and heads out, turning off the lights as they file out, You need a little something to help brush off the reluctancy to work late, and to buckle down. Take a deep breath — you have that new DVR thingy recording that one show for you. You aren’t going to muss anything but the rush hour crowds.

What I have found pairs best with working late is anything garage-rock-driven. I need the almost happy twanginess combined with the slightly hessian badass undertones to kick my work’s ass, but not be mad about it. Old recordings by The Seeds or Anything by Black Lips or King Kahn usually works. Recently, it has been The Strange Boys that blare in the later evening work sessions.

The Strange Boys - Friday in Paris

6) Thursday morning.

You feel pretty good about staying late last night as you stroll into work, fully ready to finish off your responsibilities for the week. You need to focus, but you might not have to have the same kind of head-down-marathon you did yesterday. It is a mellow morning, but you are kinda psyched to sip free Pabst whilst milling around 1st-Thursday gallery openings after work.

This is often a hard balance to strike when trolling through your iTunes library. You don’t want to blow the roof off, but folk music is just not going to cut it either. The driving guitars and smoothed-out vocals of Olympia, Washington’s  Desolation Wilderness fits this time/work/energy niche nicely.

Desolation Wilderness – Boardwalk Theme

7) Thursday afternoon.

So close! You have put yourself in a good place for that Friday site launch, only have a few things to polish up before jetting out the door to meet a friend for a Thursday-evening beer down the street from the office. You are in a good mood, because, well, you killed it this week. Gettin’ shit done doing what you love feels damn good. It’s almost the weekend.

Turn your speakers up to 11, and finish your day off with David Bowie’s cover of 60’s Australian rockers The Easy Beats’ end-of-week classic.

David Bowie -Friday on My Mind (Easybeats cover)

8) Friday morning.

Somehow, another week flew by in the blink of an eye. You stroll a little slower than usual on the last few blocks to the office, soaking in the idea that 24 hours from now, you might still be still asleep, resting up for a long 2 days of whatever-you-goddamn-please. You have some work to do, so the job is not done yet. Time to get stoked for the last push.

Stroll a little slower still, maybe – listen to somethin’ a little badass, but not overbearingly so.  Something that reminds you of driving with the windows down in the summertime. Perhaps something by Brattleboro, Vermont’s King Tuff.

King Tuff -Sun Medallion

9) Friday afternoon.

I am not sure what it is about Friday afternoons, but all I can think to listen to is soul music. Loud, seated-dance-inducing, ear-to-ear grinning soul music. It’s just how I do.

I have not personally seen it done on the dance floor, but Eddie Bo’s Hook and Sling (presumably a dance move) always gets me.

Eddie Bo -Hook and Sling

10) Friday – the commute home.

You did it. Granted, you will have to do it again next week, but for right now, all you really have to do is enjoy your ride home. Slink down in your bus seat, slow your roll on your bicycle, or roll your window down and take a slow, deep breath. Decompression is key, and everyone has their own tricks and personal victory dances.

One of mine a little 2-part Friday night/party anthem by People under the stairs from their 2002 release, OST.

People under the Stairs -The Suite for Beaver Part 1

People Under the Stairs -The Suite for Beaver Part 2

Music is integral to my process. I know my work habits, and music tastes, and make a concerted effort to allow them to inform each other. It immensely helps my mood and workflow, and encourage you to pay attention to this balance in your own work/life. If it’s not these 10 tracks that make your week way more awesome, then it is another 10, but I believe everyone has tunes that speak to every mood and scenario. My recommendation is to seek them out and see what happens.

You can download all of the tracks included in this post as a handy .zip file by clicking here.

Disclaimer: These tracks are for promotional and preview purposes only. If you like the music, buy the album. All links will be removed upon request.

Finding Promising Panels

Sometimes a panel or session that looks amazing based on its short description in the official SXSW handbook turns out to be, ehhhh, not so great.  And of course the one you decided NOT to go to was the must-see panel of the day.  Although you’re not going to pick winners every time, you can help yourself by doing a little research beforehand.

my.SXSW and Sched.org

The official SXSW site offers up my.SXSW to help you browse the scheduled panels and save the ones that look interesting to you (you have to be registered for the conference and have an account in order to use it).  You can view events and panels in the traditional “list view” or “grid view“, which is nice for quickly checking which panels are happening at a specific date & time.  Once you’ve saved the events that you like, you can view your own personal schedule, and save your schedule to Outlook, Google Calendar or iCal.

An alternative to using the official SXSW scheduling app is to create an account at Sched.org (You can use Facebook Connect or sign in using Twitter). Sched.org presents the panels by day and time, in a format that is a bit easier to take in and browse than the straight list format of my.SXSW — but unlike the official site’s “grid view”, the listing format doesn’t require horizontal scrolling.

my.SXSW and sched.org work well enough for saving the panels and events you want to go to, but they don’t provide many tools if you want to dig a little deeper and find out more about the panel and/or speaker before you save it to your schedule.  Here are a couple of other tools that I’ve been using to help me sort through the sea of panels.

SXSW Panel Picker

Even though it was meant for panel proposals and voting, I’ve found the SXSW Panel Picker to be a good tool for researching accepted/scheduled panels as well.  Do a search for the title of the panel you want more info on — for example, I wanted to learn more about “The History of the Button”, taking place on Friday at 2:00 PM. You should find the proposal page for the panel which contains more information, including the “level” of the panel (beginner, intermediate, advanced) and categories as determined by the speaker/presenter. But even better, you can read comments about the panel written by those who voted during the proposal stage. Sometimes you can determine if the presenter has a reputation for being a good speaker, and/or if the topic has been presented before and if so, how it was received.  Sometimes you may find someone you recognize and respect has voiced support, even more reason to add it to your list.

Sitby.us and Plancast

So you’ve picked out some panels based on their descriptions, and maybe a few comments from panel voters. But which ones are your friends and peers going to go see?  One really awesome tool that’s new this year is Sitby.us, created by WeightShift. Unlike my.SXSW and Sched.org which show you the total number of people  interested in a panel, Sitby.us primarily shows you which of your Twitter friends are interested in a specific panel (though it also mentions the total number).  So I can see which of my ACTUAL friends are interested in a panel, plus anyone whom I follow on Twitter, including web design gurus such as Jared Spool and Jason Santa Maria.  Theoretically, in my mind, they have a better idea of which panels look promising, though realistically they could be taking a chance, just like I would be!

Another big draw for Sitby.us is its beautiful, simple design.  It looks as though it was designed to be viewed on an iPhone, but the design works well in a full-sized browser as well. It’s incredibly easy to navigate with just a few navigational elements at the top, and the color-coded time slots make the schedule listings both pretty and practical.

It also provides one feature that none of the other scheduling apps have: the ability to “check in” at a panel and indicate where in the room you’re sitting, which helps you either find your friends easier, or stalk your favorite rock star web designer. You can add an extra note (”back row, next to the water cooler”) and check a box to broadcast your location via Twitter (though if you do so, I’d recommend setting up a Twitter “barf” account like Stephen suggests or you might end up annoying your followers who AREN’T at SXSW ).

If you’ve already created a schedule on my.SXSW or Sched.org, you can import it into Sitby.us (I tried it with my my.SXSW schedule and it worked perfectly).  You can export your schedule into iCal format, but there is no way to print your schedule directly from the site unfortunately (why would you want to print it? See the next section).  All the same, I will be using Sitby.us as my primary online scheduling tool for SXSW 2010, just because I enjoy using it so much!

Plancast is another tool that’s new this year — although it’s not SXSW-specific, you could use it to keep track of which panels, parties or other events you plan on attending, plus see which events your friends are interested in.  I don’t have many friends with accounts on Plancast yet, so it has not been very useful for me this year. But from what I’ve seen so far, it seems like most people are using Plancast to announce which parties they are going to, so it could be very helpful for hooking up with your friends out on the town after the panels are done for the day.

Print it out or Write it down

With all of our fancy technology, in this day and age, at an interactive conference, WHY would you need to have anything on paper?  Why?  Because most of our fancy technology relies on internet connections, and internet connections can’t really be relied upon at SXSW.  I can almost guarantee that you will have moments of disconnectivity while you are there. There are a LOT of people hammering the free wireless and smart phone networks, so downtime and slow connections are bound to happen.  Don’t miss your next must-see panel because you couldn’t pull up sitby.us, sched.org or my.SXSW on your phone or laptop.

Whether you circle or highlight panels in the official guidebook, print your schedule from one of the scheduling sites, or scribble some notes in a notebook, get it all down on paper and avoid the stress of being disconnected at an inopportune moment.  I’m personally trying to fit all the information I need into a Moleskine, including print outs of maps, notes on good places to eat, bus information and of course, my panel picks. It won’t turn out as awesome as James Bridle’s SXSW 2010 Fieldnotes book (they’re not for sale! Dang it) but I think it’ll work just fine.

What else?

There are TONS of sites and blog posts out there with tips on how to make the most of SXSW and your time in Austin. Here are a few that I’ve read/used; have any you’d like to add? Put ‘em in the comments! Thanks for reading!

SXSW Baby! is absolutely essential for any SXSW-goer, especially those who are going for the first time!

Citizen Taco’s SXSW Essential Guide and Austin 360’s “Guide to SXSW Food Guides” will help you answer the all-important question: Where Should We Eat? (And you don’t have to eat out all the time, check out this post on SXSW Baby! for tips on snacks to bring from home)

And check out the rest of Austin 360 if you want to see what ELSE is going on in Austin (Yes it’s true, SXSW isn’t the only thing going on). And they have a comprehensive Guide to Austin, looks handy if you want to learn some facts and figures, or perhaps want to partake in some outdoor recreation while you’re there. How about a walk/bike ride around Lady Bird Lake?  They also have a pretty big, clean map of downtown Austin for your printing pleasure (for those times when you can’t connect to Google Maps of course).

Do I fill up countless notebooks with quotes and drawings, set up my handy tape recorder so next time I feel like re-living the whole weekend I can just flip a switch? Maybe I can just listen carefully and soak it all in, hoping the inspiration seeps in through my pores.

While I most definitely will have a pad and pencil in front of me, I will also have my iPhone, and where there is an iPhone in the hands of an interactive designer… there is the amazing micro blogging tool called @twitter. Have you heard of it? It is kind of a big deal these days. So much of a big deal that its use has become at times… well, overused. I am here to tell you a few easy steps to keeping your followers happy with your content stream. Remember kids, it is all about well placed, relevant content.

1) Spammin’ Your Barf Accounts
When I log in to my Twitter stream and see tweet after tweet from the same person, my eyes glaze over and I end up skipping 3/4th of what they have written. Not only that but eventually their avatar takes on a visual cue that says it is OK to skip their content, and eventually you ask yourself… why again am I following this person?

People throw up on Twitter all the time. Their content is full of corn or spaghetti, maybe a few chicken chunks or even some soggy Cheerios. Either way, the more content that gets spewed, the harder it is to digest. My suggestion: make yourself a new handle completely dedicated to your constant tweeting. Tweeting about your barf account handle from your regular handle about your plan to keep the spew out of your followers stream will be much appreciated and well received. If your followers want to get your constant content, then they will follow your other handle too. It just makes sense… right?

2) Shaking Their Hand Doesn’t Make Their Content Any Better
SXSW is all about being social. There are a lot of after parties, free food and booze events and yes a lot of hand shaking. You get to know someone there and you obviously dork out with them and grab their Twitter handle. Making new friends is amazing and exactly what this massive social event is all about… but seriously, is Twitter all about how many followers you have? If you hold dear to growing your Twitter followers and would mass follow @Ghandy’s followers to increase your goodwill toward humanity, then I am not sure you care much about your content stream. That is after all what it is all about. Get to know the person you shook hands with, take in what they have to say, who they are, what they have to offer you. Get their handle and check them out… but make sure their online bantering is consistent to what you want to hear.

3) Talking Yourself Out of a TUI
We have all had those late nights out with your closest friends, where one thing leads to another and all of a sudden you are handed two bottom shelf tequila shots. It usually involves karaoke, meaningless banter and maybe new friend or two. If you couldn’t tell this post in not about drinking, it is about tweeting. And when you drink… you better be prepared to own up to all your tweets. When we drink, some of us get happy and ride a wave of bliss, or become goofy with the friends we are with. Others get angry at the world or depressed at their lives, and this my friends is where good content turns bad. I would say a depressing tweet is worse than a drunk dial. The passive aggressive nature and complete helplessness your followers will feel is not what Twitter is for. So, when you are throwing back that 5th shot of Makers don’t tell the world you can’t feel your face, or ask for advice on how to approach a woman across the room. Ask the people you are with, disconnect yourself from the Twitterverse every once and a while and utilize the physical relationship of the people around you. Tweeting under the influence gives your followers a window into your world. Waking up the next morning with 10 replies asking if you are OK is guaranteed to lose you some followers.

So, what are my steps for healthy tweeting in Austin? I have my barf account set up and ready to go. I plan on shaking many hands and getting to know many new and interesting people. And while I will be having my fair share of drinks I will be tactful when I blast what kind of shot I just had. @waterproof for me, @waterproofbarf for all things SXSW.

Now, for all of you who are cruising down to SXSW there are a few ways to optimize your content flow. Many of you crazy tweeters probably utilize some sort of organization tool for your followers. A couple top rated ones to keep in mind are Tweetdeck, Twitterrific or maybe even Power Twitter. And for the mobile devices you could pop into Tweetie, Ubertwitter or maybe even Twidroid. I am interested to see what all of you use, or if there are better ones out there than the ones I have mentioned.

Be safe. I don’t want to see any soggy Cheerios all over my stream. I guarantee you won’t from me.

(disgusting vomiting Twitter bird illustration by Jill.)

Last week I went to lunch with a client who is an Account Manager at her company. We discussed her company’s recent merger and the marketing repercussions, and then moved on to the company’s financial health. She shared with me that during times like these, where budgets are tight and clients’ wallets are even tighter, the tension between her and her Sales team goes through the roof. Instead of striking out and trying to solicit new business (which is the role of this company’s Sales team), her Sales team colleagues are focusing instead on eliciting new business from current clients (which is part of her role in the company). This internal tug-of-war does not bode well for anyone involved.

This concept of increasing client retention isn’t new; at eROI we’ve placed a high emphasis on this in the past two years. Our retention efforts lie primarily on the Account team’s shoulders (with minimal input from our Sales team), and speaking personally I enjoy having the opportunity — sans Sales — to further develop strong relationships with our clients. In my eyes, this is when a client of mine goes from being just a client to being a friend. (Cliché as that might sound, it’s true.)

According to my client, when her Sales team colleagues dip into the “current clients” bucket to increase their sales figures and meet their quotas, her colleagues undermine her authority (by communicating with her clients unbeknownst to her), decrease her credibility (by not presenting their company as a unified team to her client), and diminish the retention efforts that she’d made up to that point (by being inconsistent in her client’s eyes about who should be the main point of contact). I understand her frustration and concern; this is something that can happens frequently even if inadvertently.

Do her Sales team colleagues know that she’s in communication with these clients, and that by them contacting the clients it’s jeopardizing the relationship that she’s building with them? Do her colleagues care? As one who always tries to see the best in people, I have a difficult time believing that her Sales team colleagues know about her retention efforts, dismiss them, and contact the client anyway. I truly believe that people simply want to do well, contribute as best they can, and help the client succeed.

Being analytical by nature, I walked away from our lunch thinking about what she said, and asking myself, “What could she do to keep this from happening?” At eROI, we still have a lot to learn and finesse about our retention efforts, but at a very basic level here are some things that many of us in Accounts do to help keep issues (like the one referenced above) at bay:

1. Keep the salesperson on the account up to date on client activity. For example, if I’m having lunch with a client, I’ll fill in the salesperson on what we talked about and how the lunch meeting went. I think it’s important to keep lines of communication open between sales and accounts.
2. Have a check-in schedule planned in your calendar for each client. For me, checking in with my clients on a quarterly basis seems to work well, and I literally have a reminder pop up every three months. This may vary depending on the account or the amount of work I may have had with the client. By keeping in communication with the client, the Sales team has learned to trust that I’m not leaving business on the table by not reaching out and staying in touch with the clients. The key word in that sentence is TRUST.
3. Motivate your team to increase retention efforts with current clients. This relates more to department managers or those who are in a position to make this sort of change. Since everybody is different, I doubt that there’s one incentive that would motivate an entire team or department. Figure out what would motivate the team to reach out, reconnect, and listen well, and then reward them for a job well done.

I’m curious if there are other tactics, especially ones more formal, that help aid in retaining clients. What do those look like? What articles have you read about this that are particularly helpful or useful? Sales and Accounts can be a powerhouse combination if their relationship is strong and cohesive, and I’d rather have the Sales team on my side as cohorts than across enemy lines as competitors.

While stock photography offers a low-cost option to designers looking for images for just about any type of project, often times the quality is less than spectacular. In fact, sometimes the quality is just plain terrible. If you are a designer there is no doubt in my mind that you at one time or another have spent hours on end scrolling through an endless stream of stock photography looking for that perfect image. It isn’t in there. That perfect image is never in that stream of endless photography. That’s because the perfect image is different depending on the specific project and the goals of said project. That perfect image has to be carefully crafted and refined to convey the message it was intended to. I understand that there is a time and place for stock photography. Sometimes you just need a shot of a monkey in a diaper, I get that. But how often have you found yourself wondering if the header of that website would be even more impactful if it was your monkey in the diaper?

I had the opportunity to work on a photoshoot recently where the photographer was able to take the creative team’s ideas and compose the perfect image for us to base our entire campaign on. I mean perfect. We based almost all of our creative choices on this one image. It was exactly what we wanted it to be and in turn we found ourselves working for one happy client. The best part of this whole story is that we began the entire campaign with a photo collage of stock photography. The collage didn’t hit the mark and the client decided that we should go ahead with the custom shoot. In the end the campaign that we were able to craft was based entirely on the assets that were created by that wonderful photographer. Did I mention that we won awards for that campaign?

For a designer, being given the opportunity to craft images based on the content that they will be paired with is the thing dreams are made of. Quite frankly, these are also the kind of projects that end up being the most successful because time and care was taken in the creation of that content. It doesn’t matter where a final project is going to end up; if time and care is taken with the content of the message and imagery that is paired with it, that project will have a much better chance of being successful.

The moral of this story is that just because stock photography is an easy option doesn’t mean it is the right decision for your project. We as designers are responsible for teaching our clients about the ways of persuasion. We are tasked with creatively solving their communication challenges. Ever heard the statement a picture is worth a thousand words? It’s still true. As a designer I take every opportunity to educate anyone that will listen about the virtues of visual communication. Show me, don’t tell me.

To fully explain I have to go back to last week when,  I very am proud to say, the team here at eROI brought home two AMA Max awards for our work with Wacom. The team dedicated to this particular project drew inspiration and input from almost our entire agency. It was a true team effort made all the sweeter for such great recognition. Our work even landed Best in Show. More than that, I think everyone here felt a great sense of satisfaction because we won with work that truly represents what we can do here and what we’re about.

So fast forward all of those good vibes to this week and my perplexing source of  inspiration from yesterday. I’ve spent the last 15 years working in agencies of one sort or another. I’ve had the privilege of working with a lot of great people and doing a ton of great work. I think when you reach this point you sometimes think that nothing will surprise you.

And then, it does.

Yesterday was a typical Monday with the usual jump in and shift yourself into high gear as soon as you can kind of objective. I was somewhere between ‘Wow the weekend flew by’ and “Thank God the coffee is kicking  in” when it happened. I was at the desk of one of our fab designers reviewing some design work we will be presenting this week when suddenly, a cookie laden gift basket arrives on scene. My first thought was that it must be for someone sitting in the area, but we were told it was to eROI.  So we took a closer look. As we read the card, we saw that it was from one of our clients, Perkins and Co. They sent over this gift to congratulate us on our Max award win.

And there it is, the source of my strangely fantastic good vibes and inspiration.

What struck me –and all the people around, was that Perkins had taken the time to acknowledge our win and say they were happy for all of us. It was a  very simple but very kind thing to do.  You might not think something so simple could create great stuff but it truly inspired all of us. The more I thought about it, the more I appreciated that they took a  bit more time than just dropping an email or phone call.

So rather than just dropping my friends at Perkins & Co an email and/or phone call I am using this post take a bit more time to say a HUGE thanks to a client that didn’t need to go out of their way, but did. You really made our day!

While change is good, there is something to be said to having a purpose behind each change. We are consumers by nature and always want that new best thing, but why not first take a look at the tools you already have at your disposal and assess if you are indeed using them to their full potential.

Here are some questions to ask when considering whether or not to invest in the next latest and greatest marketing tactic. These might help you figure out if your money is best spent on what’s new or if it’d be better spent fine-tuning what you’re already utilizing.

• When was the last time you logged into your websites analytics account and closely reviewed the stats? Do you know what page has the greatest drop off? If you do, don’t you think making adjustments to this page would be good place to invest some funds instead of PPC ads that your uncle Jimmy told you about?
• What about your email marketing statistics? Do you look at your “read” and “click through” stats after each campaign and assess what worked and what didn’t, and then make adjustments accordingly?
• What about your email preference center? Do you ask your subscribers to choose the info they want to read and segment your lists and content accordingly? If not you should. After all, why invest in an email marketing tool that you are not utilizing to it’s full potential?
• What about your website’s blog? When was the last time you published a new post? If your content is not fresh the loyalty in your readership will decrease and you’ll let yet another viable tool go to waste.

What I’m saying is that before you rush out to skin a Twitter account and set up a Facebook page because everyone is doing it first take a look in your cupboard and spend some quality time assessing the tools you’ve already invested in. By doing so, you might find that you have outgrown some of them and are indeed in need of some changes (glitter in lotion was never a good idea). Or, you might rediscover what you liked so much about them in the first place and that they are truly working (hello anti-aging). For those of you who are already monitoring and tweaking your current marketing efforts, taking the initiative to skin a Twitter page or migrate to Facebook could be a solid next step; doing this prematurely might be a waste of your time and resources.

Above all, remember there should be a purpose behind every product or tool that you invest in, so if what you’re doing isn’t working for you toss it in the trash and make more time and room for those that do.

While much of the country is still reeling from the effects of massive winter-ness, PDX has had an untimely run-in with Spring for the last week or so. Our cabin fever has been relieved for the moment, and so our thoughts turn towards happy hour on the patio and unplanned use of vacation days.

Now, some of us have a not-so-healthy idea of fun (spring cleaning, anyone?). Of course, often it’s necessary to purge clutter and bad habits, and spring is as good a time to do that as any. In this spirit we wanted to take a moment to talk about some of the best practices we’ve found when working with your design files. Good habits can make the difference between a seamless development process and a complete nightmare, one that will try everyone’s patience and waste valuable time. We’ve even included a little treat at the end to help get you started. Ready to clean house?

1) Start with the end in mind
Back to the basics. When you build anything (even those one-off small projects), always use a grid. Choosing and sticking to a strong grid not only saves you lots of time when building the structure for your content, it ensures you will have a solid end result, not to mention the fact that it lays the foundation for a foolproof starting point when implementing the CSS.

2) Break it down
This may seem obvious, but organization is insanely important when building a design file. Name everything in ways that make sense to anyone else that might open it (i.e. a folder for navigation, then break it down for each piece within). Getting in the habit of doing this routinely will put any developer that works with your file at ease, and eliminates any questions over “where did you put that button?”

3) Smart & exact
Be a professional and avoid the temptation to be lazy in Photoshop. Always build to exact pixels, and zoom in to be sure – that’s what they make that magnifying glass for. Be weary of vector shape tools in PS, as they often miss the mark on pixels, and you get messy, ragged edges. When in doubt, select your pixels with the marquee tool and fill them. This same thinking goes for type – never resize type with the transform tool, always use the actual pixel height. Also, use text boxes to snap to your grid, and set padding, leading, etc. within the box. These elements also translate directly to CSS (another time-saver).

4) Refine your palette
The swatches palette is your friend. Stop color sampling things with the eyedropper tool and hoping you have a consistent file. Take the time to create your swatches as you go, and you’ll have the beginnings of a style guide ready for anyone who needs to use your files.

5) See it clearly
Transparency can be great for building effects, but unless you’re going to flatten all those layers into a JPEG in the end, you are creating unnecessary work and file size to make transparent PNGs. If you use transparency to find the perfect tone, resample the color with the eyedropper and make the object 100% with the new color choice. Also, be aware that layer effects and blend modes don’t always transfer when saving files to web. When in doubt experiment before committing to it or find another way to get the effect.

6) Be a master
I’ve found that when building large sites with huge amounts of adaptations, having a master file with the base elements is the simplest way to go. For example, one PSD will house the master navigation, footer, logos and any other repeated items, along with a file for all button states and icons, assets and such. This is a great way to make sure you have consistency among all the various pieces.

7) Stay lean and mean
In addition to that last tip, you can also save yourself valuable file size by flattening reused pieces from a master file to drop into subsequent files. This also reduces the margin for error, as you can only make changes to the file with all the layers.

8) Take action
Also another useful tip for building very interactive, feedback rich website files: break out complicated actions into their own file where you can concentrate on every aspect. For instance, I recently had the need to show every state for an interaction in an ecommerce site where a user would check the balance for and apply a gift card to an order. All the interaction was going to happen in place, and it’s really difficult to illustrate that in one page comp. It was much better to break it out and show all the states in line to cover all the details.

9) Be thorough
Don’t just take the word of your monitor if subtlety is a key to your design. Take a look at it on various monitors, especially those with an sRGB profile (standard on PCs). Check for contrast and try to get an acceptable amount of consistency between appearances. You can’t make this part of the design perfect, but make sure important details don’t fall out, and your hierarchy still holds up.

10) Have some style
The extra work of building a style guide will be worth every minute when you hand off your files to someone else to build. Including all the needed info about styles used, standard elements and measurements are essential to making the design come together. While this may seem hardly necessary for smaller sites, it will save your sanity when tackling something large.

To help all of this permeate your process, we’ve included a downloadable treat to keep for reference on best practices with your design files. Hopefully these tips will help keep your designs tight and ultimately more successful when produced. Enjoy!

Download the zen design super awesome treat ›