“Look, I understand, but we don’t have time for a digital strategy”.

With that abrupt comment, my conversation with the Marketing Communications Manager of one of Australia’s largest companies ended. (more…)

From Paul Rand’s “The Politics of Design“:

One of the more common problems which tends to create doubt and confusion is caused by the inexperienced and anxious executive who innocently expects, or even demands, to see not one but many solutions to a problem. These may include a number of visual and/or verbal concepts, an assortment of layouts, a variety of pictures and color schemes, as well as a choice of type styles. He needs the reassurance of numbers and the opportunity to exercise his personal preferences. He is also most likely to be the one to insist on endless revisions with unrealistic deadlines, adding to an already wasteful and time-consuming ritual. Theoretically, a great number of ideas assures a great number of choices, but such choices are essentially quantitative. This practice is as bewildering as it is wasteful. It discourages spontaneity, encourages indifference, and more often than not produces results which are neither distinguished, interesting, nor effective. In short, good ideas rarely come in bunches.

The designer who voluntarily presents his client with a batch of layouts does so not out prolificacy, but out of uncertainty or fear. He thus encourages the client to assume the role of referee. In the event of genuine need, however, the skillful designer is able to produce a reasonable number of good ideas. But quantity by demand is quite different than quantity by choice. Design is a time-consuming occupation. Whatever his working habits, the designer fills many a wastebasket in order to produce one good idea. Advertising agencies can be especially guilty in this numbers game. Bent on impressing the client with their ardor, they present a welter of layouts, many of which are superficial interpretations of potentially good ideas, or slick renderings of trite ones…

Expertise in business administration, journalism, accounting, or selling, though necessary in its place, is not expertise in problems dealing with visual appearance. The salesman who can sell you the most sophisticated computer typesetting equipment is rarely one who appreciates fine typography or elegant proportions. Actually, the plethora of bad design that we see all around us can probably be attributed as much to good salesmanship as to bad taste.

via Signal vs. Noise

Recently completed the redesign of specialistit.com.au for Specialist IT. As the name suggests, they’re an IT consulting company in Sydney, Australia.

A crucial element to their redesign was to add some personality to their online presence. They have a unique way of finding and cultivating new customers, so the website and their communications strategy now helps them get more out of the process.

Along with the online upgrade, we updated their printed collateral to further help their sales process. The design is based on the 960.gs CSS framework and Wordpress.

Site address: specialistit.com.au

It seems everyone has a URL shortener. So in an effort to follow the crowd somewhat (at least to see what the fuss is all about), I’ve created my own. It’s called Prsonl – short for personal, meaning I’m not expecting anyone else to use it (although at this point I haven’t stopped anyone using it). Works great and makes teeny URLs. That is all.

Site link: prso.nl

A few people know I’ve been working on a book about web strategy for the last few months. The book has now morphed into a website, which is finally ready to go.

My new site is You Don’t Need A “Website”, You Need A Web Strategy. It highlights the need for a solid foundation strategy for activities online and will offer inspiration, information and case studies. I’ll also be looking to include some excerpts here on salience.com.au.

As a cherry on top, I’ll be releasing an e-book shortly that further expands on the site’s Manifesto. In fact, sign up for the newsletter by the end of June and you’ll receive a pre-release copy of the e-book FREE.

If you’re interested in coming along for the journey, follow along on Twitter, join the movement or catch the updates on Tuesdays and Fridays.

It’s remarkably easy to optimise content for the iPhone as it is based on the Safari found in Mac OS X.

I’ve had something online for the last few months, but recently decided to create a more sophisticated version. Let’s be original and call it a beta. Try it for yourself: grab an iPhone or iPod touch and go to: salience.com.au.

Tips to remember when developing for the iPhone:

1. There’s two ways to develop: either create a site that replaces the regular HTML on an iPhone (which is what I’ve done), or create a site that mirrors the regular site with new CSS optimised for the iPhone. Note that either way you may need to alter the content you can deliver. Both are really easy.
2. It’s a rare (and enjoyable) thing to only develop one version of something and know that by testing it on one device it will be good on all of them. How often do you get that on the web?
3. Create a homepage icon to add a level of professionalism
4. Since the Safari browser on the iPhone renders HTML really nicely, you could just leave your site the way it is. Except for one pesky problem: the user. Optimising your site is a little effort for a far better experience for the person that matters most.

If you would like help in creating mobile versions of your content, feel free to contact me for more information.

My family and I recently spent some time in country Victoria. During our trip, we decided to visit Sovereign Hill, a gold-rush period tourist attraction in Ballarat. While surrounded by calico tents and horse coaches, I was reminded of the standards and conventions we use online by the dresses women chose to buy in the 1850s. It was a practical convention in both form and function and a standard practice of the time.

Some women had dresses that had the buttons on the back, while others had them on the front. The difference? Single women needed the buttons on the front, but married women could have their husbands assist them, so wore their buttons on the back of the dress.

Not only was this a practical convention or standard, it communicated instantly to everyone if you were married or not.

These are the best type of standards. They have a benefit for you and others.

Are you using the conventions of the web to your advantage – both to yourself and your users?

One of my esteemed colleagues, Charles Rallings (in fact, ‘colleague’ would give the impression that we were equals… He’s the Kung Fu master), appears in this month’s Marketing magazine. As I mention elsewhere, in my opinion, he should have been quoted more often.

It got me thinking – most marketing and advertising entities still think of digital as a channel that can be set to the side where it can complement the other stuff you do. Those who continue in this thinking will go the way of the dinosaur.

Unlike other media, the concept of ‘digital’ is more than a marketing channel. It’s more than a method of delivery. It is the opportunity to change the game is so many ways. Ideas can be communicated and delivered in ways that have never existed before.

But the challenge in an environment – where traditional businesses like newspapers are dying in the face of free online content, and where online development cannot be seriously considered as a profit-centre – is how to make money when the old-school ways are soon to stop working.

The long tail is the future.

I’m tired of hearing about the “Global Economic Crisis”. I know it’s real. People are hurting, and this situation will probably get worse for a while to come.

But if you haven’t noticed, companies take the opportunity to announce losses and workforce rationalisations (or move the jobs overseas). Even if they are not truly necessary. Of course companies are suffering, but it’s naive to think most businesses will not take the opportunity to use the current economic climate to reduce costs.

The question is: at what cost to marketing?

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About Rei Paki

With a diverse mix of talents, skills and experience, Rei is a creative professional that intimately understands the digital landscape.

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