We’re pretty excited about the Antara site. It’s fun and full of life… just like Judi. She’s a real people person so we used a lot of bright color and friendly faces. We’ve been working on it for a couple of weeks now so to see it go live is a real treat.

We built the site in WordPress with lots a little custom features that will allow Judi and her team to update the site themselves as needed. My favorite feature is something that will almost always go unnoticed. On the homepage, if you collapse and expand the width of the browser you can see the boat, plane and clouds move, even the building overlap each other. It’s a small thing but show the attention detail applied to the entire site. Sure it’s just a little thing but it’s the little extras that make a big difference between a custom, professionally made WordPress theme and a theme that’s just downloaded and installed.

Judi’s a rock star when it comes to financial planning and now she has the website to match her business! For more information check out Judi’s new site.

Sure it was easy for @porterairlines to hit me back. After all, we had nothing but glowing comments for their entire team. @salesforce has continued to ignore the Tweets, the Retweets and Blog posts. In fact, the day the post was written I received an automated email from the Salesforce team asking if I was happy with the service. And although I responded with a link to the post, STILL nothing. Granted, they’ve ignored direct emails and phone calls as well.

So KUDOS to the everybody at The UPS Store who called and emailed myself directly to ensure that any issues were addressed swiftly and to my complete satisfaction! Since The UPS Store looked after us, we’d like to look after them and that’s why we’re offering a couple of Special Promotions in their honor!

Check out The UPS Promotion now!

Although more and more companies are engaging customers one-on-one with Twitter, some are still missing the point. Here’s Twitter – The Good, The Bad and the Ugly:

The Good – @porterairlines

On a recent trip to New York I was delayed by weather and after having waited 4 hours to get on the plane, I was in no mood for what I had perceived as a ‘snotty’ remark from a stewardess. I Tweeted the exchange and turned my phone off for the flight. By the time we landed in Toronto, a customer support representative had Tweeted me back asking for details, how they could help and additional contact information. After another short exchange, I received a $50 voucher for my trouble and within a couple of hours Porter Airlines had successfully converted this customer into a FAN!

Twitter – The Good, The Bad and The Ugly starring @porterairlines as The Good

The Bad – @salesforce

We are currently Salesforce customers; not because we want to but because we have to. After signing up for Salesforce we quickly came to realization that it was not the CRM for us and informed our Sales Representative that we would not renew our contract. A year later I was shocked to see that we had been charged for another year. I quickly called Salesforce to let them know that a mistake had been made. It’s been 3 months and although I have called, emailed and now Tweeted my displeasure, nothing. I thought my latest Tweet, I hate @salesforce might get their attention but still, nothing.

Twitter – The Good, The Bad and The Ugly starring @Salesforce as The Bad

The Ugly – @theupsstorecare

Grayrock keeps a mailbox in downtown Ottawa with the UPS Store. In my opinion, they have one job – stick the mail in the mailbox. When it came to my attention that mail was being held… Surprise, surprise I Tweeted about it. I very quickly received a response from what appeared to be a UPS Store representative. Their response via @theupsstore_pr suggested I send additional information to @theupsstorecare? To date I have received no follow-up, @theupsstorecare follows @theupsstore_pr and @theupsstore_pr only and has exactly zero Tweets… The UPS Store may care, I’m just not sure they have a clue.

Twitter – The Good, The Bad and The Bad starring @theupsstorecare as The Ugly

Each speaker shared a unique perspective to the question so, I thought I would share my slides and a few notes in the hopes that you too might ask the question: Why Design is Important to Our Community?

I am a the father of two, a UX Designer, an IA Architect, Creative Director of The Studio at Grayrock. I’m also a stand-up comic. In fact, in a team of only 3 designers, 2 of us are Stand-Up comics and the other is a musician. My point is that we are not just designers, we are creators, motivators, inventors. Sure, we design but more importantly we create emotional attachments through our works regardless of the canvas. We are the innovators of change within our society. Why is design important to our community? Because we make changes. Need proof?

Norman Lear

As a writer and producer Norman Lear brought us classic sitcoms such as All in the Family, Sanford and Son, One Day at a Time, The Jeffersons, Good Times, Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman and Maude. All in the Family was first seen in January of 1971 and not only changed the face of television but an entire nation dealing with controversial subjects such as racism and sexism in realistic ways.

The 60′s

I was born in 1969; the only son of an African-American Mother and a Caucasian father. A seed planted by the The Beatles, Robert Indiana, Andy Warhol and others opened doors and opened minds allowing this union to grow.

Beam Me Up Scottie

As a child I watch television shows like Battlestar Galactica and Star Trek in amazement; touch screens, wireless communication devices, video conferencing. The concepts these writers were coming up was mind blowing! Today, in fact minutes ago I just checked my email, my voice mail and tucked my son into bed – face to face with one device. Thank you iPhone!

The Revolution will not be Televised

Just like the Gil Scott-Heron song suggested, The Revolution will not be Televised. During the recent unrest in Egypt, news crews were denied access to show what was really happening in the streets. No, instead activists Twetted news and word spread 140 characters at a time!

Maybe They Have to be Crazy

We are a crazy bunch and I wouldn’t have it any other way! I thought I would end with one of my favorites. An anthem, our anthem… from the gang over at Apple.

Here’s to the crazy ones. The rebels. The troublemakers. The ones who see things differently. While some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius. Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do.

Go out and do something crazy because the little pieces of art you create today just might change the world tomorrow.

Thanks to the organizers, IABC Ottawa, Pivot Design Group, Sponsors Corel and Creative Niche, speakers Robert B. Smith R.G.D. of Green Melon, Mike McGuire of Wingspan Design, Amanda Holtstrom of OpenText and everybody who attended this wonderful event!

In Malcolm Gladwell’s book The Tipping Point, he speaks about how little things can make a big difference. With all of the information and visual noise that surrounds us today, what are the little things that designers can do to contribute to our society to bring order to the chaos? (Event Posting)

Come out and enjoy complimentary hors d’oeuvres and door prizes from our sponsors. Hear some great speakers discuss their perspectives on the importance of design in our community with 5 ideas and 5 images. Meet and reconnect with colleagues and friends in the Ottawa design community to discuss why the design community is important to you and why it is valuable to the design industry.

When: Wednesday, February 23 • 5:30 pm – 7:30 pm
Theme: Why is design important to our community?
Where: Hard Rock Café (upstairs) in the Byward Market – 73 York St, Ottawa, ON

Speakers include:
Robert B. Smith R.G.D. President/Creative Director, GreenMelon
Mike McGuire Owner, Wingspan Design
Nick Aitken Owner, The Studio at Grayrock

Keep the discussion lively by joining the live twitter feed at the mixer. Use #OttawaDesign to be a part of the conversation.

RSVP: ottawadesignmixer.eventbrite.com

The hors d’oeuvres and door prizes are sponsored by Creative Niche and Corel.

As a Graphic Designer one of my many responsibilities include Design Presentations to clients. It’s my opportunity to present the rationale behind the design direction. For example, why I selected these fonts and colors, why this information fell ‘below the fold’ or why I used a fixed width instead of floating the design. It is, without a doubt the second least favorite part of my job. I’m looking at you time sheets!

During the recent walk through of a website re-design, one stakeholder commented, “I really like the direction you’re headed in but now, I want you to add just a little more WOW.” A little more WOW? He said it as if I had can of it in my designer toolbox, next to the ‘AWESOME’ and ‘POP’; clients like things that POP!

From time-to-time I’m told that “this client has high expectations, they want you to wow them“. I am always concerned when wow is set as a design expectation. I can’t help but feel that somebody is going to be underwhelmed. It’s like going to Galaxy Travel and being disappointed to learn they can’t book a trip to the moon₁. Client feedback is essential to the design process but, that feedback has to clear, concise and measurable. In over 10 years of design experience I’ve heard a lot of comments. Here are three of my favorites.

Can you make it POP?

I guess… can you define pop? Did you want some bubbles, sparkles, more color or pizazz? Although you’ll have to define pizazz now too.

I showed the design to my cleaning lady and she has the following comments.

Really, really? If your cleaning lady was going to be such a vital part of the design process then maybe she should have read the Creative Brief, been at the design meetings or not have been your cleaning lady!?

I’m just not feeling the love, do you know what I mean?

No actually, I don’t know what you mean. I want all clients to love their new design so I can only assume that if you’re not feeling the love, you don’t like it. However, the way “I’m just not feeling the love” is always said implies you do really like it, most of it or at least part of it but maybe there’s something missing or not quite right. I don’t know?

₁ Thanks to the very funny Chris Stewart of The Candy Critic Blog for the Galaxy Travel reference.

Can you digg it? No seriously, could you… never mind.

Opt-In Email Marketing is not SPAM!

Spam is any email you send to someone who hasn’t given you their direct permission to contact them on the topic of the email.

Ok so the language is vague, fuzzy, open to interpretation, fair enough but, email marketing has come out of the shadows and is a viable and essential part of most successful businesses today.

“89 percent of American users send or read email”

According to recent reports, retailers are now ranking email marketing as the most important demand-generation activity for holiday success, with Search Engine Marketing (SEM) and Search Engine Optimization (SEO) ranking second and third.

But email is ugly

If you consider the power of the SmartPhone with it’s texting, video capabilities and Social Media apps, you’d think that poor ‘ole email wouldn’t stand a chance. But nowadays most emails are sent (and more importantly, received) in HTML allowing branded, personalized, customized and measurable messages delivered right to your clientele.

But writing is boring

YES IT IS! I apologize to all my writer friends… writer friends’… writer friend’s… I’m sure that one of you all of you all of you will correct my grammar. I’m not a writer, I don’t know about writing. I’m just a designer who owns a small business helping clients with their marketing initiatives. I don’t know what I should write about either. Oh, wait…

Here’s a thought: If you’re a Chef write about cooking, if you’re a Realtor write about the market, if you’re a personal trainer write about training and if you’re writer, well, I apologize.

What next?

There are a multitude of options for email newsletter management. Too many to mention and I’d rather this post not become a ‘pitch’. so here are two things you should know before starting an email newsletter campaign.

1. Know your audience
   The best way to grow your distribution list is to know your distribution list.
2. Know your capabilities
   Don’t call it a monthly newsletter unless you’re committed to a monthly newsletter.

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