Studioblog (n): a blog by Studiobanks about design, marketing, internet, business, Charlotte and more. 

MTV Hats

Robbie 0 Comments

With the launch of their new, hyrid XHTML/Flash website, MTV kicked off a new project called MTV Hats (aka Header Art Treatments). With some flexibility in the layout, due in part to templates from Dan Cederholm of SimpleBits, MTV is able to accept, approve and drop a variety of header artwork from artists and designers into rotation on mtv.com. Anyone that has ever watched MTV knows they've applied many different treatments to their logo over the years, so this project is not surprising. It is, however, very refreshing for the MTV Design Team to figure out a way to pull more designers and artists into their community. The MTV Design Team says it best though:

We love our logo. For real, we wanna take it out for an expensive candlelit dinner... TWO appetizers. Since MTV's inception in 1981 our brand's been the subject of countless artist interpretations by some of the world's most beautifully warped minds. We plan to keep that spirit alive with the new mtv.com and push it to the next level... YOU.

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Google Analytics Redesign

Robbie 3 Comments

Early last month, Google launched a redesign and restructuring of their stats service, Google Analytics. The new look is the combination of Urchin, the acquistion that birthed Analytics, and Measure Map. Jeffrey Veen, formerly of Adaptive Path/Measure Map, lead the design team responsible for the complete rehaul. The focus was to take the daunting task of navigating the immense amount of detail in Analytics and make it more intuitive. Now, I'm not going to list all of the new features here (there are many lists already out there). The only point I want to make is to say that the Google Analytics redesign was successful, in my book. It's inspirational to see that a small team can take the amount of information generated by something as complicated as web stats and make it effortless, digestible and visually appealing. If anything, that success echoes the fundamental goals of design.

Now they just need to do something about that account home page!

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37 Signals article in TIME Magazine

Christy 3 Comments

37 Signals, the company that developed the project management software we use called Basecamp, was written up in TIME Magazine. Not only do we love using their simple, easy to use software, but we really love their "keep it simple" philosophy. In fact, I use their online to-do list, Backpack, for my own personal use. Anyone else using Basecamp?

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(New Project) Varji & Varji Salon and Spa

Christy 0 Comments

This is our third client in the Morrison, located in South Park. First Winestore, then Asana Activewear and now Varji & Varji Salon.

We had our kick-off meeting yesterday and are very excited about the vision Max and Susan Varji have for their website. If you've seen the interior of their store, you'll have some sense of their incredible taste.

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(Project Update) Greg Biffle Website - Top NASCAR Driver

Christy 0 Comments

So, while Greg Biffle's business manager is coordinating a photo shoot and gathering the last of the content we'll need, we've begun organizing the sitemap. This blue print of sorts allows us to be clear on the structure of the site before we begin design. It also allows for the client to have an outline of the final content we'll need.

We work hard to receive content as soon as possible. This helps our designers visually tell a story and understand how much text and/or photos will be on a page. Since Studiobanks is known for very clean and easy navigation, it's important we know what we are navigating before we begin the design.

One of the goals of the Greg Biffle site is to show the personal side of Greg—what he's up to when he's not on the track. One of the ways to accomplish this is to show Greg in his street clothes versus his NASCAR uniform. We're looking forward to being at the photo shoot in a couple weeks. Should be fun.

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Business in the Front, Party in the Back

Banks 0 Comments

CarolinaNightlife.com was featured in this month's issue of Charlotte Magazine. The article covered nightlife in the Queen City and how Carolina Nightlife and similar websites turn profit by promoting it. A photo shoot was held for the article at one of the newer bars in downtown Charlotte. My brother Hunter is the one on the floor and I am sitting on the table.

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(Project Update) Asana's New Logo

Christy 1 Comments

As we promised, here's the logo Asana chose from the six or so options we presented them—and it was our favorite one of the bunch, too. Clay designed this font by hand, so Asana will have their very own personal typeface. We chose the four colors from swatches they gave us from one of the clothing brands they'll be carrying. Now, the architect designing the store, which will be located at the new development Morrison in South Park, will be incorporating the color palette we've chosen into the store design. The next phase for Studiobanks is to create all of the Asana collateral: business cards, letterhead, envelopes, in-store hang tags and product signage.

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HTML 5 vs XHTML 2

Robbie 0 Comments

If you've noticed references to HTML 5 or XHTML 2 pop up around the web and aren't aware of the differences between the two, then be sure to read "HTML5, XHTML2, and the Future of the Web" over at Digital Web Magazine.

The article lays out the pros and cons and the general arguments for each language. As you'll read, there's quite a lot in the pipe as far as updates to the functionality of forms, basic client-side APIs and the structure of markup.

Some additional reading:

The future of HTML, Part 1: WHATWG

The future of HTML, Part 2: XHTML 2.0

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We Love The Avett Brothers

Robbie 0 Comments

The Avett Brothers, hailing from Charlotte (rather Concord/Mt. Pleasant), just released their new album Emotionalism on May 15th. A few of us made it down to their in-store at Manifest this past Tuesday. According to their management, around 700 people passed through the store during the event and 300 copies of the album were sold. All in all, they played 13 songs and mingled with double the attendance of their last in-store there in 2004.

If that wasn't enough, the guys recently performed "Paranoia in Bb Major" on Late Night with Conan O'Brien. Videos of the performance have mostly been deleted from YouTube by NBC, but we found one!

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Party Crashing

Banks 2 Comments

So our new neighbor, Meadows Office Furniture, here in the Citispace in Southend development had a grand opening party yesterday. Although there was not an official invitation given to Studiobanks, the guys and I decided to head over and introduce ourselves. Everyone we met was very nice. Clint Barlow, the General Manager of Meadows, came up to us, apologized for any inconvenience the large party tent in the parking lot might have caused us (we did have to tell some clients that were coming in for meetings to use the development’s exit since the main entrance was blocked) and told us to enjoy the party. Since we were kind of party crashing, we didn’t really know what to expect. It became clear quickly that we were quite underdressed for the event. Most attendees were in suits or business casual attire. We, of course, were adhering to the Studiobanks dress code of “whatever you feel like wearing.” It really hit home that we were standing out when the photographer, Wes Bobbitt asked if we were the band! I had planned to go see the documentary Helvetica with the guys, but was having such a good time I ended up (once again) closing down the party with Christy over quite a few cocktails.

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