We are very excited to announce yet another great project from a client located at the new development Morrison in South Park! First the Winestore, now Asana Activewear.
Asana Activewear is a newly formed company that operates boutique, specialty-apparel retail stores, focused exclusively on yoga-inspired activewear and accessories for men and women.
Not that most of us who deal with web design don't already feel Microsoft to be the leading cause of daily frustration, but those guys continue to come up with new ways to infuriate our industry. If it's not lack of standards support in Internet Explorer 6, it's the completely-avoidable Eolas update last year.
The latest "next generation" product from the folks in Redmond goes by the name of Silverlight. One of the intentions for this proprietary, web-based runtime is takeover a bit of the Flash/Flex market from Adobe. While some healthy competition is good for innovation, Microsoft is just playing follow-the-leader yet again. The name Silverlight even invokes the same feeling as Flash. Moreover, one of the development tools for animation in Silverlight, Expression Blend, was code-named "Sparkle." The scariest thought is that designers or developers might actually have to rely on Microsoft applications for creative work.
We are very excited about our latest project. For me, this is a full circle moment and a great example of how strong client relationships and good old fashion hard work pay off.
One of Studiobanks' very first projects was designing the Rick Crawford website. Our contact there had since worked his way up over the years and is now the business manager for Greg Biffle Incorporated. So, he contacted us to design GregBiffle.com.
With Greg Biffle being a nationally known celebrity, we see this national exposure as an opportunity to highlight our capabilities and creative expertise. With that said, we are going to pull out all the stops to make this site the best site the racing industry has ever seen.
About Greg Biffle
Greg Biffle made NASCAR history in 2002 and came within 35 points of doing it again in 2005 when he finished second in the Chase for the Nextel Cup.
Biffle became the first driver to win championships in both the Craftsman Truck and Busch series before moving full time to Cup in 2003. His lone win that season came in the Pepsi 400 at Daytona, making him one of only a handful of drivers to win a race in each of NASCAR's top three series.
Sooner or later every designer has creative block. It's a fact. First thing to realize is you're not alone. I've never met a designer, not one, that hasn't struggled with creativity. What is unique, however, is how to handle it.
Here is what I have found that works...
Designer Naz Hamid recently posted some screens of the new AIGA.org content management system (CMS) on his website Weight Shift. It's a page-based publishing system, which differentiates it from our own record-based Toolbox CMS. But, I'm not trying to pitch you on our Toolbox.
The lesson here is not to neglect the visual appearance of a CMS. Developers are usually great at what they do, but they are not designers. AIGA realized they were going to be spending a lot of time maintaining AIGA.org's content using that interface. Wisely, they contracted separate design teams to build the front-end and back-end for their newly redesign site and then handed those designs off to development teams. Hamid's informed choices on the layout not only make the site's content and structure easy to update and understand, but it gives AIGA something nice to look at while they do it.
The accolades continue to pour in for Studiobanks' client Winestore. In just a short year after opening the store, Winestore has been featured in numerous articles highlighting their unique approach to selling wine. In the latest issue of Charlotte Magazine, Winestore was named the "Best Place to Buy Wine in Charlotte," winning one of the magazine’s coveted BOB (Best of the Best) Awards.
Best Place to Buy Wine: Winestore.
This is a simple, well-organized place that doesn’t overwhelm you with thousands of bottles. Instead, winestore has a carefully selected collection of excellent wines ranging from affordable to very expensive. With an urban, chic, hip design of glass and steel, finding a good bottle is easy with categories like Dinner Party, Girls Night Out, Making Up, Loose Change, and Tax Break. It also has a fantastic method of sampling wines for sale. It’s an automated dispenser that’s activated by a wine card you purchase at the counter. Each sample is one ounce and costs $0.70, which is a great value—especially if you’re wondering if the $50 bottle you’re considering is any good.
PC Magazine’s May issue lists the top 10 most commonly used passwords online:
password
123456
qwerty
abc123
letmein
monkey
myspace1
password1
blink182
(your first name)
Most sites now require both letters and numbers when creating a password, in an attempt to force users to select a secure password. This effectively prevents users from using the list's top 3 most commonly used passwords. I guess "password1" made the list by people who are dead set on using an unsecure password.
Do you make websites? If the answer is yes, be sure to go take The Web Design Survey 2007 from A List Apart. The goal of the survey is "to increase knowledge of web design and boost respect for the profession."
Studiobanks has become known for creating strong brands. With our latest project, Southern Comfort, a local custom home builder new to the market, we will have the opportunity to create their entire brand - including logo, marketing materials and, of course, the website.
With so many builders in the market, our challenge will be to create a memorable brand that sets them apart from the rest.
Last month, Digital Web Magazine published an article about the redesign of EllisLab’s ExpressionEngine site by 31Three. In the article, Jesse Bennett-Chamberlain, the man behind 31Three, walks through an abridged version of his entire design process. From a change in work environment to wireframing to design exploration, Bennett-Chamberlain provides some great insights for designers to reference and apply to their own process. As evident from the finished product, the attention to detail put into the project is admirable. The gist of "It Doesn’t End Here," the closing remarks, is one of the most important ideas contained in the article.
In that regard, a website isn’t a static design, and once it launches, it’s not mine anymore—it’s a living, breathing entity that will change as others interact with it, and as it grows.
Designers and clients alike would be better for making Bennett-Chamberlain's sentiment their mantra; our work is never done. Not only are projects that continually change and grow more successful, but they end up staying relevant longer and out of that undead state too many projects slip into.
is a digital agency specializing in online marketing and web development for ambitious and progressive companies. We combine big-idea creative, award-winning design and leading-edge technology to consistently deliver exceptional results for our clients.
AAF, ADDY, AIGA, Awards, Charlotte, Design, HTML, Muzak, NASCAR, SEO, Toolbox, Website, Actionscript, Adobe, Advertising, Development, Flash, Google, Logo, Marketing, Music, Resource, Resources, Studiocup, Web Design
FEATURED: Eric Hunter
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