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

Service is Good

Robbie 0 Comments

We talk to clients occasionally about pulling in content and data from various, popular services across the web (e.g., Flickr, YouTube, Twitter). Most of the time it stays in the conceptual realm and never makes it to the finished product. Perhaps it never makes the transition because we don't use real-world examples to illustrate our ideas.

Ser-vice is "a lifestyle brand focusing on clean aesthetics and modern lines." Their shirts and products sell directly to folks in the creative industry and to people who use the aforementioned services. Case in point, their home page pulls in photos through the Flickr API tagged with "serviceisgood." Not only does this involve their customers beyond the initial transaction, but it shows new visitors there are actual human beings buying their wares.

All said, this isn't anything that new and I'm sure we could scrounge up dozens of examples of this type. However, it's a great example, in my opinion. We should look to this as a reminder that we've barely tapped into the potential of all the free services available on the web.

Adobe CS File Corruption on OS X 10.5.3

Robbie 8 Comments

A little warning for anyone out there running OS X Leopard 10.5.3 and using any of the Adobe CS products to edit files on a remote or network server: beware of file corruption.

Folks started picking up on this last month when the 10.5.3 update was released. According to AppleInsider:

When users attempt a save command, the file on the server becomes unusable, even when copied and opened locally. The issue occurs regardless of the format and doesn't appear to occur for locally saved files, which can still be uploaded to the server afterwards. The corrupted files appear to have a modified header that prevents them from being recognized properly.

We all work off of a file server in the office. Unfortunately, this bug reared its ugly head and rendered a few Photoshop documents useless. Luckily, we pulled files off our daily backup, so not all was lost. However, we're anxiously awaiting the fix from Apple included with OS X 10.5.4, which should be released in July prior to the iPhone 3G launch. Until then, to all those working with said configuration: copy your files locally before make any changes.

Update: Apple has released the OS X 10.5.4 update, which should resolve the issues described above. Upgrade your OS today.

Dairy Today

Robbie 2 Comments

Earlier this year, Pentagram redesigned the trade publication Dairy Today. While not the most interesting topic, Pentagram did an amazing job. Not only did they introduce a strong logotype, but the cover features a new dairy cow portrait each month. You really need to see it in person, but even on the web it's easy to see the cover's potential impact.

Every now and then I come across a designer who doesn't see what's so great about Pentagram. It's true that they get overhyped occasionally, but the Dairy Today cover shows their strength. They can tackle virtually any topic with ease. Nothing they do is overstated, but instead strives to set a new visual standard. In that way, the intention is to be timeless, which is lacking in most design today. Rebrand your company to the hot new trend and you'll be back to square one in two year's time.

(Project Update) Private Beta Launch - Get Your Invite!

Studiobanks 0 Comments

Today, we are happy to launch the private beta of CityBlackBook.com - a city-based, best-of lifestyle guide. Our hope is that people will use it to find and share places they've discovered in their city. Unlike other editor’s choice guides, CityBlackBook is an easy-to-use city-based guide without the excess found elsewhere. We plan to empower our user base by letting them decide whether a business is or isn’t included on the guide. While the moderators will monitor and edit basic content (i.e., grammar, image quality, etc.), the crux of the content for the guide will be generated solely by users.

We are launching the site in Charlotte - our home city - with plans to expand to other cities. For now, we are inviting 50 Charlotte area users to take part in our private beta. If you are interested in helping beta test, request an invite at CityBlackBook.com.

Jumping in as the new AIGA Communications Director

Banks 0 Comments

Not long after I gave a lecture at our studio to the local Charlotte chapter of AIGA, I was asked by the chapter's president, Chris Bradle, to join the group's board of directors. AIGA is the oldest and largest membership association for professionals engaged in the discipline, practice, and culture of designing. Nationally, the AIGA represents 22,000 designers through 59 national affiliates and 240 student groups.

The role he had in mind for me was Communications Director. I would be responsible for keeping our membership and local media informed about the happenings of the chapter and work with the event coordinators to properly promote upcoming chapter events. I accepted the position late last year. The first thing I wanted to focus on was revamping the chapter's website. Luckily, the board's Internet Director, Taylor Nall, agreed it needed some attention.

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IE 8, HTML 5 and Web Standards

Robbie 3 Comments

Back in March, Microsoft finally caved under the pressure of web designers and developers and announced Internet Explorer 8 will render content in the most current standards-based mode by default (currently, it must be forced out of "quirks" mode by specifying DOCTYPE). In addition, there will be two other rendering modes that are enabled through meta tag declarations—one comparable to IE 7 and another dating back further. Being the behemoth, corporate entity that they are this is understandable, as they can't ignore businesses locked into previous versions of Internet Explorer. Despite my distaste for most of Microsoft's actions, this is a great decision.

With the release of IE 8 Beta 1, the development team at Microsoft is beginning to release details regarding improvements. The most exciting news I've heard on the IEBlog is the HTML and DOM Standards Compliance in the new beta. It appears as if the team is working with the new HTML 5 specification. As we mentioned around this time last year, there a lot of improvements on the way in the new version of HTML. With IE 8 already in its first beta, the WebKit project churning along and the speed at which Mozilla can kick out new versions of Firefox, it's realistic to think we may be able to utilize many of the proposed HTML features in in the next few years. While that still sounds like a long time, the HTML 4.01 specification was recommended as of December 1999 (XHTML in the following year). The HTML 5 specification was just adopted at the end of 2007 and the first working draft published in January. So, the pace is quickening, even though HTML 5 reportedly won't be "recommended" by the W3C until around 2012.

CityBlackBook.com: Coming Soon!

Studiobanks 0 Comments

Five years ago, we noticed a website in Charlotte that was creating a lot of buzz with its online nightlife resource guide. However, the website was horribly designed and even harder to use. We decided that there was an opportunity there to create something along the same lines, but with a much improved user experience. Now, five years later, CarolinaNightlife.com has become a household name amongst the city’s party goers.

We are happy to announce today that we are at it again. On May 21st, we will launch the beta version of our latest internal project, CityBlackBook.com, for public use. The idea was born from the distaste for other large city-based resource guides like CitySearch.com, CityGuide.com and YellowPages.com. About a year ago, we decided we would build a lean, easy-to-use, clean-and-simple city-based resource guide that wasn’t so bloated. Basically, we wanted a guide that would be actually useful.

In the coming weeks, we will release sneak peeks about what we have going on and what will make this resource guide unique. So, bookmark the City Black Book Blog to keep up with the forthcoming launch.

Studiobanks Desktop Wallpapers

Mike 0 Comments

Studiobanks recently had some t-shirts designed by Bloo Empire's Keeley Carrigan. The design featured a Studiobanks robot smashing a computer monitor and various elements of the internet flying out, including characters based on our custom Toolbox packages.

I decided that since the design is so cool, it would be great to offer our friends a Studiobanks desktop wallpaper with this design. Below are links to the various sizes of wallpapers for everyone to enjoy!

1024x768
1280x800
1280x1024
1440x900
1680x1050
1900x1200
iPhone

We got to sit with the Price's at the Charlotte Center City Vision Awards!

Christy 1 Comments

Charlotte Center City Partners hosted their third annual Vision Awards on April 10th. Basically, this was one big party for over 700 people that honors and celebrates those who've made a significant contribution to the vision and vibrancy of uptown and South End.

First, let me tell you about the best part of the night! Banks and I were delighted to accept an invitation to attend this event, especially since Studiobanks is in South End and I live uptown. And, well, Banks definitely plays a lot uptown—I'm sure all you night-owls have run into him out and about. Anyway, the event was held at the Charlotte Convention Center and started with a cocktail reception outside and then moved into the ballroom.

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Constructing Usable URLs

Michael 1 Comments

When discussing usability, I tend to bounce from element to element - menu this, font-size that and so on. The last year or two introduced some non-design elements to the conversation, like AJAX, accessibility and semantics. Not until the last few months, however, have I considered URL construction an important part of usability. SEO, sure, but usability? Never.

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