“Sonar’s non-traditional marketing approach was a perfect fit for the Gregg for Governor campaign,” said Vince Freeman, owner of Sonar Studios, Inc. “John Gregg is not your typical politician, and we’re not your typical marketing firm. John wanted a campaign image — created in Indiana — that would reflect his remarkable ability to connect personally with nearly everyone he meets. The logo is memorable and friendly because it reflects the personality of the candidate. Once you meet John, you’ll never forget him, and regardless of your political stripes, you’re going to want to vote for him.”

“It’s an iconic logo for an iconic man,” Freeman added.

Sonar was initially contracted for video production, web design, and digital strategy consulting. However, noting the firm’s creativity the campaign team asked Sonar to try its hand at designing the campaign’s logo. The results pleased not only the campaign, but a few national consultants as well.

One such consultant noted, “I think the mustache logo is an instant classic. I usually don’t like logos that campaigns have already designed before we come on board, and I usually ask for a redesign process…but in this case, I saw this logo, I thought it was perfect. Seriously. That never happens with me.”

Currently, Sonar Studios, Inc. is the local digital media consultant to the Gregg for Governor campaign. With a background primarily focused on education technology, its services to the campaign include graphic design, web design and production, programming, technical support and video production.

Nice Features
Muse creates websites without using templates that may seem restrictive to some designers. It offers many helpful features such as sitemaps for easy site planning, master pages, and the ability to easily embed arbitrary HTML such as Google Maps, YouTube video and Twitter feeds. The tools will also feel familiar to designers that use InDesign. Muse is a good tool for those designers who want to create small websites without the help of a programmer.

A Bit Lacking
Adobe describes Muse as InDesign for website creation. For those of you that have been around for a while, I liken Muse more to PageMaker. Yes, designers can create a website without writing any HTML or CSS code and, yes, the interface is more like a page layout program than other website creation programs. But designers may get frustrated trying to get their layouts to function the way they originally intended and may find that some of the tools don’t work as predictably as they would expect. A few of the most obvious areas Muse is lacking is that it’s rather convoluted to create a simple contact form. The submenu on the menu widget seems very restricting, and even with my limited programming experience, I can tell that the HTML code Muse generates is quite messy.

Conclusion
Adobe Muse may be a helpful tool for some website projects, but I find it falls short for large, dynamic, and integrated websites. While it’s not the game changer I was originally hoping for, it is a move in the right direction. I look forward to seeing where Adobe takes Muse in the future.

A few nights ago, setting down my iPad, turning off the light, and closing my eyes to sleep, I began to review and contemplate the day’s events. My first thought was, “what an extreme range of meetings I had had.” That morning I met with a health education center that was interested having us convert their auditorium into a multi-sensory 3-D theater and licensing some of our technology for creating and delivering educational content to their classrooms. Afterward, I had headed back to Indianapolis to meet with a team that was planning a gubernatorial campaign. They wanted to speak with us about assisting with their digital media strategy. Both meetings had gone very well. It would be fair to say that in both cases, the prospects were well on their way to becoming Sonar clients.

Yet, how could this be? How could a company the size of Sonar Studios have viable service offerings for both a multi-sensory theater designed to educate k12 students and a online media strategy targeted to convert audiences into supporters, volunteers, and donors—and, ultimately voters? Was Sonar simply suffering from its own internal brand confusion? Or had the economy caught up to us, and we simply were just looking for any work we could get?

In my career I have had the pleasure to speak with hundreds visual communication students at the very start of their own careers. After discussing what drove them to this field, I would ask them the following question: “What is it that you believe a visual communicator does?” In response I would get answers such as “design things,” or “create brand images,” or “make people and products look good.” All of which are good answers, but yet greatly limit the scope and purpose of what a strong visual communications professional ultimately does. Which is this: “They make intellectual property emotionally palatable.” That is, they take some intellectual message or task and wrap with enough emotion to entice the viewer to pick up the book, turn the page, click the button, watch the video, browse a little longer; to become informed, educated, inspired, sold, or engaged.

At the core of this is a fundamental principle in how people make decisions. For years, marketers, brand communicators and educators have believed that people receive information, THINK, and respond accordingly. But modern research has shown that people receive information, they FEEL, and then they respond. Compound this with the cultural shift from a society of needs to a society of wants, and the impact of an “on-demand” information and entertainment system, and you begin to understand the importance of emotional engagement.

The point is, whether we are trying to get someone to understand a concept, buy a product, learn about a cause, or vote for candidate— it all starts with engagement.

He is 6 and going into first grade this fall. He has been able to use an iPhone since he was 18 months old and is completely unfazed by technology. Nothing intimidates him. He plays the Wii, plays games on the iPhone, and uses a laptop computer. I remember introducing him to the iPad, and the first words out of his mouth were, “It’s a giant iPhone!” and he immediately knew how to use it.

And now, by the time he attends high school (in 8 years) I’m sure all of his textbooks will be purely digital.

My generation is witnessing the convergence of print and video, and my son’s generation will read about it digitally in their history class. There are digital magazines now that incorporate video and interactivity. Television shows now link back to online resources. The SYFY network has an arrangement with Shazam so that if you shazam the episode, it takes you to exclusive online content. Not to mention the fact that the presence of resources like Google have changed how our mind works.

I know my son’s mind works differently than mine or my wife’s. It is inevitable. He has grown up expecting certain things, like online access, instant answers, and immediate gratification. The other day, he was trying to figure out something on a Wii Lego Star Wars game and asked my wife to Google it for him so she could tell him how to solve the problem. (Now granted, he saw me do this the previous week, so he knew that is how I got the answer when we got stuck before). He expects people to be able to talk to their phones (he has seen me do this on my iPhone), he thinks that everything can be immediately downloaded. Just yesterday he asked, “Dad, can you download this game, I want to try it.” He was incredulous when I told him we used to have to wait until Saturday morning to watch cartoons.

Life is going to be different for my son. Just like life for me was different than for my dad. I can’t even begin to imagine what life will be like for my grandkids.

I’m excited to be living in this digital age. It is an amazing time to be alive, but occasionally I do miss the simpler times, the slower pace. The days before HDTV and iPhones, when we had hard bound books and audio cassettes and phones with cords and dial up internet. It was so…hold on a sec, I just got a text…

This is the traditional definition of Brand Loyalty. Many in the marketing field use this definition to guide their plans to grow a brand’s community. It is understandable that companies want to build loyalty to their brands and there is a litany of tools and techniques used to conform user communities to a brand. But let’s be honest about this traditional definition of brand loyalty. It bases its presumptions on the question, “How can the community serve the brand?” In other words, it presupposes that it’s the community that should be compliant to the brand. By basing ones thinking on this tenet it can easily lead to the mentality that communities can be pushed, prodded and corralled like cattle only for the good of the brand. This leads to many of the articles and blogs denouncing brands as manipulative, greedy and untrustworthy.

But it doesn’t have to be this way. What if a brand starts with the question, “How can the brand serve its community?” This idea presupposes that it’s the brand’s responsibly for loyalty to the community. A brand is meant to be experienced. An effective brand should offer its community the experience it desires. And if a community starts moving away from a brand, then it’s the brands responsibility to change to better serve the community, not the other way around.

I visited an amusement park with my family a few weeks ago and saw first hand a company’s level of commitment to its brand values. This amusement park is known for its fun, family-friendly values and dedication to a clean environment. While there, we witnessed a misunderstanding between a patron and a park employee. The patron, with her family, was standing in line to purchase ice cream. The patron was next to be served, but was standing in the line exit rather than the line entrance. The employee asked if she could move over to the line entrance so that a proper line could be formed behind her. The patron thought the employee was asking her to move to the back of the line and was so distraught she wouldn’t listen to the park employee explain that she would, in fact, be the next helped. The patron stormed off feeling disrespected. After a few minutes the patron returned with a park manager and explained her frustration. Both employee and manager respectfully apologized and the manager offered the patron and her family free ice cream. The park employee did nothing wrong. The reaction of the patron was baffling and excessive. The park manager could have rightly argued that the patron had misunderstood the intentions of the employee and left it at that. But he didn’t. He knew the parks brand was not about who is right and who is wrong, but that it’s about assuring visitors to the park a fun and family-friendly experience. Observing this level of commitment to the brand experience only helped solidify my loyalty to the park.

So know and respect your community. Make brand decisions that better the community and look for new and innovative ways to serve their needs. Communities will respond and grow once that level of trust is earned. And remember, if the brand is loyal to its community, the community will respond in kind.

It’s a word that scares a lot of people. Recently Apple forced change in the video editing industry. The introduction of Final Cut Pro X has really upset the applecart. I’ve been reading lots of opinions from lots of different people. Some editors love it; lots of editors hate it. From what I can tell, it’s not quite ready for Prime Time. While there are functions that Apple has removed, they promise that they will be putting some of them back in later, but for right now, it isn’t exactly a fully functioning product. Things will likely settle down again as new features arrive.

Apple has always been out on the edge. Today is the 4th anniversary of the iPhone. A phone from a company that wasn’t a phone company. A phone that has redefined what people expect from a “smart phone.” I’ve always been one to embrace change. I am what marketers call an early adopter (as opposed to a laggard). I was one of the geeks who waited in line (three times now) for the iPhone.  And I was excited to download this new cutting edge FCPX. But I will have to agree with the majority of editors out there; this FCPX isn’t quite ready.

So, along with many of the other editors, I am going to have to take a wait-and-see approach to this latest change in the Final Cut saga. I’m sure things will shake out in the long run. When you have a company who has singlehandedly changed the technological landscape like Apple has (Apple II, Macintosh, iMac, iPod, iTunes, iTunes Store, iPod Touch, iPhone, and iPad) you have to trust that they have a plan on where technology is headed. Maybe FCPX is just ahead of its time, or maybe it’s another Lisa or Newton. I’m hoping it is just ahead of its time and will again become the powerful tool that we all need it to be.

Francis Bacon once said, “Who questions much, shall learn much, and retain much.”

For User Interface design, though, it’s not just asking questions. It’s asking the right questions. The questions often asked before embarking on a new interface design are “What does the client want to tell their user?”,  ”What does the client think is the trendy new look?” or “What are the coolest effects and bling in the designer’s arsenal?” These, however, are just not the right questions to ask to achieve a good user experience.

Here are a few prudent questions to ask instead:

How will the user interact with the site?
Don’t design the interface from the client or designer’s point of view. Typically, neither the designer nor the client are the target user. Organize the interface to fit the user’s perspective and experience level, and speak simply and directly in the language style that they are most comfortable.

What sites are already being used by the target user?
You don’t have to reinvent the wheel. Design problems may have already been solved by other sites your users are familiar with. This has the added benefit of helping your users feel at ease with your interface design.

What feedback does the user need to help them achieve their desired goals?
No one wants their users to give up and leave their interface out of frustration. Help guide the user by displaying feedback messages when the user takes action. This helps confirm to the user they are successfully achieving their goals. And if they are not successfully using the interface, be forgiving by making it easy to correct their actions.

So perhaps a better quote, also from Francis Bacon, would be that “A prudent question is one-half of wisdom.” Once prudent questions are asked, wise answers can be obtained that will produce a truly effective and useful user experience.

The Problem

The Culprit
While lack of follow through is sometimes due to an underwhelming idea or a busy staff, it is most often due to not delegating said task. If no one knows who is actually responsible for implementation, then no one will execute it. It sounds like such basic common sense, but is easily lost in the bustle of a meeting and busy schedules.

The Solution
Clarifying responsibility is quick and essential. I have learned to frequently ask, “Now when you say ‘we’ you mean…me? You?” But it doesn’t stop there. A good manager doesn’t just delegate, but also documents the idea and follows through with the person following through on the idea. Delegate, document and follow through.

But the truth is, some clients, when asking for a website, really want a web application. So what’s the difference and why is it important?

You see, that phrase “I need a website” can be intimidating to web developers these days as it could mean so many different things.

It used to be simple to separate a website from a web application. However with the new mashup of technologies available including (but not limited to) jquery, formstack, content management systems, etc., that line is getting more and more faint. However there are some definite signs that can still differentiate a website from an application.

You see, a webSITE tends to be a grouping of pages that provides information. This content may be static, but it’s possible, in the case of a blog or content management, it could also be dynamic. It may have a few plug-ins or features that provide animation, feeds from Twitter and Facebook, etc. There may be a photo gallery, etc. And it may collect information by using a contact form.

A web application includes much more than plugins, well-formed XHTML/CSS and a domain name. It can be process and function intensive. It may have storage requirements, security requirements, data, reporting, and analytics requirements. It may be necessary to build out a web “front end” with a database backend and a business logic layer somewhere in between (depending on what technology you need). The levels of complexity of a web app vary, but still exist. Defining how it works goes beyond putting some pencil sketches on paper and providing content. It’s a good idea to define requirements, scope, and technology along with that front end design.

Some might say that a web app is just a website on steroids, but I think it’s an even greater difference than that. Different skill sets, different focus, different commitment, and so much more.

It’s important that clients understand this difference because they may not understand why what they expected to be a $2,000-$5,000 quick investment is really a $15,000, $50,000, $100K, on up, project that could take several weeks, months or even more.

So the next time a client asks for a website, you might want to be sure to ask if they are wanting an apple (or maybe a bushel of apples) or an orchard of oranges!

Here are some tips to help you determine if you need a web app or not…

You know you need a web app when:

• Your “site” will be created to complete a business function.
• You require specialized login/security for users to access your site.
• You want to collect, store, and analyze data.
• You want dynamic displays and reports to display the results of said data.
• You want to integrate with backend systems like warehousing, shopping carts, merchant account, banks, and even other web account.
• Your “Site” is less content driven and more task/function driven.
• Conversations about your website involve terms like platform, XML, SQL, PHP, ASP.Net, session state, etc.
• The people you need working on your site look less like fashion models and rock stars and more like Alfred E. Newman, Chuck, Kevin Smith, and Bill Gates (ok, not all of them…but come ‘on, I’ve been in the development industry for 15 years and we know that’s a fair stereotype).
• You feel your bank account starts getting a bit lighter.

June Cleaver would never let the Beave go out in public without a proper grooming. That squeaky-clean look is the Beave’s brand image. And while the teachers may have perceived the Beave as a polite, well-groomed young man, Wally just perceived him as dopey. That’s brand perception.

Brand Image is usually decided by a small, select group of stakeholders, but Brand Perception is determined by everyone else who comes in contact with that brand. This is why Brand Perception is more difficult to control. It is always filtered through the idiosyncrasies of the viewer and the relationship the viewer has with the brand as well as other like brands. And if you are a company that offers products or services to others (and which ones don’t) then the perception of your target audience does matter.

That’s why it is critical to define your target audience and design to meet their needs, not just the needs of a few in the company boardroom.

As you can tell, ultimately, I’m a Brand Perception guy. I understand that perception is reality no matter how strongly you may try to convince otherwise. After all, I’ve been married long enough to have learned it doesn’t matter what I meant to say, but how my wife interpreted what I said that matters most.

So, if you’re considering a branding or re-branding initiative, be sure to keep the AMP Principle in mind:

1. Audience. Who would be the most interested in your product or service?
2. Message. What message would resonate with your audience based on their experiences?
3. Platform. What form of communication will they best respond to? Print? Web? Social Media?