Monthly Archives: September 2010

Stumptown Coffee Update

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We’ve just finished a complete redesign of Stumptown Coffee Roaster’s News.

Before

Before

This before shot is of the former News home page. Although the most recent article was easily accessible, the depth and breadth of information being shared was getting lost. It was difficult to navigate, and since we had written it all from scratch, it lacked many of the modern features so important to our present designs.

After

In our redesign, we gave equal importance to all of the News sections. Each section’s imagery is drawn from the most recent article, giving a quick visual overview of what is happening right now at Stumptown. The latest post in each category works similarly. There are plenty of subtle visual effects, but in the few cases where they don’t work on older browsers, nothing is taken away from the experience. And it works great on iPhones and iPads.

It was an absolute thrill to be able to focus in-depth on one area of a website, especially because we have had time to see how the section was being used in real life. This meant adding social integration – any post can optionally be sent to Twitter and Facebook – and it’s far easier to add new features going forward.

We hope you enjoy it.

 

Georgia

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We will be out of the studio the rest of this week on a family vacation to Atlanta, Georgia. We are thrilled that we’ll be in town to  soak of some of the last bits of southern summer sun and catch an exhibit at Hagedorn Foundation Gallery by The Satorialist. Have a lovely weekend, we’ll see you Monday.

 

Tables Turned

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We’re always starting out conversations with clients by asking them to think about their brand in our client survey. Recently, as we began working on our own identity, the tables were turned and we had a chance to see how difficult it can be to assess yourself. Below are our attempts to answer a rather short and simple list of questions:

If your brand was…

… a car company which would you be? (Think make mostly, but model if you wanna be really specific.)

Kandace: Mini Cooper.
Raymond: Porsche actually. Or maybe Toyota. I don’t know.

… a cell phone carrier, which would it be?

K: AT&T I suppose because they work with Apple.
R: Not technically a cell phone carrier but Clear is what I picture. Otherwise maybeorange in the UK. Although they kind of all suck, so it’s tough.

… a character from a TV show, who would that be?

K: Jeff Lewis meets Rachel Zoe.
R: Well you probably don’t necessarily mean from a design show but I’d say Rachel Zoebecause she’s such an ardent fan of her clients. Or Tim Gunn. I don’t watch “regular” TV so that’s the best I can do!

… a professional athlete, who would that be?

R: I in no way follow any professional sports but I would have to say David Beckhamsimply because of the amazing essay on his technique that David Foster Wallace wrote.
K: Oh god, I don’t know any.

… a social media site, which one would it be?

R: Tumblr. Simple, with a clear identity, not hard to use, everything is big and clear and simple and streamlined and lets you actually get work done while still making it easy to socialize. It doesn’t have all the crap a MySpace or whatever has.
K: Tumblr.

… a historical person, who would that be?

R: Saul Bass kicked ass. He basically invented the awesome movie title sequence, did some killer posters, and even did that awesome old AT&T logo (the old one).
K: Paul Rand.

… a cereal which would it be?

K: Something Chex-like, but healthy. Simple, delicious.
R: Yogi Cereal because it is so calming.

… a soft drink which would it be?

R: Maybe Brain Toniq because it’s so such a white can and it makes you smarter. I think.
K: San Peligrino. Is that cheating?

 

Digital Agencies of the Future?

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This morning we stumbled across a collection of screen shots from a ton of digital agencies. The catch? The screen shots are all taken on an iPhone.

It’s surprising how bad these sites are. Here is a representative sample.

Oops, you don’t have Flash installed. The simple fact is that the number of mobile devices with Flash installed is effectively zero. And even if this does change, it’s going to be a challenge for a three inch touch screen and a very weak mobile processor to keep up with the Flash they are using.

That’s unfortunate, because mobile visitors are such a large and fast-growing segment of your visitors. And it’s why we don’t make Flash sites anymore. And it’s why we test every single site we build on several mobile devices.

Ours is by no means perfect, but I want to post it to be fair.

Even the portfolio slide show works. All the special effects work, in fact, because they don’t rely on Flash. While I’d like to spend more time getting it just right, I’m very happy with it.

I think everyone should expect their website to work at least as well on mobile browsers as on desktop browsers these days. And I think every web developer should assume that needs to happen.

Even if only a small percentage of your visitors are using mobile devices now, you can expect this to change in the not-so-distant future.

 

Daley’s Dog Years

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We recently adopted a puppy from the Oregon Humane Society. While there, we met volunteer Chandra who has a passion for allowing senior dogs to live full lives. Her dedication and passion is instantly apparent. We worked with Chandra to create a simple micro-website that uses the latest semantic HTML features of WordPress 3.0 and is based on the brand new Twenty Ten theme. And, of course, includes plenty of snapshots of the tremendously photographical Daley.

 

Holli Harris, founder HadleyStilwell

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I started working with Needmore two years ago when I started my clothing line, and I had for direction was an amorphous sense of how it should feel and the perception it should convey. Kandace and Ray took that fuzzy goal and came up with a brilliantly simple and elegant design that I’ve received many compliments on, including, “wow, you must be a large company with such a beautiful website”! I recently added new features to the site, and Needmore was able to keep the same streamlined feeling while adding more elements to the screen with ever so subtle tweaks. So not only did they create the original aesthetic, but they were able to accommodate the change in business needs without compromising the original design. Bravo!