via http://thechosenwords.tumblr.com/page/26
faved by Melissa

via http://angbang.tumblr.com/page/2
faved by anthem

via http://ffffound.com/image/536abf9c5f4559351f7c211c1099e6b04ead6409
faved by brightsidelife

via http://6.media.tumblr.com/EGvAbTc5Kkn93rv5ScMjteHLo1_500.jpg
faved by iceboxplum

via http://www.myconfinedspace.com/wp-content/uploads/tdomf/57275/FBI-Warning.png
faved by Larasaur

Over at Slate Chris Wilson runs the numbers on your video getting its big break on YouTube:

On Friday, May 22, I used Web-crawling software to capture the URLs of more than 10,000 YouTube videos as soon as they were uploaded. Over the next month, I checked in regularly to see how many views each video had gotten. After 31 days, only 250 of my YouTube hatchlings had more than 1,000 views–that comes out to 3.1 percent after you exclude the videos that were taken down before the month was up. A mere 25, 0.3 percent, had more than 10,000 views. Meanwhile, 65 percent of videos failed to break 50 views; 2.8 percent had zero views. That’s the good news: Your video is slightly more likely to get more than 1,000 views than it is to get none at all.

Yup, I’ll buy that.

COMMENTS OPEN

Right down the street from the TWBE office. Brooklyn, New York

Artist 1chord & a fib has created a wonderful series of “infographics” that don’t contain any information. Playing off of information design’s current wave of popularity, the fake infographics maintain all the beauty of the medium but lack actual meaning or content.

[via GOOD]

By Dan Gould | © PSFK, 2009. |
Article Link |
Comments | More stories in: Arts & Culture, Design and art, Design, infographics

We often think of user and brand experience in the online space. But what happens when that experience exits the digital realm? I recently came across two pieces of work by two distinctly different agencies that successfully took the user experience off the safe path. One was driven by the brand. The other by the consumers.
 
Brand-Directed Paths
eView360 focuses on the reach of a brand experience and how it should touch print and interactive, and then carry over into physical space.  One pointed example is seamless brand experience Tessera Executive Search in Dubai presents from print to web to office.

eView360 is a unique agency that employs a multidisciplinary approach that includes print, web, interior and architectural design. When creating a branded experience for their clients, they carry their design cues into the physical office environment. For Tessera Exectutive Search, the color schemes on the Tessera website carry over to the wood stains in the office or the seats in the waiting room. The environment “feels” Tessera in all the areas where you interact with the company.

Consumer-Created Paths
Mazda 3 used an Alternate Reality Game (ARG) in Quebec, Canada to build awareness around its launch. Called the 33 keys project, it enticed users to find 33 keys in a scavenger hunt across various mediums. The ultimate prize? A real vehicle. A TV spot created awareness, and seeded through blogs and guerilla marketing. There were a number of web properties built for the campaign including a website, a Facebook group and a blog.
 
Over the course of play, the game changed and players reached out to each other through social media channels outside of the established properties. With this change in strategy, the brand was forced to change how they supported the game. They also worked with bloggers and Facebook group owners to seed clues. Their flexibility only added to the excitement of the game and encouraged more participation. Overall, it was a very successful campaign.
 
Managing the Experience
Both presentations got me thinking about how all-encompassing a user or brand experience can be. Seeing how the 33 keys project grew organically from their own properties to blogs and social networks, I wondered if it’s even possible to manage the experience. Also, seeing how eView360 carries the brand through to physical spaces, I thought about how quickly a brand can be lost once outside the print or web space.
 
So, how do we help users experience a brand through multiple mediums?

• Create continuity. Consider all the places where your customers interact with your brand and make sure they’re consistent.

• Think about your leitmotif. What cues can your customers feel that let them know when they’re in your space, be that physical, cyber or print?

• Plan for change. As with 33keys, customers may pick up on your brand and run with it.

• Generate novel ideas. What would you do (or have you tried)?

Anthony Viviano
Sarah Jo Sautter