Style Watch 2011

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Taking numbers, stats or any type of complex information and translating that into something that makes sense visually is not easy. Designers who can interpolate information well and make it look good are few and far between (this would be a great place for a chart to illustrate that fact in some sort of graphic, but you’ll have to take my word for it). Here are a few infographics I think are really cool, as well as some links to other collections.

The 2010 Social Media Map by Flowtown:

The Map of Yahoo!’s API by Jinho.Jung

Really nice styling from Column Five for Mint.com

More infographic lists I think are worth viewing:

• 40 Super-Cool Infographics You Absolutely Have to See from 1stwebdesigner
• 35 Great Social Media Infographics by Panorama
• Cool Infographics Blog
• Data Visualization: 30 Cool Infographcis from Garmahis.com
• Indexed, where Jessica Hagy uses humor simplify life’s complexities
• 22 Compelling & Creative Infographics from The Inspiration Blog

Are there any other lists or infographics you’ve come across that you think are worth mentioning?

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Communicating with your customers through Facebook and Twitter is great, but what about using social media as an internal tool? Could a company use social media to build an internal brand, gain market share, drive sales or create new initiatives?

For small companies like Go East, tapping into the creativity, energy and skill sets of the employees can be as easy as walking up to an employee and asking them to take part in a project. But what if you were a larger company of 150,000+ employees spread across the country, or even the globe?

I started looking at the social media strategy for Best Buy and how they used their customer-facing sites like Facebook, Twitter and their forums to communicate with their customer base. While they do an amazing job and are definitely on the leading edge of social, I was more inspired by the way they communicate with their employees. For example:

• Blue Shirt Nation (BSN) – the internal MySpace of Best Buy where employees can communicate with all Best Buy associates to grow and internalize their brand culture
• Water Cooler – a place to chat and communicate internally about trends, products and ideas
• Best Buy Wiki – where employees share information and insights into what kinds of questions customers are asking about certain products
• The Loop Marketplace - where employees can post new ideas or initiatives that they think the company should look into — and possibly even get funding to implement their idea in a test market
• TagTrade – where employees predict trends by buying and selling “stock” on ad campaigns, products or even holiday sales that they think will do well, giving the higher-ups immediate/real-time insight into what employees are seeing in the stores.

The first four and a half minutes of the video below give a quick overview of Best Buy and their internal social efforts. The remainder is an interview with former CEO Brad Anderson on how these initiatives have impacted their company. It’s definitely worth watching the entire video. It’s inspiring and a good indicator of what companies will need to do in the future to remain relevant and successful, especially as younger generations come on board, bringing their knowledge and insights to the workplace.

Do you see internal social efforts impacting your business?

Are there tools you already have in place that can be used in the same manner?

Are you prepared for the next generation of workers who will be looking for these types of tools?

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Have you ever said something that was completely misunderstood or taken out of context? At Go East and at home I’ve been known to make the occasional slip up and say something that received an unintended reaction from time to time. It happens to the best of us, and while it can leave us red faced and embarrassed, we’re not alone in our self-inflicted humiliation.

Marketers are not immune to unintended messages either. I came across a list of  “Top 13 Worst Marketing Slogan Translations Ever” and thought I would share a few.  I’ve narrowed it down to my top four. You can see the entire list here.

1. An American T-shirt maker in Miami printed shirts for the Spanish market that promoted the Pope’s visit. Instead of “I saw the Pope” (el Papa), the shirts read “I saw the Potato” (la papa).
2. Scandinavian vacuum manufacturer Electrolux used the following tagline in an American campaign: “Nothing sucks like an Electrolux.”
3. Pepsi’s “Come alive with the Pepsi Generation” translated into “Pepsi brings your ancestors back from the grave” in Chinese.
4. When American Airlines wanted to advertise its new leather seats in first class to the Mexican market, it used “Fly in leather,” which means “Fly naked” (Vuela en cuero) in Spanish.

Like these? You might also enjoy the “Top 10 Worst Marketing Gaffes, Flops and Disasters.”

These are good reminders that we need to consider all of our audiences and what we’re saying when it comes to our integrated marketing efforts.

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Mr. Fun as Nacho Libre on Halloween

At Go East we like to have fun at work.

Making work fun takes a little planning, imagination and effort. That’s why we have the Fun Committee. As Chairman of the Fun Committee (or as I’m also known: “Mr. Fun”), the task falls to me and my team of loyal Fun Committee members. We regularly schedule events called “Stress Busters” that are designed to get everyone out of their chairs and participating in activities aimed at providing laughter and an outlet for stress. These 15–20 minute events take place about every two weeks and not only provide relief from the daily grind, but also give us a chance to come together as a team and build camaraderie. Laughing together helps keep things in perspective and personalities in check, and allows us to bond.

These team-building activities not only build our brand from within, they’re also important for our clients. As our team grows stronger, we work better together, our work improves and our clients ultimately benefit. As cliché as it sounds, we work hard and we play hard. The end result is a group of people who care about Go East, our clients and the best interests of all parties.

To see more Halloween photos and how we keep things fun, check out our Facebook page and become a fan.

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You can’t overestimate or overvalue typography’s importance, in print or on-screen. Choosing a typeface for print and then translating it to the Web can be especially tough. Here at Go East (and at other agencies) designers have thousands of typefaces to choose from for print, but only a limited number of typefaces — or fonts, as they are sometimes mistakenly called  — are designed specifically for on-screen use. These are known as Web-safe typefaces. InspirationBit does a good job describing Web faces and their origins. Surprisingly, only 16 are considered safe!
(more…)

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Designing for an upcoming season, whether it’s the holidays, back-to-school, a particular sport’s season or any other season, is a little tricky and sometimes nerve-racking. The cool thing about designers, though, is that we have the power to determine how the future looks.

Figuring out what the upcoming season will look like is a combination of observing the past, then combining or modifying those ideas and concepts, given current and other  forecasted trends. Back in 2008 you may have thought it was strange to see mushrooms on that back-to-school header, but in 2009, you’ve seen them everywhere; those mushrooms are hot, hot, hot! (In furniture design, too!)

Businesses spend millions — probably billions — of dollars and countless hours researching and forecasting trends. At Go East, we take that information, put it in the context of a client’s brand and let the two bounce around in our heads for awhile before creating our concepts.

The process should start as early as possible: six months to a year before the targeted season. We want an early start so that we have time to research what’s going to be “hot,” develop our concepts and have time to execute them well before they’re needed. I’ll admit that it is little strange going to work in June humming carols and dreaming of sugarplums when it’s 90 degrees outside, but it’s worth it in the end.

Remember, design is a process that takes time, sometimes more than you might think. In the meantime, take a break from the present and see what’s happening in the future at these sites:

• Trendcentral
• Smallbiztrends
• Trendwatching
• Google Zeitgeist
• Yahoo Buzz Index

What current trends are you crazy about? Which ones could you do without?

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Looking for an eco-friendly way to charge your laptop? Try the The Voltaic Generator. According to Voltaic Systems Inc., “It’s the first solar bag powerful enough to charge a laptop.” It includes nine solar panels on the outside of the bag that will fully charge an internal Li-Ion battery in five hours of direct sunlight. It will hold up to a 17-inch notebook and comes with a handy voltage selector that automatically delivers the required output. It’s a little pricey at $499.00, but then you can say that your computer runs on sunlight and sits in a bag made from 100 percent recycled soda bottles!

Voltaic is not the only super techno-geek on the planet, check out the other high-tech companies that are keeping it green.

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