We’ve been asked by a large number of print media companies over the past 10 years to assist in mitigating the inherent risks of news and entertainment delivery as it moves from offline to online.

The typical response is that if we focus on the content (regardless of its current form; even as most of which appears to reside in one’s head in an obscure corner of the building) we would have a successful delivery. However, as many times as we’ve repurposed content from off to online, the print side of the equation stays in the current form and doesn’t usually get the needed upgrade it deserves.

Even though standard print media delivery is still a multi-billion dollar machine, the stealth and agility of an electronic delivery mechanism proves to curtail costs and allow for new players with a low cost of entry.

Picking up a newspaper or magazine brings with it a tangible experience, as opposed to its online counterpart. It’s the same experience that you get walking into a brick and mortar when you want to, say, choose furniture.

However, when you change (or create) your online brand, you should consider the effect it will have on your print as well.

We’re seeing more and more of the industry lead with online for their design and architecture due to the perception that it is lower cost and faster delivery. Most of the time this is true, yet the more content-rich, dynamic site/application you create, the more the chance exists for a longer and more costly project.

As you think about how to approach your 2007 projects, keep in mind how to get the content and information together before you even begin the process of your design. Trust us… you’ll save a ton of time AND money.

WOW! What a great year!
I’d like to start by thanking our clients for an incredible year. We’ve had successful deliveries in our target markets, and we’ve been able to welcome six new clients this quarter:

• Vantel Pearls
• Women’s Student Association at Harvard Business School
• M.O., L.I.F.E., Inc.
• DataFinder
• FTIDC
• LP and Sensa Partners

We look forward to a successful 2007 and hope to hear from you if there’s anything we can do to make your brand more visually active!

On December 15th, it was announced that Google has released it’s own version of MS IE7, with the very smooth Google Search as the replacement for Windows Live.

It was noted in October that Microsoft had released their developer’s toolkit so that companies such as Google, Yahoo and USAToday could use their search and content technologies to enhance the oft-bashed browser.

We’re not platform-specific. We’re not interested in who does what with which partner, nor can we safely disregard the power behind the behemoth status of either Google or Microsoft. What we can do, however, is pray for browser uniformity and security to make projects and designs reflect what the client wants.

As we look back on the hundreds of projects in the past ten years, we can’t help but recall the hundreds of lines of script that corrected one browser for another and hacked one side of the screen for one environment, only to make it look “acceptable” as we deliver to the client.

Our job is to provide a common experience. It would be nice if that were everyone’s job too.