It was a fantastic quarter for the company and I’m especially thankful for the word of mouth advertising network. In the past three months we’ve been working on:

• Auspice Corporation - defining the user experience and designing a browser-based application for both mobile and desktop delivery that will be used across the cable industry.
• Harvard University - delivering a top-level assessment of a large-scale query tool.
• Harvard University - defining the user experience and delivering a comprehensive top-level information architecture and content mapping strategy for the entire finance division.
• CSO (CSOonline.com) - designing the user experience and developing a standards-compliant set of front-end templates for the new CSOonline.com
• Vantel Pearls - delivering enhancements to the back-end order entry process and delivering a booking report for demonstrators.
• Apex Properties - continued the design and development of a new corporate Web strategy

The new quarter looks to continue with great success as we respond to RFPs for major learning institutions and corporate marketing divisions. We’d love to hear from you and look forward to helping you solve any user experience problems.

We’re very excited to see the fruits of our labor with the weekend launch of http://CSOonline.com

CSO, run by the folks at IDG, is an online destination for anyone in the security business.

The UI Design was handled by Keith LaFerriere and the html Dev was handled by our long-time freelance partner Carl Lindberg.

More on this launch in a press release soon.

A very special thanks to Brian and Jay at Vermonster LLC for bringing us along to handle the UI on this one. THANKS!

We all have our fair share of conference calls and Web-centric meetings and it’s been a while since we had a nice, clean fight between two Web services.

Our experience so far is giving the upper hand to GoToMeeting. Here’s why: It very usable. The interface is cleaner and has more clear direction, the switching of hosts and call control is much faster and the voice quality has so far been much better than we experienced with WebEx.

In the coming months, we’ll periodically have to report back but so far, we’re liking the company selection.

The global reach for companies these days is expanding at a rate far greater than ever. And, with this expansion of products and services, especially through online channels, comes the ability to work with freelance or agency talent all over the world.

Collective talent pools like Airbag Industries, HappyCog and, of course, Visual Activity have succeeded due to a deep bench of talent and the ability to work in remote areas while using the most up to date tools.

We currently have a staff that includes an engineer in London, a senior ui developer in Utah and two physical addresses in the Northeast where the other three staff members work each day.

Our reach, like that of our clients, becomes paramount to our success in such a competitive landscape. While some of our clients such as Harvard University and Interactive Data Corporation are local, our international clients like Novartis and Capcom require a blend of weekly phone calls and online project management tools to help everyone stay on track.

The extent to which we are able to work with clients across the globe is unlimited. We’ve had a long history of success working with client teams from Ireland to India and we expect the trend to not only continue, but to grow.

A fantastic example of how international talent is being used for global marketing is the recent hire of Sydney, Australia-based Publicis Mojo to handle the worldwide effort for Diet Coke. This, based on information from a report in AdAge marks this as “the largest global account ever awarded to an Australian agency”.

As the trends grow and the internationalization becomes more standard, one thing that will remain an issue is the localized audience. I still think that companies have a difficult time understanding the needs of the local audience as it pertains to a global strategy.

Time will tell if localization becomes less of an issue (spelling, language options as a standard option, sites with zoned pricing, etc…). I hope that as companies more frequently use international talent they pay close attention to the local impact.

It’s that time of year again where clients and potential clients look for ways to bust open their budgets and spend the majority of their holiday leftovers (before the 31st of January, that is). This has a significant impact on our business / industry since we love to go into a new year with something extra in the bank account.

This year, in fact, we were given three relatively small, but incredibly wonderful projects by … no one.

That’s right. No one. Not that we didn’t get the work. We did. Three jobs, in fact.

Unfortunately, under penalty of SOW, I’m not at liberty to say which companies/institutions gave us the Christmas bonus.

This  is not so much a problem, as I stated, for the company coffers, but for our sizzle book (which is very sizzle-like if you invite us in for a quick chat about your needs). It’s happening more and more to the point where I now feel like we’re part of a secret society (and while that is cool, it’s a little hard to sell).

Where word of mouth and traditional marketing leave off, the name of a couple of hot clients pick you up. Usually.

I suggest that while we are true to our word in not naming names, we would love to be able to share with others (*cough* potential clients *cough*) our good fortune.

Until then, thank you “masked client(s)” and enjoy your holidays.