Rochester Artech 2009 Digital Art Competition and Exhibition: Call for Entries

Posted on February 20, 2009 by Scott Wolf

The Rochester Artech 2009 Digital Art Exhibition, one of the RAF’s fellow Creativity United organizations, promotes the expression of the arts through digital media and features pieces by high school and college students, and amateur and professional artists from across the Greater Rochester area. The exhibition’s entry deadline has recently been extended to March 6, 2009, with the winning pieces being put on display at ArtAwake later in the month. For more details and info on how to enter work, visit http://www.rochesterartech.com/ or see below.

Hundreds of dollars will be awarded in this digital art competition, with brackets for professional artists, college students, and high school students.

There are 9 categories to submit in – any art that includes a digital element in its creation or display is eligible!

Submissions will be juried by a panel of faculty and professional artists from across the Genesee Valley region.

Winning pieces will be displayed at ArtAwake on March 27.

This competition is open to everyone in the Rochester area!

Hurry – submission are due by March 2 at midnight!

— Scott Wolf

20% off Loofahs and the Destruction of Brand Equity

Posted on February 19, 2009 by Matt Jones

At one time or another, you’ve spammed an audience with direct mail, e-mail, or another tactic. It’s ok, me too. By spamming, I mean direct contact that interrupts someone’s day with a less than stunning, relevant message.

We love the measurability. “2.3% redemption! It paid for itself.” Even the CFO’s happy. But is it the whole story?

I suggest we learn how to quantify the impact on the 97.7% that tossed us in the trash. Are they annoyed? Do they consider us intrusive? Are we less likely to be noticed next time, when we actually have something to say? It’d be a useful metric to have when the budget gets carved up, and people testify as to “what works”.

So, the loofah’s. Like you, I get a legal sized discount card monthly from Bed, Bath, and Beyond. They undoubtedly pay for themselves in redemption. Then again, you’d have to live under a rock to pay full retail there. And the years of deep discounts make me far less likely to stop by for a gift. I bet my 500 thread count pillow case it’s killing brand equity and long term sales.

For a funny, NC-17 take on BB and B, here.

Matt Jones

ROC: Top 100 to live & launch

Posted on February 15, 2009 by Kate Sonnick

Rochester NY Check it: CNN named Rochester the 80th best place to live and launch. We beat out cool cities like Charleston, SC for our pro-biz city government and “abundant recreational offerings.” What do you think about our fair city?

Inform first, then dazzle

Posted on February 12, 2009 by Andrea Zuegel

A flashy homepage can show off your company’s creativity and design talent, it can impress first-time visitors with all kinds of animation, music and drama… and it can get really annoying after the first 2-3 seconds. An overdone “intro” can have one of the following effects:
1. the flashy stuff goes on far too long (especially for return visitors)
2. the visitor wants to find what they came for, and is too distracted (read frustrated)
3. the visitor gets the sense that you don’t really know how to use this advertising medium.
My mantra is inform first, dazzle only when you’re sure you’re informing well. Better yet, dazzle them with how well you’re anticipating their information needs.

Oh, and part of making that informing easy includes navigation. Don’t try and be clever with inventing new ways for people to navigate your site. Usability studies show that the best websites have navigation their visitors are used to. If your navigation structure and labels are boring, they’re probably good.

Save the creativity for your portfolio.

Great example from one of the smaller firms in town – Antithesis. Their site is both informative and nicely designed. They tell you right up front who they are, and the flashy stuff is off to the right where you can choose whether or not to engage. I really like their portfolio because it’s super easy to navigate. You can switch back and forth between examples without having to go “back” and their slideshow-style gallery is a format that many news sites use. Nice and simple.

-Andrea Zuegel

Great Design Article in Sunday NY Times

Posted on February 8, 2009 by Diane Fitzgerald-Harris

For anyone who grew up with typesetting machines, running galleys, cutting and pasting in between letters to perfectly kern revisions, swearing off computers and inhaling spray glue (in a professional way, of course!) this article will make you think back. Love to hear comments on this one!

Creative SPEEDATE sold out!

Posted on February 4, 2009 by Anne Esse

n61926456776_1657 We’re excited to announce that the RAF Creative SPEEDATE event is officially sold out! On Monday February 9th, 64 college students and 32 creative professionals from our community will be coming together speedate-style at John Myers Photography to participate in this annual event. Stay tuned for other upcoming RAF events—plenty of opportunities to connect still to come! Thanks again to our sponsors RIT and John Myers Photography.

— Anne Esse

Kodak.com shows the way

Posted on February 4, 2009 by Matt Jones

Keeping a strong idea intact through each stage of the creative development process isn’t for sissies. But if you think its tough when developing a print ad, try designing a homepage. The process begins with good intentions – make it intuitive, prioritize messaging, retain the brand’s distinctive qualities, etc. – but can quickly devolve into a land rush.

So congrats to Kodak on their re-designed homepage. Usable, impactful, true to the brand. Downright gutsy. And check out this post from Paulette at Kodak’s blog for a visual description of the process. Sounds like the tight timeline helped – if it’s due tomorrow, it doesn’t sit in approval meetings subject to over thinking.

If you still want more, visit Canon for a comparison. Which company looks like they have passion for the business?

Matt Jones

2009 ADDY Early Bird Ticket Deadline Extended

Posted on February 3, 2009 by RAF Connect

The RAF has decided to extend the deadline for early bird tickets to the 2009 ADDY Awards and Party to Monday, February 9, 2009. From now until the 9th, tickets to the ADDYs are $60 for members, $70 for non members, and $25 for students.

Tickets purchased after February 9th will increase to $65 for members and $75 for non members. Student tickets will remain $25.

Visit http://www.rafconnect.com/Events/ADDYs/tickets to order.

— RAF Connect

Bill Buckett Memorial Service

Posted on February 2, 2009 by Matt Jones

Bill Buckett at the Highland Diner It is with great sadness that many of us say goodbye to our close friend and long-time colleague, Bill Buckett, who passed away the morning of January 28th. Bill was a great talent and a true gentleman, and he will be greatly missed, but always remembered. A memorial service will be held on Monday, February 16th at 5:30pm at the Memorial Art Gallery.

View Bill’s obituary and sign the family’s guest book here.

Join the Facebook group, “An Architect of Design: Bill Buckett Remembered” here.

Send Bill’s family a note at cbuckett@earthlink.net

— Matt Jones

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Monthly Archives: February 2009