Period Three Blog » 2007

Mar272007

300 Viral Marketing

Posted by Gene in Marketing

Often I’ll consult with one of our clients on the use of viral marketing techniques. I’ll tell them that they need to find the points of which people (their fans) are willing to push forward to other people, and help make new fans for them.

The folks who are marketing the film 300 know a thing or two about this subject. A good viral marketing strategy will employ any one or two of these six points.

1) Gives away products or services
2) Provides for effortless transfer to others
3) Scales easily from small to very large
4) Exploits common motivations and behaviors
5) Utilizes existing communication networks
6) Takes advantage of others’ resources

Here’s the example of some viral marketing usage for the movie 300. Maybe some of this can help in your planning for the next marketing campaign you are a part of.

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Mar192007

Subtle Change, Measurable Impact

Posted by Jason in Design

Jason Kottke knows where it’s at. For a few weeks now his stuff has made it onto my bookmarks toolbar. As I’ve grown a more appreciative reader I’ve begun to notice little bullets next to a few posts in his RSS feed. My eyes gravitate to these items and I now won’t dare miss reading any of the “bullet” items Kottke points out.

In Safari’s RSS reader, it’s not so noticeable:

But, in the Firefox bookmarks toolbar it has a much stronger effect:

It is a very simple change to his RSS feed, but when used sparingly this has immense impact. These details make his design that much more complete and thoughtful.

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Mar152007

Eyetracking and Usability

Posted by Jay in Design

Good graphic design is about getting your point across in a simple, effective way. It is not ornamentation for it’s own sake. It’s not about putting a photograph on every page just to have a photograph on every page. And according to an eyetracking study, there is evidence that confirms what I’ve felt instinctively, that photographs and imagery are often not necessary and even can be counter-productive to comprehension. Usability guru Jakob Nielsen and his company, Nielsen/Norman Group performed an eyetracking study that showed, among other things, that:

In the case of Web design a picture isn’t always worth those thousand words. According to Coyne users treat pages with superfluous images like obstacle courses: The images create barriers to content. Moreover, Nielsen and Coyne concluded that images appearing unneeded, at least peripherally, will be erroneously tuned out.

Good photography can really make a site rich and appealing, but if you don’t have a photograph that’s relevant to the content, it’s likely better to not have one at all. The whole purpose is to get people to retain what they’re reading, so why put a roadblock in the form of irrelevant imagery.
Additionally, they also determined that :

individuals look at “real people” more than they do at images of models. Most assume that content that features models are advertisements, so they avoid it.

This is a bit of a revelation, but I think it makes perfect sense. As a designer, I often have to rely on stock photography due to a lack of original photography. Stock photography, while professional, often doesn’t look “real” and I think most people could spot it without much education. This is just the way it goes, but I think it is important to be aware that if you use stock photography, you may be impeding the point you’re trying to get across with the content of your site.

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Mar142007

Vista Schmista

Posted by Gene in Operating Systems

Funny conversation “in my head mind you” for an IT manager trying to make a case to his CEO for an upgrade to Vista for their entire corporate operations

“We need to spend $150,000 on the upgrades to vista ultimate.” — “what do we get for that money?” — “well. the same poor security, a giant backdoor to operations information, IE7, some shiny interface trinkets, and some other stuff.” — “what other stuff?” — “beta level software bugs.” — “yeah, no.”

At least that’s how I imagine it would go…

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Mar132007

Serving Customers, Not Chasing Hype

Posted by Gene in Design

Jakob Nielsen gives us the top 10 things you can do to your website/portal to make more money.

The high-ROI ideas I have highlighted here have one thing in common: they add value to your site by enhancing its value for customers. That is, they give users what they want and need. These ideas are not the latest over-hyped stories the trade press loves to cover. Users want you to get back to basics and invest in the simple things that really matter to them.

Interface design is about making money for the company. Execution and workmanship are what you need, not fashion and advanced features. Do the basics, and do them well.

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Mar102007

Helvetica

Posted by Gene in Design

Helvetica is a feature-length independent film about typography, graphic design and global visual culture. It looks at the proliferation of one typeface (which will celebrate its 50th birthday in 2007) as part of a larger conversation about the way type affects our lives. The film is an exploration of urban spaces in major cities and the type that inhabits them, and a fluid discussion with renowned designers about their work, the creative process, and the choices and aesthetics behind their use of type.

They even have quick little clips of the film up on YouTube.

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Mar072007

Business Rules of Thumb

Posted by Gene in Business

Here’s a fun little website/wiki about business rules of thumb. Here’s some examples:

Email is a communications medium, not a collaboration medium. When confused as a collaboration tool, efficiency plummets. - Ben Casnocha

Career Networking” events are filled with people you don’t want in your network. - Ben Casnocha

People don’t steal ideas. Ideas are cheap. Implementation makes the difference. - Seth Godin

Have any to share?

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Period Three - Simple, Measurable, Powerful.

300 Viral Marketing

Subtle Change, Measurable Impact

Eyetracking and Usability

Vista Schmista

Serving Customers, Not Chasing Hype

Helvetica

Business Rules of Thumb

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