Period Three Blog » Uncategorized

Nov212011

Contributor .Net Magazine

Posted by Gene in Uncategorized

So now that the article has officially been printed in the December edition of .Net Magazine I can say that i’m a regular contributor now.

(more…)

Comments (0)
Nov092011

AIGA InShow 2011 Awards

Posted by Gene in Uncategorized

Well howdy! The Period Three/UnmatchedStyle crew (okay me and Giovanni) went to the AIGA SC 2011 InShow awards gala this past Friday night and our work on UnmatchedStyle and ConvergeSE won some design awards.

(These are the awards.)
(more…)

Comments (0)
Sep272011

Our work for Ruck.us featured on TechCrunch

Posted by Gene in Uncategorized, Design, Our Clients

When we were approached to work on the design for the political based web app Ruck.us we were honestly a little skeptical. After all, a political web app? We’ve been involved in building political based websites for candidates for over 5 years now so who could blame us for doing a double take on this project. Turns out the people behind Ruck.us are top-notch, these guys seriously nailed their idea and came to us with a clear idea of what they wanted to do and how they wanted to work to achieve it.

They’ve finally fully launched and to celebrate the launch they got themselves a pretty cool write up on TechCrunch:

Ruck.us users simply visit the site, sign up, and select the issues that are relevant to them individually — whether that’s one issue or 25. As the user pokes around the site and responds to the user-generated questions they come across, the platform serves the user with a “Ruck”, which is the 50, 100, or 250 people (the size is elastic) that share the same viewpoints. The Ruck then constantly changes as the site learns more about the user and their political DNA.

Next, the site establishes a communication feed, in which users can see what their Ruck is discussing, what links and stories they’re sharing, etc., as well as what your group is doing — the actions they’re taking, petitions they’re signing, who they’re donating to, and so on. Again, the focus here is on issues rather than political parties.

Full post on TechCrunch

Comments (3)
Jan142009

UMS: Site Review Podcast, Episode 4

Posted by Gene in Uncategorized, Design, Blogging

Check us out this week. We’re back after a long Holiday break.

This week we talk about ESPN (espn.com), Shannon Moeller (shannonmoeller.com), Giant Creative, (madebygiant.com), and NewGenCoal (newgencoal.com.au). Enjoy!

Comments (0)
Oct282008

CAN-SPAM updates to the law, what you should know.

Posted by Gene in Uncategorized, Email Marketing

On May 12th, 2008 the FTC updated some of its rules concerning the CAN-SPAM law(s), that should concern any of you that practice email marketing. The extended measures attempt to address 4 areas, in their words:

(1) an e-mail recipient cannot be required to pay a fee, provide information other than his or her e-mail address and opt-out preferences, or take any steps other than sending a reply e-mail message or visiting a single Internet Web page to opt out of receiving future e-mail from a sender;
(2) the definition of “sender” was modified to make it easier to determine which of multiple parties advertising in a single e-mail message is responsible for complying with the Act’s opt-out requirements;
(3) a “sender” of commercial e-mail can include an accurately-registered post office box or private mailbox established under United States Postal Service regulations to satisfy the Act’s requirement that a commercial e-mail display a “valid physical postal address”; and
(4) a definition of the term “person” was added to clarify that CAN-SPAM’s obligations are not limited to natural persons.

Here’s the skinny in my opinion:

Overall it’s about “permission” if someone doesn’t give you permission to send them email, don’t send it to them. This includes “forward, send-to-a-friend forms and people sharing lists with you.” Don’t do it, you can get in trouble. They also identify the “sender” as the person or company behind the email campaign - where it should be.

FYI: If you didn’t know, or never bothered to look up the name, CAN-SPAM stands for “Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography and Marketing”. I’m thinking the name is actually getting outdated… Read the updates here.

Comments (0)
Aug052008

Sir Ken Robinson on Creativity

Posted by Jason in Uncategorized

TED is a conference held once every year. The most brilliant thinkers of our time are invited to speak of their lives and specialties (think: our lifetimes Socrates, our Einstein, our Turing), with the mission to inspire. It’s been held since 1984 and has recently been open to the public.

Sir Ken Robinson, knighted in 2003 for his work in education, the arts, and creativity, obtained his PhD from University of London in 1981. He’s advised numerous countries, organizations, and institutions on a number of subjects, but focuses mainly on the repercussions of suppressing creativity.

It’s only a few minutes long, watch the entire presentation.

http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/ken_robinson_says_schools_kill_creativity.html

One of the best excerpts, “If you’re not prepared to be wrong, you’ll never come up with anything original.” — and continues to say, our modern education system is built entirely with the idea of “being wrong” as the worst possible outcome of any test of your capacity.

Comments (0)
Aug042008

Design and the Olympic Torch

Posted by Gene in Uncategorized

New York Times has a really interesting piece on the history and design of the Olympic Torch.

Every Olympic set of games brings us a new logo treatment, special architecture and of course the torch itself. I have never really paid attention to it, but it’s fascinating to look over the past torch designs.

Full news item at New York Times

Comments (0)
Jul242008

Obama is design savvy

Posted by Gene in Uncategorized, Design

I can’t say enough about the design efforts that go behind Obama’s campaign materials. Here is just the latest design nerdery that i’ve come to expect and love form his design staff.

The poster on the right is an example of famous German Bauhaus poster. Given that Obama is on a trip to Germany this week, his design staff decided to show a subtle tip of the hat to those historic German designers. Not to mention one of my favorite design periods/schools of all time.

Link: Meaningful Distractions Blog

Comments (2)
Jul102008

Client Website Launch

Posted by Gene in Uncategorized, Our Clients

We are happy to let everyone know about our newest client website launch: The South Carolina National Heritage Corridor.

The South Carolina National Heritage Corridor extends 240 miles across South Carolina, stretching from the mountains of Oconee County, along the Savannah River, to the port city of Charleston. It is divided into four regions and contains the following counties: Abbeville, Aiken, Anderson, Bamberg, Barnwell, Charleston, Colleton, Dorchester, Edgefield, Greenwood, McCormick, Oconee, Orangeburg and Pickens. The 14 counties of the Heritage Corridor offer a cross-section of the state’s historical, cultural, and natural resources that tell the vibrant story of South Carolina’s centuries-long evolution and culture.

Check it out: sc-heritagecorridor.org

Comments (0)
Apr092008

Another reason why you should NEVER use NetworkSolutions for your domain registrations

Posted by Gene in Uncategorized, Business

TechCrunch has reported that NetworkSolutions is now hijacking subdomains when you use their domain registration (specifically their DNS) services. This is most reprehensible. I’m sure this is copyright infringement too. If you haven’t already, you should move any domains that you have registered with them to another registrar, who knows what they will do next…

Subdomain - Generally known as a “Domain within a Domain”, subdomains are web addresses built upon an existing domain name. For example, “subdomain.domain.com” is built upon “domain.com”.

Comments (0)