Social Media Smorgasbord: Flavors.me

I intended to research all of newfangled features of Adobe’s CS5 release this week to write a super informative post for those considering the upgrade, but instead I found something cooler. It’s called Flavors.me.

Basically it’s a social media aggregator, at least that’s how I see it. You have to experience it to see the beauty of the Flavors.me service. You can easily create a beautiful site, without any knowledge of web programming. Flavors.me compiles all of your favorite social media feeds and let’s you upload your own huge background photo to boot.

The developers, Hii Def Inc., describes the service best:
Flavors.me allows anyone to create an elegant website using personal content from around the Internet. It automatically organizes all kinds of information – Posterous blog posts, Twitter status updates, YouTube videos, Last.fm music listening habits, Flickr photos, LinkedIn resume details and more – into a constantly growing, interactive visual montage that is ideal for personal homepages, lifestreaming, digital business cards, splash and microsites, celebrity fan pages, brand marketing – and everything in between.

I’m most impressed by the ingenuity of the service. Flavors is simply pulling already created content from all of the most popular social media sites. The great thing is that it compiles them into a beautiful and simple to use interface. This seems like the next step in the social media evolution, doesn’t it?

I experimented with the service and created a free site (the paid service is $20/year) and included Reddoor’s blog and twitter feed. Check it out and tell us what you think?
Flavors.me/reddoorla

Check it out, and make a site of your own. We’d love to see what you come up with. Send your Flavors.me site to sales @ RedByReddoor.com

Lastly, here’s a 3-minute video that shows the interface with the Flavors.me service:

Here’s a sampling of what your Flavors.me site can look like (I have no idea what these people are about, they did have interesting sites). Check out the Directory.

Super Mario Bros.

If you’re a fan of the old school Nintendo video games, then you’re in luck. Today is Super Mario Day on the Reddoor Design blog! Maybe I’m late to the game, but where has the Super Mario resurrection been all my life? Let the time-wasting begin…

You can play Mario in the window below. Click the “controls” icon at the bottom of the page to begin use. L & R arrows control Mario and Space Bar is jump. For those Mario experts, the comma is fast run. Turning the sound way up really takes me back… Here’s to rescuing the princess!

Via 72dpi.

The iPhone Phone

What a handsome little dock for the iPhone. Looks good enough to make me want to cancel our business phone line and go strictly wireless. Don’t dare me, maybe I’ll do it…

I don’t know what these little design gems are going for, but if you happen to be in Hong Kong April 12-15, 2010 maybe you can let me know? The Desk Phone Dock seems to be premiering at the Electronics & Components China Sourcing Fair.

Read more about the Desk Phone Dock. Via the Cool Hunter.

Evolution of a [ b ]rand

Allow me to introduce you to Becker (you probably already know who he is). He is a long-time friend and client of Reddoor Creative. We started work on the [ b ] logo and brand way back in the day. It all began in 1998 and continues to develop to this day. Becker’s business savvy and his ability to capture relaxed portraits, amazing details and real moments for brides and grooms has set him apart as one of industry’s finest. His [ b ] brand has become a standard in the world of wedding photography, and we are proud to be a part of that success. We’ve had the distinct pleasure of working with Becker for the last 12 years, and continually appreciate his business, support, referrals and especially his friendship.

We’ve been talking for a while now about re-visiting all of the old [ b ] ID systems. Well, the wait is over… today is that day. Enjoy a little stroll down the Becker memory lane. But wait, there’s more! (is this an infomercial?) We’re even going to let you in on what his stuff looked like before we got our hands on Becker’s brand. Enjoy.

Feast your eyes on the highly guarded, old school business cards. These pre-date our involvement in Becker’s business, back in the land of pagers and fax machines.

I just tried to page Becker to see where he got this “marble-y” paper, but it looks like he’s canceled his service?

The official [ b ] logo was created in 1998 by Tim Holmes, at the time a college student, now partner of Reddoor Creative. To this day, the only thing that has changed on the logo is the color and the way it is used. A testament to the adage that “something well-designed will stand the test of time.”

Below are a collection of photos we have on hand of Becker’s historical ID systems. They’re in order of oldest to youngest. This first set is circa 2000

Circa 2001

Circa 2003 (our only living evidence of this system is the digital art we sent to the printers)

Becker’s current ID system. 2004-present

The [ b ] School logo and website

And finally a logo for some of Becker’s personal work

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Head Shots, courtesy of [ b ]

We were in Vegas last week for WPPI, and enjoyed watching many of our friends and clients in action. We made a point to try to catch a couple of our world-famous clients on their speaking stages: Jessica Claire and Becker. It was fun for us to hear Becker and Jessica both emphasize the importance of branding in their presentations. Obviously, we believe in the importance of a strong and consistent brand, but it was great to hear them spreading the branding gospel to other photographers in attendance. Nice work guys!

Speaking of Becker… he was gracious enough to help Tim and I the other day when we were in a tight spot. We were were on a deadline for submitting head shots for an article we were being featured in, and Becker showed up, camera in hand, and delivered. We replaced our own head shots on ReddoorLA.com with some of Becker’s shots, take a peek, and visit the “Who Are We?” link. New photos sure make you feel like a million bucks, don’t they? Thanks again Becker!

The full page magazine version:

Tim’s new web head shot. Looking good.

My fresh photo.

If you haven’t heard already, a couple of Reddoor Branding Alumni: Becker and Jessica, along with several other photo super-stars (Dane Sanders, David Jay, Jasmine Star, Jerry Ghionis, and Jeremy Cowart) are headlining the ESCALATE conference in Newport Beach, CA on May 17 & 18. If you’re in SoCal, or anywhere near you ought to get your bee-hind to Newport! Get all the details HERE.

Red is at WPPI

The Red team is at WPPI keeping up with all of the photographers here in Vegas (well, not actually all of them, but some). If you’re in Vegas and want to know more about Red and our offering of Pre-Designed Branding Templates, send us a note at [email protected] Or check out our Twitter here. We’ll be on the trade show floor most of the day today, and at the [ b ] school party tonight. Hope to see you there.

RedbyReddoor.com is live. Visit it, to see learn more about Red, and sign-up to know precisely when our products are available for purchase.

What It Is and What It Isn’t

As with any new endeavor, we’ve been learning a ton as we get Red off the ground. We want to keep you informed so you know precisely what we’re offering. So today’s post is all about describing what Red is, and what it isn’t.

///WHAT RED IS:
It is template-driven branding.
It is professionally designed.
It includes a comprehensive offering of printed stationery items.

It is branding based on typographic solutions consistent systems.
It uses your business name in a template to create a completely consistent brand.
It is printed professionally.
It is affordable professional printing.
It is easy, we’ve pre-coordinated design, color and coordinating print pieces to make your decisions simple.
It is creative and will give you confidence when handing out your business card.
It is specifically geared toward photographers, because we know what you need.
It is easy to see what you’re getting when using our site.
It utilizes the latest web-to-print technology.
It is way better than a cheap mountain biker template card from FedEx/Kinko’s. Actual card below.

It is regularly updated with fresh design (not including stock photos of mountain bikers).
It will help take your business to the next level.

///WHAT IT ISN’T:
It isn’t custom logo design. You can get that here.
It isn’t as cheap as mountain biker FedEx/Kinko’s business cards. But frankly, you get what you pay for.
A specific design isn’t going to be over-saturated in your market. We’re developing a policy for discontinuing once they’ve crossed a certain sales threshold.
It isn’t hodgepodge and unprofessional.
It isn’t complicated.
It isn’t run by some behemoth printer. Red was created by designers, so you know we’ve kept a close eye on the design and production details.

Our “what it is and what it isn’t” list is an attempt to begin answering questions about exactly what Red by Reddoor Creative is offering. We’re excited for the way a Red Identity system will completely elevate the look and professionalism of your business. We’re excited to share everything with you. Stay tuned this week for more exciting info…

We’ll be heading to Vegas in less than a week, and we’d love to meet you, and tell you more about Red if you’re going to be at WPPI. Follow us on Twitter here, to keep up with our whereabouts in Vegas next week.

Why No Flash?

///  If you don’t know what Flash is, here’s a quick definition:

“Adobe Flash is a multimedia platform that is popular for adding animation and interactivity to web pages. Flash is commonly used to create animation, advertisements, and various web page Flash components, to integrate video into web pages, and more recently, to develop rich Internet applications.” Wikipedia

///  Here is an excerpt from an article written by Morgan Adams, an interactive content developer, on why the iPhone, iPod Touch or forthcoming iPad will never have flash (like we know it today).

“I’m biased. I’m a full-time Flash developer and I’d love to get paid to make Flash sites for the iPad. I want that to make sense—but it doesn’t. Flash on the iPad will not (and should not) happen—and the main reason, as I see it, is one that never gets talked about:

Current Flash sites could never be made work well on any touchscreen device, and this cannot be solved by Apple, Adobe, or magical new hardware.

That’s not because of slow mobile performance, battery drain or crashes. It’s because of the hover or mouseover problem.

Many (if not most) current Flash games, menus, and even video players require a visible mouse pointer. They are coded to rely on the difference between hovering over something (mouseover) vs. actually clicking. This distinction is not rare. It’s pervasive, fundamental to interactive design, and vital to the basic use of Flash content. New Flash content designed just for touchscreens can be done, but people want existing Flash sites to work. All of them—not just some here and there—and in a usable manner. That’s impossible no matter what.

In addition, some Flash sites rely on right-clicks (such as for security settings), and many rely on a physical keyboard. Especially games, which are the main kind of content people want from Flash. (I’d say video, except video can easily be done without Flash, and sites are increasingly doing so. Much of the video missing from your favorite Flash site is probably easily found on YouTube anyway.)

So it’s not just that Apple has refused to support Flash. It cannot, logically, be done. A finger is not a mouse, and Flash sites are designed to require a mouse pointer (and keyboard) in fundamental ways. Someday that may change, and every Flash site could be redesigned with touch-friendly Flash. But that doesn’t make Flash sites work now.

Even if slow performance, battery drain and crashes weren’t problems with Flash (and they truly are), nothing can give users of any touchscreen, from any company, an acceptable experience with today’s Flash sites.

The thing so many complainers want is simply an impossibility.

By the way, imagine my embarrassment as a Flash developer when my own animated site wouldn’t work on the newfangled iPhone! So I sat down and made new animations using WebKit’s CSS animation abilities. Now desktop users still see Flash at adamsi.com, but iPhone users see animations too. It can be done.”

If you want to read the article in it’s entirety, you can do so on Roughly Drafted magazine by clicking HERE.

Ampersand or Ampers&

I’ve been doing a little bit of research on ampersands (you know, the thing that means “and”) for a client project, and thought some of it may be blog worthy.

So a brief history of where the ampersand originated:
The ampersand is a combination of  the letters “e” and “t,” the Latin word for “and.” Some ampersands are still clearly e-t ligatures, and others are merely suggestive of e-t ligature. The earliest known ampersand is from 45 A.D. It was found on papyrus (the paper, not the unpleasant font) written in the style of the early Roman capital cursive.

Ampersand usage varies from language to language. In English and French text, the ampersand may be substituted for the words “and” and “et,” and both versions may be used in the same text. The German rule is to use the ampersand within formal or corporate titles made up of two separate names; according to present German composition rules, the ampersand may not be used in running text. In any language, the ampersand’s calligraphic qualities make it a compelling design element that can add visual appeal and personality to any page. Some consider the ampersand to be the most beautiful character of them all. You can read a ton more on Adobe’s website about the ampersand.

In my research, and through MyFonts twitter feed, I heard about a special collection of ampersands. The Society of Typographic Aficionados (SOTA) is proud to announce their release of Coming Together, a font created exclusively for Font Aid IV to benefit the victims of the earthquake in Haiti. The font consists entirely of ampersands, to represent the idea of people coming together to help one another. Type designers, graphic designers, and other artists from around the world contributed artwork to the font. The font is available for $20 from MyFonts. All proceeds from the sale of this font will go to Doctors Without Borders, to help with their relief efforts in Haiti.

It’s about time the ampersand mustache made a comeback.

On the lighter side of ampersands. Surprisingly, there are whole blogs dedicated to the ampersand. I found this one called simply The Ampersand. It has all things related to the beautiful ligature. I couldn’t resist sharing the “Spampersand” and the “Amperbunnies.” (For the record, I’ve never seen as many ampersand tattoos in my life, as there are on this blog.)

H&some.

Vanity Barcodes

I came across this site the other day, and it makes me wish I had a barcode to put on something. If you do, maybe you’ll be brave enough to use one? You can see their full offering here: vanitybarcodes.com. We use barcodes for clients so infrequently that these haven’t been an option…yet. I can’t wait to suggest the underwear shaped bar code… to the appropriate client, of course.

Here are some of my favorites: