Hey there, everybody. Here's another collection of coolness from the world of creativity.

Re-Imagining the Classics: Star Wars and Harry Potter
The power of illustration. Two artists take their turns bringing a whole new style to two epic fantasies known for their iconic artwork. In both cases I'm struck by the economy of aesthetic that yields something so evocative.

Handwriting Your Email
Very cool product idea from Pilot Pens. Now, if only I had nice handwriting, worthy of digital reproduction…

Content Marketing Institute
Useful article, tips, and case studies on the broad subject of content marketing and its many sub-topics.

Chronicle Books
My girls love "Ivy & Bean". I love this publisher's commitment to creativity and great design.

I ran across an AdAge article recently, thanks to @ThomasJArmitage, that provides interesting insight into how 10 renowned brands improved their marketing agency relationships and how they plan to improve even more in 2012.

This article doesn’t represent some sort of “how to” for me. In fact, Bob Wright Creative is blessed to have wonderful clients that are strong leaders committed to creating excellent work in a positive environment of collaboration. The reason why I resonate with this article is because it re-affirms my belief in the practice of making someone else’s life a little easier.

No matter our organization’s offering, or our role within the organization, when we consider ourselves to essentially be service providers committed to helping others, I believe the output of our endeavor will always be as strong as it can be.

The article also reminds me that as an agency we are clients too. We have vendors such as printers, photographers, web hosts, landlords, accountants, and others. Just as our clients will ask themselves “how can we be more effective in our role with our agencies?” we continually ask a similar question of ourselves: we’re all pulling for the same level of excellence in our collaborations, so what can we do on our part to achieve the desired result in an ideal manner, where everyone involved ends up in a better place?

So, while the season of resolution is still new, I resolve to strengthen my commitment to helping make things a little easier for others, inside the office and out.

You can read the AdAge article in its entirety here.

Happy New Year! Here are some interesting pieces from the design world (and related galaxies) that have recently popped up on our radar.

Hörst
Always enjoy a good branding case. Check out the trick bindery work.
(via ID)

Timeline: A History of Touch-Screen Technology
Your iPad can trace its roots all the way back to 1948.
(via Communication Arts News)

Creative Cow Magazine
Boundless tips, tricks, and ideas for media pros in film, broadcast and production.

NHL Winter Classic
Can you tell I'm from the Northeast? The annual outdoor professional hockey event, played this year on January 2, is a case study on the power of emotional branding. Who from our region hasn't played some form of pond hockey as a youngster?

Happy New Year! I just finished reading a recent Inc.com article entitled "Redesigning Your Website in 2012? Ask These 3 Questions First". Author Amy Buckner Chowdhry did a nice job of covering the key big-picture topics to be covered when considering a website redesign. I encourage you to read all three topics, but one that resonated loudly for me is the second one: "What do your website visitors look for?" (sic)

This topic reinforces the importance of understanding the tasks visitors want to accomplish when they visit a website. To go a level deeper, these tasks are informed by the questions visitors ask when considering a purchase. Further, each stage of a visitor's purchasing decision process will involve a unique set of questions. So, websites should keep the entire buying decision process in mind, and assign content that is tailored to answer questions at each stage. As a website owner, being aware of visitors' stage-specific questions opens up an opportunity to create and publish content that provides relevant answers.

When your website redesign is focused on the questions your visitors are asking, then it's focused on task completion, and therefore, what your visitors are looking for. With this level of focus, you are one step closer to a successful website redesign.

Thanks to author Amy Buckner Chowdhry. You can read her article on Inc.com.

I hope you all had a great holiday week. Here are a few things that stood out for me during the celebrations.

Family
A significant part of the "reason for the season", the reason for our work, and what keeps our batteries charged.

Flipboard
Yes, Santa brought the Nelson family an iPad this year. Although perhaps no longer the "App Du-Jour", I found myself addicted to Flipboard for the iPad because it transforms regular ol' Facebook, Twitter and RSS content into a new immersive experience that encourages deep-diving. For me, this reinforces the importance of a well thought-out, beautifully-designed user interface.

Nonesuch
As my family and friends traded gifts of recorded music, I pondered record labels and the value they represent to their artists in this new age. I think Nonesuch is part of a rare breed of labels that understands the power of brand. Nonesuch brings value to its artists by maintaining its own uncompromising brand standards. This is manifested in such ways as cream-of-the-crop artist roster curation, and by designing and producing a beautiful physical product (with several Best Recording Package Grammys to show for it). Nonesuch knows that a label with value is more than a logo on the back of an album -- it's a brand with which artists, music media, promoters, distributors, retailers and consumers alike want to be associated.

The Upcoming New Year
New resolutions and renewed commitment. A chance to bring old chapters to a close and open whole new chapters. To explore new opportunities to bring value. Happy new year everyone!

This week's collection of thought-provoking items from the world of creative communications.

Cowbird
"A public library of human experience." Great concept, with an immersive user interface that's designed to stay out of the way of the story. I'm interested in following the evolution of this project as more sagas are added.

A List Apart Magazine
"Explores the design, development, and meaning of web content, with a special focus on web standards and best practices." Bookmarked and referenced by web communicators the world over.

Issuu
A digital publishing platform for easy creation of digital editions. I'm eager to see how mobile development progresses.

SoundCloud
Sound sharing platform for aural communicators. Highly social and mobile friendly. Its bright, friendly user interface invites endless exploration. For podcasters and music geeks alike.

In an industry that takes its direction from myriad advances in technology and aesthetics, it's nice to also know that much of our work is rooted in timeless best practices and simple physics. I was reminded of this when perusing a recent post in Print Magazine's Imprint online community.

Imprint author J.J. Sedelmaier takes us on a tour of 1920s-era design and advertising texts, including Advertising Production Methods, Light and Color in Advertising and Merchandising, and more (all published by McGraw-Hill Company). Here are a few of my favorites, taken from Outdoor Advertising:

You can read the full article at imprint.printmag.com.

Our weekly round-up continues with more bits of inspiration from the creative world.

Infographic
A History of Western Typefaces. (Thanks to Julio Ahumada for sharing this link)

Custom Inspector Stamps
Always leave your brand behind, even if you're out of business cards.
(via Communication Arts News)

Mast Brothers Chocolate
Commitment to craft. Commitment to pursuing passions. (via This Good World)

Life of George
I'm intrigued by "exploring the interface between technology and reality". I gotta show this to my LEGO-infatuated son.
(via Communication Arts News and FutureLab)

The Worthy Suitor
Great photography, sharp products. Plus, Steve McQueen checking out an open-wheel race car will always be cool.
(via Joe Stocker of Son of the Sun)

Rekordit
So much musical art, enveloped in great visual art. Why not get it all on the wall?
(via Visual News)

COLOURlovers
Color palette and pattern inspiration.
(via Imprint)

Omni Group: OmniFocus (Desktop app / iPhone app) and OmniOutliner
Simple-to-use productivity applications with well-designed user interfaces, packed with power when you need to go deep.

Apple’s App of the Year winners and runners-up for both iPhone and iPad are all about the creation (or at least manipulation) of content. The apps listed are Instragram and VidRhythm for the iPhone, and Snapseed and djay for the iPad.

When chatting with colleagues, friends and relatives about the delineation between mobile computing and desktop/laptop computing, it’s often mentioned how consumption of content (mobile) and creation of content (desktop/laptop) defines how we leverage different computing platforms.

With the success of products such as the App of the Year honorees, and other apps built for content creation, we're starting to see a blurring of lines between the various computing platforms in the consumer space. It won't be long before we start to see a shift in the commercial space. For many, this change is already upon us.

OK, I know we’re not going to produce annual reports on our smart phones and send them to a 10-color press over the Whatever-G Network. But I’m curious – as marketing pros, how are we utilizing the strengths of mobile as of late, not so much as a destination for our messages, but in the creation of our messages?

In my case, I’ve adopted OmniFocus to aid the planning and management of communications design projects while I'm away from my desk. On many occasions I’ve found myself relying on Camera+ for photo scouting. These are just a few examples.

So, how about you? In what ways is the mobile platform influencing how you work as a marketing communicator?

Here's this week's list of bits and bobs from the world of design, in its many forms, that we've found inspirational, useful, or just plain cool.

Flipboard | Apple's iPad app of the year comes to the iPhone

Google Web Fonts | Free, open-source fonts optimized for the web; More creative possibilities for web developers

The Alphabet | A nice video diversion for fans of type (this one's for you Mike G ;)

Sugru | Everyone needs a good life hack

Armstrong | What can I say? I'm tackling a new kitchen floor project, and Armstrong's website is making it more enjoyable

SomeOne. | London-based design firm; Refreshing an already-attractive brand belonging to a Premier League club known for its attractive brand of football

What's inspired you this week?