Blogs

Wilco iBook
The Chicago-based Wilco put on a stellar show last Friday at Rochester's Highland Bowl. To share a little bit of this innovative band, and to also share what's new in the iBook publishing arena, here's The Incredible Shrinking Tour of Chicago.

30 Second MBA
Fast Company's video-based series of lessons, insights, tips and suggestions presented by contemporary business leaders, innovators and celebrities. Equally informative and entertaining. Speaking of entertaining, check out Conan O'Brien's take on quality vs. quantity.

Problem Solving in the Open Source Hardware Community
Problem: How can makers, artists, scientists and other prototypers perform laser cutting simply and safely, with full control over energy density, at any point in time?
Solution: Well, Lasersaur of course!
Another interesting example of problem solving, this time from the realm of open source hardware.
(via Mike Gastin)

Illustration (The Finest Occupation)
This video had me at "The greatest illustration is not mere decoration."

The Underground New York Public Library
(via Mike Gastin)
A fascinating Tumblog by @Ourit, featuring entrancing candid photography. "The Underground New York Public Library is a visual library featuring the Reading-Riders of the NYC subways. This library freely lends out a reminder that we’re capable of traveling to great depths within ourselves and as a whole."

Crowdsourcing and Olympic Pride
Who's excited about the upcoming Summer Olymipcs? This crowdsourced Olympic t-shirt taps into the power of sporting passion and national pride. That's a strong combination!
(Thanks to Mike Gastin for turning me on to Springwise.com)

Apple Podcasts App
Apple's dedicated "Podcasts" app was recently released. With this enhancement to audience experience, why not create a podcast?

Coffee and the News
Here's a cool application of print-on-demand, with smart use of QR code technology. Impressive campaign results too.

Water, Coffee, Time. But Most of all... Care
(via BrainPickings)
What self-respecting, caffeine-driven creative agency wouldn't be inspired by this vintage short dedicated to the blood of the bean?

Podcast File: 

Planning_for_Video.mp3

For today's episode of Marcom Talk, Mike Gastin and Mike Nelson outline the steps of a video project. With video becoming a bigger part of content strategy, we hope you find this talk helpful in planning your next video project.

There are plenty of ways to listen to Marcom Talk; you can subscribe to the podcast through the Apple iTunes Store and listen on your desktop or mobile device; you can download the MP3s directly from our blog; for the RSS-inclined, you can subscribe to our podcast feed.

What’s been on your marketing mind lately? What burning questions from your corner of the marcom universe are in need of answers? Let us know! We’d love to help by offering some of our thoughts in future episodes of Marcom Talk. If you have any questions or suggestions, feel free to comment below.

Engage, Inform and Entertain
Via CommArts
Fix at Four is another example of when web scrolling is OK, and in fact becomes integral to the delivery of a great user experience. Impressive use of HTML5, CSS3 and JavaScript.

A Guide for Content Creation
This in-depth guide to content creation leads off with an SEO focus, which makes sense given the focus of the blog in which the post resides. Improved SEO is one thing that great web content brings, along with other benefits. This post is a handy walk-through of the important process of creating web content, from research all the way through to promotion. Plus it offers an infographic example from the world of Formula 1 racing, which is always cool.

Is Print Dead?
Not at all. With savvy multi-media publishers embracing the printed page for its inherent strengths, along with clever integration of technology, we're seeing how print and digital co-exist and actually support one another.

Hack the Cover
Via Mike Gastin
A deep-dive into the past, present and future of the book cover. In the middle of a massive sea change in book publishing, smart design still prevails.

Good Design Is…
Another reminder that the value of great design applies to all forms of media. This Brain Picking blog post offers a refresher of Dieter Rams' "ten commandments" of good design. Although the list is focused on product design, the word "product" can be swapped with the word "information", showing that the same tenets apply to communications design.

Winning an award within your industry is always a thrill. The affirmation from your peers is always welcome. But just as the awards we’ve earned recognize the effectiveness of our creative approach toward solving business problems, they also recognize our clients’ vision and commitment to objectives-based communication design. For that we’d like to thank Greg Chambery at The Maplewood and Rob Ewanow at Photo Booth Fun. The environment they helped create paved the way for a handful of 2012 Summit Creative Awards. Those awards are:

• Gold Award in the Consumer Service Website category for The Maplewood Nursing & Rehabilitation
• Silver Award in the Health/Medicine Website category for The Maplewood Nursing & Rehabilitation
• Bronze Award in the Consumer Service Logo/Trademark category for Photo Booth Fun

So what is a Summit Creative Award? With an 18-year history, the award competition recognizes and celebrates the creative accomplishments of advertising agencies and creative groups with annual billings under $30 million. Included in its panel of judges are leaders of top creative agencies, universities and corporations from across the world.

Entries in 23 categories came from over 20 countries this year. Judges searched for innovative and creative concepts, strong executions and the ability to communicate and persuade. In the end, winners were selected in a wide-range of categories from print and broadcast to emerging media and viral marketing.

Our award-winning clients offered their thoughts and enthusiasm on the recognition:

Greg Chambery, Administrator of Maplewood Nursing & Rehabilitation
“Sometimes it’s important for an organization to go outside of traditional approaches and thinking when considering what current and future customers desire. This website presented us with just such an opportunity and we’re glad we chose a design that represented a road less traveled.”

Rob Ewanow, President of Photo Booth Fun
“When I started my business, one of the first things I knew I would need is a quality logo, one which would clearly communicate what my business offers. It had to be fun, whimsical, unique and above all clear. Having prior experience with the team at Bob Wright Creative I went right to them with my challenge and they delivered. I had a number of logos to choose from, making the decision even more difficult. I'm very happy with the one I selected, as it effectively represents our brand in a variety of media including traditional and digital.”

Again, thanks to Greg Chambery and Rob Ewanow. And of course, thanks to our creative team for their tireless commitment to providing exceptional work on behalf of our clients!

With its appearance in the Apple iTunes Store, we mark the launch of our podcast, Marcom Talk. OK, I know an iTunes Store account does not a podcast make, but gosh, it sure feels important.

Marcom Talk is a business podcast focused on marketing, design and communications. We’ll explore the practice of communications design as it relates to the needs of branding and marketing professionals. Topics will include graphic design, marketing communications strategy, web design and development, illustration, content marketing, and more. You’ll get to know that cast of characters at Bob Wright Creative, and hopefully some special guests as well. We promise to keep Marcom Talk fun and full of practical insight.

We have two episodes in the can, with more on the way. Our first episode gets at the “why” behind what we do at Bob Wright Creative. The second episode investigates the importance of having a marketing plan.

There are plenty of ways to listen to Marcom Talk; you can subscribe to the podcast through the Apple iTunes Store and listen on your desktop or mobile device; you can download the MP3s directly from our blog; for the RSS-inclined, you can subscribe to our podcast feed.

What’s been on your marketing mind lately? What burning questions from your corner of the marcom universe are in need of answers? Let us know! We’d love to help by offering some of our thoughts in future episodes of Marcom Talk. If you have any questions or suggestions, feel free to comment below.

Soccer Art
A truly enjoyable collection of soccer legend posters, each with its own unique style. For fans of beautiful design and the beautiful game alike (yes, I'm biased).

Woodford Racing Posters
A series of artistic posters to promote investing in thoroughbred racing partnerships. For me, the minimalist watercolor style invokes a dream-like feel that's in harmony with the aspirational messaging.

Paper Apps
Printed Electronics is an emerging technology. Its manifestation in "Paper App" form is a mashup of electronics, print and digital content. This particular project is centered on music, but I'm interested in seeing applications that also leverage other forms of digital content. What do you think... revolutionary or gimmicky?
(Via Creative Times UK)

Virtual Letterpress
A fun app that turns your iPad into a digital letterpress. Kudos to LetterMpress for helping keep this production form on our increasingly-digital radar screen.

For Print Only
FPO (For Print Only) celebrates "the reality that print is not dead by showcasing the most compelling printed projects." Not only does this site contain plenty of inspiration from the world of print design, its well thought-out taxonomy and browse-ability makes for extended and enjoyable visits.

Old-School Sources of Inspiration
Long before design annuals and showcase websites there was Ad-Art. Straight outa Columbus, OH.

When the organizers of Jazz for Food came to Bob Wright Creative in need of website design and programming for this year’s event, the results were positive yet unexpected.

Based in Rochester, New York, Jazz for Food’s purpose is three-fold as it raises money to: provide financial assistance and appropriate resources to the needy affected by the struggling economy; help elderly individuals in need of community support; provide scholarship money to inner city youth for music lessons.

Historically, Jazz for Food has been synonymous with a concert to raise charitable funds for its beneficiaries, which include Foodlink, Lifespan and the South West Area Neighborhood Association (S.W.A.N.).

As successful as this concert-based approach has been, we recognized the strength in Jazz for Food as an organization. We therefore advocated for a new, unexpected approach that promotes not just a singular Jazz concert, but that communicates the strength and longevity of Jazz for Food as an established entity. So, by embracing their group strength in the new website, Jazz for Food now clearly presents itself as a charitable organization that delivers tangible benefits to beneficiaries and sponsors through the curation of distinctive live music experiences.

By introducing expanded content about Jazz for Food, its events, and benefits of sponsorship, website visitors gain a view to an organization that is established and committed to delivering on its mission. Because their new website is built on the Drupal content management system, Jazz for Food has the ability to easily add more events and keep things fresh with timely information.

Even though the site launched just a few days ago, JazzForFood.com has already received considerable positive feedback. This feedback affirms that Jazz for Food has indeed revitalized itself and is a noteworthy player (no pun intended), not only to its beneficiaries, but also to sponsors who diligently research, consider and activate charitable partnerships.

We wish our friends at Jazz for Food all the best as they continue to help those in need by building their organization and portfolio of events.

Click here to visit the Jazz for Food website.

Great Guitar Photography
Phil Daggar brought in a recent issue of the "Wood & Steel" news quarterly published by Taylor Guitars. Taylors are considered by many to be works of art, and the guitar maker certainly recognizes this with the production quality of their publication.

Even the End of the World Needs Good Branding
Makes sense, what with all this talk of Hunger Games and Mayan calendars. Prepare yourself.

An Immersive Online Sports Experience
OK, we're Eurosport geeks here at Bob Wright Creative. Football (sorry... soccer) and Formula 1 racing are common topics of conversation. The McLaren Formula 1 team website does a great job of immersing fans of the sport with rich content that pulls you into the action. The timeline-based navigation, extensive use of video, and Pitwall feature are all especially "boss" (heh, a little lingo there for you).

Making Book-Making Easy
Mike Gastin is always impressed to see how publishing continues to become more and more accessible to all, and offers up Blurb.com as a great recent example.

The Digital↔Physical.
Excellent piece by @craigmod on turning the digital into physical based on his work on the Flipboard for iPhone team. (Via Mike Gastin)

24 Hours in Pictures.
The Guardian's ongoing series, reliving the previous 24 hour's events via breathtaking photography

Web Scrolling is OK Again. Fun, Actually.
Ran across this inspirational web page via CommArts. I was impressed how effectively a long-form message can be presented on the web, even when scrolling is necessary.

Of course, I was curious how this multi-plane effect was created. According to Jonathan Daggar, our resident web scripting guru: "Looks like it's using this script, layered a few times. The basic idea is that the script reads how much the page has scrolled, and moves certain page elements by (pagescroll x somenumber)." Nothing gets past our Jon.