Formspring (www.formspring.me)

Formspring should be a virtual no-brainer for business owners. It’s a great way to answer questions from an audience without having to sift through a message board. What makes it great is that you don’t need a user name to ask a question so it’s an easy way to interact with your customer base. It skews toward a little bit of an older audience, but it looks like it’s growing steadily. I’d recommend looking at this one if customer relationships are a central part of your business model.

Scribd (www.scribd.com)

Have you ever seen the “Take A Book, Leave A Book” racks at the train station? That’s basically what Scribd does except on a global scale. (And no, that isn’t misspelled.) You can upload everything from book chapters, comic strips, flyers, and newsletters and you can comment and share other material with other like-minded users. Scribd has been around for a few years, but is really blowing up thanks to iPhone and iPad apps and it doesn’t look like it’s stopping anytime soon.

JustinTV (www.justin.tv)

JustinTV is series of channels that the user can program as he or she sees fit 24/7. News sites like Geekweek.com have had great success building a following for their site that launched earlier this year. They use their Justin TV channel to promote their writers and celebrity guests and it has gained them a following very quickly. Other companies are using the site to run news footage, sponsor movie channels, and create their own content. It’s a great way to have your message running all day every day.

WordPress (wordpress.org)

WordPress is a searchable database of blogs that cover any subject you can think of. It can be a great way to get into niche marketing – mostly because it is by far the most organized and easy to read blog site I’ve ever seen. You can write a series of blogs about knitting and start a dialogue with your audience right there on the same page. Like Formspring, it’s a fairly new site that has a lot of business owners using it in connection with Linkedin.

Dailymotion (www.dailymotion.com/us)

The problem with a lot of social media sites is that they get crowded with bots and not-so-reputable-advertisers. You can see this starting with YouTube now. Dailymotion tries to answer this by being a more discernible video sharing site. Dailymotion can be a good place to post your video and get people talking about it without having to deal with the clutter of other video sites. On top of that, Dailymotion tags videos from websites like Hulu so their SEO profile is actually much higher than YouTube’s. This means that if your video is tagged the same as, for example, Jon Stewart’s video, then you could potentially be seen by everyone who views him online. That’s something YouTube can’t offer for sure.

StumbleUpon (www.stumbleupon.com)

StumbleUpon has actually been around for almost a decade but has only recently gained a cult following in the art house sector. Stumbleupon, is part Blog, part Facebook, and part message board. Its eclectic style makes it ideal for sharing links with your friends but not necessecarily a great business site. Still if you want to see what the hip young audience is looking at StumbleUpon could be a good tool for you.

Propeller (www.propeller.com)

Propeller follows the same model as YouTube and DailyMotion: fan generated content with fan generated ratings, except Propeller does it with news stories. Users can post news stories either written by themselves or ones they find elsewhere. You can post news about your favorite cause or recent events that effect your business and get instant feedback and audience comments. The more positive feedback you have, the more people will see your article. But just make sure it’s good because if it gets enough bad reviews they drop it altogether.

Last night we discussed Dan Saffer’s Book: Designing for Interaction: Creating Innovative Applications and devices. It was fairly well received by all in attendance. Overall the book is very concise and informative. We all especially liked the brief history of interaction design section, and there was spirited conversation over weather the function of Interactions Designers is to ‘’Make the world a better place to live.” It’s a 200-page overview consisting primarily of tools and techniques that Interaction Designers should be aware of and potentially using. Ideally this book would be found in a classroom or on the shelf of an ambitious student. Practitioners however may not reap as much benefit for the simple fact that the book outlines an extensive set of techniques that, as described, can only exist in a vacuum. They are neatly sectioned off for designers to consider using throughout their process. Sadly, there is little to no mention of the process itself, or of clients, or business requirements mentioned in the book. For purely educational purposes, it does a nice job of familiarizing readers with the nuts and bolts of Interaction Design practices, but might leave some wanting to hear more detailed accounts of how they can be applied in the real world.

On a related note: The club often hands out a copy of an upcoming scheduled book, and this time I was fortunate enough to win! I’m very excited to be reading Todd Zaki Warfel’s new one called Prototyping: A practitioners guide, slated for discussion at the end of June. Look for a review on that when the time comes and look for other book club meeting notes in the future.

If you would like to attend a meeting in person, check the UX Book Club Chicago website for times and dates. It meets at 350 N LaSalle Dr Chicago, IL

10. Wyndham Hotels (http://www.youtube.com/user/WyndhamHotels)
Wyndham Hotels was one of the first hotel and resort companies to use online video advertising as a form of viral marketing and that’s one of the reasons they make the list. Their online videos also appeared on FunnyorDie.com and are a decent YouTube hit. They may have started out good but it’s been at least 2 years since they even logged into their site, which really just shows that they have a wasted opportunity here. At least they have a channel, the opposite can be seen with Trump Hotels which has a fairly large YouTube presence but lacks a home channel to properly showcase them.

9. Doubletree Hotels (http://www.youtube.com/user/DoubletreeHotels#p/a)
Doubletree proves that you don’t need a huge budget to run an effective internet video marketing campaign. Almost all of their videos can be done with just an employee and a video camera. They make sure to include various tours of their facilities, something that should be obvious but not all companies do them. Holiday Inn has a channel that only has a few commercials on it. They should be grateful to the 32 people that subscribe to their empty page. Doubletree included their commercials but went above and beyond creating web exclusive videos that that include cooking and crafts. Again, not expensive to do and it gives your page personality which translates into loyal followers.

8. Fairmont Hotels (http://www.youtube.com/user/fairmonthotels#p/u/5/seey5SKiKt4)
Fairmont Hotel’s channel shows that a little production value can be good if you can capitalize on it. If you just spend a lot of money filming videos and don’t have a way for people to get there then that’s just wasted money. Fairmont’s channel has a combination of their custom videos about golf and skiing, alongside smaller hotel tours, interviews, and commercials. This helps a lot with search engine optimization and, like doubletree, helps them compete with much larger companies.

7. Grand Geneva Resort (http://www.youtube.com/user/GrandGenevaResort)
Anyone in showbiz will tell you that production value is nothing if you don’t have a personality behind it. The Grand Geneva has that to spare. Not only does their channel have a lot of tours and videos of their great scenery, but they make sure to show people having a good time. Like the doubletree they know the value of a great instructional video for infotainment. Whether it’s interviews with people on the golf course or at the water park Grand Geneva makes sure to capitalize on everything they have to show that they are the place to be. Again, nothing on there is really expensive to produce so the only investment they made in their digital video ad campaign was time.

6. Four Seasons (http://www.youtube.com/user/fourseasons)
The Four Seasons channel not only gives you a great view of the hotels themselves, but they also go in depth about the surrounding town. They take that video camera and go out and show you everything you need to see before choosing your vacation destination. Not only that but the page is loaded with more content than most on this list. They have a lot of videos in a variety of different areas from commercials, to tours, to mini-documentaries on events they hosted. I’ve said this about twitter but the same reads true for online video, but the internet is not a bullhorn. If all you do is shout your message via commercials and video sales pitches you won’t get an audience. 4 Seasons has gotten almost 100,000 views because they make sure to entertain as well as inform.

5. Alerton Hotel (http://www.youtube.com/user/AllertonHotel)
One aspect of advertising that is overlooked is the simple idea of capitalizing on free publicity opportunities. Some of the multibillion dollar companies on this list don’t do it. For that reason alone The Alerton Hotel deserves to be on here. Not only do they do the things that others on this list do like tours and interviews, but they were smart enough to put news stories that featured them on their website. In effect they just doubled their Search Engine Marketing performance because they get traffic from news sources and people looking for hotel destination.

4. MGM Grand (http://www.youtube.com/user/mgmgrandlv#p/u)
Like the Alerton, MGM recognizes the value of free publicity. They make sure to include news segments where they are featured. They also take advantage of very event they have. They have everything from spring break to Cirque Du Soleil, or a filming of The Young and The Restless featured on their channel. They also showcase the things around them like nearby restaurants so that you know exactly what to expect without even making your plans.

3.Hyatt (http://www.youtube.com/user/hyatt)
Hyatt takes the idea of infotainment one step further by making funny videos about their attractions, from the corporate execs angry and the Japanese Chef to the business meeting suddenly breaking out into a techno dance party they have some funny stuff that shows off their product without even mentioning the company name. They have personalized videos for hundreds of their hotels so anywhere you want to be you can see it. It makes there YouTube presence essential in planning your travel which drives up their online video traffic exponentially. Their 500+ followers are proof.

2.Disney Parks (http://www.youtube.com/user/DisneyParks)
It’s not surprising that the big giant mouse has its advertising in order. From mini-documentaries to custom commercials that look like they could be made on a notebook with Photoshop Disney has got its entire base covered. They don’t just want their channel to be an advertising medium, they want it to be entertaining in its own right and they don’t break the bank to do it. They even go so far as to create their own news stories about new attractions, from rides to restaurants to the ESPN zone, they make sure to cover every demographic.

1.Marriott (http://www.youtube.com/user/marriott)
If you look at almost all the others on this you’ll see one odd thing. Where it says “Most Recently Logged In” some of them might say months, weeks, or even years. Marriott’s Channel is one of the only ones that is constantly updated and constantly monitored. No one wants to subscribe to or follow a company that hasn’t updated their videos in a while. At the very least it tells the customer you aren’t as interested in that medium as others. Marriott not only constantly updates and checks its page, but they showcase events, news stories, and tours to their utmost effect. Everything that the others on this list do wrong, Marriott does right and more so.

Online Video vs TV Ads
http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/14.12/youtube.html
http://www.youtubeadvertising.org/

Xfinity came about because Comcast has lost over half a million customers in the last year to Dish network and other satellites.  Where they once had a tight grip what goes to your TV., they are letting a lot of customers slip through their fingers.   A smart CEO would notice that they have a long list of complaints against them and constant stream of bad PR, and decide they need to make their service better and build a campaign around renewed interest in their customer base like Dominos has.  For whatever reason, the management at Comcast decided to blame it on their brand name.   A lot of big companies use their advertising companies as scapegoats when numbers go down.  A great ad campaign can do wonders but it isn’t magic.  If you have competition and your competition is doing what you do better, they’re going to take your business, that’s capitalism.

Damage control doesn’t have to necessitate a name change.  Tylenol didn’t change its name despite tons of bad press in the 80s.  They focused their PR campaign on improving safety regulations and it turned out well for them in the long run.  Coco-Cola only slightly changed their name after the New Coke debacle to Coke Classic and it helped their product immensely and gave them a rejuvenated brand.   Ultimately renaming your brand as a form of damage control is at best a quick fix and at worst a Hail Mary, last ditch effort so salvage your reputation.  It might spike sales but it isn’t going to fix any problems.

Renaming your brand really only works when you are doing a complete overhaul.  When The Nashville Network decided people didn’t tune in to fishing shows 3 times a day they changed their name to Spike TV and focused on a wider range on male viewers.  Kentucky Fried Chicken decided they wanted to be more competitive with Burger King and McDonald’s.  To hammer home their new direction they officially changed their name to KFC.  Bandai Toys recently announced plans for a similar process moving away from creating knock Japanese cartoon action figures and focusing on toys for toddlers.   The trick to renaming your brand is to make sure people know it’s a new beginning. Otherwise you are just calling attention to the fact that you are doing damage control.

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSN0515328620100209

www.broadcastingcable.com/article/447481-Comcast_To_Launch_Xfinity_Rebranding_Campaign

www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/02/04/comcast-xfinity-company-t_n_449088

A couple of facts: 7 million people every hour use Google as a search engine and consumer sites get a little less than 5 million of them.  That’s a lot of advertising dollars and money that Google doesn’t see.   Ignoring sponsored links, Google doesn’t see a dime of that.  If you are a stockholder or an employee wouldn’t you like to see some of that money?  GoogleBuzz is just them taking advantage of the fact that they are the number one most visited site in the world and if past internet trends are any indication that title can change quickly (remember Lykos, AOL, or Geocities?)

Is Google afraid of over saturating the market?  If they’re reading their history of the internet they are.  Thousands of sites have turned people off due to too many ads, pop ups, and attachments.  If they do it subtly it could be a huge success.  If you have to register your G-Mail, join a Google group, get Google on your I-Phone, and sign up for every application and web service with a G in it just to get at GoogleBuzz then people will be turned off.  Twitter reached 10 million subscribers for a lot of reasons, one of which it’s easy to register and doesn’t send you 10 notifications a day. (I’m looking at you Facebook – tread lightly)

Is Google getting in on the tail end of the trend?  If other companies spending habits are any indication, then Google is making the right move and the social media trend hasn’t even reached its peak.  PepsiCo has so much confidence in social media advertising that they took the money they would have used for a TV spot and put it into social media advertising.  It remains to be seen if Pepsi’s tactics will pay off, but the fact that they have more faith in Twitter and Facebook than they do in the biggest media event of all time shows that social media is moving from a bit player most people dismissed as a trend into a legitimate medium that can have a major impact on consumers.

If anyone is going to get the short end of the stick, it’s going to be MySpace.  MySpace has been struggling since other websites have taken the ball of consumer generated content and run with it.   They’ve had a hard time maintaining relevancy and GoogleBuzz could be the final nail in the coffin that forces them out for good.  Even if GoogleBuzz proves to be a passing fad it’ll leave its mark on the social media industry and change the course of its future evolution.

www.wired.com/epicenter/2010/02/google-buzz

www.theatlanticwire.com/opinions/view/opinion/Mixed-Buzz-Over-Google-Buzz-2476

www.g4tv.com/attackoftheshow/theloop/Buzz-over-Google-Buzz

news.yahoo.com/s/time/20100204/us_time/08599195840000

Among his many relevant points was the notion he referred to as ‘the dominance of search.’ Matt’s focus for the evening was specifically on sites that serve up social commerce, but I think the search issue is something any site needs to consider seriously. What Matt was referring to was his claim was that 50-80% of traffic across the web comes from search. This was a profound, yet not to surprising statistic when I heard it. However, in my experience, clients are not very proactive in doing everything they can to make their sites findable. As web designers we should take more responsibility in educating our clients on the importance of being findable. Traditional means of SEO such as embedding tags in code, writing bot friendly copy, etc. are still a great start, however the effectiveness of user generated comments/reviews of your service should not be overlooked.

Matt remarked that a quality review can, and will, bring in roughly 50 people to your site. At which point. if you do a reasonable job of converting those 50 people to buy (say 3 or 4%), one could argue that the person who wrote the review for you actually played a more valuable roll while they were on your site than if they had actually made a purchase! This view may be a little subjective, but the key takeaway is that the people who are using your software and are actually taking their time to participate in the social sphere are extremely valuable users. They’ll give you credibility, get others involved, and help you create meaningful content. They are valuable for many reasons, but if for nothing else, they’ll bring other people to your site.

“Will my users be able to find me through search?” is a question Matt proposed everyone who wanted to have a successful presence on the web, should be asking up front. In other words, get your clients on board with SEO right out of the gate! There’s no way around the fact that there’s an overwhelming amount of content online. Having a site that is cutting edge, cool, innovative, clever, refined, well planned, etc. will not make your software successful based on these factors alone. You have to be findable. For more on findability you can check out findability.org or Peter Morville’s book called Ambient Findability.

The theory with the tablet style notebook is that it will make it easier to read things onscreen and ultimately manufacturers are hoping people will read their computers in the same way they read a magazine or newspaper. I assume that the major motivation for the Slate finally emerging out of the developmental basement is the success of the Kindle which allows people to read entire books off the screen. I don’t think parents would be so quick to buy their kids the Slate if it carried Apple’s $1000 price tag, even if their tablet is in full color with pretty, solid graphics.

Lenovo is one of the first to branch out into the computer tablet and it was a huge hit at the CES Expo with their laptop that can detach as a tablet. It will be a good test to see if the market is going to support them. (Some people call them the Slab, but I think that sounds too ‘Flinstones’-esque)

Ultimately, I don’t think the Tablet style notebook is going to revolutionize how people use computers or how you spend your marketing dollars. Between your laptop and your Blackberry you should be covered. (I’m assuming that if you have the money to even consider the pricey tablets then you should already have both, and if you don’t, you should) If you really need to see the technology in action, IBM’s Lenovo is getting good reviews and should be in stores any minute now.

From what I have noticed in my short career, Old School developers generally come from a background heavy in Computer Science and are very knowledgeable in code theory and the general philosophy behind writing efficient, sturdy code.  These developers blow my mind with how quickly they can concept and code huge classes and modules that are scalable and reliable.

New School’ers, like myself, seem to not always have the background in Computer Science, but a more general tech background such as Computer Information Systems, or in many cases, no higher level education at all.  New School’ers seems more comfortable with the open source community and are eager to learn new technologies that makes writing code more simple and standardized.

I am not trying to divide people into two specific sections, and not all developers fall into one or another, I’m just trying to point out some differences that I have noticed, as a segue for the main purpose of my post.

Like I said, I would consider myself to be a developer of the New School variety.  I love staying on the bleeding edge of what is current with web development, and I also love to get my hands dirty with more than just hacking out code; I enjoy interaction design, information architecture and everything that falls into the general category of “building a website”.  That being said, I have made a list of 8 things that I believe are helping to usher in the New School of Web Development.  The things mentioned are not all “new”, but are all things that I believe are pivotal and leading the way in the future of web development.

1.  Frameworks

It doesn’t matter what kind of code you are writing, chances are there is a framework for it.  On the server side of things popular frameworks include Ruby on Rails, CodeIgniter, ASP.NET MVC and CakePHP. These frameworks all help developers better organize their code (usually with a MVC architecture pattern) and have  built in functionality for handling common server side tasks such as database interaction, session controls, markup helpers and in some cases code re-visioning systems.  Many people have a hard time finally getting around to using frameworks, as they sometimes think they are bloated and do not let you customize your code to the extent they want, but usually once you find a framework you like its hard to go back to re-architect things from the ground up again.

On the client side there are dozens of javascript frameworks: mooltools, prototype, and my personal favorite, jQuery.  With these javascript frameworks (ahem: jQuery) becoming abundant and popular, raw javascript is becoming a rarity on many sites.  Obviously you would want to be rather educated into the background of any language a framework is built on top of, but the argument against dedicating tons of time into learning raw javascript and just learning the basics of jQuery is becoming increasingly stronger.

The last framework I’m going to mention are a few css frameworks, such as 960gs and Blueprint.  Although many developers and designers alike don’t necessarily agree on the use of these frameworks, there is something to be said for them.  Once you get the understanding of how these work, they make prototyping and rapidly creating layouts extremely fast.  For me personally, the jury is still out on whether or not these should be used in the final code, but I’m not lying when I say that on many occasions in the past I have relied on these frameworks for simple site layouts that I needed to get up quickly.

2. APIs

API is a buzz word that people love throwing around, but often times don’t really have a good understanding on what they are.  The sentence usually goes something like “Hey I want to let people  (insert obscure web functionality) on my site, can we just create an API for that?”, and in many cases they are not entirely wrong, just a little confused on what an API is.  Without going into too much detail APIs are generally just a way for users to connect to your site to retrieve/send information you use in your internal systems. In many cases APIs just provide static information like links, text and statistics, but some APIs also let users send commands and actually interact with your system, outside of actually logging into your site.  Besides allowing people to display aggregate data from various APIs, people are also using APIs to create robust new web applications that in many cases remove the user from needing to use a browser altogether.  A great example of this is Twitter.  It seems like everyday I hear of a new twitter application people are raving about, and when it comes down to it they are all just using the same API data each other application is using.

3. Javascript

It’s no surprise that javascript makes it onto this list.  Over the past few years javascript made a huge explosion all over the web, with every “web 2.o-ish” site squeezing in as much ajax into their site as possible.  Javascript went from being a very annoying, simple scripting language, to a language that is shaping the way people build and structure web applications.

As I mentioned before had a big hand in the increased popularity of javascript, but now frameworks like jQuery and upcoming animation libraries are enabling people to create semantic, standards based websites that can mimic the interaction and animation seen in flash based sites.

These days sites are beginning to appear on the web almost completely driven by well structured javascript and DOM interactions, with mark-up being dynamicly added by client-side templating engines (this financial site, Kapitall, comes to mind). The next frontier for javascript will be its use in HTML5′s built in APIs.  These APIs will let html5 natively support features such as drag-and-drop, the canvas element, and geo-location.

4. “Deselopers”

It’s hard to give a specific reason for this, but from what I can tell the line between developers and designers is slowly becoming thinner and thinner and I see more people being categorized as Web Professionals or… People Who Build Websites  There is always going to be strictly back-end developers and there will always be the graphic end of designing, but with interaction design becoming a more specific and prevalent need, you are seeing many designers and also developers taking on this role.  I think this mixed blend of talent has to do with interaction design relying so heavily on what types of interaction are possible, with developers being the best resource for this, but also designers coming up with new ways to concept this interaction and find new ways to display the information.

I’d describe the show as jolly, as in, it makes you feel unusually happy while you’re watching it, after you leave, and even when you’re singing the songs in the shower later. Intertwined with this is farce, slapstick, some silly and a lot of smart. While AVPM pokes fun at the HP series, it is ultimately a totally awesome orchestrated ode to J.K. Rowling’s seven tomes.

Brian Holden

Who’d have thought that a live play would be such an internet hit? Since BillupsDesign is always interested in how the internet affects our lives, I thought it a great occasion to ask collaborating writer of AVPM and Team StarKid’s newest hit, Me and My Dick, and overall great guy, Brian Holden, about his experience with art and the internet.

Here’s what he had to say:

Q. Where did the idea come from to upload the performance to YouTube? Why was it filmed in the first place?

A. A Very Potter Musical was actually what we thought was going to be the last in a “series” of plays that we did in college. Sophomore year, Nick Lang adapted and essentially rewrote a version of The Hobbit, which was a huge hit. He worked on that project almost by himself, though. The next play in the series was what we called The Hobbit 2: The Lord of the Rings! This play was an even bigger success than Hobbit, and was written by Nick, Matt Lang, and myself. Although we video taped H2:LOTR, the quality is poor. We only use one camera and the mic was at the back of the house so it’s hard to hear a lot of the show. Long story short, we basically recorded AVPM because we wanted to have a good quality recording of the show for our own memories, but also so that we could show our friends and family a copy that had decent audio and was the tiniest bit cinematic. We uploaded it to YouTube for the same reason. Pretty strictly just to show friends and family.

Q: The response to AVPM was ginormous and immediate. You had an instant fan base. The weird and wonderful part is your proximity to these fans since you’re distributing the movies yourself. Is there a kind of relationship between fans and the artist that YouTube offers that live performances or larger distributed media might not?

A: Absolutely! This generation is so insane. Our lives have literally been changed by things as seemingly stupid as Facebook and YouTube. But seriously, our lives are completely different because of them! The way we talk to each other is different, there’s new social/digital etiquette and language. We often sit around the living room, reading comments on the videos, and just marvel at how powerful and mind-blowing the internet is.

But to answer your question, yes, our relationship with our fans is a lot different than it would be if we were on TV. For some reason, the internet has a sort of casual attitude that makes our fans feel comfortable contacting us, which we are totally thankful for. We’re friends with a lot of fans on facebook, people follow us on twitter, and as I said earlier, we really enjoy reading what they write. We also get a ton of fan-art made for us, which is great to look at. A lot of it is just really cute or funny, but some of the art is amazing! It blows us away. I think it’s all a part of that casual ‘tude. Internet “stars” are less threatening in a way (because they’re not really STARS! they’re just people on the web!) so there is less risk in sending them stuff and communicating with them.

Q: On the other hand, most of you are/were theater performance majors. You obviously have a passion for being on a stage in front of people. What did the live audience members of AVPM experience that can’t be recreated through the internet?

A: Yeah, after being an acting major for four years I was used to how exhilarating it was to be on stage, but what I had forgot about is that it’s also really cool to be in a live audience! Although I co-wrote AVPM with the Lang Brothers, I didn’t act in it and I wasn’t there for the rehearsals. I hadn’t even heard the music before the first night, so I was truly an audience member as well. It was absolutely incredible. All the actors were amazing, the music was great, and the audience was really feeling it. There’s nothing that can replace seeing a live show because you literally sense it in a different way. Your human ears and eyes are so much better than the camera’s. You can see everything that’s happening on stage: the set changes, the band, the people in the row in front of you. Nothing compares to the energy that is there when a group of people is experiencing something in the moment together. Especially when they really like the show!

Q: You just put on a new original musical, Me & My Dick with the intentions of uploading it for your YouTube fans. How was preparing for this show different from AVMP? Is anything specifically done with the live show to make it more “filmable” or accessible for people on their computers?

A: Well, since we knew we were going to have a premiere online, we tried to be a little more careful about what we posted on Facebook and Twitter about the show. But as far as the live show goes, we didn’t modify the blocking or anything like that to make it more presentable on the really small screen. We did, however, just try and get a lot more coverage. We had four camera’s this time (instead of three, like on AVPM) and two mics and we also recorded two nights. We were very aware that this needed to be as polished a finish product as we could make it.

Q: You’re right out of college, some of you still in school, what has the experience been like so far being creative with your best buddies and enjoying the success you’ve had so far? What advice would you give to your peers and future artists of the world? What’s the most surprising thing you’ve learned from this experience so far?

A: Well, I can speak for myself and a few others I think when I say that being out of college can be very jarring. Like so many other times through childhood and high school, you move from a smaller, tight circle, into a huge-ass, sloppy who-knows-what-shape world. It’s easy to lose a sense of purpose during that time. Especially if you’re an artist. So I guess what I enjoy most about our success thus far is that it’s given me a sense of purpose. When I work with my best friends on a project, it’s something that not only we enjoy, but others love as well. In a way, it’s sort of our responsibility not to ignore that. When Life hands you something as good as that, DON’T TURN YOUR BACK! As a group, Team StarKid is so extremely fortunate to be comprised of really talented kids who just love to be together and entertain people. But even when no one on the internet had seen AVPM, we were still talking about more projects we could do, just so we could stay together. So I guess my advice to future artists would be to collaborate (it’s the most rewarding thing I’ve ever experienced, and continues to be over and over again), never underestimate how successful stupid ideas can be (a harry potter musical for example), and never forget the internet has the potential for tangible rewards (like donation money to fund a play about a singing penis)!

A Very Potter Musical was written by Matt Lang, Nick Lang and Brian Holden. Music by Darren Criss and AJ Holmes. Directed by Matt Lang.

You can watch A Very Potter Musical at here

User experience expert – John Yesko, gave the latest presentation and the topic was “Rich User Experience Documentation – Beyond Static Wireframes.”

John got me thinking about documenting websites in slightly different ways than I am used to. While his presentation was extensive, I wanted to focus on just two of his points here.

Point #1 – In the beginning of a project you can not always start predicting what’s going to be on the site right away. This is especially true for sites with rich interactions including screens with many various states. It may be of critical importance to start by defining not only what kind of site it is going to be, but also emphasizing what kind of experience the user will have. I say ‘emphasizing’ because with multiple screen states the users will all have a different experience to some degree. Even with several types of experiences possible, we as designers should still plan to make the overall experience good and set up an appropriate framework. This is where concept mapping can become useful.  According to Dan Brown, Author of Communicating Design, Concept maps/models are: “A diagram that shows the relationship between different abstract concepts. You can apply the concept modeling technique to explain different aspects of a website.” Here is an example John showed the group during his presentation.

Both diagrams are from the early stages of the same website but show differing possibilities of what the user experience could be like based on placing more emphasis on various categories within the site. These types of visual aids can be sketched out quickly to help nail down the kind of site you will be building and the experience you intend to deliver regardless of which screen state they may be viewing.

Point #2 -  Once the concept maps have been done and you have some idea of what the site will be like, you’ll need to begin to detail out the specific screens as wireframes. And how will you present those with the rich interactions you’re planning on providing the user? How do you explain visually what pages will look if they have many possible screen states, animations, widgets, etc…?’ John went on to provide a number of great examples and boiled his message down fairly concisely.

He stated the importance of documenting all possible screen states both visually and with written annotations. But to also be as economical as you can by not just repeating various screens over and over with minor changes to each. One technique John mentioned was using call-outs.  This is where you show one completed page and in the periphery you show portions of the screen in their alternate states. Of course there could be too many states to show in this way, and each screen may require its own technique but the key is to make sure you account for all possibilities so that the visual designers and coders understand the intent of the designers and architects who planned out.

John also covered other topics including  the work flow of  various design team members and how he has seen a change recently. He also talked about how the overall web design process is changing and why documentation is important. The examples shown above are just a few ways one can adapt the the new digital design landscape that is emerging. The entire presentation is available at his website http://www.yesko.com/.