Archive for Hoverblog: November 2005 | Main >
Air Cover
| 11.20.2005
I was hanging with a friend the other day and he needed some help in convincing others on his point of view. Some people call it "tag-teaming." Others call it "ganging up." I call it "Air Cover." In other words, helping fortify a cause or point of view. It reminded me of a past post I had written under the same name. When I and other members of my company present to a client, we typically have lots of air cover or support for each other. We typically have a roles and responsibilities meeting before we go in - who's going to lead, who's going to chime in and who's going to flag particular questions as them come up. This air cover helps in supporting and justifying what we're about to present. Below is a past post that talks about a particular "case study" that came up regarding presentation protocols and the use of air cover.
Whether you’re pitching a potential client or presenting your first round of creative, it typically involves a lot of show-‘n-tell. In the print world, creative presenters are usually well armed with piles of brochures, catalogs, folders, stationary, etc. These pieces are either free-floating or mounted on black presentation boards. In the past, this was the norm and seemed to work well enough. The creative lived on paper and paper is what you showed. It could be touched, smelled and passed around the table below the quiet din of critique. Since the inception of web and interactive design, there has been much confusion about presentation styles and protocols. It seems pretty clear—the "creative" lives in pixels and pixels are what you show. This involves having a projector, laptop and yes, you guessed it, an Internet connection. However, on your best day, it always seems to feel a little sterile and lackluster. While technology has pushed design into new and exciting mediums and formats, the way in which clients interact with the work during presentations has not been so quick to change. I think a natural human response to something unknown, is to touch first. Touching makes it more real and substantial. Ever notice how you’re drawn to those beautifully colored glassware at Crate&Barrel, but quickly need to touch and pick them up before you can determine how much you like them?
At a past web agency, we initially presented pixels only. We won our fair share of jobs, but we always seemed to get a large number of requests for paper copies of the presentation and almost always asked for something extra to leave behind. In other words, presenting in a dim room via projector never seemed like enough. It felt analogous to getting together with an old (or new) friend, and then going to a movie–little dialog, little interaction and little narrative. The lights come on, you say how good it was and then go home.
As a test, I created 15 web/interactive case studies on 24” X 30” laminated Gator Board. These were mostly oversized screen shots with corrosponding captions. They looked beautiful. At $225/per, they should look pretty darn sweet! I still used a projector for all future presentations however, I had my new bevy of eye-candy boards acting as "air cover." In other words, they added a physical and tangible dimension to the same projected presentation and experience. This dichotomy provided the perfect collaborative balance. People would walk up to the boards, pick them up, bring them back to the table, pass them around to other colleagues and even present back to us - what they liked/disliked about a particular concept or idea. They would say things like “I like the navigation in this one.” or “Can we change the color of the banner ads on this one?” What was fascinating was the fact that people were interacting with tactile objects (boards) while viewing the same work on the screen. It was now real to them.
posted at 5:44 PM
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3 comments
Gone Bananas
| 11.13.2005
I don't know if any of you noticed but a couple of weeks ago, the BR site was down for several days. I tried in various browswers but the page never loaded and eventually resolved to an error. Now I know why...they've decided to "enhance" their site but in doing so, have alienated all MAC users as it doesn't work in Safari. I build lots of sites everyday and it's not a big deal to make a site Safari compliant. As a protest, I'm not going to open up FireFox to give them my money. Would you?
A nice article from Stop Design.
I had almost forgotten about the "browser wars" of years past, when publishers aligned themselves with rendering engines, and forbade their audience from entering without a "modern" browser. That all seems so quaint in hindsight - as if ESPN would do a deal with Sony so that SportsCenter was only viewable on a Wega monitor. Or something.
Yet I was whisked back to those annoyingly naive times today when I visited Banana Republic's newly redesigned site with Safari. I was ready to drop some cash on a few shirts (they've got a great line of tall sizes for freaks like me) when I was barred from entering -- as if they'd hired a bouncer with a velvet rope. Apparently, they've gone all Ajaxy with shopping carts that slide into the page. All quite nice, I'm sure, but I'm not going to switch browsers just to be their customer. Would you?
I would have thought that a savvy retailer like the Gap (who owns BR) would understand the business value of web standards. After all, Safari may only be a couple of percentage points, but can you really afford to take even that out of your profit margin?
The biggest irony: I couldn't complain. Even the Customer Service link is off limits to my browser of choice. Oh well...
Update: The redirect page on their site now reports, "We're working on supporting Safari. Please check back soon." And this humble post now ranks #5 for the query "Banana Republic" on Google.
posted at 11:31 AM
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2 comments
Travel Brands
| 11.12.2005
Not long ago, I visited Honk Kong with my wife, Joanne ("J"). We've been to several places together. Typically, we like to go "urban", which means we're more apt to explore every single nook throughout a city rather than venturing out to the countryside. Honk Kong, like most Asian cities, is huge with many districts such as tourist, business, waterfront, textile, shopping, fish, meat, etc. You get the idea. We love to explore but almost of all the guidebooks available, stink. They all follow the same boring formula by breaking up a destination by sections of city, hotels, restaurants and "interesting things to see." My favorite section is "how to get there." Come on people. If you need to dive into that section, your probably not safe traveling off your own block. Even worse, are the friends and family who want to write down everything for you to do, exactly as they did on their trip. It's like they want to relive their own vacation again without the air sickness. Don't get me wrong. It's nice to get a few tips of good places to eat and quirky things to see, but when people start writing down the cheapest restaurants and hotels to eat and stay at, I draw the line. The point of a vacation is to experience people, places and things that you can't when you're not on vacation. Saving money should not be the driving factor. It reminds me of the time when a family member suggested I go to Service Merchandise to buy J's wedding ring. "They have a good selection and you won't believe the prices!"
We all have brands as people and our brands all fall neatly into the types of places we like to visit. Some like to travel to Europe, others to third world and yet others do the national park circuit around good old US of A. Who am I to judge? Matched to our brands and travel preferences are books and magazines. Makes sense, right? For instance, the Lonely Planet series is for people who like a little adventure in their travel. The only thing that's rough about the Rough Guide series is the high price for what's essentially black and white tissue paper with a spine. Came in handy on the train to Bombay. The Time Out series is nothing special unless you're going over seas to attend a variety of raves and experience the club scene. The Knopf CityMap Guides are at least doing something different. They're full of pictures and fold-out maps. Read more about them on my Books and Music section. Eye Witness's books are so beautiful with their glossy pages, maps and cut-aways that you don't even need to travel once you read the book. The list of goes on and on but believe me when I say they're all the same
When I travel and explore, I love to find all the hidden jewels a place has to offer. Where are the hip local galleries? What time does the REAL fruit market open? Where can you eat with locals? What are the 5 off beat things to do? And most importantly, what should I avoid? These are the questions I always think about every-time I embark. With all this said, I've always wished there was a travel book or "worldly" friend that was on brand with the types of things I care about as a traveller. I discovered that travel "companion" called LUXE City Guides while in Hong Kong and blogged about it back in august - "At quick glance, it looked like a cheat-sheet for things to do but as we started reading it, it was like having something custom written by a friend that has lived in Hong Kong for the last 20 years and jotted down all the hip places to check out as well as the ones to avoid."
I've been in contact with LUXE and they're keeping me in mind for when they do a Boston edition. While I'm waiting, I thought it would be fun to share some unique Boston China Town experiences. I used to live in that area many years ago and many of my old haunts still exist. Let me share my top 10 jewels and save you some rent money and lots of time.
For a fabulous dinner, go to Grand Chau Chow (1) located in the heart of China Town on Beach Street, has some of the best authentic cuisine around. They use to have the house specials printed on color paper taped all along the perimeter. The only problem was that it was in Cantonese. Now, you can find most of the specials in the menu or just ask. My favorite is Pea Pod Stems, Grilled Twin Lobster, Sizzling Black Pepper Beef, Scrambled Eggs with Shrimp and of course, Tea. You'll only see hip locals in this place. After dinner, take a right out the door and then your next left onto Oxford Street. Up this very narrow street on the right is
a little hole in the wall basement restaurant called Wai Wai (2). They hand make their ice creams and the Ginger and Coconut flavors are the best ever. Don't let the run down look fool you. They also have very simple, authentic and cheap fare. Great for a second date or a first date gone bad. If you're still hungry, continue to the top of Oxford and at the corner of Oxford and Essex is a Fortune Cookie factory (3). They sell giant bags of slight rejects for $1.00. Some are cracked or have no fortunes in them. Ever wonder where you can get your cell phone "unlocked?" Any number of shops along Tyler Street (4) will take care of you. They also have many video games at a discount. If you continue up and over one block to the corner of Harrison and Beach (5), there is a restaurnt supply store where you can pick up almost anything for a song. Get a giant wok and some soup bowls for under $10.00. If you want to buy fresh authentic vegetables and fish to cook in your new wok, head down to Super 88 Market (6) on the corner of Surface Road and Lincoln Street. They're are a few of these around the Boston area but this one has the greatest selection. Hopefully you have something to cover your nose from the stench of fresh fish being cut up. If your down that way around lunch time, drop in to a pub called Weggies right across the street from Super 88 (7) on the corner of Lincoln and Beach Streets. The owner is chinese and his name is Reggie. He named the pub phonetically in the way that Chinese people pronounce their "Rs." The fare is simple pub food and drink. They also have pool tables. If you want to get in the "know", ask them what happened to the video store across the street. Go ahead...just ask! Most people like dim sum but certain places are better than others. There are a few along Washington Street (8) but I'm hoping my friend Jeanne (very well travelled and adventurous person) will comment in her favorites. She has literally done dim sum in several parts of the world. Now if you're beat from banging around China Town all day, you should get a massage. I know of many places to do this but it might not be your type of place. For a quick massage, go to the plaza on the corner of Washington Street and Boylston/Essex Streets (9). The name escapes me (most do) but it's on the second floor and this guy is fairly famous around the area.
Good luck and happy travels!
posted at 10:16 AM
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4 comments
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