It is with great pleasure that we announce the launch of the City of Ottawa’s Light Rail website!

Many Ottawans felt as though they were left in the dark when it came to the City’s big Light Rail Transit (LRT) plans. Well folks, there is no longer any need to feel mal-informed. Thornley Fallis and 76design in collaboration with the Light Rail Implementation Team have created an “information-sharing mechanism” that arms the citizens of Ottawa with more than sufficient information relating to the project plan.

The communications efforts applied by Thornley Fallis & 76design were strategic and smart; we have received positive results on the site and its search functions, information content, structure and ease-of-use.

The website in particular has proven to be the most crucial piece of the puzzle. The website we’ve created is meant to engage the entire City; to provide all the facts our users require to fully understand the project and to provide them with a platform to communicate their feelings towards the project.

With the integration of various social media tools (Twitter, Facebook, YouTube), interested citizens are able to keep up-to-date and connect with the Light Rail Implementation Team with any questions or concerns. Any questions submitted to the team will be answered in a timely fashion; responses will then be posted on the website. The LRT website helps make a difference by providing comfort to Ottawans by reminding them that Light Rail green and it will only improve the City.

Since yesterday’s launch, the LRT project is getting great media play, print and radio; it is noted that there are happy people all around.

As designers during these rapidly changing times it is more important than ever to exercise flexibility and adaptability in the approach we take to our work. With the competitive nature of our business, the ever evolving vehicles of communication and the state of our recovering economy, our clients have become pretty demanding when it comes to us delivering the goods. If we can’t deliver to their expectations, they know someone else is waiting in the wings, hungry and ready to take over. 

I said it before and I’ll continue to say it “one size does not fit all”. Each client we work for and every individual project we work on has unique objectives and goals and therefore we need to make sure that we take a unique approach to each one and that means being flexible. 

A lot of times it’s smooth sailing. Good ideas flow quickly and client “buy-in” happens without a hitch. However, there are those occasions when things become a little more challenging, when it takes more time and effort than normal to deliver “the goods”. It’s during these times that we ask ourselves “what happened?” The reality is a number of things could have happened and the fact of matter is you still need to deliver. Great designers find a way to adapt on the fly, extending themselves further and further with each new challenge that’s thrown their way. In the end it’s a win-win situation, the client gets delivery of a project and the designer has taken the opportunity to grow and work beyond their past limitations. We are fortunate enough at 76design to have on staff a group of great designers that have shown me the true meaning of adaptability and flexibility. I’d like to take this opportunity to say, “thanks guys!”

Being a designer is not always easy. Deadlines can be tight, projects can be challenging, clients can be really demanding. But being adaptable in the face of challenge makes it easier for everyone involved and that’s a good thing.

To further illustrate my point I leave you with a quote from the late great Bruce Lee, one of the greatest martial artists in history, “Be formless, shapeless like water. Now you put water in a cup, it becomes the cup. You put water into a bottle and it becomes the bottle. You put it in a teapot it becomes the teapot. Water can flow or it can crash. Be water my friend.” 

Sometimes, to keep myself sane during long work days, I tend to doodle and draw — it’s just what I do and have done since a wee lad.
I was going through some old notebooks and found a few characatures of some co-workers I sketched.
More to come …

Conair Consumer Products Inc. (with our assistance) has recently released its newest product with a contest micro-site, driving its line of hair related products to a whole new level.

Conair, Helps You Tame The Beast

For all you lovely ladies out there who can’t seem to take control of that beast we all call “hair”, I introduce to you the Infiniti Nano Silver by Conair. Simply put, it is the #1 most effective hair straightener on the market. The person who thought of adding steam to a hair straightener is an absolute genius. Not only does it make your hair look vibrant and lustrous, removes all frizz and protects it from the humidity, it takes no time at all. Take my words and check out the website to see what other features and benefits this product has to offer, www.conairsteamstraight.com.

Aside from my obsession with this fabulous “life-saver”, you deserve a little S.O.S. too. The “Tame the Beast” website, was a concept conceived by Conair and 76design/Thornley Fallis. It is your gateway to owning one of these magnificent hair straighteners along with other Conair and John Frieda hair related products. The contest closes on December 17th so don’t wait too long, visit the site, watch some videos, enter the contest and most important…don’t forget to tell your friends. The secret needs to be unleashed so go spread the word.

ENJOY!

OK-OK, I hear you loud and clear blogoshpere. It has been 2(+) weeks since the inaugural post for the much celebrated, the much vaunted 76 Top Five, and the response has been boggling to the mind.

Let’s keep this congo line going, I give you…El videos de musica!

**Please note the low turnout this week, I am looking at you southern-end of the office.**

John:

1. Bjork – “Cocoon”
2. Bjork – “Pagan Poetry”
3. Martha and the Muffins – “Echo Beach”
4. Bran Van 3000 – “Astounded”
5. Johnny Cash – “Hurt”

Steve Bennett:

1. Unkle – “Rabbits inYour Headlights”
2. Radiohead – “Just”
3. Tool – “Aenima”
4. Squarepusher – “Come on my Selector”
5. Michael Jackson – “Thriller”

Julie:

1. Radiohead – “Just”
2. Björk – “All is Full of Love”
3. Pet Shop Boys – “Being Boring”
4. Røyksopp – “Remind Me”
5. Men Without Hats – “Safety Dance”

Rob:

1. The White Stripes – “Dead Leaves And The Dirty Ground”
2. Beck – “Sexx Laws”
3. Radiohead – “Paranoid Android”
4. New Pornographers – “My Slow Descent Into”
5. Tool – “Sober”

Travis:

1. Tool – “Prison Sex”
2. Death Cab for Cutie – “Title and Registration”
3. Foo Fighters – “Everlong”
4. Metallica – “One”
5. Queens of the Stone Age – “Go with the Flow”

Dom:

1. Billy Ocean – “Loverboy”
2. Beastie Boys – “Sabotage”
3. Radiohead – “Like Spinning Plates”
4. Justice – “D.A.N.C.E.”
5. Røyksopp – “Poor Leno”

I just noticed today for the first time that when I got an email from Facebook to let me know I received a message it actually included the message itself instead of a cryptic link to go read it. I know this is something small, but it was such a pet peeve of mine that the notification emails always forced you to click a link to go back inside Facebook’s walled garden to see the content. It seemed like such an annoyance in the otherwise solid user experience Facebook provides.

On Facebook mobile (an app they developed themselves) I’ve always been able to get the actual message delivered to my phone so I’m glad they finally upgraded their emails to do the same.

I’ve been spending a lot of time lately working on a project of ours in Basecamp and constantly flipping back and forth between my to-do list and the project itself in Firefox.  I just found this add-on called Split Pannel that lets you create another “tab” on the left of your Firefox window, much like the history pane, so now I have Basecamp open and my project — side by side.  Works great on big monitors.  I’m sure I just increased my productivity by at least 10%.

Pollstar, founded way back in 1981, is probably the largest and most authoritative resource when it comes to concert schedules and tour itineraries. As a lover of music, especially live music, it’s been at the top of my bookmarks for many, many years. Even before I was old enough to get into clubs.

Apparently they were online in 1994, which makes them an early adopter of the web by most standards. Kudos to them. The earliest version of their site I can find is from late 1996. That’s probably around the time I discovered them. But since that time their site really hasn’t evolved all that much in 11 years.

I’ve always had a soft spot in my heart for Pollstar. As far as concert listings go nobody could touch them. They had every venue, all the cities, and just about every band — right down to the obscure indie guys. I can’t count the number of times I’ve found out about some of the best shows I’ve ever seen from Pollstar. To express my thanks I’ve given them something very, very few sites have ever gotten from me. And no it’s not the Steve Palmer premium five star endorsement. I gave them my money. For probably 5 or 6 years now I’ve paid the $10 US annual fee so that I can track more than the 5 artists and venues you’re allowed to with a free account. In fact, I’ve got 95 of the 99 available slots filled on my tracking list right now and the only reason it’s not filled is because I recently moved to a new city so I’m just learning which venues I should be keeping an eye… er, ear… on.

But… I do have a beef with them and it’s a big one. While they might have blown the socks off me back in 1997, today their site just ain’t cutting it. In fact, it’s sucking it… hard. I’ve always cut them tonnes of slack because they served up such a tasty platter of precious concert listings (even though it was in the most Web1.0 way possible).

Ok. Fine. Maybe I couldn’t subscribe to an RSS feed by artist, venue, or city. And yes, there was an odd limit of only 99 artists and venues you could track. And fine, you can’t get updates to a mobile device or query their listings database by SMS like Google’s ultra useful service. And big deal, you can’t interact with other users to recommend music or bands to them… or plan to meet them at a show… or post photos after going to a show. And there’s absolutely no sign of a Facebook app on the horizon… so what?

No Ajax… in fact no JavaScript, really.

Tonnes of bloated markup.

Font tags.

Barely wider than 640 pixels.

Yuck.

Not that I’m critiquing their use (or mis-use) of technology, because “technology” isn’t equivalent to “good site”, but these are generally regarded as the tools needed to provide a good user experience.

That’s what it comes down to — user experience. I guess it’s the sheer crappiness and massively untapped potential in how they delivered their listings that really irritates me. I mean, daily email updates? That’s it? To quote Gob Bluth: “Come on!”

Then I got this interesting note in my email box (which, as you guessed it, prompted this wordy rant):

Dear Pollstar Premium Subscriber,

Pollstar.com is in the process of upgrading our site, including many of our online features. Because the changes to Pollstar.com will be substantial, new or renewed Premium memberships are no longer available.

We still offer all users our free auto-notify accounts for five artists or venues. If you wish to continue to receive these free notifications after your Premium expiration date you will need to edit your list down to five selections.

We anticipate launching more new features in the near future and hope you will continue to enjoy using Pollstar.com during our time of transition.

Thank you for using Pollstar!

Don’t you think it’s kind of a weird way to tell me, a paying customer, that you’re upgrading your site? “We’re about to boot your paying ass down to free account status!” But hey, you’re Pollstar and I love you — I’ll patiently wait for whatever super duper upgrade you’re cooking up in total secrecy. Hopefully you’ve partnered up with a smart and creative web firm that really understands user experience that can help you capitalize (as in, you will make more money for doing these things) on the tonnes and tonnes of opportunities available to deliver your content to users in creative, useful and innovative ways that let them share it and mash it up.

Pollstar: the 2007 internet is calling… will you accept the charges?

We’ve been following OpenSocial since it launched a little over a week ago. A few days later I posted a brief backgrounder and highlighted some of the neat things happening around OpenSocial.

A week later and it’s no surprise that some smart people are stepping up and jumping in head first — not to say that it’s foolish or risky but it’s still very early and even among the launch members adoption is slow. Regardless, momentum is gaining so I’m going to pluck a few of the more interesting and noteworthy developments:

• Yahoo! Mail and iGoogle are well poised to take on Facebook: both Yahoo and Google run massive web mail services, providing them with something it’s taken Facebook months to build: the social graph — the real-life connections between you and your friends (and something very precious to Facebook’s vitality). As Google and Yahoo make moves to roll social networking functionality into their email tools (where you’re already spending an important chunk of your online time) OpenSocial will certainly help them to catch up in the areas where Facebook still has a significant lead: applications.
• Movable Type Community Solution: SixApart has launched a new version of their Movable Type blogging platform called Movable Type Community Solution. It’s an enterprise tool that brings a lot of Web 1.0 technologies like forums, discussion boards and message boards into the Web2.0 age alongside blogging — taking advantage of new technology, search friendly content, and social networking concepts like credibility gained through recommendations from friends and popularity. SixApart was one of the members announced when OpenSocial launched and supports the API through the use of third-party widgets on the platform.
• OpenSocket puts OpenSocial onto Facebook: This is probably the neatest thing I came across all week. Dan Lester and Ignacio Blanco have created a “wrapper” called OpenSocket that allows developers to run OpenSocial widgets within Facebook! The motivation behind it is pretty cool:
  

  The initial goal is to bring OpenSocial widgets to Facebook before they reach MySpace, thus demonstrating the power of technology over business politics.This can be seen as a ‘petition’ to Facebook to open up once they’ve had a chance to evaluate OpenSocial.

  While this is a really nifty idea, when it comes down to it there aren’t a whole lot of OpenSocial widgets in existence and as pointed out on the OpenSocket site there are some technical issues around where widgets are hosted that still needs to be addressed. Best of luck to them though, it’s a really cool project. Hopefully they’ll realize the opportunity in developing the reverse version that would allow the thousands of Facebook applications plug into a wrapper that makes them compatible with OpenSocial. Now that would be huge.

This is something totally cool that I just couldn’t pass up the opportunity to try out for myself. It’s called Sketchcasting and you can check it out at Sketchcast.com. The idea was hatched a couple months back by Richard Ziade at Basement.org and some folks decided to take his idea and run with it — so to speak.

What is Sketchcasting? Well it’s kind of a criss-cross of blogging, podcasting and sketching whiteboard-style. Basically, you talk into your microphone while you draw on a whiteboard. Not an earth-shattering concept — whiteboards and sketchpads have long been invaluable tools for communicating ideas and illustrating concepts quickly — but to do it you need to capture on video what you’re sketching and record what you’re saying while you’re talking. That would require a video camera, a microphone and some patience to get it onto your computer, compress and edit as required. Kind of loses the whole “in the moment” essence that makes it work so well in the real world. What Sketchcast.com does is fill in the gaps so that the entire process is now done via a web-based tool — recording AND sketching. You hit record and the site captures your sketches and voice (if you feel like talking) and then lets you save it and share it really easily. You can even embed the finished product on your site much like a YouTube video.

So what’s it look like? Well, they suggest you use a graphic tablet for sketching but here’s something quick and dirty I just threw together.

Ok – a graphic tablet would make that a whole lot easier… but it’s still a really neat idea!