Build. Community is Easy, Saving the World is Hard

UX Smackdown! User Testing Techniques in the Ring

Shit Code: When Good Code is Betrayed

Change Happens: Improv for an Unpredictable World

Be a Design Superhero: Vanquish the Wasted Pretty

See you in Austin!

Look up. No, not there. There. Up to the left. Ah, yes. That (and right below too). In the time it takes for an infant to come into this world, we have delivered a beautiful bouncing baby…. logo.

Remember back in June when we embarked on our mission, hoping not to end up barefoot and brand-less come Spring? And then in August when we had the cheek to tease you all with a glimpse of the logo designs not chosen?.

Well, here we are, six months later, and I feel like I should pass out cigars. Or valium. Or both. I am remarkably proud of what we created and thrilled for where this new brand will take Beaconfire as we move into our 10th year. But ohmygod am I exhausted. Emotionally, physically, creatively. Even karmically. Never before have I appreciated more what our clients go through when they engage in this very activity. It’s easy to be glib when you’re on the outside, especially as a seasoned consultant. When the shoe is on the other (bare)foot, humility must rule the day.

“Come on; it can’t be THAT hard.” are the prescient famous last words of smarter souls than I. Not only is it harder than you expect to create a new visual representation across an entire organization, the second you don’t respect the process is the moment it owns you rather than the other way around.

I think that is the biggest lesson I will share with our clients moving forward. You must be fearless, strong and willing to be thought foolish by everyone around you in order to shift perceptions needed move an organization forward though branding. In other words – you need to be a little crazy. In a good way.

So what else did this remarkable experience teach me? (Other hoping to not do it again for another 10 years.)

• Embark on a rebrand for the right reasons, not just because you think “its time”. If The Gap can misjudge it’s audience’s reaction so much that they have to publicly back away from their own rebrand, it WILL happen to you.

• Pick a great design partner who understands you and is in it for the long haul. Someone you would trust with your life – because you are.

• Assemble a tight, talented and organized internal project team you can rely on to keep you honest and on track throughout.

• Create a very specific project scope and determine clear requirements that everyone on the team agrees with. Learn to say “that will be great for phase two” no matter how cool an idea it is.

• Make a list of every visual system that will be impacted, no matter how small. Identity pieces, marketing materials, web sites, financial requirements, sales proposals, business communication, partner publications, even clothing. You may be surprised where your logo has ended up.

• Be open minded, and rule nothing out in the beginning.

• Never hold back your opinion. It will be too late to change your mind later.

• You will not be able to keep everyone happy. Don’t even try. Focus on project goals, not internal concerns. (yes I know this is easier said than done).

• Remember that design is subjective, but at the end of the day, audience needs must trump personal preference. Even that of your boss.

• Take nothing personally. Know that people will be stressed, emotions will be heightened, but you’re all playing for the same team.

• Be realistic about time and know it will take longer than you expect to do each task.

• Repeat after me: Style guide. Your new voice is as important to document as your new graphic standards.

• Have a launch plan and a PR strategy in place for how to introduce your new brand to the world.

• Above all, enjoy yourself if at all possible. This is an exciting new chapter for your organization. Celebrate your achievement.

On that note, when we see you sxsw or NTC next week, don’t let us forget to give you that cigar. We love our new addition, and hope you will too.

A new and unimproved zodiac threw some of us for a loop.  No one was ready to give up their sign – but especially not the newly minted Ophiuchuses (Ophiuchusi?).  Fortunately, CNN came to the rescue and the hubbub receded.

Watson may have walloped the competition on Jeopardy but Marissa is still our favorite contestant.  Are you smarter than a supercomputer?

An interesting discussion on allowing or not allowing blog comments sparked from this article.   Voices expressed opinions on both sides. Is there real value in the content of comments?  What about conversations that emerge among those who comment? As a blog author, are your obligated to respond to comments?   And while there was support for turning comments off to prevent conversations from degrading, I like Mark’s take on it. “Participating in the conversation by commenting is obviously just going to make more sense and be more convenient for most – including the really smart folks with something interesting to say.”

With phishing and spam schemes getting more sophisticated, it would be hard to be too careful when it comes to suspicious email.  Here’s a quiz to test your Phfishing and Spam iQ.  Take it, let us know how you did, and pass it on.

VISO Give is a new You Tube channel launched by BroadbandTV. They aggregate video content from nonprofits, sort it by org name and mission.  We like that the majority of the ad revenue will be donated back to the nonprofits.  Here’s a story on Mashable.

“L2 Digital IQ® Index: Public Sector measures and ranks the digital competence of 100 organizations across four dimensions: effectiveness of an organization’s site, digital marketing, social media, and mobile.” What’s your organization’s Digital IQ and how does it stack up?  National Beer Wholesalers of America – call us!

Firefox overtakes Internet Explorer in Europe and makes some of our interface engineers think about relocating – and anticipate the day that IE6 will be a thing of the past.

Don’t you love it when you’re reading one interesting blog post and it links you to something even better?   That very thing happened when I was reading this little jewel on UX Magazine about the versatility of news feeds and it pointed me in the direction of the NYT Skimmer.  The Skimmer presents NYT stories by section or topic in an iPaddish interface and allows you to CUSTOMIZE your view.

And, in case you forgot or didn’t already know, the agenda for NTC 2011 is online.

We’re looking for someone who can leverage their Internet project management experience to build great web sites and help solve our client’s technology challenges. If you know your way around content management systems and other Web solutions, get excited thinking about helping non-profit clients save the world, and want to work with smart, fun people in a collaborative team environment, then we’d like to talk to you!

And, if that’s not enough to motivate you to apply (or pass this along to someone who you think would be a great fit), here are some excerpts from our PM’s about why they like working here:

• Everyone here is very motivated and takes pride in doing good work
• There is a focus on delivering great work for our clients
• Staff are guided by process, but still have room for flexibility and new ideas
• The company is focused on work/life balance
• Beaconfire brings together some really great, smart, friendly and fun people!

You can see the full job description on our web site .  To apply, send a cover letter describing why you believe you would be a good fit for this position and for Beaconfire along with your resume and salary requirements to pm@beaconfire.com.

If you weren’t too old to sit on Santa’s lap, what wish would you ask him to grant? We invite you to share your wish for 2011 with us. Either leave a comment on this post, tweet it to @beaconfire or use the hashtag #bf2011wish.

Whatever you wish, we hope all good dreams come true in the new year.
Season’s Greetings from all of us at Beaconfire.

Each site is judged on seven criteria, scored between 1-10: Design, Innovation, Content, technology, Interactivity, Copywriting, Ease of use. All of our honored sites not only exceeded scores for the non-profit Industry criteria average in design, ease of use, and interactivity, but many of the overall WebAward averages as well. We could not be more proud!

American Lung Association
Outstanding Website

“Well done non-profit site. It definitely tells the story, or multiple ones, in a compelling way.”

360 Degrees of Financial Literacy
Non Profit Standard of Excellence

“I was very impressed with the content of this site. There is a good balance of technology and interaction available on the site. I am planning to return to the site and read more of the content for my own personal education.”

American Federation of Teachers
Non Profit Standard of Excellence

“It does a good job of accommodating a lot of information. The Compelling headlines on the home page grab attention. Integration of social media is nice with plenty of opportunity to interact with the organization. Overall, well done”

Huge thanks to all the amazing project teams for this great work, and to our award-winning clients for being such Rockstars!

I won’t even fake naïveté here because I knew deep down it would be harder than expected. I’ve had the front row seat to many a client rebranding train wreck before, but I’ve always played the role of supportive consultant. The “expert” voice. The one saying “Good God, how hard can it be to design a great logo? Tell your agency to get on with it already!”

Yeah. Karma’s a bitch.

For those uninitiated, the process of designing a logo usually includes the creation of a unique “mark” or graphic treatment paired with an appropriate font/type. Together, these should represent, at a single glance, your company’s mission, vision, methodology and style. While settling upon a new font choice was tricky, we managed to relatively quickly agree to one we all loved. However I totally underestimated how complex, terrifying and fraught with peril the search for a revised mark would be. My blood pressure reached new highs when we spent 2 weeks without any clue how to integrate the mark. Visions of blank business cards and logo-less postcards swam in front of my eyes. My job, I was certain, hung in the balance. No doubt about it, I was in full-on panic.

In my defense, since we weren’t totally rebranding but rather hoping to “update” our existing logo (both mark and type), I thought it would somehow be easier. Don’t know what I was smoking. Lesson of the year: Creating something “new” that retains the brand equity of the “old” yet still feels like “us” is not unlike juggling. Blindfolded. On crutches. With flaming chainsaws.

All challenges aside, I can proudly report we will not be going barefoot as originally feared, and that we now have a shiny “new” logo that we are very very proud of.

But just to keep you all guessing, the actual logo is embargoed until the official reveal at our 10th anniversary celebration in March – Patience is a virtue my friends (or at least that’s what I’m told). However, I can share some of logos (out of the nearly 100 versions created) that we didn’t choose just to whet your appetite for the real thing in the spring.

After all of this, I can honestly say that I have a far greater appreciation of what our clients go through during this often painstaking & frustrating process. So next time I don’t offer you a glass of wine or a valium before addressing your branding needs, just smack me. You’re all remarkably brave souls.

What single phrase when uttered aloud can send shivers down the spine of even the most stalwart organization executive? No, it’s not “Recession” (although a close second). If you guessed “Audit” you’re way off although “Website redesign” gets you warmer. Give up?

It’s “Rebranding”, officially defined as: “the process of giving a product or an organization a new image, in order to make it more attractive or successful.” Unofficially, defined as “Oh, Crap.”

Normally, it’s my job to help guide a client through this exciting, challenging and sometimes unpredictable process. I get to play therapist/subject matter expert/spiritual guide/bad guy as needed, without having any real skin in the game other than wanting the best for my client. Well, the chickens, they’ve come home to roost: Beaconfire is about to embark on this very process. And I’m not too proud to say that I’m a little freaked out. “The cobbler’s children have no shoes” ain’t just a saying, knowwhatImean?

Fueled by our 10 year anniversary next year (and a healthy dose of adrenaline/caffeine/insanity) we have decided to embark on a “LogoLift” ( i.e. not a full rebranding but a modernization of our existing brand) as we enter our next 10 years. Retaining brand equity at the same time as “re-imagining” the logo will be our first trick, followed closely by a redefinition of our voice across all communication vehicles. Piece of cake, right? The process kicks off this afternoon, and I think I’m more nervous for this “creative workshop” than for the ones I regularly lead for our clients. Why? Because my “Client” is a very smart, opinionated consultant – and we all know that no good can come from working with people like THAT.

Normally, I would offer the following helpful advice for a client starting down this auspicious path:

Simple imagery: The most effective is often the least complicated
Make a connection: Draw the audience in, don’t alienate them
Great typography: Clean, direct, engaging, but not lifeless.
Limited color palette: Pick 1 or 2 colors and work with hues to give depth and interest. Avoid applying mission symbolism to colors.
Don’t overthink it: If you cant explain how the logo represents your org to your mother in less than 10 words, try again.

Let’s hope I won’t be eating my words come Spring. As long as my blood pressure remains in an acceptable range, I will document our progress along the way, and let you know if we will celebrate our 10th with shoes on or not. Wish us luck?

Huge props to Kate Emanuel of the ad council for pulling it all together and inviting me to join the assembled rockstars. For anyone playing the home game who would like to see my part of the presentation, enjoy!