First and foremost, DesignerPages.com 2.0 promises more interaction among users. Basic DesignerPages.com users (FREE) will comprise a public community, complete with a News Feed to keep you up-to-speed on what’s cool in the design community and help kick-start your product discovery. Concurrently, Designer Pages Pro will launch in closed private beta for designer firms Gensler and FXFOWLE. DesignerPages Pro is a paid, firm-wide product management platform for design firms enabling co-workers to better collaborate on product search and specification. This Pro platform will open to additional firms in upcoming months, so stay tuned!

What do these changes mean for you? Workspaces will be replaced by a new feature, Projects, available to Designer Pages Pro users only. Accordingly, as of March 25 your existing Workspaces will no longer be accessible. We encourage you to print and/or archive any information you've previously saved into a Workspace. Need assistance? Contact help@designerpages.com. We promise we won't leave you hanging!

In DesignerPages.com 2.0, all users will be able to store their Favorite content for easy access. Check out our sneak peak below… along with insight into what you can do as a Basic User.

What you can do as a Basic User (Early April)

• Browse and Search all product information
• Request Product Information from Manufacturers, such as specifications and samples
• Mark your Favorites This is the content you want to be easily accessible whenever you’re logged into your DesignerPages.com account. Products, Brands, Categories and Projects – identify your favorites by simply starring them! *See visual of “My Favorites” page above
• Share Stuff You can share Products, Brands, and Categories with friends and colleagues. Just click the “Copy Link” button in the upper right, above the search bar, and paste it into an email, your live chat, etc. 

Users who currently have Workspaces will receive an email this week to make sure everything is in order before the big shift. More info on Designer Pages Pro will be posted in upcoming weeks!

Please share your feedback and concerns with us in the comments section below, via email (feedback@designerpages.com), Twitter!

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What to look out for:

* Gridded search results now come standard. Searching for products on DesignerPages.com now yields a set of easy to see, easy to filter images. See our earlier blog post on the beta phase for more info.

* Better search results. Soon, you’ll be led through search results as if through a funnel, until you’ve found exactly the product you’re after. Plus, you’ll start to see updated, user-friendly categories and a more intelligent understanding of search terms (hotwords).

* More vibrant editorial. 3rings and DesignerPages.com will soon be fully linked. You’ll be able to save products you find on 3rings directly into your Designer Pages workspace, get quick data on the manufacturer of a product, quick access to product specifications and more.

* Revamped workspaces. Exciting new features to include product comparisons, a better way to view product files, and new ways to comment.

* More Manufacturer Pages. Still in beta, Manufacturer Pages will soon revolutionize the way you view (and manage) product information on DesignerPages.com. See the prototype for Duravit here. You’ll be able to see a manufacturers’ products, showrooms, and info including firms that specify their products, the projects their products have been used in — all in one centralized location.

* An updated dashboard. Including a customizable newsfeed, trending products, and quick links.

* Better user feedback mechanisms. Including customer service through Twitter and Facebook, email updates on our new features, and new opportunities to share Designer Pages with friends.

* A more social Designer Pages. With new discussions on Twitter, new apps on Facebook, and a host of new events coming this fall.

1. What at NeoCon have you found inspiring?

2. Who or what influences your design? or Where do you draw your inspiration from?

3. What can product manufacturers do more of / better to help make your job easier?

4. What do believe were the biggest challenges of this past year?

5. What do you see as your biggest opportunities?

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For three days, the Merchandise Mart will be the game board, while exhibitors will be the spaces players (attendees) move through. In The Game, attendees ditch the dice and use the Showrooms App (for iPhone or Android) instead, which leads them on their journeys through the Mart. Attendees earn points for various actions (completed within showroom profiles): Like = 1pt, Comment = 5pts, Photo = 8pts, Check-In = 10pts

Like any good board game, some destinations (featured exhibitors) are worth more than others: double points for Media Subscribers, triple points for Partner Subscribers, and 5-10x more points per action for the five Crowned Exhibitors.

Want to win? Participate in the Take 5 Forum at Mohawk for 10x the points! 5 Questions. 5 Answers. 1 iPod Nano Every Hour.

Attendees without an iPhone, iTouch, or iPad can play along via the analog program. Every badge scan earns you 5 points, and the same point values, described above, still apply. Just grab a ledger at registration to get started. Got questions? Tweet @designerpages #NeoCon11 or email neocon@designerpages.com.

Prizes: At the end of NeoCon, the attendees with the most points will be awarded: iPad2, iTouch, iPod, iPod Nano.

In layman’s terms, gridded search results mean that instead of seeing a list of products (small picture, product name, manufacturer, and brief description), you’ll see a grid of product images. Scroll over the image with your mouse, and you’ll see a lightbox (a larger box that is layered over the page’s content) with a larger image, the product name and manufacturer name.

How does it work on DesignerPages.com? Search for something, such as here. Then click to change your view from “List View” to “Grid View”. See the screenshot below to see exactly where this feature exists.

Please note - this feature is in its Beta phase (in other words, brand new to users, and a great time for you to provide feedback!).

Love it? Hate it? Think we could make it a lot better? Please share your thoughts below, or email feedback@designerpages.com

What: Design CAN Fight Hunger
When: Sunday, May 15 5pm - 9pm
Where: Spice Market Square, 13th St. and 9th Ave. in Meatpacking

What: Luceplan with Francisco Gomez Paz, designer of the Hope lighting system
When: Monday, May 16 6pm - 9pm
Where: Luceplan USA, 49 Greene St.
RSVP: store@luceplanusa.com

As you may know, we offer 5 weekly Product Trend Newsletters: Contract, Surfaces, Kitchen & Bath, Lighting, and Green. A little ways back we ran into an email segmenting issue which prevented our subscribers from being able to manage their preferences. Some of you have been receiving all of our newsletters when you only wanted a few, or in some cases, receiving them after you thought you’d unsubscribed all together. If that’s the case, we’re truly sorry, and if you’ve stuck with us despite the technical difficulties, we thank you for it! We know it’s hard enough to keep your inbox under control, as we fight that battle ourselves every day! But we’re excited to announce that the solution is (finally) here.

We’ve just deployed a newsletter manage page which gives you targeted, fine-grained control over the content that matters to you. Are you really into Kitchen & Bath and Lighting, but couldn’t care less about Green or Contract furniture? No problem. Did you take a peek into the trends underway in Surfaces right now, but realize it’s not for you? No problem! Subscribe and unsubscribe from any of our newsletters at any time.

There will be a link to the newsletter manage page at the top of every newsletter we send from here on out. It’ll look like this (see blue box):

Click here if you’d like to take the opportunity to change your preferences now!

Over the next few weeks we’ll be rolling out even more options, letting first-time subscribers sign up for exactly what they want, right from the start. These subscription options will be placed on our product blog, 3rings, and on a few places throughout DesignerPages.com. We know this process may have been a tricky one, but we’re really excited to be able give you (our subscribers or soon-to-be subscribers) the treatment you deserve! Have ideas for other things we can be doing better? Hit up the comments below and let us know.

2010
2010 was a big year for Designer Pages. We took on the role as Digital Partner for NeoCon 2010, building the new NeoCon.com and implementing digital initiatives to extend the influence and reach of the show. We launched V2 of our blog 3rings, and increased the amount of content we’re sharing with you on a daily basis. Plus, we’re now sending out 5 targetted newsletters per week so that you can get the updates you want, and avoid the ones you don’t.

Although you’ve seen a few updates to DesignerPages.com, including a revised product detail page with more social features and more clarity, most of what we’ve been working with on isn’t visible yet. We recently completed a great deal of research, outlining the needs of designers and our next steps in building out DesignerPages.com as an indispensable resource. More on this below…

Our IDNY event series got big. (Read more on December’s event with Bjarke Ingels here). You may even see a photo of us in NYC subways, where we’re serving as a success story for meetup.com.

We’re entering 2011 with over 20x more Facebook fans and 10x more Twitter followers. Our community is hugely important to us — so please join us on both Facebook and Twitter if you haven’t already. If you’re in NYC, come to our next event!

2011
In a couple weeks or so, we’ll be revealing a new Designer Pages product, specifically for use in New York City. Think mobile and stay tuned.

In 2011, you’ll see Designer Pages get a whole lot better. We’re making it easier for designers to find the products they need through more accurate and less time consuming search. Just wait. The research we conducted in 2010 is being put to good use. But we still want to hear your thoughts, feedback and suggestions as we move forward. Send them our way: leave a comment below or email us at feedback@designerpages.com

As the Digital Partner for NeoCon 2011 (our second year in this role), we’re building out an even more impressive digital interface. Let us know if you plan to be there, as an exhibitor or as an attendee! Furthermore, we’re planning new initiatives for other trade shows as well. There’s a physical and digital side to everything!

Finally, our team is growing! We’re on the lookout for an awesome National Sales Manager and an awesome Account Manager. Read more about these job openings here and here, respectively. Programmers, marketing experts, media gurus and more…keep checking back for more openings.

Wishing you all a very happy and healthy 2011!