Element Creative

So Much to Enjoy

Wed, 02 Sep 2009 09:48:02 -0600

Our good friend Linda writes about Lake Forest's Market Square over at the Enjoy Illinois blog. Go check it out, it's a great resource, full of things to do and see in the Land of Lincoln. Summer may be over, but this mid-70s and sunny weather is perfect (IMHO), so go outside and enjoy it before Old Man Winter returns and bums everyone out.

Why use film to change the world? BeCause.

Wed, 12 Aug 2009 13:48:50 -0600

Thanks to our good friend Ken Waagner over at Smartley-Dunn, we were able to get involved with an incredible non-profit organization called The BeCause Foundation, which takes a novel approach to solving some of society's least understood and rarely discussed problems. BeCause leverages the powerful medium of documentary film to educate and empower audiences, enabling grassroots solutions to such issues as child sexual abuse, healthcare for the homeless, and more. We worked with Ken and BeCause to build a dynamic site designed by Smartley-Dunn to showcase the foundation's growing catalog of films. If you haven't heard of them, check out the site at becausefoundation.org. It's amazing how inspiring a powerful story can be -- especially when it's true.

The Long, Slow Death of Internet Explorer 6

Thu, 06 Aug 2009 17:28:13 -0600

CNN recently published a piece on the latest efforts of web developers and designers to convince Internet Explorer 6 (IE6) users to upgrade to a better browser. (We tend to recommend the latest flavor of Firefox around here). The number of hacks, workarounds, techniques, and advice for dealing with IE6 really is quite impressive. For whatever the reason (and there are many) IE6 has managed to stick around like that awkward friend at a party for a an impressive amount of time, and that tends to stir up the emotions of developers everywhere (present company included). Heck, even Google's home page throws an error in IE6 these days.

Even IE6 error dialogs throw errors

About a month ago, Digg.com polled its IE6 users in an attempt to understand why they hadn't upgraded, and to help them determine how to continue to evolve functionality without completely shutting this audience out. The results confirmed suspicions of corporate users who are stuck in browser hell because IT won't let them (or they think they can't) upgrade, clocking in at a whopping 70% of responses. I have to hope (for my own sanity) that a good portion of the 7% claiming to prefer IE6 over more modern browsers were pranksters.

If, as Digg's numbers indicate, the vast majority of the dwindling minority of IE6 users out there are indeed trapped in a corporate IT upgrade holding pattern, perhaps the impending release of Windows 7 will be the final nail in IE6's coffin.

Microsoft has said they will support the browser until they cease support of XP, in April of 2014. With any luck, it'll become an edge support case far sooner than that. Some high profile web properties are beginning to drop support for IE6, although I can't believe YouTube's decision to drop IE6 will change much for corporate users: YouTube was probably blocked for them already.

For us, the goal has always been to accommodate IE6 as much as we can, suggesting users upgrade if it makes sense for the audience, and maintaining content fidelity over functionality.

Are You Being Attacked?

Fri, 05 Jun 2009 16:27:00 -0600

Wilco will love you, baby. Go check out the new wilcoworld.net. We're having fun this summer helping Ken and the Smartley-Dunn crew keep the hamsters running smoother than a John Stirratt bassline.

AT&T Portal Madness

Thu, 02 Apr 2009 13:30:07 -0600

At our office, we use AT&T DSL. We also have AT&T phone service, which comes with their "U-Verse" service for voicemail and digital fax. We really like this service because when we get voicemail, we get an email with a .wav file, and digital versions of faxes. Switching to this service also dramatically cut our monthly bill, a nice side effect.

The DSL account is connected to a legacy email address back when AT&T was known as SBC 'round these parts. Anyone with an account with one of these older email addresses probably knows they'll get re-directed to an AT&T portal-like site if they try to type in the domain. Invariably you'll be asked for your email address, and asked to select from a very large list of prevously gobbled-up online services.

Dr. Alberto Aviles // dralbertoaviles.com

Mon, 23 Mar 2009 13:46:05 -0600

Through our pals at Brandtrust, we met Mary Aviles, a marketing consultant working for a plastic surgery practice in the Detroit area, ASF Associates. Specializing in reconstructive and cosmetic surgery, the practice needed a site that would put its potential patients at ease, answer their questions, and welcome them to make an appointment to learn more.

Mary's vision was clear: to explain medical services in an easy to understand, every day language, and wrap it in a design that is clean, modern, and doesn't look like every other plastic surgery practice's website. DrAlbertoAviles.com aptly tells the doctors' story - clearly, not a "medi-spa," but rather a leading medical practice group, offering services in every aspect of reconstructive and cosmetic surgery and led by practitioners with deep experience in their fields.

Our client knows her market. We know the Web. No wonder the collaboration worked so well.

Madam, I'm Adam

Thu, 19 Feb 2009 13:50:35 -0600

... and if you thought that was impressive, just for fun, check out the English language's longest palindrome.*

"Dammit I'm Mad"
by Demetri Martin

Dammit I'm mad.
Evil is a deed as I live.
God, am I reviled? I rise, my bed on a sun, I melt.
To be not one man emanating is sad. I piss.
Alas, it is so late. Who stops to help?
Man, it is hot. I'm in it. I tell.
I am not a devil. I level "Mad Dog".
Ah, say burning is, as a deified gulp,
In my halo of a mired rum tin.
I erase many men. Oh, to be man, a sin.
Is evil in a clam? In a trap?
No. It is open. On it I was stuck.
Rats peed on hope. Elsewhere dips a web.
Be still if I fill its ebb.
Ew, a spider... eh?
We sleep. Oh no!
Deep, stark cuts saw it in one position.
Part animal, can I live? Sin is a name.
Both, one... my names are in it.
Murder? I'm a fool.
A hymn I plug, deified as a sign in ruby ash,
A Goddam level I lived at.
On mail let it in. I'm it.
Oh, sit in ample hot spots. Oh wet!
A loss it is alas (sip). I'd assign it a name.
Name not one bottle minus an ode by me:
"Sir, I deliver. I'm a dog"
Evil is a deed as I live.
Dammit I'm mad.

*please note this is purely for English nerd purposes and does not reflect my mood. Via Element friend John Hettwer and Slate.

Thanks, but no thanks.

Wed, 21 Jan 2009 10:11:50 -0600

It's that time of year again. Time for a big ol' honkin' waste of space to show up on everyone's doorstep. No, not your brother-in-law, I'm talking about the Yellow Pages! You know, that anachronistic directory of ads and other information that's available pretty much everywhere else:

Phone: Dial 1-800-GOOG-411 (Please put this in your cell phone. Seriously. Don't call directory assistance via your carrier again. You're still doing that?)

Online: Yellowbook.com, Dexknows.com, Google, Yelp!, etc. etc.

Because we're a small shop and typically work digitally, we've really made a conscious effort to eliminate as much paper processes from our daily lives as possible. We pay our taxes online, we pay our utilities online or use auto-pay, our invoices are emailed PDFs, we direct deposit our paychecks, when you fax us something, we get an email with an attachment. I think we maybe pay two regular bills by physical check.

Karen was recently the recipient of so many copies of yellow and white pages, she thought her new neighbors were hazing her. Just yesterday we refused delivery of the books from the guy making the rounds in our building. Outside his van sat with the rear bumper nearly sagging to the ground, overloaded with dead trees. That seems like a good use of resources, eh?

So do yourself a favor. Opt out of the madness at Yellow Pages Goes Green, "an organization working to educate consumers and promote the green movement to eliminate the unsolicited delivery of Yellow and White Pages books."

The last useful thing the Yellow Pages book did for me was give my son a boost so he could play a Sesame Street game on the computer.

Bites.

Tue, 06 Jan 2009 16:19:00 -0600

We experiment (okay, play) with all sorts of cool toys on the web. Some even make us mad for not inventing them first.

One service I've been playing around with lately is bit.ly. Bit.ly is "a simple url shortener."

So it turns this: http://www.elementcreative.com/pov/2009/01/bites.php

into this: http://bit.ly/giDN

Probably one of the first (if not the first) of this type of service was tinyurl.com, but since then, all sorts have popped up, a by-product of dealing with all those computer-generated, CMS-driven, unique-tracking URLs that have inundated our lives and emails and tweets and Facebook statuses. Bit.ly is a bit different, though. It has a really nice, simple API that lets you programmatically shorten URLs, letting you dynamically generate short, human-friendly links within your web application. And because you sign up for an account on bit.ly, it'll also keep track of the URLs you've shortened with it.

There's some nice browser bookmarklet tools that make it easy to quickly turn that 5-mile long New York Times link into something that won't break in your uncle's email client, as well as a relatively new feature that rolls your bit.ly history into an RSS feed. Good stuff.

The blowfish mascot is cool, too.

'Tis The Season

Mon, 15 Dec 2008 11:42:14 -0600

Seems like there's lots to think about and reflect on this year. So many things are in flux: our entire economy, transition of power to a new President, lives of friends and family with unexpected surprises and disappointments.

Element would like to thank our clients, colleagues, friends and family for yet another successful and gratifying year. I know I personally can get caught up in the details of work, projects, and even tiny bits of code, and it's sometimes easy to take it all for granted. I consider myself very fortunate to be able to do what I do, the way I (and we) do it. On our terms, with our ideas, and ability to work with clients in a unique and personal way.

We wish everyone a safe and happy holiday season, and the best of luck and prosperity in 2009. Enjoy the company of your friends and family. If you're able, give to organizations that do great and inspiring work in your community. Food banks in particular are seeing very high demand in these difficult times. And buy a kid a toy; especially a kid who may not otherwise get anything this year.

Greater Chicago Food Depository

Marine Toys for Tots Foundation

What it was like to be in Chicago last night...

Wed, 05 Nov 2008 17:24:33 -0600

My generation gets its share of (often-deserved) flack for shirking civic responsibility, for being apathetic, and for generally being complainers rather than agents of change. All the more reason why last night was so momentous. It was an awe-inspiring moment for me and the other half million Chicagoans who were in Grant Park to witness history in the making.

Political ideology aside, seeing the country's first African American president accept and embrace his new role alongside hundreds of thousands of fellow citizens of every age and background, is without question a once-in-a-lifetime experience. I've never felt that much energy from a crowd; the mix was electric: Rumors being confirmed as people yell out result tips gleaned from iPhones. A crazy and colorful onslaught of colorful bootleg "I Was There" souvenir vendors. Smiles, anecdotes, and hugs being exchanged by total strangers, united by a common hope for a better future.

The moment will be remembered by so many for so many reasons. Walking through the park in the record-breaking pleasant weather I imagined what my parents' experience must have been like being the same park 40 years prior at the 1968 Democratic Convention. That night, my parents witnessed the chaos and riots, and my dad, then a law student and member of the Legal Aid Clinic, ended up at Cook County Jail, helping to bail out protesting friends of the Chicago Seven as well as many innocent bystanders. How different the crowd must have felt then, and what fear about the future their generation must have felt.

By contrast, the vibe last night was hopeful, happy, and excited. And, temporary sleep-deprived bleariness aside, the mood in Chicago doesn't seem to be fading 24 hours later. Thank you so much, President Obama, for a memory that I'm hoping will keep me fired up and ready to go* for years to come.

*Technically not from last night's speech, this was the night before. But it still applies!

Say cheese!

Fri, 24 Oct 2008 12:30:18 -0600

Since it's Friday, I thought I'd indulge you with a just-for-fun application we came across: Poladroid. It's a genius, yet simple idea created by a French developer -- a desktop Polaroid camera that you drag any jpg to, and watch it "develop" into a digital version of a late 70s Polaroid, complete with color imperfections and textured border. You can even "shake it" with your mouse to make it develop faster, just like the real thing.

I love it when leading-edge technology and outdated antique technology intersects. Like when someone prints out a website and faxes it to us. So bizarre, yet inexplicably fascinating.

Past Lives

Fri, 17 Oct 2008 16:49:19 -0600

As some of you might remember, both Andrew and I, prior to founding Element in 2003, worked at a celebrity brand management firm. One of my jobs there was to write copy for Britneyspears.com. It was a project I really enjoyed working on, because of the immediate-gratification level of interaction that comes with the territory of having 14 million hits / month.

Say what you will about Britney, and many have, but you can't dispute the fact that she is one of the most recognizable people on earth. Or that she's a pop culture icon on whom nearly everyone has some opinion, from "Love her!" to "Hate her!" to "Terrible mother!" to "Tragic victim of America's appalling bloodlust for celebrity gossip!" Even if you feel indifference about her, chances are you feel strong indifference.

Today I checked out the new Britneyspears.com, which was built using Movable Type, an open source platform we often use to build tools to help our clients update the text, imagery, and rich media content on their websites. We didn't develop this site, nor did I write the copy. But I passed a pleasant twenty minutes reading about Brit's upcoming Rolling Stones cover story, her record-breaking #1 chart-topper, and the legions of fans from across the globe who still, after all the ups and downs, unconditionally adore her.

Sometimes "fifteen minutes" lasts a decade. You go, Brit!

Nostalgia

Mon, 22 Sep 2008 16:49:05 -0600

It's been said a zillion times, but the Web has definitely transformed the way that we find, access, and experience information. Long before Google became a verb, the trend began of bypassing other modes of research in favor of instant gratification. "Looking it up" now means one thing only, and every now and then I'm still reminded of how incredibly vast the Web is, and how no matter how obscure the object of my search - someone, somewhere has already made a website about it.

Such was the case this weekend when I found the official Barbapapa website. Andrew had mentioned my beloved book from childhood recently, but neither of us could remember the title character's name. Fruitless Google searches of "family of blobs" and "children's shape-shifting book character" yielded nothing. I finally figured out the magic combination of search terms (i believe it was "1970s children's book blob") and was handsomely rewarded. Out of print for years, the Barbapapa books still catch a pretty penny on eBay. But thankfully, a fan with some time on her hands has gone ahead and created a detailed fan site that provides a Cliffs Notes-style summary of each book, including my favorite, Barbapapa's New House. Now please excuse me while I scour YouTube for old episodes of Reading Rainbow...

How Do We Know Social Networks Aren't A Fad?

Thu, 04 Sep 2008 14:09:19 -0600

Because people are already trying to figure out how to opt-out while opting-in. Just when your Great Aunt was about to send you that friend request on Facebook, you're pining for a way to participate without, well, participating.

That's the thought behind FriendFeed's new "fake follow" feature, and Merlin Mann's proposal for a social network pause button.

This is great. It demonstrates the power (and risk) of getting what you wish for. It also exposes a potential downside of the Internet bringing us closer together, keeping us in the loop while physically miles and time zones apart. In most cases, that hand-written letter from an old friend you haven't heard from in years is a welcome surprise in your day. So do you need to know when she's running errands on the weekend? (Thanks, Facebook!)

The challenge is fighting the information overload, and it's not a unique problem to social networks. A couple years ago it was your newsfeed reader. Last year was tweets. This year they've ganged up with Facebook and a gazillion other networks to drown you in the minutiae of everyday life, and it's not even your life! Even the sites you signed up for before you knew what an online social network even was suddenly wants you to import your email contacts to "see who else we can rope in..."

I personally take a fairly lax approach to social networks, not too worried if I don't have the most "friends" or "followers" or whatever. It's not a contest. It's a tool, an experiment, and by no means perfected. For all we know, Facebook will be a ghost town in 2 years because everyone has moved to some sort of brain implant. (Although I probably wouldn't bet on that!)

Speaking of which, are you following us on twitter? We promise we won't bug you much.