Blog Roundup for November

Web Design, Graphic Design, Art and Branding

CafePress gets Dirty – Brand New

One of the worst rebrands I’ve seen in awhile. CafePress goes for the Grunge crowd.

The Smithsonian might buy Shepard Fairey’s Obama portrait – Supertouch

NO!SPEC
Serves as a vehicle to unite those who support the notion that spec work devalues the potential of design and ultimately does a disservice to the client.

The Dark Lord of Logos – Viceland
Christophe Szpajdel is a 37 year old forestry engineer that only designs logos for Death Metal bands. It’s insane. Check out the logos. He’s designed over 7,000 of them.

Marketing, Search Engine Optimization and Social Media

The Inside Story: Facebook Marketing Strategies – SEOMoz
While I’m not an advocate of online social media for all my clients, I do feel it’s useful in certain circumstances. SEOMoz discusses Facebook’s Search, News Feed, and Advertising Platform.

Creativity under pressure – Church of the Customer
“If they were very smart, the CEOs would drive unreleased, next-generation cars that get 100 MPG. They’d stop in a half-dozen towns along the way and invite a newspaper editorial board writer to ride shotgun for a dozen miles. They’d update their status on Twitter. They’d write a few posts for the company blog. They’d shoot video on a Flip camera and talk about how they screwed up at their first appearance, how they’re selling their fleet of corporate jets, and their plans for the future. If they behave like real people instead of CEO machines, they might arrive in D.C. backed by some pretty good word of mouth.”

Why Companies are Investing in SEO During the Economic Downturn – SEOMoz
I couldn’t agree with this post more. The Internet still gives the most bang for the buck. We are seeing many of our clients moving their budgets from traditional advertising to improving their web presence, with SEO and other marketing tactics.

Web and Web Development

Say hello to Gmail voice and video chat – Gmail
Gmail introduces video chat through their popular Gmail browser. I haven’t used it yet, but I have heard good reports from those who have.

Louisville and Kentuckiana News

Papa John’s hits $1 million in mobile sales – Business First
Way to go for a “local” company to leverage the power of the web! I’m always amazed at how often a service could be more usable if I could just text/sms an order in, or at the very least use some kind of web form.

The Pink Door is for sale
Nice opportunity for those of you interested in buying a bar/restaurant with an established brand.

Economy forces layoffs at Zappos.com
And they may close their outlet store here in Kentucky. My wife won’t like that!