FedEx Cup® Global Golf Sweepstakes

Good luck!

Key to the project’s success will be the detailed keyword research performed by the team. We anticipate a significant increase in traffic over the next 4 – 6 weeks, although improved placement in Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs) is already apparent.

Cheers!

Today’s post is the first of three examples of how mistakes have saved time and money and – in at least one case – they have actually defined a new style in video production and post production.

Before the technology was there to manipulate high resolution images in Final Cut, After Effects, Motion and other applications, 3Rings Media operated a Motion Control (MoCon) camera stand. These stands were also known as: Animation Stands, Oxberrys, Warren Smiths, The Manipulator, and went by other names as well. They were fairly sophisticated electromechanical devices, usually having a boom, which supported a camera. The camera pointed straight down at a tabletop, on which was positioned photographs, magazines, newspapers, artwork, models and other items you wanted to capture to video, while manipulating their positioning and other parameters. The tabletop was controlled by joysticks, with a computer storing the X, Y and rotational axes as well as the camera’s zoom and focus controls, as key ‘frames’, which it would then play back over programmable time. If you’ve seen Ken Burns’ documentary work on subjects such as the American Civil War, Jazz, Baseball and others, you have seen a MoCon camera stand in action.

A client approached us once, asking if there was some way to shoot the oil paintings of a noted South American abstract painter under our stand, while panning, tilting and zooming. “Yes,” is our answer to everything, so of course we said we could do it. Then he added a twist. “We would like to be able to add continuous organic distortion to the images – sort of a wavy distortion – while you are moving them around and we will need it done by the end of the week.”

Our initial reaction was to rack our brains in trying to figure out which software package would best apply for adding the organic distortion required by our client. Which software package would render the cleanest images and within the time frame? What if the client wanted to revise the organic distortion after rendering the effect? Would we have enough time to re-render? While these questions were bouncing around in our brains, a second client came in to do a ‘quickie’ one-hour MoCon project.

After placing the second client’s subject – a newspaper – under the camera, I went to the MoCon’s control panel to position it. Using the joy sticks, I moved the tabletop all the way to the right to see what ‘headroom’ I had in terms of left/right positioning. When doing so, the tabletop inadvertently bumped a flexible piece of light and highly reflective sheet metal, which was leaning against the MoCon stand. The sheet metal fell over and landed at an angle under the camera. When looking at the camera output on the monitor, I noticed that the piece of sheet metal reflected the newspaper and that, because it was flexible, it was actually bouncing and adding a bouncy/wavy kind of distortion to the reflection of the second client’s newspaper. This made me consider the first client’s desires from a more basic perspective and it gave me an idea.

After finishing the second client’s ‘quickie project’, I went to our kitchen, filled a large, clear, glass beaker with water and brought it into the MoCon room. I placed a colorful magazine cover under the camera and looked at the camera output on the monitor. Very nice. Then, with one of our interns holding the beaker of water under the lens of the camera, I rapped the outside of the beaker with a screwdriver as I watched the monitor. The effect was outstanding. The light, reflecting off the image of the magazine cover, refracted continuously and organically and right into the camera lens – IN REAL TIME. After dragging the client in from another room to get his opinion he was astounded. “This is AWESOME,” he said.

The effect was everything he was looking for. The amount of distortion was controlled only by the force with which I rapped the side of the beaker with the screwdriver, but the client was even more impressed with the innovation we showed than he was with the result – although that looked pretty damn good too. Plus he (and we) had a good story to tell.

We learn from mistakes. What I learned, in this instance, was not to over-think things. Sometimes the best way to achieve a goal can be the easiest approach, too.

3Rings has been producing Flippies for about eight years. Flippies are flip books – those little books that you hold between your thumbs and index fingers, flip the pages at the desired speed and experience animation. Then you can ‘flip’ the book over and be treated to another animation. In 3Rings’ case, we specialize in producing Flippies flip books from video clips, stop-motion photography and animation files such as Flash.

To view samples of some of the flip books 3Rings has produced, with our partner Flippies, Inc., go to:
http://www.flippies.com/flipbooks-gallery

The great thing about Flippies flip books is that they are tactile items you can hold in your hands. You never get tired of flipping the books, which you can collect, give to your kids after a trade show, etc… They are fun and interactive, while being a welcome diversion from the virtual world of the Internet. Simply put, Flippies flip books are very cool.

What we have observed about Flippies flip books, over the last eight years is that, because they are mostly promotional items for promotional campaigns, they are usually the first items to be cut when the economy goes south. We observed this back during the dot.bomb/Enron days of the early 2000s and again about 18 months ago when the current economic mess began. However, right as those slumps were about to finish up, orders for Flippies flip books began to rise.

The good news today is that…

Flippies flip books are BACK!

These last couple of weeks have produced more inquiries and solid projects than we have had in two years. And the quantities are ‘up there’ too. Could it be we’re at the end of the current economic slump? If Flippies are the reliable indicator they have been in the past, the answer is…

YES! Go Flippies!

Last September (2009) it came time to review our cellular service plan. I tried contacting our T-Mobile sales representative three times to see what they had to offer but – even in this economy – he chose not to return our communication. So we shopped around and found a very reasonably priced plan for our 8 lines and a wider area of coverage from Sprint.

Next calls were to T-Mobile Customer Service to see what the pro-rated charges would be to terminate our T-Mobile service contracts. They provided us with the following chart:

Pro-rated cancellation scale for remaining days in contract
> 180 Days – $200.00
90 – 180 Days – $100.00
30 – 90 Days – $50.00
1 – 30 Days – $30.00
0 Days – no charge

We had one person in the  >180 Days range and four people in the 30-90 Days range. The rest of the contracts had already expired. According to the chart provided to us by a T-Mobile Customer Service Representative, it was going to cost us $400.00 to cancel our service. With this information we did some more shopping and found an even better rate and service from Sprint.

On the day we had planned to switch over from T-Mobile to Sprint – October 29, 2009 – I called T-Mobile Customer Service once more, to verify the pro-rated cancelation information given to me previously. The same information was confirmed by a different T-Mobile Customer Service Representative.

Long story short… the next month we received the final invoice from T-Mobile. They declared that, in addition to the service we used from the beginning of the month until October 29, we owed them an additional $200.00 for each contract which was canceled – over $1,000.00. I called T-Mobile Customer Service immediately and spoke with a representative. This time I was told that our contracts were not eligible for pro-rated cancelation fees and the amount on the invoice was correct. I told her what I had been told by previous customer service representatives and she told me that what I had been told – TWICE – was not the case. I would have to pay what I had been billed.

I asked to speak to a supervisor and again explained the story to her. She repeated what the customer service representative told me, but then added that she would research it further and call me back. She never did.

Over the next month, while waiting for the supervisor to contact me, we received another invoice and overdue statements. I came in one morning to find a message had been left on voice mail to contact a gentleman by the name of Tommy, from the T-Mobile outgoing business department. I have now called Tommy three times. He has not returned my calls. I have since received letters threatening to turn us over to collection agencies which would kill our credit rating. When I called T-Mobile Customer Service after not hearing back from Tommy, I was told that Tommy was our only recourse to adjust the final invoice and that we should try calling him again.

If the original two T-Mobile Customer Service Representatives were wrong, T-Mobile should accept that responsibility. It was, after all their representatives who provided the wrong information. If the original two T-Mobile customer service representatives were correct, why did I receive an invoice for over $1,000.00 in cancellation fees?

What irks me most is not the money – although that ADDs to the frustration – but the shifty way T-Mobile first, told us one thing – TWICE – and now refuses to accept responsibility for providing misinformation – originally or after the fact. I began to wonder, ‘does T-Mobile do this with everyone?’ Are small companies and individuals responsible for the mistakes of a gigantic corporation like T-Mobile?

Other people have experienced bad T-Mobile Customer Service experience as well:

http://www.my3cents.com/showReview.cgi?id=69988

http://www.ripoffreport.com/cellular-phone-companies/t-mobile/t-mobile-gives-bad-service-dr-664z6.htm

http://redcouch.typepad.com/weblog/2006/09/why_customers_s.html

http://forums.mobiledia.com/topic57057.html

http://www.complaintsboard.com/complaints/bad-service-c168408.html

By the way, Sprint is awesome. I even have full service in my basement and all the way through the Midtown Tunnel. We are very happy with Sprint Customer Service as well, who periodically contacts us to make sure everything is working out – even 3 months later. Go Sprint!

Has this happened to you?

What would you do in our situation?

To celebrate, Adobe has planned a series of free events for design professionals to take place on-location, but also on-line. See here for more info. At this page you will also find a Promo Code for reduced admission to Macworld Expo on February 9-13 at the Moscone Center in San Francisco.

So what are your memories of Photoshop? Has it saved your butts as it has ours? What have been your favorite features, effects, etc… Do you miss anything about older versions of Photoshop? How about the new loading screens? We miss the eye.

Drop us a line and let us know.

When was the last time YOU opened up a phone book?

Unfortunately, too many interactive agencies begin the process of building an experience by determining what technology to use to achieve technical goals. The design and user experience become an afterthought, and are forced to fit in around the technology.

BIG MISTAKE.

Why? Well it’s nice to think that the user experience you spent days/weeks/months designing will have a positive impact on and/or make life easier for whoever will be using it. But there are also some interesting statistics which prove that it is profitable to have a great user experience.

Studies have shown that a Great User Experience will encourage people to:

• Buy More – 15% more
• Return More – 27% more
• Tell others about the experience – 17%

Imagine that. A quality user experience that actually results in an increase to the client’s ROI?

When identifying the audience, some questions to ask are:

• Who is the audience?
• Will the audience be purchasing product online? If so, what type of products will they be purchasing?
• Will the experience you are designing be viewed through a browser on a laptop or desktop computer, hand-held device, television set…?
• What are the business goals of your client?

Once you have identified the audience, wire-frame the user experience and perform usability testing – with a focus group, if you have that luxury. Worry about the graphic design of the site once the functionality has been refined. It’s easier – and less costly – to identify possible pitfalls this way, rather than having to go back and redesign the graphic layout multiple times. You can also take advantage of the time you have together to present sample interface designs to the focus group, to gauge the response to certain color palettes, typography, layout… Then…

Refine, test again, and apply the feedback you’ve received to design the look of the site.

Technology is pretty smart and flexible these days. Most platforms; i.e. Flash, Joomla, WordPress, Drupal, php, MySql, etc… or a combination of some or all of these, should be able to accommodate anything you can come up with in terms of functionality.

Really.

Now get out there and produce a great user experience. You owe it to yourself and your client, but primarily to…. the user. After all, they’re really paying the bills.

To read the article please click here.