addi+ions blog: Insights from the Internet Obsessed

I wanted to share this with you all. Its pretty impactful. At this years Cannes film festival, Saatchi & Saatchi (Kevin Roberts, lovemarks, etc.) Held their 18th annual young directors showcase. They dedicated the show to Paul Arden, considered by many to be the worlds top advertising guru, who died a few months ago.

Some quotes about Arden from an article about his life :

“Fear of failure, fear of embarrassment, fear of what other people might think, fear of losing our job. All the things that look like insuperable obstacles, Paul just didn’t see them; he went right through them as if they weren’t there. So they weren’t.”

“Paul didn’t want the predictable, or the expected, the ordinary, or dull, or safe – what was the point? He wanted the risky, the unusual, the daring, which brought with it fear, insecurity and adrenalin. Wasn’t that the whole point of being alive?”

The theme of the showcase was Fearlessness, and S&S raised their glasses to the likes of Bjork, RJD2, and Fatboy Slim. Shocking videos such as Justice:Stress (watch this one!), amazing efforts of art and dedication like the works of BLU and outrageous campaigns like Verisigns Cart Whisperer.

Paul Arden was a man who did not feel that rules applied to him so he wrote a new set, and believed those rules were like a wiki, to be edited and changed and rewritten. Pushing the limits is tantamount to broadening horizons and its always inspirational to see those who really think outside the box. Fierce creativity is a challenge, but creativity by definition is giving rise to that which is different, unique, or uncommon.

The full article about the Saatchi & Saatchi showcase with tons more links is here.

Andrew Warner of Mixergy.com and I got together last week for an interview on the HOT topic of widgets. We got to discuss the big players, causes for growth and where the industry is headed in the next few years. Andrew is also responsible for many local web mixer events such as Lunch 2.0 and Happy Hour 2.0 in both San Diego and LA.

You can read and listen to the phone interview on his blog here.

Hello! My name is Lacy and I am the new Social Media intern here at dt. Believe it or not, this is my very first blog post…ever! Alex and Sarah presented me with the task of adding to the dt blog..and the topic? Whatever I want. I thought about digg vs. mixx, or Myspace vs. Facebook, or discussing my experiences here at dt so far (which, by the way, have been awesome), but I decided to go with a Top 5 list.

Since I am new to the crew at dt..and pretty quiet at the office, and surely new to those reading this blog, I figured I would make a list of my Top 5 favorite websites at the moment in order to allow you all to get to know me a little bit better.

My Top 5 (in no particular order)

1. idealist.org : For the idealist in all of us, this website is a great social networking site. Whether you’re looking for a new volunteer opportunity, a forum to submit comments to, or a nonprofit organization to donate to, you can surely find it here. Basically, it’s an interactive site where people and organizations can exchange resources and ideas, locate opportunities and supporters, and take steps toward building a better world.

2. freerice.com : This website has got it right. They have two goals: provide English vocabulary to everyone for free, and end world hunger by providing rice to hungry people for free. They turned a simple vocabulary game into a way to truly change the world and help those in need. (Be careful…the game is addicting!) If you look at their donation levels, it’s amazing how many people are participating. It would be great to see some sort of social application added to the website, to connect these people who have the common goal of ending world hunger.

3. vbs.tv : I love vice’s online broadcast network just as much as I love vice the magazine. They have a huge assortment of mini documentaries that fall into the broad categories of music, news and culture. Vice presents these documentaries in a way that perfectly combines entertainment and information, which intrigues the watcher to keep watching. Once I start watching a segment of a mini doc, I normally have to watch each segment until I’ve completed the series. Admittedly, some of them are more for entertainment purposes…but those are fun to watch too! vbs.tv also gives its viewers the options of signing up for a newsletter, participating in chatrooms, or signing up for your very own account for vbs, which are all great ways of getting the viewer more involved with the site.

4. bbc.co.uk : This is where I get my daily dose of news. While it’s a great source of news, it also has interactive options which I find awesome. You can listen to podcasts, comment on news articles, send in your own photos that relate to the stories they have posted, and my favorite, the news ticker. They allow you to download a news ticker that gives you the top three or four stories of the day and also shows breaking news.

5. stumbleupon.com : Thanks to my new found friends here at dt, I have been introduced to stumbleupon. I’m sure I am preaching to the choir in describing this site, but for those who don’t know, this social networking site allows you to search the web for sites according to your interests. You can add / make friends and see what kind of sites they’re stumbling, and you can comment back and forth also. With as much time as I spend on the internet, you would think I have seen every webpage known to mankind. But everytime I stumble, I am presented with a new Web page. Amazing.

My time here on the dt blog is coming to an end. Hope you have enjoyed my five favorite websites, and I’d love to hear what your top websites are!

–Lacy

Hi, everyone. Hope that you all had a great weekend (I know I did!). This past Friday, I had the chance to listen in on the teleconversation with Daniel Pink, hosted by Learn From My Life.

Pink’s intelligence is almost breathtaking. His credentials are stunning: honors undergraduate degree from Northwestern, law degree from Yale, NYT best-selling author, chief speechwriter for Al Gore. When Pink speaks, his words are brilliant, relevant, and concise.

Brilliance and drive is exciting, but it’s been seen before. I like Pink because he is interesting. His form of innovation is the most unique: Pink doesn’t just create new final products; rather, he uses ingredients that nobody ever considered combining. If Pink were to make meatloaf, it would incorporate tofu, orange, and paprika—and it would be delicious.

But my absolute favorite thing about Pink is his personality. He is secure enough to think bold, devoted enough to honestly discuss the impact of his professional choices on his family, and down-to-earth enough to imbue the conversation with humor. And he was really, really good at answering questions.

With that, I’ll turn to Pink’s actual work.

The book up for discussion on Learn From My Life was Pink’s Johnny Bunko: The Last Career Guide You’ll Ever Need, which is the first American business book to be created using the Japanese comic style of manga. Pink was awarded a Japan Society Media Fellowship for the project, and teamed up with Rising Stars of Manga competition winner Rob Ten Pas for illustration.

The book follows the story of Johnny, a college grad stuck in a dead-end job. During yet another miserable work-caused all-nighter, Johnny heads out for some sushi and grabs a handful of chopsticks. He returns to his desk, and is shocked to learn that ethereal career-guidance sprite Diana will appear to him each time he cracks open one of the remaining six sets of chopsticks.

Throughout the course of the book, Diana teaches Johnny six career lessons:

1. There is no plan.
2. Think strengths, not weaknesses.
3. It’s not about you.
4. Persistence trumps talent.
5. Make excellent mistakes.
6. Leave an imprint.

As Pink discussed the lessons, and as I read them later at home, they really struck a chord. Everything made sense. They were either things which I’d learned but had not yet articulated, or situations which I could readily believe would occur.

With that, I think I’m going to sign off—this has been a super-long post. But, I hope I’ve managed to convey how highly I esteem Pink, and how excellent—and truly valuable—a project this is. The book is an engaging and quick read, and I definitely recommend it.

You may have noticed that we recently redesigned our site. The redesign was mainly a push by the designers (Gema & I), but eagerly supported by everyone here at dt. We are our most important client and are constantly looking to improve and adapt to changes within our insanely fast growing industry. Our website is never done. It is constantly evolving and getting better. Remember in school when you would turn in a paper and the teacher would immediately assign you another?(I used to hate that!) That’s how we treat every page of our site. It keeps us fresh and makes us constantly critique and improve our process. Here are some of the changes we made…Hope you like them!

Old Site:

New Site:

1. We increased the overall width of the site - Due to the increasing size of the average computer monitor, sites have been getting wider over the years. This is nice for us designers because it gives us more real estate above the fold, less scrolling and more breathing room. Wider just looks better (if you disagree, look at the tv industry).
2. We broke free from the “page” look - Our old site was contained within the boundries of a rounded rectangle. Our new site is nice and open with headers and footers tiling the full width of the monitor.
3. We switched the emphasis of the homepage – Our old homepage was very product-heavy. Our new site puts the emphasis on us as a company. We highlight what we are doing by showcasing our latest projects, our blog, and upcoming events that we are attending, participating or hosting.
4. Our footer has a footer! – A lot of companies are breaking free from the boring “privacy policy & copyright” footer. We incorporated a nice big footer that highlights our social media links, employment opportunities and information on our co-working space. It balances with our large header and gives the page a solid foundation.
5. We gave it a flexible layout – We are using a slightly modified 3 column layout that allows us to be flexible using a 2/3 1/3 column structure for most pages, while our more graphic heavy pages (projects & side dishes) use all 3 columns.
6. We focused on simplicity – We shortened our copy and removed unnecessary pages. We have lots to say but we want our website to be clear and simple. We feel that the details should be discussed in person.

These are just a few of the changes that I wanted to highlight. Look for more changes in the near future. They are coming!