ORANGEBLOG

Recently, I’ve been chatting with friends and clients lately about Twitter and it’s advertising capabilities. Apparantly some companies out there still aren’t sure of the benefits of Twitter, saying they’re waiting for “the next big thing”. I hate to break the news, but I this is the big thing. With little to no cost to setup costs. Combine that with the little bit of time to post some information – links, photos, video, locations, even retweets – why wouldn’t you want to have one for your organization?

It’s really becoming an advertising no brainer.

We’re lucky enough to work & live in the DC/MD area, and yep – we’re buried with around 24″ of snow. The dig-out started yesterday, but we still have more to do. Most Schools and businesses are closed today for road conditions and safety, and we’re joining that party.

Announcing our first Snow Day. All work is being halted for the day, but we plan on picking back up (and catching up) tomorrow, with work as usual. If there are any emergencies, call us @ 443.451.5294.

The worst part is that the threat of snow isn’t over yet, there’s another 8″ planned for Tuesday into Wednesday. We’ll just have to wait and see how that affects the rest of the week. Maybe the storm front will take that infamous “turn” and we’ll dodge a snowy bullet.

Good news is that it’ll give us a chance to catch up on some articles we want to write and share. Smart package designs, bad logos, and a Super Bowl commercial recap are all in the works. We’ll put those together as we take a break from the snow!

Clients & Friends in the area: Stay Warm!

In what we hope becomes a holiday staple here at ORANGEHAT, we’re going to try and take it easy for the rest of the year.

We will be officially closed on December 24th & 25th to spend time with family and friends for Christmas. We will resume operations on Monday the 28th – but on a light schedule. We’re analyzing and wrapping up some things for an even more exciting 2010. So we’ll be working “half days” for the final week of the 2009.

We use the term “half day” loosely. We’ll still be taking calls, and we’ll still be making plenty of print & web things pretty for our clients, but all new work will be scheduled to begin in 2010.

Normal operations will resume as usual on Monday, Jan 4th 2010.

Cheers & Happy Holidays!

Now I don’t mean to come across as trivial or nit-picky, but we’re big in design, especially typography and branding.

Well, part of the brand of ORANGEHAT is the name. I wanted to develop a naming style that wasn’t tied to a specific typeface, but still contrast when being used in typical body copy and fonts. As you can see whenever I type our company name, it’s all caps, and one word, and that’s how we prefer it: ORANGEHAT, not Orange Hat. We understand that some systems may not allow all caps, so Orangehat, orangehat are acceptable ways to handle our name.

It’s a little pet peeve of mine, and hopefully putting it out there for all the internet to see will help ease any future improper uses. It’s the little things like this that help establish and cement brands. All for the greater good of {making things pretty}

I make no attempts to hide our love of Apple Computers here at ORANGEHAT. And today I was welcomed to the pre-order of the latest version of Mac OS X – Snow Leopard (10.6). Of course I’ve placed our order and will be upgrading this weekend, but that’s not why I’m typing this. Although, if you want to pick up a copy, head on over to Apple’s Online Store.

Moreover, it’s about the new packaging of the OS. This will mark the first time that Apple has actually used a picture of the corresponding animal for box art. Place your peepers on this:

And I’m not really feeling it. In the past, it was the focus on the “X” for the version of OS X (10). In version 10.2 (aka Jaguar), Apple had Pixar created a spotted version of the “X”. Complete with fur textures and patterns of the big kitty. And while granted, this is not a full revamped OS, like previous .1+ upgrades, I do find it strange for them to be focusing on imagery like this. Even box art that uses images (iPods, iPhones, iMacs, etc), they seem to use the images in a more elegant way. I really enjoy the simple and more dynamic layouts that Apple has produced, and I hope this is simply a one-off since this OS is just a retooling and not a revamp, and not the future of Apple’ OS packaging.

So that’s ORANGEHAT’s thoughts. What’s your personally or professional design opinion?

So do we!

We’re tired of using other wallpapers on my iPhone, so we decided to whip a quick wallpaper for the iPhone that embodies what we are and what we like. If you like pretty things, have an iPhone and like ORANGEHAT, give our wallpaper a download.

Click for full size and download

Wow, so I didn’t realize the last update was from May. Can’t believe we missed all of June and half of July. We’ve had thoughts, but we’ve been too lazy to put out any updates…. until now Mwahaha!

Well it’s not really a blog entry update, so much as a blog skin update. The old look was a good starting point, but being the design firm we are – wanted to put our on take on the look. So here it is – our new look. Still have a few things left to sort out, but it’s presentable. We hope you enjoy the new look.

Stay tuned for some actual content updates. Shock, we know. But we promise they’re comin’

Time to take off the hat and put on the helmet. Ok, we won’t be racing, but we will be helping in the pits.

ORANGEHAT will be closed today, as we’re going to be at Summit Point Raceway for a track day.

Earlier, we talked about if Social Networking is right for your company. Now we’re going to talk about the use of these Social Networking sites and how they affect the productivity of your company’s workflow.

The Commitment.
Social Media takes just that – a commitment and a pretty big one. If you dive into this arena, you need to make sure that you are prepared and ready to give steady updates. And various media types take a different level of commitment. Before starting up any of these, make sure you’ve got the time you can set aside to dedicate to update regularly. Twitter takes a pretty low level of commitment, while Facebook requires a much higher level (especially if you created a Page vs. a Group). And once setup, if the account’s active, you better commit to posting and using it, and use it often.

Pace Yourself.
On the heels of use, is how often you use it. Find a schedule for updates that works for you. And that can take some time to figure out as you’re trying to add this into your day-to-day workflow. You don’t have to post just to post and look active. Better to find a pace that allows you to post meaningful content, so you are active and appear intelligent in your market.

Stay Efficient.
This is the biggie. Once you’ve committed and have social media in your workflow, you have to make sure that it doesn’t take away from your actual job. It’s very easy to get wrapped up in these technologies, that the last thing you or you company wants, is for actual work to not get done. Real work cannot suffer just to get your name out there. Unless your job is to maintain the social sites of your company (and that’s becoming more popular), you should not be (what I call) NET-working all day. That’s when you spend all day on the net, working to keep up, while the work starts to pile up and quality starts to suffer.

Instead, make your social media work for you. Twitter is fantastic for this. There are more and more Twitter desktop applications popping up, that let you stay focused on your work. You don’t have to visit the site to post, just quick hit up your Twitter client of choice – make your tweet, and get back to it. I don’t about you, but the Internet has a way of sucking me in if I visit it. I go there for one site, and then I’m hitting up a few of my favorites, and now I’m not getting work done. A native application helps keep that urge under control.

Beyond the applications, and more importantly, you can use your tweets to update your Facebook status, and even add them to your own website. Twitter offers an easy way to make “widgets” (Flash or HTML or site specific) that allow you to post your tweets on any site. Follow a few steps, they even write you the code, and simply copy-paste the code into the part of the site you choose. Then you can use it to share links on the front of your website, or announce when you’ve blogged – and help drive traffic to that aspect of your site.

Adding the Twitter App to Facebook, allows the integration of the tweets as status updates. What I think is very nice about Twitter for Facebook, is that it only posts original tweets and no replies to your Facebook status (anything tweet with @username is considered a reply – fyi).

So check this out – if you download a application and post a tweet, you’ve just updated your Twitter page, your website, and your Facebook status. You never had to repeat, or visit any websites either. In and out. That’s efficient, and that’s a good way to keep you looking active without having to NET-work so hard.

Now, Twitter is limited to 140 characters, so if you have something more you’d like to say, you’ll have to blog it. But, you can also work that to your favor. You can import your blog to your Facebook Notes, so when you blog, it also will become a Note on your Facebook page. Simple import your blog (either by URL or RSS feed domain) and you’re done. Now couple that with a desktop blog editor, and you can do the same thing as with Twitter, but for longer articles or things you’d like to share.

Work Smart.
That’s all this boils down to. Work smart, not hard. Use technology to your advantage. You’re not just sitting in front of a machine that “just” does email, word processing and internet. It’s more and you should use that, and the web technologies to make life easier, especially as fast paced as most companies operate. It sounds counterproductive, but take a step back, and take the time to setup your accounts and equipment up right in the beginning, and you’ll save yourself time (and probably some stress) in the long run. And being more productive and a better company is something you can tweet about, and do so happily.

Well I’m impressed. The only American car company not taking the Government bail-out money, is forging ahead with a a pretty ingenious (if it works) method of advertising their new car.

The Ford Fiesta, already in Europe, will be coming state side next year, and how are they going to advertise it – via social networking. But everyone’s done that. Here’s what makes it so great – they’re giving the car to a few dozen people in their 20’s and they’re going to give their feedback on social networking accounts that Ford has setup for this campaign. Wired’s Autopia goes into the nitty gritty, so be sure to read the article.

It’s great that they’re letting the people do the talking. Takes away the whole idea of them being a “struggling American car company” – which they’re not – they’re the only ones not taking the money. It also shows that they’re “in-tune” (oh, puns are fun) with the younger generations. Plus the fact that they aren’t going to moderate what these testers are saying about the car is also great. If things go wrong, Ford can show how great they are at finding a solution to a problem. Makes them seem human, and that’s something an American car company needs desperately right now.

Rock on Ford…. rock on.