the blog

Well, it’s hard to believe it is February already. 2010 was off to a rather busy start and January was a whirlwind of work for us. We’ve finally taken a few moments to update our portfolio with some of our recent work.

Rebecca Skloot
With the recent release of her incredible book, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, Rebecca Skloot needed a fresh new look for her website.

Secrets of My Hollywood Life – Little, Brown
Little, Brown contacted us to put together a micro-site for the popular Secrets of My Hollywood Life series by Jen Calonita.

Heresy by S.J. Parris – Random House
Random House contacted us to create a micro-site to promote Heresy by S.J. Parris.

The Golden City, the third and final book in the Fourth Realm trilogy by John Twelve Hawks, came out in the US this week. Many authors do readings when they launch a new book, but considering John Twelve Hawk’s “off the grid” living, it made sense for him to do something a little different.

Fans are invited to be John Twelve Hawks for a night. They can read from The Golden City, discuss the trilogy, act out a scene, or do whatever they feel best celebrates the new book. John then reviews the videotaped events (posted on YouTube) and adds them to a new site dedicated to this idea: I Am John Twelve Hawks. Two live events will also be streamed on the site this week. The first live event is today, September 10^th, from New York at 8pm EST. The second live event is from Los Angeles on Saturday, September 12^th.

It’s great to see authors doing something quite different and fun to promote the launch of a new book. This is a prime example of using the power of the web and social media to promote, and enjoy, a book. It’s wonderful to see how much the fans can really get involved–not just enjoying a reading, but actually taking part in the reading itself, and being the author for a day. And it’s exciting to share all these events across the world via a website. Tonight, I’ll be sitting at home in Oxford, UK, watching the live I am John Twelve Hawks event in New York, and feeling part of the whole thing via the stream and the live chat (and I don’t even have to worry about what to wear!).

Over the weekend we found ourselves bored and in search of something to do around town.  This sparked an idea: what if the power of Twitter could be harnessed to find things to do?  What if everyone on Twitter could post about upcoming events in a way that would broadcast them to everyone?  Indie bands, theatre troupes, artists, and authors–they could all spread the word about their upcoming gigs, shows, exhibitions, and signings.

We sat down and worked out the details, and then set to work. By Monday, It’s On was alive and breathing.  Anyone on Twitter that wants to spread the word about an event can simply post to Twitter with:


@eventin City Name: Info about the event.


example:


@eventin Oxford:  May 1, 6am - Traditional to gather at Magdalen Bridge to listen to the choir sing. http://tinyurl.com/dca4y3 #music


Nothing more required. No accounts, no follows, just a post on Twitter.  We hope it will be beneficial to people running smaller events that want to get the word out, and to people looking for something fun and interesting to do!

Naturally, when Random House approached us to develop the new Knopf Doubleday site, we were giddy.  But what’s more:  we were intrigued.  They didn’t just need a website, they needed a suite of sites that all worked together.  They needed all of their imprints, and several of their main content categories, to have individual sites, with individual themes, and they wanted their content to trickle up to the top of the main Knopf-Doubleday site.  On top of this, they needed this sea of content to be accessible.  They needed a clean, content-focused design that could be shared and modified by their imprints–a clean marriage of form and function.

What emerged is a true testament to the power of WordPress.

We designed and built the site to require as little upkeep as possible.  Content managers can add to and update the site with minimal effort.  A post to any of the imprint sites is instantly shown on the top-level site (unless they opt out of this functionality for the post, of course).  No multiple posts to manage, no confusing search results.  Each piece of content lives in a single place, but can be accessed from many.  The icing on the cake is that new imprint sites can be added in a day.

We’re proud of what we and Random House as a team have built.  And what’s more, we’re happy to contribute to the publishing world.

A few quick updates from the studio with some of our recent work:

Kevin Smokler is an author, journalist and entrepreneur. He co-founded BookTour.com in 2006. Kevin needed to update his brand and redesign his TypePad blog to better reflect his standing as a forward thinker on contemporary cultural issues. We created a bold new logo and a clean, well-organised blog design.

Clear, prompt, creative and smart. Lorissa Shepstone is everything you could want in a designer.—Kevin Smokler

Ru Freeman is an author and activist. With her debut novel, A Disobedient Girl, Ru needed a new website to showcase her book and various writings, and to share her love for her home-country Sri Lanka. Ru wanted a site that reflected the rich, bold colours of Sri Lanka, and allowed her to easily update her content. We created a lush colour palette for the site and brought in decorative details to bring a little flair of Sri Lanka.

If everything in my creative life went quite as smoothly as getting my website designed and launched by Being Wicked, I would be a star. They are professional and extremely responsive and they have a great eye for what makes a website unique, user-friendly and aesthetically pleasing. Working with Being Wicked has been literally like waving a wand and having a dream come true. In fact, I think it did.—Ru Freeman

In 2007 we designed the site for the popular book The Daring Book for Girls. Last week, the brand new sequel, The Double-Daring Book for Girls, launched. To coincide with the launch we updated the site to reflect the new book’s style and include new fun content for girls, not to mention the wonderful illustrations from the book.

It’s been a busy few months and as 2008 draws to a close we still have a few more projects to tie up. In the meantime though, we have recently launched these sites (for more, feel free to browse our portfolio):

RLM PR is a full service PR firm serving clients in a wide range of industries. RLM PR approached us to update their web presence to reflect their professionalism, bold ideas and creative approach. WordPress is used to power the blog and act as the site’s CMS.

James Patterson’s Maximum Read website is targeted at teachers and educators and aimed at helping them encourage children to read. Working with Little, Brown & Company, we developed a fun, easy-to-use website for educators including a message board where they can chat amongst themselves.

Outcasts Unlimited by Warren St. John. A quick micro-site completed for Random House to promote this powerful and inspiring tale.

We work with a lot of publishers and authors so we are pretty well versed in what goes into making a good, and successful, author or book website. One of the standard elements is a link to buy the book(s). Obviously, this is a rather important element too. One thing I’ve noticed on a large number of author sites, however, is a link only to Amazon.com. Now, personally, Amazon is my preference for buying books, DVD’s and CD’s (and come Christmas time, it’s my one-stop shopping spot), but that doesn’t mean an author should ignore the other major players such as Barnes & Noble, Borders (teamed with Amazon), Powells, Waterstones (in the UK) and Booksense – just to name a few.

As an author, it’s a good idea to provide your visitors with various options on where they can purchase your latest bestseller. Make it as easy for them as possible. What we do for our author clients, and what I’d suggest to all authors, is create a page within the site which lists various outlets for purchasing the book. Be sure to include Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Borders, and Waterstones if you are in the UK. An extra call-out on your homepage to this section may be a good idea as well. It doesn’t have to be a loud or obnoxious, but a nicely designed, and well placed button will make it even easier for visitors to get straight to this section, purchase your book and indulge in some quality reading.

It’s amazing how simple communication can make such a great difference. We like to keep in touch with all our clients on a regular basis. We may have multiple projects going on, but we strive to email our clients each week even if it’s just to touch base with them on their project. It really does make all the difference. If I have one word of advice for any new designer or design firm, it’s this: keep communicating with your clients. Whether you have made huge strides on a project, or only had a chance to do something small, let your client know. I find that too many designers and design firms like to shut themselves into their design void and want to just “wow” their client with the final outcome. Although your client may be “wowed” (and that is a “may be”) they will appreciate regular communications with you far more. You may be pleasantly surprised at how open clients are to new ideas and ways to handle their project. Often, once the lines of communication are opened and maintained, better ideas start flowing and as you develop a stronger relationship, you’ll start communicating better and easier with each other.

Read the rest of this entry »