The iPad is More Than “Just Another Reading Tablet.”

Apple released the iPad today, which is the love child of the MacBook and the iPhone/iPod Touch. It’s the next big thing in their revolutionary family of products, but this one stands out to us for another reason. It breathes new life into “print” media.

Everyone’s wondered what will happen to print, namely the fate of newspapers. Printing is expensive (so are the ads), and nearly everything can be accessed online. To many, reading the paper version of the newspaper has become an antiquated notion. From a studio perspective, we’ve seen our clients decide against using print campaigns and go with digital ones instead.

Here’s where we see something bubbling beneath the surface: The iPad gives its users access to a brand new app- The New York Times. This is extraordinary because when you view the Times on the iPad, it’s as if you’re reading an actual newspaper- columns and everything. Some might say it’s another website translation, while others might vouch that it’s a legitimate, revolutionized digital version. We haven’t quite made up our own minds yet, but it leaves us wondering if more clients will opt for a similar format for their former print pieces. For example, where they might have previously printed a catalog, will they choose to create more than just a glorified PDF, or a website- but a truly reinvented digital version of the former format?

The iPad, along with the iPhone, and all other internet-friendly mobile devices in general make it easy to access nearly anything… anytime… anywhere.

We could be on the exciting edge of a new print era… one where we create print pieces that never actually get printed.

Read more about it here. This blog had it right- before the iPad was even released…

Art Direction is Like Steak Sauce.

You can add it on at the end to correct the flavor, but the final product will never be as good as a dish done correctly from the start without it.

Quote for the day: Explaining the Reason Behind Our Decisions.

“As designers we can’t stand in front of a client and just say, ‘Look here, there’s more space, it looks nice. It works because otherwise it is cluttered and sloppy if we put in more of your message.’ You need to be prepared to speak about your design based on concepts and fundamentals and the matter of fact theories that they are.” -Fresh Creative

We could all work a little harder at speaking knowledgeably and factually about our industry. Design deserves it.

Congratulations Martens Companies!

We’re happy to announce the launch of Martens Companies’ new website! We’ve done business with Martens for a long time, but we’re honored to have been selected for this real estate company’s 2009-2010 site redesign. We implemented a lot of new ideas, including a new design and new navigation. The Martens team was great to work with, as always, and we’re proud of the modern site we’ve put together for them.

See it here.

Domino’s Doomed to Fail?

We’re sure you’ve already heard/read about/seen it. Domino’s launched a new ad recently admitting its failure to make delicious pizza. They even went so far as to compare their own crust to cardboard, and their sauce to ketchup. Wow.

Being honest, admitting failure and illustrating a plan to improve usually fares well with consumers… under one condition: that the product really does improve.

Domino’s dedicated an entire website to this Pizza Turnaround. But hold on, we’d like to point out a few things first.

Disclaimer
From a studio standpoint, we think Dominos’ ad agency did a great job with this ad. It’s appealing, well put together, and quite frankly, attention snatching. We watched the thing all the way through the first time we came across it. Had we been bigger fans of Domino’s in the first place, we might have tried the new stuff.

For the Record
Domino’s is making their claim based on the “promise” that their product has improved. New ingredients, new process, new pizza. That’s quite a heavy promise if you ask us.

Attention Please
Notice the Twitter stream on the right hand side of the page. It collects tweets about this new Domino’s pizza. If you read some of those tweets, you’ll realize a major flaw in this supposedly brilliant campaign:

• “Tried the new Dominos pizza….. In my mind, collossal fail.” by ragecg 2 hrs, 56 mins ago

• “New dominos pizza – Meh it was ok….better than before. Not near enough sauce.” by Jmeyering 8 hrs, 4 mins ago

• “Will be getting my money back for Dominos #newpizza. What was I thinking?”
  by wilkenm 12 hrs, 10 mins ago

Why on earth is Domino’s making these negative reactions part of their promotional Pizza Turnaround message??

As the campaign reaches more and more people, and society has a chance to digest the ad as well as try the pizza, an interesting question is raised. Did the ad agency set Domino’s up for failure (however inadvertently?)? Is there any environment in which Domino’s can succeed after such claims and resulting negative reactions? What will it take to satisfy customers in the wake of this new campaign?

We don’t have all the answers to these questions, but we’re sure interested in watching what happens. As a design studio, we know there are risks of airing such an incredibly grabbing, and clever campaign and the bottom line is this: if Domino’s can’t ultimately deliver on their promise, it will sink them.

Don’t forget to check it out for yourself if you haven’t already: http://www.pizzaturnaround.com/