These days, content-managed web solutions are the norm. Few, however, can easily integrate with pre-existing corporate databases. We worked with our client Brooklyn Law School to create a custom solution which transparently integrates CMS content with information from two internal school databases.

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So is the new iPad just for innovative media companies like the New York Times and innovative booksellers like HarperCollins, or can you use it for your business?  I am thinking primarily of business communication content than business utilization.

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Around this time every year we get a well-produced hardcover book that highlights the top 100 annual reports of the past year.  It’s great to thumb through - see how our work compares to the top talent, see some really smart design and writing, see the value of well-done print work, both the work celebrated and the Graphis book itself. It’s inspirational.  It’s newly printed, and smells good.

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We’re pretty excited about Mike Weymouth’s new book How Photography Can Make You a Better Painter, just published by Graphis, Inc.   It’s educational and provocative for the painter – as well as a painter-appreciator.  It is a visual delight in the way it is designed and with its photographs and original Mike Weymouth paintings.  It’s also a verbal delight with unexpected turns of phrase and points of view.

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We were asked this question by a potential client several weeks ago, who was commissioning a website redesign. Of course we gave the precise answer, 24 months, based on plugging into a redesign algorithm the site traffic, the online sales, the relatively modest size of the site, the brand index, the competitive site metrics, the x-factor of new web technologies and best practices, and the loudness of the moon-howling by disgruntled employees and distraught executives.  There were other variables, of course, but they were lost in the howling, and we did answer 24 months.

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For six years we have been tracking annual report trends of the 15 “most admired companies” as rated by Fortune Magazine. The annual study looks at print and online formats. The majority of the sample have demonstrated continuity in printed presentation over time while while online formats have evolved significantly.

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One of my favorite writers, Italo Calvino, published a book of essays about fiction in 1985 called Six Memos for the Next Millennium, that describes the characteristics of what fiction can and should be. The titles of his essays can serve as a useful construct for many creative endeavors, including websites. Asked to speak about trends in web design at Boston College in September, I used Calvino’s construct to talk about those trends.

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Given the opportunity to design a presentation, most of us might respond with a polite, “Thanks, but no thanks.” This is understandable knowing what typically comes to mind are bulleted talking points, crude diagrams, org charts…and PowerPoint. We all love to hate it, especially designers. A PowerPoint presentation done right, however, can capture the audience and be memorable –- it’s just that you have to leverage its strengths, have deep content, a good script, and a presenter who is comfortable in front of a large audience and able to engage the audience.

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Needham Bikes, an organization dedicated to the safe and widespread use of bicycles for transportation and recreation in Needham, Massachusetts, recently contacted Weymouth Design. The organization’s needs were twofold: a logo and a design for use on signs. Needham Bikes came to the right firm for the job. We’ve done pro bono work for Cycle Kids for five years, and we have many avid cyclists on our staff.

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We’re pleased to announce that our Contexticon site for the New Testament Language Project has been selected as a finalist in the Education and Learning category for the 14th Annual MITX Interactive Awards. Held annually by the Massachusetts Innovation & Technology Exchange, the MITX Awards recognize excellence in the creation of web innovations designed, produced or developed in New England.

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