http://www.looknorthnyc.com/index.php/site/index/ This is the Look North Blog en greg@looknorthnyc.com Copyright 2010 2010-05-26T18:48:21+00:00 http://www.looknorthinc.com/site/two_of_our_clients_make_the_new_york_times_blog_this_past_week/ http://www.looknorthinc.com/site/two_of_our_clients_make_the_new_york_times_blog_this_past_week/#When:18:48:21Z A couple of Look North's fine-art clients have made the New York Times blog within the past week. First is Park Avenue Armory's latest installation No Man's Land by the French artist Christian Boltanski. Linda Yablonsky describes the work as, "30 tons of them [clothing] are tossed willy-nilly into a twenty-five-foot high, bonfire-like pyramid surrounded by a mass grave of 60,000 pieces of apparel in every size, shape and color". Photo: James Ewing Also, Rachel Hovnanians opening of “Too Good to Be True” at the Collette Blanchard Gallery on the Lower East Side. Rachel is a New York based artist and has been a client of Look Norths for over 5 years. Check out the new website we just launched for her. Client News, Popular Culture 2010-05-26T18:48:21+00:00 http://www.looknorthinc.com/site/inbox_zero/ http://www.looknorthinc.com/site/inbox_zero/#When:00:08:34Z It won't last long, but today for a short while I've reached Inbox Zero. For those of you not aware of Inbox Zero, have a look here. Internet and Technology 2010-05-25T00:08:34+00:00 http://www.looknorthinc.com/site/new_from_the_worldwide_leader_in_sports/ http://www.looknorthinc.com/site/new_from_the_worldwide_leader_in_sports/#When:18:27:16Z Look North has been working closely with ESPN on the launch of their new ESPN3 website. The rebranded service still offers the same great access to live sports, but with a new user interface and features. We built the player templates in HTML and CSS, ensuring that the experience will be available to as many people as possible. And, we worked closely with the ESPN team to integrate with their content management systems and ad serving technologies. The system is currently in a limited use beta, but should be rolling out in time for the 2010 World Cup in June. You can check it out online at: http://www.espn3.com/ Please note: The system is available to eligible users as determined by ESPN licensing agreements. Check with your local cable television provider for details. Client News 2010-04-17T18:27:16+00:00 http://www.looknorthinc.com/site/our_work_is_webby_worthy/ http://www.looknorthinc.com/site/our_work_is_webby_worthy/#When:19:06:16Z Our work has been nominated for a Webby? Ever hear of it? This week, a project we built this past fall has been nominated for a Webby award. The Webby is essentially the Oscar of the internet. We worked closely with MGX Lab on the project and used our time-tested favorite ExpressionEngine to bring the site to life. As a nominee, Make It Right (and in turn, MGX Lab and Look North) is also eligible to win a Webby People’s Voice Award, which is voted online by the global Web community. This is where YOU come in, we need your votes for both Web sites! Just follow these simple instructions to cast your vote for Make It Right, MGX Lab and Look North! Find out how to help us win. Client News, Look North News 2010-04-11T19:06:16+00:00 http://www.looknorthinc.com/site/crafting_subtle_realistic_user_interfaces/ http://www.looknorthinc.com/site/crafting_subtle_realistic_user_interfaces/#When:18:48:02Z My favorite points from Mike Rundle's excellent post on user interface design include: Keep it crisp. No blurry lines or edges. Always adjust opacity. Nothing is totally black or white, dark or bright. A semi-transparent black or white line, glow, shadow or shape goes a long way." Real-world objects rarely have perfectly square corners. Use subtle rounded corners to make objects look real. In real life, everything casts a shadow. Unless you're drawing vampires, if you intend your object to have depth and be resting on a surface then it better have a drop shadow, even an incredibly subtle one. (Via Flyosity: Mike Rundle's interface design blog.) Design 2010-01-20T18:48:02+00:00 http://www.looknorthinc.com/site/expressionengine_and_ecommerce/ http://www.looknorthinc.com/site/expressionengine_and_ecommerce/#When:17:19:41Z We are on the verge of recommending ExpressionEngine to a client as an eCommerce solution. We originally thought about using a dedicated ecommerce application such as X-Cart, but based on research and testing such platforms can simply not offer the customization and user-experience that we are accustomed to with ExpressionEngine. Most traditional ecommerce platforms take such a rigid approach to categories, manufacturers and popular store functions that trying to break outside of that model introduces many complications. For example, allowing a user to get more information on a manufacturer requires a significant amount of customization in X-Cart. This is not how it should be. We’re planning on exploring the FoxEE Module and Foxycart.com for checkout for our project. FoxEE appears to allow us to leverage the flexibility of the ExpressionEngine content management templating systems we are used to while using the FoxyCart JSON hosted cart. This provides a secure, seamless process for the user and a robust backend management experience for our client. We’re looking forward to this project and learning about yet another way to use ExpressionEngine. ExpressionEngine, Internet and Technology 2010-01-14T17:19:41+00:00 http://www.looknorthinc.com/site/great_content_strategy_article_at_a_list_apart/ http://www.looknorthinc.com/site/great_content_strategy_article_at_a_list_apart/#When:14:27:28Z I’ve been recommending a content audit and overall content strategy to website redesign clients for quite some time now. I believe that serving the content your audience is looking for up-front is very important. Following up with research data at an expert level establishes credibility and encourages return visits. Erin Scime has written an informative article on that process at A List Apart. From her article: When a site launches, your audience arrives to learn more about what you know most about. It’s critical to create a content experience with purpose, that is consistent and contextual. This helps to assert your brand’s authority, establishes relationships with your audience, and secures a return visit based on your content’s value. The content strategist-as-curator is the one who makes this happen. Read The Content Strategist as Digital Curator here.   Internet and Technology 2009-12-08T14:27:28+00:00 http://www.looknorthinc.com/site/expressionengine_2_to_be_released_on_december_1_2009_-_and_we_couldnt_be_mo/ http://www.looknorthinc.com/site/expressionengine_2_to_be_released_on_december_1_2009_-_and_we_couldnt_be_mo/#When:22:18:58Z With ExpressionEngine 2’s release just around the corner, what we’re excited about and what we’re doing to prepare. So it sounds like December 1, 2009 is the launch date for ExpressionEngine 2.0. This information was revealed this past week at the EECI2009 conference in Leiden, Netherlands. Leslie Camacho from Ellis Labs was a speaker and let the date known in an interview with EEInsider. EEInsider is having ExpressionEngine 2 Week with a slew of articles on this exciting news, complete with screenshots. We're very excited about some of the features in the upcoming version. These include a more flexible, forward thinking control panel with redesigned interface, a new File Management system, and much more. What does this mean to our clients? Well, nothing just yet. For the time being we'll continue to develop current projects in ExpressionEngine 1.6.8. Ellis Lab will continue to release security patches for 1.6.8 for the forseeable future. We will begin our testing of 2.0 in December. Once we determine what is involved in upgrading current client sites to 2.0, we will offer the service on an individual, as necessary basis. And, once we are confident that ExpressionEngine 2 has all of the bugs work (presumably a 2.1 style release), we will begin to develop projects from the ground up in the new version. ExpressionEngine 2009-10-28T22:18:58+00:00 http://www.looknorthinc.com/site/lets_get_real_food_in_schools_with_time_for_lunch/ http://www.looknorthinc.com/site/lets_get_real_food_in_schools_with_time_for_lunch/#When:21:44:00Z On Tuesday we helped Slow Food USA launch their Time for Lunch campaign to get REAL FOOD in schools. Real food is good at every link in the chain. It tastes good, it’s good for us, it’s good for the people who grow it, it’s good for our country and it’s good for the planet. Visit the site to show your support because real food is important for everyone. Hear Slow Food USA President Josh Viertel explain the Time for Lunch Campaign. Related: Check out Food, Inc. which should be coming to a theater near you really soon. Client News 2009-06-24T21:44:00+00:00 http://www.looknorthinc.com/site/new_website_for_cambridge_leadership_associates/ http://www.looknorthinc.com/site/new_website_for_cambridge_leadership_associates/#When:22:49:00Z This month we launched a brand-spankin’ new website for Cambridge Leadership Associates, a leadership training and development team out of New York City. Based on the popular concept of Adaptive Leadership, CLA encourages their clients to take a step back and get perspective on their current situations. This is something that is of great interest to us here at Look North. If you look at situations from the right perspective, chances are you’ll find solutions you wouldn’t imagine existed. Check out the new site. | Read more about what we did. Special thanks to Eric Martin and Kathleen Quirk at CLA for their help and perseverance with the project. And thanks to Dennis Ahlgrim at Ahlgrim Design Group for the great looking creative. And be sure to revisit the site over the next few weeks as we roll out some exciting new content and features. Look North News 2009-05-20T22:49:00+00:00