Cullmann Design Blog

Swiss software development group Polar Rose is working with mobile experts TAT to develop a powerful facial recognition platform called Recognizr. The software analyzes facial features and attaches your social network profiles for real-time access. What does this mean? By simply snapping a picture of someone, you will be able to see their FaceBook, LinkedIn, Flickr, Twitter or any other participating social media channel. The sample demonstration is an example of the technology platform in its most basic state, but even this preliminary demonstration shows the power of this kind of application.

The idea of being able to access an entire social library with your friends, family and co-workers is very exciting. Technology like this previously only existed in science fiction and extends the utility of mobile devices past its origins as Personal Information Managers like the original Palm, modern applications like Bump and even emerging technology like augmented reality. This application, the first of its kind, brings your online footprint, your brand, out into the open and accessible to everyone you come into contact with. Obviously, there are privacy concerns and personal preferences that need to be addressed before this is adopted by most people, but this is a tilt-point for personal identity and social networking.

Networking is now approaching an unprecedented level with the lines between public and personal space blurred. It’s crucial that we begin to look at what we are exposing to the world and become experts at managing technology and our actions online. I think that the coming years will bring a more liberal perspective on online behavior as today’s high school and college students enter the work-force with their social media baggage in-tow. Software like this, as creative and awesome as it is, should give everyone a some pause in defining their “appearance” and footprint online.

The last decade has brought in a complete evolution in web design and user experience. From proliferation in browser usage to the wide adoption of standards-based web development and code.

• Location Based Services With the growth of smart phones and internet enabled feature-phones, location based services will explode this year. The massive growth will result from the growing popularity of social media applications, but more so from service-oriented applications. What smart phones and location-aware phones offer users are safe ways to identify themselves and their locations and to quickly locate people or services convenient to their position without using a text entry interface. Businesses, services and other providers can use this information to make relevant communications in real-time response.From the perspective of a marketer, a location-driven application or service can be used to inform customers to potential offers or relevant information about who they are or how easily they can be reached. This can range from locating a pharmacy in the area that stocks a special prescription or a discount latte for the caffeine-addict in your circle of friends.Comfort with these new services will come from social media adoption of location services. There are already some fantastic applications and tools in the space: FourSquare and Gowalla are the most popular. These companies encourage users to “check-in” and offer status rewards for frequent visits and also exploring new areas. Both of these services (and their like), post status updates to larger social networks like Facebook and Twitter. The more places you go, the higher your ranking in the network goes. You can also follow your friends and vice-verse. This allows you to find friends around you and meet-up.For web designers, location services create a huge opportunity for customized interfaces that are relevant to a user’s location and activity. It can also allow users to tailor an interface to their needs and tasks. By identifying a user in a cold region, you can present a cold-weather theme or contextual advertising for snow-boots or a coat. The possibilities are endless and extend the options for a personalized experience beyond what cookies and referring URL data can provide. Location services can extend beyond the phone or gps device with support in the new HTML 5 spec for location or “geolocation” services.
• HTML 5 The end of 2009 brought with it a lot of buzz about HTML 5, a new standard in web development architecture. It’s not some terribly new animal in regards to implementation. It does offer some new exciting features and capabilities (including several ways to present video and audio within the HTML structure without use of a browser plug-in like flash) and solves some presentation issues that had been left behind by the previously vague “transition” standards. It’s most powerful capability is how it allows offline capabilities for developers. Essentially, there is a data-set that can be stored locally in the browser to preserve anything from e-mails and documents to button states. Given the widespread adoption of mobile devices and the use of laptops, this solves a lot of practical problems that developer have had in preserving sessions and states from websites to full cloud-based applications.HTML also gives designers and developers some standard structural elements to work with <header>, <nav> and <footer> to name a few. Most developers and designers who employ best practices already make use of this common nomenclature, but spec support for these objects make ubiquitous support across platforms and devices moving forward easy*. Driving progress are some much needed API features like geolocation, canvas drawing and improved forms. These features will enable location-based features (as noted above), the ability to render complex illustrations, charts and motion graphics without flash or javascript and help facilitate a better and more functional user experience respectively.I don’t expect to see a wide-spread adoption of HTML 5 in the first part of this year. I do expect to see developers and designers using this technology on their own sites and those that are leveraging the HTML 5 specs to offer an enhanced user experience and cutting edge capabilities. I hope to have my own website converted to meet the new spec shortly and begin to use it for consumer-facing client sites.
• IE6 Will Die (Standards based browser will prevail) Internet Explorer 6 was originally developed in 2001. It was a decent browser when it was new. It had several short-comings: not complete support for CSS or DOM, but it was serviceable for its day. In the past 9 years, the web has changed completely and recognizing this, Microsoft has introduced several offerings that recognize the needs of modern users. IE 6 has held strong. IE 6 is still the dominant browser for enterprise. As someone who still designs and develops interfaces for people working for large institutions and businesses, this has been a persistent problem. 2010 Will be the year of change. The Microsoft sunsetting of Windows XP and the persistent security issues with IE 6 combined with the cost of supporting the increased expense of web application and site designers building support for this aging browser will require that companies invest in evolving their initiatives to a standards-based model.As someone who has worked with large clients, I realize that expecting organizations to invest what will be significant costs into redesigning and developing applications to work in browser other than IE 6 is idealistic, I also realize that there is opportunity. The opportunity is in creating an opportunity for organizations, big and small, to be platform agnostic. Rather than having a large group of employees work with a specific operating system and browser, employers who invest in a standards-based solution can offer a solution that will grow and be more extensible. In some cases, this can allow employees and customers to interface with their infrastructure at home or even on mobile devices. There are further advantages such as support for the more secure 64 bit versions of the windows products and the growing mac audience, but the argument of longevity and extensibility is strong enough to not look past the next 12 months to make an upgrade and say goodbye to IE 6.

I’m looking forward to 2010. Web design and development move very quickly and a year is a very long time. I would like to think of myself as a student of life and the opportunity to participate in the challenge that this industry presents is inspiring. I hope this year is as exciting as the last.

AdHack, is a new crowd-source solution for advertisers looking for a lower-cost, higher quality solution for print, web and video ad creative. The site houses spec creative that ranges in quality and taste. The model is simple and straight-forward: Creatives put up a profile for themselves and can have AdHack host samples and spec work. Would-be ad purchasers can review the ad solutions, creative talent and make a purchase of the ad, work with a particular talent or commission work all via the website. There is a pre-determined pricing model that is dictated by media and the speed of the project.

For creative talents, AdHack is not an ideal solution. There is a pre-determined pricing model that is not based on experience or quality of the concept and the “creative form” that is used to initiate a commission offers no option for locating particular types of talent beyond media type. A crucial issue, and one that I take issue with, is the absence of any self-promotional opportunities in the user profile for creative talent. In order to register, you can select a user name, location and avatar. The user can then link to their portfolio via ID number or username.  but the profile is assigned a unique number as opposed to a username or tag. Additionally, there is no linking option outside of the provided AdHack portfolio. AdHack is controlling all of the creative and user information within their own ecosystem and there is little opportunity for starting artists and creative talent to promote themselves outside of this network.

I think AdHack is great start-up idea and there are some fantastic samples on the site. The network is a reported 400+ and growing (a collection of creative larger than most large advertising networks) and growing. For buyers on a budget or just beginning this is a good alternative to working with an advertising agency-a real DYI marketing solution. For a company that is not in the business of marketing or has a true challenge in their business space, working with an agency is likely a better solution.

AdHack – How it Works from AdHack on Vimeo.

UPDATE

Since the original post, James, from AdHack has pointed out that I had missed some of the features of AdHack and mistaken some of the features. You can read his comments below as well as my updated post. Again, I think that AdHack is good utility for evangelizing your creative and making connections with those buyers who are in the market.

Mobile applications are quickly becoming a dominant vehicle for marketing. Any brand that is communicating with an audience and relying on the web as a vector, needs to begin to leverage this new channel. In the same way that web-pages became a requirement to communicate with an audience in the mid-nineties, applications and widgets are the new “cost-of-entry” for having an exchange with consumers.

The popularity of mobile applications are fueled by many factors, the most influential being the success of the Apple iPhone and the Apple AppStore. To compete with Apple, BlackBerry and Google have introduced similar solutions to market and sell applications for their mobile devices. There is little competition for Apple in the US market, but the competition in the mobile space has fueled innovation and a huge spike in the download and use of mobile applications. The market is hungry for applications with more than a billion apps sold in iTunes‘ application store alone.

The need for brands to allow access to their services and brands to users on the go is clear. Facebook alone has over 4 million visits a day from mobile device users. The BlackBerry application outlet reports that their most popular applications allow access to broadband based video entertainment (YouTube and Vimeo) as well as social media connection apps. When surveyed, people report that they use their mobile devices as a supplement to desktop-based interaction and while waiting for appointment, in transit or between meetings. A user’s search for interaction during these time periods and the intimacy of the device itself, give a strength to communication that has no parallel in other media. The advantage comes with several hurdles: App creators must respect the level of intimacy that is given and not waste a user’s time or be overtly promotional. Creators must also realize that they are competing for attention with friends and family members as all mobile platforms support and promote integration with FaceBook, MySpace, and a wide range of IM and chat applications. Apps must be engaging and offer an obvious offering for the opportunity to exist on a user’s mobile device. Third, and most importantly, the app must be cool. There are several examples, LastFM’s listening and music search application, or Allrecipe’s app to determine how to turn at-the-ready ingredients into an entree or the most ostentatious: I AM RICH app, sold in the Apple AppStore for $999.00. The viral aspect of an application that people are excited about will eclipse any media campaign to promote an app.

To have residence on a user’s mobile device is a commitment from the user and a level of brand engagement that is beyond comparison in the online space. Provided that the application is reliable and well constructed, having the intimate connection with users on a mobile device will shortly become the next milestone in brand identity. Companies hoping to promote themselves should not forgo their current effort or drop their current marketing successes for a new app-centric marketing model, but rather look for ways to drive traffic or have exchanges with their customers on the platforms they are using to run their lives with. Just as the web has matured since the first branded homepages, so should the integration of brands on mobile platforms.

Online identity management is hard even for people who are adept at managing their own SEO/SEM footprint. The ability for the public, friends, colleagues or potential employers to find you (“findability” to reuse the O’Reilly definition) is a mix of art, science and alchemy. Controlling what those searching for you find is the trick.

Google’s newest service, Google Profiles, gives you another way to manage your online presence. Acting as an “official” identity page, Google Profiles is part fill-in-the-blank SEO tool, part social media landing page and part self-promotional web center. Without linking out to any additional services, you can add your bio, a picture and a link to any URL. Results may vary, but if you don’t have much in the way of a web footprint, your Google Profile should be a high-result in a search for your name. For those John Smith’s in the world, I think the task may be more difficult. If you have included a photo, that too will come up in the Google search results page.

In addition to the basic bio, you can add a photo feed from your flickr account, a seemingly infinite list of URLs to sites that house your content, map information, some information about you as well as your contact information. The contact information is governed by a control interface that allows you to choose who can see your information. You can use a “group” architecture, or if you are a Google user, you may use your chat list or e-mail list from gmail or Google Calendar. For those outside of the Google Network, you can turn the contact content on or off based on your preference.

If you already have a network of sites or an online presence, Google Profiles, is an ideal place to put all of your contact information as a spring-board for those who might be looking for you. With geographic information, flickr and room for an many URLs as you care to enter, it puts your empire of content in one place. This is not a replacement for any service or a way to fall flat on your search-engine optimization efforts, but rather another branch out onto the web.

As part of the launch campaign, iPrint has been offering free business-cards with the Google logo and your profile URL printed.

LINKS:
http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2009/04/search-for-me-on-google.html
http://www.google.com/profiles/cullmann