Lead Generation Trends

Lead Generation Trends

Storytelling for Nonprofits Daily

Storytelling for Nonprofits Daily

Nonprofit brands often drive the engagement through the art of storytelling. Publisher Wilton Blake has created an excellent resource that’s dedicated specifically to helping nonprofit organizations do exactly that.

The State of HTML5 Video

The State of HTML5 Video

HTML 5 video has rapidly evolved, and compared to even a year ago, the possibilities are nothing short of incredible. If you’re planning on putting video at the heart of your site experience and want it to play well across all platforms, Longtail Video’s done a very nice job breaking down the do’s and don’ts for you.

Social Branding & Implications for Communicators

Social Branding & Implications for Communicators

Consumers around the world are increasingly asking businesses to prioritize society’s interests as highly as they do their own. Amidst a backdrop of media clutter, learning how to share your brand’s good deeds is essential. Social branding can lead the way to helping contextualize a brand’s efforts authentically.

7 Lead Generation Trends for 2012

7 Lead Generation Trends for 2012

Whether it’s B2B sales or nonprofit fundraising, lead gen is at the heart of driving a successful pipeline to fuel your business. From mobile strategies and personalization technologies to apps, marketers should be aware of these 7 trends to focus management strategies on generating better leads.

Turning a Parking Garage into a Graphic Funhouse

Turning a Parking Garage into a Graphic Funhouse

Design is all about pushing the norms, and innovation is all about taking existing situations and turning them into preferred ones! Craig Redman and Karl Maier show us all how even the traditionally cold and drab parking garage can become a source of inspiration in an amazing display of colorful geometry.

Week in Review:

Recent Thinking

6 Great Interactive Data Visualization Tools (Part 2)

6 Great Interactive Data Visualization Tools (Part 2)

Welcome back for the second part of my series on interactive data visualization (dataviz) tools. In part one, we covered three cool tools for visualizing charts and graphs and many other data types on a webpage. In part two, we take a look at three more tools that are a bit more complex but have some incredible data visualization capabilities.

Share this Insight

Posted by

January 25, 2012

Categories:

Recent Thinking

6 Great Interactive Data Visualization Tools (Part 1)

6 Great Interactive Data Visualization Tools (Part 1)

Websites are loaded with eye candy these days — from slick user interfaces to interactive maps to cool photo slideshows — all achieved without Flash, just HTML, CSS and Javascript. And these technologies are free, open and can be utilized in essentially every current web-browsing device. While it’s tempting to just jump in and add the latest cool feature to your site, you have to first make sure it’s a good fit for your users and your brand.

Share this Insight

Posted by

January 18, 2012

Categories:

Recent Thinking

Google Searches for Relevance

Google Searches for Relevance

Google Integrates Personalized Search With Web Search

Google Integrates Personalized Search With Web Search

Google is leveraging its power as the market leader in online search to crack social media world wide open. This convergence disrupts traditional content walls, empowers the user, and has enormous potential when it comes to marketing and commerce. For organizations that rely on social networks, such as grassroots-driven nonprofit organizations, the benefits could be tremendous.

20 Things You Can Do to Improve Your User's Experience in 2012

20 Things You Can Do to Improve Your User's Experience in 2012

Too many websites fail to deliver on a brand's promise from poor user experience planning. And these problems only get worse as sites grow organically over time. Usability consultancy, User Focus kicked off the New Year by offering up 20 core UX strategies and tactics that individually will improve your site's user experience, and in concert are sure to strengthen your brand.

Twitter Works, but Is It Working for Your Brand?


Twitter Works, but Is It Working for Your Brand?


Countless companies struggle to find meaningful ways to put Twitter to work for their brand. Douglas O'Donnel, Associate Director of Measurement & Analytics at Possible Worldwide cuts to the chase and points out where Twitter is most likely fail your brand, and where it's most likely to add new value. Stay human, stay humble, and build trust—good advice for anyone.

Greenpeace Turns Chopsticks into Trees

Greenpeace Turns Chopsticks into Trees

Chinese consumers used 57 billion pairs of disposable wooden chopsticks in 2009, equal to over 3.8 million trees. With an art-meets-activism-meets-brand message public installation, Greenpeace challenged us to ask, at what point do we conserve trees instead of cutting them down for a one-time-use products? Turning 80,000 disposable wooden chopsticks into 4 full-sized trees gets the message out with impact, changing behavior, and showing us all how brand initiatives can turn creativity into impact.

Week in Review:

Recent Thinking

Unrabble Featured by Start2Cloud

Unrabble Featured by Start2Cloud

MSDS client, Unrabble was featured today in Start2Cloud with a full review of their service. Focused on the cloud computing industry, Start2Cloud was established to become the ultimate global source of professional, unbiased, and up-to date information that exhaustively covers the growing market of business-oriented cloud applications for the SMEs.

Posted on January 15, 2012

Categories:

Recent Thinking

MSDS Wins 6 American Design Awards

MSDS Wins 6 American Design Awards

Graphic Design USA announced the winners for The 2011 American Design Awards, and MSDS is one of the most represented firms in this year's print design competition, taking home 6 awards for branding, logo design, and report and brochure design.

Posted on January 10, 2012

Categories:

Recent Thinking

Best of 2011 Roundup

Best of 2011 Roundup

While many industries seemed to be on the ropes last year, design was not one of them. If anything, it seemed to race ahead, fueled by new strategies and technologies that pushed the limits of what design can do. Here are some of the highlights:

Share this Insight

Posted by

January 10, 2012

Categories:

Recent Thinking

Three Ways for Nonprofits to Maximize Design Firm Relationships

Three Ways for Nonprofits to Maximize Design Firm Relationships

As someone who’s focused on managing engagements for technical projects, when I talk to people in the for-profit sector about our work, there’s one phrase that always seems to work its way into the conversation: “Things work a little differently with nonprofits.” While NFPs have plenty in common with other types of businesses, things like the budgeting process, staffing structures, and corporate culture are decidedly different.

Share this Insight

Posted by

January 6, 2012

Categories:

Recent Thinking

Matthew Schwartz, Founder of New York Design Firm, MSDS Interviewed by Communication Arts

Matthew Schwartz, Founder of New York Design Firm, MSDS Interviewed by Communication Arts

Agency Founder and Chief Creative Officer, Matthew Schwartz was interviewed today in Communication Arts' Insights, his second appearance in the profile of leaders in the branding & design industry. In the profile, he discusses his thoughts on the current state design, technolgy, the creative process, and other topics. The complete interview is available here.

Posted on January 3, 2012

Categories:

Recent Thinking

MSDS to Design IEA's Energy Technology Perspectives 2012 Report

MSDS to Design IEA's Energy Technology Perspectives 2012 Report

We're proud to announce that the International Energy Agency (IEA) has awarded MSDS the redesign of "Energy Technology Perspectives." MSDS will be creating a fully templated design system for the 600+ page biennial publication, complete with data visualization workflow and robust guidelines for extending the redesign to other facets of the IEA brand.

Posted on January 1, 2012

Categories:

Recent Thinking