coexist

It’s tough to see our old florette mark go into retirement. I saw it go from a doodle to a mark that has served us well for the past five years. The redesign is a forethought of who we will be as a business in the near future and the mark is the first element in what will be a complete brand refresh of Coexist. A new Web site will follow in the next few months along with big improvements to our client experience tools and our office.

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It’s always beneficial to tap NYC for some fresh inspiration.

Making the most of a quick weekend getaway – I always find comfort in the amazing street art across the city, but this time, a more formal exhibition created the spark that I was looking for.

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Just ripped through Ignore Everybody on a cross-country flight the other day. It’s a fun read and a good book to give the creative soul a stir.

A few themes grabbed me. The hard work thing is covered in Outliers (another good read) but this book touches on it too. “Doing anything worthwhile takes forever. Ninety percent of what separates successful people and failed people is time, effort, and stamina.” I don’t know about saying “failed people”. That seems a little strong and it’s possible to fail at something and not be a failure. It’s truth though that anything worthwhile typically comes from hard work of the above and beyond variety.

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If you want to know which companies in the United States make the most money then turn to Fortune magazine and check out their Fortune 500 list. If you want to know which companies on the Internet have the largest online audiences of like minded individuals then turn to The Big Money website and check out their Facebook 50 list.

Do you spend time wondering who makes the most money? Maybe maybe not. Do you spend time wondering what your friends and peers are getting into? Probably. With 350 million Facebook users (50 million just added in the last 2 1/2 months) this is worth paying attention to.

The Big Money Facebook 50

I havent found a good use for it yet… but if you haven’t played around with the flex-iframe component originally by Christophe Coenraets and then subsequently improved by Brian Deitte you’ll have to check it out.

This component allows you to embed true HTML content within your Flex applications with little effort.

Check out the Google Code project at: http://code.google.com/p/flex-iframe/. In the project Home tab you’ll find examples on basic implementations. They also have an example where you can add simple overlay detection to allow the HTML page to communicate with your Flex application.

The Coexist crew always enjoys the chance to celebrate breakthrough interactive designs with our peers and late last week we got to catch up with our local counterparts as the CSCA (Columbus Society of Communicating Arts) held their annual 2009 “Creative Best” Awards presentation.

Coexist proudly accepted a grand total of 3 interactive awards over the course of the evening. And while we will always measure our projects’ absolute success based on pure ROI and impact, it is nice to be recognized as one of the premier creative agencies in town.

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Looking back on a recently completed project is a good way to catalog the things you’ve just learned in the process. Seeing a project not only as a destination but as a journey is a good way to grow as a designer as well as a developer.

This series of blog posts will be a sharing of the things that I’ve learned on projects here at coexist concentrating mostly on Flex and Flash development.

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It was really interesting being a part of a brand communication fire-drill recently that was a direct result of the fundamental shift in how people interact and how we view “confidential” information.

Dealing with sensitive information is something clients and agencies do every day. It’s taken seriously and given a touch of common sense is not a big deal. This week, our client realized that it’s a bit more challenging when dealing with “don’t tell” information that affects the people that were asked to keep it a secret. (more…)

Xbox Live launched an update yesterday, allowing their Gold subscribers to interact with Facebook, Twitter, Last.FM, and the Zune.net store. While the integration is not without its flaws, it’s still a welcomed update that opens many doors.

Coupled with last years update which allows subscribers to stream any Netflix Watch Instantly movie through their console, the Xbox 360 now serves as a pretty robust piece of entertainment hardware when compared to its release in 2005.

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You really can’t beat a Midwest Indian Summer Weekend. The icing on the cake is the opportunity to fire up the Stella for a rare romp among the Fall foliage without the usual compliment of deep freeze winter gear.

A relaxing ride quickly turns into routine errands, but it’s amazing how much more enjoyable a Target run is when you know that you get to take the long way home with two fists in the wind – scooter style.