by Jen Pennington
This little guide goes out to all photographers, designers, and clients. It is your chance to stand up and fight against the evil beige background that is often found behind so many uninviting corporate portraits. In the Rhizome world, beige walls are evil. They are subtle purveyors of sadness and a subliminal identification with the DMV (not a good experience normally). Mug shots at the police station at least have context and props! And for Pete’s sake, even the big department stores spice up their backgrounds (ok, the mottled texture is not so great either, but let’s not go there). So I invite all my fellow business people to stand with me and say, “Death to the beige wall!” (more…)
by Jen Pennington
Over the summer, I sat down on a Saturday afternoon with my client, Danielle at the Whidbey Camano Land Trust, and I listened as she lamented about their low visibility at local farmer’s markets. The Land Trust is involved in protecting the Islands’ most important natural habitats, scenic vistas, and working farms and forests in partnership with landowners and our island communities. This was their 25th year and she wanted people to take notice. Danielle told me people would often walk by their booth and try not to make eye contact. They thought all the Land Trust wanted was donations. I told her what she needed was a hook: something that would attract as much attention as if they were selling fresh baked chocolate chip cookies. Then we started play the, “What if?” game. (more…)
by Jen Pennington
Rhizome Design is unveiling their redesign of the Network for Business Innovation and Sustainability (NBIS) web site (www.nbis.org). More than a simple update of the site graphics, the redesign reflects NBIS’ commitment to helping businesses go beyond the adoption of green practices (being “less bad”), to a deeper strategic focus on sustainable business practices that yield environmental, social, and economic benefits.
Gone are the traditional muted earth tones usually associated with environmentally friendly product. The new NBIS site features vibrant green and blue tones that evoke new spring leaves and nutrient-rich sunlit seas. Not coincidentally, green is also the color of money. NBIS has proven their focus on sustainable business practices improve profits. (more…)
by Jen Pennington
Making Changes
How changes to copy and layout are communicated between client and agency has a dramatic impact on the success of the outcome. As with hunting and gathering, changes should be delivered “in bulk” rather than “drips.” We recommend assigning one person in your organization to be the point person and have all communications within your company sent to this person for consolidation. From there, all thoughts, ideas, changes, suggestions, and recommendations can be forwarded to the Project Manager at Rhizome at one time. This facilitates clear communication and ensures all requests for changes are received and responded to in a timely manner.
Technical Support
While we are always supportive of our clients, Rhizome does not officially provide tech support. We are happy, when time and expertise permits, to talk clients through problems, but for large, time-intensive issues, we recommend hiring professional help or researching issues via the Internet.
by Jen Pennington
The devil is in the details. Not enough can be said about the importance of proofing work that is designed, written, or programmed for clients. Once a client signs off on a project and the job is sent to print or goes live on the Web, errors found after the fact are the sole responsibility of the client. This is why we provide proofs and require sign-offs for all our work. In most cases we can fix errors that are caught after the fact, but additional costs might be involved. Therefore, please:
* Proof thoroughly
* Ask yourself if you are missing any part numbers, dates, credits, or copyright notices
* Check all phone numbers and addresses each time you receive a new proof!
* Have someone who knows nothing about the project proof for you-a pair of fresh eyes always finds something
* Double check to see if names are spelled correctly
