Coalition to Support Iowa's Farmers Launches New Website

The Coalition to Support Iowa’s Farmers was created by farmers in 2004 with the mission of working with farmers to advocate and help implement on-farm best-management practices that assist Iowa’s farm families in raising livestock responsibly and successfully.

The Coalition approached Applied Art to design a fresh look. In addition, they desired a website that was not only easier for their visitors to navigate but also easier for them to update.

Applied Art provided The Coalition with a new site architecture and a custom web design with Flash animation. We teamed with programming house DWebware to provide them with a web-based content management system which features the ability to create/delete pages and re-order the navigation.


~Steph

DART Launches New Website

DART is the largest public transit agency in Iowa, serving 19 cities in and around Polk County to varying degrees. Those include Ankeny, Altoona, Alleman, Bondurant, Carlisle, Clive, Des Moines, Elkhart, Granger, Grimes, Johnston, Mitchellville, Pleasant Hill, Polk City, Runnells, Sheldahl, Urbandale, Windsor Heights, West Des Moines.

DART approached Applied Art to design a fresh look and develop an easier way to update their site.

Applied Art provided DART with a new site architecture and a custom web design. We teamed with programming house DWebware to provide them with a custom web-based content management system which features the ability to create/delete pages and re-order the navigation.

~Steph

Slipknot Download Concert

Slipknot's legendary 2009 performance headlining the Download Festival in the UK launched for a one night only event with a nationwide distribution on September 23, 2010.

Applied Art's Producer/Editor Neil Zaugg and Graphic Artist Scott Kaven worked together to edit the raw HD footage into the full concert. The HD footage is stunning and the performance is powerful.

Take a look at the 60 second preview here:

Applied Artisans Participate in 48 Hour Film Project

For the fifth year, a small team of filmmakers, including two Applied Artisans, some clients, spouses and freelancers spent a sleep deprived weekend participating in the 48 Hour Film Project. Their goal? To write, shoot, edit and score a seven minute film in only 48 hours. Team A Sense of Urgency, along with 48 other teams, was assigned a prop, character, line of dialog and genre that had to be incorporated into their film.

The variables:
Character – Carl or Carla Ross, plumber
Prop – coins
Line of dialogue – “Who came up with that?”
Genre - comedy

The local contingent of Team A Sense of Urgency consists of Courtnee Carstens & Michael Rossow of Applied Art, as well as Chad Baker of the Meyocks Group, and freelancers, Carol Baty among others. The team produced a comedy centered in the highly competitive world of rock, paper, scissors. Take a look!



~Courtnee

Applied Art Produces 2010 ISU Football Spot

Applied Art & Technology partnered with Iowa State Athletics to produce a TV spot for Iowa State Football. This year's theme is "Proud to be One", so the spot shows the pride of the fans, the coach and the team. The spot was shot on the RED camera by Paul Hickey and directed by George Christ. The fans for the tailgating scene were solicited on Facebook to participate in the production.



~Heather

The German Immigrant Experience: 1845-1925 Wins National Award

The American Association for State and Local History (AASLH) has announced that Iowa's Leadership in History winner is The German American Heritage Center, nominated for the exhibit The German Immigrant Experience: 1845-1925.

With partner Morgan-Bailey Consulting, Applied Art and Technology provided the video, hardware, and programming for several interactives including:

• Party Line: Pick up the receiver of an actual WWI-era candlestick phone to listen in on German-American conversations about their treatment during this war era.
  


• Step Into My Shoes: Step onto the footprint of a man, woman or child who emigrated to the U.S. to see and hear a first-hand account of their journey on a large screen.
  


• The Immigrant Story Kiosk: Features articles on German culture and history, experiences in their new home, impact on the Quad City region, and heritage.
  


• Ambient sound in several areas of the museum helps to bring exhibits to life.

See the complete press release at The Iowa Museum Association website and visit the German American Heritage Center website for more information about their exhibits.

~Jeanie

Iowa Lottery Cash Bonanza TV Spot

Applied Art & Technology, The Integer Group, and the Iowa Lottery joined forces once again to create a series of TV spots for the Lottery's new scatch game, Cash Bonanza. Utilizing back-to-back :15 second spots, the campaign takes a light-hearted look at the different kinds of reactions winners might have.

There's The High-Fiver, The Arm Flapper, The Screamer,The Laugher, The Disbeliever, the Jumper, The Crier, and The Cool Cat. Believe it or not, the auditions were more fun than the shoot!

Creatives Bryan Loop and Jeff Warren, along with Megan Kruger, represented Integer for the production. And from the Iowa Lottery, Sally Robson.

Marty Jorgensen directed for Applied Art. George Christ was the dirtector of photography. AVID editor Courtnee Carstens cut the live-action, and Steve Dixon provided backgrounds.

~Marty

Video on the Web - Streaming vs Progressive Download

Video on the web is becoming increasingly more important. Video has endless potential and offers an intimacy beyond what words and photos can convey. For example video can -

• Let prospects and customers get to know you better through video in your About Us section
• Allow you to easily demonstrate a complex product or idea using animation
• Clearly communicate your expertise in a more entertaining way

The purpose of this post is to discuss, in layman's terms, some of the pros, cons, and considerations of the two main ways video can be hosted and played back on the web.

Progressive Download

This is the most common way of delivering video on the web. YouTube videos are presented in this style. The telltale sign is the load bar - this pic showcases a red load bar with the faint red showing how much of the video has downloaded to your computer and the bright red showing how much has already played. Click beyond that faint red bar, and you'll be waiting awhile for your video to continue playing.

Pros

• All users will experience the same quality of video
• No special server software or setup required - the server you host your website on should be able to handle a progressive download video

Cons

• Be sure to ask your service provider about the amount of bandwidth allowed under your current plan because if your video downloads go over that alloted bandwidth - you will be paying more
• While all users will experience the same quality - those with a slower connection will wait longer for that experience (and it may be an unacceptably long time)

Streaming Video

If you've ever watched a show on Hulu - you've watched streaming video. You can spot streaming video if you are easily able to click way ahead on the load bar and within a couple of seconds - your video plays from where you've clicked.

Pros

• Quicker start up time for the viewer
• Detects user connection speed and adjusts the quality of the video its sending out accordingly
• You can "fast forward" quickly on the load bar

Cons

• Does require special software on your server
• All users may not experience the same quality of video

Considerations

If you answer "Yes" to any of the questions below - we recommend you look further into streaming. If not - we highly recommend progressive download:

• Is your event live?

• Do you expect a wide range of connection speeds to access your video? (i.e. your video will be viewed in great numbers in rural or remote areas)

• Is it necessary to maintain strict control of your video? (i.e. you do not want to allow your viewer the ability to save the video to his or her computer)


• Is your video very long? (most experts say if it's over 10 minutes)


• Is it absolutely necessary to allow the ability for your viewer to immediately jump around in the timeline of your video? (i.e. may be an important option with educational materials)


• Are you expecting a large number of viewers to view your video at one time? (i.e. you are sending a mass email with a link to your video to thousands of recipients)

If you would like more information regarding video on the web contact Applied Art & Technology at 515-331-7400.

~Steph

Ape House Promotional Video

Random House Books and Great Ape Trust chose Applied Art & Technology to produce a short promotional video for Sara Gruen's new novel Ape House. Inspired by the bonobo language research at Great Ape Trust, Ape House will bring a significant amount of attention to the type of scientific studies conducted at The Trust. Ape House will also introduce to many readers the uniqueness of the bonobo species of great ape.

"By producing a quality video with interviews from best-selling author Sara Gruen and scientist Dr. Sue Savage-Rumbaugh, we are presenting Ape House, the bonobos and the scientific research in an interesting and informative manner that should only enhance the brand of Great Ape Trust," said Al Setka, Communications Director of Great Ape Trust.

Gruen, whose Water for Elephants has resided on the New York Times best-seller list for almost four years and is now being made into a motion picture starring Robert Pattinson and Reese Witherspoon, visited again in April to renew what she calls life-changing friendships with the bonobo Panbanisha and her family. For Gruen, a Canadian-born author now living in North Carolina, the experience has been nothing short of magical.

“Four years ago, it would never have occurred to me that I would ever be able to say that I have great apes as personal friends, and now I can say that,” said Gruen. “That’s just an amazing life change. I am aware of them all the time, and I want other people to be aware of them. It’s sort of an otherworldly experience, and yet it’s not. They are of the same world. They’re apes and we’re apes."

Random House Books in New York City and The Trust have been extremely receptive and pleased with the results. Check out the video here...



~Neil

Iowa Hospital Association Social Media Conference

After attending a great conference this past week - I felt the need to blog about my top ten takeaways.

1. There's a lot of value in building relationships but keep in mind - it's hard to measure


2. While social media tools may be free - resourcing them is not


3. Public posts on Facebook are now opened to be searched


4. Social Media University Global (SMUG) site - definitely worth checking out


5. Even if you don't get started right away - claim your space before someone else does


6. While it may take some time up front - have your policies in place first


7. Social media is a commitment - not a campaign


8. If you are not ready to get started - you should still be listening


9. It's ok to monitor your comments before publishing, or to not allow commenting right away


10. It all starts with tremendous customer service

~Steph

ACH Food Companies Launches New Website

Open the cabinets and pantries of America’s kitchens, and you are sure to find ACH Food Companies, Inc. products. ACH is a multinational indirect wholly-owned subsidiary of Associated British Foods (LON: ABF), a diversified international food, ingredient and retail group with global sales of $13.5 billion.

ACH approached Applied Art seeking to design and develop a website that would be more consumer-friendly and better feature the breadth of their brands and products.

Applied Art provided ACH with a new site architecture and a custom web design with Flash animation. We teamed with programming house DWebware to provide them with a custom web-based content management system which features the ability to create/delete pages and re-order the navigation.

~Steph

Iowa Lottery Silver Anniversary TV Spot

Applied Art & Technology teamed up with The Integer Group and their client, the Iowa Lottery, to create an exciting new TV spot for the Lottery's Silver Anniversary. By combining live-action foreground elements with 2D and 3D background elements, Applied Art's animators were able to bring the ambitious storyboard to life.

Creatives Bryan Loop and Jeff Warren, along with Kent Fieldsend and Megan Kruger, represented Integer during the production. And from the Iowa Lottery, Sally Robson oversaw the project.

Marty Jorgensen directed for Applied Art, with George Christ lensing the live-action. AVID editor Chris Heckle cut the live-action to the soundtrack and lead animator Steve Dixon did the compositing and much of the animation with Scott Kaven and Todd Huffine contributing elements of the backgrounds.

"The Iowa Lottery is committed to helping Iowa this summer. The fact that we can continue to produce professional ads with Iowa production companies and talent are a plus for the Iowa economy," said Iowa Lottery President and CEO Terry Rich.

~Marty

Applied Art Produces Kemin Rosemary Video

Over the last 10 years, Kemin Industries has been a great client to work with. For this particular video project we shot on location in New Mexico and Texas to capture their patented Rosemary extraction process in HD. The video provided a clear message to the scientific community about how and why the Kemin product and process is superior.

Charlotte Jacobs, Senior Vice President, Global Marketing, lead the project and had this to say about working with Applied Art -

“I have had the privilege of working with Neil on a number of projects for Kemin Industries. His attention to detail and artistry brings life and beauty to corporate communications. He is skilled and patient at educating the client on what will work best to communicate their message. He really listens to the needs of the client and creates visually compelling stories that resonate with an audience. I highly recommend working with Neil as a producer, editor and collaborator.”



~Neil

Finley Alt Smith Law Firm Launches New Website

Finley, Alt, Smith, Scharnberg, Craig, Hilmes & Gaffney, P.C. is an established law firm engaged in a diversified civil trial and business practice, including personal injury, professional negligence defense, commercial litigation, general business law, estate planning and probate, taxation, employment law, health law, transportation law and construction law.

The firm approached Applied Art seeking to design and develop an elegant and stately website that would feature their wide range of practice areas and experienced attorneys.

Applied Art provided the firm with a custom web design and programmed a content management system allowing the firm to easily update the site's content and add/delete pages.

~Steph

Iowa Diabetes and Endocrinology Center Launches New Website

An affiliate of Mercy Medical Center, the Iowa Diabetes and Endocrinology Center (IDEC) is the largest endocrine practice in the state of Iowa, providing comprehensive health care services to adult patients diagnosed with diabetes and hormonal disorders.

IDEC and Mercy approached Applied Art seeking to design and develop a website that would feature and provide an education about the many conditions IDEC treats. The homepage also features a callout listing information about IDEC's groundbreaking clinical trials.

Applied Art provided IDEC with a custom web design with Flash animation, and teamed with programming house DWebware to integrate this site into Mercy's content management system which features the ability to create/delete pages and re-order the navigation.


~Steph

Allied Insurance Website Features Applied Art Produced Flash Animation

Recently, Applied Art created a Flash animation for Allied Insurance. This animation would illustrate Allied Insurance's ability to allow qualified automobile insurance customers to customize their policies by adding On Your Side^® Rewards.

After designing and storyboarding, Applied Art graphic designer Michelle Monson used Adobe CS4 to animate each scene.

Be sure your sound is turned on to view the animation now on the Allied Insurance website.

~Steph

Applied Art Produces Slipknot "Snuff" TV Spot

Roadrunner Records in New York has once again called upon Applied Art to create a TV spot. This time for the release of Slipknot's new music video "Snuff".

With little direction and even less time, our creative team lead by Scott Kaven was able to deliver in short order. The goal was to highlight the lyrics through text and to keep the background interesting, but not distracting. Of course it all had to feel like the Knot. Producer Neil Zaugg worked with Roadrunner and the creative team to turn the project around in 2 days. Within 4 days of the original request, the spot was airing in major markets around the word.

Check it out...

Applied Art Edits and Animates Purina Mills Video

Our old friend Joe Pundzak joined us again to create a follow up to last year’s Lightning Horse project for Purina Mills. This time Joe’s excellent writing was brought to life by three of our artists, Steve Dixon, Scott Kaven and Todd Huffine . This team created stunning 2D and 3D animations that were expertly edited by Chris Heckle to create an introductory video to Purina’s latest horse feed products.

Mr. Pundzak said of his experience, "After over 30 years as a writer/producer, I've had occasion to work with some highly talented individuals and yet, I've never experienced the pure joy of creative collaboration more so than while working together with my creative team at Applied Art & Technology. Not only do we produce super stuff, we have fun doing it!"

Applied Art Produces ISU Basketball Opener

Applied Art teamed up with ISU to create a special video open for the basketball games against rivals Iowa and Kansas. The video was shot on location at Hilton Coliseum and features a young Cyclone fan paying homage to Cyclone greats past and present. This inspiring video fired up the crowd and a version was created for use at Hilton for all remaining games this season.



~Heather

Darlow Christ Architects Launch New Website

Darlow Christ Architects is mid-size firm of architecture and interior design professionals headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Darlow Christ approached Applied Art for a website redesign that would better showcase their work. With this instruction, Applied Art implemented a full photo background with a simple navigation bar allowing the photos of their award-winning designs to take center stage.

"My partner, Peter Darlow, and I at Darlow Christ Architects are thrilled with our new website created by Applied Art and Technology. Our site was challenging because our work spans from designing highly unique restaurants to meeting the functional needs of larger higher educational facilities. We are pleased that our new website shows off our work creatively thus reinforcing our design abilities while maintaining a level of professionalism that indicates that we are responsible to our clients needs. We feel that AA&T really understood who we are and has executed a site that gives us a unique identity and a platform to attract new projects and grow our firm. The site is easy to navigate and the AA&T team was wonderful to work with." - Cathee Christ


~Steph

Ag Connect Expo

Applied Art just returned from Orlando, the location of the inaugural Ag Connect Expo. The Meyocks Group worked closely with Applied Art on the booth lighting, audio visual and interactive experience. Attendees included producers, agribusiness professionals and dealer personnel who could literally kick the tires of the innovative, Des Moines-based Firestone Ag Tires. The centerpiece of the exhibit was a new Firestone agricultural tire with AD2 technology.

Applied Art produced a video that played on eight 65” high definition 1080p plasma monitors, and a touch-screen interactive presentation showing the features and benefits of the new AD2 technology. We also produced a web-friendly interactive to extend the reach of the trade show.

~Steph

Christmas eCard from Luther College

Welcome to the first Applied Art blog post of the New Year! We hope 2010 is going well and you are gatherring close to the warmth of your TV screen and catching up on movies in time for the Oscars.

Doesn't Christmas already seem like it was a million years ago? Well this Christmas eCard will bring all those warm and fuzzy holiday feelings right back to the forefront - especially if you are affiliated with Luther College. This the third in a series of eCard's produced by Applied Art & Technology that Luther College has sent to their students, employees, alumni, parents, and friends. It features music from the college's 2008 Christmas concert and was very well received. Many alumni took the time to comment about how much they enjoyed the images of the campus and the award-winning choral music. We hope you enjoy this eCard and keep Applied Art in mind next time your need to reach out to your target audience.


~Tony