Forest Septic Tank Service Launches New Website

Forest Septic Tank Service is a family-owned and operated company in business since 1918. With an impressive fleet of pumping vehicles and two TMX mini-excavators, Forest Septic is well equipped to service both commercial and residential customers.

Forest Septic approached Applied Art to design a fresh look, provide a more intuitive site navigation structure and to update their popular time of transfer form. We also customized a web-based content management system allowing Forest Septic to easily update their new site's content.

~Steph

Let's Talk Page Fold

What is the page fold?

Page fold is a term carried into the web from the print newspaper industry. It is the area of a web page appearing on a user's screen before any scrolling takes place. Because the most common screen resolution is 1024 x 768, content above the 700 pixel line is usually considered to be "safe".


If you question whether or not your website's safe area falls into the 700 pixels category simply check your analytics data.


Check to see how your website appears at various screen resolutions quickly and easily.

Is the page fold important?

My short answer is yes, the page fold is still a force to be reckoned with.

"Web users spend 80% of their time looking at information above the page fold. Although users do scroll, they allocate only 20% of their attention below the fold."
--Jacob Nielsen's Alertbox
March 22, 2010: Scrolling and Attention

The long answer is there are varying degrees of reckoning. When designing, you first have to determine how important the page fold is to your homepage by answering these questions:

• Who is your target audience?
• What are they coming to your site to do?
  

• a task?
• casually browse?
• both?

At one end of the spectrum where the page fold is very important you have a bank website. Account holders arrive at the site to quickly check account balances, transfer funds, etc. That target audience wants to complete their tasks quickly and move on.

At the other end of the spectrum you have a bargain retail website. At this site most of the users come to browse sale items and click on any that are of particular interest to them. The most enticing deals should still be at the top but, that audience is far more likely to scroll down the page in search of deals.

If you have trouble determining how important the page fold is to your audience, Google's In-Page Analytics (beta) now provides you with a site overlay which provides a percentage of how many clicks below the fold your page is currently receiving.

The page fold is important to your site - now what?

Do not despair if you discover that the page fold is indeed important to your website's homepage. It does not mean that you are destined for an overly crammed homepage design. You can still keep your design clean and your navigation intuitive. In order to ensure a clean and intuitive design we recommend:

• Structuring your main navigation simply and in the way your audience will approach you, not the way your company is structured. Quickly answer the user's question - "Where do I begin?"
  
• Reviewing your website's analytics to get a feel for what content/tasks are really important to your audience and therefore might require a homepage callout or quick link.
  
• Above all else, make sure that within mere seconds of arriving at your homepage your audience is keenly aware of why they should do business with you.
  

Keep in mind the "3-click rule" is a fallacy. Users are comfortable clicking numerous times so long as they are secure in the knowledge they are on the correct path.

The page fold is not terribly important to your site - now what?

If your market research points to evidence of the page fold not being terribly important to your site make sure you are well versed in exactly how to go about designing for below the fold content.

• critical content always goes above the fold
• avoid horizontal design elements near the 700 pixel line
  
• must encourage scrolling with content that is visible just above the fold

Here is an example where a horizontal design element was used near the 700 pixel line. This is the site at 1024 x 768. Would you think there is some great content below the grass?

There's actually a pretty cool contest for consumers being advertised down there...


On the flip side sites such as Entertainment Weekly do a great job of teasing the site visitor. Who wouldn't want to know what Reader Favorites await them below?


~Steph

Heart Mountain Interpretive Center, Wyoming

"What does it mean?"
"We haven’t done anything wrong."
"Why are they treating us like criminals?"
“But I am an American citizen.”

Endless questions of the Japanese people living in the States raced on and on. Why were they being imprisoned at Heart Mountain? How did this happen?

With the attack on Pearl Harbor and World War II in full swing, the resentment and fear of all Japanese people brought about the apparent need to corral “these people” in one centralized place, which would be called Heart Mountain. This self-contained area in Wyoming was waiting for the thousands of Japanese people that were ripped away from their homes, their jobs, and their lives. They were then forced to relocate and start completely over, with nothing more than what they could carry on their backs. They would end up surviving by working together as a community, a character already infused in them by their Japanese heritage.

Decades later a museum, the Heart Mountain Interpretive Learning Center, has been built to honor these people and their experience, to help us feel what they felt and be enveloped by their stories. Applied Art & Technology had the privilege to be a part of this homage, by providing the audio-visual components for the Heart Mountain Interpretive Learning Center, whose construction was finished in late August, 2011. The AV interactive exhibits include themes such as Women and Mothers, Draft Resisters, Forced Removal, Life at Camp, and The Japanese in America. A visitor may push a button to view the clips within these interactive exhibits. When a button is pushed, the monitor's screen comes alive with various scenes from Heart Mountain such as a haircut and shave in a local barbershop, kids sledding down a hill, and workers in the field proudly showing off their crops. Interviews from Heart Mountain internees are also included in the exhibits. Their stories shed light on life at Heart Mountain, the prejudice they experienced for being Japanese, and the shock of having enjoyed freedom as an American citizen to suddenly becoming a prisoner under a guard's constant watch.

Another interactive exhibit allows the visitor to use button controls to fly or walk around a 3D-rendered version of the camp, giving one a more clear idea of the massive scale and feel of the camp filled with countless rows of barracks. This creative work was done, pro bono, by the Academy of Art University Schools of Game Design, Visual Effects, and Motion Pictures & Television, which was headed up by Vanessa Yuille.

Although what happened at Heart Mountain is very somber, the Heart Mountain Interpretive Learning Center duly honors the resilience of the Japanese people, and gives us a window into their experience and vivid memories of a place that will always be embedded in their minds.




~Rachel

What's the difference? Single, Dual and Multi Touch Monitors

This blog is an overview about the differences, best uses and relative costs of the various touch monitors.

Single Touch Monitor

A single touch monitor is an electronic visual display that can detect the presence and location of a single touch within the display area. Touch monitors can also sense other passive objects, such as a stylus. In essence, your fingertip or the stylus becomes the mouse click or flick.

Best uses: menus, page turning
Hardware and development cost: $


Dual Touch Monitor

Commonly claimed to be multi touch, dual touch refers to any touch monitor that can recognize two touches and perform additional functions to manipulate the interface. The iPhone is famous for introducing this interface to the cell phone world by using it to allow pinching and stretching gestures on the screen to control zooming.

Best uses: image zoom, 3D model manipulation
Hardware and development cost: $$


Multi Touch Monitor

Multi touch is a method of input that allows three or more touches (typically 16, 32 or 60 points) on a single interface at one time by two or more people. This is the most attention-grabbing and cutting-edge technology available.

Best uses: trade show booth, learning/education
Hardware and development cost: $$$$


This is one of the coolest examples of multi touch we have seen. This video is from Infocomm 2011: Christie MicroTiles Graffiti Wall powered by Baanto.



Feel free to also view Applied Art's interactive portfolio.

~Steph

Google+ Field Trial and Review

I've been testing the new Google+ social media site this week and so far I really dig it. I like the clean look and intuitive interface, and the simple way of categorizing the contacts you interact with. There are circles for friends, family, and acquaintances so when you post something, you choose which circles you want to share with (so your plans for Friday night aren't broadcast to Aunt Millie in Phoenix, for example).


You can customize circles and have as many as you want. Facebook allows categorizing contacts into lists but in my experience that an all or nothing sharing experience-- either people see your status updates or they don't. The Google+ circles work much better for those of us with multiple personalities. Here's the video Google made about Google+: http://bit.ly/ku5JZk.

Another feature incorporates video. You create a "hangout" for up to 10 of your friends where you can go interact via web cam. It's like the chat list on Facebook, with video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QN38vHZjWXw


The mobile app is pretty cool, too. There are "huddles" that allow for mobile messaging between a small group of people. I have two friends in a huddle to discuss all the highly important things the three of us are always texting about. It's an easier way for the three of us to continue the conversation.

You can click the +1 icon to add that article to your Google+ stream as something you thought was interesting or want to share with your contacts.

Notifications are built into the Google toolbar. I can also see how Google+ may work better for businesses, because they can be added to their own circle instead of showing up in a news feed along with your friends' updates. After a while I end up hiding those posts on Facebook. With Google+, those posts will be compiled in one place that I can visit when I am looking for a recommendation, special offer, or whatever.


I don't think this will replace Facebook or Twitter, but I like how Google+ takes some of my favorite features of those social media experiences and puts them into one place, with the clean look and ease I expect from Google.

~Heather

Mark Hawes Benefit

The Final Season actor Sean Astin and real-life Norway baseball coach Kent Stock invite you to participate in a benefit for recent Waukon High School graduate and former baseball player Mark Hawes.

Hawes is a young man who is paralyzed from the chest down as a result of a sliding accident during baseball practice. Mark is working hard to get himself in a position to follow his dream of attending Iowa State University in the fall, where he wants to major in Ag. Engineering.

Applied Art Produces Sauer-Danfoss Promotional Videos

Two Rivers Marketing and Sauer-Danfoss have recently collaborated with Applied Art & Technology on two new promotional videos. The Electronic Controls division of Sauer-Danfoss wished to create the videos to communicate their specific skills and high-tech products.

Producer/Editor Neil Zaugg and Graphic Artist Stephen Dixon teamed up to give the videos an exciting look and feel with a very impressive graphic approach that emulates the look and feel of the new Sauer-Danfoss brand Two Rivers is currently developing.

The videos were shot, edited and mastered in HD which easily allowed Sauer-Danfoss to distribute them on many different platforms including Blu-Ray, DVD, iPad, mobile devices and high quality web compression. The reception for both the Electronic Controls and JS7000 product videos has been outstanding.

"Even though this was our third video production with Applied Art, they nonetheless took a fresh perspective into this project, to give it its own, appropriate look, sound, and tone. As usual, we could count on Neil and his team for creativity, professionalism, and timely production."
Rachel E. Martin
Sauer-Danfoss Inc. | Manager - Market Communications, Americas

Design World Magazine noticed the high quality production at the 2011 IFPE Trade Show in Las Vegas and have included it with compliments on their site.





~Neil

Civil War Mobile Exhibit Trailer

The State Historical Society of Iowa celebrated the 150th anniversary of the Civil War on April 12th through the grand-opening of its Civil War mobile trailer exhibit.

Iowa Governor Terry Branstad was honored with the ribbon-cutting of the History on the Move trailer, which will travel to various venues throughout the state. Applied Art had the privilege to facilitate its interior and exterior design and renovation (previously it housed an Abraham Lincoln exhibit), in collaboration with Jennie Bailey of the Historic Iowa Exhibit Design and Craig Fritzjunker of Junker Group, LLC.

Music from the period and recruitment posters welcomes visitors as they walk up the ramp to the entrance. Inside, the exhibit features a combination of graphic panels, videos, interactives and other elements telling of Iowans' contributions during the Civil War. The colorful timeline, enhanced with historic images, leads the visitor through the major milestones of the war.

Digital frames display images that:

• Chronicle each state's policy on slavery and status in the Union from 1790 to 1870
• Show the strategy used by the Union to subdue the Confederacy
• Pinpoint the locations of battles in which Iowa regiments participated

To bring the war to a personal level, the visitor may search a database of Iowans who fought in the war or view a video on the reasons Iowans went off to fight.

As visitors exit the exhibit, a large video monitor brings home the war's aftermath, showing how its effects reverberate to this day.

Exhibit renovation was sponsored by EMC Insurance, Qwest, and the Union Pacific Foundation.


~Rachel

Three C's for Good SEO

While designing and developing websites for our clients we are often asked about search engine optimization (SEO) best practices. While there are many and Google will never let you know exactly how their algorithm works - I have categorized the most important variables into three C's.

Content

• keep it fresh and original - write to your audience first and foremost
• navigation structure should be clean and intuitive
• shoot for a sweet spot of 3% keyword density (every 100 words)
  
• place those keywords close to the beginning of your paragraph because hierarchy counts

Code

• keywords in page titles - hierarchy counts and be sure to make each page's unique
• keywords in title tags - h1 tags are the most important
  
• keywords in alt tags of images
• keywords in domain name (if at all possible) - but remember the age of your domain counts
  
• description in meta data - be sure to make each page's unique
• page speed - fully optimize your site
  
• HTML validation - (W3C is a great tool for this)
• clean URL structure for all pages - try to avoid alpha/numeric strings in your URLs
• make sure the amount of time left on your domain name's registration is not short term
• submit an XML site map to Google's webmaster tools
  
• check to make sure your site is hosted on a trustworthy server
  • is the server located in the US?
  • are your server neighbors reputable sites?
  • what is the server's "up time" percentage?

Community

• social data - engage fans and gain social credibility through social media platforms such as Twitter and Facebook
  
• anchor text and trustworthiness of outbound links
• user data - click through rates, bounce rates, average time on site
  
• anchor text, diversity and trustworthiness of inbound links
• build these organically - it's never a good idea to buy backlinks
• Google was founded on an academic premise - the more you are "cited" the more trustworthy and prestigious your site becomes

If your first thought after reading through all of that is...Aack! Where do I begin? I have an answer. Begin by researching what your keywords should be. Everyone has preconceived notions about keywords, but be sure to back those up with solid research.

Are folks really searching the keywords you think are important? Check it out here.

Google's External Keyword Tool

If you have any questions or concerns regarding your site's SEO, feel free to email me at sbidney(at)appliedart.com or give me a call!

~Steph

Applied Art Develops Trustwave Multi-Touch Presentation

Headquartered in Chicago, Illinois, Trustwave is the leading provider of on-demand data security and payment card industry compliance management solutions to businesses and organizations throughout the world.

Applied Art developed a multi-touch presentation for an 85" screen (think CNN-style interface) in order for Trustwave to deliver 2011 security risk information at the USA 2011 RSA® Conference.


~Jeanie

Applied Art Coordinates International Shoots

"The Ukrainian government has some rules that make it difficult to get footage out of the country, but I found a way around that."

Producer Heather Creswell is talking about a series of international marketing videos she just wrapped up for one of Applied Art's best clients. Heather coordinated crews to shoot footage in China, Ethiopia, France, India, New Zealand and Ukraine to gather information on how the client's customers can be better served.

Some of the more stressful moments of this production were in getting a crew from Kenya to the locations in Ethiopia with the proper permits, and the suspicious requests of a certain Ukrainian rental house. Most of the interviews were conducted in both English and the native language but in two cases English subtitles were used. When the French footage unexpectedly showed up without the English translations, a translation was procured within 48 hours.

Most of the HD footage arrived on hard drives, and was then uploaded to an ftp site for review by the client. Editors Michael Rossow and Chris Heckle teamed up to edit the videos in order to meet the deadline. The final videos were also uploaded to the ftp site so that the client could access the files for meetings anywhere in the world.

The experience reminded those involved that the world is pretty small and that crews everywhere share the drive to do whatever it takes to get the shot. Next time Heather hopes to produce the videos on site.





~Mark

Slipknot Rocks Applied Art Once Again!

Slipknot and Roadrunner Records in NYC again chose Applied Art & Technology to create their latest interactive DVD set - (sic) nesses. On top of developing the content of both disks, this time around we also completed the DVD interface, authoring and encoding. Editor and Producer Neil Zaugg developed and cut the content, including the "Live at Download" concert that was recently shown in theaters around the world. The high-energy concert was also broadcast globally on MTV's World Stage.

In addition to the concert, music videos and The Making of Snuff, Clown has once again directed an art house film that combines behind the scenes footage, live performances and a tribute to late bassist Paul Gray.

Artist Scott Kaven took on the graphics and special effects as well as the DVD interface and menu graphics. Once again - he killed it!

Working with over 20 countries to manufacture, Authoring Engineer Mike Rossow managed all technical aspects of the DVD set including the global distribution. Released late last year, the (sic) nesess has already gone Gold and Platinum.

Wiki Info





ROCK ON!

~Neil

Applied Art Develops Real-Time Applications for CNET

CNET, a division of CBS Interactive (CBSi), wanted real-time data displayed in an eye-catching manner for their 2011 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas. CES is the world’s largest consumer technology tradeshow featuring over 2700 exhibitors.

Applied Art Designer Leon Resh worked with Boston based CBSi Director of Marketing Abbey Flores and the San Francisco based design team of Kirsten Reismera, Shaun Charity and Scott Thibodeaux to create applications that would take a real-time data feeds from CNET and animate the display of the data in a visually exciting way.

According to Resh, “When you develop applications for trade shows you often are working with non-standard displays. This presents a fun creative and technical challenge.” Applied Art worked closely with Jean Powell of Freddie Georges Production Group and Bryan Burris of AV Dimensions to make sure the software and hardware worked together flawlessly.

“The motion graphics looked great - and really contributed to the power of CNET's booth (in fact, we were named one of the top 10 booths at CES.)” said Flores.

~George

Center on Sustainable Communities (COSC) Launches New Website

Center on Sustainable Communities (COSC) is a non-profit membership organization founded in 2005 that serves as Iowa's trusted educational resource for sustainable building. As the recognized leader in providing education and connecting resources, COSC empowers individuals and communities to make everyday decisions that promote sustainability, resulting in a better quality of life for all Iowans.

COSC approached Applied Art to design a fresh look as well as add many additional features to their site. Features include a profile login area for members and registered site users that tracks membership level and site activity, a store, updateable homepage callout areas and online event registration. We also customized a web-based content management system which allows COSC to easily update their new site's content.

~Steph

New Programmer Joins Applied Art

Rick Vanderleest joined Applied Art as a software developer/engineer on Monday, January 10.

Rick, his wife and two daughters are relocating from Iowa City where he has worked for Digital Artefacts - an interactive media development studio - for the last 9 years.

He is a graduate of the University of Iowa with a Masters degree in Biomedical Engineering.

~Jeanie

New Interactive Tracks Iowa's Civil War Regiments

When visiting Waterloo, stop by the Sullivan Brothers Iowa Veterans Museum. Applied Art worked with the museum staff to develop a high-definition Civil War chronology and an interactive that tracks the travels of each of Iowa's 63 regiments through the war.

You can view more examples of our interactive and museum work by visiting our Interactive Media microsite.

~Jeanie

Keep Iowa Beautiful Launches New Web and Microsite

Keep Iowa Beautiful (KIB) is a statewide nonprofit organization dedicated in engaging Iowans to take greater responsibility for improving their community environment and enhancing the beauty of their state through litter prevention, reduction and beautification programs.

KIB desired a fresh new website that would better reflect their brand as well as a separate design for their Teachers Going Green elementary program microsite. To enhance lesson plans, we provided teachers with two fun and educational games within this microsite: Trash Trivia and Coloring Book.

Applied Art presented KIB with two custom designs ,complete with Flash animation, and teamed with programming house DWebware to provide them with an integrated web-based content management system for both sites. The system features the ability to create/delete apges, re-order navigation and easily update homepage features.

"Changing or modifying your website can be a project fraught with difficulties and problems. Working with Applied Art has made the task easy and at the same time filled with new creative and exciting opportunities."

-Gerald Schnepf, Executive Director
Keep Iowa Beautiful



~Steph