February Events

Client Relationships/Designer Business Roundtable Discussion

AIGA
Feb 2, 2012
7:00 pm-9:00 pm
Centene Center for the Arts & Education

It’s the first Designer Business Round Table of 2012! Join an intimate group of passionate creatives as they discuss key business issues related to design. Fellow designers and panelists will be discussing clients: how to get them, how to keep them and what to do when things go south.

101 Session- Taxes In Partnership with VLAA

AIGA
February 6, 2012
7:00 pm- 9:30pm
Regional Arts Commissions

St. Louis Volunteer Lawyers and Accountants for the Arts has cordially invited AIGA St. Louis to their annual workshop Artist as Bookkeeper, where Angie Fink of UHY Advisors will guide us through the tax maze and offers suggestions that could save you money and a lot of aggravation.

Pay to Play: A Discussion About Media Economics

St. Louis Women In Media
February 7, 2012
5:30pm- 8:30pm
Atomicdust

Experts from the fields of public relations, print media, radio, and online media will come together to discuss challenges, foundations, and expectations that each face in the current economic and media environment.

Wall Ball 2012

Saint Louis City Open Studio and Gallery
February 11, 2012
7:00pm- 11:00pm
Third Degree Glass Factory

Engaging an eclectic mix of artists, patrons, collectors and admirers, Wall Ball comes but once a year. Don't miss this chance to purchase amazing art work from St. Louis' most admired artists at unreal prices.

Creative Next Panel Discussion

Ad Club St. Louis
February 14, 2012
8:30 am - 10:30am
Rodgers Townsend

Join the second annual discussion with St. Louis’ top creative talent, as they explore the question, “What’s Next?” Panelists include Barrett Book (Jump Company), Peter Dycus (Coolfire Solutions), Josh Kell (Group 360), Chris Kilcullen (Boxing Clever), Joe Leahy (HLK), and Jeff Stevens (Momentum).

Luncheon: Love Your Donor, Love Your Volunteer, Love Yourself

CSPRC
February 14, 2012
11:30am- 1:15pm
Sheraton Clayton Plaza Hotel

It’s a Valentine’s Day lunch-and-love! Come learn how to take the best care of your agency’s donors, volunteers and even yourself! Stewardship is essential to maintaining positive, lucrative, long-term supporters. Investing in your staff can ensure an engaged team devoted to your organization’s mission. Focusing attention on your own needs will further your fondness for what you’re working to achieve.

ADDY Awards Show and Celebration

Ad Club St. Louis
February 16, 2012
7:00pm-11:00pm
Copia Wine Bar

Come celebrate and congratulate this year’s ADDY winners.

BRAND Against The Machine- 51st Annual Marketing Conference

AMA
February 17, 2012
7:30 am - 11:30 am
Missouri History Museum at Forest Park

Join the American Marketing Association of St. Louis for an informative day of presentations and networking opportunities for professionals and students.

Student Conference 2012

AIGA
Feb 25, 2012
TBD
Maryville University

Will feature noted speakers, demonstrations, break-out sessions, and a portfolio review for the first 100 Seniors who sign-up. Registration and pricing information will be made available in the coming weeks.

Did we miss an event? Please let us know.
 

For the past few weeks, I've been using Studio Neat's Cosmonaut stylus instead of my old Wal-Mart brand capacitive stylus. It's been a great experience, though not without quirks.

Firstly, the Cosmonaut stylus has been carefully designed to mimic the feel of using a dry-erase marker (or a very large crayon). This is a net positive for day-to-day use, as the iPad's hardware and software touch recognition has been optimized for fingertip-size inputs. I find myself trying to be too precise with smaller styluses - my hand thinks it's a pen or pencil, when the just doesn't have that kind of input fidelity.

The Cosmonaut has an aluminum core, a grippy rubber exterior, and a frictionless capacitive tip. It comes with either an aluminum or wood endcap, and ships in a wonderfully minimal cardboard package. The final product is just a hair taller than an iPhone 4, and has the heft of a premium product without being too heavy for extended use.

My only complaint is so minor I hesitate to mention it. It centers around my instinctual desire to place writing devices behind my ear, and frankly, the Cosmonaut is both too heavy and too thick to fit comfortably.

So, to summarize - it's a great stylus for sketching quick thoughts and taking loose notes, especially when paired with apps like Penultimate, Mixel, or Bamboo Paper.

But is it a one-size fits all solution? I don't think so.

I've got two other stylus-like gadgets on my radar - the Sensu Artist Brush and the Pogo Sketch Pro both look like unique, interesting ideas in the space, and I look forward to using each.

Do any of you fine folks use a stylus with your tablet, and if so, which one? Also, which apps do you find more useful with a stylus? Let us know in the comments!

Jason Stoff is a fancy-pants designer, photographer, and handsome rogue in St. Louis, MO. And also holds the title 'Senior Designer' at Atomicdust.

One late night, while waiting for a designer (Katie) to hurry up and finish working on something, we found ourselves huddled around her desk, right next to the photocopier.

Jesse scanned his face, rolled it as the light passed, creating this weirdly creepy, artsy print, which (of course) we instantly had to post on Facebook.

So then we all took turns, laughing and being creeped out by the results, and sharing (and grossing people out) on Facebook.

We wanted to share the experience, but how do you lure people into your office to scan their faces on a copier? Donate to a charity each time they do!

For every person that comes by our office, scans their face on the copier, and lets us post it on Facebook, we’ll donate $5 to St. Louis Food Outreach. Up to $5,000.

And in a couple months, we’ll buy some beer and host a ‘gallery show’ of all the faces we scanned in our office.

So stop by, have fun and help a great St. Louis charity!

And here's a link to the photos on Facebook.

Check out our Facebook Deal to see friends who have already participated.

Here’s what the judges had to say:

“This site is seriously gorgeous with its sleek black-and-white layout and subtle flair. Atomicdust is also one of the few creative agencies that effectively harnesses the personalities of its employees and displays that energy online without being cheesy. For examples of that, just check out its frequently updated blog.”

Kind words, indeed. It may be cliché to say, but it truly was an honor just to be nominated, considering they chose from over 1,000 nominations from more than 400 readers.

And kudos to Atomicdust designer and photographer, Jason Stoff, as well. His personal site, Encor.es, won for Best Photostream/Flickr.

Check out RFT’s site for more on the winners and pictures from last night. And special thanks to Dan O’Saben for letting us use one of his images from the event for this blog post! 

While I agree with David Hallerman, eMarketer's principal analyst, who says, “Advertisers' comfort level with integrated marketing is greater than ever,” I hope this surge doesn’t lead to more clutter and thus diluted messaging.

Sure, impressions are good, but what will potential customers take away from these ads?

Messaging plays a critical role in the success of any ad campaign, online or otherwise. A brand’s message needs to be solid, memorable and communicated to its audience regardless of which channel is used for its delivery.

In the infancy of social media, marketing departments realized a need to participate, but many of them didn’t know how, and still struggle with the concept. Strong messaging and honest interaction were (and still are) the keys to a successful social campaign.

Online advertising isn’t new, but following this report, it will surely climb the ranks of potential marketing channels to be the new in vogue marketing tool.

Is it relevant? Should existing budgets be adjusted to match this trend?

As with social media or other marketing vehicles, we say start with a genuine (and relatable) message. Once a position and message are established, the decisions on its delivery become clear. That said, we know brands have been, and will continue to, compete for attention online. That means more messages, and ultimately, more noise. Remember, advertising, online or otherwise, is about communication, not just how much you spend.

James Dixson, Principal / CMO at Atomicdust, has experience in all aspects of marketing, with core knowledge in interactive marketing, the world wide web and all things Apple.

In the increasingly always-connected mobile world we live in, it should be.

The way a user interacts with an app, website, or device has a profound impact on the emotional connection users form with their favorite brands. People love to be surprised and delighted - and paying careful attention to interaction decisions is a fantastic way to reinforce a brand experience.
 

Path

Path is a social app available on iOS and Android phones, with similar functionality to Facebook. The company recently relaunched their primary app - and immediately thereafter, Twitter seemingly exploded with praise (and some disdain, naturally) for the app's design and usability flourishes. The most obvious example is the share menu - it's a large plus-button in the lower left corner of the screen, and when pressed, six smaller icons spin out to form a radial arrangement of icons. The plus sign tilts 45 degrees to become an X - and if you press it again, the smaller icons spin back into the main button. It's very slick, and a definite "Oh, neat!" moment.

These design details, small and large, are apparent throughout the app. They create a feeling of delight that's unique to Path - there's simply nothing that works quite like it. Facebook, by comparison, feels old and boring.
 

Flipboard

2011 saw the launch of tons of reading aggregators - apps and websites that import your social network information and serve up articles from various sources that you should like (based on what you and your friends link to.) The first - and most popular by far - is Flipboard for iPad.

Once you've used Flipboard's page-folding mechanic (or watched one of their demo videos), you just get it. They've got a touch interface mechanic wholly different from Apple or Google's default page-turn styles, and it belongs entirely to Flipboard. They've made a screen transition distinctive, fun, and obvious.

Moreover, the Flipboard team is obviously aware that this interaction is at the core of their brand. The recently released iPhone version doesn't flip side-to-side in the same way as its larger iPad sibling, instead using the same mechanic to flip up and down. It's a natural gesture that only requires one thumb to activate, and it's still instantly recognizable.
 

Windows Phone

Branded interaction models aren't limited to apps or websites - Microsoft's Windows Phone operating system puts a lot of emphasis on horizontal swipes, revealing additional content in parallax panes. Most apps on the platform make use of this style of navigation. It's not entirely unique to Windows Phone - the iOS version of Tweetdeck used something similar - but they use it so often and so well, they effectively own the interaction.

And that's really the point - that's what effective branding is. It's about possessing something unique; it's differentiating from the competition. It's about creating something desirable, not something that's good enough.

In the grand scheme of things, interaction design is only one way to contribute to a brand's overall experience. Still, it's something that should be carefully considered in a time where we regularly carry tiny supercomputers in our pockets.

Jason Stoff is a fancy-pants designer, photographer, and handsome rogue in St. Louis, MO. And also holds the title 'Senior Designer' at Atomicdust.

We opened the doors of our new Midtown Alley office for a tour as well as shared a few insights into what we do, and what we believe in.

Read the full story on the St. Louis Egotist