Digital artist Alex Varanese shows us artifacts from a past that never existed but that we wish had. Welcome to ALT/1977, where today’s technology is trapped thrives in a 1970’s aesthetic.
Sean Donnelly’s BS
July 13th, 2010
The Big Red F
Image courtesy of www.useit.com.
No, it’s not a modern reworking of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s Scarlet Letter. Nor is it the lasting image from my 10th grade geometry final. Rather, it’s a symbol of how the Internet has transformed the way we think.
In recent years, usability experts have examined how we process web content. One of their tests involves eyetracking, or the tracing of the movement of the eye across a web page. From these tests, researchers can develop “heatmaps” that illustrate how much users looked at different parts of the page, with the color red indicating the most viewed areas. The heatmaps reveal that generally we read web content in an F-shaped pattern, taking in the first couple of lines of text then scanning down the left side of the page.
Recognizing this trend, content providers need to adjust their writing to accommodate our online reading habits. Keep copy concise. Front-load it with the most useful information. Provide a clear call-to-action. These measures will give your message a better chance of reaching its audience. [At this point, I should probably follow my own advice and rewrite this post ... nah!]
January 12th, 2010
Elvis: The King of Rock ’n’ Roll (and branding)
Seventy-five years ago last week a rock ’n’ roll icon was born, and thereafter one of the most recognizable brands on the planet: Elvis Presley. It’s hard to believe that a humble shotgun shack in Tupelo, Mississippi would become the launching pad for a wildly successful brand empire, but the numbers don’t lie. In 2009, Elvis Presley Enterprises earned $55 million, his Graceland shrine attracts 600,000 visitors annually, and he’s sold more than one billion record units worldwide. While Elvis the man is dead, Elvis the brand continues to thrive.
So how did we get to this point, where Elvis’ mug gets plastered on everything from t-shirts to lamps to golf balls to… err… mugs? To some extent, we have his manager – the man Elvis fans love to hate – Colonel Tom Parker to thank (blame?). With his background in the carnival world, Parker never lost his appetite for promotion, tasteless or otherwise, and he treated his star as the ultimate sideshow. As early as 1956, Parker cashed in on Elvis’ undeniable charisma, brokering a deal with toy manufacturer Hank Saperstein to merchandise 72 different Elvis-themed products. The combination of Elvis’ raw appeal, post-WW II prosperity, and the emerging teen culture provided the ideal marketplace; in six months these trinkets accounted for $22 million in sales. In that sense, the template of Elvis-as-commodity was established almost from the beginning of his career.