It’s hard to believe that we’re kicking off the third month of 2010. This year is our busiest yet and we’re eternally grateful to our clients for keeping us so busy! Since the beginning of the year we’ve welcomed two new clients to our roster — Ein Communications, one of the nation’s top boutique PR firms, as well as Saint Armand Ventures, an elite networking group based in New York City. We’re looking forward to an ongoing relationship with both of these clients. In addition to our new additions, we’ve continued to grow our relationship with GYMR PR, The Nature Conservancy, and athenahealth by taking on new projects in 2010.

In addition to keeping up with work from our clients, we have some updates we want to make our clients and fans aware of:

Things We’re Th!nking About

As you may have noticed over the past few weeks, we’ve launched a new series on our blog titled “Things We’re Th!nking About.” Through Twitter, Facebook, and our RSS feeds, we stumble upon quite a few interesting articles on a weekly basis. This series will aggregate the articles we think are the most relevant for our clients into one central location. Below each article, we post the general topics the articles touch upon so you don’t have to click through on every link — only the ones relevant to you. We’ll try and post the latest articles at least once a week on the blog, but you can always access our real time feed here.

Online Sketchbook

In addition to posting relevant articles to delicious, we’ve also launched an online sketchbook on Posterous. Here, we’ll post examples of beautiful design, typography, color palettes, and other things that make our design heart tick. Feel free to grab some inspiration here for your own projects.

Facebook

As if keeping up with us on Twitter, our Website, blog, delicious, and Posterous wasn’t enough, Think Tank Creative is also on Facebook. In addition to linking to our blog posts, we also post fun things on our Facebook page (we recently told you how to get free pancakes!). Join our 120-plus fans to stay up-to-date with the latest!

*NEW* Thanks for Th!nking of Us

New this month, Think Tank Creative is launching its “Thanks for Th!nking of Us” program. Our clients — past and present — have always been our best form of advertising, and we think it’s important to say “thank you.” So, beginning March 1, we’re launching our referral program. For every referral that results in a new project, we’ll say thank you with a discount on your next project or a little gift to say thanks! Contact us for full details.

*NEW* Designing for our Most Difficult Client

Our final announcement for today, is that we’re about to embark on a redesign of our Website. Sigh. The redesign is bittersweet — it we last redesigned our site about five years ago, so we’re anxious to rip it apart and come up with something new and exciting. But it has been our site for five years. We definitely know what our clients go through at the prospect of a redesign. Plus, designing for me. UGH! There isn’t a client in the world that’s as big a pain as I am. Maybe I should hire a designer to torment with the redesign (I mean to handle the redesign…). But really, it is going to be a great project. And we’re going to look to you — our clients, fans and readers — to help us. Over the next few weeks, we’ll be asking for your opinion on the site as it exists today, what you’d like to see, and what you think about our competitors sites. The best part is, we’ll be blogging the whole entire (good, bad and ugly) process. Stay tuned!

With decreasing budgets, increasing print costs, and the growth of digital readers, the days of print publications are numbered. Last year we watched one of our favorite magazines, Gourmet, close its doors and watched a publication we helped launch, Security Executive, stop publication. With digital readers such as the Kindle, Nook and now Apple’s recently announced iPad, closing the door is no longer the only option for magazines. Wired magazine recently announced its interactive magazine in response to increased readership online, on mobile devices and the iPad.

Wired focused on three key areas when developing their digital version:

1. Design: Rather than looking to the web development team for the design of the digital version, Wired used its print designers. They approach the design as a storytelling and move the design beyond ink on paper.

2. Advertising: As Wired’s creative director points out, people think of Wired as an authority and the editorial is an important part of the publication. An interactive publication provides opportunity to incorporate additional features in the advertising. The video below showcases some of the opportunities.

3. Brand: Wired readers have a relationship with the brands in the publication, and as Scott Dadich, Wired’s creative director, points out, ”we have a great website, we have a great print magazine, and this is just adding one more avenue of communicating and connecting with the brand of Wired.”

Last week, the German Federal Office for Security in Information Technology (known as the BSI) publicly recommended that all users of Internet Explorer switch to an alternative browser. This comes as a result of a number of critical security issues (including the recent Chinese cyberattack against Google) which have left IE vulnerable to attack.

According to the translated statement from the BSI:

Affected are the versions 6, 7 to 8 Internet Explorer on Windows systems XP, Vista and Windows 7 Microsoft has released a security advisory in which it discusses ways of minimizing risk and is already working on a patch to close the security gap. The BSI expects that this vulnerability will be used in a short time for attacks on the Internet.

Shortly after Germany’s warning, France echoed the announcement and also warned IE users to switch browsers.

Traditionally Microsoft releases security patches once per month, with the next release scheduled for February 9th.

Credit: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Web_browser_usage_share.svg

This morning, as a part of National Design Week, the DC chapter of AIGA presented a workshop on Building Online Brands. The workshop, moderated by William Cosgrove of Threespot Media, is part of AIGA DC’s regular Salon series, which we have written about previously. In this workshop, Will took the group through two redesigns his firm worked on and talked about how a Website redesign is often an ideal time to evaluate who the organization is and where the organization wants to be.

In the case of Planned Parenthood, for example, after some soul searching, the organization realized that they needed to be more approachable to their younger constituents while not ostracizing their donors and supporters. With the help of Threespot, they created an updated version of the logo, selected a new color palette and chose stock photography that reflected the variety of races, ages and sexual orientations of the men and women they serve.

Before

After

For Brookings (formerly known as The Brookings Institute), redesigning their Website also meant renaming the organization. The tired logo was refreshed and a new tagline was introduced. For inspiration, Threespot worked with the organization to find existing print pieces they liked, and used those elements to inspire the new design.

Before

After

In addition to these two real-life redesigns, the group also discussed how the user experience is a critical aspect of a brand. Take, for example, Virgin America. Everything from the check-in to the cocktails served on the plane to the ticket purchasing experience is a reflection of Virgin America’s brand. Virgin is clean, fun, relaxed and fresh. Every touchpoint of their brand mimics these characteristics.

Dustin Curtis, a user interface designer, recently threw the proverbial “design grenade” at American Airlines after a poor experience attempting to book travel on their existing site. Curtis redesigned the AA site and sent it off to AA executives with a letter.

Sure, the redesign looks great. And Curtis makes some valid points in his email about the user experience. But does a redesigned Website mean that American Airlines will be able to compete with the user experience customers on Virgin America receive? NO. Absolutely, most certainly, NO. In fact, American Airlines current Website as cluttered and chaotic as it is, is far more reflective of the customer’s actual experience. American Airlines responded and they shared that their issue is an issue many organizations face:

“The group running AA.com consists of at least 200 people spread out amongst many different groups, including, for example, QA, product planning, business analysis, code development, site operations, project planning, and user experience. We have a lot of people touching the site, and a lot more with their own vested interests in how the site presents its content and functionality.”

Is hope lost for American Airlines and organizations facing similar issues? No. With some soul searching and a candid conversation with the Website stakeholders, American Airlines could begin to change the customers perception of their brand. And if they continue working as a team to make their touchpoints a consistent, calm, smooth experience, then American Airlines can change the perception of its brand.

This week, Google released invitations to a select group of users for its highly-anticipated “Google Wave”. Google Wave combines e-mail, instant messaging, blogging, document sharing, wikis, and multimedia content to provide a seamless communications platform.

This application has the potential to change the way we communicate and is an important platform to keep an eye on. Below are links to three great articles on Google Wave and why it should matter to your organization. Request an invitation to test-drive Google Wave here.

Get Ready for Google’s New Wave Act

Five Reasons to Watch Google Wave

Marketing With Google Wave: A Game Changer?

It’s back to school time, and this year, students are going back to Google. Five million students are now using Google Apps on campus — a 400% increase from this time last year. Here’s a break down of the schools that have made the switch.

According to the Interactive Advertising Bureau, some interesting internet facts:

• In 19% of today’s marriages, the bride and groom met online.
• 10% of non-food retailing now happens online.
• As much time is spent on the Internet as is spent in front of the television.

(Courtesy of @reginahopper)

20 hours of video are uploaded to YouTube everyday. Consider this example provided by a YouTube representative to the New York Times: If all three of the major networks — ABC, NBC, and CBS had been broadcasting for 24 hours a day for the past 60 years, they still would not equal the amount of content uploaded to YouTube in 60 days.

The following (adorable) video has been viewed over 1.5 million times.

There are iPhone apps for every interest and every need, and sifting through them can be a daunting task. As we’ve played more and more in the iPhone app space, we’ve found some apps that we can’t live without. Here’s our list of favorites:

RemotePad – With RemotePad on your iPhone (or iPod Touch) and RemotePad server on your computer, your iPhone becomes an air mouse instantly. Control PowerPoint presentations from across the room, or navigate through a tutorial from the comfort of your conference chair.

Facebook – The latest Facebook app update is a significant improvement over the old version. With the new version, Public Pages can be updated from the app, making updates one touch. The Favorites screen allows you to quickly bookmark your most visited people and pages.

Flickr – Just released this week, the Flickr app integrates seamlessly with the iPhone camera, allowing instant posting to the user’s Flickr account. With the iPhone as the most popular camera among Flickr users (yes, we were suprised by this too), this app was a longtime coming.

TweetDeck – Much like the desktop version of this app, TweetDeck allows users to create columns with custom searches, “tweet” from multiple accounts and follow and unfollow users.

Where – A one-stop reference portal, this program is great for travelers and those on the road. The customizable screens can be set-up to show Yelp! ratings, gas prices, weather forecasts, news headlines and movie listings.

FourSquare – A Yelp meets Facebook status meets Twitter game, users are rewarded with badges as they visit different places in the city. The application allows you to connect with friends, offer tips, and make to-do lists of places to go.

We’d love to hear about your favorite apps! Post them in the comments below.

Wild Freeborn, an 8-year old Girl Scout in Asheville, North Carolina, has a goal: sell enough boxes of Girl Scout cookies to send her entire troop to summer camp. 12,000 boxes total. After utilizing the traditional sales techniques of her fellow Scouts — door-to-door and grocery store tables — Freeborn wanted to explore other sales opportunities, specifically, the Internet. With the help of her father, Freeborn launched a video on YouTube which directed viewers to a Web page with online ordering capabilities. Within two weeks, Freeborn received orders for over 700 boxes of cookies.

Selling products on the Internet is not new, but it is one arena the Girl Scouts have resisted. Their site www.girlscoutcookies.org, which allows visitors to locate the nearest troop selling cookies, was only launched in 2007. Freeborn was forced to pull down the video and Web page to comply with the Girl Scout’s rules, and, because “if you have an individual girl that creates a Web presence, she can suck the opportunity from other girls,” cites a Newsweek article.

Freeborn’s story serves as a reminder that in order to surpass our competition, business leaders must explore avenues that their competition is not.