WD: To kick-off, can you tell us a little about Night Agency and how and when it all got started?

NIGHT AGENCY: Night Agency was started in NYC on 1 January 2004 by myself and my two partners, Scott Cohn and Evan Vogel. The three of us became friends at Syracuse University. After graduation, Evan and I went into business together, and Scott moved to Hong Kong. When he returned, Evan and I invited Scott to join us in starting up a creative company. Evan and I would handle all matter of business and sales, and Scott would be the creative department. This took place over a series of meetings, generally over beers and pub fare, and evolved into incorporation papers and mission statements. Our name comes from the fact that we had all of these meetings and conversations at night.

WD: What was the original vision for Night Agency? And how has the company actually grown beyond its initial expectations?

NA: The original vision for the company was to offer brands the ability to market and promote their products and services in a way that would speak directly to consumers’ wants and needs. We felt that the advertising we were seeing at the time was very disconnected to what people were really looking for. It seemed rote and disingenuous, like it was being created in some ivory tower by a bunch of people who didn’t really understand the realities of the market. Now, over five years later we still continue to follow the same vision: offer brands the services and strategic insight that will inform them what consumers want from their brand and help them to deliver it. The company has grown in triple-digit capacity the last four years in business, despite the current challenges in the marketplace. The company has grown nicely, but we’re nowhere near content with the current state of the business. There are a lot of companies (that we’d really like to work with) that we feel are being totally mismanaged, mishandled and poorly serviced, and we believe there is tremendous opportunity for a company like ours to help them. Our original vision is still intact – and the complexities of the market favour our approach and point of view.

WD: The Night Agency homepage provides instant impact with its full-screen Flash video. What optimisation issues did this present to ensure all users see the page in all its glory?

NA: We are flattered that you like it, but in all truth, we have been trying to update our site for three years now – you know what they say about the cobbler’s kids not having shoes… Full-screen video is a pretty standard option for most of today’s Flash video players. I think we just figured out a little early that you can get decent results from scaling up the dimensions of the video without actually increasing the bandwidth demands. Regardless, there are still many, many people who can’t see our homepage because they’re afraid of any kind of pop-ups, including legitimate software updates. I guess there will always be roadkill on the information superhighway.

WD: Night Agency incorporates a host of services into the brand. How big is the team at the agency and how many are specifically designers and developers and what are their specialist skills?

NA: Today Night Agency is 42 talented and diverse people from around the world working together under one roof. We have seven designers, seven Flash developers, and nine programmers. The skills of our team range from web design to application development, 3D animation, video editing – just about anything you can do on a computer. Most of our team members are capable of dipping into different disciplines if necessary, but generally they are focused on their particular area of expertise. The rest of our staff includes account services folks, strategists, producers, writers, musicians, editors, finance folks and our marketing and media team.

WD: Flash is a key component of much of Night Agency’s work. When taking on a new project, what is the process of taking an idea from concept to design?

NA: Each and every job is completely unique, but the process it follows is one that falls under our creative chaos approach. Due to the uniqueness of each idea and project, ranging from the size and scope to the time we have to do it, we have to actively communicate and determine the best team members to contribute to the project based on availabilities and abilities. Key members of the design/dev/tech/UX/strategy and creative teams meet to discuss the idea, and help to flesh out what it is, and how best to make it. This process is one that we like to believe is never done – by nature of the fluidity of the web, it can constantly be updated and improved. That being said, a site has to launch at some point, and so we work backwards from the date of launch to determine the healthiest timelines as it relates to the different areas of the creative process. Once a team is finally decided upon, members of the team work together to handle the different areas of the assignment. Typically, there is a design lead, a tech lead, a dev lead, and a creative lead all working together on the specific project. The client services team members and producers work closely to support the client’s needs, and to communicate these back and forth to our internal resources.

WD: When the basis of a website has been defined, how much interaction is there between you and the client during the development process?

NA: We work intimately with our clients to ensure their happiness with the products we create. As for interaction, typically there are approval processes built into our timelines. We have constant check-ins to ensure the work throughout the entire process is meeting their needs, as well as keeping to the designated timelines. We’re only as good as our clients are – so we have to credit their courage and vision with much of the work we have been responsible for over the years. So to answer your question – there is a lot of interaction with our clients.

WD: Designing with Flash often involves a lot of hi-resolution imagery, which in turn creates large file sizes. How does this affect the design and development process and what is the trade-off between size and quality?

NA: Balance. It doesn’t matter how beautiful the site is if it doesn’t load and everyone leaves. The trade off takes place in conversations between our designers and developers – with the client sitting at the head of the table. We develop with best practices in mind – and always come back to the end user. If the end user isn’t going to like it – scrap it. You want to strike a perfect balance of quick load times with gorgeous visuals and a great user experience. Our teams handle this with a set of standards, and are constantly looking to find ways to push the boundaries to continue to innovate – without having to wait too long.

WD: Traditionally, Flash is not recognised as the most search-friendly application. How does Night Agency resolve this issue and what other forms of promotion do you use or recommend?

NA: We are a media and technology agnostic company. The business problem dictates the solution, not the to meet the challenge our brand clients are facing. No two programs are the same. As for the search issue – we do build a lot of hybrid sites, where we’ll incorporate Flash for pretty visuals and a cool experience while incorporating HTML etc to bring search qualities into the work. As for what other forms of promotion, we have used everything from display ads, to search, to rich, to social media, billboards, TV – whatever. It all depends on the challenge.

WD: Certain quarters of the web design and development community see Flash as an animation tool rather than a true web design tool. What is Night Agency’s thoughts on this issue?

NA: Flash/ActionScript is too deep to reduce to a particular application. And web-design is so wide open for using different technologies together to provide the best possible experience. The idea that Flash is only for cartoons, or animation-heavy websites, is a radical oversimplification. Flash developers are some of the smartest creative people I’ve ever worked with and are extremely adept at solving problems far beyond how to make a “cool transition”. Long live Flash.

WD: Creative/design agencies are thick on the ground, what sets the Night Agency apart from the competition and how do you sell yourself to prospective clients?

NA: Night Agency is an ideas company for the digital age. We act as the digital agency of record for brands. We are not a web production company, we are a strategic partner to our clients offering the full picture as it relates to their business, not just their digital business. Our creativity, strategic insights, focus on innovation and partner level accessibility make us unique to the world of advertising. We are among the first truly digital businesses able to work with C-level marketers to help them solve major business challenges and needs. We interface solely with brands – not as a resource to the traditional shops to make their work digital. We’re responsible for the strategies and insights, the ideas, the design, development, marketing, media, analytics and so on. We’re end to end – which enables us to offer total accountability to our clients by way of a one-stop shop. Additionally, the partners at Night Agency are accessible and work on the businesses of our clients.

WD: Finally, as an active creative agency in the web design industry, what words of wisdom do you have for those wanting to get into the industry?

NA: It’s an exciting time in web design, and in the creative field in general. If you’re considering getting into the business, I’d encourage you to be as active as possible within the community. Be on time. Be curious. Be courageous. Take risks. Listen to your peers. Ask questions. Work hard. Work for free if you have to for a chance at the table. Follow your instincts and your passions. Be a team player – no one likes to work with assholes. Have an open mind and an open heart, and follow your dreams! Good luck.

WD: As someone who develops iPhone applications commercially, what are your perceptions of this new market and the significance it might have for software development?

GR: The iPhone has really opened up the market for independent developers. It was previously very difficult to produce and distribute applications to a large audience. In a relatively short amount of time the App Store has made it possible for us to reach over half a million people. Developing for mobile has its own challenges. Unlike a typical website you have to consider many scenarios for connectivity, interruptions and international issues that just don’t happen when you’re coding a website or desktop app. The nice part is that you also get to consider all sorts of environmental issues such as location, orientation, cameras and video that you usually don’t get to use when building a website.

WD: In your experience, what kind of iPhone applications are the most successful and do you have any tips for what makes a great app concept?

GR: We have built over a dozen apps for ourselves and a number of applications for clients as well. There are three specific things that we have found help make apps successful: Great design and great user experience Do something better than everyone else Great promotions or marketing to get the word out There are very few apps that are wildly successful that don’t exhibit aspects of all three. All the apps you read about that are runaway hits had aspects of all three. We’ve used this same formula on a number of our other apps: Clock Radio, JetSetter, Mortgage Calculator, VideoUp, etc. Great design, unique value, great marketing. We’ve had our share of flops as well so I would not say that it’s a surefire formula but these three guidelines have served us well.

WD: What really sets the iPhone apart in terms of developing apps for smartphones and how much has it changed mobile design forever?

GR: The iPhone has a much richer control set than previous smartphones. As a developer you have a very rich and attractive library of user interface controls and design patterns. You also have an easy-to-use API to access things like location, maps and more. On other platforms like Windows Mobile or BlackBerry it is limited and it’s much harder to produce quality apps. The iPhone makes it easier to do the right thing. Looking at the marketplace you see Google, Palm, BlackBerry, Nokia, Microsoft and Motorola all focusing on creating rich touch-based smartphone devices with complimentary app stores. This is a total change in direction from five years ago and I don’t think they’re looking back.

WD: How do you feel about the fairly ‘closed’ nature of Apple’s policy for developing and distributing iPhone apps – is it fair on third-party developers?

GR: I don’t think Apple expected the App Store to be as big a hit as it has become. It seems its infrastructure was built on the model of how the music store operated. Clearly apps are very different than music and end users’ expectations are very different. The system has to change. Personally I think Apple knows that it has to change. The problem is figuring out how to change the system without putting the success that it has built in jeopardy. A couple things would really help.

1) Transparency in the approval process. Developers should know what’s going on and how long it will take.

2) Clear policies, not just guidelines. It should be 100 per cent clear what types of applications are allowed. As it currently stands the process lets some apps in while very similar apps are rejected.

3) A well-defined appeals process. The current ‘process’ is to blog about the issues and hope you raise enough of a stink that Apple will change course.

4) Trust but verify. Apple can remove much of the approval process and verify apps rather than approve them.

Facebook has a similar model where apps can be verified. Other platforms work in much the same way relying on community rating and flagging to help vet new content or new applications and tools. Apple has built an amazing platform but the approval process and ‘openness’ of the platform still needs work.

WD: Firstly, how did you first get into designing iPhone apps?

JG: Designing iPhone apps is something I stumbled upon last fall when my freelance business began feeling the economic squeeze. The slowdown caused me to take a step back and seek out different opportunities for my skills as an art director and designer, and iPhone was an obvious choice. The App Store was and still is full of ugly apps that are difficult to use! Clever Twist rapidly evolved as I discovered designing iPhone apps involves more than just a pretty interface. Each unique application is like starting a small business. It requires expert attention and advice in every aspect of the product development process: research, design, coding, marketing and PR.

WD: What constitutes a great idea for a successful iPhone app and how do you get from novel concept to something that can be developed and sold?

JG: That’s the million dollar question isn’t it? There’s not a secret formula for success in the App Store, but based on our research and experience thus far, it’s good to ask yourself a few questions that are characteristics of successful apps: Does your app solve a unique problem? Does the app serve a specific niche? Does it make people laugh? Are you building a better wheel? Will the app be highly interactive?

WD: What software tools do you use to craft the very distinctive look of your apps and are there any constraints placed on the visuals?

JG: Our primary tools are Photoshop, Illustrator and Wacom tablet. Constraint-wise, the iPhone screen size is 320×480 pixels, so weeding out unnecessary elements in the app is crucial. Only include the bare minimum it takes for the user to accomplish any given task. Think about how you can combine tasks. Another consideration is the size of tapable elements that appear on the screen and the spacing between those tapable elements. If you make buttons too small or place them too close together, users quickly become irritated that they are not able performed the desired actions easily. Two icon sizes are required when submitting an app: 57×57 pixels (72 dpi) and 512×512 pixels (300 dpi). The 57×57 size is used as the icon on the handset, and the larger of the two is used as the App Store icon. Typically we begin icon design in the 57×57 format and size up to 512×512. For this reason, using Illustrator or vector shapes in Photoshop are preferred to ensure crisp images to tweak in the larger format.

WD: How much emphasis do you place on the look of your apps and how they’ll appear and be marketed on the App Store?

JG: Ha! I wish I could say that 100 per cent of the reasoning for our emphasis on design was about sales but honestly we’re design geeks. Design geeks want pretty stuff no matter how well it sells. What we’ve learnt over the past year is how to be profitable artists. Spreading the pretty requires having the means to continue making the pretty! That said, dialling up marketing has been easy from the standpoint of having a lot of great assets to work with. Repurposing graphics from the app to pull together for collateral helps us extend the app ‘brand’ across all advertising media, embedding the product in the minds of consumers. Right now the Clever Twist brand takes a back seat to the product, but over time our plan is for Clever Twist to be known as a publisher of entertaining apps with killer design!

WD: How realistic is the perception that selling iPhone apps can be a lucrative business and how does the payment/commission scheme work?

JG: Former Palm guy Elia Freedman gave a great talk on ‘Building an iPhone Business’ last fall that drove home the idea that building an iPhone app IS a business and quoted some great stats on who is making money in the App Store. Peter Farago, of mobile analytics firm Flurry, also has an interesting article that talks about indie developers as a formidable competitor to established gaming publishers. Succeeding in the App Store seems to be a combination of luck, great product/design, marketing and persistence. I don’t know about ‘lucrative’ but I think it’s fair to say that with the right combination of the aforementioned elements, independent app developers have a chance of making a profit. The App Store takes 30 per cent of revenues and in-app purchases. Because of currency conversions and such we use AppViz to track and visualise graphs of our sales and sales trends. You can reduce Apple’s cut to 25 per cent if you sign up for its affiliate program. Apple offers a five per cent commission on all app sales that are driven by your affiliate link.

WD: Lastly, what words of advice do you have for would-be app designers who are maybe coming from a web design background?

JG: Just because you’re dealing with less screen real estate doesn’t mean there’s less opportunity for creatively executed design. Less is more, as they say, and if you enjoy simple solutions and creative problem solving, designing for mobile devices is a great challenge and a lot of fun!

http://aclevertwist.com/blog

This issue we go big time with the highly respected New York agency Big Spaceship

Founded back at the turn of the new Millennium, Big Spaceship has evolved from a bedroom in Brooklyn to one of the world’s highly respected creative agencies. Co-founders Michael Lebowitz and Dan Federman decided it was time to start an agency that pushed the boundaries and was a fun place to work. Nine years on and it’s still all innovation and smiles.

WD: To get started, could you tell us about Big Spaceship and how and when it all got started?

MICHAEL LEBOWITZ, FOUNDER & CEO: Big Spaceship was founded in 2000 by myself and Dan Federman. We had each worked at a handful of digital agencies that functioned in a top-down format, essentially ostracising the younger, less-experienced folks – those closest to the culture. After Dan and I teamed up at the same agency, we decided to find a better way of getting the job done – to not just exist in the digital world, but to push the boundaries. We were also simply looking for a place where we’d want to come to work every day. So with a healthy dose of confidence and a little naivety, Big Spaceship was born. We had no business plan, just a spare room in Brooklyn that we converted into an office. Over time, we grew into the present 45-strong team. That growth was not a goal; it was a side effect… the natural outcome of a desire to innovate. As for the company name, we were brainstorming around space-oriented themes and concepts. They felt appropriate to our desire to create a new ‘launching pad’ so to speak… something forward thinking. We wanted a name that moved past the stigmas that arose from the bubble burst in the late Nineties. Big Spaceship worked on multiple levels.

WD: When the agency first started out what was the original vision and how has that matured since?

ML: Big Spaceship was formed at a time when the industry was in its formative years, and no one really knew what steps were involved in creating and expanding digital design into the behemoth it is today (not that we have all the answers now). The point is, Big Spaceship was fashioned from the minds of people trying to make sense of interactive experiences. And we were doing so from an inventive perspective. Consider the role of the internet in 2000 and how much it has changed since then. The transformation has been revolutionary, to say the least. Likewise, our business structure and vision have matured. We’ve really bolstered our strategy practice over the past year. At the same time, the spectrum of our work has broadened – not only in terms of the clients we work with, but also in terms of our output.

WD: As a creative agency your website is a focal point for prospective customers. How much time, energy and manpower is dedicated to the site?

ML: We relaunched our site earlier this year and have since been more dedicated to continuing to evolve it. Quantifying the manpower isn’t all that exciting. What I can say is that we’ve adopted a holistic viewpoint. It is an extension of our communications. Far more than our portfolio, we use it to further engage our audience – through Flickr photos, Twitter, RSS feeds, etc. It is a window into our culture. The homepage itself is sort of a scrolling news feed, so we can continually update folks on what’s happening.

WD: You’ve worked with some big global brands, 20th Century Fox, Nike and Adobe to name just a few. You have a strong brand association with TV and film companies, in particular. How did that come about?

ML: One of our first jobs was with Miramax. We had an existing relationship when we bid on the project. From there, we took it one day at a time and chose our work carefully. Though we obviously needed clients to survive, we desired only to develop work that was different. We wanted it to be experiential, immersive and bigger than anything our clients were expecting. Early projects with Miramax – like Bridget Jones’s Diary and Serendipity – were precocious ideas in terms of movie marketing at that time. They soon led to deals with Paramount and Sony. We didn’t set out to conquer the entertainment world, though it is how we cut our teeth and is certainly an area we still love working in. Our goal was and is engagement… moving people, getting our audience as close to the story as possible, even giving them the ability to interact with it.

WD: How does working with strong established branding affect the design process?

TYSON DAMMAN, ART DIRECTOR: There are times when prior to starting a project, many of the variables – such as typefaces, colours, branding, etc – have been set. But this doesn’t limit us in any significant way. We consider these variables as a set of creative ingredients used to develop a brand experience. They usually evoke a certain style that we can explore within. Having certain constraints allows us to focus on the user experience and create something memorable. In the case of a heavily branded project, our process usually begins with a review of any established guidelines. We’ll experiment with type, look at how we can treat any logos and taglines, and brainstorm on how we can best create a seamless jump into the website, game, application, etc. While we do enjoy making things “our own,” our top priority is making sure that whatever we design and execute is cohesive with the brand and enhances it in a meaningful way.

WD: The agency covers a broad spectrum of creative services. Are all of these services dealt with in-house or is some work contracted out to external agencies or individuals?

ML: We refer to ourselves as a digital creative agency. We don’t define what we do in terms of services or tactical offerings, or technology for that matter. We talk instead about innovating where brands and people meet… and focusing on that sphere of interaction. To the extent possible, our preference is to work in-house. We have four core disciplines: strategy, design, development and production. We collaborate on cross-disciplinary teams to encourage collective brainstorming and ownership of ideas. That said, we have enjoyed partnering with other agencies and will continue to do so, particularly when our strengths compliment each other. But for the most part, we form and build our ideas entirely in-house.

WD: How many staff are employed by Big Spaceship and more specifically how many designers/ developers and what do their roles entail?

ML: We’ve got about 45 crew members, approximately 50 per cent designers and 30 per cent developers. TD: A designer’s primary role at Big Spaceship is to craft a visual approach to a project. Designers brainstorm alongside other disciplines before transforming highlevel concepts into visual directions through flat comps and storyboards. Once a direction has been determined, they work closely with developers and strategists to construct the project. Unlike many agencies, the designers at Big Spaceship also do a majority of the animating and production. Our designers have a broad range of skills, which gives us the ability to function in small teams with shared responsibilities. JOSHUA HIRSCH, MINISTER OF TECHNOLOGY: Our developers play an important role in the entire process at Big Spaceship – from concept through delivery. They are always involved in brainstorms, often contributing to early explorations by creating functionality and motion tests, as well as proof of concept prototypes. The team has a wide spectrum of skills across a variety of programming languages and platforms. They’re constantly learning and experimenting to keep us on the leading edge of technology.

WD: Promotion is crucial for any agency. What are the principal tools used by Big Spaceship to ensure maximum exposure?

ML: I think the approach we take to “promoting” ourselves goes hand-in-hand with the direction marketing is going. Because digital communication is both constant and, by nature, interactive, there’s no distinct line between performance and communications – or actions and words. The way we position ourselves grows out of our behaviour. Our efforts to self-brand and develop as a digital agency are evolving. We’ve become more active with our two blogs this year: Think (our strategy blog) and Labs (our design and dev blog). We use them as platforms to share some of our thinking and experimenting. We pride ourselves on starting conversations and telling stories.

WD: What are the current trends and styles that have caught the agency’s attention? And what do you think will be popular in the coming months?

JH: When we posed this question to our crew, one of the answers we got back was deeper mobile integration and synchronisation. We’ll see more apps that are useful beyond a single mobile device. The fact that so many brands want an iPhone presence is very interesting to me, especially because iPhone users are still a relatively small audience. Mobile has been trendy for a while, but I think the iPhone is the first device to really make people realise the possibilities. It has led and will lead to a lot of innovation in the space. Another area we’ve been talking about is predictive but unobtrusive recognition… things like Pandora and the iTunes Genius that make recommendations based on your behaviours. These will become more fluid and will make the internet feel personal. Lastly, our designers have been taking note of the increasing attempts to simulate full sensory experiences online. We’ll continue to see a greater connection between the digital world and the real world.

WD: What is Big Spaceship currently working on that we should be looking out for in the future?

ML: We recently launched an iPhone app (and accompanying site) called The Next Move for Lexus and UrbanDaddy, which is a lifestyle site in the States targeting hip, upscale guys. It adopts a holistic, human approach to making plans, blending curated content with intuitive functionality to help you figure out where you want to go. We’ve got several client projects in the works, but we can’t talk about them just yet. I can speak of some internal projects, however. We’re continuing to experiment and build upon Hope vs. Despair, sort of a “happiness index” we created utilising Twitter. Earlier this year, we launched Qapture (http://www. qapture.net/), which stemmed from our fascination with Twitter coupled with our frustration in keeping up with its endless stream. So we identified people who tweet consistently interesting links and then created a way to share and categorise those links, ranking their output and popularity. Another internal project we had a lot of fun creating is Pretty Loaded (http://prettyloaded. com/). In short, it’s an infinitely loading digital museum in which each preloader reveals another.

WD: As one of the most highly regarded agencies in the world, what qualities do you look for in a prospective employee? Plus, what advice would you give to anyone trying to break into the industry?

ML: In terms of hiring, one piece of advice I have is: don’t hire egos. The difference between the most talented and the second most talented person in the room is likely minimal. Personality and a desire to work as a team are much more important to our culture. JH: In terms of breaking into the industry, my advice for someone focusing specifically on digital is to not be afraid of specialising in an area that you like. If you enjoy coding, make that your focus. It’s important to understand how all the pieces ultimately fit together, but you don’t have to master every discipline. We find that candidates who have a clear understanding of what they want to do and excel in are more attractive than those who claim to be able and willing to do anything. TD: Also, know what kind of work you want to do, and seek out agencies that parallel your interests. If you are into motion graphics, don’t try to work somewhere that does standard sites. You won’t be happy. Do research on the firms that you are interviewing with, know their type of work and their basic philosophy. Be aware of trends, but don’t follow them. With so much inspiration on the internet, it’s easy to borrow and follow, but challenge yourself to decide what is best for each individual project and for you personally.

GRUPO W, or Group W in English, is a Mexican design agency based in Saltillo, specialising in some very impressive Flash design. Founded in 1999 by Miguel and Ulises the agency has grown from its humble beginnings and now employs around 40 staff. The agency has worked with some of the biggest brands in the world including Coca-Cola, Nike, Hyundai and EA Games. We sit down for a chat to discover the background behind the group, what the future holds and how it’s leading the way in Mexico…

WD: To get started could you tell us a little about Grupo W? How and when did it all get started and what was its original aim?

GRUPO W: It was originally founded on hopes and dreams by Miguel and Ulises. They both grew up in northern Mexico and met briefly at college, later going to Mexico City to work on multimedia eLearning tools. The story goes that they got fed up having arguments with engineers about how beautiful vs functional the apps they were building should be. So, after a couple of years they moved back to Saltillo (a small place an hour from Monterrey and two hours from the Texas US border) and founded “W Interactive Media”, the real name of the agency (W because of the “w” letter of world wide web). Then they realised the name was too tough to be written down or spoken every time the phone rang, like “W Interactive Media, how can I help you?” So they renamed (just for easing the phone calls) the whole thing to Grupo W, leaving the W from the original name and adding Grupo (group, in Spanish) to get the appearance of being many people when they were just the two of them.

WD: What was the original vision for Grupo W and how has the brand matured since its inception?

GW: Building an interactive company in Saltillo (Mexico) in 1999 is the same as if you try to sell silk ties in the Sahara desert. It was not only the fact of not having clients but almost not knowing exactly what to sell but passion and hard work. So when clients started to come the company became a kind of Flash shop, the same as many others at the beginning of this century. Then, as the projects got better, the bigger the clients became and then the company again evolved from a Flash shop to a company in charge of running digital campaigns. And then it evolved again as to develop not only digital but also the whole communication strategies of some of our clients, trying to maintain digital as the core of the whole thing. For us it’s not only about the projects but also the re-foundation of the agency every two or three years, being aware that we’re not the same as we were three years ago, nor is the medium. We are always adapting to changes, changing ourselves a little.

WD: The Grupo W landing page (www.grupow.com) gives the impression of a holding page. However, closer inspection unveils pointers for more of what you do. Tell us a little about this…

GW: And the splash before was just a QR-Code that took people to another site in which you could see how our new offices were about to get finished and ready for us to use. We’re about to release our new site, maybe the first so-called site in the last six years. From then on we have been jumping from a splash to splash onto another splash, always collecting the good things from the year before. But now we DO need (urgently) a site, there’s too much information being left aside without a site, so we made the purpose and we’re almost ready. In the meantime we try to use our homepage as a place to conduct some experiments. To see if people in Mexico use QR Codes, if they write asking for information or if they’re Googling us, as it’s suggested in the current site. There is a lot of information about us in our blog (http://blog.grupow.com), Flickr or Facebook, so while we get the thing done there’s a bit there letting people find out about us because we live in more places in the net than just our main site.

WD: Web design is a global industry but at the same time it is very localised. The Grupo headquarters are based in Mexico. How big is the web design industry and web community within the country?

GW: As Jimi Hendrix would say, “the first rays of the new rising Sun”. The good thing is that we were there at the beginning. Mexico is a place with a lot of opportunities, not only the country but the whole Latin American region. There is a lot of freelance talent out there and small shops doing interactive work. Traditional agencies have interactive departments but it’s seen as something that they have to have. Not because they think the medium itself could add some value to the things they do for their brands, looks that they’re so proud doing their 30” TV ads, so there’s almost no integration at all, and most of the things done are pretty awful, which is a shame. On the other hand, the online investment is growing every year but in formats that are looking for quick results, ie email marketing, search or buying banners. There isn’t much in the way of brand building around digital arena anywhere. Luckily there’s an IAB and agencies like Razorfish or Agency Net are opening offices in the country, so hopefully standards will soon arise for the good of us all.

WD: What are the current trends and styles that have caught the agency’s attention? And what do you think will be popular in the coming months?

GW: We mainly produce microsites to get a buzz to build around brands, and that’s what we were really good at. But, suddenly we realised that not all the clients needed that so we tried to develop some other things, smaller but more functional, in order to provide some kind of unity. So we started to develop some apps and things living outside the website-microsite format. It’s interesting for us the whole social media thing and how it’s the same distance for people trying to reach our content than carrying the content where they are. It’s also really challenging doing things that are useful for people’s lives instead of just bombing them with some stories that die as soon as the browser is closed or refreshed.

WD: Many of Grupo’s sites are in English and Spanish. What issues are involved in creating a multilingual site? What language is used for the original creation of the site, how long does a translation typically take and does this increase the timescale of a project?

GW: I think that 98 per cent of what we do is in Spanish because the projects are aimed at the Mexican or Latin American market. I clearly remember that Stuntman (http://www.thestuntman.la) was launched in English because it was just a teaser for our ActionCity campaign (http://www.grupowprojects.com/rexona). But every time that a product is launched all the information is written in Spanish. However, our Detective Stripes (http://www.detectivestripes.com) release was in English as it was a worldwide campaign. Managing that is not that difficult right now, Flash is pretty capable of handling different languages by just replacing the text. So, in the end it only takes a week for us to translate the site to English when it’s required to be done.

WD: You have worked with some big global brands, ie Nike, Coca-Cola. How does such a project come about and how do you pitch yourself to prospective clients such as these?

GW: Our philosophy is that one project helps get another one. If we’re paid to a value of two, we try to make work which has a value of five. Then the client is happy so they will come with another project or will recommend us to other people and that’s how we’ve worked all these years. It’s pretty uncommon that we pitch, only when working for agencies or clients outside Mexico because with all the economical downturn and so on everything is going through pitches. Not in Mexico, though, because as I said in the question before the industry has no standards yet, so when pitching, quality of the work and money asked by agencies differ so much that even when it’s called a pitch it is not (in my opinion). So we pretty much are contacted by brands, usually to release a specific project or campaign and if it goes well and everyone’s happy then we all sit down to study if the collaboration could go further.

WD: Flash is the technology of choice for many of Grupo W’s projects. How big is the team at Grupo? And more specifically, how many Flash designers/ developers does the agency have on its books and what are their roles?

GW: We’re 40 people now, which is kind of odd because a year ago we were only something like 23. But in these times of downturn we made the best of taking more projects and we needed more people to get them done. So if we had two production teams last year we now have three and we have hired some other specific people to do production management, accounting or digital strategy. Regarding the use of Flash we now have five developers and eight designers/animators who are constantly working on projects. When they are not talking with tech guys about developing prototypes they are working on ideas to be used in other projects. But I think we should have at least ten or 11 developers, although it is really hard convincing people in Mexico to live in Saltillo because the capital is Mexico City and nobody wants to work so far from there.

WD: Grupo has been involved in projects such as Detective Stripes, which involve much more than just building a website. What are the logistics and timescale of such a project?

GW: Rexona (it’s called Sure in UK) asked us to deliver the global website for its new product, Invisible, that is not supposed to leave white stains on clothes when used. So as we were making the website, Rexona Mexico, it asked us to do the Mexican campaign, which is awesome because we mainly think of ourselves as “interactive” but then we had the chance of doing the whole communication for the campaign. And then we figured out that deodorants are such boring products but that Stripes was a really cool character, then came out with the idea of not promoting the product itself but a fictitious movie called “Detective Stripes”, and making the final destination of the whole thing online instead of being the trigger of something that then is released in TV or anything like that. We invented the product at POP, made a trailer to be shown before the Fast And Furious 4 movie and stuff like that (you can check some of this stuff at http://www.grupowprojects.com/ rexonainvisible/detectivestripes/) so in the end we reached an audience that we had never reached before and the three month campaign made the product the best sold for the brand ever in Mexico. I still don’t know how the brand accepted to do this, in the end successful campaigns are based in clients’ guts as much as in their agencies’ skills.

WD: What SEO techniques do you apply to your Flash sites? Plus, what other promotional techniques and tools do you use to get your sites seen by as many people as possible?

GW: We do some search engine optimisation for a number of clients of ours but regarding Flash sites this is not something we care about that much. We produce a lot of mini-sites that have their own lifecycles, which after reaching the peak of attention it slowly fades out of sight. I don’t think that being optimised for searching would increase the visits nor serve the brand any more. When we do work for Rexona I don’t think that anybody will decide to buy a deodorant by simply Googling “deodorants” and then comparing and going to the supermarket to buy the one that they thought was the best. After serving brand purposes I think that this type of site is still visited if it’s worth the time. For instance, it’s amazing how many visitors Stuntman is still getting because it’s fun, and not deliberately because it was the teaser for an old campaign. So, techniques. We try to do some quality work and if something is done well I think it is viable, maybe sticky, there is no technique as such, simply just an attempt to make people happy or hopefully add something useful to their lives.

WD: Who are the current big players in the Mexican web design scene and who should we watch out for in the future?

GW: There is definitely a lot of talent in Mexico but it’s dispersed or not even in the country itself. Interactive talent I mean, or digital, or whatever you want to call it. But it’s increasingly hard to find, and even when found is hard to reach its expectations about living in our city or about the monthly income that they want to make, and many times they choose to get lost in the big hierarchy of traditional agencies with interactive departments here in Mexico: lots of cool clients, lots of poor interactive stuff. So we chose the way of breeding talent instead of keep on looking for it. So next September we’re opening our own school, called “Digital Invaders”, free for students and in which they will be spending three months, the first two learning and the last one working in Grupo W’s projects. And after the initial three months, the best ones, if we like them and they like us, could be hired and would be employees at Grupo W. So I hope that by next spring I will be able to tell you some specific names.

WD: Finally, as an agency with some very talented people on board, what qualities or personality traits do you look for in a prospective employee. Plus, what advice would you give to designers/developers who are looking to get into the industry?

GW: Always respect the people you work with and always work with passion. Always wonder. Always question if you’re happy with what you’re doing, and if not, change. We’re always doing more hours than expected when related to projects because we like what we do so much that we try to make the best final product as possible. It would be kind of hard making it possible if we only did our scheduled hours. And in the end the thing is about making your work a passion, not just a “job”.

WD: Do you think we now know the DNA of branding?
JB: A brand personifies an organisation. Businesses that are built around a personality (Virgin, Apple or any of the political parties spring to mind) have a lot easier job managing their brands than a faceless corporation.

WD: Can we now define what branding is and how businesses can construct their own using the internet as the delivery mechanism?

JB: Constructing a brand is easy, communicating it is the tricky bit. Brand stories, metaphors, pictures and parallels help us to do that in using the same storytelling techniques that mankind has used successfully to make things stick since the dawn of time. As an interactive platform, the internet is the first medium to behave like face-to-face communication, in that questions can be asked halfway through and the story can evolve as it’s told through audience participation. There is therefore no substitute for human craft, someone who understands the brand, the audience, the medium and the art of conversation is required – in effect an online editor.

WD: How do you think branding has evolved?

JB: Acquisition is no longer the goal, the goal is engagement. At Story, we say it’s no longer about two per cent conversion but about 98 per cent engagement, if people feel better about themselves as a result of having contact with your brand, the next time they are in a position to buy, your brand will have a head start.

WD: When you deconstruct your brand, what do you think makes it a powerful marketing tool?

JB: Brands exist to differentiate you from the herd. For example, Story’s USP is that content and specifically editorial is at the heart of everything we do. We won’t only produce a website for our clients, we’ll supply an editor, a copywriter and a creative to maintain it and determine the direction of online marketing. However, brands become truly powerful when they also possess a little bit of intangible magic that you can’t put your finger on. Something that can only come about as a result of an energetic ‘make great things happen’ company culture.

WD: What do you think the future of online branding looks like? What are your business’s plans for developing its brand in 2009 and beyond?

JB: The future of online branding is about turning your brand into media, media that someone will genuinely gain value from consuming, be it information, entertainment or as ‘pass-it-on’ currency.

CARSONIFIED HAS GROWN from a small web design agency to presenting the massive Future of Web series of conferences in less than five years. The agency is still small in terms of personnel with just 11 members of staff running the whole show. Here we find out how and why they do it.

RYAN CARSON: I moved from Colorado to the UK in 2001, after completing my Computer Science degree. I wanted to see the world and experience things from a new perspective, so England seemed like a great place to give it a try. I ended up at a small web design company in Cambridge called Spider Creations (“spider” … “web” … get it?) where I was writing ColdFusion. However, I quickly discovered Joshua Davis’ PrayStation.com and was sucked into the world of Flash and ActionScript. When Josh started giving away all his Flash source files for free, it caused a real renaissance of creativity and excitement. Coming from the cold world of Computer Science, this free sharing of code was mind-blowing and extremely exciting. After Spider Creations folded (remember the fun times after the dotcom bubble?) I moved down to London and eventually ended up as lead developer at a design studio in London. After a couple years there, I got the entrepreneurial itch and decided to quit my job and start my own company. Carsonified was founded in 2004 and the term AJAX hadn’t been invented yet.

WD: What was the original vision for Carsonified and how has the brand matured since its inception?

RC: Carsonified was originally founded as a web app shop and our first product was called FlightDeck, which was a precursor to DropSend.com (our web app for sending large files). I built the entire app on the LAMP stack and then sold monthly subscriptions to the service for £199+VAT. I was working alone in our top bedroom and it was a real crash course in marketing, bookkeeping and self-motivation. Ultimately, I realised that I wasn’t a natural salesman because it was hard to not take rejection personally. Also, as any of you know who have bootstrapped your company from your bedroom, it’s hard to stay motivated and focused when you work alone at home every day by yourself. About a year after I started the company, my wife and I had a hard look at the numbers and it was obvious, I just wasn’t succeeding at selling subscriptions to our web app. It was a humbling and difficult time, but I’m so thankful to have experienced it. We decided that we should re-launch the web app at DropSend. com with massive improvements and instead of selling very expensive monthly fees, we would make it totally free to use. The hope was that folks would use the free plan and upgrade to a paying plan. Thankfully it was really successful and we actually started to make some proper revenue.

WD: The Carsonified collection of websites, Carsonified, Mattinator, FOWD, ThinkVitamin, all boast a unique and identifiable style. How did the original concept come about and how often is the design tweaked/updated?

RC: Mike Kus, our amazingly talented designer, is responsible for all our current design work. If you’re into the Twitter thing, you can follow him at twitter. com/mikekus. Mike started off in the print world so he brings a really fresh and unique aesthetic to our work and he’s very passionate about bringing ‘design’ back into ‘web design’. He did a great talk at FOWD London on that which you can check out at http://events.carsonified. com/fowd/2009/london/mp3s/mike-kus-4/videos. Recently he designed the site for our ‘Stack Overflow Dev Days’ event (stackoverflow.carsonified.com). He published a post on ThinkVitamin and showed the design as it progressed from initial sketches all the way to the final design. The coolest thing about the post is that it shows that amazing designers like Mike also have peaks and troughs in their projects, and brilliant design doesn’t just immediately flow out of their mind and onto the screen. You can have a look at one of his posts at http://thinkvitamin.com/features/the-evolution-of-awebsite- design.

WD: Carsonified is a relatively small agency that embraces a number of aspects of web design. How many of the team are specifically designers and developers and what are their specialist skills?

RC: As I mentioned above, Mike Kus is the only designer at Carsonified. He’s single-handedly responsible for all the design and HTML/CSS work. Keir Whitaker (twitter.com/keirwhitaker) takes care of any front-end development work and also dabbles in Django, PHP and JavaScript occasionally. Keir built tipster.carsonified.com in four days as a fun side project. It’s a tool for people to share and vote on web design and development tips. It doesn’t make us any revenue so it’s just a bit of fun. We don’t currently have a full-time developer on the payroll, so we bring in freelance developers for any hardcore engineering work that needs to be done.

WD: Events are a major component of the Carsonified brand. Was this part of the original masterplan when Carsonified started or is it something that happened as the company evolved?

RC: We started off as a web design and development shop and just kind of fell into producing events. My friend Ryan Shelton and I used to run a group called ‘By Designers for Designers’ or BD4D from 2001–2005. The whole idea was to get web designers away from their computers for an evening so they could talk shop and connect with each other. We’d find a bar with a projector, invite some amazing designers to speak and get someone to throw a bit of cash behind the bar. In the end, BD4D became quite popular and spread across the world to 17 cities in seven different countries with over 50 total events. We called it ‘Creative Fight Club’ because local designers ran the events and we often didn’t know when or where they were happening – it was amazing. The events didn’t make us any money but they were a ton of fun and really connected us to the big names in the industry. I have a real built-in desire to connect and encourage people, which is where BD4D came from. The experience I gained from BD4D gave us the idea to put together workshops and events for the web design and development industry – and we’re having a blast at Carsonified connecting and encouraging folks who attend our shows. It’s a real honour and we absolutely love doing it.

WD: The ‘Future of’ series of conferences have proved popular across the UK and US. How much time, effort and organisation is involved in putting on such an event?

RC: The amount of work that goes into producing a big 1,000-person event like Future of Web Design (FOWD) London is pretty unbelievable, actually. We have five full-time people on our Events Team and they work very hard. Tash, Lou and Jo are event producers, Will is our sponsorship manager and Keir is the team manager. Our mission is to encourage, equip and connect the attendees at our shows. We work very hard to make the content cutting-edge and valuable, while also facilitating ways for attendees to meet new friends and business contacts. The events need to be informative, inspiring and a lot of fun. It’s a hard balance but I really believe we run some of the best events in the world.

WD: The success of FOWD has seen the brand branch out into a mini tour. Do you have plans to continue and expand the tour over the coming years?

RC: The current tough economic times make it harder for people to afford travelling long distances to conferences. We wanted to help folks out by bringing Future of Web Apps (FOWA) and Future of Web Design (FOWD) to several cities around the UK and dropping the price significantly. We’re coming to Bristol, Cambridge, Leeds, Edinburgh, Glasgow and Belfast and the tickets are only £59+VAT, so hopefully everyone will be able to afford it. There are going to be one-hour tutorials by Elliot Jay Stocks, Drew McLellan, Andy Clarke and Bruce Lawson on topics like HTML 5, designing your portfolio, web typography and more. We’re also going to have four keynote talks and a speed-networking session where everyone will be able to meet new people. We’re currently on the road for the FOWA Tour and it’s been a blast so far, so we’ll definitely do it again. The FOWD Tour is happening in September and we’re really looking forward to that.

WD: Carsonified currently runs a series of workshops. How do you decide who is going to take a workshop? Do you approach members of the web design community or do they come to you?

RC: We run a series of one or two-day workshops at CarsonWorkshops.com with speakers like Dan Cederholm, Ryan Singer, Cal Henderson, Dave Shea, Molly Holzschlag, Daniel Burka, Paul Boag, Andy Clarke, Eric Meyer and more. We choose designers and developers who we feel are the best in the industry and thankfully, they like working with us. The workshops are very in-depth and are limited to 40 people, so there’s a lot of interaction with the speakers and other attendees. We always provide a yummy lunch and lots of quality coffee.

WD: The Carsonified blog recently mentioned promotional ideas. What are the staple promotional tools used by Carsonified to promote itself?

RC: We think a great way to create buzz and have a lot of fun is to do short-burst creative projects. The idea is that everyone in the company turns off their email and phones for four days and we do something that is creative and fun. In the past we’ve done projects like TheMattinator.com, HugMyMac.com and tipster. carsonified.com. TheMattinator.com was a tool that allows you to post to multiple Twitter accounts without having to log in and out. We wanted to try out Django, which we have never used, so that was a real adventure. I got asked to write an article for TechCrunch so we got a huge amount of coverage. HugMyMac.com was a project where we hand-made six Mac and iPhone sleeves and then gave them away. We felt that the world had become too mass-produced and impersonal and it would be fun to make something by hand and give it away for free. Tipster.carsonified.com was just a fun quick project that was built by Keir. The goal is to allow people to share web design and development tips and vote on ones they really like. Hopefully it will become a useful resource for everyone.

WD: It seems that Carsonified it destined for great things. What immediate plans can you tell us about? For example, are you set to enter into the world of mobile web design?

RC: Well, thank you – that’s very kind of you. We would really like to build a new web app but we’re struggling to allocate enough time to the project. We’re currently working on re-designing Carsonified.com and then we’re going to ‘re-align’ events.carsonified.com as it needs some tweaking. I am really excited because we are going to combine our ThinkVitamin.com blog and the Carsonified blog into one valuable blog for web designers, developers and entrepreneurs. We had a hard think and realised we were spreading our effort over too many blogs and we really should combine the two. The new blog is going live at carsonified.com/blog and I think all your readers will really enjoy it. Once we finish the above projects, we will then allocate ourselves some time to work on our new web app – can’t wait!

WD: Finally, as a company that is very active in the web design industry, what advice would you give to those wanting to get into the industry?

RC: I would advise designers to take time and create a project that will raise their profile. It’s highly unlikely that a client project will offer the freedom and control you need to do something really amazing, so it should be something you just do for fun. A great example of this is when 37signals (back when they were doing client work) ‘re-designed’ the homepages of several big companies like FedEx and UPS. It caused quite a stir and really raised their profile. In addition to doing a creative profile-raising project, I would highly recommend that designers get out and meet big name designers they respect. It’s so vital to grow your network of friends and contacts – it will open huge doors and opportunities. The best way to do this is be very helpful and friendly to everyone you meet. It’s like karma – do good unto others and it will somehow come back to you.

THE SPOTIFY MUSIC streaming service seemed to appear from nowhere and take the web by storm. Why? Because it’s simple, straightforward and
gives music lovers access to thousands of sounds that would have previously cost a fortune. We talk to Rasmus Andersson, art director at Spotify, who reveals how its creators started on the path to music streaming success, how it works and what it hopes to achieve for the future.

WD: To get started could you tell us a little about Spotify and how and when it all got started?
RASMUS ANDERSSON: One April Day in 2006 our founders, Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon, were chatting about music and how people consumed more music than ever from an ever-expanding range of artists, but were not necessarily paying for it. The underlying demand for music was bigger than ever but the legal options were few. They hit on the idea of creating a service that would help people listen to whatever music they liked, wherever and whenever they liked. However, they had one major obstacle: technology. How could they provide the same level of user experience with cloud-based media as with locally stored media? By August 2006, a handful of key people were hired and moved into a small office above a coffee shop in central Stockholm. And thus, Spotify was born…

WD: What was the original vision for Spotify and how close is the current version?
RA: The original vision was pretty much what you see today, apart from the music recommendation function and the targeted, integrated ads. We’ve still some way to go in achieving exactly what we set out to do, though. Spotify is a constantly evolving service.

WD: What was the timescale for Spotify? How long did it take from inception to completion.
RA: Spotify is something we’re looking to progressively make better and better, so in one sense we may never reach a true point of completion. But if you define “completion” as “the first working service” then that took 12 months. At that time, we had just released an early closed beta client application to a handful of our friends and family. Our fancy “server park” was in fact a wardrobe with loads of duct-tape and table fans, which used up all the electrical power capacity of the office. Because of this we put (more) duct tape on all unused power sockets and, of course, one day the cleaning lady found an open socket and plugged in the vacuum cleaner. The music stopped for all of our 10-15 users as the fuses blew and the fancy wardrobe went silent. Nowadays we have a large production site in London. And a few more users.

WD: The Spotify brand is effectively a two-tier operation; the web presence and the application. How many web designers were involved in creating the web presence and what were their roles?
RA: The design process has been a collaborative and highly organic affair, involving everyone. When it comes to actual user experience and graphic design I’ve been the one effectively pulling all the strings, but as the demand for music was bigger than ever but the legal options were few. They hit on the idea of creating a service that would help people listen to whatever music they liked, wherever and whenever they liked. However, they had one major obstacle: technology. How could they provide the same level of user experience with cloud-based media as with locally stored media? By August 2006, a handful of key people were hired and moved into a small office above a coffee shop in central Stockholm. And thus, Spotify was born…

WD: What was the original vision for Spotify and how close is the current version?
RA: The original vision was pretty much what you see today, apart from the music recommendation function and the targeted, integrated ads. We’ve still some way to go in achieving exactly what we set out to do, though. Spotify is a constantly evolving service.

WD: What was the timescale for Spotify? How long did it take from inception to completion.
RA: Spotify is something we’re looking to progressively make better and better, so in one sense we may never reach a true point of completion. But if you define “completion” as “the first working service” then that took 12 months. At that time, we had just released an early closed beta client application to a handful of our friends and family. Our fancy “server park” was in fact a wardrobe with loads of duct-tape and table fans, which used up all the electrical power capacity of the office. Because of this we put (more) duct tape on all unused power sockets and, of course, one day the cleaning lady found an open socket and plugged in the vacuum cleaner. The music stopped for all of our 10-15 users as the fuses blew and the fancy wardrobe went silent. Nowadays we have a large production site in London. And a few more users. service continues to grow we’re looking to expand the team. Today we have approximately four people working on our website and will soon start working on a new, more streamlined version. As a company and brand we work hard to understand and integrate what we are rather than what we think we are, or want to be. I believe that’s a very important aspect when it comes to this type of brand – to have a strong sense of self-perception and understand the true value.

WD: Was the Spotify application created in-house or outsourced to a third-party and how long did it take to create?
RA: The Spotify desktop application was created inhouse. We took about one year to take Spotify from a vague idea to fully working application (in the hands of early external beta testers). I believe what helped make this possible was the fact we are a relatively small and tight “family”, fleet-of-foot and with a clear goal.

WD: Testing is an essential part of the development process. What did the process involve for the Spotify website and web app?
RA: Early in the process of developing the desktop application we managed quite a few one-to-one user tests where people – friends and family in the main – were invited to sit down in front of a computer prepped with screen recording software and a build of the then beta-quality application. These tests gave us a rough insight into some of the bigger challenges we would encounter. WD: There are three options for Spotify users; Free, Day Pass and Premium. How has the Free option pushed the rise in popularity of Spotify and how popular are the alternative options? RA: We’ve been bowled over by the take-up of Spotify Premium by our users, who prefer to have an ad-free service and make the most of the exclusive content, pre-releases and competitions. Spotify Free was the original idea and concept which has of course led the way in terms of user take-up, since we opened up access in February (and recently hit 1 million users in the UK). The Day Pass is probably most popular with people who are entertaining guests and want to hear music continuously (we get a lot of people telling us how much fun they had picking out old classics on the night). We’re focusing on strengthening all aspects of the service, and we’ll be seeing additional functions added to Premium in time. We’re very excited about that.

WD: The Spotify library is constantly being updated. Do new artists come to you or do you go to them?
RA: A few of us are in regular contact with record labels and handling requests from labels, artists and other related industry folk. We’ve still only added 50 per cent of the music given to us by the various labels and aggregators, and are currently adding on average 10,000 tracks a day. We’re also currently discussing how to work closer with independent artists who contact us regularly looking to team up with us.

WD: Spotify streams all of its content to users. What is the compromise made between bandwidth consumption and audio quality?
RA: We try not to compromise the quality of the audio as far as most people are able to distinguish, but we do of course compress the audio, currently using the Vorbis audio codec which is a technique similar to MP3 but gives better quality for less bandwidth. Instead of cutting down on audio quality because of bandwidth issues, we look to “spread out” the bandwidth consumption over several different “paths” (peer-to-peer caching, CDN and so on). The client applications also performs caching.

WD: Spotify has a huge library of content. Where is this stored, how is it accessed and what issues arise from dealing with such a large amount of data?
RA: As I mentioned earlier, the Spotify catalogue is currently hosted in a high-security facility in London, where the data is protected both physically and electronically. Without getting lost in too much tech-speak, in short we have loads of storage nodes connected to our distribution servers – everything accessible from the outside is encrypted for security and streamed directly to the client applications.

WD: How does Spotify deal with DRM and any copyright issues?
RA: The music that’s streamed to our users is encrypted, much like how traditional DRM is done but in streaming terms, preventing anyone other than our users to hear the audio encoded in the encrypted data. When it comes to copyright we have agreements in place with relevant rights-holders (eg record labels, publishers and collecting societies) that allow us to deliver Spotify. We like to think of ourselves as a quick, simple and legal alternative to piracy.

WD: We have heard and read rumours of what future versions of Spotify may or may not feature. Can you tell us what you have lined up for the future?
RA: We’re working on some pretty cool features which we’ll be revealing to our users in the near future. I can’t say more than that just yet, other than to say that I’m hugely excited about Spotify’s potential.

Jonathan Brealey is one of the founders of Heart Internet (www.heartinternet.co.uk) supporting consumers, SMEs and web designers with domain names, hosting and reseller services.

STEP ONE: RESEARCH YOUR WEB HOST
With dozens of web hosting reseller companies to choose from it is well worth putting time aside to research which host provides the product, features, pricing and support that you need. You should look into whether the host has any limitations on the amount of web space, traffic, emails and databases you can resell, do they offer both Linux and Windows accounts and which programs do they provide for you to offer your clients (eg one-click install WordPress)? Always check whether the hosting is being offered as completely white label (also known as private label). This will allow you to tailor every component to your own requirements/ brand so that your client need never know their website is hosted with anyone else. When it comes to deciding to use a host in the UK or the USA your decision should be based around technical considerations, eg network latency and the added search engine ranking benefit of hosting your site in the UK, and service, eg whether you get access to free support during UK business hours.

STEP TWO: CREATE A PRODUCT SET
Once you have set up your own account the next step is to start creating products to offer your clients. A popular approach among web hosts is to offer tiered packages covering customer’s various specification and budgetary requirements. To get an idea on how to structure your packages and what to charge take a look at existing web host’s competitor comparison charts, they have practically done your market research for you. With this data you can choose to match or even beat their specs. If you create multiple products make sure the very top one is still value for money so people feel it is worth spending a little bit extra to get the benefits.

STEP THREE: INTEGRATE HOSTING INTO YOUR EXISTING SERVICES
Being able to buy everything from one place is always an attractive proposition to clients who don’t want to have to shop around. If your core product is providing web services for small sites such as banners, logos, HTML emails and so on you can easily integrate hosting. Always keep an eye out for opportunities that may arise from any offhand comments a client may make about needing work in a particular area. Up-selling and cross-selling are not about the hard sell or getting someone to buy something they don’t really need or want. When done properly the process should almost feel like a service in its own right. One of the best examples online of up-selling and cross-selling is Amazon. Put an item in your basket and you are presented with “Customers who bought this also bought…” with the majority of the suggestions being more expensive items. If you go back to the home page it will have changed to show you items based on your browsing history along with items they feel are associated with that item, eg putting a men’s skater brand watch in a basket would prompt the site to show jewellery, skater trainers and related accessories.

STEP FOUR: COMMUNICATE THE SERVICE TO YOUR CLIENTS
If you already have a client base, the first step is to tell them about the range of services you can do for them. Phone or email your clients with details about your hosting service and why they should sign up. Getting your foot under the table is always the hardest part. To reduce the client’s perceived risk offer them something for free such as a scaled down version of your service so you can demonstrate your value. A lot of the application developers for the iPhone and iPod touch offer a ‘Lite’ version of the application to get people hooked and wanting more (which they then have to pay for). If a customer doesn’t bite straight away or you want to run a promotional campaign, offer the bundled services at a discounted rate cheaper than if they were bought separately. To create a sense of urgency and prompt a quick response, run it for a limited time only.

AUTHOR: Lincoln Johnson | Originally appeared in Web Designer Issue 152

WD: In your experience, have you come across many female creative directors or art directors?
JS: To be honest, being freelance now since 2001, I’m not as up as I should be on the who’s who of web design. I do notice that it’s still mostly a boy’s game in my annuals and such, and that’s sad, but I’m not surprised it has not changed too much since I got out of school. Women have such a high attention to detail, so that already gives them the leg-up on some spectacular design that just makes you lean into a page.

WD: Do you think that the geeky image of web design still exists? Or do you think that it has evolved into a slightly more respectable profession? And if it still maintains that image, do you think that could be why women are deterred from stepping up?
JS: Over here, it’s got that ‘geek chic’ thing going on. Geeks are in, but it’s always boy geeks that get the glory. Girl geeks always seem to be objectified into little urban Goth critters, flashing hot-pink bras or witty T-shirts on MySpace. For women old enough to be born before the Reagan administration, getting people to give you an ounce of credit that you do have a clue is the hard part. It’s as if you happen to be older than 30 and a woman, you are expected to be some kind of technophobe afraid of her own email account. I do all the networking in my house, damn it! And my husband is an IT guy! The biggest trouble comes in trying to get people from outside the industry to take you seriously when there are tons of web design schools in every major or even minor US city that advertise on TV at 3am. Those outfits cheapen the entire industry as a whole in informing the population that the job is easy to learn in six months or less, and gluts the market for the few jobs we have. Couple that with everyone’s nephew having a ripped copy of Adobe Photoshop and dying to do that website for $200!

www.verybigdesign.com is Jen Segrest’s portfolio site

WD: With all of your experience, do you feel that you’re in a position to lead others in a creative director role? And if so, is it something you would ever consider doing in the future?
JS: Oh God, no, I have no aspirations of managing people! I’ve been out of the daily grind too long doing freelancing. I like working out of the house. Taking naps. Wrestling dogs midday. I like having my little work list and doing it and being done. I loved working with other designers, but I’m more of a team player. I like to bounce things back and forth on what works or not. I like to ask and give opinions. I would hate a creative director’s role; I’d end up losing what I like best, which is designing stuff. I love the whole process of it. Making something stunning from half a page of printed blather that you couldn’t pay someone to read on its own.

WD: Do you think that the perception of male domination in digital design is a fair one?
JS: No, I know of many women in design. A girl I worked with at one firm was even nominated for a Grammy for best CD design. There are tons of us, there just doesn’t seem to be as many on top of the agencies. We seem to largely be content in a lower position as long as the work is satisfying – I know I was. Hell, I still am!

WD: Do you feel that you have ever been held back because of your gender, or could have accomplished more in this industry if you were male?
JS: I’ve had the interview question whether I had any children planned. I don’t think they believed me when I said I didn’t want any kids; as it turned out, I didn’t get the job. I think that many employers are just afraid women will become baby factories and end up out of the office more than in.

WD: It has been suggested historically that women in power are difficult to work for. Being a woman yourself, do you agree?
JS: I hate to say this with the theme of this article, but if I was offered a job to work for a woman, I’d probably refuse. I just get along better with men. Women usually end up judging you on 16 things before lunch and it usually turns into some high-school drama at some point. The constant judging on personal arbitrary scales really gets on my nerves. It bugs me with my girlfriends now, and we don’t even work together. Guys are just simpler to satisfy and don’t usually have hoops to jump. Show up, do good work and usually you are golden.

WD: Where do you see digital design heading in the next five years, and what role do you think women will play in making that happen?
JS: I think most of the women I know doing design are stay-at-home mothers, or freelancers like me. I’d like to think it’s going to be more and more about tiny firms, or even one-man firms. Using the web to compile a crack squad of kick-ass design assassins around the globe. What I’d really love to see is networks of independent designers all teaming up for jobs. Spreading the wealth as it were. What a concept!