Blog

Author: Jon Immel
  • Mar22
    Jon Immel

    SXSW 2012: Interactive Insights

    by Jon Immel in Business, Design, Interactive Services, Technology, 0 comments

    SXSW 2012 is over and it was another great trip for the TrendyMinds team. We learned quite a bit at various panels and also ate some great food and attended some fun parties. Below are some of the panel highlights from the trip.

    Designing from the Gut: Dangerous or Differentiator

    This panel really intrigued me as it’s an internal battle I often have. Is it better to design based off lots of research or analytics, or what your gut tells you is right? The panel not only had some agency veterans but also had employees from Facebook and Twitter. The variety in speakers provided many unique... read on

  • Apr01
    Jon Immel

    SXSW 2011 Wrap Up

    by Jon Immel in Business, Design, Interactive Services, Technology, 0 comments

    It’s time for my third annual South by Southwest (SXSW) wrap-up post. A vacation immediately following SXSW delayed my post this year, but hopefully my conference wrap-up details will more than make up for it.

    Breaking Taboos (#taboo$)

    This conversation led by Mark Hemeon and Whitney Hess, focused on discussing important project aspects with clients, regardless of how sensitive the topics may be. Budgets, payments, client representation and other key issues were brought up during this panel.

    Whenever the topic of budget comes up, a defensive position seems to quickly follow by both... read on

  • Dec20
    Jon Immel

    Translating clean code for clients

    by Jon Immel in Interactive Services, Technology, 3 comments

    Clean code. Every web developer out there knows the importance of it, but are we doing a good job of explaining this to our non-techy clients? Here's a quick primer that can help clients understand the "foreign language" of code and its purpose.

    What exactly does "clean code" mean?
    Clean code is exactly what it sounds like. The code needs to be free of spelling errors, properly formatted, and contain the correct tags, without any unnecessary tags added. Aside from being an organized and on-top-of-it coder, developers can also utilize HTML validators to check for errors others might have... read on

  • Apr16
    Jon Immel

    5 Highlights From SXSW

    by Jon Immel in Business, Design, Interactive Services, Technology, 2 comments

    South by Southwest (SXSW) is always a crazy week, packed with lots of informative talks as well as many fun parties.  I’ve decided to recap the week with five highlights from the many panels I attended at SXSW 2010.

    1. Words Are Cheaper Than Comps
      In the panel, “Content Strategy For You,” Margot Bloomstein did a good job showing that it’s best to revise content early on in a project -- before the design phase.  If you make content changes in the design stage, than you are probably going to be forced to revise your comps, and that can be very time consuming and costly for the client. ... read on
  • Jul23
    Jon Immel

    Evaluating a New Hire

    by Jon Immel in Business, Interactive Services, Miscellaneous, 3 comments

    When evaluating potential employees for our company, it can be a challenge to find the right fit both in personality and skill set.  It's something we struggle with whenever we find a candidate with awesome skills but a lacking personality, or, on the flip side, a candidate who is a perfect fit for the office but doesn't quite have the skills we need. Do we go for a sharp person with a great personality who knows the basics, or do you choose the socially awkward person who is a genius?

    In some positions personality is the most important factor due to the amount of interaction the position... read on

  • May01
    Jon Immel

    Designing for Your Audience

    by Jon Immel in Advertising, Design, Interactive Services, 2 comments

    Many designers and clients strive to achieve "great design" without taking into account the target audience.  A concept with a clean minimalist design may look ultra modern, but if the ad campaign is for a used car lot, it probably is headed in the wrong direction. Sometimes designers miss the mark by creating amazing visuals, but aren't reaching the intended audience.

    Designers are well trained and understand the importance of great design. It's easy for this highly talented group of creatives to scoff at ads in the local paper that have poor layout and design.  Usually, these ads are... read on