• Rob Frye - 951 313 0191
• Nate Wiles - 951 643 7623
• Archa Sung - 951 643 7633
• Dani Cabrera - 951 643 7625

So the Riverside Press Enterprise wrote up a really nice article on us.  Thanks guys!  (you’re making us blush).

http://www.pe.com/business/local/profiles/stories/PE_Biz_W_profile13.40b78bd.html

Concrete5 definitely falls into that category in the web content management sphere, so let’s all help them get there!

http://www.concrete5.org/sxsw/

We’re happy to announce the launch of a new content managed website for San Diego Plumbing Design / Build contractor Sherwood Mechanical.  Sherwood Mechanical is exactly the kind of company we love working with - they redefine how you think about plumbing contracting by successfully designing and building high-tech plumbing for interesting buildings and facilities, including such iconic locations as the Hotel Del Coronado and Legoland.

Sherwood Mechanical sought us out to deliver a website that reflected their stature and position in the industry - miles beyond the competition.  And that’s what they got!

Check out the new Sherwood Mechanical website today

Every once in a while, there are breakthroughs that are revolutionary in their simplicity and focus.   Twitter is an example that comes to mind.  For me and in my work, Balsamiq Mockups is just such a breakthrough.

In the world of User Experience Design, there has been some really interesting research and publication on the importance and immense value of sketching in the web and application design process (for more on this, I recommend Bill Buxton’s life-changing book Sketching User Experiences).  People, it seems, have a different psychological reaction to sketches during the concept development and experience design process.  When something seems quick and rough, people collaborate and think.  When presented with ideas that are too fully formed, people will approach them as being complete ideas, and as such will make black or white decisions about them.

We have definitely seen this happen many times in web and interface design - present a client with a really nice looking design comp, and instead of thinking about how the navigation is working or if the site will lead to greater sales conversion or anything else important like that, they will make gut reactions based on your color scheme or your choice of placeholder images.  This is very counterproductive and leads to lots of wasted time and sometimes real customer service issues.

Additionally, as designers, we sometimes have a tendency to think we know the answers, and tend to pride ourselves on our problem-solving abilities.  I can’t tell you how many times I have heard designers, when asked what it is that they do, and respond “I solve problems.” This is huge pitfall, because it assumes we know what the problems are to start with.  Pulling away from our polished, pretty world and getting down and dirty with sketches and thumbnails can afford a lot more freedom in thought, and helps approach each project with a freshness and humble clarity.

What Balsamiq Mockups does is provide a bit of a shortcut in the sketching process - it gives you tons of pre-drawn controls and interface elements, and allows you to “sketch” ideas without using paper and pencil.  You can even link multiple pages together, so that you have a working, clickable, interactive sketch.  Your sketching becomes faster and more interactive, but retains the desired level of incompleteness necessary to get people understanding that they are not looking at a finished design concept.

I would be remiss if my love letter didn’t include a couple of minor frustrations.  Most notably for me, you cannot export a clickable, multipage mockup in any sort of packaged format (it would be awesome if it could generate a little Flash or Air file of your mockup).  There are a few other little quirks, mostly having to do with the Air runtime environment (yes, I know that’s like saying “ATM Machine” :-p ).  The software is very much in continuous development, and so new features are being added all the time, but the upgrade process is a bit clunky.

EDIT: The upgrade “clunkyness” is an Air thing - I meant this comment in comparison to regular desktop apps that have upgrading functionality built in.

Those are all nitpicks, though.  This is great software, and will make you a better designer, hands down.  You can try it out for free on their site. Do it!

DotsTV

We did the design and development of this new celebrity and entertainment news project for E! Entertainment Television founder Alan Mruvka:

Check out DotsTV today »

Lamb Energy

We always love working with innovative companies, and local Solar solutions provider Lamb Energy is just that! This project was a content-managed design and development:

Check out Lamb Energy today »

Giftcard Storybooks

This is a Shopify-based ecommerce site for a new startup in North Carolina.

Check out Giftcard Storybooks today »

G8Brand Webstore

The rest of the site is coming soon, but our friends at the gamer-focused G8 Crash the System apparel company needed their webstore revamped for Thanksgiving, and we did it (on one-week’s notice!):

Check out the G8 Brand store today »

Off Script Shooting

Did this one a while ago as a favor for some photographer friends (they promised to take especially flattering photos of us in return ), and for some reason we forgot to post it up here.  Ladies and Gentlemen, may I present local Photography cooperative Off Script Shooting:

Check out Off Script Shooting today »

Our friends at Instant Riverside sent us a holiday card that apparently Kermit the Claus bogarted.  We thought it was funny.  That frog’s one elusive and grabby little amphibian…

1104 Corporate Way
Sacramento, CA 95831

So once again, if you receive any notice from any agency that may look as though it originated from the government regarding your Statement of Information filing, read the document carefully, it will say that they are not from the government in small-ish writing and only full Corporations are penalized over $200 for being late on a Statement of Information filing and you could probably even get out of that or get it reduced if you just call them (the Secretary of State…not the scammers).

You can file a complaint about misleading business solicitations at the California Secretary of State’s website here.

NOTE: Our last post about these jokers received a lot of response, and a number of people who had successfully gotten their money back.  Be sure to visit that post and read through the comments if you have already sent them money.  Link to original article

Update: Pics of the mailing

New site launch - Money Control, a debt recovery agency located here in Riverside who specializes in corporate collections.  In an industry that can occasionally be unsavory, Money Control’s needed to present a professional, corporate friendly public image that matched their business ethic and mission.

We developed the site in a sophisticated content management system, allowing easy updates by the client.  Click here to see the new Money Control website!

Just saw this on Adobe’s website:

http://labs.adobe.com/technologies/flashcs5/appsfor_iphone/

This is potentially a game-changer, and we’re really excited!  This does not mean that iPhone has started supporting Flash player, but instead that Actionscript applications will compile down to native iPhone apps.

What this means, among other things, is that Frye / Wiles will soon start offering iPhone Application Development as part of our suite of services.  If you are interested, please give us a call!