The table has served as inspiration for a client’s new table. Using the same spine and legs concept, I have designed it using more sophisticated tools. This one will spend its life indoors, so the details can be finessed a bit more. The table will work as an extension to the kitchen’s main island and be the main eating area for the residence. Its still a work in progress.

Social Communities is a module that is part of much larger digital marketing solution provided by Adobe. CQ 5.5 is an enterprise content management solution. In their words: “Adobe® CQ is the foundation of the Adobe Web Experience Management (WEM) solution. It provides digital marketers with easy-to-use, web-based applications for creating, managing, and delivering personalized online experiences. Adobe CQ provides out-of-the-box integration with other products in Adobe Digital Marketing Suite.”

Despite the apparent “business” focus of the tool, the part that I recently helped with has a very personal “high touch” aspect for the individual user. A few days ago, the Adobe CQ team announced; “CQ5.5 Social Communities empowering marketers to bridge the gap between their social media efforts and owned sites through Facebook and Twitter logins, content targeting and personalization and plugin capabilities.”

More specifically, the new features provide “social login” capabilities and social “plugins”. These new features allow CQ developers to add and configure these powerful tools with simple drag and drop gestures.

“Social login and personalization:  Give your users the option to login with their Facebook or Twitter accounts to your site and then personalize their web experience by targeting content based on their social profile. Targeted content can be selected based on their interests or demographics.”

“Social plugins:  Allow customers to share your content with their friends. Each Like and Tweet on your site increases reach as users post to their social group and network, which in turn comments, likes and reposts the content they find compelling. That increased reach leads to increased traffic and ultimately more conversions. This is a virtuous cycle you want to be part of as a digital marketer.”

The house is a circa late 60′s maybe early 70′s vintage. Its quite solidly built, on a nice street, but suffers from a poorly conceived entrance. The project was to provide the family with an entrance mudroom, all the while, reworking the main entrance.

The design was quickly sorted with a few iterations. The preferred scheme was to make the entrance to the house more obvious from the street and to mediate a transition from the street, to the property, then into the house. Leveraging an already ungainly overhang, a new entrance hall was provided. A stubby porch adjacent to the garage was converted to a closet space. A new front porch was added to the front of the house to break up the mass of the elevation and the make the entry more prominent. This has proven to be a popular, contemplative spot to witness the activity on the street and meet with the neighbors.

An additional request was made to provide some “texture” to the front of the house, without being too fussy. Simple forms, new textures and color adjustments were made to update the appearance of the house.

While taking the after shots, I was struck by the fidelity of the finished product relative to the initial concept sketches.

Signiant delivers intelligent software solutions that facilitate the movement of file-based media between systems, applications and users  – from pre-production content and mobile news to finished-format movies, trailers and TV episodics.

Unlike fragmented, first-generation file transport solutions that have proliferated ad hoc networks and disparate, unmanaged transport mechanisms, Signiant’s software and services are uniquely tuned for the media enterprise.

Their new product is in their words: “The industry’s only subscription-based software for secure, accelerated file movement, Media Shuttle delivers powerfully simple user interfaces in the cloud, while maintaining content within the secure control of your internal network.”

The UX challenge was to provide a simple upload experience for media professionals on par with any of the currently available file transfer solutions. The solution provides a middle layer of “operations administration”, allowing non-IT staff to act as traffic cop. In their words: “By delegating user administration, Media Shuttle dramatically reduces the level of IT support required for managing users, servers and desktop software.  Yet, unlike many consumer cloud-based services, Media Shuttle provides centralized visibility of transfers, including job status, bandwidth usage and user activity to monitor workgroup content flows.”

Read more about the product here.

Read their press release here.

And their website…www.signiant.com

The three core functions for the app were abstracted and given distinct locations on the screen. The main “health” indicators were given the center real estate. Vehicle commands were hosted in a virtual drawer at the bottom of the screen. The last bit of functionality, the OnStar connect workflows were placed in the upper windowshade UI.

The current versions of the solutions, deployed to smart phone platforms, use a logical multipage metaphor. The obvious shortcoming of this paradigm is accessibility. The design intent in this project was to group functionality in strong visual blocks. All features are one “touch away”, but more importantly, the system health is front and center allowing the user a “one glance” view of all the important metrics.

Another important design driver was the beautiful resolution of the screen and the obvious advantages of HTML5 as the platform. Leveraging the stunning graphics of the Volt dashboard, these were carried back into the RemoteLink UI ensuring a brand consistency outside the vehicle and a sensuous experience on the tablet. HTML5 provides a robust foundation for incredible interactions. Subtle touch responses and discreet lighting shifts help in enhancing important user affordance in the experience.

Blog post from Macadamian (my client)

The owners, long established and in love with the neighborhood, undertook a plan for an overhaul of their longtime residence. Largely intact, the house was proving to be out of date with the desires of the occupants. The program evolved around the updating and extension of the kitchen. A more useful rear entrance and a desire to embrace the dramatic slope of the rear yard drove much of the program for the rear design of the addition. More living space in the basement in the form of a media center and entertaining space defined the requirements for the lower level. Modest renovations on the second floor were planned to accommodate an updated bathroom. One of the owners, of Danish extraction, desired to see any new work in a resolutely modern and simple style. The other, drove a requirement for comfort, accessibility to the rear and side yards and functional flowing spaces.

The design centered around using the existing footprint of the kitchen and extending it visually out into an new eating area addition. The cabinetry is arranged in a functional U shape, with an eating island forming a central organizing feature in the east end of the design. Extensive built in cabinets and provided on all walls to assist in storage and reducing the visual clutter.

A covered porch is provided on the south elevation, a feature requested by the owner as a traditional throwback to other houses in the neighborhood.  Mostly open on the sides, the porch can be easily converted to a screened porch as the season dictates. This porch element also provides a gracious transition to the rear year via a set of stairs and landscaped steps.

To the north, a new rear entrance and mudroom element is provided. This entrance provides an elegant transition from the detached garage. Enthusiastic dog owners, the clients needed an easy to clean and functional entrance to wash off the dog after a long walk in the nearby arboretum. A shower hose and floor drain are built into the mudroom to easily accommodate this requirement.

The most clever part of the design was to open an existing broom closet at the end of the hall to provide a strong circulation, and a stunning visual link to the new rear addition.

This third group is on the leading edge of nurturing their community strategy, with a focused, well supported and clear path. They aren’t blindly following the dogma but blazing the trail to an effective and powerful relationship with their customers.