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I love the little books in Continuum Press’ 331/3 Series. Each book is about an album of songs by a different artist. Some are straightforward music journalism – details about recording sessions, biographical information about band members, etc – while others are fictional imaginings of events revolving around a particular recording. I have enjoyed quite a few, and many more are on my bookshelf waiting to be read. I just finished a new book in the series, Pink Moon, by Amanda Petrusich. It is about the final album by Nick Drake, a British folksinger who released three albums between 1969 and1972, and died from an overdose of antidepressants at 26.

Pink Moon is the story of Nick drake and his music – for the first 2/3rds of the book. It then veers into an examination of the relationship between art and commerce, and the ethical issues of “selling out”. This is because of the 2000 Volkswagen Cabrio television ad “Milky Way”, which jumpstarted Drake’s posthumous career, and was a huge success for Volkswagen and Arnold Communications, who created the spot.

“Milky Way” was the first time most people heard a Nick Drake song, and Volkswagen put the ad on their website, with a link to purchase the album on Amazon. Sales of Pink Moon went from 6,000 copies a year to 74,000. The ad won praise for Arnold , but they also received hate mail from Drake’s fans who cried exploitation. Petrusich interviews many people involved in the making of the ad, including writers Shane Hutton and Tim Vaccarino from Arnold, Cinematographer Lance Accord (who shot Chevron’s new Human Energy campaign, as well as the films lost in Translation and Marie Antoinette), directors Valerie Faris and Jonathon Dayton (who directed Little Miss Sunshine), and ad critic Seth Stevenson. The conclusion that Petrusich and those she interviews seems to reach is basically that if the ad is aesthetically successful and in keeping with the spirit of the music, then it’s OK. Milky Way was so well done it actually changed people’s minds about the use of music and advertising, and for many reasons musicians today do not struggle as much with the notion of selling out.

Without any dialogue, we get the idea that the characters in the ad are thoughtful and introverted, and more sensitive than their conformist, beer-chugging peers. Petrusich writes “the manner in which it captured the notion of the outsider as socially and morally superior made it undeniably brilliant advertising.” But being an outsider for Drake was not a hip “lifestyle” or something to aspire to. He wanted his music to be heard, appreciated and played on the radio, but his depression and anxiety made it difficult for him to perform live or otherwise promote himself properly.

Anyway, brilliant album, brilliant advertising, brilliant book, brilliant series. Check it out.

Linden Lab (the creator of the hugely popular virtual world Second Life) has been a long-time friend and client of ours, and we were more than happy to help them with a new identity for their latest brand: the Second Life Grid. The Grid is a development platform for educators, businesses and organizations to create their own shared virtual worlds within the Second Life universe. Since we’d previously designed the brand identities for both Linden Lab and Second Life, we had a good starting point for the new logo, but needed it to also stand on its own. See the new identity and read all about the Second Life Grid at www.secondlifegrid.net.

Sequence recently redesigned www.chevron.com, corporate web site of the sixth largest company in the world. As part of a major repositioning campaign, Chevron asked us to communicate the theme of “Human Energy” through a totally new approach to their web presence. Chevron is seeking to change negative perceptions about the oil and gas industry by educating their various audiences about the approaches Chevron is taking to energy exploration and delivery. The company wants to convey its investment and involvement with energy, environmental and community issues worldwide in a straight-forward, authentic fashion consistent with its culture, without being perceived as “green washing.”

Chevron has a wealth of information about its many lines of business, operating in 180 countries around the world. Our challenge was to provide that information in an engaging fashion at appropriate levels of detail for different users. Because of these requirements we structured and designed the site using a conceptual model which we called ‘Speak When Spoken To’. When thinking of the web we typically use metaphors like “navigating” or “browsing.” These terms suggest that we are traveling or somehow moving to and through websites. What if, instead of “going” to get the information you want, it was brought to you?

Using dynamic presentation tools such as AJAX and Flash we created an environment that encourages the user to request information by rewarding them with rich, dynamic content and interaction. By providing contextual help with term definitions and by surfacing relevant content wherever possible we can give the users context for the content. This approach guides users quickly to information appropriate to their needs and enables them to uncover information to the level of detail they desire without causing them to have to leave the page.

Another challenge was that Chevron was interested in telling the “Human Energy” story in an authentic but impactful way, while enabling the content to be updated easily. Sequence developed a series of “interactive stories” integrating video and other content, such as original illustrations created by Sequence, compiled in Photoshop using Illustrator, Flash and other tools. We created the framework for the stories using XML so that the stories are updatable, flexible and dynamic. The sophisticated Flash elements convey interaction, but the rest of the story content can be easily edited. The result is a series of vignettes which not only give users information about how various parts of Chevron’s business works (like Geothermal) but conveys the flavor of the company as approachable and eminently human.

Through the clean, straight-forward and warm visual and interaction design of the site, we accomplished Chevron’s objective of having its primary web presence communicate the Human Energy story–consistent with the tone of its advertising and print campaigns, but fully utilizing the unique interactive power of the web.

Sequence is a collection of designers, information architects, strategists–an unusual group of people with different insights and perspectives. We’re passionate about creating great customer experiences, and exploring the landscape of experience design, strategy and business. We’re hoping this shiny new blog will be a way for us to:

• Express our passions and share our ideas and opinions; if we do it right, we’ll inspire discussion and maybe even ignite controversy
• Point to things we find compelling and add a thought or three
• Expose the challenges and rewards of working inside a rapidly growing San Francisco creative agency
• Engage you in a meaningful conversation (if you’ll join us)

Throw a digital rock and you’ll find a blog centered on design, user experience, business or some combination thereof. We’re another set of voices in a crowded room full of smart, engaging people; time will tell what role we play at the party. Are we the crazy drunk you avoid, or the friend of a friend you spend half the night talking to in the corner? We hope you’ll keep coming back to find out.