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We find that many of our clients are looking for rich brand and user experiences typcially afforded by Flash - but also absolutely require text-based search engine optimized pages.

Until search engines can reliably read and extract the semantic meaning from images and flash movies this will always be a conflict. But with some skill, we find that you can have both.

We recently worked with SearchMe Co-Founder and Chief Experience Officer  John Holland to quickly design and code their Stacks mini gallery site. (I covered the launch of SearchMe’s Stacks and their other features in a previous post visual browsing with SearchMe and PicLens.)

While most (all) of SearchMe is Flash-based, we produced this site in HTML to allow for better web indexation and SEO. We wanted to make sure that stacks get good visibility in web search results.

At the same time, it was very important to maintain the interaction model established in the flash app, where users are provided engaging, rewarding  feedback for mousing over objects on the page.

Using the mootools javascript framework, we engineered the page so that a mousover on the spotlighted stacks triggered a smooth reveal of additional information that feels rich and rewarding. The information itself is pure HTML text - the kind search engine web crawlers find rich and rewarding.

UPDATE:

A few searches on Google show how our work is paying off: a search for Best of 80s stack returns the stack details page we created as the 1st result! The same goes for:

• world headlines stack
• homework helpers stack
• any of the 15 stacks showcased in the gallery

The startup search engine with the slick coverflow user interface SearchMe yesterday launched a raft of new features. Fly-through web searching and browsing sites like SearchMe and PicLens aren’t going to replace the current click-and-load model of information foraging on the web. Google with it’s text snippets is faster and more efficient for text searches which constitute the bulk of queries.

But SearchMe and PicLens are useful for specific cases where the user is evaluating the look-and-feel and not the textual specifics of pages or images - such as image & video searches. For example. the graphic designers in our studio find these applications useful for browsing  images for inspiration.

They are also useful for the growing home theater PC mode of lean-back couch surfing, which tends to be more social. I have both an HP Windows Vista-based HTPC as well as a Mac Mini that I use as my home music system, HDTV receiver, PVR, home movie and slideshow projector and occasionally to show-and-tell friends and family about viral or interesting websites and videos.

Google and the current set of dominant lean-forward web applications are not particularly pleasant to use in this environment. SearchMe and PicLense are much better suited for browsing and group-evaluating pages from a distance. As social couch surfing becomes more prevalent, these new models will take off.

Stacks

In addition to the requisite image and video search, one feature SearchMe released amounts to essentially a new product -  Stacks. With Stacks, SearchMe applies their UI paradigm to the web bookmarks. They upgrade the bookmark browsing experience from click-on-a-list-of-text-links to a smooth, gesture-based visual experience.

You can use stacks in place of any lists of URLs you might otherwise post to a blog or email - a list of resorts options for a group holiday, a portfolio of client work, you name it. It’s a strong enough offering that it can stand on its own separate from the core search engine.

Here is a portfolio stack I’ve created with a few recent projects we’ve launched.

While the social media arena has seen its share of contenders, MySpace remains the most heavily trafficked site on the web, and easily the largest in its class. Therefore it’s no wonder when the networking giant makes a change, people notice.

Today MySpace launched improvements to its design and architecture. And now that the proverbial cat is out of the bag, our office is proud to announce our collaboration with San Francisco-based Adaptive Path for the launch of the new designs. Our collaborative efforts began six months ago with AP as they lead the charge with effective interaction solutions. Sequence stepped in to create visual designs for the global navigation, the splash page and the profile editor—all of which you can see at myspace.com.

Stay tuned as we comment further on our personal and professional experiences during the MySpace redesign.

When the web started to become a business and marketing tool that needed to look professional and eventually have a ‘wow’ factor, graphic designers were quick to respond. Their core skills around typography, color, layout and overall branding mixed with the underlying foundation of communication seemed to be the best fit. This fit hasn’t changed – but the designers have.

Designers originally used their traditional skills to create beautiful sites and over time learned things such as optimizing a photo at 72dpi and how to use HTML fonts in a way that creates just as much of a visual interest as graphic fonts. But over time there has been an evolution of the role that designers have played within the interactive world. This shift has required designers to continue focusing on the same core skills they always have, but to combine them with new problem solving skills that involve branding, technology, business drivers, usability, content strategy, marketing and information or interaction design.

How has this evolution affected their role? Designers are pushing to create things that are innovative and account for more than just the ‘look and feel’ as they have in the past. Designers are also starting to get tired of using “Lorem Ipsum” and want to create something meaningful that includes real copy. Similar to an advertising approach, the need for rich engaging copy to match visuals is becoming a necessary part of designing. Research and usability have also played a huge role in this evolution – learning online behaviors such as people don’t read or if they do they scan a page and have particular “hot spots”. Technologies like AJAX and Flash are probably the most obvious factor contributing to this evolution, forcing designers to think about motion and “states” rather than pages and click-throughs. Technology has played an instrumental part in evolving designers to think beyond static pages and information. The most significant driver are the users themselves. They are expecting more which means designers need to deliver more.

Ultimately designers are being asked to help solve the complexities between strategy, content, design, information and technology, and this process is creating a new breed of interactive graphic designers.

Just back from 10 days of recharging my batteries in Buenos Aires – eating, shopping, snapping pictures, and of course, taking in a lot of great architecture, art, and design.

Part 1: Idarg — Argentinean Identity

On our way to Olsen for drinks, Lea and I came across Nobrand, a shop that is an extension of a project by designers Hernán Berdichevsky and Gustavo Stecher of imagenHB. The project, Idarg, is a book and a line of clothing and other products, stemming from a series of bold, graphic icons. These icons were designed “with the objective of rethinking and presenting Argentina from a different angle, through the analysis of our identity and of design from a repertoire of icons that synthesize and communicate the national self.”

Idarg is an interesting project that will also be presented by AIGA as an exhibition in New York this summer.

Part 2: Filete Porteño

Filete Porteño is a traditional decorative painting style that emerged in the late 19th century in Buenos Aires, adorning trucks, buses, buildings, signs, and eventually even the finest restaurants and popular products. It is typified by delicate, calligraphic linework, ornamental flourishes, flowers, and leaves.

And look how easy it is.

We bought two books on Filete Porteño during our stay, both by Alfredo Genovese, master fileteado. We also picked up a book on the city buses, and another on stenciling, which seems to be the most prevalent form of graffiti in the city. Here’s some pictures:

Part 3: Best. Soap. Ever.

Smells great too. From Sabater HNOS.