index of www.area17.com / recent_news.txt
Austin Texas, February 27, 2008 — The website that we designed and developed for GOOD Magazine is a finalist in the 'Classic' category of the SXSW Web Awards. The final winner will be choosen on March 9th. SXSW Web Awards focus on the best new Internet destinations, however this category is devoted to websites that launched before January 1, 2007. The website was launched on December 15th 2006 ... we shall drink no wine before its time.
See SXSW website or our portfolio
New York City, February 8, 2008 — Asylum.com, the new men's lifestyle website that AREA 17 created the brand identity and website for (November '07) has just surpassed Playboy.com, Maxim.com and many others as the top men's lifestyle website — second only to Askmen.com. Asylum has a whopping 31 million page-views by a bit over 2 million good fellows (and ladies) per month. These fine folks are averaging 15 page views per visit... c'est beaucoup!
Our secret sources say the high click-rate has everything to do with the websites usable design and elegant build ... and not much to do with the bedroom pin-ups or stripping french stewardess's. Oui, oui, vraiment!
See asylum.com or our portfolio
New York City, December 6, 2007 — Asylum is a new Men's Lifestyle website straight from our friends at AOL. It's a boys club where no one needs a blazer and the only connection you need is the Internet. AREA 17 has been engaged with AOL for the last year, working closely on many new and exciting initiatives (hush hush, more details to come). We were asked by AOL to create the graphic identity for Asylum and a feature-rich blog website using their proprietary blogging platform Blogsmith.
Our aim was to develop a brand that attracts the largest possible audience while maintaining a strong personality. An online magazine for men that went further than just sex and grooming tips. Asylum covers a wide variety of topics including health, fitness, fashion, food/wine, gear, sex, dating, nightlife, entertainment, weirdness and comedy.
The website officially launched yesterday with almost a million page views thanks to AOL's massive Internet footprint. This website is part of a greater AOL plan to focus more on building brands and websites around specific audiences rather than the one-website-for-all approach. We at AREA 17 believe in this approach and are happy to be a part of it.
See asylum.com or our portfolio
New York City, October 18, 2007 — GOOD Magazine has just placed 3rd (before the respectable 4th place position of the ThinkPad Computer) in the People's Design Award by the Smithsonian's Cooper Hewitt National Design Museum. First and second place went to TOM'S Shoes and a Floating Pool in New York City, respectively. 'Global Green' landed a solid 5th.
AREA 17 created the logo, graphic identity system and website for GOOD Magazine. Open has done an extraordinary job designing the magazine itself since its first issue.
See goodmagazine.com or our portfolio
London (UK), October 3, 2007 — The GOOD Magazine logo — designed by AREA 17 — is featured in an excellent new design book titled, 'LOGO' by Michael Evamy (Published by Laurence King, 2007). The book features 5 logos made by AREA 17 including Marathon Consulting, Sidetrack Films, Nove Group and Elan. The book will be published in many territories, including China and Poland. 'LOGO' is available now through the Laurence King website or Amazon.com
Michael Bierut has said of LOGO: "The next time you are tempted to design a logo, take a look at this book. Chances are, it has already been done. By raising the bar, this wonderful resource will make better designers of all of us."
Michael Johnson has said of LOGO: "Perhaps nothing can make logo design cool again. Who knows. But in its rarefied, nu-swiss, old-Graphis-annual sort of way, this may well be the book to do it." (Read his full review here.)
Grafik magazine (UK), comparing LOGO to Taschen's new rival publication, 'Logo Design', said: "What really sets it apart is the breadth and quality of its content."
See misc. logos
New York, September 5, 2007 — As you may know, we've been working for Giant Step since way back when — launching their website, jukebox, DJ/Tastemaker extranet, 15-year anniversary mini-site and many more. Today we launch the all-new and improved Giant Step Jukebox with a few bells, a couple of whistles and more horn than your parents' web-based Jukebox. What? Your parents didn't have the Internet? Well, my friend ... that is exactly the point. Ahem.
The Jukebox has an updated user interface and more music functions such as auto-generated playlists, ratings and a new channels section with long-play radio shows. In addition, we've added photo and video galleries for your viewing pleasure. The Jukebox itself is re-skin-able and has what we call a "feature player" that allows Giant Step to create a stand-alone branded player that can be syndicated to other websites.
The jukebox is FREE and open to anyone with broadband connection and speakers. Plug it into your stereo at home or in the office. Updated every Monday with fresh and unreleased music.
See jukebox.giantstep.net or our portfolio
Galicia (Spain), August 15, 2007 — Nove (Grupo Gastronómico Galicia) is a group of gastronomic chefs based in Galicia, Spain. A few years back, AREA 17 was hired to create the graphic identity for the group and their multi-language, multi-version (Flash/HTML) website. Now, as the group has grown — in size and in success — the website needed a rethink to support this growth, for today and in the future.
Our aim was to reflect the personalities of each individual chef while showing them as part of the greater whole. We wanted an emotional and engaging experience that is also snappy, simple and flexible — not trying to force the user into a one-way narrative. The resulting multi-language website allows for easy transition between chefs and relies heavily on photography — merging navigation and image as one. The website explores the chef's themselves, their restaurants and most importantly the food they love to create.
The website is pure CSS with a very flexible content management and blogging system built in Ruby on Rails.
See nove.biz or our portfolio
New York, August 1, 2007 — At long last, AREA 17 NYC has moved from our 'temporary' location to our new and cozy (and somewhat snazzy) Brooklyn home. Back in the day, AREA 17 had a large Williamsburg loft on North 5th between Bedford and Driggs. In October 2005 we were left homeless (but thankfully not toothless) when the 'men with baseball bats' showed up to ask us to (kindly) leave. This was so that their bosses could knock down our wonderful home (known to some as Wildfist, known to others as The Blue Kangaroo Ranch) in order to build luxury lofts — had they not realized our loft was already lux?
Thereafter we 'crashed on the couch' of our dear friends and collegues at Marathon Consulting (see next news item) while drowning out our deep sorrows in our work and dreaming of a better tomorrow. After a period of calm, jealousy ensued. "Not only do our brethren in Paris get 25 vacation days a year and a 35 hour work-week and 2-hour 3-course lunches with wine ... but they also get somewhere nice-like to call chez moi!" The sentiment spread and before we knew it, an all-out French-style strike erupted in NYC (sans the Merguez sausage and Riot control). The demands included, "No more IT-style decor with old computer equipment strewn about, no more tech support team playing speed metal between calls and please please no large inspirational posters of men diving off cliffs."
The search began ... Williamsburg, Greenpoint, and we even considered Manhattan. DUMBO did enter the realm of possibilities, but after a few seconds of silent half-cocked heads, healthy laughter broke out to clear the air.
Time passed with no luck. Then it dawned on us, Williamsburg had changed. It was no longer what it used to be. So we stopped asking our rock star friends for housing advice. No more dreams of an old loft we could "do up" ourselves. Nope, it was time to get with the times, to get fancy as my momma used to say. Yes, finally a posting with "broker-fee" was clicked and next thing you know, we had a place only two-weeks later and one block away on North 10th and Driggs.
Later we realized were were not the only ones "getting fancy" as we are now next door to our friends at Athletics and Volumeone.
See photos
New York, July 15, 2007 — Are you a socially conscious designer, non-profit, individual or organization who believes social change can happen through design? Welcome home. DESIGN 21 (Social Design Network) offers a home for people who want to engage in this discussion and find ways to become socially active through their interests/skills. DESIGN 21 itself is a collaboration between Felissimo, an international design and merchandise company based in Japan and UNESCO, the United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organization.
AREA 17 was hired to strategize, architect, design and build the entire website and its associated back office tools. The DESIGN 21 website is functionally made up of three major components: community, contests and commerce. The system is built using our proprietary A17 Engines developed in Ruby on Rails.
Community allows users to join into the discussion through their own blog and the ability to create groups. Similar to the GOOD website, this website uses an A17 Engine code-name 'Gorilla' that takes group blogging to a new and organic level. Its simple: a) every comment and vote on the website ends up on the users' own profile; b) every comment can be voted and commented upon; c) all activity — parent posts and comments — are displayed based on their popularity, date, number of comments or votes. It offers new levels of transparency and organic growth that helps to naturally build the voice of a community.
Contests gives designers a way to use their talents to solve real design issues. This is where the Felissimo/UNESCO partnership really shines. The contest engine allows for multiple states of a contest — including entry, voting and awards — and a comprehensive judging extranet for an international panel.
Ecommerce is a way to support DESIGN 21 and the NPO's on the website through the purchase of the Allumonde Ring — an object designed specifically as a symbol of support for the project. This store aims to simplify the purchase process that is integrated with membership. The store offers multiple shipping options including international shipping — supporting the fact that this is an international community.
See design21sdn.com or our portfolio
New York, April 2, 2007 — Marathon Consulting, an IT Consulting Firm was looking to redefine how people look at Information Technology outsourcing — that scarey domain that every company needs but spends more time pulling out hair then solving problems.
AREA 17 was hired to develop the positioning, graphic identity and website. Our aim was to look at IT as a sportswear brand — representing utility, simplicity, agility, achievement and performance. With the website, we wanted to assert a strong promise and show it in action — broken down by services, packaged solutions and the success stories that show proven results. The main objective of the website is to get users to call Marathon — for once spoken too, their friendly, knowledgeable and human approach speaks for itself.
See marathonconsulting.com or our portfolio
Paris, January 27, 2007 — BUP (Bureau des Utopies et des Progrès), a fictional institution that promotes happiness for the masses. Created by french artist Jeane Derome, future developments include street marketing and a customer loyalty program (trading human comforts for good deeds).
AREA 17 developed the brand identity, print collateral, website and the environmental design for the first salon, inside a public library in Marseilles.
See bup.fr or our portfolio
Los Angeles, December 20, 2006 — The GOOD community has gone live. If you haven't joined, check it out and get involved with this active community. The website uses an AREA 17 Engine code-name 'Gorilla' that takes group blogging to a new and organic level. Its simple, every comment and vote on the website ends up on the users own blog. Its a new level of transparency that gives other users a quick glance at the voice of each other member.
See goodmagazine.com or our portfolio
Paris, December 15, 2006 — Madame Figaro, a weekly women's magazine by Le Figaro, raises the bar in lifestyle websites by creating a comprehensive editorial website with new content each day. Fashion, Beauty, Jewlry, Decoration, Celebrities, Culture, Society, Marriage, Enfants, Holiday & Travel, Cuisine, Online Shopping, Astrology and an exclusive club to tie it all together.
AREA 17 architected, designed and built the website and its associated content management system — our first major work on this side of the pond. Correct us if we are wrong, however this might be the largest Ruby on Rails project completed in France.
Check out the feature done on Le Mariage de Dominique et George — two of the three AREA 17 partners. Ah yes, now the whole French/USA thing starts to make sense ...
See madamefigaro.fr or our portfolio
Los Angeles, September 5, 2006 — Its been a year since we started working on GOOD — the magazine that we created the identity for in addition to the website. Now, today marks the launch of the magazine in print and on the news stands across the U.S. of A. Props goes to Open for designing the magazine, and 2x4 and W+K 12 for their wonderful contributions.
Today also marks the launch of the updated website with all the magazine content available for free, in addition to other nifty features. The next launch will be in mid October with full community features. If you haven't subscribed to the magazine, do it now and come to the Launch Party in NYC or LA.
GOOD Magazine featured on New York Times, Yahoo! Picks, Del.icio.us, Boingboing, Gawker.
See goodmagazine.com or our portfolio
New York, September 2, 2006 — Naxos of America and eMusic introduce MPkey downloadable classical music collections, now in Borders stores nationwide. The albums are packaged in CD-sized boxes and will be placed on store shelves at Borders. Inside each box, however, customers will find not a CD but a card with an access code and a booklet of instructions for downloading the album. Using Ruby on Rails AREA 17 built the website application which includes a secure token downloading system and full integration into the Emusic backend. The product was featured in the Wall Street Journal this past Sunday.
Paris, August 1, 2006 — After 3 months of making drawings, fighting with french contractors and changing our minds (we are the clients this time), our new Paris office is finished.
See before pictures and after pictures
New York City, July 10, 2006 — Rainbow Media, the Cablevision owned company that brings you AMC, IFC, WE, Fuse and many more cable stations, asked AREA 17 to help create a file management system — similar to our file browser — that allows them to distribute their many network and programming assets to their affiliates. At the time, they had 18 semi-content managed websites that were out of date in all aspects. Difficult to use in all aspects, both admins and end-users found themselves frustrated and reverted to email for their file exchanges — not so timely or cost effective.
AREA 17 worked with the Rainbow Media team to come up with a solution that allowed them to easily create a network affiliate website that distributed and promoted their assets in simple and relavant ways. The back-office system allows for 'push-button' network creation, permissions-based access, really simple file uploads and content management, section specific or site-wide promotional tools, website usage stats, and a whole lot more.
The front-end allows users to log-in without a password to the network of their choice and be remembered. Smart URL's allow for easy sharing of files, and users are able to switch networks in a jiffy. Just like our file browser, the website is organized in a folder structure with a breadcrumb that keeps you on track. But it goes further to introduce site-wide search, network topics (keywords) and relational content. Users can stay tuned-in through custom email alerts and RSS. And of course the little things have been thought of such as send to a friend, printable views and the ability to download multiple files in one-click through an on-the-fly zip compression function.
Last but definitely not least, the website itself has different file access, based on the URL you enter through. Instead of making a separate website for more secure internal sales content, the system automatically publishes a second version of each network website that is secure. It includes the same structure and content of the public one, but has additional content securely and privately available just for internal sales users. This not only makes it so that the website admin can publish a file once and make it available many times, but it also allows us to update the system engines once with new features and every network website — public or private — instantly benefits.
The website had gotten rave reviews from our client and also their end-users. Traffic has been steadily increasing from launch and retention is at an all-time high. We are proudest of the work we do that really makes a difference and most thankful and dedicated to our clients that allow us to do just that.
See rainbowaffiliate.com and 4-minute presentation
Paris, May 15, 2006 — 'Etape Graphique' — the premiere graphic design magazine in France — recently featured our Elan project in the May Issue.
New York, May 01, 2006 — Sidetrack Films is an independent production company dedicated to emerging talent, transforming ideas and evolving media. AREA 17 was hired to create the entire brand identity system for the company communications and website.
With all the excitement around their bold films such as the award-winning 'Favela Fising' and the new documentary 'Beautiful Loser' we needed to come up with a communication platform that is just as strong, creating a unifying thread. The website pulls it all together with an in-line photo gallery and video module within the film pages, fully integrated blogging system for news and a simple content management system for preservation and growth.
See sidetrackfilms.com or our portfolio
Los Angeles, March 27, 2006 — GOOD, a new voice in media, embraces this generation's merger of capitalism and idealism — and is living this message. AREA 17 was hired to create the entire brand identity system for the company communications and print magazine, in addition to the website creation.
The print magazine and full website launch in Fall 2006, however the phase one website has been created in order to promote their unique subscription drive — Choose GOOD. Subscribe to GOOD Magazine and 100% of your money goes to help the organization of your choice! Amazing, but true — visit their website and see for yourself how they are redefining the magazine business model. The phase one website supports ecommerce (with instant results of the campaign), an intergrated blogging system and also lays the foundation for a community-based website.
See goodmagazine.com or our portfolio
New York, March 22, 2006 — When in the business of selling wedding dresses, one doesn't hope for repeat business.
Ulla-Maija, a maker of couture wedding dresses, wanted to give their clientel a website that is just as elegant, sophisticated and thoughtful as each of their custom dresses. Supporting the average 3-6 month purchase lifecycle, the website offers users the ability to save dresses to a Dreamlist and pass it around to friends and family. With just an email address as a password, users can also log into their Dreamlist by adding their email to the website address. The website is also fully content managed with high resolution photography and simple text editing, giving Ulla-Maija the ability to update the experience regularly to support the seasons.
See ulla-maija.com or our portfolio
New York, March 15, 2006 — In support of the Blondie and The New Cars tour, eMusic, a leader in MP3 downloads and independent music, offers tour ticket buyers a free Blondie and The New Cars album download. AREA 17 created a mini-website that accepts up to 300,000 unique user-entered codes and gives users-specific access to the downloads — MP3's are then downloaded via a secure token system to the users computer. A customer service management system was added to allow eMusic to view and report on usage, in addition to re-releasing download tokens in case of user-based problems.
New York, March 10, 2006 — Back in 2002, AREA 17 launched a new and industry-leading membership-based community website for Giant Step. Jam-packed with features such as integrated forums, contests, and a rock-solid jukebox with high quality weekly unreleased tunes, giantstep.net has become the destination for new music discovery.
Through close partnership between AREA 17 and Giant Step, we have worked to refine the website and its functionality — giving users what they desire and helping Giant Step do business in a more streamlined manner. Today, we launch a new look to the website with added features such as News, What's Hot, Jukebox exclusives (exclusive radio shows) and a new features section (reviews, articles, listings). Visit the website, become a member, post to the forums, plug into the jukebox and enjoy!
See giantstep.net or our portfolio
Paris, March 03, 2006 — Arnaud Mercier applies the basic principles of web design to our Paris office. All furniture has been place on the pixel grid and wall colors have been converted to web-safe. This simple step has improved efficiency by 43.5% and has presented a more refined image for our French clients.
See see video
New York, January 06, 2006 — AMC launches a new television series, Hustle, using its website as a primary tool for marketing. AREA 17 worked with AMC to design and develop a fully content managed and growable website with custom illustrations, games, interactive features and fully integrated photo galleries and video on each page. The website is automatically updated as each episode passes, giving users fresh content each week. In its first three days after launch, the website enjoyed 100,000 unique visitor and over a million unique page impressions.
See hustle.amctv.com
Paris, France, November 19, 2005 — In order to simplify workflow, unify asset management and place a focus on content (not structure), AREA 17 launches the File Browser (Beta 0.70) for internal use.
Vienna, VA, August 10, 2005 — The philosophy is simple, to create performance wear that doesn't look like performance wear. A relative newcomer in this market (yet with 25 years of apparel experience), Sport Science needed to create a simple website that could grow with the company while positioning them as a leading brand. The result is a fully CSS and standards-based website that accomplishes two main objectives: inform consumers and retailers alike about the company while offering simple and clear ways to get the product.
See smarterperformance.com or our portfolio
New York, August 8, 2005 — AREA 17 helped IFC (Independent Film Channel) create the technology behind a simple and very usable video player for Pulp Week back in June. After much success, IFC decided to make it a permanent part of their homepage. The player was then re-architected to support new features such as "reskinability" and was then launched for both IFC and AMC (The Complete Bond).
Marseille, France, July 31, 2005 — Elan is a new European brand of professional quality paints. As outsiders in a very competitive market, they wanted to immediately position themselves at the top of the market with a product of great quality, yet slightly less expensive than the main competitors.
Our assignment was to help create the full brand strategy and identity, starting from nothing but the competition. The result is a cross-media identity system that has been translated into everything from bucket designs, swatches, brochures and in-store kiosks to a soon to be online presence.
See Elan or our portfolio
New York, July 25, 2005 — TAXI Design Network is the key resource destination for the global creative industry of today. TAXI Design Network is a daily-updated service network (created and owned by Hills Creative Arts Pte Ltd) that supports the entire initiative in raising awareness in design by translating Design into a universal language to communicate to the mainstream cultures. It is a network, portal community, magazine, newspaper, and a platform that bridges diverse creative disciplines and promotes collaborative interaction to propel unlimited innovations and infinite breakthroughs.
See designtaxi.com
New York, June 1, 2005 — The Giant Step jukebox, designed by AREA 17, will provide permanent streaming music content on Newstoday.com's website. Newstoday.com is an Internet resource for art and design with an actively participating global audience of designers, artists, creative professionals, universities and anyone with an interest in the creative field. Launched in 2001, it has become one of the main destinations for the online design community worldwide and has positioned itself as one of the most popular design resources on the Internet today.
Folkert Gorter & Jason Kristofer, founders of Newstoday.com said, "QBN Stereo is latest feature added to Newstoday.com, and has instantly become a success. Receiving a warm welcome from our multi-media-hungry audience, visitors were most impressed by the track selections and sound quality of the stream. Conceived, designed and executed in the simplest and most minimal form, the audio player demands next to no attention while adding a tremendous layer to the experience of the site. The result of a smooth and seamless collaboration between QBN, Giant Step and AREA 17, QBN Stereo is already indispensable in the spectrum of Newstoday functionality."
See newstoday.com
New York, May 3, 2005 — AREA 17 helped Giant Step, a leading music marketing company, launch its jukebox (created by us) on HBO' s Entourage website for the duration of a VIP program starting Monday May 9th. The Giant Step jukebox will provide permanent music content on a special membership section of the site intended to celebrate the series upcoming season starting Sunday June 5th.
Maurice Bernstein, CEO and Founder of Giant Step wrote, "The Giant Step jukebox is a pioneer in the online music sphere. It 's our version of an online iPod with all your favorite Giant Step music. We are very excited to be a part of the Entourage VIP membership program and feel certain their members are going to love the incredibly diverse and special content."
See hbo.com/vip
New York, April 1, 2005 — After 2 years of successfully working together on a project basis, Arnaud Mercier joins AREA 17 as a partner — the company that he helped concept and launch with co-creator George Eid in 2003.
See area17.com