Much like other social media websites, utahjazz360.com allows users to create a profile and contribute blog entries, pictures, videos, and artwork to the site. Members can then interact with other fans by sharing, voting and commenting on their content.  Also included is a forum where fans can engage in Jazz, NBA and other general discussions. The site even allows fans to directly ask the team owner, Greg Miller, questions.  And, as the 2010 – 11 season approaches, members should be on the lookout for exclusive deals on tickets and merchandise available only on utahjazz360.com.

By combining graphic design, web technologies and strategic planning, we have been able to help the Utah Jazz take the next step in maintaining and expanding a loyal fan base.  So far, the site has proven very successful, as hundreds of fans have shown positive response.  Check out utahjazz360.com and see what the buzz is all about.

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This week we are excited to announce the launch of our newest website Sejaa. The brand Sejaa, founded by model and environmental activist Gisele Bündchen, is a line of eco- friendly skincare products.

Gisele Bündchen wanted a line of pure, natural skincare products that had minimal impact on the environment. The brand philosophy of Sejaa is simple: To love life. Sejaa emphasizes being conscious and grateful for what we’ve been given and taking care of what we value—including our planet, each other, and ourselves.

The web design team at Axis41 used stunning photography of Gisele in natural settings to convey the philosophy of Sejaa. One look at the home page and you can feel the purity and vibrancy that the brand stands for. The imagery is the central focus of the site, providing the background to all pages. The color palette is soft, warm neutrals that tie into the packaging and complement the vibrant colors of the photography.

2 Versions of the Homepage of Sejaa
Featuring Gisele Bündchen

The Axis41 web development team programmed the Sejaa site in PHP /Javascript/HTML. In the web development and design industry most visual, interactive sites are built in Flash. The programmers at Axis41 decided as a team to mimic the bold visuals and interactivity of Flash design but use more accessible, faster programming languages. This makes sejaa.com accessible by both search engines and most internet users.

Overall, the Sejaa site reinforces the brand vision of Giselle Bündchen’s new skincare line—simple, natural, and joyful.

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10 Perfect Gifts for SEO, Web Marketing Specialists

- The secrets of the Google Algorithm…seriously please this is the only thing I really want even more than a Marc Jacobs handbag

- 100 percent click through rate for all PPC accounts

- Web 3.0 translator so the rest of the office knows what we are talking about… SEO, SEM, PPC

- A Zoltar Machine

- A personal visit from Seth Godin everyday for one month

- A personal in-house barista

-iPhone Stylus; finger prints are annoying

- Set of three Mini Moleskin Notebooks…to jot down good ideas

- iPhone app for brainstorming cool, useful iPhone Applications

- Twitter Fail Whale sign; for the days when our systems are overloaded

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Top 10 Gifts for Project Management Team

- Black Pashmina

- Starbucks Holiday Mug

- Tazer, whip or anything to insight fear

- Mega Phone

- Stand in life sized bobble head

- “Off” button…so they can turn off every once and awhile

- Cattle prod, jumper cables and three car batteries

- Designer and web developer cloning device

- Cell phone minutes

- Franklin Covey Planner

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Here is a list 10 gifts that any of the designers at Axis41 will love.

- Helvetica Documentary

- Cast Metal Movable Type Set

- Deadline Extender Application and “Almost Approved” Stamp when there is just one more “little” change

- Big Head Phones…to drown out distractions

- New Magic Mouse

- Pantone Swatch Book

- Full Bleed Vinyl Toy

- Provo Craft Screen Printer Set

- Nicely Bound Sketchbook

- Kern Zip Up Sweatshirt

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Here are the Top 10 Christmas Gifts for a Web Developer

1- HTTP response code underwear

2- Tickets to Comic-Con

3- Steve Jobs Bobble Head

4- USB Drink Cooler

5- Weekend Stay at a Google Data Warehouse

6- Embroidered Mountain Dew T-shirt, for client meetings and other professional situations

7- Anything from ThinkGeek.com

8- Ninja Electronics Duster

9- Java Mug

10- Three Wolf Moon Shirt from Amazon….women are helpless to its power.

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Great brands never arise from a confusing mess. Great brands stand for something, and they’ve stood for it for a while: Volvo stands for safety. Nike stands for performance. Nordstrom stands for service. Apple stands for innovation. Et cetera.

So, what do you want your company to stand for? More importantly, how are you going to articulate it to both your internal team and your customers? That’s where we’ll go in Part 3.

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1. Branding, Part 1: Let’s start at the beginning

A logo really only starts to become hip and cool when the company it represents starts to be perceived as such (assuming that hip and cool is what they desire). If the logo can’t accommodate a company’s desired perception, then it’s not an accurate reflection of the company.

I personally believe that a great logo can stand the test of time. It’s not “trendy,” meaning cool one minute and then irrelevant the next. A good logo is simple and memorable and can function as an empty vessel, one that can be filled with meaning by the company it represents. Far too often the temptation is to design a logo that tries to tell too much about the company. The belief is that by looking at the logo one should be able to tell what the company does; some designers even believe that if it’s really good, the logo can tell viewers how the company does things, as well. What that usually leaves you with is a cluttered mess that ends up telling no story at all.

Think for a second about the Nike logo, which everyone wishes they had. They see so much meaning in that simple logo and try to mimic it in every possible way. What they’re not thinking about is the billions of dollars that have gone into advertising and product development in order for that logo to have the meaning it currently does. My intent is not to diminish the Nike logo in any way. In fact, quite the contrary—I think it’s simple and timeless, ready to accept all the meaning the company could possibly fill it with (and has already filled it with).

Take the time to identify who your company really is or what it aspires to be and then create an appropriate logo that your customers can associate with the company in a positive light. It should reinforce the brand not detract from it. It should be simple, memorable, and timeless, something you can look at in ten or fifteen years and say that it still feels fresh.

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Most of the crew at Axis41 has had the pleasure of pulling into the parking lot only to have someone “stuck” at the gate trying to figure out what to do. Then we end up having to wait (sometimes for several minutes) while the individual tries to understand the complex and cryptic message. Meanwhile traffic is backing up and tensions start to run high. The message is in bold red letters on a white sign that reads “Public Parking 5pm – 12pm.” Very direct and to the point… right?

While eating at one of our preferred lunch destinations next to this parking lot, the web dev team was entertained by watching car after car pull up to the gate and attempt to get in. After watching several cars do the exact same thing I got really curious about what makes this sign so confusing. I walked by the gate and began to understand the problem.

Aha! There is an afterthought message written on cardboard. While the main message and the secondary message both make sense when read separately, having the two messages together is so confusing that they appear to paralyze the reader. Then, after several minutes the reader gives up and moves on to the next lot.

How many messages are you trying to communicate at the same time on your web pages?

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Just as you’re more than the clothes you wear, or the job you do, or the house you live in, your brand is more than a logo, a website, or a CEO’s vision. A brand is an overall perception of a company by a customer—and like an opinion about a person, it can be positive or negative.

The best brands are those with strong positive emotions attached to them. When people encounter a company with a great brand, they expect every touch point of that company to positively reflect the brand. It’s a letdown when that brand standard isn’t met.

There’s an idea referred to as 360 degree branding—it’s the notion that brand influence and the associated touch points surround your company in every aspect, whether you like it or not. So when building your own brand strategy, consider every touch point that comes in contact with people. And we mean every touch point: The receptionist’s tone of voice, the CEO’s vision of the future, the color your stores are painted, the words employees when talking about the company—all of these things are significant as you build a strong, meaningful brand.

It’s a lot to think about, but it’s something every successful company has thought about. Part 2 of this series will bring up some questions to ask about your own brand, so stay tuned.

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1. Branding, Part 2: Why you should care