In the main hall, you can encounter the upcoming offerings from the various movie and television studios, check out genuine and recreated props, purchase collectible toys and artwork (including Christmas ornaments!) or get that Merlotte’s Bar and Grill waitress T-shirt your wife would just die for (Sarah loves it!).
This summer we all cooled off at a little bash hosted at Chuck’s place. We stocked up on wine, beer and cocktails and brought in a made-to-order taco stand. After everyone warmed up with a few beverages, we got things going with a dozen different Minute to Win It challenges. Competition got pretty fierce and most of those challenges are way harder than they look, but they are way more fun than they look, too! Top prize was a tie between Barry and David, who were the only two to successfully complete all 12 challenges. It was a great afternoon that spilled over into a great evening. Click here to see the photos.
We had planned to send out our company newsletter today, but we are overwhelmed with the loss of Apple visionary, Steve Jobs. The recap of our projects and monthly antics can certainly wait for another time. Today, I respectfully prefer to share what the influence he made on me personally, on our company and our culture.
I’m one of those guys who used to dabble with the Apple II. As Apple blossomed and my affinity for computers grew, I started working with virtually every model they released. I remember carrying around a Mac Plus almost as if it were a laptop, deliberating between buying the SE with a hard drive or the one with two floppies, and getting to be one of the first to play with an fx to name a few. Now I spend much of my time creating iPhone apps and I do it all on my MacBook Air.
It was not long ago when reading email on a phone felt as primitive as Morse code, or when my courier bag was weighed down with a heavy laptop and an extra battery or two. Today, iPods far more powerful than my old laptop are dispensed from vending machines.
Earlier this week, while the web was grumbling that the iPhone 5 was not released, Mr. Jobs was in his final struggle with a rare and terminal strain of cancer. Hopefully this will remind us what is important in life. As much as we all look forward to new innovations, we should take pause to appreciate what we have. Every time I swipe my iPhone to turn it on, I marvel at how amazing it is and how much has changed since I first turned on an Apple II. Every time.
So while Mr. Jobs may be on a different type of cloud now, here are a few tenets of our company that have been influenced and shaped after years of working with his products:
| Design is important. Whether you are designing a web page, an iPhone app or a TV remote control, it must look pleasing and feel natural at the same time. Consider your audience and make sure you are giving them something that works and might even be fun to use. Even if you are working on a family scrapbook or decorating a child’s birthday cake, as Mr. Jobs would say, “Make it great.”
Embrace new technologies. We live in a world where things change and evolve quickly. While it may be easier to revert to comfortable, older technologies, we must keep pace with where things are going. This is how progress is made and keeps the spirit of innovation alive. Make things better and keep pushing the envelope. Great results don’t come from doing the least amount of work in the least amount of time. This includes production work and brain work. Design and development is hard, but you can create amazing things when you stick with it and strive for greatness. |
Yesterday we lost one of the most inspiring talents in the design, technology, entertainment and corporate world. We should always remember what Steve Jobs has made possible for us and how the wonderful gadgets he created are now a part of our daily lives. Thanks for making it great!
Steven Running,
Tuesday Creative
When creating the Tuesblog we evaluated several blogging tools such as TypePad, Movable Type, and Blogger. Ultimately, we selected WordPress because it included the features we needed, is widely held as the blogging standard, was relatively easy to configure and had both a large user base and a large developer community. Having worked with it for some time, we continue to be impressed with its power, flexibility and price tag (free!).
Magical Elves, the Emmy Award winning production company is the force behind such popular reality television shows as Top Chef, America’s Next Great Restaurant, Project Runway and feature films including Justin Bieber: Never Say Never. When they needed help with the redesign of their website, they turned to Tuesday Creative. For design inspiration, we used their striking Los Angeles office space mixing whites, purples and their trademark logo. Launched as the Justin Bieber: Never Say Never DVD hit the shelves, the site provides company background and even gives potential reality stars a chance to audition to be on one of their hit shows. Get your headshot touched up, visit the site and you may be the next big thing!
As the hub for all NBCUniversal environmentally focused content, it is very important that Green is Universal stays fresh and up to date. Previously built on a Moveable Type platform, the GIU team decided during a recent redesign to standardize to WordPress, having successfully implemented it on other sites. Tuesday worked with the GIU team to port the site into a clean WordPress install and launch to coincide with this spring’s Earth Week. Now that the site is live, the team can easily administer the site and focus more of their efforts supporting green initiatives and sharing green content. Nicole Walters, NBCUniversal Digital Media Manager shared, “What I prefer about WordPress is the flexibility it offers me to update the site on my own. With previous CMS’s we had used, I still needed to rely on a developer to update certain parts of my site. Now I’m in complete control!” Visit the Green is Universal today and find out even more ways to live a greener lifestyle!
NBCUniversal is celebrating Healthy Week May 21-27 with the launch of “What Moves Me.” The campaign showcases what motivates the stars of their networks to keep moving and go healthy! As their digital partner, we completed a migration of the Healthy at NBCU site to WordPress for the launch and produced a sporty and fun iGo Healthy game for iPhone! We also created a host of promotional banners and produced a series of widgets to be placed across the NBCUniversal portfolio of sites and Facebook pages. Click on over to the Healthy at NBCU site and see what’s happening during the 2011 Healthy Week and how you can go healthy!
Just released in the iTunes App Store is iShop Green! Created in partnership with iVillage and Green is Universal, this new app helps connect environmentally conscious consumers to eco-friendly shopping options available locally and online. We looked at the research and 9 out of 10 iVillage users make green lifestyle choices; from bringing reusable bags with them as they shop, to making green product purchases. “We created iShop Green in partnership with iVillage because it made sense to provide their existing ‘green’ audience with a tool that supports their lifestyles,” commented Nicole Walters, NBCUniversal Digital Media Manager. Whether you are looking for household products on the web, local merchants or farmers markets, this app will quickly get you there. It works by tapping into multiple green databases and serves up lists of green products, stores and websites. Just plug in your zip code and iShop Green will help you go green for all your shopping needs! Download the free app today and do your part to help make a better tomorrow for the world.
To celebrate Earth Week 2011, Green is Universal teamed up with Tuesday Creative to enhance iBloom, one of NBCUniversal’s most popular mobile game apps. Now at version 2.5, iBloom is bursting with great new features including a mode that allows for faster gameplay and more seasonal flowers for Mother’s Day, Fourth of July and Halloween (a Venus Flytrap, of course). You can also share your flowers via Twitter, Facebook and email. Help celebrate the environment and show off your green thumb by downloading iBloom for free at the App Store today! It’s a fun game to share with children and watch as they learn to grow their own flowers.
