Ad Fed Blog

A link to some fantastic 19th century shipping posters via Drawn.

Design Charts is a top 40 inspired site to the best of Web Design around the world. Taking into account the numerous awards Web designers are nominated and awarded, Design Charts then rates the best of the best based on the traffic generated to give every viewer an amazing glimpse into the sites of these creative geniuses. Check it out…I guarantee you won’t be disappointed.

If your looking for premium linkage, the Designer’s Jumpola is the place to go.

We all try to create landing pages that entice visitors to act, to give us information, or to buy something from us. It’s hard to engage them with a small budget - but if you’re UPS, the sky’s the limit.

Check out their landing page for the whiteboard campaign. Not only does it use video and audio to attract and hold the visitors attention, it personalizes the experience with a choose-your-own adventure navigation structure. Using a killer Postal Service song as the soundtrack doesn’t hurt either.

Well done big brown.

Stop by Ad Age to watch a clip of Wired Editor Chris Anderson explain how the comsumer is in charge of the media and why its difficult to make assumptions about what they want to see.

Actually it’s the Arts Institute (AI) of Charleston set to open soon downtown. Offering Associates and Bachelors Degrees in Culinary Arts, Graphic Design, and Interactive Media to name a few, this looks like it is going to be a great new resource in the Charleston area.

Apple, Inc. (formerly know as Apple Computer, Inc.) has unleashed a new phone on the marketplace…almost. Your gonna have to wait until June to get your hands on one of these as it still has to go through the FCC first. No buttons, no keypad…everything is controlled by touching the screen with your fingers (no need for a stylus when the greatest pointing tool of all time is available).

In recent years there have been numerous referrals to the rise of the creative class both nationally and here in Charleston. The beauty, the setting, and the people of this area have been key factors in attracting talent from such disciplines as Graphic Design, Photography, Public Relations, Marketing, and Web Production. This Blog is an effort to rangle the thoughts, ideas, and aspirations of this talented group of people and to eventually become the place to come to for Charleston area creatives. What is the plan to do that?

To start, we are going to be asking creatives in the area from a variety of disciplines to share their expert opinions and ideas with you. Interspersed with these short articles by our local “experts”, you can expect to find postings on everything and anything to deal with the marketing and design world. These postings could be anything from a reference to a new design tool to help you out in your daily work, to a link to an amazing ad that someone saw the other day on YouTube. As we hope to develop a fairly expansive group of trusted users to post, we hope that there will always be fresh content for you to enjoy and learn from.

The next step is you. We will never know what matters most to you unless we see some comments on the site, questions about becoming a blogger yourself, maybe even some inquiries about out our club. And while you can live an entire Second Life on the Web, this blog hopes to get ideas and discussions going both online and offline. Attend an AdFed, PRSA, AMA, or some other local club meeting…start your own group or just meet up with friends to discuss the hot topic of the day (can anyone say iPhone?). Now is truly a great time to be in the city of Charleston and we hope this Blog becomes a representation of the energy and talent that we see all around us.

Check out The Web Design Trend and Obituary Clock. It’s a good article outlining Web design trends (especially the Web 2.0 designs) and making predictions about when they’ll flame out.

I’ve started seeing sites categorized as Web 2.0. But just because it’s got mashups and AJAX and social-networking, does that it make it better than a “1.0″ site with no fancy features, but you can find what you’re looking for instantly?

Here are a couple of links for you to draw your own opinion:

• What Users Hate Most About Web Sites
• Does Web 2.0 Equal Marketing?