february 2007 // issue 02

We heart each other, (hopefully).

This year we’ve decided to celebrate a corporate Valentine's Day with a company retreat to Mammoth Mountain. Is there a better way to say i love my job than to spend 72 straight hours with your co-workers? Doubtful. Yes it’s a long weekend of office bonding over hot toddies and bruised tailbones. Luckily Mammoth has a 1:2 ratio of bars to people so it shouldn’t be a problem to get our hands on the necessary "tools" to make our little vacation perfectly enjoyable.

Babies are us.

Our first project to launch this year could very well be categorized as the definitive work on cuteness. Following established guidelines of the Wendy Bellissimo brand, we redesigned and developed a site to showcase Wendy's warm personality and distinctive product line. Almost makes you want to have kids of your own. www.wendybellissimo.com

A Convenient Truth.

This month we'd like to officially welcome our newest addition to the Fluid family: say hello, Fluidata. Now we can offer in-house hosting featuring dedicated servers and superior customer support. Plus, we’re the very first "green" hosting co., donating 1% of profits to pro-planet causes. Who knew your website could double as renewable resource? www.fluidata.com

Name that webcompany

We were going to close with a good-humored rant on the banality of current "web 2.0" design, but then we had a better idea... a game! Yes, everybody loves games! Here’s how it works... go to any site listed on techcrunch; quickly, using your hand or scrap of paper or pack of gum, cover up the “logo” in the upper left corner of the page; next open up a few more tabs following the same steps; now try to guess which site you’re looking at. See, it’s almost impossible to tell the difference!

This is what happens when boring design meets good ideas. Sad, isn’t it? Poor companies with no identity of their own. All we're saying is just because you have a start-up technology company doesn’t mean your product has to look exactly the same as everyone elses. It’s like copying off the guy next to you on a test, no guarantee he’s right.