june 2008 // issue 07

And then there was summer, and it was good.

Ahoy there faithful readers of this, our fluidesign newsletter! We’ve missed you. It’s just that we’ve had SO much going on in the office and what with the onset of warmer, longer days we’ve been hard pressed to spend our free moments anywhere but outside. Especially with you know, our enviable proximity to the beach. Ah the salty sea air, wind in our proverbial sails... yes we’re enjoying our voyage into the warmer waters of summer love. Er, sorry... drifted off there for a second. Ahem, well. Check out what we’ve been up to at our ocean view workstations.

Represent

Let’s start with our yearly moment in the sun when we applaud ourselves for the awards we’ve gathered this interactive season. First off our official Webby Honoree for LMU.edu. The whole web staff at LMU is truly the nicest bunch of people and we are so glad they have their first award. And Lisa Kline, California Apparel News, and GodTube Prayer Wall all received Horizon Interactive awards. Now then. On to the work.

Now accepting reservations.

Traveling is fun and all but isn’t it such a drag when you get the crappy room overlooking the construction site, where work commences each morning at sunrise, even though you’re staying at the Four Seasons and rooms cost a small fortune each night? (Not that this has ever happened to us). TripKick is about to become your (and our) best friend. The site gives you insider information on the best rooms at the best hotels and lets fellow jetsetters post reviews and comments for these same rooms. In the first month following launch, over 200 tech, hotel, design, and news sites blogged about it, including Techcrunch, Thrillist, and MSNBC. And let’s not forget it’s place in Time Magazine’s top 50 websites of 2008. It’s a dog-eat-dog world out there in the land of luxury travel, but never fear, TripKick’s got your back. tripkick.com

Working it out.

The Orchard distributes more than one million songs and over 4,000 hours of video through hundreds of digital stores (like, say iTunes) and mobile carriers (like AT&T) globally. And to manage all of that, we designed their Artist/Label Workstation, a pretty intense system for record labels and artists to view, track, and get reports on listens, downloads, revenue, accounting, and more. theorchard.com

R-o-c-k in West LA.

The days of truly independent radio may be numbered but here on the west side of LA, we still have our little semi-precious stone in the rough. KXLU has been sharing diverse, alternative, local music for decades and as it turns out, has had the same sad website for as long. So we did what we do best... gave them a web presence that feels like their scene, maing. Check it: kxlu.com

Sharing the music love.

Rounding out our music trifecta from the past few months is a neat little project for our fave station (tied with KXLU of course) KCRW. Being the progressive station that they are, KCRW has hopped on the tech wagon, giving a handful of their DJs and other key music enthusiasts blogs on VOX. Following the rather strict guidelines of VOX templates, we designed skins for each of the 6 blogs they selected for the project. Being a most excellent resource for the music scene in LA, it’s only right that KCRW would share their inside info on new music/bands with the greater online community. We were more than happy to make their coveted info look pretty. kcrw.vox.com

P.S.

Don’t forget about our favorite way for you to keep in touch with office musings straight from our individual mouths. Yes we’re blogging our little hearts out over at blog.fluidesign.com. You can sign up for our feed so you don’t miss a post. We promise there’s some good stuff in there.