As you may have heard, Substance will be at SXSW 2010. We’re stoked to be a part of it again this year, and want to make sure we can provide and gain as much knowledge and inspiration as possible. In that spirit, here’s some stuff we’re thinking about as well as some recommendations on where to get coffee, a sandwich and a good beer when you’re down to Austin. In exchange for these brief and potentially useful bits of information, we hope if you have some tips, suggestions or comments, that you leave them below and share with the world. Like a good place for BBQ that isn’t way out at the Salt Lick.

Our SXSW Schedule

Some events, panels, and activities you may find us attending while at SXSW. Yes, there are multiple panels at the same time on here… there are two of us so we can divide and conquer.

At the end of the day, the students broke into two groups to solve a problem we presented: what existing technology would you take and use for something different and how would it solve a business or cultural challenge? The ideas the students came back with were great, but I won’t tell you what they were in case they want to bring them to market themselves. Plus, they taught me a bit about Chat Roulette. I’m not sure I needed that. But besides that, a huge thanks goes out to the students for asking great questions, engaging in interesting conversations, and inspiring me with their curiosity and hunger for knowledge.

Super special thanks goes out to Deb Morrison for inviting Peter (and therefore, me) to come and have a conversation with the students who drove up from Eugene. Otherwise Peter and I probably would still be at the Whiskey Soda Lounge eating those delicious Ike’s Vietnamese Fish Sauce wings, spicy style. And that’s just wouldn’t be as healthy for anyone involved.

“Super immersive without being heavy-handed, achieved through excellent interaction design. This site makes me hungry. Well done.” —Mathew Ranauro (from Communication Arts 2010 Interactive Annual)

It’s been really tough to keep this one a secret, because we were thrilled to learn that the site we designed and built for Oregon Bounty was going to be in Communication Arts 2010 Interactive Annual. The Interactive Annual finally hit newsstands so we can shout it from the rooftops.

You can check out what the judges had to say, and how we described the site, on the Communication Arts website: http://www.commarts.com/interactive/cai10/oregonbounty.html.

We’ve said time and time again that we don’t do what we do for awards, we do what we do because we don’t know any other way to go about creating beautiful, functional interactive experiences that help our clients achieve their business goals. Sometimes these beautiful, functional interactive experiences are noticed by our peers, which we certainly appreciate, and we won’t turn down their praise. We, just like anyone else, like to hear when we’re doing a good job.

On a personal note, when I started in design many years ago, I always revered the awards annuals produced by Communication Arts. Since way back in the day, I’ve been paging through CommArts for design inspiration. In fact, I relied on CommArts Design and Advertising Annuals to locate Portland agencies to interview with before I moved out here eleven years ago (none of them hired me… that’ll teach ‘em). So if in some small way Substance can contribute to someone’s inspiration, or give them a name of an agency they’d like to work with, I’m honored to continue and contribute to this legacy.

Thanks again Communication Arts, thank you Travel Oregon for the opportunity to continue to do great work with you, and thank you to the partners we had the pleasure of working with on this project: Wieden & Kennedy (for the offline advertising), Maxwell PR and Robeson Communications (for the cuisinternship contest) and eROI (for email fulfillment).

p.s. If you like awards, and you like Substance, AND you like the Portland Trail Blazers, we hope you’ve been voting for I Am A Trail Blazers Fan (you can check out the site at IAmATrailBlazersFan.com) for the People’s Choice Award at the 13th Annual SXSW Web Awards. Here’s how you do it:

1. Go to: http://sxsw.com/peoples-choice
2. Enter your email address.
3. You’ll get a pass-phrase via email.
4. Return to the web address, enter your pass-phrase, and vote for I Am A Trail Blazers Fan (under Community).
5. Return every day to vote again (really, this is legal!)
6. Tell your friends, family, colleagues, acquaintances (heck, even your enemies) to do Steps 1 – 5 as well.

Thanks in advance for your support, and we’ll see you at SXSW as well. If you voted for I Am A Trail Blazers Fan more than 40 times (in honor of the Trail Blazers 40th anniversary), we’ll buy you a beer. Proof of voting necessary to redeem for the beverage.

We just found out that IAmATrailBlazersFan.com (what we affectionately call IAMA) is a finalist in the Community category at the South By Southwest Interactive Web Awards! While we don’t set out to win awards, it is truly an honor to be recognized by our peers for the work we do. We also would never have had the opportunity to create the site without the imagination and sheer willpower of Dan Harbison, the Internet Marketing Manager at the Trail Blazers, and the dedicated team of developers working over there. This nomination is shared by all of us.

This also means that Erin and I will be returning to Austin this March for our second SXSW conference for a lot of inspiration, a bit of adventure, and many beers at The Ginger Man. Hopefully we’ll see you there. We’ll be the ones walking the red carpet at the WebAwards ceremony. And best of luck to all the nominees in all of the categories… you guys are doing some of the best interactive work out there and we’re flattered to be in your company.

UPDATE: If you’re a fan of IAMA, we’d sincerely appreciate your vote for IAmATrailBlazersFan.com as the People’s Choice for the SXSW WebAwards. Vote early, vote often.

What really resonated with me was the fact that the campaign wasn’t promoting a product per se (though I guess Bode could be seen as such), but a philosophy. Maybe I’m easily influenced by a strong, contrarian voice stating competition isn’t about what place you get but how you compete, doing your best, and pushing yourself to do better. I actually liked the concept of the campaign. (How often do people say that?) The broadcast spots also weren’t the end of the message, but an invitation to engage online (something the latest batch of Super Bowl spots could learn from).

I could wax nostalgic about the long hours and missed holidays to launch the project, but what really stands out, four years later, is how our interactions online have changed. Back then, the site allowed people to download videos for their iPod (it was right around the time that the first video iPods came out), and email videos to friends. If you watched 10 videos, you could put your own comment up as a leaf in the Bode Tree forest. With over 5,000 comments submitted (Todd had to approve each one), only a handful had to be rejected based on content… positive or negative, the tone of voice in the leaves was affected by watching Bode expound on his philosophy.

If we launched the site now, I’m sure there would be a Facebook tie-in and Facebook application. There’d be some kind of Twitter integration of Bode tweeting from the games, and a #joinbode hashtag to populate the tree leaves. There would be a Join Bode iPhone app that showed the videos and gave race/medal results. The thing is, none of this stuff existed four years ago. We built the site based off of how people were engaging online at the time (even being relatively forward thinking by allowing people to post their own comments).

If online engagement can change so dramatically over four years, imagine how it will change in the next four. Building a business model around a specific technology or communications channel is basically predetermining your business extinction. Evolution is a process of what works best and what is no longer relevant. Companies that focus on what you want to accomplish and why you want to accomplish it are much better geared to trying new things, to seeing communication and conversation as evolution, not an end point.

Here’s wishing Bode the best of luck in the 2010 Olympics, but also recognizing that it isn’t just about the medals. It’s also about the Olympic creed.

And I didn’t realize this at the time, but I must have been subliminally affected by my childhood viewing of the Schoolhouse Rock song “Figure 8″ from a design standpoint. Only realized this 3+ years after the site launched…

TheCentralCascades.com

The printed MapGuide is a great resource for the selected geotourism locations, but there were so many terrific locations that simply couldn’t fit on the printed piece. The website now acts as an evolving geotourism resource, providing information on hundreds of different locations across Oregon and Washington’s Central Cascades mountain range.

The highlight of the relaunched site is the interactive MapGuide.

We’ve done a fair amount of map work on Ride Oregon and Oregon Bounty, and on the Central Cascades map we had the opportunity to rethink how the map experience could work. Instead of record paging and showing a certain number of results on the map at one time, we designed out an interactive display to scroll through all locations, show “active” and “preview” locations on the map, and allow people to filter map results.

Beyond an interactive experience, the site supports some of the initiatives that Oregon and Washington are working on to build local economies based on travel and tourism. By providing resources like TheCentralCascades.com to direct travelers to “off-the-beaten-path” destinations, we’re helping to channel tourism dollars to rural communities, providing new opportunities for sustainability from a business perspective.

The other benefit of working on projects like this is having the opportunity to attend the launch event up at Timberline Lodge. When there’s no difference between work and play, you’ve got to take advantage of that.

Clockwise from top left: Erin in snow gear / Timberline Lodge / the sun over the mountains / Cory shreds the slope / Todd, Erin and Cory receive snowboarding instructions / the reception / Timberline Lodge at night / David, Cory and Erin at the reception / David and Stephen on the lift / the food and map at the reception / Erin’s feet / the snowy, empty runs // full photo set up on Flickr

It appeared to me that there were some “personality trends” in 2009. I didn’t care for them much. And while I’m no self-help guru, I’ve got some ideas on what “improvements” could be made. Take it or leave it. (Being a month in, you might have some ground to make up.)

Enabled. Considered. Responsible. Wishing you the best of luck in 2010, whatever your choices may be.

Three years. Doesn’t seem that far back, yet worlds ago from today.

That’s the day we started Substance.

I don’t want to go into a long-winded review of the last three years and what we’ve accomplished… if you’re looking for that you can review what we’ve done and how and why we’ve done it (the quick summary is: some awesome stuff). Three years in, I’m reminded of why we started Substance: to change the world.

Recently I came across this quote from Hugh MacLeod’s book “Ignore Everybody“:

“The only people who can change the world are the people who want to.”

Glad to report we still want to. Happy 3rd anniversary, Substance.

(On a side note, WOO!!! THREE YEARS!)

p.s. Substance will be closed for the day after 10am on Tuesday, January 19th to attend the re-launch celebration of TheCentralCascades.com up at Timberline Lodge. Convenient timing!