I’m proud to unveil the new face of CatalystDirect.com.  It’s sleek and sexy, but then again, I’m partial…

The new look is more than just a design; it’s a story.  I don’t want to give it all away in this post so sit back, relax and enjoy — then explore and get an understanding of our viewpoint and see how we take it from conception to reality in 3 new portfolio pieces.

While you’re in here, send me a comment and let me know what you think!

A new search engine, Cuil (pronounced “Cool”), was launched on Monday.  It was  developed by some folks from google and was introduced with great press and fanfare. So far, the responses have been mixed and the search results spotty.

Silicon Ally Insider called it the worst launch ever. That seems harsh. There are a number of interesting things about Cuil. I like the contextual nature of the results, although it doesn’t provide as much of an immediate a snapshot of what’s available. I also like that they don’t store my search data. But there are issues…start by searching Cuil and you don’t get anything about the site. It still seems very beta to me.

Here’s what some of the folks at Catalyst have to say about it.

“The appearance of the Cuil search results is more refined, but I’m used to (and like) the dump that Google provides.” — Pete

“I wasn’t a big fan of the results page when it did show up… out of the three columns does it go down the first and then to the top of the second in order of best results?” – Dan

“I’ll stick with Google…” — John J.

“It’s got some merit, it just needs some more refinement.  It almost feels like it got announced before these guys were ready.”  — Justin

“I like the pictures associated with the websites.  The visuals are great! I also like the “explore by category” section on the upper right hand corner of the page.  It’s good that they offer up other ways to search for what I am looking for. — Julie

“I like the interface – simple and clean.  I like that the results include an image of the site if available.  The interface somehow reminds me of an iPhone which I’m sure is no accident.” — Rich 

The big question on everyone’s mind is how are they going to make money?

Found this excellent review of mobile trends in the US and UK.   Visit Mobile Life 2008 and download the full report (pdf).

For years, I’ve talked about the importance of scannability in any online presentation. (My coworkers are definitely sick of hearing me talk about scannability AND exploration.)

I’ve written and edited my share of thousand-word articles, don’t get me wrong. But the more I watched Web traffic reports and usability testing, the more I evangelized scannability (and specifically, short bulleted lists).

Michael Agger has a piece in Slate that cleverly summarizes the arguments for and the importance of scannability. (Although in general I have negative feelings about overuse of the sentence fragment and … within a paragraph. So I take exception to that suggestion.)

He also makes an excellent point about reading speed and font. (Although, again, I prefer to stick with Arial because it scores best across both online and offline platforms.)

Anyway, it’s definitely worth a read: “Lazy Bastards: How we read online”

It’s no secret that we’re in a very competitive communications environment out there. We don’t just compete with other DM or online materials. It’s everything that people look at…television, outdoor boards, point-of-purchase materials, newspapers, magazines, Web sites, YouTube and other forms of alternative media.

An article in The New York Times last year stated that “a person living in a city 30 years ago saw up to 2,000 ad messages a day, compared with up to 5,000 today.”

As ECD at Catalyst Direct, one of my key roles is to review all the work that goes out the door. That means that I look at a lot of different pieces of work, so it helps to have a process on which to rely.

As a client, you’re faced with many of the same tasks. So where do you begin? Easy.

1. Start with the Creative Brief. Yes, that same one that our account folks require you review and sign. It’s true, people actually read it—in fact, my creative teams depend on it as their road map. Review the strategy, objectives, offer, audience, mandatories, deadline … everything about the project. Of course, someone from the agency … an account or creative person…will review this as a setup to the presentation, but it’s always good to read it first.

2. Watch, listen and take notes. As you’re looking at the work, watch, listen and take a few notes. There can be a lot to absorb.

3. Ask questions. Once we’ve presented the concept (or the final creative, depending on where we are in the process), ask questions about why we did or didn’t do something. And feel free to make any suggestions and recommendations. It’s a very collaborative process that depends on an open give and take of ideas.

4. Challenge us, poke at the work. Are we meeting the objectives? Are we solving the consumer’s needs? Start off with these higher-level questions before working your way down to whether you like the photo or the colors. While these are important elements, we all have to agree that the strategy is effectively executed, that we’re speaking to our desired audience.

5. Forget everything. Now comes the hardest, most important part. Forget everything you know about the strategy, product, offers, rationale, marketing, advertising, communication theories about how people scan the page, what you like or don’t like, and look at it as just another customer. Ask yourself “does it ring true?” If the answer is yes, you know we have a winner.

The key to creating and evaluating effective creative is making good decisions based on our knowledge of your product or service, the customer’s wants and needs, our individual experience. Then taking all those decisions and bending them, and even breaking them when necessary, in order to create something that has impact and will resonate with the consumer.

Make sense? Let me know how you like to look at our work. Is there something you do that might help us be more successful? We want to know, because you’re not only the client, you’re part of the collaborative process.

Jakob Nielsen has posted two articles of note to direct marketers:

1. Why Web 2.0 Can Be Dangerous. Nielsen is right on the money here — literally — for once taking the economically prudent path of ROI and aligning it with the user-centered path of UI. This post is not to be missed. (Though, in truth, the Web 2.0 things your company does should represent the bleeding edge of a cutting edge of a comprehensive strategy. If they are, more power to you. Ignore him.)
2. 10 High-Profit Redesign Priorities. As a corollary to his rant against Web 2.0, Nielsen also points out the highest ROI revisions you can make to your site. I couldn’t agree more. (This is exactly the sort of detail I dig into at my other blog, etailology.com)

Both are loaded with great information … even if they are a bit preachy. 

Copywriting is copywriting, right? Not exactly. As the Web assumes greater dominance over how we gather and obtain information, it’s had a significant impact on how read content in print mail, as well. It’s part of what makes up DM 2.0.

I started out as a direct marketing copywriter in the early ‘80s. Long copy was king and a two-page letter was considered short. Tightly structured letters with intriguing introductory sentences, benefit stacked on top of benefit and a heavy use of bullets and subheads. And of course, the call to action was always tucked away at the bottom of the letter.And it worked for a long time. Until the Internet.People don’t read the same way online as they do in print. It’s all about scanning information. Yet, some things have remained the same, or have taken on even greater importance. For example, David Ogilvy wrote in his famous book “Ogilvy on Advertising” that “The headline is the ticket on the meat. Use it to flag down readers who are prospects for the kind of product you are advertising.”

This is especially true when writing for the Web. The headline is key because people don’t read every word. The headline has to communicate a lot of information. They don’t have to be as clever in the advertising sense, but they have to communicate the offer/benefit, because you can’t bet that your reader is going to hang on every word of your sparkling copy.

Web usability expert, Jakob Nielsen (someone I love to hate, except when he’s right — which is more often than I care to admit) claims that according to their eyetracking studies, people’s dominant reading patterns look sort of like an “F.”They usually read horizontally across the upper part of the page (the top bar of the “F”), then they move down a little bit and look at a shorter horizontal bar of information (the second bar of the “F”), then readers scan vertically down the left side of the page.Subheads have to be clear and direct, not clever. I learned this the hard way, through focus group and usability testing. Subheads are purely about information.Another point that is the same but different: the call to action. In traditional DM the call to action is always at the bottom of the page. The idea was to make them move their eyes down the page and hope that something else snags their interest. The Web has changed this. Whether it’s a site page or an email, the call to action has to be at or near the top of the page. And people are now trained to look for their key information right at the top. If it’s not seen right away, you can’t be sure that it ever will be.The interesting part is that it appears Web reading patterns are affecting print reading patterns. While longer letters still work with some products and some audiences, we’ve had very interesting results with what we call “billboard letters” that communicate the offer, benefits and call to action in a very short, scanable format.