Websites for Health, Not Wealth
CSS web development: Scott Marlow | Marketing By Marlow
A new hand-coded CSS website for the Center on Infant Mental Health & Development (CIMHD) — part of the University of Washington School of Nursing.
CIMHD promotes “interdisciplinary research, education and practice; and advances policy related to the social and emotional development of all children during the first five years.
According to CIMHD, “the quality of experiences in the first 3 years of life profoundly impacts later development — including how children perform in school and their ability to form satisfying relationships with teachers and friends. Caring relationships with sensitive parents, or primary caregivers, are the most important factor in determining later outcomes.”
How true. In life, relationships are often the key to success or failure. At work, for example, your relationship with your web development team is the most important factor in determining the outcome of your new website or redesign.
Graphic design and logo by Kelly Davis | Farm Girl Works.
Imitation — the sincerest form of flattery?
This week, PUMP (Portland United Mountain Pedalers) unveiled a new name and logo for the mountain bike advocacy organization. The new name, Northwest Trail Alliance, sounds flat and uninspiring compared to PUMP.
The new logo, however, is what’s really unoriginal. When you borrow another organization’s logo, that’s not called rebranding. Let’s call it copybranding.
Seattle’s Backcountry Bicycle Trails Club recently rebranded and chose a controversial name– Evergreen Mountain Bike Alliance. Did Kris Schamp (former marketing specialist for Bike Gallery) unconsciously, or consciously, misappropriate the logo (below) that BBTC had used for over ten years?
The recently retired BBTC logo was created by Ross Cattelan, a long-time BBTC supporter and professional graphic designer. After I developed a concept with another designer, Ross added depth to the imagery and he created a new color palette that was used across all BBTC marketing materials (until last year when BBTC evolved to Evergreen).
Legally, Northwest Trail Alliance is not in danger of trademark violation. Its new design deviates significantly enough from the BBTC logo that it is probably not “confusingly similar.”
When determining infringement, the Court considers the following elements:
- Strength of the mark
- Proximity of the goods
- Similarity of the marks
- Evidence of actual confusion
- Marketing channels used
- Type of goods and the degree of care likely to be exercised by the purchaser
- Defendant’s intent in selecting the mark
- Likelihood of expansion of the product lines
A little market research and common courtesy can help ward off trademark suits.
Tour de Redmond
Sean Smith just launched the new Tour de Redmond Summer Bicycle Commuter Challenge, powered by Cascade Bicycle Club. You can check out the new bike commute challenge with my new CSS skin, based on the 2009 artwork, at www.tour.grtma.org.
City Chickens–No Roosters Required
Yesterday, Jen and I completed our volunteer project for the Sustainable West Seattle Festival. After drumming up some sponsors for the event, we presented table information from 10:00-3:00 on raising ‘backyard’ chickens. Jen also presented a workshop at 10:30 for a few dozen Festival attendees (her picture even made the West Seattle Blog).
Stay tuned for a tour of West Seattle chicken coops this summer. Contact me if you are interested.
Bike To Work: Drive Less. Live More.
I just launched a new skin for this year’s Bike Month, working with M.J. Kelly, marketing communication manager for Cascade Bicycle Club. Sign your team up today for the Group Health Commute Challenge.
Skills
CSS/XHTML Web Development: Scott Marlow
Situation: A nested table-based website that could no longer be efficiently maintained and updated by nonprofit Skills, Inc. The site navigation was not functional across browsers, like Firefox, so parts of the website were invisible to some visitors.
Solution: Tami Vileta, principal of Practice Perfecters, designed the new graphical look & feel – a softer tone with rounded corners and a casual typeface. I was brought in for the web development.
I developed a 100% CSS-based website, with minimal javascript (kudos to Ryan Salva of Capitol Media for his javascript coding) to power the navigation and a few other minor features. A style guide helps Skills, Inc. staff edit the HTML in-house. Flash elements will be added to the site over time.
A 501(c)3 not-for-profit organization, Skills, Inc. provides vocational training to persons with disabilities by partnering with regional companies to provide a variety of manufacturing services – including assembly, fabrication, finishing, and machining, as well as fulfillment services.
Got Skills? Looking for marketing skills? Talk to me about your online communications.