Launched in 2007, the COUNTRY Financial Security Index® is a bi-monthly measure of Americans’ sentiments towards their overall financial security. Survey results are released to the media and general public quarterly via the COUNTRY Financial Security Index microsite.

The focal point of the site is a Flash-based line chart that visualizes survey results nationally and in five select markets. Unfortunately, there was no way to compare one market to another on just one chart. Additionally, limits with the current graphic made month-to-month results appear incremental.

Manning was enlisted to solve these problems. We streamlined the design of the site to make it easier to read the data. The line chart was redeveloped to be more interactive and to make the X and Y axis scalable. Users can now see and share direct market-to-market comparisons. We also made it easier to embed the chart on blogs and other sites. Continue Reading →

There’s not a day that goes by where I don’t see something written somewhere about HTML5. I’ve seen headlines proclaiming HTML5 is an Adobe Flash “killer” to HTML5 not being ready until 2022! So why is so much written about HTML5 and why should anyone care?

As you probably already know, HTML is a computer language used for website creation. Its latest version, HTML5, is being developed to provide new ways of experiencing online content. By the end of 2010, HTML5 will be on most modern browsers.  So if you’re thinking about creating a new website, iPad app, or online video or game in the next year, you should probably know a little about HTML5.

1. Who owns HTML5?
HTML5 is an open standard which means it is not owned by any one company. Its being developed by a group called the Web Hypertext Application Technology Working Group (WHATWG) to be the new standard for watching videos, animations, ads and games on the web that had been previously dependent on third-party browser plug-ins such as market leader Adobe Flash.

If you watch video on the Internet today you are watching it through a proprietary plug-in like Flash or Silverlight. Under HTML5, video and audio will be handled by the browser so plug-ins are no longer needed. In theory, this should provide wider compatibility and a more stable environment so videos are less likely to crash your browser. Continue Reading →

FirstGroup, the largest provider of surface transportation in North America, selected Manning to develop an online strategy for four of the firm’s major business units. The company wanted this strategy to help integrate corporate acquisitions through consistent branding across service types and website platforms. They also wanted an easy to use content management system and one provider for all their hosting needs.

As part of that strategy, Manning recently launched the site for the company’s First Vehicle Services division. The site was designed to target key decision makers by showcasing the company’s fleet maintenance services. In addition to the First Vehicle Services site, Manning has developed sites for First Student, the nation’s largest student transportation provider, and First Transit, which operates a number of mass transit systems throughout North America.

We invite you to take a ride on the new First Group sites.

A big hand to the American Heart Association for using multimedia to promote their new hands-only CPR technique. Viewers get jazzed up on their microsite by creating their own sound track made up of hands clapping, finger snapping, and fist punching.

A friend put me on to an HTML5 <canvas> tag demo that looks like Doom and doesn’t use anything even resembling flash: http://canvex.lazyilluminati.com/.

Clearly you’ll need an HTML5-ready browser if you want to play (with) it.  It’s interesting enough, especially if you’re from the generation that grew up with Doom (and Marathon, for those of you who were Mac users before it was cool).  As my friend noted, it even includes “5D space.”

What really precipitated from this sharing between gamers-cum-developers was a discussion about Adobe and their future. The gist of our tête-à-tête was the increasing capabilities of simple HTML, and the subsequent lessening of importance for Flash, as the standard grows.

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We’ve posted a few times recently about one of our favorite projects, www.snowflakeworkshop.com. I stumbled across another similar site today: http://www.flurrious.com/. I’m not sure who is behind this site, but they took a very different visual and functional approach to making snowflakes. It’s pretty cool to see how someone else tackled a similar challenge. Additionally, they are claiming to donate to UNICEF for each shared flake– which if true is a really cool feature as well.

I have been highly impressed by the use of multimedia during the recent catastrophe in Haiti. News organizations and the public have relied on Twitter, blog posts, photo and video sharing sites for news and images from this earthquake ravaged country. CNN has compiled a list of organizations tweeting about the Haiti earthquake.

And social media has become a critical component of the international aid effort. The American Red Cross has set up a cell phone donation campaign, where individuals can text Haiti to 90999 to donate $10, which will then be included in their next cell phone bill

As a side note, the LA Times is featuring an interactive Flash earthquake feature that provides interesting background on the location of fault lines globally, the types of faults and the different types of earthquake waves

I hopped onto Google Analytics this morning to check in on all of our sites, and was pleasantly surprised to find that traffic to our newly launched Snowflake Workshop, has skyrocketed the last few days!  We’ve yet to see much snow outdoors yet we are in the midst of a full-blown virtual blizzard.

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Two sites showcasing hot new well-designed websites have chosen to feature Manning’s recently-released Snowflake Workshop on their top site charts.  We created the workshop for Brinks Hofer Gilson & Lione to give users a chance to create their own piece of intellectual property.  Try it out, if you haven’t already; create a snowflake and write a message to share with friends and family this holiday season. The snowflakes fall in a snowstorm gallery so all the unique designs are on display. The workshop debuted at number 30 on Design Chart’s illustrious top 40 sites.  We’ll see if it moves upward…

You may have also seen our post about the making of the workshop from the design perspective–look for another post soon on the development work that went into the site!

SnowflakeWorkshop.com

Whenever I come across creative work that I like, my first thought is often, “How did they do that?” As someone who works in the industry and knows all the moving parts that go into a great project, I find others’ processes fascinating. But the resources for discovering this information are frustratingly few and far between. So to do my part in providing more of this kind of background info, I am going to try to spotlight a few of our projects here on the blog. Hopefully someone will find it helpful (or at least interesting) to see us pull back the curtain a bit and reveal our creative process.

Continue Reading →