I’ve been around this web stuff long enough now to have seen a few changes; over 11 years now in the field.

I remember when the web was something that a designer, who had some basic hack code skills, could weave into a commercial offering. What I mean of course is turning graphics into ‘brochure-ware’. By 1999 I was excited by contact forms and dhtml. Patrick and I even won an international award from Macromedia for our DHTML work. But that stuff sort of faded away as content management systems (CMS) came to the fore and the priority moved to content rather than graphics.

By 2000 we had custom written our own CMS and over the next few years things changed massively in that space. Open source offerings, a vast myriad of commercial proprietary products, and even half-arsed things from players like Macromedia (Adobe now) made the space very confusing for the market. Microsoft made some god awful stuff too. Bless their little hearts.

There were a few players back then like Spike that were really serious. Only a few years ago someone showed me some specification plans from early last decade. Gosh. It shakes you up a bit when you see how far ahead of the curve people like that were. I mean, we love our planning and take massive pride in our specification work but people like that could have written a book about it. I digress.

Usability and user planning and proper use case identification has been core to our work for over 5 years and we keep tuning our methods. But the touchpoints and the use of the web is changing and we need to create new methodologies to have more open thoughts about what our users want. Closed thinking about traditional web uses worries me. Think of mobile, think of non html web use like the IPAD.. hmmm.

Anyway, so by mid last decade CMS was a commodity, web 2.0 starts to hit, and people start to realise (conceptually of course) that the web is a business tool, a massive communication device, and indeed a cornerstone for pretty much anyone who needs to be in touch with anyone else.

We as a business hid from search engine optimisation SEO for a while and tried to work with partners to build capacity BUT sure enough it’s something that now needs to be an integral part of our offering. But the game changes with that everyday too. And despite the fact that the majority of our clients don’t properly market their websites they tend to universally acknowledge the buzz around SEO and rank it high in their top 10 issues right now. It’s so important that it affects their buying decisions. The problem with SEO is people think that’s it, ‘do’ and you’re done. But it’s not! Digital marketing as we now affectionately know it is a vast issue. SEO is a key part of our offering now and we’ve signed a partnership deal (exclusive) with one of the worlds largest SEO firms out of the UK. More on that later….

Integration across all media and proper integration between digital campaigns and your digital assets is the real problem now.

Don’t worry. We’re onto that too and building campaigns and strategies for our key clients. Feel free to drop us a line to see what we’re up to.

A bit of a ramble this month but it has been a while.

Since Monday August 30th we’ve been swooning around slicker than David Hasselhoff on shiny polished floorboards at 132 Davey St, Hobart.

Sandwiched between a pub (SOHO) and a burger joint (Hungry Jacks) we’re not sure our bellies will ever be the same again.  But our minds will be sharper and our creativity less confined.

Let’s Face it, 70’s boundary pushing multi-level architecture was cool for a while, but the constant flooding, sewerage surprises, thermal inefficiencies and abuse of outdoors by pub go’ers and teenagers left a lot to be desired at 2 Kelly St.

So after 11 years in the waterfront area around Salamanca Place the ‘Future Medium Massive’ is sad to leave the coffee precinct.

BUT – we’re setting up a pitch room where our team can brainstorm and push our client innovations.  We think we may even set this up as a room for hire (maybe free to like minded individuals) as a place where ICT innovation happens.  Beer and skittles will be optional.

PLUS - we now formally have a games room.  That’s right. Slippers and smoking jackets abound.  Our colonial style heritage home has made room for our slate 8-ball table. 

See you here

Why didn’t the rest of us think to ask our parents for their business wear from the 80’s.  Peter did!  He sported a slightly crumpled but nonetheless funky grey number with sneakers and scruffy metro hair.  Thanks Peter.

Have you ever wished you worked in a place where you wore dreary clothes just to get by each day and then once in a while you could wear plain clothes? 

No?  Us neither.

That’s why Future Medium has introduced Formal Fridays because it reminds us of how crappy it is elsewhere (no offence intended). Or it might be a cover for the fact that we’re quite weird.

It could well be a fad but what the heck.

Today’s special mention goes to senior developer James Mundy for his white tie, white shirt, overcoat, and money clip ensemble accompanied by a wad of real $100 notes.  Or as Garth put it, “someone with a bunch of cabbage”.