Duncan/Channon. Award-winning branding. Advertising. Design. Digital. Social media. Mobile. Broadcast. Print. Outdoor. Identity. Packaging. Media planning and buying. Account planning. Production. Not to mention the Tip. All in one action-packed agency in downtown San Francisco.
Microsoft has officially launched a Seadragon app for the iPhone. Which means you can now browse high-resolution photo collections on your iPhone — including the Hard Rock memorabilia collection (as seen on the Hard Rock memorabilia website, conceived and designed by D/C and built by Vertigo).
So if you’re out and about and overcome by a sudden and insatiable need to see Morrison’s ripped leather pants, you totally can. Here’s how:
There’s no other winery like it. And now there’s no other winery site like it.
Murphy-Goode was started 23 years ago almost on a lark by three wine-drinking, poker-playing, practical-joking buddies, and, even as it’s now ensconced among the Jackson Family Wines, it continues to operate on the principle that winemaking should be at least as fun as wine.
That’s the same principle behind Duncan/Channon’s development, as part of a complete brand overhaul, of murphygoodewinery.com. (And maybe the same principle behind Duncan/Channon — no doubt, agency and client are a good pairing.)
With its funky family snapshots and self-consciously low-tech interactivity, the bigger story this website tells is of a highly collegial, highly genial — and highly un-corporate — winery that doesn’t just make a fine lineup of wines, but makes fun.
It’s fun to be sworn to secrecy. And for the last two months, until 9:30 this morning, Duncan/Channon has been just that.
Two months ago Microsoft gave the greenlight for D/C and our development partner, Vertigo, to create the first website to use Deep Zoom technology. Part of the new Silverlight plug-in, Deep Zoom effectively adds another dimension to the navigation of web pages, beyond scrolling horizontally and vertically, allowing users to seamlesssly zoom in — way in — on an object or group of objects.
Needless to say, this unreleased technology was a perfect match for the new memorabilia site we had begun designing for Hard Rock, which is to ultimately encompass 70,000 items from an unparalleled collection of historic rock treasures.
At a meeting in Redmond, Microsoft liked our proposed design so much they not only shared their new technology, they invited us to share the stage at their prestigious MIX Conference in Las Vegas, which kicked off this morning.
There are only 150 of them, and they’re among the most influential technologists in the world. That’s because they have been selected by Microsoft to serve as outside advisors on new and prospective products. Called Microsoft Regional Directors (though their roles have nothing to do with geographical regions), they’re given regular technology previews and confidential briefings but, in order to preserve their impartiality, not a cent of Redmond’s money. The problem that D/C was invited to solve was that they had no compelling place to congregate and exchange information on the web. With back-end development by Microsoft partner Vertigo, D/C architected and designed a site that aggregated the Directors’ blogs and commentary in one convenient location. To finally answer the oft-asked question — “What region are you guys directors of?” — D/C named it The Region. The site has been an instant success, winning kudos from techies in and out of MS.
“You should have been there when we presented this one,” says creative director Mike Lemme. The proposed new mark, taking off from the company’s name, is a type treatment of that name upside-down and/or backwards.
It’s not just a stunt. The meaning of the company’s name, of course, is the first thing that motivates this mark. But the audacity of the logo speaks loudly and clearly to the audacity of the company, which is known for solving the knottiest software development problems. There’s also the affinity of the company’s primary technical audience (not to mention its secondary audience, Vertigo’s internal staff) for visual conundrums, for a clever little challenge that demands the application of their own cleverness.
The branding work didn’t, of course, stop at the logo. It also encompassed a comprehensive brand book, graphic standards, a re-design of the website, a portfolio of graphic templates, and more.
The fun, puzzling nature of the mark and the obsessive precision of the system has energized the client’s organization and impressed customers and friends alike. It has earned D/C a gold statue in the San Francisco ADDYs and an entry into the national ADDYs. And, perhaps best of all, Vertigo has just closed books on their best year ever.
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