And I think to myself…

We love it when cool things happen to great schools. We double love it when those great schools are our clients.

Not only did Penn Law recently win a People’s Choice Webby for their new site,

they also claimed the #1 spot in Georgetown University Law Center’s annual rankings of ABA-accredited law school homepages.

In 2011, law.upenn.edu was ranked #65.
In 2010: #84.

Hot gosh, law dogs! You’re KILLING it. They should probably ARREST you and book you on charges for RECKLESS ACCOMPLISHMENT.

Working with Penn Law was a rad experience through and through, and we couldn’t be happier about the attention and appreciation the site is getting. We have a lot of ambivalent feelings toward awards, Bruce Mao advises against them and his words are words we take for real:

26) Don’t enter awards competitions.

Just don’t. It’s not good for you

26) Don’t enter awards competitions.
Just don’t. It’s not good for you.

Though we do everything in our power to make every client feel like our only client, the fact is when we’re not working on deliverables for one, we’re most certainly making something for another. The second the new Penn Law site was launched, we took a moment to appreciate the hard work of everyone–particularly the digital and communications staff there–involved. We clicked around and reveled in how odd a thing it is–to spend so many months bringing an idea to life. There were thank yous and sighs of relief, and then? There was more work to be done for the day.

We keep on trucking and trust that, at the end of the day, Penn Law–and all of our clients!–will take the ball and run with it. And run with it they did. All the way to New York City, where they’re receiving their award on May 22.

It’s a garden, not a painting.

We say it all the time and every time, we mean it.

Penn Law took the initiative to self-reflect and recognize the critical gap between what they had, and what their community needed. They did the research and the reading, reviewed many proposals, selected the vendor, and made the time in their already hectic full-time schedules to meet with us, talk to us, and guide us through our work.

When we handed the seeds and the tools over to them, they took on the responsibility of creating something fresh, beautiful, and sustainable. Something that would serve the people who make them what they are: one of the world’s best law schools and one of the country’s best law websites.

And we got to work with them. Ain’t that something? We get up and sign online every day and get to work with the best clients in the world. Have mercy.

Everything old can be new again.

Where do great blog posts go when they die?
To a hole in the ether or a cloud in the sky?
With a will and a way I see no reason why
Good writing and insight need ever to die.

From the forthcoming children’s book “Mommy What’s a Content Strategy?”

It's not going to be very good.

It's not going to be very good.

Basically the whole thing is about how just because it was written a year ago doesn’t mean it isn’t perfect today.

Finding Interns who Understand

Have you met our summer intern, Allan? He flew all the way from Paris to join us: he writes great code, attends all those Bay Area tech conferences that we never have the time for, and keeps our Oakland office bumping with the latest in INTERNATIONAL POP HITS.

Here he is in the chatroom, plotting out some new CSS maneuvers – and even as a youngin, he knows these big ideas can’t happen in a vacuum.

less-plans

Pardon the interruption

They don’t just want your data. They don’t just want your Wallet. They want your eyes. Your brain. Your ⌘C + ⌘V.

decidedly not pardoned

rest in peace suckergoogle glasnost

Branding/Authenticity

flaming smelts

Embrace your brand.

** TUESDAY EDIT: Shimer College, home of the Flaming Smelts: Welcome to the White Whale Class of 2013!

Oh hi!

hi guys

Welcome to the family, Alma College!

Cool, true facts about our newest client:

  • 85% of Alma students are involved in community service
  • Alma’s mascot? The SCOTS. (Sub-fact: We love the Scottish.)
  • 22 Scots have been awarded Fulbright scholarships since 2003…2 in the last couple of months alone WHAAAAA
  • Wear kilts to class. No one will stop you.
  • They’re awesome. And we’re excited from our teeth to our toes that they’re getting the full package–web redesign + LiveWhale.

Slainte!!

Come on in. Make yourself uncomfortable.

I can’t afford to be numb. I have users to help. I have problems to solve. I have got to get more comfortable with being uncomfortable.

Great content starts with empathy. You’ve got to create words, images, experiences that will resonate with others and meet their needs, not your own.

“Empathy is hard!”

Yes! It really is!

Sarah Wachter-Boettcher has a pretty tasty quick read on why empathy, particularly in a professional capacity, is such a spiritual hassle (and also so so so so crucial). “It means allowing another’s experiences to gut us. It means ceding control.”

Everyone wants to be the boss of what they’re making. But if you’re not considering–like, getting in the mud and rolling around with–your constituents’ specific circumstances and desires, you’re going to come up short.

We love the idea of letting students write their own college websites. We suggest it a lot, not many take us up on it, though the ones that do are stellar. The reluctance makes sense. Some might think it’s akin to letting the inmates run the asylum. Not many administrators want to surrender control of their school’s messaging to a bunch of college kids! But those kids are the ones that make the college. No one knows how to talk about the experience better than they do, because they’re the ones living it every day.

Look. You don’t need to recruit students to create rad content. But you do need to listen to them.
And their parents. And your coworkers. And your alums.

How do you hear what they have to say?

It could be an email address everyone knows they can fire off feedback and stories to. Or a student intern in Communications who keeps a notebook on hand to jot down leads or common complaints. Maybe once a week or month staff are asked to share what they’ve heard on the ground from the people their offices serve. Your “social media expert” (code for person who knows Internet, is literate) should ABSOLUTELY be monitoring all mentions of your school on every platform, recording, responding, and building a cohesive narrative around how your audiences speak to and about you.

Great content starts with empathy.

Empathy starts with listening.

~BONK~

Please allow me to welcome two new clients into our mix – the Syracuse School of Architecture and the Menlo School!

Let's have ideas!

Let’s have ideas!

Make that language work

College websites need better copywriting

Jokes! Sometimes they’re terrible, sometimes they’re great, and other times they’re thinly veiled attempts to make a point.

As The Writer, I am occasionally called upon to make points so here:

The purpose of writing is to convey meaning and communicate ideas in pursuit of human connection.

I cannot emphasize that last bit there enough: in pursuit of human connection.

Writing and producing content for the Web is no different. Inevitably, whether it is a college or university website, a brand campaign, or a personal blog devoted to friendship and communion between all beings, the goal is to reach the human being on the other side of the screen and inspire her to action, understanding, or empathy.

We read a ton of college and university websites. A ton. Not just those of our clients, but those of the schools we come from, admire, or hope to one day work for. We see a lot of office and department pages that we’d just love to sink our teeth and words into, because frankly, a lot of them need help. Burdened by vague mission statements or rote descriptions that could describe any other department or office or school in the world, these pages often fail to pinpoint the precise details and nuanced character of place that a reader could relate to.

Which brings me to my original point: can you describe what a provost does? Check out your alma mater’s website. Look at the Office of the Provost. Do you understand how she spends her time and what role she plays in the every day function of the school and lives of its students? Could you clearly summarize it for your mom when you call her this weekend (don’t forget to call your mom this weekend!)? Look at your former major’s departmental site. Does it accurately reflect your experience in that program? If so, great! Your school is doing an awesome job on the Web. But more often than not, these pages rely on institutional and disciplinary jargon to describe an abstract idea, rather than a meat-and-bones experience.

Guys, provosts *help people*.

They help the President run the school and keep all finances on point so that student services are always available, professors can do their jobs, and programs remain effective and efficient. The trickle-down benefits of that are self-evident! Sure, my twitter pals were in it for a goof, but at the heart of every goof is a kernel of truth. Not many people could describe a provost’s duty because all across this great land, Offices of the Provost aren’t doing a great job describing themselves.

The challenge of good writing is that it is both the hardest and the simplest thing in the world to do. The simplest because its sole task is to say what is true. The hardest because, well, how on earth do you do that?

Excellent question! And one we have a million, or at least 10-15 *very good answers* for. But for starters, get back to basics. If the goal is to communicate a specific idea to a specific audience, write in the language and terms they know. Write the way people speak. Leave the jargon to the birds. Tell us what a provost does.

Management vs. Leadership

“Management is doing things right. Leadership is doing the right things.” – Peter Drucker

BAWSES

Jason and Tonya: we forgot to get you both anything for Bosses’sses’ Day, so instead I just updated the blog.