January 18, 2008

Back at Omniture full time

For those of you who know me, you’ve probably seen that I haven’t updated my blog in a while. You’ve also probably noticed that my Linkedin profile shows me back at Omniture. Or if perhaps you haven’t noticed any of that, yes, I’m back at Omniture. After working nearly 5 years and being a one man show designer, I took a job at Cymphonix, a job that was converted into a contract position after a year. I started contracting with Omniture in March of 2007, and was hired on in August.

Things have changed significantly since I worked for the green machine by way of employee count, their public status, their client base, their product line, and much more. It’s like working for a completely different company – other than the fact I still get to see my brand influence all over the office. My title is “Senior UX Designer”, and since I’ve never been one on throwing titles around, I think it works just fine.

Speaking of user experience (which I’ve blogged about before), I found a recent user experience pretty comical. I opened up my MSN Messenger to find an ad at the bottom showing none other than Alyssa Milano. Tell me what “user experience” you think is broken in this one:

Here’s a clue: How beautiful is THAT picture of Alyssa?!?

May 1, 2007

Taking pride in what you design

So I was thinking about the concept of “taking pride in your design” the other day while sitting at IHOP. I was staring up at a sign hanging from the ceiling that was advertising their latest and greatest (mostly sweet) combination of breakfast foods and the thought came to my mind – I wonder if the person that designed that sign is proud of it? I wonder if they see it hanging in their local IHOP and say “I designed that!”.

It got me thinking of the first few things I designed that were actually not school work, and people actually spent money to have them printed. Since my internship was for Salt Lake Magazine (Salt Lake City Magazine at the time), one of my first designs was for a postage paid reply card. You know what these are, those annoying bits of cardstock that are constantly falling out when you’re flipping through a magazine in an airport waiting for your flight. But something to be proud of? Not exactly. But as it was one of the first few things that were actually printed of mine, I glowed when it came out in the magazine, and put a copy in my portfolio.

Now that I’ve designed literally thousands of things, I think back and wonder – am I proud of everything I’ve designed? How about you? Do you glow at every design you see in the world that originated in your head?

I think I’m most proud of the things I’ve designed that are most true to my original concept, and weren’t clouded by excessive client micromanagement. Concepts that seemed to match the clients needs exactly, and resonated with the client as such.

As I’ve been doing some contract work for Omniture lately, I’ve had the opportunity to see first hand how one of my brands has been carried beyond my original creation. After working there nearly 5 years and creating their brand from scratch, it was hard to let it go and send it out into the world. But with talented people, and a CEO who cares about the brand, it’s maintained itself and even grown into an amazing presence. I’m proud of that.

What are you thoughts on this topic?

April 9, 2007

LinkedIn Recommendations

The other day I had a co-worker looking at my LinkedIn profile, and said “Wow, you have so many recommendations”, and after explaining how they came to be there, I thought of blogging about it.

Early last year I had a friend who had just laid off send me a request to write him a recommendation on LinkedIn. Knowing full-well his talent and the work that he did when we worked together, I was happy to. That was when I learned about LinkedIn’s built-in ability to request Recommendations.

At first I thought it silly to ask someone to say something nice about me in writing. But as I began to request recommendations from a few of my former colleges and contract clients, I found it was an excellent way find out from others just how good a job I do/have done as well as let potential clients or employers know what it’s like to work with me. It was testimonial, or validation of my work.

The LinkedIn feature of recommendations – and how you used these recommendations in gaining new business or obtaining a job – can be just as valuable an asset to your portfolio as the designs you put in there. Sure, your design work is excellent, but how is it to work with you?

Here are a couple excerpts from the recommendations others have given me:

“Having hired and managed several large, national agencies when I worked on the Pizza Hut, Pepsi and Blockbuster brands, I was surprised (and impressed) that I was getting top agency results from a team of only one person, Brad McCall…”

“…He is extremely versatile, delivering best-in-class results for every project he took up…”

“…It’s hard to believe so much talent can fit in one person…”

“…I give Brad my highest recommendation and look forward to any project that I can collaborate together with him on again.”

“…The first version [of the product user-interface] started winning awards before it was even out of beta, and the feedback on the second major version has been every bit as positive, even though the degree of complexity was much higher. Excellent to work with, good business sense, and creative work that is second to none.”

“…He is easy to work with, insightful and very good at what he does. His knowledge of color, layout, and visual impact are incredible. Though his work speaks for itself, I gladly endorse Brad as well…

“…Brad is a valuable asset to any project he is a part of.”

“…Brad has a built-in desire to add value to every project and company he is involved in…”

“Brad is the most effective person I have worked with at communicating through design…”

“…Brad has an amazing capacity to do it all, in copious amounts with consistency, quality and with a great attitude…”

“…Brad’s work was some of the best I’ve seen. It was creative, artistic, and professional….

January 1, 2007

I’m Not an Illustrator, But if I Was…

I’ve had several people over the years ask me if I did illustration. Most often I’ll say “I’m not an illustrator, but what do you need?” And several times I’ve been able to pitch in and contribute few illustrations to the cause on some projects. Since most of these never end up in my official portfolio, I thought I’d throw a few in my blog post.

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December 22, 2006

Read My Mind By Reading My Bookmarks

My thought today: Can you tell what’s on someone’s mind by what they’ve been bookmarking? See if you can figure out what I’ve been thinking about by looking at a dozen of my most recent bookmarks:

  1. Flipper Nation
    I’m a huge fan of anything HGTV, and recently I’ve also been watching a lot of shows about Filpping Houses. I ran across this link, a parody of couple of guys who flip houses. Not only did I get a good laugh, but I also thought they did an excellent job of integrating Web 2.0 concepts into the promotion of their website. I thought if I had a chance, I might blog about some of their comical “rules to real estate” in my some-what always-neglected Utah Real Estate Blog
  2. Graphic Design USA Logo Trends 2005
    Since I’ve been getting quite a few clicks on my graphic design trends category, I thought I’d do some more research and found this link. I thought it halarious what they called some types of logos such as “wicker balls”, “weaves”, and “puffies”. I’ve been noticing a lot of “transparencies” in recent design annuals and wanted to blog about it being a trend.
  3. Does chocolate really give you pimples?
    No, I’m not really worried about pimples, but ran across this article in looking for interesting items for my Tweet Sweet blog about misconceptions of chocolate. I ended up blogging about Does Chocolate Spoil instead.
  4. Icon Advertising Museum
    I’ve had several posts bouncing around in my head about Advertising icons or “company mascots” as I call them. I also wanted to refer Jeff Fisher to this link when I posted a response to his Michelin Man post (since he mentioned he was a fan of advertising characters), but I forgot.
  5. Logo Lounge
    For $100 annually you can have access to over 41,740 logos that have been uploaded and cataloged by Logo Lounge members. Members can also upload their own logo designs and they’ll be entered in their logo competition where winners are published. It’s always nice to have logo books around when brainstorming for a new brand, but it’s even more nice to have a logo book with my logo inside. (Jeff Fisher is my hero when it comes to getting published)
  6. doba.com – Education Page
    After running across their co-founder’s blog, AND seeing a couple billboards saying “need products to sell”, AND finding a product that was on their website that would work great for Therty Brand, I decided I should probably learn more. Doba provides product sourcing services for small businesses and entrepreneurs, in case you were wondering.
  7. The Gardo House: A History of the Mansion and Its Occupants
    In a random search for historical houses of Salt Lake City, I found one who’s appearance intreaged me, and I wanted to know more about it. Starting with my search of “Amelia’s Palace”, I ended up finding this link. I was sad to find out that this amazing piece of architecture originally built for Brigham Young was torn down in 1921. But what an amazing history – well worth the read.
  8. The Portland Business Journal – The Oscar goes to…
    After visiting a Moonstruck Cafe in Portland Oregon and blogging about their amazing chocolates, I tried to figure out if their familiar logo had won awards. I learned that it was purchased by Sally and Dave Bany, former executives for Columbia Sportsware company, in 2001. They took their experience and applied it to chocolate with the intentions of positioning it to grow into a national, premium chocolate brand.
  9. Feedburner
    What in the world is Feedburner and why have I been running across it so much lately? It looks like something I should learn more about, so I bookmarked it. Do you use it? Perhaps you could fill me in.
  10. is this your name?
    A bit of a goofy site that allows you to enter your name and see various stats about it. Since I recently discovered that I’m an egosurfer, this site really appealed to me.
  11. seomoz.org – Long List of Link Searches
    I scanned this article about SEO inside information, and bookmarked it to come back for later. As a website designer, I’m always interested in expanding my arsenal of information about SEO.
  12. Ironic Sans – Idea: Pre-pixelated clothes for Reality TV shows
    Have you ever watched reality television and saw someone that was wearing a t-shirt with a pixelated logo? Here’s the idea for David’s pre-pixelated line of clothing. I found some of the comments prett comical.

Since this is my last post before the Christmas Holidays, I just wanted to wish everyone a Happy Christmas!

December 14, 2006

Logoworks.com – Logo Design Ideas for the Logo Design Company

Back in early April of 2001 I went out with Morgan Lynch. I had known Morgan from when I worked at Studeo and he worked at Insurquote and used Studeo’s graphic design services. Morgan had this idea for a company that would design logos on a fixed budget and fixed time frame. I remember thinking that the market already had a couple players, and as an occasional freelance designer myself, I wondered how could he do it? And then I saw his business plan. It was flawless. He asked me if I would come up with a couple sketches for his logo, the company’s name was Logoworks.

I watched Morgan as he grew Logoworks from its small office on Mountain Way Drive with 1 employee to the office on Center Street near the freeway with a couple employees to their current location in the Center 7 Building in Lindon. It has been quite a ride I’m sure. The company has not been immune to controversy with some Internet discussions claiming their designers “borrow” from other logos because of “sweat shop” payment for their services. They respond to these claims the way a business should and move on. The growth and the creations of Logoworks has been phenomenal, and they’ve produced some fabulous creative.

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December 1, 2006

IKEA is Coming to Utah and My Logo’s On It!

My friends think it a little funny that every time we pass the IKEA being built in Draper that I get a little excited. Why’s that you ask? Well duh, it’s the big Okland Construction logo hanging from the side – another Brad McCall design.

There is a fair amount of excitement in Utah that we’re finally getting our own IKEA. They officially broke ground just south of Salt Lake City, in the City of Draper back in early April of this year. (Near 1-15 and the Bangerter Highway) The 310,000 square-foot Draper location will open in Spring 2007 and will be the first of its kind in Utah. (There are 230 IKEA stores in 33 countries, including 27 in the U.S., where IKEA plans to open three to five stores a year.) For those unfamiliar with IKEA, there’s always IKEA.com where I personally have ordered plenty of things and had them shipped. But for those of us in-the-know, we knew that the 63 year-old Swedish store would eventually make a grand appearance in Utah. We’ll swoop in and grab from their range of home furnishings and accessories all with “good design” and function, at low prices. (Utahans LOVE a good deal.)

But as for now, the sweet spot for me is this:

See that? It’s my logo hanging on the side of the concrete structure going up. Call it a “sighting” if you will. It’s one of two logos of mine that can be spotted from the freeway.

Back in 2001 Okland came to Impact Media with the need for a brand refresh, and Impact Media turned to me to do that project. (I was a contractor for them at the time) We began by putting their current logo through the test.

After 5 rounds of designs and over 50 logo concepts, the vision was clear – Okland liked their current logo. What’s that you say? Sometimes it happens.

Here’s one of my favorite of the 50 variations that we explored (showing font treatment combinations that were eventually used in the final logo): (To see full size, right click on image, select “Open in New Window”)

Here’s some of the color combinations we explored: (To see full size, right click on image, select “Open in New Window”)

But after all those logos and all those rounds of feedback, we ended up back at their current symbol of the “O” which was based on a cotter pin (used on much of the large equipment.) But to update the symbol, I re-drew it completely (it was inconsistent in size and not symmetrical) and added the new font treatment we had been working on. It modernized the symbol, and eased the transition from their old logo. (Their logo appears on trucks, equipment, cranes, etc.)


Notice the previous font treatment – very dated. I assume the symbol was hand drawn originally as well – thus the inconsistencies.

So yes, the logo ended up being a “make-over”, but as for the one on the building, I claim it as my baby. (Adopted symbol and all) Here’s the final version in all its glory.

And as far as my experience working with Okland Construction as a client, it was fantastic. What a great bunch of people, I’d love to do some more work with them.

November 27, 2006

Therty Brand Logo Design

Here’s a logo I recently completed. I can’t talk much about the company or what they do as yet (since it’s a bit of a new product that’s got to be kept under wraps) but it has something to do with producing unique CD-R and DVD-R products. The name of the company is “Therty Brand”, and since there was an odd spelling for a common word, I wanted to somehow put emphasis on the “e”. Since they also dealt with CD-R and DVD-R products, I wanted to use that as part of the concept without making it too trite or silly. Here’s what I came up with:

I chose a bright blue to keep it fresh, but I’m working on adding a rusty orange to the pallet (and maybe a chocolate brown – though the blue and chocolate thing is kinda trendy right now…)

The concept I came up with was a very simple text treatment centered in a circle of color that represents the CD or DVD Media product. Without being to obvious, the “e” at the center makes the center of the media. Smallest possible use of this logo may separate the “blue dot” from the text treatment… but I still haven’t settled there.

Thoughts? Comments?

November 5, 2006

Website Pirates Strike Again – Park City Group

When I worked for Omniture as their Creative Director, I would often check the web analytics that we ran on our corporate website to see where people were coming from (referrers). Occasionally I would find several page views that were sent through from what I like to call “Website Pirates”: individuals who would pillage and plunder our site design and use it as their own. They’d be working with the html as templates while building their own site, and forget to take the tracking code off, and send through hits that I could follow. On one “design” we had to get Legal involved since they didn’t even bother to replace the imagery we owned with their own after it went live.

While reading Joshua Steimle’s blog about website piracy on MWi’s website, I got thinking to myself – I sure wish I had screen shots of all those websites that copied my design for the original Omniture website.

To make a long story short (my blog posts always run long), I was looking at a list of public companies in Utah a couple days ago. I really only knew of a couple and was curious just how many there were. One intrigued me, so I accessed their website. The Park City Group was founded by Randy Fields, the co-founder and former chairman of Mrs. Fields Cookies. Their customers include such well-known names as The Home Depot, Foot Locker, Inc., The Limited, Albertson’s, Schnuck Markets, Pacific Sunwear of California, Wawa, Busch Entertainment and Tesco Lotus. And guess what? Their website design is pirated.

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