Our client’s challenge:

Adobe wanted a microsite as part of a celebration of the 20th anniversary of the release of the first version of Adobe’s Photoshop software. Adobe wanted to highlight the most important features and the developers that were involved in the 20 years since Photoshop was launched.

The Scott Design solution:

Scott Design developed a microsite that features an interactive timeline of Photoshop’s history. Users can either watch an animated presentation of the timeline or click to specific years to see product highlights. The timeline includes information about the history of Photoshop, the people who made the software, and the evolution of the interface and packaging. The site also features information to help visitors determine which Photoshop family product best fits their needs.

Awards:

Outstanding Achievement Interactive Media Award—Computer Software
Silver Emerging Media Award  — Microsite
Silver W3 Award  — Computer Software
Silver Davey Award  — Microsite
Silver Davey Award  — Landing Page

Scott Design is pleased to have received four Silver Awards in the 2010 Davey Awards competition. Scott Design’s Photoshop 20th Anniversary and InDesign 10th Anniversary sites each won awards in the Microsite and Landing Page categories.

Last month we got the opportunity to help Adobe celebrate the 20th anniversary of Photoshop, and this month we’re helping Adobe get the celebration going for the 10th anniversary of InDesign.

Scott Design just launched the new anniversary page for InDesign, the design and publishing software that all the designers at Scott Design have been using since it was first released. Before that, we all got our start using Aldus PageMaker at the very beginning of the desktop publishing revolution, which was the precursor of InDesign.

Take a look around the InDesign anniversary page, download the commemorative book, and take a look at how far desktop publishing has come since the early days!

It’s great when you get a chance to help a longtime friend celebrate their birthday. And that’s what Scott Design got to do when we were asked to create a special landing page celebrating the 20th anniversary of the creation of Photoshop.

The designers at Scott Design use Photoshop, some since the first version came out in 1990. We use it every day for designing and producing web and print work. So it’s kind of fun to help highlight all the cool stuff about one of our favorite design tools.

Take a look at the finished page, including the interactive timeline we created. There’s information about the history of Photoshop, the people who made this great piece of creative software, and the evolution of the interface and packaging.

It’s a fun learning experience for folks new to Photoshop, and a nice trip down memory lane for those of us who have grown up with Photoshop.

You know that you have some real treasures to offer your customers: your superb services, your excellent products, your unequaled solutions. But how do you make sure that someone looking for your treasure actually finds it?

You must make sure the route is clearly marked and that those wandering the oceans of information on the Internet actually land on your website and find their way to your buried treasure.

Here are the best ways to make sure no one gets lost on their way to find you:

1. Create mountains of valuable, compelling content on your site. These mountains should be visible from faraway search engines, as long as you’ve done a good job of search engine optimization, keyword use, and link building.

2. Lead customers to you by sending out messages through your blog, keep the Twitter fires burning, and broadcast your webinars and podcasts.

3. Reach out to customers through e-mails, direct mail, advertising, telemarketing, and events.

4. Create multiple places to land through optimized landing pages, LinkedIn profiles, Facebook pages, a blog, and search-engine-optimized pages throughout your site.

5. Clearly mark the path to the treasure using clear navigation and clean design.

6. Give the keys to customers through an online form, giving them access to the riches you offer.

Other Resources:

• Animated Marketing Treasure Map:

• PDF of the Marketing Treasure Map. Just be sure to give us credit if you use it elsewhere.

P.S. Check out “Getting started with Twitter,” “Getting Started with Facebook,” and “Getting started with LinkedIn” if you need help opening and personalizing your accounts.

GM is making the right move, but it needs to go even further in revising its advertisements during these tough economic times. GM, along with Ford and Chrysler, must create ads that more clearly explain to American consumers why they should stick with the Big 3. Executives flying to Washington D.C. in private jets to ask for $25 billion in loans did not do the trick!

For television, print, and online ads…lose the glitz and stop trying to appeal to consumers’ innermost desires (for a fast, cool, and powerful car). The usual “car zipping along a mountain road” ad won’t cut it. Those days are over. Every ad needs to directly address consumers’ pain points: What they want is better gas mileage, improved safety, better-built cars (with less maintenance costs)…all at a value that rivals foreign imports.

Anything that veers from these pain points needs to be de-emphasized or removed completely. And give us a hint of the future…maybe have an ad showing a factory being re-tooled to build next-generation, fuel-efficient cars. No more celebrities, no more style over substance – inform and persuade. It’s time for the Big 3 and their ad agencies to get back to basics.

And our marketing here in Silicon Valley should focus on the basics as well: Clearly and concisely explain in all your materials – website, social media pages, e-mails, landing pages, solutions demos, eNewsletters, and banner ads – how your solutions solve the business challenges that most concern your customers. Focus on your customers’ pain points and educate them about your role in dealing with that pain – and cut anything that veers from that main focus.