Our client’s challenge:

StepWare, which offers a line of desktop computer software that helps people of all ages become better readers, wanted to create a web version of AceReader, its premier product. The online version would provide a subscription-based service to schools and allow educators and students to use the software at any computer in the school’s computer lab.

The Scott Design solution:

Scott Design created an online application that is almost identical to the desktop version of AceReader. The web version even uses configuration files and settings from the desktop version. Teachers can monitor students’ progress by viewing speed and comprehension graphs from any computer on the network.

The Summit EMA competition is based on the foundation that advertising is consistently at the forefront of the technological evolution of communication. It was created to identify the world’s marketing communication pioneers – those pushing the bounds of the communication badlands.

The Adobe/Amazon.com Product Selector is an online application on Amazon.com that removes the guesswork for Adobe customers selecting products to buy. Instead of a static banner ad, the selector is an interactive application powered by Adobe ColdFusion and AJAX technology with a back-end database that recommends products and brings the user right to the Amazon.com purchasing page to shorten the sales cycle.

“Those involved in today’s emerging media technologies are the leaders who are establishing tomorrow’s avenues of advertising communications.” Said Jocelyn Luciano, Executive Director for the Summit International Awards (SIA). “Most communication professionals recognize that established avenues of communication can be reliable and safe. However, audiences are becoming increasingly fragmented and difficult to engage, inform, and affect.  Developing, applying, and combining emerging media with creative messaging and market awareness is challenging.  Achieving this synthesis is what makes earning a Summit EMA a significant achievement.”

Since 1994, the Summit International Awards (SIA) organization has been dedicated to furthering excellence in the communications industry. It administers three distinguished award competitions throughout the year with the goal of raising the awareness of companies and individuals who have the creative and marketing talent to go beyond the ordinary.

This SIA organization stands apart by offering a true competitive environment where entries are judged alongside those of their peers, and makes its competitions affordable and accessible to the industry by offering multiple entry discounts, streamlined internet submissions, and a friendly, knowledgeable customer service staff. Companies and individuals from more than 50 countries and across five continents participate in its awards programs and choose to invest their promotional dollars for the opportunity to be recognized as an SIA winner. The SIA organization conducts three awards competitions each year: Summit Creative Awards, Summit Emerging Media Awards, and Summit Marketing Effectiveness Awards.

For the latest information on recent awards, visit the Design Awards page.

Snow Bash! iPad and iPhone App: Protect Ginger Hill from the Snowmen

Enjoy the free iPad and iPhone versions of the award-winning Snowbash Flash app created by Scott Design in 2007. All the fun of the original version, plus new prizes, more animals, and icemen! Download Snow Bash! for your iPad or for your iPhone from the App Store.

3D Fun: Put on your glasses and enjoy some holiday scenes

Grab your stylish 3D specs and enjoy some 3D holiday images. No 3D glasses? Send us an SASE and we’ll send you a pair!

Augmented Reality Snowstorm: A virtual snowstorm using your webcam

Get into the holiday spirit with the Augmented Reality Snowstorm, where you can put yourself or your family in a virtual snowstorm. No webcam? No worries! Just visit the virtual snowstorm, instead!

Special Delivery: Create your own holiday-themed web pages

Design and share your own one-of-a-kind holiday pages in minutes with Special Delivery. You can make a holiday page, send birthday wishes, invite friends to a party, or create a page just for fun. It’s a free, easy, green alternative to traditional cards! Create your holiday greetings.

Snowbash: Can you stop the snowmen?

See how many snowmen your gingerbread man can get without harming the innocent pink bunnies in the award-winning Snowbash game. Play Snowbash.

Snowflake Designer: Design your own beautiful flakes

Select the number of branches, the shape of the crystals and their complexity, and watch as your snowflake grows right outside your window! Make some snowflakes.

Virtual Fireplace: May your days be merry and bright

Just because you’re stuck at your computer doesn’t mean you can’t gaze into the hypnotic flames of a crackling fireplace. Have fun decorating the mantle for the holidays, or just kick back and imagine the warmth! Curl up by the fireplace.

Happy Holidays!

We hope you have a lot of fun and send all our best wishes for the season and the coming year,

The Scott Design team

Scott Design received a Silver Award in the 2011 W3 Awards competition. The W3 Awards honor outstanding websites, web marketing, web video, and mobile apps created by some of the best interactive agencies, designers, and creators worldwide. Website entries were judged on creativity, usability, navigation, functionality, visual design, and ease of use.

Scott Design was honored in the Innovative/Experimental Media category for its work on the Adobe/Amazon.com Product Selector app.

The 2011 W3 Awards generated more than 3,000 entries from ad agencies, public relations firms, interactive agencies, in-house creative professionals, web designers, graphic designers, and web enthusiasts.  The W3 Awards are sanctioned and judged by the International Academy of the Visual Arts, an invitation-only body consisting of top-tier professionals from media, interactive, advertising, and marketing firms.

For the latest information about Scott Design’s recent awards, visit our Design Awards page.

Our client’s challenge:

Adobe needed a well-designed database-driven online application communicating with a SQL database to store and maintain activities, events, and expertise of the Adobe Education Leader program members. The database serves as a central repository to collect member data and report on the members’ progress.

The Scott Design solution:

Scott Design specified the application parameters by listening to the client to gain insights about necessities, and also the client’s customers to ascertain desirable features. Through this desktop app, educators can share how they’re using Adobe products in their classes with other educators, as well as connect with other leaders in this online education community. The finished product is an application that is elegantly designed, approachable, and highly lauded in the high-touch education partner community.

Our clients’ challenge:

Creative software leader Adobe Systems and online retail giant Amazon.com sought a way to help customers quickly determine the Adobe products that best suit their interests and needs. With myriad user options and a rapidly expanding multitude of products on the Adobe store on Amazon.com, both companies wanted to create an online product selector that would be user-friendly, intuitive, and speedy.

The Scott Design solution:

Working closely with representatives of Adobe and Amazon.com, Scott Design created the Adobe Product Selector, an online application powered by Adobe ColdFusion and AJAX technology, that removes the guesswork for customers. The Scott Design team designed an appealing, functional template and wrote simple questions that customers answer by choosing from pull-down options. Next, Scott Design developed a back-end database that—depending on a customer’s answers to the four questions—prompts a display and description of a recommended product, as well as a couple additional products to consider. Clicking on the link under a recommended product brings the user right to the Amazon.com purchasing page.

Winner:

• Gold Davey Award  — Landing Page
• Silver W3 Award  — Innovative/Experimental Media

Scott Design received four Communicator Awards in a competition honoring creative excellence among professionals worldwide.

An Award of Excellence recognized Scott Design’s work on the website for CTW, which provides resources for church leaders. The website, created in WordPress blogging software, won in the Cultural Blog category.

Scott Design received an Award of Distinction in the Financial Services category for its work on the website for New York-based venture capital firm Braemar Energy Ventures. The website features an interactive timeline and pop-up portfolio.

Two additional Awards of Distinction recognized Scott Design’s Augmented Reality Snowstorm, an online application featured in the firm’s own 2009 holiday greeting. This Flash application, which lets users put themselves in an imaginary snowstorm using a computer webcam, won in the Motion Graphics category.

With thousands of entries received from throughout the United States and around the world, the Communicator Awards is the largest and most competitive awards program honoring the creative excellence of communications professionals. The Communicator Awards is an annual competition honoring the best in advertising, corporate communications, public relations and identity work for print, video, interactive and audio. Please visit www.communicatorawards.com for more information.

For the latest information on recent awards, visit the Design Awards page.

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.

The Summit EMA competition is based on the premise that advertising is consistently at the forefront of the technological evolution of communication. “Those involved in today’s emerging media technologies are the leaders who are establishing tomorrow’s avenues of advertising communications.” Said Jocelyn Luciano, Executive Director for the Summit International Awards (SIA). “Most communication professionals recognize that established avenues of communication can be reliable and safe.  Developing and engaging in emerging media technologies, along with creative messaging and market awareness, is often a difficult criterion which makes earning a Summit EMA a significant achievement.”

Special Delivery is an innovative application that lets you easily create your own web pages to share with families and friends. You can select backgrounds, add messages, include animations, and even add a slide show of your photos. You can use Special Delivery to make an online holiday card, send a party invitation, or just design a creative fun web page. You can then send a link to your page through e-mail or on your social networks. We created Special Delivery as one of the fun online games that we create each year.  You can play the other games on the Scott Design Holiday page.

Scott Design’s Special Delivery web application also won a Platinum International Marcom Award, a Silver Davey Award, a Bronze ADDY Award, and a Bronze Horizon Award. Special Delivery was a semifinalist in the 2009 Adobe MAX Awards.

For the latest information on recent awards, visit the Design Awards page.

Special Delivery: Create your own holiday-themed web pages

Design and share your own one-of-a-kind holiday pages in minutes with Special Delivery. You can make a holiday page, send birthday wishes, invite friends to a party, or create a page just for fun. Upload your own photos, include music, select from beautiful backgrounds and borders, add animations, and write messages. It’s a free, easy, green alternative to traditional cards! Create your holiday greetings.

Snowbash: Can you stop the snowmen?

See how many snowmen your gingerbread man can get without harming the innocent pink bunnies in the award-winning Snowbash game, Best-of-Show at last year’s Silicon Valley ADDY awards. Play Snowbash.

Snowflake Designer: Design your own beautiful flakes

Select the number of branches, the shape of the crystals and their complexity, and watch as your snowflake grows right outside your window! Make some snowflakes.

Virtual Fireplace: May your days be merry and bright

Just because you’re stuck at your computer doesn’t mean you can’t gaze into the hypnotic flames of a crackling fireplace. Have fun decorating the mantle for the holidays, or just kick back and imagine the warmth! Curl up by the fireplace.

Happy Holidays!

We hope you have a lot of fun and hope you share your Special Delivery online greetings, as well as the games, with friends and family.

All our wishes for a wonderful holiday season!