A Design review with TechCrunch50 Winner "Yammer"

Congratulations Yammer on the TechCrunch50 recognition.


Yammer is a tool for making companies and organizations more productive through the exchange of short frequent answers to one simple question: "What are you working on?"


They won the big prize at the 2008 TechCrunch50 event, and as a high profile Social Networking tool, our very own Solana Crawford has provided a design review.

Nice logo, warm and friendly, web 2.0 design style. It's not surprising to see that a social networking site uses predominantly blue for its color (ex: Facebook, Myspace, LinkedIn, etc...) Some of blue's strongest connotations are friendship, trustworthiness and technology.

It's very clear what the user is supposed to do once he or she gets there, but Yammer fails in explaining in detail what it is that THEY do. Yammer is not obvious until the user reaches the demo video at the bottom of the landing page. Once the user signs up, everything is pretty clear, well organized and easy to navigate.


The user forum does another good job with a logo application, but landing on that page gives you a feeling of chaos until you get organized again.

Overall, Yammer's site, though dated, makes for a good experience....It's in the details. Just a few key design and UI considerations can lead Yammer's interface to 2009.

Below is the Yammer presentation from TechCrunch50. Notice the opening title screen with the TechCrunch50.

Solana Crawford, founder of DESIGN about TOWN speaking at Web 2.0 Berlin

Our very own Solana Crawford, the Founder and Chief Design Officer of DESIGN about TOWN, will be speaking at O'Reilly Media's Web 2.0 Conference in Berlin, Germany on Thursday, 10/23/08 at 2:30pm.

She will be speaking at the Design and User Experience Track and her topic will be User: Action! Leading users to action through design.

If you are going to be at the conference, sign up for Solana's session. Also, let us know if you are going to be there and would like to meet up. See you there!

DESIGN about TOWN Portfolio Slideshow ::: Fall 2008

We decided to put a slideshow of some of our most recent design projects online. Click here for a high resolution version, or see the YouTube version below. If you see something you like and need to know more. Call me (Brian) at 415-290-2256.

DESIGN about TOWN photos from TechCrunch50

Click below to view our photos from the TechCrunch 50 event. Take special note of the photo of Demi Moore and Solana Crawford, Founder and Chief Design Officer of DESIGN about TOWN.

TechCrunch50

DESIGN about TOWN's Solana Crawford on Beet.tv: Apple.com-style Websites are the Face of Web 2.0, Website Designer Says.

Thanks to those over at Beet.tv for the interview with DESIGN about TOWN's founder Solana Crawford at TechCrunch50. Solana talks a bit about design trends and then about DESIGN about TOWN



"Reflections, rounded corners, and color schemes of white and chrome have become very popular--and overdone--styles for technology websites over the last few years, DESIGN About TOWN CEO Solana Crawford says. She discusses other trends that have also emerged in website design.

Design About Town designed the signage and programs for TechCrunch50.

--Kelsey Blodget, Associate Producer"

TechCrunch 50 DemoPit Highlights

Here is a nice video highlighting some of the DemoPit companies at TechCrunch50. While DESIGN about TOWN is not featured in this video, you can see a sliver of our work on the signs for each of the companies. We designed the graphic system for TC50 that was seen on banners, signs, powerpoint slides, and the program.

If you have an event based graphic design and branding, give us a call.

Highlights from the Demo Pit

DESIGN about TOWN at TC50

We were excited to see that Andrew Mager from ZDNet included us in his review of Day 1 at TechCrunch 50. You can see us at the 4.32 mark of the post. He loved our pencil. Thanks Andrew!