SE2 Open House: Brought to You by Mattel

Like Barbie and Ken, SE2 may change our looks over time, but we keep on delivering that same wholesome fun. Our firm recently opened its doors to a few hundred of our closest friends to show off our hip new offices. Although the open house included Colorado wines and beers, delicious finger foods and of course the many creative interior features of our new digs, the Denver Post was much more amused by a different attraction: the Barbie and Ken dolls that marked the men's and women's bathrooms.

Of course, when we realized that Ken's short shorts were a little too revealing, we, like Mattel, opted for the more wholesome choice: board shorts.

What were they thinking?

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Communication Arts features The New Code website as Webpick of the Day

When you visit the website for The New Zoning Code for the city of Denver, it’s hard to believe that you’re looking at a government site. When Denver’s Community Planning and Development department asked us to help create a website to educate the city about their innovative and forward-thinking approach to fixing Denver’s outdated zoning code, we, along with the hard-working folks over at ad agency Rabble + Rouser, decided that the website should reflect this new philosophy on zoning.

Apparently, we’re not the only ones who think so. Communication Arts featured The New Code website as a Web Pick of the Day, saying, “Launched to support Denver’s massive zoning code overhaul, this visually-compelling, content-rich site uses animation and video blogging to communicate how changes to regulations will affect the community.”

The website features illustrative descriptions of each of the six neighborhood types, a flash animation module to explain the difference between The New Code approach to zoning and traditional zoning, a multimedia blog, a meeting calendar where users can submit suggested agenda items, and a forum to submit questions which may be answered and posted to the FAQ section of the site. We also created a zoning glossary to help translate planner speak into plain English.

This honor comes just in time for the Congress of the New Urbanism’s conference to be hosted in Denver from June 11th-14th. Just as Denver’s zoning code fix is based on how land use has dramatically changed in the past few decades, this conference focuses on the new urban climate and how innovative, modern-day solutions can help us build more sustainable cities and achieve faster economic recovery.

Like the guiding forces behind The New Code, we don’t think that understanding your city’s zoning code should be like reading hieroglyphics. In order to inform and engage the entire city, our approach to this website was to help residents understand how the city is fixing Denver’s zoning code by making the site visually stimulating, relatable and interactive.

Crowdsourcing: the Poor Man's Answer to Social Media

For anyone who enjoys having their cake and eating it too (and who doesn't, really?), an interesting new way to engage your audience through social media strategy and save your budget at the same time is called crowdsourcing. Crowdsourcing refers to taking a task normally performed by an employee or outside contractor and handing it over to an undefined, generally large group of people or community in the form of an open call.

An example of crowdsourcing is the nonprofit Lights Camera Help, dedicated to promoting the story of grassroots and nonprofit organizations through film. LCH commissioned filmmakers and nonprofits to produce PSAs and films-for-a-cause for its film festival. Nonprofits and filmmakers got to promote their cause and LCH got to promote its festival while furthering its mission.

Another, less free example is California Congressman Mike Honda's initiative to have his supporters provide the redesign of his website. Honda used creative marketplace website crowdSPRING, where project heads can post their project, set their price and timeline, and have a pool of competitors fight for the prize.

It's a win-win situation: Honda gets some buzz and ends up with a revamped website for cheap, and aspiring designers get a relatively high-profile client.