Somersault Infographic 2011

 A variety of pundits predict 2011 will be the year of the cable TV cord cutter, the year of the computer tablet, even the year of the vegetable. What were the early sparks through the centuries that ignited the fire for today’s stunning advancements?

We, Somersault Group (http://somersau.lt) - the international publishing strategy and services agency founded by five former Zondervan marketing and editorial executives - see 2011 as a year to recognize and celebrate the significant and life-changing milestones achieved over time in the areas of publishing, technology, and innovation.

To that end, we’ve created the interactive pdf Infographic (that’s even printable) that honors 22 landmark anniversaries this year, such as the King James Version of the Bible (400th), the transcontinental telegraph system in the USA (150th), MTV (30th), the first website (20th), and the iPod (10th).

Somersault Infographic 2011

The Infographic (designed by Scott Schermer, student at Kendall College of Art & Design) is located online at scribd.com/doc/46895274/Somersault-Infographic-2011. If you like it, please blog about it, tweet it, email your friends, tell others about it, and post your comments below. To receive an interactive PDF version (with links to each anniversary’s Web information) by return email attachment, send a request to hello@somersaultgroup.com.

Somersault believes the unprecedented changes occurring in the publishing world aren’t a crisis; they’re a playground of possibilities. We help publishers, agents, ministry partners, and authors adapt to these changes with dexterity.

Our services include brand counseling, editorial direction, research capabilities, marketing strategy, Internet and social media presence, and a comprehensive portfolio of publishing assistance.

Our mission is to change lives by connecting inspirational content creators with readers using exceptional creativity, right-now technology, and old-fashioned personal care.

We look forward to hearing how we can be of service to you. Be sure to follow this blog (http://somersault.posterous.com) and our Twitter stream (http://twitter.com/smrsault). And please “Like” us on Facebook (http://facebook.com/SomersaultGroup).

Happy Innovative Year!

A Billboard That Advertises Nothing But Clean Air

It’s only the occasional billboard that stands out from the crowd because of its superior creativity. Fast Company’s Co.Design (@fastcodesign) singles one out. Located at the USA-Canada border near Vancouver, BC, its objective is to advertise the wonderful, clean air of Blaine, WA. It was designed by the Seattle art and architecture firm Lead Pencil Studio, whose Daniel Mihalyo sheds light on the concept:

Borrowing the effectiveness of billboards to redirect attention away from the landscape...this permanently open aperture between nations works to frame nothing more than a clear view of the changing atmospheric conditions beyond.

Read the article in full and think of innovative ways to communicate your brand today.

On the Future of Media Design

Bill MoggridgeBill Moggridge, designer of the first laptop, co-founder of IDEO (@ideo), and director of the Smithsonian's Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum, talks with Fast Company's Co.Design (@fastcodesign) about the leading thinkers he spoke with for his new book, Designing Media.

 

Moggridge takes the troubled world of media, both old and new, and looks at it as a series of design problems. How do you design news as a social platform? Or newspapers at a time when everyone’s reading websites? Yet, he says paper is not going away:

It's all to do with the nature of the experience. I think of electronic books and online book content as being good news for book designers. Because what it means is: If you just want the content in a text form, then why would you ever buy a physical book, because you can read it so successfully on an e-reader. However, if you want to enjoy a book, you buy it because it's beautifully designed -- the paper is wonderful, the color is delicious, you can smell it, you can thumb through it, you can pick it up and feel heft the way you can’t with an e-reader. So if you’re going to stick with the physical book, then let's make sure the design of the physical book really engages you and makes you want to luxuriate in it.

You'll want to read this extensive interview and watch the videos.

How to leverage change

Here's an interesting quote from Miles Nadal, the Chairman & CEO of MDC Partners (advertising company) about how to leverage change.

"Change is the only constant you can be assured of, whether you believe in it or not. If you hope to make change your ally, if you hope to deploy new ideas with the kind of speed and agility that will give you a competitive advantage, you need to be part of enacting tomorrow's change instead of reacting to yesterday's. The only way to do that consistently and well is by gaining an appreciation of the hidden, underlying forces driving the trends that are visible to all." (From the July 2010 issue of Sky Magazine)