I made the present version of this website two years ago. Back then it was one of the first HTML5 sites I had done. I tried my best to keep the mark-up lean and tidy, and probably for that reason the transition to a responsive layout was as easy as it was. I did the bulk of the work during two evenings, and spent about 5 hours in all doing it.

Almost all of the work was done with CSS. I would estimate that less than 5% of the HTML mark-up needed to be changed. With the CSS I took the “mobile first” approach, meaning that the bulk of the CSS applies to all screen sizes and I only have separate and additional styles for larger screens.

Granted the site might need some responsive tweaking, but all in all I think it’s working pretty well.

Coat of arms, 2013

Pike head, 2013

Olmec head - 2013

2013

Roughly a year ago we launched Vintage Galleria, a second hand furniture store strongly based on it’s online presence. My role has been to provide the visual identity, product photography and technical platform for the website.

The online store that isn’t an online store

We always promote the website as an online store although that is not really what it is. Since all the products we sell are practically unique and we don’t have a stock of them, the conscious decision was not to have online payment methods. Instead we just provide individual contact forms for each product.

Reaching the people

With a minimal marketing budget the traffic to our website has grown to around 4000 monthly visits and 3000 unique visitors. In the early stages the key to growing the traffic was distributing press releases and acquiring traffic and SEO rank through other websites  and blogs that present links to vintage furniture sites. We have also made small Google Adwords campaigns, which have increased the daily traffic by 5-10%. The role of social media and Facebook is steadily growing as well. At the time of writing this, our fan page has 227 likes all of which have been acquired organically.

Photos

We (or I) have a fairly streamlined process for producing the product photos. The photos need to be done with limited time and effort so that their production costs are in proportion with the prizes and margins of the products. Still the photos need to give a representative and selling impression of the products. The “studio” we have is very ad hoc, but it does the job for the time being. Surprisingly I have also discovered that we are ranking very well as far as Google image search goes. Thereby we are getting a good deal of traffic from people who are looking for photos of famous design furniture pieces.

Platform

The platform of choice was Drupal. Previously I had made a couple of commercial sites with it while working at Bolder and had found it an ideal solution for this type of structural and frequently updating content. At least as far as free open source systems are concerned. It is a bit of a pain to setup, but in the end it is very flexible and reliable.

2013

We’ll see how it goes, right now it’s looking promising.

At least on friday the audience was unfortunately sparse. In an event like this You don’t only come for the speakers but also for the audience. It is also interesting that practically all the speakers of the North European symposium were Finnish. For the credibility of the event, a bit more international flavor would have been welcome.

The level of presentation was also quite uneven, but these were my top pics of the day.

Hannu Kähönen, Creadesign

Kähönen started by giving an overlook about the variety of types of design project that Creadesign in involved in. After which he went on to describe some of the outcomes of their work on the National Design Program which is led by the Ministry of Employment and Economy.

Major challenges were found in the fact that small and medium sized companies in general don’t have high enough appreciation of design. A four step classification was suggested in the design involvement of these companies:

1. Design is a part of the company’s strategy
2. Design is a part of product development and processes
3. Design is used to enhance looks
4. Design is not used at all

One key factor in the near future is reduction of industrial production in Finland, which in turn can lead to the loss of designers and jobs in the industry. At the same time South Korean and Asian companies are shoving a new found appreciation of design.

Finally Kähönen made the following SWOT analysis of design in Finland:

Strengths: Reputation, tradition and efficiency
Weaknesses: Lack of courage and narrow sightedness
Opportunities: Research and co-operation
Threats: The shift of production and know how to Asia

Jarmo Ritalahti, Haaga-Helia Polytechnic

Ritalahti presented the process that lead to the design of the polytechnics campus in Porvoo. The schools staff was highly involved in defining the specifications for the new facilities. The outcome of the process was a living lab environment for creativity and learning.

The new environment also enabled new educational goals. The emphasis has shifted to soft/meta competences. A higher appreciation of interaction and communication skills has also led to the students taking more responsibility of their studies and projects.

Martti Raevaara, Aalto University

Raevaara is the  second Vice President of Aalto University. Raevaara shared some interesting insights on the results that the University has achieved through structural changes. One of the most important developments has been the increased number of international applicants for professorships. This has lead to more competition for the posts and more qualified personnel. The main reason for the shift has been the new tenure track system. This has also served to change the age structure of professorships, where the high average age of professors is becoming problematic.

For an ex Aalto staff member like me, these news were inspiring. As I was still working and studying at the University of Art and Design when the new University was formed, the general reception was not all that positive.

 Jussi Kangasoja, Oulu University of Applied Sciences

Kangasoja presented two projection systems that he has been developing.

Seamless Design Space is a large 13 meters wide and 2.6 meters tall curved 180 degree  surface, onto which 3D models and mixed media can be projected. The environment can for instance be used as a testing environment for architectural designs where the future users of building can give feedback about the building during the design process.

Skin 360 is a solution for projecting on three dimensional objects. In the system multiple video projectors are used to project on any physical object. The 3D model of the targeted object is used to map the projections so that the images cover the object seamlessly.

Both of these applications were impressive and it was easy to find similarities with our work at Crucible Studio in the Alan01 and Unperformed installations. Although I must admit Kangasoja’s systems are technically superior, the user experience that he creates is very similar.

http://www.windowsphone.com/fi-fi/apps/33485415-2259-4326-bc08-22d973c05d7d
http://store.ovi.com/content/232931?clickSource=search&pos=1#

Related post:
www.tmukoo.net/2011/more-about-the-virtual-toilet-wall/ 

A free lense macro of a small spider, 2012.

Free lense macro of a bumble bee, 2012