Metropolis is proud to showcase a new set of iPhone icons designed for Mobile Technology Team. The challenge with an iPhone app icon, is that it not only needs to be understood as a small icon, but it has to stand out from competing icons as well. A clean "walking guy" clearly defines the apps as walking tours while the background illustration and colors help define the type of tour. Download this free app from the iPhone store and let us know what you think!

Labels: icon design, iphone app icon design

Metropolis worked closely with Spotlight Communications to deliver a much improved website redesign for their client, U.S. Pavement Services, Inc. One of the biggest challenges here was to showcase the many different services that U.S. Pavement offers without overcrowding the website design with information. The solution we came up with was to organize this content using interactive sliders that show and hide information on mouse over. This enables the user to easily and intuitively navigate to the information they want with fewer clicks. Learn more about this project here.

Labels: boston graphic design, website redesign

Metropolis teamed up with Brunello Creative to design and develop a clean new website that presents the latest news and events of the local SEMPO (Search Engine Marketing Professional Organization) chapter. Co-branded icons for Facebook, Twitter, and EventBrite along with a custom twitter background were also created to tie the organization's social media tools together visually.

SEMPO Boston is growing rapidly and is dedicated to being the industry's source of SEO/SEM knowledge and community in the Massachusetts area. Their first event, Online Travel Industry Innovations & Search Marketing, was held at WorkBar in January. A panel of four experts talked about their search marketing goals and techniques.

On February 4th, Google will talk about The Future of Search in front of another sold-out audience. Read more about our co-branded design for SEMPO Boston.

Labels: boston web design, online marketing campaign, social media branding, website redesign

Springboards Consulting, LLC came to Metropolis in need of a website design that channels their prospective clients to the appropriate information quickly and easily. Springboards offers a variety of different language services to both companies and individuals and it was imperative that the redesign accommodate this. In the end, we came out with a fresh website design that looks sharp and, more importantly, works well to satisfy the needs of their visitors. Springboards was very pleased. Learn more about this project here.

Metropolis is proud to announce the launch of a vibrant website for upscale restaurant and event venue Cafe Escadrille. The web design engages visitors through interactive photos of the venue and navigational menus with drop-down subcategories. The large format photos and simple navigation were selected and designed to allow users to get a taste of the setting at a quick glance and easily select their online destination. Additionally, the site map design includes event planning options, a mailing list lead capture and intuitive gift card feature. http://www.cafeescadrille.com

Labels: boston graphic design, restaurant graphic design, restaurant web design, restaurant website design

A full house of marketing, media, business professionals and friends braved the cold last night to celebrate a special birthday — Metropolis Creative turned 10. The gourmet cupcakes and Mike's home-brewed Mocha Java Stout were a huge hit. Silent Metropolis played on one of the screens, while we listened to a mix of music — some of which was produced performed by our own Jake Rainis and Emily Shirley. Check out the pics on facebook. Feel free to tag, friend, fan and forward.

Labels: Boston graphic design studio parrty, Metropolis Creative

Labels: Boston graphic design studio parrty

The State of Massachusetts' Women, Infants and Children (WIC) Nutrition Program needed two print pieces designed to attract the attention of mothers in specific neighborhoods and demographics. Metropolis reviewed the goals, target audience, listened to user experience feedback from the state team and designed a 3.25" x 8.25" 4 color brochure and 11" x 17" matching poster.

The pieces addressed the importance of consistent messaging with familiar imagery that would resonate with the target audience. Specifically, age appropriate babies and children were used as primary design imagery along with primary colors and straight forward narrative. The items were also translated into seven languages. The WIC program is happily benefiting by seeing response rates and solid familiarity with their brand.

"Working with Mike, Kristen, and the rest of the team at Metropolis Creative was so fast and easy. They listened to exactly what we wanted and they delivered pieces that were even better then we could imagine. I can't wait to work with them again!"- Karan DiMartino, Marketing & Media Manager, Nutrition Division

Labels: boston graphic design, brochure design, poster design

Designfirms.org honored Metropolis Creative with two distinguished graphic design awards. From a pool of international entries, Metropolis was recognized for branding expertise.

	Direct mail campaign for SoWa Advertising.
	Logo design/corporate identity for Textaurant.

Labels: award-winning graphic design, award-winning logo design, direct mail design, graphic design award

Metropolis is co-sponsoring a private party with Groupon at FELT Boston on Thursday, July 16th from 6-8PM. Enjoy complimentary cocktails, appetizers, and music while meeting the Groupon Boston team. This event is invitation-only, so register soon.

Labels: boston graphic design, Groupon, sponsor

Online marketing services firm Wpromote lists Metropolis Creative as the "Best Around the Web" in their Wprogram newsletter.

Read more...

Labels: Best website design blog, boston graphic design, brand strategy, Wpromote

Metropolis Doing What Works
by Julie Tompkins
MySouthEnd.com Contributor
July 7, 2009

For Michael Flint, the founder of Metropolis Creative, a graphic design studio at 535 Albany Street, "pretty" doesn’t always cut it.

"It’s what works for the client that matters to us," said Flint, who says oftentimes simple online banner ads work best when presenting a message, even though "they’re boring from the design standpoint."

This South End studio was recently recognized with four Communicator Awards, an international awards program for communication professionals.

Read more...

Labels: Communicator Awards, Metropolis Creative, South End News

July 1, 2009
Version 2.0 Communications Blog
Return on Initiative for Social Media

Kudos to those early adopters who are embracing social media to supplement traditional marketing programs and cultivate communities, expand thought leadership and brand awareness. While many strategic marketers have smartly designed social media campaigns that map to their organizations’ business objectives, the question still persists – how do you measure the effectiveness of these campaigns against the time, money and resources needed to pull them off?

Read more...

Labels: social media event, Version 2.0 Communications

John Sotherland, former Intern at Metropolis Creative, is featured on Boston University's Internship program page. "I came to the internship with conflicting motivations. I wanted to learn what I did not know how to do, but I also wanted to test my preexisting skills. Amazingly, I got to do both. I joined the staff of a very small company, which enabled me to learn about every aspect of how a design firm operates. I worked with clients directly, I designed websites, and I even created new ad campaigns. This program is a great way to get a head start on a career—I now have a real, professional portfolio to show future employers." - John Sotherland

Labels: boston graphic design, boston internship program, boston university graphic design, boston web design

From a pool of international applicants, the Communicator Awards honored Metropolis Creative with three Awards of Excellence and one Award of Distinction for their recent graphic design work. The Communicator Awards recognized Metropolis’ interactive and print designs as outstanding in their field and among their peers.

Metropolis received the four awards from over 7,000 entries in print and interactive categories. The Awards of Excellence were for:

	Their execution of The Keating Group’s marketing brochure in the Business-to-Business category,
	logo design for Textaurant in the Corporate Identity category,
	and the Creative Economy website design.

Metropolis Creative's own website was honored with an Award of Distinction in the Website Self-Promotion category.

Now in its 15th season, the Communicator Awards is the leading international awards program honoring creative excellence for communications professionals. The awards are sanctioned and judged by the International Academy of the Visual Arts – a judging body comprised of top executives from organizations such as Alloy, Brandweek, Coach, Disney, The Ellen Degeneres Show, Estee Lauder, HBO, Monster.com, MTV, Polo Ralph Lauren, Sotheby's Institute of Art, Wired, and Yahoo! to name a few.

Labels: award-winning graphic design, award-winning web design, Communicator Awards, graphic design award

Innovation Month in New England has a fresh logo designed by Metropolis Creative.

Perhaps you’ve noticed this little economic downturn and some not-so-little job cuts taking place at all kinds of companies. We believe that the one thing needed to get the region firing on all cylinders again is innovation: new start-ups, new product ideas from established companies, new approaches to old problems.

One way the sparks of innovation get fanned (and spread) is by coming together. The simple idea behind designating June 2009 as "Innovation Month" across New England is to encourage EVERYONE who wants to support innovation here to get out and attend at least one event. Some are free, most are inexpensive, all are high-value.

Check out the New England Innovation Month web site.

Labels: Boston History and Innovation Collaborative, history, innovation, Innovation Month New England, June is Innovation Month in New England, Logo design, Mass High Tech, regional economy, Xconomy

Metropolis President Michael Flint shares design and marketing advice as a guest contributor to Corporateink's blog.

Labels: landing page design, public relations, website marketing

Earlier this month, Metropolis Creative completed a series of brand building banner ads for PTC (Needham, MA). The Flash animated series promoted a demo video of their ProEngineer Wildfire 4.0 CAD solution product. The static banner ads were designed to help drive traffic to PTC's Small Business Resource Center and related landing page.

To learn more about the campaign or discuss your web/brand initiatives, contact Michael Flint: mflint@metropoliscreative.com

Labels: banner ad, banner advertising, landing page, online marketing campaign

And the winner is...
In front of a crowd of nearly 200 marketers and web professionals last Wednesday night, Metropolis announced American Public Television as the Extreme Website Makeover recipient. American Public Television was selected from over 80 Makeover entries!



The Makeover included new or improved:

• branding
• hierarchy of information
• focus on target audiences
• navigation and usability
• search engine optimization and social media

If you'd like to hear more about the Makeover process or even discuss tips to improve your web site, please contact us at:

 
 617. 556. 0010
 @michaelflint
 Connect to us on FaceBook and see the party photos!

Interested in partnering with us for a future event? Contact Howard at:
 

Metropolis Creative, in partnership with Spotlight Communications, proudly announces the launch of UMass Boston's Emerging Leaders Program web site. The new site design includes visual imagery that supports the overall message/brand of the program, and intuitive and easy user access. The site also meets the project goals of showcasing the program alumni, and providing a content management system that can be used by department staff for on-going updates. The whole site was built using W3C's standards and is ADA compliant per the University's guidelines. This means that not only is it accessible to visually impaired visitors, but it is also designed for most mobile devices.

Labels: ada compliance, w3c compliant, web site, website redesign

Metropolis President Michael Flint contributed web design tips and tricks to garner inbound marketing hits on this month's HubSpot Marketing Blog.

Fifteen AIGA students from the small town of Fredonia, New York with a keen interest in design visited Metropolis Creative today to see what Metropolis and design are all about.

SUNY Fredonia has an AIGA club, where the students participate in critical analysis and research in advanced education and ethical practices in design. They came to Boston to check out the Boston AIGA conference.

While enjoying several munchkins and a box o' joe from the vag rounded lovers at Dunkin Donuts, Mike spoke to the students about the proper way to deal with clients, how to run a graphic design studio, job estimating, and contracts.

The group departed for their next Boston adventure and then on to the AIGA show.

Labels: AIGA, aiga conference, boston, boston design, design, fredonia, metropolis, metropolis design, suny fredonia

Free homepage makeover, social media and email marketing implementation contest and party

Boston, MA (PRWeb — March 23, 2009) — Metropolis Creative, SHIFT Communications, and RatePoint, have teamed together to offer a website makeover to one lucky organization. The winning firm will receive a new look and strategy to help strengthen their brand, increase SEO effectiveness, incorporate social media strategy, along with expert advice to gain market share and increase web site visits.

The winner will be announced live during the Extreme Website Makeover party on Wednesday, April 29, 2009, 6:00-8:30PM at 28 Degrees, 1 Appleton Street, Boston, MA. Cocktails and appetizers sponsored by 28 Degrees and Pearl Vodka. Nearly 200 marketing professionals are expected to attend the event.

"A web site that has a clear and strong message with a smart call to action and ease of use can really help drive sales.” says, Michael Flint, Founder, Metropolis Creative. “The goal of the Makeover Party is to critically assess the effectiveness of a website with a before and after showing.”

“This event will help demonstrate how websites need to evolve beyond static landing pages of information and provide an opportunity to exemplify the experience of brand and include social media elements to engage customers first hand,” said Bob Collins, VP of New Media Strategy, SHIFT Communications.

"This event allows businesses to see cutting-edge tools and techniques to collect feedback, manage customer relationships and use testimonials to boost consumer confidence and drive new business," said Tom Serani, Co-Founder and VP of Sales, RatePoint.

Register here today!

Nikki Smith Morgan interviews Michael Flint on her blog for Designers, Authors, and Speakers here.

Michael attended the Social Media Jungle in Waltham, MA. The format was a series of 20-minute discussions about all forms of social media, although Twitter stole the show. Doug Haslam has a great write-up here. The best part was finally meeting some of the people I've been tweeting with all year.