Northpark Development is a full-service real estate development company based in Manhattan. They focuses on developing custom residential condominium and rental apartment and buildings in upper Manhattan. Their brand is characterized by quality, design integrity and attention to detail.

Merola was contacted to create the new identity and website.Visit the Northpark website.

This video is a few years old but I just discovery it through TED. Also read Don Norman’s essay: “Emotion & Design: Attractive things work better.”

While the actual ranking details are top secret, Singhal shares a list of questions that will help guide web designers and content creators to stay focused on what’s important–the user.

1. Would you trust the information presented in this article?
2. Is this article written by an expert or enthusiast who knows the topic well, or is it more shallow in nature?
3. Does the site have duplicate, overlapping, or redundant articles on the same or similar topics with slightly different keyword variations?
4. Would you be comfortable giving your credit card information to this site?
5. Does this article have spelling, stylistic, or factual errors?
6. Are the topics driven by genuine interests of readers of the site, or does the site generate content by attempting to guess what might rank well in search engines?
7. Does the article provide original content or information, original reporting, original research, or original analysis?
8. Does the page provide substantial value when compared to other pages in search results?
9. How much quality control is done on content?
10. Does the article describe both sides of a story?
11. Is the site a recognized authority on its topic?
12. Is the content mass-produced by or outsourced to a large number of creators, or spread across a large network of sites, so that individual pages or sites don’t get as much attention or care?
13. Was the article edited well, or does it appear sloppy or hastily produced?
14. For a health related query, would you trust information from this site?
15. Would you recognize this site as an authoritative source when mentioned by name?
16. Does this article provide a complete or comprehensive description of the topic?
17. Does this article contain insightful analysis or interesting information that is beyond obvious?
18. Is this the sort of page you’d want to bookmark, share with a friend, or recommend?
19. Does this article have an excessive amount of ads that distract from or interfere with the main content?
20. Would you expect to see this article in a printed magazine, encyclopedia or book?
21. Are the articles short, unsubstantial, or otherwise lacking in helpful specifics?
22. Are the pages produced with great care and attention to detail vs. less attention to detail?
23. Would users complain when they see pages from this site?

It’s hard to argue with the logic, I particularly like the last one–Rob.

US Federal Contract Spending Data Visualization by Pitch Interactive, Inc. The left side represents US spending and the right side represents related media coverage. The data was culled from 2009 New York Times news articles. Visit their site and view full-size  US Federal Contract Spending Data Visualization.

David McCandles gives a fantastic TED.com talk about the power and potential of Data Visualization and it’s unique ability to take a staggeringly large amount of data, and deliver it with clarity and beauty. Go to his website right now to view his tremendous work. View his TED.com talk too.  David McCandless: The beauty of data visualization | Video on TED.com.

A great article and smart discussion regarding the relationship between stillness and motion. After reading the dialog about the new Comedy Central logo redesign and accompanying motion graphic presentation, It becomes clear that the role of corporate identity has move up from the corner of the page in to a dynamic brand navigator that reveals and enhances the entire consumer experience.

Motion Graphics, Visual Effects and Experimental Moving Image Storytelling.

The New York Times has again managed to blow my mind with another interactive map. Using data gathered from the 2005 to 2009 Census. Matthew Bloch, Shan Carter and Alen McLean are credited with the map and have displayed and unbelievable amount of information beautifully.

Drill downs on data, street by street, city by city illustrate an unprecedented view of the country.
Look at where you live to discover the education and income levels of your neighbors.

Data points include:
Race and Ethnicity– White, Black, Hispanic, Asian, and foreign born populations.

Income Median household incomes, Change in median household incomes, Households earning under $30,000 and household earning over $200,00 and change in those incomes.
Housing and Families Median home value, Change in median home value, Median monthly rent, Mortgage change, and reported Same sex couples.
Education High school graduates, Bachelor’s or higher, Masters or higher and Private schools.

It will be fascinating to see what kind of useful information can be drawn from such an immense set of data.

One of the tenets of the open source movement is to share and freely distribute information so that new technologies can develop and flourish and bring deeper understanding to the world.

After about an hour of looking at the maps I haven’t scratched the surface. I would love to hear any of your observations.

Mapping America — Census Bureau 2005–9 American Community Survey — NYTimes.com.

The ultimate graphic designer smack-down. Admittedly not as much sting as a well timed mother joke, but it can set an SVA, Parsons or Pratt grad back on their heels a bit.

Take the quiz and impress your friends with your new found skills. Walk down the street confidently pointing to store windows and passing delivery trucks, sucking your teeth and muttering – urgh, dreaded Arial! Or find yourself saying things like – Helvetica would make a nice girls name wouldn’t it…

If you’ve seen Helvetica the movie this should be pretty easy. Take the quiz and let me know how you did. I scored 18 out of 20, and I’m not a good test person.

Ironic Sans has taken 20 Helvetica logos and redrew them using Arial.

“It seems to be the consensus that Arial is a substandard alternative to Helvetica.  What if the logos we’re used to seeing in Helvetica were redone in Arial? Would you even notice if the next time you saw the American Airlines logo it was redone in Arial?

If you know what to look for it probably jumped right out at you. If not, you may see that they’re different but still not know which is which.

Take the quiz here!

Original post: Ironic Sans: Quiz: So you think you can tell Arial from Helvetica?.

Designing logos and web sites for lawyers and law firms today is different then it was even just a few years ago. A list of partner names set in Times New Roman or Copperplate doesn’t cut it anymore. Firms need to differentiate from one another, develop a solid brand strategy and have a personality.

Hudson Law, LLC specializes in intellectual property cases and needed a clean presentation of what exactly they offer to their clients. The use of simple drawings throughout the site illustrated the concept effectively, “IP Protection from the sketch on a paper napkin to revenue, choose Hudson Law.” Merola Designed the website. Visit the Hudson Law website.

Robert Merola helped re-brand Sesame Sprout pre-school designing the new logo and marketing materials.