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A Multimedia Director at SWSX Interactive: Part Two

By on March 21, 2013 in Creative Service, Events, Social Media, Softway Solutions, SXSW Interactive, Uncategorized

Day 2 – So This Is SXSW!

The second day was jammed packed with panels, events, and thousands of people! You expect it to be huge but the mass of people outside and inside the dozens of venues were staggering. At any given time there are 20 plus events happening and each one seemed to have lines forming 45 minutes before it began.

Beyond Mobile: Where No Geek Has Gone Before

Today I spent the majority of the day focusing on UI/UX with JJ, Softway’s Creative director, and the first lecture was great! The name was called Beyond Mobile: Where No Geek Has Gone Before and covered how UX will be impacted by new technologies.  Right now, most people think of UX only in terms of a fixed screen like a mobile phone or television. Below are the major things to think about for the future of UX:

 1. Sensors are becoming really powerful, use them! Why do we only use touch screens to navigate or get the job that we need done? Use the technology that comes with your device.

2. Use augmented reality as a tool, not a gimmick. Sometimes Augmented reality is used as a solution to a problem that doesn’t exist. A few good examples of augmented reality in motion:

Augmented Reality In Motion Video 1

Augmented Reality In Motion Video 2

3. Migrating Interfaces. You might be working on one type of device and then move it over to another type of device with a completely different way of interacting.

4. “Appropriate Design for the appropriate content on the appropriate device.” True responsive design is more about how to handle content versus actual design. Eventually content will have to be responsive enough to go from TV’s to phones to wrist bands and eye wear. How to manage what is displayed is critical.

5. Just in time instead of just in case. Instead of fling up screens with tons of content, only load up the content needed for that user at that time.

100 Mistakes from Contributor to Chief Officer

We later met up with Mohammad, Saquib, and Robert to listen to 100 Mistakes from Contributor to Chief Officer by Elaine Wherry. The format was based around 3 minute short stories that the audience would interact with by explaining mistakes made within those stories. Here are the different levels we covered with some of the mistakes that stood out:

 

  • The first story covered the Contributor which describes the people actually doing the work of the business.

    • They want their first job to change the world!

    • Speaking out of place in meetings, thinking their idea is the greatest ever!

    • Feeling disheartened the first time a project doesn’t go right.

    • Looking to leave to a different company if things don’t go as planned.

  • The second story was now about a manager who just got promoted. This is significant because this is their first experience with managing others.

    • They still want to work on projects instead of managing them.

    • They try to be friends with the Contributors instead of their boss.

    • If the Director gives the Manager’s team a difficult task the manager will put the blame on the Director instead of taking ownership of that task.

    • Not being clear on tasks or assignments.

    • Not knowing how to verbally correct mistakes made by contributors.

    • If something isn’t done right, then they do the work because it is faster.

  • The third story was about the Directors. This starts to get a glimpse into the inner workings of the company.

    • Too many meetings! All these meeting must make them important.

    • Not being available for Managers.

The talk also covered Vice President and CEO but the first 3 are the most pertinent. Overall, Softway was well represented and we all got involved in the discussion.

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A Multimedia Director at SWSX Interactive: Part One

By on March 18, 2013 in 3D Animation, Events, Game Development, Recent Projects, Social Media, Softway Solutions, SXSW Interactive, Uncategorized
Day 1 – Conference Rising!

After fighting the typical Austin rush hour I finally arrived at the Austin Convention Center to pick up my SXSW Interactive badge and swag. While waiting to meet up with others, I met my first interesting contact of the day, a designer who interviewed with Softway Solutions three years ago. After talking for a while it’s amazing how much change has transpired for Softway in the past two years.

Bre Pettis Keynote

I missed the first half of Friday’s Keynote by Bre Pettis due to the insane crowds that suddenly converged on the convention center around 1pm. He mainly covered Makerbot, an affordable 3D printer that could help revolutionize manufacturing.

So why is this potentially interesting to a 3D director? Makerbot’s software can read .STL files and print that object three-dimensionally. So in theory we could take one of the 3D characters we’ve developed for our clients and create a small figurine of the character!

The Mechanics of Magic: 7 Game Design Insights

Later at 3:30 I got to catch Christina Wodtke’s talk called The Mechanics of Magic: 7 Game Design Insights. This was great from a game design standpoint, delving into the psychology of learning but all the theories discussed apply to web and mobile UX design as well.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Below I briefly listed out some of the highlights of the talk that relate to UX design.

  • Four types of players (users): If you know the type of users you have, design for them!
    1. Killers – This person always wants to beat another player
    2. Achievers – Win those medals and internet points!
    3. Socialites – Plays games for the social experience
    4. Explorers – Needs to complete everything at 100%!
  • Six keys of persuasion: Make them want to keep using your product!
    1. Reciprocity – having others do actions back to you
    2. Social Proof – I did it and here’s the proof!
    3. Commitment – Have a long term goal for users to want to see to the end
    4. Authority – Give the user power in some way (like forum moderator)
    5. Liking – If somebody else likes something then maybe I should too!
    6. Scarcity – Almost nobody has that so I want it!

 

Rewarding users for tasks completed. This can be as simple as a flashy little graphic when completing a seemingly mundane task within an app or site.
Mastery is a powerful driving force. If users want to become “experts” at something they will strive harder to learn all the nuances of the product and use it more diligently.

“Design over time” to reward the users who have been there a long time.                                                  Visitor > Novice > Experienced > Leader

Make sure the user has something new to experience the longer they use your product! Playtest like you mean it! QA or user experience should start from the very beginning and have multiple iterations!
Teach the user how to use your product. Games have very different UX yet we can all jump easily from game to game. Most games do a great job teaching the user how to use the game in a very subtle manner that feels intuitive.


There were two videos that really stood out to me in the presentation. The first is how using games for serious topics is affective.

The second is a good example of why focus testing you product is extremely important.

All in all I had a great time on Day One. Really looking forward to the next 4 days!

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15 Great Takeaways from the SXSW Elon Musk Keynote

By on March 10, 2013 in Events, List, Softway Solutions, SXSW Interactive, Uncategorized

Elon Musk might as well be the real life Tony Stark.  He is tackling the world’s biggest problems with his three companies Tesla Motors (Electric Cars), Solar City (Renewable Solar Energy) and SpaceX (Space Travel). As one of the world’s most important visionaries, entrepreneurs and philanthropists Softway was lucky to be in the front row of the SXSW 2013 Elon Musk Keynote #askmusk. He covered a variety of topics ranging from his recent space shuttle launch problems, the New York Times Tesla motors incident and how China is benefiting solar energy industry. In this post we are going to try to sum up the conversation into 15 Great Takeaways from the SXSW Interactive Elon Musk Keynote on Saturday 3/9/2013.

 

1)      On Starting SpaceX and his original Goals for SpaceX.

His original goal was to get NASA a bigger Budget.

According to Musk, SpaceX was started after a failed search on the Nasa.com website didn’t list when NASA was planning on going to Mars. He thought about it and started to put together a vision to get people excited about going to Mars. He hoped that by creating buzz, and getting the American people excited about putting life on mars that Nasa would in turn get a bigger budget and accomplish what he only dreamed about at that time.

2)      On NASA

Nasa is not a competitor, as a matter of fact, they are SpaceX’s biggest customer and account for 25% of all of their launches. Musk notes, there is no way I would be where I am today without cooperation from NASA.

3)      On expanding SpaceX

They are looking to build a new launch station and Texas is currently the leading candidate. He joked that his appearance at SXSW was not the only reason he is in Texas and is currently scouting locations. He hopes to begin construction in 2014 and have launches from the coast of Texas 2 to 3 years later.

4)      On space exploration and why people have begun to get very excited about SpaceX

“United States is a nation of explorers. People need to believe that it is possible and they aren’t going to have to give up something important like healthcare to do it.” He believes that once people realize they won’t have to give up something important to increase the budget of someone like NASA, the support for something like a trip to Mars will be overwhelming.

5)      On how he deals with critical feedback.

One the secrets to success is that you listen to negative feedback and you always request those around you to provide critical feedback as well. He made it clear he does not have a problem with critical reviews but he does have a problem with false reviews. At that time the context he was referring to was the New York Times debacle which you can read more about it here.

6)      On China commoditization of solar power and low prices on Solar Panels coming out of China

“What China is doing for solar panels is awesome because they are lowering the price of solar energy for the entire world.”

7)      On his company Solar City

“Solar City is a giant distributed Utility. It is literally power to the people.”

8)      His New Year’s resolution

“My new year’s resolution was to have a little more fun. That’s why I’m at SXSW.” “We’ve accomplished some amazing things in the last few years but a lot of those years have sucked horribly for me”

9)      On making big changes in the world

“If you’re attempting change, you have to see if what you’re doing is going to result in disruptive change, if it is just incremental, it is not likely to be substantial.”

10)   On Education

Education should be as much like a video game as possible, if you can make it interactive and engaging then you can make education far more compelling and more interesting.

11)   On University education

“In Universities you will probably learn as much as what you’re going to learn at university in 2 years and you will most likely learn it from your school mates.”

12)   What he will be disappointed in if it does happen in his lifetime.

“If humanity does not land on Mars in my lifetime would be my biggest disappointment.”

13)   On going to Mars himself

“I wouldn’t mind dying on Mars, as long as it’s not on impact.”

14)   Best piece of advice he has to give

  • Participate or take time to learn Physics, it is a good framework for reasoning.
  • When thinking, you need to go about it by boiling things down to fundamental truths, and building the framework from there.
  • Critical thinking is extremely important: Do you have the correct axioms? Does the logic necessary connect and what is the range of probable outcomes?
  • It’s fine to Gamble as long as you’re the house.
  • Always solicit critical feedback.

15)   On his biggest mistake

I have consistently put too much weight on someone’s talent and not enough on their personality. You have to see if they really have a good heart.

 

It is awe inspiring to here Elon Musk talk about his accomplishments and his future plans. He is the type of person that comes along once in a generation and is constantly the source of inspiration for millions. When asked by Softway Solutions on how he goes about deciding and prioritizing on new ventures his response was simple and elegant. “There isn’t really prioritization… I saw something that needed to be done.”

 

[Image: Flickr user djevents]

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Softway’s Google Engage Connect Event a Success!!!

By on March 7, 2013 in Events, Recent Projects, Search Engine Marketing, Search Engine Optimization, Softway Solutions


We blogged a couple of days ago about our luck to be chosen as one of the few “Google Engage” agencies to host a special event sponsored by Google, and boy was it awesome :)

Our Special VIP guests began to arrive at 11:30am for a quick tour of Softway’s offices. After that, they were taken to the 18th floor of our building to one of our client’s, Brian Gavin Diamonds, offices. They graciously shared one of their meeting rooms with us for the event. There our guests were treated to some scrumptious lunch boxes, catered by Laykie’s Gourmet, and some nifty Google coffee cups.

The live webcast started around 12pm – and featured the following:

Keeping Up With the Evolving Digital Landscape with Lisa Gevelber, VP of Americas Marketing, Google
· The world is changing. The evolution of technology is giving people the opportunity to do extraordinary things. Lisa shared how Google is evolving alongside this changing world, in the way it thinks about its brand and its marketing.

The Zero Moment of Truth: Reaching Customers When It Matters with John Nicoletti, Director of Agency Development, Google
· Whether we’re shopping for corn flakes, concert tickets or a honeymoon in Paris, the Internet has changed how we decide what to buy. Google call this the Zero Moment of Truth, and they shared how this changes the way businesses reach their customers. They spoke about reaching the right customers when it matters, with the right message, using Google AdWords.

Working and Winning with an Agency: A Fireside Chat with Bickey Russell, Head of Channel Managed Agencies, Google
· Google knows small businesses can be hesitant about spending with an agency. Bickey communicated the importance of partnering with an online professional, how they should approach working with an agency, and what resources the Google agency team is providing agencies to help their clients succeed.

Softway Solutions – Partner Agency Case Studies
· After the live-stream, I presented 3 case studies to our guests and discussed how our agency could help them get more out of the web. These case studies included topics such as Google Adwords, A/B and Multivariate Testing, and both Onsite and Offsite Search Engine Optimization.

Our guests learned a lot and had a great time, many asking to set up meetings on a later date to see how we can help them further their presences online.! If you want to learn more about how we can help you with your online marketing, don’t be aftaid to give us a holler.

That’s not it… check out below for a recording of the webcast as well as some awesome pictures (taken by our one and only Brady Ware) from the event.

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Softway Solutions, Google Host Exclusive Telecast March 5

By on March 4, 2013 in Events, Search Engine Marketing, Search Engine Optimization, Softway Solutions, Uncategorized

Softway has been invited to participate in one of the most sophisticated displays of business networking and internet marketing, to date. Of course, our friend’s over in Mountain View are behind it.

Tomorrow, March 5, Softway will be partnering with Google for an exclusive online telecast event – Google Engage.

As per Google’s request, Softway will be inviting a handful of prospective clients to join us in attendance of a roughly 90 minute, Google telecast event that will herald topics such as the evolution of digital technology, internet marketing within the digital environment, case studies, as well as discuss how Softway Solutions is continuing to pioneer new opportunities throughout the digital landscape.

Here, invitees will get the opportunity to network and learn industry knowledge on how to grow their online business presence; and how Google and Softway can work with them to accomplish such.

And the best part: Softway will be providing all food and drinks for the event!

The telecast will be streamed via YouTube, straight from the Googleplex in Mountain View, Cali. to Softway’s Houston-based headquarters. During which, speakers will include Lisa Gevelber, Google’s Vice President of US Marketing and John Nicoletti, Google’s Director of Agency Development.

The event will be hosted at Softway’s Houston headquarters – 7322 Southwest Freeway, Suite 1025, Houston, TX, 77074.

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SXSW Interactive Festival – South By Softway, Vol. 1

By on January 22, 2013 in Events, Softway Solutions, SXSW Interactive, Uncategorized

We decided to do it.

We’re going to SXSW Interactive Festival in March. It’s our first year to go and our excitement is palpable.

 

We’ve been planning this little excursion since November and in the process, found a plethora of advice for newbies like us.

I thought I would share some of that advice with you:

 

  • Hang out in the SXSW Interactive Lounges – these are good places to network because of the relaxed atmosphere. These are also good places to meet bloggers and members of the media if that’s what you’re interested in. This is also a place where you can meet and talk to influencers and digital leaders.
  • Don’t worry about your pitch – even if you’ve carefully planned 15 second, 30 second, 90 second and elevator pitches you may find you won’t even use them. Sometimes natural conversation and a genuine interested in the other person is a better ‘pitch’ than an actual pitch. You may connect better and talk with them about how your business really can help with their needs.
  • Be visible – everyone you take with you to the festival is going to be a Brand Ambassador. Make sure you and your team are identifiable with each other and with your company. You want to be recognizable.
  • Show vs. Tell – don’t hand out too many flyers or other freebies. They will likely be thrown away. Make sure you leave the person you connected to with something interactive. You want to be memorable and you want people to look you up after the festival. Give them something they can take with them and look at later that shows your merits rather than a flyer. Be creative with what you hand out to people.
  • Get a lead capture device – much more effective than a business card
  • SXSocial – a great tool to use to connect with people and start building a relationship with them before the festival.
  • Assume wi-fi is nonexistent – don’t count on your product demo running over wi-fi.
  • Don’t overwhelm yourself with 6 panels, sessions, workshops a day. Pick the best ones and pace yourself to prevent burnout. The events are held all throughout Austin and you’ll find yourself running around more than you are learning or networking.
  • Do a retrospective each night and reach out to the people that you met during the day.
  • Make your meetings memorable because its likely the person you’re meeting with is also meeting with 50 other people that day. Be creative and innovative.
  • Bring a bag and fill it with snacks and water! You’ll get hungry and be grateful that you have food handy!
  • Wear comfortable, casual clothes. Most people wear jeans and shirts.

Setting Up Your Schedule

Last Monday was the first day to start signing up for panels, sessions, events and workshops. If you look at the lists of available events, your head might explode. There’s hundreds of them listed and hard to know where to start. Here is a quick and visual explanation of how to sign up for events and make your schedule the easy way:

First, make sure you’ve set up your SXSocial account. You’ll need to do this before you can sign up for events and create your schedule. This is the link for the Interactive Schedule page: http://schedule.sxsw.com/?conference=interactive#

Then use the search box to find what interests you, as seen below:

It will bring up results related to what you’re interested in:

http://schedule.sxsw.com/?conference=interactive#

 

When you find something you like and want to add it to your schedule, do the following:

To see the full description of the event and to see if you need to RSVP for it (most workshops require RSVP):

IMPORTANT!! – Some events require you to RSVP so when you add it to your schedule, remember to also click RSVP:

To see your schedule:


Have any of you attended SXSW Interactive Festival before? If you have, please leave more suggestions on what to do in the comments section!

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How to Prepare for a Business Development Networking Event

By on November 29, 2012 in Creative Service, Softway Solutions

Our Business Development team at Softway Solutions takes Business very seriously. When it comes time to make a deal, they are completely and utterly prepared in every aspect of the word. A lot of work (and caffeine) goes into preparing for a great business meeting.  When making connections and closing deals are the names of the game sometimes it takes more than a blog post to explain how we do things around here.

What do you do to prepare for an important meeting? Let us know in the comments.

 

(Disclaimer: 55% of this video is entirely fictional. Figuring out which 55% is up to you.)

 

 

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Softway’s design Team Places Second For Logo Design

By on October 11, 2012 in Creative Service, Ecommerce Web Design, Recent Projects, Softway Solutions, Uncategorized, Web Development

Yesterday we announced that we won second place for logo design in the American Design Awards (ADA). An internationally-recognized independent awards program, the ADA recognizes designers from around the world who produce innovative and creative design pieces. Our design team submitted to the ADA Summer Quarterly Design Awards the logo they created for YetiCars, an online used car search engine.

Please follow this link to read more about our award!

http://www.send2press.com/newswire/Softway-Solutions-Design-Team-Places-Second-for-American-Design-Awards_2012-10-1011-001.shtml

 

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There Might Be Scrum-thing To This

By on October 9, 2012 in 3D Animation, Creative Service, Ecommerce Web Design, Flex Programming, Game Development, Mobile App Development, Recent Projects, Softway Solutions, Uncategorized, Web Development

“Individuals and interactions over processes and tools;
Working software over comprehensive documentation;
Customer collaboration over contract negotiation;
Responding to change over following a plan.”
-    The Agile Manifesto

    

In every sense of the word we are a growing company. Though we’re reaping the returns of our hard work, external growth outpacing internal growth makes it more challenging to manage projects. Our workload is steadily increasing but our team members still haven’t learned how to clone themselves or how to survive without sleep. The widening employee to project ratio exposed aspects of our project development process that were becoming counterproductive, essentially creating additional hurdles for us to jump over. Hiring employees en masse is not a realistic solution but taking a new approach to project development is.

We knew there was a method out there that would leverage our capabilities with our potential, mitigating the increased workload and increasing our efficiency. The issues we were having stemmed from using the waterfall method to build our projects. Waterfall is strict and compartmentalized, which allowed for unforeseen challenges. We don’t have an overabundance of team members to tackle the challenges that arose on one project while continuing to build other projects. So we decided to investigate an agile project development method called Scrum.

Scrum is structured to support complex project development and correct inefficient steps. It’s adaptable and collaborative framework minimizes both the number and the size of mistakes and prevents lengthy delays from happening. We thought it was our best bet at simplifying the development process and improving our efficiency.

Scrum Framework

It is a given that to turn a concept into a product, a project development plan is essential. However, to turn a concept into a functioning and valuable product, an agile development plan is a necessity. The reality is a concept doesn’t always translate into a good product just because the plan is good in theory.

Scrum emphasizes that effective team collaboration, rather than going through the motions of an unexplored yet concrete plan, uncovers the value the actual process of agile development brings to a project: empiricism. It is within the small steps of Scrum that observations lead to ingenuity and innovation, which enhance the project and enable it to evolve into a turnkey product and solution. Scrum doesn’t force the project to adapt to the development plan; the plan adapts to the project.

Scrum can make our previously counterproductive issues become productive and proactive steps, which is something our growing company will really benefit from. Changes, additions and challenges can occur at any point during the production process without it feeling like a wrench was thrown in the gears.

You’re going to build a better, more quality project when you go through the development process, gradually building the project step-by-step. Scrum puts innovation, collaboration and creativity back into development, making it easy to build a product that not only functions, but truly works for the client’s business and enhances the way they do business.

This has always been our goal on every project we do; we just needed to find a method that enhances our ability to do that. We always say that we work magic. Well, we needed a magic solution to optimize our potential, improve our efficiency and promote future growth without needing to immediately expand internally. And that solution is Scrum.

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Softway Solutions Celebrated with Family and Friends!

By on December 20, 2011 in Softway Solutions

This past Saturday, December 17, 2011, Mohammad Anwar, President of Softway Solutions invited his employees, families and special clients for a night of celebration.  Mohammad celebrated many things with his colleagues. He celebrated the extensive company growth in the past six months, the addition of new employees and interns, and finally him becoming a USA Citizen.

First, a formal dinner with Mediterranean food, baklava and dessert shots by La Madeline was served. Following the dinner, Mohammad introduced his family to all of Softway Solutions employees and guest. Shortly thereafter, Mr. Mohammad Abdul Gaffar Anwar, Mohammad’s father, spoke about the differences between cultures. He explained that during his 25 years of working at Saudi Arabia, an Islamic country, he never saw Islam.  However, when he came to the USA, a country of Christian beliefs, Islam was everywhere. From that point on, he knew USA was a country for his children and grandchildren to grow up in.

After Mr. Mohammad’s speech, Mohammad took the time to thank all and every employee of Softway Solutions for all their hard work these past years. He thanked the oldest employees to the newest intern at Softway Solutions.

To finish the night, Mohammad quizzed Softway Solutions employees. Randomly, employees were selected to answer the same questions Mohammad was asked during his citizenship test. Some employees knew the answers, while others needed help.

The night was full of entertainment by Mohammad and Mr. Mohammad. In addition, the night gave the opportunity for Softway Solutions employees to build a stronger bond to enter the upcoming year.

 

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