If you’re asking, ‘Where is Dirk+Weiss!?’, then this may satisfy your curiosity, we hope. Truth is, we are the busiest we have ever been. Maybe a clear sign of a rebounding economy? We have been busy working steadily with our clients to provide the best solutions possible.

Since May, we have broken new ground with our website client from India, and are almost ready to launch a brand new website for them. We have also been in talks for a few new Apple iOS apps with local companies here in Boston, that range from utilities to more advanced experiential applications.

On a more technical note, we have gone 100% HTML5 and JavaScript in lieu of Flash for web and mobile based projects. While we believe flash can still have appropriate applications, the ever growing sector of mobile devices and platforms has shown it’s demand for such lightweight, open programming environments. And at the end of the day, we are looking at solutions for our clients that can range from computer screens to mobile devices, maximizing return on investment, as this is the road we are all on as consumers.

As the summer continues, we are preparing for a busy fall. We have some projects in the pipeline, and are working on what seems like a million things all the time. In addition to all the new projects that we are working towards, Matthew White of DW is working hard expanding his teaching experience over at the Art Institute of Boston @ Lesley University and Bunker Hill Community College teaching marketing and design classes.

Stay tuned to dirkweiss.com for a fresh, new, fast, efficient look coming soon. While the economy is rebounding, we all still live in an environment where trimming the economic fat is a necessity. If you’re unsure who to contact about your new design or marketing project, just give us a ring.

A quick sketch to visualize the concept of ‘Our Design’, and the focus of a working theory on creating value based design.

Dirk+Weiss practices ‘Our Design’, and believe that value does lie in knowing that what we are designing and developing, actually is working. This working theory focuses less on (but does not disregard) the upfront, aesthetic design process, and approaches every project with the assumption that design has a formula, yet is not formulaic, and is calculable.

Click the image to enlarge!

graphic copyright 2010 – Dirk+Weiss / www.ourdesign.us

This past weekend marked the re-launch of www.smartwomencompany.com, a popular brand with witty sayings by Smart Women. With the help of Dirk+Weiss, the Smart Women Company brand has begun a new adventure that includes a new website, blog, and social media integration.

Julie Hellwich, creator of the Smart Women brand, has reached out to hundreds of thousands of people with her fun, charismatic sayings and products. Each Smart Women product is useful, and inspirational.

When the economy took a down-turn, Julie and Dirk+Weiss began talks of collaborating on working to adapt the Smart Women brand for the post-recession retail and wholesale world. Instantly, we decided that a new website would be in order, that not only makes it easy for consumers to buy products, but easy for Julie to manage the content. The new website includes features such as:

1. A customized ordering and shopping system
2. News and updates blog
3. Content management system for easy content changing
4. Real time return on investment (ROI) analytics
5. Constant Contact integration
6. Facebook integration
7. Custom designed front end
8. Store Locator for the over 90 stores that Smart Women products are in

So far, the website has received hundreds of unique visitors on it’s first day! With real time analytics, we can see all the traffic that comes in and out of the site.

In addition to a new website presence, and integrated back-end modules, we have brought Smart Women Company to Facebook, and the millions of users who reside there. Fans can follow Smart Women and watch for site updates, promotions, coupons and any other news related to the brand.

Today, the first initial messaging to be released to the over 6,500 contacts of the Smart Women email list, showed to be a great asset. In the few hours that have passed since the message delivery, over 300 unique visitors had landed on the new site, and over 90+ new Fans on Facebook! And it is still growing. A great first day, and with holiday promotions, new products, and social media connectivity, the stats will most certainly increase.

Did we mention a Smart Women iPhone app is coming?

Dirk+Weiss is now working with the Judi Rotenberg gallery on Newbury Street in Boston to create two new websites.

Judi and Harold Rotenberg are both artists with very different styles. They both have a long career of working, showing and contributing to the larger facets of the art community.

The gallery manager from the Judi Rotenberg gallery has asked Dirk+Weiss to help create individual websites for each artist, that not only make a great showcase for their work, but are also easy to manage and update. Of course, we can make all this possible with open source software and optimization tools for content, photos and search engines. As with every web-ready product we build, visitor tracking tools will be implemented to track real time return on investment (ROI). This way, online and offline marketing campaigns or advertising can be tracked for effectiveness.

The process is just beginning, and we expect this project to have fantastic results, which of course, we will share in our blog.

The “Now” way? Don’t you mean the “New” way? Actually…no. In a Facebook and Twitter environment, the New way is already old.

No matter how you spin it, a small business, is a small business. It’s tough enough out there, and the days of the top-down approach are over. So what do small business have at their advantage? The ability and directly connect with clients and customers, without the need for bureaucratic hurdles and expensive salaries.

New Way? Now Way? Old Way? Lets first clarify a few points, crucial to the success of not only this article, but the future of the small business.

The Old Way: A small business becomes dependent on and trapped by a limited marketing strategy. Yes, in the days before the great internet, there was only News Papers, TV, Radio and the occasional billboard. It was a constant uphill battle to get your service in-front of your audience. All theses methods, plagued with an instant expiration date, and a lack of realtime, qualitative results.

The Now Way: Forfeit expired media for targeted web and mobile advertising with quantifiable numbers, to maximize your Return On Investment. We can try to predict the next trend, but we can only be sure of the now moment. You must be willing to come to terms with the following: print media is dead, radio is useless in a visually stimulated society, and TV is way too expensive and noisy for the little guy.

The now way for marketing your small business lies in creating targeted web campaigns that can directly reach the most potential customers. People have given up newspapers for mobile devices and websites, and TV for streaming video.

We are living and working in a “now and free” society. We are also living and working in a recently escalated, highly interconnected, world.

The old way suggests that Business owners and established brands are up above, pulling the strings of its consumers. The “Now” way suggests that consumers drive the way established brands move and evolve. Hence, from the ground up instead of top down. The small business has much more of an advantage with the “Now” metohd, as the distance between parties is greatley reduced, and overall costs considerably less, if not downright free.