Armed with iPhone’s awesome camera and mobile WordPress – my trip begins by waving goodbye to Mt Diablo as we leave the Bay area headed for a cruising altitude.

My first thought waking up to Gotham is “Holy Crap” – I am on the 20th floor of my hotel, and yet I still feel like everything is up from here. This place is very tall!

Arriving at the 28th street offices to meet with folks from CNET edit and TV – I was greeted by the very familiar orange CBS Interactive eye.

Day 2 was spent at the 57th CBS Broadcast center. James Morris (Art Director for News) was sure to give me a great tour of the facility along with a stop to the set of the CBS News.

I must admit, it was a cool thought to think about the history that has been told from this set – So many iconic figures have sat at this desk and told the story of the day to millions and millions of people across the country.

Be it from my smart phone, laptop or TV – watching the nightly news will never be the same having been able to see what lies behind the curtain.

Day 3 brought me back to the broadcast center for some quick product meetings and more time with James and team walking through plans for an undisclosed project.  By 1 pm I was ready to head back to JFK for my trip back home.

No photo post about NYC would be complete without capturing an image of a Taxi. There is literally an army of these cabs. It is by far the single most ubiquitous fixture on the city streets.

Not to be such a tourist, but I simply could not stop looking up. On route to the airport I was lucky to have not dropped my phone which spent the entire cab right snapping photos out the window.

The timing of my trip was fantastic as it also gave me the opportunity to finally see the east coast colors of fall. The color’s did not disappoint and went great with the high 60′s temperature (apparently unseasonably warm) that I was able to enjoy.

After a quick but fruitful trip, the climb to a cruising altitude provided some really cool lighting and backdrop for my air bus ride back home. Those who know me know that I am not a big fan of flying. However I must admit that it does provide for some really great visuals.

About the gig~

This is a full time position – The successful candidate (s) will assist in the creation of design solutions for assigned web projects including: product redesigns, new page layouts, visual interface design systems and functional | interactive elements, e-newsletters, promotions, and other graphical needs. Looking to the not so distant future, it will move beyond the desktop web and explore possibilities with emerging platforms such as mobile & tablets.

We are a tight knit design group that works closely with the Tech Production team to insure quick delivery of cutting edge design solutions to our audience. You are an avid user of web tools, applications and shared content online. You have understanding and interest in emerging web technologies, concepts, and designs. You pay attention to what others are doing with current design, and THRIVE on adding “best of” skills and techniques to your bag of tricks. The perfect candidate will have a solid understanding of user experience, be preoccupied with usability and have a great eye for the small details that make design stand out from the crowd. You will help define new site sections, concepts, and user flow.

The Requirements

• Portfolio of work that indicates an understanding of current web design trends
• Must be a self-starter who can produce top-quality work on tight deadlines for multiple internal customers and product teams
• Approach design with user-centered design methodologies and practices
• Understand the role of design in creating usable and effective web / digital interfaces
• Able to conceptualize and design innovative user interfaces for consumer- facing websites and web-based applications.
• Excellent communication and organizational skills. Ability to present and support creative concepts in a professional and engaging manner
• Strong desire to learn, grow and be a part of a passionate group – whose desire is to do the best work of their career.
• Advanced knowledge of the full Adobe web Creative Web Suite.
• Experience with valid HTML & CSS
• Current and review-ready portfolio

All seems reasonable right? Most important – you have to have an online portfolio. I’m not interested in a resume of what you’ve done, and where you have been. Let your work knock my socks off. If you have the chops… you are that person, or know of that person… I want to hear from you!

Our recent redesigns can serve multiple combinations of these prominent ad executions – but not all folks in the industry are prepared to do this. This makes for a big challenge. We can not simply tell folks that we see the future of web advertising – We need to show them what is possible and in doing so they will lead the charge to push the envelop with this new world of options. That said, it is critical that we offer folks opportunities to maximize their legacy assets while they catch up to where the industry and our properties will inevitably allow them to go.

This serves 2 very important goals.

• We become a genuine partner to our advertisers – showing them that we are committed as a company to delivering a great experience not only to our users, but to the advertiser as well – In this case, not only are we building sites to provide PORT in the future, but delivering this DURING the transition as well
• Greatly improving our site experience for our users – The very elements that make ad creative feel larger and more prominent, also serve to set more clear boundaries between the host site and ad promotion. The grouping of ad elements are more logical and make the experience more cohesive for both the sponsor message as well as our own editorial narrative.

Take the example below: FedEx

FedEx had sponsored a vendor showcase in the leadership section of the site. The package includes a Leader / skin combination, 300 x 60 companion top clamp, List of contextually related links & a lower MPU. This provides both a brand play, as well as an opportunity to have a shared voice within a section related to the vendor’s message.

The issue: FedEx did not have any skin assets to combine with their older 728 x 90 leader board ad. We have built our new sites to be optimized for a much larger 980 x 150 leader as well as to be combined with a site skin. The 728 is from a bygone era – yet remains a staple of advertisers easily deployed assets. It is an odd size that at best feels out of place in sites optimized for the 1024 x 768 experience.

If a user were to click on any of the drivers on BNET – they are taken to a micro site with the full details of the FedEx Cup campaign. By simply grabbing the background from this site, and sizing to work as one of our Mantle-Skins – we accomplish the criteria mentioned above.

As you can see – the addition of the skin has greatly increased the presence that FedEx has on the site. However, what it has also done, is filled the odd voids on the sides of the small leader board – making what previously felt out of place feel integrated into the larger group. Odd as it may seem, the addition of bigger creative, has removed the scattered nature of these odd sized elements. This leaves the page feeling cleaner with more logical groupings to both the editorial & the sponsorship.

On the surface, one could argue that FedEx was a perfect example that only worked because they had an existing skin at the destination site. However, the same situation can be repeated even when there is no existing assets available to us. In fact, it is easier to integrate .

Example: Charles Schwab

Seen above is an identical “Vendor Solution Center” built for Charles Schwab. Like the FedEx example – it too only has an odd sized 728 x 90 leader board. In this case, we create what we call a “simple skin” which samples colors from either the brand color palette – or colors being used within the existing creative. By using this as a backdrop to the other elements – all the previously odd sized pieces are consolidated into the far stronger unified block with the same effects mentioned above.

In this case, we also added a brand sconce – which places the sponsor’s logo to the sides of the leader with some minor lighting effects for some added depth. Typically we will create 2 versions, one with and another without the addition of the branding. However, we feel that either will work and only provide the two as it seems easier to gain client approval when picking between options.

The summary: These are really easy fixes that require minimal time impacts on even a small creative team – yet the up side to our products and value to our advertisers is significant. I am as eager as all other folks, in wanting to serve newer and better creative on our brands – but am aware that this will not happen overnight. In the meantime, these tricks can turn lemons into lemonade improving our products and making CBSi a “must buy” with our advertisers.

About the gig~

We are a tight knit design group that works closely with the Tech Production team to insure quick delivery of cutting edge design solutions for our Business and IT audience. You are an avid user of web tools, applications and shared content online. You have understanding and interest in emerging web technologies, concepts, and designs. You pay attention to what others are doing with current design, and THRIVE on adding “best of” skills and techniques to your bag of tricks

The perfect candidate will have a solid understanding of user experience, be preoccupied with usability and have a great eye for the small details that make design stand out from the crowd. You will help define new site sections, concepts, and user flow. Candidates should take a strategic approach to projects, always looking for ways to improve ideas.

The Requirements

• Portfolio of work that indicates an understanding of current web design trends
• Experience designing high volume, functional, media/advertising driven websites
• Experience with user-centered design methodologies and practices, in particular the role of design in creating usable and effective web interfaces
• Must be able to conceptualize and design innovative user interfaces for consumer- facing websites and web-based applications.
• Excellent communication and organizational skills. Ability to present and support creative concepts in a professional and engaging manner
• Must be a self-starter who can produce top-quality work on tight deadlines for multiple internal customers and product teams
• Strong desire to learn, grow and be a part of a passionate group – whose desire is to do the best work of their career.
• Advanced knowledge of the full Adobe web Creative Web Suite.
• Experience in writing valid HTML & CSS
• Current and review-ready portfolio
• Work closely with product & Technical teams to turn concepts into actionable best-in-class user experiences

All seems reasonable right? Most important – you have to have an online portfolio. I’m not interested in a resume of what you’ve done, and where you have been. Let your work knock my socks off. If you have the chops… are that person, or know of that person… I want to hear from you!

With the above goal in mind, I was happy to skin a new blog to foster communication among our 2008 summer interns. This will be a public blog to share experiences both light hearted as well as serious. However, equally important – will be a showcase of our culture and a community display of our talented teams. The desired result being to inspire future passionate media professionals to want to grow their skills with us, learn and continue to make impact on the many sites that make up CBS Interactive.

I did not have much to go on as I am not as familiar with the CBS Interactive brand standards as I am with that of CNET Networks. However the name “New Media Minded” is actually quite telling. One of the most exciting aspects of a contemporary online media company, is that much of what we do can be on the bleeding edge of what is possible.

That said – I wanted to create a shell that portrays itself to our young audience with a welcoming, optimistic and forward thinking attitude. The wrapper picks up on some of the CBS Interactive blues – but also rely on lighting and perspective to display the aspirational mood of the “New Media Minded” theme. The title centers from a burst of energy who’s source stems from CBS Interactive as a base. The content is a fairly standard narrow 2 column blog grid on a light background to allow for maximum legibility of ideas and images. However, simple blues greens and purple tones are intended to compliment the wrapper yet appear lighter and more playful in nature.

The ever prolific Andrew Mager (seen in the mock-up with CBS CEO Les Moonves) intends to build out this theme in the coming days. So stay tuned for more to come – I for one am excited for a “New Media Minded” experience at the new CBS Interactive!