Moxy Productions Inc.

Again, I’m referencing the Goethe quotation “Architecture is frozen music”, only this time it’s spot on. We’ve been giving a hand to my wife’s cousin Terry Corbett to create a site that provides some insight into his stone fireplace business, and how it emanated from his work as a sculptor. I’m going to cross-post this at jessecollins.com (my personal blog, sub-titled “A blog for those who’d rather be at the cottage”) because there is a story regarding Terry’s love for sculpting that is most appropo for that venue…

But here at the Moxy blog, it’s important to note why we wanted to come on board to do some design for Terry. Web presence is about findability, as Aarron Walter describes brilliantly in this month’s issue of A List Apart. And we noted that with Terry’s existing site that was basically a catalogue built on non-standards-aware code, findability was being impeded by the site. I believe really strongly that the beauty of his work with stone fireplaces is the direct result of his talents as an artist; and that folks who want that kind of high-end detail in a big investment for their home, should be able to find his story on the web.

So have a look at stone-fireplace.ca for more info about Terry, his team and their work!

We still have much to do there (like add proper contact forms and begin to showcase some actual fireplace mantel models) but that will come in time. The main thing is we’ve given findability a chance through standards and design.

Well, it’s a sin that I’ve been so busy that we’ve neglected our blog. But wait a minute—that’s a good thing!

The fact is, I’ve been scurrying back and forth between client work, March Breakage, and a ton of voice work. Carol left today for a mini-tour of the Southern USA with clarinet-phenom Dave Bennett.

But there’s some wonderful things in store down the road. We’re going to begin developing our first web-based app, Involvid, a new twist on video training and certification; we’re going to get Carol rolling with some Singing Instruction and Technique; and we’re lending a hand to our brilliant cousin Terry Corbett over at Northern Stoneworks, embarking on a new stone fireplace site.

So watch this space - lots more coming soon!

I recently spoke at the Chinese New Year Banquet of the British Computer Society in Upper Canada. A small but enthusiastic group of revelers waited patiently through my presentation, “Bridging the Disconnect between Art and technology: From Wild Imaginations to Web Experiences” before an absolutely extraordinary banquet prepared by Empire Legendary Oriental Cuisine. If I’d known the food was going to be so fantastic, I would’ve cut the presentation down to the title and “Happy New Year.”

It was great chatting afterwards with some of the guests. It’s a little unorthodox to wax poetic about web development (and in particular, web standards), and how a lifetime of working with actors, designers and directors led me to them—but there is a connection. That connection should just be made more quickly when there’s good food waiting.

Our thanks to Shane O’Neill from Hitachi Canada for the invite. It was a great night.

…if we do say so ourselves.! This redesign for Bilingual Recruiters Inc. has been a pleasure from start to finish.

More than just bringing a contemporary look-and-feel on top of standards-savvy xhtml, we created some templates so the staff at Bilingual Recruiters Inc. can update the site themselves.

There’s a little AJAX sprinkled here and there, and be sure to checkout the table sort options on the Career Opportunities page, available simply by clicking on the headers. These are thanks to some brilliant javascript by the good folks kryogenix.org. There’s quite a number of cool little touches throughout the site–and as usual, it’s a bag of semantic goodness.

Again, here was a client that provided timely content, great design guidance and was a pleasure to work with. Maybe that’s why the site ended up looking so good!

We’re pretty lucky to have some great clients around here, but this relaunch is for one of our originals. Maurine first worked with us when we built a CMS for People First, an Organizational Development consulting firm in Toronto.

As she expanded her horizons into Business Relationship consulting, she was kind enough to bring us along.

And appropriately so – our business relationship with Maurine’s company is one of the best that we have…

Congratulations, Maurine, on the relaunch of maurine.ca!

And we’ve just moved into a Rock Opera.

It may be only a few miles down the road, but it feels like light years away–MOXY has taken residence in it’s new digs in Clarkson!

Ominously located over the recently defunct Momentum Fitness, once venue for the short-lived The Rock fitness/climbing club, and originally a cold storage warehouse, the place comes complete with a Seizure Order on the door for whatever venture starts on the main and second floors. But up on the third, it’s another world.

The studio space above boasts a couple of design firms and technology companies, and notably a very cool company called Think that has been creating great print and marketing for a number of years here in South Mississauga. Owned and operated by Jeff Stephens, it’s a company with a lot in common with MOXY, as well as some key complementary differences. With some changes underway they were able to make room for us in their space, and this is where it gets great…

Getting to the office requires humping up three flights of concrete stairs but, as always, a bit of leg work pays off. Overlooking parkland and green space, the environment exudes creativity. The ceilings are high, the windows are huge and the view is nothing but acres of ball diamonds, soccer fields and trees. And then every so often, like a reminder of commerce to the day-dreaming designer, a commuter train wends it’s way through the tableau. It’s like something from a dream.

Recently, the building has sold. No one knows what’s going to happen next or how long this reverie will last. But we’ll basque in it while it does.

It also seemed to be an appropriate time to launch the redesign of MOXY. We call this Clarkson. Hope you like it.