Soulellis Studio

I just had a crazy moment realizing that we started designing the new website for Cornell University's College of Architecture, Art and Planning in August 2005 — the same year YouTube was created. Soulellis Studio was four years old. Twitter wasn't even born yet.

We launched it in two stages (2005 and 2006). It goes without saying that the internet is a different place now. So is AAP. During the last five years we've worked with two deans and many dedicated staff to refine the identity of the college (an exciting evolution). Designing quick and dirty brand identities and launching in record time has become the norm these days (doing a few of those right now), but this is a great example of what can happen when designer and client are in it for the long haul. A committment to exploring brand identity over time.

This year AAP asked us to revisit our original design. Among our goals:

• "expand" the feeling of the narrow site without increasing actual width
• refresh the design to better reflect AAP's current visual identity
• refine the typography
• increase size and visibility of images
• increase legibility

The barrier to creating a professional-looking presentation of your work/life has never been lower. You can do it in an hour, with zero budget. Flavors.me just launched and lets you stitch together already-existing content to create a good-looking online presence "hub." Minimal effort required, well-designed and super-flexible. It's kind of what I wanted Google Profiles to become, before the buzz.

paulsoulellis.com

Nice collaborative effort for these eight LCD information screens at Cornell AAP. They're floating and pivoting and informing in multiple locations throughout AAP.

Soulellis Studio designed the interface, Krate engineered the web-feed software and Aleksandr Mergold designed and built the screen enclosures. A Mac Mini is embedded in the frame of each screen.

And of course proper credit is due to the Cornell team that is responsible for this. That includes Aaron Goldweber, Beth Kunz, Elise Gold, Andre Hafner, Ashley Reed, Spencer Lapp and Frank Parrish, Cornell Shops, and AAP IT who wired it all up.

Cool photography of the installation on Mergold's site.

A few months ago I noticed that some Twitter users were establishing accounts in the names of famous historical writers, philosophers and other "dead celebrities." Some remained in-character as a kind of online performance art, while others were using Twitter as a place to deposit quotes or news. I decided to join them, and created two accounts myself.

I made a post about it back in March: 25 dead people on Twitter. And in three months that post grew into a website. As a joint venture with Krate, Soulellis Studio designed and built a robust Twitter engine that compiles the historical tweets of 78 more than 80 celebrities of the past into a real-time feed. But it doesn't just aggregate. Users can log-in to their Twitter accounts and reply, follow and retweet without leaving. It's called Tweeji, and it launched yesterday.

In our first day we heard from Sigmund Freud, George Washington, Jesus Christ, Sammy Davis Jr., Jacques Derrida, Janis Joplin, Eva "Brawn," Andy Warhol, NotoriousBIG, Ian Curtis, William Shakespeare, Bettie Page, William S. Burroughs, Charles Darwin, Dr. Samuel Johnson, Emily Dickinson, Buddha, President Chester Arthur, Pablo Neruda, Percival Lowell, Walt Whitman, Elvis Presley and Walt Disney, among others.

Within Tweeji's first 24 hours, Pete Cashmore of Mashable wrote that the technology and design are "really, really good" and that it's an awesome piece of software, "a kind of self-contained 'mini Twitter' of its own." (He also takes offense to the dark humor, but whatever.) We're really enjoying the response and feedback.

Visit Tweeji, have fun with it, and spread it around. And be on the lookout for more Tweeji projects launching soon.

Remember that post about 25 dead people on Twitter? Coming soon: a new way to talk to the dead. Stay tuned.

Can't really talk about this one yet, but it's a nice glimpse into the process we go through when we evaluate site architecture. More soon.

The Municipal Art Society of New York quietly relaunched MAS.org last month. Soulellis Studio designed the site as part of the re-branding, but MAS built it entirely in-house. At its core it's a highly-functional blog reporting on urban planning and preservation issues in NYC, in real time. But it's also their most visible communications channel, and we helped them extend that reach with a branded email blast that goes out weekly (also administered in-house by MAS).

MAS showed me the stats last week, and the traffic has gone through the roof — since the relaunch, it's more than doubled. That will get even better as they refine their online voice. This is a client who understands how non-profits need to communicate.

Exciting. We've been waiting to talk about this one for awhile — NewTalk.


NewTalk is the brainchild of best-selling author, lawyer and thinker Philip K. Howard. It's about new kinds of conversations — starting with a single provocative question, each online discussion brings together 6 to 8 experts and unfolds over 2 to 3 days, blog-style. The talks are moderated, the public may comment, and the brilliant results are archived.

Soulellis Studio played a large part in NewTalk from day one. We helped Philip with the initial concept and naming, designed the brand and website, and engineered the entire web experience, with Krate. The whole thing is powered by MoveableType.

The first conversation — "How can we restore Americans' sense of optimism?" — begins tomorrow (June 11). On June 17, an extra-special guest-star participates in our official launch, with "Is it possible to fix government?" Tune in.

We re-launched Polshek Partnership yesterday — a new front door that sits on top of an existing, unchanged site. The homepage is now a simple portfolio of current work — beautiful images that were previously buried deep within the site. Inside, we added a new brand identity banner at the top of every existing page. Eventually, the site needs a total overhaul, but for now this band-aid approach elevates the initial impression of the brand and enhances access to a gorgeous portfolio of work.

Here's some freshly-printed letterhead of a freshly-designed identity for a totally new non-profit by the author of this (and founder of this). But the real home of this brand is going to be online, not in print. More soon, after it launches.

In addition to a new identity and all of the print communications for the Council on Competitiveness, we've been redesigning the Council's website at Compete.org. And this is a total top-to-bottom overhaul — including new content and strategic focus. It launched quietly earlier this week and it's really satisfying to see a non-profit brand fully rejuvenated, from web to print. More screenshots after the jump.

The website for Cornell University's College of Architecture, Art and Planning was a heroic effort, the result of great work by designers, programmers (Krate), writers and content managers at Soulellis Studio. Seven websites were consolidated under one central structure, identity and editorial voice. Behind these 300+ pages is a robust content management system (Paperthin's CommonSpot) that allows the client total control over the site's maintenance and growth. And it grows: Soulellis Studio and Krate continue to work with AAP to expand the site and enhance its functionality. More shots after the jump.

We worked with The Paley Center for Media (formerly the Museum of Television & Radio) on their "she made it" initiative in 2005. This special collection of television and radio programming was created around a multi-year initiative to celebrate the achievements of great women writers, directors, producers, journalists and executives. Our website design and development (the program's identity was not designed by Soulellis Studio) is built around a custom CMS that manages information, video clips and imagery, searched by category, decade or honoree year. Now in its second year, the site is the primary public face of "she made it" and makes the work of 200 important woman available to an audience of millions.

We launched a new corporate website design for TorranceCo, a New York marketing communications firm, in late 2006.