Everyweek, STARMEN will share with our readers, our favorite website picks from around the web. We look for first and foremost, overall design visibility, technology, navigation, and how they all apply to effective web design. These picks are meant to inform, excite and inspire you to see how we as internet users are affected by web design everyday. Feel free to submit your favorite sites to us, we'll consider adding it!

Hawaiianair.com

Forgive us, we've been on the topic of Travel & Tourism lately, because the STARMEN team has been recently working on a huge identity and design project for a very popular airline carrier (Shhh... details coming soon!). Through our findings and research, one of our delights with approach to online identity and web design is www.hawaiianair.com We don't know too much about the brand itself, but what we found from visiting their site is a refreshing and appealing treatment of simplistic navigation (making the user experience very easy and organized). Using a stimulating background image of Hawaii's rich landscape provides powerful design layout that differs from most travel sites. See our post on the new Southwest.com. The result is a colorful, memorable and simple site which features easy navigation for its users, supporting the ideas of the brand itself. Much like one of our other favorites: Virgin America.

What do you think? We want to hear your comments...

One of our favorite Airline companies and admired travel brands is Southwest Airlines. We also have been fans of their web site and apparently you are too (in 2009, Nielsen/Netratings reported that southwest.com was the largest airline site in terms of unique visitors). Not only do they run an efficient, affordable business, but their online desitination is friendly, and very easy to use.

We recently booked a business trip to Las Vegas, and while visiting southwest.com we immediately recognized they had done another upgrade to their user interface.We weren't sure how we felt about it at first, but then after comparing it to the old site we realized that Southwest just made a good thing, even better! Allow us to point out some of the new features, in case your wondering what's so great about it.

1. Most popular booking features are right there on the home page.
2. Use of more elegant black, shying from the corporate "orange" (We liked the orange?)
   
3. "What's New" page, for latest Southwest news and info.
4. Revamped the menus at the top of the home page (We prefer this easy-to-find).

Unlike most redesigns, Southwest was smart about their updates. They didn't do a 360! Causing unfamiliarity with a dramatic design overhaul or cause chaos to their loyal followers by adding on too many features, instead they did a moderate "improvement". Keeping the same popular features, just making them better by improving the user experience.

Take a look for yourselves, we'd love to hear what you think?

During our daily industry readings, we came across this encourging article by brand consultant Tom Hinkes, a contribitor to adage.com. It was refreshing to hear from a well-respected and experienced brand marketer that great marketing requires a balance of strategy and creative. Currently, companies have been scaling back on creatively-led brand solutions and focusing more on "the numbers" approach.

More Data Is Not Better Data

Marketing departments used to be the creative engines powering successful corporations. Now they're overrun by number-crunching nerds. As a direct consequence, despite all the conspicuous focus on "change management," the way brands respond to change in the marketplace has deteriorated. A McKinsey Quarterly article several years ago argued that the key to "better branding" is to build brands "more scientifically." If managers would combine "forward-looking market segmentation" with structural-equation modeling, they could "build a better brand more efficiently." In short: more data, more regressions and more conjoint analysis mean the "brand crisis" is solved. But fluency with buzz words and expertise with spreadsheets do not guarantee brand-marketing competence.

We agree that there is a need for consumer research, but brand marketing is not a science, it's not driven solely by metrics or statistics. It requires analysis, discipline and detail. Even more, it requires emotion, vision and ideas. STARMEN shares this perspective, as we ourselves are visionaires and brand creatives at best! We can manage and balance both successfully, we have the insightful marketing abilities and natural creative talents to do so.

Enjoy the full article here.

"Have it Your Way" campaign reaches a whole new level in this Brazilian BK marketing stunt.

Ogilvy Brazil took the Burger King "Have it Your Way" tagline to new heights and presented diners with a "customized" surprise when they ordered a Whopper.

A secret camera at a BK restaurants took customers' pictures. Their photos were then printed instantly onto the wrappers of their freshly made burgers, giving a super personal meaning to "having it their way."

Can this be headed to your local BK? Would be fun...

You may have caught it already as today’s CREATIVITY Pick of the Day, but here’s another stellar outdoor idea for McDonald’s out the ad agency Leo Burnett, Chicago.

This installation was placed on the banks of the Chicago River, which is dyed green each year in celebration of  St. Patrick’s Day.  A perfect way to promote McDonald’s seasonal Shamrock Shake! See more pics of this annual tradition here.

Happy St. Patty’s Day! Be Safe! Now, time to get ourselves a Shamrock Shake!

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As an award-winning creative agency specializing brand design, we are proud to announce the redesign of the STARMEN web site. But "redesign" doesn't really cover it. This more than a aesthetic adjustment or surface-level change. This is more of a "refresh" both internally and externally. The new starmenusa.com reflects our new ideas, new thinking, and new outlook for our clients, and their brands. For those of you familiar with us, you'll find a lot of new and exciting information, about us, the services we offer and see new design work!

Our LA headquarters is buzzing with excitement! This site has been a labor of love, created with synchronized hard work, absolute enthusiasm, and meticulous attention to how effective design can be. The new STARMEN believes happy users means happy business. One goal of ours that hasn't changed is this: We are here to produce solid, valuable results for you! Now, we just look even better!

Visit our new virtual home and experience the new STARMEN!