the barbarian group

The original. The pioneers. The Barbarian Group is a digital services and creation company that delivers the best possible experience for the consumer through the integrated and disciplined use of the best possible practices, good ideas, people and technology. Amongst our weaponry are such diverse elements as fear, , , , technology, content creation, , , , an almost radical devotion to Internet culture and nice red Swedish Fish™. To wit:

Benjamin @ The One Show

I always get a kick out of pictures of Benjamin at formal events. He’s one from the One Show Interactive last week. Good hair day, that one.

posted by on May 13, 2008 at 06:29 PM
Tags: Barbarian News
1 comment

iGoogle Artist Themes

Last night, Google was kind enough to invite the Barbarians to the New York launch party for the iGoogle Artist Themes. We’ve been working with Google on the artist themes for a few months now, and we were excited to see them go out into the wild and spread the creative love.

But boy, we sure weren’t ready for the high class event! What a good time. We’ve seen our share of tech gatherings, of course (we hit an awesome Nokia/Webby Award event on Tuesday at the Nokia Flagship store), and ad events (we also hit the ANDY Awards on wednesday), but this was an ART event. We’ve not seen this kind of art star power in one room since the opening of the New Museum last fall.

The highlight of the night was a panel, moderated by Marissa Mayer, featuring… wait for it… Mark Ecko, Anne Geddes, Bob Mankoff (of the New Yorker, whose theme we produced, among others), Jeff Koons and Michael Graves.

Jeff Koons and Michael Graves? Holy heck. It’s not every day you accidentally stumble into a room featuring two of your high school idols. Also spotted: Diane von Furstenberg, and a personal hero of the Barbarian Group, of course, John Maeda. I was too chicken to go say high to him, even though I was recently on a panel with one of his former students and now a prof at the Media Lab, David Small.

Anyway, awesome night. We’re proud to have worked on this project with Google, and we’re ever thankful to Maya Moufarek, Michaela Prescott, and Andy Berndt for the gig.

posted by on May 02, 2008 at 07:27 AM
Tags: Art, The Internet, Creativity, and Search
4 comments

Massaging Media Keynote Slides

A few weeks ago I gave a talk at an AIGA conference in Boston called Massaging Media 2. I agreed to do it back in like February or something and I didn’t give it much thought at first. AIGA. Boston. I first became a member of the AIGA in Boston in 1993 or so, so it was a nice thought to give a speech there. I’d do my usual “Designers” speech, about how design isn’t always pretty, and how we don’t care about the art/commerce axis here at all.

But then, I took a work-from-home Friday just before the conference and actually went to the site and checked out the topic of the conference and oo oo! It was a design education conference. With the subtitle “graphic design education in the age of dynamic media.” Oh man! A room full of design educators. Now was my one and only chance to tell them ALL, at once, what was needed. For a man that lives and breathes hiring designers out of school, and has dealt with the educational issues his entire professional life, this was a rare and golden opportunity.

more from this post » posted by on May 01, 2008 at 10:02 AM
Tags: Creativity, The Internet, and Design
1 comment

Agnosticism, media and otherwise

All clients want are ideas that solve their problems, period. And yes sometimes that’s a television ad, sometimes a website, sometimes an LED display on a blimp, sometimes all three. But, who the hell knows ahead of time?

Digital is constantly evolving and it is also portable and malleable, and because of these things we are forced to develop ideas in the absence of execution. It’s a necessity. We really have no other choice. We don’t know. It could be anything. The good news is that technology enables almost everything. The Internet. A wall. Your phone. Something on Tivo. The moon. The key thing is to understand the problem and discuss solutions at a much higher level, and then figure out how to deliver them. This is how we operate, most of the time. Post the problem to the company, let ideas build, decide which ones best solve the problem, then figure out how to deliver them. It’s actually very sensible. And the more people we recruit from all walks of life the better the ideas are getting.

So, forget everything you’ve done before. Discard all your beliefs. Be agnostic. That’s kinda how we work. It’s actually pretty fun. And sometimes you’re making t-shirts.

more from this post » posted by on April 23, 2008 at 10:55 AM
Tags: Strategy, Advertising, Media Planning, and Creativity
2 comments

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Hyper Island Interview, The Life of a Barbarian Developer

A couple months ago, I did an interview with some of the students of “Hyper Island”http://www.hyperisland.se/, a really great interactive design and development college in Sweden, whose class of 2009 Creatives Unlimited project ...

Tags: Process and Developers
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The smaller the attendance the bigger the history. There were 12 people at the Last Supper. Half a dozen at Kitty Hawk. Archimedes was on his own in the bath.

— Tony Wilson

the barbarian group

Benjamin @ The One Show

iGoogle Artist Themes

Massaging Media Keynote Slides

Agnosticism, media and otherwise

Recent Projects

What we've been up to recently.

Active Barbarians

Some of us use this site more than others.

Hyper Island Interview, The Life of a Barbarian Developer

A couple months ago, I did an interview with some of the students of “Hyper Island”http://www.hyperisland.se/, a really great interactive design and development college in Sweden, whose class of 2009 Creatives Unlimited project ...

Latest Topics

What we're talking about.

Quotes

It’s gonna be awesome.™

the barbarian group

Art Direction

Design

Strategy

Games

Viral Marketing

Benjamin @ The One Show

Rick Webb

iGoogle Artist Themes

Rick Webb

Massaging Media Keynote Slides

Rick Webb

Agnosticism, media and otherwise

Bruce Winterton

Recent Projects

What we've been up to recently.

FritoLay.com

Frito Lay Flat Earth Website

Adobe Photoshop Express Landing Page

Internet Week Website

TAP Project 2008

Motorola Dojo

Take TV Site

The New Museum Website

The 2 Husbands

Harmonix Phase Website

Kashi.com

Palm Thing

Magnetic Structure Prints

Fox Movies Japan: Horror

Biomimetic Butterflies

Magnetosphere

McLeod Residence Mirror

GOULET-ED!

The Webby Awards Sites

Tongue Scan 2000

Freezepop Less Talk More Rokk

Axe Vice Worldwide Rollout

Super Deluxe

M&Ms World

Active Barbarians

Some of us use this site more than others.

Hyper Island Interview, The Life of a Barbarian Developer

A couple months ago, I did an interview with some of the students of “Hyper Island”http://www.hyperisland.se/, a really great interactive design and development college in Sweden, whose class of 2009 Creatives Unlimited project ...

Latest Topics

What we're talking about.

Quotes

It’s gonna be awesome.™