Big news today!

For the last year, we’ve had the great pleasure of working with the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum to redesign their website. It didn’t take more than a second after meeting everyone at the Rock Hall to see that they are extremely passionate about the preservation of rock and roll.

The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum shares an immersive, interactive experience complete with sound, video, and lights, not to mention all kinds of stuff from your favorite rock and roll artists. The music nerd in all of us wet our collective pants over Mick Jagger’s Union Jack cape (from the Stones’ 81-82 world tour), the larger than life-size photography of Jimmy Page in mid-backbend, or the phone in the Annex’s John Lennon exhibit (if it rings, answer it. Trust me). Rick’s mind was blown by the hand written lyrics to “Love Will Tear Us Apart” by Joy Division, and David Byrne’s original polaroid artwork for the cover of “More Songs About Buildings and Food.”

But all this needed some help translating to the web. That’s where we came to play.

The passion behind the “most powerful art form ever created,” to quote Greg Harris, Rock Hall’s VP of Development, wasn’t translating well in the online world. Static, informational pages dominated the landscape. Media types present in the offline experience were placed sporadically throughout the site. The mission of preservation and education of a legitimate art form wasn’t being fulfilled, and the story of rock wasn’t being told as it should be.

But today – no longer.

The experience design of the new RockHall.com shifts the focus of the site to the content that makes the Museum unique, both in the educational, historically oriented content we create, as well as the information about the museum and its programs. The Rock Hall is actively creating new educational programs, events, exhibits (and so much more), and we needed to capture and translate that online.

I’m from the South. And I’m pretty proud of that fact. I’m currently living in San Francisco, partly due to the influence of the Dixie Chick’s “Wide Open Spaces,” but that’s a whole other story. Back to the point – this is about two of my southern loves: Sweet Tea Vodka and Robert Hodgin.

First off, I was introduced to Sweet Tea Vodka after my parents moved to Wadmalaw Island, SC (not far from where I grew up in Mt. Pleasant, SC). Their friends own the Firefly distillery, which got off the ground after successfully making muscadine wine. I can’t say too much for the wine (what can I say, I’ve become a Napa wine snob), but I do love me some the sweet tea vodka. I can’t think of a better combination.

And then comes Robert, the more important part of this equation. I’ve been a barbarian for two years now. When I first interviewed here, I walked in to a room with Rick Webb, Keith Butters and Stephanie Smeriglio. I was pretty nervous to say the least. I was doing everything in my power to impress these folks. Then Robert came in the room mid-interview, laid down on the couch and introduced himself. He was only there for a minute, but I think I put him to ease when he found out that I went to UNC-Chapel Hill. Robert’s from Fayetteville, NC and spent a little bit of time in Chapel Hill. That may have been just a small bond to get us off on the right foot, but I’d like to think we’ve become friends over the past two years I’ve worked here. Now Robert is moving on.

And it’s a big deal that he’s leaving. In honor of his departure, the SF gathered last week for a little toast. I felt it was only right to open the bottle of Sweet Tea Vodka that has been sitting on my desk for over a year. It was the perfect occasion.

Robert – the SF office will miss you (although we expect you to be a frequent visitor)!

So the SF office isn’t the most consistent in its Formal Friday’s endeavors. This past Friday though, we had a good reason to dress up. We were celebrating Renee’s birthday. Renee didn’t have just any old party. It was all about Bond, James Bond. All I can say is it was EPIC. Wait, how long has Dines been in SF?

If you ask me, we look pretty darn good…

Thanks for the invite, Renee!

So, I’m sure you were blown away by my introduction. It gives you the basics. I hang out on the west coast assisting clients like Adobe and Google, and it’s true, I love the interweb. I could spend a lot of time providing more juicy details, but I’d figure I’d let you know what other people think about me.