And positive comments have continued in the story on Stop Press.

A: it’s only temporary, while 91 Cook Street is being renovated

and:

B: the temporary space is only a couple of hundred meters up the road.

Stephen and Mike are doing most of the packing, shedding a tear or two as a sentimental item pops up from some long forgotten corner, or as they give away office desks, a Multiple RCA inbox and yes, the Becks fridge. The table tennis is going into storage, Mike and Stephen will be getting their own offices, and the rest of us are getting smart new desks with proper pencil holders and cabling coming up from beneath the floorboards.

All of this is going on while we have jobs coming out of our ears and a new server to install. There’s some big projects nearly done and some being scoped, projects born in this space, but to be completed before we return. Au revoir 91 Cook Street – for now.

We’ll be reachable under the same phone number and email addresses. Our temporary base will be:

Salt Interactive

Level 1

60 Cook Street

CBD

World Vision are after sponsors so why not check out the design and sign yourself up to a good cause.

But what about design? Can we spot a designer’s home country by their work? They say the English prefer minimal design with space and subtlety. Ozzies apparently are brasher and louder (no way). The Americans are often accused of over designing. But are these truths or stereotypes? What do you think? Do designers carry a national, cultural style and if so, what is NZ’s? We think Salt Interactive is pretty eclectic in its views and design, but is this representative of our country?

When we first started out, 10 years ago, with a vision of creating exceptional user experiences through creative design, technology, interactivity, and messaging, we wanted to call ourselves Salt Interactive, but whenever we said ‘interactive’ to people at parties, they just nodded politely and went off to talk to someone else more straightforward and fun sounding.

But now most people know what interactive means, the time is right to change our name to Salt Interactive, experts in digital know-how and what-not.

Since 2001 we’ve been creating effective interactive marketing campaigns online advertising and engaging websites for a long list of top notch clients, winning awards and kudos along the way, and as a proven leader in the digital creative industry we think we have a pretty clear picture of what the future of the web holds. But just in case you think we’re a bunch of geeks, we’re also into methodic graphic design, with excellent knowledge in typography and layout. We’re more Wii than Warcraft.

We believe the formula for great work is easy: it takes hard work, more hard work and even more hard work, but we’re up for it if you are. As a group we have diverse interests, mannerisms, musical tastes, and style. So we don’t have a ‘house style’, unless you count excellence as a style.

We speak our mind when it needs to be heard, but we do in a very polite and respectful way. We’re very nice. We don’t employ super slick salesmen to sell sell sell our work on our behalf; the people you meet are the people who’re doing the work, and are able to answer any question, regardless of technical degree of difficulty, you can think of.

Of course, sometimes we will appear to be super slick, but that’s just the way we were brought up. Blame our mums.

It’s time! Give us your BEST. The BEST of 2009. Simply select the “comments” button below and paste the following list into the “reply” field along with your nominations. Submit your BEST to the Salt Design news desk today!

BEST GIG/PARTY/FESTIVAL:
BEST GADGET:
BEST RADIO STATION:
BEST TV SHOW:
BEST FASHION REVIVAL:
BEST ONE LINER:
BEST LUNCH BAR:
BEST SITE or BLOG:
BEST ON SCREEN:
BEST GEORGE BEST:
BEST NEW BEST:
BEST IN SHOW:

Our congratulations to Invivo Wines, recent winner of the AMCOR Innovation in Wine Marketing trophy for their Wine Brand Marketing. Salt designed the website which formed part of their entry. Judges commented “Strong, linear, clear, and powerful as well as eye catching, it would translate well globally and stand out amongst the crowd. Every aspect was executed with outstanding application. It is a youthful and vigorous creative execution on what we expect was a limited budget, and the brand and campaign has great versatility and oozes confidence and passion.”

Click here to view the embedded video.

OK, you’ve been working on your BEST all year and now you’re ready to lay it down! So without further delay it’s time for the annual Salt News and Weather Round-up! The best of 2008 as voted by us. Simply select the “comments” button below and paste the following list into the “reply” field along with your nominations. Submit your BEST today!

Review the BEST of 2007 >

BEST GIG/PARTY/FESTIVAL:
BEST GADGET:
BEST RADIO STATION:
BEST TV SHOW:
BEST FASHION REVIVAL:
BEST ONE LINER:
BEST LUNCH BAR:
BEST SITE or BLOG:
BEST GEORGE BEST:
BEST NEW BEST:
BEST IN SHOW:

Salt built the iPhone site to utilise the new touch API for providing interactivity while moving away from mouse input. Other features include AJAX for fast loads, advanced CSS support, the use of the html canvas element (enabling interactive drawing) and integration with Google maps (allowing the user to find the nearest Pizza Hut relative to their current location).

To view the mobile site point your iPhone at http://iphone.saltdesign.co.nz

Long-finned eels breed only once, at the end of their life. When they are ready to breed, they leave New Zealand and swim five thousand kilometres up into the tropical Pacific to spawn, probably in deep ocean trenches somewhere near Tonga. Read More >>

Requirements
- Able to develop persuasive, creative concepts for print and interactive projects.
- Participate in brainstorming sessions with Creative directors.
- Thorough knowledge of Photoshop, Illustrator and related creative tools.
- Good understanding of HTML / CSS and Flash principles/requirements
- Understanding of the website development process (ie creating site maps and wire frames in conjuction with the interactive producer).
- Strong appreciation for the design fundamentals of composition, typography and colour
- Take responsibility for the quality of your own work
- A passion for well crafted design.
- Experience working with video / After Effects / Animation / Flash a big bonus

Type of Work you’d get to design
- Print (magazine covers, logos, consumer promotions, Point of Sale)
- Online advertising ( banner ads with rich media content )
- Interactive (websites, presentations, games etc… )

Please email mike@saltdesign.co.nz with your CV and a PDF or link to viewable work samples. Thanks.