Web-to-Print Product Spotlight: Infigo

Commentary & Analysis

Technology decisions can be costly, not just in licensing/subscription fees but in the time and effort it takes your team to implement, learn, and launch technologies to your customers. One of the aspects of the Infigo product suite is the ability to add modules as you continue to diversify

By Jennifer MattPublished: April 13, 2016

This article is sponsored by Infigo as part of WhatTheyThink's Print Software Product Spotlight series. In preparing this article, the WhatTheyThink Print Software Section editors conducted original, in-depth research on Infigo's product suite. This Product Spotlight describes what the editors feel are the product suite's strengths in the marketplace. Infigo reviewed the final article for accuracy but had no editorial control over the content.

Diversification is a common theme in our industry, as communication preferences move from physical to digital, most printers are actively expanding their product mix in order to maintain growth and profitability.

Every single move you make in business today involves technology in some way, whether you want to better manage your sales staff (CRM), improve your labor cost tracking (Print MIS), use technology to reach new customers (web-to-print), or use technology to offer new products (photo gifts). The most dynamic part of the print business is the technology we utilize to connect with our customers in order to offer them new products and services. Mass personalization of print would not be possible without the variable data software that enables it. The whole photo gift space is powered by personalization software that has been specifically tailored around our digital image assets.

Technology decisions can be costly, not just in licensing/subscription fees but in the time and effort it takes your team to implement, learn, and launch technologies to your customers. One of the aspects of the Infigo product suite is the ability to add modules as you continue to diversify. Infigo starts with the Catfish web-to-print platform, on top of that you can add MegaEdit PRO for personalization, MegaEdit PHOTO for photo products, Catfish Hybrid Mail, and Symphony for marketing automation/cross media campaigns. On a single platform you can diversify one module at a time, at a pace that works for your business plan, without the pain and overhead of implementing and supporting multiple platforms.

Your customers might be traditional web-to-print/brand management clients nine months out of the year, then want a holiday program for photo products for three months out of the year. Your customer's needs can evolve over time or be seasonal in nature. Your investment in Infigo will allow you to flex your offering to meet the changing needs of your customers.

All web technologies have to prioritize mobile. Too many legacy solutions lack the infrastructure to support responsive design and modern programming languages. I hope that in another year or two we are not identifying "responsive design" as a strength of any platform because it is really an absolute requirement. Infigo prioritizes around the user experience and the user interface because that's the whole product to the printer's customers. The Infigo approach is not just about being responsive/mobile friendly, it's about enabling the printer to create a user interface that sells the program rather than making adoption of the web-to-print program a struggle. User adoption is greatly impacted by usability and design. The way users feel about the interface impacts their willingness to use it.

The third strength I noticed during my research of the Infigo company and product line has nothing to do with their product but might be one of their biggest strengths. Let's simply call this attribute a "proactive approach" to just about everything. Technology is important but you don't partner with technologies, you partner with the people running the technology company. Printers need technology partners more than ever today, because you simply can't learn it all, know it all, keep up with it all. You need to buy your way onto your partner's team of experts so as they move their technology forward, your company benefits from that progress.

One of the most important areas where you want a proactive partner is with integrations. No printer should buy "point solutions" anymore, those are the solutions that create dead end workflows, or as my colleague calls them "web-to-nowhere" or web-to-duplicate order entry." Infigo is out proactively integrating with Print MIS solutions, HP's new PrintOS, and fulfillment solutions. You want a partner that has the right technology stack and just as important the right attitude towards integration up and down stream of their solution.

Because our industry experienced a couple decades of consistent growth and dominance, our hunger for innovation waned. Infigo brings a much needed drive to innovate into the industry. This innovation focus has the proper balance between what the printer wants and what will make the printer successful with their customer. The only thing the customer sees is the user interface, they don't care about your automated workflows or your imposition tools – they want a solution that gets adopted so they can see the ROI of working with you. Infigo is focused there because they know that's what makes printers ultimately successful with web-to-print solutions – driving adoption and engagement with the customer and enabling a constant expansion of products that can be offered through the same platform.

Source: Web-to-Print Product Spotlight: Infigo

Web Site Hosting Services - Products

These days, anyone with a business, a marketable craft, or an organization needs an appealing, functional website to engage their audience, and WordPress is a popular tool for achieving this goal. BoldGrid is a website builder that runs as a set of WordPress plugins, rather than being a standalone, turnkey solution like Wix or Squarespace. On the plus side, sites you build in BoldGrid can be moved to another WordPress Web host, and you get access to a large, creative site-building community. But it's not a one-stop shop for site creation the way Wix, Weebly, and Squarespace are, and it lacks many features found in those services.

Pricing and Getting Started Getting started BoldGrid differs from the way you get going with most site builders. It requires separate WordPress hosting and a Connect Key, which you can either get from a partner host or directly from BoldGrid. Partner hosts at this point include InMotion Web Hosting and Web Hosting Hub. Pricing starts at $7.99 per month with a 2-year commitment from InMotion and $8.99 per month with Web Hosting Hub. If you're not using one of those hosts, you can pay for a key and access support. There's no free option like that offered by most standard site builders, but you can sign up for a free beta account at boldgrid.com.
Source: Web Site Hosting Services - Products

WIU Summer Program for Web Design

WIU Summer Program for Web Design April 11, 2016

MACOMB, IL – Western Illinois University's Office of Study Abroad and Outreach will offer a summer design program for high school students. The program, "Web Design: Constructing a Technology Toolbox," will take place July 10-15.

The program is designed for students interested in art, graphic communication and technology who would like to learn more about and explore web design as a potential career field. Participants will develop html coding skills as well as create a website. The software will include Adobe Dreamweaver CS6, Adobe Photoshop CS6, Wordpress and Adobe Premiere CS6.

Jason Eveland, assistant director of development, marketing, community relations, and web technology and webmaster in the WIU College of Education and Human Services, will direct the program.

Enrollment is limited to 25 so early registration is recommended. Registration fee is $499 a nd includes tuition, supplies, all scheduled extracurricular activities, lodging and all meals. Parents who wish to use a payment plan may send a $100 deposit at the time of registration, up to 60 days before the program start date. Full payment is due 30 days before the start of the program. Enrollment is limited to students who are currently in grades 9-11 as of Jan. 2016.

For more information visit wiu.edu/summeryouth.

Posted By: Joshua Pedroza-O'Leary (JT-Pedroza-o-leary@wiu.edu)Office of University Relations

Source: WIU Summer Program for Web Design

Designing Web apps and Web UIs for software developers

When designing Web apps, software developers are often asked to come up with ideas on how to revamp and modernize the existing Web presence -- not because it is their core skill, but often because it can be expensive and time-consuming to hire the professional design talent.

As anyone in the Web development industry knows, mastering the UI design process can take years of research and practice. However, it is within the grasp of software developers to contribute positively to the design of Web apps and testing of Web UIs, so long as they can adopt a few simple tips, said Tracy Osborn, founder of WeddingLovely and LimeDaring, and author of Hello Web App, at the Fluent Conference in San Francisco.

Osborn said she believes most developers are more than capable enough to develop user interfaces and subsequently test out their concepts by taking advantage of a few simple principles. These principles will also streamline the development lifecycle when embraced by developers working with a design team. At a high level, Osborn said she advocates thinking through the end-user experience, reducing clutter and stealing UI design patterns from other sites.

Osborn started out as a designer with an idea for creating a better wedding-planning experience. Initially, she spent a lot of time looking for a technical co-founder to launch the WeddingLovely website. After a frustrating hunt for a developer with the right mindset, she learned how to code instead. This experience resulted in the Hello Web App series of books aimed at teaching designers how to code.

In the process, she began noticing how developers could become better designers. Many developers start off with the notion of just hiring design talent. But this still requires understanding basic design principles in clearly communicating the core ideas behind the application to designers. "As developers, you are going to have to jump into design one way or another," Osborn said.

Focus on how designing Web apps works

Design is not just what a site looks and feels like. It is more important to think through how it works. If users are not achieving their goals, then the developers are not doing what they are intending to do.

"Worry first about how it is working. Try and figure out the critical thing that needs to happen. Don't worry too much at the start about putting a physical skin on things," Osborn said.

Pay attention to clutter

There are many different types of clutter that distract users from their intentions. There is the obvious kind of clutter of too many boxes, graphics and disparate information presented on a page. But other types of clutter include a hodgepodge of fonts and poorly structured content. Osborn cited GoDaddy as an example of what not to do on a website. Complex design guidelines, such as using a grid, limiting the number of components, adding white space and limiting the number of fonts, are really about cutting the clutter. When The New York Times reduced the number of colors and added more white space, users spent dramatically more time on the site.

It's also important to think about content clutter when designing Web apps. This means simplifying headlines by making them as short as possible. The headlines should also focus on the benefits of the underlying content, rather than the details. It's also important to simplify paragraphs and break things into bulleted or numbered lists. "People on the Web are skimmers. If you break paragraphs into bullets, your content will be less cluttered and better for users," Osborn said.

Borrow and use

Designing the UI from scratch is time-consuming and requires a lot of forethought. A much better approach is to find a UI design pattern and customize it for the website. In most cases, the designs are not copyrighted and the fonts are freely available. "If you design something on a blank page with Photoshop, it is like trying to develop a new app with the use of Google or Stack Overflow ... Don't copy. But emulation is OK," Osborn said.

Don't copy. But emulation is OK.

Tracy Osborn,founder of WeddingLovely

Developers can start by creating a list of attractive websites. There are also plenty of resources for perusing layouts, fonts and colors in one place:

Bootstrap provides free themes and templates.

ColourLovers is a community to exploring colors, palettes and patterns.

Typewolf makes it simple to explore different font types.

It is important not to get frustrated in the beginning of designing Web apps, Osborn said. She often starts the design process producing a horrendous design. But then, there is a magical moment when everything clicks. The key to good design is to dwell in the design process until this happens. "Remember to practice. The more you practice, the better a designer you will be," she concluded.

What Web app design and testing tips do you have? Let us know.

Next Steps:

Mobile UI app design helps heart

Why AWS is in need of a UI face-lift

Is Lightning UI still lit?

Source: Designing Web apps and Web UIs for software developers

Adobe Launches Creative Cloud Platform for Web Developers

Adobe announced the beta launch of a series of new Web components for its Creative Cloud, along with some early partners using them.

On the heels of announcing its Adobe I/O developer portal, Adobe has announced a series of new Web components currently in beta for the Adobe Creative Cloud.Powered by the Creative SDK—the engine behind Adobe's mobile apps—these new Web components demonstrate Adobe's support for cross-platform and cross-app workflows. Web developers can use these Web APIs and components to connect their services to the Creative Cloud.Adobe's Creative SDK enables apps to share files between each other and ensures compatibility with Adobe file types. It also provides direct access to some of Adobe's creative tools, and creates a path for sending files to Adobe's desktop applications for additional creative flexibility, the Adobe Creative SDK team said in a blog post."Enabling these cross app workflows will broaden where creativity can happen, increasing choices and efficiency for our customers," the Adobe post said. Moreover, with integrations by some of the market's top creative apps, like Paper by 53, Infltr, Bazaart, Marvel, Moleskine, Generate, ArtRage, Curator, Vintage Design and many more, developers can seamlessly work between their favorite Adobe and industry tools, accessing the creative content and workflows they access in the mobile apps they use every day. The new components include the Image Editor, which provides an embeddable, highly customizable, basic photo editor. The Asset Browser, now in beta, provides access to all Creative Cloud files and libraries. And the File Upload API, also in beta, enables direct uploads to the Creative Cloud and Lightroom.In addition, the Creative SDK also provides components for the photography community with a new Lightroom Photos Organizer, a photo browsing and importing module for Web apps across services.As part of its announcement of its new platform for Web developers, Adobe announced that Animoto is the first partner to integrate the Lightroom Photos Organizer."We're always looking for new ways to help you streamline your workflow, save you time, and make it even easier for you to create videos with Animoto," said Megan O'Neill, SMB content marketing manager at Animoto, in a blog post. "We've joined forces with Adobe on a new integration that lets you retrieve images stored in Adobe Creative Cl oud's Lightroom CC program straight from Animoto. If you use Lightroom CC on desktop, mobile, or the web for storing, editing, and sharing your photography, you can now access all the photos you have stored in the cloud directly from our interface in a matter of clicks."And some early partners have already started working with the beta components, Adobe said."Soon, Creative Cloud users should be able to access their content in the web services of HipChat, a popular enterprise chat and collaboration app, Prott, an emerging prototyping tool, and Bluescape, a sophisticated collaboration workspace used by some of the largest brands in the world," the Adobe post said.Adobe said other features the company has in its pipeline based on feedback it has received from its beta developers include:--Full Photoshop and Illustrator compatibility, enabling users to render and manipulate .PSD and .AI files--Access to Adobe Stock to allow customers to select and use high quality creative assets in other services--The ability to publish projects and works in progress to the Behance community--Custom stickers and more filters and frames available through the image editor, synced with Creative Cloud--Services to notify developers and users when files within Creative Cloud have changed--Hinted Importing through the Lightroom Photos Organizer, allowing for more expressive creations from synced Lightroom collectionsAt its Adobe Summit last month, Adobe launched the Adobe.io developer portal, which enables developers to download the Adobe Marketing Cloud software development kit (SDK) and access API routines and protocols.Also last month, Adobe announced a preview of Adobe Experience Design CC (Adobe XD), the company's user experience (UX) design and prototyping solution formerly known as Project Comet.Adobe first demonstrated Project Comet at its Adobe MAX conference in October. The tool is aimed at design and development shops that are tasked with turning out a constantly growing amount of mobile applications and Websites. The prototyping tool simplifies and accelerates mobile app development.Adobe Experience Design (XD) is available as a free download to anyone with an Adobe ID and Adobe officials said they expect the first commercial release to be available, for Adobe Creative Cloud members, later this year.
Source: Adobe Launches Creative Cloud Platform for Web Developers