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Local company competes in Wall Street Journal's 'Startup of the Year' program

By Julie Bagman, jbaughman@tribune.com

Little did they know that as of Aug. 28, their company would be among the 10 finalists vying for the title of Wall Street Journal Startup of the Year.

"It's very validating that everybody else sees us as being on the same level as companies who have lots of funding and tons of employees," Gonzalez said of Light Point Security, for which the total staff is herself and Adkins, her fiancé.

"There have been companies that have millions of dollars of funding already and they've been cut," Adkins said. "It's says [Wall Street Journal is] choosing based on substance versus flash.

"That's what encourages us to think we can stay in it longer," he said.

After receiving more than 500 applications, the newspaper launched the five-month program June 24. Of the 24 startups selected to compete, four were eliminated July 24, and 10 more were cut Aug. 28. The next elimination round, scheduled for Oct. 16, will narrow the field to three.

"It's not really a contest," said Wall Street Journal Deputy Digital Editor Gabriella Stern. "It's not like there's a prize. It's not like they're going to get money or anything."

This is the first year for the program and Stern said the idea stemmed from the organization's desire to expand video on its website and increase its coverage of entrepreneurship.

"[It] is what we call an episodic video documentary," Stern said. "Until early November, the startups get mentored by the mentors and build their businesses. And our viewers get to see the mentoring happening."

Pairing startups with mentors — such as Virgin Group founder Sir Richard Branson and fashion designer Tory Burch — and filming the companies as they perform assigned tasks provides the startups with opportunities for growth, even though there is no prize for winning.

"The startups benefit greatly," Stern said. "They get the mentoring from these great, great business people and venture capitalists."

Tasks thus far have included creating a video introduction for the company, explaining how the company name and logo were chosen and identifying a team or culture problem and coming up with a solution.

Gonzalez and Adkins said Light Point Security has seen a number of benefits from the program. The pair is working with Kate Mitchell and Sharon Wienbar, co-founders of California-based Scale Venture Partners, and said their guidance has been invaluable.

"We've got people coming to us," she said. "We've had not just customers, but investors have approached us and people looking for employment. In that sense, being in the program has been very helpful."

Light Point Security created software that allows users to browse the Web from a remote server, storing any and all information accessed on a virtual machine.

"We are really targeting businesses that deal with confidential or sensitive proprietary information," she said, listing the financial, banking and defense industries as primary customers.

"A virtual machine is a fake machine," Gonzalez said. "It's software but it acts like a real computer."

Their software provides two layers of virtual machines and an external server for extra security against viruses and malware.

The nice thing about virtual machines, she said, is that they are easy to create and just as easy to destroy.

"Any time the user is done browsing, when they close that browser, we take that virtual machine and we destroy it. We wipe it like it never existed," Gonzalez said.

Gonzalez said the couple wouldn't have known about the Wall Street Journal program had they not moved out of their basement and become members of UMBC's Cyber Incubator.

"Ever since we moved into the incubator, we've just been exposed to this community of folks who have experience, who want to help us out and we just find out about opportunities that we wouldn't have found out about otherwise," Gonzalez said.

As the couple approaches the third elimination round, they are confident that their tiny company has potential to advance.

"We're dealing with companies who have a superstar founder and they show up day one with $5 million of funding and they have 30 employees," Adkins said. "And then there's us two and we're on the same level as them."

To follow Light Point Security's progress, go to http://projects.wsj.com/soty/startup/light-point-security.

The Web Applications Working Group has published a Last Call Working Draft of File API. This specification provides an API for representing file objects in web applications, as well as programmatically selecting them and accessing their data. It also defines objects to be used within threaded web applications for the synchronous reading of files. Comments are welcome through 24 October. Learn more about the Rich Web Client Activity.

The relationship between copy and design has been covered many times on Smashing Magazine. Working in a content-focused industry, we need to keep this issue pretty close to heart; creating great copy is pointless if it is visually uninspiring or unreadable. Likewise, if the content doesn’t deliver, then even the most attractive page won’t hold the reader’s attention.

Yet much of the discussion so far has concentrated on issues such as microcopy — the small bits of text that instruct the reader on how to interact with the website — and the minutiae of user experience. This stuff is essential, of course, but in this article we’d like to broaden our focus to look at some of the fundamental mistakes behind bad copy.

We’ve chosen to do this for two reasons. First, we hope it will help budding writers out there avoid the most common pitfalls of the job. Secondly — and perhaps more importantly — we want to stress the importance of content as part of the user experience mix.

A while back, Elliot Nash discussed the responsibility of the designer. Designers “want control of the entire user experience,” he said. “We want to ensure repeat use, and high engagement — and to do so, we want to design every little piece of whatever it is we’re working on. After all, we are largely responsible for the performance of the result.” However, he argued, “most of us don’t want to own the work it takes to execute this full scale implementation.” For us, leaving the copy out of the equation is a fundamental error.

In practice, design is a process that should happen with content, not just for it, and the practice of creating a page full of lorem ipsum and getting the copywriter to fill in the blanks just doesn’t cut it anymore. The cross-discipline approach of using design as a way to clearly communicate information, known as communication design, is growing. However, no matter how clearly laid out a design is or how elegant the infographics are, our number one visual tool for relaying information to the audience is well-written text.

The Importance Of Editing

Bill Beard has written about the importance of using techniques such as multivariant testing to optimize microcopy. With large bodies of text, this becomes more of a challenge. Fortunately, authors, journalists and copywriters have been wrestling with this challenge for years, which is how we came up with the concept of editing. The main difference between editing and testing is that, rather than observing an average member of the public navigate your copy, you enlist someone who has a wealth of experience in working with the written word.

A lot of editing is nuts and bolts stuff: fixing the grammar and punctuation, removing repetition, and making text easier to scan. However, like many user-centered design practices, it also means delving into the fundamental assumptions behind your writing, addressing how you think about the words, your audience and yourself. It is this process that will turn a precocious but essentially terrible teenage poet into a good writer. Yet, looking at so much of the copy online, in magazines and on billboards, we can see that plenty of professionals out there haven’t yet mastered it.

Below are the three things that every writer and copywriter must learn to avoid:

1. Self-Importance

Of all the mistakes new writers make, this is probably the most understandable. When you begin writing, you want, first and foremost, to make your mark. Your writing isn’t just another entry in the world’s growing collection of largely unread manuscripts; it’s a definitive text that future scholars will paw over for hidden meaning for years to come. You’re the voice of a generation, damn it!

Copywriters face the same problem. By now, probably about half the words ever written were penned for marketing purposes, and you don’t want your work to be another drop in that increasingly deep ocean of marketing blah. You want to stand out, to be something special. That’s why you end up writing copy like this:

“It’s not a journey. Every journey ends, but we go on. The world turns and we turn with it. Plans disappear. Dreams take over. But wherever I go, there you are. My luck, my fate, my fortune.”

Believe it or not, this wasn’t written in the Moleskin of a sensitive teenager. It was written by professionals, advertising a globally recognized brand with a budget big enough to hire Brad Pitt to read it like so:

Both the poor souls behind this crime of an advert and the 15-year-old who writes poetry about how everyone is superficial except himself have the same problem. They both want to stand out, to draw prestige, to be memorable; however, whether due to youth or the fact that they sell scented liquid, they don’t actually have much to say.

So, how do you avoid doing this yourself?

One of the most common pieces of writing advice in the world is “Write what you know.” Conversely, it’s a good idea to know what you’re writing about. You will often save yourself a lot of trouble simply by asking, “Why would anyone want to read this?” The answer could be “because it’s useful” or “because it’s funny” or any number of other reasons, but you should be able to answer that question before putting words to paper. I’m sure no one asked why anyone would want to hear “The world turns and we turn with it.”

It’s a line that doesn’t actually tell the audience anything. It’s the sort of vacuous line that sounds meaningful but contains no information. You can argue that it’s making the case for Chanel No. 5 as a constant in an ever-changing world, but the portentous tone and the layering on of hilarious faux-meaningful truisms, such as “Every journey ends, but we go on,” drown out any point the text could have conceivably made.

The teenaged poet is likely to get better as they get older because they will learn more and will have more to write about. By the same token, if your copy is to carry weight, whether for an advert, marketing copy or a company website, then you’ll need to know what you’re trying to communicate and why anybody would want to hear it.

2. The Wrong Tone

Young writers are a lot like magpies, happy to steal anything that looks shiny and put it to use in their own creation. Studying Shakespeare in school? In it goes. Read Edgar Allen Poe’s The Raven and thought it sounded cool? You’re having that. Enjoy the teenaged banter in Buffy the Vampire Slayer? That goes in, too.

The result is a sort of Frankenstein’s monster of a writing style. And you know what? That’s fine. As with most things, imitation is a great way to learn how to write, and, with time, copying the good bits of others will mutate into something that conceivably sounds like your own voice.

The same is true of professionally written copy. When Barclay’s heard of cash machines being described as “holes in the wall,” it liked it and took it. World of Warcraft liked the Chuck Norris jokes (or facts) that were getting passed around a few years ago and so got Chuck Norris to appear in an advert based on them.

But if you don’t take tone into account when writing copy professionally, the results can come out a little on the weird side.

For example, check out Kingpin Social. This company offers courses in social interaction. Fair enough — plenty of people out there find it difficult to talk to others, and a company that offers techniques and training to help you overcome that difficulty would be welcome. The problem is that the website uses phrases like, “We will teach you to utilize proven social methodologies that will provide you with success in your personal, career or corporate relationships,” and “Every person deserves the confidence to achieve the optimal result in every social situation.” Imagine somebody using phrases like these in conversation; what opinion would you form of them?

A course like this needs to appear inviting to people who are worried about coming out of their shell, while also demonstrating that this company is made up of people who are good at speaking with others. Using words like “utilize” and “optimal” achieves the exact opposite effect.

The only reason anyone uses those words in marketing copy is to appear clever, and using words to appear clever is what bad teenage poets do. Never say “utilize” or “optimal” when you can say “use” and “best” instead.

Sometimes you end up with a patchwork effect — for example, using a simple, effective phrase like “What We Do,” and then following it up by telling readers that you are “a performance-based retail marketing technology and analytics company focused on helping retailers deliver relevant advertising that converts.”

In user-centered design, one often speaks of “personas.” A persona is a fictional character who represents the typical person you are designing for. You would think about their needs, their wants, the knowledge they will bring to your design, all of which will help you to construct a design around them.

A good way to avoid this pitfall in your own copy is to try the reverse. Think of your client’s business as a character you’re writing dialogue for. What sort of person is this business? What are their likes and dislikes? What sorts of things are they likely to say? Read the copy out loud. Does it sound like the sort of thing your imaginary person would say? If not, why not?

A particularly good example of this is the Scottish craft brewery Brewdog. Everything, from its website to its packaging, is written to sound like somebody you wouldn’t mind going for a beer with — passionate, funny and just a little surreal.

Brewdog — passionate, funny and just a little surreal…

The Dead Pony Club drink is introduced thus: “Being shot from a Hoppy Howitzer beats the hell out of trotting round a submissive paddock. That’s why the internal combustion engine got mounted onto two wheels.” But it avoids the territory of “The world turns” by adding, “This pale ale is chopped, tuned and ready to roll. Fuel up and hold tight, this little thoroughbred kicks like a mule.” However unpoetic the language, there’s never any doubt that the copy is talking about beer.

3. Self-Awareness

This is perhaps the hardest and most important thing for any writer to learn. It’s why many of us just don’t bother. We all dive in at the start without hesitation, enjoying the sheer joy of creation for its own sake and assuming that we’re producing pure written gold merely because we’re the ones doing it — until one day, it suddenly occurs to us, “What if I’m not any good?” Yes, I know, it was a surprise to me, too.

Some writers simply shake this thought loose and carry on as before. Many others stop right then and there, too paralyzed to ever dare setting down another word. However, every writer has to go through this step before they actually start being good. It’s when they start asking the question mentioned at the beginning, “Why would anyone want to read this?” and they start working to come up with a good answer. It’s when they start trying to read their work with eyes other than their own; and if you can’t do that, then copywriting really isn’t where you want to be.

Writers who struggle to overcome this obstacle are often so focused on selling their product that they forget the advert will appear in a wider context — with disastrous results. This is probably why Sony produced a series of incredibly racist billboard ads for its Playstation Portable. It’s also likely why American Apparel thought Hurricane Sandy was in any way an opportunity for social media marketing. At the time of writing, the Royal Bank of Scotland has just hit a marketing disaster because its campaign, which tells people to “Search RBYes,” doesn’t take into account that Google autocorrects “RBYes” to “Rabies.”

Sadly, teaching someone to “be more self-aware” is not really possible. Most of us learn to do it by making a lot of mistakes. But, more than anything, it takes a bit of imagination, the stuff that both copywriters and designers are supposed to have in droves. Of course, this doesn’t mean that designers now have to be fully proficient copywriters who can proofread and redraft words while setting layouts. Nor does it mean that copywriters need to be wizards with design software (although a little knowledge of the basic tools and concepts wouldn’t hurt). However, it certainly means that copywriters and designers need to work more closely together than ever before.

Conclusion

If you would like to learn more, we strongly recommend reading The Craft of Words, Part One: Macrocopy by the Standardistas, a great exploration of how design and copywriting intersect. All too often, design and copywriting take place in their own little bubbles, with each practitioner unaware of what the other is doing. But for the copy to be of any use, the writer needs to be aware of the context in which it will appear.

Front page image credits: Sean MacEntee.

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© Sam Wright for Smashing Magazine, 2013.

The National Cancer Institute (NCI) is pleased to announce the 2014 Introduction to Cancer Research Careers (ICRC) Program.  The ICRC is designed to encourage individuals from populations underrepresented in science and/or financially disadvantaged backgrounds to seek internship opportunities at the NCI.  Successful ICRC applicants will take part in a 2-day campus visit to the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in Bethesda, Maryland, where they will have the opportunity to learn about the various scientist-in-training programs, participate in laboratory tours, interview for either a summer or post-baccalaureate (1-year) internship.  Participants selected for internships receive a monthly stipend, round-trip travel, and summer housingsubsidy.

Our goal is to encourage a diverse group of talented students to explore careers in biomedical research.  You can help us meet this goal by sharing this information with students and faculty contacts you feel would benefit from this opportunity.  Please refer to the attached brochure and the ICRC website for additional information, http://icrc.nci.nih.gov.

Applications are due Monday, November 11th.  Supporting materials are due Thursday, November 14^th.

In recent years, user experience design has become a popular topic in the web design community, with discussions focussing on successful examples of good UX design.

With regard to websites, the term covers all aspects of a user’s experience within a particular site. In other words, the visual layout, information architecture, usability, graphics, user interaction: everything. User interface design and HCI, or Human Computer Interaction are both included in UX.

UX design has its roots in the late 1940s as machines become both more complex and more prevalent in daily life, but it was in the 1990s that the concept of user experience design was named and popularized in relation to computer use.

It is a multi-disciplinary field, covering aspects of sociology, psychology, graphic and industrial design, and cognitive science.

A good time for UX

The main reason why now is a great time to be a user experience designer is because companies are putting an increasing emphasis upon it.

There is no better place to see the impact of good user experience approach than in your nearest Apple Store; every detail has been considered, and nothing is there by chance. If you have ever been in one of these stores, you will know that feeling that hits you as you walk in: you feel safe, you feel good. High quality technology surrounds you, help is on hand should you need it, and you can play with all these great devices that people talk about. You don’t even have to queue at a till to pay.

Strictly speaking this is retail experience design at work, but the principle is the same, as is the result. Who wouldn’t rather buy their computer from a lovely, glossy Apple Store than Wal-Mart or Best Buy?

To look at an example of successful UX design online, Amazon’s 1-Click Checkout process had a massive impact by increasing conversion rates. Users’ buying experience was improved and Amazon reaped the rewards.

Examples like these have pushed companies to hire, or at least consult, UX designers to help improve their customers’ experiences. Sometimes a complete overhaul is needed, sometimes it means working on the details.

User experience is about making sure your customers have the best experience possible when using your product, and that can mean offering something different, unique or even familiar and comforting depending on what’s appropriate.

Why now?

So why are companies investing more and more in this area now and not five years ago? The reason is simple: more and more companies are competing in the same markets and developing similar products, so they need an edge.

Let’s look at Apple again. Samsung, HTC and others developed smartphones which can compete the iPhone on various levels so Apple needed a means to stay ahead. They did so by concentrating on UX including the interface, the App and iTunes stores and their physical shops.

Customers start noticing the attention to detail. Having a good phone is nice, but customers have started demanding more. They want the experience of buying to be enjoyable, particularly when it comes to more expensive items.

There is another, also very simple reason why more and more companies are prepared to invest in UX: it works. Seeing others achieve success with good UX design makes companies willing to spend the money on making changes.

Larger firms have full-time UX designers, or even an entire department with a CXO (Chief Experience Officer), while smaller firms may be more likely to hire consultants as and when they are needed. Regardless of size, UX design becomes an important part of their branding strategy.

Solid UX means innovation

It is important to add that good UX design does not only mean happier customers, it often means bringing something new to the table, something that no one else has thought of. Amazon were the first to implement, and patent, a 1-Click checkout process. There was no simple mobile interface until the first iPhone was released. Tablets had been around for some time before Apple released the first iPad, but Apple created a reason to buy one.

The fact that Apple is one of the most innovative companies around, and is one of the best examples of good UX design is no coincidence. And the fact that some of the most popular UX concepts are from hugely successful companies is no coincidence either.

This shows how much difference attention to detail can make. The companies who invested in UX early are now enjoying the full benefit of their high risk, high reward approach.

How is this good for you?

You don’t have to be a genius to work this out: UX designers are in demand. Just a quick search for UX on any reputable job or feelancer site and you will get hundreds of relevant results. In fact most web design jobs on offer at the moment include the term UX somewhere in the description.

Another point to keep in mind is that the number of skills required is increasing, while team sizes are decreasing. This may at first appear to be a negative, but there is another way to look at it: In order to be a UX designer, you need to already be a graphic, web, or multimedia designer; you can’t start your career from scratch and become a UX designer in a day. You need broader experience in design in order to specialize in UX, which means that good UX designers have more than one skill. Luckily enough, job postings make it clear that designers with multiple skills are the ones in demand.

These days graphic designers are expected to be able to code at least a little, and web designers are expected to be able to handle backend development. The more skills you have the better your prospects are, and if you can add UX design to the list they get better again.

The bottom line

Demand is high at the moment but so is competition. Becoming a good UX designer is not the easy option, but it is rewarding. Because it is a field that encompasses several others, different projects will put emphasis on different skills. And those individual skills, such as coding or graphics, will always be useful in their own right.

If you haven’t already, perhaps it’s time to make a start. Try looking at the work in your own portfolio from a UX perspective. Consider the user experience for every piece of work you do from now on, and you’ll be on your way. 

Do you include UX on your résumé? Do Apple represent good UX? Let us know in the comments.

Featured image/thumbnail, 1940s computer image via James Vaughan.

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