When Catalyst Studios set out to create a beautiful interactive site for Nicole by OPI, we had our sights set on total global nail lacquer website domination. Well, it just so happens, that step two (step one here) on that path just happens to include a 12th Annual Webby Awards Official Honoree Selection. What can we say as interactive specialists? How about...HELL YES! Take a gander at some deep linking flash at the Nicole by OPI site. Or take a look at the listing of Webby Honorees here. tags: catalyst studios, minneapolis, minnesota, design, graphic design, interactive, catalyst, opi, nicole by opi, webby,

Mary Fallon, Sr Art Director/Designer at Catalyst Studios, was asked to do something purely wonderful. Design two Crumpler Art Bags for a fundraising event June 7th. Check out the site, see the other designers, and be sure to stop by the One on One Bicycle Studio and put in your bid for a one-of-a-kind Crumpler bag. How cool is that? Look at Mary's designs, or at least part of them. . The event is called Imaginary Bags, and here's event info. And here's some info on the infamous Mary Fallon. tags: catalyst studios, minneapolis, minnesota, design, graphic design, interactive, catalyst, crumpler, imaginary bags,

Our newest Interactive Designer Jason Sack says... Hey, I'm Jason. Before making the jump to Catalyst, I spent time at a large advertising agency (Periscope) as an interactive designer. I was lucky to be part of a talented interactive team, working on fun clients. Why would I leave? Well, I was incredibly impressed with the strategic process and creative attention that is devoted to every project here at Catalyst. Nothing is too small or too large. To see a nimble team like Catalyst firing at the same level and winning the same awards as the big boys left me thinking one thing: I have to be a part of this. So here I am, and I couldn't be any happier! Thanks Jason, we're excited and happy to have you too. Jason's a thinker, and we love having thinkers here in our beautiful world. Go Catalyst! See more, much more, of Jsack (roll over notes to find him). tags: catalyst studios, minneapolis, minnesota, design, graphic design, interactive, catalyst, jason sack,

Take a look at one of our latest digital endeavors with Target. See our take on how four different music genres can transport you into different worlds. This is the seventh spot in the Art for All series we've partnered with Target. Yep, SEVEN! See it here and then tell us what you love about it here! :) Art Transports tags: catalyst studios, minneapolis, minnesota, design, graphic design, interactive, catalyst, target,

Not sure if you know this, but time sheets ARE important. They help us do several things as an agency, including, but not limited to, helping us determine profit and loss (important), they help us estimate future similar projects (important), and they allow us to determine who is working too much...because unlike some agencies, we don't want our people working too much (very important). So, you'd think we'd be able to get our time sheets done in a timely manner, but that isn't the case. And that's why I'm introducing a new policy based on our good friend, Shame. Here's how it works. I want to buy everyone here a decent Holiday Gift (some call it a Christmas Present), so I'm leaving it up to the staff on what the company spends. I picked a nice round starting number of $300 per person, or $3,900 since we have 13 employees. Here's the fun part. If EVERYONE has their time sheets for the week printed out and on Ellen's desk by 12:00 on the following Monday, I'll add $100 to the total. Here's the shame part. If ONE person misses the noon Monday deadline, I take $100 off the total (for each person that misses) and post their name on the wall of SHAME. Since I'm announcing to the staff via this news post, I want to be very clear. So, here's a 2 week scenario/example. Let's say on week one, everyone gets their time sheets completed. YAY! We now increase the total gift spend to $4,000. And then, week two comes and Betsy, Shannon and Jared all missed the noon deadline. OH NO! Here comes SHAME! The total is now down to $3,700 and the rest of the staff who did their part are VERY disappointed in them. Their names are posted for all to see, allowing others to share their feelings with the intended audience (shame them). Good luck! Your gift (and mine) depends on all of us, so let's hope it's something nice! Check out our (pre-shame) policy work at the NEW catalyststudios.com. tags: catalyst studios, minneapolis, minnesota, design, graphic design, interactive, catalyst,

When you launch a new web site, you want people to show up. Well, turns out we figured out how to get people to OUR new site launch yesterday. And we got lots of people to hang out for a very long time. Several hung out for more than an hour. Some, more than three hours. Wow. Our apologies for causing a bit of "slack at work" time. In four short hours, we drew thousands of visitors. Yes, thousands. If you missed it, stay tuned, we're pulling some highlights. In a nutshell, it turns out that user generated content still flips peoples' switches...and gets the bloggers going crazy. And we love google analytics. Just look who stopped by! Don't worry, we won't share with you how many visited from each of these companies or how long they stayed. So thanks for making our launch a success. A big success. target corporation, opi products inc, thrivent financial for lutherans, apple computer inc, general mills, puma north america inc, sony imageworks, cbs corporation, microsoft corp, sony bmg, eastman kodak company, mattel inc, nbc universal, american airlines inc, allianz life, gannett co., medtronic incorporated, west publishing corporation, united healthcare corporation, ham in the fridge, braintraffic, fingerhut direct marketing inc., chevron corporation, fair isaac co., anshen & allen, children s hospitals and clinics, minnesota public radio, children s heart clinic, bbdo ny, ogilvy & mather inc., leo burnett, akqa, evb, bbdo canada, fallon, schematic, carmichael-lynch, olson and company, space150 inc, periscope, popular front minneapolis, imaginet, zeus jones, johnson gray advertising inc, martin williams inc., mullen advertising, ciceron interactive, gage marketing, carlson companies inc., mccann-erickson inc., struck, wieden & kennedy, callahan creek, treefort inc, u4ea, evantage consulting, talkingport technology, beam interactive, ursa minor arts & media llc, blitz digital studios llc, digital edge design, frog design, mcclain finlon advertising inc., mrm worldwide, raremethod interactive studios inc See the new catalyststudios.com! Here are a few photos from the day on our flickr page. And while you were watching us, this is what we saw. tags: catalyst studios, minneapolis, minnesota, design, graphic design, interactive, catalyst,