What's in a Name?

By Jayson Jarmon, CEO, Lux Worldwide

When one of us is asked where we work, we simply answer “Lux,” which is a foreshortening or our corporate entity name “The Lux Group, Inc.” “The Lux Group, Inc.” is quite a mouthful when you’re doing the elevator pitch, so the shorthand name “Lux” is just fine.

“Lux,” is our brand name by which we are commonly known in the market, and “The Lux Group, Inc.” is the corporate name by which we are known to the state and federal government. See? Not radically different than “Microsoft” vs. “The Microsoft Corporation.”

Why, you may ask do they need to be different, and why choose “Lux” as a name anyway?

Well, we chose “Lux” as a name because it is short (three letters with an “X” in it so as to make a snappy logo), and it’s Latin for “light” which suggests enlightenment, enrichment, and illumination. It also places the company about as far away as possible from my last company, “Saltmine” (salt mines being drab, dark, lightless places).

The difference between the brand name and the legal name is an important one—the legal entity has to have a very specific name which doesn’t resemble other pre-existing entities doing that particular line of work too closely. “Lux” is a commonly used word (as in the soap), and requires more specification and modification before the state will grant its use as a legal name, thus the appendages of “The Lux Group, Inc.” So, if you look at the bottom of our home page, you will see a copyright bearing our corporate name showing that we are indeed who we say we are and are in fact a legal Washington State corporation.

Pretty basic, huh? Now, here’s comes a curveball: the more astute among you may already be asking, “why is your URL ‘luxworldwide.com,’ clearly neither ‘Lux’ nor ‘The Lux Group, Inc.’? Well, as many of you know, options for meaningful urls in the .com domain are very, very limited. Sure, we could use some other domain--.biz, .net to name just two, but that doesn’t have the impact we thought we needed. Believe me, if we could arrange for a purchase of the Lux.com domain, I would be doing that right now instead of writing this blog (In truth, the Lux.com url is owned by a bunch of lawyers, the company that owned it having gone into receivership. They are unwilling to part with it right now, and yes, oh yes, we’ve asked. If you at Lux.com are reading this right now, we’d love to talk more!)

So that’s the basic run down. “Lux” = our brand name, “The Lux Group, Inc.” is our legal name, and “luxworldwide.com” = our url. Someday we’ll tell you about lux-seattle.com, but that day is not today!

All News That’s Fit [Not] to Print

By Jayson Jarmon, CEO, Lux Worldwide

There is a natural antagonism between the traditional media and the Internet as an information delivery system—always has been. As we have seen in the case of music and entertainment, the Internet created a dilemma because it made content and intellectual property freely available to users, skirting the traditional mechanisms for revenue generation. The old newspaper media has been slow in adopting the new realities, because it would mean walking way from their time-honored approach to money-making—a leap few were willing to make. The results have been disastrous for the movie and music industries, with record declines in revenue. And the same issue is now facing the printed news industry.

The revenue model for newspapers is a simple one: develop/distribute news content, and take money from both subscribers and advertisers. As long as the content is under “control,” this approach is viable. But when the content becomes free-flowing, and the information is available without having to pay for a piece of paper, the model breaks down.

And it has been breaking down, with record declines in traditional newspaper circulations. A recent Washington Post article noted that 814 of the nation’s largest daily papers had seen nearly a 2% decline in circulation in the last year alone, continuing a slide which began in 1990 and is intensifying with each successive wave of Internet adoption. The newspaper industry, unable to face this basic reality head-on, goes on to blame changes in the nation’s new telemarketing rules, but the truth is far grimmer. If they cannot find a viable online advertising or subscription model, they are doomed.

And why not? Virtually everyone I know has a sentimental attachment to that newspaper and morning coffee, but let’s put it aside for a moment. Newspapers have had it too good – they take their money form both sides, both readers and advertisers; they are essentially non-democratic, reflecting the editorial view of major corporate and governmental entities (made crystal clear, I’m afraid, by the newspapers’ un-critical support for the Iraq War); they are fractious organs of argument designed to produce heat, but very little light, in a world of useless point/counterpoint skirmishing.

The Internet, gives users the power of multi-perspectivism, the ability to see different angles on the news expressed locally, nationally, and internationally. It delivers the information freely to one’s desktop, and is simply faster, cheaper, more convenient. And, while I know many would argue this point, I think the vaunted “Truth” which newspapers ought to be accountable to tell, is understood better as an amalgamation of facts and varied points of view—not the party line that is expressed by editorial boards and self-appointed pundits.

Of course the Internet is full of frauds and untruths as well, but it is our own responsibility now to act as the filter and arbiters of what is meaningful. In the Internet Age, we can no longer responsibly delegate that task to others.

Halfway Measures

By Jayson Jarmon, CEO, LuxWorldwide.com

One of the first great promises of the Internet age is the convergence of various media systems into a single, unified information management system that would be easily accessible and extensible – in short, a blurring of the lines between the personal computer, the television, the telephone, the motion picture, etc. With each passing year, that promise has come closer to fruition, but it has been in fits and starts and there are still plenty of half-measures bridging the old and the new.

One such measure is optical media, which is a bridging technology between the old days of the floppy disc, and the fully digital future. The high-definition DVD debate currently raging on in the industry (that is, the debate as to which high-definition technology will prevail, Blu-ray or HD DVD) is really rather silly in some ways, since the entire issue of portable media is likely to be a moot point in a digital future where films and television are stored not as optical artifacts in one’s DVD collection, but in purely digital form in one’s entertainment data structure. Films, music, television and other digital media are becoming increasingly available as download, and the economics of distribution suggest that all of the physical trappings of the optical disc and the tape will be abandoned as faster more powerful machines and better connectivity come to hold the day.

Another halfway measure, it follows, are those who deal in portable media as intermediaries. As we have seen, companies like Tower Records which tried to hold on to the old model of CD and DVD sales, have been delivered a death sentence by the market (I wouldn’t invest in Hollywood Video right now either). Intermediary business structures such as Netflix have flooded into the market using a library model, allowing the digital ordering, payment , and management of media (in this case movies), but relies on physical mail to deliver physical discs to physical addresses. It too is a halfway measure that will convert entirely to a digital delivery system when the business conditions are correct.

Finally, let’s talk about the motion picture theaters. The economics of theatrical distribution reduced the movie palaces of old to the strip mall multiplexes of today, and now the only way that the theaters can compete against television, video games, and DVD, is to raise prices, introduce more expensive concessions, show commercials, and even try to break into the corporate meeting space business. Sadly, when digital film distribution becomes the rule shortly, the theater experience as we know it will be over.

So, go to a movie, grab a record at the local record store while you can—it is an experience your children will be unlikely to share. And while you’re at it, grab a newspaper … we’ll be talking about that next time …

All I Want for Christmas

*Not* By Jayson Jarmon, CEO, LuxWorldwide.com

Today's blog is being brought to you by Hubie Dolan. As the guy who is normally responsible for actually posting Jay's blog, Jay is slacking off today, so I've been left empty handed with nary a word to publish. [Not slacking off, he never slacks off. -ed.] Thus, I'm filling in today with my own thoughts.

And today we turn to the holidays...

About three years ago, I received a rather unique Christmas gift. It was an introductory package to a new experimental Samurai lifestyle program sponsored by the Society of Creative Anachronism.

First night we all sat around sampling sake. I don't like sake but after you drink enough it all tastes the same. They awoke us the next morning with buckets of freezing river water. Then they made us wear these skimpy little loin cloths, like the kind the sumo wrestlers wear, and told us to meditate. It's hard to meditate when you're freezing your keister off.

So, they lead us through chants, and songs, jumping jacks and all sorts of other tortures. That evening at dinner I got the distinct feeling that it was all a dreadful mistake. They fed us the equivalent of a small thimble of birdseed and all the water we could drink as long as it wasn't more than two glasses (there was supposed to be a lesson in this but for the life of me I couldn't figure it out).

Later that night, one of the senior instructors thought that he would take it upon himself to recite the entire script of the "Seven Samurai" to us. This fellow was about 5 foot 2 and 300 lbs. He had beady little eyes and a piggy nose and had his greasy hair tied up in a bun. The guy had the grace of a water buffalo that had just fallen down a steep hill into a muddy watering hole. Next day I went AWOL and hopped a freight train back to Seattle.

Lesson learned? Play it safe this Christmas and ask for some socks.

Merry Christmas from Hubie Dolan and the rest of the gang at Jay's Blog!

Bad, Bad, Bad Web Design

By Jayson Jarmon, CEO, LuxWorldwide.com

Centuries of conversation about art and beauty, a history of artistic craft dating back to prehistoric cave paintings, the entire artistic output of millions of souls expressing themselves in figure and form…and it all boils down this the high-water mark of artistic output.

That lousy site, and many others, can be found at Web Pages that Suck, a compendium of all that is bad in Internet design.

So what makes a bad website? Let's start with the great bugaboo of online design-the so-called "look-and-feel." Indeed, a website needs convey the thematic elements of the client's marketing approach-somehow embody in color and effect the nature and qualities of the company-but it must never be lost that a website is an *interface*. Overwrought, over-colored, constantly moving websites distract, annoy, and baffle the user. Sadly, Flash animation, one of the great innovations in web design, is sadly overused, or used simply because it *can* be used. As much as I love the use of Flash, the expression "click here to skip intro" has become one of my favorites.

Usability must be the key element in any design with simple, practical navigation that gives the user the clearest possible sense of what content is available and where he/she is going. Sometimes in an attempt to take design to the bleeding edge, simple practicality is overlooked entirely. It's not that I'm advocating an approach to design that entirely robs us of the designer's doubtlessly superb sense of the "aesthetic," nor am I hell-bound to ratchet down design considerations to the lowest common denominator with the utilitarian. But a website is an interface, and bad design obscures content.

And content, as they say, is King. King Content, however, is a fat fellow who grows fatter with each new addition (or blog entry!). Websites need to be carefully maintained like a nice formal hedge by winnowing away excess verbiage, by beating back the oppression of the grey page, and by carefully auditing and editing what goes up there in the first place. As they say, in web design it is always better to show than to tell.

Finally, the architecture of the site itself is the ultimate determinate of the site's quality and usability. Without first understanding and arranging the site's content, and without arranging the content properly and sensibly into the appropriate hierarchy or overall taxonomy, there cannot be appropriate navigation ... there cannot be a weighing or prioritization of what the site is intended to express. In short, an improperly architected site is chaotic, like an organically built house without blueprint or plan.

At Lux we work to suss out the needs of the user, to build an appropriate look(s) and feel(s) based on well-architected wireframes and content analysis. And sure, we can make it sexy, too - although, to this day, I'm not exactly sure why clients want this or what this means!

Dark Rides

By Jayson Jarmon, CEO, LuxWorldwide.com

In some respects, entrepreneurial business is like a "Dark Ride" - those spooky, old rides you used to go on when you were a kid ... well, when I was a kid.

At the old Puyallup Fair here in western Washington, there was a ride called the Old Mill, which featured little boats passing through various scenes from nursery rhymes, scary of course, because it was dark and just plain weird at times. But it was ultimately rewarding, highly entertaining, and memorable.

Now, there are those of us who don't like the Dark Rides, who prefer the roller coaster, where it's all about speed and everything is outside of your control. And there are those who like to just stroll down the midway, not really wanting to commit to a ride or preferring to follow other folks as part of the general flow of things. Still others are more interested in the sideshow because of their interest in the odd and unappealing.

But my favorite is the Dark Ride. You are tantalized about what might face you around the next corner ... you can never really prepare yourself for something jumping out at you (sometimes it's a skeleton, sometimes it's a clown, sometimes you get all prepared for it, and nothing happens at all). You don't know if you're going to hurdle over the edge of a waterfall, or be faced with brigands, like in the worlds' most famous dark ride, The Pirates of the Caribbean. Often, the highlighted tension of the ride is broken by a comic scene or by the surreal impact of the ride as a whole. In the end, it is the ride you remember the most and the one you always are willing to do again.

The Old Mill burned down in the early 70's and was replaced with a series of pre-fabricated funhouses that are neither fun nor memorable. They forgot the essential element of the experience-that you shouldn't *really* know what will happen next in spite of it all. So show some resolve, have that nervous laugh in the dark, and then plunge in. It makes all of the difference in the world.

I Sing the Body Electric

By Jayson Jarmon, CEO, LuxWorldwide.com

The Seattle area is recovering from a tempest of noteworthy proportions, one which left most of the area without power for a quite a time. Many are still out there in their freezing homes waiting for the eventual salvation of the public power utilities.

For those of you not in the Pacific Northwest, this was a real howler - huge conifers smashing through people's living rooms, exploding electric transformers discharging in the night, and the dark sullen eyes of people standing in line at the Home Depot for hours on end, unshaven, hungry, exhausted. Several people have died as a direct result of the storm.

It has been suggested by some of my comrades (Luddites, the lot of 'em) that power outages of this kind point to the inherent weakness of the Internet as an information management platform. True, the Internet, Internet Service Providers (ISPs) and the personal computer require electricity, but let's not take this too far. For those without power, there is no Internet access to be sure, but, for those without generators or sufficient battery power, neither is there television, lighting, radio, and, in many cases telephones. In fact, the two largest daily newspapers in Seattle ceased production on Friday until power could be restored to the printing presses.

The truth of the matter is that the information economy itself requires electricity, and in the event of basic system failure virtually all of our systems grind to a halt. My hunch is that if the power on the Eastside remains out for another 48 hours, it will revert to a Mad Max post-apocalyptic state with bands of hungry computer programmers wandering the streets in search of connectivity.

In spite of the winds, I stand firmly by my conviction that everything that can be digital, will be digital. In three days, this will all be forgotten and people will blithely begin downloading from iTunes again, as if it were a spring thaw. In truth, Al Gore, or no, the Internet was designed to work in the face of a nuclear holocaust, and a few powerless days isn't going to change that. So, gird thyself, have a cold Pop Tart out of the box, and spend a peaceful moment with a book. The rush of the world will be upon you again before you can say "extensible Internet solutions."