Method Incorporated

Method Incorporated is a brand experience agency with offices in San Francisco, New York, and London.

History

Method, Inc. is a brand experience agency created in 1999 by Kevin Farnham, David Lipkin, Patrick Newbery, Mike Abbink, and Meng Mantasoot. First started in San Francisco, Method's founding principle was to use multidisciplinary, multi-platform design thinking to create beautiful and extendable solutions. Method's goal was to be quick to adapt to new technology. Method currently has around 70 employees in 3 offices: San Francisco, New York, and London. Three of the founding partners are still actively involved in the business: Farnham is Chief Executive Officer, Lipkin is Chief Development Officer, and Newbery, Chief Strategy Officer.^[1]

In 1999, the opportunity to work together with Autodesk arose, launching Method. In 2000, Method expanded and opened its New York office in order to accommodate more work. Method's earliest clients were Autodesk, Adobe, Gucci, Palm, MoMA, and Macromedia.^[2]

Their international presence was established in 2008 when Method opened its London office.^[3]

Notable work

Method created the brand identity and initial set top box user interface for OTT^{[disambiguation needed ]} startup, Boxee, in 2006.^[4] The Boxee work has won the Graphis Gold Award for logo design.^[5] Boxee has since been named one of the top 5 Companies That Are Re-Inventing Media by The Huffington Post and named "America's Next Top Gadget" by Appletell.^[6][7]

In 2007, Method launched a redesigned the website for the TED (Technology, Entertainment, Design) Conferences. The conference is very exclusive, and previously only the select TED members had access to the TEDTalks. The website redesign has opened the talks presented at the conference to the public, and offers new browsing and social networking features. TED.com has since won awards from the One Show Interactive, Webbys, OMMA, HOW Interactive, and Pixel, w3, and Communication Arts for Visual Design, Navigation/Structure, Technical Achievement, and Video Sharing.^[5] TED was named one of the 50 Best Websites of 2010 by Time magazine, and has received praise from various media outlets, including The New York Times, The Guardian, and Design Week.^{[8][9][10][11]}

In 2009, Method worked with the founders of Aardvark to expand their services into an online offering. Previously, Aardvark was available via instant message and text message. The new website, vark.com, has an infographic that explains how Aardvark works in 3 steps and also encourages people to use the service with a test question.^[12] 6 months after the website launched, Aardvark was acquired by Google for $50 million.^[13] Aardvark has also won the SXSW Web Award for Community.^[14]

To celebrate their 10th anniversary in 2010, Method launched its own content series, 10x10. Written by leadership within the company, they are launching 10 pieces throughout the year. The 10x10 series covers topics such as cable-cutting, monetization of content, entertainment in the cloud, mobile interfaces, and gaming impact.^{[15][16][17][18]} The series has been well received by the media including The Huffington Post, PSFK, Core77, Cool Hunting, and Fortune.^[19][20][21] The series currently lives on Method's website.^[22]

Awards

Method has won awards for work since the company began in 1999. Awards include HOW, One Show, Graphis, Rebrand 100, Webby, Pixel, and Web Visionary Awards.^[5][14]

Winning work includes TED, Cinereach,^[23] Horse & Country TV,^[24] PBS Video, Boxee, San Francisco International Film Festival, Comcast Fancast, SFMOMA, and Nike.^[5]

See also

• Service Design
• Product Design
• User Experience
• Multi-platform
• User Interface
• Brand Architecture
• Ethnography

References

1. ^ Leadership. Method.com. Retrieved 6 September 2010.
2. ^ Method.com. Retrieved 1 September 2010.
3. ^ Pacey, Emily (25 April 2008). "Method Opens London Office". Design Week (UK).
4. ^ "Boxes". Method.com, 6 September 2010.
5. ^ ^{a b c d} "Award-Winning Work". Method.com. Retrieved 6 September 2010.
6. ^ Rosenbaum, Steve (4 March 2009). "5 Companies That Are Re-Inventing Media". Huffington Post.
7. ^ Gaecke, Jake (21 October 2008). "Boxee Updated Adds Support for Hulu, CBS, and Comedy Central". Appletell.com.
8. ^ Time Staff (25 August 2010). "50 Best Websites of 2010 - TED". TIME Magazine.
9. ^ Heffernan, Virginia (23 January 2009). "Confessions of a TED Addict". New York Times.
10. ^ "In Praise of... TED". The Guardian (UK). 6 May 2008.
11. ^ "Hot 50 - V-W". Design Week. 27 July 2010. (subscription required)
12. ^ "Aardvark". Method.com, 1 August 2010.
13. ^ Arrington, Michael (11 February 2010). "Google Acquires Aardvark for 50 Million". Techcrunch.com.
14. ^ ^{a b} andrew (14 March 2010). "SXSW Interactive Awards". South By Southwest.
15. ^ Gilles, John, (1 February 2010). "Cable's Lost Generation". Huffington Post.
16. ^ Stone, Terry (8 February 2010). "The design firm Method is turning 10, and it's celebrating by looking ahead with a thoughtful series". CreativePro.com.
17. ^ Vazquez, Paloma (28 June 2010). "Place, Space, and the Mobile Interface". PSFK.com. 28 June 2010.
18. ^ Studstill, Kyle (11 August 2010). "The Power of Immediate Feedback". PSFK.com.
19. ^ "In the Press". Method.com, 27 August 2010.
20. ^ StuCon (7 February 2010). "Method's 10th Anniversary Celebration". Core77.com blog.
21. ^ Mangalindan, JP (7 September 2010). "The Game Based Economy". CNN Money, CNN.com.
22. ^ "About 10x10". Method.com. 6 September 2010.
23. ^ "2010 Rebrand 100 Merit - Cinereach". Rebrand.com. 20 April 2010.
24. ^ "2010 Rebrand 100 Review List - Horse & Country - H&C". Rebrand.com, 20 April 2010.

External links

• Method.com
• About 10x10