This month we’re working on an educational site for the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center (SERC) called “Shout.” The Shout program is a joint venture between Smithsonian Institution, Microsoft Partners in Learning and TakingITGlobal.

Shout mobilizes teachers and students from around the globe to participate in collecting scientific data in an effort to understand climate change. The program begins in November and covers a range of topics that relate to environmental responsibility and understanding.

Working across multiple time zones with such notable organizations has made for a fun and exciting collaboration. It’s been fast-paced and far-reaching, with project stakeholders located in Washington D.C., Seattle and Canada, and our strategic partner, LearningTimes, located in New York City.

Studiofluid refined the site wireframe, designed the site visuals—including hand-lettering and custom icon set—then handled the front-end development, with a turnaround time of less than 2 weeks. Whew!

Here’s a link to the live site.

I spent Friday attending the GoGreen expo at the Los Angeles Convention Center; meeting people, checking out the scene and generally observing how people are branding and marketing their “green” businesses. As expected, the display booths ran the gamut from those pursuing meaningful contributions, to the occasional “greenwashing”, to those you might find at any craft show across the country.

What stood out was the significant amount of companies with decent ideas, yet their presentations failed to address a few basic questions:

• What exactly do you do?
• How are you different from the next booth over?
• Why does your product matter to me?

If developing a new business was as simple as developing an innovative product, many more companies would succeed. As it turns out, helping people understand the story behind your product and why they should care about it, is every bit as important as the product itself. Unfortunately, this is why so many more companies with great aspirations and products fail to reach their full potential.

Yesterday, in conjunction with the Detriot Auto Show, NPR aired an interview with Daniel Sperling and regarding his book Two Billion Cars. He discusses the global impacts of our cars, and what is on the horizon for sustainable transportation.

In 2008 Studiofluid created an infographic to help communicate the concepts Dr. Sperling presents in his book, as well as to U.S. congress and audiences throughout the world. It feels good to see our work serving it’s purpose and helping people understand some important global topics.

You can listen to the interview over on NPR’s site.

If you’re sick of the trendy eco-movement, (i.e. supposed eco-sensibility of useless products), be encouraged that we’re in the ’spike’ which will be followed by by a ‘dip’ and then solid acceptance over time.

(Thanks, Alissa).