For a look at some of what the best of the web has to offer, check out the winners of the 11th Annual SXSW Web Awards:

Activism

Green and Non-profit websites that are striving to make the world a better place.
World Without Oil

Amusement
Humor, memes, plus all the stuff that is too weird for words.
Elf Yourself

Art
From traditional photography to untraditional performances, this category focuses on web-based collections of life, society and culture.
Viscosity

Blog
Sites that revolutionize the power of publishing by providing regularly updated content of a personal or professional nature.
Passive-Aggressive Notes

Business
Sites devoted to the promotional needs, functions and services of for-profit businesses.
Wikinvest

CSS
This category showcases sites that push the boundaries of CSS coding technology.
Ficlets

Classic
While the SXSW Web Awards focus on the best new internet destinations, this category is devoted to sites that launched before January 1, 2007.
Wired

Community
Sites and wikis that have quickly developed an extraordinarily active multi-user community and an exceptional following of users who assist with content development.
Flock

Educational Resource
From elementary school learning to advanced technology-related tips, these are sites that help you learn.
The Story of Stuff

Experimental
These are cutting-edge and trend-setting destinations that are pushing the envelope and challenging our perceptions of the web.
MetaNotes

Film/TV
Sites related to actors, television, films and the film industry, as well as destinations that offer streaming video content.
Animoto Productions

Games
The online destinations that help make your life a lot more fun.
Launchball

Mobile
Sites optimized for handheld and portable devices.
Mosio

Motion Graphics
Animations, cartoons, and other intriguing content built using applications such as Adobe/Macromedia Flash.
HL2

Music
Sites related to musicians, bands, and the music industry, as well online radio and other destinations that offer streaming audio content.
Minuit

Personal Portfolio
The portfolios, pet projects and personal collections of individuals who are displaying their work and passions online.
JLern Design

Student
This category is devoted exclusively to the student web designers who are refreshing this industry with new talent and new ideas.
Paper Critters

Technical Achievement
These are the sites that are re-inventing and re-defining the technical parameters of our online experience.
Twiddla!

People's Choice Award
The online public's favorite finalist from the competition.
Kongregate

Best of Show
The judges' favorite finalist from the competition.
Launchball

Posted by Megan

One of the best panels I've seen so far was called "Make It So: Learning from SciFi Interfaces" presented by Chris Noessel and Nathan Shedroff. They've been watching a ton of science fiction movies and mapping the ways in which they've influenced the design of real things and the ways in which design has influenced science fiction.

One of the big lessons I took away from the panel is the power and danger of anthropomorphism. Using human characteristics can aid learning and make people feel more comfortable, especially when it comes to new technology. The power is that even simple things like sound can anthropomorphize something. For example, in Star Wars, R2D2 is endearing because of the little sighs and bleeps he makes. Human-like behavior can allow be effective. The Amazon One-Click system is like a waiter who remembers what you like order.

The danger of anthropomorphism is that it raises the expectations of the user as to the sophistication of the system and the user will be more disappointed if the functionality isn't not there.

But what really blew my mind was the last session of the day called "LOLWUT? Why Do I Keep Coming Back to This Website?" presented by Ben Huh and Eric Nakagawa of icanhascheezburger.com. What in the world is I Can Has Cheezburger, you ask? It's a growing collection of funny pictures (mostly of cats) with silly captions.



What's so mind-blowing about that? This just-for-fun blog has become a real business with 9 employees and a growing fan base. The internets are a weird and wonderful place!

Posted by Megan

It was tough to get out of Cincinnati this weekend, but I made it to South by Southwest Interactive in one piece. From a blizzard to a balmy day in a matter of hours, Austin is a world away, especially during SXSW. Here, everyone is focused on the future and how creatives are going to shape it.



Designer Jim Coudal tried to define the essence of creativity in a semi-mathematical formula. His idea is that all acts of creativity start by making associations in the brain between a constant and a variable, the known and the unknown. As a simple example, he pointed to a game from his website called Booking Bands. Try to combine a book title with a band name into something funny. You have to start with a constant like “Of Mice and Men”, then run through all the bands you can think of until you come up with Men at Work and you get Of Mice and Men at Work.

After you've made that association between the constant and the variable, if it's good, it will be amplified by passion, the energy to refine the idea and see it through to creation. The final step in the process is "Like" to the third power. Like as in metaphor, summary and aesthetic judgement.

So this is Jim's creative process, but his larger point was that we each need to define our own process to help us put a real value on our work and know what to charge. If we don't have a process to work through, some ideas will be easy and some will be like pulling teeth (but try explaining to a client that your fee will be more because the brainstorming was hard!)

By the time Saturday ended, I was exhausted from a day of travel and heavy thinking. But by Sunday morning, I was ready to go again. I gleaned one particularly valuable lesson from a session about presenting work to clients. When you’re showing them a final design or choice of designs, don’t try to solve problems on the spot. Instead, carefully record everyone’s worries, thoughts and suggestions. Take that back to the office with you and address all the issues, taking your time to find appropriate solutions. When you re-present the work, be sure to go over your list of issues and explain how you found a solution for each one. This kind of careful attention to detail will help prevent you from making promises to clients that end up compromising the design.

Posted by Megan

Just received an e-mail update from the Y Design Conference about space filling up for the event taking place later this month. HOW will be attending--hopefully we'll see you there!

On the lighter side, a new book from HOW called The Cheap Book celebrates a frugal lifestyle that takes thriftiness to the limit. You can even share your own cheap ideas on TheCheapBook.com and see how you rate compared to other cheappies. Get a peek inside the pages here.

Posted by Megan

From the newswire this week:

• Appleton Coated added a new matte finish and heavier cover weight to its Utopia Two:Extra Green line, which contains 30% postconsumer waste, is FSC certified and is produced with green power.

• A new, limited-edition CTI Paper promo titled "Pretty in Pearl" features the quirky Aunt Pearl oohing over Glama Natural translucents, ASPIRE Petallics, Bindakote, Currency and Splendorlux papers. The company also announced a new design competition for work on its papers (deadline is the end of the year) and released a new swatchbook for ASPIRE Petallics.



• Parsons The New School for Design recently dedicated the Sheila C. Johnson Design Center, a nearly 33,000-square-foot facility that combines classrooms, public spaces and galleries.

• Wausau Paper released a new 36-page Sustainability Question & Answer Guide, with definitions and information about environmental issues surrounding paper use, printing and design.

• Neenah Digital papers now include larger sizes of CLASSIC Crest and CLASSIC Linen for HP, Kodak Nexpress and Xerox digital printers.

• Minneapolis design notable Tim Larsen was named an AIGA Fellow by the organization's local chapter, for his contributions in raising the standards of excellence in design. Larsen's eponymous firm is expanding its California operation with a move to a larger space and additional staff.

• Mohawk has revamped its linen-textured Beckett Cambric line with 15 new and current colors 3 duplex options, 5 papers made of 100% postconsumer waste and 12 shades that are 30% PCW; all are FSC certified. The company also relaunched its website with improved navigation and specification tools; Pentagram designed the site.

Illustrator Sherwin Schwartzrock (yeah, we love his name, too) sent art director Bridgid McCarren a little email promo today, with some cool icons he's done for SuperTarget. The project evolved to include 70-some of these little goodies.

A fascinating exhibit exploring color opens at MoMA this week. But don't worry if you can't make it to the show, the accompanying website captures the flavor of the show with a lovely, polychromatic interface designed by the MoMA team in cooperation with interactive firm Render Monkey.

Color Chart: Reinventing Color, 1950 to Today takes as its point of departure the commercial color chart, an item that openly attests to the status of paint as mass-produced and standardized. Midway through the twentieth century, long-held convictions regarding the spiritual aspects and scientific properties of color gave way to an acceptance and embrace of color as a commercial product. At the same time, many artists rejected traditional artistic pedagogy about the relationships between colors and instead adopted aesthetic approaches that relied on chance, readymade sources, or arbitrary systems. The first major exhibition devoted to this pivotal transformation, Color Chart will feature some 90 works of art—including paintings, sculptures, drawings, prints, photographs, digital art, videos, and films—by 44 artists, primarily ranging in date from the 1950s to the present.

Posted by Megan

Some of the can't-miss events that are taking place all over the country in the next couple weeks that you should know about:

March 11: Deadline for entering Communication Art’s annual photography and illustration competitions

March 11th, 13th, 18th: X-Rite’s “Color Control Freak” seminar will travel to Indianapolis, Houston, Nashville, Kansas City, Minneapolis and Miami 

March 13: AIGA Minnesota’s Design Show of Excellence highlights the region’s top works

March 14: Deadline to enter any projects integrating experimental typography for a new book coming out from publisher PageOne this fall, “TYPOMOFO”

March 21: Deadline to enter HOW’s Promotion Design Awards, where you can submit your best promotional efforts for a chance to win a trip to the 2009 HOW Design Conference.