We just did a re-design of Scott James’ web presence as he embarks on the next chapter of his growing career.

Check out the new ScottJamesMusic.com!

We just launched a SICK new website for Ultimate Boarder (the only boardsport triathlon in the world). The contest is going to be better than ever this year with $100,000 going to the winner and a $150,000 prize purse. Check it out!

We have launched a sleek microsite for The Phantom of the Opera’s 25th Anniversary Celebration!

This site is the platform to sell the exclusive 25th Anniversary Celebration Box Set package. Check it out at www.phantom25boxset.com.

Yesterday, Google announced a new look and updated features for its email service, Gmail. We at Oniracom are major fans of Gmail so we’re interested in the experience this redesign will bring.

Watch the video below of Google’s User Experience Designer Jason Cornwell explaining the new Gmail and check out their Official Blog for more:

A little while ago we created and ran a one day only promotional “donate-to-download” splash page for Chris Cornell’s website for his song “The Keeper” that he wrote for the film “Machine Gun Preacher,” a film based on the true story of the life of Sam Childers. A portion of the sales went to support Childers’ “Angels for East Africa” charity.

Now, we have just launched the NEW ChrisCornell.com!

Check it on out!

We are super stoked to be working with Ultimate Boarder!

For those of you who are unfamiliar, the Ultimate Boarder Competition is the only board-sport triathlon in the world which finds the best all-around boarder in the Surf, Skate, and Snow realms.

We are in the process of building out and designing a sick website that will be the platform for this 5th Annual event, but for now we put together a cool splash page featuring the trailer to the 2012 competition - check out the beginning at UltimateBoarder.com!

We recently launched the new ZeeAvi.com to coincide with the release of Zee Avi’s new record ghostbird, off Brushfire Records.

The site features new aesthetics that embody the overall vibe of ghostbird - give it a look and check out more from Ms. Zee Avi!

Longtime client and phenomenal artist Mason Jennings is gearing up to release his new record, Minnesota, on September 13. The pre-sale for the album starts August 16th.

For this new release, we re-skinned his entire site to fit the theme and style of Minnesota‘s artwork, and the result is piece we are really proud of.

Check out the NEW MasonJennings.com.

Feel free to check out our latest project, Courtney O’Donnell’s new website: CourtneyODonnell.com

Courtney is at the beginning of her career, yet has already written more than 20 songs, taught herself to play the guitar and worked with major names in the music business. She released her first two original CD’s at the age of 11 and 14. Courtney has big things lined up for her, and there is no doubt that she will succeed. We are thrilled to be working with her.

Be sure to check out her website to learn more about Courtney and to see what cool features we included on her site!

CourtneyODonnell.com

The switch from the old profile to the new profile that Facebook pulled on its users in late December/early January anticipated some other alterations to occur. Alas, the new Pages on Facebook is here! The new Pages redesign resembles and operates like a user’s regular profile. However, there are multiple differences in regards to the Page’s and their admins.

The new Pages consists of all the features of the new profile more or less. For example, the menu bar is on the left-hand column with links to the wall, photo albums, videos, tour dates, etc., which also eliminates the information box that was a component of the old profile and old pages of Facebook. The edit tab option has therefore also switched to the very top of the page. Admins can now click up top to edit their pages, which directs them to editing the info, apps, profile picture, marketing, etc.

Here are a handful of great documentaries that I’ve found inspiring in one way or another.  I love watching artists work.  I love watching the focus, the intensity and all the small decisions that go into finishing a work of art or a completed designed object.  This all probably started with watching Bob Ross as a kid (Someone please make a Bob Ross documentary!)

I hope you find some of these interesting and inspiring.  Please share your favorites in the comment section.

• Beautiful Losers

• Helvetica

• Objectified

• Mystery of Picasso

• How to Draw a Bunny

• The Cool School

• Crumb

• Henri Cartier-Bresson: The Impassioned Eye

• Art: 21 - Art in the 21st Century

• Frank Lloyd Wright

• Rivers and Tides

• Style Wars

Everyone’s heard of a remix, those songs that were released and made it big on the radio that were then adopted by a music savy dj with four computers and a slightly disturbing obsession with electronica and techno music. Love them or hate them, they are a staple of the music industry. 

Now the idea is being brought to the design world.  Let me introduce you to Nonsek’s Machine: the online interface which allows you to take work from a range of talented designers and remix that work to your heart’s content.

The dominance of the web has changed the way people work, live and stay informed. For now, I’m going to leave aside a discussion about what the internet has done to the average person’s experience of life and the way people relate to others (though they are certainly worthy subjects for reflection and consideration).

What I want to share with you today are the tools we at Oniracom use to help us stay on top of the rapid shifts and changes which we encounter daily.  As a company that works primarily on websites and social media, every new application, every new site, every new contribution to the field of design, development and social networking has the potential to rearrange the way we go about business.  This means that it is a necessity to stay flexible, because you will encounter challenges and you will be expected understand the new developments and rise to the occasion (or risk being met by a client asking, “well they did that over their; are you not as capable?”).

So with all these changes and rapid sharing of information, what is the trick to staying on top without driving yourself crazy?

The solution is finding good tools that bring you the most relevant information and allow you to communicate easily and work efficiently.

Click Read More to See The Tools We Use on a Daily Basis and leave a comment about the tools that you use!

It took a little bit of time and energy, but we’re psyched to announce that the new Marc B Music website officially launched today!

On this new and improved site you will find video, music, Marc’s latest tweets, pics, and tons more cool stuff!

The Louvre made its most controversial decision last week (even more controversial than putting in a McDonald’s) when they decided to to replace a certain famous painting with something a little more contemporary.  Personally, I think it’s an improvement.  Enjoy your free wallpaper.

1440 x 900

Click Read More to get the other sizes.

I am an image addict, I search and peruse and hunt all day long.  It’s quite fun to see what all is out there on the internet, but at times it can be a bit disappointing.  Here is one discovery I made not so long ago.

The Hannah Montana Best Of Both Worlds DVD Cover

Stock Photo of a Crowd.

That’s right, it’s here.  The holiday season is in.  No, not Christmas, not Halloween, not hanukkah or any thing like that no.  It is National Design Week!  The most glorious time of the entire year, and the design room is celebrating.

The National Design Awards have been handed out.  Here is one winner who caught my eye:

Lifetime Achievement Award

Bill Moggridge

Bill is the co-founder of IDEO, a global design consultancy, creating impact through design.  He is an industry design specialist and expert, most notably, he designed the world’s first laptop computer.

Thomas Campbell makes “stuff”.  That’s the short description.  But if you take a look at his body of visual work, you’ll see that the word is appropriately broad.  Film, paint, photography and typography are just a few things he’s impossibly talented at.

If you’ve been following Jack Johnson’s career as a musician and as a film maker, then you’ve seen Campbell’s work.  Check out the beautiful handwritten “Jack Johnson” font and macro photography on www.jackjohnsonmusic.com as well as the artwork featured on his surf films “The Seedling”, “Sprout” and “The Present” (all on Jack’s Woodshed Films).  Campbell has brought a bold, timeless and fluid graphic touch to each project.

Campbell introduces himself on his web site’s bio:
“Well, I am not a huge fan of using words to describe art and every time I am asked to write an artist statement my gut instinct is just to say “Um, I make stuff”.  And in reality, that is what I do.  I am a creative person by nature and by trial and error - and I just enjoy adapting to different creative scenarios and moving with them.”  Check out the entire interview on Campbell’s web site.

Also, Brushfire Records just released the soundtrack to his film The Present which you can pick up here.

Today I thought I would share a quick tutorial on how you can make a hand drawn myspace header image and then show you a way that you can quickly add that header image to the top of your myspace.  (If you are only looking for the code that adds an image header to your myspace page, see step 10 at the bottom).

To see the Header in action go check out Myspace.com/MatthewMcAvene

From SmashingMagazine.com to DesignBump to Magazine sites like Print and CMYK, there are tons of great design resources out there. But lately, there is one resource that has been providing me with more exciting content and educational articles than any other, Design-Newz.

Design-Newz, which was built and is run by the guys over at Spyre Studios, is an invaluable resource for any designer.  It hosts a virtual library of design blog posts.  Basically, they search the web for the latest and greatest design articles and then post links to those articles on their project website Design-Newz.com.

To help promote the blog posts, they employ twitter.  I follow them on twitter and get their regular tweets linking to hundreds of different design blogs with high quality articles that offer free brushes, photoshop tutorials, and inspirational collections of work by designers.  Thus far, they’ve been a wonderful and welcome source of inspiration as I’ve worked on our company’s websites.

Their work and their site exhibits four things that inspire me: A unique idea, Fantastic quality, Regular and consistent updates (they commit to at least having 5-10 updates a day), and a humble attitude that seeks to promote great work over purely personal gain.

Go follow them on twitter and start learning.