Live Webcast

I'm flying to the mothership in Cupertino this evening to do a live webcast on Bee Docs' Timeline tomorrow morning. I'd encourage you join me if you can and ask lots of interesting questions!

Here are the details:

Webcast Title: The Future of History: Create stunning interactive timelines with Bee Docs' Timeline 3D

Webcast Description: Bee Docs' founder Adam Behringer takes you on a tour of his award winning timeline charting software.

Bee Docs’ Timeline 3D Edition presents full screen, interactive, three dimensional timeline charts. Full motion 3D Timelines can be sent to Apple’s iPod, iPhone, AppleTV, or Keynote presentation software with a single click or exported to High Definition video formats. Create timeline charts that inspire and inform with Bee Docs’ Timeline for Mac OS X!

“Runner-Up Best Mac OS X Leopard Application” — Apple Design Award 2008
“The 3D timelines look absolutely stunning” — MacWorld

Who and When: MacLearning.org will be hosting Adam Behringer, Founder of Bee Docs for a webcast on August 27th at 10 am PDT (5pm GMT) featuring Bee Docs' Timeline 3D from Bee Docs of Seattle WA.

How to View an Apple Sales Training Webcast:

• Go to the following web page 5-10 minutes prior to the webcast start time: webcast.training.apple.com

• Enter the webcast ID and passcode:
  Webcast ID: MacLearning
  Passcode: 716516

• Enter your name, location, and email address. Entering this information helps personalize the webcast experience, and allows presenters and experts to contact you via email, to follow up on your questions. Entering this information is optional.

• Click the Login button, and you will see the webcast stream on the next page.

• You can chat in questions in the text field at the bottom of the page. Your questions may be answered by the presenters in the studio during the webcast. Please note: Presenters and webcast production staff are not able to chat back to you.

Please join us next Wednesday, August 27 beginning a few minutes before 10am PST.

ScreenCastsOnline: Bee Docs' Timeline

This week Don McAllister of ScreenCastsOnline features a video of Bee Docs' Timeline.

Don contacted me a few weeks ago to let me know that he wanted to use Bee Docs' Timeline in a presentation he was giving in Las Vegas and also wanted to feature the software on his video podcast. He asked if there was anything that I'd like him to include and I passed along a few of the most frequently asked questions that I get asked:

• What are the basics steps of creating timelines with Bee Docs' Timeline?
• How do you use full motion 3D timelines with Keynote?
• How do you format a timeline to fit on a single page?

I admit that my own videos and help documentation are lacking in response to these issues at the moment, but Don did a great job of addressing these common concerns.

If you are a Bee Docs' Timeline customer or are thinking of becoming one, the 37 minute video is a must watch. Especially the part where Don shows how he built his amazing Keynote presentation using 3D timelines.

Shirt Prototype

I've been having fun playing around with shirt designs lately. My family and I have been experimenting with different textile paints, stencils, silk screens, gocco, and even the sewing machine. I'd like to someday sell shirts on the website a la Panic, but with a distinctly handmade/ artisan perspective.

The above shirt (prototype) was inspired by the trend of recycling older materials into new items. For example, Re-Sails bags (made for sail cloth) and these Rice & Feed Laundry Bags. We also recently bought some hand printed shirts for the kids from Potato Playground which I totally dig and have been inspired by.

To print this shirt, I cut a large version of the new logo from freezer paper used an x-acto knife to make a stencil. Then I ironed the freezer paper stencil to the shirt and masked it to the seams of the shirt. Finally, I printed the ink using a sea sponge to give it an organic and worn looking texture.

By the way, the shirt is from Edun Live. Check out their intro video.

Let me know what you think!

New Bee Docs Logo!

Here is the new logo. Designed by Turnstyle in Seattle.

I think they did a brilliant job of capturing the brand characteristics I described last week as well as creating something that is beautiful in its own right. I hope you like it too!

Bee Documents to Bee Docs

As part of our branding refresh, I am renaming the company from "Bee Documents" to "Bee Docs"

When I founded the company, I had the idea of referring to the company as "Bee Documents" and using the short version for the products. For example, Bee Docs' Timeline, Bee Docs' Discover, and Bee Docs' Number Stamper. Back in 2002, the company was focussed on document management products and services, thus the "Documents" in Bee Documents.

For the past two years, the number of Google searches for Bee Docs has been twice the number of searches for Bee Documents which tells me that Bee Docs is sticking better in people's minds. It is nice and short for typing and has less connection with document management, which is an field we no longer service. Besides, "Bee Docs" is fun to say don't you think?

I'm currently converting our e-mail addressed from beedocuments.com to beedocs.com and will soon begin to convert the website. Hopefully you won't notice any interruptions during the transition, but let me know if you do. All of the old addresses should redirect and forward, so no need to worry about it unless you want your Address Book to be cutting edge with the latest name.

I can't wait to unveil the new logo, those who have seen the drafts have been very enthusiastic about it. Stay tuned! I hope to have the final version from the designers in the next couple weeks and will post it here first.

The Bee Docs' Brand

As I have mentioned before, I have been working with graphic designers on an update of our logo, website, and marketing materials. As part of this effort, I have been working on defining and clarifying the Bee Documents brand.

By "brand" I mean the characteristics that make Bee Documents unique. What makes us different than Microsoft, Apple, OmniGroup, Delicious Monster, Panic, or anyone else? This is a marketing question because the marketing should communicate and reinforce the brand to customers who are learning about Bee Documents.

However besides marketing, the "brand" question is also important, even more important, for other reasons. It can serve as a guide for choosing new products to develop, employees to hire, features to prioritize, and more. A strong brand is not just about perception, but also about reality. For me, the "brand" serves as a goal and guide, a representation of the way I want to do business as well as the way I want others to think of the company.

With that said, here are four pillars of the Bee Docs brand to which I gave a lot of thought and presented to the design team working on the new logo:

HUMAN TOUCH

First and foremost, I want Bee Documents to be about people. The people who use the products, the people that make the products, students, teachers, artists, film makers, professionals, parents, writers... The list goes on and on.

Sending out hand written thank you notes is an example of an effort to make a human connection to customers. The new website will feature customers and their work as much as our product. We'll continue to seek out ways of bringing humanity, human relationships, and human contact to the center of our brand.

Not enough software companies focus on people (I include my own in this criticism). I do have to give a shout out to Plasq though who gets this more than anyone else I've seen. Their customers are featured all over their website. Their team has also been very thoughtful and encouraging in communicating with me personally, even before I won any awards etc... Props to Plasq. Patagonia and U2 have also been inspirational for me in this regard.

NATURE INSPIRED

I believe nature contains the very best examples of design both in form and function. So many tech companies look to other tech companies for inspiration and it shows in their products and marketing. I hope to look to nature for inspiration and I want people to feel that connection when they use our products or encounter our marketing.

ARTISAN

What I mean by "artisan" is products that reflect the designers point of view, a distinct character, and a connection to a specific culture. In other words, the opposite of generic or anonymous. Artisan products don't seek to please everyone but they are made and consumed with passion. To me artisan also implies a relationship between producer and consumer (see Human Touch).

CINEMATIC

Apple has been encouraging developers to be "Cinematic." This is a challenge that I embrace. Not only do I want our marketing and products to be cinematic, I also want to enable our customers to be cinematic using our products. To me, cinematic means excitement, motion, sound, storytelling, and expression in a highly visual medium.

So those are big goals! I believe our work so far has reflected these characteristics but that it will be a continuous journey to reflect them even stronger. Some of these characteristics have been part of my brand thinking since the beginning in 2002 ("Nature Inspired"), some are newer ("Cinematic"). I'm sure the brand will continue to evolve as we learn and as we grow.