Yearbooks Come Alive With Innovative Online Publishing Tool
EffectiveUI and Herff Jones Launch Groundbreaking Web-to-Print Technology That Revolutionizes Yearbook Publishing for Students, Teachers and Printing Enterprise
EffectiveUI, an award-winning user interface design and development firm, and Herff Jones, a leading producer of scholastic products, today announced the launch of eDesign(TM), a breakthrough multi-user web-to-print system for collaboratively publishing school yearbooks. eDesign enables students to work on their yearbook pages outside the confines of the classroom, is easy and fun to use, and requires no software purchase.
"eDesign signals the most significant technological advance in the yearbook industry since the advent of desktop publishing. eDesign is a sea-changing piece of innovation that gives students control of pages, reduces the margin of error when they submit yearbook pages to us, and ensures smooth production of a top quality printed product," said Tom Tanton, senior vice president for Herff Jones Imaging and Education Group.
Now in its first season of implementation, eDesign is helping Herff Jones grow its market share in a highly competitive marketplace by providing customers with the best yearbook experience possible. Nearly 75 percent of the firm's new customers have opted into the new online page prep and submission solution.
According to Tanton, EffectiveUI was selected to create the eDesign application because of the firm's focus on the user experience, the design team's proven successes in delivering intuitive interfaces and for the developer's award-winning results integrating cutting-edge Adobe Flex and Adobe AIR technology. "The EffectiveUI team understood what we wanted to achieve and delivered a high quality and innovative product," said Tanton. "Their work process is nimble, responsive and professional -- which allowed us to create a robust solution."
Anthony Franco, president of EffectiveUI, attributes the success of eDesign in large part to user testing. "We are fanatical about making users happy. On this project, we needed to get inside the heads of extremely savvy teenagers who were weaned on technology. User input made a huge impact on how we came to understand what eDesign should do. What sets this product apart is that it is focused entirely on customer needs," said Franco.
"My eighth graders love eDesign. They say it is so much easier and more fun to use than other yearbook applications. As a yearbook adviser, I greatly appreciate eDesign's ease of management and reduced complexity, which at the middle school level is very welcome," said Cindy Everett at Eastside Christian School in Marietta, Georgia.
When Herff Jones delivers school yearbooks in Q2 of 2009, the firm expects to measure the return on its eDesign investment. According to Tanton, Herff Jones staff will closely monitor the number of customers who stay with the solution after the first year, and whether or not the eDesign renewal rate is higher than the overall customer base. He added that customer retention is a definite advantage within the mature yearbook publishing industry, as is the opportunity to cross-sell additional scholastic products to a loyal customer base.
Herff Jones will calculate the internal efficiencies gained from the eDesign implementation. With six plants located across the U.S., eDesign is prompting a significant technological shift inside its facilities. In addition to the new online page creation and submission system, high-speed presses, total reliance on digital imagery and use of the Web for the customer proofing process enable the entire Herff Jones enterprise to better handle peaks and valleys of the seasonal business.
The designers and developers at EffectiveUI collaborated closely with Herff Jones to make the yearbook experience great for teens.
About EffectiveUI
EffectiveUI is an award-winning and recognized leader in the design and development of custom rich Internet, desktop and mobile applications, enabling companies to maximize their business results while offering exceptional interactive experiences. Leveraging emerging technologies and expertise in user experience, strategy, design and development, EffectiveUI helps today's most respected brands deepen customer engagements by creating more compelling, dynamic and useful customer interactions.
EffectiveUI has developed groundbreaking applications for organizations across multiple industries, including eBay, GE Health, NBC Universal, Viacom, Discovery Channel, Dow Jones, Adobe and Microsoft. For more information and examples of EffectiveUI's work, please visit www.effectiveui.com.
About Herff Jones
Herff Jones, Inc., an Indianapolis, Ind. based corporation in its 88th year, is a leading manufacturer and publisher of educational products, recognition awards and graduation-related items for the school market in North America. Herff Jones product lines include yearbooks, class rings, medals and awards, diplomas, graduation announcements, caps and gowns, school photography and institutional materials.
Approximately 4,000 employees manufacture its products in 22 U.S. plants. Those products are sold through a network of more than 800 sales representatives. Herff Jones is one of the nation's largest 100% employee-owned corporations.
Herff Jones Media Contact:
Stacy Hine
Direct: 317.612.3480
Email: Email Contact
EffectiveUI Media Contact
Chris Aron
Direct: 303.748.2444
Email: Email Contact