'We are still designing for attention'

Mark Magnuson has taken Anode from trade show kiosks to next-generation digital signage [From our print edition featured in Monday's City Paper]

Email | Print By William Williams

11-23-2009 12:04 AM — Mark Magnuson is president of Anode Inc., an interactive marketing and communications agency that has operated from downtown Nashville for 18 years. As 2010 looms, Magnuson will oversee his 23-employee company’s move into the former DSS ProDiesel building at 926 Main St. in East Nashville. Anode bought the property in September for $485,000.

Recently, Post correspondent William Williams caught up with Magnuson to discuss the move and other matters.

Anode is moving from downtown to the east side. What is the significance of this?

Anode has been located in the heart of downtown Nashville for more than 16 years. We have always been on Broadway. As a design studio, being a part of the fabric of the city has always helped drive our creative spirit. There’s a lot going on. And it’s great that we can walk to the post office or to our bank.

We love the downtown atmosphere, but the parking has become problematic and expensive. In our new location, we’ll still be part of the warp and weave of the urban core, but with 31 parking spaces. And, we will have a dedicated studio space for photography and video work.

Many of our employees live in East Nashville, so it will be convenient for them. Finally, we are proud to be a part of revitalizing Main Street in East Nashville. I moved to East Nashville in 1987 and there is so much positive energy that is going on over there. I don’t mean to boast when I say that most of Nashville’s best restaurants are located on our side of the river. It’s exciting to see what can happen over there.

Anode was designing Web sites by 1995, seemingly ahead of the curve. Thoughts?

I am proud of the fact that when I first came to Nashville, I went to work for the first company in the state of Tennessee to be involved in computer graphics, Digital Image. I helped set up the production team from the experience I got as a computer graphic artist in Washington, D.C. Back then in the early 1980s, there were a handful of companies specializing in visual information design.

So now, as a company, we’ve always been on the forefront of technology and how to integrate technology into design. Our first Web site work pre-dated current tools like Adobe Dreamweaver, so all the HTML was hand-coded. Besides coding for Netscape, the biggest challenge was holding someone’s attention long enough to get your graphics downloaded over a phone line.

Most of all, I am very proud of the early work that we did in navigational strategy. Because we had been building interactives, we knew techniques to allow people to easily move through information on the web. Chris Lee, our VP of technology, is a pioneer in designing navigation strategies.

Things have changed dramatically, but ultimately we are still designing for attention. There are so many destinations and information sources on the web that we still begin with the basic question: Why would someone stay on this site? Once we define the communications strategy for a site, we bring in the creativity and technology that supports the message. The most challenging production step is now testing for the multiple combinations of operating systems, browsers, screen resolutions and mobile platforms.

Give us the lowdown on FireSign.

FireSign is our digital signage platform that we developed in 2000 for the ticketing area at Colonial Williamsburg. In the past eight years, FireSign has achieved a national footprint in schools, museums, libraries, healthcare facilities and corporations.

In early 2010, we will introduce our fourth version of FireSign. Along with an upgraded user interface, we will also unveil a series of touch-screen applications. These FireSign applications will reset expectations for producing and maintaining interactive content in public spaces by adding a content management system to interpretive or curatorial media.

How has the company grown the last, say, five or six fiscal years? How have your employee roster and roles of your employees changed during that time?

Our business has stayed financially viable for over 18 years. As a project- or campaign-based creative studio, our revenues fluctuate from year to year but not that much. We have always been very careful not to quickly expand or reduce our staff; in fact, we have been the same size for many years. I like the size group we have now, 23 people. It allows us the freedom to do great work without having to add a layer of management to supervise, thus adding more overhead. Our goal is not to necessarily increase revenues year after year. We’re a studio. We produce what we can and try not to take on more than we can handle. It’s allowed us to stay a consistent size.

My goal is to foster a sense of stability and personal growth at Anode. However, this approach also means that our employees have a responsibility to continuously learn new skills and adapt to changing client demands. Within our current staff, we have an office manager that was once the receptionist. We have a client manager who recently completed his MBA and moved into a VP of sales position. Even our creative director started as a graphic designer. I am proud of their abilities to rise to the challenge.

Is your move to East Nashville being done to “weather the economic storm,” to create new opportunities — or both?

Our move it about creating new opportunities. Yes, we will be saving money, but our strategy is to reinvest that savings into growing our business for the future—rather than pocketing the short-term savings.

Anode is known for video. Thoughts?

Video is one of the most compelling forms of storytelling, and the format continues to evolve. The delivery, production process and duration have changed, but the critical component remains the ability to share a story. When we started producing videos 18 years ago, a 10-15 minute video was the norm and what our clients demanded. Today, if we can’t tell our story in 2-4 minutes, we lose the audience. Almost every brand identity project we work on uses video to help communicate the essence and emotion of the brand.

In the past year, we have added a 3D artist to our staff who has brought a whole new dimension to our video work. Now, we are helping companies share virtual showrooms and explore molecular details.

The company, to an extent, got its start in the early 1990s with kiosks. As you look back, how did that shape the Anode of today?

Yes, we spent many years building interactive kiosks for places like the International Bluegrass Music Museum, Alabama Constitution Village, National Aquarium in Baltimore, Stax Museum (in Memphis) and NCAA Hall of Champions. This work taught us how to distill vast amounts of information into engaging experiences for visitors. We learned to layer information to make it more approachable, and we learned how to integrate technology with creativity and strategy. Over the years, the technology has changed, but the lessons are still the same.

Today, we continue to produce interactive exhibits for clients such as the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum, Fort Negley and the Georgia Music Hall of Fame. However, our clients no longer view digital media as an afterthought. Our work is now expanding to include consideration for the pre- and post-visit experience.

How is Nashville’s community of “Anode-like companies” faring during this economic slump? How does competition make Anode better?

During any economic downturn, the cream always rises to the top. You simply cannot afford to waste time and money on poorly conceived or poorly executed communications. The studios and agencies that survive will be the best of the best, and we are seeing exceptional work being produced by the Nashville community. The economic downturn has also challenged us to rethink and revisit every decision we make creatively to make sure our message comes through.