Empax

I was at a conference in Israel recently that dealt with global and regional strategy and security. The speakers were a high-powered bunch from the worlds of business, diplomacy, military, think tanks and the like. Perhaps you’ve been at a…

After attending an NYU event last Friday – “Marketing Now: The New Consumer” – I am left with a positive and resounding affirmation that communication between brands and consumers is evolving in the right direction.

The concept of Marketi…

Today, brands are defined by the conversations people are having about them, inside and outside of your company. The messages associated with your brand are no longer engineered from your marketing and communications departments, but r…

So there’s a theory that I’ve been touting around for the last few months, and I’d like to reexamine it in light of some new thinking.

The theory: It is going to take large, mainstream, consumer-facing brands with high levels of public intera…

SHE logo

SHE logo

I don’t want to belabor this point. But I kind of do. I suppose it’s become part of my agenda to help take the word profit out of the evil, negative space that if often gets thrown to in the social sector. I want to appreciate that t…

After this year’s Feast On Good conference, I am left feeling the perfect balance of satiated and inquisitive. The overarching theme of the event – Reinventing Industries – was the perfect platform to showcase a myriad of some of the most ex…

The White House recently launched a new initiative called The Social Innovation Fund (SIF). The aim of the Fund is to identify the highest performing, most impactful, nonprofits around the country, and provide the capital needed to facil…

Empax is all about communication. This isn’t news to anyone who know us. Empax is also deeply concerned about evaluation and social impact measurement. This may be news to some of you (in which case it’s time you know how integral this dimens…

Every company — big, small, good, bad, domestic, international — has a mission statement. And chances are, there is at least a grain of goodness in each of them. It’s hard to imagine that any corporation started from a place of w…

And observation begins with listening.

This fundamental, but critical, idea was brought back to life for me over dinner with my two Rwandan friends — Patrick and Emery — last night. They are here visiting the States for the fir…

“5 years from now it’s going to be strategy malpractice not to realize that the two sectors (business and social) are now coming together – there are huge market opportunities that weren’t there before.” — Bill Drayton, CEO, Ashoka (…

Last night’s event, graciously hosted by 501 Tech NYC (of NTEN) at the Planned Parenthood offices, was about the “it” app – Foursquare – and how nonprofits might potentially leverage it in all its trendy glory.

I’m not opposed to Foursquare…

5pm Monday, June 14th:  Empax gets off the phone with the NRDC (Natural Resources Defense Council). They’re looking for a campaign site to tweet the statements of oil company execs testifying before the Senate. They need it quickly…

In a perfect collision of coincidences, the stars have aligned and I’ve had the great pleasure of meeting two new, young, bright minds in the past week. As a journalist turned nonprofiteer – and forever with a healthy dose of foodie in me – it w…

Introducing: The Safe Place

Two Nassau County nonprofits, Coalition Against Domestic Violence and Coalition Against Child Abuse and Neglect, have an announcement to make: They’ve moved in together. This relationship has been develop…

We always say that the people we work with here are angels. This time we just started up a project with a new breed: An Angel Superhero.

Her name is Sharon Shapiro, and she is the driving force behind a deeply inspiring and brilliant organizati…

This is a shout out to one of our clients who we think is doing an incredible job of using their brand.

J Street, a lobbying 501(c)4 organization in Washington DC, provides a political home for pro-Israel, pro-peace Americans. The organizat…

At Empax, we’re all about knowledge swapping and best practice sharing. I guess it’s the nonprofit in us, but we just can’t help wanting to open-source all we do, and help provide access to information to as many people as we can. You all know a…

Last week I came back from my “conference week”. Enough panels for a lifetime. A week at GDC (Game Developers Conference) in San Francisco, and a presentation at SXSW (South by Southwest) in Austin. SXSW expanded in recent years and beyond m…

Empax is looking for a new Web and Graphic designer. We’re looking for people with a versatile array of skills, specifically in web interaction.

This position is full time, for candidates local to the NYC area.

Send us your résumé and…

Her name is Gladys. She lives in Hunts Point on Manida Street, in the Bronx. She is a senior in high school, and preparing to go to college. She wants to study culinary arts: She’s not sure why, other than the fact that she’s always loved watchin…

If ever there was a daunting branding challenge, the State of Israel has to be it.

I was invited to speak about Brand Israel at the annual Herzliya Conference on National Security earlier this month. More specifically, I was asked to address…

No Lipstick on Israel: Martin Kace Delivers Surprising Response to Israeli Foreign Ministry’s “Brand Israel” Proposition at 10th Annual Herzliya Conference

Download PDF (120KB)

New York, NY February 1, 2010 – The government of Israel,…

Empax said bon voyage to our very own Martin Kace yesterday, as he embarked for Tel Aviv’s red carpet.

Kace, a highly anticipated presenter at the star-studded 10th Annual Herzliya Conference, left New York full of confidence and exciteme…

As a photojournalist I often find myself asking the question: What impact does visual storytelling have on society? As someone who works for a nonprofit, I often ask myself: How much does visual storytelling impact an organization’s abil…

Index Book, a Spain-based company that creates books relevant to the design world, has released its first-ever Basic Logos book. This Book of Inspiration compiles logos from designers around the world, showcasing the basic disciplines…

At its core, branding is all about differentiation. It’s about identifying what makes you unique and then showing that off to the rest of the world. At a time when funding and grant money is increasingly harder to secure, differentiation is…

A match made in philanthropic heaven.

Anyone operating in the nonprofit world – in any capacity – has the Foundation Center on his or her radar. The Center is a magnate for information and resources, and recently has been pushi…

From branding to online video, every piece of visual communication that a nonprofit puts out should represent its story.

With all the recent advances in photo, video and web technology it’s sometimes hard to know where to start. Empax has s…

The Hunts Point Alliance for Children (HPAC) has become a major force for positive change in the South Bronx. They are constantly on the move with activities, events and wraparound care for their constituents. Their reach within the commu…

Today, a bit of shameless self-promotion:

At Empax we’re first and foremost visual problem solvers, but in this case our client specifically asked us to work on naming first.

Joshua Venture Group is the updated name we developed for a newly…

As the rains poured down and the frigid winds howled, dedicated do-gooders trekked to the 9th floor of 27 W. 24th St. last Thursday night. While the Wednesday night-ers don’t have quite as dramatic a tale, Empax was equally grateful for both…

After months of a very inspiring and eye-opening partnership, Empax and Hunts Point Alliance for Children (HPAC) are proud to announce the launch of HPAC’s new website.

HPAC is a unique, pioneering nonprofit in the South Bronx that works t…

Brace yourselves: event number two is on its way.  The second edition of our Fall workshop series is all about the nonprofit website.

This is a presentation for nonprofit professionals who either don’t have a website, have a website that co…

Like the first day of fifth grade, nerves and giggles eased as people arrived to Empax’s inaugural in-house event on Wednesday, and two hours later everyone was saying their breezy goodbyes, and leaving (seemingly) untraumatized.  Unli…

Kick off the school year with the funnest class you’ve ever been to.

As summer winds down and Indian summer approaches, Empax would like to invite the eternal student in you to join us for something of a back-to-school event. No calcul…

I’ve already written a blog post about how important a brand is to nonprofits. They need to appear (and of course actually be) trustworthy to their donors, board members and the public at large. Yes, yes, I’ve pontificated eno…

When Obama stepped on the scene everyone and their grandmother began analyzing his campaign tactics. His team took this country by storm and changed the way politicians, organizations and companies would foverer use social media. At Emp…

Wouldn’t it be great to be able to track the establishment of new organizations with 501c3 status?

Don’t you think it would be empowering to be able to see trends in subsectors and areas of focus?

Could your organization benefi…

Empax is currently working on an exciting project for incredible people and we need your Object-Oriented Actionscript 3 programming skills to ensure future scalability and smooth operation of the project.

What we need:
- Object-Orient…

Photo credit: Matt Rubens

Predictably Irrational by Dan Ariely is a collection of phenomena in the field of behavioral economics, which is a high-brow way of saying it’s about how people make their choices.

The findings in this book…

I think of myself as a designer-who-doesn’t-design. My role here at Empax is one of conceptualizer, bringing my experience in non-design life to bear on the work we do on behalf of our not-for-profit clientele.

So I get to ask all the stupid q…

At a recent BBQ the classic question, “so…where do you work?” was posed. I can’t stand that question but luckily am proud of working at Empax so it was semi-tolerable. At the end of my short description Joe* was loo…

Let me first say that I would hate to spend all my time talking about policy and the politics, only the Atacama could be a more dry experience for a designer. However, the implications of not only Data.gov but also what Mr. Kundra and the Obama a…

In case you hadn’t noticed back in January, on his first full day in office the President issued a Memorandum on Transparency and Open Government, in which Mr. Obama states that:

Government should be transparent
Government should b…

I’m wearing my psychologist hat today, (Columbia M.A. and M.Ed. ok?).

I want to say something about the Obama logo: The administration should stop using it.

Why? Because, writ large, it’s megalomaniacal and is creating a cult of personali…

My Group at the Israel 15 Conference – June 8, 2009

The Israel 15 project is a product of the Re’ut Institute, arguably Israel’s most incisive and forward-looking think tank.  The project looks for ways in which the country can leapfrog tech…

Recently, our fearless leader, Martin Kace, was interviewed by the Chronicle of Philanthropy for an article about summer interns.

Teaching the Class of 2009

How nonprofit groups can get stellar work from summer interns

By Michelle Gieno…

Although walking through the nuances of web development is not the most practical nor obvious method for empowering nonprofits, we here at Empax believe very strongly in the motto “Give a man (or woman) a fish; you have fed him (or her…

Perhaps the subject line of this blog post should have read “Empax tackles its most difficult client to date!” but that would be the celebratory champagne talking. Non profit organizations seek out Empax to develop their web…

The title of this blog post pretty much says it all.
Free web hosting for non-profits whose primary focus is environment, grass roots democracy, peace, social/economic justice or human rights. They also plant a tree for each new customer….

Free money for non profits (photo: Flickr/Marshall Astor)

Imagine if every time you went to look up a movie time online it earned your organization money. Like most (all?!?) non profits out there our clients are always looking for ways to ac…

Progressive Exchange offers advice for non profits (photo: quinn.anya on Flickr)

It takes a lot to run a non profit and many questions come up on a day to day basis. If you have ever wished you could reach out to other progressive/liberal mind…

Martin’s recent visit to Israel, to speak at Environment 2020 III, provided a good opportunity for an in-depth Interview with Globes (Hebrew only), Israel’s equivalent of the Financial Times. In the interview Martin tells…

Recently, a few of us at Empax took a trip up to Hunts Point. We were guided by Hunts Point Alliance for Children’s Maryann Hedaa and learned a lot about Hunts Point’s history, culture and current state. This eye opening and insightful tour pr…

We’ve been fighting for stem cells for a long long time here.

Today, President Obama will rid us one more dark cloud hanging over American science by lifting the ban on federal funding and approval of embryonic stem cell research.

Having spe…

Next time you’re in LA, check out the Center for the Study of Political Graphics, home to a huge collection of political graphics–over 50,000 posters–dating from the Russian Revolution to the present. You can also see much of the Cen…

Film maker Gary Hustwit, director of Helvetica has just released the trailer for his new film Objectified, a feature-length independent documentary about industrial design. It takes a look at the creativity behind everything from toot…

The other day as I was making my way from the R train to the A underground at Times Square station, I noticed a series of ads along the corridor. Now I usually don’t stop and stare at ads amidst a dense walking crowd during rush hour, but what reall…

I worked in advertising for a few years so every now and again I peruse an industry pub to see what shop got what client some incredible ROI on some incredibly expensive campaign (I am not a geek I just play one on this blog). The other day a story c…

Here at Empax we love our chocolate. Seriously, the snacks in our kitchen are enough to make even Willy Wonka jealous. Of course we appreciate healthy food too. And we thought it was pretty cool that Heather Mills donated one million dollars…

Here are two technologies that seem to be on a collision course (or even as linear predecessor and successor). The first, multi-touch track pads or screens (as featured on the newest generation of apple notebooks and the iPhone) that respo…

Who do you think about when you think about the upcoming holidays? Chances are you think about Santa Claus before you even think about your family. Although Saint Nicholas has his origins in religions, today he is the brand of a conspicuous c…

These might be the most brilliant things I have ever seen. I grew up with the Nintendo Entertainment System, so when I came across these images (via Ffffound – which is a gift from ADHD heaven), I was instantly impressed.

Beyond this se…

Much has already been written about the Obama campaign and its incredibly successful interaction with young voters via its online components, but the following quote, from this New York Yimes article, really struck me:

Chuck D., 48, the r…

Happy Election Day! I hope everyone has or will cast their vote today. Most polls will be closing 9PM this evening and with this phenomena of time zones we could all be waiting up to anywhere between midnight to, well, December? (Remember Ele…

Where, oh where, to begin. Have you ever visited a place – a town, city or a country – and although you may have been somehow aware of its existence, after having visited this place you find yourself hyper aware of even the most sub…

Last Friday a few of us went to see the Banksy Pet Shop installation. I won’t go into it in detail – you can read about it here – but we weren’t wowed. The points being made were valid, and the animatronics impressive, but ultimatel…

People are sometimes dismissive of posters, maybe it’s the dorm-room association, or the idea that they’re just advertising or propaganda, or perhaps that they’re just cheesy, which many are. But posters–when done…

As the election day draws closer, it is clear that Obama vs. McCain will be one of the most memorable election battles in our country for many.

In New York City there are currently several exhibitions that explore numerous aspects of preside…

Let’s be constructive for a couple of minutes. It’s almost too easy to bash Good Magazine for their irrelevant and sometimes just plain dumb info graphics (or data visualizations), but is there anyone out there who’s d…

During the period of the Great Depression between 1930 and 1942 the American hobo ranks swelled. By any estimate easily more than one million men, women and children were riding the rails on any given day in search of work. Given the broad spe…

The designers of Empax lent a hand in the design of the Fleurs Bella logo and van. Fleurs Bella is a team of beautifiers for flowers and installations. The designers crafted Fleurs Bella’s previous arrangements into an even larger ar…

I’ve come across this somewhat extensive archive of movie title screens, and it’s a real thrill to skim through and compare the evolving aesthetics. There’s also some really funny B movie titles in there, too.

…

While on the subject of not-very-GOOD information graphics (see the previous blog entry below, from my fellow Empaxer Ehud Tal), here’s another example, this time from the New York Times.

The introductory text asks:

“Which…

I’m sure Good Magazine has good intentions. They stand for good causes. They care deeply about some of the most important issues of this century. I also think the design of the magazine is very attractive, like a beautiful Apple produ…

This October’s issue of Print Magazine has an interview with our own Martin Kace. Amongst other things, he and Steven Heller discuss Israel, Clean Tech, and the role that design will play at their intersection. They also discuss som…

Branding: Israel as Battlefield

Tanslated from the Israeli business daily paper “The Marker”

Eight years ago, Martin Kace set aside his business, moved into a new office, and established a not-for-profit company speciali…

Our very own Martin Kace was the keynote speaker at the “Environment 2020″ conference in Tel Aviv back on April 1st. His talk hilighted his vision for the branding of the Israeli environmental movement, and we’ll be add…

Last Friday, some members of the Empax team attended the AIGA IN/VISIBLE Fresh Dialogue on info graphics at the new New York Times building. This discussion looked at info graphics from different angles via four different personalities….

This site is an interesting litmus for the effectiveness of well-known brands. It presents a brand, you enter the one word that comes to mind, then you can view how others have responded. Try it out for yourself.

…

Seeds of Peace relaunched their website, with our new design and homepage Flash animation. Check it out.

The JStreet site we designed launched last month. See how the Washington Post reported their burst onto the Middle East scene here.

The site is an extension of the JStreet brand, which we designed to be the un-AIPAC, projecting a rational an…