[Loewald New Media]
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Solutions & Skills

We understand that a solution is more than technology. It needs to work for you and your business, and be easy to use, deploy, and update.

Here are some of the solutions we have developed in the past.

Web

JavaScript, [X][HT]ML, CSS, PHP, MySQL, Perl

In his four years working at Valueclick Media (formerly Fastclick) Tonio Loewald developed several new web advertising units. In each of these projects, he was responsible for designing the ad unit, developing the client-side code, and proof of concept demos, testbeds, and simulated ad servers for use during prototyping, development, and QA.

Expando is a general purpose framework for building "expandable" in-page display ads (banners, medium rects, etc.). The design goal for expando was to produce a very simple and robust ad unit that required no special effort on the part of publishers, and was not unduly complex or restrictive for advertising agencies or Flash developers (unlike rival products from companies such as EyeBlaster).

Invue^2 an in-page web advertising ad unit was developed based on the existing Invue ad unit, but designed to be both more visually attractive, more browser-compatible, and more flexible (able to display ads of any size).

Instream is a highly flexible, easy-to-use video advertising solution for websites hosting streaming media (and other content, such as games written using Shockwave, Flash, or Java). Any content can be "wrapped" with "preroll" video ads, and any video content can be followed by "postroll" ads. Many other features, including overlays (on streaming Flash -- FLV -- video) and companion ads are also supported. No other competing solution (as of writing) supports all the major streaming media formats and browsers.

Workflow

REALbasic, C, C++...

Media Mover (above) is one of the most popular third party utilities for Avid editors to manage large projects, and move unneeded media files on- or offline. Media Mover 3, developed for Random Video by Tonio Loewald, is a rewrite from the ground up of this powerful and popular utility, and at last unites its Mac and Windows codebases.

MovieScanner (above) scans digital video files and identifies shots. It vastly reduces the time taken by an operator to locate (and name) individual shots on a video for which there is no shot list.

All In A Dither (developed for Garner MacLennan Group) allows full screen (640x480) video compression and playback on 68040 and 80486-based computers using QuickTime. It also automated image and video compression across large scale multimedia projects. Products developed using All In A Dither have won numerous industry awards and sold hundreds of thousands of copies worldwide.

Manage | Build | Stage allows multimedia presentation content to be managed throughout the life cycle of pharmaceutical detailing aids. From concept and design through to medical and legal sign-off and deployment, Manage tracks the state of every media asset and screen in a project, Build allows designers and artists to instantly see their work in context, and Stage affords reliable cross-platform deployment, bookmarking, and interactive or "one-button" delivery.

QuickPlayer is a handy tool for browsing a digital video library. It was designed to allow users to view and catalog files captured using PVR software.

Design

Photoshop, Illustrator, 3D Studio Max, Blender, Silo, Cheetah 3D...

ReCVEB (the Research Center for Virtual Environments and Behavior) at UC Santa Barbara needed a new site design that reflected what they do and had an "up-to-date" look.

Kelmar & Associates needed a website designed quickly, efficiently, and inexpensively. We had their website viewable (on our site) within hours of their signing off on a layout.

Multimedia Development

Director, Flash, Photoshop, 3D Studio Max...

A large consulting firm was having trouble attracting and retaining high quality recruits. Tonio Loewald designed and led the team which implemented a kiosk application designed to attract more recruits at job fairs and better manage their expectations. Applications more than doubled over the next year.

A large pharmaceutical firm started using multimedia detailing tools developed by Tonio Loewald in 1994, seeing increases in sales and message retention in a one-state pilot program that paid for the first project and rollout. Over ten years this firm has expanded its use of multimedia detailing tools (all developed by us) to the point where they are now "a core part of the way we do business". The latest incarnation of these tools is called Build & Stage.

Database Design

(.*)SQL, 4th Dimension, Filemaker Pro...

An Australian government department needed a multi-user relational database to track its staff allocation and training requirements. We assessed suitable development tools, captured user requirements, designed and prototyped the user interface, developed a working client-server solution, and helped develop training materials in the course of one month.

Usability

Don Norman, Bruce Tognazzini, AHIG...

Avaya Communications wanted to improve the look and feel of two of their web-based PABX configuration tools. We designed the overall user interface layout, and the provided icon designs and reusable interactive widgets for their online help and tutorials.