Adobe is showcasing our Lowe's Welcome Back Spring Site as the Site Of The Day today.  It is wonderful to continue to receive industry recognition for the hard work we do on behalf of our clients. The Sunnyville campaign was also featured on FWA as a Site Of The Day on April 23. We look forward to more exposure of the site.

While awards aren't our ultimate goal, they do give us the opportunity to be seen and appreciated. It helps us attract great talent and attract clients interested in making an impact in the marketplace.  Congratulations to the entire Lowe's team, our Firstborn Multimedia partners, and our clients for the dedication, passion and smarts.

Tables, histograms, pie charts and bar graphs pass before our eyes on a regular basis. They are relatively simple to create in applications like PowerPoint, and relied upon to convey complex information. But we know they don’t always work as well as we’d like them to. Sometimes an idea demands an expression that’s more innovative, more compelling, and more fascinating. This is where a little data visualization can go a long way.

There are several excellent resources for data visualization out there. While a site like Infosthetics.com is no secret, there are several other inspiring blogs devoted to the topic of data visualization.  Flowing Data recently posted a short list of such sites. That post prompted a more comprehensive list at Random Etc. Mashable, a blog devoted to online social networks, shares in this post data visualization tools that serve as great alternatives to the typical chart. Smashing Magazine breaks new approaches to data visualization into four categories: Mind Maps, Displaying News, Displaying Data, and Displaying Connections.

The best solution will ultimately depend on your subject matter and your audience, but I like to visit these sites just to be inspired. You can always search infoviz+blogs on deli.cio.us for the latest resources and inspiration, too.

Graphic created with Visual Thesaurus.

The 12th annual Webby Awards , considered the "Oscars of the Internet", has unveiled their nominees for the best websites, videos and ads of the year. Tribal DDB received the most nominations (7) of any agency.

According to their press release , the tally was: Tribal DDB (7), Media Front (5), Crispin Porter + Bogusky (4), R/GA (4), Wieden + Kennedy (3), Grand Union (3), AKQA (3), and McCann Erickson (3).  Of the big four advertising holding companies, Ominicom is the front-runner with 13 nominations, followed by Interpublic (7), Publicis (3), and WPP (3).

Tribal DDB also received 13 “Official Honoree” nods. The Chicago office contributed with two "Official Honorees”: Kobalt Tools for best Retail Website and McDonald's Dollar Menunaire for best Online Campaign.

The Webby’s allows the public to vote for a “People’s Choice” winner, so be sure to head over to their site to vote.

Here's the complete list of Tribal DDB Nominations and Honorees.

Nominations:

Category/Entry
Consumer Electronics: Seduction By Light
Employment: The Warehouse Careers
Restaurant: McDonalds Chicken McDonald's Chicken
Microsite Banner single: Lightbulb
Branded Content: Second Puberty
Game or Application: Nike Plus Miles
Rich Media: Corporate Warming

Official Honorees:

Best Visual Design - Seduction By Light
Best Visual Design - Start a Chain Reaction
Banner singles - Land Mines
Integrated Campaigns - Schlämmers Quest
Mobile - Short but Fun
Online campaigns - Dollar Menuanaire
Branded content - Schlämmers Quest
Email - Pepsi Holiday x-tras
Game or Application - Ambulanssi The Game
Viral - Ambx pranksters
Viral - Schlämmers Quest
Viral - How sack saved the beach
Food and Beverage: Meals Together