Leadership is Measurable

Design World Magazine has won 2 design awards- one national award from the ASBPE for best new publication design and the other from APEX for best new design and layout. We also finished our BPA audit requirements in June and are riding huge momentum from our successful Design Tips video and print program, Project Mechatronics, MakePartsFast, and upcoming 3DCADTIPs re-launch and scores of other tools and technology platforms for both the engineer and the marketer.

We’ve already mentioned  Folio 40 - as Mike and Scott were named to the 2008 Folio 40 - most prestigious list of 40 most influential leaders in the magazine industry. And our Folio feature on our January 2008 issue as a 2008 start-up success story.

So a quick pause to enjoy the awards and accomplishments. We appreciate all the support from our customers, vendors, colleagues, friends and family and will continue to be the fastest growing design engineering publications and digital network resource on the market.

Webex Event: Customized Online Solutions

The Design World Digital Network
Leveraging 5 million page views monthly from over 800,000 registered network site users.
Our focus is enabling you to participate online utilizing the latest technologies and innovations. By supporting and creating customized integrated print and online ROI based solutions, you’ll find Design World a key a partner in your marketing efforts. Whether it be creating video, developing widgets, syndicating RSS feeds, hosting 3D catalogs, customizing and targeting eNewsletters, Design World enables you to drive measurable results from your marketing investment.

Join us for a Webex Event to learn more.
Thursday July 31, 11am EDT – 45 minutes
Sign up at: http://reg.designworldonline.com

Updated Mechatronics Site

With the original Project Mechatronics site in conjunction with Electronic Products (a Hearst Business Media property), we started with media wiki and blog, and have since updated into a cleaner and easier to nav site. The area of mechatronics is not new, but modern control theory through innovative mechanics and increasingly powerful silicon makes this topic particularly interesting, and is growing fast. So the new site reflects our commitment to bringing more in-depth coverage, information, news, commentary, video and more to the domain.

And on the topic of mechatronics, while watching the F1 BMW Sauber team and driver Robert Kubica pick up a win in Canada, I thought there was not a more visible and often incredible demonstration of cutting edge mechatronics. With a 19,000 rpm 2.8L engine putting out almost 900hp and the car weighing under 1500lbs, thats just the start. Under heavy braking periods, a driver is subjected to a horizontal deceleration of close to 5.4G with carbon fiber brakes heating up to over 1000 degrees C. The cars are auto-tuned during the race remotely and there are a heap of other software innovations to squeeze every last bit of performance out of the mechanics.

And while a wind tunnel is critical for testing, CFD (Computational Fluid Dynamics) has been in place since the 90’s. A quote from F1 Tech sums it up.

“CFD is widely used in the aerospace industry, but geometries are comparatively simple. In its detailed geometry, Formula One is regarded as the cutting edge with its wings, complex bodywork, cooling arrangements, engine bay and last but not least very complex geometry inside the wheels.”

The quick turns in car testing and design, make the use of CFD most applicable. The ability to modify a 3D model of the car or part, run a virtual wind tunnel, and analyze data within a day is key for the race teams. The interesting wings, and other body tweaks you’ll see on the cars is evident of constant testing and innovation.

Its a punishing sport, one where the driver must be in top condition to withstand the constant high G forces, and navigate around tracks where speeds top 200mph and then back down within seconds.

All in all, one of the more exciting demonstrations of mechatronics.

LinkedIn : Social Partnerships

A while back, we launched a LinkedIn Group as an informal networking group for design engineers and others. We did limit marketers and head hunters, as we wanted to foster a core community of engineers. The results since launch have been amazing really, and it proves the point that we’re already in a ‘networking’ or ‘connection’ phase in the online world where people want to belong, contribute and control content, especially among peers.

I’m even more pleased as Folio just published a great story on LinkedIn and included us. http://www.foliomag.com/2008/turning-social-partnerships-profit

Although the article title implies monetization , we did not launch the Group for profit, and we’re now well above our 1K goal within just about a month. And importantly for us - as Scott is quoted “…we’re looking at setting up an editorial advisory board and this is an editorial advisory board on steroids. We can go in and get instant feedback…”

Look for more from us on the LinkedIn front real soon, and if inclined, join our Group and start networking.

2008 Folio: 40

I was stoked to see Scott McCafferty and Mike Emich, my esteemed colleagues make it into the Folio:40! Well deserved for having the vision, taking the risk, and promoting high integrity among other things in launching a b-to-b media platform. WTWH and Design World made it under the category of ‘UNDER THE RADAR’ and I of course appreciate the now internally famous quote by Scott during an interview with Matt Kinsman, “We’re perceived as the so-called ‘smart online guys.”

We’re getting close to our 2 year anniversary, and I’m proud to be part of a most excellent team as we keep building this thing out.

3D CAD Model Publishing

Its been a key feature of Design World since inception, but reading a partner profile at Autodesk brings the point home again - Why design when you can download? You can save hours of design time by using ready-made parts from your favorite global suppliers.

CAD neutral Traceparts continues to leverage their resources through publishing partnerships with CAD & PLM vendors such as Google, SolidWorks, PTC, Missler Software, Alibre, Axemble, and of course Design World.

And with the uptake on 3D Catalog creation & broad publishing via Traceparts, we are seeing high activity in this area. Marketers must view this as ‘new media’, a means to leverage lead generation and marketing ROI that also has the extremely worthwhile side effect of reducing aspects of engineering overhead; eg. time savings in not having personnel in the engineering department generate and send CAD data to a prospect or customer since the engineer can configure and download themselves. And be guaranteed an in-spec part. I view 3D content creation, configuration and promotion a ‘must do’ for any supplier with in-house 2D/3D demand.

Good Online Ad Size Resource

Besides IAB - Interactive Advertising Bureau - best practices site, I came across the Morningstar Advertising Opportunities page that has a nice interface for their online ad specification. While specific to their site, its a good resource if looking for dimensions and image blanks of the actual ad size.

Welcome Pat Curran

We are pleased to be expanding our overall business and bringing Pat Curran on as business development manager. Pat will be involved in the continued growth of our online business and expanding opportunities. In addition, Pat will be assisting with ongoing custom and comprehensive sales programs.

A Cleveland native, Pat will be working out of our Middleburg Heights office. He can be contacted at pcurran@designworldonline.com.

Stumble on the Newsvine

As we are completing the next release of Design World Online, we decided to integrate some new sharing capabilities on our articles. Email and del.icio.us bookmarks and of course RSS are stil in place, but we are pleased to add StumbleUpon which after a year of staff use, seems better suited for our audience. StumbleUpon works extremely well for matching content with a users interests, so once a page is added or ‘discovered’, other stumblers that have same preferences will find themselves stumbling across relevant materials. A toolbar is available for most browsers making it easy to use the online tool, tag, and burn hours of time stumbling around relevant site info. We also added Newsvine as another option based on our focus articles. We decided to drop Digg, after much deliberation. Don’t get us wrong - great technology, great concept - and a great place to find stuff like the highly rated “Everyday Normal Guy Rap Song 2″, but not so great on the engineering side of things.

So try the new tools, discover some great engineering content, or seed an article at Newsvine to grow exposure for your companies featured article.

Expanded Relationship with TraceParts

More great news leading off the New Year - we’re pleased to announce our expanded business relationship with TraceParts.

WTWH Media, LLC Expands Relationship with TraceParts

www.tracepartsonline.net added to Design World Online network offerings

SANTA BARBARA, Calif.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–WTWH Media, LLC today announced an expanded partnership with TraceParts, a leading global supplier of 3D Engineering Content. Through this partnership, Design World is named as exclusive North American reseller for assisting and supporting suppliers in the data migration process to a 3D catalog. The CAD catalogs are then available across the TraceParts media platform including www.designworldonline.com, www.tracepartsonline.net, SolidWorks^® www.3dcontentcentral.com, Google Warehouse^™, and a number of other popular CAD communities.

Additionally, Design World will leverage the TraceParts international audience to its portfolio of network offerings. TracePartsOnline.net is a 3D supplier catalog community with over 5.2 million monthly page views and over 300,000 registered users. Marketers have the ability to run globally geo-targeted messages to this rapidly growing audience.

“Manufacturers are updating their marketing programs so they can increase customer satisfaction and product exposure,” says Bob Noftle, TraceParts president. “This partnership provides manufacturers the program flexibility they’re looking for and allows for maximum exposure of 3D models to the design engineer OEM and machine builder audience.”

“Marketers are seeking a higher ROI by implementing 3D CAD model online catalogs and the TraceParts solution fits perfectly with Design World Online programs,” said Mike Emich, co-founder Design World. “These catalogs also promote higher efficiencies in engineering customer support by allowing the design engineer to configure the model to their specifications. It’s a three-way win for engineering, marketing, and the design engineer. We’re pleased to provide our OEM design engineering audience valuable 3D services and content through our TraceParts partnership.”

About TraceParts

TraceParts is a leading digital engineering content company, offering customers progressive business solutions through powerful web based products and services. TraceParts helps customers improve marketing efficiencies by increasing the value of their existing digital product data. The TraceParts Online CAD portal is freely available to millions of CAD users worldwide. For more information about TraceParts, please visit www.traceparts.com.

Next Page »