1. January 2023

josef.media

[TL;DR] Sometimes you have to leave something good behind to go forward and gain something even better.

Welcome to josef (that’s me) .media (on the one hand it’s a Top-Level-Domain and on the other hand it’s my profession).

As you may notice I gave my old website a major rebranding and below I explain my reasoning for doing so.

First of all I would like to take a step back because I have done some basic theoretical research beforehand.

Companies in competitive markets need to

Offer products and services that satisfy customer’s needs.
Set a price a customer is willing to pay.
Provide easy access to the products and services.
Promote the products and services with the right channels, communication tools and message.

To be acknowledged and remain successful businesses should fully commit to these obligations in all of their activities due to the immoderation and choice consumers have nowadays.

I always tried to consider the first 3 points in my own business plan but Promotion, PR or advertising – of all things the one that I’m consulting my clients in – has been more or less neglected in my Marketing and Communication efforts. Why? To be frank it was never really necessary because I was able to steadily expand my customer base through recommendations.

But the own demands increase over time.

When I launched klicc.at 10 years ago one of my self-imposed requirements on the (domain) naming was “short”, “different” and “catchy”. After several attempts using diverse name finder tools I finally had a match.

And it worked out quite well as most of the people remembered the name which has been derived from “click”.

klicc.at never has been established as a brand with an official logo because in my opinion no wordmark combination was looking good. Putting time, money and energy into a relaunch doesn’t pay off in a short-term plan and I’m well aware that names, logos or any shallowness are not that important. It’s what lies inside of you and what you create that matters.

Still I had the strong desire to have something firm representing me and my business activities. And the time to approach a complete makeover was right.

Brand 2.0

Logo

As a one-person business, it is obvious to associate your own company with yourself. However, my full name would have been out of the question because it is too long and complex. There is nothing as formative as one’s own first name and that’s why I decided to go with it – without any narcissistic predisposition.

My new goal was to have a simple, clean and lightweight wordmark.

Branding processes are never easy and, above all, takes time to mature. In addition, a suitable domain name must still be available, which is not easy these days.

A modern logo should have a playful character, in no way it should appear stiff and, in my case, it is obvious that it must be appropriate for the digital sector.

Here I’m happy to present the result in several variations:

josef.media

Typeface

I wanted to have a modern typography without a lot of bells and whistles. That’s why there is only one version for headings and body text, which can be used on screens as well as in documents and always remains readable. A big thank you to Radomir Tinkov who has designed this font and provided it free-of-charge.

The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.

Website

The new website design has a modern touch, looks different, is eye-catching and still has rough edges. Just what a visual design in the tech industry should reflect nowadays.

Of course it is pixel perfect and packed with state-of-the-art features like WebGL, Parallax effects and useful gimmicks like a QR code generator for easy sharing of my contact information via a vCard, an Out-of-office/Status API (which can be controlled from my mobile btw.) and a file uploader to securely transfer files to my private Cloud josef.cloud.

It was the perfect playground for some tryouts that wouldn’t have been possible or far too expensive several years ago.

Under the hood

Like in the iceberg model the visible part of a relaunch is only a small segment of a bigger whole.

From time to time it is crucial to do a bit of soul-searching, step into the unknown, revise workflows or improve existing and develop new products. This keeps you on track and helps living out creativity and learning new things in the end.

Identity

I have reflected on principles, values and beliefs that I stand for and packed everything I came up with into the site content.

Having a clear vision is good but staying flexible and adapting to unexpected circumstances is even more important nowadays.

Life time is limited. The only way to build the own future and achieve satisfaction is to follow one’s heart and believe in oneself.

I think that I’ve arrived in professional life as I already gained a lot of experience and know how and it feels good that I always can rely on partners that may give a helping hand if required, I trust in and that everything will work out ok like it always did.

🤔 But you don’t own a Media company!?

Yes and No. The requirements in the IT business have changed fundamentally in recent years.

When you search for Media in Wikipedia you will notice that the term refers to Communication outlets or tools used to store and deliver information or data… And that’s what the IT industry is all about nowadays.

My job is to develop Websites and Web applications or more general Communication systems. Furthermore I have built up some nice side projects in the past which perfectly fit to a .media hub.

🤔 Ok. You’ve revamped your business. What will change?

Not much. You have my word. I will stay completely independent which means that I can offer whatever I believe is best for my clients. Tinkering in code still fulfills me and will remain an important part of my daily work life as I still have the feeling that my expertise is valuable. And I’m still working in a familiar Coworking Space based in Vienna close to the beautiful Augarten.

The most obvious and notable change is the public appearance of my website which has received a different look with a more professional and unique design.

By the way. Though the old URL including all email addresses will be auto-forwarded I would like to ask everyone to update any existing bookmarks and contact information.

🤔 Was it worth it?

Since I usually enjoy my work, definitely. The whole process was spread out over a very long period of time without a strict timeline, and with a deliberately open outcome – in the end it was fulfilling.

🤝 Some words of gratitude to all of my clients, partners and colleagues!

Thanks for your faithfulness even in uncertain times. I’m looking positively forward to a bright future with great adventures and joyful challenges.

If there are any questions or concerns left to the relaunch please do not hesitate to contact me at any time.

🙈 One more thing!

While developing the new website I thought that it was fun to include a hidden easter egg. Here is a hint where you can find it:

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