Joe Zeff Design

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A New App for Everyday Health!

Joe Zeff Design is pleased to announce that "Diabetes: What Now?" — an iPad app it designed and developed for Everyday Health — is now available in the iTunes App Store. Everyday Health is the leading provider of online health information with 30 million monthly unique visitors. Founded in 2002, Everyday Health has put together a string of successes, with its own premium video channel on You Tube and nine million downloads of its mobile applications, including two of the top ten highest grossing health apps.

"Diabetes: What Now?" is one of the company's first iPad apps, and it was designed and developed by Joe Zeff Design using Adobe Digital Publishing Suite. It contains six chapters of text, pictures and video to help people understand Type 2 Diabetes and lead a healthier life after diagnosis, and 50 recipes with Retina-sharp photographs and detailed nutritional information.

Screengrabs follow:

Many thanks to Deepesh Banerji, Margaret O'Malley, Lesley Marker and the team at Everyday Health!

The Final Hours of TOMB RAIDER

Joe Zeff Design is excited to announce a new project: "The Final Hours of TOMB RAIDER" interactive app, a continuation of the Final Hours series we designed and developed with video game journalist Geoff Keighley. The TOMB RAIDER video game franchise has sold over 35 million copies worldwide and inspired one of the most successful video game film adaptations in history, grossing over $300 million at the global box office. TOMB RAIDER is in development for a multi-platform release on March 5, 2013. Alongside the game, Crystal Dynamics will release "The Final Hours of TOMB RAIDER" interactive apps for iPad, PC and Kindle Fire, designed and developed by Joe Zeff Design.

"The Final Hours series documents the creative process behind today's most anticipated games, with a particular focus on the final stretch of development," said Keighley, in a Crystal Dynamics press release available here. "In the case of TOMB RAIDER I'm especially excited because, at its heart, this is a tale about the act of reinvention, both of a studio and of a franchise."

"The Final Hours of TOMB RAIDER" series kicked off this week with the first of a series of documentary web videos hosted by actor Zachary Levi, available here. The video series takes fans behind the scenes of development, introducing Camilla Luddington as the voice actress portraying Lara Croft in the game. There's also a website, thefinalhoursoftombraider.com.

Joe Zeff Design previously designed and developed "The Final Hours of Portal 2" and "The Final Hours of Mass Effect 3" with Keighley. We look forward to working with him, Square Enix, Crystal Dynamics, Amazon and other partners to make "The Final Hours of TOMB RAIDER" the best yet.

Our first iPhone app

Our first iPhone app, among the first to be produced using Adobe Digital Publishing Suite, is now available in the iTunes App Store. Adobe recently upgraded its Digital Publishing Suite to include an iPhone viewer, and we immediately put it to use. The Joe Zeff Design app was built in a day, leveraging the same DPS tools and workflow we've used to produce other apps. There are two downloadable volumes within the app, one that showcases our award-winning iPad apps and another that focuses on our favorite magazine and album artwork.

Both volumes contain biographies of our employees, a video tour of our new studio, links to some of our partners, and HTML5 animation of our very own bobblehead doll that lets you tap the head to make it bobble. The animation was created using Adobe Edge, the same software used for creating animated graphics for Fast Company's iPad app, as featured on Adobe's Digital Publishing blog.

The Joe Zeff Design app is free, and worth a look for anyone interested in using DPS to reach a potential audience of more than 220 million iPhone and iPod Touch users worldwide. The workflow for iPhone apps is nearly the same as that for iPad apps, but understand the differences between the two. Tablet apps are intended to be rich interactive experiences for large screens; mobile apps must be designed much more simply for the smaller screen, with a premium on immediacy and accessibility.

Download our new iPhone app today and see for yourself.

Divine Inspiration: Our New Offices

Joe Zeff Design is now up and running in our new location, an 86-year-old church in Montclair, NJ, rebuilt from the inside out to accommodate our studio and 12 other companies. The former First Church of Christ, Scientist, has been reborn as Hillside Square, an eclectic mix of classic architecture and eco-friendly technology located about a half-hour from New York City. There's a charging station for electric cars, places to plug in iPads and iPhones, and plenty of outlets for creativity. We've blended the traditional details of the original church with state-of-the-art computer networks and teleconferencing gear to create a one-of-a-kind environment for producing next-generation iPad apps. Exposed trusses, a 16-foot-tall wooden archway, reupholstered pews and a lectern are all repurposed from the original church.

Herewith, a video tour, accompanied by Kanye West:

. . . and some snapshots:

On the other side of our archway is Fanbrandz, a division of Frederick and Froberg that has created brand identities for Major League Baseball and National Hockey League franchises. We look forward to collaborating with their team on sports-related apps and illustrations for years to come. The office is one block from Montclair's central business district, with easy access to some of the best restaurants in New Jersey.

Many thanks to the masterminds behind Hillside Square: developers Bob Silver and Jay Schweppe; Jack Finn & Company with a special thanks to Jack himself and Tom Minden; Sionas Architecture, PC and in particular Rick Jarzembowski; interior designer Rachael H. Grochowski of RHG A+D; Berman Home Systems; the Township of Montclair; the congregation of First Church of Christ, Scientist (which still occupies a smaller part of the building); and the hundreds of workers who made it all possible.

Invitations to come regarding our grand opening party. Meanwhile, we're open for business for app design, production and consulting; magazine covers; illustrations and animations and more. Same as before, 973-655-0501 and studio@joezeffdesign.com. Looking forward to seeing you at the church!