A couple of days ago I was posed with a dilemma in a design I was doing for a client. Since we work with international clients, these usually request a language option on their website. I never go with language options being displayed as flags since 1) languages are non-location based anyways 2) they usually ruin the look and feel of the website by their colours, since using black & white is not an option because i.e. the Danish, Swedish and Norwegian flag look too much alike when used in greyscale. I have gathered my solutions to two dilemmas I’m usually posed with when working with projects that require a language option.

Two options solution

What seemed easy to implement, wasn’t easy at first in another website project we had. It took a few tries before we realised which option was indicating it was active and which was a link. We implemented a simple solution where the one picked is clearly indicated with a coloured background and white text. The other poses as a regular link, using the specified link colour which is consistent through-out the website. Lesson learned here is that remember what you’ve already specified as links if you decide to use the same link colours in your language bar when only having to display two options.

Go to the implemented version: http://www.stressmusic.com

Multiple options solution

Eventhough I’ve never been much for using drop-downs, I’ve concluded that to have 4-5+ options on a website, the most usable function is to put them all in a drop-down box and make the option link active (so you don’t need a “go” button). In this solution I’ve entered a title “Select language…” in the dropdown instead of just showing the current language used. One could argue whether this should have been left out and just indicate the active language, but in this case I’ve chosen to show a title.

This project is not yet online, so I’m unable to show you the implemented version.

I hope this post will spark a good discussion about what other usable solutions are out there. I invite you to post some examples and explain why you think this example is either good/bad.

The needs for virtual organizing are increasing rapidly these days. Companies continue to go global.  There is an unprecedented economic crisis so we do not travel anywhere for a meeting. People have an ever higher awareness of environmental impacts, so the ability to work in virtual teams is in high demand.

Things have certainly developed rapidly for Spoiled Milk and many situations are new. The challenge of building a strong team feeling when working from two different locations on a daily basis is really interesting (+ we also had Andreas sitting in Stockholm and participating in the workshop).

The idea for this virtual workshop with Spoiled Milk was to create the same experience of a team workshop, but without being in the same location. Simply to have a fun team experience while doing something valuable and relevant for the company. Those things can easily be combined.

The challenge I gave Spoiled Milk was to find the words that describes the core values of the company, seek objects which represented those words and ultimately create a short video of the results. The main part of the workshop, however, was the virtual interaction between CPH and ZRH office and to talk about the things you usually don’t have time for during busy working hours. Those meaningful conversations build relationships – regardless of the divide between physical and virtual settings.

Screens from the event

And how did it go? Of course we have saved some screens for our blog readers.

Initial briefing (as seen from Anders’ screen) with – from left – Stockholm, Zurich and Copenhagen.

Grand overview – Anders facilitating the virtual workshop.

Local creativity – each team moves into creative mode.

Presentation time – Copenhagen screening the visual output.

Evaluation -  group discussion about how to improve the virtual settings in the future.

Goodbye – both offices rounding off.

A few more photos on the Spoiled Milk flickr account.

Creative output

Copenhagen’s video

Zurich’s video

(Anders Fredsø Olsen is temporarily working in Spoiled Milk as a strategic consultant mainly focused on writing a grand report about the “core of Spoiled Milk”. He will be finishing his studies at The Kaospilots in Århus in June)