You’d think the first priority doing business in the interactive design industry would be investing in one’s own corporate identity– after all, that’s the first place clients look (whether it’s your business cards or website) for a showcase of the true potential you have to offer. I can’t tell you the amount of times I’ve ditched a card after someone claimed to be a graphic or web designer, but then I realize I’m holding a free VistaPrint business card or clicked through to a shoddily-crafted website. It’s not about vanity, it’s about displaying your talents in the most effective and creative way possible, and there shouldn’t be extended periods of downtime or redesigns. Investing in your own brand is plain commonsense.

Red Interactive Agency is a perfect example to follow: not only is their client list as extensive as it is impressive (HBO, Comedy Central & Lionsgate, to name a few), they were recently awarded the Best Self-Promotional Site and Best of Show at the FITC Awards for their own amazingly slick and original flash-based site. In short, it’s like Second Life for people with lives short attention spans. After you plug in a name and pick a character, take a spin around their Tim Burton-esque wonderland and interact with others in a variety of ways, be it practicing your white-man’s overbite and busting a move, or smacking them in the face with pan. Oh, and you can chat, too. All that and the pertinent information about their company is right there, seamlessly displayed on the same page. Brings new meaning to the word “interactive”, don’t you think?