Thing-a-ma-tech was a concept that came into Red McCombs Media with a much, much different name and a much, much different concept. Originally called “TheOnlineCIO.com,” the site was originally going to be a resource for companies who may not have an actual CIO. Someone from the company could visit the site and get some rudimentary information to help them set up networks, computer systems, etc.

The problem with this concept is that it’s target audience is limited, and by proxy, the advertising possibilities are also limited. We had a number of meetings and those of us on the development and design teams thought it would be more interesting to make a tech website with original content. Pulling content from the web in this day and age is easily. Everyone sources everyone else. So why couldn’t RMM do the same.

We thought about the name for a bit, looking at the competition and quickly saw that most of the names we remembered were sort of silly, sort of fun, and sort of techy. So I thought of the name “Thing-A-Ma-Tech.” Y’know, sorta’ like thing-a-ma-jig. I was told to make a logo and once I did, the name stuck.

The site was built on the blog paradigm – newest articles up top, everything listed on a similar page, separated by pagination. Easy.

For the design itself, I wanted something inviting as well as tech, something fun and energetic. Simple blues and greens helped, with a nice serrated edge across the top to add a little visual flair. I continued to use the motif of circuits that I brought in through the logo.