Re: the iPhone 4 antenna hubbub, Apple held firm in the face of constant coverage from tech blogs, a class-action lawsuit, and vocal customer complaints. So it’s interesting that the company finally blinked in response to an old school media outlet: Consumer Reports.

In large measure, the article in Consumer Reports was devastating precisely because the magazine (and its Web site) are not part of the hot-headed digital press. Although Gizmodo and other techie blogs had reached the same conclusions earlier, Consumer Reports made a noise that was heard beyond the Valley because it has a widely respected protocol of testing and old-world credibility. Mr. Jobs acknowledged as much, saying: “We were stunned and upset and embarrassed by the Consumer Reports stuff, and the reason we didn’t say more is because we didn’t know enough.”

Consumer Reports got taken seriously because it’s so different than other media outlets. It’s been around since 1936. It’s part of a nonprofit organization. It has a mission (“to work for a fair, just, and safe marketplace for all consumers and to empower consumers to protect themselves”). It doesn’t allow advertising or accept free samples. It doesn’t go for a snarky tone. It does tons of extensive lab testing. It doesn’t focus just on glamourous products (for every iPhone it tests, there are tons more mops, air conditioners, and other “boring” products it examines). It doesn’t rely on page-view-pimping bloggy business as its bread and butter. Instead, it sells thoroughness and trustworthiness.

And that’s why when CR raised its red flag, it was taken seriously.

Consumer Reports’ approach is working too. It’s one of the top-ten-circulation magazines in the country. And its various outlets have a combined paid circulation of 7.2 million, up 33 percent since 2004.

Reminds me a bit of how Cook’s Illustrated thrives while other food publications are going down the drain. Everyone’s wringing their hands about the fate of media outlets, but these two publications show how a strong philosophy and a willingness to buck trends can lead to success.

Tangent: The CR site has a neat archive of vintage photographs showing its tests of consumer products over the decades.

Highlights from this week’s 37signals staff posts at Twitter.

37signals: Michael Hyatt is giving away 50 copies of REWORK on his blog: http://bit.ly/axK7rX

mattlinderman: Martin Wilson’s v cool “composed” contact sheets. Every frame is like a pixel in the bigger picture. http://bit.ly/dom2KF (via @photojojo)

sstephenson: Just left the Coudal office for the last time. Going to miss working there, but our new digs are awesome.

mattlinderman: All about Pantone 173 (aka Golden Gate Bridge International Orange). A color fave of mine. http://bit.ly/bLDxvH

jasonfried: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_common_misconceptions

jasonfried: How the Old Spice personal response videos are being made: http://bit.ly/9Wtnua

rjs: “Storyboarding the Simpsons Way” – a behind-the-scenes PDF http://bit.ly/9FGR3d

After seven years sharing space, today was our last official workday in the Coudal Partners office. We’ve had an amazing time working with them, each of us huddled around computers, bringing ideas to life.

We watched them drink a really old can of Diet Barqs Root Beer.

We watched them put a keyboard in the dishwasher.

Together we did three SEED Conferences, one at Crown Hall.

And everyday, we have watched the office fill up with more and more and more versions of Field Notes than anyone ever expected.

We’ve been inspired by Jim, Michele, Steve, Dawson, Bryan, Susan, Kevin, Dave and all their many interns everyday. We’re going to miss them all.

Our friends at TipsyCake helped us thank everyone at Coudal for their support in style.

Time: 19:14 | 07/15/2010 | Download MP3

Summary
In the final part of our design roundtable discussion, Jamie Dihiansan, Jason Fried, and Ryan Singer answer questions from readers at Signal vs. Noise.

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Comment from John on the “Office: Details” post:

I wonder how many design sessions were spent on the wording of the “IN USE” sign.

“At first, we had ‘BUSY’. It was ok but it didn’t feel quite right. What if David is in there slacking off, for example? It’s no ‘busy’. So, I went to use Draft [link] and posted the following on Campfire [link]: ‘OCCUPIED’ It was the right meaning this time, but it sounded shitty, like it was an airport bathroom. In the end, Ryan suggested ‘IN USE ’. It just clicked: simple, the right meaning, short and to the point. Perfect.”

Haha. Well played.

Here’s how it would have gone…

Five days to go until we begin working in the new office. It won’t be completely done for another 10 days or so, but it’s workable so we’re going to work it.

Here are some details of some of the materials in the space.

Below: Q&A with Dan Clifford, Co-Founder and Managing Partner of AnswerLab. This is part of our “Bootstrapped, Profitable, & Proud” series which profiles companies that have $1MM+ in revenues, didn’t take VC, and are profitable.

What does AnswerLab do?
We provide user experience research and consulting for web, mobile and software applications. Our research helps clients improve areas that are confusing or frustrating, so that they can deliver compelling products that are easy to use.

The market research industry exists because of basic human nature – it’s really challenging for people to truly put themselves in other people’s shoes.

We help clients understand how their products are perceived by their target customers. For example we recently conducted a study for a company that was producing games for the iPhone. The development team learned that users had trouble understanding the game rules, however once they understood the rules they loved the game. Without user experience research the team would not have known about this critical roadblock to game adoption.

This San Francisco Business Times story on AnswerLab shows Founders Dan Clifford and Amy Buckner.

How successful is the business?
We’ve been very happy with the success of the business. AnswerLab is approaching its 6th anniversary. Each year, we’ve been profitable and have grown our year-over-year revenues. Our top-line revenues have already been made public since we were on the most recent Inc. 500 list of fastest-growing privately held companies. In 2009, our revenues were $2.7 million. Our run-rate so far this year exceeds that so we expect another year of record revenues. We often compete and win against $1 billion+ research firms. Clients that choose us are industry-leaders such as eBay, Yahoo, FedEx, Electronic Arts, ESPN, and more.

How did you fund yourself at first?
My co-founder Amy Buckner and I funded the company ourselves. The nice thing about a professional services firm is it doesn’t take much capital to get started. All you need is a couple of phones and laptops. Add a website and you’re in business.

Amy and I continue to own the business and we haven’t taken on investors. We’ve both worked at multiple companies before starting AnswerLab and saw that the demands of outside investors to hit quarterly numbers can really impact the relationship companies have with their clients. Pressuring a customer to ensure that they sure they sign your agreement before the end of the quarter does not create a trusted advisor relationship.

Card sorting studies help clients develop a site navigation structure that makes the most sense to their users.