Nia joins straight from graduating with a BA in Politics from the University of East Anglia (UEA) in Norwhich. Not a ‘green’ grad- she has experience as a fundraiser for the UEA Alumni Association, and previous work experience within PR & Events in Kent.

She brings the New Business & Marketing roll-call to three, and is busy getting stuck into all aspects of agency (and new business) life.

Honda have been building cars at their factory in Swindon for two decades, and this year over 130,000 models will roll off the factory line and onto driveways across the country. Because of this they want to celebrate the art of craft and expertise in the country today.

Honda believes that Britain is bursting with creators of all kinds, which is why they have created a series of Made in Britain Facebook competitions (to run every 3 months), showcasing the very best British crafters and their skills.

Ready to showcase your creations?

This is a lovely idea and a great way to honour and encourage home-grown talent. Their first competition is all about ‘Style’ and is open to everyone in the UK.

Entrants can upload photos or videos of their creations, discuss craft with other fans and get feedback on their finished pieces. The deadline for entries is 15th May.

There are also development awards for each competition, worth up to £1000, to help the best makers in Britain invest in something that extends their creative skills.

You can take part and find out more by visiting the Made in Britain Facebook page.

We Love is getting bigger and we are on the look-out for talented people to join us… So if you want to be part of an award-winning agency that is working with global names and has a desire for real change, get in touch…

There are a number of exciting opportunities at the manor:

Senior Tech Lead

Senior UX / IA

Creative Developer

Marketing & New Business Coordinator

If you think you are the perfect person for one of the jobs listed above, find out more and apply through our jobs page.

The high intensity sequence not only keeps you on the edge of your seat but also demonstrates the performance capabilities of the new I5 processor. The pursuit of the young girl by the two men passes seamlessly through one window to another, with references to many well know programs and games including GTA, Facebook, street fighter and photoshop.

With the recent releases of The Wilderness Downtown and and Sour’s Mirror interactive music video, will the multi window be the trend of 2011?

The viral campaign for “The Last Exorcism” takes advantage of these helpless souls. Enticing them in with the prospect of a young lady undressing and then scaring the living hell out of them, as she transforms into a demon possessed by the devil.

With already over 200,000 YouTube views, The Last Exorcism is receiving global recognition on a shoestring media budget.

There is seemingly a “technological revolution” released every second day in the digital industry, however every now and again something pops up which really makes people take note.

With the release of Facebook Places last night, it seems we are really entering the next phase of social media, a more diverse level of real-world interaction, as well as a completely new level of targeted marketing.

Places takes the existing concept of applications such as FourSquare and takes it to where people already are, Facebook.

While primarily aimed at iPhone users for now (Android and Blackberry versions are planned), Places introduces location-based services to the world’s most popular social network.

Places enables users to share their current location with friends, find out where their friends are, and discover new places of interest. Users can also add their own places of interest to the platform, whether it be a business or a residential address.

In the same manner as FourSquare, users can “check-in” to places, as well as tag people who are at a particular place with them.

As with the release of most new technology of this kind, there will always be concerns about privacy. Traditionally,  it was easy to alleviate these concerns by only making the information available to (and from) users who had opted in to use the service. Where Facebook face issues with their implementation is that, by default, a user can “check-in” somebody else (without their approval or permission) into a venue. There is potential for this to get rather messy and I foresee this being one of the first changes made to the privacy settings within the application.

So while this just seems like a new aspect of already existing Social Media technology, it is the “openness” of the Facebook application which is exciting for us in the digital industry.

From tomorrow, Facebook are releasing an API which will enable developers to “pull” data from the Places application, which really does open a whole new world of possibility in terms of targeted marketing. Being able to track people’s behaviours, regular hangouts and social activeness, amongst other things enables us to truly reach the audience whom are most likely to be interested in a  particular product.

While this has huge benefits for companies advertising strategies, it should also benefit the consumer in that they will ideally only be receiving and viewing advertising which is most relevant to them.

Unfortunately for us outside of the U.S, Places is not available to us at the moment. It is intended to be rolled out internationally, however no release dates have been revealed.

We are getting closer and closer to the reality of being able to go to a random venue and meet new people with similar interests via our phones, but I truly wonder if this is a good or bad thing in the long run. We already hide behind technology so much that it would be a real shame to take the face-to-face interaction out of going out in public all together.

I think new technologies such as this are really exciting and enable us, as marketeers, to reach our audience on a new level, whilst on the flipside also enable us as consumers to better connect to both our peers and brands.However,  I believe, as with all technology, it should be approached with considered usage and should never been seen as a replacement to face-to-face interaction.

Reference: Mashable: Social Media News

As was to be expected there was a lot of discussion about the capabilities (and limitations imposed by particular browser/s) of HTML5 and CSS3. Admittedly, it is very exciting to be able to utilise these tools when designing for the web, however a few of the speakers touched on some points which I think are of much greater importance when it comes to the real future of web design.

Paul Boag mentioned that we should forget about the new technologies for the time being and focus on improving our Marketing, Copywriting, Contextual Understanding, Strategy, and Psychology skills. This is very much in line with what I believe makes a good designer, so I thought I would use this as a basis for what I, personally, would like to see for the future of web designers.

Over the coming weeks I am going to discuss in detail the often overlooked attributes which I feel make a successful designer in the creative industry.

What I hope to achieve is an increased awareness of the design industry outside the specific “digital space” and a more considered approach to the use of the new technologies which are available to us. Ultimately I would like us all (as creatives) to work towards avoiding an era of over-used CSS3 effects and being faced with a repeat of the original Photoshop filter overload.

So, while it is easy to get excited and spend all of our time learning the new technologies, I urge you to hold back and concentrate on improving your foundations skills before anything else, and only utilise the new technologies when the right project comes along.

In no particular order, I think there is great value in constantly improving and being aware of the following attributes, which ultimately separate a good designer from an outstanding designer.

Learn to communicate your concepts (both verbally and written)

Communication is one of the strongest tools a designer can hold. Communication is a constant across every aspect of a project, from an initial briefing through to concept presentation and rationales. It is important that you can fully understand what is required of you and, in turn, present your concepts in a clear and concise manner.

I quite often hear designers who claim that they can’t write properly, or they don’t know how to explain their own work. What we all have to realise is that writing is just like any of our other skills. If you think you’re not a good writer then you need to practise. Write blog posts for yourself; write blog posts for your company. Spend an extra few minutes when you write emails to ensure they are written as clearly as possible. Read articles about writing. Take notice of other people’s corrections of your writing so you know how to improve, but most importantly just write, write, and write even more!

Spelling is another problem area I see with a lot of designers, or people in general to be honest, and while I know it is unrealistic to expect everyone to be able to spell correctly in every instance, I don’t think it is unrealistic to expect any finished work to be one hundred percent ‘typo’ free. When it comes to spelling, it simply isn’t just a one-person responsibility. It is a really good habit to get into to have someone check over the majority of your communications, whether it be an email to a client, body copy on a website, a blog post, or an article. (The nature of making comments such as this is that, undoubtedly, someone will find faults in my writing!) Spelling mistakes insinuate carelessness and lack of attention to detail. Is this really the impression you want to be giving to existing, or potential clients?

Giving rationale behind your design is a very important skill for a designer, and one that rarely comes easily. However, getting to the end of a four-week design job and then struggling to write a three hundred word rationale about the finished piece is not really acceptable. I know that I have been guilty of this, as have many designers I have worked with, but the written rationale is an important component of our work. The fact is that every pixel in a finished piece of work should have been considered throughout the process, so we should be able to justify “the why”. A rationale is not about explaining every aspect of the design; it is about giving the viewer an insight into the thought process which underlies the design solution. Pick the elements on a design which are not necessarily self explanatory, and justify their presence in the design.

It is too easy for clients to get caught up on the minor details of a design. Whether it be a colour or an image, all too often quality solutions are dismissed simply because the designer hasn’t possessed the ability to communicate his/her decision process and the overall “vision”.

Identify and explain the elements which are the “backbone” of the solution. Once the fundamentals are described clearly, the stakeholders will have a shared understanding of your objectives and decisions, removing subjective opinion and thus resulting in a more rounded outcome.

Learn to solve problems
If you want to create things which look cool but don’t necessarily have any real purpose then you’re in the wrong career! Yep… to put it bluntly, you probably should have chosen Art when it came to College or University.

The reality is, as designers, we work in a commercial world. Sure, we all work on personal projects in which we start with a blank canvas and have no restrictions to effect the outcome. However, in our day-to-day work there is generally an important stakeholder to set targets, determine boundaries and dictate how quickly, and for how much all this will be achieved. Yes, you have probably heard of them…. the Client.

As designers, it is our responsibility to not only create beautiful things but, more importantly, to create designs that meet our clients’ needs and objectives. Being a successful designer means possessing the ability to tackle a project objectively and create the best possible solution for the problem at hand (the brief). Yes, (insert any “current trend” here) is cool, and as much as I know you are aching to use it, do you really think it is the most suitable execution for the Retirement Village website project you have just won? No, didn’t think so.

Although it does happen, retro-fitting an idea or execution to a new project is not a valid solution and should be discouraged at all times. Every project should be approached individually as, although the subject matter may be the same, I can almost guarantee that what each client is looking to achieve through the design is completely different.

Furthermore, Brendan Dawes (Magnetic North) acknowledged a very valuable lesson in his FOWD speech, “Be prepared to kill the things you love”. This point is very much in line with designing objectively. Although you may have created something which you are really proud of and works extremely well… it is not to say it is the best solution for your current project. If you are struggling to finish a design and have hit an apparent “wall”, the best option could be to remove the element which you are most attached to. By removing the one element you thought to be a “constant” you will be amazed at how many new opportunities you can create, resulting in a much better finished product.

Continued here…

A list of terms coined as ‘bullsh*t’ by the Local Government Association was issued to Councils stating they were no longer allowed to use these words/phrases….bluesky thinking, bottom-up and outside of the box being just a few.

It’s amazing how many of these terms we all use across marketing every day… but just how much bullsh*t do you talk?

Why not find out >>

It seems the majority of design bloggers have already formed their opinions of what 2010 and onwards has in store for web design, but I figure it’s time I throw my thoughts and learnings into the mix.

The importance of a company’s digital presence is becoming increasingly important. According to Forrester,* 67% of online customers said their opinion of a brand was affected by their ability to accomplish tasks on their website. Now is the time to re-assess how we are utilising the digital space and ensure we work harder to align it more with how people actually live, we need to make sure we can offer users a reason to visit our sites rather than just expecting them to want to.

In no particular order, it seems to me that in the following 12 months and beyond we will be seeing an increase in the use of the following –

Embracing the fact that the web is now totally portable and can be used almost anywhere, designing for mobile browsers is continuing to grow in importance and we will see more and more mobile specific design considerations in the future. According to Nielsen, 40% of iPhone/iTouch users access the internet more on their mobile than their desktop.

Geo-Mapping
Utlisation of geo-techonology to personalise, and in turn create more humanised, digital campaigns across all digital platforms to reach those who are most interested in what a brand has to say.

Large Serif Fonts
The last 10 years or so has seen sans-serif become the standard in web design, however as our web usage continues to evolve we are beginning to see an increase in the use of seriffed fonts. Due to improvements in screen resolutions and display technologies, the problems which used to be associated with serif fonts are no longer relevant and as such a whole new world of typography on the web has been opened up.

Embedded Fonts
Taking typography on the web one step further is the introduction of Embedded fonts. This technology enables designers to utilise any font they desire in their design, whilst avoiding the negative affects of using images to displayer any non-web safe fonts. The ability to create design through typography on the web has long been a no-go zone for designers, however this is now a thing of the past and we will continue to see more and more beautiful type-based design in the future.

Evolution of Social Media
Usage of Social Media will continue to evolve and will become more campaign focused. Whilst the .com will evolve to become a central hub which exists almost independently to the Social Media Campaigns. No longer will we see Social Media simply used as a way to support campaigns, but we will increasingly see Social Media being used as the campaign.
Social Media will also continue to be a facilitator of colloboration, companies will continue to work hard to ensure they are utlisisng SM to work with and for their customers rather than just speaking to them.

Gifting
Gifting is all about making a shift from disruptive to productive marketing approaches, it is focused on changing mindsets from “how we reach our customers” to “how to make their lives better”. We will begin to see a big change in companies ensuring they give users a reason to get involved with their brands online, rather just just expecting them to.

end Reality
As technology becomes more stable we will see Augmented Reality make the transition from what is essentially a tech-fest at the moment, into a tool which will change our day-to-day lives, in particularly, the way in which we consume information.

CSS3 and HTML5
As we see the introduction of these new standards, it is evident that the possibilities are extremely exciting. It might not be the time yet to start embracing it, but in the near future it seems animations, rounded borders, shadows and many more of the new features will become standard in our day-to-day browsing experiences.

Conclusion
So, with all of the above in mind I think it is fair to say the future of web is (but not limited to); playful, collaborative, generous, experimental, helpful, personal, honest, and ensuring we do things actually worth talking about.

Most of the points mentioned above are simply tools which designers can use, and like all things it really comes down to how these tools are used which separates the leaders from the followers in the industry. Brian Chiger, a Digital Strategist at AgencyNet sums this up perfectly with his quote -

“A great digital campaign isn’t made by technology alone; Strategy is vital.”

References

Smashing Magazine
Web Designer Wall
Soda Speaks
Paul Isakson

For those that haven’t heard about FourSquare, you can check it out here.

Basically, it is a mobile application which enables you to “check-in” to destinations around your city, leave comments, offer suggestions, redeem discounts, earn points, unlock badges and even become the “mayor” of certain destinations.

Sounds a bit confusing? Yeah I thought so too.

Basically, if you have an iPhone or Android phone you can download the app, and any other phones can access FourSquare through their mobile browser.

When you are out and about in the city, you can “check-in” when you arrive at certain places e.g. cafes, bars, restaurants, parks, offices etc.

Once your friends catch onto the FourSquare phase, you can keep track of where they are checking into, and start learning more about the places they frequent, and see when you are in the vicinity of your friends

I think the real benefits come from the commercial side of FourSquare. It offers the opportunity to leave feedback about your destinations, and this feedback can be a lot more useful than your standard restaurant review. If your local bar makes an amazing Long Island Ice Tea, leave a tip for others that are in the area. Get firsthand recommendations from real people.

There is also discounts and special offer coupons in place – participating venues can offer deals to FourSquare users.

There is also the gameplay side of the app to keep people interested, which enables you to earn points when you check in to venues, and if you visit a destination more than once in a day you become the mayor of that destination until someone visits it more than you.

We have come up with similar concepts to this in a few brain storm sessions, so it’s good to see something similar popping up in the real world.

I’m looking forward to start getting out there and checking in, and I think that as the user base grows this could become a really handy tool for real-world social media marketing.