Redswish - carefully crafted banter

Iceland

Thought this was just a bit of beautiful:

Iceland, Eyjafjallajökull – May 1st and 2nd, 2010 from Sean Stiegemeier on Vimeo.

• See full article »

Melbourne Recital Centre and MTC Theatre

I spent nearly 2 weeks in Melbourne last year. It’s one of the most beautiful cities I’ve visited, regardless of it being bloody cold (don’t be deceived – Australian winters can be as harsh as ours).

How on Earth did I manage to miss this place? What astonishing architecture.

Discovered here – The Melbourne Recital Centre and MTC Theatre, http://www.melbournerecital.com.au and http://www.mtc.com.au respectively:

Man, I miss Australia…

• See full article »

The state of web education

This is a list of Manchester Metropolitan University student’s final web design and development projects.

I don’t mean to sound like a massive snob, but quite frankly I’m appalled.

These students pay £10,000 for a 3 year degree course, broken into modules including website design, web application development and digital media production.

Where is digital education going wrong? You be the judge.

Manchester Metropolitan University – Applied Web Design and Management – 3rd year Individual Websites

• See full article »

RRG Celebrity Plates campaign

BLISS have launched a new campaign for the northwest car dealership chain RRG Group, to promote the new 10-series registration plate changeover and drive potential new car buyers to the RRG website.

The premise is rather simple. The Celebrity Plates microsite features a memory game that requires visitors to match snaps of celebrties with their relative registration plates. Those who complete the game in time win £250 off a new car from RRG; by referring a friend to the site you recieve an additional £250 off.

Praise has to go to Ian James Cox for creative concept, design and build, with a little help from his friends!

Check out the RRG Celebrity Plates campaign now.

• See full article »

Don’t sell what’s in your head

I’ve mentioned Dave Trott’s CST blog before, but why not throw out another mention.

Dave is approaching one of those legendary ‘ad men’ statuses, perhaps. The tales he recalls and weaves on his blogs entertain, educate and provide decades of insight into the complex business of advertising, marketing and client relations. I wouldn’t be surprised if in 20 years time he’ll be recalled amongst the Ogilvys and Ardens of this world.

In a recent article, he talks about how you should sell the client what they want to hear, as opposed to telling them what to do. At least with regards to winning pitches.

This ties in a little with an article I wrote a while back on designing with empathy. My point is that although we, as design/marketing/advertising professionals, think we know best as this is our business. We don’t. Not all the time.

Jimi Hendrix (I believe) once said “Knowledge speaks, Wisdom listens”.

There’s the key.

Listening.

Jon Steel’s brilliant book Perfect Pitch opens with a chapter on presentation crimes; a fundamental overview of mistakes made when pitching or presenting. In this chapter he looks at how so many agencies, even the top dogs, sometimes fail to understand the needs of the audience.

The objective is not to impress clients with your intelligence, to make them feel stupid or belittle their business strategies.

The aim of the game is to get inside their heads and prove that you can provide them with what they need, with what they want.

This requires 3 things above all else.

The ability to listen. The ability to empathise. The ability to communicate your ideas effectively.

Personally, if you can’t do the above, you’re in the wrong business.

From Perfect Pitch:

Your every word, your every action, will pass through the filter of their [the client] experience, expectations, prejudices, hopes and fears. It’s thus not what you say that is important. It’s how they will receive it. And how they will process it.

We consider ourselves a creative agency. We get a real buzz out of coming up with ideas and crafting infectious visuals. And we have short attention spans.

Clients don’t always care about creative, or new, or original.

Sometimes they want safety, or affordability, speed or just want to look like the competition.

They don’t care what we like or what we want to do.

But it’s our job to care what they want.

Otherwise we don’t get paid. And that’s no fun for anyone.

• See full article »

Redesigning Yourself

This guest post has been kindly contributed by Barbara Williams, who writes on the topic of Computer Technician Programs. You can get in touch with her here.

Working in the digital industry requires constant attention to the incredibly fast paced developments going on around us. For those, like myself, that are still relatively new to this line of work; learning the ropes becomes a tough challenge when even the veterans are gasping, trying to keep up. There’s plenty you can do to try and keep on top; a while ago I wrote an article on how to improve yourself as a designer. In Barbara’s guest post, she looks at some aspects of ‘redesigning yourself to keep fresh’.

There was a time when everybody who knew something about designing web pages wanted to jump on the Internet bandwagon because it was a money-making train, one that could get you to financial security. But then saturation set it, and the only ones who could survive beyond the initial scramble were those who stood out from the rest of the crowd because of the uniqueness of their work. So if you’re a web designer, the important thing to do today is to survive and see off the recession, and to do that, you must redesign yourself by:

• Continuing to change: People change, as do their tastes and needs. So if you’re stuck in a time warp, even one that’s just a few months old, you’re going to be left behind in today’s fast changing world. And before you know it, your methods are going to become outdated and obsolete. The Internet is evolving by the day, with newer ideas and ways to do things. So continue to change according to the changing times, because this is the only way to you can survive over a long period when your work depends on the Internet.
• Keeping yourself updated: You may think you know everything there is to know, but new information and methods are being discovered every now and then, and if you don’t bother to keep yourself updated with the latest trends and ways to design, you’re going to find the going tough as time goes by. The best time to update your knowledge is in a recession, when jobs and assignments are hard to come by and you have time on your hands. This free time is best used in pursuing and updating your knowledge about the latest that’s happening in the web.
• Willing to accept new ideas: Trends change with time, especially when it comes to designing for the web. So even if you have a certain style of working and are used to it, you must be willing to accept new ideas and learn how to design according to them if you want to survive in this industry. The ideas may not be your idea of what is good, but if the trend changes, you must be willing to reorient yourself to adapt to the new way of doing things.
• Focusing on the process: And finally, although people tend to focus only on the end product, the process of designing is what is important to web design. You need to ensure that your groundwork and foundation are adequately planned and executed so that there are no hitches at a later date. If there are, you could be spending all your time trying to do repair work instead of concentrating on new assignments. If you’re able to plan your design according to your clients’ needs, and execute it according to plan, you’re going to be one web designer who’s always in demand.

• See full article »

Don’t believe the hype

My 2 cents.

I can see why there’s been some dissapointment about the iPad; especially after all the hype. Rumours have circled the web in a misty torrent of completely unprecedented speculation for months, only to be crushed by what initially seemed as a rather overhyped, mediocre product.

No multitasking! No 3G except the most expensive model! What a silly name! It’s just a glorified iPhone!

I believe the iPad’s simplicity is it’s beauty. It’s not overloaded with fancy features and crap you’ll probably never use. The lack of multitasking at least means it will run smoothly and quickly; there’s no doubting that the experience of using it will be delightful.

Brendan Dawes mentioned earlier that as opposed to focusing on what it is and does; think instead about the context in which it will be used. It’s not a home PC or a heavy duty laptop; it’s a lightweight tool, toy even, to lounge around with. Notice on Steve’s presentation that he relaxed in a comfy chair to play with it – THAT’S the environment you’re going to use it in, relaxing at home on the couch or in bed, just picking it up and throwing on some music, reading a book or browsing the web in style.

It’s a ‘coffee table media consuming device’ (coined!). I can’t really think of anything else on the market quite like it.

On a final note, whatever doubts we may have about the device itself will surely begin to dissappear as we start seeing some of the apps built for it. That is, after all, the secret behind the iPhone’s success.

Of course, I’ve yet to actually play with it, but god damn I can’t wait.

• See full article »

The Periodic Table of Typefaces

Unfortunately I’m not sure where this appeared from originally, I’d love to credit to the creator if I knew who they were.

It’s geeky, it’s possibly useful and is most definitely the work of someone with too much time on their hands.

But I’m a sucker for this ‘type’ of stuff.

Found here.

• See full article »

Tweets that make a difference

I’ll keep this short and sweet.

A couple of days ago I popped out the back door for a smoke, only to realise I’d left my Zippo lighter in my other jeans, which I’d just put in the wash. Panic striken, I ran to the washing machine and gazed mournfully at the soaked denim spinning around. It was gone, game over.

As is the case with anything slightly more remarkable than staring at a wall, I tweeted my anguish for all to ignore. Because that’s what you do.

Redswish:
Nooo! Just realised I’ve left my zippo in my jeans in the wash!

You can practically hear my cries of devastation, no?

Within a couple of hours, Zippo themselves, who I had no idea were even on Twitter, replied to me:

Zippo:
Remove cotton & wick.  Let dry.  Replace.  Refuel.  Good 2 go. RT @Redswish: Nooo! Just realised I’ve left my zippo in my jeans in the wash!

As it happens, I’d salvaged the sodden lighter from the wash and left it to dry on the radiator. A couple of hours later I slotted it all back together and to my astonishment it sparked up first time. This was before I’d noticed Zippo’s tweet.

This is, in my mind, a simple but powerful example of how a great product and great customer service go hand in hand. Zippo didn’t have to spot my tweet and reply, but doing so proved to me that the care about their customers. They’ve reached out to create a connection with me, not by trying to sell to me or bullshit me, but by being genuinely helpful. In doing so I now have more respect for them and am happy to act as an advocate for them.

It took Zippo maybe 20 seconds to see my tweet and reply, but in turn they put a smile on my face and impressed me so much that I’ve gone to the effort of throwing this article together. These little efforts can add up to a lot. Don’t knock it till you’ve tried it!

If you care to, Zippo are here.

• See full article »

On creativity

An interesting, and rather long-winded question posed to Dave Trott on creativity caught my attention today. Dave, likely flabbergasted by such an exhausting query, posted it on his blog and allowed the world to share their views instead.

Amongst the ramble, several tricky and often avoided questions emerged:

• Can you train your mind to be more creative and have better ideas?
• Are there any exercises to develop creative thought processes?
• Is creativity really ‘99% perspiration and 1% inspiration’?
• Is creativity a teachable/learn-able skill of coming up with good ideas consistently and on demand?

Some of the remarks in the comments section addressed these questions from several different viewpoints, all putting up very good arguments. I’ll look at a few excerpts shortly, but first I think it’s important to consider what creativity really is.

What is creativity?

I’ve always believed creativity to be far more than just ‘coming up with ideas’. Although this is often seen as a genuine starting point; the big bang, the light bulb, the ‘Eureka!’ moment – I’m sure there’s far more to it than that.

I believe creativity is an amalgamation of many traits that when honed, revised, expanded and fused together can create dramatic results.

Problem solving, empathy, social awareness, imagination, inspiration and taste, passion, logic, technical understanding, critical thinking, general knowledge, research and an open mind.

I feel that real creativity, the stuff stories are made of, requires fear, and the ability to overcome that fear.

That may be fear of failure, fear of competition, fear of loosing your job, fear of displeasing someone.

Taking all of this and much more into consideration; creativity’s a little more than ‘having good ideas’. In environments such as the ones we work in, it’s often the case that we’re required to solve a problem, sometimes without even realising it exists.

The big idea

We need to perform research, share thoughts and ideas with others, put pencil to paper and put ourselves in the position of those we’re designing or building for. Ideas may come and go, some may seem brilliant first but are later pulled apart either by ourselves or others. Perhaps there is never a ‘big idea’ moment but a bunch of smaller ideas can be fused together to form fantastic solutions.

On occasion, there is a ‘Eureka!’ moment. I’ve been in meetings with some fantastic creatives and have truly been blown away by some of the ideas that appear to have popped out of thin air. I’ve even felt jealous and angry at myself – “Dammit, why didn’t I think of that!” and in circumstances have been afraid of failing to come up with ideas, of failing to ‘do my job’.

This fear will only hold creativity back, but the desire to overcome this fear can motivate us to come up with even greater ideas.

Can creativity be taught?

Honestly, I don’t think it can. But it can be learned. I believe many of the various facets of creativity can be taught and trained, such as general knowledge, social awareness, problem solving etc. But the other elements are what I believe are generally considered as ‘creative traits’. The ability to honestly empathise, a keen imagination, passion for what you do and an open mind are qualities attributed to our personalities.

They are in some respects part of our nature, but also the product our of lives, the people we interact with and the media and literature we consume.

So in some respects they can be learned, but only if we choose to, and work hard at it.

So 99% perspiration, 1% inspiration? I don’t quite agree with that. I believe that a lot of work is involved and that ideas don’t simply appear from nowhere, but inspiration also plays a much larger role.

A few other thoughts

It’s worth noting that I’m still very young to this industry and in a few years, or even months, my views may change radically. That’s why I’d love to hear your thoughts.

However here are a few excerpts from comments on the original post that inspired the inspiration for this article:

“It’s the abstract connections in *your* brain that do the creativity bit. The more things you stuff inside your brain to connect to other stuff, the better your creative leaps. And no one but you can teach you that.”
Jonny

“In general terms, I would say creativity derives from curiosity.”
John W

“Having ideas shouldn’t be a problem. The real genius is in spotting them.”
Ben Kay

“Encourage fearlessness of being wrong. When it comes to being creative, some people can barely put pen to paper due to an innate fear of doing something ‘wrong’.”
Paul F

“The brain is lazy. It will also take the quickest route. Go the long way. Get lost. Try routes other people would take. You may find you really enjoy it. That’s when the ideas will start to happen.”
Deborah Khan

“Being creative to me is about seeing abstract patterns in human behaviour and identifying, absorbing and learning from them.”
Sunitha

“Creativity is nothing less than a mystery. It’s as profound and complex as life itself. So enigmatic, in fact, that the great artists themselves cannot agree on what it is. Still, the artists seem to fall into eight categories:

The tormented. The courageous. The lovers. The dreamers. The mad. The spiritual. The stumblers. And the juvenile.”
Per Robert Öhlin

What are your views on this? What do you think defines ‘creativity’? Is it something that can be taught, learned and trained, or is it a natural talent? Have your say below.

• See full article »