Category Archives: Design

Melbourne Recital Centre and MTC Theatre


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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…

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The state of web education


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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

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RRG Celebrity Plates campaign


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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.

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Redesigning Yourself


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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…

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The Periodic Table of Typefaces


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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.

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On creativity


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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;…

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What is a brand?


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Your logo is your brand! Yep, that just about sums it up. Everyone knows that your company logo encompasses everything you stand for, your past, present and future, your ethos and vision. That’s why it’s so essential that your logo commands as much real estate as possible on your website and every facet of print advertising you generate. Unfortunately this pretty much sums up what many people still consider as ‘a brand’. For those of us working in the creative industries, whether it be advertising, logo design, graphic design, online and especially those specialising in branding; this frustrating notion plagues us on a regular basis. I don’t need to even bother linking to the ‘Make the logo bigger’ sites, videos and memes that have floated around the web for years – we’ve all seen them, we’re all aware of the issue. Branding, however, can be difficult to define. Explaining to clients that their brand is far more than a logo,…

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Choose your own adventure


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Flame‘s very own Dom Rodwell spoke at the North event – Rule of Thirds (I’m not sure why it was called that). Not to seem biased, or to be sucking up to my boss, but it’s a bloody good presentation looking at how the communication of narrative has fundamentally changed in the age of digital media; how you can no longer talk at consumers but instead craft compelling and engaging experiences worth talking about. This isn’t another waffling rant about clients getting board with social media – it looks at the entire process of how creative digital agencies work with clients and their clients’ clients to develop irresistable, functional experiences, and what skills and structures companies need to face up to the undoubted challenges the rapidly changing communications landscape will bring.

Further reading:

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