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.

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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 [...]

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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 [...]

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The new site

Hey folks.
A dash of the past and the road ahead
My tardyness is beginning to precede me and I’m tired of apologising for it. Aside from complaining about how busy I am and continuing to craft weak excuses as to why the site’s upkeep has taken a nosedive over the past 6-8 months, backed up by [...]

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There and Back Again

Hey folks, for those of you who don’t know I’m actually heading off traveling for 3 months. In fact, I’ve already started and forgot to let you know!

As much as I’ll try, it’s going to be difficult to ensure regular, decent computer access whilst backpacking through Indonesia, Australia and Japan so you may not hear much on Redswish regularly, or even at all, until I get back in October.

I will however be putting some focus into a travel blog, which really stretches me thin enough as it is. If you fancy checking it out, it’s not quite finished but I’ll be building it up as and when I can at thereandbackagain.nathanbeck.co.uk.

But I promise when I get back it’s a big step forwards for Redswish. There will be a redesign, possibly a slight rebrand a definite and solid change in direction. We’ll still chat about web and graphic design but also lots more. As I’m learning – there’s a hell of a lot more to being a great designer online than just a knowledge of HTML, CSS and a copy of Photoshop.

I want everyone to be a part of exploring and sharing that.

So, one last musing for you before I log off and get the backpack on. I was sat in McDonalds before (I know – visit a far off foreign country and eat at McDonalds… leave me alone!) and I wondered why they charge less for people eating out than inside. I used to think it was to save seats, which may apply at peak times. But no, it’s defnitely more than that, and so simple.

Persuading people to eat outside rather than in by charging a slightly lower price ensures more people with McDonalds on the street. Which means tens or hundreds of walking advertisements sporting the big yellow M on paper bags all over the place.

It’s quite possibly one of the most affordable and influential forms of advertising I’ve discovered. I can’t believe it took me so long to realise!

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fowd09

Imaginative title.

Yep, I was there last week. Had a great time but decided to write about it on the Flame blog instead of here, sorry loyal readers!

It was great to meet some new people and some familiar faces (although some of them from only a small Twitter avatar), the event itself was good, inspirational fun and the after party topped everything off nicely!

Some other reviews can be found here:

• Phil Thompson
• How to always enjoy a conference

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Connect! Published!

Hey folks,

My words have found their way to print, along with 99 other people. “Connect! Marketing in the Social Media Era” is now available to purchase through Blurb. I talk about how we can use Twitter to build more personal connections. But that’s all I’m telling you – you’ve got to buy it to find out more!

The book is a fantastic collaboration of 100 authors from the marketing/new media/design industry that discuss current trends in social media and how we can harness the power of the social web from a marketing perspective to create my dynamic, personal consumer relationships.

Even better, the book is purely none-for-profit. Besides educating and inspiring, the aim is to raise money, and awareness for Susan G. Komen’s campaign towards the cure for breast cancer.

It’s a great book, it’s for a great cause. Please help out by grabbing a copy, it’s totally worth it.

• More information on the book and the Project 100.
• Get yourself a copy at Blurb.com!

Thanks to all the other authors, and thanks to the editor Jeff Caswell for making it possible.

Nathan x

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Choosing a Career Path – Work or Learn?

It’s almost a social expectation in modern society that after high school (or the American equivalent…) you must go to college or University. In England, to go to University (for world-wide readers this is generally 3-4 years from the age of 18/19) costs money, generally a lot money. But of course you come out at the end with a degree, woohoo!

But is studying necessary? Don’t get me wrong – life is all about learning, but is it essential to take a 4 year chunk out of your life for the benefit of a qualification? The other option is to go straight into work; you will start lower in the food chain but will be earning money instead of spending it, whilst still gaining experience.

Me first

At the time of writing this article I’m 19. I pretty much wasted 2 years at college studying subjects that haven’t seriously contributed to my current career path. Whilst at college I started studying web design in my spare time and balanced a part-time job at a local media company. Shortly after leaving college I left the media company and went traveling for a while, returning home at the end of 2007 to try my hand at freelancing and build up a portfolio.

University was seeming a less enticing proposition now I was earning off my own back. When, after a few months freelancing Manchester based digital agency Flame Digital got in touch looking for a new designer. To cut a long story short – I got the job, am loving it and no longer have any intentions of going to University. I’m think I’m learning far more by working in an environment among other professionals, working on big projects, expanding my skill set every day. I’ve chosen my path, but this isn’t the path for everyone.

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Read the flyer first

A little story.

I recently ordered a book from Amazon. Actually, it wasn’t recently, it was before Christmas but due to popular demand it sold out and I had to wait till late February. No problem. The book came, and with it a voucher for £40 off Virgin Wines online. I’m sure many other people have received this flyer as well. At first, it sounds nothing out of the ordinary.

Instead of simply throwing it in the bin I decided to visit the website.

Step 1 – I’ve visited the website. Fair enough. That doesn’t have to mean anything.

I decided to go through the instructions on the voucher, register, enter the code and voila! My account has been credited with £40.

Step 2 – I’ve signed up, I’m establishing a level of trust and beginning to lower my guard. I’ve been rewarded for this.

I don’t know the first thing about wine. I enjoy it but wouldn’t know a Shiraz from a Chardonnay. So after a swift perusal of the site, I leave and forget about it.

About a week later I received a polite email from ‘Jay’ at Virgin Wines’. It wasn’t pesonal, although it tried to be, but I didn’t mind, there was still some thought there. Jay kindly explained that because I hadn’t yet bought anything, they weren’t doing a good enough job. So he offered me a deal I couldn’t refuse. Plenty of wine, free glases and a fancy bottle opener for only £48. Considering I already have £40 credit to play with – that would mean spending £8 for a lot of wine. Bargain.

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iTunes support

I don’t mean to sound like an Apple fanboy but once again they’ve managed to surpass my expectations and slap big fat smile on my face. A couple of nights ago, in the early hours of the morning whilst very tired and in desperate need of sleep for work the next day, I decided to download the iPhone app ‘Bloom’ by Brian Eno and Peter Chilvers. Which, by the way, is fantastic. But somewhere along the line I successfully managed to clear off all the apps on my iPhone, and I was not happy.

I’m not one for customer service emails or calls, I have no faith in that system. If something breaks, I throw it away and buy it again. But I decided to give iTunes the benefit of the doubt. I sent a rather rude, demanding email that was very unlike me and can only be put down to how tired and annoyed I was at the time.

Less than 4 hours later, which didn’t bother me as I was in bed, I received this response:

Dear Nathan,

This is Sasha with iTunes Customer Support. I would first like to thank you for inquiring about the App Store. I understand you are concerned that you lost your App Store purchases. I will be happy to help.

App Store purchases may be downloaded again at no charge, either from your device or using iTunes on your computer. Be sure that you are signed in to the same iTunes Store account that you used to shop from the App Store, and follow the steps to purchase any missing content again. You will be notified that you have already purchased the App and can download each missing item again for free.

For more information, please visit:

App Store FAQ
http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/ApplicationsFAQPage

If you have difficulty downloading any applications, please reply to let me know or consult this article:

Troubleshooting applications purchased from the App Store
http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1702

Sincerely,

Sasha
iTunes Store Customer Support

Which is fair enough. A straightforward reply in a professional yet friendly and personal tone. I liked that. So I deided to email back and apologise for my initial arsey email, only to receive another response from Sasha only minutes later:

Dear Nathan,

You’re very welcome. No need to apologize. I know how frustrating these kinds of issues can be. I’m just so glad to hear that you were able to get your purchases back.

Nothing makes Apple happier than to hear that we have pleased our customers. I hope that you continue to enjoy the iTunes Store.

Remember, if you have any further questions or concerns please let me know and I will be more than happy to further assist you.

Have a wonderful day!

That really pleased me.

Why is this such a big deal? Because in this fast-paced world where huge companies spare no time for individual customers willing to dish out £1000’s on their products and services, the fact that someone in a service center on the other side of the world took the time out to craft a dedicated, friendly response goes a long way.

And personally, I feel it’s these touches that put Apple ahead of the rest of the game.

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