Filed under: Cool & Online, Social Networking/ Word Of Mouth | Tags: Big Ben, browse, cool websites, Flickr, fun, london, Londoner, Lost in Space, my view from space, photo, planets, Search, space, stumble, tag cloud, Tag Galaxy, tagging, universe, visit Earth, waste time
The universe according to a true Londoner
Well, rather lost in Galaxy. A Tag Galaxy to be more specific. A nice new Flickr search tool from some German developers. A simple interface belies an engrossing site and slick animation touches that will have you hooked for some time.
Start by entering a tag for Flickr – being a Londoner my imagination stretched as far as ‘London’.
You can then zoom in to London or choose a ’satellite’ tag. Big Ben was my next obvious choice (my name being Benn, of course). The camera pans through space and shows the combined tag cloud.
Big Ben is my stage name...
The nice thing here is that planets are positioned based on the amount of relevant links they have. They also orbit your central tag. It’s all very pretty. You can go further by clicking a planet. Clicking the central planet produces a flat render of the planet and then the images start to appear in a quite majestic/ Matrix way…
What Big Ben looks like without any clothes
The photos are coming...
... like flies around (ahem).
The transformation is complete.
Then you just browse around the globe to find the image you want and zoom in – you can even go to the Flickr page.
corny Big Ben image
OK, so you can search on Flickr just as easily and a lot faster but who cares. This is a much more immersive and fun way of doing things and if you have the time to play and search for images then why not? You’ll soon find you’ll be clicking on planets, spinning them, rotating them on their axis, and thumbing through all the images contained inside. I wonder if they do an API of this? I feel a widget coming on…
Filed under: Coffee Break | Tags: advert, advertising, best, Billboard, ever, failing education system, John Smith, london, mispelling, mistake, msipelilng, poster, TFL, tube, Underground, wallpaper
Following on from my previous post about the best Tube advert ever (click here to read), I was at Waterloo the other day and saw a follow up contender…
tub
You have to love the gritty feel to it along with the no-nonsense approach to clearly defining (with yellow arrows) where the advertising space is. Closer inspection also reveals the typo ‘NEW ADD’. So, I nominate this as the best advert for the fact that Britain has a failing education system for the ‘common’ person. It also doubles up as an advert for a failing Tube/ Underground system…
tube ADD image numero 2
Filed under: Industry news, News | Tags: Belden, Ben Hedges, Catapult Digital, Computer Arts, De-construct, Design, Digital, digital design, Elspeth, Engine Service Design, Finola Gaynor, Frederik Flade, graduate, Greg Quinton, I was promised a beer for doing this, LB, Mac monkeys, marketing, misquote, neoco, opinions, Ravensbourne, sexism, Steve Lee, The Partners, Tom Dennis, UCA
So I got my magazine debut earlier this week, in none other than the Computer Arts ‘Round table’ discussion panel. The question: ‘What’s the value of a design degree? So, regardless of being the token graduate in the group (despite the fact I graduated over a year ago) I quite enjoyed my 15 minutes of fame. The only mood dampener was the fact that I felt my opinion was only taken into account as that of an ex-student, rather than a professional designer – though perhaps this was to do with the fact that I’m (1) a female, and (2) a junior in a – shock horror – (3) DIGITAL agency. I mean, come on guys, it’s a digital magazine for crying out loud, yet there were lengthy discussions about the negative effect technology has on design education and how students shouldn’t be allowed near a computer (most of which wasn’t printed for obvious reasons).
Computers encourage a generation of ‘mac monkeys?’ No degree worth their salt churns out graduates like that, but in an industry with a rapidly merging skillset there has to be a level, surely? Not many agencies can afford to employ a student that faints at the sight of technology, no matter how great their ideas are. Even in a print agency nothing’s done on paper anymore!
However, as my opinion on this matter wasn’t exactly sought, it was hard to get a word in edge ways! Though I do appreciate the unfortunate pull out quote I got about my old course at the UCA
My tutors would be proud I’m sure (!) or at least they would if they took an interest in digital design. Should I be worried?
Filed under: Coffee Break | Tags: $10, build your own, coders do it better, copy, Dremel, elitism, gobbledygook, HTML, me so horny, Microsoft, paste, practical, sucky sucky $10, under construction, Vauhini Vara, wall street journal, website, Word
If you’re short of a website, and have eight hours to spare, and $10 then apparently you too can join the online revolution. At least you can according to Vauhini Vara of the Wall Street Journal.
It’s easy to make a website, Ms. Vara explains. All you need is a homepage, an “About” page and a “Contact” page. To improve the design of your site all you need is some “HTML programming code”. You don’t even need any skills to do that! “All you need to know is that a block of HTML — essentially, a bunch of gobbledygook words and symbols — can add extra features to your site.” “Wow”, I can hear you say, “give me some of those features!”. Ms. Vara suggests simply grabbing some “handy HTML blocks” and popping them on your site, “as easily as copying and pasting text in Microsoft Word.
I always find these kind of articles fascinating. Is it only the field of IT that has this blind enthusiasm? I’ve never heard anyone suggesting that “you too could be a dentist”. Surely given a pair of pliers and a Dremel Multi drill I too could be a dentist?
I think the sooner people stop thinking they can make a website using Microsoft Word the better. But maybe I’m just being elitist.
Filed under: New Technology, Social Networking/ Word Of Mouth | Tags: blogging, download, Friendfeed, Identi.ca, Jaiku, microblogging, one update to update them all, open ID, Open Social, posty, Pownce, Tumblr, Twitter
There are many microblogging services out there: Twitter, Jaiku, Pownce, Tumblr (naming a few). For each service usually you have to: open the browser, login, write message, click post. Although some cut and paste can save you some time, the task can get boring and time consuming if you have ‘friends’ and profiles on them all. That’s where Posty comes in. Posty simplifies your microblogging. All you have to do is write the message and click a button – Posty will automatically deliver your message to the services you selected.
highly original posty logo
Currently supported networks are: Twitter, Jaiku, Pownce, Tumblr, Friendfeed and the recently added Identi.ca. Simplify your microblogging!
Filed under: News | Tags: Design, Duck and Cover, fashion, you tube, Twitter, website, Flickr, pitch, win, new client, mens, clothing, denim, footwear, nuclear attack, should be kiss your ass goodbye, autumn/winter, fall, spring/summer, Me Him & Her, Bert, turtle, public safety
We’ve just won another pitch! This time to redesign and build Duck and Cover’s global website. Duck and Cover (as I’m sure most of you are aware) are a super cool men’s clothing and denim brand. We are really looking forward to working with them and creating a great new website – and some free clothes along the way!
duck and cover artwork from the old nuclear bomb warnings... yes, the Government advice was to Duck and Cover
Duck and Cover have recently re-focused their branding, which now has a modern and industrial focus. The website redesign will incorporate this within the look and feel, whilst also implementing a community focused concept that we have developed – building a community and lifestyle around the Duck and Cover brand. The site will be enhanced by a raft of ‘2.0′ functionality including a YouTube channel, Flickr book, Twitter feeds, social bookmarking and more.
The site will re-launch with its new Neoco design in Sept ’08, to coincide with the launch of their autumn/winter range ‘08. We will be sure to keep you posted when it’s live so you can take a look! And keep checking back because this is one site that is really going to evolve.
duck and cover logo - the current one
The pitch win means Neoco will be working with Duck and Cover on seasonal campaigns for the remainder of 2008 and throughout 2009, including the evolution and launch of their Flagship retail store in the next 12 months, delivered by Me, Him & Her. Future projects will include a B2B customer site with stock re-ordering functionality and a B2C viral campaign, so watch this space for more info on these…
Filed under: Brands & Marketing, Technology | Tags: application, Bejing 2008, coding, content, doh!, error, Facebook, News, Olympic games, script, Tiananmen Square, Yahoo!
Content is king. No doubt, but content takes time to create. Good content takes even longer – most of our blog posts takes weeks in the making. One element of digital solutions that we implement for some of our clients is the ability to create content automatically using a dynamic system. This means that websites, news feeds or any other content promotion tool can pretty much run itself, but you should never underestimate the power of rules. Rules are important in setting the framework for how the content is created. Without the rules you can end up with incoherent, inaccurate or offensive content.
Let’s take a look at two recent examples where large brands have left themselves exposed.
facebook error
On Saturday, a good friend of mine super-poked me on Facebook – he virtually drank shots with me. The application automatically generated a call to action in an attempt to prompt a response. The issue here is the developers did not apply a rule relating to actions vs sexual preference. Whilst Tom is a good mate, there is no way I would ever choose to snog, spank, suck or caress him. Part of me is quite shocked that this application would recommend any of those actions to me. The end result is that (as a user) I now feel very uncertain about the application and will not be using it again for the foreseeable future. Shame that such a basic error may lead to many users leaving the service.
yahoo! error
Yahoo! recently posted a news article celebrating the run-up to the Olympic games. The photographs were upbeat and full of tourists, performers and even Olympic mascots celebrating and dancing in the heart of the capital. Unfortunately, the headline above a picture gallery of musicians, acrobats and other entertainers, read: “Tiananmen Square Massacre Remembered.”
Yahoo! said that their news slideshows were automatically generated and added news images to topical albums according to keywords in the photo titles and captions – leading to this bizarre juxtaposition on the news site.
So, whilst scripted applications can make our lives much easier they are still dependent on the human-created rules that we program in to them. Failure to clearly define the application behaviour can result in lost traffic and users or worse – a political crisis.
Filed under: Social Networking/ Word Of Mouth, Technology | Tags: accessibility, bad web design, characters, coffee, Dell, Firefox, Google, how not to build a website, HTML, Ideas Storm, IDs, IE6, java, javascript, markup, mocha, My mum only drinks tea, one lump or two? portal header, pigs, pixels, Salesforce.com, Starbucks, vegans, Where's my coffee?, white space
After reading Benn’s tweet about mystarbucksidea , I headed over to investigate. The first thing I noticed was that Benn had got the URL wrong – it’s actually http://mystarbucksidea.com/ (with an s after starbuck). The second thing I noticed was that the site, at first glance, looks great! It’s simple, clean and clear. It looks like it accomplishes its goal well.
It’s interesting to dig into the list of ideas. It appears that most of the users of the site are vegans demanding more vegan products. “zschmidl” even goes so far as to complain “it kind of grosses us vegans out to see dead pig on your counter”. I can only imagine Starbucks is very different in the US, as I’ve never seen a dead pig in the Leicester Square Starbucks. I’m not 100% convinced by the genius of any of these ideas; whether or not they will help to put Starbucks back into the black remains to be seen (Starbucks has just posted its first ever quarterly loss).
The idea for the Starbucks forum apparently came from Dell’s Ideas Storm website (interesting blog on the subject) – aimed to put the company in touch with what its customers actually want. Both of these sites are built using the SalesForce.com platform. And this, for me, is where the story gets even more interesting than the dead pig line.
The first sign of trouble (on my FF3 browser) was on the homepage. For some reason (unknown probably even to SalesForce), there are 1150 pixels of white space between the bottom of the content and the footer. It then dawned on me that all the sub headings on the site are separate Flash movies. At first, this seemed impossible. Surely no one would want to use a Flash movie for all the sub headings! Surely!
There are other oddities too. When the site loads, the page title is “Portal Header”, replaced (via Javascript) with “My Starbucks Idea”. Look at the source and you realise that the SalesForce platform is obviously built to be generic, to the point where bloated code is used in abundance. A single post (the pig post), which conveys the following information (totalling 649 characters):
7/24/2008 9:33 AM
Add more vegan treats and pastries to your menu! 95% percent of the food you provide contains milk, eggs or animal flesh leaving little or no choice for AR advocates. Not only does it keep money out of your pocket, it kind of grosses us vegans out to see dead pig on your counter…
Furthermore, organic and fair-trade ingredients are of upmost importance. Your products are already pricey and considered high-quality, obviously people are willing to pay more for better food… By switching over to a more compassionate and progressive menu, you have absolutely nothing to lose.
44 comments
vote
2320 points
Ends up as the following (4,598 characters) with markup:
<div class=”ideaSection”><div class=”ideaSide” id=”thePage:mainLayout:pbIdeaList:incIdeaList:ideaListStd:ideaList:0:ideaSide”><div class=”voteContainer”><div id=”voteButton087500000004yPV” class=”voteButton”><a onmouseout=”return setVoteStatusMsg(”);” onmouseover=”return setVoteStatusMsg(‘Click to vote’);” onclick=”return true;” id=”thePage:mainLayout:pbIdeaList:incIdeaList:ideaListStd:ideaList:0:voteLink” href=”/secur/login_portal.jsp?orgId=00D500000008OkU&portalId=06050000000D1Ee&ec=302&startURL=%2Fideas%2FideaList.apexp”><div class=”votelt”/><div class=”votert”/><span class=”insideVote” style=”visibility: visible;”>Vote</span><span class=”insideVoted” style=”visibility: hidden;”>Voted</span><div class=”votelb”/><div class=”voterb”/></a><div class=”voteStatusBlock”><span id=”thePage:mainLayout:pbIdeaList:incIdeaList:ideaListStd:ideaList:0:voteScorebox”>2320</span><br/>Points</div></div></div></div>
<div class=”ideaContentWidth ideaContent”>
<h3 class=”ideaContentWidth ideaSubject sIFR-replaced”><object height=”40″ width=”590″ type=”application/x-shockwave-flash” id=”sIFR_callback_0″ name=”sIFR_callback_0″ data=”http://www.starbucks.com/mystarbucksidea/app_themes/theme/flash/tradegothic1.swf” class=”sIFR-flash”><param name=”flashvars” value=”content=%253Ca%2520href%253D%2522/ideas/viewIdea.apexp%253Fid%253D087500000004yPV%2522%2520target%253D%2522%2522%253EOrganic/Vegan%253C/a%253E%2520&antialiastype=&width=590&height=40&renderheight=40&fitexactly=false&tunewidth=0&tuneheight=0&offsetleft=&offsettop=&thickness=&sharpness=&kerning=&gridfittype=pixel&flashfilters=&opacity=100&blendmode=&size=28&css=.sIFR-root%257Bcolor%253A%2523888888%253Bheight%253A30px%253Bpadding%253A0px%253Bmargin%253A0px%253B%257Da%257Bcolor%253A%2523888888%253Btext-decoration%253Anone%253B%257Da%253Ahover%257Bcolor%253A%2523a85c1f%253Btext-decoration%253Anone%253B%257D&selectable=true&fixhover=true&preventwrap=false&forcesingleline=false&link=/ideas/viewIdea.apexp%253Fid%253D087500000004yPV&target=&events=false&cursor=default&version=382″/><param name=”wmode” value=”opaque”/><param name=”bgcolor” value=”#FFFFFF”/><param name=”allowScriptAccess” value=”always”/><param name=”quality” value=”best”/></object><span class=”sIFR-alternate” id=”sIFR_callback_0_alternate”><a href=”/ideas/viewIdea.apexp?id=087500000004yPV” name=”thePage:mainLayout:pbIdeaList:incIdeaList:ideaListStd:ideaList:0:linkTitle” id=”thePage:mainLayout:pbIdeaList:incIdeaList:ideaListStd:ideaList:0:linkTitle”>Organic/Vegan</a>
</span></h3><div class=”ideaContentWidth ideaComment” id=”thePage:mainLayout:pbIdeaList:incIdeaListStd:ideaListStd:ideaList:0:postedByWrapper” style=”position: relative; top: -10px;”>Posted by <span class=”userLink”>zschmidl</span> to <a href=”/ideas/ideaList.apexp?c=09a5000000001hi&lsi=0&category=Food” class=”ideaCategory”>Food</a> , 7/24/2008 9:33 AM</div><div class=”ideaContentWidth ideaBody” id=”thePage:mainLayout:pbIdeaList:incIdeaList:ideaListStd:ideaList:0:body”>Add more vegan treats and pastries to your menu! 95% percent of the food you provide contains milk, eggs or animal flesh leaving little or no choice for AR advocates. Not only does it keep money out of your pocket, it kind of grosses us vegans out to see dead pig on your counter…
<br/>
<br/>Furthermore, organic and fair-trade ingredients are of upmost importance. Your products are already pricey and considered high-quality, obviously people are willing to pay more for better food… By switching over to a more compassionate and progressive menu, you have absolutely nothing to lose.</div>
<div class=”ideaContentWidth ideaComment”><a class=”ideaCommentIcon” href=”http://mystarbucksidea.force.com/ideas/viewIdea.apexp?id=087500000004yPV” name=”thePage:mainLayout:pbIdeaList:incIdeaList:ideaListStd:ideaList:0:linkComments” id=”thePage:mainLayout:pbIdeaList:incIdeaList:ideaListStd:ideaList:0:linkComments”>
Comments [44]</a>
<span id=”thePage:mainLayout:pbIdeaList:incIdeaList:ideaListStd:ideaList:0:j_id60″><span id=”thePage:mainLayout:pbIdeaList:incIdeaList:ideaListStd:ideaList:0:postedByUserTextToCategory”/></span>
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That means that this single post is 4.4kb in size, and only 14% of this is actual content; the rest is bloated markup.
My personal favourite is the IDs that are given to nearly evey element, for example the date of this idea is contained within a span which has the ID:
thePage:mainLayout:pbIdeaList:incIdeaList:ideaListStd:ideaList:0:createdDate
So does any of this actually matter? I would say YES! I imagine that the Flash movies are used for headings to allow for a custom font. But this is madness. Similarly, requiring Javascript to populate the page title also seems slightly insane, and leads to the amusing situation where Google indexes the site with the title “Portal Header”.
I’m a fairly strong believer in web standards, and in particular the idea of good, symantically relevant, HTML markup. It would be fairly straightforward to implement this site and stick to the standards, and this would benefit the end user by offering better accessibility, faster loading times and overall a better experience.
Overall I do like the idea of www.mystarbucksidea.com, I just don’t like the implementation.
I tried to use www.browsershots.org to show you how the site breaks on some browsers, but browsershots can’t even handle the site! Click here to see its attempt!
See below for a screenshot when viewed in IE6.
