the Virtual Revolution

I finally managed to catch the last in the episode of The Virtual Revolution TV series on the BBC. I have to say this is one of the best series' I have come across in a long time. The amount of people they managed to get to speak about the subject is incredible. You can see the last episode here.

think this sums it up for me...

2.0 web - making - and 2.0 branding

Over recent times the development of the internet and associated technologies has moved platforms from talking at you to engaging with you and starting a dialogue. This development has been directly mirrored in the branding world. Kevin Roberts CEO of Saatchi & Saatchi coined 'Lovemarks' which represent the new version of successful brands of the future. These brands firstly live via hugely emotional connections. They also have moved into an attraction economy rather than the attention economy of yesteryear. The main idea of the branding of the future is that it is always changing, and the printed world will be out of date by the time your customer reads it. So with the development of internet technologies and the new way of thinking about branding the next ten years or so could be of great interest for the development of branding.

Since I began to being involved in 'Graphics' I always felt a bit at a lost end, the first design agency I worked at was highly structured and it was hard to engage in creativity, other than that taking place on screen, as a trained 3D Designer who worked their concepts by making and sketching, it probably looking back at it made me stronger on a computer but my creativity took a while to get back to where is was. This act of Making though has I believe suffered within branding and brand communications, and it is clear that the companies that have managed to maintain making within their structure have become very successful. I also am starting to include making in terms of technology making. Companies such as Moving Brands with their We are scarf have played with the concept of making and I believe the dialogue in the trials of the technology and system made the project strong.

In another way a company called proud creative who were responsible for the re-brand of S4/C

a few years ago also have a strong feel of making within their business. Now I am not sure if I feel these are cool companies because I like the idea of making or whether their potential clients will pick on this.

Our portal to the web

I came across this article by Rohit Sharma via a Twitter by Wolff Olins. It's an interesting read and something I am unsure of. It does make me think are our brains now using more of their capacity learning all of these different programs, but then again as a speaker at a recent event I attended said. How many telephone numbers do we actually have memorised these days? So maybe it all evens out.

The browser is dead - long live the browser

Last summer, when I got my first iPhone, I found myself spending an equal amount of time downloading and installing various applications — some paid, some free — and using the excellent Safari browser to surf the web. Over the past few months, I realized that I was barely using my browser anymore, that the applications had gotten so much better that I was content to let them speed me to my web destinations.

Sometime in the past few weeks, I had an even bigger realization: The browser is dead. And it’s because all those apps that now monopolize my time have taken their pick of browser parts from the bin and blossomed into a phenomenon all their own.

See the rest of the article here

we are having branding.hoffi

So what if .com and .co.uk became obsolete and you could have any ending. I can think of the endless possibilities. A recent study in conjunction with The Future Laboratory is looking into the possible changes in internet endings.

Twitter joins top 100 - trebling it's traffic in one month

Robin Goad from Hitwise reports Twitter last month dropped into the top 100 visited websites "Last week Twitter became one of the 100 most visited websites in the UK for the first time. It ranked 91st, placing above online heavyweights such as Expedia UK (96), Gumtree (100), easyJet (101), Digital Spy (103) and Money Supermarket (105)."

Hoffi's opinion - Creative Choices

It was a while ago now (even before we refurbished our studio), but Creative & Cultural Skills have produced a website called creative choices. As the name would suggest it is all about careers and development in the creative sector. Through their cultural leadership programme they came to our (Hoffi) offices to ask our opinion of design and in particular bilingual design and the unique problems and opportunities it represents.

It is always horrible seeing yourself on the tv but we hope it helps people make a decision on their futures and hopefully will increase interest in the design sector in Wales, both privately and also to a wider public audience.

www.creative-choices.co.uk

Self Service

My first proper blog of 2008. It is something I have been looking / noticing for a while now. for those who do not know our (Hoffi's) offices, they are based in Cardiff Bay. We moved there after a year or so working from our bedrooms. This was really due to the benefits of working there, but anyway back to the point.

Last year the  Tesco Express in the bay brought in a number of self-service tills. The store itself is very small, and if you are slightly late at lunch time you will be lucky to get any type of sandwich or wrap. Even if you do get anything then you have to wait an age to get served. So for this very reason the tills were introduced. Now I realise that self-service tills are nothing new, it did however start me thinking. Predominantly about if people are wanting to do more of the leg work themselves?

If we carry on with the idea of the shop. Historically it was the corner shop, items were placed behind a counter and a customer would go in, tell the shopkeeper what they wanted and the shopkeeper would get it ready for you. You would then pay for the goods or it would go on a slate. As shops became busier and stocked more items there was a change and the advent of the supermarket now brought aisles and the customer was now given a basket or trolley where they had to now search out the products they wanted. Once they had found what they wanted they would go to the check out, place the items on a conveyor belt and then they would be scanned by a cashier. As they beeped through the items you would frantically try and place them into plastic bags as the items slewed down the chromed ramp. 

Now with the self service till we are now doing the job lot. 'Hunting', scanning, packing and paying. What is really interesting about this is there is another side to the modern way. And that is internet shopping. It is now possible to go on the internet, order what you want and get it delivered to your door. While both of these concepts initially seem different in one way. i.e. physically. In another they are almost identical. Both options can be almost devoid of customer interaction with any member of staff of the supermarket in question.

What it brings to question is there going to be some kind of backlash? As people we are inherently social beings, the local shop gave a chance not only to pick up groceries but gossip about what was happening to June and George down the road. With this in mind and also people now slowly beginning to demand to know about how, where, when the products they are buying got to the supermarket. Convenience is still king which is bore out by new finds published in the Guardian that convenience meal consumption has gone up 300% in the last 10 years. Once again though there is a smaller contradictory change. 60% of people now claim they prepare at least one meal everyday from scratch, this is a 25% increase over the last four years. The report comes from several government agencies for the Cabinet Office, with the report commenting "Food is now a key part of our leisure time". 

Could it be that shop while you socially network be a possible future? Tesco turns it's web portal into more than just an online shop but also accommodates a place to chat while you shop just as you would before? Perhaps another strand could be the idea of the local markets either run in the flesh or virtually, bringing people together who want to discuss produce and origins of products.