Thursday 29 August 2013

August's newsround

From brand new phobias to the perils of relying on the cloud, here're a few news bits and pieces that caught our eye during August...

No Mo

 

nomo
Not only have we made up a brand new phobia, but apparently half of us Brits suffer from it -'nomophobia' - the fear of not having access to your mobile ('no mo', get it?). As Facebook / Twitter / Candy Crush Saga or just plain email addiction increases, will we start to see nomophobia hospitals opening around the country for all those who've had their phones stolen? Maybe even walk-in clinics for those who just left it in the car that morning or helplines for those who've used up their monthly internet allowance?

A scary thought maybe - but then it's that scary we need a word for it in the first place. And whilst we may think it slightly ridiculous now - just try a 'digital detox' and see how long you can last without it - perhaps not quite as long as you thought?

more info (the drum)


How to do renovations right.

 

The National Trust owned stately home Cliveden in Buckinghamshire is currently in the middle of a £3.4 million renovation, with the vast series of works anticipated to last five years.

And, being a caring organisation, The National Trust was worried about the disruption the renovation would cause to visitors, especially as part of the restoration plans involve the property’s historic staircase. So, to counter act the disruption (and inject some fun into the process), the trust has installed a 16.5m slide that lets visitors slide from the roof of the terrace down to the gardens. Now, that's our type of historic sightseeing!

More info (design week)


Jerry's map

 

 
At 79 years young, Jerry Gretzinger and the map of his fictional world have been causing a stir in the design world. For 50 years now he’s been working on the map, which now spans over 2,500 pieces of A4.

Jerry adds to the landscape each day in his coffee break, drawing a card from a specially customized deck to decide what sheet he will work on. And don’t be fooled, this is no half hearted attempt, Jerry has created airports, high courts, cemeteries and train stations. The map is coloured to represent different altitudes, and to bring it to life further, he adds tickets, photographs, magazine cuttings, drawings and other bits and pieces to the existing pages to create textures and layers.

The images and a few brief blog posts really don’t do Jerry’s life-long project justice, so if you’re still curious then watch this brilliant short detailing the Jerry’s whole process.

More info (it's nice that)


Gathering Clouds

 

Amazon is slowly taking over the world. And I don't mean Amazon's impressive online shopping service either - I'm referring to Amazon Web Services (AWS) - possibly the largest 'Cloud' service around. Most people don't realise that many of the big web services - from Flipboard to Instagram all run on Amazons servers. In fact it's only when something goes wrong do we realise the implications.

Last week an AWS outage took down Instagram, Vine and several others (including Amazon.com too). Being taken offline is pretty serious for anyone, but for an internet only service it's disastrous. Are these web-based services relying too much on Amazon's Cloud? Perhaps, but it's doubtful that any competitor can ever offer 100% up-time. The answer then is that more companies will have to spread their reliance around as much as possible - otherwise the next outage could leave us all in the lurch! Maybe this Cloud thing is a little less fluffy than we'd imagined?

more info (techcrunch)


 Shut the Gates on your way out

 

Steve Ballmer, Microsoft's CEO announced his decision to step down - leaving a very different Microsoft from the one he inherited 13 years ago from good ol' Bill. Has his reign been a roaring success? Well if you judge his on-stage performance - he certainly thinks so! (yes, that's real). However, looking back we struggle to see the real vision he's brought to the company - for every success (Windows 7) there's been an equal failure (Windows Vista) - for every innovation (Metro interface design) there's been a cheap knock off copy (Zune).

In fact it's been remarked that Microsoft really doesn't know what to do when its out in-front - it's only when some young upstart (ie. Apple) comes along that the company realises that it has to up its game - but then that's where Microsoft can be dangerous. It does seem to be turning around and realising the up-hill climb its got to face to get back on top (finally, the Microsoft team is starting to think in 'joined-up' terms - desktop, living room, mobile all now sharing a similar approach). Let's hope his replacement just has a little more vision.

more info (the verge)

update: since writing the above it's emerged that not only has Microsoft bought Nokia (for cash no less) but the current Nokia CEO is rumoured as a replacement for the top job at Microsoft... hmmm almost like it was all planned...


At a loss

 

Poor Katie lost her iPhone this month, and being the foolish renagade she is, it wasn’t insured and didn’t feature any of the techie tracking or back up apps on the market now. 

We thought she couldn’t be the only ill prepared smartphone owner out there, and clearly Gizmodo feel the same, as this month the technology blog reviewed the best apps to have in your arsenal just in case you ever lose your phone.

Of course just being sensible with your phone is still the best defense, but Katie does like to live on the edge.


Timelapse Photography re-imagined

 

Fong Qi Wei's timelapse photographs are a beautiful, yet frankenstein-esque, look through time and capture the stunning effect that sunrise or sunset can have on a land or city scape. The only thing to do with these images is simply enjoy them.

Here today, hair tomorrow


We’ve worked with premium, award winning hair salon Headquarters on many projects over the years, and this month the team asked us to create an invite for its 15th birthday celebrations.

The salon is celebrating in style with bubbly, canapés, fashion designers and, of course, plenty of top notch hair. Not only that but HQ is using the party as the perfect excuse to show off its brand spanking new salon, which has had a birthday make over.

The salon's new interior

So, the invite for the birthday party needed to have the same luxury, celebratory look and feel. We chose to keep the reverse clean and typographic, allowing the show-stopping image on the front the take centre stage.

We used Fedrigoni Splendorlux, a thin card with a gloss coating to the face and an uncoated finish on the reverse – an unusual mix of textures that gives it a high end, distinctive feel. It’s usually a paper for litho printing, but thankfully our clever printers were able to make it work on their digital press.

On another note, it’s not just Headquarters that is 15 years old; the logo is too! It’s not had any work done, and no, we don’t hold the key to the fountain of youth. We just understand branding, and what it takes to make a logo stand the test of time.



We don’t like to hark on about it (ahem) but it is true that by getting ‘to the point’ (sorry, we couldn’t resist) of your business, understanding your values and your audience, there’s no reason why you can’t have a logo that will last.

Wednesday 28 August 2013

A bridge not too far

On the 11th August, on a chilly but bright morning, with the Thames two degrees colder than expected, Sam undertook yet another challenge on Team Hutton's fundraising journey in aid of the RNLI and in memory of their brother Charlie. Mum and Dad (our FD and MD) were there to see him off and despite second thoughts he entered the water with over 300 other swimmers. The event is only in its third year and has already tripled in size.




The 14km Bridge to Bridge swim starts at Henley and is billed as non competitive but the challenge is to beat the Thames, keeping out of the way of boats, kayaks, angry swans, ducklings and swimming dogs. With stops at locks, there's just time to grab a bite of a banana or chocolate snack before jumping back in with all the other seasoned swimmers, including a few cross channel fanatics.




The murky waters of the Thames are enough to freak out even the best swimmers but after a very shaky start, coming to terms with both the emotion of the event and his first experience of swimming in the Thames, Sam settled into his natural stroke and started to enjoy what is a magnificent stretch of theThames. The supporters were able to walk along the banks watching their friend or family member making steady progress towards the next stop. A great day and another great achievement. A small photo diary can be seen here of the day: http://bit.ly/Sam_henleyB2B



This stretch of the Thames Path is great for a weekend walk or cycle, but if you do decide to swim, do make sure you get the tide right and swim with it or it may be a bridge too far...

Footnote:
Tom and Sam's next event is the Charlie Hutton Hockey Festival to be held at Whitgift School South Croydon on Saturday 7th September 2013 from 10am. It should be another great day so if you fancy it, come along and support the teams and watch the passion, skill and fun that was so much part of Charlie's life. Team Hutton's giving page will remain open for further donations to the RNLI http://bit.ly/RNLIfundraising

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