The Spectator

I have seen a couple of adverts from this series while on the train and think they are great. You don't have to see the logo to know that the ad is for The Spectator. The tone of all the short statements is so right. The campaign is to promote the magazines new look. It will now feature shorter articles and more quotes from industry leaders and will also put more emphasis on its coverage of culture, arts and literature. To reflect this the statements used in the campaign all comment on these areas. The magazine's stated mission to "provoke debate through elegantly written and highly opinionated comment". i think the campaign they have created ticks all these boxes.

The Cloud Community - An Introduction

Forget blue-sky thinking – Get your head in the clouds!

To a ‘civilian’, digital media sounds technical, perhaps exciting – or even boring but definitely daunting to those unfamiliar with the term. Surprisingly, the majority of us have contact with digital media on a daily basis. I’m not talking television, video or DVD - or even iPod, Wii consoles or broadband. I am talking about the intangible source of information in the clouds.

We all know the success of Facebook, Twitter and Myspace and the ability to connect with forgotten friends and share our lives on the ‘world wide web’. And some may even know of ‘cloud computing’, which allows access to files remotely from any location providing you have a computer, internet connection, a login and a password. These tools are two examples falling under the umbrella term ‘digital media’.

The UK has embraced cloud power on a personal level. The next logical step was to apply this format to business. In my world this all happened rather naturally. One minute I was a Graphic Designer come Marketing Assistant, the next I was appointed ‘Communications and Digital Media Manager’ – no formal training required – or not as the case may be. As I mentioned earlier, the job change came naturally but on reflection, my responsibilities at Glow had morphed over the years to accommodate new trends in communication and technology and subsequently my skills have been adapted and increased in order to use these tools effectively (a case of cloud evolution me thinks). Perhaps the change was apparent when I chose to take on a ‘Digital Print’ degree as opposed to a ‘Screen Printing’ course. Or maybe I should have noticed a shift when I taught myself to build websites on a whim “in case the need arises” which, I hasten to add it has. On the other hand maybe I shouldn’t have seen the shift – maybe I am over-analysing, after all technology makes evolution so much faster these days so maybe we just notice it more than say those living in the 1700’s.

I digress. The importance of this article is to recognize, not analyse, the presence of digital media.

I imagine digital media as a community above our heads connected with motorways, A roads, and more pleasant and relaxing country lanes. Throw in a few railway tracks and you should be able to visualize my head in the clouds. This community is the whole world and we have access to it all. A live feed of information available to everyone and powered by various digital media tools: The Cloud Community.

We can browse the web at our leisure using the country lanes, do some window shopping and stop for a chat at social media sites. Or we can conduct business, network and seal deals using the motorways, taking advantage of the live feed of information and instant communication tools.

Digital media agencies are being formed specifically to offer digital media services. These can be anything from e-marketing solutions to the integration of more technical systems. Cashing in on the services offered by digital media agencies and the like are companies such as OpenAmplify, who monitor the use and context of words in online conversations and articles:

"OpenAmplify uses multi-patented text analysis software to 'read' and understand the meaning of every word in every sentence and paragraph that it analyses across social networks and the wider web. It understands what's being discussed, how, when, where and why - making it extremely valuable for anyone seeking to monetise, analyse or create value from online content. It understands whether a topic of discussion is positive or negative, how emotionally engaged the author is in the topic, and what the author plans or intends to do about it. And it can do that automatically, hundreds of millions of times a day."

Mark Redgrave. http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/pda.  27^th October 2010

The existence of such companies already demonstrates the power of digital media and the already expanding possibilities and opportunities that are presented as a result.

In conclusion, this short article has merely been written in recognition of digital media and it’s presence in society. I hope to re-visit the topic in the near future providing examples of what and how to use digital media effectively. This article is a case in point – if you are reading it you have entered the cloud community!

Like Mom, Like Dad

A follow on from 'young me now me' this link is another nostalgia fuelled web based project featuring photos of mothers, fathers, sons and daughters. This time we are treated to some anecdotes depicting similarities between the afore mentioned relatives.

Like Mom Like Dad

Thanks to Rhys McCarthy for introducing me to the delights of "zefrank", we should all take a little time out to appreciate the simplicity of these amusing yet heartfelt projects that join communities across the world wide web!

Enjoy :-)

Shall we all go home now?

I found this really interesting article on the Design Assembly website. I find this site is a great resource for opinion based news stories about all aspects of the creative industry. This particular article struck a chord as I have only been working for a year having graduated in 2009 and therefore, as I suppose is natural, take a great interest in the future of an industry I spent years preparing to enter. I have spent much time worrying about it's stability and the role of the designer in years to come as clients become more design literate themselves. Following this theme I hope you find the following article of interest.

Part of the article is below but to read the whole article use this link

http://www.designassembly.org/2010/09/24/shall-we-all-go-home/

Choosing graphic design as a career choice has never been more popular; in my decade plus of studying and working in the field, it has become much easier to explain my occupation to strangers. In fact, I rarely have to explain at all, after I’ve answered the question “what do you do?”. They usually respond with “oh my sister does that” or “my nephew is starting his course in the autumn”. Part of me does yearn for those days where I had to explain the difference between architecture and graphic design to elderly relatives.

Alongside the dramatic mushrooming of the population of graphic designers over the last ten, twenty years there has been an overall increase in non-designer’s awareness of graphic design and typography. Every office computer is equipped with a hundred or more fonts and basic graphic or publishing software. Inevitably this has led to people making basic design decisions everyday; whether composing an email, pulling together a PowerPoint presentation or composing a passive-aggressive note to stop people stealing their milk. Regardless of the merit of the finished design, everyone with a computer suddenly has the tools to become a graphic designer.

A positive outcome of a more design-literate culture is good for designers, the clients may be more open to radical ideas and the communication between the two becomes easier. The downside is the client may becomes a back-seat driver, and encroaches on every decision from point size to Pantone colour.

Digital Mapping

I have become obsessed with this format. I have to say I was not overly aware of it until I read the article in this months Creative Review. It involves projecting an animation onto a building or structure. The clever thing is that the animation is digitally mapped to fit to the building. The overall effect of this makes the animation feel like it is an organic part of the building and blurs the lines between virtual reality and the real world. features such as windows on the buildings can become portals to another world or panels in an elaborate pinball machine. In a way a guess this has a similar theme to my last post. It seems the future of advertising, as with the future of the web, lies in greater user interaction. check out the examples below and make up your own mind.

NuFormer - Samsung, Amsterdam, May 2010 - One take from NuFormer Projection on Vimeo.

NuFormer - Sony, Madrid, Colegio San Augustin, May 2010 - One take from NuFormer Projection on Vimeo.