Wednesday, October 24, 2012
Monday, October 01, 2012
Buffer : handling sharing on social media.
Found this neat free app for sharing on social media. The problem with propagating stories is that you have to have a good stock of them lined up and be able to schedule them at the right time otherwise the effect is somewhat lost. Bufferapp is able to stock up a 'buffer' of stories you find whenever you are browsing throughout the day and then publish them at your specified times.
Optimal tweets per day? See this article. Just add them to the buffer, set the times you want and you're off.
Link in multiple accounts or Facebook pages that you manage. Very good so far.
Optimal tweets per day? See this article. Just add them to the buffer, set the times you want and you're off.
Link in multiple accounts or Facebook pages that you manage. Very good so far.
Thursday, September 27, 2012
New tech roundup from the BBC
Silicon Valley's hottest start-ups vie for attention
California's Silicon Valley has done much to earn its reputation as the world's leading technology hub.
This article covers new tech start-up products the self-balancing motorbike, the anticipatory chat app and the $10,000 coffee machine. Are these guys on the right track? Check out the article here: http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-19655627
Monday, July 23, 2012
Samsung buys CSR mobile
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cambridgeshire-18908035
and such a BEAUTIFULLY designed logo too! That must have swung it for Samsung, surely….
and such a BEAUTIFULLY designed logo too! That must have swung it for Samsung, surely….
Thursday, July 19, 2012
Mirror Neurons help us empathise, teach, inform
Another interesting article to from Ramachandran and here he talks about what he calls 'mirror neurons'. This talk reveals some insights into how we can teach, inform, empathise or care for others better.
Humanities meets Science.
Humanities meets Science.
Tuesday, July 17, 2012
Evolution, the eye and communication design
Whilst on holiday (this fact is not superfluous, it crops up later!) I finished reading Richard Dawkin's fascinating and insightful book, "The Greatest Show on Earth" which outlined the evidence for evolution.
Dawkins says that the eye is an amazing, if oddly put together piece of kit and he uses this as an argument against an 'intelligent creator'. He points out that the optic nerve gobbles up quite a lot of important retinal real estate and would most likely not be made in such a way by an intelligent designer of an eye. Amazingly, however, we don't perceive this 'hole' nor do we generally see the gap between our eyes as our brains do an amazing job of working out the 'puzzle' in front of us and rendering us pretty seamless vision. I am aware of this more than most as my wife suffers from a condition which has caused her to lose some sight near her macula but, as her consultant tells her, the brain does an amazing job of compensating and under normal circumstances she sees no 'gap', despite the disease's progress.
I was first put on to the amazing visual processing power of the brain after listening to the 2003 Reith lectures called 'The Emerging Mind' given by Vilayanur S. Ramachandran. He details the workings of the mind and notably touches on art: "Are there such things as artistic universals?", he asks.
The lecture is well worth a listen but one point I want to dwell on here which struck a chord with me after my holiday at the coast (aha!) was the story about the seagulls. On holiday I saw plenty of seagulls and I love to hear them 'squaaaaaww'. As they fly past I often point out the red spot under the beak to my children and tell them the following story.
Experiments on seagull chicks by N. Tinbergen at Oxford University showed that this spot is not only a very important signal for the chick to peck at for food, but by abstracting it further researchers found that a chick would peck for food at a red spot painted on two two long sticks!
Furthermore, Tinbergen found out that the higher the contrast of the red spot the more the chick will peck for food and this high contrast is what the chick perceives as 'motherness'. Ramachandran emphasises that this is intellignet rationalisation of the brain processing of a chick: the goal of vision, he points out, is to do as little as is needed to get the job done. Evolution has taught the chick that all it needs to do is peck at the high contrast red spot in order to be fed, because this is 'mother'. It cares not that the mother has a head, wings, feathers or legs because it's saving energy! The red spot will do.
The analogy I see with interface design is clear: we need to use visual clues and the processing power of humans' brains to streamline our interaction design and icon development. Use what is hard-wired within us all to make that interactive process a seamless one for the user so that they are helped along the process by the mother within them. Why use complex invented icons when our innate feelings can show us a simpler way. We don't however need the blatancy of red panic buttons for simpler operations (although occasionally this might help!). We can do better than this with more subtle colour palettes, intelligent photographic choices and visual clues in order to smooth the passage from operation to operation.
So designers: before you use your pencils, use your brains.
Dawkins says that the eye is an amazing, if oddly put together piece of kit and he uses this as an argument against an 'intelligent creator'. He points out that the optic nerve gobbles up quite a lot of important retinal real estate and would most likely not be made in such a way by an intelligent designer of an eye. Amazingly, however, we don't perceive this 'hole' nor do we generally see the gap between our eyes as our brains do an amazing job of working out the 'puzzle' in front of us and rendering us pretty seamless vision. I am aware of this more than most as my wife suffers from a condition which has caused her to lose some sight near her macula but, as her consultant tells her, the brain does an amazing job of compensating and under normal circumstances she sees no 'gap', despite the disease's progress.
I was first put on to the amazing visual processing power of the brain after listening to the 2003 Reith lectures called 'The Emerging Mind' given by Vilayanur S. Ramachandran. He details the workings of the mind and notably touches on art: "Are there such things as artistic universals?", he asks.
The lecture is well worth a listen but one point I want to dwell on here which struck a chord with me after my holiday at the coast (aha!) was the story about the seagulls. On holiday I saw plenty of seagulls and I love to hear them 'squaaaaaww'. As they fly past I often point out the red spot under the beak to my children and tell them the following story.
Experiments on seagull chicks by N. Tinbergen at Oxford University showed that this spot is not only a very important signal for the chick to peck at for food, but by abstracting it further researchers found that a chick would peck for food at a red spot painted on two two long sticks!
Photo (taken on holiday!) by PG.
Furthermore, Tinbergen found out that the higher the contrast of the red spot the more the chick will peck for food and this high contrast is what the chick perceives as 'motherness'. Ramachandran emphasises that this is intellignet rationalisation of the brain processing of a chick: the goal of vision, he points out, is to do as little as is needed to get the job done. Evolution has taught the chick that all it needs to do is peck at the high contrast red spot in order to be fed, because this is 'mother'. It cares not that the mother has a head, wings, feathers or legs because it's saving energy! The red spot will do.
The analogy I see with interface design is clear: we need to use visual clues and the processing power of humans' brains to streamline our interaction design and icon development. Use what is hard-wired within us all to make that interactive process a seamless one for the user so that they are helped along the process by the mother within them. Why use complex invented icons when our innate feelings can show us a simpler way. We don't however need the blatancy of red panic buttons for simpler operations (although occasionally this might help!). We can do better than this with more subtle colour palettes, intelligent photographic choices and visual clues in order to smooth the passage from operation to operation.
So designers: before you use your pencils, use your brains.
Thursday, June 28, 2012
Essential dos of the Corporate Tweet
Following a study of some of the world's "biggest brands" a new study by Buddy Media has examined brand tweets from Dec. 11, 2011 to Feb. 23, 201 and revealed some essential dos of the corporate tweet.
- Tweet over the weekend
Twitter engagement rates for brands are 17% higher on Saturday and Sunday
- Tweets over the weekend should be between 8 am and 7 pm
The study shows tweets between these times have 30% higher engagement rates
- 4 tweets a day is optimal
More than this and you start getting diminishing returns
- Include a link
Linked tweets have an 86% higher retweet rate than tweets without links.
- Use hashtags (up to two)
Tweets with hashtags get twice the engagement of those without
Using one or even two hashtags in a tweet is fine, but if you add a third, you’ll begin to see an average 17% dropoff in engagement.
- Add an image
Posts with images have double the engagement of those without
- Ask followers to 'retweet'.
Asking followers to “RT,” will give 12X higher retweet rate than not. Using the word “retweet,” makes that rate jumps 23X.
Full article here: http://mashable.com/2012/06/
- Tweet over the weekend
Twitter engagement rates for brands are 17% higher on Saturday and Sunday
- Tweets over the weekend should be between 8 am and 7 pm
The study shows tweets between these times have 30% higher engagement rates
- 4 tweets a day is optimal
More than this and you start getting diminishing returns
- Include a link
Linked tweets have an 86% higher retweet rate than tweets without links.
- Use hashtags (up to two)
Tweets with hashtags get twice the engagement of those without
Using one or even two hashtags in a tweet is fine, but if you add a third, you’ll begin to see an average 17% dropoff in engagement.
- Add an image
Posts with images have double the engagement of those without
- Ask followers to 'retweet'.
Asking followers to “RT,” will give 12X higher retweet rate than not. Using the word “retweet,” makes that rate jumps 23X.
Full article here: http://mashable.com/2012/06/
Wednesday, June 27, 2012
Scientific Creativity
Insightful TED talk by a surgeon who examines creativity, particularly musical creativity, through science.
Expressive communication and the language of expressive music.
"It's magical but it's not magic"
Curious? Watch this neat outline of Charles Limb's study of 'scientific creativity' and innovation in the arts.
Expressive communication and the language of expressive music.
"It's magical but it's not magic"
Curious? Watch this neat outline of Charles Limb's study of 'scientific creativity' and innovation in the arts.
Sunday, June 10, 2012
The (Negative) Power of Social Media
Or, "there is such thing as bad publicity".
Just a quick comment on this hilariously cheesy and somewhat off-colour video which left Microsoft more than a little red in the face. It's an example of how social media can take over your event and trend in ways you just didn't think were possible!
I *particularly* enjoy the line in the song:
"I'm a software developer, I'm developing, And I'm here to party…"
But the really embarrassing lyric was yet to come…
The rap manages to proclaim, “The words MICRO and SOFT don’t apply to my penis.”
And of course this was tweeted immediately forcing Microsoft's Head of Communications to apologise.
Lessons for us all, I think…
Link/full story: http://pulse.me/s/a7MWC
Just a quick comment on this hilariously cheesy and somewhat off-colour video which left Microsoft more than a little red in the face. It's an example of how social media can take over your event and trend in ways you just didn't think were possible!
I *particularly* enjoy the line in the song:
"I'm a software developer, I'm developing, And I'm here to party…"
But the really embarrassing lyric was yet to come…
The rap manages to proclaim, “The words MICRO and SOFT don’t apply to my penis.”
And of course this was tweeted immediately forcing Microsoft's Head of Communications to apologise.
Lessons for us all, I think…
Link/full story: http://pulse.me/s/a7MWC
Thursday, May 31, 2012
Attack Marketing and Social Media
Great story here that really highlights something I've been thinking of recently: using social media appropriately. Vibram, the funky shoe manufacturer, had been inundated with complaints from customers who thought they had bought genuine products only to find them quickly fall apart! Vibram soon realised that although the returned products looked like Vibram shoes they just weren't right.
After much thought Vibram decided not to wait for government help against counterfeiters but to act themselves. How?
"Candidly, you have to realise that intellectual property only gets you so far," says CEO Tony Post. "At the end of the day it's really about your relationship with the consumer."
They seem to have pulled off an amazing turnaround and in some part it's due to social media. But not only social media.
When I saw this graphic showing the complexity of social media tools I threw my hands up in the air. This graphic seemed to say that marketing is complex now. But it doesn't have to be. These are just tools you could use in order to better your relationship with your customer (as Vibram's CEO says).
Marketing isn't about facebook, or LinkedIn or twitter (alone). It's about people. Sure these are tools that can reach your key stakeholders but honestly: would you use EVERY gardening tool you had to plant a seed?
Just as Vibram did, you have to choose when to use social media and how to apply it to your goals. And of course, which tools will best reach your stakeholders.
After much thought Vibram decided not to wait for government help against counterfeiters but to act themselves. How?
"Candidly, you have to realise that intellectual property only gets you so far," says CEO Tony Post. "At the end of the day it's really about your relationship with the consumer."
They seem to have pulled off an amazing turnaround and in some part it's due to social media. But not only social media.
When I saw this graphic showing the complexity of social media tools I threw my hands up in the air. This graphic seemed to say that marketing is complex now. But it doesn't have to be. These are just tools you could use in order to better your relationship with your customer (as Vibram's CEO says).
Marketing isn't about facebook, or LinkedIn or twitter (alone). It's about people. Sure these are tools that can reach your key stakeholders but honestly: would you use EVERY gardening tool you had to plant a seed?
Just as Vibram did, you have to choose when to use social media and how to apply it to your goals. And of course, which tools will best reach your stakeholders.
Wednesday, April 25, 2012
Friday, March 09, 2012
David Hockney pushes boundaries of art creation
It's wonderful to see an established artist tinkering at the edges of technology to create their art. David Hockney's ipad exhibition shows off his ipad created 'paintings' and talks intelligently about how he feels that throughout art history embracing new media has always been the case.
The following video shows a different exhibition in Canada, still by Hockney, but this time using screens to display the artwork which calls for a different appreciation. The gallery is dark and the artwork is lit and as Hockney says offers a different "luminosity" to the work.
Here's the ROM's Hockney exhibition link: http://www.rom.on.ca/hockney/
After seeing this series of videos I wondered what the technology was like and what level of detail it could actually achieve. Here is a painting by a different artist showing a high level of detail using the 'Brushes' app…
In addition there's a whole suite of brushes and stylus pens to use with this sort of program:
http://thenextweb.com/apple/2011/02/26/5-stylus-pens-and-brushes-perfect-for-ipad-artists/
I need to get painting again. Now, though, with light!
The following video shows a different exhibition in Canada, still by Hockney, but this time using screens to display the artwork which calls for a different appreciation. The gallery is dark and the artwork is lit and as Hockney says offers a different "luminosity" to the work.
Here's the ROM's Hockney exhibition link: http://www.rom.on.ca/hockney/
After seeing this series of videos I wondered what the technology was like and what level of detail it could actually achieve. Here is a painting by a different artist showing a high level of detail using the 'Brushes' app…
In addition there's a whole suite of brushes and stylus pens to use with this sort of program:
http://thenextweb.com/apple/2011/02/26/5-stylus-pens-and-brushes-perfect-for-ipad-artists/
I need to get painting again. Now, though, with light!
Thursday, February 09, 2012
Monday, February 06, 2012
Find Your Own Voice: Working with Lucian Freud
Lovely slideshow by the BBC about art and life with Lucian Freud.
"He wanted you to find your own voice, and that's what you have to do as an artist."
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-16849079
"He wanted you to find your own voice, and that's what you have to do as an artist."
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-16849079
Friday, February 03, 2012
Science meets art
In another post relating to visualisation in the sciences check out some interesting visual projects based on better understanding aspects of science. This is Visualization Challenge sponsored by science magazine is run to, "promote cutting-edge efforts to visualize scientific data, principles, and ideas" The challenge covered different media: Photography, Illustration, Informational Posters and Graphics, Interactive games and videos.
Check out some of the resulting entrants in a slideshow here on the BBC website.
Following is an 'Honorable Mention' in the Video section. A nice blend of video, graphics and music to give an entertaining and, more importantly, an informative presentation.
Check out some of the resulting entrants in a slideshow here on the BBC website.
Following is an 'Honorable Mention' in the Video section. A nice blend of video, graphics and music to give an entertaining and, more importantly, an informative presentation.
Monday, January 23, 2012
Animating Science
How do we communicate ideas of cells that are "smaller than the wavelength of light".
Good question.
Visually communicating these concepts must be a real challenge as it needs to show what is happening in 3 dimensions at molecular level of things we understand, but can't actually see. This video shows neatly how scientists can use drawing, illustration and animation as part of their thinking process. I find that this is where real design communication comes into its own. Design and illustration has always been fundamental to a process of thinking and not 'showing off'. Of course we need to show our thinking and that's where the presentation of our thinking turns into animations or infographics.
Unfortunately many infographics (or infocrapics) get lost in the delivery of their own beauty rather than using relevant information to make clear by way of an illustration. These infographics aren't used to work out complex ideas into simpler, more easier to understand graphics, rather they use information to force an outcome which is purely attractive without substance.
Take for example the following:
http://www.informationisbeautiful.net/2012/top-21-albums-of-2011/
In an effort to make the Top 21 Albums of 2011 more visually attractive the 'designer' has used different sizes of the name of the album to relate how popular it is. In addition they have used different fonts to differentiate the albums. The trouble is that the names of these albums are of different length so this skews completely the weighting given to each name by increasing its size! Why do this instead of producing a list or a simple bar chart? The creator hasn't used this as a thinking aid or a communication aid rather as a source of self gratification. Amazingly the 'designer' quotes the original source which is a simple list, not much larger in size than the infographic, but which gives more information…
Let's think about how we communicate and communicate what we think.
Good question.
Unfortunately many infographics (or infocrapics) get lost in the delivery of their own beauty rather than using relevant information to make clear by way of an illustration. These infographics aren't used to work out complex ideas into simpler, more easier to understand graphics, rather they use information to force an outcome which is purely attractive without substance.
Take for example the following:
http://www.informationisbeautiful.net/2012/top-21-albums-of-2011/
In an effort to make the Top 21 Albums of 2011 more visually attractive the 'designer' has used different sizes of the name of the album to relate how popular it is. In addition they have used different fonts to differentiate the albums. The trouble is that the names of these albums are of different length so this skews completely the weighting given to each name by increasing its size! Why do this instead of producing a list or a simple bar chart? The creator hasn't used this as a thinking aid or a communication aid rather as a source of self gratification. Amazingly the 'designer' quotes the original source which is a simple list, not much larger in size than the infographic, but which gives more information…
Let's think about how we communicate and communicate what we think.
Wednesday, October 05, 2011
New identity for Imperial War Museums
http://www.creativereview.co.uk/cr-blog/2011/october/hat-tricks-new-identity-for-imperial-war-museums
Well, I don't get it. I appreciate that the IWM logo has to be versatile across the many sorts of media that the museums deal with but this doesn't do it for me. The idea that the logo needs to be strong to withstand use reversed out on stock photos, videos as well as regular corporate material lends itself to this BBC style design but I think it is left wanting. The proportions of the key stone element are unkind and the step up between the words is just silly. (Low voice) Imperial, (high voice) War, (Low voice) Museums.
Like the idea of bringing the plural Museums into play to reflect the nationwide aspect and also the great vibrant colours used but overall feels quite unbalanced and Eye Double Ewe Em isn't that much less of a mouthful than Imperial War Museums…
Well, I don't get it. I appreciate that the IWM logo has to be versatile across the many sorts of media that the museums deal with but this doesn't do it for me. The idea that the logo needs to be strong to withstand use reversed out on stock photos, videos as well as regular corporate material lends itself to this BBC style design but I think it is left wanting. The proportions of the key stone element are unkind and the step up between the words is just silly. (Low voice) Imperial, (high voice) War, (Low voice) Museums.
Like the idea of bringing the plural Museums into play to reflect the nationwide aspect and also the great vibrant colours used but overall feels quite unbalanced and Eye Double Ewe Em isn't that much less of a mouthful than Imperial War Museums…
Tuesday, May 17, 2011
Secrets of the Superbrands: tonight BBC3
Interesting looking documentary on BBC3 tonight regarding 'Superbrands' and how cunning marketing can get us to buy their stuff . How do these companies market their products and tap into our basic needs.
"With the help of marketeers, brain scientists and exclusive access to the world of the superbrands Alex sets out to find out why we buy them, trust them, even idolise them."
Programme page: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b011fjbp
Friday, April 22, 2011
The Beauty of Diagrams
BBC documentary spotlighting key diagrams through history. But this show about graphic representation isn't narrated by an artist or a designer, but the mathematician Marcus du Sautoy.
In this programme he looks at the visualisation of mathematical data, and in this case how something which may be seen as quite theoretical can give rise to an iconic diagram which fired the imagination of the public. It's not that the science behind the DNA was uninteresting but, as du Sautoy claims, the visualisation of the double helix has immediate appeal ("an attractive, marketable shape"). It was Crick's classically trained artist wife who translated the original diagram into the now famous diagram which first appeared in Nature magazine in 1953 and unwittingly led to a globally recognised and also commercialised diagram. In this process du Sautoy asks: does it enhance the understanding or, with its iconic status does it leave a vague idea of the 'essence' of life on us. Do we know what it really means? Or do we not even see past the structure...this DNA diagram illustrates 'life'. Is it overused? Is it over sold?
Watch it here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00wltpx
Programme was first shown on BBC Four, 8:30PM Thu, 16 Dec 2010.
It's also worth checking out du Sautoy's visually engaging (if annoyingly noisy) website too:
Wednesday, April 13, 2011
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