Category: Communications

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    Advertising an illusion

    A new advert for Honda exploits many classic visual optical illusions very effectively. [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UelJZG_bF98[/youtube] From mashable.com/2013/10/22/honda-uk-ad/

  • Plain English for international readers

    The team developing the visit visa service at gov.uk recently blogged about some testing with international users over a screencast which gave them some great insights from the kind of cultures and language challenges the service faced. Something that stood out for me was this paragraph: Unsurprisingly, language proved one of the biggest areas for feedback.…

  • TechCrunch assesses the future of the local library

    TechCrunch assesses the future of the local library

    MG Siegler, a general partner at Google Ventures, has written a piece for TechCruch considering the viable future of the local library, a subject which can polarise opinions. It came about from another article on Wired.com – The Abomination of Ebooks: They Price People Out of Reading which reports on the ebook pricing and distribution…

  • There’s no such thing as future-proof

    There’s no such thing as future-proof

    Brad Frost is a web designer from Pittsburgh who recently spoke at web design dayon the topic “For a Future-Friendly Web“. His presentation is below, and his blog covers the detail and also has a video. Some highlights are: There’s no such thing as future-proof, but we can take steps to be more future-friendly. Content…

  • Bag of assumptions

    Russell Davies has written a good piece this week about his change from working in agencies and marketing departments to working at the Government Digital Service. Some choice quotes: “it’s been surprising to me how much ‘marketing thinking’ has come to dominate the way large organisations look at the world. It’s sad. That bag of assumptions…

  • Speaking to be understood

    Speaking to be understood

    I had a discussion with a colleague today about plain English, and by coincidence, saw this blog post from Ben Terrett titled “Please, speak as you might to a young child, or a golden retriever”, a quote from the film Margin Call. [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SmHl7hKlVj4[/youtube] Ben adds some good commentary: “They’re using those terms because that’s what…

  • Making Things People Want beats Making People Want Things

    John V Willshire the founder of Smithery has written a setup piece for his talk next week at AdTech 2013 which looks at the relationship between communications and marketing with product and service development. Here’s a few highlights: “Yet something bothered me… …the things that marketing clients had to ask agencies to try and sell…

  • News International’s “single biggest strategic mistake”

    Last year Katie Vanneck-Smith talked about what she’s learnt at News International as chief marketing officer, following their “single biggest strategic mistake”. Here’s a a selection of headline quotes, give yourself the 13 minutes to watch it all. “Unstoppable page view growth and unstartable profits” “15% of The Times are delivered on tablets.” “Ask yourself,…

  • “Why we fail”, or “getting the design right and getting the right design.”

    Victor Lombard writes about the downfall of Google Wave… I think of it this way: if we only test bottle openers, we may never realize customers prefer screw-top bottles. That’s what Buxton means by getting the right design. A classic interface design guideline is that any object that looks familiar should behave in a familiar…

  • This consumer will not be a product.

    A few attention grabbing quotes from Mr  Eben Moglen. Anonymity is not profitable “In the 21st century that means they are committed against anonymity no matter what they think they are doing because anonymity is not profitable” Facebook is a private intelligence service “What is wrong with Mr. Zuckerberg is not that he runs a private…