i-d media london

So here’s my visual over 4 and a half hours on Friday as promised A neat little app and a really nice visual overall as well.

Probably the most insane building I’ve ever seen.

Find out more over on http://www.dezeen.com/2009/06/30/uk-pavilion-at-shanghai-expo-2010-by-thomas-heatherwick/

I came across an article on I love typography that shows how type designers Pierre & Damien from Pleaseletmedesign.com created their typeface iQ Font. With help from interactive artist Zachary Lieberman, race pilot Stef Vancampenhoudt and the little Toyota iQ.

It looks like a great way to design a typeface.

I love watching the car make the lower case E and upper case Q the driver makes it look so smooth and simple.

D&AD New Blood began yesterday. Some very interesting and thoughtful pieces of design work from this years university graduates, it looks like a good year for new talent!

New Blood Part 1
New Blood Part 2

A friend of mine over at Tamar has written a neat piece on how brands can use twitter better.

http://econsultancy.com/blog/3852-tips-for-brands-starting-out-on-twitter-2

The long and short of it is that brands should be socialising rather than broadcasting which is the challenge they face across all media, not just social media and Twitter.

Bud Caddell, a digital strategist, sum’s up what he does as:

I think it explains quite nicely the challenge brands are facing online at the moment.

If you read only one round up of 2008, read the Most Contagious 2008, a free PDF from the bright people over at Contagious Magazine. It’s far more likely to help you with life in 2009 than ‘Top 100 Celebrity Frock Moments 2008′ or any one of those endlessly  repeated listings shows we’re subjected to when the Beeb staff are on holiday.

Revels are currently running a Big Brother style eviction campaign of their very own to banish a flavour from their line up. And the thing is that we get to choose which one’s gone. Sounds good, but the cynic in me wonders if they’ll really banish the flavour we all vote out and thoughts wander to ask what if the loser’s the easiest or cheapest to make – will they really drop it?

I’m good to go with it though and like a good citizen make my way over to the site. Besides the infuriating auto tabbing on the age verification form the site’s a neat execution.

I get to vote out my most hated flavour (can’t tell you which one though) and I feel empowered. Then the dream collapses, the words ‘limited edition’ feature in the exit clip and I’m left feeling a little bit cheated. Revels – you made me feel like I was part of something quite interesting and that you’d embraced personalised products. But then you shatter my dreams and I feel like if just taken part in a market research exercise with a really poor reward.

Be bold, listen to your customers and let them drive the product. Don ‘t fool them into feeling special then spoil their afternoon.

http://www.revelseviction.com

It’s always worth while spending time over on http://trendwatching.com.

This months briefing is a special edition covering 41 new business ideas – Innovation Avalanche.

http://trendwatching.com/briefing/

Saatchi & Saatchi AtPlay introduced me to their Love Marks thinking on brands. I think it quite eloquently sum’s up how brands are feeling at the moment. What really interests me is how digital can relate to this as a concept adding or indeed removing love.

Here’s what Saatchi & Saatchi say about Love Marks

“The bottom left finds you in the Low Respect and Low Love quadrant. This is the positioning of classic commodities. Public Utilities, low value transactions. Essential to our lives but going nowhere. Zero brand heat.

Now, move across to the bottom right quadrant to Low Respect and High Love. This is the land of fads, trends and infatuations. Last month’s gotta-haves. Next month’s has-beens. Hairstyles and Pop Stars. You can have a lot of fun down here but you won’t get Loyalty Beyond Reason.

The High Respect and Low Love quadrant in the top left of the axis is where most major brands are stuck. Functional benefits, solid performance, and always fixed on those “e-r” words. Newer, brighter, stronger, bolder and worst of all ­ cheaper. Needed but not desired.

High Respect and High Love is the place to be. The top right of the top right hand quadrant. This is Lovemark territory.

Only here, stretching for high love and resting on high respect, is where deep emotional connections are made.

Remember only the customer can decide Lovemark status. And they’ll only do it for brands that are up there in the top right, where the sun always shines.”