Masters Allen have been commissioned to redesign the
BFDC website,
a leading stamp and first-day-cover online resource. For stamp
lovers everywhere (and there are more than you think!), BFDC has
been a valuable source for purchasing and referencing stamps for
the last 30 years, with over 30,000 items available.
Our brief included the challenge of restructuring the navigation in such
a way, as to make it easier to use for a wide variety of existing visitors.
From keen stamp collectors, to those who are looking for special
dated collection gifts, to researchers and enthusiasts.
The redesign is in progress and will be launched in the coming months.
It’s interesting to see how government analysts and the general public are using social media to keep up to speed with, converse about and analyse the recent budget.
Check out this video from the BBC. Interesting stuff:
Over recent years we’ve seen a shift in where businesses focus their marketing activities. Advertising spend online topped that of offline spend for the first time this year as companies are now fighting to find their space online, rather in traditional media.
So what do this mean for the typical business owner? Well they suddenly need to think about how to put together an online marketing plan. Do you sign up to Facebook? What about online PR? Should you start Pay Par Click advertising or create a Banner Ad? What about Blogging, RSS or Feeds?
All of a sudden, an understanding of a variety of new technologies is critical to taking advantage of the online marketing opportunities. No longer can you simply write a new plan and then carry it out. You need to either take on an Online Marketing Manager or find a suitable company to manage it all for you. Outsourcing your online marketing might be the right way forward as you would be taking on the expertise of a number of specialists and at the same time, drastically reducing the monthly outgoings required.
Either way the new technologies cannot be ignored, perhaps the first step is to start talking to someone who can help to shape the online marketing plan and to focus on the right places online to start marketing.
Its that age old problem, we’ve all been there. A deadline is looming, you’ve misplaced your Pantone swatch book and you can’t seem to find your trusty Rubik’s Cube. Well fear not, there is a solution and it’s called the Rubitone. This clever adaptation of the 80’s classic from Ignacio Pilotto is simply an ordinary Rubik’s Cube with the traditional coloured stickers replaced with swatches from the Pantone colour system.
Sadly it appears that the Rubitone is not intended to be a commercial product. Probably a few licencing issues. The original Rubik’s Cube is rumoured to have sold over 350 million cubes worldwide since its launch. Bit of a shame really, we could see the Rubitone easily outselling the Pantone mugs!
So, if you find yourself in a conundrum and you don’t want to run another algorithm, you could easily give your old Rubik’s Cube the Rubitone treatment with a few left over Pantone chips. In a colour of your choice of course.
So, once again a new iPhone has been unveiled, the interestingly named 3G S, boasts much faster speeds than its predecessor the 3G. The name change reminds us of a new trim of car, personally we would have preferred the iPhone Ghia, or the iPhone XR3i, but we’ll have to settle for the S. Obviously there are plenty of other additions to the new model, including voice control and video capture, however once again there is talk of rivals (the Palm Pre) being a significant alternative option. But it’s not an Apple product at the end of the day and is unlikely to convert the diehards.
Sticking with the iPhone, the iPhone apps continue to expand, there seems to be an app for almost anything now with over 50,000 available to download at the app store. The Apple WWDC conference in San Francisco was a perfect opportunity to show off the vast array on offer with a collection of cinema displays mounted together, each one crammed with app icons pulsating when purchased.
The youtube clip below illustrates the huge numbers of apps that are currently being downloaded.
If you are keen to drive more traffic to your website and want to increase your search engine ranking, then blogging might be for you.
We would describe a blog as – “an online journal that is regularly updated with content and built on a platform with automated syndication”. In simple terms, consider a blog to be the equivalent of an online diary or bulletin board that is very easy for web users to access.
Blogs can be hosted with blog software or can be hosted by a blog host company. The downside of a blog host company is that you will not get the benefit of SEO (search engine optimisation) for your website.
Blogs and search engine marketing marry extremely well. Search engines have historically looked for content rich websites that are updated frequently, blogs provide the perfect solution for this, provided they are updated regularly. Search engines like keyword links, which blogs can provide. Assuming of course that they are written with keywords in mind. Search engines also like unique and popular content, so it is fairly safe to assume that if your blog is topical then visitors will want to read it!
In a nutshell, active blogs can rank well in search engines, provide quality links back to your main domain, and expand your traffic and presence on the web. So the question is, what are you waiting for?
Web 2.0 content is really starting to become useful in making purchasing decisions. User feedback and customers reviews on websites can aid the website visitor in making a decision and website owners shouldn’t be afraid to allow users and visitors to add comments or post reviews on websites.
Just recently, whilst searching for a hotel in the Lake District, new Lake Windermere, I was taken on a journey across a number of websites reviewing content and ended up on www.activehotels.com. The web 2.0 content there was extremely helpful in understanding a lot more about the resort, the facilities and the hotels available there, right down to reading reviews from people of a similar demographic and their thoughts about not only the hotel itself but about the specific rooms that they stayed in.
This was followed up by a quick call to the hotel to check availability of the exact room that we were interested in. Not only did we manage to book that room but we got a significant discount off the prices on the internet!
Without doubt we will be leaving our review on the very same website in the hope that other visitors will benefit from our comments. Hotels are just one example, but web 2.0 content could be used in any industry from automotive to telecoms, any website should consider the opportunities offered by this new wave of interactive web content.
We’re sure you will have heard about, or seen, the new Hovis TV ad. It has received a great deal of media attention. The epic 122-second TV commercial is part of a new £15million campaign. The length of the cinema-style advert represents the age of the original Hovis small brown loaf, 122 years. The loaf itself is being re-introduced into stores. Incidentally, the Hovis brand is valued at a reported £380million.
Not to be outdone, Warburtons have started a new ad campaign, said to be costing in the region of £22million. Together with TV ads, press ads will roll out in Women’s press and Sunday supplements with the emphasis on ‘fibre’. A microsite has also been created with a fibre calculator amongst other things. Below is the latest TV commercial entitled, ‘welcome to the family’.
Digital design consultancy Splendid is creating a new Facebook-style social networking site for entrepreneurs, due to go live this autumn.
Owned by Brightstation Ventures, business support website Smarta will put those wanting to start or grow a business in touch with other entrepreneurs. Dyson director Richard Needham sits on Smarta’s board.
‘A website like Linked In has a very professional edge to it, but there is room for a more inclusive business support and networking website with no gender bias,’ says design group Splendid’s managing director Paul Bishop.
Brighstation appointed Splendid to create Smarta 18 months ago without a pitch, having worked with the consultancy for the past two years on three other websites.
Bishop claims Splendid was recommended to Brighstation following the consultancy’s work on websites for former Emap-owned magazines New Woman and Heat.
Brightstation has secured funding for Smarta from Vodafone and the Royal Bank of Scotland.
Splendid created a holding microsite for the venture that went live in December and can be viewed at www.smarta.com.
Article from Design Week – www.designweek.co.uk/Articles
