evo design - graphics, photography, web
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The Ad Man
15
OctSo much of advertising focusses on perceptions and not reality - but why?
It turns out we are just as thrilled with perceived value as we are with real value.
Whilst it’s important to avoid gaps between perception and reality (cognitive dissonance), there’s nothing wrong with having a little fun with marketing communications.
This is superbly demonstrated by Rory Sutherland in an amusing and insightful TED lecture called - Life Lessons From An Ad Man.
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The Reality of Viral
13
OctIn an attempt to improve the plain old viral, many companies are now turning to reality marketing. We’ve all seen it but what is it?
In its simplest terms, reality marketing involves the production of something, typically video, in which the content is seemingly real and not the product of a several million pound media campaign.
The essence of reality marketing is to remove the ‘corporate’ entity from the equation at the onset, and in so doing, liberate the viewer from preconception.
Without this burden the viewer is watching for pure interest alone. When the reveal is made the viewer is intrigued by the curious juxtaposition of the natural content and the novelty of it actually being an advert. The YouTube example below is from the Sony Twilight Football Campaign.
Of course the obvious question is - “Is this not just like any other advert, filmed using a camcorder?”. The short answer is yes, but as it’s not delivered by conventional mass media and instead quietly seeded across the internet in an entirely non-commercial way, it’s not immediately clear - and this is what creates the intrigue.The concept keeps the primary features of a viral, in that the novelty, interest and perhaps comedy value are compelling enough to tell your friends about it. The clever twist of corporate affiliation has people saying things like ‘have you seen the really cool Sony video for their twilight camera’.
This is a far more potent force than, ‘have you seen the advert for that camera’, which for the most part invites a ‘no’ and ‘I’m not that interested’.
For a more in depth look with examples head over to Campaign website and look at the article From Branded Content to Reality Marketing.
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Jungle Disk Server Edition
07
OctA commercially viable automated backup solution for web design agencies using Amazon S3. Sweet!
For any small business there are a multitude of ways to backup data as part of a disaster recovery plan.
Unfortunately, each tends to have several drawbacks and quite often cost is a biggy. Server infrastructure, administrator skill, specialist hardware, co-location - all carry with them a big cost burden.
There are turnkey, quick fix solutions using file synchronisation services and such, or you can opt for a local system and take media home each day - but come one, are these genuine disaster recovery strategies?
Things were made a lot simpler when Amazon announced S3 and gave the world cheap as chips data storage in the cloud. Okay, so it’s a little techie to get to grips with but the folks at JungleDisk took the heavy lifting out and gave us a really neat way to use S3 for automated data backup.
Well they just went one better…
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A Holistic Approach to Search Engine Marketing
16
SepAsk any PR guru and they will tell you one of the biggest problems with press releases is tracking conversions - in other words attributing a given activity directly to the release.
Historically PR has been regarded as an activity that falls outside the domain of marketing. This flawed approach has only been overcome in the last decade or so, during which time companies have begun to see how PR and traditional marketing activities should work in unison.
internet marketing; the place in which PR and marketing become so intertwined as to be almost inseparable
Perhaps the biggest reason for this merging is the growth of internet marketing; the place in which PR and marketing become so intertwined as to be almost inseparable.
Nevertheless, the infrastructure of the web and the different nature of consumerism online bring unique challenges which must be approached with an unconventional strategy.
Several hundred years ago the world gave birth to the printing press and in so doing, for better or worse also came the newspaper. For a monochrome, 2D, low resolution medium the de facto method of grabbing attention became the headline. It’s no different today. The average news stand has a seemingly infinite number of papers and magazines, each vying for your attention.
Print has always used the headline; ergo the goal of the journalist is to produce eye-catching, clever headlines which, in an instant, turn that casual glance into an insatiable need to find out more…. and hence, make you part with your money.
A computer algorithm can’t unpick the nuance of a metaphorical headline.
The human brain has a limitless capacity to invoke symbols and images, play with metaphor, debate irony, double entendre and the word play. This offers the average journalist an enormous catalogue of potential when crafting those wonderful headlines. On the web things are very different. Very different indeed.
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What is Viral Marketing?
01
SepThe frequent use of the term viral marketing and/or viral advertising would suggest a relatively new phenomena. In fact the idea has been around and used with success for many years, though it’s true, in the area of Web 2.0 - social networks, video sharing and Flash gaming, viral marketing has seen an explosion.
Viral marketing itself is not tied to any specific medium and at its core refers to the way in which information is spread. The notion that the message is self-replicating, in other words the recipient is filled with a desire to ‘spread the word’ gives rise to the idea of a virus.
Facebook, MySpace, YouTube and Twitter create the perfect conditions for a marketing virus
It just so happens the world of social networking and video sharing using applications such as Facebook, MySpace, YouTube and Twitter create the perfect conditions for a marketing virus.
Unfortunately many organisations fall foul when embarking on a viral marketing quest. They do so because they fixate on the concept of the virus (the vehicle) rather than the content (the payload). In other words, marketers think the following: Facebook is cool. Therefore my message will be cool. Therefore Facebook users will think my company is cool.
If there is one thing users of Facebook are not going to think, it’s that you’re cool for using Facebook
Not true. If there is one thing users of Facebook are not going to think, it’s that you’re cool for using Facebook. In much the same way as someone using a telephone doesn’t think you’re cool if you are using one as well.
To truly go viral you need to ‘not’ think viral and instead take your product, service, company or brand and make it look completely different to anything that’s come before. You need to turn things on their head and present them in such a way that people are genuinely surprised, even for just a few seconds.
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Media Temple in the UK
11
AprYou read a lot of negativity around the blogosphere relating to Media Temple - so when evo decided to find a new hosting partner, we thought we’d find out for ourselves.
Over the years evo has partnered with 1and1 and HeartInternet to provide client hosting services.
Both have been exemplary and more recently Heart have demonstrated rock solid uptime and great customer service. However, our client’s are becoming more demanding, or rather our client’s websites are becoming more demanding and to work effectively we require a far more scaleable solution.
Our requirements are maximum uptime and speed, flexibility, complete control and rock solid scalability. If a client finds themselves lucky enough to appear on the front page of Digg - it’s our job to ensure their website can sustain the bludgeoning it will receive. If we fail to deliver a service capable of this the client loses out big time - which means so do we.
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Monochrome Madness
24
MarIt’s always nice to be noticed, and the evo site has been picked up in an article on WebDesigner Depot - titled 50 Monochromatic Websites.
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Make Your Budget Work
05
MarSuccessful marketing relies on research; knowing your customers and your marketplace.
This is not rocket science, but so many businesses pour money into advertising channels that are completely fruitless.
They don’t do it on purpose, they do it because they make unfounded assumptions about their market.
Make conclusions not assumptions.
It’s so easy in business to draw unsubstantiated conclusions about what we do. Perhaps borne out of a desire to impress, to demonstrate we know our market, or maybe naivety. Whatever the reason you should always try to justify your claims. Make conclusions not assumptions.
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Accessibility in a Nutshell
05
MarEnsuring your website can be used by everyone is not simply about law and ethics, it makes great business sense.
For many years businesses have been required by law to ensure their premises are disability friendly. In particular retail facilities must ensure appropriate placement of lifts, toilets, hand rails and ramps so that anybody in a wheelchair can enjoy the same shopping experience as those on foot.
There is already legislation in place to ensure businesses maximise the usability of their website for those with disabilities.
It stands to reason that your website, the digital representation of your business, should abide by the same laws and ethical codes as your bricks and mortar namesake. And not surprisingly it does. There is already legislation in place to ensure businesses maximise the usability of their website for those with disabilities.
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Email Marketing Works!
09
FebAsk your customers to buy. I read this in a business development kit by Brendon Sinclair published by Sitepoint. Many businesses have great products and/or services but fail to get around to asking their customers to buy.
It seems a huge over-simplification of what businesses refer to as marketing. In fact there are organisations who fail to deploy an adequate marketing channel with a succinct call to action.
“Hey Guys, we make ‘this’ and we think it would be great for you. It does x,y,z and is available at this discounted price for a short time. If you’re interested - do this!”
In fact there are organisations who fail to deploy an adequate marketing channel with a succinct call to action.
Sounds very straightforward? It is quite staggering how many people don’t actually utilise such a basic approach to developing their business.
Some would argue they send out their glossy brochure with a business card. Or invite people to look on their website. This is not the same. This is asking people to look. It’s not asking them to buy.
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ExpressionEngine is too cool.
29
NovOf all content management systems, I think EE has to be best.
The age old problem for all web developers. Does a system exist that can manage my content efficiently, but does not confine me to a stylistic straight jacket?
As any web developer will tell you, making the decision to jump from static content to managed content has always been a pained one.
On the one hand there are enormous benefits from having control panel access to all of your editorial content. With a plethora of plugins and modules you can add just about any functionality you need to a system - so the benefits can be significant.
As any web developer will tell you, making the decision to jump from static content to managed content has always been a pained one.
But then there’s the cost. Not financial per se, but the time it’s going to take you to shoehorn your elegant design into some strangely constructed theme system.
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Does my website look big in this?
28
NovYou’d be surprised just how different your website looks to other people.
According to the tome of all knowledge, Wikipedia - usability is defined as a term denoting the ease with which people can employ a particular tool, or other man made object to achieve a particular goal.
Usability is not a huge problem for many publicists since most mainstream media is published through highly standardised mediums - such as televisions. A news reader does not have to concern himself with how his jaw will look on a variety of different TVs since the world’s televisions behave in a very similar manner.
The world’s browsers perform in a variety of ways, that are often so peculiar as to render a website entirely inoperable
Unfortunately this is not true for web designers. The world’s browsers perform in a variety of ways, that are often so peculiar as to render a website entirely inoperable - even though it looked fine when you designed it.
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Quotation Marks in CSS
27
NovA good quote does wonders for an article; so how can CSS help?
I recently realised what I always assumed was simple is made incredibly complex by the myriad of implementations user agents have for CSS quoting.
According to CSS2, adding quote marks to any blockquote automatically, should be pain free. The spec handles it in such a way as to be entirely language independent - negating hard coded quote marks and allowing simple style sheet changes.
It would appear there’s nothing really simple about it at all however. So, standing on the shoulders of giants I did some searching and found a great explanation, and functioning code on David’s Kitchen.
I would heartily advise your read the full article to understand what’s happening but for those impatient developer’s out there, as we all are - click read more for an easy to drop in code sample.
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Fresh New Brand
26
NovEVO becomes evodesign, with a host of services and advice for its growing client base.
After much work the transition to evodesign has been completed.
The change marks a consolidation of evo’s service portfolio and an improving of the brand styling to better reflect the evo way.
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EVO launches Superlambananastore.com
13
AugNow everybody can enjoy the lambs of Liverpool at SuperlambananaStore.
EVO, in association with ICARUS Photographic Services, is proud to announce the arrival of Superlambananastore.com. For anybody not familiar with the, borderline hysteria, that surrounds the lambs of Liverpool then get ready for a surprise.
Anybody else who is familiar and indeed harbours a soft spot for the little beasties, can head on over and immerse yourself in everything Superlamb.
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EVO on DesignSnack
01
AugEVO is happy to make it into the showcase section of DesignSnack a gallery of some of the best web design around.
The Design Snack has some truly great work, showcasing some of the very best in modern web design. A big thank you to anybody who voted to get the EVO site into the main showcase gallery.
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Coffee Shop Security
10
JunThese days we are carrying a lot of secure data on our mobile devices and increasing prevalence of free wireless internet access offers huge convenience. But how can we make sure we’re not being watched?
If you find yourself in a coffee shop using the free wireless broadband keep in mind that you are operating on the same network as anybody else in that coffee shop. As such your device, and all the other connected devices are visible. When something can be seen, it means it’s easier to access.
You first line of security when working on open networks is to disable File Sharing. Under Windows this can be accessed via network properties, on a Mac via System Preferences, File Sharing. By disabling this feature you substantially increase the effort required to browse your computers hard drive remotely.
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iTunes UK Gets Movies
04
JunAt long last iTunes UK users finally get the chance to purchase and rent movies as their American cousins have been doing for some time.
Movie purchases are £6.99 for library tittles, £10.99 for new releases, with rentals at £2.49 and £3.49 respectively. HD rentals are an extra £1.00. Not all together bad pricing when compared with Sky Box Office or a Blockbuster rental especially when factoring the enormous convenience.
Of course the real beneficiaries of this announcement are those who have an AppleTV. The AppleTV is the device that sits next to your TV wirelessly syncing content with your computer so you can access it through your TV Home Cinema system.
The AppleTV has been around for quite some time but Apple have been reluctant to push it in the UK until movies where availabe on iTunes. Whilst the device makes an excellent living room juke box it’s the movies that have the real potential to make AppleTV a must have Christmas gadget.
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3G iPhone Coming Soon
03
JunRumours abound that Apple will be shortly releasing the much anticipated 3G iPhone. What will this mean for existing iPhone users?
On Monday 9th June Apple will be holding its annual Worldwide Devloper’s Conference in San Francisco. One of two annual events held by Apple which are typically used as a platform for new product releases. The standard format is for the charismatic CEO of Apple, Steve Jobs, to take to the stage and present 60 minutes of dramatic reveals and demos of new gadgets and software. Most recently this took the form of the iPhone release, Apple’s first venture into the world of mobile phones.
The iPhone has been a huge success since it release taking up a sizeable chunk of the mobile phone market. Yet for a phone that boasts so much, many are still unsatisfied.
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Flash Back!
30
MayI recently stumbled across the Bargain Booze website, and was instantly taken with the animated backdrop.
When I found it to be a Flash animation I was further impressed. Not only did I want to know how to use Flash scenes as a backdrop, I wanted to find a way to tie those backdrops to the bottom of the browser window.
Ignoring the Flash for just a moment; the object of this exercise is to position content at the bottom of the browser window and have it remain there, regardless of resizing or scrolling of the window; without Javascript. It can be done but it requires a few workarounds but it’s about the most elegant solution I’ve seen thus far.
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A Simple Mootools Slider
05
AprMootools is a great Javascript framework. Using it to achieve great effects couldn’t be easier.
With essentially no Javascript knowledge whatsoever you can use many of the effects in the library with ease. For instance the slider effect to switch the navigation on and off at the top of this page is done like this.
Firstly, head on over to Mootools and download yousrself the framework. To keep you code light on its feet you can choose to only download the bits you need and leave the rest. You will need the Core, obviously, Window.DomReady and Fx.Slide. Tick each component and then download the js file.
Place it in a suitable location on your website and then include it in the head of your website…
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Lightbox and Smooth Gallery
03
AprSome will know how much I am a fan of JonsDesigns Smooth Gallery.
But what if you like a little Lightbox action too? Mootools and Scrip.aculo.us don’t play nicely, so what’s the answer.
For the uninitiated SmoothGallery is a Javascript application built on the Mootools framework. It’s a great, lightweight alternative to using Flash all with the added benefit of rich, semantic content and accessibility. Smooth cross-fading, slideshows and galleries with a number of options to help customise.
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Make The Logo Bigger
03
AprFor those designers who are getting worked up by client change requests.
Remember if it were your company you’d want things to be just right too. Don’t get too precious about your work; it’s all part of the process. And in situations where your head feels like it might explode.. Make yourself a coffee, put the phone on Do Not Disturb, sit back in your big ergonomic chair, turn up the bass and listen to a chorus or two of this little gem.
Discovered by a friend @ CreativeTechs.com
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Finding the Needle
17
MarThere are literally billions of web pages out there, how do you ensure your website ranks top of the world’s search engines.
The number one goal of any webmaster is to get the sites they host into visible locations in the directories and search engines of the world wide web. In fact the phrase that encompasses this activity and the number one buzzword for a plethora of tech businesses is - SEO, or search engine optimisation.
The essence of this practice is to understand the criteria that ‘tick the boxes’ of the major search engines and ensure your sites meet these criteria. But is it science, art or black art.
A great number of SEO companies will give you chapter and verse on the scientific approach to better ranking, and of course there are a huge number of techniques to enhance a website’s appeal to a given indexing algorithm. But when all said and done a website’s visibility rests squarely on a single concept - content.
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All That Flash!
13
FebToo much of anything can be a bad thing. But too much Flash could be costing you visits to your website. We have a look at some of the reasons Flash is not always the best solution and why indeed many web gurus avoid it all together.
Flash is a phenomenal technology. In the days when web standards were poorly adopted, browsers weren’t very sophisticated and connection speeds were poor, Flash changed the way we used the web by offering a lightweight, platform independent technology that allowed us to deliver very rich multimedia experiences.
Of course with great power comes great responsibility and as such we were plagued by hideous Flash sites, bad pre-loaders, splash screens and a host of highly irritating methods of implementing site navigation. Fortunately things have moved on, or rather web developers have moved on and now tend to stick to using Flash for what it really works for - animation and multimedia content delivery.
We still see our fair share of entirely Flash based websites however, particularly popular with huge brands - Nike, Audi, Sony etc. Personally I dislike Flash when used to entirely displace conventional hypertext based sites. Why? The telephone is a universally ubiquitous design. It doesn’t matter if I am in Japan, Australia, Mexico or Manchester, if I pick up a phone I will be able to use it. The same is true of the world wide web - within reason.
