Confessions of a Designer – Quotes from Anneke Short.
Added February 20th, 2012 by admin

We just want to say thank you to Anneke Short for our Monday lunchtime ‘AMUSE’.

Confessions of a Designer – Quotes from the world of design project is a collection of quotes that Short has at times either found herself thinking or heard designer friends repeating.

Short comments ” Personally, I would say that the biggest preconceived idea is that a project will take however long it takes to sketch it up, whereas 9 times out of 10, it’s the concept and not the implementation that takes time.”

Posted on AMS Design Blog 17th January 2012; below are a few of our favourites:

 

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Future of Food? Chipotle and ‘Back to the Start’
Added February 13th, 2012 by admin

Coldplay’s haunting classic “The Scientist” is performed by country music legend Willie Nelson for the soundtrack of the short film entitled “Back to the Start.”  The film, by film-maker Johnny Kelly, depicts the life of a farmer as he slowly turns his family farm into an industrial animal factory before seeing the errors of his ways and opting for a more sustainable future.

Both the film and the soundtrack were commissioned by Chipotle to emphasize the importance of developing a sustainable food system.  See the Chipotle Cultivate foundation dedicated to creating a sustainable, healthful and equitable food future.

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New look pharmacies can lift people’s spirits….
Added February 6th, 2012 by admin

Stockholm Design Lab has given a Swedish pharmacy chain a rebrand, breaking the mould from the usual cold, clinical design associated with the pharmaceutical industry.

The 24 stores with in-store wallpaper, bags, POS and signage have been given a fun, colourful and bold identity inspired by the human body that uses strong and positive colours and a pattern based on the internal organs of the human body.

Research has proven that creating an upbeat and lively environment – something the traditional and typically stark chemists fail to do – can lift people’s spirits and improve a person’s overall wellbeing.  Stockholm Design Lab have provided a simple and playful toolbox that creates an inspiring and much appreciated retail environment.  Well done!

Posted in Graphic Design, Packaging, Retail | No Comments »
IE, IE, IE, O!
Added January 28th, 2012 by admin

There’s been a quiet announcement recently by the world’s most infamous technology company…

Microsoft plan to follow in Chrome, Firefox and Opera’s footsteps by automatically updating their white elephant of a browser, Internet Explorer.

Whilst this may seem rather mundane news for some, we here at Jellyhaus are jumping for joy and having a rather expensive beer, celebrating what is a momentous decision that will have repercussions throughout the web design world.

To cut a rather complicated story short (involving operating systems, enterprise editions and conscientious objectors), Microsoft’s decision to auto-update will start to kill off the stone-age behemoths of IE6 and IE7.

Why is this good news? Well, it means we can spend less time looking back and more time looking forward, more time embracing new technologies to the full and more time making sure our users’ experiences are the most content and visually-rich they can be.

Thank you Microsoft, it’s about time!

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At last, a reason to go to Solihull!
Added October 14th, 2011 by admin

Having queued since silly o’clock this morning in the Touchwood Shopping Centre and with no sign of Captain Jack, we now have our grubby little mitts on one…well to be precise our Master of the CSS has:

a new shiny iPhone 4S!

 

 

To the untrained eye, it looks just like an iPhone, iPhone 3, iPhone3S or iPhone 4 but apparently it is almost completely different.

To start with, it comes with a rather gay bag (oh joy, I queued since it was dark for one of these?!).  Next, it now has SIRI, “a personal assistant for iOS” which talks to you, answering your questions, making recommendations and even performing actions…although it didn’t recognise the action I asked it to perform on me, sadly.

Slightly more worrying was its answer to the question;

“who is Steve Jobs?”

to which the asexual voice replied;

“I do not know Steve Jobs”

What, forgotten your creator already…that’s a bit harsh?!

The good news is that – thusfar – one can hold it and make calls, so the death grip issue of its predecessor appears to have been fixed, although if we see him hanging out of the window later with a bent coat hanger stuck in its charging connector, we’ll know we spoke too soon.

So, Jellyhaus remains at the forefront of technology and there is now the opportunity to pit the 4S against our other recent addition; a Samsung Galaxy 10.1 tablet.

Kind of like Robot Wars but with better hair and less acne.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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The Web App debate
Added August 24th, 2011 by admin

There has been some fluttering this week in the media about festival bands bypassing the Apple App approval process by releasing ‘HTML5 Apps’ (or more simply, a website that is made to look like an app). Web Apps are nothing new, they have been around ever since the first gen iPod Touch arrived in 1997. However, with the mainstream hype around HTML5 and its undoubtable capabilities, Web Apps have seen something of a renaissance lately.

We’ve long been fans of Web Apps and have been working with our clients for around 18 months developing various uses and applications of the simulated app experience. It was, however, this story from the Guardian that caught our eye. It is centred around a band called A Genuine Freakshow who have developed a web app to connect with their fans at Reading and Leeds festivals. By throwing out iPhone-shaped cards to their fans during their set, they invite them to scan a QR code which takes them directly to their web app with their latest singles, photos and gig dates.

Now, as beautiful and well-made the app is, what we always like to talk to our clients about is using the technology in a manner that is fit for purpose. A carefully crafted web app that intends to connect with its audience may lose its potency somewhat when you have 10,000 people all trying to access the internet in a field in the Yorkshire countryside. With internet access required to load a web app (at least initially), it is almost non-existent without at least a 3G signal.

We’d like to commend A Genuine Freakshow for their beautifully designed app but, as mentioned above, the context and location of the end user has to be the primary area of research in the inception of any web app.

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eNewsletters that really work
Added July 29th, 2011 by admin

‘eNewsletters’, ‘eShots’, ‘HTML email’ or more simply ‘Email Newsletters’ are often a neglected part of a company’s digital strategy. They are often seen as the less sexy end of marketing. They have been around for a long time now and although often not seen as cutting edge, they are still very much an integral part of spreading your message and driving people to your site. Here are some tips to start reaping huge rewards from a well thought-out and cannily designed newsletter.

There’s more! Click to read… »

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words, words, mere words, no matter from the heart
Added March 30th, 2011 by admin

So Fabio Capello has said that he only needs 100 words to communicate with his players.

Now most people have moaned about this but is it not more about the fact that this is the limit of an English Premiership footballer’s vocabulary?   In other words, Fabio only needs 100 words because our nation’s finest can’t muster that many themselves.

Presumably he could communicate with most of them through using the internationally-recognised Premiership footballer symbols for crack cocaine, prostitutes and a tyre on a rope.   Of course the real challenge – far greater than getting a bunch of overpaid, talentless, narcissistic, deluded illiterate morons to play football with a bit of passion for 90 minutes every once in a while – is which 100 words does Fabio choose?

Well, first we would suggest he splash out on a vintage Speak and Spell (there’s one here on Ebay, although it is from Ireland so presumably whatever word you type in, it just says “we’re bust”) and then type the following words and phrases into it;

“talentless”

“pathetic waste of space”

“er…at the end of the day…well…er…you know…we was tired…kind of…we didn’t play very good…yeah”

“it is not acceptable to pay bankers any bonus but apparently society tolerates paying you hundreds of thousands a week for no social purpose at all”

“I wish our legal system allowed Italian footballers to punch innocent people in bars and then get off scot-free”

“No, that is someone else’s wife/girlfriend/lover/sister/au pair”

“free eighth if you score in the next game”

“my gran is a more talented footballer and she has been dead for 30 years”

 

and the quote in the title is from Troilus & Cressida, a play by Shakespeare.  Perhaps he could suggest that his players study it, except that would imply that they can read.

 

 

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Soft, strong and very oblong
Added March 28th, 2011 by admin

 

According to a recent YouGov survey, as reported here by Brand Republic, 1 in 5 men use their iPad in the toilet.

I do but only when there is no toilet roll.

 

 

Ahhhhh, big jobs.

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No more greasy box?
Added March 4th, 2011 by admin

Long-suffering readers of our random meanderings will remember we highlighted last year KFC’s decision to open for breakfast.

Well, the purveyor of the second best thing to do in a bucket has now decided that it should ditch ‘finger lickin good’ and replace it with something that better reflects the modern consumer.   According to Marketing Magazine, ‘finger lickin good’ has been around for 50 years with a few years off for good behaviour, before being reintroduced in 2008 (hey, even Papa Doc Duvalier is back in from the cold now!).

So what wonder have they come up with then, to reflect the changing face of its current customer (other than greasy and prone to spots)?

Presumably they discounted;

‘looks good in a Citroen Saxo with red-painted drum brakes’
‘the only box you’ll be fingering tonight’
‘helps make your benefits go farther’
‘pull a fat lass for under a tenner’

in favour of;

So Good.

According to Martin Shuker, managing director of K FCUK and Ireland; “We’re excited to be launching So Good, because it’s much more than just a new slogan.”   Oh wow.   More than just a slogan…is it a cure for cancer?…a plan to bring down the US Federal Budget deficit?…the guidance fins for a Paveway III laser-guided bomb?…go Martin, you’ve got us hooked; “it’s about becoming better at everything we do, including our great tasting food, the work we do with our people, and the way we operate in the local community.”

Presumably this is recognition of the valuable service that KFC does provide in the local community; a place for pissed-up chavs to congregate and have a fight, once Yates Wine Lodge (twinned with Benghazi) has closed.

And surely if you want to become better (an aspirational state to attain) rather than accepting that you are just good, then ‘better’ would be…er…better than ‘good’?

KFC should however be commended for its engagement with children, by helping to educate them in maths: it is going to print the calories next to each item on its menu.  Whether or not the the deluded & stupid X-Factor generation will be able to count that high – ‘mummy, how many zeros are there after the number next to Saturated Fat?’ – is another matter.

So, before 50 years of an iconic slogan and not to mention littered retail car parks comes to an end, make your way down to a KFC and treat yourself to some deep fried chicken gonads, so that – as you put your fingers in your mouth – you can think to yourself ‘mmmm, KFC, one of the only foods that doesn’t taste like chicken’.

 

 

 

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