General Motors in Europe (Vauxhall in Great Britain and Opel in the rest of Europe) has just announced that the name of its new city car to be revealed at the Paris Motor Show in a few months is Adam, in memory of the company’s founder Adam Opel. Twitter has been full of comment today about the name, some of it less than positive, but at least people are talking about it. The use of people’s names for vehicles has had mixed results in the past – Vauxhall Victor, Volkswagen Sharan and the Nissan couple of Cedric and Gloria spring to mind. But if the car is good enough the name shouldn’t get in the way of its success.
The best definition of #UX I’ve ever seen!
Source: Hard to Tell
Ingredients of life
Illustrations of chemical compounds
A great visual and, as one person observed, interesting that happiness seems to have the simplest chemical structure, while love is the most complex.
It’s very easy to criticise but it’s even easier when it’s deserved. We all receive the early morning, lunchtime and afternoon rounds of e-shots. Some are deleted, some you glance over and others are actually read. A few e-shots have come through to JJ this week that have been read and passed around for all the wrong reasons. They broke many basic rules of sending an e-shot but three things stood out particularly. Firstly, include links to your website, or at least contact details. We’re not all psychic and, as pretty as your e-shot is, it’s not going to do much else if it doesn’t take me anywhere. Secondly, be concise. People aren’t going to read your e-mail as much as you do and they won’t have time for an essay. Lastly, remember it’s an e-mail. Don’t make it look like a webpage (though there should be a common thread between the two) and don’t make it look like a printed letter; or even worse send one through as an attachment! So after all the effort of pulling together, cleaning and sorting your broadcast database, don’t blow it all by sending an e-mail that is only likely to increase your ‘unsubscribes’.
Interesting, but potentially controversial, marketing campaign from 20th Century Fox for its new film release, Chronicle. I imagine very realistic from a distance but possible to cause severe shock in some people who may at first glance assume other things.
I suppose signage is one of the oldest ways of advertising a business or product. There’s nothing wrong with saying exactly what the product does. It doesn’t leave prospects guessing if it could be of use to them (which can’t be said of all advertising seen out there). This is the informative type of advertising. However, my favourite type of advertising is one that informs and entertains. This one does both!
Pinteresting
Pinterest is a virtual pinboard that lets you share images or videos that interest or inspire you. It is a rising social network that looks to compete with the market’s main players. You can create an organised pinboard, where you can bring your own images or those of others together. Less of a professional network than Flikr, and with more functions, it can be used to collate inspiration for such things as redecorating your house or planning your wedding. Pictures have always captured people’s imagination and browsing other peoples’ pins is probably one of the most interesting features of the network: It throws up new discoveries, ideas and inspiration. Pin etiquette includes be nice and avoid self promotion. As a growing network that looks to simply share, it has great potential for creative work and collaboration with others – bringing ideas and inspiration into one place.
Consumers demand more bargains, but apparently the all year round sales have left us disenchanted with discounts. Marketing Magazine has reported that almost two-thirds of UK consumers have lost interest in the January sales – the traditional season for a bargain. The economic climate and growth of online sales demands more competition on the high street but with prices being dropped all year round, it seems retailers need to rethink their strategy. Loyalty cards have grown enormously and with technology pushing on, it’s time for something new.
Hyperlink: A link from one electronic location or file to another, typically activated by clicking on a highlighted word or image on the screen.
Originally used to reference, it seems we’ve got carried away with hyperlinks. Just because you could link every word to another article or its meaning in Wikipedia, doesn’t mean you should. When the purpose is to create a piece of copy or a page that engages your reader - or that encourages them to explore your site further - why then do you send them off elsewhere? If you spend the whole time being sent to other pages via hyperlinks, then you’d be forgiven for forgetting what the piece you were originally reading was all about. It’s human nature to be curious, chances are people will click on them, so make sure you know why you’re using links and what you what you want to achieve with them.
How serious and committed to the cause are the protesters at St Paul’s? If press reports are to be believed then I suspect not that committed at all. It seems that thermal imaging cameras used by the police and Daily Telegraph show that very few of the tents pitched outside St Paul’s are actually occupied at night. So rather than a full time occupation this is no more than just a day job for most as they return to the comfort of their own homes and beds at night. Present tents will soon become past tents.