Design-Design » Online

Is printing redundant?

Peter Simcoe — Tue, 08 Jun 2010 08:48:17 +0000

With the recent launch of Apple’s iPad, some people will begin to question once more whether such technology will replace the need to print onto newspaper at all. In fact, personally, I consume news mainly through RSS feeds from various sites and less through TV. I never buy a paper to see what is going on in the world [but have occasionally read other peoples].

Ubiquitous Internet Access

Whilst iPad users and other media techies would love to live in a world with ubiquitous internet connection and immediate updates where ever they may be, we are still a way off this due to cost and technical capability – which makes a journey on the London Underground feel like a retro flashback to those pre 90′s days when mobile phones either did not exist or could only be found in cars. So, why are we still using print and not investing in creating a free, universal internet connection for all to download and consume content? Well, in short – it is still difficult to replace the trusty, versatile, battery-less, relatively low cost book, magazine or journal with an electronic equivalent with such desirable tactile and convenient features, though modern internet browsing products such as Smartphones, iPhones, Kindle and the Netbook are becoming less expensive, lighter and thinner. Advertising, printing photographs or creating physical bound books will continue to be a viable option for many businesses or authors for the foreseeable future.

Personally, I do not invest a huge amount of time and effort into print design as it does not fit with the business model I have for creating new leads or promoting projects. However, I do have 2 business card designs for different situations – one with a focus on my primary design business and the other with a focus on the network of portfolio, blogs and social networking sites I use such as YouTube and Flickr. I also designed a printed brochure to promote my business back in 2007 which I still use and refer to for some of my previous work.

Greenbarnes Ltd, a client of mine, uses a variety of promotional formats including a large amount of printed advertising and so I asked director Mike Barnes a few questions about his perspective on print – with particular focus on promotion of a business or product.

Interview with Mike Barnes, Greenbarnes Ltd

Is printing redundant?

I suspect that the answer to this depends largely upon your target audience. I recently read that, on average, it takes 7 contacts before a new customer is persuaded to purchase. In our own case, at least 2 of these are likely to be in printed form.

Do you use web technologies to promote your products?

We have what I believe is an effective website and e-shop which are promoted via a number of online directories plus a Google Adwords account. We spent some serious quality time getting the Greenbarnes website user experience right and feedback would suggest that we got this spot on! However, something like 50% of those arriving at the site do so by typing the address into their browser because they have seen our ad in one of the wide variety of trade and specialist publications that still form a significant part of our marketing mix.

Any ideas on why this might be the case?

A significant part of our client base is made up not of individuals, but of committees such as parish and parochial church councils or architects and designers who need to convince their clients. These are not people who can be persuaded to part with their credit card details and buy on impulse. They will inevitably end up sitting around a table and discussing the purchase before making a decision. This is where a second form of print, be it a glossy brochure or a printout of a pdf file downloaded from the website comes into its own. Sitting round a laptop to study detailed information online is simply not as convenient in the majority of cases.

So have there been any noticeable changes since the internet?

Whilst the volume of printed information that we mail out has declined sharply over the last few years, there is evidence that this trend has begun to plateau. There will always be a significant majority for whom print is the most usable medium. And let’s not lose sight of the other opportunities it offers. We have recently embarked on our first trials of large scale e-marketing, but seem to be getting results by following up the hottest prospects with direct mailing of brochures. In another first, we have also embarked on a campaign to include printed inserts in magazines as this not only affords the opportunity to try new publications without committing to series of ads, but also allows us to create extra impact in those publications that we have inhabited for many years. We may ultimately produce less by way of volume, but as part of an overall marketing mix, I believe that we will be producing better targeted and more tightly focused print in combination with the newer marketing technologies available.

You can see Greenbarnes products by visiting their main ‘brochure’ site or visiting their e-shop where a selection of their standard products can be purchased swiftly, securely and efficiently over the internet.

Effect of your work

One thing that is more difficult with printed promotional material is the ability to gauge the effectiveness. How many people saw your article, promotional photography or call to action and directly made a move? How many people even read the page the article was on? This is where internet technologies are much more useful – a writer or advertiser will have access to information related to who saw the page the information was on? what browser they used? the city they were in? what pages they came from and how many people moved on to other pages and after how much time?

Another client of mine, picture framing company Gesso and Bole Ltd, use print in a slightly different way – print is part of the complete product rather than the means to selling or advertising. I caught up with Jim Anderson and asked him a few questions

Interview with Jim Anderson, Gesso and Bole Ltd

Is printing redundant?

For us, printing is pretty fundamental; if printing was dead then we wouldn’t have anything to put in our frames. Obviously this isn’t the case – and we’d argue that rather than becoming redundant printing has just changed tact.

How has printing changed?

For many picture framers, printing is now something that’s done in-house. Many framing shops and galleries now have their own wide format digital printers which enables them to print exactly what their customers want, when the customers want it. Traditionally if an artist was going to produce a run of prints, the whole run would be done at once and the artist would often be left with hundreds of prints languishing in a warehouse somewhere. Now, these prints are done on demand when a customer orders them.

Is this change a good thing?

Yes! As well as being more cost-effective, printing on demand is far less wasteful than speculative printing. It also means that picture framers have more control over the whole process, as sizes etc can obviously be adjusted if printing is being done in house.

Gesso & Bole Ltd is a bespoke picture frame maker based in Derby. You can find out more about Gesso & Bole at www.gessoandbole.com or by following them on Twitter @gessoandbole.

Smelly Internet?

Another factor is the limited interactivity or media that paper will allow – though it does allow olfactory senses such as perfume samples, the smell of a quality paper or where the internet does not. Internet advertising allows for animation, audio, video and the ability to be tucked away, to suprise or to provide sequential information within a small space.

The basics

OK, taking this to an intellectual low – can you roll up an electronic ‘Guitarist Magazine’ digital subscription and place it in your back pocket like the paper equivalent – ready to read later on a lazy Saturday afternoon by the river? Not really, though some might like to try it. If you find that annoying fly sitting on the window [the one that's been buzzing around all afternoon] – do you hit it with the iPad, Smartphone, or the paper newspaper?!

All this aside, the book, the magazine, the paper is still the lightest, physically most accessible medium available. People often have a desire to remove themselves from the computer screen to more natural surroundings without the glare of an LCD monitor, phone screen or the general electronic buzz of electronic equipment. It seems that print is here to stay for the foreseeable future.

Google vs Mark Hillary

Peter Simcoe — Sat, 22 May 2010 15:46:22 +0000

Here is the email I’ve just sent to Spencer Kelly, the BBC Click presenter after watching their report on the copyright battle between Mark Kobayashi-Hillary and Google.

Dear Spencer,

I have just watched your 22 May BBC Click article about Mark Kobayashi-Hillary’s struggle with Google and the YouTube copyright issues he was presented with leading to the suspension and removal of his YouTube account. I understand Mark’s point regarding freedom of speech and the ability to present arguments on the web but to really understand why Google had a problem with his content I would need to see exactly what was written, featured or even implied in his articles as a blogger and YouTube clips as it is not in Google’s interest to create negative publicity like this. I am suspicious that there is much more to this than presented in your show such as some of the fine detail that we were not made aware of that would offend such an internet giant – we did only really hear a superficial argument on either side [probably for legal reasons] but the implications of what was said were very serious.

Mark’s argument in the that musicians had encouraged him to feature content on his site simply does not stand up against the fact that mainstream musicians, artists and performers are usually under the management, both legally and artistically, of bigger corporations who will not stand by and allow certain global and political issues sit comfortably beside footage of their performers in whatever context. I would think that as a visiting lecturer to Universities and many significant companies and institutions presenting his understanding of “globalisation, politics, and the technology issues” [probably attached to a significant hourly rate of pay], he would be aware of the exact implications of his actions and therefore it should come as no surprise as Google is a company like any other – it wants to make money and protect it’s interests like any other. Should someone use their “free” blogging or other tools to question the business methods or policies of some of Google’s partners [both current and potential future deals] or affiliations then it would be understandable that it would react with strong disapproval and potential removal of an account that breached standards in any way. From some limited experience, Google does usually give people reasonable opportunity to remove or adjust their accounts accordingly and so this makes me think that Mr Hillary may have overstepped the mark in other ways.

Of course, I do not know the fine details of Google’s disagreement with Mark but as I said, Google [or any other global company with a reputation to uphold] would not do this sort of thing lightly considering the extent of other ‘dubious’ copyright content on YouTube and the web in general.

Keep up the good work!

Contributing Constructively

Peter Simcoe — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 18:53:54 +0000

With the Web 2.0 explosion of interactivity and the potential to make your voice heard comes a challenge for all to be involved with online communities in their particular academic or industrial profession. Quality contributions to an online discussion can get you noticed as much as print or web advertising [both being very expensive] if you target the right audience with the right message. Also, the web is more democratic as a medium – the theory being that, if everyone in a community has a voice [and a PC] then those with something to say that really matters will eventually get heard or discovered independent of their status in their individual interests or professions. That’s the theory anyway.

I recently created a short news item for the Drawing Research Network called 6 Digital Drawing Experiments. This was essentially a collection of some of the research I had done into drawing and online experiments. When I say research, I mean the kind of informal searching for new and interesting design related websites I find by subscribing to design related RSS feeds through Google Reader and other paths and other related sites this may lead me to – I regularly scour the web for new and inspiring methods of digital drawing to learn from.

Why give free advice?

Why did I volunteer to freely spend this time providing others with content? Well, its simple and can be explained in 3 points that apply to blogs, forums or simply commenting upon someone elses work:

Reference. There is nothing like getting your head around a topic and clarifying your thoughts by writing them down – especially when there is potentially a large readership should the web community decide it is of value. The article is written both for my own benefit and the benefit of others interested in this area too.

Status. Do people rate what I have written? Well, maybe they want to see more of the same quality and may click on my own sites to see what else I do in the field of design – therefore this is an investment in potential future clients as well as impressing current clients who want to see that you are actively keeping up with what is going on in the world.

Community. Are there others out there who want to form collaborations, swap ideas or share similar information? By contributing to relevant blogs you can help connect with others.

What guidelines should I apply to my contributions?

Quality. Only create articles that you know are accurate, informative and contain a reasonable level of detail on the subject you are describing – ask yourself “What do I expect my readers to gain from this article? What insight or new information am I bringing to them? Could I assist presentation by using video or images or should the text be the only medium to convey the message. This sounds like common sense but there are many blogs out there full of very bland uninformative articles. Simplicity is good – over simplifying the content is not good.

Quantity. Establish an approximate and suitable typical interval between your articles. I typically leave around 2-3 weeks between each article on this blog as I feel it is healthy to stop and think about design objectively at these intervals. I learn and I hopefully help people to gain insight from my experiences and knowledge.

Objectivity. Having a personal agenda, opinion and direction is good but watch what you say online as this can be misinterpreted or simply not understood – at worst you could gain a bad reputation or simply be ignored altogether. I always assume I am talking to one of my clients meaning that my focus is upon helping them to understand a design related concept, acting professionally and ultimately gaining their respect.

Where to start?

The best way to START contributing is to STOP. Stop and look around at the way others are contributing and the types of contributions they are making to online conversation. This is useful for gaining an idea of what readers find valuable, the conventions for writing for different audiences and for forums or Twitter rather than blogs [or other typical web technologies] and the typical style of content. Once you feel comfortable and passionate about contributing then go ahead. If you don t feel like writing a whole article you may feel inspired to write a short response in a comments box on the site.

Tip

Remember that the web has a good memory. If you decide to criticise others then this should be done in a professional manner and assume that your comments are permanent. Excessive or malicious criticism is never respectable and if you are that critical then maybe you should move on in your reading or remove the RSS feed from Google Reader altogether! It’s all about professional conduct and doing to others as you would wish them to do to you really – if it needs explaining further then you probably shouldn’t be contributing to blogs or forums

Good Luck!

Twittering on about stuff!

Peter Simcoe — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 11:56:20 +0000

Selected Tweets from the last few weeks!

Simcoemedia: I love playing with my new giant rotating tag-cloud. I’m happy when its tag-cloudy http://www.design-design.co.uk/the-cloud/

Simcoemedia: The Drawing Research Network is officially live and we need to keep up the momentum on new members http://drawing-research-network.org.uk

Simcoemedia: Here’s a useful piece of free web-based software for creating a wiki – http://www.tiddlywiki.com/

Simcoemedia: It’s been two years since I got this little gem from Havana in Cuba – http://bit.ly/cCmYyf – definitely a favourite.

Simcoemedia: [ThemeForest] Dany’s Blossomsoft WP theme looks great for a wide range of design and corporates. Thanks for letting me know about that one.

Tweet or not to Tweet?

Not sure what you think about Twitter or those who Tweet? Well, check out the Design-Design objective and unbiased guide to Twitter for business.

Adobe AIR and Kuler

Peter Simcoe — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 10:39:13 +0000

With the Adobe® AIR® runtime, you can deliver branded rich Internet applications outside the browser that give you a closer connection to your customer. Adobe AIR uses the same proven, cost-effective technologies used to build web applications, so development and deployment is rapid and low risk. You can use your existing web development resources to create engaging, branded applications that run on all major desktop operating systems. -Adobe Website

Essentially Adobe have created a way of creating tools that operate independent of browsers but use the same sort of technologies and resources developed for your website – the most typical use being the creation of Desktop Applications where the user can download the AIR® application and interact / link to data from your own website such as databases or RSS feeds. With a variety of free and very useful apps available created with this system it seems that the underated Adobe AIR® is definitely worth a look for designers, academics, photographers and business users.

Small, Compact and Interactive

Below is a brief video outlining some of the features of Adobe Kuler® – an application created with AIR® for selecting, choosing and applying colour to vectors and bitmaps either independently or as part of the creation of design work within Illustrator. The video demonstrates how Kuler can integrate into CS3 software or at its most basic level it will provide a great talking point for both clients and designers for assessing the colour palette they currently use or planning a new colour scheme.

Other AIR Applications

Adobe have provided a useful summary of the AIR® system on their website. For a summary of some of the best applications you could visit this summary of the “30 Extremely Useful Air Applications for Web Designers” – a useful resource for anyone involved in the design process which includes the Adobe Kuler application. It is also worth looking at Adobe’s own Marketplace for AIR® applications too.

Overall

Don’t be afraid to five one of these little applications a try. I recently downloaded Fractal 4D for creating interesting Adobe Illustrator vector artwork for my designs and what a little gem it has turned out to be [Use the FILE > SCRIPTS > OTHER SCRIPT command to load the JSX file exported from Fractal 4D. Remember that AIR® applications load onto your hard drive rather than operating within a browser and that you will need to have the AIR® plugin for them to work.

To Twit or Not to Twit?

Peter Simcoe — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 17:08:51 +0000

Twitter was the result of a one day brainstorming session by the podcasting company Odeo to generate ideas for direction in a creative slump during 2006. The microblogging site is constantly mentioned in the media as a great way to be part of a thriving social network and keep up to date with what is happening in the world by simply typing your current status into a box in a browser window allowing 140 character sentences. Enter your status as often as you like. Discuss what you like. Link to whoever you like. If other social networks are anything to go by, this sounds like it could be another social disaster for anyone around 12-18 years old.

Does it have any use for business users? Well, I am as skeptical as anyone that Twitter has any use at all in the business world….however, I am currently experimenting with the social networking site to see if I can generate any additional interest in my design blog [here] or my portfolio website at www.simcoe.co.uk.

Three Simple Rules

My recommendation, if you want to use Twitter for business, is to follow these three simple rules:

Have something of use to say to your followers. Make it relevant, interesting and professional and preferably relevant to some quality research or finding. As a business professional it is important to find out the facts and figures about your industry on a daily basis, note important events in the diary such as trade shows, read quality news or watch relevant documentaries. If you’re serious in business then finding something you’ve discovered that is of value to your listeners, even just once everyday, should be no problem at all.
Only Retweet [publish someone elses Tweet to your own readers] if you think that it is absolutely necessary that your audience knows about it. We live in a generation where people express their creativity by collecting and displaying other people’s creative expertise as a montage eg MySpace. Your audience needs to trust that they are not just getting a random retweet plucked from the general steady stream of drivel because you’ve got nothing to say.
Keep it professional. We’re not all interested in Steven Fry’s infinitely detailed details. We don’t want to hear about the great curry you had last night or how you’re now suffering the consequences. Quality, facts, informed opinion and valuable expression are the key to success as far as I can tell. I measure this by the way people I trust seem to be using the system and what I have gained professionally from this.

Useful Links

Below are some useful links for Twitter users:

http://listorious.com/tags – is a great way to search for Twitter users based upon keywords or tags. If you are interested in designing or photography, simply follow the relevant tags to find users with similar interests. Maybe they have something useful to share? Maybe not.

http://www.tweetdeck.com/ – here you can download a desktop based tool called Tweetdeck

Summary

Twitter can be useful and can possibly generate the new links and trust in your brand name that you are working towards. As with any social media, giving the public a voice usually results in finding out that you really don’t want to hear what the majority have to say [take examples from some of the most popular tags reaching number one in most searched such as 'thuglife' or other similarly grim topics] – but for those attempting to use more than two brain cells and use the internet at the same time, there may be some milage.

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Recent Design Tweets!

Peter Simcoe — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 13:58:45 +0000

Over the top dramatisation of the Sinclair Spectrum and BBC computer manufacturing war of the early 80′s – http://bit.ly/80WJQD
Avatar: a short video from Adobe of the software used and my own brief review of the film – http://www.design-design.co.uk/avatar/
Here’s a slice of Christmas cheer. I made this in Dec 2005. It was shown at the local cinema – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=29rbN4XZ9Ko
Updated the Torse website with Flash interactive Christmas card to give a little cheery Christmas spirit – http://www.torse.co.uk/news/

What is WordPress?

Peter Simcoe — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 13:03:20 +0000

WordPress is an Open Source blogging system with many famous users backing it such as No 10 Downing Street, . The most common incarnations can be found in three formats – a blog hosted by WordPress at http://sitename.wordpress.com, a local hosted version blog created by installing it on a server with PHP and MySQL capability available from http://www.wordpress.org and the Multiuser version available from http://mu.wordpress.org [though there are not many examples of this currently].

If a company requires a website and the WordPress engine is chosen for this purpose then there are several things to consider:

Advantages

Free open source code available for personal or commercial use – WordPress has been adapted for a more Content Managed System approach in recent years which allows the creation of whole websites using the system.
Support from WordPress.org in terms of software updates and upgrades
Support from a global WordPress community in the form of forums and template designers
Use of strict, high quality coding standards compliant with all major browsers
Ability to create additional functionality through the use of plugins

Disadvantages

A good level of CSS knowledge and basic Photoshop and PHP [at least] are required to change and update a template
Some groups claim that it is not a true CMS system as its primary development purpose was for weblogging or blogging

If you are looking to create a website for your company, organisation or academic project then WordPress is worth a look. Be aware that to create an individual feel to your site, it will require additional time and effort from a programmer and designer There are a variety of templates out there which will save a designer time but the trick is to apply these templates whilst remaining true to your company identity. You can see some examples of WordPress sites at www.simcoe.co.uk.

Templates

Popular sites for downloading templates are:

http://www.themeforest.net
http://wpremix.com
http://templatic.com

Most of the time you will only require a single user license for which you will normally pay between $30 and $75 [$US]. Its worth browsing these templates to see what WordPress can actually do for you and what it has helped create already.

A mini-website on a budget of $0.00

If you re on a budget or simply want to try the system out have a look at www.wordpress.com and sign up for an account. You can blog for free but there are a limited number of templates available to you and it is not as flexible as the version you download from www.wordpress.org and upload to your own server such as those purchased at 34sp.com.

If you want to see a brief video on signing up go to WordPress.TV and find out more. In addition, this YouTube video has been useful to some people too.

Community

This is just an aside really, but I’ve recently discovered BuddyPress for WordPress MultiUser which, if you are creating a site for a group or groups of like minded people, allows contribution to different group blogs or even hosting of personal blogs on the same server with the main site acting as an overview of sitewide activity. I have found that the BP Groupblog is a very useful part of this community based plugin. BuddyPress is excellent – but as of December 2009 seems to lack the ability to upload individual avatars for users. This will hopefully be resolved in a near-future update!

Conclusion

Get some inspiration from the gallery, forum, wiki or online magazine examples
Try out the online demonstration of the theme thoroughly
Talk to your web designer about the pro’s and con’s of the template

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Design Tweets This Week!

Peter Simcoe — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 11:03:00 +0000

10 image resizing tools on the web: http://bit.ly/6IcQU5
iStock Take 15% off your next purchase of 50 or more credits using promo code MA1NTA1N. But use it fast – it’s only good until Dec 19, 2009.
What is a QR Code? http://www.design-design.co.uk/what-is-a-qr-code/
Working on a WordPress Multiuser system for the Drawing Research Network – http://mu.wordpress.org
Added my Design-Design website to Wordle.net for some typographical fun http://www.wordle.net/show/wrdl/1432024/Design-Design
If you use WordPress and want some tips on speeding it up and reducing server load check out http://bit.ly/8sC59W

I will be looking at the uses of Twitter for business in the near future so watch this space.

New Simcoemedia website

Peter Simcoe — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 10:53:50 +0000

Simcoemedia was created by freelance designer Peter Simcoe and has been trading for nearly 8 years now. The company mainly works with small to medium sized businesses and academic institutions with web and print based marketing, design and promotion related projects. This often requires skills in documentary video making and project management. Take a look at the new website produced to show off some of these projects and if you re interested in working with Simcoemedia then you can use the contact page or call +44 (0)7704 629906.