Metrotwin is live

Metrotwin, the British Airways powered online social recommendations resource I have been working on is now live. It's still in Beta, and will be for a while, but you no longer need an invite to get in. As I've mentioned before, Metrotwin brings the best of London and New York together in one place. Some of the key new features are: The Metrotwin Index - an attention-based, dynamically generated score that applies to every place in both cities on the site. When people pay a place attention it goes up, and when no-one’s interested it ticks down. Metrotwin Recommends - a new personalised recommendation panel within the user profile. It works by looking at everything you and everyone else have loved, saved, visited and reviewed - and it tells you the kind of places that people like you are interested in. The ability to add links to external services (Facebook, Flickr, Twitter, IM and Skype) to your personal profile City-wide map views - a nicer way to view. A Site Tour - to help you find your way around. Metrotwin has been delivered by a highly talented multi-agency team. Visit Metrotwin

Drinking vessel

Two birds. One stone.

The Sewerside Chronicles

I've just finished reading a brilliantly funny book by Tim Lay. The Sewerside Chronicles charts the story of a small fashion label based in a seaside town in North Devon. Che Capri is approaching 30, and living the dream. He and 'business' partner Travis, run Sewerside – a cutting edge streetwear clothing label. It’s the Millennium and Sewerside’s quasi-apocalyptic sense of style has won plaudits from style magazines and the fashionista crowd. However, having hit it lucky with their first collection, the money’s now running out and their dreams of making it big are fast disappearing. But somewhere along the way Sewerside stops being about the money and becomes about an ideal. While the marketing buzz on the fashion streets is ‘keep it real’, Sewerside intend to do just that. As the business chugs towards financial disaster, The Sewerside Chronicles charts a hilariously painful campaign of manufacture, retail, black economics, trade shows, fashion circles, rural deviancy, violent demos, raves in the countryside, and anarchy at Glastonbury festival. Representing the hopes, fears and the naiveté of creative industry and protest idealism, The Sewerside Chronicles provides a humorous snapshot of a time when counter culture was all but swallowed-up by its commercial counterpart. This book is for anyone who's ever run their own business, tried to make a creative idea profitable or just generally likes to laugh out loud on the train while reading. There are some hilarious extracts on the website. Buy a copy today. Sewerside Chronicles Extracts

Metrotwin press interest

Metrotwin has picked up some nice press this week. Contagious

The art of Type

We are picking up a fantastic brief tomorrow – to create 16 bespoke typefaces. For a production studio whose roots are in the creation of type, this really is a dream brief. Typography is probably my most favourite of all of the creative services disciplines. The ability to convey words and messages through type is, to me, the most creative of arts. Not only that, but from a production point of view, the rigour and rules that surround the use of words really inspire me. For me, a perfectly kerned, beautifully crafted piece of typography is very hard to beat. There are some great groups on Flickr dedicated solely to the art of typography. Take a look at some of these: Found Type Typophile Vintage Type

At the court of King John

A beautiful portrait by my wonderfully talented photographer friend, Jorge Monedero, appeared in Luxx magazine in today's Times. The specially commissioned portrait of John Galliano captures the regal presence of this unique fashion icon. The portrait accompanies an article by James Collard. View the full article snd Jorge's fabulous image on the Times website Times Online Luxx magazine .

Congratulations...its twins!

Metrotwin, the British Airways powered social bookmarking resource I have been involved with for 5 months has launched this week into an invitation only Public Beta. We’ve still got 2 weeks until the stabilisers come off and we go fully live, but you can now sign up to the site request an invite and join the community. Metrotwin is a fantastic resource which features the 'best of the best' from London and New York, recommended by the people in the know. We have been working with content partners, bloggers and of course the very talented multi-agency team to get great places recommended, reviewed and twinned. Team MT are more than a little bit proud of what has been achieved in quite a short period of time, and can’t wait to see how Metrotwin grows. Take a look at the blog or visit the site and get yourself an invite. Metrotwin .

Dear Adobe

For anyone who has ever had anything to gripe about with their Adobe products, this site is for you. Dear Adobe has the best gripes on all of the Adobe products. My particular favourites from the top 100 being: At no 15: Could you make Adobe Reader start up slower? I'd like to have enough time to go get a sandwich before I read a one page document. At No 22: Adobe Updater is the single worst piece of software I have ever seen. Please fuck off with that. and finally: At no 55: Enable auto-recover for Photoshop, so when it inevitably crashes for the 9th time today I can get back to the corporate schlock I was working on. Read the full list and submit gripes of your own...go on, you know you want to. Dear Adobe .

Mr Chips is dead

One man's dropped chip is another man's forensic investigation.

Cold War Posters and Exhibition

The V&A have produced a book called Posters of the Cold War, in conjunction with their forthcoming exhibition Cold War Modern Design 1945-70. The exhibition explores modern art, architecture, design and film in the period 1945-70, highlighting the ways in which artists and designers responded to the conditions of the Cold War. The poster was a key medium in the Cold War, used to produce both fear and loyalty at home and abroad. Posters of the Cold War surveys poster design from the late 1940s when the ‘Iron Curtain’ was drawn across Europe to the collapse of communism in the Soviet Union in the early 1990s. Featuring over seventy designs by some of the leading artists and graphic designers of the period including Pablo Picasso, Grapus Design Collective and Peter Kennard, posters have been selected from twenty countries to demonstrate the wide international reach of the conflict. Really looking forward to this exhibition, which runs from 25 September 2008 to 11 January 2009. V&A

What the F**K is Social Media?

Short, sweet and succinct explanation of Social Media.

What The F**K is Social Media?

View SlideShare presentation or Upload your own. (tags: socialmediamarketing marketing)

Electronic Ink

Men's magazine Esquire is celebrating its 75th anniversary in the US with a limited-edition run of 100,000 copies featuring covers using Electronic Ink technology. The technology works by printing ink containing charged microcapsules, onto a sheet of plastic film that is laminated to a layer of circuitry. The circuitry forms a pattern of pixels that can then be controlled by a display driver - powered by a tiny battery. Esquire's 75th Anniversary E-Ink cover took more than a year to develop. 100,000 lucky customers will find an animated panel on their copies of Esquire, displaying flashing text and images, along with an enhanced Ford Flex advert on the inside cover. Watch the video: Esquire . http://www.esquire.com/the-side/video/e-ink-cover-video?click=pp

Crystal Ball

Well it seems like Autumn is prematurely here, and mentally it feels like the last quarter of 2008 has definitely started. While we have been continuously busy over July and August, there is a distinct change of pace in the last week – with clients getting focussed on the run up to Christmas and the laid-back August feeling starting to seem like a distant memory. As we go into the last stretch of the year, I’ve been thinking about 2008 so far. Without doubt it has been a bit of a bumpy ride – definitely a game of two halves to use a well-worn football pun. The start to the year was very quiet, and with reports of the credit crunch and impending economic doom doing little to make us feel better, we went into the Summer with a certain amount of uncertainty. But the second half of the year has picked up brilliantly for us. We’ve been doing some amazing things, particularly some great, very visible large format work and are still working with CDP in the run up to the Global launch of their report on 22 September in New York. So thinking about the next 4 months of 2008 – what twists and turns and surprises lay in store for Lavish? It’s hard to know in the current market, but I am convinced the biting credit crunch will continue to put marketing and brand budgets under stress. Clients will be looking to smaller agencies, with lean, agile teams and cross discipline expertise to help them maximise their budgets. I think the model of smaller and mid sized agencies sharing resources and skills will grow, as they look to be ever more effective for clients. And new business and marketing effort is more important than ever to keep in front of people when they are making tough decisions about what marketing activity to do. Only time will tell if my ‘predictions’ will come true. But I do know that Lavish are positioned better than ever before to benefit from this changing market.

How to do just about anything

It's been a bit quiet on the blog front while we've had a busy few weeks. More of that later. In the meantime, I found this great site, which has 'How to' videos on just about everything. Video Jug

Amazing projections and immersive environments

My attention was recently drawn to an amazing US based multi media design lab, through an article in Fast Company. Obscura Digital, who create their experiential marketing magic out of a 30,000 warehouse in San Francisco, have developed their own proprietary software, which literally turns any surface into a stunning high resolution video display. This means that they can create large-scale immersive environments, holographic projects, laser graffiti and motion triggered billboards - just for starters. Think Star Trek holodeck and you’re getting there. For the launch of iGoogle, Obscura turned the whole of New York’s meatpacking district into a massive outdoor art gallery for 3 nights. Over 70 artists participated in this cutting edge marketing campaign and the results were show stopping. Obscura also created amazing viewer activated and interactive displays for the launch of CS3, one of Adobe’s biggest ever product launches. I definitely recommend taking a look at the work on their site, and watch out for these guys, I think we’ll see more Obscura work - in the most unlikeliest of places! Obscura

Headshift Summer Party

Having been chained to the office for the past few weeks and weekends, last night we had some well needed social time at the Headshift Summer Party. I have been working with Headshift for a couple of months, and in that time they have moved into funky new offices in Shad Thames. Headshift is Europe's leading enterprise social computing consultancy. They are expert in designing, implementing and growing next generation social software solutions. We spent a very pleasant evening on the roof terrace chatting to various 'Headshifters' and Stuart and Tim from Made by Many. And the top bonus was - it didn't rain!

Free tool for DIY font design

There may be thousands of fonts available online, but for truly dedicated members of Generation C — who live to create their own, fresh content, that's sometimes not enough. Luckily, help is now at hand in the form of a do-it-yourself font-building tool from digital type retailer FontShop. FontStruc is a free, online tool that lets users quickly and easily create fonts by arranging geometrical shapes in a grid pattern, much like tiles or bricks. Working one letter at a time, users add and remove shapes including blocks and dots to achieve a look they like. Once they're done building, FontStruct generates high-quality TrueType fonts, ready to use in any Mac or Windows application. Users can keep their "FontStructions" private, or they can share them with the FontStruct community for discussion, rating and downloading. They can also display them on other websites or blogs through the FontStruct widget. Several Creative Commons license options are available to allow varying degrees of sharing. Fontstruct Source: Springwise.com

Inhale the web

I am enjoying using Addict-o-Matic. As the blurb on the site says: Addict-o-Matic searches the best live sites on the web for the latest news, blog posts, videos and images. It's the perfect tool to keep up with the hottest topics, perform ego searches and feed your addiction for what's up, what's now or what other people are feeding on. Try it. It's cool Addict-o-Matic

New recruits to Team Lavish

We are so happy to announce that we've added some new top-talent to the Lavish team in the past week or so. We are really looking forward to working again with Tim, who is a senior digital creative. A skilled digital designer, motion graphics design/artist and audio/visual specialist - there's not much digital work that Tim hasn't done. Clementine joins us permanently on 1 September, having freelanced with us for the past year. Clem graduated from Central St Martins with a degree in graphic design. Since studying she has worked freelance on design and illustration commissions for a varied client base and her work has featured in branding, on advertising campaigns, wallpaper and product lines, book jackets and set designs. And Allan, our 3D and Photoshop guru is now based in-house with us at Smokehouse Yard. I think we might be looking for new offices in the very near future.....

Photoshop disasters

Nothing amuses us more in the Lavish Lounge than seeing really bad retouching, artwork or image work out there in the commercial world. Seems we are not the only ones who snigger at this type of thing. Check out Photoshop Disasters. There are some top cock-ups in April - especially the Prince Caspian on the side of the bus. What was that about reading the artwork spec....?

Project Management tools take the strain

I subscribe to Computer Arts Magazine, which I generally enjoy reading. Although a lot of the articles tell us stuff we already know, it is still a good read, and often has some quite inspiring design articles. However, this month, they ran an article called ‘Project Management tools take the strain’. As a project manager in the creative industry for over 15 years I turned with great interest to this article. Boy, was I disappointed. Apparently creative project management has 4 ingredients: - A Gantt chart to keep an overview of demands and deadlines - File naming protocol - Systems for client communication - A system to keep track of outstanding bills and invoicing – to make sure that ‘money turns up when you need it’ This is a massively simplified view of the skills required by a top-flight creative project manager. Yes, project managers utilise programmes to help them run projects – from MS Project, MS Excel, Base Camp and many other tools – but the article missed the most important ‘ingredients’ for a creative project manager. That is, it is not about the software you use, but about what you bring to a project. A good project manager has experience, initiative and insight. No computer programme in the world will make up for a bad project manager; who cannot plot a critical path on the ‘back of a fag packet’, who cannot identify and mitigate against project risks, who cannot talk intelligently and knowledgeably about project planning and who cannot work out a project budget or P+L without the aid of a calculator or sophisticated programme to ‘make sure money turns up when you need it’.

Business Guys on Business Trips

Fantastically funny site. No need to say anymore than that, but if you work in the creative industry you'll recognise plenty of these characters! Business Guys on Business Trips

Web development partners needed

We are currently looking to boost our network of web developers. We are actively looking for web development partners, to work with us on varied client briefs. We are looking for: Front end / CSS specialists Freelance IA professionals CMS developers Application developers Development / Technical consultants We are not looking to employ these resources, we are looking for individuals or small companies that we can build ongoing working relationships with.

Congratulations

So another Tour de France is over.

That wonderful spectacle of team effort, amazing endurance and gladiatorial spirit has once again come to and end. Of course, The Tour has had its scandals this year, but our congratulations must go to Spaniard Carlos Sastre, who won yesterday in Paris.

Vive Le Tour!

Carbon Disclosure Project

We are very proud to announce that we are working with The Carbon Disclosure Project to produce their 2008 annual reports. Lavish are currently working on the production of 3 reports, due for publication in September of this year. The Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) is an independent not-for-profit organisation aiming to create a lasting relationship between shareholders and corporations regarding the implications for shareholder value and commercial operations presented by climate change. Its goal is to facilitate a dialogue, supported by quality information, from which a rational response to climate change will emerge. Lavish is proud to be supporting CDP in this vital work in the area of climate change. Carbon Disclosure Project

Design and the Elastic Mind

I love this online exhibition site for MoMA’s ‘Design and the Elastic Mind’. The exhibition itself highlights designers’ ability to grasp momentous changes in technology, science, and history—changes that demand or reflect major adjustments in human behaviour—and translate them into objects that people can actually understand and use. This website has over three hundred of these works, including fifty projects that are not featured in the gallery exhibition. The navigation takes a bit of getting used to, but it does feel like an exhibition after you’ve used it for a bit. I haven’t yet picked my favourite, but there are plenty to choose from. Design and the Elastic Mind

Flash website for London agency

We have just completed a new website for design and communications agency Metier.

Not exactly ground-breaking stuff, but nicely designed and effective anyway. We like it.

As well as being Metier's digital partner, we also provide print-production and project management consultancy services to them. That's why we appear on the 'Who we are' page. Metier have an impressive roster of clients in the petrochemicals and property sectors.

Metier

Train in Vain

The past 12 months have heralded my long-overdue introduction to the world of proper grown-up commuting. For the last 7 years I have lived a sum total of 1.25 miles from my place of work, and had the luxury of the fact that I could either walk to work to take a cab (which invariably happened much more often that the walking).

So, as a novice to this commuting thing, I am still stunned by some of the things I encounter on the journey. Some questions I have often asked myself:

Why do people feel the need to eat the equivalent of a medium sized meal on the way home? Do these people have no kitchens, or is the lure of Burger King simply so great it can’t be ignored?

Why is the woman sitting next to me picking bits of skin off the side of her fingernails with her teeth like a woman possessed, and then spitting them out into the aisle? (I think I might have to move…oh my God she’s now picking her head.)

How interested are we in the social arrangements of the girl 7 seats away, who has so far covered every banal subject you can imagine, from what she is wearing on Saturday night to what she had for lunch today?

I could rant on….but also, I have seen some really heart-warming things. Like the whole carriage that have a train party every Christmas, and invited us newbies to come along. They even printed tickets and organised food. Or the set of 4 girls who meet every morning and chat like old friends, even though their only contact is the journey to work. And the very pleasant chat I had this evening with a fellow commuter to distract me from the amazing skin picking woman next to me.

So all in all, it’s still proving to be quite an experience this commuting lark. One thing it is good for is an extra hour’s work each way….or is that a bad thing? Time will tell....

Past Masters on Motorbikes

Lavish are currently designing a small website for a friend of ours, Spencer Reeves, who is competing as a rookie in this year's Yamaha Past Masters Racing Cup (YPMRC). Billed as 'Competing on a budget - Racing to the limit' we got to see some motorbike racing action first-hand this weekend.

The boys were at Brands Hatch for the 13th and 14th rounds of the season, and unfortunately Saturday turned out to be unlucky 13 for Spencer. A blown up engine during Friday's practice session meant a hasty engine-change and a distinct lack of power when it came to race speed. That, combined with an unscheduled trip over the grass on the first race saw a 19th place finish. Unfortunately he didn't fare much better during race two, again losing speed on the straights, despite being quick through the corners.

Aside from technical troubles, we had a great day on Saturday, and were very proud to see our lovely logo loud and proud on the bike.

Spencer is scheduled for some coverage in Metro newspaper, so more when that appears. The website will be finished this week, but check out progress so far:

Spencer Reeves

Interesting and Influential bloggers

I have been following the trials, tales and tribulations of my friend Alex, as she goes walkabout through South East Asia on her way to Australia, via her blog
Alex's Great Escape.

Although I don't really know Alex that well as we only met shortly before she left London, through reading her entertaining snapshots of life on the road I've certainly got much more of a sense of her as a person. Writing a diary or a blog can be so personal I wonder how long it would have taken us as friends getting to know eachother for me to have got such a deep insight into her thoughts and feelings?

And it seems that blogging is definitely no longer a boys sport. NorthxEast's list of the world's most influential female bloggers makes interesting reading. A really varied selection of some smart and sassy blogs that I would definitely recommend you bookmark.

Most influential female bloggers