Getting creative types to orate for an hour about their work must be hard given that the creative industries are largely visual and sensory and often defy our attempts at verbal explanation. So congratulations are due once again to the Design is Kinky crew for assembling yet another breathtaking array of talent who mostly spoke quite well, at this year's Semi Permanent conference. The success of previous years' line-ups has been patchy with speakers such as last year's wunderkind Anthony Lister, who after a dramatic entrance shootout, appeared to soon grow bored of his audience.
Part of the success of this year's assortment was perhaps due to the fact that most of these artists and creative professionals have been forced to verbally sell their own work from an early age and have maintained a single minded focus on defending their unique ideas to clients, agents and agencies.
Daniela Federici, who got her extraordinary break after graduating photography at RMIT, was invited to photograph the iconic Guess campaign by Paul Marciano, featuring another new discovery, Anna Nicole Smith. She was a hugely rewarding speaker whose funny insider celebrity anecdotes and generous advice and technical asides were both entertaining and valuable.
Vernon Wilbert from Digital Domain told the absorbing story of the creation of the Gears of War campaign for xbox, the first campaign animation to use the actual games engine, resulting in an ad that was not only true to the game, but wildly successful with its intended audience. The larger than life enthusiasm of the Californian kept the entire auditorium on the edge of its seat.
Other speakers used different techniques to win their audience. Tim Kentley from XYZ Studios turned the lights low and presented by candlelight whilst stretched out on the floor. Kate Gibb confided her white-knuckle terror at public speaking from the outset and proceeded to read from her tightly clutched A4 notes. Whilst this breaks all the rules, the audience loved her nevertheless and were able to focus on her images and her insider stories of the UK band scene.
Overall, this is possibly the best Semi Permanent yet. Watch out for the first SPMelbourne later this year.
Saturday, April 4, 2009
Saturday, November 22, 2008
Are you tuned to your customers’ channel?
Sometimes there are advantages to being late adopters of technology. Wait 6 months and you’ll get a new and improved model cheaper, faster and tinier/bigger/better and you’ll also have the benefit of those 6 months of research and user reviews to help you make your purchasing decision.
Applying this to the world of online retail in Australia, we are years behind the US, but we have the benefit of learning from the successes and failures of American online retail models. We also have access to a wealth of research and statistics relating to the American retail market which can help support our local business-cases and strategies for online retailing.
Unfortunately there is a dearth of research on Australian consumer habits, although we can draw on the findings of the 2007 census and ABS data to answer some questions.
Recently Deloitte decided to survey our own people across Australia to bring to light our online shopping habits. Two of the questions that we asked related to how our people research and purchase products. The tables below illustrate their preferences for using purely online versus other channels (word of mouth, print and in-store).
The survey results demonstrated a very strong preference for conducting research online, regardless of whether the purchase was made on-line or in-store. An average of 93% of respondents said they researched online across all categories. Whilst the typical Deloittian is not necessarily representative of the wider community (higher broadband access and income), there is a lesson here that can be applied to Australian retail models and that lesson is that Australians use more than one channel across the customer lifecycle. We may purchase instore but there is a high likelihood that the purchase was researched online or using a different channel to in-store. The inverse is also true, people regularly research in-store but then purchase online to get the best price or simply for the convenience. Retailers like IKEA have learnt this lesson and assist their customers across all channels with such tools as an online kitchen modelling application that allows you to print out your list of components to present in-store. They also provide an online assistant that will answer all your questions in real time using live chat.
The important thing to remember is that even if you don’t have an online shopping cart and payment gateway, you should still treat your online channel as an online store by providing:
Remember, no every ‘call-to-action’ is a transaction. Your online channel can be supporting your customers across the entire customer life-cycle.
Applying this to the world of online retail in Australia, we are years behind the US, but we have the benefit of learning from the successes and failures of American online retail models. We also have access to a wealth of research and statistics relating to the American retail market which can help support our local business-cases and strategies for online retailing.
Unfortunately there is a dearth of research on Australian consumer habits, although we can draw on the findings of the 2007 census and ABS data to answer some questions.
Recently Deloitte decided to survey our own people across Australia to bring to light our online shopping habits. Two of the questions that we asked related to how our people research and purchase products. The tables below illustrate their preferences for using purely online versus other channels (word of mouth, print and in-store).
The survey results demonstrated a very strong preference for conducting research online, regardless of whether the purchase was made on-line or in-store. An average of 93% of respondents said they researched online across all categories. Whilst the typical Deloittian is not necessarily representative of the wider community (higher broadband access and income), there is a lesson here that can be applied to Australian retail models and that lesson is that Australians use more than one channel across the customer lifecycle. We may purchase instore but there is a high likelihood that the purchase was researched online or using a different channel to in-store. The inverse is also true, people regularly research in-store but then purchase online to get the best price or simply for the convenience. Retailers like IKEA have learnt this lesson and assist their customers across all channels with such tools as an online kitchen modelling application that allows you to print out your list of components to present in-store. They also provide an online assistant that will answer all your questions in real time using live chat.
The important thing to remember is that even if you don’t have an online shopping cart and payment gateway, you should still treat your online channel as an online store by providing:
- Accurate and detailed product information and imagery
- Helpful online assistance that doesn’t first require your customers to register their details
- A consistent experience to your ‘bricks & mortar’ shop front.
Remember, no every ‘call-to-action’ is a transaction. Your online channel can be supporting your customers across the entire customer life-cycle.
Saturday, May 24, 2008
The public eye and Bill Henson
Bill Henson's dark dream-world images of adolescents do not stand up to the cold light of public scrutiny, it would appear. For years he has been capturing young people in strange and surreal tableaux. Chiaroscuro lighting and soft blurred images serve to make his subjects both ambiguous and fantastic.
I've always found his imagery both captivating and disturbing but there is no doubt in my mind that his intentions are to produce extraordinary artworks, not pornography.
But the hysterical public reaction to his current exhibition at Roslyn Oxley Gallery indicates that certain moral campaigners are a little behind the times when it comes to their knowledge of local art - there is nothing new in this exhibition, Bill Henson has been creating these images for years without causing undue offence.
So why has it only become a problem now? Is it because society's moral compass has narrowed with our outrage at internet child pornography as exposed in the media? Or is it simply that Bill Henson's fame has spread and he's suddenly been noticed and scrutinised by the mainstream? Whatever the reason, the recent censorship of his exhibition follows on the heals of other recent cases of art censorship in Melbourne - Hazel Dooney's sexually explicit works were covered up at last year's Melbourne Art Fair and Cherry Hood also had an exhibition closed down when she created naked images of young boys.
When it comes to the law, it will be very hard to prove that Henson has been creating pornography when this has clearly never been his intention.
I've always found his imagery both captivating and disturbing but there is no doubt in my mind that his intentions are to produce extraordinary artworks, not pornography.
But the hysterical public reaction to his current exhibition at Roslyn Oxley Gallery indicates that certain moral campaigners are a little behind the times when it comes to their knowledge of local art - there is nothing new in this exhibition, Bill Henson has been creating these images for years without causing undue offence.
So why has it only become a problem now? Is it because society's moral compass has narrowed with our outrage at internet child pornography as exposed in the media? Or is it simply that Bill Henson's fame has spread and he's suddenly been noticed and scrutinised by the mainstream? Whatever the reason, the recent censorship of his exhibition follows on the heals of other recent cases of art censorship in Melbourne - Hazel Dooney's sexually explicit works were covered up at last year's Melbourne Art Fair and Cherry Hood also had an exhibition closed down when she created naked images of young boys.
When it comes to the law, it will be very hard to prove that Henson has been creating pornography when this has clearly never been his intention.
Tuesday, May 6, 2008
Alt text standards slide
The last week has seen much debate on whether images should require the alt text attribute in HTML 5. Currently in HTML 4, for code to be valid, all images must include alt text so that assistive technology such as screen readers or site users who are unable to view the images can instead use the alt text to derive meaning.
But with the advent of user generated content on sites such as Flickr, the requirement to have meaningful alt text on all images creates problems for the site because the onus is then upon the user to enter a meaningful label, or alternatively the site needs to auto-generate a meaningful alt tag such as "image uploaded by user" when no alt text has been entered.
It seems a massive concession for sites with user generated content. It would not be unreasonable to maintain the alt tag as a requirement for valid code because sites such as Flickr could simply make the alt text a mandatory requirement when uploading images - it doesn't seem like a difficult work-around when the alternative is such a backward step for accessibility.
The real problem in allowing no alt tags on images which are also links is that text to voice readers will read out the entire URL in the absence of a meaningful alt tag. This is really annoying for a visually impaired site user.
The important thing to remember here is that if the requirement for alt text on images is removed, then sites can still pass the AA accessibility test and yet fail the users that these standards are intended to protect - visually impaired users who rely on alt text to understand images on a site.
> More about HTML 5
But with the advent of user generated content on sites such as Flickr, the requirement to have meaningful alt text on all images creates problems for the site because the onus is then upon the user to enter a meaningful label, or alternatively the site needs to auto-generate a meaningful alt tag such as "image uploaded by user" when no alt text has been entered.
It seems a massive concession for sites with user generated content. It would not be unreasonable to maintain the alt tag as a requirement for valid code because sites such as Flickr could simply make the alt text a mandatory requirement when uploading images - it doesn't seem like a difficult work-around when the alternative is such a backward step for accessibility.
The real problem in allowing no alt tags on images which are also links is that text to voice readers will read out the entire URL in the absence of a meaningful alt tag. This is really annoying for a visually impaired site user.
The important thing to remember here is that if the requirement for alt text on images is removed, then sites can still pass the AA accessibility test and yet fail the users that these standards are intended to protect - visually impaired users who rely on alt text to understand images on a site.
> More about HTML 5
Saturday, October 20, 2007
Is social networking time-wasting?
The frenzied reaction in the media this week to some spurious claims by SurfControl in relation to the use of FaceBook in the office raises the question is online networking simply time wasting and a drain on business profitability?
It is clearly in the interest of SurfControl to inflate the negative impact of online social networking sites such as FaceBook. They sell software filters to businesses to block the access to inappropriate websites. Their estimate that business is losing up to $5 billion a year in wasted time is based upon the ridiculous and unsupportable premise that every worker spends an hour on a site such as FaceBook during working hours, every working day in every business across Australia.
Whilst this premise seems to be erring on the 'worst case scenario' end of the spectrum, the more interesting question is whether the use of social networking sites is all bad for business.
In the case of organisations such as Deloitte and other professional services firms, networking is considered an essential skill of successful consultants and a business advantage.
Within Deloitte we spend money on training our staff to network - using whatever methods are appropriate. In the case of LinkedIn and Plaxo, increasingly these social networking sites are being used to connect people within business - whether that be for introductions, or to collaborate online. In many ways they present a more efficient and effective avenue for social and business contact than the more traditional channels of face to face or phone.
It is clearly in the interest of SurfControl to inflate the negative impact of online social networking sites such as FaceBook. They sell software filters to businesses to block the access to inappropriate websites. Their estimate that business is losing up to $5 billion a year in wasted time is based upon the ridiculous and unsupportable premise that every worker spends an hour on a site such as FaceBook during working hours, every working day in every business across Australia.
Whilst this premise seems to be erring on the 'worst case scenario' end of the spectrum, the more interesting question is whether the use of social networking sites is all bad for business.
In the case of organisations such as Deloitte and other professional services firms, networking is considered an essential skill of successful consultants and a business advantage.
Within Deloitte we spend money on training our staff to network - using whatever methods are appropriate. In the case of LinkedIn and Plaxo, increasingly these social networking sites are being used to connect people within business - whether that be for introductions, or to collaborate online. In many ways they present a more efficient and effective avenue for social and business contact than the more traditional channels of face to face or phone.
Swap Meat
Coudal Partners Swap Meat is getting some beautifully designed ephemera sent in, utterly swapable, highly desirable, it's really all the inspiration you need to exercise the creative juices and produce something unique and well designed to send to this Chicago based design firm. At their discretion, they will send you back something of equivalent value produced by someone else.
It requires a leap of faith but your inspiration may return equally creative dividends.
It requires a leap of faith but your inspiration may return equally creative dividends.
Building a cubist cathedral
David Hockney eat your heart out!
Photosynth - whilst still a beta application produced by Microsoft Live Labs in collaboration with some other brainy people, this amazing software promises to provide a 3 dimensional photo album that you can zoom into and explore using a very intuitive interface.
All you need is a bunch of photos that overlap - the David Hockney approach to photography. The software does the rest - once you've uploaded the images - the software stiches them together and recreates the 3 dimensions that the images were captured from (unlike VRML, this software will take you inside/out and upside/down). But even more amazing is the ability of the software to deliver high resolution through progressive loading of the visual data as the user zooms in to the images.
Apart from the collaborative applications - imagine sharing shots in Flickr to rebuild entire cities - there have got to be some interesting commercial applications:
Photosynth - whilst still a beta application produced by Microsoft Live Labs in collaboration with some other brainy people, this amazing software promises to provide a 3 dimensional photo album that you can zoom into and explore using a very intuitive interface.
All you need is a bunch of photos that overlap - the David Hockney approach to photography. The software does the rest - once you've uploaded the images - the software stiches them together and recreates the 3 dimensions that the images were captured from (unlike VRML, this software will take you inside/out and upside/down). But even more amazing is the ability of the software to deliver high resolution through progressive loading of the visual data as the user zooms in to the images.
Apart from the collaborative applications - imagine sharing shots in Flickr to rebuild entire cities - there have got to be some interesting commercial applications:
- virtual retail showrooms that are constantly updated by a live webfeed
- virtual travel - view Times Square in real time, or close to real time
- events like concerts or sports matches - see the action from any angle
Whilst still a preview product, I can see this changing conventional online media - the possibilities are endless!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
