Saint Blog

In a month at Saint – August 2010

jeremiah — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 12:39:22 +0000

This months illustration comes from the mind of our very own Sid.

He was tasked with visualising our interesting trip to McLaren, the unfortunate BBC weatherman moment, the announcement of Facebooks location based solution Places, and the climax of our Kopparberg Klash series of events. Sids also included a few of his favourite ‘Sid moments’ from the month too…

Lovely stuff, the illustration is now hanging in Saint Towers, so give Sid props when you see him and see if you can decypher the code. The illustration is now hanging by Gambles desk, check it.

Mad love x

The Gameification Game

jeremiah — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 12:53:27 +0000

Met up for a coffee with the interesting chaps at Six to Start this morning. And while sipping Americano in the Italian restaurant in their basement (no shit) I found myself thoroughly engaged by what they had to say. To summarise, to think about gaming and the behaviours that it exhibits within the boundaries of only a traditional game would be fundamentally missing both the point and opportunity that this promises us.

When we look at successful games, what we’re really looking at is successful engagement. This has been the case for thousands of years. Think of all the successful games in the world, from Chess to Sonic to Call of Duty and Farmville, and the ‘game’ itself is almost secondary. What is of utmost importance is that the user is taken on a journey that engages them through entertainment, challenge, social connectivity, story telling and reward, and a game lacking in these pillars isn’t really a game at all. And most importantly of all, there needs to be a point to participation.

Sound familiar?

But what really interested me about this game philosophy, is how it can be applied to non-games, how can we achieve great levels of participation in ‘things’ by engendering in them the ideals of gaming. When we’re developing the latest campaign – be it in a traditional form, interactive form, or transmedia – how can we treat it more like a game, make it challenging, rewarding and entertaining for the participant.

After all, we could all be doing something else, right?

www.sixtostart.com

Interview with Dan Hon, formerly of Six to Start - http://bit.ly/9O53zY

Fantastic recent TED talk on the game layer – http://bit.ly/cRkr3C

Platform Presentation #5 – RFID and the Internet of Things

jeremiah — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 11:51:10 +0000

Come and find me if you want the notes for these.

Platform review#5 rfid[1]

View more presentations from cjefford.

Top 5′s from last week

jeremiah — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 09:51:49 +0000

Here’s the top 5 links from the last week.

Inspiration:

The 50 most prominent Custom Facebook pages:
http://www.inspiredm.com/2010/08/22/tmp-facebook-showcase/

Swedish tree house:
http://www.toxel.com/inspiration/2010/08/20/mirrored-tree-hotel-in-sweden/

How to use Facebook Places:
http://mashable.com/2010/08/19/facebook-places-guide/

Outdoor advertising:
http://www.toxel.com/inspiration/2010/08/19/memorable-outdoor-advertising/

Garbage portraits:
http://www.trendhunter.com/photos/85621#1

Technology:

Giant Robot Arm for Halo
http://www.wired.com/gamelife/2010/08/remember-reach/

Tales of Things project:
http://www.digitalurban.org/2010/08/spark-of-genius-series-talesofthings-qr.html

HTML 5 version of Youtube on mobiles
http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/pda/2010/aug/24/html5-youtube-mobile

Velvet UI for the mobile
http://amnesiablog.wordpress.com/2010/08/24/the-future-of-the-mobile-ui-is-behind-a-velvet-curtain/

AR Door and LG 3D TV
http://thomaskcarpenter.com/2010/08/19/ar-door-and-lg-3d-tv/

Planning:

Why we follow brands on Twitter
http://www.penn-olson.com/2010/08/18/follow-brands-on-twitter/

Finding inspiration:
http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2010/08/finding-inspiration-instead-of-it-finding-you/

New definition for creativity
http://anaandjelic.typepad.com/i_love_marketing/2010/08/do-we-need-a-new-definition-of-creativity.html

Top 5 qualities of productive creatives
http://the99percent.com/tips/6736/the-top-5-qualities-of-productive-creatives-and-how-to-identify-them

2000-2010 was about social now it’s about gaming
http://www.ted.com/talks/seth_priebatsch_the_game_layer_on_top_of_the_world.html

Agency/Industry:

Possessed girl on Chatroulette
http://welikey.saintdigital.co.uk/2010/08/chatroulette-promoting-the-last-exorcism/

Frank Miller directs for Gucci Guilty
http://scaryideas.com/content/19250/

In case you haven’t seen it, Roger Federer for Gillette
http://www.digitalbuzzblog.com/roger-federer-trickshot-goes-viral/

Target Kaleidoscope at the Standard
http://creativereview.co.uk/cr-blog/2010/august/target-kaleidoscopic-spectacular-standard-hotel-mother

Snoop Dogg and Mafia Wars breaks Ustream record
http://techcrunch.com/2010/08/23/snoop-dogg-mafia-wars-promotional-stunt-breaks-ustream-record-with-2-million-views/

5 things I’m thinking right now

jeremiah — Wed, 25 Aug 2010 16:31:27 +0000

Today I came across a series of blog postings where people in the digital industry have posted 5 things that they’re thinking right now. The content of the discussions are wide ranging, from the impact of social gaming, where Apple have gone wrong (or if they have gone wrong), the Internet of Products, the 100 year career – all super interesting stuff from the likes of Dan Hon, Alice Taylor, Russell Davies etc.

Check the list here, lots of interestingness – http://danhon.com/2010/07/12/a-collection-of-five-things/

Got me thinking about my 5 things, what are the things that are on my mind today?

1) Unlocking the collective consciousness: I touched on this in a previous post regarding Chat Roulette, and the fact that so often the undeniable power of technology tends to be used for such superficial means. I’m excited about what a fully connected world can mean for us as a future species, as opposed to being scared about us becoming less that we are now. http://www.techradar.com/news/internet/is-the-internet-making-us-stupid–673843

2) Life as a game: Having read an interview with Dan Hon of W+K and Six to Start fame, I’m fascinated by how gaming psychologies can be applied to regular day-to-day experiences. VW’s Fun Theory began to explore this pretty well, can we make the world a better place by allowing people to point score their experiences?

3) More machines than humans came online last month (PSFK) which whilst being a headline grabber is also amazingly exciting. So humans grow to develop a deeper understanding of human global contexts, so too will machines. How will this affect our lives, what will that bring, this excites me a lot.

4) I may never buy another CD again. I’ve recently come to the conclusion that storing a thousand CD’s in my small flat isn’t necessarily a good thing and whilst I’ve geared up to start the long digitalisation process of my music, I’ve realised that I’m scared of never buying a physical album again. I fear for a world where nothing physical exists – but the existence of Spotify makes the argument for buying a CD even less compelling. Data storage suddenly takes on an importance of immense magnitude.

5) Best man speeches. I’ve got to do one. On Friday. And I’m dreading it.

What are you thinking about today?

A little something for you…

martinr — Fri, 13 Aug 2010 11:10:03 +0000

A few months ago a chat kicked off in a pub about the musical talents within our lovely Saint – talented individuals famed for their guitar playing, drum rolling, knob twiddling, synth stabbing and vocal ranges, and we thought we’d invite those interested to pool together resources and create a music collection for us all to enjoy.

And here it is!

The Saint Album – Volume1 by cjefford

You can find the personal pages of each artist here www.saintlondon.co.uk/saint-album

You can also download the album in full so you can put it on your Walkman.

Massive thanks go out to our awesome contributors Mr Sng, Mr Flugge, Mr Loyal, Mr Graham, Mr Kember and Mr Sid, as well as the photography and stylists that gave their time and work for free.

This is a short collection of work by people loving to create, and we hope its the first in a series of digital creative collections for us share, any thoughts give us a shout.

Enjoy, happy Friday players.

Chris (@cjefford)

In a month at Saint – July 2010

jeremiah — Fri, 06 Aug 2010 15:02:06 +0000

The latest in the ‘In a month of Saint’ series of illustrations had been printed, framed, and hung, a fantastic piece of work by our very own birthday legend, Mr Christopher Barnes. Yes, not only is he a menace to ladies and men alike, but he’s got some drawing skills too.

This months brief was to include reference to Camerons’ Big Society announcement, our LG launches, the fun work we did with the E13 crew, the brilliantly funny Old Spice campaign, and the winning of the World Cup by those cheeky Spaniards.

Nice one Barnsey, give him a little cuddle when you see him.

Saint helps LG customers get ‘Socially Smarter’

martinr — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 16:32:18 +0000

We’ve just launched a campaign in partnership with RKCR for one of our clients, LG electronics. The ‘Socially Smarter’ campaign targets consumers aged 16-24 in order to promote LG’s new range of Smartphones.

RKCR created a series of 14 melodramatic idents that you may have seen surrounding Channel 4 programmes such as One Tree Hill, Scrubs, and The Inbetweeners. We then created a dedicated Youtube channel to showcase the idents as well as behind-the-scenes footage and outtakes.

The idents lead the audience to the site www.sociallysmarter.com which hosts information on LG ‘Socially Smarter’ phones, the top 10 android apps, events at the LG arena, as well as links to LG social media platforms on Twitter, Facebook, and the LG Blog.

The page also encourages visitors to engage with the new LG ‘Secret Drama’ Facebook app which we also designed and created.

The ‘Secret Drama’ application allows users to interact with their friends on Facebook as if they were in a dramatic soap opera. The app analyses News Feed content and assigns different characters to friends based on their Facebook activity. For example:

• The Gossip Girl – Posts most comments.
• The Keeno – Replies the quickest.
• The Groupie – ‘Likes’ your posts the most.
• The Slacker – Posts most during work hours.

Once a character has been assigned, the app allows you to notify your friend of their new ‘Secret Drama’ identity. Users are encouraged to check back for updates as their News Feed content evolves. Have a look and see who’s who in your own personal soap opera. You may be surprised…

iPad User Interface

jeremiah — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 09:37:22 +0000

Continuing on the iPad UI tip, I came across this nice summary of Apples Human Interface Guidelines today on www.uxmag.com, well worth a read when thinking about developing applications for tablets.

Apple’s Human Interface Guidelines for the iPad outline how to create user interfaces optimized for the iPad device. According to Apple, the best iPad applications: downplay application UI so that the focus is on content; present content in beautiful, often realistic ways; and take full advantage of device capabilities to enable enhanced interaction.

The overview of iPad user experience guidelines listed below is © 2010 Apple Inc. More details on these guidelines and further information on developing for the iPad can be found in Apple’s Human Interface Guidelines for the iPad.

Support All Orientations
Your application should encourage people to interact with iPad from any side by providing a great experience in all orientations. The reason is that people don’t view the device as having a default orientation, because they don’t pay much attention to the minimal device frame and they’re unconcerned with the location of the Home button.

Enhance Interactivity (Don’t Just Add Features)
The best iPad applications give people innovative ways to interact with content while they perform a clearly defined, finite task. Resist the temptation to fill the large screen with features that are not directly related to the main task. In particular, you should not view the large iPad screen as an invitation to bring back all the functionality you pruned from your iPhone application.

Flatten Your Information Hierarchy
Although you don’t want to pack too much information into one screen, you also want to prevent people from feeling that they must visit many different screens to find what they want. In general, focus the main screen on the primary content and provide additional information or tools in an auxiliary view, such as a popover.

Reduce Full-Screen Transitions
Instead of swapping in a whole new screen when some embedded information changes, update only the areas of the user interface that need it. When you perform fewer full-screen transitions, your application has greater visual stability, which helps people keep track of where they are in their task.

Enable Collaboration and Connectedness
Think of ways people might want to use your application with others. Expand your thinking to include both the physical sharing of a single device and the virtual sharing of data.
Add Physicality and Heightened Realism
Whenever possible, add a realistic, physical dimension to your application. The more true to life your application looks and behaves, the easier it is for people to understand how it works and the more they enjoy using it.

Delight People with Stunning Graphics
The high-resolution iPad screen supports rich, beautiful, engaging graphics that draw people into an application and make the simplest task rewarding.

De-emphasize User Interface Controls
Help people focus on the content by designing your application UI as a subtle frame for the information they’re interested in. Downplay application controls by minimizing their number and prominence. Consider creating custom controls that subtly integrate with your application’s graphical style. In this way, controls are discoverable, but not too conspicuous.

Minimize Modality
iPad applications should allow people to interact with them in nonlinear ways. Modality prevents this freedom by interrupting people’s workflow and forcing them to choose a particular path.

Rethink Your Lists
Consider a more real-world vision of your application. For example, on iPhone, Contacts is a streamlined list, but on iPad, Contacts is an address book with a beautifully tangible look and feel.

Consider Multifinger Gestures
The large iPad screen provides great scope for multifinger gestures, including gestures made by more than one person.

Consider Popovers for Some Modal Tasks
If you use modal views to enable self-contained tasks in your iPhone application, you might be able to use popovers instead.

Restrict Complexity in Modal Tasks
People appreciate being able to accomplish a self-contained subtask in a modal view, because the context shift is clear and temporary. But if the subtask is too complex, people can lose sight of the main task they suspended when they entered the modal view.

Downplay File-Handling Operations
Although iPad applications can allow people to create and manipulate files and share them with a computer (when the device is docked), this does not mean that people should have a sense of the file system on iPad.

Ask People to Save Only When Necessary
People should have confidence that their work is always preserved unless they explicitly cancel or delete it. If your application helps people create and edit documents, make sure they do not have to take an explicit save action.

Start Instantly
iPad applications should start as quickly as possible so that people can begin using them without delay.

Always Be Prepared to Stop
Like iPhone applications, iPad applications stop when people press the Home button to open another application.

More details on these guidelines and further information on developing for the iPad can be found in Apple’s Human Interface Guidelines for the iPad.

UX Magazine

Too early for the new to feel old

jeremiah — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 13:55:53 +0000

A conversation with our UI designer earlier today got me thinking about how easy it can be to fall into the trap of conforming to a certain design or interface aesthetic once you see a few incarnations of something. In particular, most of the iPad applications that have been launched in their thousands over the past couple of months seem to do one of the following:

1) Use old iPhone design principles in a bid to get an application out there on a new platform ASAP.
2) Try and create a brand new shiny aesthetic but without much thought for what this new platform is and more importantly how people will use the content made available.
3) Take one of the early prototypes that were developed (think Wired, Sports Illustrated etc) and then merely pinch those ideas.

This has been getting a load of airplay today, a new social magazine application from FlipBoard. I like the feel of this, the transitions between pages and between content. I like the way they’ve taken a problem (lists and lists of updates, news, photos, lists and lists and lists) and attempted to solve it through UI Design, creating something brand new but oddly familiar.

As Anna quite rightly pointed out, this is something new, its too early to settle for either some new accepted norm for an application, a set of rules that we automatically abide by. This is a phase to be playing, experimenting, building UI’s that may be baffling, challenging and indeed may fail and fall by the wayside.

But that’s why we do what we do, right?