Charity Break Dancing in Hereford

I was just looking through some old video footage and forgot about this video I filmed at a charity event held in Hereford last year. I put this video together quickly for Dan Lowenstein (the dancer) as a bit of a show reel for him and for bit of a editing fun for me. The first half is the show then the second half I chop up his dance moves and choreograph it to the music of Morcheeba (I love Morcheeba!). I had a real good time editing this video, I love the creativity of taking raw video footage then blending sound and image together, it reminds me of when you paint artwork, one thing bounces of another in a creative melting pot and out the other end come something artistic! Hopefully! 

Christmas hampers

I was shooing the photography for the Hereford Deli's Christmas hamper brochure yesterday and today after a bit of Photoshop and Illustrator work we have the finished article ready for print! Well, that's my first festive piece of design work of the season. After photographing all that lovely food the weekend I fancy some hot chestnuts roasting on an open fire, I just need to find the open fire!...hmm... maybe a mince pie is easier! 

Twitter, Academic Excellence in 140 Characters (& The Champ!)

Below is a video created by an American student to summarise the research they conducted on the effects of Twitter on student engagement and grades. If you still think that social media is not for you or your business and it is a passing fad, then you should google all the stories out there about the subject. 

I see countless articles of how people, companies, and academic foundations are harnessing the power of social media in ways that it was not originally envisaged. This taps into my theory that all social media channels are just dial tone, you can use it for anything you like and create new communication paradigms. It's not just for telling people that you have toasted your muffin and your thinking jam may be the way forward :-). Unfortunately a lot of people who are not social media savvy believe that it can be as frivolous as muffin toasting. If you really look at how social media is being used, you will find a revolution is happening, It is a massive game changer in all walks of life! It’s our generations industrial revolution! So don’t turn around and tell me steam trains are for no-hopers and your cart and trusty steed will do you just fine! Do your research and don’t get left behind! I know we all love Champion the Wonder Horse but get yourself a return ticket, it’s much faster!

What Happens when you get design wrong! (GAP)

Gap has announced on it's Facebook Page that it is scrapping its new logo design efforts, after receiving a torrent of criticism coming primarily from Facebook and Twitter users.

Gap unveiled their  new logo last week, they called it “a more contemporary, modern expression.” Gap's customers did not like the change, and Gap decided to ask customers for their designs instead. However, they have now back-traked on that too.

Gap said, "Oaky, We’ve heard loud and clear that you don’t like the new logo. We’ve learned a lot from the feedback,” the company said on its Facebook Page. “We only want what’s best for the brand and our customers. So instead of crowdsourcing, we’re bringing back the Blue Box tonight.”

According to Gap, the original logo will be back ( “across all channels.”) and  the new logo will disappear. 

The backlash against Gap’s new logo was really very strong,  Thousands of tweets and Facebook status updates were opposed to it, people found creative ways to protest about new logo. Afake Twitter account, Gap logo generators and many more have chimed in with their campaigns that have gone viral. 

Social media wasn’t the only reason that Gap felt they should revert to the old logo, but it definitely was a major factor. Social media spread the word about the logo change and the company listened to it's customers and avoided a very unpopular decision, a great way companies can get instant feedback to make sure their decisions are right. As for the new design, I think all those people are right, its not the best re-brand I have seen and it shows that lots of care should be taken within the re-branding process to get it right. Here at Damson we use a consultative way of rebranding that we think really works. One of our latest re-brand projects was Kidwells Solicitors, Damson implemented and designed their re-branding, new website, produced their video and implemented their social media strategy using the company's great customer-centric ethos and modern approach.

Old Gap                                                                               New Gap (for a day or so!)

Whats Your favourite Old Spice Guy Clip?

What a genius social media camaping this has been, again showing that if you think creativley you can reallly produce somthing special. Now 36-year-old Isaiah Mustafa, the actor of the Old Spice Guy and a former NFL player, is getting his shot at the big screen. He has a talent deal with NBC, but now he has not one, but two movie roles. Everyones a winning in this campaign, and as Henry Cooper once said donning a bottle of the Spices best, "splash it all over!" 

New Look Flickr

After three weeks of testing, Flickr is rolling out its redesigned site to all of its users.

The new look site focuses navigation, context behind photos and the size of photos themselves. Flickr has increased the default size of photos by 28%  to 640 pixels wide. You can also darken the background around photos so you can just focus on the images  themselves. Navigation has changed and now we have a who when, what, where, of each photo to help with photo sharing.