Recently, Casper Hübertz and I were interviewed for Agency Future.
The project was born when Aaron Bateman – English-born copywriter living and working in Copenhagen – won a travel grant to document emerging business ideas and models in the global advertising industry.
We were asked to tell the story about Spoiled Milk, what agency we wanted to create, how we work differently from other agencies – and how we see ourselves evolving.
Have a read here.
I have used and loved my iPad for the past two weeks and it has greatly changed my media consumption habits. The iPad is the first device I look at in the morning, besides my alarm clock, and the last device I attend to before falling asleep.
Here are some of my most used apps.
Newspaper apps
My favourite app for news about Switzerland is Tagesanzeiger. Regretfully, 20min did not get the idea of a design for the iPad right, so it’s basically the iPhone app with more screen estate.
And for international media of course the notable apps from New York Times Editor’s Choice, BBC News and USA Today.
RSS reader
Reeder app is not just the best RSS reader on the iPhone; it’s also one of the best iPad apps I have seen so far. With its nice pinch-to-expand feature, similar to the Photo app, where you can get a small preview of the unread feed in a folder, or the unread articles in a feed.
Productivity apps
Because I’m already using Things on my Macbook Pro and on the iPhone, it was a no-brainer that I would like and use Things for iPad, although it’s quite expensive.
Then there is Evernote, which is my favorite app for taking notes, best of all it syncs between the desktop app, iPhone/iPad app and, if I’m not on my computer, also with the web interface.
Media apps
Radios is an app for listening to Swiss radio stations developed by the Swiss company Liip. And they are going to release the source code under an open source license soon.
I once visited a friend of mine in his studio – he’s a writer. I was a bit astonished looking at his very barebone furniture setup he was working with: Only a very basic, hard wooden chair and a pretty small wooden table. He explained to me that he couldn’t work properly sitting on a soft, homely office chair – “They make you feel too cosy and distract you from focusing”.
I somehow compare this wooden chair setup with working “in the cloud”. Working over the Internet doesn’t feel very comfortable at times. It demands quite an effort. But that’s exactly what keeps you focused and efficient for many reasons.
For example, having a Skype meeting is a lot less homey than sitting around a table with coffee and croissants. When having a Skype meeting, you have to follow stricter rules: Only one person is talking, that person has to speak clearly and loudly, everyone has to be focused, and you don’t want that meeting to take up too much time, so you’re precise and focus only on the relevant topics. In comparison, face-to-face meetings tend to go overboard with chit-chat, take up a lot of time and often end without actionable decisions nor clear results.
Other communication performed in writing includes e-mail, Basecamp or chat. Same here: Writing is more challenging than talking. But having to go through the process of writing things down makes you re-think what you are trying to communicate. You have to be very precise and get to the point.
Doing a production briefing in writing is demanding. But then when you’re writing down the details of your briefing, you normally become aware that you are missing information from the client or that there are points one hasn’t fully thought through. You then return to the client, work out missing situations and go over your homework again. Once you’re done, you have a clear briefing with the complete information that leaves no questions open to the production team and thus prevents a time-consuming ping-pong process later.
Don’t get me wrong: I love face-to-face discussion with a good whiskey and real-life contact with people. But I see that in daily work, working in the cloud can make a lot of processes much more precise and optimized – despite being more demanding.
Six months ago, a girl named Melanie hit the road leading into an enchanted world of Web 2.0. She came to the village of bearded geeks – also known as Spoiled Milk. As a curious intern, she enjoyed the good atmosphere there and the very fascinating new world.
In order for Melanie to stay, however, she had to pass a few tests. She needed to learn the teachings of Drupal, to design for the web and a lot of other new things.
For sure there were times of hard work, but combined with fun, a good team and the magical help of the Internet, her stay at Spoiled Milk became highly interesting and informative.
Sadly, time passed quickly and soon the day came, on which Melanie had to say goodbye. She left her bearded friends with mixed emotions, but at least she had a great time there.
One thing is for certain… one day, she will once again stop by at Spoiled Milk to bring some tasty cookies!
I started at Spoiled Milk about 3 months ago, not knowing really what was in store for me.
I, or we as in my fellow students and I, had a lot of expectations, and a lot of theoretical and a bit of practical background for entering into various internships. However I soon found out that the theoretical approach we had learned didn’t match exactly up with the real-life client-project-developer relationship.
My fellow students and I have learned an aweful lot of techniques for how to organize teamwork, deal with clients, etc. besides the more technical aspects like coding. A good portion of this was directly applicable, but I learned something during my time at Spoiled Milk, which I think is perhaps the most valuable: I learned how the business ACTUALLY works. No more airy theory or imaginary projects. No, now it was actual clients, with actual demands and it has been an amazingly educational experience, really.
I could maybe have gotten this insight in many companies, but what I think I got at Spoiled Milk, which I may not have gotten at just any other company, is the sense that teamwork really gets the job done on a whole other level. One of the most striking things – which I hadn’t expected – was that there wasn’t any snobbery in the sense that everyone was allowed to pitch in and was even expected to contribute with his or her opinion on something, which might not entirely be “your own field”, but in the end that specific feedback might be what ended up moving the project forward.
So the main thing I take with me in my onwards studies and work is the fact that fluedity is a major factor in this business. You need to have a certain flexibilty to not only meet demands of clients, but also do that bit extra. You need to adapt quickly and not be so hung up on different details within theory, but rather be willing and ready to accept inspiration from any source and be ready to take that extra step in order to deliver that extra bit for the client.
Another major factor and maybe equally important is that I made some good connections to some really talented individuals, whom I hopefully stay in contact with. I met a bunch of a great people who more often than not made it feel like hanging out with your classmates (although with a slightly more proffesional approach) rather than being at work. I was involved in some exciting projects that I can take with me and show. And lastly I got some solid help and guidance in starting my final exam project that I, knowing myself, would never have gotten if it wasn’t for Spoiled Milk.
So thanks a lot to everyone at Spoiled Milk! It has been a really good insight and learning experience. I feel I can build on it and hope to see you in the future.
Not lucky enough to have an iPad yet? Interested in how your website looks on the iPad? Take a free look at iPadPeek!
The traditional publishing house, Penguin Books, has decided to look in the direction of the iPhone/iPad application market with what they call “iPad Imagineering”. They’re not producing applications nor prototypes, but simply ideas for what to do when they have to go digital with their content. There’s definitely a few intelligent and great ideas within these different iPad apps they are presenting.
Wired Magazine (in collaboration with Adobe) also recently released a video of their ideas for how to transfer their printed magazine to a tablet device.
Have you got any other good examples of traditional media which is trying out new things with upcoming devices?
UPDATE: Also refer to an old blog post of ours on the Future of the magazine
Now that’s an easy one.
The good website is found right away. One click and you are there.
The simplicity and clarity is striking. In only a flash of a second you have a clear overview of the structure, functionality and purpose.
The browser loves the code and displays it accurately and so fast that there is no waiting time involved.
The copywriting short and to the point. The content placed with thought. The design clear and beautiful. Before you know it, you have acquired the desired information.
There are many types of websites – all with different goals and purposes. Sometimes you visit only once, sometimes you visit on several occasions. You stay for seconds or spend hours. Your agenda can be reasons of fun, work, information, entertainment, shopping – you name it.
Either way, you are never in doubt when you find yourself visiting a good website.
Designing websites can be a long and complicated process. Dealing with clients, designing prototypes, coding, programming, and testing – there’s a lot to keep track of and a lot to make sure gets done. That’s where checklists can make your life a whole lot easier. With lists of points covering multiple areas from content to usability, from accessibility to standards, you’re a lot less likely to overlook important parts of a site.
You can create checklists for very different points. For example they can be focused on making the relationship with your clients better. You can use the checklist to gather information from your clients or prospects at the beginning of each project, so that everyone is on the same page.
Also, you can make checklist just for yourself. The list should help you to design your website. There are probably many items that could be added on the checklist and it’s important that you pick the ones most significant to you.
You can create sections with all your check points included. Here an example:
Planning
- Briefing
- Develop a business plan
- Budget indication
- Initial timetable
- Choose a good domain name
- Choose high quality web hosting
Design/Layout
- Basic website Elements like navigation, content/body and footer
- Logo and Branding
- Attractive Design
- Avoid information overload
- Effective colour scheme
- Develop focal points
- Readable font size
- Use of space
Usability/Accessibility
- Usable, easily accessible, and consistently placed navigation
- Check for dead, broken links
- Test the website on real users
- Compliance with Web Content Accessibility Guidelines
Content
- Unique content, presented in an exciting, straightforward manner
- Regularly update content
- Break content up with headings, captions, images, videos
Website Optimization / Standards
- Standard compliance / cross-browser compatibility
- Optimize page size (images, content, video, audio)
- Clean code for updating / multiple programmers
Predictions say more about the presence than about the future.
However, they may serve as inspirational food for thought to act (or counter-act). I here bring you a short selection of the more interesting ones. Feel free to add comments or links, if you consider yourself more clairvoyant than these authors.
