tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17299539Tue, 25 Mar 2008 09:47:22 +0000http://www.davidandassociates.co.uk/davidandblog/misc/miscellany.htmlDavidBlogger22125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17299539.post-2276038208356436677Thu, 20 Mar 2008 11:02:00 +00002008-03-25T02:47:22.808-07:00commercialhondaguinnessvwadvertisingcakevolkswagencopyingoriginalskodamakingproblem playgrounddominosstringTVaudiThe latest VW and Audi ads seem to be evidence of a virus infecting the advertising world. The disease leads agencies and their clients to believe that they must make ads with lots of people busily building something related to their brand, in some suitably inventive way. Except they're all looking distinctly uninventive now. The latest from VW: The latest from Audi: From Honda: From http://www.davidandassociates.co.uk/davidandblog/misc/2008/03/virulent-infection-in-adland.htmlMiketag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17299539.post-2707190673193752369Sun, 10 Feb 2008 17:44:00 +00002008-02-11T06:50:15.676-08:00anti-spamdreamweaver extensionsphpIt is a constant source of irritation that most forms submitted from our web sites are simply spam. And although it's not the friendliest way of securing a form's integrity I've finally succumbed to using an image based 'captcha' system as a way of separating the real visitors from the automated form-filling spambots. It did have the benefit of being very easy to install and is just one of a http://www.davidandassociates.co.uk/davidandblog/misc/2008/02/spam-free-forms.htmlDavidtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17299539.post-6296969866614346051Thu, 13 Dec 2007 11:32:00 +00002007-12-13T05:18:49.543-08:00It's hard enough keeping on top of the latest to-ings and fro-ings on even a handful of the social media networks. As new communities proliferate the temptation is to give up on it altogether. Add to that the growing number of other required viewing sites and there just aren't enough hours in the day. Recently I came across this brilliant mash-up of popular sites popurl that aggregates the http://www.davidandassociates.co.uk/davidandblog/misc/2007/12/top-quality-mash.htmlDavidtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17299539.post-6753748506914420223Fri, 16 Nov 2007 10:13:00 +00002007-12-13T05:21:17.633-08:00EskomposteradvertisingelectricitylightLeading by example, and making a big impact at the same time: genius. (Via the always interesting Billboardom.)http://www.davidandassociates.co.uk/davidandblog/misc/2007/11/just-thought-this-was-brilliant.htmlMiketag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17299539.post-2310534855033559630Fri, 31 Aug 2007 08:18:00 +00002007-08-31T02:22:42.278-07:00When we design web sites for clients we will often get involved in helping buy the domain name, choosing an ISP and setting up email addresses alongside all the other internet related resources. In building the site we will want to make it as visible as possible on the internet. In doing so we potentially attract unwanted attention in the form of spammers. There are a number of good ways to http://www.davidandassociates.co.uk/davidandblog/misc/2007/08/preventing-your-domain-name-being-used.htmlDavidtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17299539.post-3894271713700503710Wed, 11 Jul 2007 09:36:00 +00002007-07-13T02:44:45.839-07:00 Following on from the short piece on Street Blitz*, I came across an article on São Paulo and it's decision to remove all billboard advertising from the city. That's the way to do it. Rather than adding more unsolicited visual ephemera as a protest against the intrusion of big business advertising, the populist right wing mayor of São Paulo, Gilberto Kassab, has passed a bill prohibiting allhttp://www.davidandassociates.co.uk/davidandblog/misc/2007/07/rip-it-up-and-start-again.htmlDavidtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17299539.post-472291023187715767Thu, 05 Jul 2007 08:08:00 +00002007-07-05T01:51:47.937-07:00 Five days into this 15 day anti-advertising fest and the apathy is apparent. Only four posts to the Blitz map so far and the clock is ticking. Possibly the organisers should have advertised the event a bit more in advance. Hardly in the spirit of the thing I know, but at this rate the event will be more of a blip than a blitz. And the problem with any strategy that involves fighting fire with http://www.davidandassociates.co.uk/davidandblog/misc/2007/07/street-blitz-london-1-15-july-07.htmlDavidtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17299539.post-6095197754599660257Mon, 02 Jul 2007 09:07:00 +00002007-07-11T02:31:09.358-07:00Design consultancy, sex and chocolate - strange bedfellows? Not at all it would seem. A recent post on a business networking site was offering chocolates in exchange for unwanted design ideas. The writer suggested that a design consultancy may have been fired from a project recently, or had a falling out with their client and might appreciate this modest recompense and the chance to hit back http://www.davidandassociates.co.uk/davidandblog/misc/2007/07/design-consultancy-sex-and-chocolate.htmlDavidtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17299539.post-5750739765118159925Tue, 26 Jun 2007 10:56:00 +00002007-06-26T04:11:17.068-07:00At the request of a friend I have just trawled through screeds of bookmarks on an old laptop to find a link to a site that features logo artworks for loads of brands world wide. I thought it would be worth posting here for future reference. Brands of the World has helped out more than once when the client didn't have decent reference to their own logo or we needed it at short notice for a http://www.davidandassociates.co.uk/davidandblog/misc/2007/06/brands-of-world-reunited.htmlDavidtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17299539.post-6419173187504394390Sun, 04 Feb 2007 19:14:00 +00002007-07-05T01:53:38.800-07:00Sue, Mike and David started the year with a photo diary. The intention is that we each take a shot every day of the year. To see the current state of the project follow the link below. Photodiary 2007 The blog of the same can be found at http://photodiary2007.blogspot.com. It has a few explanatory notes - some of the pics probably need them.http://www.davidandassociates.co.uk/davidandblog/misc/2007/02/focusing-on-year-ahead.htmlDavidtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17299539.post-115314762060613520Mon, 17 Jul 2006 14:46:00 +00002006-07-17T07:47:00.616-07:00 When she was young my sister's first port of call in any restaurant was the toilets. If they didn't pass her checklist of fundamental requirements we all had to leave. I haven't asked her if she still maintains this regime almost thirty five years on but every time I have to use a public loo I think of her - an unfortunate association, I know. If the 'Ladies' are bad, the 'Gents' are worse. I http://www.davidandassociates.co.uk/davidandblog/misc/2006/07/lifting-lid-on-good-idea_115314762060613520.htmlDavidtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17299539.post-113096455450579111Wed, 02 Nov 2005 20:40:00 +00002006-07-17T07:05:41.663-07:00I'm indebted to Indira Singh for highlighting a problem with Breed Communications site when viewed in the Firefox browser. And I'm doubly indebted to Egg Bramhill a moderator on Talk Graphics for providing the solution. The problem was that in Firefox the Flash.swf files were only occupying a third of the screen. Everything looked fine in i.e. and Safari but Firefox left me more than a little http://www.davidandassociates.co.uk/davidandblog/misc/2005/11/firefox-scaling-problem.htmlDavidtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17299539.post-113025615254868572Tue, 25 Oct 2005 15:46:00 +00002005-11-02T02:27:21.740-08:00 Those of you who are familiar with this column may recall a piece about fellow designers David Black and Piers Rutterford starting a sideline business in hi-quality football T-shirts under the title Terrace Tees. Well they're back again, this time with a new line-up based around another sort of printed ephemera - old concert tickets. And I have the dubious honour of being amongst the first to http://www.davidandassociates.co.uk/davidandblog/misc/2005/10/white-label.htmlDavidtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17299539.post-113000284781186474Sat, 22 Oct 2005 17:37:00 +00002005-10-22T10:42:38.526-07:00A directory of existing RSS feeds. Blog Street also operates as an info Aggregator, lets you subsribe to RSS feeds and have posts delivered via email http://www.davidandassociates.co.uk/davidandblog/misc/2005/10/blogstreet.htmlDavidtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17299539.post-4543979387991106246Fri, 21 Oct 2005 18:10:00 +00002007-04-01T11:55:42.413-07:00In the never ending quest to improve our position in the SERPS we're forever looking for appropriate sites to be linked from. The latest additions are the London Directory and UK Graphic Designers, an enormous listing of exactly that - UK Graphic Designers. So if you don't find what you're looking for here...http://www.davidandassociates.co.uk/davidandblog/misc/2007/03/missing-link.htmlDavidtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17299539.post-112809379031493237Fri, 30 Sep 2005 14:39:00 +00002005-09-30T08:54:33.140-07:00Being first to market still counts, whatever the venture. Inevitably copycat sites of Alex Tew's original Million Dollar Home Page were bound to come along - and sooner rather than later. Some are thinly veiled parodies, others are wholesale rip-offs. To get the ball rolling, at least one of them has included all the links that were live on Alex's site when they lifted the idea. Including http://www.davidandassociates.co.uk/davidandblog/misc/2005/09/million-dollar-home-page-original-and.htmlDavidtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17299539.post-112808376373599191Fri, 30 Sep 2005 12:35:00 +00002005-09-30T05:36:03.736-07:00I've been taking serious steps to improve my general health and fitness of late and in an unusual barter arrangement have engaged the services of a personal trainer in exchange for design consultancy. Payment in kind is atypical so don't think of forming a queue. Having said that, I feel I'm currently getting the best end of the deal. My trainer, Daniel Tiley is one of the C.H.E.K. trained http://www.davidandassociates.co.uk/davidandblog/misc/2005/09/hit-gym-before-you-hit-slopes.htmlDavidtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17299539.post-112808145636249365Fri, 30 Sep 2005 11:57:00 +00002007-04-01T11:18:21.081-07:00Foreign phrases dropped into the body of an otherwise English language document will often require the odd accent. I can never remember the key strokes needed and after several misguided attempts at various key combinations resorted to printing out this ready reckoner: alt key + ` followed by e or a = è or à alt key + i followed by i,a or o = î, â or ô alt key + c = ç alt key + e followed by e =http://www.davidandassociates.co.uk/davidandblog/misc/2005/09/different-stokes-for-different-folks.htmlDavidtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17299539.post-112808137802408842Fri, 30 Sep 2005 11:55:00 +00002005-09-30T04:56:18.023-07:00 I'm indebted to Piers Rutterford for pointing out this little gem. Identifont, A site that helps you identify a typeface from a series of questions that only require answers based on direct observation. Brilliant.http://www.davidandassociates.co.uk/davidandblog/misc/2005/09/i-know-face-just-cant-put-name-to-it.htmlDavidtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17299539.post-112808126957703056Fri, 30 Sep 2005 11:53:00 +00002005-09-30T04:54:29.580-07:00Piers Rutterford and David Black - a couple of designer friends who have contributed brilliant work over the years - have set up an interesting sideline, Terrace Tees. Terrace Tees produces exclusively designed, high quality, made-to-order football t-shirts featuring football legends. They look great and you'll feel great wearing them - 50p from every purchase goes towards your club's http://www.davidandassociates.co.uk/davidandblog/misc/2005/09/sidelines.htmlDavidtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17299539.post-112808113650288124Fri, 30 Sep 2005 11:51:00 +00002005-09-30T04:52:16.506-07:00Attended a breakfast meeting this morning organised by BNI (Business Network International) to explore practical networking strategies. Not surprisingly a good proportion of the time was spent talking about the benefits of networking. 'Word of Mouth Marketing' has become the current vogue for one of the oldest and best known marketing secrets. Ask anyone how they get their business and doubtlesshttp://www.davidandassociates.co.uk/davidandblog/misc/2005/09/networking-tips-from-experts.htmlDavidtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17299539.post-112808103304998191Fri, 30 Sep 2005 11:50:00 +00002005-09-30T04:50:33.050-07:00Attended Ownit's Intellectual Property and Copyright event last night at the Design Council. A right eye opener. Looks like we own a lot less of what we've produced than we thought. It turns out that 'Equitable Rights' carry as much if not more weight than Copyright. And looking back over the last year I can see that most of our clients could claim 'Equitable Rights'in most of the work. Time to http://www.davidandassociates.co.uk/davidandblog/misc/2005/09/whose-right-is-it-anyway.htmlDavid