James gets his tan on

It always really excites us when we welcome new blood into The Partners. Having recently added 3 lovely new designers to our London teams, we were stunned and delighted when one of our ‘new bloods’ leapt out at us from the pages of Metro, earlier this week…James was plastered across page 31 of Thursday’s Metro in nothing but his underpants, and a beautiful design branded onto his skin as part of his ingenious ‘Tan The Man’ project.

Contrary to what the article says, James explains that “The idea came about as an entry for an exhibition at The Arden & Anstruther gallery in Petworth, Sussex. The gallery was owned by the late Paul Arden and is now run by his wife. The idea was floated that a photographic exhibition should be held in his memory, to preserve his radical way of thinking. As his ideals were best captured in one of his books, entitled ‘Whatever You Think, Think The Opposite’, the book became the brief for entries for the exhibition”.

He continues, “There’s a page in the book, which explains that ‘your body can be what you want it to be’. This got me thinking about tan lines etc, and how skin is like photographic paper in that sense. All I needed was some content to ‘develop’ onto myself. I launched a live competition brief online, open to all designers, illustrators and creatives, and gathered about 60 design entries from across the world. Janine’s (Rewell) entry was the clear winner, so I set about getting it tanned onto myself”.

You can read about, and see pictures of, the process in more detail at the project blog.

The vinyls in development

Vinyls on, it's into the booth

A work of art

The Winning Idea from l-r: Alex (no, really), Jack, Sam H & Sam G

As you may have seen from a blog post on here last week, we entered a competition run by Metro newspaper and D&AD to design a cover wrap for the Metro newspaper. The winner was announced last Wednesday evening at a lovely event hosted by Metro and D&AD. We were absolutely delighted when our ‘Flowers’ idea chosen as the overall winner and couldn’t wait to see it come out in print.

Well, today’s the day. We have spent all Bank Holiday weekend getting more excited about coming back in to work today than the plentiful bounty of chocolate at our fingertips over Easter. Personally, this morning I ended up in work an hour and a half early as I couldn’t wait to get down to the tube station to pick up my copy of the Metro and see how people were responding to the cover. (yes, I really AM that sad…and I’m proud!)

We’ve all been Tweeting all weekend also to encourage our followers to send us photos from today of their #metrowrap, and the photos/comments have been coming in thick and fast all morning. Thank you all for taking part and do please continue to send us your pics as you get them, we really love to receive them. Please see below for some examples of pics sent in already…

Our friend @Ben_Millar pops the question to a lift full of commuters

Grabbing an early morning edition at Arsenal tube

Oyster roses at Bank - not quite...

The lovely @LewieEvans presents his sister with a bunch

Sarah Kwan sends us her bunch all the way from Edinburgh

@Moobs takes advantage of rare empty seats to brighten his day

Someone 'passing it on' in style

Recycling at the Royal Exchange

I sincerely hope they were intending for a pic of the paper in this one...

Kings Cross picks up a bunch

This one has really made me smile...

The Partners reception/flower stall this morning

Andy Gardner was so keen he grabbed a couple of copies...

...before using one to decorate his office. Thanks Andy.

From our friend Tracey in Glasgow

Somebody's bagged a bunch on the way home

The gorgeous Amanda arranges a bouquet especially for her friends at The Partners.

The lovely Leah mixes the real with the print

And the morning after….

The morning after feedback. Thank you too Jenni.

With examples from around the world, and going beyond graffiti and street art, this book celebrates the next generation of urban artist. Some of them are beautiful, some of them are funny, some of them are poignant, but all of them are brilliant. Of course, we have some work in it also:

We’d highly recommend this book as it’s one you definitely need to have in your collection. Personally, I love it and have it, selfishly, guarded on my desk as I keep liking to flick through it and ‘oohing’ and ‘ahhing’ at all the very clever and wonderful work. And no, on that note, you can’t borrow it. <clings tightly to book>

Having just returned from holiday I am all a glow, not with a tan unfortunately but rather with the greyish saggy hue of someone who has spent endless hours throughout the night feeding their addiction of game-playing on their iPhone.

My name is Helen, and I am an addict. There, I said it. I am 100% totally, utterly, head-over-heels addicted to Angry Birds app on the iPhone. Fortunately, this blossoming addiction has prompted me to write part 2 of the App Attack series, appropriately starting the list with …can you guess?…

1. ANGRY BIRDS!
I can’t begin to tell you how addictive this game is. On my holiday I’m sure I managed to convince my friends that there was something desperately wrong with me as I would constantly say I was just popping for a ‘lie down’ whilst disappearing off into my room to get a quick, dirty fix of my latest addiction, Angry Birds. The flight home saw me all-consumed in the game to the extent that I almost bit the hostess on the arm when told to turn off my phone for take off and landing. Basically the premise is some nasty pigs have stolen the eggs of a variety group of birds (all with different ‘skills’) and then hidden themselves within (increasingly impenetrable) fortresses. Your task is to catapult the birds at the fortresses in order to kill the pigs. Yes, it really is that simple, but, oh my, it’s SO addictive. I almost, for the greater good, want to warn you off, but you must, you REALLY must give it a go.

2. iQuarium
For those out there who, like me, can’t actually be trusted with a living animal/fish/plant to take care of, there’s now a (relatively guilt-free) way of owning a goldfish without the all the mess of having to sift its lifeless body out of it’s bowl and flush it down the loo when you’ve failed to feed/clean it for 2 weeks (or bury it in a pizza box as we ceremoniously did in our house one year. Poor wee Del-Boy, RIP). Like a modern, more sophisticated looking Tamagotchi , once you’ve downloaded the app you then log on once a day to play with, and feed, your pet fish. The more times you remember to look after your fish, the more points you collect and then the more accessories for your fish-tank you can purchase (in exchange for points, not cash). Be careful though as a couple of days of neglect (as I’ve already discovered) will leave your fish listless and grumpy, and it will eventually die if not cared for. Gulp.

3. Tweetdeck
Without doubt, in my mind, the clear winner in the competition for iPhone based Twitter applications. Tweetdeck on the iPhone is now the very first and very last thing I do in my day. The ability to have the columns in the Tweetdeck app is what puts it in clear lead of the competition, as with the desktop based software you can easily perform searches, filter out your mentions, direct messages and people you follow into a more manageable format. The slide and scroll function on the iPhone makes it even easier to navingate. Simplicity and functionality at its best, but I’m sure you all know that already.

4. RjDj
I must admit I haven’t actually played with this one properly yet. My colleague, Sam G, swears that it’s the best app out there but I have yet to spend the necessary time getting to know it (I keep having to tend to my flatlining goldfish). The principle is based on gathering the sounds around you and turning them into ambient music that is then fed to your earholes via your headphones. If you are a fan of this then please do leave a comment and share any great recordings you’ve made.

5. Talking Carl
Sublime and unapologetically simple, Talking Carl is just an absolute must-have on your iPhone. Upon discovering this app I immediately downloaded it with the intention of amusing my young nieces and nephews with it on our next meeting, however, since then I have spent a good portion of time playing with it on the sofa, rolling around in fits of childish giggles. Talking Carl is a speech altering software. It doesn’t have multi-platforms, it doesn’t particularly do anything clever, but it is incredibly cute and incredibly funny. If you have children (or, like me, a base-line humour) then you have to get this app.

Ever since Jobs and Co. created the iPhone, there has been intense speculation that Apple were going to re-invent the Newton, with all kind of rumours about what the device would be and what it would be capable of.

For those of you that have been living in a bunker, the iPad is what Apple describes as a bridge between the world of the smartphone and the laptop — a third ‘mobile’ space that sits between the two. Indeed, at first glance, the iPad looks nothing more than a giant iPhone — it features the same glass multi-touch display (albeit a huge one at 9 1/2 inches), the same buttons – it can even run the same applications.

So many are wondering, well, what’s the difference; “Why do I need one of these shiny new toys when I have an iPhone and a laptop?… I was expecting an all-singing and dancing device that could read my thoughts and intiate command for me on the impulse of a brain wave! …This isn’t the JesusPad I wanted!” Yes, many of these points are true. But what people are forgetting to remember is that content is king, and just like the iPhone and the iPod before it, if the content is good, (in the case of the iPod; huge libaries of mp3′s versus a cd, and the iPhone with the app store full of entertainment and usefulness), then it will be a must-have product.

So let’s look at the killer app, and with a screen this size, it has to be publishing — anything from books to newspapers and magazines. Both Sony and Amazon (with the Kindle) have made significant inroads in to this new area with eBook readers: devices that are like carrying whole libaries in the space of a paperback. But these devices look a generation old compared to the user experience of the iPad – gimicky it may look, but simply turning and flicking a page on the iPad instantly feels more real. The printed book is all good and well, but it’s in the magazine and newspaper area where this product will excel. Take a look at this digital version of the Sports Illustrated magazine and try to say to yourself that you’d rather have a traditional magazine:

It’s been forecast for many years that the ‘death of print’ cometh. Maybe with the iPad and devices like it, we’re at the beginning to this new era. This fuzing of new-media and traditional print publishing into a new and interactive form is going to be exciting for both consumers and designers alike, hopefully reigniting what is a shrinking industry. Take a look at this concept video for a product called Mag+ by Bonnier R&D and their digital design partners BERG – it shows off the potential experience for what a product like the iPad can deliver:

No doubt the iPad will open the flood gates to millions of copycat tablet computers, all hoping to do the same thing. Will I be getting one? Well, I’ve always said; never buy the first gen of any Apple product; but if content as rich as this comes out, I might have to change my mind.

However, fret not, as deliveries of the important stuff – the parcels and presents ordered up to the 11^th hour from on-line retailers such as Amazon and John Lewis are destined to find their way to their recipients in a timely and reliable fashion. These businesses you will not be surprised to hear have opted to drop Royal Mail in favour of alternative providers. There are unfortunately some on-line retailers who won’t have that choice.  Just as Britain is trying to fight its way out of recession, not only will Royal Mail potentially lose over £100m of combined letter and packet business, the disruption could cost general business over £220m in direct lost business and increased delivery expense not to mention damage to reputation and customer loyalty.

So it would seem that the current dispute of Royal Mail employees with the management over pay, conditions and modernisation plans continues to erode not just the trust and reputation of another institutional brand but ultimately drive it closer to the edge of an inevitable precipice.

Sure, the history, politics and organisational issues that underpin the machinations of Royal Mail and the current dispute are complicated but the stark reality is much simpler. This is a business model that makes little commercial sense or in its current guises delivers a relevant consumer service for modern Britain.

Royal Mail was created in 1516 by Henry VIII when he established a Master of the Posts. It was no doubt of formidable use in days gone by for sending threatening letters to the French or Scots, communicating with your army, courting another potential wife or demanding taxes and favours.

But today, my letterbox at home is rarely straining under the weight of anything of such urgency, value or contempt.  Bank statements, mobile phone bills, energy bills,  tax returns, passport and driving licence applications are all now managed on-line. In our fast-paced digital society, we can’t wait a few hours, let alone a day or two to for a piece of communication to wind its way through the ‘Snail Mail’ plumbing.

So what future for our postal champion and its significant army of foot soldiers?

The solution for Royal Mail is to leverage its capabilities in a more effective and innovative manner.  It benefits from an amazing local community presence and infrastructure. It just needs to mobilise it and charge for it in a more valued and valuable way.

Perhaps Royal Mail should consider stopping those daily letterbox deliveries of increasing amounts of junk mail.  Household mail only accounts for about 10% of volume anyway.  Apart from certain government departments, rarely do we send anything of real urgency or value through the postal system.  Perhaps we need to be educated that we should go and collect our mail from the local Post Office.  Use the Post Office as a micro-sorting office from where we rent our own PO Box for a convenient Saturday morning collection before popping to the coffee shop next door to peruse it.

Equally, Britain is a universe of micro and small and medium sized enterprises. These smaller businesses need to move things around and most often within a fairly narrow geography and relatively minor window of time.

Couldn’t Royal Mail do this? Couldn’t Royal Mail be exactly the kind of local community logistics champion that we could really use on a daily basis.

With assets out on the roads local independent grocers or traders who can’t compete with the likes of Ocado can offer to deliver direct with Royal Mail. Plumbers, electricians and tradesmen can call suppliers for parts and have them picked up and delivered by Royal Mail within 90 minutes. For domestic customers, dry cleaning can be delivered or collected and  those cakes you’ve baked for old Mrs Jones who lives on the other side of town can be sent and received and still be warm.  Maybe if I’m really running late, they can pick up and deliver my kids home from nursery.

Now that really would indicate a level of trust and give valued meaning to those letters within the Royal Mail brand name that make it a service we can all be proud of.

Maybe I’m just predisposed to Metro because the logic of it appeals to my own professional philosophy about thinking differently and inventing new opportunities rather than just iterating the same tired old ideas all the time. But in any case I’ve long considered Metro to be a great example of a brand that fundamentally understands its proposition and knows how to deliver it. Until now.

So this week I see that Metro has launched a campaign intended to persuade us to take our copies of the paper with us when we leave the train and put them in the recycling bin. It’s littering, apparently, if we leave them. And that shows me that Metro doesn’t understand its brand anywhere near as well as I had thought. You see Metro has established itself so firmly in the unique circumstance it created that it has transcended its functionality and become cultural. When you travel on the tube it is not littering to leave your copy of Metro on the shelf behind the seats, it is a public service to your fellow commuters. To take your paper with you, and to bin it, is to deny someone else the opportunity to pass their travel time productively. Pick a carriage of people and ask them, they’ll all agree, “please leave your copy of Metro behind in case one of us wants to read it”. In fact almost the only emotional interaction that ever takes place between non-acquainted human beings on a tube train is the brief smile and warm eye contact that is exchanged when one places a paper down and another immediately picks it up. It is that, dear Metro, that is your brand. And this advertising campaign undermines it.

As all discarded Metros get collected by LUL staff at the end of the line, and are presumably recycled, I’m not concerned about the environmental impact of my objections here. I just hate to see a good brand get it wrong.

Jim.

Michael Johnson wrote on his Thought of the Week “One of the ironies of life in design consultancy is that the projects that can take months, sometimes years and push the boundaries of brand identity can remain resolutely ignored by design juries.” I agree, and sometimes it’s hard to fathom how judges select the things they do.

Paul, Donna and I have spent a year and a half working on the strangest but most interesting project I can imagine. The brief: find an unforgettable way of packaging gourmet Indian sausages. The solution: the world’s first branded sausages. We think Mr Singh’s Bangras are great and it’s been disheartening to see something we believe in so much remain largely ignored for so long. So when it scooped a winners trophy at the Design Week Awards on Tuesday night, we were over the moon. Bring on the Bangras!

Mr Singhs Bangras

Sausage photography by Ben Monk, food styling by Sarah Stott.