My Card. My Work.

AKQA has put an inventive twist on the well-known festive tune ‘Jingle Bells’ with the aid of 49 microwaves. In a meticulously crafted piece, the digital agency programmed a stack of the kitchen appliances to play the jingle. Directed by Jonty Toosey and produced by Bikini and AKQA.Film, the piece took almost a week of planning and a whole day to capture.

Enjoy.

I found this campaign pretty entertaining and on point from Dose.ca Dose Daily is a news, celeb, gossip chitchat site from Canada.

I’m a fan of the Paris Hilton ad. LOL

Released:     December 2008
Agency:         RETHINK
Country:      Canada

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Released:     December 2008
Avertiser:     McDonalds
Agency:     TBWA\NEBOKO
Country:      Netherlands
Category:     Fast food outlets & restaurants

Is this a supahdupaholiday size? I’ll have one of those to bring home and stuff all my presents under. Thanks Mc Donalds. Oh and I still wont drink your coffee and or espresso. LOL

The other month I was asked to re brand TalkCity. I wanted to give you a sneak peak of the logo. I will show more from this project when it’s completed and live.

TalkCity you  can participate in discussions about relationships, hobbies, business, technology, health and other topics. Socialize with friends, or start your own chat rooms etc.

Enjoy

Tom

On behalf of all writers everywhere, this video asks and answers the question:

A year ago I posted a video “Advertising Parable For The Holidays” from the peole over at World Wide Wadio. Enjoy their latest!

McDonald’s advertises its coffee while taking a shot at Starbucks on this billboard on East Marginal Way in Seattle.

Look out now McDonald’s put the gloves on and stepped into the ring of Espresso drinkers to take on Starbucks. To bad there won’t be any coffee bean tossing going on here. Starbucks executives have hinted that they will take the high road.
Why can’t McDonald’s just jump on the bandwagon and sell its espresso without taking stabs at Starbucks? Earlier this year they launched the UnSnobbyCoffee.com. I am a Starbucks fan and been known to be called a jerk (and worst) but never a snob. I wouldn’t drink coffee from McDonald’s if you paid me along with Big Mac’s and Egg Mc Muffin’s. They can keep up the great work of doing their part in keeping America fat and instead of taking stabs at Starbucks they should focus all that energy on selling healthier food. LOL

“We get a lot of questions on the competition and that everyone seems to be picking on Starbucks through their advertising and try to reposition Starbucks as expensive or snobby, and, boy, when is Starbucks going to start advertising and join in that coffee conversation?” Starbucks Chief Marketing Officer Terry Davenport told investors last week in New York.

SOURCE:

Seattlepi.com

Brazilian illustrator Rubens LP

Really sweet looking illustrations. Take a look at his work Rubens LP

By Jared M. Spool

Originally published: Dec 09, 2008

This article is a reprint from January 4, 2008

Along with their popular line of high-end networking equipment, Cisco Systems offers something else for Cisco.com visitors to buy: a line of Cisco-brand leisure wear and accessories, everything from wind breakers to golf balls. The only problem is, to see the line of logo-emboldened products, you need to first fill out a registration form.

Yes. You read that correctly. Just to *see* the available products, you need to create an account by filling out the four-page, 45-question form. (You have to tell Cisco your job role twice, your job title once, and the language you prefer to speak 3 times — all in English.) Then, if you can find your way back to the online marketplace, you can see the selection of laser-light key chains with the Cisco logo.

There are many great business advantages to having users create an account and log into the system. You know who is using your system, how often they visit, and what they do on the site. You can store information they might need later, such as their order history and their billing info for future purchases. And, you can offer them content and services reserved for only your best clientele.

Yet, in usability test after usability test, we see the registration and sign-in processes to be consistently problematic. It’s the most common thing that scares users away from shopping on e-commerce sites. It generates the most calls to the customer-support call center.

Designing an account registration and sign-in process that doesn’t frustrate users turns out to be very difficult to achieve. It looks easy at the outset, but a pile of subtleties can sneak up on your experience, making something that should be simple become stressful for the users.

Here are 8 common design mistakes we often see as we watch users try to create accounts and sign into the site:

Mistake #1: Having a Sign-in In The First Place

It seems the reason Cisco requires you to log in just to see the golf balls for sale is not all products are available for the general public. Some are only for employees (who also get a nice discount). Some are only for certified Cisco engineers. To know what products and prices to display, the site needs to know who you are.

Fortunately, most sites don’t take this approach. On most sites, you can do many things without identifying yourself.

And, that’s the way customers like it. They hate having to create an account to do something simple, such as download a white paper or pay for a product they’ve chosen. As one online shopper said recently during a usability test, “I don’t want to develop a relationship with these guys. I just want to buy something.”

Practically unheard of in the travel industry, Midwest Airlines doesn’t require their customers to register to buy an airline ticket. Instead, customers can make a purchase as a guest. Of course, they still have to enter their name and billing info, but they aren’t forced to create a username and password if they don’t want to.

Mistake #2: Requiring Sign-in Too Soon

Part of Cisco’s issue was requiring the customer to sign in (and new customers to register) before they could see the products. Had they required it later, maybe after clicking on a link labeled “Show me my employee discount” or “Checkout”, the shoppers would have been less frustrated.

Amazon set the gold standard by waiting until the last possible moment to require sign-in. Clicking on “My Account”, users sees the entire list of account support options before they identify themselves. In some cases, such as one-click shopping, they never have the user sign-in. The cookie on the machine is good enough.

Mistake #3: Not Stating the Benefits to Registering

Creating an account puts a burden on the user. They have to answer the questions, many of which have nothing to do with their current task. They have to come up with a user name they’ll remember. They have to pick a password they’ll easily recall. They worry about getting email or having their information sent to the deepest, darkest regions of the Internet. Watch users for any amount of time and you’ll notice a huge resistance to registering.

What do they get in return for this added burden? At Midwest Airlines, they say right on the sign-in page: access to your frequent flyer account, booking award travel, changing reservations after they are made, and hold reservations for 24-hours, just to name a few benefits.

Mistake #4: Hiding the Sign-In Button

Frequent customers of Netflix usually go straight to their personal home page, showing status information and movie recommendations. Yet, when cookies are deleted or they access the service from a different machine, they need to log in.

The default page, in that instance, was designed to sell potential new customers on the site. It had a very visible registration button. Unfortunately, the member login link was much harder to see. This caused frequent calls to the Netflix call center, until the team made the member sign-in link more visually distinct.

READ MORE

Source:

User Interface Engineering

Account Sign-in: 8 Design Mistakes to Avoid

This is kickass poster could be yours for $250.00. Get yours today!

SOURCE:

Etsy :: YeeHaw :: AMERICAN PRESIDENTIAL WRESTLING HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH GIANT LETTERPRESS POSTER Obama McCain

Great interview with award winning writer Harlan Ellison. A lot of designers do spec work and some get fooled to believe that free press is worth your wild. In fact it’s not. Your time is valuable. I see this happening more and more and it’s frustrating when I hear designers doing free work to get their name out there.

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