From a buzz word to soaking up large bugets IPTV is a bad word. Why? It's not TV and the quality isn't there yet.

We need to think about how and why we consume TV. Simple - at home in veg mode. Do I want access everywhere - well to some content yes - but not to watch my favourite program, that's where I want the creature comforts - a good couch for a start!

The big gripe - interaction. Just because I can navigate a whole host of menus doesn't mean I want to. In fact, instead of physically navigating to a program (or channel as we do currently) for most of the time a genre would be the better way to display a list of available programs. For instance, when you've had a rough day you just want comedy or a particular type of film to 'empty' your head - not a full on engaging interactive experience

Mood TV - the new IPTV anyone?

The brand proposition sets out the rules to whom, how and why they should believe in a company. More often than not, digital agencies define the experience how we interact with these companies.

So in the digital world everything is great - the appropriate information is presented at the right moment. So what happens when this (sometimes complex) sale moves over to the real world - how are the two connected?

In a brief I'm working on at the moment the truth is not at all. They could be two separate companies. Planners should go undercover and get their hands dirty interacting with brands in the real world and see where consumers want to dip in and out of the digital world. Its not a simple case of they being tarred by the same brush.

From an initial crack at a revised layout for the iPhone it's turning out to be more difficult than I first thought. Five keys top row, three middle row and one at the bottom doesn't make for an obvious layout, more work required here.

There's a massive brand opportunity for Apple here - sure they've got an innovative device, it does just about everything you want, looks cool and uses the coverflow technology. But how about making more usual - just to give Nokia a spanking. But they haven't, why? Probably because they've created a product with built-in maximum desirability - there's no need to bother.

Following on from the recent posts surrounding difficult text entry on the iPhone, I've been thinking how to solve this. The logical route suggests placing a number of most frequently used letters with some treatment (either size or colour). There's various opinions as to what these are from Samuel Morse (1791-1872) to calaloging all words in the Concise Oxford Dictionary.

Depending on positional layout (with QWERTY) a select group of these frequent letter (>5%) should be considered for prominence:

E - 11.1607%
A - 8.4966%
R - 7.5809%
I - 7.5448%
O - 7.1635%
T - 6.9509%
N - 6.6544%
S - 5.7351%
L - 5.4893%

I'll post the results from the initial layouts soon for review

I was checking out imagini.net. Good looking UI and an interesting method of creating a profile without entering any of the dreaded personal details. This is where the experience takes a beating. Just as you're getting used to doing things a different way - connecting to others (hopefully with the same tastes!) goes right back to existing methods.

As the experience is visual, it's a shame they haven't though about non traditional message based concepts. Like the Nabaztag - yes it's a rabbit, and it does drive you insane, but I'm sure it's got some pretty cool functionality just waiting to be exploited. Time to reconnect the rabbit to the network and have an experiment!

Labels: imagini, nabaztag, social networking

When planners are creating the roadmap for a brand why don't they consider all devices? Sure, some identities may exist in one channel, for now, but what happens when they move across to another - how will the system hold up and will it deliver the right tone?

I've been checking out one of the most important elements of a brands visual identity - the logo. It seems that designers aren't considering or being asked to consider what the mark will look like on small screen devices. For example a fine square typeface appears beautiful and delicate in print, it is completely unreadable on the LCD screen size of 140x120px - the screen has a low resolution and the fine type simply gets lost.

For something so powerful, we need to change the creative process from interpretation to part of the creative brief.

Like many I believed the QWERTY keyboard layout was designed for input speed. Not true. A great programme on BBC4 explained the development of the typewriter and the keyboard layout - it's simple the layout was designed in order that the arms didn't clash.

This got me thinking. If qwerty isn't the best use of placement, i.e. 60% of keys are typed by your left hand, then it's ever likely the new onscreen touch keyboards as implented in the Apple iPhone are a complete pain in the backside to use. It's difficult to 'get onto' the keys, which results in frequent mis-keying. Fine - the OS learns these mistakes, but that still doesn't help out the user interface. It's worth considering that the frequently used keys should be take larger screen real estate therefore allowing faster interaction, while still retaining the common QWERTY layout.

One for thinking about there. Visit bbc.co.uk/bbcfour/ for more programmes.

Labels: Input, iPhone, Keyboard

Brand hierachies or maps are straightforward to create. Each element has an intentional relationship and is formed on the basis of desired target, affinity etc. Partnerships or sponsorships are less welded together, but both parties benefit either in sales or awareness.

All good stuff and controllable. This all changes with microformats. I might not agree with Google on their advertising monopoly nor do I want to align any of my services to the organisation. If a user posts a microformatted item of content with geo information for Google Maps. by default I've created a relationship with the brand.

Brand map? You'll need 10 sheets of A3 to work that out!

Labels: Semantic

Well the old site has finally gone. Looking back at 10 years of work I realised most of it was eye candy, some sucessful, others just crap. Instead of updating the site with images of new work on an as and when basis, I've decided to put the world to right and publish my thoughts on branding. Damn it, a blog...