Siftables

Developed by MIT these little blocks could revolutionise education - I particularly like the way they can be used to create sums and words.

It does appear to be that successful products today create the hardware that supports open source software that allows for infinite possibilities - the iphone being the best example of this. If the software for these blocks became open source then there are so many possibilities.



Visit their website

T shirt sale now on

One Man Band is still going, but I think this year I shall be working on it slightly less so that I can focus on the design and marketing side of things. I have therefore started a sale on the site to sell the remaining stock that I have - some great T shirts from ten pounds at Facebook T shirts

New viral seeding launch

Happy new year! I'm starting the new year by getting through all the jobs I've been meaning to do, building the foundations so that the rest of the year goes nice and smoothly. First off I've and created better branding and redesigned my Viral Seeding website which now includes most of the campaigns I have worked on and the results for each of them - the nice bits of coverage that I achieved. At the end of the day it's about results so I wanted to include this. It is also has a bit more about what viral seeding is about.

The good news is that it's already providing results. Traffic is increasing and I'm getting a few inquiries.


Next up is another redesign, along similar lines for Lee Washington Design which also features a CMS which will make it easier to add new projects.

Perspective on the same

Checking the news this morning, it was interesting to see two different view points of exactly the same data. Why it's important to use the internet to get news from as many different perspectives as possible.

Tension

An excellent short film beautifully shot with a superb track. The tension builds and builds until...

Metal on Metal "BASTARD" from The Glue Society on Vimeo.

via the superb 22GL

Got a dog? There's an app for that

The applications for iphone are staggering and I am currently seeding my first iphone application - Dogbook. While at first you wouldn't believe there could be an iphone app for your dog, it is actually incredibly useful. You can locate the nearest park anywhere in the world via your location on GPS, you can see what other dogs are nearby should you lose your dog you can send an 'arf' alert to other users within 15km with a photo of the dog so it can be found again. Iphone makes life that little bit easier once more. Download it for free from itunes

Record breaking cocktail genius!

Currently seeding this viral for TGI Fridays featuring some pretty awesome bar tricks - particularly like the flaming sambucca's. It's from Viral Factory who are always very good at making virals that make people have huge debates in the comments section as to which bits are real and which bits are fake. Creates a lot of buzz and 210k views in the first week is not bad at all.

Design and cycling update

The project is going well. I wanted to share the entire process with you, but as soon as I moved to generating concepts I realised that in order to protect my ideas it wouldn't be a good idea to post them on the web. While initially I'm all for sharing ideas, the tangle proof headphones experience gave me a quick introduction to intellectual property and the number one thing I learnt was do not post ideas on the web too early. I am designing a coat for women and I will share the finished product and info on the degree show.

Which means this blog shall now return to talking about design and marketing, with the occasional update on the design and cycling project.

Making cycling safer

One of the conclusions of the survey was that a big barrier that prevents a lot of people from cycling is that it is viewed as being too dangerous, and given that most of the cycling accidents are caused by a collision with a car or pedestrian, I started thinking of ways for cycling to become safer:

- Reduce the damage caused by an accident. One of the responses to my survey that really stood out was "If you cycle regularly, it is a matter of time before you are involved in an accident. All you can do is minimise the risks." Therefore there need to be more products that incorporate protection for the body when the rider comes off their bike.

- Increasing visibility. If a cyclist is seen they can be given enough space. Products should make the cyclists highly visible on the road.

-Sound. One area I was thinking of was that perhaps a cyclists needs a better means of making themselves known on the road that's more effective than the standard bell - one that can be heard by cars and lorries.

A bit of searching however and I came across this product


and this rather crazy demonstration video


Whilst this product does allow for the cyclist to make their presence known it does so in an antisocial and aggressive way. Perhaps a more 'friendly' version could be designed, one that responds to how hard you push it - making less noise for pedestrians but more noise for vehicles.

Bike in the home

In my survey, 59% of cyclists keep their bikes in their house and I'm curious as to how they are kept! Many of the respondents keep the bike in their kitchen.

This is a call for submissions of photos of bikes in the home - are they hung on the wall? Or just kept in the hallway.

here's where my bike is kept when not in use.



Please help out bu uploading a photo of your bike to the Facebook group or sending it to me in an email