Displaying 2305 - 2340 of 2484 results
Whether you consider it a good idea or not, thanks to the coalition government, it seems the increased involvement of private companies in the NHS is a racing certainty. And what could possibly go wrong? Just look how affordable and reliable the...
Posted by: Magnus Shaw
International sensation Hailo, lifestyle media provocateur Nowness, and pop culture gem Catleidoscope will be saluted alongside special achievement honourees Candy Crush Saga, “Father of Wi-Fi” Vic Hayes, and Inside Out Project founder JR...
Posted by: The Lovie Awards
We’ve all had fantasies about various ways of quitting our jobs. In fact, some of you out there may even have turned freelance because you just couldn’t take the permanent life any more - either because of your boss or the work itself....
Posted by: Ashley Morrison
If you read my column earlier this week, you'll know I'm in America. If you didn't, I'm in America. In fact, I'm now in America's oldest town, St. Augustine - on Florida's Atlantic coast. And despite the temperature being in the low eighties (which...
Posted by: Magnus Shaw
I'm in the USA - in a beautiful city called Charlestown on the Atlantic coast of South Carolina. But I'm travelling, so last night I was in Cherokee which, although it sounds romantic, is actually a rather tacky casino town 300 miles north. The...
Posted by: Magnus Shaw
Last week, I wrote about the key differences between copywriting and 'writing'. And while I attempted to make the challenges inherent in copywriting clear, I wouldn't say the profession is in crisis. Unlike the art of writing comedy. Quite when the...
Posted by: Magnus Shaw
The concept is simple: take a picture of a picture, from the past, in the present. Over the past year, the website received thousands of submissions. In fact, enough for a book, also called Dear Photograph, which was released last year. Taylor...
Posted by: Creativepool
So, tell me honestly, does that title offend you? It's a serious question - I put it there deliberately. The reason being that, last week, Asda paid £25,000 to mental health charity Mind for advertising what was deemed to be a completely...
Posted by: Ashley Morrison
The most successful film in UK cinemas this week is 'Insidious 2'. Having seen the first 'Insidious' instalment just a couple of weeks ago, I don't think I'll bother with chapter two. The best horror movies are akin to long road trips through foreign...
Posted by: Magnus Shaw
We all know Photoshop, and we all know that no photo nowadays can be guaranteed to be in its original form. The image below is a perfect example of this. That’s four separate images edited into one right? It’s obviously photoshopped, and...
Posted by: Creativepool
As a technologically advanced species, we've achieved a great deal. After all, you don't see hamsters riding micro-scooters, or otters designing iPhone apps. But we do have a tendency to overcomplicate things. Recent months have seen new versions of...
Posted by: Magnus Shaw
Sited just off Fleet Street, the very first agency for which I worked was called 'Riley' and it was great. Inevitably though, I eventually moved on (sooner than I should have, actually) and 'Riley' changed too. In a large-scale, late nineties...
Posted by: Magnus Shaw
There can be few things more cringey than a big corporation “trying to be yer mate”. (I'm taking the whole dads-dancing-at-weddings thing as read, obviously.) And yet, time and time again, they try to make out that they value me, you and...
Posted by: Ashley Morrison
Baltic Mill Centre for Contemporary Arts to host 4th annual DIBI Conference The North East’s biggest web conference returns to the Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art next month featuring some of the world’s most celebrated design and...
Posted by: Epic Times
You know 'Mozilla', don't you? The people who make the Firefox web browser? Well, it turns out they also make a thing called 'AdBlock Plus'. And, if you're using it, you're getting right up the noses of some advertising big-wigs. For the...
Posted by: Magnus Shaw
Seven pianos. Seven artists. Seven locations. Everyone is allowed to play a tune. From August 14th until September 28th 2013. Live music brings people together and provokes spontaneous interactions that may lead to new cooperations or even to...
Posted by: De Facto Image Building
If you’re a freelancer who’s got a steady stream of work coming your way - either from the same loyal clients who know you and trust you, or from referrals from said loyal clients, or you’re very good at selling yourself and you...
Posted by: Ashley Morrison
Our friends at the ASA have announced they are investigating the Government-backed campaign which saw vans driving through London, calling on 'illegal immigrants' to leave the country or face arrest. This follows 60 complaints and, despite some...
Posted by: Magnus Shaw
Peter Capaldi is to be the new Doctor and I couldn't be more delighted. Apart from the fact I consider 'The Thick Of It' to be a television comedy so accomplished is resembles high art, Capaldi just has the face and demeanour of a Time Lord. Yes, I...
Posted by: Magnus Shaw
I have a lot of music at home; enough to open a small record store. I listen to all sorts from jazz to punk to soul to reggae and even a bit of county and western. I’m a bit fussy though. I won’t listen to any old crud and I can also...
Posted by: John Fountain
First, a bit of background. The Huffington Post is an online newspaper and it's rather successful. Actually it calls itself a 'news aggregator and blog' - but considering that is less clear than 'online newspaper', we'll stick with the latter. It was...
Posted by: Magnus Shaw
Dom Goodrum Design Director Percolate Find Dom online: @domgoodrum A bit about you A designer working on content creation software to transform marketing. My approach to design has been shaped by the people I have worked with in Huddersfield,...
Posted by: The Lovie Awards
Today I learned an inquest has been opened into the death of a young girl, bullied to suicide by users of social media. This dreadful story adds a terrible darkness to the storm surrounding the abusive use of the internet. And, as happened with...
Posted by: Magnus Shaw
Yesterday, the front cover of The Sun featured a montage of UK landmarks. Resembling a rather corny tourist poster, it was accompanied by the headline 'This Is Our Britain'. Now, I'm quite aware The Sun is rarely shy when it comes to jingoistic,...
Posted by: Magnus Shaw
Other than persuading an audience to act, a copywriter's mission is to deliver clear and concise communication. Writers claim this is an underappreciated art, so it's always useful to examine the ways in which language can be used for the opposite...
Posted by: Magnus Shaw
As a copywriter, one of the first jobs I had was to write a series of scripts and headlines for Mel Smith and Griff Rhys Jones. So I was rather sad to learn of Mel's death at the weekend. Funnily enough, I was also reminded of the comedy twosome...
Posted by: Magnus Shaw
Apple used to do great ads. The silhouettes of iPod users, offsetting the machine's white wires, were tremendously vivid, recognisable and memorable - classy and classic brand design. Then there were the dancing, multi-coloured iMacs, animated to...
Posted by: Magnus Shaw
Facebook claims to have cracked its rather awkward 'ads on offensive pages' problem. This week the social network's Director of Policy announced the site has completed the task of 'narrowing down the number of pages where ads will be shown'. Which...
Posted by: Magnus Shaw
In 2010, at a cost of $300 million, 800 miles of fibre-optic cable was laid between the Chicago Mercantile Exchange and the New York Stock Exchange to shave three milliseconds off trading times. Yet within this world of instant and absolute...
Posted by: Jessica Hazel
Would your mum understand that? It's fair to say that most of us hate bureaucracy. And meaningless, wordy bureaucracy even more. I've lost count of the number of times I've received a massive epistle from Barnet council when all they really want to...
Posted by: Ashley Morrison
At some point, perhaps four years ago, doorstep lending ('The Tallyman', as my grandmother would have termed it) suddenly became terribly old fashioned and parochial. Recession and financial misery inflated the market for non-bank lending at a...
Posted by: Magnus Shaw
The most surprising aspect of the Edward Snowden case and the revelations about GCHQ is that anyone is surprised. Did we really imagine our 'lords and masters' had such respect for our privacy and dignity that they would resist the temptation to...
Posted by: Magnus Shaw
I have just got back from a week's holiday in Croatia and wanted to draw your attention to the lovely experience I had on the last night of my holiday in the seaside town of Zadar, courtesy of the architect Nikola Bašić. Post World War II,...
Posted by: Creativepool
When it comes to voicing an opinion, I don't tend towards coyness (regular readers may not be surprised to learn this). For instance, I more than happy to reveal that my political views broadly fall into the left-of-centre, liberal camp . Although,...
Posted by: Magnus Shaw
Have you ever been to Cannes? Not on a cycling holiday, but the festival? No, not the movie festival - the creativity festival, The Lions? Ever been to that? Me neither - but I do find myself reading about it every year; largely because the industry...
Posted by: Magnus Shaw
When you arrived at work this morning, did you notice a pop star sitting at a flat-screen, typing away? Was there a movie idol in the kitchen fixing some coffees? Or a minor royal handing out the mail? If not, I'm afraid your firm is way behind the...
Posted by: Magnus Shaw
