HUGHES|DESIGN

Ferguson Hill Launch FHOO9 Home Theatre System

2012-02-03T02:47:00.000-08:00

After much fine tuning Ferguson Hill launch the long awaited FHOO9 Home Theatre System to rave reviews.

This stylish addition to any home won 5 stars in a 3 way test in iCreate Magazine and was equally well received in the Daily Mail, the former saying "The clarity of the Sound is amazing" and the latter saying "The best home cinema speakers ever made"

Read more reviews here.

Hughes Design have been working with Ferguson Hill for many years supplying creative direction. Aside from Copywriting, Art direction packaging design, together with DJA online we recently updated the Ferguson Hill website.

2011-12-20T08:56:00.000-08:00

Yo ho ho!

What a year it's been! Big thanks, we couldn't have done it without you:

And everyone else we worked with in 2011

We hope you have a great break and come back refreshed in the new year. Hughes Design will be closed from Friday 23rd December 2011 and will be back properly on Tuesday 3rd January 2012 to address all your digital, design and copywriting requirements.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

Mike, Julia, Dan | HUGHES DESIGN

Life's too Short's Warwick Davis' Willow Management Website

2011-11-09T09:45:00.000-08:00

We recently put the finishing touches on a new website for Willow Management, the real life talent agency run by Warwick Davis, star of Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant's new BCC's Comedy, Life's To Short.

Willow Management - The biggest agency for short actors in the world - approached both us and DJA Online late last year to redevelop their talent agency's website. The main objective of the site was for it to be easy for casting directors to view the pictures and videos of all the talent that Willow has to offer, and for the agency to easily update the profile of all the actors on their books.

Another part of the brief was help develop the brand - both Peter and Warwick believe passionately in using real actors for 'short' roles in TV & movies, as no matter how good the technology is, it still can't replicate a real actor.

We helped with the tone of voice and art directed the photoshoot, while incorporating existing elements of their brand into their design.

Warwick's film roles include most of the Harry Potter movies, Willow, Return of the Jedi, Leprechaun, along with TV Roles including a cameo on Extra's - where Ricky Gervais appears to kick Warwick in the face.

In the new show, Warwick plays a version of himself, an actor, who runs an agency for short actors, but who keeps all the best jobs for himself, is divorced, owes the tax man thousands and is struggling to stay afloat, but agrees to let a film crew film him for a documentary...

It will be broadcast Thursday 10 November on BBC2.

EMIN BARIN - Turkish Typographer

2011-11-05T05:33:00.000-07:00

We love the work of Turkish Typogrpaher calligrapher, design and bookbinder, Emin Barin.

The following text is extracted from a website dedicated to his work:

Emin Barın was a multi-faceted graphic artist. In his own field, he was a distinguished example of the harmony of art and craft, which is to say creativity and craftsmanship. First and foremost he was a master of script; the last link of in the chain of traditional Islamic calligraphic art and the beginning of a new calligraphy that was both Western and secular. Yes, he was a passionate lover of calligraphy, but it wasn't just calligraphy. The art of the book is a nexus that brings together writing, paper, illumination/illustration and binding. And that is the art at which Emin Barın was passionate about and in which he excelled.

He put the loops of a broken chain back together in a highly creative way. He was able to raise a form of alphabet the top that was new to Turkey, while also working in reviving a past heritage which had the danger of vanishing.

Emin Barın the calligrapher, Emin Barın the bookbinder, Emin Barın the teacher, Emin Barın the art collector. Talking about Emin Barin, one cannot overlook any of his many identities. However, he first comes to one's mind as a calligrapher. Not just because he was a master of script, but because he was the end of an era as well as being the beginning of another era. With his life and work, Emin Barın, was one of the best examples the new Turkish Republic's modern and universal way of approaching the heritage of the past culture and art.

Learn more about the man here and see examples of his work here

It's nice to be appreciated

2011-08-28T05:13:00.000-07:00

We like to help out where we can by offering our services to a local school to help promote their Summer and Christmas fairs - and so were delighted when we received not only a bottle of Pimms but this delightful "ice cream' themed thank-you card from a future designer/typographer in class 2B.

In reply we'd like to say: Thank-you for the "thank you" & excellent design work, well done.

Mongolian British Chamber of Commerce Identity and Website

2011-07-24T07:40:00.000-07:00

The Mongolian economy is expected to grow at an increasing rate over the next few years, as the yet untapped copper reserves at Oyu Tolgoi (possibly the largest copper reserve in the world) and others mines are set to become available. With that Mongolia is likely to become the focus of massive international investment as it's neighbours to the south and north (Russia and China) likely to be Mongolia's first customers for Mongolia's resources. These developments mean there are opportunities for British expertise in the this region, hence the newly established Mongolian British Chamber of Commerce.

We have just produced this logo for the Chamber, along with developing a website with our Digital Partner DJA Online.

The logo incorporates elements from the Mongolian flag combined with the British Red White and Blue: The symbols from the flag have deep cultural meaning within Mongolia and we have been careful to be respectful : The fire at the top of it represents prosperity, contentment and regeneration. The three flames represent the past, present and future. The sun and moon symbolize the universe and are believed by Mongolians to be the mother (sun) and father (moon) of their nation. The triangles pointing at the ground are arrowheads and represent Mongolian's willingness to defend their nation. The horizontal rectangles stand for honesty, justice and righteousness. The middle circle can be interpreted as the Buddhist yin and yang symbol, which represents complementary opposite forces existing together in the universe - such as positive and negative, male and female, passive and active, fire and water, etc. The circle can also be interpreted as two fish that never close their eyes, representing the watchfulness and vigilance of Mongolians. The vertical rectangles represent pillars which symbolize strength, resolve and hardness. We have worked this into a typographic arrangement, to create a unified logo type that is both British and Mongolian.

The goal of the identity is to represent the spirit of economic co-operation being forged between Britain and Mongolia.

Beer Infographic

2011-06-06T06:42:00.001-07:00

Quick Website

2011-05-16T04:52:00.000-07:00

We've just set up a very simple website using Flavors.me, an easy-to-use online website creation tool - and all for under £30 (not including the person of hours, writing, design etc).

http://flavors.me is simple to use. They supply hosting and a domain purchasing service, so all you need to do is create the content and upload it to one of their free or premium templates. You can also pull content from other sites like Flikr, YouTube, and SoundCloud so that your site has a rich media feel, and as standard all the social media tools one needs are there to let the world know you're new site is up.

In the above example we created a nostalgia site for a band that no longer plays together, but is fondly remembered. Being a band they had plenty of artwork and photography to choose from, plus songs and some fan made videos. After a few minutes of familiarising ourselves with the flavors.me controls, we were building the site, creating pages with music from SoundCloud, videos from YouTube and a map from Google.

The design controls are pretty intuitive too, allowing you upload background images, change the colour and transparency of overlays and choose from a huge family of fonts of which you can customise size and colour. You can add pictures to the text pages, however to do this you need know a little about ftp and html. You also set up a contact form to receive comments form visitors and create links to your favorite sites.

While it's not the perfect solution for every need - it has many design customisation limitations - for this particular project it was perfect.

It's also perfect learning tool if you are new to web building - it's a great way to use trial ideas to get accustomed what works and what doesn't, because you can quickly test designs, font sizes and add and take away content with a click. For the novice enthusiast this is a great way to learn and showcase your work.

Some new infographics:

2011-04-12T06:40:00.000-07:00

The mobile phone infographic was inspired by a news report we heard yesterday about the National Billmonitor Mobile Report, that studied 28,000 mobile phone bills and calculated that in the UK nearly £5bn is wasted annually by subscribers being on the wrong contract.

They state that most subscribers overestimate how minutes a month they use their phone, to avoid "billshock". And they conclude that the £5bn figure is set to rise as more and more users are adopt smartphones for internet access and downloading data to their handsets.

Below is a time line of "platinum events" produced for the Platinum Guild.

Concept for this years' Festival

2011-03-01T14:14:00.000-08:00

We liked these...

2011-02-28T03:44:00.000-08:00

by Photographer Oli Kellett

It's quite common to find AMERICAN towns named after noted BRITISH places:

See the full set here...

cost of wedding infoGraphic

2011-02-17T13:50:00.000-08:00

Inspired by some figures we came across in a survey by You & Your Wedding magazine, we created this following infoGraphic. Just under £20K is the average cost of a wedding in the UK.

The biggest single wedding expense, according to You & Your Wedding magazine, is entertaining guests. Couples spend on average £7,382 on their wedding reception, entertaining on average, 96 guests. This includes £2,448 on venue hire, £3,075 on catering, £1,205 on drinks and £654 on entertainment. The second highest cost is the honeymoon, with the average post-wedding holiday costing £2,935. The third most costly item is the bride’s engagement ring, with the average groom shelling out £1,730 for his proposal.

Make you smile info graphics from coolinfographics.com

2011-02-04T08:08:00.000-08:00

How Would You Like Your Graphic Design? By Colin Harman

Should I Work for Free? By Jessica Hische

Double take! What happened here?

2011-01-25T10:16:00.000-08:00

Great News! The Southbank Centre has announced details of its 60th birthday celebrations, which will take the shape of a homage to the 1951 Festival of Britain. Not so good news though, someone has somehow decided that what the Festival of Britain logo was lacking first time around was bloody great MasterCard logo hanging off the side of it.

It's great that the event is being sponsored by MasterCard. It's important that exhibitions like this should take place, and in these austere times corporate sponsorship should be received gratefully. But that said the balance/relationship between the sponsor logo with the Festival of Britain logo is just baffling.

We can all imagine the scene: The designer looks at the his customer facing colleague with barely concealed contempt and says 'So, let me get this straight, "you've" agreed with the sponsors that they could slap their logo where?'

But seriously, this complete disregard towards the heritage of the event so that MasterCard can associate their brand with it sends out completely the wrong message for both the event and the Credit Card. It screams "Brazen opportunity to stick our logo somewhere!" rather than a more sober "MasterCard are proud to sponsor this important event".

The more you look, the more it smacks of corporate bullying, as if an argument took place where they threatened to pull the funding if they didn't get it their way. An argument played out in Adobe Creative Suite. That probably wasn't the case, it just looks that way.

However, let's go back a few years to the 1998 World Cup in France, which was also sponsored by MasterCard. We know first hand that they at one point proposed suspending a giant MC logo between legs of the Eiffel Tower - only to be turned down flat by the Parisian authorities. Our point is, even though MasterCard didn't get their way back in '98, it didn't stop them from continuing to sponsor the event. Sometimes you just have to stand up and say, thanks for the money, but the sponsor's logos go in these allocated spaces.

I think the real explanation is that in this case MasterCard just got lucky with a spineless "Yes Boss!" at the South Bank Centre, and, grateful for the cash, they decided to let MC do what they like, for an easy life.

Which is a real pity.

Bespoke Beer Invitation

2011-01-20T09:43:00.000-08:00

We've just completed work on these British Summer Themed Beer Labels that double up as invitations for a press event on March 1st 2011 to promote beer as a healthier alternative to wine when dining.

PRESS RELEASE

Beer in summer – a perfect match
While many people associate summer with lazy days spent in a traditional English beer garden, people rarely realise beer’s true potential as one of the season’s most refreshing, enjoyable and wholesome drinks. Alcohol is a flavour enhancer, helping to bring out the natural flavours in food. That’s why chefs use alcohol so often in cooking and why alcoholic drinks are so often paired with food. And, summertime is no exception to this rule. Beer is a naturally good partner for many seasonal summer foods – often even a better ‘match’
than wine.

Summer eating is naturally convivial, allowing us to not only enjoy the tastes of seasonal food outside, but also to cook outdoors. Weather permitting this summer, people across the country will enjoy riverside picnics, garden BBQs and long lazy lunches - all of which can be perfectly accompanied by beer…

The Sunshine Ingredient
Not only is beer a wonderfully flexible and flavoursome partner as a drink to ‘wash down’ flame-grilled food straight from the BBQ, it’s also an innovative and tasty ingredient to use as part of summer recipes.
The hops in beer gives it the bitterness to slice through rich textures as well as providing a citrus, fruity character that makes it the perfect accompaniment to seafood. The malt provides sweetness to parry charred and caramelised flavours, while the bubbles are light and refreshing enough to cleanse your palate.

In fact, the diverse range of flavours and aromas, wholesome ingredients and age-old brewing processes which characterise our national drink make it the perfect, natural accompaniment for meat, fish and seafood, fruit, cheese and even chocolate. And, as an ingredient in its own right, beer is a great addition for marinades, batters, sauces, salad dressings, breads and sorbets.

With more than 50 classic styles and an abundance of tastes and aromas, beer mingles effortlessly with pretty much anything that’s flipped off the grill or packed into your picnic hamper.

Keeping in shape for Summer
If you’re worried that summer beer and a bikini body don’t mix, then you may be surprised to learn that, in moderation, beer is actually one of the healthiest alcoholic drinks you could choose.

According to a new report ‘Beer, the natural choice?’ beer is a rich source of vitamins, fibre, minerals and antioxidants. And perhaps most surprisingly, it has a relatively low calorific value compared to other alcoholic drinks – putting paid to the myth of the beer belly. So, a half a pint of lager generally only contains 94 calories which compares favourably to a standard (175ml) serving of wine with 131 calories. A quick look at the ingredients and processes that go into beer will confirm the logic – beer is around 95% water and the major ingredients barley and hops are both plant materials which contain virtually no fat at all.

Client: Trinity/BBPA

Beer, the natural choice? Part 2

2011-01-15T08:52:00.000-08:00

Last year we worked with Trinity PR, the Beer and Pub Association and journalist Isla Whitcroft on a report about Beer and how on balance it is a healthier drink than wine.

Well, we don't know if American blogger J Wilson - a beer lover - has seen our report, but he plans to live on only a home brew beer for the lenten period. More details are in the link below.

Man vows to fast on beer during Lent | CatholicHerald.co.uk

Café Niko

2010-11-08T10:54:00.000-08:00

"Niko Pirosmani is what Georgians are proud about, he was self educated artist, who invented new painting technique not only thanks to his great talent but also out of poverty. He is one of the outstanding primitivism painters in the World. But as it usually happenes to greatests - he lived and died in poverty, never recognized by his countrymen while he was alive."

We've been working with the Barnsbury Community Group who are opening a café themed around the works of Niko Pirosmani and have created the graphic identity - Café Niko, at the Hugh Cubbit Centre, Barnsbury.

New Works this September

2010-09-29T03:39:00.000-07:00

We've had had a particularlly productive September with major works going up on the London underground, and the Phoenix cinema East Finchley - as two local projects coincided.

Firstly, the Phoenix Cinema reopened after an extensive refurbishment, and we produced a artwork for their poster campaign on the Northern Line on the London Underground. This Poster was on display at high visibility locations in Camden Town, Kentish Town, Archway, Highgate, Finchley Central and High Barnet. It is also going to be produced as a commemorative poster available at the cinema.

As part of the Restoration of the Phoenix, there we also four light boxes fitted to the exterior of the Phoenix. Each of these contains artwork covering a period of the Cinemas history.

This month also saw the completion of the exterior works promoting the Finchley Society at four key key points at two underground Station. Totalling 11 artworks in all the goal was to create a unifed corporate look to promote the Society and attract a newer younger membership. These works can be seen at East Finchley and Finchley Central underground stations by their entrances and on the platform.

Geoghegan Research

2010-09-28T06:09:00.000-07:00

Local Business researcher Olive Geoghegan came to us for a logo and website: Here are the rather pleasing results:

The Beer Report... Cheers!

2010-06-22T04:53:00.000-07:00

We’ve been been working together with our PR partners Trinity, The Beer Academy and the British Beer and Pub Association on a report and national survey titled “Beer, the health choice?”.

The goal of the report is to instigate a change in the public perception of beer, and demonstrate that when consumed in moderation, beer can actually be part of a healthier lifestyle: elow is and extract from the coverage of the report in the Metro Newspaper:

“Beer contains vitamins which can help you to maintain a well-balanced healthy diet, fibre to keep you regular, readily absorbed antioxidants and minerals such as silicon which may help to lower your risk of osteoporosis.” The report, commissioned by The Beer Academy, which aims to help people enjoy beer sensibly, found that when drunk in moderation, beer is one of the healthiest alcoholic drinks available.
A survey found that while 68% of people consider beer to be Britain's national drink, some 10% wrongly believe that beer contains fat, and 13% incorrectly believe that beer is made from chemicals rather than malted barley and hops.  The report also explores the psychological and sociability benefits of people enjoying a pint in their local pub - yet pubs are closing at a rate of 39 a week.

If you would like to read more about the health benefits of beer, read the digital edition below as designed by Hughes Design.

And it's just not The Metro that's been covering the report, click these links below to see even more positive coverage...

Press & Journal, MSN, Mail Online, Channel Four, The Metro

Cheers!

East Finchley Festival

2010-05-26T09:50:00.000-07:00

We redone the identity for the 2010 East Finchley Festival.

Project includes 10,000 36 page A5 programmes and 5000 posters to publicise the event, which will be be on sale at the event.

Merchandise available from http://www.cafepress.com/EF_FEST

Sunday June 20th 2010.

A forward looking website for a man who's past is well documented

2010-05-11T09:46:00.000-07:00

We've been working away on a new 'official' web site for rock'n'roll guitar legend and former Rolling Stone, Mick Taylor. A project we are very pleased to be associated with. The brief included developing a contemporary logo for Mick, that could be applied to merchandise. The brief also required us to develop the content of the site to be 'forward looking' - focusing on what Mick is planning to do, while acknowledging his past accomplishments. For those of you readers, who have no idea who Mick Taylor is, below is a extract from his site:

Mick Taylor’s legend and contribution to rock’n’roll cannot be overstated. Mick is a pioneer of electric blues, whose unique style helped define the genre. Taylor invented modern rock’n’roll lead guitar in the early 70’s when he helped turn a pretty good band into the greatest rock’n’roll band in the world, what’s more, his playing is as brilliant today as ever.

Guitar Legend
Taylor is an alumnus of the legendary school of British guitar gods of the mid 60’s. This exclusive group boasts such names as Beck, Clapton, Green and Page. Never in the history of music has such an influential class of musicians had such a lasting impact on music development. Despite their common roots in the blues, each of these guitar greats went on to create new musical genres that persist until today. Page forged heavy metal, Beck created jazz/fusion, and while Clapton championed the blues in various forms, Taylor invented rock’n’roll lead guitar. The phenomenon of having this number of influential guitarists developing at the same time and place is unprecedented in music history and is not likely to ever be seen again.

Unique Style
Taylor has a distinctive playing style and sound that is unique, rich in tone and universally recognisable. Of his British contemporaries, Taylor’s style is the most expressive, melodic and inventive. His trademark vibrato gives his playing an incredible feeling of power and beauty which accentuates his work like an exclamation point, and his slide guitar is the most fluid of any of his contemporaries.

The magic of Taylor is not just in what he plays, but also in what he does not play. He has an uncanny ability to capture the essence of a musical passage, no matter how complex or primal, with sheer precision and intense feel. His masterpiece solo in The Rolling Stones ‘Can’t You Hear Me Knocking’ is a case study in perfection. This spontaneous, one-take effort begins with a very minimalist, ethereal run of notes and builds in intensity until the listener is locked into an intoxicating repetitive loop with seemingly no escape until it all comes to an abrupt end. This beauty is contrasted with Taylor’s ability to send a three-chord, Chuck Berry barn-burner like ‘Bye Bye Johnny’into the stratosphere with his blistering rhythm chops that give the song just what it needs and takes it completely beyond being a mere cover tune.

Virtuosity
Taylor’s technique and instinct are virtually impossible to imitate. While he has been replaced in bands like the Blue Breakers and The Rolling Stones, his shoes have never been filled. Today, despite its success in perfecting the raunchy groove that has become its trademark, even the great band that is The Rolling Stones fumbles its way through trademark Taylor passages in live performances. The Stones have performed these songs hundreds of times, more than Taylor ever did when he was with the band.

Legacy of Bands
Taylor has played in some of the greatest bands in rock history and on some of the greatest albums of the rock ‘n’ roll era.

As if his tenure with John Mayall and The Rolling Stones weren’t enough, Taylor is also one of the greatest hired guns that is still active in rock ‘n’ roll having played with the likes of Bob Dylan, Jack Bruce, Ron Wood, Billy Preston, John Phillips and numerous others. His guest performances demonstrate the strength of his talent and are immediately recognized as trademark Taylor work. Even his solo work has received great critical acclaim. This legacy has commanded deep admiration and respect from fans and the music community.

The site will be launched very soon. www.micktaylor.com

Glory Glory!

2010-05-06T01:53:00.000-07:00

Today might be election day, but something really, really important happened last night. It's very rare that we get involved or pin our colours to mast like this, and I must say it's only Me - Mike - that really is excited by this. But! As a life long Spurs fan - at last! - I've got to say it's great to see my side finally win that place in the Champions League after years and years of trying.

Well done to Harry and the team, and everyone involved. And in honour of this achievement, I think now is an appropriate time to dig out that old piece of dusty vinyl, stick it on the turntable and sing along to Chas & Dave: http://tinyurl.com/2ws4h7m

Glory Glory!

Get the Look

2010-04-27T12:14:00.000-07:00

We started playing around with CafePress today, and have come up with a range of branded items... check them out here: CLICK

The great thing about the service is that each item is produced to order, so there's no need to buy bulk - but there's also an option to bulk buy if you wish.

Too many Chefs...

2010-04-23T05:39:00.000-07:00

Problems arise when too many people are involved in any decision making process. Design follows the same rules as catering, to many chefs spoil the broth.

Invariably when a SME commissions new creative work, a logo, a website or marketing campaign, it generates a lot of interest internally and everyone wants to have their say on the creative direction you should be taking. Initially all the excitement of getting everyone in the company involved can be quite intoxicating, and can be very positive for morale. But eventually it will be necessary to limit the amount of people involved in the decision making process. It fact it is essential.

The larger the group you have involved in commissioning creative work, the more opinions you'll canvas and the more compromises will be made in order to satisfy everyone at the tables agenda. The biggest casualty of this compromise, will be your company and your customers.

Unlike Politics which relies on reaching a consensus and making compromises to move things forward, when it comes to marketing communications, compromises will stifle the creative result.

Think of Goldilocks and the 3 bears. Each bear liked it's porridge slightly different. If you are presented with a bowl of porridge that is "just right" for you, would you mix it with the salty bowl or the sweet bowl just because your colleagues happen to have brought them to the table? You most likely wouldn't. Yet with creative work, when committees try to pander to everyone's needs, perfectly tasty ideas end up as unappetising stodge, simply because there are too many competing ingredients.

Does this sound familiar?
Typically, larger companies appoint a marketing director charged solely with the job of managing their marketing requirements. In smaller companies, this isn't always practical, but a mistake that is often made is to charge someone junior within the organisation to commission and important piece of corporate communications. While this act is well intentioned – giving someone junior some responsibility – the inexperienced junior is more likely to see this as an opportunity for themselves and their career prospects, neglecting the bigger picture which is "what's in the company's best interests."

Other times, teams are appointed from different areas of the business, sometimes with no direct experience of purchasing creative services. Quickly disputes arise as each individual asserts their agenda or point of view first above that of the company. To resolve this dispute, they then start to compromise and the eventual product is substandard, engendering a sense of mistrust in your appointed creative partner, even though they have ticked every box in the brief.

5 tips for Director of an SME:
1) If price is your biggest concern, and you know someone who can "do it cheaper", then you should grab that bargain. But if it's 'professional' creative solutions, service and support that you are after and you acknowledge that you don't have the skill set in-house - then you recognise that you need to purchase that skill set from an experienced professional.

2) Appoint someone senior in your business to oversee purchasing of creative services and make sure they report to you. This individual should be have responsibility for making decisions, preferably have some experience - a knowledge or interest in marketing communications would be a bonus.

3) Shop around, select an Agency on their portfolio of work and where possible meet the creative agency you appoint.

4) Don't be afraid to ask your appointed creative agency to help you write the brief. Working together will help build trust and understanding.

5) Finally, when presenting creative solutions to your staff, explain that these are changes that the management have decided to make. Your decisions might not be to everyone's taste. This is normal. Staff can be reluctant to embrace new ideas. Remember it is your business and you run the show.

Our new promo booklet

2010-04-22T05:40:00.001-07:00

Ferguson Hill Website Update

2010-04-14T03:00:00.000-07:00

The object of this task was to turn a renowned speaker designer's website from being a showroom to a storefront. In other words, to drive online sales through effective design and fine-tuned Search Engine Optimisation. This makeover includes Buy Now buttons that take potential purchasers straight through to the store from the front or product pages.

Client Ferguson Hill have observed an increase in their on-lines sales via their website. The site was initiallydesigned as brochure site, and had e-commerce added to it. With more and more consumers choosing to make their purchases direct from Ferguson Hill, we worked together to identify 'logic' improvements to the site, to make buying direct even easier.

Other issues that came to light during the research was that a minority of visitors did not know what Ferguson Hill did (speakers), while other customers had not quite understood what they were buying. In one instance, a customer had thought the were buying Ferguson Hill's top of the range speaker system, the FHOO1 – which retails at £16,000 – for £395.00. Having mistook the mini system for the more expensive high end System this customer was quite naturally upset when they took delivery of 430mm high mini speakers, when they had been expecting the rather grander 1650mm ones. While, the mistake may have been the customers - possibly buying on impulse, Ferguson Hill were keen not to repeat the experience again. As a result all their products are now clearly labeled on the site.

If you'd like to see the before and afters of this exercise, click here.

Crewd Website

2010-03-31T07:23:00.000-07:00

North London based Crewd Recordings asked us to look at their existing website infrastructure. The result is this new website, where we kept the bits that worked and threw away the rest. There was no need to reinvent the wheel, much of the graphic design worked, but the Content Management System they had been saddled with was not fit for purpose.

Using the frankly impressive WordPress as a platform we built a new site from back to front. The management system allows Crewd to easily upload news and tag content from other sites and add it to there's - as specified. This allows them to keep their content as up to the minute a possible, so that when their Artists tour, they can document events as they happen.

Web for mobile Devices - WMDs you can find.

2010-03-22T11:26:00.003-07:00

According to the BBC (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/8571210.stm) and other sources, web browsing on mobile devices is set to rocket over the next few years. And while there has been a rush to create 'Apps' for the iPhone - there are reportedly 50,000 apps available - it seems that people are not considering what their website looks like on a smart phone. While you can magnify page elements with your forefinger and thumb on the screen of an iPhone, or the magnifying glass on a blackberry - ultimately a cumbersome way of viewing the content - doesn't it make more sense to actually design your web content to work on a mobile size screen?

A brief investigation revealed that handful of popular websites do have mobile versions of their sites, but the majority of sites out there don't. So we asked ourselves why this is? Is developing a mobile site complicated? Answer: No, not especially. Is it expensive? Answer: No, it doesn't need to be.

What we discovered was that Web for Mobile Devices wasn't being promoted by that many web design companies - certainly in the UK - and or for that matter not being demanded by many people. But we suspect that this might be about to change. It seems that many people have skipped over the mobile website step in favour of developing an single function 'App'. But with 50,000 'Apps' available, it's a rather crowded market place. And then, does the 'App' really give visitors all the information they need to know about your company or service - or is just a fun distraction?

We decided that we would as part of our website upgrade, develop a mobile website alongside the main one. You can view our mobile site by visiting us via your smart phone.

If you like what you see, get in touch and see if we can develop a WMD (Web for Mobile Device) for you.

Carpet Right? Carpet Wrong.

2010-02-22T03:40:00.000-08:00

What a depressing place to visit in recession-hit Britain. With a clear lack of interest in customer service, three men were hanging around the entrance of our local Carpet Right store with body language that said "leave us alone". Not only that, but it turns out that their policy is that they take a payment (not just your credit card details but an actual payment) before anyone comes round to estimate.
Things ain't what they used to be.

Support the campaign

2010-02-08T07:09:00.000-08:00

Show your support for the campaign, go and have a pint or two.

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New works to view...

2010-01-27T09:17:00.000-08:00

We've just put the finishing touches on the Maylim Corporate Identity and launched a new website for this exciting and dynamic construction firm - and are looking forward to working with them in the future.

See their site and works at maylim.co.uk

Ferguson Hill Make GQs Top 100

2010-01-25T04:37:00.000-08:00

Client, Ferguson Hill, had their new product, the mid range FH010 listed in January's top list of "The best things in the world right now". Well done everyone!

Phoenix Cinema launches new logo ahead of restoration

2009-12-08T09:56:00.000-08:00

Have a look at what the local press are saying about the Phoenix centenary, the fundraising for the restored cinema and the new logo designed by - Hughes | Design.

FAVOURITE BAND RELEASE INTERNET CHRISTMAS SONG...

2009-12-06T12:53:00.000-08:00

Our Favourite band of the moment Spring Park Motel give away their Christmas single Frosty Me & Jim Beam, click here and download it for your iPod or iTunes.

BACK TO BLOGGING

2009-11-02T05:53:00.000-08:00

It's been a while, and this year is slipping away very quickly, but we've been very busy. Busy with a variety of work - some website, some print, some marketing and a considerable amount of voluntary stuff but it really does make the weeks fly by. Suddenly we realised that we have been neglecting you, our reader, so, if you want to see what we've been up to have a look at our showcase.

hughes design virtual brochure

2009-10-04T13:00:00.000-07:00

eagle-eyed visitors to our website will have noticed the brochure with some examples of our latest work (courtesy of Issuu) on our home page. We are increasingly being asked for emagazines, online brochures and the like and, having tried and tested a few bits of software, we have found Issuu to be the best because it offers a free service in addtion to the premium service.

Pepsi revsioned

2009-09-08T06:05:00.000-07:00

Back in February we noted that the Coke can had taken a bold step backwards by loosing all the bells and whistles off it's packaging and reverting to their bold white and red packaging of yore... well, in a bold step forward it has come to our attention that Pepsi have redesigned their packaging too. The results are above.

There is definitely a move towards simplicity here and we like the how the 'e' in Pepsi has a wave on it's centre bar, reminiscent of the swoosh in previous Pepsi logo. The new Roundel however we are not convinced by. We've seen all the tins together of for diet and zeros sub brands etc and each roundel is slightly different, representing soemthing but we are not quite sure what. But in fairness, we need to see them together in the flesh - or tin - to decide if we like or not. At this moment, this design is purely a US development as far as we can tell.

Finally, some sense at last...

2009-08-28T08:33:00.000-07:00

We love holidays, and we love brands...

2009-08-24T03:06:00.000-07:00

Here's our journal from our holiday

We've just spent 10 days at the fabulous Sensatori Resort in Crete and we're bubbling over with enthusiasm to share it with you.

Sensatori is not just a hotel complex, but a whole holiday experience. From the swim up rooms, 5 different restaurants, spa treatments, kids' sporting activities and the high quality entertainment for adults and children alike, it really it is impossible to say a bad word about this fantastic place.

The hotel's architecture breaks with traditional hotel design: every block was different and looked as though they had been built at different times, rather than the more usual regimented linear 'stacked box' design that is the norm in resort hotels. The end result resembled a village, built around several swimming pools, with the added advantage that that many of the balconies and terraces offered a private space, as no one balcony seems to overlook the other.

Inside: Our room and bathroom were 5 star luxury which is not something you'd expect from a family resort. As a family with two small(ish) children, we had a two-room swim up suite. Each bedroom opened onto the decking terrace with its sun loungers and table and chairs. Both our children can swim, but there were cleverly designed safety gates that were an integral part of both doors.

Foodwise: We were spoilt for choice with 5 restuarants, all serving good quality food, from the main resturant buffet, to the excellent Thai, the Stonegrill and the A La Carte. We ate in every restaurant, and they were all very impressive, as was the service in all of them.

During the day, the kids could spend hours by the splash pool - with its slides, sprays and ever-filling buckets. Other activities included children's clubs, Reebok football, Razzamatazz drama as well as pool-based sea scooters and SCUBA trials.

Some evenings we'd go to what's called "The Boardwalk", which is an open air theatre where the Sensatori Show Cast would entertain the grown-ups. Other evenings were spent with the kids watching Playhouse Live - featuring Danny & Becky, the co-hosts, in a hilarious and frenetic kids show, that all the children watched and joined in.

Now, we couldn't talk about Sensatori without mentioning the spa, as mum and dad need a little pampering while they are away too. So we also took advantage of that, going for a massage and sauna, which left us both very relaxed. Julia's feet are still glowing from her pedicure!

If all of the above seems a bit full on, what's really incredible about Sensatori is you wouldn't know that it is going on around you. You can be as busy and involved or as laid back as you like - there are no pushy staff trying to get you involved in activities and no annoying announcements. And talking of the staff, everyone we had dealings with were warm, delightful and professional.

But that's enough about the holiday, what this blog is really for is to talk about is creative stuff and brand experience etc... which why we are talking about Sensatori. Thomson Holidays and Atlantica Hotels launched Sensatori in Crete about 18 months ago. We understand the huge undertaking of launching and sustaining a task of this size. The work and the effort that goes into creating a new 'brand' experience from scratch is phenomenal. Considering it was only launched in May 2008, to have established and perfected this 'brand' experience in under 18 months is an incredible achievement. The attention to details in every aspect of this place is brilliant. From the front entrance with its waterfall windows, to the decor of the hallways, the landscaping between the pools, the splash pools, the swim-up rooms, the comfortable furniture throughout, the excellent spa, the overall cleanliness of the resort and the clearly well trained and prepared staff. This is clearly a well oiled machine.

Finally a word on the logo. Mike thinks he read on the wall in the spa, next to an "arty" artwork print of the logo, that the artwork was either inspired by the logo or the inspiration for the logo - but he's not quite sure. However he can confidently state that the Sensatori logo is based on the stones used in a spa.

Thank you Sensatori for a fabulous few days.

Our "swim-up" room.

We hope it's chips...

2009-08-12T00:29:00.000-07:00

MORE LIKE THIS...

2009-08-07T05:01:00.000-07:00

THIS WAY >

July Design

2009-08-04T01:16:00.000-07:00

Permin Capital LLP

We recently produced this interim identity for a City of London based investment fund. Building on the theme of solidity we used a cubed block as the basis of the of the logo. The idea being that this, like the fund itself can be built upon.

Shetlands Arts Biennial Report

In a lovely piece of symmetry, one year to the day that we agreed costs, Shetland Arts completed the their Biennial Report. Check out the link to free online publishing tool ISSUU. It's really simple to use. Simply upload your pdf document to their servers and they convert it into this online publication with animated pages. You can then embed the link in your own webpage, blog or post it facebook etc...

NEW WORKS LAST MONTH

2009-06-29T05:34:00.000-07:00

Long standing client and good friend to HUGHES | DESIGN – Tim Hill – returned once again to us to assist with the packaging for the new Ferguson Hill FHOO9 Home Theatre System.

THE FHOO9 is A hi-quality sound system to complement your Hi-Def tv. The system comes in two boxes - so we took advantage of the extra surface area to demonstrate the various sets-ups you can have with FHOO9: floor standing, tabletop or wall mounted horn speakers.

We also produced a sales brochure and an instruction manual for FHOO9 – that included a location photoshoot in furniture store Chaplins in North West London. Thanks to them for the use of the location.

We also recently completed this website for Fiona Hurlock, a local Acupuncture and Shiatsu practitioner. Click through and and have look.

Ooops. Should really be blogging

2009-05-02T05:04:00.000-07:00

Apologies visitors, but we've been rather lax on the old blogging front. But for good reasons really. We seem to be weathering the storm. Clients keeping us busy, so busy in fact, that finding time to write for the blog has been difficult.

Coming soon we'll be showcasing new packaging work we've produced for Ferguson Hill. Plus a new website for a highly regarded Acupuncture and Shiatsu practitioner based here in East Finchley.

June sees the East Finchley Festival spring up in Cherry Tree Wood. Once again we have been hard at work, along with all the other volunteers, in creating this year's festival handbook which is now at the printers. Posters will soon be going up all over East Finchley promoting it. Thanks to everyone who advertised in this year's book.

Talking of which, did anyone notice the similarities between our poster for last years festival and a certain coffee chains new promotion? We've checked the dates, and we're certain we did it first. And we must say it's very flattering to see our work being the possible inspiration for their campaign. And of course we're the first to admit that we'all prone to a bit of plagiarism – anyone spotted the similarities between the Milton Glazer's I LOVE NY with the I LOVE N2 that adorns many so many premises and vehicles around here? :)

As Paul Arden Says in his book Whatever you think Think the opposite: Chaper: Steal –

Steal from anywhere that resonates with inspiration or fuels your imagination Devour films, music, books, paintings, poems, photographs, conversations, dreams, trees, architecture, street signs, clouds, light and shadows.

Select only things to steal from that speak directly to your soul. If you do this, your work (and theft) will be authentic.

Authenticity is invaluable. Originality is non existent. Don't bother concealing your thievery – celebrate it if you feel like it.

Remember what Jean-Luc Godard said "It's not where you take things from – it's where you take them to."

We stole this from Paul Arden – who stole it from Jim Jarmusch :)

Easter...

2009-03-16T17:10:00.000-07:00

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times...

2009-03-09T06:07:00.000-07:00

If a man you've never met before, calls you up and offers you a 2 month free offer on Yell.com – save yourself the grief and just say No!

Why? Well unless you really, really, want to have an advanced listing on Yell.com, don't bother.

Firstly, we had zero enquiries in the 2 months we were on Yell and secondly, when we tried to cancel it, we were told we couldn't. We did get to cancel eventually. But it wasn't easy.

Let me take you on a journey. Back in November 08, a very charming man kept calling me to discuss advertising on Yell.com. I said no – nearly – every time: "It's not for me", "I'm not interested", 'it's a lot of money for no real guaranteed return", etc, etc, etc. Eventually, he made me an offer I couldn't refuse. "Try before you buy. 2 months free". Okay I think, I'll give that a go. Free is good. We agree that he'll contact me in February to see if I am satisfied and if I wish to continue. I make a note in my desk diary to contact Yell.com in mid February, noting that the cut off date they give me is the 14th of Feb – a Saturday.

Monday 16th February – bad customer service day
I email the salesman who was supposed to contact me, to tell him, "Thanks but no thanks, I don't want the advert". He emails back saying that I need to contact customer services in order to cancel. I speak to the a very patronising young lady by the name of Lamb, Dumb or Dawn, I'm not sure, but she says "sorry, you should have called us before the 14th. I'm afraid you are now under contract. You really should have read the agreement, sir." I point out that the cut off date fell over a weekend, and ask "is it really that unreasonable to contact you on the first day of business after the weekend?". "Well actually sir, it is. the onus was on you to call us. So I'm afraid you are now under contract. You really should have read the agreement. Sir".

Now, I like to think I understand a bit about business – simple things like: both parties should benefit from a transaction. So I offer the following – as a good will gesture "How about you invoice me for the 2 months, I'll pay for that, but take my listing off Yell.com and we'll go our separate ways, I really want nothing to do with your company if you are going to insist I have to pay for an ad that I wish to cancel.". "I'm sorry sir, but the contact is not negotiable".

The situation is getting very frustrating, dumb lamb is clearly not understanding the nuances here. The more insistent she is that she can't do anything, the more I don't want my company associated with Yell.com. Firstly I disapprove of their sales tactics and secondly if this is their idea of their customer service... it stinks.

"Is there anything else I can help you with today?".
"Yes, who do I complain to?"
"I deal with complaints, sir. I'm a customer service executive"
"What's my case complaint number please?".
"We don't do case complaint numbers, sir"

And then the penny drops... Yell.com customer services and complaints is actually modeled on the Ministry of Truth from 1984. As in, it's anything but. This is a drone centre where modern day Winston Smith's absorb customer complaints through the illusion of customer service. I end the call, bristling and get on line to see if there's anyone who can help. One quick google search produced some interesting results – I'm not the only one who's been through this. Click here

Energised by the above, I write a big long email to Yell.com customer service, add my moans to someone else's blog, speak to an online legal adviser who advises negotiating, but says ultimately to expect Yell.com to enforce the contract. I decide then and there, that if Yell are going to insist I pay, I shall make my ad read, SCAMMED. WE NO LONGER WISH TO ADVERTISE WITH YELL.COM. which I do through the control panel. Finally I contact the consumer adviser at the Guardian newspaper.

24th February – good customer service day
A few days later, Maria Bridgen of Yell.com customer services contacts me to tell that she has cancelled the order. She also apologised for her ill informed staff and any stress they may have caused and that she would inform the relevant people of their mistakes. She also explained that I would receive a VAT invoice, but was not to be alarmed by this as a credit note would shortly follow, but most importantly, I would not have to pay a thing.

Now that is great customer service. It is just a pity I had to go through all the other stuff because they don't train their dumb lambs properly.

Always, always, always read the contract...

2009-03-09T02:46:00.000-07:00

This is a story about a part-time job, an events company, a printer and a magazine publisher.

About a year ago, an associate of ours worked 2 days a week, at a compny we'll call for arguments sake, Slippery Dodge & Wing it – an outfit who put on events for small business owners. During her employment, our associate was instructed by the owner of Slippery Dodge & Wing It to organise the production of a printed 6 page flyer and to arrange for it to be inserted into a major business publication. We were involved in the design of the flyer, which our associate got the business owner to sign off the whole project. It was printed, delivered, inserted and distributed as agreed.

The event came and went, and in July of last year our associate left her part-time employment with Slippery Dodge & Wing It. In September, the printer of the 6 page insert contacted HUGHES|DESIGN, and wanted to know if we had heard from Slippery Dodge & Wing It recently. As they still hadn't bene paid by Slippery Dodge & Wing it for the February print job. All we could say was sorry to hear that. Our associate no longer worked there, but we'll mention it to Slippery Dodge & Wing It.

In early November 2008 our associate, answers the door to her home to find a bailiff standing there.
"Are you X of Slippery Dodge&Wing It?" he asks. She replies that she no longer works for them. He informs her she has a CCJ against her and 7 days to find seven thousand pounds or else he'll be coming back for her stuff. All she can think: WHAT??? The Bailiffs have come for her, because Slippery Dodge & Wing It haven't paid their bill to the publisher of the magazine that their flyer was inserted into.

On further investigation, it becomes clear that this publisher doesn't muck about when it comes to chasing invoices. They issue it, and if you don't pay it in 30 days, they pass it onto debt collection – who are a rather obtuse bunch based in Merseyside. They claim to have written letters to our associate addressed to X of Slippery Dodge & Wing It at Slippery Dodge & Wing It central London office. The business owner of Slippery Dodge & Wing It, lets call him, James Nicholas, received these letters and chose to ignore them – why? Because X didn't work there anymore and the publishers invoice wasn't made out to Slippery Dodge & Wing It "Ltd". So therefore he felt confident he could ignore it, and it would just go away.

Naturally our associate was incensed by this – and so began a long and expensive procedure of having to clear her name. Initially, any correspondence she had with the Merseyside Debt Collecters was met with with one line curt reponses. Requests for copies of the paper work were denied. When a stay of execution was requested the county court agreed and they also agreed to have it rehaeard at a local court. But, the publisher and their debt collectors still refused to negotiate or listen to her version of events. Nicholas James of Slippery Dodge & Wing It offered, to pay the invoice if it was reissued to Slippery Dodge & Wing It "ltd" but refused to pay any court fees.

At this point, our associate decided it was time to get her own solicitor involved. She explained the sitiuation, the solicitor read through the correspondence and wrote one letter to the Merseyside Debt Collectors spelling out his clients position and inacted a procedure where he "joined" Slippery Dodge & Wing It to the case. Merseyside Debt Collectors suddenly became very talkative and agreed to drop the case and not pursue our associate any further for the money - but only if she agreed not to be compensated. Unbelievably, this episode cost our associate nearly a £1000 in legal fees, plus hours of lost time, not to mention a whole lot of stress.

You'd be right to ask at this point, "Blimey! How did all this happen?" Well, it turns out that there is a clause in the contract that publishers present you with when you take out an advert or insert in their publications:

“the Buyer” shall mean the person placing the order for an Advertisement, whether or not that person is the Advertiser.

What this means is that if you, on behalf of your employer or a client, place an advert and that client or employer refuses to pay the bill, if your name is on the invoice, you will be pursued for the money. Now, we think this is outrageous. This clause can make an employee liable for the debt of their unscrupulous employer and the employer is under has no legal obliagtion to protect it's employees.

But the good news is, becuase of the recession, as advertisers, we now have a bit more leverage with the publications, which is why since the beginning of 2009, we insist that that clause is removed before we place an advert with anyone, and we advise all our clients to do the same. But even if you're not a client, we tell anyone who cares to listen, " If your boss (or client) asks you to take out an advert on their behalf, do it, but do it in their name."

As we said at the beginning, always, always, always read the contract...

A taste of things to come?

2009-02-06T05:39:00.000-08:00

I was in the supermarket recently and I walked down the soft drinks aisle and was warmed to see that Coke have repacked their famous beverage. It was like going back in time to better days. In what is probably a brave departure for Coke, they've stripped the bottle and can design back to basics. Red background, white type and a swoosh.

I think this is fantastic. And I say this for two reasons. Firstly; The packaging to date with it's bubbles, and swooshes, fizz effects, water droplets, drop shadows and 5 colour printing was in my mind more like a tutorial for Adobe Illustrator or Photoshop than a classic piece of packaging. All that pizzazz never really added anything to the brand and every new design seemed to be utilising every vector and layer trick in the book.

Secondly, years' ago I worked at an agency that dealt with Coke and regularly we had to adapt artwork from their supplied files and it drove me mad. It would be returned marked up showing how we'd missed off a miniscule bubble here or water droplet there - as if the future of absolutely everything hinged on this oversight. Added to that the files were so large they would take an age to process, so that the simple addition of a bubble required the processing power of a small nuclear facility. The lights in the office would visibly flicker when you pressed 'save'. I remember swearing under my breath for a return to the days of simplicity. And now those prayers have been answered – I should stress at this point that we don't work with Coke, and their decision wasn't influenced by my prayers (or maybe it was, they say he moves in mysterious ways). But all said, I'd just like to say, well done Coke.

I think over the next year we'll may see a trend emerge with this return to simplicity from other brands. Personally I say bring back the the old Pizza Hut logo, that was proper. I might even consider eating there again.
Do we really need highlights, drop shadows, water droplets reflections, shadows, pizzazz, jiggerypokerey, dancing clowns and pokerdots on our logos and brands? Does a static logo need
to appear as if it's in motion, bursting with energy implying excitement – yes I am still talking about Pizza Hut? These are questions worth asking. If the logo/logotype doesn't work in one colour, will the addition of whistles and bells make that much difference? The Coca Cola Company don't seem to think so.

Great News

2009-02-04T01:30:00.000-08:00

We are pleased to announce that we recently secured work with a major client after pitching for it early last week. We are keeping the details of this brief until we have more information. But we are looking forward to working closely with them over the next few months.

Good Service?

2009-01-12T05:00:00.000-08:00

I got an HTML email from a software company the other day – I won't name them – where they offered me an upgrade patch.

Okay, I may have sped read the email, but I clicked on the link and downloaded the patch and installed the software. I was then asked for the serial number of the software. I dug it out and entered it, but it wouldn't accept it. Puzzled by this I contacted their support service, who got back to me telling me I needed to pay $50 for the latest version of the software.

Puzzled further, I asked why I was on a mailing list that was sending me a patch for software I didn't have? Clearly they knew that I owned version of it, but not the one that needed patching. At no point had they communicated to me that a newer version was available, in fact the first I knew about it was when they sink me a link to the patch, which I assumed was for the version I already had...

This bothered me for a couple of reasons. First, it felt like a cheap scam trying to fleece me. Second, knowing that the product needed patching before I knew it existed put me off the idea of buying it completely. Their communications basically said: "We've got a faulty product, but here's the fix, er.. it costs $50 and er, um... it's new."

Then to compound things, when I pointed this out to them, the senior person dealing with it sent me an email saying they thought the email comms I was complaining about were innocuous... I replied stating that I was not impressed in the least bit with that as a reponse. He replied, sorry I didn't mean to send you that email, it was meant for a colleague...

They immediately issued an apology, an explanation and a discount voucher. However, I'm reluctant to take advantage of the discount because even with money off I'm left with the impression that the product isn't quite right and that the apology was issued for the customer service email gaffe and not my original complaint.

I think there's important lessons for everyone there.

Back in business!

2009-01-06T08:21:00.000-08:00

Apologies for not updating the Blog. Christmas just takes over, and before you know it it's new year and well, then it's nearly the middle of January... anyway we've actually only had a little time off over the festive period due to work commitments – but we're not complaining.

The early part of this year is already looking busy, which is fantastic news. A few of the clients that we picked up via the Deal Generator website have come back for repeat work which we put down to our attention to detail, not just to the work but to the working relationship.

Other projects are still on-going, including the website for a property development company that we started last year and may have mentioned before.

We are also pleased to announce that we are working on an extensive branding exercise for a web-based business, details of which we'll post when we have completed the initial stages of the project. All the signs to date are very encouraging so... watch this space for updates.

And of course, if you, dear visitor, are interested in getting a quote from us for any up coming projects, then please contact us via the website.

sign of the times

2008-12-11T01:16:00.000-08:00

Farewell Woolies. With only two weeks to go until Christmas it seems that every child's favourite high street store is soon to be no more - with closing down sales starting now. See the BBC website to find out the latest.

Woolies will always have a place in my heart because of its Pick 'n' Mix. What will you remember?

All about blogging... from the experts

2008-12-07T12:06:00.000-08:00

Click here to see Arianna Huffington (of Huffington Post fame) talk to Jon Stewart about blogging on the Daily Show. Looks like an interesting book for aspiring bloggers like me.

The Blog is Back

2008-12-04T12:11:00.001-08:00

We've been a little remiss lately - not blogging as often as we ought. Really bad when you look back at previous posts and see how we boasted about our Alexa ranking - and now we've crept up over the 1 million mark.

Watch this space and we will be keeping you posted about what's been going on in the world of Hughes Design.

Christmas is coming

2008-12-04T02:19:00.000-08:00

3 weeks to go until Christmas. What do you get for that music lover in your life? What about a pair of Ferguson Hill 007 speakers. Award winning, these speakers usually retail at £400, but are available online for only £200 when you quote XMAS when prompted.

Visit www.ferguson-hill.co.uk and have a look.

hughes design news: inBox

2008-12-02T01:26:00.000-08:00

Readers of our newsletter, inBox, will be aware of the great special offer that we are telling all our friends and followers about!

Thanks to our great relationship with Ferguson Hill, a longstanding client, we are delighted to be able to offer readers of inBox a massive 50% off the FH007 mini speaker system.

To get your hands on these award winning speakers simply buy online direct from Ferguson Hill entering XMAS as the offer code. Click Here to take advantage of this exclusive deal.

east-finchley.com

2008-11-10T06:55:00.000-08:00

One of our projects here at Hughes Towers has been the development and promotion of a community website for East Finchley. Now in its second year, it has a regular readership of at least 800 unique visitors per month and many repeat advertisers. To promote the website, the local cinema, the Phoenix, is screening this advertisement, when it can, before films. This film is also available to watch on YouTube.

Sensible-music goes live

2008-10-21T07:17:00.000-07:00

We're proud to announce that the Sensible Music Group website is now live. This has been a very exciting project for us being as we are big music fans here at HUGHES | DESIGN. Obviously not as big as fans as Sensible.

This site is a great show case for the kind of work we do. It's a bespoke design with a content management system. It also streams audio and video content, which is a first for us, or certainly in such quantities.

Design
When we first met with Sensible, they had some pretty clear ideas about the kind of site they wanted, and the features hey wanted in it. Being a recording complex with a sense of history, but also very cutting edge with some of today's biggest names passing in and out of the studio, it was necessary to try and get a balance between retro and modern.

The header and navigation are inspired by vintage guitar amps, the nav switches based on the those on the Mojave Ampworks Scorpion 50 watt amplifier head. The dimensions of the home page are based an a Carvin 212 BELAIR 2 x 12, 50W, all-tube combo guitar amp - just to give the site an authentic rock'n'roll feel.

We commissioned Ben Sullivan an illustrator to measure up the studio complex and then create the isometric illustrations used throughout the site and the interactive one that acts as a studio navigation on the Home page.

Technically, the site is part static and part content managed. The Equipment pages and Clients & Projects section have have a simple to use CMS (content management system) that allow Sensible to upload images and text descriptions of the recording and musical equipment they have available while the clients and projects section allows them to upload images of acts, along with streaming flash content of the recordings and or/videos that Sensible have been involved in. The system also allows Sensible to organise the Clients and Projects content in a top 100, alphabetical or a combination of both.

Visit the site at www.sensible-music.co.uk and see for yourself.

The site is so new, it's still being populated with content. So it could change while you are there.

From Lee Odden's blog on Viral Campaigns

2008-10-11T09:25:00.000-07:00

This is copied from Top Rank blog and was posted by Lee Odden, and I have pasted it (and included a link) to cut out that extra click.

"Viral makes you think of something horrible, right? Like an outbreak of a virus taking over the world’s population and turning us all into zombies? Well, trust me, when it comes to online promotions and link building, “viral” means “success”.

During the session this morning, we heard a lot of fantastic tips for how to create and promote viral campaigns. Fionn Downhill of Elixir Interactive gave some fantastic statistics about the use of social media for viral marketing purposes and how to leverage that to gain buzz for your product.

According to a recent Nielsen study, 78% of respondents trusted recommendations from consumers over what they read in the newspapers. This is nothing new, as word of mouth has always been one of the most trusted sources of information, but finding out where consumers are getting these recommendations (blogs, online media, etc.) is very important. Fionn also showed that 7 out of 10 Americans use the internet as their main news source. And guess what - journalists are online too! 97% of journalists use the internet to find resources for their stories, 79% use it to generate story ideas and 72% of journalists read blogs to find out what is going on in the online media space.

Keeping all of these statistics in mind, it is easy to see how a successful viral campaign can gain tons of coverage for a company or product. But how do you go about creating this campaign?

Jennifer Laycock of Search Engine Guide gave some fantastic tips on what to think about when planning out a viral campaign. She gave three very simple commandments to follow, under which every bit of planning should belong:

Thou Shalt Know Thy Costumer - in order to successfully market to the correct customers, you need to know a bit about those customers. Listen to their feedback and get involved in their online communities. This first hand knowledge will really come in handy when creating strategic messaging
Thou Shalt Be Remarkable - You must be different to get attention in this world. Creating the same old “me too” campaigns wont get nearly as much coverage and buzz as being the first to do something great. An amazing message should translate into an amazing company.
Though Shalt Try, Try Again - You can’t know what is going to happen with a campaign idea until you have initiated it and tested it out. Not all campaigns will be come viral. But with each new campaign you learn more about the process, more about the messaging and more about the consumer so the next time, you’ll get it right.

So, you have the plan underway, and you know what you want to do. But how do you actually get it done? Justilien Gaspard of Search Engine Watch and Chris Winfield of 10e20 both gave fantastic examples of how a campaign, marketed to the right people in the right places, will become viral within a few days.

Justilien stressed first that we need to have clear objectives. is the objective of this planned viral campaign to increase brand awareness? To launch a product? To gain new customers? To acquire thousands of inbound links? Once the objective is clarified, the plan will form around it.

A good strategy, Justilien said, is to find the people of interest, those who influence the space you are marketing in. These people could be the prominent bloggers in the industry, or the social media power users who have hundreds of friends and whose opinions everyone trusts.

Chris Winfield brought us through how to use social media to get the initial message out about our new campaign launch. Since social media is basically word of mouth marketing after drinking a lot of Red Bull, beginning a conversation within the social media sphere can be very successful. Chris shared this step-by-step progression that a viral campaign could follow on its way to popularity:

So, you have a story that was submitted to Digg, and makes it to page 1. This is seen as Mecca for some marketers, and here is why: Now you are getting 1,000s of visitors to your site every few minutes. Bloggers, who need content to write about, find this Digg top story and share it on their blog. Other bloggers see it and write about it as well. Now the individual readers of the blog see this coverage and share the cool piece of content with their friends via IM or email. Journalists - as Fionn stated above - also read the blogs to get ideas for new stories and they could write about this piece of content as well. Now you have mass exposure in multiple media sources from one tiny little link on a popular site. Excellent.

In order to keep this success going for future viral campaigns, the basic steps spoken by the entire panel were to outline a clear objective when starting the campaign, make sure the content is good and relevant, take time contributing to online communities to spark life within social media and make all pieces of the campaign work together.

What are some of your favorite tactics for promoting viral campaigns?

And be sure to check out all of TopRank’s coverage of SES San Jose and sessanjose08 Photos."

online pr

2008-10-10T08:28:00.000-07:00

Click here to see a funny film about online dating - just more interesting than me writing about online press releases as I was going to.

My bank's now a trendy wine bar!

2008-10-02T05:28:00.000-07:00

Oh, those were the days! When the most irritating thing about banking was the TV advert about lack of local branches. Well recent events have changed all that, and will no doubt change the advertising landscape too. Imagine an advert for Sleepezee mattresses "Did your bank squander your pension by indirectly lending it to a long term unemployed man from South Carolina so he could buy an over-priced wooden house? Well now you can Sleepezee knowing your money is safe under our mattress with it's 'Unique Savings Deposit Underpocket' – you'll never need of a bank again! This of course will be broadcast in the middle of TVs next big hit game show: Who'd like their job back?

That aside, no matter what happens on the other side of the Atlantic, we've all got to look closer to home to and find ways to keep our businesses going, to keep our customers loyal, so we can all be trading in 18 months time and be stronger for it...

So, the last thing you'd probably want to hear about now is an "investment opportunity". But here it is: Invest in your own company.

How? Simply spend a little time and energy communicating with not only your customers, but with your competitors customers. Talk with those who have ever inquired about your business, catch up with the people who've stuck their head around the door and had a nose but never purchased. Hunt down those who've shopped elsewhere but are now shopping around for deals.

Here are a few tips:
1: Think Long Term: Invest in your company by investing in your marketing and communications
2: Raise the Bar: Look at what your competitors are doing – and then do it better
3: Talk: Stay in communication with your customers
4: Gold Stars for Everyone: Reward customers for loyalty & reward new customers for switching
5: Look Up, Look Down: Be as focused on your customers as you are on the bottom line.

If you need any advise on how to invest in yourself, then please feel free to contact us. We may not be able to offer to dizzying returns promised by Financial Gurus – but then neither did they.

But what we can do is help you get your message out there – with a big effect on your customers and modest impact on your pocket.

HIT ME! How to get your business to punch its weight on line

2008-10-02T04:14:00.000-07:00

Did we blog about this before? Some time ago, Mike produced an eBook for Fresh Business Thinking (those of you Hughes|Design aficianados will have seen it in our Showcase) but if you would like to read and hear all about Online Marketing, Online PR and the like, click here.
You will have to give up your email address, but there is some interesting stuff in there.

money 2.0

2008-09-27T07:52:00.000-07:00

after the dot com crash came web 2.0, so remember where you first read about money 2.0. The new banking system that will emerge once these tumultuous days are over...

every day that passes, it feels like the end of the world BUT it will bring new and different opportunities. When these opportunities arise grab them, and then get in touch with Hughes|Design for your logo and all your print and web requirements.

In the meantime, need some cheering up?

It is all about the blog...

2008-09-17T05:53:00.001-07:00

Optimising our website is going strong, and this is probably as a result of this blog. Using www.alexa.com to chart our progress, we are now ranked as 896,788 in the world. Interesting to note that many of our page views are from Turkey. It would be good to think that this is as a result of the book cover that we did for Mahmut Suner (see August blogs).

Or are McCain and Obama as bad as each other?

2008-09-15T09:37:00.000-07:00

Click here to find out.

If you're not watching the stock exchange slump

2008-09-15T02:25:00.000-07:00

Watch this instead!

A little something to watch while the economy slows down

2008-09-15T01:55:00.000-07:00

The Daily Show

open source browser - google chrome

2008-09-10T03:53:00.000-07:00

Click here to read a slightly technical but accessible explanation of the virtues of Google Chrome, the new browser from Google.

Best of all, as the official Google blog says, "We owe a great debt to many open source projects, and we're committed to continuing on their path. We've used components from Apple's WebKit and Mozilla's Firefox, among others -- and in that spirit, we are making all of our code open source as well. We hope to collaborate with the entire community to help drive the web forward."

Sharing knowledge is what the internet is all about.

Let the sunshine in!

2008-09-08T08:07:00.000-07:00

Let Hughes Design bring sunshine into your life!
Brimming with ideas, we can offer you a fresh perspective on all your marketing materials. Click here to get inspired by our showcase.
From design for print and web to copywriting and website content management, Hughes Design provides the sunshine needed to propagate the green shoots of recovery!
Sign off work by the end of October and get a 10% discount on your existing rate!
Introduce a new client and get a preferential rate until 30 September 2009!

Design by committee

2008-09-02T00:46:00.000-07:00

A few years ago a consultant to a Housing Group came to me in a quandary. A designer he had used many many times, whom he respected and trusted, had supplied him with a rather under-whelming logo for a Housing Group he was working with. The consultant just couldn't understand what had happened. Had he upset the designer? Or was the designer just not interested or had they misread the brief? He asked if I wouldn't I mind looking at it, to see if I could work out what had happened.

The next day I received a 20 plus page word document, and it soon became clear what had happened. It was filled with market research, charts, surveys, questionnaires and graphs about colours, themes and elements that the tenants and staff of the housing group liked, with percentages next to the most and least popular. The results were: Blue, the sea and the sun. Not unreasonably from this the designer produced a blue logotype, with a wave and a yellow circle to represent the sun. Unfortunately the solution used all the visual short hand of a Travel Agency.

What had happened here was the committee – in this case the staff and tenants of the Housing Group – through a survey which was based on series of compromises, had democratically dictated the corporate identity for the group. As far as I know none of those involved had purchased creative services before but their opinions were key to the creation of the briefing document.

But, the survey in itself wasn't the problem. Surveys like this are useful if only for an overview of the organisation. No, the problem lay in the brief. It completely failed to ask the designer to have any creative ideas on behalf of the Housing Group. Clearly they acknowledged that they themselves lacked the skill set to create a logo for themselves which is why they appointed a designer. But then they shackle the designer with this well intentioned but ultimately misleading document. The designer does their best to meet the brief as they see it, with results that completely flummox the client.

It was only when I pointed out to the consultant, that according to their own research 53% of those surveyed had agreed that they would be satisfied with a blue logo with a wave and a sun, did they then re-brief the designer, removing the survey, and appointing one person with decision making responsibilities to oversee the project. After a second attempt, I'm happy to report that they got the logo they wanted.

HUGHES | DESIGN will be producing a handy guide to purchasing creative services, and how to avoid the design by committee pitfalls. Keep and eye out here for more details.

Why waste your money on design?!

2008-08-30T01:24:00.000-07:00

If you've got a minute (and you're interested in this kind of thing) watch this. It is so funny that we can even forgive the people who created it.

Home Sweet Home

2008-08-29T06:26:00.000-07:00

All back in London after our working holiday and the office is now up and running again, with hopefully a seamless transition. If you did experience any difficulties in communicating with us, please let us know, so we can make sure that it doesn't happen again.

Moving forward, we've a couple of exciting projects in the pipeline, including a new website for the Finchley Charities, a 500 year old charity that supplies housing, the continuation of work for the London Clinic and projects for Trinity PR and the imminent completion of the Sensible Studios website.

Following that, next month we have projects including an annual report for a new client in the Shetland Islands, who we met via the Deal Generator. Progress will also be made on the website for a property development company we're involved with.

Of course with the continuing gloomy news on the economic front, you may think that now might be the time to tighten the belt on the design and communications front. But studies show that actually companies that spend through a slowdown or downturn tend to be stronger when the economic cycle picks up. Basic rule of thumb being; you should never let your customers forget you are there. We of course are here to advise on how to do this with cost effective solutions to keep you in your customers mind.

If you have any projects coming up that you'd think we might be able to help you with, please contact us at HUGHES | DESIGN on info@hughes-design.co.uk

Scuba Datça

2008-08-18T14:11:00.000-07:00

Mahmut Suner, underwater adventurer, cinematographer, former dive centre owner, and neighbour to us here in Datça, asked us to look at the jacket for his new book on the dive sites of the seas around the peninsular.

Mahmut has published 4 books over the years, his most recent being The Dive Sites of Bodrum where he lived up until recently.

The new book, like his others is to be published in English and Turkish, so we needed a solution that was bi-lingual – so we tried a few options. The strongest solution was simply Scuba Datça.

The word Datça also presented us with the opportunity to be playful with the cedilla – which we experimented with, intiall trying it as a fish, a diver in scuba gear, eventually settling on making it an air supply and mask.
We then combined this typography with some stunning under water photography, the results of with are published below.

Mahmut was very pleased with the results.

So, much so, we think we can confidently describe Mahmut Suner as an underwater adventurer, cinematographer, former dive centre owner, neighbour to us here in Datça... and a happy client too.

The perfect work/life balance

2008-08-08T23:20:00.000-07:00

School summer holidays can be expensive for working parents, childcare suddenly rockets and a certain amount of guilt can set in. As an experiment this year we have relocated our business to Villa Diva in Datca, Turkey, where there is broadband in the house and wireless by both pools. A Blackberry means that we can see what is coming in, when it comes in and for peace and quiet one of us can work from the house while the other stays by the pool keeping an eye on the children.

Thinking Linked-in...

2008-07-29T03:55:00.000-07:00

Back in the mid nineties, both Julia and I worked at BCA – Book Club Associates – recognised then as one the leading players in the DM business. We produced full page adverts and inserts in the press selling book club membership around the simple proposition of 4 books for 99p. Admittedly, the work wasn't the most exciting, but the people and the atmosphere at the office more than made up for this. The other great thing about BCA was that it was full of marketers, copywriters and art directors/designers and we all socialised together regularly.

Over the years as that group has moved on, many of us have remained in touch. This loose affiliation have helped each other out with freelance work and recommendations, staying in contact, first through email and more recently with the likes of Facebook, Myspace and Linked-in.

Recently we (HUGHES | DESIGN) needed a Heavyweight copywriter on a project and we were trying work out if knew anyone from the old days. At roughly the same time an old colleague from back then, whom I was in touch with already on Facebook, asked for a recommendation on Linked-in. Now this probably says more about me, but it never crossed my mind to think of this ex-colleague as a professional when I'd be in contact with them on Facebook. It took an e-mail from Linked-in to make the professional connection and prod me into action. Suffice to say they did they did the copywriting job too.

So is it just me who when on Facebook sees it purely as social tool? Or should I increasingly be thinking that Facebook presents business opportunity to network? Should I be using Linked-in to be sociable? I've heard tell of a man who if you buy him lunch, will give you access to his thousands of friends on Facebook and in return you can market your product or service to his contact book. Is this really the future of marketing or just one man's plan to eat well? If it's anything, it's certainly food for thought.

What's with the blog?

2008-07-24T02:04:00.001-07:00

Mike and I have been watching our website creep up Alexa's traffic ranking table, we are currently 919,917 - and, between you and me, I am pretty pleased about this. The blog is a little experiment in search engine optimisation: everyone knows that content is king, so let's see if a blog makes a difference.

www.east-finchley.com: one year on

2008-07-20T01:48:00.000-07:00

Our involvement with this project came after we responded to an article in our local newspaper, The Archer, where Paul of the Phoenix Cinema and Jana of the Noble Sage Art Gallery were suggesting that local businesses should get together to put East Finchley on the map - in its rightful place alongside better known neighbours such as Muswell Hill, Highgate and Hampstead. Meetings were called,traders were interested, and REEF (the Regeneration and Enhancement of East Finchley) was born.

The first projects included a website, and this went live one year ago. In addition to providing local news from the Phoenix Cinema, The Archer and general sources, the website is becoming an online directory for local businesses with its free listing facility. Paid advertising slots have also proved popular, so popular in fact that we have had to build in capacity!

HIT ME! How to get your business to punch its weight on line

2008-07-16T07:03:00.000-07:00

It's not very often that a project comes your way that challenges you to find innovative solutions, pushes you to flex your creative muscles while educating you on how to improve your own business. The HIT ME! eBook, which we are just putting the finishing touches on, just so happens to be one such project.

The Brief was simple and very open: Fresh Business Thinking asked us to create an eBook from a series of interviews with several renowned Internet Marketing experts about specific aspects of online marketing... that was it. No Title. No preferred format. Just a deadline and a budget.

First up, we asked ourselves, what exactly is an eBook? There doesn't seem to be an established format. There's Adobe Digital Editions, Mobipocket Reader and Microsoft Reader which are all software interfaces to manage/read downloaded "eBooks" – but no default/industry standard, like the ubiquitous 'pdf'.

The second consideration was that the content of the interviews for the book were all about the internet and internet marketing. Logically any eBook produced, would need to be internet based and marketed using the techniques outlined in the eBook.

So we needed a suitable supplier to help us create our eBook. We recommended www.yudu.com to Fresh Business Thinking.

We first came across Yudu publishing last year when we were working on Welcome 2 The Fun House book with Terrence Brake from TMA. At one point during that project TMA proposed publishing an on-line version of The Fun House, but upon reflection they decided against – their preferred delivery method for The Fun House was a hardback.

But with HIT ME!, there would only be a digital edition.

Having never published with Yudu before, we were initially weary of their promises that creating digital editions was simple, straightforward etc. Their online examples were very persuasive, their trial even more so. In fact, we're so impressed we would be hard pressed to be convinced to used any other supplier for a project like this. Not only is the end product interface attractive and easy to use, actually constructing the online edition is relatively simple too; the only caveat being that you need to have a basic understanding of publishing/layout etc...

That aside, the process is really simple. Create your book in your usual layout package, ie InDesign or QuarkXPress. Output the document as a pdf. Upload to Yudu via the account login area and then follow the instructions. Once there, you can move pages around, add AV content and create links out to relevant websites. Then publish. So simple it deserves to be the industry standard.

As for HIT ME! The book itself is full of useful advice and tips about how to improve your business online and it's not just for e-commerce businesses. The lessons within can be applied to all types of businesses. We've applied them ours, and have learned many useful tips which we can now pass on to our clients.

So, thank-you to Fresh Business Thinking, and best wishes for a successful launch of HIT ME! We hope it will be as positive an experience for you and your client as it was for us.

A break in Cornwall

2008-07-15T04:34:00.000-07:00

If you're looking to go to Cornwall, click here.

Set in five acres of land, Tredarras is a 17th Century restored farmhouse. For more information contact Robin at Tredarras Altarnun Cornwall PL15 7SF
Email: senorbob@mac.com

Entrepreneurs in London

2008-07-13T09:14:00.000-07:00

Taking advantage of a little downtime on a Sunday afternoon, I have been blogging about EiL on the Fresh Business Thinking trade space on BT Trade Space. This is an event that is taking place on 20 November 2008. Entrepreneurs in London is a one day extravaganza with speakers ranging from Ben Way (one of the original and youngest UK dot-com millionaires) to Lawrence Dallaglio the former England Rugby Captain and Zac Goldsmith, Green Social Entrepreneur (and adviser to the Conservative Party on green issues). Should be really interesting. Find out more click here.

Blogging and BT Tradespace are all new experiences for me, and I will wait to see how effective the blogging turns out to be for EiL, but also how this one works for Hughes-Design and its ranking on search engines.

We Love East Finchley

2008-07-09T08:52:00.000-07:00

Thursday 10th July saw a flurry of e-mails regarding the looming pavement tax in East Finchley, London. What this is is a local tax enforced by the borough council on high street retailers who use the footpath to display their wares. Why does this concern us? Well, some of these businesses are our customers, and from time to time we are asked to produce content for their 'A' boards. Should the council implement the tax, then retailers have indicated that they would remove the taxable items rather than pay, so there goes a revenue stream... of course, being a creative agency, we would suggest alternative ways to promote their offerings, but frankly we think that flower displays outside our florists and furniture outside our cafés add colour to the area, so we'd rather join the retailers and dispute this tax.

So, with this in mind, and support from fellow members of REEF (Regeneration and Enhancment of East Finchley) we used the website we created to promote EF to raise awareness of this issue and try and get some public support behind the campaign with an entertaining editorial...

PAV£M£NT TAX...
It has come to our attention here at EF.com that Barnet Council wish to introduce a pavement tax on local businesses who wish to advertise their wares on the High Street. In the first instance the council claim that 'A' boards, flower arrangements or street furniture are a potential danger to pedestrians – quite right too in this age of Health and Safety. But, if retailers pay them a quarterly fee, it turns out they can put these "hazards" back on the street! It seems to us here at EF.com that there's some muddled thinking going on. Many people feel that the tables outside our cafés, and the flower displays outside our florists add character to the area. But it's not just the retailers who are upset by this, one local resident, Harriet Copperman summed it up best "How can something like this be right or wrong depending on whether or not money is paid - isn't that akin to bribery?". She has a point. So will this tax go towards all the insurance claims generated by the lethal obstacle course that is our High Street? Or is it going to used to plug holes somewhere else in the council's budget?...

You can find out more at www.east-finchley.com

2008-07-09T06:45:00.000-07:00

Right now we're focusing our attention on promoting our business, with the sole intention of increasing our profile to attract new business. While we are busy at the moment with 2 two major website projects, and many print projects, our gut feeling is that things seem to be slowing down.

With this in mind we are actually stepping up our marketing activity, adding pages to our website, creating this new blog and reaching out to our customer base and collecting testimonials – an exercise that has been entirely successful in so much as hearing from clients that we haven't heard from in a while, and getting glowing references to add to our site.

Here are a few samples:
"(The exhibition stand you created) attracted so much attention in our products that I was interviewed by the local TV station!"
Alistair Frost CEO
Vitec Air Systems Limited

or

"Throrough, detailed and creative. Refreshing to find a creative agency that listens and understands the business goals."
Christopher Crosby
TMA - Transnational Management Associates Ltd.

So big thanks Chris and Alistair for these and everyone else who said great things about us.