Microsoft has announced that IE is to start automatic upgrades across Windows XP, Windows Vista, and Windows 7.

It’s brilliant news.

Users will be automatically updated to the latest version of IE for their version of Windows (IE8 on XP, IE9 on Vista and 7) ensuring that they will be experiencing the web at it’s best. This is also great news for website owners, managers and developers, who will need to support fewer old browser versions.

Users user’s home page, search provider, and default browser will unchanged when the browser updates, and if users prefer not to update, they can use an Automatic Update Blocker to ensure they only update when they are good and ready. Good news for Microsoft’s enterprise customers. Users can also choose to uninstall the updated if they wish.

The main benefits of this move are cited as security, a better experience for users and less development overhead for website stakeholders.

Ryan Gavin, Microsoft’s senior director for Internet Explorer explains:

“We want to make updating to the best protection possible as fast and simple as we can for Windows customers. IE is how millions of Windows customers connect to the Web, so keeping that part of Windows updated at all times is critical to keeping them safe online. With automatic updates enabled through Windows Update, customers can receive IE9 and future versions of Internet Explorer seamlessly without any “update fatigue” issues.”

“Wider deployment of the most up-to-date browser benefits the Web in other ways as well. Developers and online businesses can rely on better browsers to deliver richer and more capable Web experiences. We built IE9 with a focus on modern web standards and interoperability so that developers could spend less time coding for specific browsers and spend more time building the next big thing on the Web. More of the Web running an HTML5 capable browser, vs. something built ten years ago, is a great thing for developers and the businesses they support.”

This move will help reduce the amount of people on IE6, something Microsoft are promoting, as discussed in Suzanne’s article, Be Browser Smart.

This is a win-win situation for everybody. Huzzah!

Read more on Microsoft’s blog

For some reason business-to-business (b2b) customers are often treated differently to business-to-consumers (b2c). The way services are presented to business customers tends to lack the finesse of consumer-focused services. The user experience for business customers seems to have lost out to productivity and profitability, but I think it’s time for a change.

I have wondered for a very long time why so many businesses consider the communications they have with other business so differently to those with consumers. It sometimes seems as though while consumers are considered as a group of individuals, business customers are treated in a far less personal way. This can lead to a far less engaging experience for the people in business that experience brands aimed at business. Luckily many companies have cottoned on to this and have improved the way they market to b2b customers.

But whilst many business-to-business brands have upped their game over the last few years with slick websites and marketing communications, spreadsheets and business applications, forms and reports still often lack the sophistication of consumer applications. Why shouldn’t business processes be as engaging and efficient as iTunes, Flickr and Facebook?

The user economy in general is demanding a better user experience and as brands apply the same elegant digital, social and mobile efficiencies that are driving modern consumer applications to b2b products, they’re creating deeper loyalty and brand value.

There are a growing number of online products that are aimed at the B2B market that incorporate better UI design to deliver a more engaging experience. The design industry, ever being an early adopter of such things, and seeing its value, has seen a fair few well designed products offered to them, a good example being solo by thrive software (below) which is aimed at freelance designers.

Apple, of course, do some great, easy to use, beautifully designed business applications in their iWork suite. They are also releasing an online version, currently in beta, known as iWork.com

Marketeers and product managers take note; these and other products that are leading B2B communications and applications into a shiny new age of slick, user focused user engagement so it makes very good business sense to invest in good UI design for your apps, websites and other digital communications. Does anyone have any more examples of good UI design in B2B applications or communications?

Being someone who is probably a little more more obsessed with typography than most a couple of great HTML5 sites have appeared recently that have caused just a little friendly competition in the studio.

This kerning game is not only infuriatingly addictive but a great demonstration of what’s now possible in HTML5 using the latest web browsers such as Chrome, Firefox, Safari and also multitouch devices such as tablets and smart phones.

Instructions
Your mission is simple: achieve pleasant and readable text by distributing the space between letters. Typographers call this activity kerning. Your solution will be compared to typographer’s solution, and you will be given a score depending on how close you nailed it. Good luck!

The studio best score is 95% so do let us know if anyones beats it as you’re obviously a typographic genius.

As well as the kerning game there is another challenge based around the shape and form of characters where you have to complete the letter shapes concerned. Again, wonderfully addictive and provides a real insight into how type foundries and type designers really have such an amazing eye for detail to craft the multitude of typefaces that designers are able to use in their work.

Responsive Web Design is the term given to an approach to design and development where a site should respond to the environment it’s being viewed upon. This in turn means responding to the user’s screen size, viewing platform and orientation.

To try and clarify the above let me set out a scenario of how a user may interact with a website over a period of time. Firstly someone may browse a website at work on their desktop/laptop, then while travelling may visit the same website on their smart phone and then later that evening maybe visit it again on a iPad.

So there we have a set of varying devices to think about, each with its own intricacies. The desktop computer may have one of the many popular web browsers; Firefox, Chrome, Internet Explorer (not to mention any of the multiple versions of each), Smartphones have different operating systems and mobile browsers and the same again with tablet computers. Confusing as it may be this is becoming a real aspect of designing for the digital realm.

Often clients ask about having an ‘iPhone’ version of their site which is fine given the amount of people who actually own such an Apple device but where should they stop? Creating specific versions of a website for multiple platforms/resolutions would be impractical, there is hardly time to keep up with the march of technological development let alone researching the intricacies of each device/platform to design a site specific to it.

For years web designers and developers have been used to creating their pixel perfect web designs in specific resolutions and testing them so they work and look amazing with the multitude of desktop based web browsers (leaving IE6 out of the equation) and have become very good at it. Now, mobile browsing is growing at an astonishing rate and bringing with it another set of considerations.

So do you really know how your audience will engage with your website? Right now you could check your website in over 100 different configurations and still not be done so the answer is probably no.

Obviously in context certain businesses know their target audience and can safely create a great website that works on a desktop computer and works well enough on mobile platforms but could responsive website design be an answer to the ever changing landscape of web design?

Building one responsive website could eliminate the need for multiple design and development phases for each new gadget that comes onto the market.

An example of responsive web design is shown below. The 8faces website responds to the device the you are browsing on displays a version of the site to suit, therefore enhancing the users experience of the site on their particular platform. The website designs go through a reductive process, removing imagery, etc to display content at a more legible size on devices with smaller screens thus serving up the information the user needs and nothing else.

So in conclusion I think websites need to become more responsive and therefore so should digital designers, after all technology will continue to develop ever faster and we need to adapt to how the relevant audiences are consuming media and deliver a greater user experience whatever it’s consumed on.

Since I first wrote about QR Codes here, public awareness seems to have grown about these nifty shortcuts to information for Smartphone users, but I haven’t seen many uses that make me think ‘wow’. But Tesco’s innovative use of them to solve a business problem is exemplary.

The problem
In South Korea, Tesco (known locally as Homeplus) are second in sales to E-Mart due in part to E-mart having lots more stores. Homeplus wanted to gain a bigger market share, but instead of purchasing or building new stores, they used some creative thinking. Realising that South Koreans are among the hardest working nations, Homeplus found a clever way of solving their problem, by taking the store to the customer.

The solution
Homeplus created a virtual store in a subway, with displays that look similar to those in the real stores, but customers can scan QR codes printed next to each product to add them to their basket in their online store. The customer can finalise purchases then check out and their purchases are delivered to their homes, maximising their free time.

The result
Online sales between November 2010 and January 2011 increased by 130 percent, with the number of registered members rising by 76 percent. Homeplus has become the number one online store and has raised the stakes in the offline market.

On the flip side – sportsmen and teams net huge gains from endorsing products; this poster from 2008 features three of the world’s leading sportsmen who are said to have netted £8, 000,000 between them for participating.

So when did this relationship begin? It is not known exactly but – back in 1895 Colman’s mustard produced a full-colour advertisement, in which a bushy bearded W. G. Grace strides forth from the pavilion accompanied by the tagline “Colman’s Mustard Heads the Field”. This is the first recording of a sporting figure crossing over into mainstream product endorsement.

According to his biographer Robert Low it is not known how much how much Grace was paid for these photos.

“But he was a master of self-promotion. His annual earnings from cricket reached something like £100,000 at his peak – in modern values – despite the fact that he was supposed to be an amateur. I’m sure he drove a hard bargain.”

Wimbledon have 15 sponsors this year – netting them millions in advertising revenue. My favourite campaign has to be this one created by FedEx the parcel delivery brand, who, for the duration of the tournament this year have turned Southfields, the nearest London Underground, into a lawn tennis court. It’s a witty and light-hearted way to promote their brand and uses the tagline ‘Live to Deliver’.

It does however seem that the rules have become militant – they now have a policy of confiscating any items (foodstuff’s/caps etc) if they are made by anyone other than an official sponsor and the branding is prominent. A Wimbledon spokesperson said “It is common policy across sports events to do this because commercial companies pay for the privilege to be associated with these events”.

Quick Response (QR) codes are popular in Japan, and are starting to gain acceptance in europe and the US. Have you seen these little squares of black and white pixels and wondered what they are for? This article explains what they are, gives you a couple to try out and highlights their marketing potential.

What are they?

Well, they are a two dimensional matrix barcode which are readable by dedicated barcode readers and camera phones. They are made up of black modules arranged in a square pattern on a white background. They contain encoded information that is typically text of a URL, but can contain other data. They can be read by special barcode scanners, or by a modern cameraphone. I downloaded i-nigma for my iphone, which seems to work well, and is also available on Android phones.

Who makes them?

Well, they are free from any kind of licence, so anyone can make them. There are various websites that allow you to encode your message as a QR code. Here are a few:
http://qrcode.kaywa.com/
http://www.i-nigma.com
http://www.qurify.com/en/

Here’s a couple I made earlier, with a bit of VGroup customisation. Try scanning them if you like, the first one is a website link, and the second our contact details.

Will they work for marketing?

Perhaps. The main thing to think about is why anyone would bother to scan your QR code. It has to give them something they want, or make something easier, like adding contact information, or any other information that is printed, but would be useful if it was digital.

While this technology is still a novelty, slapping a code on some marketing material may seem a good way to appear current, but there is a danger that without being useful you will be ignored, or annoy people.

What can they be used for?

• They could be added to produce to provide added nutritional information, recipe suggestions or where it has been produced on groceries.
• You could add access to free giveaways, such as wallpapers…
• Add a code to a poster that can be scanned for a walking map from the poster location to the venue. (An extremely long URL – such as a Google Map with directions – can be a simple scan code!)
• Links to product pages on posters showing multiple products

• They could contain calendar info for events – save the date, time and place straight to your calendar.
• Codes to unlock extra levels in computer games, or download bonus tracks on a CD.
• Or added functionality in software, plugins, templates etc.
• They could be added to clothes labels to track back where the clothes were made
• On business cards they can make it easy to save all contact info, and likewise on event nametags.
• In shop windows or point of sale displays

• Add personal info to tattoos (temporary or otherwise), clothing, accessories or possessions.

Don’t be left behind, upgrade your web browser from Internet Explorer 6. Although most people tend to use newer browsers, there is still 12% of the world using IE6, which is in fact 9% less than the previous year. I read an article by Microsoft which explained the countdown of the usage of IE6 to less than 1%.

It has been 10 years since IE6 was born, as we all well know much has changed on the web during this time and so maybe it is worth thinking about upgrading if you haven’t already. Here are just a few of the ‘key’ benefits to help you identify progress and functionality currently available by upgrading your browser:

• Faster web browsing
• Better security and privacy
• Support for new technologies and web standards
• Improved reliability
• Rich user experience

And so slowly but surely Microsoft are dedicated to watching the usage of IE 6 drop to less than 1% worldwide, so all web developers can breathe a little sigh of relief.

Popular browsers you could consider using are:
Mozilla Firefox
Microsoft Internet Explorer
Google Chrome
or Safari on the Mac

VGroup love typography! It is a vital part of what we do, from choosing typefaces, creating logotypes to typesetting long documents, so I thought I’d share some of the basic rules we follow. Professional typography is complex and hard to master, but getting a few simple things right will make all the difference.

But first of all, what is typography? Well, whether I say ‘My name is Bryan’ out loud, write it on a napkin, type it on a computer or print it on a billboard, it is still words, or text—whereas the act of typing it on a computer, or printing it involves typography. It’s not what you write; it’s the way you write it. It is the visual appearance of writing.

I am not talking about choosing a font, although that’s an important part of typography; I’m talking about the details of setting type. Before I lose the non-designers, this is aimed at you, and it’s important. Practising graphic designers and typographers reading this article should know this stuff already.

Why is it important to me? Because non-designers, and specifically VGroup’s clients, are finding themselves increasingly in control of typography, in the documents and presentations they create in-house, and on their websites via a Content Management System (CMS). And it isn’t really for you; it is for your reader. That always seems obvious to us, as we usually work with words that someone else has written. But it is harder if you are a writer who has to do your own typography, and you need to see typography from the perspective of the reader rather than the writer. In short, you need to make the words as easy to read as possible if you want people to read your work.

Here are a couple of basic rules that will help with composition.

Straight or Curly Quotes
Straight quotes are the generic single ( ‘ ) or double ( ” ) quotation marks found near the return key on your keyboard.

Sometimes referred to as ‘smart quotes’, curly quotes are how quotes should look; the left single quote ( ‘ ), the right single quote ( ’ ), the left double quote ( “ ), and the right double quote ( ” ). 66 and 99, my dad used to refer to them as.

Straight quotes come from mechanical typewriters, where they substituted curly quotes because there was not space to have two keys for the different quote marks. Word processors automatically create curly quotes, so there’s no excuse for using them.

If you are creating content on the web, there may be times when the quotes don’t look quite right. If that’s the case, or if your quotes come out as straight quotes, replace them in the HTML code with:

Left double quote — “
Right double quote — ”
Left single quote — ‘
Right single quote — ’
(including English possessives and contractions)

It can be tricky to see if you are using curly quotes on screen at small sizes, especially if you are using a typeface that uses slanted rather than traditional curly quotes, but when you get it right it makes your writing easier to read and understand.

Double Spaces
Always put one space between sentences after the full stop or after any punctuation. This is not a discretionary rule*, despite the popularity of double spaces. No matter what anyone has told you in the past, only ever put exactly one space between sentences. Adding extra spaces is an obsolete practice, and will interrupt the balance of white space in the text, making it harder to read.

*OK, there’s an exception, if you’re forced to use a monospaced typeface, like an old manual typewriter. Or if you’re using an old manual typewriter.

Next article, Hyphens and dashes…

There’s something brewing over at Starbucks HQ. And it’s not just the coffee. To celebrate its upcoming 40th anniversary Starbucks have launched a new logo set to be rolled out across its stores in March.

Starbucks opened for business on March the 30^th, 1971 in Seattle, Washington. The company was named after Starbuck, the captain’s first mate in the novel Moby Dick. The original logo was based on a 17th-century Norse woodcut depicting a topless siren with a double fish tail. With a coffee brown colour scheme, the circular ring surrounding the mythological mermaid figure contained the text  “Starbucks – Coffee – Tea – Spices”. The overall image was designed to resemble a cigar band label.

Howard Schulz joined the company in 1982, and having been inspired on a trip to Italy to bring the espresso bar and café culture to America went on to create the cafe ‘Il Giornale’. He later purchased Starbucks and merged the two to create the Starbucks Corporation.

Elements of the Il Giornale logo were retained and integrated into the second version of the logo, which was used from 1987– 92, the drawing was refined; and a little more befitting of a new corporate image. The siren’s modesty is now covered by her streamlined flowing hair, but her navel was still visible, and the fish tail was cropped slightly.

A third revision of the logo in use from 1992 – 2011 crops the image of the mermaid to a close-up view. The mermaid’s tails on either side are mostly obscured which creates some mystery and question for those unfamiliar with the provenance of the brand.

The new logo releases the name from the symbol. It is a bold move, but with 16,858 branches and a presence in 50 countries worldwide arguably a justifiable one. In terms or brand recognition, they are now aligned with other companies such as Apple, Nike, Shell and Vodafone. The advantage of a word free logo is that it translates more easily across digital media and abroad.

The rationale behind this step indicates that Starbucks intends to roll their brand out across a wider range of products and are now free to do so without the constraints of the word ‘coffee’ in their logo. Starbucks chief executive Howard Schultz said: “What is really important here is an evolutionary refinement of the logo, which is a mirror image of the strategy”.