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

It has been documented in recent news that protestors in Athens have taken to the streets and used graffiti art to vent their frustrations on the walls of Athens. Graffiti can also been found on stone from ancient Greece. Ironically the word ‘graffiti’ comes from Greek ‘graphein’, meaning ‘to write’. The image shown here is a wall depicting rain clouds over Athens.

Closer to home, here in Brighton you can often see the graffiti artists at work

and we have been told that the ‘king’ of graffiti around the world is an artist named ARYZ.

Brighton image via Flickr/Drift Words
Athens Graffiti image (thumbnail) via Metro

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.

The powerful link between music and fashion has been cleverly explored in this award winning campaign promoting a Singapore based online music store. When clothes are tried on, the fitting room automatically plays music that suits the garment, tells the shopper about the music, and allows them to purchase it online.

Electronic tags are added to clothes labels that are detected by readers installed in fitting rooms of fashion stores. The contactless Radio-Frequency Identification (RFID) tag then transmits data about the item of clothing’s style and type and automatically plays a track from the StarHub Music Store that matches the fashion style.

The heady mix of music and fashion was followed up by beaming a proximity text message to the shopper’s mobile inviting them to download the track. The results were stunning, with an average click-through rate of 84%. Paid music downloads increased by over 21%. Not to mention how cool this made StarHub in the eyes of young shoppers.

Watch the video to see how they did it.

I recently read an article about the rebranding of Chester zoo by Manchester based agency ‘Music’. They have created a bespoke hand drawn font for the new identity in conjunction with illustrator Adam Hayes. There is a primary face in 4 weights for flexibility and a secondary face playfully incorporating animal themed quirks.

The playful vibe of the typograpghy echoes the nature of the zoo well. The palette is refreshing and vibrant. There is a delightful, fun and tactile quality to the overall look. It works particularly well coupled with the charming but slightly gauche illustration. The poster looks fit for any aspiring zoologist’s bedroom wall!

It reminded me of a campaign I had seen previously for a series of posters released to promote the ‘Kids Park Zoo’ in Dubai which show a snapshot of chatty dialogue between some of the animals. The illustration is charmingly childlike, mirrored by the hand written copy.

Moving to our new Brighton studio in the eco-friendly One Building last year gave us the opportunity to become members of the City Car Club scheme.

The City Car Club is now in 14 major cities in the UK, the premise being that for people that drive less than 6,000 miles a year could really save money and help the environment by just hiring a car when they need it, be it for an hour or days in a row.

With cars situated all over the city it’s proved to be easy to book one, even at short notice. The website is simple to use once you’ve been through the process once and they are very helpful on the phone if you need to extend your booking (as we’ve had to do on more than one occasion).

From a business point of view our clients are based all over the South East, some not easy to access via train etc. which made it was an easy decision to take the option and extend our eco-friendly credentials.

Some of us may have forgotten that the Olympics 2012 also comes with the historic and emotional event of the torch relay which will cover over 74 locations, every nation and region in the UK and will include island visits and travel 8,000 miles. There is an interactive map to see all of the locations and dates as to when the famous torch will be in your area. Day 59 Monday 16th of July will see the Olympic torch in Brighton & Hove, is it coming to your town?

For each Olympic Games, a new torch is designed to carry the flame on a journey to the host city. In fact it was back in 1948 when the last torch relay was in the UK. This torch was designed by Ralph Lavers, a fan of classical architecture.

The French chose Philippe Stark to design the stainless steel torch for The 1992 Albertville Winter Olympics.      

The 2012 torch is being created by east London designers Edward Barber and Jay Osgerby and is due to be unveiled in June.

If you are interested, a search for 8,000 torchbearers is currently under way, so if you fit the criteria why not go for it!

57% of men chose blue to be their favourite colour, 35% of women also chose blue as their favourite colour – Blue is popular because it is universally associated with water, clear sky, authority, tranquility.

Experiments on how men and women’s perceptions differ conclude that men prefer bright colours whereas women prefer soft colours. Findings show that men tolerate achromatic colours more than women. Achromatic colours which have no hue—like black, white and shades of grey.

Another interesting gender difference is in colour naming: Men keep it simple.

Colour plays such an important and influential part in our decisions on designs from stationery to a brand, the associations with colour, the emotion that colours evoke are endless. I read that “people make a subconscious judgment about a person, environment, or product within 90 seconds of initial viewing and that between 62% and 90% of that assessment is based on colour alone”..

http://blog.kissmetrics.com/gender-and-color/

Net-a-Porter has been a breakthrough success and is a benchmark for high-end online retail. Launched in March 2000 amidst the dotcom bust, it has succeeded where others (for example Boo.com) have failed. The Financial Times were quoted as saying “Net-a-Porter is doing exactly what most observers have always believed couldn’t be done; it is selling cutting-edge fashion over the web.” And selling it is; from its inception, Net-a-Porter has grown from three people to over 1000. Spanning four continents and with a turnover of more than 120million. Currently the most expensive item on the site is an Alexander McQueen cape, a snip at £28,660.

Contributing greatly to Net-a-Porter’s success is the distinctive black and white branding; luxurious, understated and calmly sits back so as not to fight for attention with the main spectacle; the clothes. Less is definitely more. The site combines editorial content with ecommerce functionality in a way that makes it easy for users to understand. As founder Natalie Massenet describes it, Net-a-Porter is “the world’s first weekly online glossy, with a difference: you can click and buy”. The inclusion of a magazine browsing format keeps the technology at a ‘lowest common denominator’, making it simple to access even for the non-technologically minded. It also attracts fashion editorial readers who can be converted to shoppers at a click. Your precious designer purchases nestling in swathes of black tissue paper are delivered (a day later if desired) in beribboned sleek matt black boxes, and discretely monogrammed with the Net-a-Porter logo.

Following on from Net-a-Porter’s huge success, January saw the arrival of the delightfully named; Mr Porter. Massenet has said that “It was important to us that our menswear business, when it came along, be not just a tab within Net-a-Porter but that it occupied its own space and world”. The evolvement of the branding is clever, simply taking the black and white theme, tweaking the typography and possessing a ‘gentlemanly’ almost colonial quality about it. Massenet continues “….for Mr Porter, while fashion is still important, style is key”.

The site, again, still makes ease of navigation a priority. It allows users to shop in the same way by What’s New, Designers, by Item and again incorporates a magazine/journal with the same concept of being able to ‘shop the look’. Editorial Features include key style ambassadors; for example this month there is an interview with Carl Barat of the Libertines, where naturally, you can buy each piece that he is wearing in a click.

The ‘Style Icons’ feature includes archive photos of Mick Jagger, Cristobal Balenciaga, Bob Dylan, Terence Stamp, Haile Selassie and Steve McQueen amongst others and of course provides an opportunity to buy current pieces inspired by their vintage looks. Cleverly Mr Porter aligns its brand values with style and charisma over sheer model good looks. And a particularly apt way to hook the male consumer – selling products by means of access to a lifestyle or style to which they aspire.

There is also a ‘Stylepedia’ containing a glossary of men’s fashion; A is for Alexander McQueen, Alpaca, Aubin & Wills. A style advice section with each topic being represented by a stylised encylopaedic black and white pencil drawing; covering key pieces of clothing/seasonal dressing/storage and upkeep. And a wardrobe manager with advice on the essentials.

It will of course be interesting to see how Mr Porter performs, but Massenet and her team seem to have perfected some winning strategy’s of how to sell luxury clothing online.

Seen as an easy way to make money as consumers clamber for a piece of history, many manufacturers would jump on the bandwagon of creating memorabilia for royal events. But to keep things in check, Buckingham Palace has issued strict guidelines on exactly what can and can’t be produced as official commemorative items.

However, the announcement of the engagement of Prince William and Kate Middleton in an era of cheap, bespoke items through quick printing methods has enabled the production of some really “alternative” unofficial commemorative items. Prototypes from Chinese factories were seen as early as 24 hours after the official announcement. Zazzle, a site creating custom products, was flooded by consumer “designed” products, made available for anyone to purchase.

My favourite items, whilst not in the best taste, would have to be these plates from KK Outlet, which is the store front of Amsterdam based communications agency KesselsKramer. I like them as they represent a modern reaction to the wedding from they joy of discovering we are due extra days off work to disgruntled Will-fanciers!

The official china itself is pretty sober but unusually does not use images of the couple, opting for initials and a discreet dove pattern with ribbons and hearts in pale colours.

The big brands are not being left behind either; Procter & Gamble are due to launch a commemorative Fairy Liquid bottle, which remarkably has had official royal approval. Pieminster will be offering a limited edition Kate and Wills pie containing British (of course) beef, wine, bacon, pearl onions, mushrooms and a dash of brandy.

One can be a little too hasty though. Woolworths produced a range of commemorative items in 2006 in eager anticipation of the couple announcing the engagement only for them to temporarily split up shortly afterwards.