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

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If you are thinking of moving offices or simply want to improve your existing environment, you’ll be surprised what positive effects expressing your brand values and making your visual identity visible to staff and visitors can have on morale, working efficiencies and reputation.

Having captured the personality of a brand with a corporate logo and identity, many people forget that you can (and should) express that brand through the tactile, three-dimensional elements in the workplace – we call it ‘brand environments’. This month we thought we’d turn things inside out and show off a couple of projects we’ve been working for Redstone plc and Natures Way Food plus a peek at others we’ve had great pleasure being involved with.

By working with architects, site managers, manufactures and agents, we ensure that your brand essence is integrated into the working environment creating a memorable sensory experience. This usually starts with entrances, receptions areas and in some cases complete office interiors. From manifestations with vinyl graphics on glass reception/meeting rooms (Redstone); wall graphics/signage and reception areas for factories (Natures Way Foods); complete design and fit-out of offices for (BCP), including bespoke design of call centre desking and just about everything else!

To prove we practice what we preach here’s how our studio looks

It’s been lovely to see the resurgence of paper craft in design, particularly in the commercial, advertising, television and editorial fields of late. Often incorporated with digital design elements and even film, paper craft has been positively embraced as a bona fide aesthetic for modern design.

Offering a tactile nature, with a realism and quality not easily attainable through 3D rendering, this movement is far from going back to basics, with highly intricate, painstaking and beautiful work bringing the element of craft firmly back into the industry where it belongs. Techniques like embossing and laser cutting have also been employed to add to the texture of works. From giant paper sculptures to smaller scale work, paper (as well as other materials like wood and metal) as a medium is proving to be a versatile and growing trend.

With so much of out time spent at the screen, we have begun to crave the real and handmade, yet still demand it delivered to us in a way that suits our digital world.

MTV ident and AOL brand extension by Julien Vallée. Image via JVallee

Paper window dressing at Tiffanys, London. Image via The Window Display Blog

Probably the chap that ignited the interest in paper craft to the mainstream, paper artist Rob Ryan’s work has gone from unique pieces of art to products and books you can now buy on the high street. Images via Mister Rob

I particularly like the editorial work from Benja Harney and Daniel Carlsten. Images via their respective websites

We’ve even recently created a festive email message for Natures Way Foods ourselves by taking their brand symbol and creating a paper wreath.

And we can’t wait to wield our scissors at the next relevant project that comes along!

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?

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.

VGroup were approached by an energetic business start up, who wanted a professional brand identity and website for their new venture. TransWorldCom are an independent voice, data, mobile and IT company with a wealth of experience, but they recognised the importance of a strong brand to help give them an edge in a highly competitive market.

It was agreed that our client should use the acronym TWC as the top level brand name, with TransWorldCom underpinning it and making up the website domain name www.transworldcom.com

The logotype emerged as a bold and confident rendering of the characters in a customised font with the introduction of a circular, fluid symbol juxtaposed with the ‘T’. The primary palette was selected to be a dark purple complimented by a fresh and vibrant warm yellow. As intended the overall feel of the identity is progressive and technology led.

It was important that TWC’s 4 core products and services (voice, data, mobile and IT) were promoted as the focus of the identity and the website; It was decided that each would have it’s own ‘mini identity’ so we designed a set of graphic icons which emulated the structured yet fluid style of the logo.

The four symbols are unified on the homepage of the site, and used alone, in an abstract way on their respective dedicated pages within the site.

The website was developed using Couch CMS, which has a simple end user interface. It is also flexible enough that when scoping the site we realised that there were items such a blog and the social media links that the client required in the future – but at this stage can be hidden by checking a box until the company are ready to use them fully.

www.transworldcom.com

What they say:

“We chose VGroup after the careful consideration and review of a significant number of branding and design agencies. Being so involved with technology we needed to choose the right partner in this field and VGroup immediately stood out as being highly competent, honest, professional and knowledgeable in its field. Despite looking at other leading agencies they were always the ones we wanted to work with.

This decision has been vindicated throughout the various stages of the project as they have been a pleasure to work with. They have communicated and advised us well taking on board any comments we made; delivering a fantastic, class leading and exciting website. Thank you to all at VGroup involved in the project for TransWorldCom (TWC).”

‘

This is Design’ is an exhibition which celebrates Britain’s visual identity. The journey is documented through the most iconic of British product design spanning the 20^th Century.

The exhibition is thematically arranged, highlighting key transitions such as the move from the handmade to the mass-produced, and therefore the following recognition and development of the design profession, cleverly presented through the evolution of the chair.

Similarly the ground breaking transformation of digitalisation is presented in the form of a joystick arcade game from the late ’70s, contrasted with Microsoft’s recent Motor Sensor Control Kinect for Xbox360 – which of course you are invited to play.

Other key exhibits with economic and cultural significance include the Anglepoise lamp, the candlestick telephone and the Moulton bicycle. Margaret Calvert & Jock Kinnear’s road signage, Sir Giles Gilbert Scott’s 1936 UK traffic lights.

The Traffic Lights, redesigned by renowned british designer; David Mellor in 1966, were commissioned by the Department of Transport as part of the total redesign of the national road traffic sign system. Highlighting the endurance of good design – Mellor’s iconic design is still in use today and are a familiar sight on Britain roads.

For those who find it hard to understand the impact everyday design has on shaping and even influencing the visual identity of Britain; this exhibition demonstrates it in a tangible and exemplary way.

By exploring the relevancies of collecting design, with this exhibition the museum firmly establishes its continued importance in examining the impact and influence of design on the modern world.

The Design Museum is due to relocate from its current home at Shad Thames to the former Commonwealth Institute building on Kensington High Street, west London in 2014.

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.

To mark the 10th Anniversary of Investance, a global management consulting firm dedicated to the financial services industry, VGroup has created a new logo, visual identity and website as part of a new brand communications strategy to raise awareness of their specialist capabilities. With over 70 clients in 10 countries and 300 employees in France, North America, The Netherlands, Hong Kong, Singapore, India and the UK, Investance now has an exciting brand platform from which to drive its phenomenal growth.

With revenues increasing at an average of 45% year-on-year and faced with an increasingly competitive environment for consulting services, competition for talented people and the need to increase their visibility in key markets, Investance recognised the need to improve their brand communications.

With an understanding that business branding is built around perceptions in the minds of audiences, a review was undertaken of Investance’s brand values, core proposition, messaging and tagline before agreeing the direction for the identity and communications. Clarity and emphasise was brought to their range and quality of services, so clients could achieve significant improvements in business performance.

One of the challenges was that the Investance brand assets were only relatively recently introduced and therefore they were looking for evolution, not revolution of the brand identity. Their new logo, vibrant colour palette, dynamic and bespoke illustrations now creates a visual identity that is confident and evokes leadership. A forward thinking identity that makes Investance stand out from its competitors with its fresh, modern hand drawn typeface, their new symbol becomes a guiding light, a beacon, defining Investance as a forward thinking company that provides direction and help for clients.

As part of this process The Investance Institute, the research, training and business events arm of the Investance Group, was also rebranded. The Institute was established in 2002 to act as a think tank to help clients predict and prepare for change and to provide a platform for the dynamic sharing of knowledge through publications, training courses and seminars.

The rebrand was applied to every aspect of marketing communications from stationery, literature and white papers, to Word and PPT templates, promotional items, signage and a comprehensive set of illustrations.

One of the most important requirements was a complete overhaul of their website. We helped review the site architecture, functionality and specification of the dual language site. The result is a stunning new website with full CMS capabilities, allowing the marketing team to update content and publish documents and news: http://www.investance.com

The new brand was launched to Investance employees at their head office in Paris, where specially personalised hand-outs were presented to staff along with some fun promotional items.

“We are absolutely delighted with the results. The work that VGroup did to take our ideas and push them to the next level were fantastic. They went beyond the brief and made suggestions for how we could try different things with real impact. We know this is just the beginning of a new era in brand communications for Investance but with the help of the team at VGroup until now and in the future I am confident we will achieve our objectives”.

Simon Drury
Global Head of Marketing, Investance