Government website wins design award, but is it deserved?

Apr18
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So it would seem the Government have gone one thing right for once, as their new portal design has landed the Design of the Year Award 2013, as chosen by the Design Museum in London’s panel of judges.

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The plain and simple portal replaces the DirectGov and BusinessLink websites and will eventually bring together 24 different Government departments under one roof. Beating seven different categories with over 95 websites nominated, it would seem less is definitely considered more in the stakes for this award.

But is the award deserved?

It is good to see a website winning a ‘design’ award that isn’t actually associated with web design, but more from a general design appreciation. However, I am a web design professional and consider myself a little bit of a User Experience Expert – the Gov.uk website has got ‘good’ aesthetics, for a government website, and it’s good to see that they’re trying to focus a little attention on the way a website should convey information. The gov.uk is an improvement, but for me, it’s still got a long, long way to go. It has an enormous wealth of information that it needs to convey, which is sometimes, a help, sometimes a hindrance when trying to design a portal like this.

If I focus on the good points before saying why I actually don’t like it, and why, you’ll see what I am on about. Firstly, it’s clean. I like clean. With a lot of information to convey it doesn’t need to be getting lost in needless animation, colour, complicated typefaces and difficult navigation. so they certainly get a plus point on that from me.

But the navigation is not perfect. When you delve deeper into any particular service the only menu navigation you are presented with is ‘home’. There is still for me far too much text on each screen, is it all necessary?

I’d prefer a more simplistic, almost Google homepage view from the entry point of the website. Use an autofill algorythym that ask’s the user what they need help or information on, then suggest a series of answers, it’s a portal, much in the same way search engines are used, I think the government website is NOT something you would kill a few hours on, reading various pages. I think it’s generally a question/answer sort of visit, which should have been reflected in any pre-project research that the Government Digital Service should have conducted before embarking on a project of such magnitude.

Award winning? No.

For some absolutely amazing designs, I implore you to check out http://www.awwwards.com/awards-of-the-month/ each and every site here is far more user friendly, had better visuals, or a more creative method of conveying information that this latest effort by the government.

Adria Richards. Feminists validated or has common sense prevailed?

Mar22
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Since this broke a couple of days ago. I’ve been unable to take my eyes off the unfolding situation. For those who don’t know, Adria Richards was a Developer Evangelist. Yeh I have no idea what that is either. From what I can gather it meant she is a champion of women in tech. Not a bad thing on the face of it. But the problem with her and unfortunately the problem, in my eyes, of the feminist movement in general is that it advocates for one side over the other. Here at MCR we are a company in tech and we have 3 women and 3 men. As the gaffer of MCR I have never favoured any gender over another. We look to do the best work we can do and I don’t care if that comes from a man or woman. I hire solely on the quality of work and I’d like to think I treat my co-workers with the respect the deserve and importantly the respect the give.

 

Back to Adria. She applied a sexual referance to two internet/coding terminologies “forking” and “coding”. At worst I think it’s a slightly silly immature thing to say. At best it’s entirely work related. Adria’s reaction to photograph and publically ‘shame’ them was a huge overreaction to a fairly innocent private comment that she happened to overhear.

adria richards

To get a bit of female perspective on the situation, I asked our ‘social media butterfly’ Nat (note: she doesn’t feel her feminine job title is sexist, she actually quite likes it!) to give her view. Here’s what she said:

 

I am inclined to slightly sympathise with Adria simply because I it must be quite hard to have to work in a male dominated environment on a daily basis. But on the other hand, we don’t live in the 1950s anymore. Women can give as good as they get, that’s how we gain respect in work and outside of work. I don’t think it matters what industry you work in, or is even confined to the parameters of work, in society there will always be that sexual divide between men and women, no amount of equality can take that away, it can only lessen it. But instead she got on her high horse and caused uproar which affected not only herself but so many people around her, and over what? A childish schoolboy humour, which she could have simply turned around and replied to, saying ‘Not that your “dongle” is big nor will it have done much “forking”.

 

Unfortunately, Adria didn’t choose to give it back, and instead the situation escalated into chaos. One of the developers, Alex Reid was fired. The hive mind of the internet took over. Anonymous threatened SendGrid and carried out a DDoS shutting them down for quite a while. Many blog posts were written, commented on and argued over until SendGrid responded and fired Adria. Partly in response to pressure from Anon, but more importantly, it was in relation to Adria’s actual position at the company. She is tasked with talking to developers and maintaining a solid PR for SendGrid. She failed massively on both those counts. She was not fired because of the backlash. She was fired because she was the person that had to keep SendGrid in the press for the right reasons and she’s allowed a personal, percieved slight to take her company offline for a whole day’s trade.

 

But going back to my thoughts on feminist attitudes towards men and how men need to be sensitive of women around them. Why can’t women respect how men are naturally? We are of a different mind set and asking me to be anything other is not allowing me to be true to myself. I wouldn’t ask a gay person to be anything other than a gay person. That is what they are and the world is better for that. Don’t ask me to not be me and I won’t ask you to not be you. Common sense, for once has prevailed and I hope Adria can open her eyes and realise that while she is entitled to feel offended people have the right to say, in the words of the great Stephen Fry, “Well, so fucking what!”

 
By Stephen Howson & Nat Wilson


Facebook 2013 Re-design Prototype

Jan05
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Every once in a while an item of another designers work slaps you across the face so hard that you have to just stand up and applaud it. Today I did that. This Facebook concept design is the work of Australian Fred Nerby. For me this work is so brilliant, because it is possibly the first time anyone has been able to take a total step back from Facebook and look at how it has evolved, how it is now used and how  it could be fully utilised. I have nothing to add to this except, should I find myself in Brisbane, a place I happen to have some old rugby mates in, I am looking this guy up for a cold one! Fred, very well done sir. 5a91b9026a37fd563a172f9296f5f5fd

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http://www.behance.net/gallery/Facebook-New-Look-Concept/6504647

Here’s the Next Thing You’re Going to Hate About Facebook

Nov11
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Facebook often tests out experimental features on a small sliver of its billion users before rolling it out to the rest of the world. Today, it’s notification sounds. It’s awful. Please, please let this remain a bad experiment.

Notification sounds are generally horrible, harkening back to a time when we received notifications so infrequently that they actually deserved a sound (think someone signing off of AIM, and a door slamming). But our digital lives today are a cascading muddy sinkhole of notifications, a vortex of stuff happening—a lot of which is noise. So why accompany it with actual noise?

The sound you hear above will, if Facebook makes this permanent, go off every time almost anything happens to you. A friend request. A comment or like on something you wrote. These aren’t occasional events—these are things that happen to regular Facebook users all day. This means you’ll be getting this sound, which is reminiscent of an error from a mid-90s PC, throughout your day. No. No.

VentureBeat’s Sean Ludwig, who is part of the notification beta bloop, notes that you can switch the crap off:

You can turn them off by going into Account Settings > Notifications. Simply click “View” on the top tab and then uncheck the box that says “Play a sound when each new notification is received.”

But whereas he thinks this is an “easy” opt-out, I’m not so sure—Facebook’s users have a notoriously tough time navigating the site’s settings when it comes to things as important as intimate privacy. Assuming they’ll be able to skate in and turn off this infuriating DEH-NEH sound is a recipe for a lot of aggravation.

Facebook, we don’t need sounds. Nobody likes sounds. No sounds. [VentureBeat]

£588k Whacked into UK Kickstarter Projects in its First Week

Nov11
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The UK wing of Kickstarter seems to be doing pretty well for itself, with the money-raising site claiming to have taken pledges for well over half a million quid during its first week of punting projects to the UK audience.

The biggest star of the UK Kickstarter scene by quite a margin is the Elite: Dangerous project, which sees David Braben, the co-creator of the classic space gaming franchise, asking for £1.25m to fund a new title in the series. That one’s currently taken £365,000 in pledges, so is clearly dwarfing everything else in terms of ambition and money pledged thus far from UK backers.

And gaming’s clearly the way to go in these early days, with innovative indie shooter Sir, You Are Being Hunted also doing well for itself both in terms of grabbing headlines and raking in the cash. It’s doing much, much better than weird plays about pigeons, for example. [Kickstarter]

Report: Microsoft Office Is Finally Coming to iOS and Android in Early 2013

Nov11
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The Verge is reporting that Microsoft Office is finally coming out for Android and iOS early next year. Like, for real this time. Apparently, it’s coming to iOS first in February or March, and will be available for Android soon thereafter in May.

The Office software will reportedly require a Microsoft account, and will launch with the ability to view documents. The ability to edit them is activated if you have an Office 365 account, which you can buy in-app. There aren’t any details about specific functionality that will or won’t be in the apps, but the report makes it pretty clear that you’ll still, obviously, need the full desktop versions.

There are also no specifics on pricing (or if the read-only version will be free), and security. Security will have to be a strong selling point for Office, along with compatibility, with the Google Drive apps offering similar functionality for free, so we’ll see what that turns up.

This isn’t the first time we’ve heard “iOS Office is coming!” rumours, but this definitely seems more legitimate than previous go-rounds. And it’s still a big deal. A lot of people use Office! And a lot of people also use iOS and Android. And soon, early next year probably, those Venn diagramed into these apps will be able to more effectively ignore and estrange themselves from their loved ones as their work-life balance is further deteriorated by mobile Word and PowerPoint aplenty. [Verge]

Adding Mini Paper Plates To Pizza Boxes Is Unadulterated Genius

Nov11
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Winner of a much-deserved Red Dot Design Award, the Paper Dish replaces the greaseproof sheet found between a pizza and a cardboard box with an improved design that easily tears apart creating a miniature paper plate for each slice.

Mind = blown.

Created by Yu Kyung Ha, Won Min Jung, and Kwon Young Hee, the clever design helps keep your fingers clean, while also eliminating the stack of napkins usually required to share a pizza. This design could very well revolutionise the fast food industry. [Red Dot via Fancy]

SEO for the people. Manchester people

Oct15
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Unless this is your first day on the internet. You’ll know the importance of ranking high with Google’s search engine. 

 

Search Engine Optimisation is a big industry. With some companies investing insane sums to ensure they are dominating the listings. If you aren’t being ranked highly for the keywords that get your business sales, your competitors certainly are.

The good news is that recent changes to the way Google evaluates website pages for ranking purposes mean that companies with smaller budgets can fight the big boys with at least a chance of getting some positive ranking improvements. Which wasn’t always the case.

Now, the emphasis has shifted towards attracting links back to your site (inbound links) by distributing quality content via blogs, articles and press releases. It’s basic common sense. But if you don’t know, then you don’t know! Seems obvious once you do.

Content is king

We’ve we’ve been big fans of the recent updates at Mancunian Creative. Instead of spamming people with low quality links. Good, useful information that people enjoy and will want to share is the way forward. It should have always been this way. But there’s always people looking to game the system for their own benefit. Luckily Google is aware of this and spends considerable resources creating complex algorithms to combat these spammers.

Our approach to SEO is simple. You need content, authority and relevancy. If you have that, you will rise. If you don’t then you need to create that! Content allows Google and other search engines to ‘crawl’ your website and the prior mentioned algorithms attempt to figure out what your site is trying to communicate. Authority will come when numerous other sources of similar content link to your site. Google then sees your site as something of importance within this field. Finally, relevancy,

But that’s not quite everything

Your website and your content pages have to be set up in a way that allows Google to find discover what your site is all about easily. This is why it is called optimisation. This involves a little bit of ‘on-site’ HTML editing.

The other area of SEO is ‘off-page’ occasionally known as Link Building. With  Google’s recent updates, this aspect of SEO is now far and away the most important factor in how well a page will rank. Providing the content is there.

Link building like a champ

The short and sweet of link building is this – Google sees each link coming towards your site as a little gold star of endorsement. Especially true if the site it comes from is established and also an authority. Get this and you’ll be in your very own ranking elevator. All the way to the top floor!

Knowing this, MCR will use our superpowers of blogging, article writing and online PR, will also push out your content using various social media sites such as Twitter, Facebook, Google+ and LinkedIn, ensuring that you can get the ranking your business deserves!

If it’s time you took a grip of your SEO. Get in touch with us at MCR and we’ll see what we can do!

What your business needs to know about mobile payments

Oct14
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Over the past six months, mobile payments skyrocketed from an industry conversation to mainstream news, fueled by myriad new entrants to the market. Historically, the majority of technological innovations were easily accessible to only mid- and large-sized businesses, but mobile payments level the playing field, providing businesses of all shapes and sizes with new payment acceptance solutions that capitalize on mobile commerce to attract new business, cultivate loyalty with existing customers and grow revenues.

For small businesses, the challenge today is selecting a mobile payment solution that solves for today’s needs, supports future growth, provides security and remains relevant in the future. Unfortunately, with so many players in the marketplace, mobile payment uncertainty is stalling the decision making process. Examining the most popular options to demystify mobile payments and help formulate a plan to obtain value from this exciting emerging technology.

NFC and Mobile Wallets

Companies like Google, PayPal, ISIS (a joint venture of AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon), Sprint, Apple, Visa,LevelUp and hundreds of others are vying for business acceptance and consumer adoption of their mobile wallet and mobile payment products. Meanwhile, others including Square, Intuit, VeriFone and PayPal continue to attract small businesses with their convenience-based mobile payment acceptance solutions. Add in a deluge of additional noise from loyalty, gift and other mobile commerce specialists, and you’re left with a sea of confusion, especially for small business owners.

Leading providers such as Google, ISIS, Visa and Sprint are relying on promotion of NFC from the mobile network operators (smartphones and tablets) and merchants (countertop payment device) as well as consumer adoption of their individual ‘branded’ wallet. Much debate remains about the availability and implementation timeline of payment types, including NFC, and that will impact the adoption success for this group of mobile payment providers. As we wait and see what plays out with NFC, other companies are taking advantage of innovative technologies, such as QR codes, to expedite their entry into mobile payments and mobile commerce.

QR and Loyalty Programs

 

Levelup
 

LevelUp is one company that uses QR codes to complete mobile transactions and loyalty campaigns. LevelUp offers small businesses an innovative solution that accepts payment through a personalized QR code and provides integrated customer acquisition and retention opportunities as well as peer-to-peer (P2P) mobile gifts. Consumers download a free app, connect it to their preferred credit or debit card and start buying. Businesses pay no interchange fees and drive new customer engagement through LevelUp’s traditional or co-marketingcampaigns. Businesses are charged based on campaign success. And, LevelUp is easily accessible for businesses, as the only requirements are an account and a dedicated mobile device (smartphone or tablet).

Mobile Payment Acceptance

Another growing space is mobile payment acceptance, which provides small businesses with a convenient solution to accept payments either off-premises or without a formal credit card terminal. Businesses use a card reader that attaches to a smartphone or tablet and is connected to their merchant account. These providers rely on an Internet connection to accept and process traditional magnetic stripe (mag stripe) credit and debit cards.

A vastly growing market was evidenced by Square’s recent partnership announcement with Starbucks. Over the past three years, options from Square, VeriFone, PayPal and Intuit offer an immediate solution for thenearly 15 million U.S. businesses that currently don’t accept credit cards, and a solution for businesses that need a secondary, ‘mobile’ payment gateway. Some would argue that these solutions are not truly mobile in terms of accepting payments from a customer’s mobile device, but regardless of the perspective, it’s a key growth area within payments and allows more small businesses to accept debit and credit transactions.

Which to Choose

Now that you’re familiar with all of the existing options, the next step is deciding which system works best for you and your customers. To get started, begin with outlining your specific needs and goals. This will streamline the choice by pinpointing which mobile payment option supports your business plan. Once the list is compiled, investigate each offering thoroughly, whether it is an all-in-one payment solution or an individual solution, such as a mobile wallet or mobile payment acceptance device. Check rates, read reviews, and visit competitor businesses to see what is gaining traction in your local area.

Payment technology is being developed to help disparate systems work together. Until unified systems are available, the best option small business owners have is to research, compare offerings to their business goals, and then research again. The last thing a business needs is to buy a quick snake oil sell and wind up implementing a mobile payment option that is non-existent in a year. That said, waiting too long on mobile payments might leave your business behind. Get ahead of the competition and begin realizing the value of mobile to reduce costs, attract new business and retain existing customers. Use mobile today to grow your business and drive incremental revenues -– just make sure you do your research first.

Klash App is Truth or Dare Meets Foursquare

Oct14
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For every time your best friend has challenged you to offer free hugs to strangers, pretend to be a celebrity or just eat something gross, have you wished more was at stake than just your ego? Now, there’s an app for that.

Klash, a social-rewards network, is the digital intersection of truth or dare and Foursquare. Launched two weeks ago, Klash allows users to log in to the app via Facebook or Twitter, and begin challenging friends in their networks in exchange for user-set rewards. It’s available for iOS or the Web.

The idea behind Klash came about when three then-students at Spain’s ESADE Business School took a surfing trip in Barcelona, and challenged a friend who had never surfed to catch a wave. His reward? One cold beer. At the end of trip, the friends began brainstorming ways to share their actions on a larger scale, and decided to develop a mobile application.

There are now five members on the Klash team, which operates out of Berlin. Klash users can limit their dares to other friends within their networks, or make public challenges to other subscribers on the site.

“With Klash, we try to connect people through their competitive instinct,” co-Founder Alessandro Petrucciani says. “We have seen a lot of people engaging in various klashes with each other. It’s a platform that is not only used in your friend circle, but also helps connecting like-minded people with same interests.”

Petrucciani, who pitched Klash on “This Week in Startups in a mankini, would not comment on how many users the app has attracted so far.

Users can view the public page and pledge support for specific klashes, or just send challenges to friends within their own networks, and share through social media. But Petrucciani says there is no way to guarantee a klash will result in a reward, much like in real life.

Many of the current challenges, such as “Do 30 pushups in the morning in exchange for compliment”, are harmless. Others, such as “Moonwalk through every crosswalk” could get interesting.

Eventually, Petrucciani envisions Klash as a platform that includes sponsored challenges with certain brands in exchange for perks.

“Thanks to mobile, it’s very easy to create content, and thanks to the social networks, it’s even easier to distribute it online,” he says. “Our vision is to bring the digital world closer to the real world. Soundcloud has music, Amen has opinions, Klash has actions.”

Check out the promo for Klash below.

 

 

What klashes would you accept? Let us know in the comments below.

For your own geolocation based smartphone application then get in touch!

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