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


What’s All This About Responsive Web Design?

Mar21
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It’s been around for two years now, but for the majority of us the jury is still out on responsive web design. It has its pros, but there will always be cons, especially considering how young it is compared to now ‘traditional’ web design methods.

But the reality is, in an every increasingly digital world where tablets and mobile devices are the new laptop, almost 50% of UK internet users went online in the last year via mobile data connection, and that doesn’t even begin to account for all the Wi-FI connected mobiles and tablets. This means responsive web design is a method that needs some serious consideration as it could be the future of web design as we know it. Here’s a breakdown of how exactly responsive web design works, and the pros and cons of using it.

Web Design

 

What Is Responsive Web Design?

Responsive websites differ from traditionally designed sites in that they have extra bits of code called ‘media queries’. These are built in to help the website identify the device it is being opened on and effectively ‘respond’ to this, i.e. adapting to the screen size, orientation, ease of use, etc. This is designed to take away the need for different websites to be made for the various different devices (PCs and laptops, tablets, mobile, etc.), meaning one website can be maintained and accessed across all devices.

An example of responsive web design in action is our website, www.macuniancreative.com. When viewed on a PC or laptop, the menu bar at the top displays three options, ‘work’, ‘services’ and ‘contact’. When viewed on a mobile device, this menu adapts to fit the small mobile screen, becoming a drop down menu tab which makes it easier to see the menu options when pressed and select the options using a touch screen device.

Sounds like the perfect solution to your problems? Check out the pros and cons to help you decide for yourself.


Pros of Responsive Web Design

  • You don’t have to juggle more than one website, making it fast and easy to regularly update.
  • You don’t need to spend time or money on commissioning separate websites and keeping them updated.

Cons of Responsive Web Design

  • Because of the HTML code which tells the website where to place everything on the page is still downloaded, and the bits that don’t work well with the device are simply changed or hidden from view, this can mean that the download speed for your webpage on mobile devices could be quite lengthy depending on the amount of complex content on your webpage.
  • Depending on your audience and market sector, some companies prefer to use separate mobile sites because they can change the content from that of the desktop site. For example, offering a content packed e-commerce desktop site and a streamlined quick access to sale mobile site can be beneficial if people don’t want to go through the motions when looking for a quick sale via mobile.

Pros and cons aside, responsive web design has the potential to play a major part future of web design, even if it remains alongside traditional mobile sites. It isn’t the ideal answer for all websites, due to differing purposes and customer needs, but it is worth talking more in depth to a web design professional about if and how it could prove to be beneficial for your company’s website.

 

For more info and advice on responsive web design from Mancunian Creative, email hello@mancuniancreative.com, tweet us @MancCreative or search for us on Facebook!

 

The Value of Having Social Media Presence and How To Measure Yours

Mar14
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manchester web design arketing social media servicesThe value of social media to businesses can be measured in a variety of different ways, some of which would not suit one business where as they fit perfectly for another. The same goes for the variety of different social media channels available. It’s no good an online business encouraging people to ‘check-in’ via Foursquare.

It’s all about knowing what works for your business. To do that you may want to look at your current social media presence after reading this post and consider how you could measure its value. Its surprising how many people assume they are doing well just by being on social media, when it can soon turn out they had little to no impact all along, either because they were using the wrong channels for their audience or because they were lost and had no idea where to start. This post should bring you up to speed on what you need to be looking at when it comes to your company’s impact on social media, and how you can measure the impact.

The impact of mentions

The statuses, images, videos, etc that you post via your company’s social media channels may just be the beginning of your presence on social media. Because for many consumers social media is where they go to talk about everything from what they just watched on TV to their breakfast this morning, you get a lot of people both posting positive and negative things about products and brands. Both small and large brands do not go untouched. Take this as an example:

I have been having issues with my mobile phone and blame the network, Orange. In my frustration, I might go onto my Twitter and tweet“Phone is down again, stupid Orange!” because I am letting my mates know my phone is down and they might not be able to contact me, and think nothing of mentioning Orange because to me it’s all their fault! But I probably wouldn’t even think about the impact this might have when I tweet this. One of my mates on Twitter may have been going for a new phone contract and have been considering Orange but be put off now because I have had a bad experience.

On the other hand, I could have said “Going to the cinema again tonight, love Orange Wednesdays!” because Orange offer 2 for 1 cinema tickets on a Wednesday to their customers. My friend who on another network might be thinking of switching and think ‘I like going to the cinema a lot, would be worth going for an Orange contract!’ therefore gaining Orange a new customer.

That was just a large scale example, but it’s just as easy for a small local business to get the same negative and/or positive comments, and losing or gaining a customer could have a bigger impact on a smaller business.

The best ways of tracking mentions like this to track this is to:

  1. Keep your brand active on social media. If people see your page is regularly updated, they will most likely contact you through it by posting a comment/Tweet rather than calling or emailing you. If you are active you can also pick up quickly on these comments and publicly show off your customer service skills by posting a polite reply and solving issues/thanking them for praise.
  2. Regularly use search functions on social media channels to search for your brand name and related keywords or hashtags. Again, issues can be resolved and praise can be thanked, and you may even find a few new customers along the way.

There is no way to crunch the numbers when it comes to the impact other people’s positive and negative comments have on your business, but keeping a regular track on them and being seen to actively solve issues and thank people is good practice and helps publically show that your business values good customer service, which can never hurt.

The Impact and Measurement of Company Pages/Accounts

 

The company pages and accounts that you control on social media are both valuable and measurable. Some pages, e.g. Facebook company pages, even come with their own analytics function, which is well worth getting acquainted with. As mentioned before, keeping active and updating regularly is key to creating a presence on social media, both as a way of encouraging people to engage with your brand and as a way of keeping tabs on unhappy customers.

The best way to engage people on company social media pages and accounts is to be genuine and human. Put yourself in your target audiences’ shoes when thinking about how your brand’s personality will come across. What would they value, find interesting and want to see more of? Post about topics and share content with them that you know they will want to pass on because they find it useful and interesting, or even humorous. Competitions and exclusive social media offers are also great for encouraging sharing and engagement, as people will often give something (a share) if they feel you are offering something in return (a competition prize or an exclusive offer for those who share).

And when talking to them either through engaging posts that aim to get a conversation going or through joining another ongoing conversation via comments, address them politely but don’t be all business (unless of course you are a business to business company). Be friendly and approachable, and try to be on a par with them so they feel they can relate to your brand.

manchester web design social media marketing services

The impact of your company pages and accounts can be measured in different ways dependant on the platform:

Facebook is great for gaining insights about engagement and how far your reach is, and even offers information on who your page’s demographic is based on your fans’ locations, genders, ages, and more.

LinkedIn is another channel that offers analytics for its company pages, although its not quite as detailed as Facebook. Because LinkedIn is aimed more at business users for professional use, the kind of stats it offers on your demographic are things such as company size, employment rank, etc which may be more useful for B2B companies.

Twitter, Google+, YouTube and various other social networks don’t have the built in tools offered by Facebook and LinkedIn, so it’s advisable to consider an analytics programme that encompasses these when it comes to measuring your impact. Klout is a great one solely for impact measurement, as it gives you a changeable score based on how people have engaged and interacted with your posts. For more detailed analytics, a dashboard such as Google Analytics or a social media management dashboard with built in analytics (with paid service) such as Hootsuite is the best way to measure impact for these channels.

To find out how Mancunian Creative can help you create and maintain an effective social media presence, click here.

Why Every Mobile Marketing Campaign Should Involve An App

Mar07
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Screen of an iphone Free PhotoWith mobile marketing taking off in recent years, largely due to us becoming a more fast paced, gadget dependent society, the obvious progression for mobile marketing is towards the world of apps. Apps take mobile marketing a few hundred steps further than the traditional method of SMS and MMS, as they allow a business to offer something innovative and unique in a format that the majority of society wants and feels they ‘need’.

A few years ago we would have been happy to simply wait until we got home to check the cinema listings or lottery numbers via ‘Teletext’. Now if you were to ask a teenager what teletext was they most likely wouldn’t know as it long since became obsolete, and they prospect of having to wait until they got home to check cinema times is ridiculous as they are now readily available at the touch of a screen anywhere as long as you have a smartphone. With 1 in 7 people currently owning a smartphone and with a projected rise to 1 in 4 by 2016, there has never been a time like the present to jump on the app bandwagon.

What Makes a Good App?

As mentioned before, the reason apps are so successful is because they offer a service to the on-the-go technology user. This service could be informative, e.g. checking the latest cinema listings or latest news, entertaining, e.g. a game that promotes a new film release, or one of the most popular apps used for mobile marketing are those that allow the user to purchase products and services from the company within the app, in a quick and easy manner.

Now more than ever people use shopping and price comparison apps while out shopping physically to ensure they are getting the best deal on a purchase, so businesses that offer this technology put themselves ahead of competitors simply by having an app.

Another reason people download a company’s app is because they want to discover new and unique features, not a mobile website. If they wanted to simply access the website of a company, they would go into their mobile browser. But what they want is an app that functions differently and more efficiently than a mobile website, and offers them a completely new experience.

Inspiring App Examples

02 priority moments app development services manchester

Image Credit: www.o2.co.uk

When O2 launched ‘Priority Moments’ in 2012, it became a highlight of their life as a network. With other networks such as Orange boasting exclusive offers such as 2 for 1 cinema tickets to their customers, it became apparent people wanted more from their network than a phone contract. The ‘Priority Moments’ app takes these offers to a new level, with the O2 using their music industry influence along with teaming up with local businesses to offer a full range of exclusive offers via the app. From priority access to tickets to huge music events at O2 venues up to 48 hours before they go on general sale, to discounts and 2 for 1 offers for local businesses, O2 showed they know exactly what their customers want.

Barclays PingIt app development service manchester

Image Credit: www.v3.co.uk

Another inspiring example is Barclays Bank and the launch of their money transfer app PingIt. How often have you wished you could transfer money on the go without having to walk into a bank or take the long route of logging onto your internet banking, which some banks and building societies don’t even allow on mobile devices? Well Barclays listened, creating a secure app that made transferring money not only to other Barclays customers but to other bank and building society accounts quick and simple, and it even allows others to transfer funds securely to you. To date over 1 million people use the app, showing apps don’t have to be fancy, they just have to offer a service people value.

 To see how Mancunian Web Design could help you design and develop the perfect app for your brand and more, click here.

Does Your Website Represent Your Brand?

Feb28
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You will probably be automatically answering ‘Yes’ to that question, because who wants to think otherwise of something they have pumped their own hard earned cash and possibly time into already? But the chances are you may have got it right on the surface, but some of the finer details could be missing, and when it comes to first impressions every little detail counts.

The reason for this is that branding isn’t just about how you appear on first glance. It’s about the messages and connotations that ever single detail of your brand gives off, from the logo and company name right down to the font used on your website and advertising. Its easy to forget about these finer details because like your potential customers, you register them subconsciously when you look at brands, both others and your own.

An example of this goes as follows:

A kitchen company who, like most companies since the recession, offer both premium and value ranges. They have kitchens in the range of £15k to £20k which they design and install for those with higher budgets, and in addition to this they now offer a ‘value’ range from just £3k to those with less money to spend.

On their website they haven’t put the new value range images on the homepage as they don’t want to put off the higher paying customers. But this has led to their value range not taking off because any potential customers attracted to site for the value range were met with images of the high end kitchens and were immediately put off, assuming they didn’t have what they were looking for.

The moral here is that the first impression of your homepage needs to cater to ALL your target markets. Read on to find out exactly what contributes to the branding of your website:

Font

How does your font come across? Does it give people the impression you are a high end, quality not price conscious brand? Or does it give off the impression you are a price competitive ‘value’ brand.

For example, monotype corsiva is a good way to get across high end product information and gives off an impression of quality and possibly expense.

quality web design and branding

Example of Monotype Corsiva font in action

Comic Sans on the other hand is a good example of a ‘no frills’ font, which is perfect for getting across straight to the point, price competitive product information.

quality web design and branding manchester

Example of Comic Sans font in action

Colours

Colours are another detail that can give off the high end or low end impression to customers and should be considered carefully.

Bold and bright colours that stand out and grab attention tend to attract low end customers. You may notice that offers, discounts and other promotions are always in a bright colour font or on a bright background.

web design and branding manchester

Example of bold colours used to draw attention

Pastel colours tend to be used to draw the attention in a more subtle way and give off the subconscious impression of higher end quality and pricing.

web design Manchester branding experts

Example of pastel colours used to subtly draw attention

Of course there are always exceptions to every rule, but the above are good points to consider as a base. Now take a look at your website again, notice anything different?

If you want more advice and help with your branding, our team of web design experts here at Mancunian Creative know how to represent brands to any target audience, right down the to the finest details. Contact us via email hello@mancuniancreative.co.uk or call us on 0161 883 0843 to chat about what we could do for your brand.

 

 

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]

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