Tag Archives: i wish i had designed it

I’ve just seen today what websites will be like tomorrow: Red Bull + Facebook Connect.

Red Bull Connect is kind of a Google News for everything snowboard, skateboard and surfing. So far, nothing remarkable. The awesome part is that you can login to the site using your Facebook credentials, and see what your Facebook Friends have been doing on the site. Let me show you step by step:

1/ On the top right corner of the Red Bull Connect site, a button branded Facebook to login. I click.
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2/ I am prompted to enter my email and Facebook password, and then to confirm that it is okay that the Red Bull site uses my Facebook data to connect with my Facebook friends, and then eventually publish stories on my Facebook Wall and in my Facebook Nnetwork’s Facebook Newsfeed. (That was a lot of “Facebook” in one sentence!)
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3/ Obviously, I accept and am logged in as a Facebook user.
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4/ After browsing the site, let’s pretend that I am very interested in that Red Bull surfing story. So interested that I decide to comment on it.
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5/ When submitting the comment, Red Bull asks me if I want to publish it on my Facebook wall and my friends’ Newsfeed.
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6/ Accepting results in, well, what I just said above. The proof on my Facebook Wall:
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7/ But the true awesomeness is that you can see if some of your friends have been interacting with the brand, commenting on articles. Just by clicking on the FRIENDS button in the nav. In this example, Camille, the super talented Baker/Art Director sitting right beside me, visited the site and saw that I had been procrastinating instead of working. Bad for me. She probably won’t make any cookies any time soon as a punishment.
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8/ Also, when your friends browse the Red Bull news, comments made by their Facebook networks are featured around the article.
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Indeed, do you really care about what strangers have to say about an blog post, a NY Times article, a product on Amazon? Okay, it might influence you, but being able to focus on what your friends have been saying is much more powerful. It’s a bit like going in a bar and eavesdropping on everyone’s conversation. Fun for a couple of minutes, but what you really need is to have a discussion of your own, with people that you know and trust.

We’re working on a couple of projects here in the FullSIX NY office to plug Facebook Connect in some of our projects, in order to engage true, valuable customer conversation and interaction within our clients site , using already existing Facebook networks and tools. Stay tuned! Or drop us a line if you want us to help your brand be Connected!

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4 December 2008

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Pizza boxes, infographics and the Economist

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Infographics are getting hot these days and, riding this trend, the Economist launched a juicy advertising campaign showing us, once more, how to be effective without using stunning images and talking to a selected audience.

And if you want to know more about the possibilities of visual information beyond the classical field of diagrams, take a look at DATA FLOW, an inspiring book, published by Gestalten, concerning complexity, simplification and readability solutions in information design.

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10 November 2008

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I Wish I Had Designed It: The Adobe CS3 drag-it-it-expands banner

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Just plain simple and beautiful. Visible on the Layer Tennis site.

Recommended by Edgard, who will be joining the Trendwatch team very soon. More details and his bio to come, stay tuned!

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29 July 2008

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Converse loves Santogold who loves Pharrell who loves The Strokes and they all love You!

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When I was a kid in France, brands and TV channels were competing every year to hammer me and the rest of the population with their own one-hit summer song. I guess that some smart art directors would travel to South America during winter to scout local bands with potential mass-market success and fly them to Europe to record the promising tune in studio, before touring popular cheezy music shows. Oh and just to make sure that you have been exposed to the song, an excerpt of the music video would be broadcasted by the sponsoring TV channel between every single show, every hours or so.

Orangina and TF1 gave us the Lambada in 1989 and sold 3.5 millions albums, France 2 sponsored the Carrapichio; that’s how we over-dosed Los Del Rio’s Macarena, Ricky Martin’s 1-2-3-Maria, Bellini’s Samba De Janeiro, Las Ketchup’s Asereje and so on…

Ten years later, Converse does the same trick, but for hipsters. To celebrate the brand’s Century, they put together the talents of Pharrell Williams, N.E.R.D., Santogold and Julian Casablancas (The Strokes) to create an original track, “My Drive Thru” that you can download for free on the brand’s website. And you should. It is sooooo good that I’VE BEEN PLAYING IT NON-STOP IN THE PAST WEEK. The “Three Artists, One Song” campaign will be promoted through Converse print, outdoor and online advertising and the music video will be released sometime this summer.

Converse has been embraced by an amazingly diverse group of musicians and artists over the years,” said Geoff Cottrill, Chief Marketing Officer of Converse. “As we celebrate the brand’s first century, we thought it would be fun to bring together Pharrell, Santogold, and Julian, to create new music together that bridges the styles they are known for. The results are everything we hoped for and we’re excited to add ‘My Drive Thru’ into the mix of music that fans will listen to this summer. We are also providing a platform for a number of emerging artists from around the world. The music industry is changing and this partnership is about the music and sharing it with fans for free.

And there is probably more to come. When you browse the Converse website, the 3 contemporary geniuses are surrounded by a wider and even edgier selection of emerging musical talent from across the globe, including MGMT, Bradford Cox of Deerhunter and Atlas Sound, YACHT, Kid Sister, Eleanor Friedberger of the Fiery Furnaces, Frank Carter of Gallows; Does It Offend You, Yeah?, and Sophie of Care Bears on Fire.

Converse, you can keep showing me your love anytime, my iPod is begging for more!

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8 July 2008

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Could this be the best e-commerce site ever?

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Not only the idea behind this book is genius, but you don’t have to feel bad for purchasing another designer book that will probably never leave your bookshelves, since the £3 cover price all goes to UNICEF. A brillant idea developed by James West, who graduated from the University of the Arts, London (LCC) and worked at the London branch of design studio Pentagram before setting up Create/Reject.

Two drop-down menus (one for quantity, one for delivery destination), 2 buttons (buy it, pay) and some straight-to-the-point witty copywriting. So good it’s annoying.

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24 June 2008

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