Creative Distraction - Draw a stickman

If like us, you're back at work this week, then you may find this a welcome distraction.

This site has two interactive episodes and a game which allow you to express your creativity, even if you are not the most artistic of people.
The idea is simple, you start by drawing a stickman, and it develops from there into your very own animated story.

Why not give it go here.

Google Analytics ridicules online retailing in new clips

In an attempt to demonstrate what poor website design can do to an ecommerce site Google Analytics has developed a series of film clips that replicate the online experience in real life.

We think that everyone will recognise the annoying sales tactics that online retailers now employ but surely this is the pot calling the kettle black?

The clips encourage web site owners to use Google Analytics to learn more about their customers habits. The only reason is to target products at customers and thus sell more - exactly what the clips are ridiculing.

Are we missing something here? If so, please enlighten us.

Take control of the gifs

Take a look at this great website that features a load of animated gifs that you control through your mouse.

Skydiving cats, tumbling gymnasts and Gambang style - you take control.

Click here.

SportsDirect launches sports news website

For those interested in all things sports then take a look at the new SportsDirect News website which went live this week.

The site offers all the latest sports news from the UK and beyond, in picture and video.

And we are pleased to say that we designed and built the site.

So click here, have a good look and spread the word. Let us know what you think.

Take a Booty Break and take control

Here's one for the girls!

Vichy Celludestock brings you an interactive micro-site that invites you to take a Booty Break and choose a male booty to control. Once selected the model undresses down to his underwear and the you can select whether he dances, flexes, shakes of slaps his booty.

There are several choices of booty so something for everyone at www.bootybreak.com.

The aim of the site is the promotion of Vichy's Celludestock cream, which apparently reduces the appearance of cellulite or in other words just an excuse to take control of a cute booty.

Enjoy!

Click here to choose your favourite booty.

What colour is fashion across Europe?

This project by Pimkie called Color Forecast has been developed by Pedro Cruz and runs feeds from high definition cameras in Milan, Paris and Antwerp to track the colour of fashions worn across the cities.

The software analyzes the passing colors and shows in real time which colors are worn most often, then the colors are compiled into an infographic to see how trends evolve..

Can this forecast the trends and how our colour tastes change over the seasons? An interesting project.

See the website here and see how it works below.

Does your website breach new EU legislation for cookies?

Is your website ready to meet the new data protection rules that come into force on 26th May?  

If you run cookies on your website to track and store information about users then from 26th May you will need their permission or you may be in breach of new EU legislation.  

The only exception to this rule, according to the Information Commissioners Office (ICO) is, 'if what you are doing is ‘strictly necessary’ for a service requested by the user. This exception is a narrow one but might apply, for example, to a cookie you use to ensure that when a user of your site has chosen the goods they wish to buy and clicks the ‘add to basket’ or ‘proceed to checkout’ button, your site ‘remembers’ what they chose on a previous page. You would not need to get consent for this type of activity.  

How you gain this approval is the next challenge. If you visit the ICO's website you will see that they now ask you the following question:  

'The ICO would like to place cookies on your computer to help us make this website better. To find out more about the cookies, see our privacy notice.'  

'I accept cookies from this site'  

Many sites will be able to ask a specific question when users register for a service or locked off content however others will also need to ask similar questions not to be in breach of the legislation.  

The ICO has issued a guidance document on this subject which you can download below.

advice_on_the_new_cookies_regulations.pdf (122 kb)

New insight into the best online advertising formats

The Internet Advertising Bureau (IAB) has recently completed an international piece of research into online advertising which highlighted that brands are benefiting from bigger online display formats.

The 'Size Matters' study was carried out in the UK, the US, Europe, Australia and South America over a period of almost two years and collected data from 770 campaigns.

The results showed that billboard formats outperformed other online advertising including more recent display formats such as wallpaper and half page, as well as the more traditional ones, such as MPU, banner and skyscraper. Formats were analysed according to five criteria: aided brand awareness, online ad awareness, message association, brand favourability and purchase intent.

The Billboard format performed significantly better across some criteria, scoring three times better in terms of ad awareness and twice as better for brand favourability than wallpaper, the second best format of those measured.

The Wallpaper format offered the highest brand awareness against all other formats and was five times better than the average in terms of message association.

However, not to be left out, the Skyscraper format was the most successful in the purchase intent metric.

Tim Elkington, IAB director of research and strategy, commented, 'The industry can only benefit from the new large display formats, as both brands and consumers seem to be excited by them. The findings from the Size Matters study highlight the advantages of formats like billboard and wallpaper.'

To find out more about online advertising you can find interesting insight on the IAB's website however some of it is only available in full to members.