Word up “Opportunity doesn’t knock, it vibrates”. Is that the significant difference between traditional media v’s new media, conventional v’s innovative, same v’s different? If only it was that simple.

The truth is traditional media and new media are co-dependent. Like any marriage in its early blossoming stages, its all about compromise. Debate is part of the process and it’s not always smooth sailing and champagne breakfasts but when it does work it’s marital bliss.

With harmonious conversion and digital knowledge on the brain I recently attended the AIMIA & IAB 7th Future of Digital Advertising conference (more…)

Written by Andrew Englisch, CEO & Tony Prysten, Creative Director, igloo for 29 January Adnews

Driving the next generation of brand engagement to getting the most from the new wave of cool touchscreen devices, here’s our hotlist for a great start to 2010 for marketers looking to supercharge their brand’s online activity for the year ahead.

The Top 10

1. Get in touch with a new era of interaction
The iPhone, our new best friend, is moving us away from mouse driven interfaces to touch-based computing. Progression in design frequently follows progression in technology. As we await a potential revolution in tablet computers from Apple and HP, fresh opportunities will be created to exploit with great digital design. (more…)

Twitter and everyone digital are going crazy over Apple’s announcement of the ipad today, as it tries to blur the lines further between an ipod, a netbook and an eReader. But initial reports have received it poorly, labeling it as a “jack of some trades, a master of none”. Here are some of the obvious shortfalls:

No camera- Video calling would be awesome on the ipad. It has a microphone, allowing it to make voip/skype calls over your wifi connection, but then with no camera- skype is out.

No multi-tasking- with the ipad packing some serious processing punch, you would expect to be able to tab between your apps the way you would on a netbook. Mr. Jobs appears to disagree.

No flash- internet browsing on the ipad will feel natural and exciting, but without background processing and flash support will just feel like a super-sized iphone.

Gaming- yes, they look cool and all, but with a world so in love at the community aspect of gaming (xbox live) and interactivity with the Nintendo Wii and Project Natal the ipad will be used in the same way as on the iphone: a gimmicky-time waster.

No USB ports: the inability to upload via USB is a major oversight by Apple. Obviously it is an attempt to limit the piracy of ebooks, music and movies, but it cripples everyone who would want to transfer anything on-the-go. Isn’t that what being portable is all about?

At the end of the day, the ipad will not replace anything like the laptop or smartphone did, it will be complementary to existing technologies that are commonplace in our lives. Hardly revolutionary at the moment, but remember that the initial iphone was slammed when it was first released and we all know how that ended..

So by now, chances are you’ve heard about the iPad….

This history making ‘mobile’ device will have its fair share of critics but no doubt it will make its way into millions of homes around the world. What does this mean for me?

Well I’m not interested in the battery life or the measly 0.7kg weight, but what I am interested in is the fact that it has Wifi and 3G. This means it’s going to end up being a new format of browser, used en masse, and all the web developers better get thinking.

With a screen resolution of 768 x 1024, the preconceived notion of a landscape browser is thrown out the window and new consideration for multiple dimensions comes into play.

Do we design for 1024×768 or 768×1024? Or both? Do we just let the iPad rescale to it’s little 1Ghz heart’s content? Does it even matter??

Article written by Andrew Englisch, CEO igloo

AdNews January 2010 – ‘What’s Next’

You are exploring downtown Sydney, early evening, nicely chilled. Someone takes your eye. You discretely point your smartphone at them. Silent click.

Their cute face instantly fills your camera’s live-feed screen. In a blink you are presented with a full array of their personal data superimposed over their image. Age, profession, fave foods, sexual preferences and Twitter feed. Your data packed screen says that you share a compatibility rating of 95%. Quickly you hit the ‘Drink?’ button. What will they do? How will they respond? Seconds later: ‘Yes!’ they ping you back.

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Revving up for another year of growth, igloo has recruited eight new team members to its expanding team of digital pioneers. The growth sees the headcount increase to 24 following several new business wins in 2009 and a focus on growth and exceptional client service. (more…)

Well…  Ice forms faster when the water is hot (True fact) and it’s a veritable hot house at Igloo and I’m not talking about the weather.

First weeks have been busy to say the least, apart from a relatively pain free desk move (see pics), we’ve been moving at break neck speed on Mazda, Break neck, slippery ice? Think I might have to ditch the whole ice metaphor it’s wearing thin, like thin ice (boom-tish) OK, I’ll stop.

So anyway as the pics illustrate it’s been busy, but busy good! Absolutely loving sinking my teeth into the Mazda work and getting to think about the future of Banking has been pretty sweet too.

The team here are dope!  Dope like Ice-T, Ice-Cube and Vanilla Ice all rolled into one super rappers posse who drop science on the art of digital. Word!  Don’t really know if the ice plus rapper metaphor is working either but I will finish by saying that Vanilla Ice had it almost right when he said “Stop, Collaborate and Listen”.  He left out Innovate and Exceptional Service, but then, he didn’t work at igloo did he.

And I’m out!

My Week

Mon: i like to think im a bit of a cyclist and have been clocking up some big km’s over the break, i did a pretty serious ride on sunday so my legs were totally blown out when riding into work today, so much so that i got overtaking by an old lady riding up a hill. hopefully i see her tomorrow so i can show her who’s boss ;P

Tue: i didn’t see the old lady today, and its probably a good thing, because i would’ve had a bit of competition on my hands. Only 1 near miss, ahhh… the joys of cycling.

Wed: at lunch i went for a walk up and down bridge rd looking for a newsagent, according to truelocal and google maps theres one at 116 bridge rd, i walked past there several times but no dice, its got me bamboozled, one thing i did notice on this adventure were these little plaques outlining what stores used to be there, who would’ve guessed that at 116 bridge rd in 1865 Benjamin Closet conducted a bazaar there, cool.

Thurs: starting work in a new suburb is great, you get to suss out all the new eateries and fine tune your lunch habits, today i went to a new sushi place, i thought id try a cooked salmon hand roll for the first time, well…
when that deep fishy taste hit the back my throat i knew i was in for a rough ride, my eyes glazed over and i couldn’t swallow, nasty, thats one thing i can eliminate from the lunch menu.

Fri: i thought i’d go for a walk to check out all the plaques outlining the previous stores along bridge rd, most of what i saw were pretty much what you’d expect – bookmaker, watchmaker, grocer etc. amongst these were a few gems though – hay and corn store, furrier, straw dresser, and my personal fav – Mrs Beale operated ‘a fancy repository’ in 1863, even though anything ye olde gives me the creeps a bit of history is always good.

good week, great to meet a new bunch of awesome people, now I just have remember everyone’s name : |

A wise fool once said, an eskimo can never fish in the same ocean twice, for it’s not the same ocean and he’s not the same eskimo.

Deep stuff – I know, but no doubt this is evidently true in the digital age where the speed of which change happens continues to rapidly increase, and then some. No truer is this than for the team here at Igloo who, at the very (ice) core encapsulate this wisdom and know the value of versatility. Needless to say it is the reason for the recent growth that has allowed the team to ride the crest, enjoying the gentle splash of sea spray.

As a new inductee, it’s refreshing to be part of a team that encourages creativity, innovation and online engagement. The air is potent you can charge your iPhone with it. It’ll be interesting to see what this year brings.

The same wise fool also said change was the only constant – and sure my new iPhone 3Gs already feels like a Nokia 5110,  but as we close the first week of 2010 and with no signs of flying cars outside my window yet – may I say, change is still not fast enough..?     :^/

Welcome to a new decade! As a creative web designer, I am very excited to see what the new design trends will be for this decade. Whatever trends we predict will definitely shape how we think and how we conceptualize.

What I remember from the:
1990s.
Some of you may remember this and cringe! Black text with blue hyperlinks, animated gifs, splash pages in flash with “WELCOME TO MY SITE” and  “CLICK HERE TO ENTER” buttons, lots of “BACK” buttons,  revolving logos, animated blurs, flickering images, blinking text, orange and grey combination, Copperplate Gothic. My favourite was the 2advanced Studios website with matrix-like technical design! It’s funny how most of the sites made in the 1990s will cease to exist today.

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