Amblr apps deliver audio and visual content, depending on a person’s specific location. This allows for interesting, unique, story-based experiences as someone wanders around a place, such as in the Hackney Hear project. Amblr is also an open platform, allowing developers to experiment and create their own experiences.

The identity needed to work in a business-to-client context, positioning Amblr as an innovative business that can create these experiences. At the same time, it also had to be appealing to developers, hackers, and so on, communicating the possibilities the platform affords.

The solution was to create a series of sparks, made of a graphic representation of a compass needle. This communicated both creative opportunity, and the boundless routes Amblr apps could take.

The ’spark’ device also acts as a standalone graphic, and will be used to co-brand apps created on the platform.

Amblr is a hugely exciting concept, with many projects due to launch in the coming months. Keep track of its activity on Twitter.

Caper aims to promote disruptive thinking and action within businesses and cultural organisations, and encourage new ways of doing things.

The logo has been designed as a badge which can be used in any number of applications – the irregular shape and characterful type reflecting Caper’s approach to work.

It’s been a fun project to work on. Keep an eye on Caper – they’re doing some really interesting stuff right now. Follow Caper on Twitter, too.

There was a pleasingly eclectic roster of speakers, all lovingly emblazoned on the solid chocolate programme each delegate received, so the audience had already been won over!

Things kicked off well with Matt Sheret (Last.fm) and record producer Simon Thornton, of Fatboy Slim fame, discussing the lost art of album sequencing. Last.fm’s data suggests our listening habits are changing, from the conventional album, to playlists, mixes or individual tracks. This may be true for younger listeners, but a straw poll of the audience (who roughly aged from late 20s upwards) indicates the album is still a valid art form. Nevertheless, the sequencing of tracks to create an overall listening experience with its own ebb and flow is not a purely artistic endeavour, with commercial pressures bearing heavily on the final outcome (’never put a hit single as the final track’ is a watchword of record production, apparently).

Jeremy Deller proved a highly engaging and completely different speaker, talking about the miners’ strike in the 1980s, and how this is a story that wasn’t well told at the time, and remains something lacking a really good document. Jeremy aimed to redress this by conducting a re-enactment of a particular clash, using re-enactment society members and ‘veterans’ from the time. This gave miners, and the community whom the strikes affected, the opportunity to tell their side of the story, which may not have been faithfully covered at the time. Jeremy also asserted that it’s important not to let certain memories fade; to jog the memory or poke the wound, lest the real events and stories of the time be forgotten.
 
 

Beware the Lesbian Sock Puppet

Liz Henry delivered one of the many standout moments, in that she actually told a story in which she was heavily involved. She delivered a fascinating account of the highly publicised Gay Girl In Damascus blog, in which a supposed Syrian lesbian blogger was documenting her experiences, until she was detained by Syrian special forces. What unfolded was a complex web of real and fake online personas, accusations, and detective work on the part of Liz and others online. Liz scotches the notion that fake blogging helps raise awareness of the issues and experiences facing marginalised people, as the stories are usually much more exciting and palatable than the real ones. It’s the prservation of the uncomfortable stories that is difficult.

Anthony Owen, a magician (and responsible for many famous illusions, such as The Real Hustle, and much of Derren Brown’s work) delivered the notion that many magic tricks play on our desires – immortality, psychic powers, levitation, and so on. The key to a good trick though, is to make the story as simple as possible, presumably to allow people to impart their own imaginations on the illusion. I was reminded of Tom Morgan’s excellent Bettakultcha talk about magic and conspiracy theories, which is definitely worth five minutes of your time.

Musician and sound artist Matthew Herbert gave a thought-provoking talk on how, because sound recording technology has only been around for just over a hundred years, we know very little of what our history sounded like. Archeology might show us what history looked and felt like, but we have very little idea of what, say, ancient Egypt might have sounded like. Also, sound can be very subjective. Whereas a painting will look the same to any viewer, the sound of me eating an apple is very different to the sound of you eating an apple.
 
 

A Story of Political Failure

My most anticipated talk of the day was Labour MP Tom Watson, a key figure in the News International phone hacking scandal, talking about his experiences. Unlike much of today, this is a story that is continuing to unfold. Indeed, Tom began by informing the audience that Rupert Murdoch had just announced his plans to launch The Sun on Sunday (to which I can’t help but think of Alan Partridge shouting, ‘They’ve re-badged it, you fool!’, with this basically being a replacement for News of the World. As Emily Bell conducted the interview, you got the impression that no one at the time knew just how big the story was, and that its success was very much influenced by social media, as the only papers covering it were The Guardian and Independent. That Press Association journalists were too scared to report the story (as the PA is part-owned by News International) is just one example of the stranglehold NI has over the stories we consume. The crowd was mostly completely silent throughout this session, apart from Watson’s admission that he was inspired by The Wire’s Lester Freamon in his aproach to investigating the story, which got a huge laugh.

After such an engaging session, I pitied whoever had to follow, but Scott Burnham succeeded effortlessly, with his talk around playfulness in urban design. He demonstrated how the notion of play and designing for serendipity can yield unexpected results, and that trusting the public to care for the things you build is imperative to this approach. Indeed, his most impressive work — a collaboration with Stefan Sagmeister involving 250,000 pennies — was actually removed by Amsterdam police, in under 24 hours, to stop it from being stolen! But as Burnham summed up, it’s the story that remains.

Fiona Raby discussed the future-facing design project, aimed at addressing issues caused by the soaring world population (9 billion humans are expected to inhabit the planet by 2050). She discussed how foraging for food, and maximising the yields of the environment around us, could not only help with hunger, but also build social cohesion. However, the rather bizarre-looking appendages designed for such tasks felt unduly portentous, and contrary to the optimistic future Fiona’s work targets.

Flipping things on their heads again was artist Ellie Harrison, who showed us the evidence of the obssessive self-quantification of her life – what she ate, where she travelled, etc. Photographs, spreadsheets, and so on were her tools, until she realised that she was merely the administrator in her own life. It’s interesting to note that, despite her self-deprecating manner, and the plentiful laughs she got, how much people do this now, without even thinking. It’s easy to self-quantify now – Foursquare, Scrobbling, Tweeting, Runkeeper, GetGlue – most people don’t know why they actually do this, but are unlikely to stop.

From documenting one’s life, to thinking of one’s death. Game company Preloaded showed their remarkable game for Channel 4 Education – The End. Created to encourage young people to consider death, in a philosopical sense, it takes players through platform and strategy game mechanics (beautifully illustrated by Luke Pearson), and occasionally asking them questions like, ‘Is there such thing as a cause worth dying for?’ and ‘Would you like to choose how you die?’

The remnants of the programme (now sadly eaten)

Modern Life isn’t rubbish

Next was a great interview of Karen Lubbock by MagCulture’s Jeremy Leslie, about her magazine, simply called Karen. Intended as the antithesis of celebrity lifestyle magazines, Karen not so much celebrates every day life (as that sounds a bit lofty), so much as simply reflects it. Featuring articles as seemingly mundane as “Pat’s bunions”, it aims to document the little moments in normal people’s lives, which would normally go unnoticed. This was one of my favourite talks – and promptly bought a copy of the magazine. What I love about it is its completely honest tone. There’s none of the wry distance you get from, say, Martin Parr’s photography. Humour comes from the people and lives it documents, rather than whether their jumper is unfashionable.

So, as energy levels and brain capacity were ebbing, and the sugar-rush of the chocolate programme was wearing off, the day was rounded out by long-standing online activist Danny O’Brien, whose unstoppable nervous energy perked the audience up instantly. Discussing the parallels between the billionaire tech tycoons, and homeless, squatting hackers, he points out the problems of having leaderless co-ops (such as the Occupy movement), and how a hacker space can ironically descend into anarchy, if you allow a Buddhist monk to set up shop there. The perfect end to the day.

It’s tempting when attending a conference to look for themes or a common thread which links the speakers, whether serendipitous or by design on the part of the curator. This wasn’t really necessary for The Story, as it became apparent that stories arise in all areas of life, whether you’re looking for them or not. What did strike me was how the running order was perfect – keeping things fresh and varied throughout. Something I’m sure wasn’t lost on Simon Thornton!

Dean Vipond was appointed by agency Somethin’ Else to design the main interface for the game, as well provide much of the information design which is delivered as the game progresses and the player’s experience increases. Oh, and the logo too!

Players play the part of someone starting at a new school, who is plunged into a scary alternate reality, featuring zombie teachers, spider-bats and giant pandas. On the way you’ll meet lots of strange characters and need to work out how best to communicate, and see behind their façades to succeed. Can players fix reality and return the school to normal?

The game is a huge production, featuring brilliant writing, some excellent Flash games by Player Three, and the (literally) fantastic illustration work of Ben Steers. It also has video interviews with celebrities talking about their experiences of making transitions in their lives.

Check it out at www.nightmarehigh.com

There was an overarching theme at this year’s FutureEverything of ‘cities’ – what makes them unique, what drives their development, how people live in them and how they could be improved. This provided a compelling anchor for a decidedly broad range of subjects being discussed.

The first session I attended was for Bristol’s B-Open Media Sandbox initiative, which commissioned a number of projects to look at creative uses for Bristol Council’s open data. How can council data be used engage citizens and improve their lives?

We saw three case studies – Delib’s visualisation project around council spending, PM Studio’s Blossom Bristol game built on pollution data, and Connect Bristol’s “Hills Are Evil” service, which provides information on hills, curbs, and difficult surfaces for wheelchair, pushchair or cycle users.

 
Open data versus privacy

Delib’s ‘I Heart My City’ was interesting in that the aspirations for the project could not be fulfilled, due to the available data being insufficient to present a truly transparent service. Location data was not available, so citizens could not see how council money was being spent in specific areas of the city. In addition, only external spend was available, meaning it wasn’t possible to show how money was being spent in internal departments.

 
Despite these frustrations, it was interesting to see what could be made, were the correct data made available. Delib’s delegate did point out that in London, any transport company wishing to tender for contacts must agree to providing their data, so that future initiatives (such as bus tracking services) could be enabled.

What did arise from the post-presentation questions was the notion of privacy. What does open data mean for the privacy of public sector employees? Would a social worker, teacher, or council receptionist want their salary to be public knowledge? Sure, knowing the financial details of our elected politicians is one thing, but is it necessary for us to know which of our local library staff earns more than their colleagues? I don’t think so.

Also, as apparently essential as a bus tracking service would be, it’s not a stretch to point out that being able to pinpoint a bus driver at any given point might have privacy implications.

 
Blooming gamification

Blossom Bristol was a very different project, being a mobile game for monitoring air and water quality across the city. Players could plant virtual crops in real places across the city. The real-life environmental conditions of the area would dictate the health of the crop.

 
‘Gamification’, the notion of influencing people’s behaviour by making a given task feel like a game, is a very hot topic in technology and marketing circles right now. It’s a hateful term, mainly because there are so many snake oil merchants suggesting that strapping a points or badge system to anything from email to a daily chores will instantly make people want to interact with it.

What the gamification advocates forget (and what PM Studio remembered) is that you need to build a compelling game if you want people to play it. Blossom Bristol succeeds in that it was fun, and people cared about the crops they planted in the same way as they did their Nintendogs. The outcome of this was that people became more interested in the environmental quality of the space around them, which then drove more pressure on councils to improve work in this area. Unfortunately it was only commissioned as a trial – I’d love to try this game where I live.

 
Resident Evil

The Hills Are Evil project was fascinating, and to me, felt like a real ‘why hasn’t this been done before?’ kind of project. Allowing users to provide gradient, surface and curb information to a collaborative map allowed wheelchair users, people with puschairs, or cyclists invaluable information for getting around Bristol. Flat maps give no indication of whether a street is steep, cobbled, or has high curbs.

 
What was interesting is that the creators didn’t aim to just make something for disabled users, moreover something disabled users would find useful. This way, it didn’t come off as patronising, and also opened its usage base up to, say, cyclists who were looking for an easier (or more difficult) ride for the day.

 
How can open data be open to all?

Each of the three projects showed just how beneficial clever use of data and user interaction can be, in improving people’s lives on a personal or civic level. What ultimately strikes me about these projects, is that they (obviously) require smartphones, and as such present a barrier of entry to many of the people who would stand to benefit the most from using them. Even if though smartphone costs are continually falling, the sustained investment of connectivity and data charges is not something poorer people would be able to afford.

The notion of giving someone a fishing rod instead of a fish is no longer valid, so long as a continued injection of cash on the part of the user is required.

I would love to see a project like this trialed where devices and data charges were all fully funded. I think we’d really start to understand the benefits open data projects can help entire communities, not just those who can afford to be involved.

The digital component of BBC’s pioneering new three-part TV series The Code has now launched. Dean Vipond was appointed by game and storytelling experts Six To Start to provide visual and interaction design for this ambitious and exciting project. The Code encourages players to find clues in the show and online, in order to solve puzzles as part of a real life treasure hunt.

The show is all about the mathematical codes which underpin how our world works. Unlike most TV shows, the online aspect has been a fundamental element of the entire production, with TV show and game created as a single experience.

It’s been a hugely exciting and satisfying project to work on. The first episode of the TV show airs on 27th July at 9pm, but players are already working to solve various puzzles online now. Take a look, and join the treasure hunt!

Go to The Code on BBC
Follow The Code on Twitter
See The Code on Facebook

Series 5 of Skins begins on E4 on Thursday 27th January at 10pm. There’s plenty of online activity to accompany the series, including two websites, produced by entertainment production company Somethin’ Else, and designed by Dean Vipond.

It must be stressed that the design of both sites is deliberately tacky! They were huge fun to design though. Please be advised that both sites contain adult humour and strong language!
 
 

The first site is for Roundview College, and is masterminded by long-term character Doug. You’ll be able to meet some new characters, learn about the college’s ‘interesting’ approach to education, and send Doug some questions. The best ones will be published on the site.
 
 

The second site is for the mildly terrifying, alpha male motivational coach Leon Levan. Learn about Leon’s philosophy, watch videos and download some motivational posters. It’s an experience, make no mistake!

A pleasingly on-brand cosmetic bottle

Once we’d arrived at our chalet, the positive experience continued. All the welcoming literature was on-brand and clear, and even the complimentary shower gel was branded! However, my spidey-senses were tingling. I knew that someone, somewhere, was using Comic Sans in the name of Center Parcs.

I was right. As we entered the swimming pool, there it was – our jaunty, fun-loving friend informing us of CCTV cameras. Sometimes I hate to be proven right, and this was just such a time.

A displeasingly off-brand sign

Vipond’s Law

Finding evidence of Comic Sans was an inevitability. In 1989, the author Mike Godwin coined what is now known as Godwin’s Law – “As an online discussion grows longer, the probability of a comparison involving Nazis or Hitler approaches 1.” Basically, it is inevitable that any online discussion, if allowed to continue long enough, will reference Hitler and the Nazis.

In a similar vein, I’d like to propose Vipond’s Law – that no matter how tightly controlled a brand’s design may be, as the number of individuals responsible for communications grows, the probability of Comic Sans being used in a branded touchpoint approaches 1. It cannot be stopped.

I bet that there’s an out-of-order sign somwhere on a toilet cubicle door at one of Apple’s offices, or an email signature belonging to a receptionist at British Airways that undermines the efforts designers and brand guardians make to ensure consistency.

The Co-op (or Co-operative, as their branding dictates) threw me quite a curve ball recently. I had been involved with organising a funeral, using the Co-op’s funeral services. Included with the final bill was a stamped, addressed envelope for posting a cheque. You can imagine how incensed I was.

A jauntily-titled piece of funereal communications

The question I’m asking, however, is does this *really* matter?

Who cares?

Do microscopic chinks in a brand’s armour really weaken it, or are they a reminder that any organisation is run by real people? Designers, myself included, speak at length of the importance of consistency in communications, and that any deviation from the style guide is a grave act.

I can spot brand deviations a mile off – it’s my job. But I doubt the average member of the public notices, and if they were to notice, they wouldn’t care. Did any Center Parcs customers enjoy their holiday less (excluding myself), because some swimming pool signage was off-brand? Would someone dealing with the loss of a loved one really think less of a funeral director because of an off-brand envelope? It irks me, but I would say not.

I’ve been responsible for large brands before, and to a certain degree, you do have to choose your battles, or nothing would ever get released to market. However, as innocuous as these little branding indiscretions are, it is still the job of the designer to stamp them out. Yes, it makes us seem petty, but the moment we let things slide, bigger and bigger mistakes will be made, and all of a sudden your brand is out of control. We must plug the tiny leaks in the dam, lest the whole structure becomes fragile.

So I urge designers (and clients) to keep a keen eye on the fine details. And when asked, ‘does it really matter?’, reply with an emphatic ‘yes!’

The game is for The Big Top 40 Show, the commercial radio chart owned by Global Radio – the largest commercial radio company in the UK. Each week, players predict the top 10 tracks for the coming week, and win points for accuracy. As well as playing against your Facebook friends, a global league table keeps things competitive.

Play Chart Wars now!

The experience, created and produced by Six To Start (and on which Dean Vipond was visual designer) won the Multi-platform award at the BIMA event in London. Created to accompany the first series of the successful Channel 4 drama (the second series of which is on right now), it allowed viewers to gain a greater depth and understanding of the show and its characters. Games and hidden content were accessible through E4.com, and characters also had their own Twitter, Flickr and even Amazon accounts, leading to an unprecedented level of background material for fans to enjoy.

 
Unfortunately the experience is no longer online for you to see. However, it was an utter privilege to work on the project, with such a fun and visionary team. You can read more about the project on on deanvipond.com or on Six To Start’s site