YooBot

Having done some work with the British Heart Foundation during my time on placement, I was excited to see what the next installment of Grey's campaign for the BHF was going to be. Knowing they were targeting a younger market I was pleasantly surprised to see the "Yoobot" site. A yoobot is a virtual you, you put in your age and register, you can even upload your face as a picture! Your yoobot gets to live your life, basically, online and through your actions, you can see how the yoobot is affected, for example if you feed it too many burgers, you can see it become ill and even die!

I think this is a great site to teach children from a young age about heart disease, especially with obesity become such a large problem for the youth of today. Its fun for us bigger kids too! Go to http://yoobot.co.uk/ to try it out!

Etsy

This is a website that I have been aware of for quite a long time, but have only remembered recently. It is a site sort of like ebay but instead of selling everything, it is a community for artists to sell their wares. It is also a social network where artists can communicate with each other and see what's going on.

I think it is a great site because of the handmade, community aspect, it is kind of like a family. I have bought a few lovely things on there, and is somewhere different if you are looking for that personal gift. So go on etsy.com and browse away!

Did You Know

Came across this great presentation which gives the most incredible facts, and it does it in a really interesting way too. Watch this and be astounded!

Yahoo Makeover

Search engine giants Yahoo have this week launched the new interface of their website. Yahoo first announced that it would be redesigning their layout in May 2006, and slowly started rolling out changes a year later.

Obviously it hit the USA first and it is slowly being integrated into the European and Asian countries. The main difference is that it is a lot more spaced out, there is more information but instead of being crammed into a small window, it is tabbed and split into sections. "We are looking at Yahoo holistically, all centred around the user," said Yahoo's consumer experiences head Tapan Bhat. This means that everything you need is just a click or two away, with links to other sites such as BBC News, or even Twitter and Facebook.

The new layout can also be customised, and tailored to fit the individual and their online needs. Yahoo has described the overhaul as the most "radical" and "fundamental" make-over of the site since it began more than a decade ago, and you can see why. Gone is the jumbled and cramped layout, and instead everything looks busy but in a good way, and at least the user can see what is going on in the world. I have to say I am a fan of the new look of Yahoo, and though I haven't previously used it, I think I might start doing so as everything is all in one place! From this:
To this:

I Fancy A Snog...

No no... not that kind of snog! The Snog i'm talking about is delicious, cold and creamy... did you guess it yet?
Snog is a new chain of frozen yogurt shops, that have opened across London. I'm not blogging about the product however, but the website. Go to ifancyasnog.com or just click here for a really lovely web experience. The site's colour scheme is the first thing that really stands out, with sepia imagery and bold fuchsia contrasting to draw the eye. Snog uses a range of characters to tell you about the product and entice you to try it.

The website is very simple, letting the product speak for itself. There are loads of interesting things to do on the site, apart from learning about Snog. You can follow their blog, enter competitions and even see the other companies or people Snog endorse.

The tone of voice used is humorous, bordering on the slightly sarcastic, and is in keeping with the look and feel of the website.

The website reflects the natural, quirky shop decoration as well, with the illustrations used in the Snog outlets also used on their Twitter page. I really like how everything ties in, and enjoyed not only viewing the Snog product, but their ethos and even lifestyle. I hope to have my very first Snog soon!

Laika

LAÏKA (SHORT VERSION) from Guillaume Blanchet on Vimeo.

The above is a short stop-animation video titled Laika. Stumbling across this on the internet, I had no clue what the video was about, apart from the name. Laika was the name of a dog, the first earthling ever sent into space.

However, delving deeper into this fantastically well made, cute and funny video, I discovered that the guy who made this works in a bar in Montreal called Laika, and it was for its tenth anniversary. 3 minutes is quite a long time to watch a simple piece of animation, but this really draws you in, the eclectic music also fits so well. Its a really interesting way of celebrating an anniversary, and I will look out for more of the artist, Guillaume Blanchet's work.

We've all been watching the adverts for ages, and at first it was quite funny, with a very catchy theme tune, even if it does border on the slightly annoying. Anyways, I finally got bored enough to go and compare meerkats!

The site was suprising, interesting, and above all, funny! You get to choose different meerkats by selecting size, hobby and location. Its a time-filler for about 10 minutes whilst you have a good laugh, then its enough!

However, its a really effective advert, by using silly humour, I think it appeals to a lot of people. Go to comparethemeerkat.com for a browse.

OMGPOP

If you're into online gaming, then this site is for you! Its got loads of fun games, and the site is designed really well too. You can play against your friends or anyone else. OMGPOP combines social networking with gaming.


I would really encourage you to check it out, you can waste hours on this site - omgpop.com

Brand Spanking New Website

This year I have been on my Year in Industry, the majority of which has been spent working for charity/youth movement BBYO. I came on board and was given the broad title of "Fieldworker" which didn't really have a defined role. I took it upon myself to take on all the marketing/design, as this wasn't something BBYO ever really addressed before.

Something that has been a project of mine for the past couple of months has been the BBYO website. Our website had been taken offline as one of the volunteers wanted to work on it, however, after 6 months of a site with no content, I decided to take matters into my own hands.

I have been working with a professional web designer to create the new BBYO website, and put together most of the content and designed the look of the site. There was much development, but I am very happy with how it has turned out, and although there is still some tweaking to be done, the website now looks really good.

This is what the website looks like now, to check out the whole site, go to www.bbyo.org.uk or just click here. Feedback is definitely welcome!

Toshiba

I have been on my Placement Year for 2008/2009, and part of my time was spent at Grey London, an absolutely amazing advertising agency, part of the WPP Group. Amongst other things, they have worked with Toshiba to develop their website and adverts.

The Toshiba website is a completely new website, instead of using the mouse cursor normally, you draw a series of shapes to navigate your way around the website and interact with the website. The shapes do different things to each of the creatures you encounter. It is so much fun, try it for yourself here!

Grey also developed an incredible advertising campaign for the new Toshiba products. They use the "bullet time" technique (seen in the movie "The Matrix") and is dubbed, not as a tv ad, but as a "time sculpture" which shows 10 people filmed doing a range of activities.



You can view the whole video above. As the new girl, I was lucky enough to be the one who packed away all of the 270 video cameras used, with all their wires and accessories, a task that took all day!

Post Secret Website

http://postsecret.blogspot.com is a site i've been addicted to for a while. It plays on the inherent nosiness of humans, but instead of being seedy and somewhat taboo, it displays people's secrets in an arty and sometimes beautiful fashion.

These secrets range from the shallow, secrets such as "My secret is I want to be an Outlaw Biker" to the more heavy such as "I haven't spoken to my Dad in 10 years.... and it kills me every day."

People are encouraged to respond to secrets, and so great has this phenomenon become, that Frank, the founder, has set up galleries of postcards, and published books. I received one myself.

I think that the reason this website is so popular, is that people can find pieces of themselves in these little postcards, so take a look and I hope you can find something to relate to.

Other similar, more humorous websites are: secrettweet.com and fmylife.com.