Ship it in...

There's a salesman friend of mine who says that the client relationship usually starts deteriorating the moment the sale is made. This is not my view but i do think that it's important to avoid going straight into obsequious butler mode just because someone is paying you. In fact, the beginning of the relationship is the best time to test it. An early, hard-hitting, deep-core analysis of a client's business will pay dividends throughout the life of the relationship, instead of the resentment that builds up through having to tease out information.

Email is a very poor communication mechanism. A lot of time is spent chasing up a full response to emails because often only part of information requested ever gets supplied. One idea would be to add two lines to the start of every email.

Time to prepare:

Expected response:

Is this rude?

Phase one of the internet - land grab, be first, own the space

Phase two - develop something that people use... new tech, social network, video download etc. etc.

Phase three - integrate.

Integration, integration, integration... everything works with everything - Facebook + Google + Wikipedia + Lastminute + Amazon + Youtube + Hotels + Google Maps + Picasa = internet 3.0

The old adage used to be that you were only 1 click away from the competition... now consumers expect a successful website to include all of their favourite services

is it just me being arrogant or is it true that sometimes the client is the weakest link in the chain? How many times have we presented design work that is bang on, or an advertising campaign that is edgy and delivers on the brief, only to have it rejected and then 6 months later realise we were right?

Perhaps the most delicate, nuanced, and difficult part of the design process is gaining buy-in. Anyone have any thoughts on how to achieve this?

Our clients are finding that the cusp of the transition from old media to new media requires a year of double portion marketing. To put in place the new processes of search engine optimisation, google maps, email marketing, blogging, and all of the wonderful new content options available to companies looking to harness the internet's targetting and connectivity, is not cheap: especially if the 'old-media' budgets are still in place.

1) Compare it to the best thing in the world

2) Don't set a deadline

3) Don't give it to anyone as a job

4) Review it at the end of a meeting

5) Debate its purpose publicly

6) Forget about it for long periods of time

7) Fail to show open support from senior management

8) Complain about the cost

9) Get busy doing other things

10) Neglect it

This bag epitomises everything that I'm finding weird about the world at the moment. Here is an Indian newspaper recycled bag. Now i can understand the obvious rationale - poor people making bags out of newspaper. So you can feel good about feeding the poor without damaging the environment. But then i think to myself, 'are we really helping the world, what's the NET benefit? Am i really spreading an ecological message? How did this bag get here? What happens if the world suddenly upped its requirement? ' so many questions from one small bag.