Cowslip workshops very own Jo Colwill, is appearing on Kirstie Allsopp’s TV programme, Home for Christmas on Channel 4 tonight at 8pm.

Jo is so completely unassuming and so I’m sure she won’t be shouting about this too much, but all the team at SD would like to wish her good luck anyway! We’ll be watching

Cowslip workshops have been providing courses and workshops for over 12 years on their idylic  farm in Cornwall, and Jo herself has been working with textiles all her life.  The team at Cowslip are completely focussed on providing a easy, relaxing and inspiring environment for people to learn, and from the worhsops to the cafe and the shop, they achieve this with great ease.  People come from all over the world to attend the workshops and courses..and for good reason too.

You have to see the work that is produced to appreciate how truely lovely it is, so for any of you budding crafts people out there, who fancy signing up for a course, or attending a workshop or  if you need any last minute Christmas Present ideas….

Cowslip Workshops are one of our longest standing clients, are an absolute pleasure to work with, and just for info, we are also just about to launch a new Cowslip website… watch this space..

Office Hours

London Office

Our London office hours over the holidays are:

Closing on Thursday 22nd December at 5pm

Re-opening on Tuesday 3rd January at 9am

Head Office – Cornwall

Our Head Office in Cornwall usually closes between Christmas and New Year, and this year we close at 5pm on Friday 23rd December, then from the 28th – 30th we will be operating with a small team where we will be available to deal with any emergencies.  We’re back to full power on January 3rd at 9am.

If you have any serious website problems over this period, please use the following email address to contact us:

Christmas related emergencies relating to Turkeys, sprouts or other culinary disasters are best directed to here:

www.britishturkey.co.uk ………………….They have a Turkey hotline!

As anyone who has had the pleasure of meeting or dealing with our Support Manager Tim, you’ll know what a genuinely nice guy he is, and recently the SD team discovered that this does in fact also run in the family!

Tim and Bev's wedding day 1986

Tim and Bev decided to renew their vows (very Holywood Tim!) to celebrate their anniversary,  in the same church they were married in 25 years ago in Falmouth. The bride looked absolutely stunning and our Tim was grinning from ear to ear as he walked her down the aisle to re-pledge his commitment to Bev and their three boys.

I’m keen to mention at this point that I do belive that I was the only one singing in the SD pew, so I was either so bad I drowned out everyne else (highly possibile), or I was in fact the only one singing… (also highly possible).

The Bride and Groom left the church in style, in a beautiful classic old Beauford with a glass of bubbly in hand, and with onlookers stopping to take photo’s..

We moved on to the Porthminster Hotel for the reception, the sun shone, the Pimms was poured and needless to say, we had a fabulous time.  Tim and Bev did the traditional first dance and I can honestly say that to see a couple still that into each other after 25 years of marriage, was not only something I don’t think I have ever seen before, but also, incredibly moving….. ahhh

Tim’s wife Bev had spent such a  long time arranging and planning this event (with the help of  Tim and the Boys of course). The attention to detail to ensure that their guests were well catered for meant that literally eveything was thought of and the room and tables looked almost as stunning as Bev did!

Tim and Bev renew their vows 2011

Tim and Bev’s Three sons also did readings in the church and considering they were mostly love related readings, they were amazing and must of made their parents incredibly proud, not one  fake vomit in sight!

Anyway, enough gushing already ……..

Congratulations to Tim and Bev!

Thank you both for letting us share your special day, and here’s to many more anniversaries to come!

This month saw the launch of the European woodfuel project, the Forest Programme, a pan-European project focused on working with business in the biomass heating supply chain to develop a more profitable and successful business sector.

Project Objectives

The project is supported by the Intelligent Energy Europe Programme (IEE) and working across seven European regions, it aims to share and develop business experiences , learning from the success of markets in Sweden and Austria and sharing this with less developed markets in Poland, Spain, Ireland, Italy and the UK.

 In order to disseminate all of this information, a website and community site was required in a bid to provide an accessible means of communicating to the target audience, as well as providing an online community platform to encourage people involved in the sector to communicate, develop new conatcts and share knowldge and experience.

Website Design and development

One of the key objectives in terms of design, was to create a look and feel that would appeal to a european audience, with focus on offering a selection of translated content through the key messages for non english speaking partners and website visitors. We created partner pages for all of the programmes partners and these pages are also translated in their native language as well as in English with links to the partners own websites.

The site features latest news features, various tools and an events calender and giving our clinets full control to update the site, its constantly updated and fresh.

Community Feature

Another phase of this project was to build an online community to enable users to join up and start interacting with each other. We built this using the BuddyPress platform thus providing  full community features including:

• Profile creation
• Online networking
• Personal messaging
• The ability to create  groups and forums
• The ability to post updates
• File sharing

The community is due to launch very soon,  we are in the testing phase right now, we’ll keep you updated! but for now, here’s a sneak preview:

Kathryn Timmins, SD Accounts

So, here we are again, another new family member at SD for us to introduce  to you, Kathryn Timmins, our latest addition (there’s a clue there..) I had a bit of a natter/interogation with our Kathryn recently, and here’s whats she had to say…

So Kathryn, can you tell any of our clients who haven’t yet had the pleasure,what is your role at SD?

I’m the Office Manager so I support the general office, admin and HR function and look after the books!

Aha, the invoice lady!…. and I hear it on the grapevine that you have passed yet another exam recently, what was that all about?

I’m just about to complete the second year of the AAT so a few exams coming up.  I’ve recently taken the Indirect Tax (VAT) exam and thankfully passed it!

Congratulations from the whole team on that again by the way! On that subject,  we’ve seen VAT change again this year, So what else is new in terms of accounting these days then? 

 It’s all pretty new to me to be honest and my course runs at such a fast pace that every week I learn something different. 

Most of our clients will have spoken to you or received an invoice from you by now, do you have any advice to offer in terms of invoice or account queries? 

Just if people have queries please ring and let me know – it’s easier to do something about it if I’m told in the first place!

So what is it about numbers that gets you all fired up? 

Not sure – Maths has always been my worst subject so I suppose I get a sense of achievement in getting things to balance.

What’s the most challenging bit?

Thinking of answers for newsletter interviews!

Yes, sorry Kathryn, it’s sort of like an initiation thing……How are you finding the general hubbub of head office?

It’s a really hardworking office and everyone has been welcoming and friendly.  I even find myself ’bopping’ away to the music (sometimes!) 

Yes, and I know exactly what you mean about “sometimes” too! So, I always ask,  what do you get up to when your not counting beans and stuff? 

When I’m not studying or running around after my three year old, I sometimes find time to go for a run and I’ve been doing Zumba for a while which is great fun, although I have no coordination!

Zumba! excellent, do you think the team would benefit from a session of two? …… hmmm yes, maybe not……Anyway, I understand you join the ranks at SD of the working mum, how do you find that balance? 

I think I’ve got the balance about right although every morning, I always find myself running around frantically trying to get to work on time.  There’s always a Marmite disaster or other emergency just as we’re about to pile out of the door.

Yep I reckon kids think that Marmite helps to create more interest on what they see as  a boring white shirt! So, ok the burning question then, if you could invite anyone to your dream dinner party, who’d be on the list?

James Martin (to cook), Dara O’Briain and Prince Harry (entertainment), Norah Jones (music) and Phil from Eastenders.

Wow, now there’s a dinner party I’d like to be at, what a combination, like it!  Ok, last one I promise, so even more important than all the other questions.. what’s your favourite cake? 

Banoffee pie – is that a cake?!

I don’t think it matters because Banoffee Pie absolutey rocks..

Garage Door Direct have been selling garage doors online for over 5 years, in fact, we built the first site that they used to do just this, back in 2005..

Project Objectives:

With the competition hot on their tails, Jon and his team at Garage Door Direct were keen to stay one step ahead, create a new more focussed brand and redevelop the website to continue improve their customers experience and overall to hold on to and increase their market share. Years of website analytics, sales information, customer profiling and market intelligence were used in line with business objectives to set the objectives for the new brand and website.

The new concept for this project was a complete departure from the previous offering.  When we analysed the user demographics it became obvious that the majority of the customers were male.  It was also obvious that there was a gap in the marketplace for a no nonsense approach, so we sat down and brainstormed on an approach to take.

We decided to make the site purposely ‘blokey’ and slightly tongue in cheek.  We felt that taking a humorous approach would appeal to our core demographic, for example calls to action like “A cracking Set of Tips” can be found here, and this is toned down I assure you.

Branding:

The logo design had to take into account the new more focussed target audience, it needed to say, DIY, masculine, hands on, no fuss, you’ve come to the right place..

The colour scheme was selected based on our research of the target market and the other sites they are likely to use, we chose strong bold contrast colours and kept it simple but striking.

Website Design and Development:

Using the very powerful Magento ecommerce system to handle the site, we were able to make a site that matched our needs without any compromise.  Garage doors have many variables which can affect the price, and Magento meant that we could build a very complicated, yet very flexible system that would be easy for our visitors to use.

When a user adjusts any of the variables, such as height, width and motor options, the price updates in real time.  This means that the customer is always clear on the price and there are never any hidden charges.

It was also important to us to ensure that there was a detailed and comprehensive help section, with tips, advice and videos.   We involved ‘Big J’ himself, who took the time and trouble to provide us with some great videos.  We also installed a Live Help system, so visitors to the site can have a webchat with someone in real time and get their questions answered.

With prominent calls to action, massive discounts, price matching and a great approach to customer service, we believe that Big J’s Garage Doors will become the website in this sector that continues to lead the field.

So, If you like a well hung door, you’d be mad not to pay it a visit.

www.garagedoordirect.co.uk

The three biggest web-browsers by market share are all launched their latest products last month, with big upgrades in functionality;

Surely an endorsement for how competition works in ensuring power and choice to the consumer, with Google committed to releasing a new copy of Chrome every 6 weeks;

Resembling a football and funded by Google, Chrome 10 was first out of the Net last month, followed by Internet Explorer 9 in the big blue corner of Microsoft and now Firefox 4 from those dedicated mostly unpaid individuals on the 22nd March;

Which browser to use ? Far easier to ask than to answer

Apparently there are only 4 different browsing engines on which your browser runs to display the page;

• Trident is developed by Microsoft for Windows as Internet Explorer
• Gecko from the Mozilla Foundation as used by Firefox and also Camino on a Mac
• Webkit used by Safari and Chrome – ever wondered why both legitimately claim to be the fastest?
• and Presto developed by and for Opera – they’re Scandinavian you know;

Almost every other browser uses one or a combination of these

For those of a geeky nature and for a look down memory lane, try http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Timeline_of_web_browsers.svg for a timeline of the major browsers, we have used and discarded since 1990;

Is the fact that the world’s mass usage browsers are all quietly ’Made (and funded) in USA’, an example of US Imperialism or of a global benefactor ?

They promise auto complete Awesome Bars, App tabs, location aware browsing, cross-site scripting protection, GPU Accelerated Compositing, …. woh steady on there – Ya what ?

What they really mean is the latest versions should help protect us by blocking the nasties, have faster page loading, greater crashing tolerance and faster recovery, and a whole load more…

They all agree on recommending that you update from your current browser to the latest version to help reduce the millions of computers infected with malware and Trojans.  Remember these are all ‘free’ in the sense that no money changes hands to acquire or use them, but ….. see Cookies below

Well the first one to possibly to drop-out of your consideration may be Internet Explorer 9 (IE9) which only works on Vista and Windows 7 machines and whilst in China 35% of users apparently are still using IE6 from 2001 – there are a lot of upgrades needed before IE9 is common there; With China now the worlds 2nd largest economy, leapfrogging Europe in just a couple of years, it’s many proud citizens looking to recover the golden years of Emperor Chin, is this the perfect example of how they are rushing into the future whilst keeping one foot in the past (2001)?

As for Firefox versus Chrome – I’ll leave that for you to decide as both have evangelists;

Happily Married Everyone?

And while we are discussing Google, for those of a paranoid nature, you may like these snippets -

Marissa Mayer, Google’s Gatekeeper commented recently “There are actually a lot of places that have a lot of data about you that people don’t know. I read the other week that based on spending patterns, credit card companies know with 98% accuracy two years before that you’re going to get divorced – that’s crazy.”

We may get worried by Mr Murdock’s march on acquiring the World’s media but consider this, in a real life version of ‘Tomorrow never dies’ Late last year, Nicaragua refused to withdraw troops  from a disputed parcel of land along its border with Costa Rica after Google Maps wrongly labelled it Nicaraguan territory.

And finally a Grimm tale … cookies are under attack from the EU; This time it’s not their vat rate or quality of cocoa solid content but the ones that are placed on your computer’s hard drive by sites that you visit; These friendly sounding files have been used for years to recognise you when you return to your favourite sites that keep your shopping basket filled or remembered your preferences; These are called first party cookies as they are just issued and used by the site you are visiting, otherwise they are inactive; Fair enough;

However over time cookies have now become more of a Monster as marketing companies use third party ones to follow and track exactly where you go, following you from site to site more like the breadcrumbs of Hansel and Gretel except it’s the wicked witch that is using them !

These are used by marketing types to target you with ads and have other data harvesting purposes less obvious or admirable;

If you want to know how pervasive these are, just turn on ‘third part cookies alert’ on your browser – you won’t believe how many alerts will popup before you get fed up and then turn them off permanently;

For pc users > Start > Control Panel > Internet Options > Privacy > Advanced > tick ‘Override automatic cookie handling’ > tick ‘Prompt’ for Third-party Cookies > OK > OK >

Well the EU are introducing legislation from 25th May 2011 to force cookies into the open, and make the user aware of them and their purpose;

It appears the EU is pushing the 3rd party cookie witch into the fire;

… And so we all lived happily ever after. Sleep well;

Postscript – The legislation will not be finalised and published until after it becomes legally enforceable ! ? by the Department of Culture Media and Sport in the UK and these new browsers will no doubt be trumpeting their user protection;

As many of you are all aware, London is a hub of cultural activity – not a day goes by when we Londoners aren’t spoilt for choice by a whole plethora of social events to attend.  From trade shows to expo’s, conferences to business breakfasts, structured networking events to my personal favourite, notworking events (which involve copious amounts of alcohol and the odd exchanging of business cards!) The difficulty however lies in deciding which to attend and what benefits will come of them.

Over the past few months I’ve been to a whole series of different events with a variety of formats to interact with. Now under normal scrutiny some of these would be considered as a ‘failure’ – i.e. no business has come as direct result of it. But it is important to look at the bigger picture and take into account both your brand awareness and presence. A half hour conversation with someone at a conference may not land you any direct business, but by talking about your brand and inevitably exchanging valued bits of card with your identity on, you’re promoting your brand on the frontline. While difficult to gauge the effectiveness of word of mouth, it should never be underestimated as one of the most simple, raw and affordable forms of advertising. After all, it is the foundation of viral marketing!

But it’s not just brand promotion that can benefit from such events however, the level of knowledge and insight that both you and your team have can be vastly expanded from a simple talk or lecture. At the beginning of the month I attended the Technology for Marketing and Advertising expo in Earl’s Court, which focussed on providing insight into the emerging trends sparked by new technology (more info on http://www.t-f-m.co.uk/). I listened with great excitement to a talk from Google regarding the current state of mobile advertising and filled many pages of my notebook with all sorts of useful facts (for those of you interested, check out Google’s report on mobile advertising: http://www.google.com/events/thinkmobile2011/presentations.html ) The very next day I met with a number of different individuals who wanted to talk about promoting their brand on a mobile platform, and immediately I could use all of the knowledge I had gained the previous day to convince them that it was far from a phase and would have significant benefit to their business.

However one of the most significant benefits to a team (and the reason why I love notworking events) is relaxation. On the third of March I attended a Bladdered Again! Event (http://www.bladderedagain.co.uk/) hosted by D&AD (http://www.dandad.org/) which saw around 200 designers gather in an underground bar in Clerkenwell. While somewhat seedy from the outset like some sort of underground movement, the night was completely unstructured which allowed a flow of creative freedom to talk to whomever you wanted about whatever you liked. Amongst the many trips back and forth to the bar squeezing past some of the most influential names in design, there were grumblings about the economy, feelings on Gaddafi, the latest ad campaign for ‘X’ and of course which  was the nicest ale! In all it was a chance to relax with like-minded peers and get excited by friendly competition, a feeling that has echoed throughout the remainder of this month.

Obviously we can’t all go to every event as we would never get any work done! But making a regular appearance at a different variety of events can make a significant difference to your team and ultimately your business. I would recommend a careful balance between structured and unstructured events, and also to do a bit of research on who’s attending beforehand as it makes introductions that much easier. Also a well designed business card that says exactly who you are, what you do and how to get in touch makes a crucial impact on an individuals’ opinion of you – it could make all the difference between a friendly chat or landing a significant new business deal.

If you would like some friendly advice on the successful benefits of attending events and how you can maximise your brand presence, feel free to drop us an email at advice@slightlydifferent.co.uk or follow us on twitter for an insight into the creative industry @slightlytwitty.

That’s enough from me for now though, it’s time to get over the notworking hangover and on with some real work!

Some Brilliance in terms of viral marketing!

How to Give Cat a Pill…

1. Pick up cat and cradle it in the crook of your left arm as if holding a baby.  Position right fore finger and thumb on either side of cat’s mouth and gently apply pressure to cheeks while holding pill in right hand.  As cat opens mouth, pop pill into mouth.   Allow cat to close mouth and swallow.

2.  Retrieve pill from floor and cat from behind sofa. Cradle cat in left arm and repeat process.

3.  Retrieve cat from bedroom, and throw soggy pill away.

4.  Take new pill from foil wrap, cradle cat in left arm, holding rear paws tightly with left hand.  Force jaws open and push pill to back of mouth with right forefinger.   Hold mouth shut for a count of ten.

5.  Retrieve pill from goldfish bowl and cat from top of wardrobe.   Call spouse in from the garden.

6.  Kneel on floor with cat wedged firmly between knees, hold front and rear paws.   Ignore low growls emitted by cat.  Get spouse to hold head firmly with one hand while forcing wooden ruler into mouth.  Drop pill down ruler and rub cat’s throat vigorously.

7.  Retrieve cat from curtain rail.   Get another pill from foil wrap.  Make note to buy new ruler and repair curtains.  Carefully sweep shattered figurines and vases from hearth and set to one side for gluing later.

8.  Wrap cat in large towel and get spouse to lie on cat with head just visible from below armpit.  Put pill in end of drinking straw, force mouth open with pencil and blow down drinking straw

9.  Check label to make sure pill not harmful to humans and drink one beer to take taste away.  Apply band-aid to spouse’s forearm and remove blood from carpet with cold water and soap.

10.  Retrieve cat from neighbor’s shed.   Get another pill.  Open another beer.  Place cat in cupboard, and close door onto neck, to leave head showing.  Force mouth open with dessert spoon.  Flick pill down throat with elastic band.

11.  Fetch screwdriver from garage and put cupboard door back on hinges.   Drink beer. Fetch bottle of scotch. Pour shot, drink.   Apply cold compress to cheek and check records for date of last tetanus shot.  Apply whiskey compress to cheek to disinfect.  Toss back another shot.  Throw tee-shirt away and fetch new one from bedroom.

12.  Call fire department to retrieve the damn cat from the top of the tree across the road.  Apologize to neighbor who crashed into fence while swerving to avoid cat.   Take last pill from foil wrap.

13.  Using heavy-duty pruning gloves from shed, tie the little *&#%^’s front paws to rear paws with garden twine and bind tightly to leg of dining table.  Push pill into mouth followed by large piece of filet steak.  Be rough about it.  Hold head vertically and pour two pints of water down throat to wash pill down.

14.  Consume remainder of scotch.  Get spouse to drive you to the emergency room.  Sit quietly while doctor stitches fingers and forearm and removes pill remnants from right eye.  Call furniture shop on way home to order new table.

15.  Arrange for SPCA to collect mutant cat from hell and call local pet shop to see if they have any hamsters.

How To Give A Dog A Pill…

1.  Wrap it in cheese.

2.  Toss it in the air.

——-

This is Brilliant, funny and a bit creepy–

YOU MUST PUT YOUR FINGER ON THE DOT!

Courtesy of our friend Katie Atkins:

Cor blimey govner! …. another one to add to the collection of specialists at Slightly Different. When Andrew walked through the door, we knew we’d struck gold, this is a man who thrives on scheduling, who’s attention to detail is second to none and who has an instant raport with our clients

So Andrew, how are you settling in at SD?

A: Really well thanks. It’s been a very varied and quite challenging first month, but I amextremely happy to be part of the Slightly Different team.

For our clients benefit, can you explain what you do?

Of course – I am a Project Manager. In short, I am here to represent our clients in the office in terms of delivery and quality.To ensure we continually exceed their expectations, I need to ensure that projects are clearly defined from the outset and that they are managed in a consistent and organised way. I’m not really making this sound very fun am I!!

I know you are very organised, so is this the aspect of your role you most like? Or is there more?

Ha ha, oh no way…that would make me sound really dull. It’s a necessary evil to be this orderly with so many things all going on at the same time in the office. I would say my favourite element of managing any project has to be the interaction with a cross-disciplined team; you can’t fail to learn more and more every day.

Are you proper Cornish then? (I only ask as I know you have been out of the county more than once before!!)

Right on; I’m Cornish and proud. I grew up in Redruth and left the County at 18 for the bright lights of London. I had a great time and worked with some extremely inspiring people, but I always knew my time there would be temporary. After 12 years working away, I now have a much deeper appreciation for all things Cornish and am very happy to have made it home.

I heard you have worked in media previously and met a few celebs, any gossip or good stories that aren’t liabless?

Haha, you’re right yes I spent a lot of my time while in London working for ITV, which was a great experience, especially on projects like I’m a Celeb, Coronation Street and X Factor. Any gossip I had is well and truly out of date by now, thanks to magazines like OK! and Reveal, but I’ll happily tell you the rudest celebrity I had the pleasure of working with: Peter Kay – total diva! During the creation of Geraldine and the winner’s song, he lived on a double decker bus in Granada studios for two weeks eating nothing but chips and refusing to talk to any staff.

So what lead you to our front door?

Well my fruit-picking work doesn’t start until June and I fancied a change..no, I had heard very good things from friends about the work that Slightly Different do – it’s refreshing to see an innovative and fresh-thinking agency that really cares about their work and their clients.

What challenge are you most looking forward to then?

The biggest challenge by far is to implement a new process for Slightly Different; a new way of working that is recognised, understood and supported by the team. This process has to achieve a lot, with the client as the focus at all times, so it is really quite complex, but I really am enjoying that.  So far, I have had a very good response from everyone here about the changes I am making.

So if you could describe the perfect project process in less than 10 words what would they be?

I’d be pushed, and I would use all ten words: Realistic timescales, paired development, quality assurance, flexible budget, open communication. Of course, every project is unique and for larger projects, there’s a great value in things like iterative development and regular retrospective meetings to ensure we inspect, review and improve wherever we can as a team.

Do you have any other words of wisdom to share?

Slightly off topic, but I have a very passionate dislike for acronyms and poor grammar – if you can’t be bothered to say something properly, don’t say it at all! I find acronyms and cutting corners on communication leads to misunderstanding, frustration and eventual anger and disappointment – rant ends.

If your life depended on it and you had to make a choice, which would you be? a designer or a developer?

Tricky…If it were simply down to choosing which I would be good at, I would choose to be a designer. I think really good designers, who design for online, have to have an appreciation if not an absolute understanding of the development required on projects – their designs have to be achievable and practical while also blowing the client away creatively. Plus, don’t all developers sit in dark rooms playing video games between Star Trek episodes? That’s not me..

Oh everyone says that, designing is easy…… it’s just colouring in isnt it???? reckon that’s us both off the invited for a drink list now then… Bingo?