Progress Update on Festive Lights

We have almost completed the design phase of the festive lights project and I pop in regularly to check how the workshop are doing with our designs. It really is phenomenal to watch things come to life!


Latest developments include building crossing 3 as a 3 dimensional element as well as adding sound to the first crossing. The public lighting department are pulling out all the stops!

Without giving away too much, here are some of the latest pics...

A 3D soccer ball starting to take shape

Anthony with a 3D wire template made by Marc.

Top 10 Most Controversial Ads in the UK

I always find it interesting to check out what's going on in the world... here's an interesting article about the UK's most controversial ads: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/6640005.stm

Festive Lights - Adderley Street

Have you ever wondered who decides what's going to be up in lights at Christmas? Well, this year it's the turn of 'The Design Works' - YAY! I'm so excited! We're presenting our second set of concepts on Monday and I can't wait to see everything together and flashing.

What I found really interesting was taking a walk through the City of Cape Town's public lighting workshop in Ndabeni to see how everything gets put together.

This shows the method of attaching rope lights to the metal frame - simple cable ties!

The illusion of movement is created by lighting up the specific image needing to be displayed. In the image below the person would look as though he were dancing when the lights are on.

This is Gordon showing us the star for the top of the Christmas tree at the end of Adderley Street.

Hooking up the lights to show another lady dancing - very effective!

Justin checking out Winnie the Pooh :)

Buzz about viral media

There is much buzz about viral media at the moment and when I received the attached file in my inbox today, I marvelled at how brilliant the marketers were... let's have a look in a years time to see how far they've come!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AX52_InQZ4M

SA Plato Project

The Design Works has been selected to be part of an initiative of the Cape Chamber of Commerce called the SA Plato Project. It is a concept originating in Flanders, Belgium and has had great success there and in many other countries. It is a support program for small business and will extend over a year and a half.

I am very excited to have been chosen to be part of this group as it has coincided with efforts from my side to increase our effectiveness within the media industry. We have met three times and I have already learned more than I could have imagined!


Below is the group that has been selected to take part, including mentors.

Greeting from the pit of social networking sites!

It has been a while since posting our last blog. The first reason is because Wayne is now a full time student again. The second is that I can't dig myself out of the hole that is Facebook. But finally, I see the light, and I'm here to bring you a website that I found this morning: http://www.satopsites.com/ It list the top SA websites along with their Google rankings, etc. A great read when considering SEO and just for checking out what's happening on the SA scene.

Reality shows for designers

I have to admit that mac users have the upper hand with the beauty of their companions and here is another reason to consider the switch: http://mydreamapp.com/ It's a website where you are invited to put your dream application forward with the chance of having it made into reality! Quite something to get your creative teeth into...

bak magazine

A FREE digital magazine, i'm sure you've heard that one before... but bak mag is different! Bak mag is an art mag, full of photography, fine art, digital art, advertising and everything else creative. Each issue has a theme and is full of interviews with artists as well. The magazine is of the best quality, has no adverts and is big (with the last issue weighing at 400 pages) and has been running for about a year! So go check it out, it is a great source of ideas and inspiration :)

www.bakmagazine.com

Anti-Telkom Ad Runs Today

On January 19 the Telecommunications Action Group (TAG) published an Anti-Telkom advert in the Mail & Guardian.
The advert was paid for by more than 200 contributors. Unbelievable that customers can be so frustrated that they take action to this level...

Adverts full text:
THE MORE OF THIS YOU READ, THE MORE INFURIATED YOU'LL BECOME.Last year, Telkom recorded a staggering R9.3 billion in pure profit. At your expense. Read on and find out why South Africans continue to pay some of the highest prices for telephony services in the world.Don't expect the government to step in. They couldn't give a hoot. They've got a 38% shareholding. This in itself is like a ticket to act with impunity.And anyway, it's the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (ICASA) which acts as the watchdog for the telecommunications industry. Their central role is to regulate telecommunications in the public interest. So how come they're not barking noisily and waking up the country about the fact that South Africans pay five times as much for a local call now than they did in 1996?Or that internet access in South Africa is among the most expensive in the world (in fact, you'll pay less for broadband in Morocco, Egypt, Botswana, and Mozambique)? Or that Telkom is only too happy to pay a R15 million fine for failing to deliver basic services where "it was not economical to do so" (Hold the phone, could that be your area they were talking about?)Worse still, Telkom has laid off over 35 000 staff over the past seven years, ensuring that its profits continue sky-rocketing while the rest of the country continues at a snail's pace, waiting up to six inexcusable months or more, to get connected. To anything.And all this from a company that is supposedly "proudly South African"? Indeed, something is very wrong when the only way the public can get through to Telkom is by running a full page newspaper advertisement.Because clearly, Telkom isn't answering the phone.This advert was paid for by individuals who are extremely concerned about the state of SA's telecoms industry and the effects that government mismanagement of the sector are having on our economy. Please add your voice to ours. you can start by pulling out this page and passing it on, or posting it on your office or university noticeboard. Join us at online consumer activist groups www.tag.org.za and www.myadsl.co.za and make a difference.

free cd's?

What's this? Free music? Check out this website, purevolume.com! There are thousands of bands on it, most of them have a few tracks that you can download for free! There are even a few free compilation cd's like Sleeveless (pictured above). This is a great cd if your a fan of alternative rock :) purevolume.com/sleeveless

maya 8.5

Autodesk Maya 8.5 has just been released, if you're at all interested in the CGI world. So for the price of a small house, or nice car you might be able to go and buy the full version of this awesome software package.

However I reccomend you download the learning edition first to see if 3D is your thing! Head on over to www.autodesk.com/maya

Otherwise i HIGHLY reccomend you check out blender. It is an open source animation suite. And just because it's free don't think it's trash. It's amazing , and is updated with new features so fast that if you blink you might miss them! Check it out at www.blender.org

iphone

If you haven't seen the iPhone yet, then do yourself a favour and check it out at apple.com

It's a phone, ipod, video player, internet browser (real internet), live email, widgets (stock, weather etc), google maps and a 2mp camera!!!

This is what you've been waiting for!!! If only apple made cars, houses and everything else in the world :p

a scanner darkly

saw a preview of this movie a while back, via a vector drawing website... reason being, the entire movie was done in vectors!!

the result is amazing!! if you have a slightly open mind then watch this movie! the story is brilliant, if a bit disorientating at time, but you'll love it.

it went straight to dvd, so go hire it NOW!