This is not the first (or last) time that Facebook has been used in this way. Recently Kellogg’s Krave asked their fans to vote as to which new flavour of the breakfast cereal they should develop and produce. The entire vote was ran from the Facebook page, which now has a whopping 181,463 fans.  It was complemented by website and Twitter activity and generated a huge buzz. (If you were wondering, Chocolate Caramel won!)

This kind of thing seems to be taking off massively. Kit Kat are currently doing something similar with their Chunky Champion campaign, namely allowing the new flavour to be determined by Facebook users. Marmite used a combination of Twitter, an army of bloggers and a secret Facebook group to help launch their Marmite XO (Extra Strong) product.  Those involved not only helped with taste tests and packaging, but were also recruited to generate a massive buzz around the launch. Obviously the ultimate aim in all of this is to gain new “fans”, while having a bit of fun and interaction at the same time.

So it got us thinking here at Admast Towers, what would we let Facebook decide? Here are a few of our silly suggestions:

a) What to have for tea tonight

b) Who should be Prime Minister

c) Who should be “Top of the Pops”

d) Whether to drink or to drive

e) Whether to accept a marriage proposal

f) Whether to take that new job

g) Whether to tell the boss what you really think of him/her

h) Whether to spend that windfall on a new handbag or be sensible and save it

i) Whether to have water and a salad or coffee and a big wedge of cake for lunch

j) Whether to shave all your hair off and start again

What would you let Facebook decide?

1) The obvious starting point would be good old PAINKILLERS! And a great tip from the top – taking these before you go to bed works even better than taking them the next day. NB this obviously is dependent on being in a sober enough state to remember to do this before you stagger into your pit.

2) Milk thistle is another lifesaver – despite being around for over 2,000 years and used in the treatment of liver disease and toxins, it can still help the occasional boozer in their quest to avoid a hangover. It tastes pretty vile but, if taken before and after a good sesh on the drink, it seems to perform miracles.

3) If these preventative measures don’t work then reactive measures should then be applied! The first suggestion is a massive and concerted intake of carbohydrate and protein in the form of either a) a fry up b) a bacon sarnie c) a pie d) a Macdonalds (even early in the day) or e) anything from Greggs. All should be washed down with full fat coke.

4) Hair of the dog is always a winner – after a couple more drinks the pain of a hangover seems to ease and is a long distant memory after drink no 5 or 6. Bloody Mary’s are meant to be particularly adept at blowing the cobwebs away.

5) A more healthy approach would be to eat a banana as they contain lots of potassium but this is not remotely as much fun as points (3) or (4) above! Our Designer suggested having this with honey on toast to boost sugar levels too.

6) A good/long sleep is also a winner, but after office parties this is often not an option unless you can find a cosy sofa tucked away from the boss’s office.

7) Our IT Manager’s top tip is a good old can of Irn Bru!

8)One of personal favourites is a good old spicy curry to sweat out the toxins and generally just make you feel better for the 20 minutes it takes to eat it.

9) A radical suggestion from our Designer here at Admast was to take part in quite vigorous exercise but I personally can’t think of anything worse!

10) One final suggestion which is pretty obvious (but NO fun!) is, of course, to simply not drink in the first place. DULL DULL DULL!

Happy partying everyone!

Prada ad

It got us thinking here at Admast Towers as to other campaigns which have been controversial in nature or even banned in the past. Here are a selection of the most sensational below:

1 – Very recently the internet ad campaign for Lynx deodorant, featuring model and reality TV star Lucy Pinder in a series of provocative poses, has been banned for a range of offences including objectifying women. Unilever claimed that the online ads showing Pinder doing various things like getting dressed and eating whipped cream off her finger wearing cleavage revealing outfits, featuring the strapline “What will she do to make you lose control” was not degrading to women as she was shown as “confident and in control.” However, the Advertising Standards Authority concluded that the five internet adverts and a poster “were likely to cause serious or widespread offence”.

2 – Benetton is renowned for creating controversial ads which have certainly generated lots of buzz of the years (some of which were then banned).  Here are our favourites:

3 – French Connection caused a real stir in 1997 when the FCUK campaign launched – here is a pretty tame example of how this controversial acronym was used in their marketing:

4 – Last year’s John Lewis TV ad  attracted complaints about irresponsible pet ownership. The advert showed a boy hanging up a Christmas stocking on an outdoor kennel, but then leaving his dog in the wind and snow.  The ASA disagreed, and felt the ad did not endorse or encourage animal cruelty or neglect.

5 – Kylie Minogue’s advertisement for lingerie firm Agent Provocateur, in which she rides a mechanical bull, was created specifically for cinema and banned from being shown on television. It is particularly raunchy!

6 – An NHS anti-smoking campaign which featured a man being dragged to a shop by a fish hook piercing his cheek was also particularly disturbing and was later banned by the ASA. It’s certainly not for the faint-hearted!

7 – Tom Ford certainly pushed the boundaries with this ad for his men’s fragrance -

8 – And who can forget this YSL advertisement which shows a nude Sophie Dahl sprawled in quite a suggestive pose.  It was subsequently banned from U.K. billboards.

Since its launch (to much speculation) in 2010, the Apple iPad has become the latest ‘must have’ gadget. Based on the very same operating system that powers the iPhone and iPod touch devices, the iPad is a touch-screen tablet computer that lets users do all sorts of things – from writing articles to doing their weekly shopping. It really has become the gadget all-rounder, giving people their choice of thousands of apps. Many of the apps are made for iPhone are also compatible with iPad, so there’s a huge crossover of utilities, tools, and games. And of course there are plenty of iPad-specific apps too. So whether you need to order some moving boxes for an upcoming house move, or you want to read the latest bestseller, the iPad is a great choice.

The Evolution of Apple Products

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Due to Apple’s ever-increasing development cycle, new devices are being released every single year, which is why there have now been two versions of the iPad (the latest incarnation having being released in early 2011). As expected, it was faster and thinner than its predecessor, and (of course) sold like hot cakes. So, by extension, we should be able to expect the iPad 3 within the first few months of 2012 – but what will it offer users that they haven’t already got? And, perhaps more importantly, will the device have the same success now that Steve Jobs has stepped down as CEO of Apple?

Better, faster, stronger

This is a concept design of what the iPad 3 could look like:

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As a rule of thumb, we can rely on Apple to follow a similar formula for each of their product launches. That means that the iPad 3 will likely be thinner and faster than the iPad 2. The device already has dual cameras, so the next one will likely retain this future. So how can Apple better the second version, and what innovations can they include that will make people want to line up outside the Apple Store at midnight to get their hands on it?

A screen with twice the resolution of the current iPad 2 device?

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Well, according to rumours, the iPad 3 will include ‘contactless’ payment technology. It may sound completely bizarre, but industry insiders have it on good authority that Apple will include this contactless tech in the iPad 3 (though in saying that, it was also supposed to feature in the iPhone 5, but this didn’t surface in the recent 4s). In a nutshell, it will allow users to tie their device to an online ‘wallet’, and let them use contactless payment simply by swiping their device rather than a card. Yes, it sounds crazy – but knowing Apple, they’ll probably pull it off. The iPad 3 will also most likely have a higher resolution screen to give even sharper graphics. Some people have even suggested that the new iPad will change its form-factor and become more ‘widescreen’ with a 9.7 inch display. Time will tell!

iOS 5.0

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Every year Apple also releases a new version of their iOS operating system, and 2011 is no exception. iOS 5 has only been out for about a week at the time of writing, and so far the reception has been positive.

We can safely assume, then, that the iPad 3 will also use this OS. Probably the key benefit here is its slicker performance – a barely noticeable improvement when applied to the iPhone, but something developers and hardcore gamers/designers may relish in its bigger brother.

Apple Without Steve?

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Even Apple’s most staunch critics paid their dues to Steve Jobs following his untimely demise. The question not far from people’s minds is, however, whether Apple will continue to dominate the market without Jobs at the helm? By extension, is another iPad release likely to be as successful as previous incarnations?

The answer to this is, very likely, yes.

Apple has now become a leviathan that almost no other company can touch. Steve Jobs had an invaluable role in achieving this status, but now the business almost takes care of itself. The next in line, Paul Cook, will now announce all of the latest devices, and there’s no doubt that he will do a good job of getting people excited and enthusiastic about the next generation of the Apple iPad.

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So can anyone stop Apple’s apparent world domination? Well, at this stage it seems that they’re just getting started – and the iPad 3 is the next step now that the iPhone 4s has surfaced. But is that really such a bad thing? Their products bring joy to millions of people across the world, let us have face-to-face conversations with our nearest and dearest, and have given us access to our favourite music for years. Perhaps one day someone will challenge the crown, but for now we can all keep holding our breath to find out what their next ‘big thing’ is going to be.

- Guest Author, Dee.

If you are one of the few people today who aren’t sure who the hell Steve Jobs is, you will certainly be unknowingly aware of his work. You may not personally own an iPhone, iPod or an iPad but you will know someone close to you who does. Yes, Steve Jobs was the co-founder, chairman and CEO of Apple Inc.

Apple tribute. Source.

When I logged on to my computer at work last Wednesday, I immediately saw this touching tribute to him from the company he had progressed so much, especially over the last few years. So simple and so elegant, I think it says thank you to him brilliantly. I also experienced the majority of people on my networks updating their statuses via Twitter, Facebook and Google+ about how they were saddened by the loss of a great man and may he rest in peace. There was no denying the fact that Steve Jobs was loved. Bill Gates seemed to sum everything up perfectly when he said, “There may be no greater tribute to Steve’s success than the fact that much of the world learned of his passing on a device he invented”.

As I kept up to date with the story that day via Twitter, it was not too long until I noticed things like “The Worst Steve Jobs Tributes” and “Who the hell is Steve Jobs” filling up my screen. Ok, clearly some people weren’t to instantly know who he was but it annoyed me slightly. I think my annoyance stemmed from the fact that over the next few days the tributes didn’t slow, in fact, more seemed to appear. But this time they weren’t just status updates. They were pieces of work which people had spent time over and some of them were truly beautiful. Yet, they were getting disguised somewhat in the shade of “10 stupid tweets that were made the day Steve Died”. So here I am bringing you the five most beautiful Steve Jobs’ tributes. Let’s celebrate a revolutionary man whose fans adored him.

Charis Tsevis

Charis Tsevis is an award winning graphic designer from Athens, Greece. He has accumulated many awards, written many papers and articles and published two books. Yet, he recently grabbed a lot of attention for his interesting tribute art to Steve Jobs. His depictions of Steve have featured everywhere from Forbes Magazine articles to the Huffington Post. The intricate mosaic designs are all constructed using Apple gadgets as materials. Here are some of his designs;

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And a younger Steve…

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Apple Store Post Its & Apples

Companies such as Apple have made it so that our every waking moment seems to evolve around our technologies in this fast digital age. Hence, the rawness and simplicity of this tribute is what makes it so special. Fans could have drawn some amazing iPad designs or come up with some clever technological display but instead, they left their prayers for Steve on Post It notes which were then stuck to the window of an Apple store in Stanford, America. Fans all over the world also scraped and wrote their messages on real apples and laid them outside stores. Students remind us that the simplest form of communication we have is sometimes the most heartfelt.

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Jonathon Mak

Of all the thousands of designs and things sculpted and made across the world in tribute to an extraordinary man, it was 19 year old Jonathon Mak from Hong Kong who was among a small few that really shone and grabbed the spotlight. The simple image had a huge thumbs up from Apple fans who believed the image to really personify Steve. It depicts the infamous Apple logo with his silhouette at the side and has received amazing reviews.

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Google

Google and Apple have had a competitive relationship over the years due to them both operating in the mobile OS space with iOS and Android devices. Hence, one always wants to up the other and ultimately outsell them. However, it was nice to see that Google could instantly put any differences to one side and join in on the tributes. They immediately added the tagline “Steve Jobs, 1955-2011” which could be clicked through to the Apple website where of course they were also honouring him. Page (Google CEO) added, “I am very, very sad to hear the news about Steve. He was a great man with incredible achievements and amazing brilliance.” It seems that even the competitors who rivalled Steve Jobs and his products appreciated what he had achieved. The fact that they were one of the first ones to publicly acknowledge Steve’s passing is what makes it quite beautiful. They could have simply released a statement but they decided to respect him and place it where the world could see.

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How the pair used to be jokingly depicted.

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Macbook Pro Art

Who would have thought that if you were to take a Macbook Pro, disassemble it in to all the individual pieces and put it back together again in another way that you could actually create something quite beautiful. I mean the terms ‘computer’ and ‘pretty’ don’t exactly go together very well. However, the foundry team at Mint Digital managed to achieve just this. By taking a product which is iconic in the Apple timeline and completely accredited to Steve Jobs and turning in to a touching self portrait, many agree that it is the most fitting tribute for such a man. They added the message, “rest in peace Mr. Steve and thank you very very much.”

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Have you invested time and/or money into social media but aren’t reaping the rewards you feel you should be seeing? Or are you simply interested in what other big businesses are doing to build online attention? Then this maybe be the inspirational list for you.

Whether you own a restaurant, car hire or an online store, social media can work for everyone when conducted properly. Here is a list compiled of the top 10 companies using social media well in 2011.

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Never mind the train timetables, it’s the train reporting numbers we’re after. Source

Spotting seems to be a majority male province. There does seem to be a masculine attitude involved for collecting and categorising a complete series of subjects. Think of stamps and sticker albums. How many young lads collect football stickers? I did and I wasn’t even interested in footie. Ah, but that smell of freshly opened Panini packs. Kids of today have more than stickers: they have an extensive range of trading card series’ too. Even I delve into one or two of the ranges myself.

But is it cool, though?

Well I think you’ve guessed my viewpoint: of course it is! What? You need more than that? Train spotting is a great activity, it gets you out in the open air surrounded by gorgeous countryside and you experience a primitive hunting feeling; watching and waiting for your prey to emerge into view. Of course, in inclement weather you do need to wrap up well to be warm and waterproof – a look that it less than cool. But we live in an age of geek chic so even this look may – at a stretch – be in vogue too.

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There is also a great sense of camaraderie and community spirit among spotters. No rioting here.

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Some people make trying to get a train’s number rather tricky.

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You can mix your love of train spotting with your love of sci-fi and only get mocked once.

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Star Trek Spotters?

With so many film/television/book series there is an awful lot of material that ardent fans love to sink their teeth into. So much so that there are many ship spotters with forums and sites devoted to the different classes and individual registry numbers. Find out more.

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Bird Watchers

If a rare migrant turns up in the UK, twitchers will travel many miles to see it. Hundreds flocked (pun intended) to see the Russian black lark at Winterton-on-Sea, near Great Yarmouth. It was the first time this diminutive bird had ever been recorded on our shores. Read more.

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And here is the infamous black lark.

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Dalek Spotting

Since the 1960s the iconic Dalek design has changed, evolved and generally become more impressive. Well at least until the Paradigm Daleks appeared.

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Try and spot some yourself. Read more.

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Car Spotting

This can range from collecting registration numbers or collating all the racing cars’ livery designs.

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Plane Spotting

What better way is there to spend an afternoon?

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Cool?

Maybe not in many people’s eyes but we’ll just have to agree to disagree.

Guest blogger, Greg Coltman, writes prolifically for motoring blogs and anything to do with the transport industry. As a non-closet Trekker he is used to the anorak jibes and one day he may even own one.

With the recent London riots cooling down there are a number of predicaments which will more than likely be addressed in the couple of months.The riots caused a number of disturbances to a whole host of businesses such as restaurants and shops. Though the riots have now stopped, it has been said that there is still a lot of tension throughout the UK, especially with the rising unemployment and the rise in tax cuts.

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SourceThe London riots all began because of the death of Mark Duggan who was shot dead by police in Tottenham on 4th August 2011. This led to a peaceful demonstration but it quickly became sour and progressively turned into rioting. This started in London and spread across several other areas of England. One of the biggest disputes of the riots was the use of social media to organise rioting.

Crowds gather to protest the death of Mark Duggan. SourceThe news made regular accusations that Facebook and Twitter pages were being used to rally looters, making it easier to co-ordinate large numbers of groups in a very short period of time. Whether this is the case or not, it certainly grabbed the attention of David Cameron who even suggested shutting the sites down until it had all blown over.

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Source With over 30 million users in the UK alone, Facebook has become a very powerful weapon, especially when combined with discontent within the capital. It also does not benefit the police that smartphones have increased the ease of communication via social networks. This meant that the riots could be constantly updated and re-arranged in a matter of minutes before the police could even realise what was happening around them.

Source With this in mind, the question remains, whether or not the police in the UK should start their own social media department? It would seem a fairly good idea, looking back at the riots. Police would be given the opportunity to monitor sites for buzzwords, or simply watch specific targets who they feel have the most potential to initiate such an attack. Or, they could use them to help form a far more effective strategy by placing police where they know threats are more likely to be.

Source Two days after the riots had ended, police made it extremely clear that they would be dishing out the harshest punishments to those involved in the riots. With the attacks spreading across much of London, hundreds of hours of CCTV footage was up for grabs.

SourceSo the police set up the ‘Name and Shame’ campaign where they would screenshot footage, upload it and ask the public to supply them with information about those involved. Interestingly, they used a number of platforms to do this but most notably was Flickr which was extremely popular.
Source As well as this platform they also used Facebook and Twitter to update the public on new images being uploaded along with traditional tabloid papers to show a selection of the photos.

Source Again, David Cameron thought this to be effective stating that, “No phoney human rights concerns about publishing these photographs will get in the way of bringing these criminals to justice.” This gave the police an unusually open opportunity to capture the criminals using these newer platforms.

SourceBut then again, how exactly would this work? Like I mentioned earlier, would it be case of monitoring just a certain few? This doesn’t exactly seem like a ‘fair’ method. The police could never get the required permissions to have privacy unlocked on certain social networking sites and what exactly would they monitor? If Facebook became open to the police, crime movement would just move to another network, like the brilliant example in Chris Morris’ Four Lions, where their attempts to organise a suicide bombing leads them to puffin party.

SourceBut there are obviously so many social networks now that a social media department would be constantly switching and changing between what and who they were monitoring making it a slow, time wasting experience. Plus, BlackBerry Messenger (BBM) was also blamed for the speed at which the riots happened, so would the police need the right to monitor mobile usage too? BBM was another method of communication that Mr. Cameron wanted to temporarily shut down but this never actually came to fruition.

Source In Toronto, Canada, the Police Department has just finished devising their social media division. They have hired 29 officers, all with the unique duty of monitoring social interaction between suggestive targets however, this is not their main role. The main duty of the social media department is to constantly update the police’s Facebook and Twitter feeds, ensuring that the public is up to date of recent crime, bridging the gap between police and citizen.

SourceThe other plus for them is that they have 24/7 access to information, meaning that if a member of the public has some important information it can be accessed easily. Another technique the police department has done, is to give all of their officers unique online profiles, track-able by name, rank and position in the squad. These all seem like brilliant ideas and definitely a step in the right direction. Though they have not yet cracked how to really use social media to their crime-fighting advantage, I am certain the inhabitants of Toronto feel far more at ease with this newer system and department.

SourceThere is another way of course, social media can be monitored via the use of analytical tools. Companies use tools like Radian6 which monitors trends and key words. A police department using a programme like this would have the ability to set up a number of profiles, across different networks and then see what the most common search terms were. Though this is a great way of keeping track of specific terms or trends, it is very difficult to track individuals on a site. It has the potential to work well in a situation like the riots, which were country wide but individuals would very rarely show up on this software.

Londoners carrying their brooms in a clear-up attempt.

SourceMaybe it is just time the police in this country became a bit more creative with their use of social media. The police in Toronto have managed to capture the imaginations of their public with their new sites and it has really helped solve some crimes. Perhaps bridging the gap is all that is really needed now. Maybe a social media department could be set up to simply respond to online queries and to also show support to local people by letting them know that the police are actually there. All we know is, with user rates of social media increasing, our Government is going to have to start thinking outside of the box a bit before we, as the general public, leave them behind. We would love to hear your thoughts and suggestions on this issue.- Matt Moore: Social Media Enthusiast and all around good chap.

1.  Photography

The first photographic image ever produced was by a man called Nicéphore Niépce in 1822.  At first a complicated and tiresome process, his work gave birth to the film camera and all those old Polaroid’s you have of your parents

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Say cheese!

2.  Oxygen and Hydrogen

In 1778 ‘ the father of modern chemistry’ Antoine Lavoisier discovered Oxygen and later Hydrogen in 1783.  Whilst Oxygen and Hydrogen are not French by nature, the discovery most certainly is.

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3.  Probability Theory

Ever sat bored out of your mind in a math’s class working out the probability coins being flipped or thrown dice?  Well you can blame Pierre de Fermat and Blaise Pascal for the invention of Probability Theory.  Created in the seventeenth century with Gerolamo Cardano and Christiaan Huygens, the theory is still used today much to the dismay of school children everywhere.

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Yawnnn

4.  The Taxi

Although arguably used long before this time, the first documented taxi service was attributed to Nicolas Sauvage in Paris in 1640.  This novel idea has helped us nearly 400 years later, to escape the rain and the ache of sore feet freshly freed from high heels.

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If only they were all as fast as this picture portrays.

5. Denim

Named one of the best inventions EVER, Denim has transformed workwear and fashion forever.  The word ‘denim’ comes from the name of a sturdy fabric called serge, originally made in de Nîmes, France. Levi Strauss, a keen entrepreneur spotted the market for hardwearing strong clothing for gold diggers and land workers and set up his Californian factory, the rest as they say is history.

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Thank God for Denim!

6.  Margarine

That stuff that’s really not the same as butter, was invented by Hippolyte Mège-Mouriès in 1869.  With a minimum fat content of 80%, margarine is the cheaper but not necessarily healthier alternative to butter.  Banned in many countries or heavily taxed due to its effects on the dairy industry, margarine was never really been an amazing alternative to butter until its definition expanded into any butter substitute.  Now perfect for yummy baking with a healthier, cheaper tagline, here’s to margarine!

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Marg goodies

7.  The Hairdryer

A necessity for every woman and some long locked men: the hairdryer.  The original hair scorcher was invented by Alexandre Godefroy in 1879 and swiftly became a must-have for the upper classes (and people with working electricity in their homes).  With this handy invention, it’s no wonder the French are world renowned for their coiffured do’s!

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Nicole Ritchie sporting another of the French contributions to hair, the French plait

8.  Pasteurised Milk

Louis Pasteur was the first person to understand the connection between microbes and disease. Through the development of the pasteurization process (a method of killing the microbes in milk by heating to a temperature high enough to kill the germs, but not so high that it spoils the taste).  Pasteur’s efforts in this field and in vaccinations, has saved literally millions from disease and infection.

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Got Milk?

9.  The Aqualung

The breathing apparatus that supplies oxygen to divers, allowing them to stay underwater for several hours was invented in 1943 by Jacques-Yves Cousteau and Emile Gagnan. They also developed a mechanism that allowed divers to inhale and exhale at the same level.  This was the first modern scuba system and has allowed us to explore the seas and oceans safely and effectively for the past 68 years.

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Scuba Dogs like to explore too!

10.  The Battery

Although the first chemical battery as invented in 1800 by the Italian physicist, Alessandro Volta, the more convenient, cost effective and efficient storage batteries (those that can be recharged) were invented by the French physicist Gaston Plante.   Aiding us to power pretty much anything without a direct electric current these batteries have helped us all out on camping trips, in power cuts and on the go.  Probably one of the most useful inventions ever.

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If only we were all as energetic

11.  The Bicycle

The first bicycle was more like a wooden scooter, called a celerifere.  Invented around 1790 by Comte Mede de Sivrac of France. The Germans then added in a steering bar over 25 years later.  The collaboration work between the two countries created a prototype of the modern bike and was exhibited in Paris on April 6, 1818.

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Bicycle Suits for the keen cyclists of 1896

12.  The Hot-air Balloon

Providing families with a ‘nice day out’, the hot air balloon is a fabulous and daring feat of design and engineering.  Invented by Joseph and Jacques Etienne Montgolfier in 1782, it was first made of paper and used air heated by burning wool and moist straw. The first passengers in a hot-air balloon were a rooster, a sheep, and a duck, on September 19, 1783.  The trip lasted for 8 minutes and the animals (thankfully) survived the landing. King Louis XVI and Queen Marie Antoinette of France observed this momentous event.

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The animals came in two by two…

13.  Mayonnaise

Invented in 1756 by the French chef working for the Duke de Richelieu.  His ideas were captured and sold in the US in 1905 at Richard Hellmann’s deli in New York. Hellmann sold his wife’s mayonnaise in open wooden boat and in 1912, he sold the mayonnaise in large glass bottles.  The secret ingredient to a cheaters Marie-Rose sauce and perfect mash, mayonnaise is still almost identical to the first batch Hellmann’s produced.

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It must be used with FRESH SALAD!

14.  The “Lead” Pencil

The lead pencil, which contains absolutely no lead, was invented in 1564 when a huge graphite mine was discovered in England. The pure graphite was sawn into sheets and cut into square rods, which were then inserted into hand-carved wooden holders, forming pencils. They were called lead pencils by mistake as the newly discovered graphite was called ‘black lead’ or “plumbago,” from the Latin word for lead ore.   In 1795, Nicholas Jacques Conte took away England’s monopoly on graphite and patented the modern method of kiln-firing powdered graphite with clay to make graphite rods for pencils.

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Paul Lung, a Hong Kong pencil artist loves his sketchy background.

15.  The Metric System

The bane of UK butcher’s and greengrocer’s lives, the metric system was invented in 1790 by the Academy of Sciences of Paris in an effect to standardise the units of measurement. 1000 meters. The metric system was passed by law in France on August 1, 1793. It took another 202 years for the UK to make this measurement system compulsory and the law is still flouted by those preferring to weight meat and veg in lb’s and oz’s!  A pound of meat just sounds better than 453.59 grams.

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3050g of apples please!

- Sarah Powell enjoys many of the things the French have to offer, mainly the cakes and breads.  She also writes for her own blog http://thethingsifind.tumblr.com/

In my opinion, having a bad logo is worse than having no logo at all. If it looks amateur then that’s probably the message you’re sending out to your potential clients. I’ve collated a number of prime examples of how not to fashion your own logo.

The Boston Red Sox

Starting with one of America’s most famous baseball teams, give it up for the Boston Red Sox!  Their modern logo (which I find underwhelming) features a pair of overlapping red socks and as you can see by the young lady, you can brand anything with a logo.

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But this logo pales in comparison to the one they used back in the 1950’s; 1950 – 1959 to be exact. What were they thinking?

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Sydney Submission Wrestling Club

You’ve got the self-explanatory name so perhaps a logo isn’t too important. When you consider the stereotypical view of East Coast Australian men being a touch homophobic I’m surprised that the SSWC decided to produce a logo with a decidedly homoerotic scene at its core.

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Megaflicks

And here we have the perfect example of a logo designer who clearly doesn’t pay much heed to the fonts he uses. For anyone who has less than 20/20 vision or is a little distance away, the sign reads very differently.

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Ascension Salon and Spa

A name like this conjures up images of pampering and relaxing. A day here may start with a bit of hair styling followed by some unwinding. Give that as a brief to a designer and it’s not too surprising that hair scissors and peaceful butterflies may trickle into the logo. But when it ends up looking like a butterfly in peril you really need to rethink!

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Mont-Sat

This Polish company specialises in fitting satellite dishes and aerials. Basic logo designing dictates that if you want a cartoon character; make it into the product you’re selling. Sometimes this approach works, sometimes it doesn’t. This is just wrong!

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Kids Exchange

When we were at school a careers teacher wrote the line ‘successisnowhere’ and asked us to break it down into three words. Some of us said ‘success is now here’ whereas others said ‘success is nowhere’; the point being that our attitude to life may be reflected in the patterns we see. I’ll not tell you what I said. The same concatenation issue befell the designer of this logo. I’ll leave it up to you to work out how the ‘Kids Exchange’ may be misinterpreted.

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Young Alarm

Did no-one hear alarm bells ringing (sorry)? While the illustration intends to present an embracing and protecting image it makes me look twice at the position of the child. It’s rather disturbing.

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Archdiocesan Youth Commission

The Catholic Church is regularly under fire due to repeated brushes with the law regarding child abuse. As with the previous logo the location of the child leaves a lot to be desired…

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China Restaurant

It must have sounded very promising to be told that your new logo will feature a stylised restaurant silhouetted against a red setting sun. It’s a shame then, when it was realised that it can be interpreted in a slightly more dubious way. As they say on meals out, ‘Bottoms up!’

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Saratoga Restaurant Week

This annual festival lasted 10 days this year and participating restaurants served three course meals for $20.11 subsidised by the Star 101.3 radio station. The accompanying logos usually look great for this popular horse-racing destination but in 2009 I can’t comprehend why they chose this odd logo.

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Auto Master

Another logo design technique is to make an acronym of the company and unify the letters in some way. Think Coco Chanel and its mirrored ‘C’s or even JRR Tolkien’s runic looking logo with his four initials and you get the idea. Think of the amusingly phallic logo below and you see how not to do it.

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Haribo Maoam

Integrating a logo or a ‘device’ with the subject of the product can be fraught with difficulties. Juicy children’s sweet chews came under fire for their incorporation of Maoam Man tangling in a possibly suggestive way with the lemons and cherries in their fruit flavoured ranges. These provoked outrage in some quarters and led to complaints. Read more.

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And finally…

If you think getting your logo right would be the end of your design worries then think again. Putting a magazine or newspaper spread comes with its own pitfalls. Consider the following example where the image and the headline conspire to portray a very unsuitable message.

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Guest blogger, Greg Coltman, has had lots of involvement with organisation logos and branding and campaigns against bad and ill-thought out designs.