archive for October, 2006
I’ve just checked out the waterstones website after noticing an ad in todays Metro. This new site is a reversal of their online strategy as previously the site was run as a glorified amazon affiliate. It was basically just a mirror of amazon’s book site with a waterstones logo at the top.
This new site is much nicer. It has a fresh and clean style and even has a few trendy curved boxes. The styled form elements look a little like a flash app but help to tie together the overall style. Doing a quick comparison the pricing seems competitive and the shipping is marginally cheaper. The threshold for free shipping is the same as amazon (£15) but amazon’s free shipping is “Super Saver” i.e. slow. It’s nice to see that they’ve improved the events and local store information (something which amazon did terribly) and that bookseller reviews are intergrated with product descriptions. The much talked about blogs are a little on the shonky side with no RSS and no visible actual blog-like structure.
Overall though, a vast improvement on the previous incarnation.
Disclaimer: I used to work at waterstones
The new Counter-Strike weapons market will change the game dynamic considerably
I keep seeing this on vans around Edinburgh and every time it catches my eye. OK, it’s not creative genius but I like it.
Over on the Creative Review blog they’re discussing the new BBC One idents, those short clips they show between programmes and announce the next one. One thing I didn’t realise is that the font has also changed. They had a bespoke typespace designed by Fontsmith which, I think, is rather nice:
It is neat but not too restrained. Slightly playful, yet still has a corporate edge.
Shawn Brown is a Cartographer. He draws maps, awesome maps. If I could have a vast, dramatic change in career I’d be a cartographer (or maybe a steam train driver). I’ve always been fascinated by maps, their construction and just sitting pouring over one. My Dad made sure I could map read and navigate from an early age and has a rather large collection of Ordnance Survey maps as well as an interest in surveying and drawing plans of abandoned underground workings. OS maps are very, very nice but it is a shame the licensing issues are such a mess in the UK. If map data was licensed like the USA then I’m sure we wouldn’t have the quality of maps that we do, but would the openness overcome that?
Pirate Hip Hop with a stop-motion animated video. Need I say more?