The De-Luxe team wanted something a bit different for their web presence which was to function as an online business card of sorts, with some very minimal content.

The result the team at Fluid produced is a virtual window display, that quickly shows visitors the attitude of the business and allows De-Luxe to add in new graphical elements at key points through the retail year to capture their clients imagination.

A huge personal bug bear of mine with Facebook is that the pages can sometimes look really dull and drab despite there being some awesome content on it. I put the challenge to the Fluid Creativity team to see what we could do to jazz up our company ‘Like’ page and this is what we came up with.

We have opened a can of worms with this one, we now have loads of great ideas for more exciting tabs for Fluid and for our clients. Holla if you like it…. we would love to hear what you think below.

Websites have recently taken a slice of homemade pie, embracing old techniques, textures and influences from print processes to create truly unique examples, all while using modern examples of css and html.

We will look at a few examples of what to spot in 2010 and hopefully influence you for 2011.

Textures

Paper textures are very popular and enables a website to have depth and a warm inviting feeling. Websites using this technique have the fun effect, which is why it is more commonly used on ecommerce and info websites.

The easiest way to introduce texture is with actual resources, handmade and not digitally created. This way you really get an authentic feel of rustic charm!

Letterpress has come back in a big way thanks to css3 techniques that allow the nicer browsers to render text with drop shadows, done correctly and you can really get the wow effect. Together with hand drawn elements it’s a winning combination!

Retro & Vintage

Retro is the new contemporary, it’s a fact, and there are many websites popping up that can carry a good ole fashioned design and cheek to match. The style and class it brings with it lends well to kitchy subjects or product showcases.

Think beautiful typography, retro patterns and muted colours for a perfect retro or vintage look.

Bright and Loud

Nothing says fun and exciting more than a colour way that ticks all the boxes. It’s like sucking a sour sweet and hitting the centre; it’s a nice surprise.

With bright comes loud, and they sit so well together. Break out promotions; stickers and explosions of colour sit nicely with blocks of flat colour or a balancing background all to give focus to the areas that really matter.

Will you be bold enough to try this trend?

Wonderful Grids

Grids are back, and in a big way! (to be fair, we should have been using them all along..) More and more we are seeing websites that fall into beautiful thirds or adhere to grids so military, a pixel out and the whole illusion can be ruined (well in IE anyways). Grids are being used more so in design orientated websites, such as agencies, ecommerce and brochure websites.

We love that designers are thinking about space and using grids more strictly. We even think its kind of you to use consistent spacing giving developers a nice time during the build process. But remember, curve balls are always nice, even in the strictest of grids. (Sorry developers)

Interactive Elements

Flash hasn’t quite disappeared yet, and we shouldn’t discount it before seeing the clever additions it can give to websites in 2010. Yes, we can now create interactive websites that use JavaScript or clever css techniques that in term can be search friendly and accessible, but we haven’t quite mastered the same effect flash can have on a users interactivity – and that warm feeling inside.

Nifty rollovers, impact promotions, the ideas are truly endless, and as technology grows, so do our ideas and what we can do with flash. We have no idea how flash will appear in the future of modern web design, but lets love it while its here.

Mobile Versions & Apps

Apps, apps, apps. Lets face it, the iphone has made a huge impact over the past few years and apps have blown up in a big way. You can get an app for almost everything, and we mean everything. But, in another way, companies have jumped on the idea that people are using iphones more than their computers, so having a mobile version of their website makes complete sense.

Need to check your twitter, or your facebook? You could use the app if you have an iphone, but if you are using another device, websites like twitter and facebook have mobile versions which cuts down on screen size, load time and sometimes features, which means browsing becomes fast and easy! Who doesn’t love fast and easy??

“Fluid never want to rest on our laurels and accept that a project is ever “finished” – When both teams got our heads together it was decided that the whilst the site was good there were key things that could be improved, and it needed to be brought up to date with a graphical kick up the backside.”

The existing site skin was filleted away and a freshly caught new design was implemented, that was a lot more “artisan farm shop” than “fishmonger”.

Several tweaks were made to the existing functionality, to make the shopping experience more pleasant and easy for their customers, including improved product categorisation and a handy way for visitors to see at a glance the different health benefits afforded by eating our fishy friends.

Kind words from a happy client are as follows; “The great thing with Fluid Creativity is they don’t just look at your website, they seek to understand your whole business when conceiving a new design. This means that we now have a new website which not only looks great but will help us to reach more customers and provide them with a better service.” Andrew Franks, managing director of Fish Fanatics.

Check out the new website over at www.fishfanatics.co.uk

In addition some useful Safari properties allow us to link directly to a Google Map of our office and have the iPhone application load, making it easier for you all to find us! Visitors can also call us directly from the site without having to remember our telephone number.

The main website is built on top of the industry standard Zend Framework, so the iPhone detection was a simple as creating a custom front controller plugin. By examining the user agent of the device we can determine if the user is using an iPhone or iPod Touch and transparently redirect them to the iPhone version of the website.

Although the site has only just gone live we already have a huge list of ideas for the next version including full integration with our custom CMS. This will allow visitors to browse our new blog posts and portfolio items directly from the device with some fancy styling thrown in for good measure!

If you’re interested in an iPhone version of your website please get in touch to discuss your requirements.

1)  PeterSage.com

If you’re looking to hire a really dynamic speaker then you may want to call on the services of Peter Sage:

This site has been my favourite for the past few months and I can’t decide on where to start in order to fully convey how wonderful it is.  The landing page asks whether you want to go to Peter’s new flash site (for which broadband is wisely recommended – each page takes about 20 seconds to load) or his html site (for which dial-up is for some reason recommended).  I implore you to begin with the flash site as each page contains a different blocky pixel flash video of the man Sage giving you a guided tour of the services described in a tone that seems to combine Alan Partridge and David Brent into one gloriously cheesy character.

There’s so much to explore and find on this site that through the tears of laughter you may forget that there’s still the html site to explore (don’t forget to unplug your cable modem and hook up your dial up modem first!).  On this site you will be able to find such treats as Peter’s words of wisdom (‘Sageisms’) and even some songs that he has penned himself.  There are also of course any number of photos of him grinning inanely as all dynamic entrepreneurs do.

And that’s not all – if you can bear to navigate away from the site you helpfully get returned to Google…but wait – oh Peter, you are a scamp:

2)  Norcalis.com

If Geocities was still around and one of their websites got smacked round the head with a baseball bat made of flash, it would surely result in the triumph that is Norcal Internet Services.

According to the strapline not only will they make your website, but they will also make your website better!  Talk about an offer that’s too good to refuse.  The website looks wonderfully serene, what with that waterfall and everything but don’t get too relaxed.  Your eyes are about to take a shelling:

In a similar fashion to big Pete’s site, a blocky video Francis Rossi stumbles onto the screen and proceeds to take you through all the visually engaging and user friendly services that he can craft for your business -  whilst some ducks float past.  Surely the results speak for themselves and there’s no reason for any other element of persuasion so virtua-Rossi is pointless.  Unless he goes on to elaborate on how Status Quo’s career was so successful despite only knowing 3 chords.

3)  Ling’s Cars

If you aren’t already familiar with Ling’s cars then you are in for a treat.  This shot doesn’t do her site justice at all, but it will show you a small slice of the madness:

The site itself is a long list of ever increasingly insane images and content – it’s the sort of site they show terrorism suspects in order to drag a confession out of them.  Bizarrely, the business seems to be very successful and the whirlwind behind it, Ling has even managed to put an appearance on Dragon’s Den.  Any business that is awesome enough to advertise on the back of a rocket clearly deserves attention.  It would appear that we aren’t the first website to appreciate the eccentric nature of Ling’s cars and Ling herself appears to go out of her way to track down her dissenters and comment on their site.  We’re half hoping that she makes an appearance in the comments at the bottom of this post!

Here’s the original:

And here’s the ‘copy’:

The scandal caused on Twitter must have done some damage to the reputation of Paperchase, so much so that by the end of the day the company had withdrawn products from Amazon that used the offending image and issued an apology on their website.  Perhaps with some serious crisis management from the right PR firm the business could still save face and @HiddenEloise will hopefully get the credit, recognition and money she deserves.

There’s a reason why ownership is nine tenths of the law and plagiarism is just plain theft. Plagiarism is something that happens every day to companies big and small and often the process of getting justice is just far too expensive.

We often spot examples of shameless plagiarism here at Fluid Creativity. They usually raise a laugh, so we thought we’d share a few of our favourite spots with our fine readers.

Check out Made By White’s gorgeous broach designs:

And Topshop’s identical copies.

The word autotrace was mentioned on their blog:

Its not just the big boys taking advantage – sometimes it works the other way around.

In this day and age every design is inspired by something else but to down right copy can be embarrassing for all parties involved. Take North Face – they are currently taking legal action against The South Butt.

Of course, in this case the plagiarism is obvious, a parody to emphasise that The South Butt’s aesthetics and values are the polar opposite of The North Face. However, it could still be argued that they’re using the familiar branding of a much more succesful company to market their products, just like those “Arribas” and “Nyke” trainers you’ll see down at your local market.

It’s not just illustrations and images, there are loads of copied videos around: Remember these fun finger-puppetry videos that went viral in 2006?

How about the Hula Hoop ads that popped up a couple of years later?

We’re saying nothing!

In September last year new students at UQAM in Quebec Canada had a viral hit on their hands with their excellent lipdub of the Black Eye’d Peas “I’ve Got a Feeling”, involving 172 students as the camera travels throughout the college in one continuous shot. This video has been incredibly popular, with over 4 million views and counting.

Incredibly, leading London marketing agency Publicis ended up with a Twitter Turkey (should that be Twurkey?) when they decided to do a somewhat similar thing for their 2009 “Christmas Card”. This video was roundly slated in virtually every corner of the internet – just take a look at the comments at Youtube!

This hot topic has been discussed previously by Fluid. Check out Phil’s blog post “How Todd Picquelle stole graphic design and didn’t get away with it”

You can make your mind up but we’re sure these examples say enough. Hopefully this post will raise this issue that plagiarism is not accepted and shame those copy cats thinking about ripping off their next design to be more original.

Do you have any examples of people you want outed? Go crazy with the comments below.

It’s very easy to do yourself, simply create a square .png 57 x 57 pixels without gloss, transparency or rounded corners and the iphone will create the rest of the magic!

Link it in your website header with the code:

<link rel="apple-touch-icon" href="/images/iphone.png" />

Its as easy as pie!

The initiative is dubbed “Race Online 2012″ and to achieve it’s aims, Martha Lane Fox intends to use her business contacts to create partnerships focused on achieving her goals. So far, BT, Intel, Google, and even the electrical retailer Comet – which plans to trial an in-store scheme to help older customers familiarise themselves with the web – are on board with the scheme.

Essentially, the initiative is looking to lower the cost of broadband to those who can’t afford it and to push broadband services out into rural Britain, a market that has largely been ignored by broadband providers. This isn’t a flash in the pan idea either, Lane Fox is heading up The Office of Digital Inclusion which is a part of the Governments wider Digital Britain plans. These goals are achievable.

“It is an ambitious project, but other countries have done it. And there are some compelling reasons for driving this forward,” she said.

Here’s the part that should be music to the ears of anyone who owns, or plans to own an e-commerce store. Of the £22bn set to be generated by the scheme, £8.85bn will result directly from an increase in online sales. If Martha Lane Fox and her initiative succeed – remember they aim to have this done in just three years – e-commerce sites will have 14 million more people to sell their products to.

That’s good news if you’re already selling your products online, and it’s even better news if you’re planning to. With the public and private money being spent to get more people buying your products online, there surely hasn’t been a better time to get your business online?