Those Mando chaps keep churning out top notch work. I had a good poke around Mando’s latest delivery, the Penketh website,. I was encouraged to read that the client – a Liverpool based office products suppliers worked with the agency over an 18 month design and development process.  This serves as a good reminder to all those client-side, that these sort of large scale sites cannot be ‘knocked up’ quickly. Presumably with a client such …

A quite humorous video has popped up on YouTube since the iPad was launched last week. All credit goes to ‘midnightblade’ who has cleverly dubbed a clip from the 2004 German film ‘Downfall.’

It discusses that the Apple product will become a failure, nothing more than an ‘oversized iPod Touch.’ Please be warned, content of the video is of an explicit nature and in a ‘tongue in cheek’ manner. Please do not view if you …

The announcement today of the departure of Jim Gill, the Chief Executive of Liverpool Vision, is one which raised a few eyebrows. Although unsurprising as he made no secret, privately or in public that retirement was looming. So what should the digital sector hope for in his successor?

Jim’s leadership of Liverpool Vision has been an undoubted success, delivering genuine results to the City Region, even through the dark and difficult days of the last 24 months. For the Digital sector …

Apart from being the mail order catalogue of choice for Wile E Coyote in his harebrained schemes to get that roadrunner. What is ACME?  I know from the website that it’s the body that supports the creative sector in Liverpool…ect ect, but in all honesty I really don’t see it out there day to day.

Now unless I’m missing something, and I’m happy to be proved wrong, what is it actually doing?  Apart from the occasional random poorly designed e-newsletter  (which more often than not carries last months …

I read with interest the news emanating about Latitude’s problems and its left me slightly confused. Their funders Barclays are believed to have lost several million pounds as a result of a pre-pack administration but the business says they are doing great, so why the call in from the bank?

Looking to move?  Looking for space alongside an award winning Digital Agency?

The perfect opportunity has arisen for an inspiring business to take space in one of the most prestigious offices in the Central Business District.  Grade A space available for a Grade A company.

City Centre location
Plug and play facilities
One monthly fee  - all costs included
Very flexible leases

Enquiries to Digital Liverpool or c/o Gareth@creativeliverpool.co.uk

FACT lanuch new website, more features, easier nav and a shiny new look? For me the site is an improvement but falls short of the ‘great site’ tag. Navigation is quite simple if not too obvious at the start but there’s too much flat content on black, making it a tad boring to browse. Saying all that, it’s an information site and a huge amount complexity to incorporate under one domain. What do you think?

The annual Google Zeitgeist list has been released this week.

If a measure of the importance of an event is reflected in numbers of searches it receives through Google, then in decades to come the list may well provide social anthropologists and insight into the most important events of that year.

Depressingly enough, the top search terms for 2009 are Susan Boyle, Michael Jackson (in the wake of his death) and Lady Ga Ga. I mean, Christ all mighty.  Global depression, climate …

Join Author and CinemaTech editor Scott Kirsner at FACT on Wed 27th Jan 2010 for an interactive and intensive workshop titled ‘Building an Audience and a Creative Career in the Digital Age’ on how creative artists can cultivate big audiences and earn a solid return from their work.

Lets have a digital winner here! Any ideas? The search for Merseyside’s most innovative companies has once again begun with the launch of the annual Merseyside Innovation Awards. The awards, aim to recognise and reward the use of innovation as a means of boosting growth and profitability.

Soap giant Unilever has made a research and development agreement with Daresbury Innovation Campus, the Science & Technology Facilities Council (STFC) has confirmed. STFC scientists will use modelling and simulation to develop new software tools to speed up the development of new and more efficient products across Unilever’s personal care range.

Mando Group has launched a new website for public art project Art for Places www.artforplaces.com. The project, a partnership between NewHeartlands, Liverpool Biennial, Arts Council England, and local authorities and housing associations, will run for the next three years. Mando chief executive Matt Johnson said: “The Liverpool region has much to offer its residents and we’re proud to be helping it build on those assets to ensure future success.”

Liverpool design and brand agency GVC has launched a new online retail venture specialising in a range of exclusive Premier League merchandise.
premiersportsgifts.com retails the UK’s only personalised Official Liverpool Football Club 2010 Calendar – the first in a select range of official club merchandise shortly available on the website.

Liverpool Stuart Hughes as designed the worlds most expensive i-phone with 200 diamonds and costing £1.92m. It has taken ten months to make for the anonymous Aussie businessman who commissioned it. Hughes said most of the ten months was spent trying to find the seven-carat diamond used as the front navigation button.

Creative and digital support agency Northwest Vision and Media has invested more than £130,000 into four Merseyside companies through its Regional Attraction Fund (RAF). Well done to games production company Catalyst Outsourcing, digital art production studio Milky Tea, and games company Dou Yi Dou.

Well done to digital marketing specialists Hit Search who have recently added one of the world’s top museums, the Victoria and Albert Museum to its list of clients. The London museum has enlisted the services of Liverpool based Hit Search to aid the online marketing campaign of its retail website, V&A Shop.

Trainee Social & Search Executive – Mando Group
Liverpool based Mando Group is a nationally renowned web design consultancy, with more than 700 web and online development or campaign projects to date. NorthWest Vision & Media will be partnering with them on the i.studio scheme and are currently taking applications for a Trainee Search & Social Media Executive. This is an ideal opportunity for individuals new to the web industry who want to build a career in …

‘TweetUpNorth’ is the first meet-up for Twitter users organised by the BT Convention Centre Liverpool and follows on from the success of similar events held in London for event industry professionals.

Monday 16th November, 12.30pm to 1.30pm.

Branding guru Michael Wolff wowed the audience at the 2009 Liverpool Design Symposium with his candid, insightful take on city branding. Mark Jones of local agency Creative Liverpool reports.

12th November 2009, Soho Theatre, London.

For 5 years Creative Review has been bringing together Europe’s creative leaders to showcase, spar and demonstrate how to make your digital creative work bigger and better than ever before. Last years do in London was a phenomenal success according to CR and was a complete sell out. With a refreshed line up of speakers and new format – they promise that 2009 will be even bigger and even better.

NWDA £5m investment into Liverpool’s Baltic District to support area’s growing digital and creative business sector.

5th November at ACC Liverpool: Richard Farleigh and Julie Meyer join Liverpool’s digital sector for the third Liverpool Software City event.

Big Chip Award-winners New Concept Gaming has a Trainee Character Animator paid placement available. This is a great opportunity for a recently trained 3D animator to build on their skills with a company directly related to the games industry. The company will be using the Unity engine in their games simulations, so candidates can be skilled in any of the best-known industry standard animation packages.

Location: JMU Art and Design Academy

Date: 04/11/2009

Liverpool Design Symposium is back again delivering an array of speakers, exhibitions and events to delight the most design savvy and creative types.

The 2009 programme features Michael Wolff, courtesy of D&AD as part of the President Lecture Series. The DBA will also be running a session on Effective Design in the public sector led by Peter Mills, Consulting Director at the Team.

Aspiring creatives and …

Brand Protection – Online. We all know protecting online brand image is vital. So why is it that so many businesses just don’t seem to bother, until they are in the shit and it’s too late? I think online brand management is a real area of growth for local SEO and Web design companies in Liverpool if more business owners wise up and realise the importance.

Northwest Vision and Media is inviting applications for a Trainee Web Developer with Glow New Media, and a Trainee Marketing Assistant with Uniform. Details follow, deadlines 20th and 27th October 2009.

The journey from concept to finish design has now changed, but for the good or for the bad? 

Mark Jones of city centre design agency Creative Liverpool asks what impact PhotoSketch may have on streamlining client work, or does it risk dumbing-down the creative process?

Yesterday morning over 100 attendees gathered at Liverpool University’s Foresight Centre to see Rod Holmes, Lorraine Rogers et al deliver TMP’s assessment of the economic development of the Liverpool City Region.

So what were the key findings and what do they mean for the digital sector?

Well, to shamelessly steal Rod’s patient/doctor metaphor fitting of our surroundings, the patient (Liverpool City Region) is out of the critical phase of illness and making good recovery – but is not off the life support …

Northwest Vision and Media have partnered with Liverpool-based Conker Media on the i.studio 2009 scheme and are calling for applications from talented front end developers. Details follow, but get your applications in quick: closing date for entries is 12pm Mon 12th October.

Check out the following tongue-in-cheek animation that pulls no punches regarding the client vs. agency relationship. If you’re a graphic designer or web designer for 5 years or more than you’ll find this very, very funny indeed.

Liverpool agency Smiling Wolf has produced the latest version of the Philharmonic Hall’s website. It follows the last major re-design of the site in 2007 by Mando Group. Just how well does the new version stand-up to the benchmark set by Mando for one of the city’s leading cultural institutions?

Liverpool’s 2009 AND Festival commissions four bloggers to respond to the life and death of a blog site. The piece’s title ‘From Now On This Blog Is Going To Be…” runs from 20-27 September.

Facebook was valued at up to £6billion by experts but, until yesterday, had failed to make a cent in profit. Now, after five years and racking up 300million users, it is finally making enough money to cover its costs. The company’s income is on track to grow by 70 per cent this year.

18 months ago, I would debate the value of social networking for some of our more serious corporate clients. Now, almost all of our clients have some social networking presence. The data available makes it a necessity to at least have a flickr, facebook and LinkedIn profiles, even if to just to protect brand image. 93% of social media users believe a company should have a presence in social media. 85% of social media users believe a company should go …

Read how Liverpool-based SEO company Quba New Media delivered a 12 month strategy and started pushing Sleepmasters up the ranks for many popular searches in Google resulting in a tenfold surge in site traffic.

Abandon Normal Devices (AND) Festival debuts in Liverpool this September, five days of new media, cinema and digital art.

From FACT: ‘AND is a new space where artists and filmmakers will offer striking perspectives, and visitors can enjoy, discuss and interact with ideas, in a festival that questions the normal and champions a different approach. AND festival will also be trailblazing across the Northwest with a series of taster events and commissions, partnering up with other festivals that rock our world. …

Come and support the Liverpool Twestival 2009 at Leaf Tea Shop and Bar on Thursday 10th September at 18:00, in aid of Clatterbridge Cancer Research.

The North West’s creative and digital sector represents a vast collection of innovative companies whose overall growth is bucking the current economic trend.

As an industry they now deliver a staggering £15.8bn to the region’s economy or in other terms a huge 16 per cent of our total output. Understandably it’s of paramount importance to us all that creative businesses continue to exist and thrive …

Article by Enda Carey is Head of Games & Digital Content at Northwest Vision and Media. Liverpool has a long history of video game development and for a long time has produced some of the leading games in the industry. From its bedroom developer days through to the multi million pound budgets of today the industry and Liverpool’s role within it has come a long way.Everyone knows the exciting cutting edge work that Sony and Bizarre Creations have been …

CL5 Search Engine Marketing has recently completed a six month organic promotion contract with Formby Hall Golf Resort & Spa. CL5 claims to have dominated local search results across highly competitive leisure sector keywords through a combination of online marketing techniques. The results include No. 1 positions for spa golf, formby spa, formby hall golf club southport, Top 5 pga golf academy, corporate golf north west, golf liverpool, luxury spa liverpool, health spa southport. Top 10 golf resort, luxury spa …