The SPOKE Daily

MTV Rocks!

Karen Lo — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 16:28:54 +0000

Delicious sound and CG by PostPanic for MTV’s new idents. As from March 2010, MTV is re-branding its 6 specialist music channels – MTV Rocks (formerly MTV2), MTV Classic (formely VH1 Classic), MTV Dance, MTV Base, MTV Hits and MTV Shows. Launching first in the UK with international roll-out to follow, this project is a continuation of the July 2009 MTV’s first international rebrand. In total 32 TV idents have been commissioned to span all these 6 MTV ‘sister channels’ with the MTV World Design Studio drawing together the cream of international motion and audio-design talent. More via MTV Rocks! – Ident Series directed by Mischa Rozema (PostPanic).

Happy Holiday by PSYOP

Karen Lo — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 16:01:20 +0000

Following Coca Cola’s Happiness Factory is another festive campaign for The UPS Store brought to you by PSYOP. Music and sound design by Elias Arts. Let the magic begin.

Marmite XO Tastemaker Outreach

Kai Exos — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 20:33:28 +0000

By We Are Social and Splendid Communications to launch the new (and delicious) spreadable yeast goodness. Packaged with perfection.

Eyes On You

Karen Lo — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 01:59:13 +0000

Here’s another one obsessed with eyes – Erick Hikups, Brussels street artist. More via Erick’s Flickr.

OK Go- Viral Video Masters (HD)

Fabio Abreu — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 19:46:24 +0000

OK Go’s Promo for their new single This Too Shall Pass. Directed by James Frost, OK Go and Syyn Labs. Produced by Shirley Moyers. After their Grammy award-winning treadmill video “Here It Goes Again”, the group follows up with an RGM-inspired video that already has 3M+ views in less than 5 days!

Dee Hock on Hiring

Susan Shapiro — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 02:29:02 +0000

There are a lot of smart business owners out there, but what sets the uberly successful ones apart from those that are moderately successful is the company’s approach to management and leadership. At least, that is what founder of VISA, Dee Hock, teaches us in his book ‘Birth of the Chaordic Age” and summarized in the following Fast Company article: http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/05/dee2.html. And when a man of this stature speaks, I for one am willing to listen based solely on credibility. The values and principle he totes might seem like common sense, but these days, common sense is not so common. Surprisingly, it is actually quite rare. His views on hiring and promoting are especially thought provoking and are formulated in terms of priority of importance…

Integrity
Motivation
Capacity
Understanding
Knowledge

Without quoting everything Hock has said on this subject, here is my take on why he is so, so very right… Integrity – Without integrity there is no trust, and no trust means the other 4 traits could be used to manipulate situations for one’s own (greedy) agenda. Motivation – Without motivation there is no forward thrust to make use of one’s talents to the company’s benefit. Capacity – Without capacity there is no ability to apply understanding and knowledge in real life situations. Understanding – Without understanding there is no basis for deciphering information and making sense of it. Knowledge – A lack of knowledge (although not ideal) is not the end of the world, as knowledge can always be attained if the other 4 traits are in place. So there you go – take it or leave it. However, if you’re a business owner, you might want to think twice before hiring that super smart guy who has tons of schooling and experience. Look deeper, below the surface. Do you think he will pour himself fully into his new role, roll with the punches and take the good with the bad, or will he leap at any better opportunity if the going gets rough?

R.I.P. IE6

Susan Shapiro — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 02:23:44 +0000

So, I walked into the office today and to my most pleasurable surprise, I found an invitation sitting in my inbox to the official funeral of Internet Explorer Six, better known to us Interactive folk as IE6. Apparently, this long-time Internet resident had passed away on the morning of March 1, 2010 due to workplace injuries sustained at the headquarters of Google, Inc. The official invitation can be viewed here: http://ie6funeral.com/ I will most definitely be celebrating this momentous departure of a near and not so dear friend. Over the 8 long years that this browser has hung like a black ominous cloud over my head, there has never been a day that I have dreamt more about than this one. A tad bit exaggerated and slightly morbid, but ask any designer/developer/project manager that has ever battled with cross-browser testing and they will most definitely echo my sentiment. At many points in my career, my colleagues and I have contemplated how we could avoid the headaches and long nights spent maintaining the integrity of our beautiful online designs when viewed with IE6. It was like being in a virtual fun house, but the reflections were never funny. IE6 was a true rebel, rendering things to it’s own liking, never conforming to the rules and regulations of typical web standards. All jokes aside, you would be surprised at how many high-profile brands and Fortune 500 companies still use IE6 as their main Internet browser. Therefore, any attempt to avoid doing business for companies that still worked on this ancient browser could have been the death of all our careers. It wasn’t a chance we were willing to take. And now we won’t have to make that compromise. May you rest in peace IE6, alongside our other dearly departed friends, MS-DOS, floppy drive, dot matrix and all the other obsolete, BSOD-inducing technologies of the world. Good-bye and good riddance.

Literature VS Traffic

Karen Lo — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 20:42:31 +0000

Street installation at daybreak on February 17th by Luzinterruptus. 800 books, each embedded with an LED light, filled Water Street under the Brooklyn Bridge – a peaceful intervention to the speed, pollution, and noise of urban streets. It’s a chance for pedestrians to experience the space that usually belong to cars, and to read and relax on the otherwise busy street. Photos by Gustavo Sanabrina.

Die Antwoord’s Secret Room

Karen Lo — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 20:06:56 +0000

Be warned – things can get a bit creepy in there. Brought to you by Die Antwoord. Enter the Secret Room!

Gorillaz – Stylo Promo (HD)

Kai Exos — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 15:15:26 +0000

Gorillaz Promo for the new single: STYLO. Produced by Passion Pictures London. Directed by Jamie Hewlett & Pete Candeland. Pretty damn good reintro… via Motiongrapher