Meetings in Feb [Infographic]

12.04.12 Greg Danford

I thought I'd gather some data during February this year, in a way that would require minimum effort on my part.

With a lot of meetings coming up, I decided that maybe they'd be a good place to start...

I then defined a few things that I'd look to record; the way people were dressed, the environment we met in, time and distance.

The outcome is, unsurprisingly, void of any real significance BUT I've previously never had the opportunity to create my own infographic from scratch before, including the first-hand data capture - so there was SOME value in it!

So, here it is, in all its glory. I'm open to suggestion of what to record and depict next - significance is not a consideration.

View large here

Meetings in Feb [Infographic] Meetings in Feb [Infographic]




FoldBooth iPhone App

19.03.12 Greg Danford

Disturb Media and Luis Carranza have just launched an innovative new iPhone App which aims to bring a smile to some people's faces by removing the smile from other's!

It's called Fold Booth, and the simple premise is, just like you would with a piece of paper, you virtually 'fold' images on screen. What do users create? Well, a whole variety of innovative, creative and often surprising content. How did it come about?...

When asked where the concept came from, Luis Carranza, a consultant Creative Technologist and Social Marketing Strategist said "There’s an App for just about anything. I remember having a proper “LOL” playing with another face-morphing app. I was amazed at how something so silly could bring so much momentary joy. If you make people laugh out loud, there’s a really good chance they’ll share the moment with someone else.

"Fold Booth was designed for a quick laugh. There’s nothing wrong with laughing at ourselves or at others, especially when no harm is intended. Part of the inspiration for Foldbooth came from my days at university. Each year they'd print photos of the incoming class on a wall. Each year, without fail, someone would start folding the photos. Then I saw Kempfolds (http://kempfolds.blogspot.com), a blog where people submit folded images of Ross Kemp’s very foldable face. I thought that if you apply that same type of humour to images of people, animals and objects, we could possibly make a nice little app.

"Unfortunately I’m not a developer, but luckily for me, the guys at disturb media live for creative technology. I approached them with the concept and, fortunately, they're the kind of guys who like to take on fun, experimental work as often as they're able to. So, Fold Booth was swiftly crafted, and the results were beyond my expectations. The designs were amazing and the user experience was perfected version by version.

"I’m really pleased with the App. We’ve create a little tool that people will use in unexpected ways. I can definitely see folded politicians in America, folded cats on the web and maybe even folded porn. Whatever people do with it, we just hope that they get a “LMAO” or two."

The Foldbooth.com site is an online extension of the personality and content of the App, allow the curious among us to take a peek at the variety of uses that Fold Booth's growing community are exploring. The site, along with the obligatory Facebook page and Twitter account was also created by the team at Disturb and plans are afoot to extend the offering further still in the coming weeks.

Who knows where this will lead? The creators certainly don't - but that's the exciting aspect of such ventures and exactly the reason that off-the-wall creations will never cease to exist.

The App's available here. What will you fold?

FoldBooth FoldBooth FoldBooth Gallery




from the disturb archives: Cushe Online Store

18.06.11 Disturb Media

From the archives: Cushe Footwear asked disturb to create a unique and interesting shopping experience. From initial scamps to design and production this was a project we were responsible for in its entirety.

It looked great, worked great, and sold footwear at such a pace that the shop had to go offline while it got it's breath back.

This was a project from the first year of disturb's existence, spanning 2007/2008 and it still remains very close to our hearts. as we were establishing our own brand of digital design, we were helping to further the flourishing footwear brand that we'd been working very closely with during its formative years.

At the time, a Flash-based online store was quite an adventurous way to go - but our brief was certainly not to stay safe. We didn't have today's heightened worries of cross-device compatibility so created an immersive online shopping experience that was certainly functional but more focused in expressing the brand's personality and ethos.

Things change so quickly that, 4 years later, we likely wouldn't answer the same brief in the same manner - but it has it's place in our and Cushe's history as one of the many milestones that helped to make us both what we are today. Happy days.

cushe online store




OFFF 2011 Barcelona - Day 0.5

09.06.11 Greg Danford

The first couple of speakers I watched today, for me, failed to hit the mark. Tedium sets in very quickly when watching others indulge themselves. I become intolerant to watching 2 mins of work that maybe took two months to create if there's no emotional attachment to me, the viewer.

In fact, I start to write this post as an audience agitates in the presence of some exploratory works that I'm sure were amazingly fun to create - which is a shame. In some respects, it's an inspiration to keep going strong with our own personal projects - it seems that nothing experimental is deemed a failure, with which i wholeheartedly agree. But, the presentation of these explorations really should, perhaps, be better contextualised and be told as more of an engaging story.

Han Hoogerbrugge is a breath of fresh air. He sits on stage behind his laptop looking like he's stepped straight out of Reservoir Dogs.

His early animation work on 'Modern living' and 'Nails' really showcase a raw talent in it's simplest form - these were not money making projects, quite the opposite, but commissioned work arrived because of it. A theme we heard a lot at FOTB10 and one we really try to follow ourselves.

Some MTV animations were followed by 'Clown Basics' and the work in progress of a new game. The on-screen humour plays such a big part in getting the audience on your side.

ProStress is a nice outlet that began self-focused and then turned to look at the light side of topical news, and is a daily obsession with instant reward. One cartoon every morning leaves the feeling that the day has been productive before its barely begun. #jealous

This then led to a tangible product called Fuck Death - models made in China and 'advertised' by The Pope.

Animations for 'Freedom' (?) and 'Melting Pot' were followed, bizarrely, by a website highlighting safety procedures in hospitals. Like the dangers of Laughing Gas and Heavy Lifting. Only in Holland.

And more MTV ads (who else could use the same style for a doctor and a music channel?).

Ah! How did I not work out that, if you were to draw a Venn diagram of all of the above - the Pet Shop Boys 'You Need Love' would be bang in the middle (albeit slightly on the tamer side of things). Cynics might say a slight sell out, but I would say the perfect outlet and, I hope, a decent earner for such an engaging talent.

A great presentation.

Day 1 observation: A LOT less laptops than other similar conferences - might be due to shit internet, but a very different crowd, nonetheless. One that includes about 30 times more females - of whom around 50% are #squeakclappers according to the hot-blooded males in our party - I can't possibly comment. There's a direct relationship between laptops and hot girls. Put the laptops away and the girls shall come ;)

hoogerbrugge_01 hoogerbrugge_02 hoogerbrugge_04 hoogerbrugge_05




from the disturb archives: Cushe intro Movie

14.05.11 Disturb Media

When Cushe were acquired by global footwear group, Wolverine, disturb were asked to create a 5 minute animated piece to introduce Cushe and their brand ethos to the rest of the group at their annual conference in the US.