February - Miami, Hellohikimori, Virgin Atlantic, We are ideas, The Bat, Visual Mapping, Surf, New York City, Wedding

1/ Miami
I discovered Miami for the first time. It kind of reminded me LA. Not a walking friendly city. I have to go there a lot now, for work. At least it’s sunny. Yeah, At least it’s sunny.

2/ Hellohikimori.com
Hellohikimori is a design studio, based in Paris. In August, I worked on the copy of their new website. It had an FWA some time long ago. Not that the copy had anything to do with it. What I found challenging was to keep one style through so many pages of content. This is a small thing I wrote about them:

Hellohikimori is Nathalie Melato and David Rondel Cambou. Colours walk with us. Together we fight. For brands, for design, for interaction and even for glory; sometimes. We breathe creativity. Together, always.
We love to walk and ride but always out of the beaten tracks. It is painful, sometimes, but it’s worth it. Really.
They say audacious. We say proud.

3/ Hello Gorgeous! Virgin Atlantic
Forget all the hyperbolic battles raging between international airlines. I have travelled on quite a few… Nothing comes close to the experience of flying Virgin’s Upper class. Yes that sounds a bit yuppie yup, but spare me 5 minutes while I demonstrate through time log:
> (Whenever) You book a flight
> (48 H) They ask you to call them back
> (24 H)You call them and give your passport number + check that everything is all right + update your flying club account
> (1.30 H) A Virgin limo picks you up
> (1.25 H) Limo driver checks you in via blackberry
> (1.00 H) The Virgin limo drops you at the special Virgin check in
> (0.57 H) Guy grabs your bag, security asks you the usual three questions, girl hands your boarding pass
> (0.50 H Pass customs through special Virgin desk
> (0.45 H) Bim Bam Boum, you’re in Heathrow Virgin lounge with a delicate atmosphere: wicked tunes, tasty breakfast, cosy furniture…
> (0.15 H) Buckled up and ready to go…

Now, I am not paid by Virgin Atlantic to write about them (yet… R.B.? Call me!), but this has changed my experience of flying.
It’s clear that the fight is not just about on-board services: who has the biggest… seats, or the most…in-flight entertainment.
It’s about the whole journey. This is the real consumer experience. Every little thing, every little attention counts. Before, During and After. Right now, Virgin ticks Before and During. After is still up for grabs, in my opinion. Wouldn’t it be great if after your flight Virgin sends you a satisfaction enquiry or calls you?
The only problem? This level of service and efficiency is highly addictive. (Oh, did I mention the head - shoulder massage, on board?)

4/ Weareideas.com, new and improved
Hopefully, I will be able to maintain and update this version after the crackdown last August. It’s a shame because my stats were off the roof but hey, a new job and other things to concentrate on…
I added some nifty features: Plazes (so that you know where I’m at?) and Twitter (so that you know what I’m up to?). Also, the RSS should work properly now. Images are bigger. Google search bar. Cleaner look and feel. Digg it! fully integrated.
But, really, the main thing is this new concept: The monthly nine. Every month I am going to talk about nine things that I stumbled upon, that tickled my fancy or that are just so out there that they should interest us. This will not be exclusively web related, websites or digital. Nor only advertising driven. Anything goes. Weareideas is opening itself.
So if they’re any cool bits and pieces that you love, please share.

5/ The Bat
This is my new job. I have left the agency world behind me. All hail to the client side. It’s quite interesting to live the “other side”. The politics, the dynamics, the processes.
For Death or Glory, I guess.

6/ Visual Mapping
I have worked on this baby for sometime now. It focuses on the main digital areas and how they are interlinking with each other. Since it’s all about networks, the challenge is to see where does *my brand* should engage its user? What is relevant? Where is it relevant?
Creating this visual map helps a lot in articulating the strategic vision in a very plain way, without the fussy web2.0 trendy bullshit keywords.

Simple questions > Complicated answers / Visually simple

Visual Mapping intraveinous inspiration: Visual Complexity

7/ Surf
Since I arrived in the UK, I have only surfed once on the North Devon coast. My brother, Skoya, came to visit and off we went to see what Croyde had to offer. Well we were unlucky. It was really poor. The kind of waves that test your will and determination, even when it’s sunny. And, it was raining and windy. We had fun.
It seems that sometimes, Croyde can fire some serious steaks though.

8/ New York City
I haven’t been to NY since 1992. I used to spend one week there during summer from 1985 to 1992. This is where I scored my first Jordans, where crazy people hanged out on Times Square, where Harlem was not friendly and nobody really cared about Brooklyn. So yeah, it changed a lot. For the best or the worst.
Whatever, there’s still nothing like it.

9/ Wedding
Hectic. Time Hungry. Crazy & Happy.