Back to Bug

So, as some of you may remember, we blogged about Bug last September. Quick flashback: Bug is an event at the BFI Southbank in Waterloo hosted by Adam Buxton, celebrating the wildest, most inventive music videos and inviting some of the directors up on stage for a chat about their latest projects.

Now jump forward to last week and Bug 17. I popped along to see what all the fuss is about and would definitely recommend going. Below are a few highlights to whet your appetite. To see a full write up, with more video highlights, go here.

The first video: ‘Roman Is As Roman Does’ by Themselves – directed by Yu Sato. In his words "It's about trying to illustrate the problem with the current downloading culture, where music is becoming a kind of daily food and is no longer seen as a valuable art form bringing meaning to life."

The second video: ‘General Motors, Detroit America’ by Acid Washed – directed by Anthony Burrill. Burrill is well known for his bold typographic style, and you can see this reflected in the video. It contains strong geometric forms with minimal animation, yet the effect is pretty powerful.

Help us to help Haiti

Last week, we joined the worldwide effort to support the earthquake victims of Haiti. Working with AMV, we helped UNICEF set up their Facebook Haiti appeal. If you haven’t already, please visit the Facebook fanpage and donate today.

Today, I mostly think this…

Facebook statuses do more these days. At first they were just a chance to share news or tell everyone how fabulous, funny or fed up you are. Now they’re gaining the momentum and power to spread important messages too.

Take the recent Breast Cancer Awareness mini campaign. Suddenly, a large proportion of my Facebook homepage was full of girls saying ‘pink’, ‘bright blue’, ‘lacy’ and so on. The idea was for women everywhere to post the colour of their bra as their status update. The result was something funny and intriguing – men even joined in too! But more importantly, it was a little reminder about the cause and a nudge to action.

The latest Facebook app created by Mccann Erickson Israel, for gaming company ‘Yellow Retail’, takes ‘status power’ further still. The app searches through your friends to find the ones leaving ‘sad’ statuses. Friends saying things like ‘I’m depressed’ or ‘I’m fed-up’ will then be sent a notification with a coupon for a free game to cheer them up. A nice little app to help your pals get happy.

And after all, isn’t that why you post a status update? You know that people will see it and a response is what you’re really asking for. So whether you’re after a *hug*, a thumbs-up or an opinion, you can be sure someone’s listening.

Latest job opportunities at Collective

This coming year looks set to be one of our busiest yet and we're looking for the very best digital talent to join us for the ride. We’ve got a heap of roles open at the moment, so take a peep at our jobs page and pop us your cv if you think you fit the bill. Make it your New Year’s resolution!

Evans almighty

It’s a big day for Radio 2, with Chris Evans and Simon Mayo both launching their new shows. And Collective has had the pleasure of creating the new sites for both DJs.

The wonderful illustration work is by Celyn Brazier (for Evans) and I Love Dust (for Mayo), with Collective working closely alongside the BBC teams to ensure the visual styles and ideas reflected the personality of each DJ and their new shows.

In addition to the sites, the new designs also had to work across all other interactive BBC media – you’ll see them pop up on the iPlayer, in podcasts, and in many other places.

Today I mostly think this...

Whether you’re hungry to learn, or just hungry, there’s an app for that. 'Jamie Oliver’s 20-minute meals' iPhone app is just the thing, supplying you with a choice of recipes and step-by-step instructions on how to make them. It’s like having a mini master chef in your pocket.

And surely that’s everything an iPhone app should be? Forget apps that just pass the time, or novelty fake beer you pretend to drink, I’m far too busy for that. I want step-by-step instructions, helpful facts, or a guide to where I’m going. I want my iPhone to be a handy little companion, helping me find an open garage at 11pm when I need a pint of milk, or showing me how to fix a flat tyre or locate the pub with the best beer.

My iPhone doesn’t have to do anything wacky or funny, it just has to be useful. Perhaps then I’ll wonder how I ever survived without it.

‘Jamie Oliver’s 20 Minute Meals’ was developed by Jamie Oliver and Zolmo, a London-based software publishing and development company.

Let's get excited about ... Kristin Hersh

Never heard of Kristin? Then you need to stop reading this very minute and go and listen to ‘Your Ghost’. I’ll still be here when you get back.

(3 minutes and 16 seconds later.) Sublime. Kristin is a sparkling gem of a musician who has been pioneering new ways to distribute her work online for the past few years. Instead of griping about the Interwebby connected world we live in, Kristin has embraced the potential of evolving technology to get her music out to a whole new audience.

Her band 50 Foot Wave launched their first EP as an online freebie about 5 years back – actively encouraging fans of her previous solo and Throwing Muses work to make copies and give them to friends. And most recently Kristin has been at the forefront of the CASH Music initiative – a non-profit organisation that offers expertise and open-source tools to musicians looking to harness digital distribution and promotion. Basically, it works as a great way for fans to directly support Kristin’s music through donations and word of mouth.

Through CASH Music, Kristin has been releasing a new song each month over the past two years – including cover art, lyrics, notes and works in progress. All content is free, though visitors can tip Kristin for each song, or pay an annual subscription to receive guest list passes, studio visits and a name-check on CD sleeves. Such is the feeling of connection this all inspires, that fans even came together to buy Kristin a new guitar when she most needed one. That’s the true potential of the Internet for those musicians who aren’t still stamping their feet and wishing it would all just go away.

Go have a listen to Kristin’s latest download from her new album ‘Crooked’ and tell me what you think.

Note: Photo by Dina Douglass.