January, 2009 archive

Logo design & corporate ID

Northstar was approached by a new business start-up in Leeds, with the idea of selling personalized prints online.

As the online presence is key, Northstar reviewed available domain addresses before proposing a shortlist of company names.

ID Art was chosen, with the short and memorable domain address of: www.id-art.me.

The logo picks up on the text messaging shorthand for a smile D

Northstar provided the design, artwork and print for all their stationery and business cards.

Twitter background design

As part of any self respecting SEO programme, Northstar has a Twitter account - got a bit of a theme running this week … Anyway, our design got picked up on the grapevine and is now showcasing at Twitter Backgrounds Gallery.

As design is part of services, its nice to get the recognition and yet another link back to the website. More links = more traffic = better listings on Google.

And you never know, someone may contact us to create their Twitter background design.

View and vote on Northstar’s Twitter design »

Visit Northstar on Twitter »

World’s best Presidential Inauguration photo

GeoEye Satellite Image shows Washington D.C.’s National Mall and the United States Capitol. Tuesday, Jan. 20, 2009 taken at 11:19AM EDT during the Presidential inauguration.

Photograph courtesy of The Boston Globe, Big Picture feature.

Click here for more dramatic Inauguration photos of President Barack Obama »

Twitter breaks world news

First reports of the US Airways plane crash in the Hudson river were reported on Twitter, the popular micro-blogging website.

Janis Krums set off an Internet firestorm Thursday when he posted an image taken on his iPhone of passengers huddled on the wing of a US Airways plane – only minutes after it had crash landed.

“There’s a plane in the Hudson. I’m on the ferry going to pick up the people. Crazy,” wrote Krums in a 3:50 p.m.

While the news agencies scrambled staff to the scene, social networking sites such as Twitter and Flickr were buzzing with photos and reports which were viewed all around the world.

Nearly 40,000 people viewed this photo within four hours of the aircraft coming down.

Twitter will riding high on this tide of publicity, which swiftly follows their last coup of breaking news of the Mumbai terrorist attacks.

Further information

BBC coverage of this event: Citizen Journalism

Blame it on the Credit Crunch

For decades we have all been weaned on the virtues of the market economy. The Darwinian simplicity of how only the strongest survive; compared to evils nationalized corporations, trade unions and (God forbid) the failings of communism.

Then the Credit Crunch arrives in an endless blaze of shocking headlines - and all of sudden governments all round the world are pumping 100s of billions of tax payers’ money to prop up failed businesses.

Not small to medium sized businesses; which make up the majority of an economy’s gross domestic product (GDP) and employment - no, only the big businesses.

Oh, for the little guys trading with consumers, you can pass on the proportion of 2.5% VAT reduction, but when companies were slashing 70% off in pre-Christmas sales, this hardly figures.

Take a look at this simple graphic summary of General Motor’s situation taken from Wall Stats, and you can see the credit crunch tipped the balance of an unfeasible business - it was not the cause.

People just got too greedy and complacent.

So while governments look after their big corporate sponsors who have suddenly turned, and put a gun to their head with the threat of unemployment figures, who’s to look after the small to medium sized enterprises?

The answer, as always, is no one. You are on your own.

It’s a case of working smarter to reach your audience and make sales. Throw away the old marketing manuals about door-drops, telesales and press campaigns - in today’s overloaded and fragmented media environment it’s more than likely to annoy your potential customers than attract them, and guaranteed to be a comparatively vast waste money.

The Web is a trusted source of information where people find out for themselves about your product or service. It is cheaper than traditional (old fashioned media). And it can save you money.

Because it is comparatively new and cheap - and because there are so many cowboys in town dining on their client’s ignorance - the web hasn’t been taken seriously by the vast majority of businesses.

But in time, despite governments weighting the balance unfairly in favour of large corporations - it is the smart small businesses of today who will live to be the big businesses of tomorrow.

UDC Dance: email marketing

UDC is a professional dance company that also runs a series of street and hip hop dance classes in Leeds.

With over 400 past and present students, it was not an option to remind them of the start of the new term by text or hand written email.

Northstar’s email marketing package gives clients complete control, and a highly professional service at a down to earth price.

Click here to view the email:

“If you don’t move, you get fat”

A brilliant press ad to promote exercise by the German Olympic committee.

It cuts to the heart of the endless debates about the potential causes of obesity: “If you don’t move, you get fat.”

A striking impression of what Michelangelo’s David could have looked like if he’d been brought on today’s diet of fast food and Sky Sports.

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