Turn Key Blog. Things we've done and the things we love.

All good things come to those who wait, but for the Londoners in Spitalfields Market the wait is now over. GO London has flung open its doors to a roaring trade with a cool, urban, edgy brand and unique signature Revolver bags! The word about this fresh new opening has quickly got out and has taken the lunch market by storm, with diners literally queuing out of the door – It’s the new place to eat in Spitalfields, so if you’re in town and in need of a fill, why not check it out.

We have had a fair few questions recently about the new cookie law due to be enforced on the 26th May, so we thought it would be worth pointing out what our recommendation is and how it affects our customers.

Cookies are a type of file stored on your computer, phone or tablet and are used by most websites for things such as tracking users’ movements to social media integration. As most of our clients use Google Analytics all our sites use cookies, in this way, at the very least. What the law stipulates now is that site users must be made aware of this and give their consent for their cookies to be stored.

However there are a hundred shades of grey in terms of how people are interpreting this law and, as very few of the big companies have yet to make any changes, most smaller businesses are pretty complacent about updating their own site – especially when the addition of a clunky opt in box on the homepage could affect the end user experience and create a barrier between the customer and company/brand.

Our recommendation would be to update your website’s terms and conditions / privacy policies to include information about what cookies are and how they are used by the site in question. This, for at least the short term, should be obviously linked to from the homepage. This could be a designed graphic, if you wanted to do something personal / amusing (our approach – see www.turn–key.co) or a discreet pop up box which appears the first time someone visits your site and links them to the updated information.

As highlighted in today’s BBC article though most Government sites are also going to miss the deadline, let alone private businesses, so the general consensus seems to be that as long as you show you are making some kind of effort you will probably be ok.

Last week the TK PR team left the office and took to the road to deliver Thai food to journalists and media contacts courtesy of our new client, authentic Thai restaurant chain, Chaophraya.

Day One

The first stop was Manchester where Account Manager, Samara and our PR Intern, Richard delivered delicious Thai treats to lots of happy media.

Visiting Capital FM, XFM, Real Radio XS, KEY 103 and Urban Life at lunchtime couldn’t have been more perfectly timed – the journalists, presenters and producers we met were like children in a sweet shop as we arrived with a selection of goodies.

The mouth watering dishes were chosen from Chaophraya’s brand new lunch menu and delivered in sample boxes designed by our very own Paul in the TK Studio.

The samples went down a treat and they were enjoyed by all, with tweets from Urban and Capital FM and XFM flowing in with praise for the eaterie. The day was a huge success and it was fantastic to meet the Manchester media.

Day Two

The second day of media drops was another overwhelming success, this time at Chaophraya Leeds, the chain’s flagship restaurant! Samara and Turn Key’s newest recruit, Senior Account Exec, Gina spent the day zooming around in Samara’s ever so stylish convertible Beatle. This time we spent the day delivering Thai treats our friends and contacts on the Leeds media circuit.

Armed with sample boxes filled with Pad Thai, Prawn Toast, Barbeque Spare Ribs and Papaya Salad, our first stop was Capital FM where Hirsty and the Breakfast team got stuck into three courses of oriental delights (as this Twitter image from them shows!)

Following on from this we paid visits to the Yorkshire Business Insider, TheBusinessDesk.com, the Yorkshire Evening Post, BBC Radio Leeds, Radio Aire and Magic FM. The reaction was fantastic as teams welcomed the deliveries and tweeted their delight at the delicious dishes. Many of our journalist friends are now eager to visit the restaurant itself to enjoy the full Chaophraya experience and we look forward to welcoming them!

We were even lucky enough to try the new lunch menu ourselves and definitely give it five out of five! Aroi Mak (very delicious!)

Quick Response (QR) codes have been around since the early 90’s and have been used to great success in some campaigns (Radisson hotels use them on their menus to send users to videos of dishes being prepared) and clumsily forced onto others with embarrassing results – QR code on your gravestone anyone? However, as highlighted in today’s Metro article, they have remained relatively popular with consumers, ever-eager to kill boredom with downloadable, quick content.

Their shortcomings, however, are many. The limited amount of content that can be stored means anything much more than a link to content stored elsewhere is pretty difficult and the fact that an Internet connection is required, to access anything online, means their use is limited to locations with connectivity. However most notably, from a design perspective anyway, is how unattractive they are. Ask a designer to shove a bar code on their carefully-constructed poster or website and they won’t be impressed.

Augmented reality is a much more accomplished piece of technology. Content can be more interactive and detailed and used to spectacular effect with 3D animations launching in front of your very eyes. Also the initiation of the content is hidden within the picture so no ugly mark needs to be added to the finished design to make it work.

As the technology people keep in their pockets improves so does the ability to see, download and consume more exciting content. I can’t help but think that, because of this fact, QR codes are ready to collect a pension and move to Florida for some sun.

Behind the scenes of the newest shoot for TK’s collaborative book “BLANK”.

The shoot involved our favourite photographer Guy Farrow behind the lens and starred Louise Cliffe modelling lingerie on one of the worst days we have seen this year – torrential is an understatement! We combined a vintage Rolls Royce with some vintage photography techniques to give an accurate era style, all art directed By our very own Richard Colvill, we think that the outcome is amazing and will be showcased very shortly in a beautifully printed piece.

So watch this BLANK space.

Last week, myself, Phill and Carl went along to the Pieces of Eight exhibition at PSL, Whitehall Waterfront. Whilst we spend our days attached to our Macs, we are always seeking inspiration (to add to the TK wall of inspiration), so it’s great to get out and enjoy others creativity.

The exhibition presented contemporary work by eight PHD students from Finland, Sweden and the UK in a format of Film, Photography, sculpture, performance, drawing and installation using ‘research-led’ practices.

The artists use research methods to generate ideas and then explore these through traditional and modern techniques over the space of three years and we loved it!

My favourite piece was ‘Field’ by Maija Narhinen.

Here, paper is crumpled, folded, painted and transformed into realistic looking arrangement of rocks, so realistic that we didn’t even realise this until reading the programme.

The appreciation of this piece was really linear and developed over the time. We were there from the initial observations of the arrangement of the installation, to realisation that they weren’t real, then to the closer inspection of the hand painted details on each stone.

This piece really illustrates how different reality can be to the way in which we perceive things.

This is Project Space Leeds’ final exhibition in ground floor gallery at the Whitehall Waterfront, Leeds, before it moves to the old Tetley’s Headquarters

To find out more, visit the website here:

http://www.projectspaceleeds.org.uk/

Some of the pieces

Designer Paul Hainsworth loves… McBess

Often design is thought to be the work of computers and so it’s really refreshing to see someone holding on to more traditional felt pen illustration. McBess has an amazing talent of bringing out shadows and light using only one colour.

His distinctive black and white style is influenced by old cartoons such as Betty Boop and Merrie Melodies and his drawings often feature himself surrounded by surreal elements including food and musical instruments. His work has a truly nostalgic feel but with a fresh and modern twist.

See more of his work at http://mcbess.com/

1. Technorati – It’s been around for years but as I’m been working on a social media listening piece recently, I’ve rediscovered how useful it is. Essentially it is a directory of most of the blogs out there in the blogosphere and a search engine to peruse each of them. What’s most useful is that it gives an ‘authority’ and ‘rank’ to any blog, both against the whole of the Technorati listings, and within its own specialists sector e.g. sports, medical, travel, etc. ‘Blog Authority’ is based on an algorithm of popularity, links, relevancy and frequency of content and is particularly useful when researching which blogs within a sector one might engage with to do a spot of online PR.

2. Goodsie – This ‘create your own online store’ eCommerce platform looks just amazing and is inspiring us all to set up our own eCommerce businesses! For just $15 a month it provides small businesses with a great platform for their online store. Plus, I love the simple, modern design of the Goodsie website. Nice large font as live text, simple but clever navigation which keeps all the key info on the homepage … beautiful.

3. Pinterest – Yes I know this was the flavour of last month but I finally got my Pinterest invite through and I think it’s fantastic. It’s now easier than ever to store all the beautiful and interesting images you might come across on your day to day web browsing, in your own personalised categories. It looks great too (even if it is a bit girly!).

4. Responsive design – This is the next level in the technique of web design and build for multiple devices. By using some nice HTML5/CSS3 wizardry, and most importantly designing the best user experience for each device the website will be viewed on, means we can create a single website, laid out so as to be easy to read and navigate, whatever the device and screen size.My favourite example right now is Smashing Magazine. To see what I’m harping on about, grab the corner of your browser window and resize to smaller and larger screen sizes, right from smartphone, to tablet, to huge iMac type screen and watch in awe as the navigation and content moves to fit the screen size perfectly. We’re currently employing this design on some of Turn Key’s own upcoming sites.

To welcome Spring in style, Eden Shopping Centre, High Wycombe, decided to produce a guide to Spring fashion. Aimed at the 30 plus female market, this guide was to be given out at a Colour Wheel Fashion Event. With content, styling and design pulled together by Turn Key we had a great time being creative.

The finished guide is an A3 sized newspaper style magazine, and we love it!

Nerves were at an all-time high this lunchtime, when 6 brave team members made their way to Carpe Diem to take part in the Mega Burger Challenge. Just to recap from an earlier post, the challenge requires each individual to polish off 4 quarter pound burgers, 4 rashers of bacon, 6 onion rings all in a giant garlic and herb focaccia bun accompanied by a large bowl of fries all in just 25 minutes.

Challenger number 1: Rich – Creative Director

Challenger number 2: Paul – Designer

Challenger number 3: Samara – PR Account Manager

Challenger number 4: Tom – Designer

Challenger number 5: Derrick – Digital Account Manager

Challenger number 6: Mike – Head of Marketing

Sure there was banter, a sweepstake and lots of excitement, but not one of the contenders, myself being one of them knew just what we were letting ourselves in for!

Just to put things into perspective, we had to give Carpe Diem a week’s notice to ensure there was enough meat to go around and they had to hire extra staff for the occasion! So, with our challenger table set, we prepared ourselves for the ultimate food challenge.

Ready, set… Go!

15 minutes later….

20 minutes….

Finally at 25 minutes…

It was a close call, with Mike just bites away from entering the wall of fame, but alas, the burger won! The results were…

1st – Mike ‘Sorry, I’m just in the middle of a burger challenge; I’ll have to call you back’

2nd – Rich ‘I might aswell just lick a cow’

3rd – Derrick ’I’ve got a meat migraine’

4th – Samara ‘It tastes like the ground’

5th – Paul ‘Can I order a few sides please?’

6th – Tom ‘I wonder if they do ice cream sundaes’

We all gave it our best shot, but unfortunately the defeat was in the meat!