Archive for Dean Donaldson

Print is up the creek, without an iPad-dle

Posted by Dean Donaldson on January 27th, 2010 at 12:00 am

Forget the Cupertino keynote, if you have missed GQ's Men of the Year in the Christmas rush, then I recommend everyone download Condé Nast's new GQ January 2010 app for the iPhone. Why? Because it's a great example of the future of interactive design.
I've said it before and I will say it again; the future for magazines is not in creating browser-based web pages. We're hopefully past the days of newsletters formatted in MS Word, or experiencing websites with terrible typography, microscopic little pictures and business-card sized videos, not to mention, those tiny little ads embarrassingly hidden in the corners, jumping up and down saying 'click me, click me!' It's all more annoying than the donkey in Shrek.
Despite the amazing advances in functionality on the Internet over the last few years, design in digital channels is a long way from the offline aesthetic renaissance spurred on by desktop design programs like Quark Xpress. One only needs to browse a newsstand and marvel at the freedom of design, where bold, beautiful, creative typography are sensually entwined with stunning imagery. Even the Wall Street Journal runs color photos now! In contrast, type in the URLs of these same... Read more

Warning: Cannes can make your head hurt

Posted by Dean Donaldson on June 25th, 2009 at 12:00 am

Cannes is still in full swing for some, but I have bailed out. Perhaps it's an age thing, but I simply can't keep the pace with the plethora of Young Lions who have descended upon Cannes this year. Parties aside, is our industry getting younger, or am I just getting older? Maybe both? And that's to say nothing of my memory – I have decided Twitter is my new online notebook. So reading back over my notes, let me summarize my own key take-away's from Cannes 2009 for you:  
The 10,000 foot view of Cannes shows there is a complete blur across the entire media landscape. Digital has well and truly begun to permeate everything. It throws questions on the various categories when Cumminsnitro from Brisbane's 'Tourism Queensland' campaign– The Best Job in the World – takes the Grand Prix sweep stake for Direct, PR & Cyber awards. Where does one discipline end and another begin? Go Viral's Chairman, Jimmy Maymann may well have made the case early on when he suggested the 'median age for TV users are actually now 13 years higher than the general population.' Nigel Morris, CEO, Aegis could not have put it more succinctly when... Read more