Why I Love Apple (and Steve Jobs)

Apple has announced their latest smartphone offerings and they're going all colourful with the 'cheap' iPhone 5C, along with the iPhone 5S in classy colours gold, silver and graphite. Never has there been so much rumour and speculation for one company's products, there's even a site dedicated to it. You may have seen such buzz and anticipation before, but Apple have done something much bigger here. They clearly have fans that care. As a self-professed Apple fan-boy, I'm going to tell you what made me fall in love with thinking differently.

"I used to hate Apple."

I thought they were trying too hard to make their over-priced products look space-y and curvy, but then I came across an Apple event on YouTube. The legend that is Steve Jobs stood on stage and talked about technology in a way I had never heard before. Apple made it sound cool. They were making tech jokes (digs at Microsoft) and the audience were laughing and clapping along, I felt like I'd finally found my people. The words 'beautiful' and 'gorgeous' were tossed around a lot when talking about design, typography and user experience and me being a sucker for Steve's persuasive words, I caved in and converted to a Mac.

Steve

In the past few years I've always credited Steve Jobs as a massive inspiration in my life. He saw what we didn't know we needed in our lives and simplified things that were too complicated to use. His persistence of great design and making sure everything looks gorgeous and 'just works' channels how I've always thought about nearly everything myself. He also taught me how to question the norms and got me always thinking how I could do certain things differently.

Steve Jobs refused to wear his oxygen mask while sick because he did not like the way it was designed.

— UberFacts (@UberFacts) September 6, 2013

He was also a great marketer. I'm not sure whether he did come up with the 'Here's to the crazy ones' ad, or the 'Think Different' posters with John Lennon and Yoko Ono, or the iTunes silhouettes, but after reading his biography I've learnt how he certainly knew what stood out.

I'm a Mac

Worn silver paint, a dodgy screen, 4 replacement chargers - my ancient Acer laptop was a sorry mess. Luckily for me, my 18th birthday was right round the corner, and I was promised a shiny new laptop. I already knew that new MacBooks were being announced on that Tuesday evening where I sat with dinner on one side of my desk, and the Acer laptop on the other reading the live updates from the Apple event. I was a Mac before I even owned one myself.

When I first saw pictures of the new unibody aluminium MacBook I made my decision then and there. This is the one, no matter the cost. Although these words are over-used, it looked so simple yet elegant. Just like the iPhone did, their notebook design changed the way most notebooks look today and how they are made. I've definitely seen the unibody and glass trackpad on other notebook computers. After a couple of months of extra saving (birthday money isn't enough when it comes to Apple) I made the trip to the Apple store and after some excellent customer service and a frightening new bank balance I proudly returned home with my little boxed MacBook.

From using a cheap Acer laptop to this, I found the build quality amazing. The keyboard was crisp, the trackpad felt like magic and the MagSafe power cable made me instantly forget about all those replacement chargers. I was up and running in no time and though the change in operating systems took some getting used to, it all made sense very quickly.

I was soon wanting to extend my Apple experience. I bought an Apple remote which made my hi-fi a bit dusty until I found out how to connect its speakers to my MacBook. Then came the iPod Touch which is when I got the whole seamless integration thing. Wrapped under the Christmas tree, the Magic Mouse came next which really is magic and a thing of minimalist beauty. My latest addition is my white iPhone 5 which I bought purely because it looked nice and fitted in with the Apple eco-system.

One thing I've noticed is Apple's products retain a lot of value, so yes, they are quite pricey, but when you come to selling up you will probably get a decent amount of cash back.

The Future of Apple

How long will this value, hype and innovation last? Has Apple planted the seeds that will continue to grow for generations? Can they survive without Steve? Many worry that lack of innovation may be the beginning of the end. Now Steve is no longer the driver, doubt exists as to whether the heart is slowing down, but you shouldn't forget there's still a whole team of geniuses. I believe as long as they continue  their quality standards and their 'just works' feel, demand for their products will always be flying high.

For now, Apple is here to stay, but I would say that.



The Magic of Website Design

You’re walking down Market Street in the search for those new shoes. You want something fashionable, trendy, professional and the guarantee they’re not going to fall apart. You see a shop with the name ‘Magic Shoes’ in Comic Sans above the door, with cobwebs strewn across the cracked window and shelves stacked with dusty brown boxes. Realising you’re not a wizard on Diagon Alley, River Island’s glossy, quirky window display reveals itself to be the best option.

This same principle applies to websites. For most consumers, your site is probably the first point of contact with your brand, products and services, and just like walking down Market Street, first impressions really do count. Websites and their landing pages are a fantastic opportunity to tell your brand story, and we all love stories. If your website design doesn’t inspire your audience, they’re going to leave, quickly. But those fancy graphics don’t mean all is fine and dandy just yet.

Going back to my Diagon Alley shoe shop analogy, if you walked in and specifically wanted shoes for Quidditch, you would expect there to be a clearly marked area for Quidditch shoes and that you do not have to go through the Triwizard Tournament to get there. Make your site easy to navigate with clearly marked menus and do your best to ensure the viewer gets to the content they want with as few clicks as possible. I believe quality content is the way forward, so entice your viewers with content they just can’t ignore. Show you know your stuff with industry news, but remember it’s the small details that count. If content is boring, plagued with spelling and grammar errors, it isn’t going to paint a great picture of your brand. I often come across agency websites that still use the old Twitter logo, unaware that one of the world’s biggest social networks actually underwent a rebrand quite some time ago. It makes me question whether they pay attention to small details like this for their clients.

On the subject of social media, consumers are much more expectant of further brand engagement, so don’t obscure the fact that you talk to your customers on Twitter and Facebook by hiding the buttons at the bottom. Stick in a little Twitter feed or show how many of their Facebook friends have already liked your page.

Recent research suggests that mobile adoption is at an all time high, growing at rates faster than the adoption of PCs, the internet and social media. That leaves no doubt that your website should be adapted so it still looks pretty and usable on mobile devices like tablets and smartphones.

Now you’ve impressed your viewer with some marvellous, magical content, it’s important to let your potential customer know what to do next. Would they be interested in signing up to your newsletter? You could refer them to your infographics, or they might just want to cut straight to the chase and contact you (score!). Make these calls-to-action standout and be creative.

To be one of the greats, you have to learn from the greatness already out there, just like Harry did with Dumbledore. Have a browse round your favourite sites and jot down what you like about them. Here are a few that I particularly like:

Design Taxi

Design Taxi oozes simplicity yet I end up exploring its content for hours. Of course not everyone’s interested in weird creative things, but for those who are, this site does not disappoint. The never-ending scrolling means that just when you thought you’ve read all the articles that could possibly interest you, you get another stream of catchy headlines and pictures of cool things. With it being so easy to share (much to my Twitter followers’ dismay) Design Taxi has garnered over 300,000 followers, and some good discussion with Facebook comments on nearly every article. Now that’s how you do it.

Pull & Bear

Another very simple yet effective design from fashion retailer Pull & Bear. I love big images, which are even more important for fashion retailers, and this site has plenty of them, and they make me want to buy clothes. The filter lets you get down to specifics, their lookbooks are nice and they even have a section dedicated to everything social, ensuring their audience engages with more than just the product.

Parallax pages: Life of Pi Movie

Parallax pages are popping out left right and center. They definitely tick the ‘visually engaging’ box and are a great way to tell a story. They're even better if you have an Apple Magic Mouse. But anyway, the guys behind the movie Life of Pi made a parallax scrolling page to tell their story about how they made the film. Done right, you can get a very impressive visual page and you’ll look ahead of the times to your audience.

Talking of your story, this ‘About Us’ page from 1minus1 is a great example of how you can introduce your team to make things that little more personal.

I’ve also come across some examples of terrible web design, most of which so bad I have forgotten all about them, but here are a couple I came across today:

Too little or too much

The uninspiring TurkishMedia.net is an awful design that offers a host of links to some other awful websites and links are often broken. LingsCars on the other hand almost gave me a headache. It’s apparently become his ‘thing’ to have such an atrocious design that it’s actually quite clever and provides us with some great lessons: visitors don’t want random music to start playing that they didn’t ask for, or can be put off by too many graphics, fonts, colours… visit yourself and I needn’t say more.

It’s clear websites have come a long way. To get your shop window noticed, it should reflect what’s in the shop. It should be creative, eye-catching and target who you want to come in. Things get a little different online; you don’t get Harry and Hermoine walking past – you have to make them aware you exist, which is where your online marketing strategy comes into play. Although there’s now lots to think about, it’s a brilliant opportunity to just have some fun with creativity and the many types of content to work some magic on your brand’s online home.

Originally posted on ContentPlus during my internship

My Social Media Experience, featuring author Mark Edwards

It took me a while to figure out the true impact of social media. The moment came when I finished a book on my Kindle and was given the option to tweet that I'd finished it, when I was tweeted by the author just to say thanks. As I've always believed, it's the small things that count. That simple tweet made me look for other books by the same author and made me much more likely to look out for and buy his future releases.

Forums and reviews have been impacting on business for a long time. I've always relied on reviews by 'other people' and they obviously have an effect on sales. The infographic below confirms my thoughts and shows how much the customer still relies on word of mouth. It wasn't until Facebook and Twitter came along when things really started to change. Businesses started cropping up in news feeds and timelines, communicating with their audience like never before. NewsReach recently published a white paper about how social media has developed for businesses and how it is important throughout the customer journey.

To delve deeper I'm going to take you back to my own experience with author Mark Edwards. Simply learning more about him as a person made my buying choice easier when it came to deciding what book I should buy next and he was always kept in mind when friends and family were looking for a book. I kindly asked Mark Edwards to say a few words on his use of social media.

Mark describes how his use of Twitter has helped with networking and making friends and contacts: "...as well as being a fun place to hang out, Twitter is best for networking - with other writers, bloggers, people in the publishing industry. This has led to making loads of really good friends and contacts. Now, at any gathering of crime writers, you will find loads of people who have chatted at length on Twitter meeting for the first time but feeling like we really know each other". 

Mark also points out the importance of tweeting the right stuff: "The worst thing you can do on Twitter is endlessly tweet links to your books.We do it a bit, to let people know when new stuff is out, or if a special offer is on. We also retweet praise and good reviews because we can't help it! Increasingly, Twitter is a good place to meet readers too and chat with them. If someone mentions one of our books in a positive way, we always respond. And we chat regularly with our readers on Twitter".

Of course, there are instances where online communications can do plenty of harm. I unfollowed earthquake-predictor Labrinth because there were many a time he tweeted iTunes links to his album. The social killing of book 'Untouchable: The Strange Life and Tragic Death of Michael Jackson" is a widely reported case. An apparent attempt to cash in on the life of Michael Jackson with ridiculous 'facts', a group of fans set up Facebook and Twitter campaigns and bombarded Amazon with negative ratings and reviews and naturally, it worked. Additionally, 'trolls' are not unheard of anymore with plenty of Twitter users directing abuse to famous users like Matt Lucas and Tom Daley.

There's a lot of advice telling businesses to use social media but if constant posting of links is bad, what are we meant to do? Going back to Mark's story, he explains how Facebook is used to engage with fans and how they are making their way into books - "We have a small but loyal following and we announce news on here, ask for feedback and run loads of competitions. Lots of our Facebook 'fans' have their names in our books and we are always giving away signed books. We give away early review copies and try to get our fans to act as cheerleaders for our work." As Mark proves, it is perfectly possible for businesses to find creative ways of using these great new communication channels to fully engage with their consumer.

I'm afraid that social media will become too technical or impersonal, plagued with advertisements. It's important we don't lose sight of the core values of social media like how Mark has reached out to his fans like me. It should remain personal to each user and most importantly, sociable.

With thanks to Mark Edwards for his comments. You can find all of Mark's releases here.

My Work Experience

After graduation, months of applications and rejections flew by leaving me with one word, experience. So after returning from the adventures in India feeling more fresh and determined than ever, I jumped into a digital marketing work experience placement at nursery furniture brand Izziwotnot.

Although it was an unpaid role it didn't just land in my lap, I had to do the whole formal interview thing too (which obviously went really well). Unlike the two weeks work experience you have at high school, this involved real responsibilities for a longer period of time. I awoke on the first day really excited but really nervous. We started with an introduction meeting explaining what we aim to cover which got me even more excited and less nervous as I became more comfortable with the staff and the new environment. After being shown around the building and already forgetting a ton of names of fellow staff members, I was shown my desk and my first task, working on Google Analytics. The task was to pull off figures for view counts, traffic sources and keywords and put them into a spreadsheet report for further analysis. Although this task sounds simple, it really gave me a feel for the company's online presence and their market. I also learnt what terms like 'bounce rate' meant and received exposure to pay-per-click campaigns, how much this business spends and what campaigns or products they use it for.

Within the next few weeks I was converting guides to an online form and ensuring they were adjusted for search engine optimisation purposes. I even sat in a meeting with potential future web developers for the new websites which was a unique insight in to how businesses use their sites and different techniques to produce sales. After all the current guides were online and optimised, I set about creating my own, 'Choosing A Mattress', that was part of the 'bed month' campaign. This involved working on the Adobe Creative Suite software to modify photos and put the guide together with my written copy in a similar format to the current guides. Writing in the brand's tone was something I'd never done before but was certainly fun and easy to catch on with.

It was also around the time when there's the big baby exhibition show in Harrogate where many businesses can showcase their new products and ranges. As well as some new furniture and bedding, Izziwotnot wanted to test the waters for a couple of new colours for their popular Skyline furniture. This was done through a 'back-to-basics' technique, mood-boards, which I produced. This was a chance to get creative, arty and sticky. The mood-board was a collection of pictures and photos that represent the themes and messages of the range. Due to my knowledge of the web I instantly knew where to look, Tumblr. I came across a lot of pictures that represented the 'bubblegum' or 'popcorn' vintage pink we were aiming for and whittled it down to a few that fit but also contrasted well together. I added some of the new ranges to the sites with some inventive product descriptions.

The Beach Blue mood-board (unfinished)

The bubblegum/popcorn Pink moon-board (unfinished) 

I then found myself halfway through the three month experience. We had another meeting and looked at what we've done so far and was asked what I'd like to do in the next few weeks. I stated that I would love to get more involved with the social media side of things, which were currently being handled by another volunteer. I found what was currently being posted rather boring and generic and most of the time contained spelling and grammatical errors.

Here's what I would liked to have done with the social media accounts:

• Increase likes: There were below 700 likes on Facebook and feel there was a lot of room for improvement here for the Facebook posts to have any impact on the business. I got the feeling many of these likes were picked up a while ago from people who may have abandoned their Facebook account, or have simply got all their baby products and/or no longer need any more. This could have been done by making their customers aware of the Facebook page, handing out cards inside the packaging of products, integrating the social networks more in their sites and releasing exclusive competitions/offers on Facebook and promoting them through paid Facebook ads.
• Infographic - This could have coincided with the 'bed month' campaign, so it could have been about safety statistics or what to look out for when choosing a bed. Infographics are very shareable and thus would get Izziwotnot's name out there.
• Paint a picture of the brand: When I first seen their website and logo, I got a really classical, vintage feel and think the brand could have played with this theme.
• Human to human - The whole point of social media is for it to be social. The brand's target market is clearly mums or mums-to-be so posts that engage this audience should be influenced by things the audience can relate to and not necessarily be about sales all the time. 
• Tweets - Separate posts on Twitter instead of re-posts of the ones on Facebook. Conduct searches to find their audience and talk to them, suggest links to the guides, ask if they're having any difficulty choosing the right furniture, retweet them, give mums a reason to follow this account.
• Instagram and Pinterest - They had a lot of pretty photos that would be perfect to paint a picture of their brand on Instagram. This could have been utilised a lot more.

Sadly I never got to see these ideas through for various reasons. I also asked to have a go at running pay-per-click campaigns due to my increasing interest in paid search advertising, however, the company as a whole were rather busy post-Harrogate shows and due to being a startup, have limited budgets. I have since researched how to conduct PPC campaigns and am hoping to gain a Google Adwords certification to prove I have the grounding to possibly take this further.

In the last few weeks I was taught how to compile offers and deals. I looked over our competitors and their pricing and offers, then worked out what we could afford to discount without going below certain profit margins. For my first offer, we were influenced by a competitor's offer of giving away a free hanging rail with a furniture set. The hanging rail was rather cheap to produce but retailed for much more so it made commercial sense. We created the voucher code for the retail site and distributed it along with other offers to our affiliates.

After just a couple of months I became accustomed to the products, and began to look out for potential opportunities that might be of benefit. On my morning read of the news, I came across an article on the Daily Mail (don't judge) about Kate Middleton buying a moses basket for her future baby, so I posted the article to the Facebook page and suggested taking a look at our own moses basket which offered more and at a cheaper price.

To mark the end of the work experience, we had a final meeting where I was offered a part-time job with the hope to mould my role into a full-time position, however this never materialised due to a review of their finances. So, that was the end of my first proper experience in a real business. Even though it didn't quite have the ending we hoped for, I feel like I've learnt a lot throughout the experience that should be very helpful for my future. There were some boring times (as with most jobs) but most importantly I've experienced doing what I love for business purposes for the first time.

A poster explaining my final year project (dissertation) from my undergrad degree

Only in India

19 hours of travelling, countless car horns, mosquito bites, cousins, a 3-day wedding, prayers at 5am, a disco on the street, smuggling alcohol in the car bonnet, popped tyres in the middle of nowhere, this may sound a bit crazy to the average Brit, but this is perfectly normal in India.

After 8 years of not seeing half of my family it was time to make the 19 hour journey over to India. We chose to fly with Etihad Airways who were quite good, the plane was comfortable and provided enough entertainment, and their home airport in Abu Dhabi is very swank. After queueing to have our bags checked pointlessly yet again by the staff at Mumbai airport we were reunited with our uncle and cousin who drove us back to our home for the next month, 6 hours away in Navsari, Gujurat.

It's hard to explain the impact of the culture shock you get after leaving the airport. The way everyone drives is at most times crazy, the roads aren't the smoothest and everyone's sense of each other relies on continuos use of the car horn, so it can get quite noisy. After 13 hours flying I still struggled to sleep in the car, not being able to take my eye off the traffic and regretting sitting on a seat that had no belt.

If you like Indian food, it's no secret that India won't let you down. We got to try a lot of different fruit and vegetables that we'd never come across before, as well as some dishes that although were hot on the tongue, had an extra punch. After a couple of weeks I did start to miss a good burger but the new Domino's Pizza helped!

Fruit market

We were also lucky enough to be there to attend a cousins wedding. Indian weddings involve a lot of traditions and rituals and sometimes stretch over a week. Our cousins wedding lasted 3 days, which involved a 5am prayer and a disco in the street the night before the actual big day. There is a lot of waiting around and the food can be quite repetitive but parts of it are fun to watch and participate in and for us it was a first time.

Another thing I found hard to ignore was how 'in-your-face' religion was. I got the impression religion is taken very seriously by most people. Some take it too far that it actually restrains them from living a fun life, but it brings out the good in some. They don't have much else to turn to when their work is simple compared to the Western world. Where we may use our time to go shopping in town or playing with our smartphones, they may be at the temple.

Religion always lingering in the background

Perhaps the most frustrating thing was the government. There's many people suffering and hardly any help exists from the government of a country whose economy seems to be booming. For example, just to bring some alcohol home from a trip to Mount Abu, some had to be hidden under the bonnet of the car, as alcohol is banned in the state where our family lives. As we crossed the border the car was given a full search including all our luggage in the boot. We were caught out and threatened to be taken to court over one can of Fosters. After a little negotiation we were fined a few thousand rupees, but the most laughable thing was that they gave the alcohol back.

It's very difficult to summarise my experience and knowledge in one blog post, but it just shows how important it is to experience other cultures and know there is a whole world out there to be discovered. It's also easy to ignore poverty when you don't stare it in the face everyday. Living in the Western world it's easy to forget about the rest of the world as we get caught up in our busy lives. 

Despite the frustrations and the lack of a decent burger, it was all worth it for the eye-opening experience that can only be found in India. 

A Light Year

Back in my high school years I wrote this short children's story for my english 'creative writing' coursework. I don't think there was anyone who had been brave enough to try a children's story but after an inspiring little motorway journey where I wondered what the lampposts must think of us if they were alive, I took the risk and managed to get an A* for my work. I'm still proud of it to this day, here it is...

A Light Year

By Rishi Patel

6pm. Shine time. As I brighten up I hope to see a different scene, but as usual I scan the same old plain bland grey figures, each having white chunks neatly sprawled across them. I yawn as I turn side to side. When the noisy metal boxes stop going past, I sometimes wonder whether the white signs are for the other animals outside in space. I wouldn’t want them to come here, they might bring the big round yellow blob with them. We would never have shine time again!

I turn around to see if Linkey had lit up. Whenever I’m down he’s always by my side. We’ve wondered about many things, like how do the metal boxes move? What are the white signs for? And most importantly, what is the meaning of light?

So here I am. In the same scenery I’ve been in for what seems like light-years. The days take so long, minutes turn to hours, but yet I am still here, with not a care in the world. As I’m illuminating a sudden shock reaches my circulation system. I could feel the electricity pumping around my leg. Linkey wasn’t lit up. I could hear the silence, and the feel of electricity turned into taste as I started to sparkle. The stiffness of the air was all I could see. I panicked, I flickered, but there was nothing I could do, for the first time in a light-year Linkey wasn’t shining!

I’ve heard the stories, about how one got shattered to pieces, chucked in a hefty metal box, and was soon replaced. That’s another thing I’ve been imagining when Linkey’s asleep, dread slips into my thoughts as I wonder what light would be like if I had an outshining neighbour.

Now I had to play the waiting game, waiting to see if he shines half way through the day, there’s so much I need to tell him. Waiting to discuss the white signs, and the grey lines. The waiting turned from an event to an eternity. Then the afright that encircles around my mind oozes out of my eyes as the familiar red metal box, bigger than the ordinary ones, parked up. The agressive animal looking feverish and irate began to climb up Linkey’s long leg. I felt anger. Rage. Why does it have to do this? I couldn’t watch, I couldn’t witness the dismantlement of my own friend.

I couldn’t hear much, apart from the odd devious metal box that went past, departing with a ghast of wind which shook me to the left. There was one night, when I heard a soft voice stressing about the world being too hot because of metal boxes. Since then, whenever one of them goes past I feel a distance from them, like they are horrible evil monsters.

Then some other light shone, flourescently beaming more than any of us. Oh no! Shine time was over! But why wasn’t I getting to sleep? I turned to see if the animal in the light yellow coat had gone, but it had started climbing down. I flickered twice and realised - Linkey was alight!

“You’re a bit late Linkey! Shine time was 6pm today!” My thoughts were repeatedly running around my circuit, Linkey was alive, but the animal hadn’t dismantled him. I suddenly felt for the much smaller animal as I noticed it struggling down Linkey’s leg. But even though it was small it still climbed to save another. I tried to smile to it but it couldn’t notice me. As it drove away in it’s red metal box, I turned to Linkey to wonder about the metal boxes, the white signs, but most importantly the meaning of light.

As Big Ben strikes 6am the two lamp-posts begin to dim, and prepare for another street-light day. Like a sudden click, Linkey and company flicker off.