iPad + Velcro from Jesse Rosten on Vimeo.

We’ve had some solid efforts in the past, ‘Football’s Coming Home’, ‘Three Lions’ and ‘World in Motion’ but maybe this year is THE year. Back in February, the FA confirmed that there will be no official World Cup anthem for England this time around so it’s left to the great British public to come up with their own ideas. So, what have we come up with to cheer our team on?

Here’s a selection:

Noble England
An element of star quality with this one as Rik Mayall has been drafted in to deliver a Henry V style call to arms, backed by a rousing chorus and some thoroughly unnecessary 3D computer graphics.

Take it all away
If you ever wondered what a football song would sound like if it was written in the style of an 80s action film training montage (e.g. The Karate Kid or Rocky), look no further…

We are Engerland
And here’s a more light-hearted effort from some local fans – they’re friends of Lucy’s, I’ll say nothing more than that…

So based on those efforts, maybe the 2014 World Cup in Brazil will be THE year…

All the major parties have manifestos describing their policies, values and beliefs available as both a printed document and downloadable from their websites as a pdf. But which ones are the most effective, from a graphic design point of view? With less than a week to go before the nation goes to the polls, here are some thoughts from the design studio here at Michon:

Conservatives

“I really like the style of the illustration but it doesn’t match the overall layout and type”

“Modern, clean graphics made charts and diagrams easy to understand”

“Too much information to wade through!”

“Appalling cover smacks of 1950’s school text book”

“All text seems to be set in bold, format is testing to read”

“Eye catching illustrations”

“Not very inspiring but looks like a document to be taken seriously”

Labour Party

“looks like a California Raisins ad on the cover”

“Is the most colourful”

“Nice illustration but does make me think it is WWII”

“Slightly better use of font and colour coding”

“Use of sans serif fonts clashes with serif font”

“Cover is modern and dated at the same time”

Liberal Democrats

“It’s quite understated but the colours are positive and it looks professional.”

“Modern feel with brighter colours and lighter font weight”

“Easy to read, much better use of bullet points and book/bold balance”

“Looks like a one man band as the vast majority of pics are of the leader”

“Some cheesy stock pictures are used”

“Design is a bit too light and airy and lacks gravitas, feels like a supermarket’s annual report”

Green Party

“Clean design and easy on the eye”

“the only one to break from the A4 format”

“No pictures or illus to break up the design – just text, text, text”

“Looks like the first or second draft with no budget”

“Very pretty”

“I hope they print on 100% recycled stock!”

UKIP

“cheap and cliche-riddled”

“design made me laugh”

“Fairly clean layout”

“Felt like I was reading through an insurance brochure from the 1980s”

“Oh my, looks like advert from Poundland / local village mag.”

So, some varied responses there to the diverse approaches taken by the major parties. Some faired better than others but it doesn’t look like any will be winning design awards this year!

Let’s see how the results reflect the materials that are out there for all to see.

Rich

Yves Behar of Fuseproject has spent the last 21 months designing a revolutionary new shoe box that eliminates 65% of the box, the tissue paper and the need for a carrier bag. This bag certainly earns its name as the “clever little bag” as it will reduce water, energy and diesel by 60%, on the manufacturing level alone.

On top of all that, when you finally want to throw it away it’s recyclable. Lets hope more manufacturers take note and start rethinking their waste.

Find out more here.

Interestingly, all 3 major parties are using Facebook, YouTube and Twitter alongside their main websites to help spread their message. But who is leading the way online?

We’ve had a look at each of the 3 major parties to see who is leading the way online. We’ve looked at each online element purely focussing on the number of followers, pagerank or views. There are no subjective assessments here, it’s all based on cold, hard numbers…

Conclusions

As a whole, the Conservatives are definitely leading the way with a more visible website and more Facebook and Twitter followers than their competition although they are led by Labour on YouTube. The Lib Dems are behind in all areas apart from outperforming Labour on Facebook.

Regardless of who is leading and who eventually wins the election, it is really interesting to see that all the major parties are embracing social media as a way to engage their audience and spread their message more directly. As we get closer to the election itself I can only anticipate that this activity will increase even further.

We’ll be watching closely.

Rich

Despite having never run 6 miles in his life, Leon did us all proud by running the 10k in an impressive 47 minutes and 47 seconds. In doing so he’s helped raise a huge £595 for The Eve Appeal. Nice one Leon!

Leon with running partner & brother-in-law Dan

He's off!

The fundraising page is still open, so if you want to donate, or see the current total then visit Just Giving. Leon would like to say a ‘big thanks’ to all those who’ve donated and supported him.

A big thank you to all our clients who recommended us!

Keep your eyes peeled for one of these planes next time you’re at the airport, or click here to find out more.