You are currently browsing the Engine Communications blog archives for June, 2011

What’s your Focus?

June 29, 2011 Art / photography
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Although technology seems to advance at a relentless pace, photography seems to be one of those mediums that (in my opinion) is resistant to change. I mean clearly digital photography is rapidly replacing film, but I think there will always be a place for it – just look at polaroid. There are effects that can be achieved with film and old film cameras that have so much character. That being said, digital has made everyone a photographer.

Now comes what could be the next step in the evolution of photography. These 2 photos are not 2 different shots with different settings  - they ARE the same photo. This is a new technology that allows you to adjust your focus after the photo has been taken.


“A company called Lytro has just launched with $50 million in funding and, unlike Color, the technology is pretty mind-blowing. It’s designing a camera that may be the next giant leap in the evolution of photography — a consumer camera that shoots photos that can be refocused at any time. Instead of capturing a single plane of light like traditional cameras do, Lytro’s light-field camera will use a special sensor to capture the color, intensity, and vector direction of the rays of light (data that’s lost with traditional cameras).”

See the rest of the article and more examples here.

What do you think? Is it as revolutionary as they claim?

Broken Design?

June 24, 2011 Uncategorized
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I came upon this design today at Looks Like Good Design.

At first it brought a grin to my face. Pretty clever packaging… Then as I thought about it – as cool as the aesthetic is, what would be involved in producing this?

Maybe that is the point. Maybe it is worth it to distress the cardboard and to add the tape, and to stick on the “broken” typography…

Ironically, perhaps it is the added care that has to go into creating the packaging that sets it apart. I like it, I just wonder if the expense justifies the concept. What do you think?

Listening to Your Competition

June 21, 2011 Advertising / ecommerce / Marketing / Technology
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Do you ever feel like everywhere you look, competitors are saying the exact same things in their advertising? There are merits to knowing what your competition is doing, in any industry it is crucial to know what is out there and make sure that you are offering a competitive product or service at competitive rates. What most people do not realize is that focusing too much on your competition can actually cripple your businesses and accomplish the opposite of what you are trying to do.

What happens all too often, especially in smaller cities, is that people have a tendency to copy. I’m not saying that they go out there with the intention of mimicking, but they become so focused on what others are doing that they forget to innovate.

I was reminded of this concept when I went to the store to compare tablets, the iPad 2, Blackberry Playbook and others. What became apparent the more I looked and researched was that Apple was focused on their business, on being the best they could be. While it seems everyone else is simply try to keep up with competition.

Makes me wonder, what could we accomplish if everyone stopped trying to be like everyone else, and just focused on being the best they could be. Now that gives you something to market!