‘See What You Mean’

Actors are great at this. But what about the rest of us?

Our day job at SWYM is using Rich Pictures to tell stories in a more memorable and compelling way. So I wondered if we could adapt our visual approach to help learn a speech. Many great memorisers talk of using ‘visual systems’. Mnemonics uses a memorable phrase to prompt first letters. For example ‘Richard of York gave battle in vain’ – red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet – the colours of the spectrum. Seems Newton shared our own penchant for the cerise end of the spectrum. Would a mental image help fix the structure and content of a speech in the mind?

Try it. I’ve taken Martin Luther King’s famous final speech, ‘the Promised Land’, recorded the day before he was murdered. There’s a 60 second video here. It reveals this infographic in time to the original recording. And the full typescript is below.

Watch it a couple of times. You’ll see the structure and repetition of themes – ‘I, me’ and ‘the mountain’. Note the nuances in the script. Then try reciting it with just the infographic infront of you.

I’d love to know what you think. Does it help? Do you think you can learn it more easily?

‘The promised land’
We've got some difficult days ahead.
But it doesn't matter with me now.
Because I've been to the mountaintop.
And I don't mind.
Like anybody, I would like to live a long life. Longevity has its place. But I'm not concerned about that now.
I just want to do God's will.
And He's allowed me to go up to the mountain.
And I've looked over. And I've seen the promised land.
I may not get there with you.
But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people, will get to the promised land.
Martin Luther King, April 3rd 1968.

Discovering more and more B2B potential for the iPad ‘See what you mean’ are developing bespoke presentations on the platform.

Great for impromptu meetings, in receptions, at conferences, travelling... ‘on’ in an instant – and looks so cool. Like to know more, drop us an email info@seewhatyoumean.co.uk

Fresh from Microsoft Research comes Street Slide. In Addition to the panoramic 'bubbles' we're familiar with, Street Slide offers a 'step back', almost curb side view.

Skim along a flat panorama of an entire street like looking out the window of a car. Scanning buidling facias and locating destinations is made easy. Blows the annoying zoom along hot spots in Google street view out the water, the U turn flip is also a cool touch. Seems to be a logo fest for advertising, but definitely check out the video.

‘See what you mean’ has a problem, great B2B iPad content -
no way to deliver it internally!

The problem
1. Only 2 levels for commercial development - Standard & Enterprise
2. Standard - distribute through public App store or install 1 device at a time (up to 99)
3. Enterprise - ability to create apps to be distributed on an internal App stores but you need to be 500+ employees to join to program.

So as you can see there's a real barrier here for smaller teams of developers. We can't use the public app store, our clients content is way to sensitive and for a controlled audience. and there's no way we can install adhoc 1 device at a time... We can't expect our clients to sign up for enterprise and administer it on our behalf, some just aren’t large enough. We need to think about an alternative solution and fast. There are third party App stores out there (mostly for Enterprise Apps), but could we guarantee safety and security? Probably not...

The possibilities
1. A downloader App - Pros: Works like an App store, displays authorised content per user login. Cons: Getting any downloading app through the App store will face tough scrutiny by Apple
2. Web Apps - Pros: HTML/Java based, no App store requirement, shortcuts saved to home screen. Cons: requires 3G/wifi www connection to download content, no caching on i-devices.
3. Partner with Education - Sign up for a University Program... possibly percieved as not v. professional?

I’m sure we’ll get there, any thoughts welcome, we'll keep you posted
of our progress.

Thursday 24th saw the start of the annual D&AD New blood, so ‘See what you mean’ hopped on a train and went to London for a few days. The D&AD showcases the best final year graduates, this year it was housed in the Old Truman Brewery. Always inspiring to see the latest work from students, and this year was no different.

We also went to see the Magnificent Maps exhibition in the British Library. There is plenty to keep cartography fans interested and many of the maps have excellent illustrative elements. Read more about the exhibition on the British library site.
On then to the Saatchi gallery, the gallery houses an impressive collection of contemporary art work from largely unseen young artists or international artists whose work has not been exhibited in the UK. A fantastic space and worth a visit if you have never been.
After the art we went to the sobering Imperial War Museum which is home to an impressive collection of war memorabilia.
We finished the day off by joining the monthly Critical Mass cycle as they stopped to party in the street. Fixies everywhere!

A very inspiring trip, lots to take in and digest. Of course we all had a cameras/iphones, see what pics we took and find some inspiration too.

‘See what you mean’ thought we'd test out a few different stylus options, not just throw money at the problem, there had to be stuff just lying around that would do the trick, you know recycle. Pez came top of the list with a banana in hot pursuit. Let us know what works for you, remember it must conduct electricity and earth through you...

‘See what you mean’ have been playing with it for 2 days, its nice...

• Browsing - great in both orientations with fast pinch scaling and great readability, really feels like a new way to surf. Integrated HD Quicktime video is stunning. Shame no flash but let’s not go there...

• Apps glance - Keynote - we built a fully functional presentation that looked great on the 10" screen and is up and running quicker than you could get your laptop out of it skin. Wired - graphics are stunning, don't miss a paper copy. FT - lovely looking broadsheet style app, nice infographics (free for 2 months). Would love to see the likes of Cool Iris, Prezi come on-board but I'm starting on the whole flash thing again. Tweetdeck - nice, full screen handy columns.

Fast applications, intuitive functionality and importantly secure surfing. They mocked, called it a '£600 browser', the reality - we think it’s a brave step into the future. As long as you remember that it’s a mobile device not a laptop, you'll begin to appreciate it for what it is and the potential it has.

As far as b2b, it definitely has its place, we think it could help change the way our clients present. Mix the fast setup time (always being ready for that chance meeting), with crisp graphics & simple interactivity and you've an instant presenting platform. We've plans to develop for this device so we'll keep you posted. If you fancy a quick demo call in or drop us an email.

Note: It doesn't come with a case, headphones, cleaning cloth or even a calculator app! C’mon Apple... We bought the Apple case and although it was a bit pricey at £30 the fold out flap stand is really helpful.

‘See what you mean’ have been enjoying the latest in a series of infographics from iA (information architects). Cosmic 140 charts the 140 most influential people on twitter, sorted by #name #handle #category #influence #activity. Plus: When they started tweeting and what they first said. Time axis (centre out) and use of catergories is a nice touch. Interesting insight article on designing for the iPad, check them out...