This morning while working on a design I went to grab some ‘dummy text’ also known in our industry as Lorem Ipsum from our trusted friends www.lipsum.com. Lorem Ipsum is described on their site as ‘…simply dummy text of the printing and typesetting industry. Lorem Ipsum has been the industry’s standard dummy text ever since the 1500s, when an unknown printer took a galley of type and scrambled it to make a type specimen book.’

We use “Lorem ipsum” text in our designs as a placeholder – as a replacement for readable content. It’s written in a similar way to English, in terms of the length of words and sentences – and in a way, it mimics the way real English text looks. This way, clients can pay attention to the design to begin without being distracted by repetitive sentences or meaningful text. From this we can give clients the correct word counts to stick to. They can then follow the word count guides and provide “real” copy after.

Anyway, getting off track a little…

So usually I go and copy my paragraphs of random text (aka. Lorem Ipsum) from the site and I paste it into my design and all works just fine! However, this morning when following the usual procedure I was surprised to find that my usual lorem ipsum paragraphs were missing and had been replaced by this ‘Do your layouts deserve better than Lorem Ipsum? Apply as an art director and team up with the best copywriters at Jung von Matt: www.jvm.com/jobs/lipsum.’!

WHAT?! What is this? And where is my Lorem Ipsum?

After copying and pasting a few times with a very confused look on my face I finally decided to Google ‘Jung von Matt’ (I try not to click on sneaky hidden links, I did it once and my Twitter account was hacked and so I have learnt my lesson). Jung von Matt is an advertising agency from Stockholm who appear to have won many awards and are very well recognised in the world of design and marketing.

So why is Jung von Matt on the lipsum.com website?

Well that part I can’t answer, but the funny part about all this is that the symbol for Jung von Matt is that of a Trojan Horse! You know, that huge wooden horse that allowed the Greeks to enter the city of Troy during the Trojan War. Now that was one sneaky way to get into the City of Troy. According to Wikipedia these days a Trojan Horse has “Metaphorically come to mean any trick or stratagem that causes a target to invite a foe into a securely protected bastion or space. It is also associated with “malware” computer programs presented as useful or harmless to induce the user to install and run them.”

That may explain my hesitation when it came to clicking the Jung von Matt link. But this doesn’t appear to be a nasty Trojan Horse, this is a pretty darn cool one – irritating as it may be that it took me a while to figure out how to get my beloved Lorem Ipsum off the lipsum.com site I still can see the kinda cool, kinda humorous side of this.

Friend or Foe?

Jung von Matt say that “Communication should be a gift like a Trojan Horse!”. I have tried to see if this was a hack or if lipsum.com allowed this but can’t find anything on the web about it yet.. (I’m sure it’s coming). And does Jung von Matt even know about this?? But whether they do or don’t all I know is that Jung von Matt snuck onto my screen today in their own little Trojan Horse and I love them. They are cool, sneaky (dependent on whether they know about this or not), edgy and I think their media work is inspiring and a gift to the world of marketing. I could however suggest a few website tweaks they could make…

You sneaky Trojan Horse you!!

PS. This does not mean I approve of hacking and I hope Mr Lipsum.com allowed this to be done to his website.

So I thought I would collect together for you my personal favourites (you will love them! Trust me!), to make sure that you don’t miss out on the wonder and joy of watching them! Have a look and let me know what you think! They all have music too as a bonus!

Mystery Guitar Man – Guitar: stop motion music short

Let me just say that all the Mystery Guitar Man videos are pure genius. But you have to start somewhere, and this is the video that got me hooked onto him. Over 1000 cuts. 6 hours of guitar tabbing. It’s an amazing example of genius editing.

Mike Tompkins A Cappella Cover of Adele’s Rolling In The Deep

Mike Tompkins is lovely and talented too – this cover of Adele’s Rolling in the Deep is so great it inspired me to write this blog post. Check it out.

JK Wedding Entrance Dance

Another one where I am amazed if anyone hasn’t seen it. It makes me laugh and brings tears to my eyes when the bride and group come out. You must have seen this – but in case you haven’t here you go!

Barenaked Ladies – Bedside Manor (The Bathroom Sessions)

I am a huge fan of the Barenaked Ladies and this is part of a collection of videos where Steve and Ed sing and play guitar together, using bathroom acoustics.

Jorge and Alexa Narvaez sing “Home” (original song by Edward Sharpe and The Magnetic Zeros)

When I first saw this video, I didnt know who Edward Sharpe and The Magnetic Zeros were, but I loved this – and then researched the original performers of the song. This father daughter duo have gone on to be big stars (they went onto the Ellen Show and and are are now in a Hyundai Ad.

The Ultimate Yogi – 108 Day programme with Travis Eliot – “Yoga Sequences”

My brother was involved in creating this 108 day yoga programme with the fantastic yoga teacher Travis Eliot. I love this video – the music, the way it’s shot, it’s amazing. Have a look!

So, what do you think? Which of these is your favourite? Are there any you already knew about? Would love to hear your comments and your recommmendations for other “must see” videos!

This year I set myself the challenge of of writing a blog post everyday this month. The posts are inspired by the “12 Days of Christmas” rhyme and have opened my eyes to all things Christmassy!

I chose to blog about different designers festive gifts from “brooches” to biscuits, cards to Christmas wraps, and along the way made a few new friends too!

Here are a selection of some of the lovely treats I found on my journey:

Jeff Jospahine Designs

Kate Slater Illustration

Fréya Art

Tina Webster Illustration

Buscuiteers

Have a gander at my 22 festive blog posts so far and keep your eyes peeled for 2 more!

I recently came across via Twitter (a tweet from Rob Harrison @ThinkingFox – thanks Rob!) this amazing video by Mike Tomkins. He uses his voice and mouth to make sounds for music and has covered Adele’s “Rolling in the Deep” – all acapella style. This video builds up and up and just gets better and better as it goes. It’s a great song anyway but he has done such a brilliant job I was inspired to blog about it.

Take a few moments to immerse yourself in the happy enjoyment of watching this video – and then read on below for my business thoughts.

It’s an absolutely brilliant video and below I have extracted my thoughts of why you need to look at Mike and take inspiration from him.

There is always room for more talent on the internet

If anyone has ever been thinking to themselves – “I don’t need to be doing that, there are already loads of people doing the same thing online” – think again. Every one can add their own personal spin on what is out there. I already class Mystery Guitar Man as one of my favourite internet stars but I think Mike Tompkins is RIGHT UP THERE – and to be honest I only just heard about him yesterday.

Keep improving and adding variety

I am sure Mike will agree this is like a MASTERPIECE even though ALL his stuff is great – I like the way he worked new typographical style into his signs, his backdrop lighting, the different outfits, the dancing it’s an amazing production and the hard work has paid off.

Use Social Media

If you look at the links below and check out Mike’s Tweet Stream you will see that he is doing his part to let the world know his stuff is out there. I always say – marketing is worth putting the time into – it pays off! And you can see he has mentioned Adele with her original Twitter name, and

Let people discover more of you

It would be wasteful to put just ONE YouTube video up there and that’s it. Mike has been building his collection of videos now for a year and a half and from looking at this one I then watched some more of his stuff and was equally impressed – check out the below and see what you discover!

Check out Mike’s Links:

http://www.youtube.com/user/pbpproductions
http://www.facebook.com/MikeTompkinsMusic
http://twitter.com/#!/mike_tompkins

Below are some examples:

Cakehole London

Cakehole London - British royal cake to celebrate Kate and Will's wedding

Cakehole London - British royal cake to celebrate Kate and Will's wedding

We asked Lara to tell us a bit more about it – she said:

“With this cake, I wanted to create a fun, over the top, quintessentially British royal wedding street party look about the design, that would incorporate the public as well as the royal couple themselves. So the sponge used is the most famous, and royal, of English cakes, the Victoria sponge with lots of strawberry jam, and the design itself uses a whole range of motifs – the union jack, House of Windsor roses, diamante strings and brooches, and teapots of course – as the cake would ideally be for a street party! Blue and white polka dots lining the cake board I thought would be nice, referencing Kate Middleton’s classic sense of style.”

Kate and William cupcakes from Cakehole

Cherry Blossom

We recently discovered the Cherry Blossom Bakery via a Twitter introduction – another innovated example of creativity mixed with royal nuptual celebration!

Charlotte Sleight who owns and runs The Cherry Blossom Bakery.

“Cupcakes are ideal if you’re having a Royal Wedding party – choosing lots of different, exciting flavours make them a real winner, especially with children! For this design, the icing cushion makes a perfect base for the classic jewelled crowns – very regal! With the cake, I wanted to make a bold, British statement. The hand-piped Union Jack is simple, yet striking, designed to make a patriotic centrepiece for the centre of any party table. One customer suggested that all the individual dots could represent individuals in our community coming together to celebrate the Royal Wedding; Not my original intention but a lovely thought!”

Cherry Blossom cupcakes

Cherry Blossom Royal Wedding cake

Giant Royal Wedding Card

You may or may not have heard about this – it’s a giant card that you can sign – via Facebook – to thank Kate and Will for giving us all an extra day off. You can check out their Facebook page (you need to be logged into Facebook to see the page) – be sure to like them -and see more about this there. Below is a picture, taken out of a window by a friend of ours, Regina, of the ACTUAL CARD. What a scoop!

Giant Royal Wedding Card

Pez Dispensors on Ebay

These limited edition Pez dispensors are on auction on Ebay – the proceeds are to be donated to the Starlight Children’s Foundation.

Royal Wedding - William and Catherine Pez Dispensers

Knit your own Royal Wedding

This is a book I spotted at Selfridges which really impressed me. The time it must have taken to put together is MUCH longer than baking cakes (sorry cake makers!). I felt it totally deserves a mention!

Lego Land Royal Wedding

Another example of resourcefulness – the guys at Legoland have taken it upon themselves to build a Royal Wedding tribute for the big day at the end of April. It’s quite amazing and you can read about it here on this article – Legoland downsizes Kate Middleton and Prince William’s big day

Lego Land Royal Wedding - click for more images

Post Pop Art

Here is a picture of the royal couple made out of many many stamps. You can’t really get more British than that. It was created by artist Peter R. Mason – see some more of his work here.

I asked Pete for a soundbite and he said “I suppose like many others in the country at the moment I feel that a ‘special’ event could improve the mood of this countries people. A royal wedding is such an event and this one has a dream/fantasy quality about it having such young, happy and inspiring people involved. Also looking towards the future there is more than a possibility of William becoming King with his bride to be then becoming Queen Catherine. To juxta pose this I would then be able to create a new portrait of the then Queen using the stamps of what would be King William. I hope they’ll be happy with their special wedding held in Westminster Abbey – hence my including the Rose window in the background of the portrait.”

Royal Wedding Stamps - Peter Mason

Tea Towels

This is a really useful usage of momento from talented illustrator, Luke James – something anyone can buy and not feel guilty for wasting money. He has also done a couple of other editions – they are 100% cotton and hand silk screened – you can even buy one here!

Royal Wedding Tea Towel by Luke James

Pizza from Papa John’s

Via another tweet from our friend Tamsin Fox-Davies, I found out about this Pizza made by Papa John’s. Very creative! In this depiction, Kate’s veil is made out of mushrooms and the dress is out of cheese.

Papa John's royal wedding pizza

Kiss me Kate

Castle Rock Brewery has brewed a special real ale just to celebrate the Royal wedding – it’s been rather well received if you look at their website and read more about it.

Castle Rock Brewery - Kiss me Kate

Below are some videos about Augmented Reality – it has a long way to go but keep an eye out for more new cool applications.

Augmented reality in Plain English – from Common Craft

And here is a cool application of how it can be used in a practical sense – to find the nearest tube station.

And here is an example of how it’s used in the Lego store to show what’s possible if people buy and make the Lego

The nice people over there thought that our readers could benefit from these and use them on their own blogs and websites. How nice of them!

So we thought it would be great to post a blog about the icons so that all our readers could take a look.

The icons come in 3 different sizes, .png and .SVG so that designers can edit them as they need to!

Hope you like them as much as we do here at Top Left Design.

Holi paint

Today, March 20th, is ‘Holi’ – a spring religious festival celebrated by Hindus. Traditionally, Holi is celebrated by people throwing coloured powder and coloured water at each other – certainly a beautiful way to express yourself!

Rangapanchami occurs a few days later on a Panchami (fifth day of the full moon), marking the end of festivities involving colours.

Of course, we LOVE colours at Top Left Design!

Happy Holi today if you are celebrating!

We have featured this video as a link from our Xmas Newsletters for a few years running but we didnt this year – however, have no fear as this is on YouTube and is worth a watch – it will make you smile especially when that white reindeer sings at 1 minutes and 16 seconds into the video – “HeyIyiyiyi Am Dreaming of a White Chrismas!”. Love it!

(with thanks to Betti Moser for her help on this post!)

Foursquare

foursquare.com
You can make lists of your favourite things to do and share them with friends. Foursquare will keep track of the things you’ve done, help you create To-Do lists and even suggest new experiences to seek out…. As you check in around the city, you’ll start finding tips that other users have left behind. After checking-in at a restaurant, you may unlock a tip suggesting the best thing on the menu. Checking-in at a bar will often offer advice on what your next stop should be. Every tip you create is discoverable by other users just by checking-in.

A bit like a mixture of Twitter updates, GPS search to locate people you know and ‘Dungeons & Dragons’.

Plancast

plancast.com
A service for sharing your upcoming plans with friends – a social calendar of sorts. Just submit the things you’re thinking about doing in the future, and your friends will be able to hear about them – and maybe join you, too!

TechCrunch calls it “a ‘Foursquare for the future’. The main idea is that while many people use Foursquare and similar location-based services like Gowalla and Loopt to share where they are, Plancast is about sharing where they will be.”

It looks very similar to a Twitter timeline, but the focus is on what you’re planning today, tomorrow, next week, next month etc. This is how it works in action: plancast.com/mark

Blippy

blippy.com
“Blippy allows you to automatically share your credit card transactions as you make them. This includes the place you made the purchase, the amount, and in some cases, the item. This is all placed in a social stream where other Blippy users can comment on and ‘like’ the various items.”

This is still very new. It looks similar to a Twitter stream, but the updates are automatic via a link from your credit card to Blippy. (Hmmmm…)

Last fm

www.last.fm
“a music service powered entirely by its community of listeners.”

Completely interactive music-based community. Plugs into all other social media platforms. Listeners automatically stream the tracks they’re listening to onto Last.fm, thereby creating their online profile.

Spotify

www.spotify.com/en
“peer-to-peer music streaming service that allows instant listening to specific tracks or albums, with virtually no buffering delay.”

A monthly subscription gives access to millions of songs to download. Spotify also has profiles on Twitter and Facebook.

Listverse

listverse.com
“a website dedicated to lists of trivia from a variety of categories – the most popular of which are lists of misconceptions and human oddities.” Full of curious stories, all presented as a “Top 10 most…” list.

Hunch

hunch.com
This is a pretty cool site. It uses artificial intelligence concepts to help people with everyday (and not so everyday) decisions! Try it out and let us know what you find!

Petrol Prices.com

www.petrolprices.com
“Find the lowest UK petrol price in your area! 9,537 petrol stations and 8,000 daily updates.”

Just enter your post code and find the cheapest petrol station near you. Compares prices in real time. Also available as iPhone app.