Our new blog

Hello blog readers

After three years of writing for Heywood Innovation's four blogs – branding, employer branding, M&A branding and annual report - I have decided to combine them all into one 'visual' blog that celebrates a new affiliation with our good friends the Taylor & Taylor creative team in Melbourne, and the sensational strategic and creative work that is driving our growth into 2011. The blog features work our teams are producing in the Sydney, Melbourne, London and Birmingham markets. Our new HITT blog can be accessed here.

Best regards

Tony Heywood

Glued to our screens

Here we go again. July: Amazon.com has announced that online sales of e-books have nearly doubled those of printed books. Gulp. Think how many trees that just saved... how many printing companies have fallen by the wayside, how many printing ink manufacturers are afflicted by the domino effect, not to mention paper manufacturers.

It's all going online. Magazines and company publications like the annual report. Mind you there are still plenty of baby boomers out there who insist on their printed items to remind them of the good old days, proud of their houses displaying obligatory bookcases with shelves bending under the weight of literary treasures coated in dust and awaiting their ultimate fate in the charity bin or some community book sale. When will they die off? The baby boomers I mean. Another twenty years? Who knows what we will have twenty years to assist us with our reading endeavours? ... virtual screens and surround sound you can conjure from thin air courtesy of that Apple device surgically implanted in the front of your forehead courtesy of your local Apple store.

Back to Amazon.com. They sold 143 e-books for every 100 hard cover books earlier this year but that has now reached 180 e-books! And this does not include books that are available as free downloads. And the e-books readable with their Kindle reader have only been around for a year and a half.

The book printing industry around the globe is understandably concerned.

So are the magazine printers and also the annual report printers who are fighting a losing battle with the new breed of digital printers positioned to pounce on small quantities and on-demand requirements.

The battle for attention in the online space will be won by those companies that invest in technology-savvy designers who can leverage the power of the medium and grab people's attention in a compelling and interactive way that the printed page never can.

Tony Heywood is a Fellow of the Design Institute of Australia, founder of Heywood Innovation in Sydney and London with affiliates in Melbourne, Gold Coast, Singapore and Mumbai.

Printing press for sale, well used, no further use, suit collector with large garage

You can tell an end of an era is nigh. It appears the editors of The Guardian and The Times in a recent interview with MediaWeek admitted that the presses presently churning out mile after mile of the more readable and intelligent UK news may be their last. Their 20 year life expectancy which commenced in 2005 may be somewhat shortened... headed for that great printing press museum in the sky. The editor of the The Times was even game enough to to comment that “...trying to predict how long print will be around is difficult”. Online platforms here we come. But you can’t swat flies with an iPad.

So where does that leave printed annual reports I wonder?

Tony Heywood is a Fellow of the Design Institute of Australia, founder of Heywood Innovation in Sydney and London with affiliates in Melbourne, Gold Coast, Singapore and Mumbai.

So Paul, should they commission an online annual report this year?

So there’s still a lot of strife around in the financial markets. And probably for some time to come. I guess the US and China need to get their acts together before we’ll see some global relief starting to spread. Think yourself lucky you aren’t preparing an annual report for one of those Greek companies. Not much fun there. You’ll notice that many Greek company secretaries and Board members are wearing dark sunglasses these days to protect themselves from the hot Greek sun and to avoid becoming a target for low flying Molotovs.

Here in Australia we’re busy trying to cope with boomerang super taxes and monitoring the movements of our new ‘iron lady’ prime minister just in case she inflicts new banking legislation and reporting requirements on unsuspecting listed companies. Red hair is definitely a ‘must have’ this year for those with lofty political ambitions.

Anyway, let’s cut to the chase. Are you still backing away from doing the decent thing by your shareholders this year and committing to an online html ‘microsite’ annual report? Are you going to trot out the same old excuses:

“we’re only a small company”
“we don’t have many shareholders”
“we have an elderly shareholder base, many of whom don’t have internet connections”
“it’s too expensive”
“the money’s being spent on chocolate biscuits at the AGM”
“we don’t have time to produce one of those”
“our Board members don’t like them”
“we’ll think about one next year”
“we really like PDFs for their simplicity”
“earnings are down this year”
“Paul the octopus told us not to get one”

Anyone would think they’re expensive and will break the bank. Well perhaps they might if you commission those ‘other people’. If you’re a caring and understanding person committed to your shareholders and are responsible for producing your company’s annual report and are located in either Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, London, Singapore or Mumbai, we can take the load off your shoulders. Find out more by emailing me tony@heywood.com.au

What say you Paul?

Tony Heywood is a Fellow of the Design Institute of Australia, founder of Heywood Innovation in Sydney and London with affiliates in Melbourne, Gold Coast, Singapore and Mumbai.

Just when you thought traditional print has a brave new future...

Well, we thought the GFC was waning and that we here in the Land of Oz were enjoying a resources-fuelled recovery and the good times were rolling again. For some. Then along came my April 2010 copy of ProPrint to cast darkness into our hope-filled future. Let me pick out a few choice headlines for you to savour...
‘Driving into digital’ on the front cover.... ironic?
‘Pettaras Press up for sale after falling into hands of the receivers’
‘Paragon Printing staff get 11th hour reprieve though future still unclear’
‘Worldwide’s future in question after month of administration’
‘Former owner rescues Printing Department’
‘Standard Publishing House has acquired fellow Sydney-based printer Rapid Digital out of administration’
‘Liquidators hopeful of selling Quality Print’
‘Geon loss hits NZ$183m’
‘Blue Star profits fall but ‘improving’’
‘Salmat earnings rise despite revenue slide’
and in their online (!) Weekly Bulletin... ‘Beaver Press in administration’ – that’s a sad one as I remember Robert Francis from back in the 80s – a nice guy.

Is this the aftermath of the GFC finally hitting home? In the same issue a survey of printers revealed 65.1% of respondents had clients who bought less print.

Or is digital printing finally taking a bite out of the traditional litho market? The survey also revealed 84.7% of respondents believe there is growth potential for digital, with 51.4% planning to increase their digital offering.

Or both? Or is it the online phenomenon changing our communication habits?

Whatever your views it seems that change is happening and some are better prepared for it than others. Sadly if clients are spending less on print, they’re certainly spending less on design also.

My money remains with online faring the best in 2010 and beyond. Excuse me while I go and code another online annual report financials page in html.



Tony Heywood is a Fellow of the Design Institute of Australia, founder of Heywood Innovation in Sydney Australia with affiliates in Melbourne, Gold Coast, London, Singapore and Mumbai.

View some of Heywood’s work on www.heywood.com.au

Share on Facebook

RSS – is it a new Porsche 911 or a new online investor tool?

No, it doesn’t stand for Rallye Sport Speciale, it stands for Really Simple Syndication. “What’s that?” you ask. Well, it starts with that little orange icon that you can see on lots and lots of websites. And it’s very clever. And it can be really good for websites. It’s all about getting interesting information to come to you rather than you having to go and find it from many different sources and not knowing when that information is fresh or old.

RSS represents a family of web feed formats used to publish frequently updated works in a standardised format. So now with RSS, websites and blogs send out an alert to you when new content is published. It can be web-based, desktop-based or mobile device-based.

But not everyone wants to be inundated with email alerts clogging their in-box do they? So, some clever people came up with software called an ‘RSS newsreader’ that enables you to read all your new and favourite content in a standardised XML file format. The reader regularly monitors the user’s subscribed feeds for new work, downloads any updates, and provides a user interface to track and read the feeds. This saves a considerable amount of time and effort trawling the web for your favourite information. You can receive headlines, articles, podcasts, photos and even video.

So how can this help your website? It represents an easy way for your audiences – investors, employees and customers – to keep up to date with regular information you want them to have, as soon as you release it. For business analysts and journalists it means they can follow your company on their desktop and not have to rely on traditional newswires. It can serve as an effective reminder of upcoming events or important dates in the company calendar.

There are some key differences between RSS and email you need to be aware of.

> There are no spam filters, and it is opt-in only, therefore no blockages. Whereas many emails and e-newsletters do get blocked, RSS will not and should achieve a 100% delivery rate.

> It means your audience will receive not only a written message the instant you release it, but you can also deliver them audio and video for the full experience.

> You can track through server logs how often the RSS feed was accessed.

Be aware that RSS feeds are already popular among many stakeholder groups – roughly 25% of top tier companies are responding to this. So, don’t get left out, put some performance into your company’s online communications with RSS. Mine’s a Turbo.



Tony Heywood is a Fellow of the Design Institute of Australia, founder of Heywood Innovation in Sydney Australia with affiliates in Melbourne, Gold Coast, London, Singapore and Mumbai.

View some of Heywood’s work on www.heywood.com.au

Share on Facebook

iPad the new iAnnualReportReader?

Looks like the iPad from Apple may become one of the biggest ‘must haves’ after the iPhone and the iPod. It seems destined to change the time honoured practice of ‘snuggling up in bed with a good book’. Competitor products are going to have a hard job to beat the sexy, smooth functionality and brand allegiance people have for Apple products. Librarians are starting to look a little nervous. The whole concept of libraries is now up for grabs. Will they be replaced by iPad recharging stations? A new generation may go though life not knowing what a bookshelf is. Ufologists will discover ancient texts with odd looking creatures holding tablets that look surprisingly like iPads. Book printers are livid. Small quantity digital printing has eaten away at their profits, and now iPad is destined to take away a big chunk. Captains of the newspaper industry are clamouring to establish subscriptions in the online space. Newsprint is diminishing. Trees are breathing a sigh of relief. Those digital ‘print-a-book-while-u-wait’ kiosks are starting to look a bit silly.

But just how many books can be made available for an iPad? Book publishers will be feverishly adapting all their best sellers for consumption by iPad, fearing competitors may gain a lead. “Our online library’s bigger than yours!” One wonders exactly how the porn industry might make a dollar from all this. People are already unsure quite where the iPod/laptop/netbook/notebook/iPhone ends and the iPad starts. And it doesn’t stand up vertically so you can’t view the screen ‘the old way’ unless you buy one of the optional extra stands. This means you have to put it down flat on a table or cradle it in the crook of your arm. Hey that’s different. Particularly when you try and type on the ‘virtual keyboard’. But Apple has that covered also. There’s an optional plug-in keyboard. I expect very soon there will 2,967 variations on a protective sleeve, custom colour accessories and a deluge of custom apps.

There are a few other considerations. Where will it live? At home or the office? Is it a work tool or a lifestyle accessory? Will it live next to our PC/laptop or be consigned to the bedroom? What happens when Dad spills his breakfast cereal on it? Will your kids find it a suitable diversion to quell their ‘long car journey’ syndrome? Optometrists will be rubbing their hands with glee as the strain of reading hundreds of pages of fine electronic type slowly but steadily dims our vision. What will book mark makers do? What will newsagents do? Millions of ‘paper boys’ around the world will be deprived of pocket money, no longer able to roam the streets in the rain dispensing their newspapers for a pittance.

One prediction, prompted by some thoughts from a designer colleague, is that there will be a new realisation (finally) that the design and presentation of publications - books, magazines and newspapers - needs to be rethought to optimise the online reading experience and release it from the shackles of the printing process. The experience of reading from the printed page is far different from the potential of viewing and reading from a well designed interactive electronic page.

In five years time will early model iPads replace books as doorstops?

Of course there will be many witticisms bandied around....

“He tried every trick in the e-book”

“The judge threw the e-book at him”

“Did Steve Jobs take a gamble with the iPad or is he just an online e-book maker”
(cringe)

The pioneering work of the past ten years transforming complex documents like listed company annual reports into ‘mini-websites’, occupies the winner’s podium when it comes to making complex text, photos, graphs and charts come to life on a PC screen. Will the iPad influence more shareholders to make the shift to online report reading? I think it may just influence a few. Thank you Steve.

Will our centuries old reliance on printed paper books, preceded by the first baked clay tablets used in 3500BC Mesopotamia, result in uninspiring dull white screens with endless lines of black type? I don’t think so. There are too many designers around to let that happen. Does that make them iDesigners or eDesigners?



Tony Heywood is a Fellow of the Design Institute of Australia, founder of Heywood Innovation in Sydney Australia with affiliates in Melbourne, Gold Coast, London, Singapore and Mumbai.

View some of Heywood’s work on www.heywood.com.au

Share on Facebook