blur Designs Prepares to Launch ‘Human Brands’

blur Designs is busy behind the scenes preparing to launch ‘Human Brands’. After all, why should us humans not design and develop our own brands? Surely branding is not the preserve of corporates alone. And in this new world of endless 15 minutes of fame and one hit wonders pumped through MySpace, Twitter or TechCrunch someone needs to worry about designing and developing lasting human brands for the next generation of more sustainable singers, sports pro’s, song writers, actors, artists, chefs, geek celebs and more.

blur Designs has been developing brand systems and design processes optimized for human brands to ensure that the next David Beckham or Eminem develop their brand and supporting digital strategies more effectively and earlier. Because it is more essential than ever that the next generation of ‘artists and celebrities’ maximize the impact and value of their brand equity through their career and beyond. No more ripping off the artists!

Entrepreneurs Chat

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Entrepreneurs chat at the latest blur’d event about why they became Entrepreneurs and what their biggest issue is right now.

Check out – http://innovatrs.com

Death in Girotondo

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Angela Grimaldi is in danger. A hair raising moment of rebellion and Angelas circumstances change forever. Escaping the horror of a loveless marriage, Angela tries to start anew, but will she be able to build a new life in the watchful, traditional community in which she lives.

Death in Girotondo follows her reckless and alarming ride through the beautiful landscape of the Tuscan countryside. Along the way Philip Letts shows the beauty of Italys mountains and beaches and gives us a real taste of the charming, humorous, characters in small Italian towns. Italys simple pleasures are deliciously displayed in this farcical thriller.

Death in Girotondo is the debut novel from Philip Letts published by blur Media

Click here for a free preview and to buy Death in Girotondo

The Future of Fairtrade

The definition of Fairtrade is clear: “Fairtrade is a strategy for poverty alleviation and sustainable development. Its purpose is to create opportunities for producers and workers who have been economically disadvantaged or marginalized by the conventional trading system. If fair access to markets under better trade conditions would help them to overcome barriers to development, they can join Fairtrade.”

But we believe that the future of Faitrade goes beyond developing countries and includes many other kinds of workers; full time, freelance, part time and including artists, musicians, actors, writers, marketing consultants, designers and more. As a leader in Crowdsourcing we think that it can offer a better deal for most constituents of worker and knowledge producer – and a better contract, one not shackled by the constraints of permanent employ. For instance, b-uncut artists take a commission of 80% when their art is sold through the b-uncut Gallery, not the standard 50% offered by traditional gallery’s.

The Fairtrade movement has done a great deal for farmers and workers in the Third World. Its time to widen the initiative and improve the deal and conditions for all workers, be they creatives, artists, knowledge workers, factory employees or engineers. In the US, UK, France, Japan, Australia, Brazil, India or wherever. Crowdsourced together – unfettered and untethered. That is the future of Fairtrade.

Clearing Your Doubts about Social Media

It’s the buzz word of the moment. Some see it as an opportunity, others as a threat. Some think they are experts, others actually are. Truth is that little is known about Social Media.

We are all learning about how masses use media, but mostly we are gaining knowledge about ourselves. Because Social Media is about us and our insatiable need of being social, mostly enabled by meaningful and relevant conversations.

Fact is that the increasing fragmentation of social networks and fast paced technology development raises doubts and questions. We summed up some of the questions we ask our clients when they get in touch with blur Marketing.

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We want your answers, either by commenting below or by showing up in London at our monthly Meetup.

Let’s talk about it, let’s start our rewarding conversation.

The Future of Crowdsourcing – Small

Crowdsourcing has become an increasingly accepted term with examples bandied about such as Google using the analysis of Web links to crowdsource their search engine, Wikipedia crowdsourcing the planet to build the largest encyclopedia and Threadless crowdsourcing approaching a million people to design t-shirts. But what is the future of crowdsourcing? Well, we think it’s the power of small. We believe that small, niche, highly managed crowds organized in the right way will become virtual organizations. Why not build a marketing agency solely by crowdsourcing and remotely managing marketing professionals/consultants. Why not crowdsource writers and editors to build a next generation publishing company, artists to develop a new generation art market.

The key, we believe, is small, targeted, niche crowds attacking niche issues head on and repeatedly. There will always be a place for big crowds tackling one or two big problems – but this needs to be complemented with specialist crowds attacking specialist issues one after the other much as any agency, research centre or organization does today. The benefit of doing it with a managed crowd instead of legions of full time employees is lower cost, greater flexibility, a more international approach and the greater, larger collective intelligence. Indeed, it may be that the most successful, best managed, niche crowds will become the organization of tomorrow.

Innovatrs, Answer if you Dare

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Innovatrs.net is a cool new place for entrepreneurs to hang. Keep up to date with the latest innovations – on and off the Web and learn about the coolest next generation companies and what they are doing. Check interviews with and stories about leading entrepreneurs – no holds barred. Get the latest perspectives on the start-up world, big idea thinking, venture growth, financing and more. Radical and real.

Kinetic Typography Video Production

Kinetic Typography or simply ‘moving text’ is an animation technique that brings together motion and type. The techniques history lies in film credits, the fore runner being Saul Bass in Alfred Hitchcock’s North by Northwest (1959). Since then kinetic typography has become main stream within film industry.

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Kinetic Typography is shrewd, it sets itself upon the senses. The audience not only hears your message they also see it, double whammy!! Which then leads to endless opportunities. Such as Renault in South Africa have just launched a TV campaign using kinetic typography, which is modern & edgy yet still keeps within the confines of Renaults brand values. CourtTV (Now TruTV) in the US used the technique in their idents, which is some of the most impressive use of kinetic typography we have seen.

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At blur Designs we use kinetic typography to convey all blur Group’s messages, exploiting the versatility of kinetic typography. Each division of blur Group has a different message and with kinetic typography we can design videos using speech and vision to portray each individual message whilst keeping within the companies branding.

If your interested in using kinetic typography to promote your business contact blur Designs.

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To view all of blur Group videos please visit our You Tube Channel.

blur Group

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What is ‘blur’?

‘blur’ is a way of looking at things differently. It is a philosophy and reflection of contemporary times and the future that beckons or betrays. ‘blur’ is the most modern world.

‘blur’ best describes the nature of everything to be and that is. The planet is blurring with the sun’s renewed heat. Cultural divides are blurred thanks to globalization, media and technology. Technology is blurring and all things electrical are converging.

But the greatest revolution of all will be how we adapt, as people, as society, as a planet and how we grow to accept that as every line becomes increasingly blurred so do we.

blur Group companies are Design-Driven, crowdsourced, socially responsible and social media marketed.

For ‘blur’ is the way of tomorrow – today.

Our Next Meetup: Business Series Prologue

We have powerful ideas in mind for September. We are aiming to expose pressing business issues and get fellow entrepreneurs to help.

We feel it would be disconnected from our way of doing things if you were not involved in the process.

We want your opinion and our next event is about that, brainstorming on our September blur’d meetup.

Format will be as usual: relevant peers, intimate environment, great food and drinks (complimentary Prosecco will be available for a limited time).

So come along, relax, mingle with cool entrepreneurs and shape tomorrows ventures today – from the grass roots up.

RSVP here

b-uncut.com The Gallery Where Art Breaks

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The worlds leading artist community has just become the Webs hottest art market.

Join us if you dare – www.b-uncut.com.

FAIRTRADE for Artists.

b-uncut.net Artists Invited

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b-uncut – where the worlds living artists hang online.

Join us if you dare. www.b-uncut.net.

blur Designs

Design is rapidly moving from posters and toasters to include processes, systems, and organizations.

Design is the accelerator for the company car, the power train for sustainable profits.

Design drives innovation, innovation powers brand, brand builds loyalty, and loyalty sustains profits.

If you want long-term profits, don’t start with technology—start with design.

Start with blur Designs

Innovatrs.com Rocks the Start-up World!

blur Group recently launched Innovatrs.com, a pioneering Website and online service for entrepreneurs, artists and innovation officers. Innovatrs.com delivers Innovate (TM), one of the world’s first true innovation methodologies and start-up systems, as a Web based service which helps entrepreneurs take ideas to market and beyond, faster and more cost effectively than before.

Innovate’s 7 Stages and 49 Phases, which span the first 3-5 years of turning a new idea into a business venture, are delivered in a flexible and scalable online content system which is supported by video and content streaming, Web 2.0 community features and online advice equipping entrepreneurs with a unique and unrivaled knowledge centre, start-up system and support and mentoring infrastructure. And its available to any entrepreneur for FREE.

Innovate has been in development for nearly ten years as a comprehensive Innovation methodology and start-up system and it has helped shape a bunch of cool ideas, projects and fast growth businesses in that time. Making it freely available as a Web based service is a major step forwards. With Innovatrs.com entrepreneurs can greatly improve their own and their ventures performance via Innovate which guides them through building a better venture, day by day, while helping them make more informed decisions. At the same time Innovation officers in corporates through to artists and celebrities now have a proven system to develop the next big idea or corporate innovation project. Even venture investors can benefit from Innovate as a tool to support them, their investment management process and their portfolio companies. Go for it – Innovate.

Why blur Group is Important

As blur Group gets more of a following we increasingly get asked why what we are doing is important. It is both a fundamental and complex question to answer. I have spent the last ten years building large communities and marketplaces on the Web – consumer facing, business facing and some that mash both up. The thinking until now has been all about how you scale communities and marketplaces – how you reach critical mass. How you monetize the masses.

We believe that the new wave in community building is about the power of small – the beauty of boutique and about quality more than quantity. Our crowds (communities) are small, focused and valuable. We spend more time managing and filtering our communities than recruiting for them. And our recruitment is rifle shot, not scatter gun. Organic, not viral.

But then we have to, because blur Group is a leader in crowdsourcing – and crowdsourcing is all about monetizing the individual and combined outputs of the crowd. Not cashing in on the crowd itself – quite the opposite. We know that quality crowds equal quality outputs and we will only succeed through quality outputs, whether they come from artists or entrepreneurs or marketers. We work tirelessly with our crowds, supported by social media and community platforms, to help them earn a better living and make a bigger difference – whether they be dedicated, part time or freelance.

Some believe we have figured out how to scale services based businesses, others feel that we might have the secret to Web 2.0 marketplaces and some even think we are quietly and innocently changing the way business is done. Us, we just think we are blur, reinventing tomorrow, today.

Branding the bird

‘How important do you think branding your twitter profile is?’

This was the question asked of me at the latest blur’d Meetup. The answer is obvious, VERY IMPORTANT! Would you have a website or even a business card without your logo & branding applied to it? Of course not. Twitter should be seen as an extension of you or your company’s on-line presence, therefore the real question should be ‘Why isn’t your twitter profile branded?’

Though with this in mind, some thought needs to be applied. As with all branding exersizes if it’s not done right it will become null & void and could have a negative effect for you or your company’s brand. At blur Designs we not only come up with next generation ideas and designs, we’re a stickler for detail, some called it an OSD, but as Ludwig Mies Van Der Rohe famously said “God is in the details”.

So has anyone out there got it right? Well you may be shocked to know, I’m still to come across a company’s twitter profile that ticks every box.  We could change Luwig’s quote to “God is in the pixels”, we all know about screen resolution but it seems that no one is thinking about this when it comes twitter.

However there is one that ticks every box and that is blur Designs twitter profile. Whatever the screen resolution the user will have the same experience, no images cutting of or dodgy backgrounds that don’t fit the screen, doing this will help strengthen your brands on-line presence.

blur Designs is helping clients better define and position themselves for tomorrow and twitter is tomorrow.

To view our design and to follow blur Designs click here

blur’d Meetup – Great People, Meaningful Conversations

At blur we are committed in providing spaces for people to gather and start compelling projects. Our online communities revolve around this concept.

We considered to push the idea forward.

We started blur’d, a London Meetup for Entrepreneurs, Digital Directors and Innovation Officers. We thought it was a great idea to offer an offline space with reduced noise, to facilitate meaningful conversations.

We had our first night on the 30th of June. Have a look at the response and come join our tribe.

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At blur Group We Prefer to Rap

At blur Group we really believe in doing things differently. It’s not only a nice statement, it’s a fact.

Our company website runs on Wordpress

Our Intranet is a Ning website, where you can join and mingle with the team.

Our initiatives are crowdsourced, but we are more than just a marketplace. We think that crowdsourcing means great quality and we feel that empowering talented people is the greatest reward for the company.

We definitely prefer Rap over a traditional Polka.

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New Art Marketplace live at b-uncut.com

The new b-uncut.com is live. As one of the world’s most vibrant and energetic communities of contemporary artists it has today shifted to online art community AND art marketplace. How fitting that this happened right as b-uncut recruited its 500th artist. b-uncut is now attracting 2 new artists a day from all corners of the world. As a result b-uncut is ready to not only provide its artists with a social media, virtual studio and community platform but also a platform to sell their art (through the b-uncut Gallery and Merchandise store), publish their books using the all new blur Media publishing label and get followed at b-uncut’s public blog. All of these can be accessed through the all new b-uncut.com.

b-uncut now has more artists supporting it than almost any gallery or gallery group in the world. As a result curators, art journalists, art foundations and prizes are starting to watch b-uncut’s artists and marketplace evolve. b-uncut is pioneering the concept of FAIRTRADE for artists.

Join us at the all new b-uncut.com.