Archives for category: Commentary

Thank you Steve.

October 6, 11 //
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For me, like many others it feels like I have lost a very close friend. Someone whose vision and passion has had a profound impact upon my life.

You were not interested in compromising or following the status quo. You did what you thought was right. It didn’t always go perfectly, but you learnt, grew stronger and did it better.  You showed the world that design matters. That technology need not be about features and specs. That us, the users are special.

Although you have gone, you have created the tools that will build upon your legacy. We just need to have the courage to stick to our convictions and apply the same kind of drive to our own work.

Thank you Steve and good bye.

Unflood

January 16, 11 //
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To all of our friends and clients, this is a short post to let you know that we are all safe and expect things to be back to normal next week.

With so many of our clients and friends being badly affected by the floods, and we’d like to take this opportunity to say that our thoughts are with you and your families, if there is anything we do that can help you to get things back to normal, please let us know.

With that in mind, we have been thinking if there is a way we can use our design and digital skills to help in some way, so a few of us have got together over the weekend voluntarily, and developed a website that will allow retailers and services providers throughout the country to pledge and list discounts on offer for flooded residents and businesses.

Introducing Flood Discounts

Flood Discounts is a New Website to Centralise Discounts for Flooded Residents & Businesses – www.flooddiscounts.com.au

www.flooddiscounts.com.au has been launched on 16th January 2011 as a free web directory where businesses large and small can post discounts on a wide range of products and services that are needed to help victims rebuild their lives, homes and businesses.

Generous business owners can visit the site and post their discounts that are available for legitimate flood victims, continuing the giving of care and generosity that we have seen in recent days and weeks.

At this stage, over 50% of Australia’s flood victims are expected to be denied the ability to claim on their insurance, and will require extraordinary support from their community to rebuild their homes and businesses. And even those with insurance face the enormous task of rebuilding their lives with huge financial impact.

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3 reasons you should care about “black hat” UX Design on your website

November 8, 10 //
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Sneaky black hat marketing is putting things in your basket!

One of the things we pride ourselves on at Niche is really smart User Experience (UX) design on websites.  Clever UX design can mean the difference between a customer staying on your site or leaving it; or buying an additional product; or really loving your brand.

As with any design, it gives you the opportunity to persuade users of your site into behaving or interacting in a particular way, so it’s important to get it right.

But to what extent do you need to – and to what extent should you – persuade people?

What the heck is “black hat” design?

I was recently enjoying a really awesome presentation by Harry Brignull of Dark Patterns, who spoke at UX Brighton about “black hat” UX design. Simply put, “black hat” UX design covers a whole area of User Experience design whereby designers trick users into selecting a particular (and usually more profitable) option on a website where money is exchanged for products / services.

A great example of this is when airlines have a pre-selected check box on your airline booking form online that forces you to pay extra for a service that you might not be aware of.

Whilst this may not seem quite so bad when it includes, say, a carbon offset fee, when it comes to travel insurance or extra baggage fees, people are likely to be duped into paying for something they never wanted or needed.

It’s misleading to the customer, and it’s bad for your brand.

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Niche Studi-mo – the clever kids behind good mo’keting

November 2, 10 //
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Mikael and Indy team up for Movember to fight prostate cancer and depression

We’re all for feel-good MOments here at Niche, and what better way to feel good than with a ‘stash!

Indy and Mikael (and “Zac Efron”), from our Account Management team, have both volunteered to finely tune their razor strokes for the month of Mo’vember to help raise money and promote awareness surrounding prostate cancer and depression amongst men.

We’d love it if you’d pledge your support via a small donation to our Movember team –

Mikael is taking votes on which mo to grow as there is no better way to make a permanent decision about ones fashion style than by a democratic vote. The styles are:

Or why not get involved yourself? For some inspiration for your ‘stash, check out these nifty options.

Stay tuned to the Niche Blog to see the ‘stashes in action! Check out the day one pictures below (we have already reprimanded Mikael for inappropriate beard growth and he has agreed he will step into line!).

You’ll also note that “Zac Efron” has shot ahead in the ‘stash-growing saga, with a sporting Dali-esque number.

Click here to donate to Mikael's MoSpace