Well training is finally underway for Gemma and Chris who are both running in this year’s Bristol half marathon. Gemma’s been doing early mornings and Chris late evenings – no fighting talk yet but there’s still time. 6 weeks to go and counting… we’ll be on the look out for sponsorship soon! Watch this space for updates.

As a creative design agency, we love showing others how the creative process works and seeing how people react to design in general.

Last week, we ran a workshop with Sarsen Housing residents on website design. We looked at what residents do online, how social media can be used and reviewed the housing association’s current website.

As always, it was fascinating to see how people navigate the site and what they expect to find and where. It included people that were regular users of the internet and those that didn’t use it so much – a really good mix and a great insight.

The result – a cracking list of areas to address and a great day sharing knowledge on social media!

If you’d like to run a website design workshop, contact gemma@synergycreative.co.uk.

We’ve got particularly attached to the joseph joseph kitchen range. The really vibrantly coloured chopping boards, bowls, whisks and other gadgets you see in designer kitchen shops.

There are two brothers behind the brand (Richard and Antony Joseph) who combined their experience in product design and business back in 2003 to create their range of contemporary kitchenware. Amazingly, in a short space of time, they’ve grown to be an internationally recognised brand. What do we love? The striking bright colours, the cool contemporary brand, the useful products and the lovely packaging. What a great product and brand to have grown in just 7 years!

http://www.josephjoseph.com/

Ipadio allows you to do this by broadcasting your message from any phone to the internet live, via other phones or via an intranet. With just a phone call, you can quickly and easily engage thousands of staff and stakeholders across the world. It works by connecting the telephony network to the internet and is great for delivering mass interactive dialogue with thousands of people in the field. Virgin Media and Oxfam are already using it and we think its great. We also like their strapline – ipadio – you talk, they listen. Find out more at www.ipadio.com

Bordeaux Quay provides gorgeous food and fantastic service in a stunning setting overlooking Bristol’s waterfront. However there’s more to this trendy eatery than meets the eye. Founded by Barney Haughton, a former French teacher, Bordeaux Quay is Britain’s first eco-restaurant.

The restaurant and accompanying deli are committed to sustainable food practices, responsible energy use and zero waste. Yet this doesn’t get in the way of the excellent quality of the food. They even run their own not-for-profit cookery school from which all profits are put food education in the local community.

We were all very impressed with the food and service following a meal there with one of our clients recently! Recommendations from the Synergy team, worth a visit!

We would like to say a massive well done to our Senior Designer Christian for completing Sunday’s Bristol 10k in 52 mins and 29 secs (official microchip time!!) . He raised over £300 for the Wallace and Gromit’s Grand Appeal charity, which raises funds exclusively for the Bristol Children’s Hospital and St Michael’s Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (Special Care Baby Unit). He even got himself a shiny medal to take home! We now wish him the best of luck for the half marathon!

Since the origins of Lucozade in 1927 as a source of energy for people sick with colds or flu, the bright orange drink has come a long way. Lucozade is now an umbrella name for a whole series of sports & energy products aimed at the general public, amateur, and professional sports people. Their slick ‘science meets sport’ website splits products down into areas such as, hydration, fuel, focus and recovery and even offers specific advice on football, running and athletic training as well as online training tools and competitions. A great brand with energy and edge, more than just a fizzy orange drink! A few of the products were also successfully tested this weekend by our senior designer Christian at the Bristol 10k run! www.lucozade.com

This week our brand of the week goes to Apple.

After the casing around Hannah’s Macbook laptop cracked she thought it would be a nightmare of endless phone calls and costly postage to get it sorted. However, she couldn’t have been more wrong! One phone call to Apple Care and one trip to the Apple Store Genius Bar later and it was all fixed and ready to go! She even had time to do a spot of Sunday afternoon shopping!

It was the easiest repair ever and the customer service at the Bristol Cribbs Causeway Apple Store was Fab!

Thanks Apple, Keep up the good work!

Here’s some clever use of social media from Alfa Romeo

With the imminent launch of the new Guilietta, Alfa have been using a combination of social media to spread the word: Facebook page, You Tube videos, Twitter etc.

But now they’ve gone a nose further by enabling you to park the car on your drive with their Virtual Owners Programme.

Simply enter your postcode or street name, navigate to your house, choose the colour of your new Alfa and hey presto! A new car parked outside your house. You can even send your picture to friends!

Click on the link below to try it:

http://www.alfagiulietta.com/virtualownership/

Whilst we were eating our ice creams this afternoon we were discussing our favourate brand this week, well actually Nicky’s choice following her trip back from LA (how posh!). Nicky says…So we are loving Virgin now…Good ol’ Richie B, he seems to have the magic touch! The Virgin Atlantic brand and advertising oozes sophistication and sex appeal that makes you want to travel with them. From a stress free touch screen check-in, to a warm welcome from friendly cabin crew. the brand promise doesn’t disappoint. I wonder about their recruitment criteria but the beautiful air crew in bright red uniforms with matching lippy (and that’s just the males!) certainly made the 11 hour trip a little more bearable for my partner.