1. Branding Carlton – Interview with Lambie-Nairn Creative Director Brian Eley

I have a particular interest in TV channel branding, which is why I found this interview transcript with the creative director of one of the most prestigious TV branding company immensely interesting. The UK “TV station” ITV is actually a network comprised of two companies – STV, which broadcasts in Scotland, and ITV plc., which broadcasts in the rest of the UK. There used to be a lot more TV companies in the network, serving smaller regions, before they all inevitably merged into what we have today. One of these companies was Carlton, which initially served the London region on weekdays. Carlton did not have a good reputation, some will even say that it destroyed the network by initiating merges with smaller regional stations.

Nonetheless, this interview, which talked about how Lambie-Nairn designed the on-screen identity of the station throughout its existence in the 90s, was a fascinating read; especially the last few paragraphs where Brian Eley expressed how the need for a strong brand for a TV channel is diminishing in this multi-channel and online age. I feel that this is particular relevant at a time when many criticised “the lack of creativity and thought put” in the idents for the flagship BBC channel.

Full interview transcript

2. Cortex #70: CORTEK – WWDC 2018

Apple’s World Wide Developer Conference (WWDC) happened this month. As someone who likes technology, I tend to follow these events just to see what the big tech companies are doing. I’ve always felt that watching the keynote alone is not enough, so I listen to podcasts about these events and listen to people’s opinion on what these companies announced.

I’ve always been a fan of the Cortex podcast, hosted by Myke Hurley and CGPGrey. For those who don’t know already, it is not a podcast about Apple, nor is it strictly about technology. Cortex is a podcast where the two hosts discuss their working lives, and it just so happens they use technology sometimes. Of all the podcasts I listened to on WWDC, I particularly enjoyed this one because it went beyond just the announcements Apple made, but also how they think the changes Apple made to their OS may change the way they work. Plus, I thoroughly enjoyed the funny discussion about the San Francisco scooters. If you are tired of listening to podcasts that merely goes through every single thing announced in the keynote, give this one a try.

Listen to episode

3. Notion Android App

I have been using the Notion app on my PC and iPad for the past month or so. I am still figuring out how exactly I am going to use this app, but so far I think it has proven to be a unique and useful app, much to my surprise. It was a surprise because I have been (and still am) using other productivity apps such as Todoist and Dropbox Paper; and the first time I looked at Notion, it did not seem to be significantly different from these other apps. After all, Notion provides much of the functionalities that these apps already have, like checklists, kanban boards, and rich formatting options. The more I use Notion, however, the more I feel that it is a more suitable app for me, especially the way I can layout the pages myself without using a word processor.

The one thing that really bugged me when I was using Notion was that they did not have an Android app. They had an iOS app, a web app, a Mac app, even a Windows app, but the Android app was still in beta when I started using it. Which is why I was more than delighted to learn that the Notion Android app was finally released this month. I will be sure to test this out and continue to experiment on how to best fit Notion into my workflow.

Notion Official Website