Late last year, we were recommended to Speak to the future by a client of ours and we had an initial meeting to understand the brand values and visionary requirements for their online presence. The project went out for tender over the Christmas break and we got cracking on a detailed pitch and proposal. Yesterday we got a call advising us that we’d been successful and will be working on giving digital and interactive life to the brand.

Speak to the future is a campaign which highlights the importance of languages, language learning and professional language activities for the UK. Targeting the public, media and government, our initiatives are raising awareness of the issue – and aim to bring about a step-change in attitude and policy in favour of languages.

The campaign is backed by leading professional and business organisations, including The British Academy and The Chartered Institute of Linguists, who are convinced of the importance of language learning for the future of our society, our citizens and our economy.

The new website is aimed to become a hub for almost every aspect of the brand – capturing interest, providing information and involving visitors in the initiative, and we are excited to be a part of the creative process. Stay tuned for more!

Our good friends down at Universal Music approached us just a few weeks ago with the news that Small Faces needed an official website as it was announced that on May 7th 2012, fans would be getting their hands on the deluxe editions of the four albums released by the band during their short but highly creative and eventful lifetime between 1965 and 1969.

So off to work we went, briefed with the keywords “Late 60′s trendy kids meets Hippy Psychedelica”. This meant we just had to put the initial designs together with the flowing sounds of Itchycoo Park and Lazy Sunday in the background.

Compact and tight, the new official site contains all the information you’d want from facts about the original releases, where to buy them, videos, interactive fan photo uploads, social connectivity and all the latest news to keep any Small Faces fan current with what’s happening in the world of the legendary Steve, Ronnie, “Mac” and Kenney.

About Small Faces:

The Small Faces’ rise to the top was meteoric. The band formed in early 1965 and within six weeks they had landed their first record contract; their debut single smashed into the top 20 two months later. To call them iconic, pioneering, inspirational and unique is an understatement. They played a crucial role in creating music which not only helped to define the mid-to-late 1960s, but also became a major part of the foundation of rock music that went on to inspire and influence some of the greatest acts of the last 40 years.

Check out the new Small Faces website here.

Late last year we met with the directors of Smatt’s Rum in their offices in London and listened to their ideas and thoughts on taking their existing online presence to the next level and bringing it up to speed with current trends. We then took time to investigate their current site, research other industry-specific patterns and put together a detailed proposal with various options of how to best take the next step in realising the digital evolution of the brand.

We were fortunate enough to be called back in for a meeting recently to discuss the various options in more detail, and we nutted out the best course of action to achieve their goal. A few days ago we were excited to be presented with the news that we were chosen to take the project on and are now going to be delving into development, which will include a complete rebuild of the site with a variety of aesthetic and functional optimisation techniques, along with the most important thing being the ability for them to take ownership of the finished product, so we are going to be creating it on a content managed platform along with ensuring it is up to speed with the latest browsing technologies, significantly mobile and tablet devices.

About Smatt’s Rum.

Smatt’s is one of the finest rums ever produced, dating back to the earliest days of rum production in the Caribbean. Considered by many as the world’s best tasting rum due to its intense smoothness and unique flavours, Smatt’s epitomises the unrivalled quality that has made Jamaica the home of rum. The birthplace of Smatt’s is a historic distillery, beautiful estates surrounded by soaring mountains, pure mineral springs and rich sugar cane fields; elements that all contribute to the Smatt’s phenomenon.

We look forward to beginning work on the project and expect a launch date of late February. Watch this space!

We initially spoke with Hugo to discuss his ideal visual identity, which encompassed modern sophistication and class – akin to the scores he has composed, and we established that a balanced blend of minimalism and the dramatic was the way forward. We then toyed with a variety of typefaces that would translate well in different media, and eventually agreed on a clean, minimalist brand with ever-so-subtle effects to draw the audience’s attention.

Following on from this, we then went to work on the website. Hugo really wanted to convey a sense of drama and bold production, so we delved into our past experience with film one-sheet design and the final result, whilst maintaining simplicity, leaned towards the “montage” look of Hollywood drama.

It was important for Hugo that the site was a portfolio of works, along with being easily maintained with a news & press section, so we kept copy to a minimum, integrated a workable content management system around it and utilised HTML5 elements to showcase audio and visual works that Hugo has composed for, which included Hollywood films, The Lake House (2006, starring Keanu Reeves & Sandra Bullock) and M. Night Shyamalan’s The Village (2004, Sigourney Weaver, William Hurt & Joaquin Phoenix).

Hugo is extremely happy with the final result, and we are proud to announce that the site went live last night. Check it out here.

It’s not often you get to attend and contribute to an exclusive event which sees a band return to its original recording studios 30 years to the date to celebrate the anniversary of a landmark album and perform it in its entirety in front of an exclusive audience of longstanding fans. Such was the case on Friday when we were asked to shoot both afternoon and evening live sessions, fan meet & greets and an official photo shoot with Scottish rock band, Big Country.

Celebrating the 30th Anniversary of their award winning album, The Crossing, the original members of the band (Bruce Watson, Tony Butler and Mark Brzezicki) along with current frontman, Mike Peters (from The Alarm) and Bruce’s son, the dynamic Jamie Watson, returned to the famous RAK Studios in St.John’s Wood, London, to perform and record the entire album live, which included their massive 80′s hits, In A Big Country, Fields Of Fire and Chance.

The studio ambience was a real treat (along with the sound being completely pristine) and we enjoyed shooting both performances before taking the band members for an official photo shoot up to the famous office of RAK Studios’ founder and producer, the late Mickie Most (Jeff Beck, The Yardbirds, The Cure, Radiohead, Suzy Quattro, Hot Chocolate).

We would like to thank everyone involved for their organisation, participation and patience, especially the guys of Big Country and their esteemed manager, Ian Grant – a great bunch of guys and we wish them all the very best for their forthcoming UK tour!

Big Country with their legendary original singer, the late Stuart Adamson, performing their biggest hit in Glasgow

Cross Digital Agency approached us mid-year to renew their digital presence along with all their marketing collateral to allow them to grow and expand the new brand and position themselves more appropriately in the agency market.

CDA wanted to adopt a bold approach with strong typeface and visuals to promote their clients and the services they offer. The strapline (Think Beyond) was decided as CDA pride themselves in thinking outside the box and offering more bespoke services where thoughts and ideas are nurtured, discussed, built upon and challenged – providing more stimulating and unique offerings to each of their clients’ campaigns.

CDA’s Director, Badre Kamah says “It’s more than finding answers. It’s asking new questions. It’s more than questioning convention. It’s imagining what’s never been. We are united in our pursuit of thinking beyond the possible. We aspire to expand all boundaries and reach for what isn’t yet, because the only way to discover the limits of the possible is to go beyond them.”

We wish Badre and his team all the very best for the business going forward into the new year!

You can view the new CDA website here.

Back in September 2010, we worked with Martha to help get SLOimage™ exposure into the digital space by putting together a brand and website for her, and over the past year, her vision has developed at an enormous rate of knots, so much so that her first SLOimage™ piece to be realised received a massive accolade from a Franciscan monk, who thought the installation was so good that he was convinced “the Vatican would buy it”.

Fiennes, an established movie and commercials director, has been developing the unique digital image technology SLOimage™ in collaboration with award winning commercials producer Peter Muggleston to create a pioneering high-end media platform which effectively enables an image to ‘come alive’.

Find out more about how it was done by watching the video below:

The large-scale photo-real interpretation of the Christ Nativity has been inspired by the great canon of Renaissance painting on this subject matter. In partnership with Covent Garden London, Nativity was exhibited in a temporary gallery on the Piazza between 10 November 2011 and 2 January 2012.

The SLOimage™ software technology enables the image to self-generate both randomly and perpetually; its changes unknown to both makers and viewers as it transforms slowly through a vast range of alternative pictorial content or ‘manifestation’. In this way the piece could be said to possess its own intriguing level of consciousness. The element of chance as to what the picture may be showing at any one time can be compelling and generate meaning in new and unexpected ways.

Congratulations Martha and all involved in such an innovative leap forward in moving imagery!

As we slowly wind down to the end of another year, our final web project before we bid farewell to 2012 has been completed and deployed for all rock music lovers to see.

Free, the band who recorded that song used in a chewing gum advert – that’s the way some recall one of the seminal bands of the late 1960s/early 1970s. Yet here was a British band who might have been around for less than five years, yet their impact was immeasurable.

Singers still measure themselves against Paul Rodger’s cultured tones. Paul Kossoff was a guitar icon. Andy Fraser, just 15 when the band formed, was a bassist and songwriter of the highest calibre. Simon Kirke was a drummer who proved economy could be so potent.

We went to work on this project toward the end of last month, and whilst the site has been put together to coincide with a box set being released in summer next year, the challenge with a name such as ‘Free’ is to get the official site so much SEO exposure from the get-go that by the time the product is out in the market, Free’s online presence is right up there. So here we are, several months before the release, and the first step in maximum online exposure has been completed.

As with other classic rock band sites, Free’s new official website focuses on their discography, video & audio content, social interactivity, registrations and a wealth of information about the band that any fan would relish in. All wrapped up in a content management system to drive the site forward.

Thanks to the guys down at Universal Music for such a comprehensive brief and also to Phil Smee, art director of the new box set, for a treasure-trove of digital assets which has made our job in designing the site that much easier.

All right… now you can check out the new website here: www.freetheband.co.uk

Well it’s definitely here – the first of the snow hit our office roof today, the heating is on and the Baileys is flowing – Christmas is starting to feel like Christmas should feel and we’re also (ever-so-slowly) winding down to the end of another year where we can pull out the logs, heat up the mulled wine and start the day by humming along to cheesy songs that one is allowed to do.. Once. A. Year!.

It’s been an exciting year of growth and consolidation for us at Kiss The Frog, and needless to say without our great customers and fans, we’d probably be buried deep in the reeds trying to battle with some juicy flies!

Some of the exciting artists we’ve worked with and visualised this year include Nirvana, The Who, The Kinks, Aerosmith, The Brook Chivell Band, INXS and Free. We’ve also done some great work with online radio station 2country.net, Universal Music, Cloud Nine, LUX, Liberatum, Martha Fiennes, Soda Pictures, GMac Internet Consulting, Human Film and loads more.

It’s been a really fulfilling year for us and we hope to, as one of our friends down at Universal recently said, “smash it” out even stronger next year!

On a personal note, we would like to wish you and your families a safe and joyful Christmas and lots of flowing champagne with plenty of cheer as we draw towards the end of another year and welcome in 2012.

Boom!
Ant.

We spoke with Hugo this morning and got an initial feel for his vision and we will be going to work on delivering the first stage of his website over the coming weeks (Christmas? What’s that???). With some ideas already in mind, we’ll be putting pen to paper – so to speak – and all going well, Hugo’s new site will be launched sometime in January. Watch this space.

A little bit about Hugo:

Hugo de Chaire composes music for film, television and creative media. A percussionist from the age of 7, Hugo composed music throughout school for college bands and ensembles, until becoming a professional composer after studying music production at Kingston University London, and music with Robert Bentley.

He also studied film-scoring techniques with Hollywood composer Hummie Mann in Los Angeles. He has written as an assistant to Joey Newman (of the Newman dynasty) in Los Angeles. He has written scores for various art house films, namely Prison Ball, a hard-hitting documentary from the US independent Bambora Pictures CA. His title music for The Audition (dir. Fraser Robinson) received critical acclaim and the film itself, gained official selection for both Montreal and Malibu Film Festivals.

He has worked both in the UK and the USA for radio and television productions writing theme tunes for Classic FM, Magic 105.4, NDR, OE3 Vienna, Vibe, Hit Radio, FFN and BBC Radio 1. Previous work for BBC Television includes title music for Julian Fellowes’ show ‘Never Mind The Full Stops’, and John Sergeant’s ‘Face The Music’ 2007.

He has also taken advantage of the requirements for quality soundtracks for high production value television adverts. National commercials include Knorr (4 commercials), npower (2 commercials) and Hallmark for their 100th year anniversary.

Hugo’s song writing helped to get the platinum selling operatic boy band G4 a no.1 album ‘G4 and Friends’ into the UK album charts. The only original song on the album ‘Another Day’ was commissioned by Sony BMG in 2005.

He has written music in one of the UK’s top music production companies Wise Buddha as an in-house composer and continues to work independently with other production companies in the UK and with Grooveworx in Los Angeles.

In 2009 Hugo started working for Classic FM, creating their new signature theme, and subsequently numerous adaptations on the main melody. To date he has written over 50 separate cues for them and is currently working on their sound for Christmas 2010. In 2010, teamed with Grooveworx, he also scored the entire News cuts for Univision, with live string and brass sessions recorded in Santa Monica, Los Angeles. Univision is the largest Spanish Television network in the USA.