Like you (probably) I take photos on my phone when I , you know, see interesting things. Then I forget they exist and subsequently forget to share the observation. Tragic, I know.

Anyway, today is a rare sync-my-phone-with-my-computer today and low and behold, a small cluster of forgotten observations has appeared before me. Here they are. [I think this is the blogging equivalent of cooking with whatever ingredients you happen to find in the fridge]

1. golf sale suit

An interesting example of streamlining here. It seems golf-sale-signs have been deemed a waste of wood. Or maybe it’s just tiring holding them all day. This chap on Regents Street in Central London IS the sign. A bit sad, somehow.

2. foldable bikes take over

Everyone in London seems to be riding one of these. I think this photo at Poke nicely captures the cementing of their ubiquity. It’s funny how visual repetition like this immediately creates the sense of a ‘culture’ of behaviour. A bit like how designers consider logo designs. Only when they’re repeated together does the mark feel like a ‘mark’.

3. adding theatre to presentations

I went to a talk by Happy Finish about comping CG elements with photography. The talk itself was held in the very space that the image/scene being discussed was created; a large industrial space in East London. Rather than just explain that they used a smoke machine, they switched it on. This was the view from my seat as I listened. A small bit of theatre goes a long way.

4. bad ‘contextual’ marketing

Someone at Currells Estate Agents decided that buying the ad space on the bus stop directly outside their office was a good idea. Fine in theory, but the result is pointless in many ways. The ad creates absolutely no extra visibility for the company as it simply sits in front of a much bigger ad – the office itself. Looks like it was all just to make a pun about the bus stop. Even more ridiculous seeing as no one on the bus could possibly read it.

5. better ‘contextual’ marketing

Culturally contextual, that it. A cheeky reactive ad from airline, BMI taking a jab at BA ahead of its strikes.

6. curiously busy menu design

The Troubadour‘s menu reminds me of a page from the Yellow Pages. It looks like each section has been designed in isolation from the last. It’s not ‘good’ design, but that’s sort of what I like about it. I’m a bit bored of minimalism and deliberate under-design (plain menus with courier typeface etc). I like that this menu feels a little eccentric and unselfconscious.

7. new views

The East London line opened fairly recently. Between the Hoxton and Shoreditch stops, the train swerves around the building we work in. I don’t know about you, but when I’m given a fresh view of a familiar place, it thrills me a little. I think because it’s kind of a metaphor for what I enjoy doing in my job as a strategist.  If you’re interested at all, here’s a brand new view of the Tea and Biscuit buildings as we travel across the 300 tonne bridge that was erected last year.

8. toilet signs in madrid

I almost walked into the Ladies’ by mistake. It was quite dark in the corridor and at first glance the symbol looked like a man. Upon closer inspection I realised the pictograms were more anatomical than expected.