Posts written by Piers H Palmer
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Kyan Interviewed
Posted by Piers H Palmer on October 22, 2009
Recently an admirer from afar, Morocco in fact, got in touch for an interview to publish on their website cssbit.com. We thought it was worth posting the interview here in full english.
Incidently if you have a question you’d like us to answer feel free to get in touch at info@kyanmedia.com.
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Cool new website for climate control specialists (and penguins)
Posted by Piers H Palmer on October 15, 2009
Quantum Cooling provide a range of equipment and services for the drinks dispense, refrigeration and air conditioning industries. They needed an appealing new site to explain their range of products/services to potential customers. Penguins would be a bonus!
We’ve built Quantum a bespoke content management system (CMS) to allow them to keep the site content fresh and relevant without them having to come back to us to make updates on their behalf. Whether it’s managing their product portfolio, writing news posts or adding happy stories about their clients, they can do it themsleves without the need for any web programming skills — it’s a cinch!
The new site is clearly laid out with a simple navigation system, a heavy dose of white space and allows Quantum’s unique service philosophy to shine through. Oh yes, and did I mention it’s got penguins?
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Daily brand timeline portrait
Posted by Piers H Palmer on May 21, 2009
I stumbled across a really interesting idea at Dear Jane Sample, for anyone interested in marketing and the power of brand; documenting your daily interaction with brands via a timeline.
I was so intrigued I decided to give it a go. You can see the results below. I stuck with the brands that were bubbling at the fore-front of my consciousness so it’s not a completely inclusive list and my online life has been kept stripped down. However an interesting exercise!
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Is imitation really the sincerest form of flattery?
Posted by Piers H Palmer on September 23, 2008
A new site has appeared on the wonderful inter-tubes, brought to us by a web design firm in Minnesota – Rocket 55 – that looks remarkably similar to ours. As designers we all stand on the shoulders of giants, borrowing ideas and concepts, using the same typefaces, colour palettes and some may say that nothing is truly original but there is a line that can be crossed where an idea is no longer reworked but just plain stolen.
I’m pretty sure that this is one of those cases. Without knowing the full facts of the story, the company may not be entirely to blame. They may have sub-contracted the design work to a third party and be completetly unaware of the blatant rip off, but ultimately they are responsible and this doesn’t go un-recognised amongst the community.
What do you think? Genuine synchronicity or steal?
ps. Thanks to everyone who made us aware of this!
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Ultimate Vindaloo v0.1 - beta
Posted by Piers H Palmer on September 16, 2008
The vindaloo has a special place in the hearts, bellies and minds of us Brits even though it’s origins lie much further afield. It’s historical basis comes to us originally from the Portugese, who fuelled their empire building with casks filled with pork and preserved in vinegar and garlic. “vinha d’alhos” is portugese for garlic wine and has no link to the hindi aloo (potato) that often (mistakenly) gets added.
The Portugese hit Goa’s shores in the early 16th century and it was then that the local indian population added their spices into the mix. The deep redolent flavours of the dish that comes with the fenugreek, cloves and garlic, set-off against the sourness of tamarind pulp & vinegar, enhanced with a knock-out hit of chilli makes it a favourite dish of mine. It is not the machismo of the heat that makes it so special but the mixing of two different continents approach to cuisine – an original culinery mashup that still works four centuries later that makes it a cultural and gastronomic heavyweight.
Vindaloo is more than a dish. Vindaloo is more than macho posturing after the pub. Vindaloo is more than a football chant. Vindaloo is the poster boy of multi-culturalism, it is what it is to be British today, with roots in imperialism & empire, a history of assimilation and adaption, a melting pot of ingredients and techniques.
This post documents my investigations into the ultimate vindaloo recipe. This is v0.1 in that journey.
Serves 8
Sauce Ingredients
• Red onions x 4
• Garlic (4 cloves)
• Ginger (5cm piece)
• Kashmiri chillis x 3
• Turmeric (2 tsp)
• Cardamon (8 pods)
• Cumin seeds ground (1 tsp)
• Coriander seeds ground (1 tsp)
• Mustard seeds (2 tsp)
• Cloves (8 cloves)
• Black peppercorns ground (1 tsp)
• Fenugreek (1 tsp)
• Red wine vinegar (half a cup)
• Tom puree (big squirt)
• Soft brown sugar (2 tsp)Other ingredients
• Red onion x 1
• Chicken breasts x 8
• Vegetable oil
• Coriander bunch
• Cup of waterI threw the red onions in the oven with their skins on and roasted for about an hour. Peeled off the rough outer layers and put in a blender with all the other sauce ingredients and blended to a chunky gravy consistency.
Chopped the chicken and spooned over a couple of spoons of the sauce and mix and left to marinate in the fridge overnight.
Finely chopped the red onion and softly fried in a large frying pan with the vegetable oil, added the chicken and cooked until sealed. Added the rest of the sauce and slow cooked with the lid on for an hour.
The verdict: Good, although I think the ginger overplayed its hand and it was a little too sweet. Perhaps needed some more garlic. The heat level was spot on, hot without any
discomfort. I couldn’t find any tamarind in time so missed out on some of the sourness and this probably added to the sweetness.Next time to use tamarind and find some ghee to replace the vegetable oil.
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Website easter egg
Posted by Piers H Palmer on September 10, 2008
We decided to have a little fun now that summer is over, combining some design yumminess and behavioural goodness.
See if you are up to the challenge! Can you find the indomitable and mighty web geek PROFESSOR WAKE on our website. He’s hiding there somewhere…
A little clue: quae deorsum sunt quaerite
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Why it's all in the bounce
Posted by Piers H Palmer on April 08, 2008
Google Analytics rocks! I could spend hours/days/weeks sniffing about the statistical minutiae that Google Analytics serves up. Three users from X visited my site last week and each spent Y minutes on landingpage Z having been referred there by using the search term Z – amazing but probably not that useful.
If there is one metric you should look at, check out the bounce rate, the ‘I came, I puked, I left’ metric as so lucidly explained by Avinash Kaushik – check out the video presentation.
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Virtual bleed
Posted by Piers H Palmer on February 27, 2008
I’m pretty sure I’m not the only one to suffer from a condition that appears to be affecting my general perception of reality; a condition akin to one of the super-mutants in ‘Heroes’ slowly becoming aware of their latent powers.
Increasingly spending up to 12 hours a day interacting with software over a 20 year period is finally coming to a head as my virtual capabilities begin to bleed through to that other ‘hinterland’ of reality – meatspace (or as any flesh-jock may short-sightedly call it, the real world’).
This brave new world beckons and I’m ready to jump in.
I guess it started out with the familiar pattern of applying the celebrated shortcut CNTRL-Z (undo). Whilst working in Photoshop, I would try something out, not like it, undo and try again, repeating this pattern until I was satisfied. This would often mean hundreds of ‘undoes’ an hour, thousands over a week and millions over a number of years. This alchemical ability to ‘juggle the forms of everyday life’ with no consequence has begun to bleed through to the ‘real world’. I drop a pen, a synaptic neuron fires a CNTRL-Z event and my pen is expected to instantaneously appear back in my hand. A rosy apple in the fruit bowl shines attractively and a CNTRL-X event is fired. My car keys have moved from where I carefully placed them this morning, a search event activates.
‘Static’ objects glint, offering hidden interfaces and occult geometries of interaction. My dirty dinner plate almost reveals the ‘re-format’ button and the page corners of my magazine quiver in anticipation of auto-curl. A true convergence is happening and I can’t wait.
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Kyan Vs Computer Strategies Bowling Challenge
Posted by Piers H Palmer on January 25, 2008
A challenge was made, a date set and geeks rallied.
Lifting the trophy aloft, it was remarked at how similar it looked to a bowling pin; fortunately not one of the dazed’n’confused staff had reported any missing. Two close games, the second only won by 7 points left Kyan the winner on this occassion. Special mention should go to Steven ‘Rocketman’ Thompson whose genuine loathing for bowling pins meant that not only did he get the top score but also managed to upset the ‘magic’ bowling robot so much that a ‘tek’ was required to fix our lane.
Highlights:
Paul taking out his own ankle with a ball
Laurent coming second last
Phil wondering how may pins in ten-pin bowling
Stevie T’s top speed of 24mphThanks to all at Computer Strategies, especially Tony for organising and sourcing the prices.
