Oh yes, when the opportunity does arise, we do branding as well! Such is the case when we were approached by a long time client and friend to design a logo for their brand new blog. The requirements were pretty simple and straight forward.

“Need it in blue & web 2.0-ish”

Here’s what we came up with. Hit the read more link!

What do you think?

Different logo variations

Oh hey, if you’re looking for someone to create a brand for you, why not hit us up? :)

Tired of getting stuck in KL? How about giving KLTraffic, a  Nokia mobile widget a shot?

So, what’s this widget about? Basically it takes traffic image feeds (provided by ITIS) of various roads in and about Kuala Lumpur. If you’re working in the heart of the city, this will prove to be rather handy!

Work on this widget started right after the Nokia OneConnectedWorld 2009 last week and took us only a couple of days to develop.

KLTraffic widget screens

If you own a Nokia device, particularly the N97, N97 mini, 5800 & 5530 Xpressmusic or even the brand new Xpressmusic X6, do give this widget a try.

Some improvements are in the pipeline, particularly the ability for users to submit traffic reports. But yeah, we’ll get into that much later on. For the time being if  this proves to be popular, we’ll work on it, otherwise we’ll just jump into a new project since Nokia WRT development is pretty rapid and easy to code.

A little tutorial on how to use this (it’s very straight forward)

1. Click on any of the road names to load their respective traffic feed.
2. Clicking on the double arrow icon will load an overlay over the traffic feed. This way, you’ll know which direction the traffic is heading.
3. Hit the refresh button to get the latest image feed.
4. The widget supports portrait view only.

We’re publishing this in the Ovi Store  and will remain FREE. Show your support by sharing  this widgets with your buddies or drop us a comment below :)

Here’s the widget product page! If you’re looking for the download link … there’s none yet. We’ll link it to the Ovi Store page when it’s approved. If you’d like to give this a try, just drop a comment below.

Update:

It’s up on Ovi Store now! Grab it by going to the KLTraffic widget page here and click on the “Download from Ovi” button.

We had the privilege of being invited to Nokia’s OneConnectedWorld at Hilton KL yesterday. Nokia shared market opportunities around Ovi Store (we have an account btw), and showcasing the possibilities of Web Run-Time Technology (WRT) and unveiled some exciting initiatives to support the creation and development of mobile applications together with senior executives from Cradle Fund and MDeC.

There was also a show floor (see pictures) showcasing some of the WRT app developed by OTHER developers NOT from Malaysia. It’s really sad that there weren’t any local developers showcasing their apps … oh wait, oh yeah, there aren’t any! How disappointing. Well, we’re going to change that. Nerd Attack will be developing some apps soon.

Hit the read more link for some photos of the event.

Media Interview Room, oh no ... we weren't invited, though I wish we were *ahem*

We were greeted by this ...

Nokia showcasing some of their new devices

The OVI Maps booth

The N97 Mini, great hardware, just not so great software (Symbian 5th Edition)

A closer shot of the N97 mini, running the Fasion Asia widget

Developer's briefing room

OneConnectedWorld ... we connect without spaces. I made that up :P

Kenny Mathers, Head of Developer Relations & Marketing, APAC

Gary Chan, Developer Relations Manager, SEAP

Mark Olila, Director, X-Media Solutions, Media & Games, Nokia. Wears a fancy bling bling cap ... Oh yeah, please ignore the water bottle.

Roslan Bakri, Director, Technopreneur & Enterprise Dept

And here’s the welcome video. I couldn’t get my phone camera to load fast, missing the first few seconds.

That’s all that we manage to capture. Apologies for the bad photos, the Nokia 5800 doesn’t have a great camera after all.

We both know it probably would take a while for Air Asia to come up with an iPhone app, hence I took the liberty (and risk of being sued, kidding, seriously … ) of creating a mockup of what an actual application would look like.

Hey wait a minute! Why don’t you guys create the app instead? Brilliant idea there Joe, except that at the moment we don’t own a Mac (a pre-requisite for any development on the iPhone) and of course, silly me just sold off a 2G iPhone back in early February. But hey, if there’s any kind soul out there that wants to see this a reality, hit us up with a Mac + iPhone + meeting with Air Asia ;)

Otherwise, let’s just have a look at this mockup.

The splash screen (Loading screen)

Loading Screen

Gotta love the disclaimer there.

The Flight Reservation screen

Flight Reservation screen

Flight Reservation screen .. continued

Selecting a departure date

Flight Information screen

Choose to view flight schedules, route map or destinations

Looking up a flight schedule

Making a selection

Air Asia route map, taken from their site (don't sue us)

Select any destination to learn more about it

Here you're able to learn EVERYTHING about your destination. Moving Around, Accommodation, Dining, Sightseeing, Culture, Art & Theater, Nature & Eco, Shopping

Promotion screen

There is a ‘Promotion’ section in the app … kinda handy if you don’t want to log on to the website to check it out.

All currrent promotions in banner form will be loaded here

Sign in screen

Sign in area, you can create a new account here

Signing in, entering your user ID & password

About section

Hey, every app needs to have an about us section ;)

About screen with 'On Time Performance' graph

So there you have it, our little mockup of what an Air Asia iPhone app would look like. We would very much like to work on this when the opportunity arises.

Drop a comment if you have any ideas or suggestions to share with us :)

If you’ve been designing websites for ages now, you’d probably hate it when it comes to creating beautiful forms, only to find that checkboxes & combo boxes allow very little or limited CSS design. Did I mention how each browser draws them differently?

Today I’ll be sharing a few jQuery plugins that specifically changes how checkboxes and combo boxes behave.

1. Pretty checkboxes with jQuery

Pretty Checkboxes by Aaron

Aaron has done a pretty good job with this. Who would had thought a simple checkbox could be manipulated and implemented in such a manner? Pretty innovative if you ask me. You can have a look at the script located here, Pretty Checkboxes.

2. jQuery checkbox and Radio button

jQuery checkbox and Radio button by Widowmaker

Another great implementation of a checkbox, kinda reminds you of how Apple’s iPhone does it.

Features:

1. only inline elements used, just like default checkoxes
2. cross-browser look and feel (tested in IE6, IE7, IE8, Firefox and Chrome engines)
3. work with radio buttons too
4. supports inline and jQuery attached click events
5. supports “label hovering”: when you point over parent label element, it will highlight its checkbox (thanks to Eugene for the idea)
6. dynamic skin changing
7. adds new checkbox events “check”, “uncheck”, “disable”, “enable”, ready to use in jQuery.bind() method

Grab the script right over here.

3. Accessible radio button and checkbox replacement

Accessible radio button and checkbox replacement by trixta

A pretty standard script that replaces radio buttons and checkboxes with a more skinable version. Get the code here.

4. prettyCheckboxes

prettyCheckboxes by Stéphane Caron

This script is for people who wants to have a consistent look for checkboxes across browser or those who simply want them to look better. By using this script you wont loose any of the regular inputs usability. This implementation has a nice hover-state. Get the code here.

If you come across anymore jQuery plugins, feel free to drop a comment or two :)

We have just uploaded the REVOLUTION of LOVE redesign yesterday. What do you guys think of it? The site isn’t completed yet, some sections will be updated in stages. A few things to note, the video section (REVO TV) isn’t up yet, as well as some sections like the Campus, Marketplace and Others True Stories.

Let us know if you’ve found any bugs and … we’ll squash it :)

A pretty good article written by Brian Yerkes over at www.brianyerkes.com. What can I say? It’s SPOT ON. You really do meet all kinds of clients :)

Working with all types of clients on a daily basis can be as challenging as the actual design or development work that they are hiring you for. As a freelancer or a project manager, you are on the front-line and even though there shouldn’t be war between you and your client, it can sometimes feel like a battle!

Over the years, I have heard clients say a lot of things, and some of them are more clear in their message than others. For those starting out in the design industry, whether it is at a firm, or as a freelancer, this list of “5 things clients say and what they really mean” will surely help you to be educated when interacting with various types of clients.

1. “I designed it myself and just need you to ,,,”

99.9% of the time, if a client says this to you when they first inquire about your services, and ask you for a quote, they are really saying, “I know enough to have an opinion on YOUR profession, and I understand what it takes to do what you do. I don’t really think your skills are anything that hard to do, I just don’t have the time to do it, or I don’t have the little amount of time it probably takes to learn it. Knowing all this, I won’t be paying you that much to do this work as it shouldn’t take you that long at all…plus I’ve already done most of the work for you.”

2. “Can you do it for $xxx now, and when we become more successful, we will pay more?”

This is a pretty easy one. What they are really saying is “I probably have the money to pay you fully for what you quoted me, but I’m gona try and see if I can make a deal and get away with paying you less than what you want. After all, you seem like a bit of a pushover….I don’t plan on paying you more when/if we are more successful, because your work isn’t really the thing that made us successful so why would we feel obliged to pay you again months after the project is over?”

3. “I don’t agree to your contract terms. Please remove section 1a ,,,”

Red flag. This is like meeting a girl in a bar who talks about her daddy issues for 2 hours, and ends up crying in your arms while I drink as much whiskey as possible in the hope that I may secretly pass out with my eyes open, standing upright, but not able to hear her myopic whining…..wait, whoa….sorry, back to the article.

It is probably a fact that a large majority of freelancers / design firms have fair and honest contracts. There is rarely any reason for a client to question any of the terms in the average contract designers use, so when a client requests different terms  and changes to the wording of the agreement, this is a serious warning sign. By rejecting some of your contract terms, depending on what they are, the client is really telling you, “I don’t really trust you or your company that much at all, so I am going to try and get this contract to be much more favorable for me before I sign it. Due to the fact that I don’t really trust you that much, this project is going to be a struggle to get completed, and while I will blame you for the delays, it will really be my fault because I continue to fight for the power in this project, and I really don’t want to give you any sort of control or power. Oh, and that 50% payment you want just to start the project…make it 25% and you’ve got a deal. I’ll pay the remainder when the project is done…in 2 years.”

4. “I’ve never hired a web designer so I’m not sure about this whole process, but you guys are the experts ,,,”

Lovely. Time to be happy and smile. What this client is really saying is “I honestly think you are the expert, and realize that I know absolutely nothing about the skills that you have. I can’t even imagine trying to do this myself. It would be like trying to build my own house, or telling the air conditioner technician how to fix the air condenser. I will be a good client to work with as I value your expertise and I will not request that many revisions during the project. I figure that you do this all day everyday and have a successful career out of it, so who am I to tell you to what to do.”

5. “We need a website built, my Husband’s cousin made one for him but he is in Detroit ,,,”

This is pretty similar to #1 above. Most likely, what this client is really saying is “My Husband’s cousin is a receptionist and she has Photoshop on her computer (or she is a granny from Tennessee), and she put the site together using Go Daddy’s “Website Tonight” service. We really like that website and want something similar.”. Unless her Husband’s cousin is an actual experienced web designer, chances are that the website she developed for her Uncle is pretty bad. If the client says she likes the site that was created, it pretty much means that she doesn’t understand the difference in quality in web design. As a result, she will probably choose the cheapest web design firm she finds. If she doesn’t understand the quality difference, why would she pay you $5,000 when someone down the road quoted her at $500? She will get a $500 website, and will be happy with it, until one day when she realizes that her site isn’t getting any leads and nobody ever compliments her on it.

Ok, how about a 6th! “Make the logo bigger”

When clients say this they actually simply, and sadly always just want their logo bigger! Perhaps you need to stock up on some “Make my logo bigger cream”

Well, that’s it! “5 things clients say and what they really mean”. Most clients are good people, and great to work with, but there will always be those that make life a little more difficult, for whatever reason.  With some education, and understanding, you can turn even the most high maintenance clients into decent, profitable ones. Client management is an underestimated element of being a designer or project manager, and the successful ones are able to handle each level of communication that they have with clients.

Checkout the full article over his site at www.brianyerkes.com

Check out our website at www.nerdattack.com.my if you haven’t. You’ll find what’s we’re about, the things we do as well as some of the things we’ve done.

Very soon we’ll be working on a top secret mobile application. What is it you say? Well, you’ll know in due time!