November 7, 2009 by Liga
I recently had a chance to try Machinarium. It’s an award-winning independent puzzle / adventure game developed by the ingenious studio Amanita Design. ’Machinarium is an extraordinarily beautiful creation. It’s a sort of beauty that games are almost never graced with’ (rockpapershotgun.com).
Machinarium took the prize for “Excellence in Visual Art” at this (2009) year’s Independent Game Festival. And it’s totally clear why. The hand-drawn scenes and characters are captivating and entertaining.
The game itself is catchy and exciting. Journey of the main character is full of unexpected surprises, the scenes and tasks are artistically crafted. And if you get stuck there are two levels of clues.
The game has a stunning audio track and a very high level of playability. Some puzzles may keep you in the game for a while but it’s such a great pleasure. Enjoy!
Posted in design, marketing | Leave a Comment »
November 4, 2009 by Liga
Our housemate Marko showed us a brilliant pasta recipe tonight. As he said ‘it’s tastiest of the easy-ones’.
You take canned or frozen green peas, fry them with onions in the olive oil until you get a green mushy paste.
Meanwhile you boil farfarelle (bow-shaped pasta) until tender. You put some fresh cream in a bowl, add pasta when it’s ready, mix it with the fried green peas and add thinly sliced ham.
It’s quick and absolutely DELICIOUS!
Posted in food | Leave a Comment »
November 3, 2009 by Liga
I was passing by some shops today and was startled by the view.
Two days ago all the shop windows were full of pumpkins and skeletons but it seems that it was only a small necessary interlude, something you have to get over with to get to the actual big thing – selling Christmas.
All the witches have been quickly swapped with Santa Clauses, spiders and cobwebs with little angels and artificial snow. But I doubt that’s because the shopkeepers prefer positive over scary. It’s just so that on x-mas people spend more.
It looks like not just people suffer from the recession. The Halloween spirit can quietly wrap itself in the cobweb somewhere in the attic corner and dream about the old days of glory and celebration.
(Thanks to cuu for the photo.)
Posted in marketing | Leave a Comment »
September 4, 2009 by Liga
I saw this and couldn’t not to share it with you.
This is not a photo, and no, it’s not a computer generated image, it’s a painting! Yes, a painting – oil on canvas – skillfully done by artist Roberto Bernardi. Go to his website to see some more.
Enjoy.
Tags: art, oil on canvas, painting, Roberto Bernardi
Posted in art | Leave a Comment »
February 22, 2009 by Liga
It has always been an important matter to understand your customers: what are their needs, what do they want and how do they make the decision to buy or not to buy your product. In times of economical difficulties (like global recession) and major changes (like a fact that by 2040 or even earlier hispanic population in US will surpass the white non-hispanic inhabitants) understanding of customers are crucial.
I liked the creative approach of a real estate broker who used his knowledge about his customer to his own advantage. “Hispanic would-be homebuyers were allowed to spend a night in the house so they could invite family and friends for dinner prior to making the purchase decision. The family decided to purchase the house after getting positive feedback from the guests.” The knowledge of an importance of family members and their opinion in a hispanic family secured the real estate broker a deal.
Pay attention to who are those people you are going to sell your products to and customize your approach accordingly. It will definitely pay off.
Tags: customer, hispanic, selling, success, understanding
Posted in customer relations, marketing | 1 Comment »
January 11, 2009 by Liga
When everybody talks gloomy, doomy and recession this picture seemed encouragingly bright and positive. So thank you for staying with me, hope to see you again and have a very happy new year.
Photo ‘Happy 2009′ by faeryboots
Posted in thoughts | Leave a Comment »
).
The Groundswell
May 18, 2009 by LigaFinally got my hands on and read The Groundswell by Charlene Li and Josh Bernoff.
At a first glance it seemed the book does not contain anything new for me, but sinking deeper I realized that there are a lot of fresh ideas for everybody. We all have heard of such social web tools as blogs, forums, wikis, and on-line communities but there are so many ways how to use them. Some ways are smart and beneficial for the user and for the community, some ways are better to be avoided.
The authors provide an insight in the opportunities given to the businesses by those social technologies. Some most important things which are emphasized throughout the book are:
In addition to well written ‘theory’ Charlene and Josh provided a lot of interesting and educational case studies in every chapter, helping the reader grasp the idea better. And sometimes the unusual approaches to problem solving using social technologies can be very inspiring and lead to new development of tools and make their usage even more efficient.
I recommend this book to anybody who is in marketing, communications, customer relations, PR or in general has to maintain a relationship with people inside and outside the company.
Groundswell blog.
Posted in Public Relations (PR), blogging, comments & thoughts, customer relations, marketing | 1 Comment »