Specifically we’re after front end developers (XHTML, CSS, JQuery, Flash a bonus), technical staff (Linux, Apache, MYSQL, PHP, Drupal and so on) and additional interactive designers & creatives.

We’re also after a really sharp business development person - not one that wears a shiny suit and shouts, but someone who is knee deep in digital, with great ideas and the ability to work with our clients to define proper solutions to their requirements.

If you’re the one for us we’d love to hear from you - drop us a line at hello [at] flamedigital.com.

Cheerio for now.

You have to make some really hard decision’s, let some people go, bring some new people in….

I’ve had to make some major decisions that change people lives.

I’ll never forget their faces when I’ve told them the bad news that I’m dropping them.

People really do think its easy, but its not, its really not.

I’ve had some sleepless nights recently going over and over about my next big decision…..

Do I play 1-3-1 or 1-2-2!

Flame are playing Amaze tonight at football. Can Flame make it 3 wins out of 3?

Match report tomorrow.

Update - Due to some dodgy reffing we lost by a last minute goal. We believe the referee was bought by the opposition. One member of our squad swears blind the ref arrived on the Amaze team coach. Hopefully the hyped up re-match will not feature the referee as the biggest talking point.

P.S, Oh and cheers to Ian for reffing.

Augmented reality proper is about to be with us all, and it’s got us all excited in a science fiction geeky crazy way. So much so that we’ve been developing a number of proof of concept demos, and real projects for a number of clients. We’re hoping to post a few up here as soon as they’re in a fit state to show off.

They vary from things akin to what you see above, to altogether more far out ideas - one of which we’re very excited about - think attaching digital narratives to physical objects combined with food retail. More on that one soon.

(P.S. To all those clients who we’re not currently developing a flashy AR app for - sorry, we do love you too - your time will come).

We’ve just launched the first stage of a project called The Manchester Story. It’s a not-for-profit venture as an experiment to see how effectively we can crowdsource the history of this lovely city. We’d love to hear any and all feedback and suggestions anyone might have - and would welcome anyone who wants to get involved, in any way, large or small. If so, drop us a line.

Please bear with us on it - the project is well underway, but as it’s not paid-for or funded by anyone other than ourselves our fabulous clients of course come first. That said, we are getting help from lots of wonderful people out of the goodness of their hearts. More on them soon, too - some of them are very shy, but we’ll reveal more over the next few weeks.

If my word alone doesn’t sway you, check out the hundreds of opinions on Twitter.

And if that doesn’t sway you, tomorrow (Friday 5th June), to celebrate 6,000 sales (which is a staggering amount for a web design eBook released less than 6 months ago), the Boulton crew are having a 50% sale on all books/eBooks while stocks last. So I suggest you get there early!

Also coming later this year is ‘Designing Grid Systems for the web’ and ‘Designing the invisible’. I reckon it’ll be worth keeping an eye out for those as well.

Follow Five Simple Steps on Twitter @fivesimplesteps and Mark Boulton @markboulton.

Between continuing work with all of our great clients, creatively investing in exciting pitch work and huddling over classified internal projects, we’ve got round to crafting a new enhanced online presence for digital evidence experts Cy4or.

CY4OR is a global computer forensics firm providing extensive knowledge and expertise in digital evidence. So when you need to recover some damaged or lost data, analyse audio and video files for an investigation or collect critical information to protect your business interests - these are the guys to call. It’s all a bit 24.

Thanks to everyone one the team who helped out. If you want to check out the site just cruise on over to www.cy4or.co.uk.

Thanks, more coming soon!

In the digital age where everyone has a voice, every consumer has access to promote their views to hundreds, even thousands of people and seek out reviews, honest unbiased opinions and true stories from others - mass media advertising, marketers lies and fictional stories shrouding the true experiences of a particular product, service or company are virtually powerless.

If I’m looking for a new razor, or to dine out at a Mexican restaurant, or require new double glazing - all I have to do is spend 5 minutes on the Internet to cut through the noise and find dozens of real-life accounts of previous experiences to help make my mind up. No longer can the false impressions conjured up by advertisers on the TV, radio and magazines persuade me to part with such precious commodities as my money, time and attention before seeking the true stories out.

If a customer service desk sends an inappropriately rude email, an airline loses your flight details or a politician lets slip a racial slur - in a matter of hours it can be across the net, on YouTube, flying around Twitter - reaching hundreds of people who will be more than happy to continue to spread the word.

Don’t propose to be something you’re not, because today it’s all to easy for people to discover the truth.

I won’t go on about this. Instead I recommend you listen to 2 men far more experienced in this area than myself. Check out Joseph Pine’s insightful TED talk then pop over to Amazon and grab yourself a copy of Seth Godin’s Meatball Sundae. Then tell someone else what you really think.

When we launched the Holiday Extras viral last year we had a mixed response; some people loved it, some people hated it and some were so offended that we ended up being investigated by the ASA.

So months after launch we were sure of two things: that the ad garnered enough exposure (100,000+ collective views) to be considered a success, and that it was not politically correct. At all.

And if it was widely regarded as non-PC then we thought it might be a shoo-in for the notoriously edgy Chip Shop Awards. So we entered the Best Politically Incorrect category (what else?) and eagerly awaited the release of the nominations.

When the organisers contacted us for a new copy of the video, we thought our luck was in - we mentally organised a thank you list, got measured for suits at Officer’s Club and practiced our loser’s faces, just in case.

But when the nominations were released, we enthusiastically pored over the list but couldn’t see our name anywhere.  So maybe the ad isn’t as non-PC as we suspected. And if that is the case, then the only thing we have to rely on is that it was a success for our clients. Which isn’t really a bad thing now is it?

And now we also have the smartest looking staff of any digital agency opposite the Arndale centre in Manchester.

If you’d like to see how we can use our creative and video skills to take your brand in new and exciting directions then why not contact us today?

All in all the day was great, full of inspirational talks and a throroughly fun (and free) after party in a swanky bar off Piccadilly Circus. Although there were some ups and downs, a few weak talks and a couple that really seemed to look at the ‘history of web design’ over the future, most of the days events were interesting, engaging and I most certainly took a lot away with me (including a nice free notebook, t-shirt and great poster courtesy of Mike Kus).

Mike Kus talks about Graphic Design and the web

Highlights of the day included talks by Mark Boulton on Typography on the web, Mike Kus on bringing better Graphic Design to the web, Meagan Fisher on Designing effective mobile interfaces and Molly Holzshlag’s telling off about web standards! I was also pleasently suprised by several other speakers I’d never before heard of including Brett Welch, Sabrina Dent and Robert Christopherson’s eye-opening (no pun intended) insight into web accessibility and designing for all users.

To add extra entertainment to the day, Twitter was going wild from avid twitterers in the room. It was hilarious to see live time updates of everyone’s opinions and ranting through the high points and some terribly low points of the day. For those who couldn’t make it, I’d seriously recommending trying to get there next time around, it’s definitely worth it. I’ll sure be there!

Mark Boulton talks about a subject very close to his heart - Typography

It was also great to meet a few people I’ve known through Twitter or the web in general for a while but never actually met in person. Some of the bigger names included Mike Kus, Elliot Jay Stocks and Ryan Carson himself! A lot of people’s nametags included their Twitter usernames as well or even instead of their real names. I’m unsure whether that’s a good or bad sign really.

Anyways, a great day, a lot to take away and for your viewing pleasure - some snaps from the day:

Goodies courtesy of Carsonified

My begging twitpic for any spare free beer tokens

Ryan Carson (I stole his hat) and Joe Russell from Stickyeyes

This distinct competitive nature has been seized by Apple in particular as the backbone of their viral advertising strategies. Their ‘Get a Mac‘ campaign was openly both mocked and embraced by CP+B’s ‘I’m a PC‘ campaign (which gained more PR when it was discovered they had been created on Macs!).

Apple has fired back with another full-on dig at Microsoft, this time criticising the silly amount of disclaimer small print that accompanies your shiny new, not-so-easy-to-use PC. The advert isn’t so much aimed at the actual legal copy itself but at the fact that Microsoft continue to promote an easy, trouble-free OS that really, well, isn’t at all. Take a peek:

But is attacking the competition a good marketing strategy? Does it not make you seem pathetic, childish? We all know Apple products far surpass the half-arsed creations of money-grabbing Microsoft (spoken like a true Apple fanboy), but basing a viral ad campaign on trying to insult your direct competition doesn’t make you look any better, it just makes you look arrogant, perhaps foolish.

But that’s just my opinion.