Toluu

Carsonified

We love the web!

How to encourage loyalty in tough timesDecember 2

Pret, a sandwich shop here in the UK, regularly amazes me with their copywriting.

In a (misguided) bid to stimulate the economy the British government has just decreased the sales tax rate here and all the shops and businesses are having to update their prices.

Here’s what it said:

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(Thank you Darling!)

We’re passing on the new lower VAT rate immediately.

Pret’s ‘Just Roasted’ coffee, ‘Just Made’ Soups & Hot Wraps, dine in prices … in fact all VAT inclusive prices have already been reduced.

Good news for you, a bit of a nightmare for us. We’ve got thousands of price tickets, hundreds of menu boards and now they’re all wrong!

You’ll pay less straight away.

We’ll get the labels right as quickly as we can.

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The funny thing is they’re simply obeying the law, not doing something special or out of the ordinary. They are required by law to charge the new sales tax rate. So why does this flyer make you smile? Three reasons:

1. They’re using familiar and friendly language.

2. They’re letting you know that the tax rate change is a pain in the ass for them but it’s more important to take care of you, even if it’s harder.

3. They’re not afraid to be human and say ‘Hey, we’re bummed we have to do this. We’re like you and we hate boring admin crap.” It helps you to id

Wonderful Web Workshops for 2009November 27

If you are stuck on what to get your web friends for Christmas, worry no more.

We’ve been working really hard to get you guys the best speakers for Carson Workshops 2009.

Check out the awesome line up:

February
Ben Huh - I Can Has Cheezburger
Paul Boag - Headscape

March
Eric Meyer - meyerweb.com

April
Ryan Singer - 37signals

June
Tara Hunt - Citizen Agency

September
Daniel Burka - digg/Pownce

November
Dan Cederholm - SimpleBits

Titles, passes and dates will be released on December 1st (next week).

Be quick (zoom zoom) as the first 10 passes for each of the workshops are at a reduced rate :)

A little bit about Carson Workshops:

For those of you who don’t know, Carson Workshops are a one day event, held at the beautiful RIBA, in the Wren room. It is a more intimate setting where you can be taught, ask questions and meet like minded people. Refreshments and lunch are included in the price, and we always invite you guys for a bevvie or two after the workshop.

If you have any questions or enquiries please drop me a line at natasha at carsonified dot com.

FOWA comes to Dublin!November 13

Future of Web Apps is coming to Dublin and we’re bringing along some of the most talented and expert speakers in the industry with us!

Some of you guys may remember our FOWA Road trip where we visited some major cities including Dublin. We had such a great reception from the web community there so are really excited to be launching the first ever FOWA Dublin.

Expect a fabulous debut with a line up including:

* Blaine Cooke (ex Developer at Twitter)
* David Heinemeier Hansson (37signals & Ruby on Rails)
* Mike Butcher (TechCrunch UK)
* Simon Willison (Co-creator of the Django web framework)
* Ryan Carson (Carsonified)
* Emma Persky (Trampoline Systems)
* Eoghan McCabe & Des Traynor (Contrast)
* Matthew Ogle (Last.fm)

We will be covering topics such as:

* How to sell your web app - Lessons learned from the acquisition of DropSend.com
* How to use APIs to build powerful mash-upsThe secret to making money online
* How to build amazing web apps - Lessons learned from building Twitter.com
* The future is Ruby without Rails
* How to build desktop apps that help your web app succeed
* Building content rich websites using Dj

Carsonified Design, Development & ConsultancyNovember 3

We’ve decided to do a bit of web design, development and consultancy for outside clients in 2009. As the economy is tightening up, we thought it was wise to diversify our revenue streams a bit, just in case.

We constantly get folks asking if we can build sites or apps for them, so I’m really excited to see what will happen. We’re only going to accept a few interesting jobs, so please get in touch right away if you’d like to work together (ryan at carsonified dot com).

Here are the things we can help you out with:

1. Web app/site design and development
2. Web app/site consultancy
3. Small business and start-up consultancy
4. Online marketing consultancy

We’re looking forward to cranking out some beautiful and exciting work! Just shoot me an email at ryan at carsonified dot com or give us a call …

From UK: 01225 324 980
From US or Canada: 011 44 1225 324 980
From Europe: 00 44 1225 324 980

Stylish and geeky - Introducing the Carsonified TeeOctober 30

Last week we released 100 of our custom made journals and jute bags. They literally flew off the shelf. Ryan is currently knee deep in Jiffy envelopes, boxes, bags and Sellotape preparing the deliveries.

This week and just in time for Christmas we bring you the Carsonified T-shirt. Mike, who designed the tee, describes it as “a call to arms to ditch the computer and get back to basics with a pencil and paper”. We just think it looks cool and as my mother would say “it washes well”.

Once you have your tee you’re going to need to know how to fold it. Learn from the master, here’s Steve ‘Buzz’ Pearce from Poke showing us the perfect Top Shop folding technique.

The perfect way to fold a t-shirt! from Carsonified on Vimeo.

The tees are made from 100% pure cotton and are available in small, medium, large and extra large and are priced at $15 + p+p ($5 to the UK and $10 to the rest of the world). Orders will start shipping week beginning 10t