The Bagging Scotland Website

The new Bagging Scotland site is live in ‘beta’ stage, encouraging people to ‘bag’ Scottish Castles, Whisky Distilleries, Islands and Munros (mountains over 3,000ft) by visiting them and getting your photograph taken there to prove it.

The site is a fully-functional social network, providing all the familiar communication tools of social sites such as Facebook and Twitter, where ‘baggers’ can communicate and share their Bagging experiences. This then provides Baggers with a resource that can help them ascertain what, or where, they want to Bag next.

After they have Bagged something (or somewhere), Baggers can then provide their own Bagging feedback in the form of what Bagging Scotland like to call a ‘traveblog’ – their own customisable blog, based on the world-renowned blogging platform Wordpress.

What are you waiting for?! Sign up at www.bagging-scotland.com and go Bagging Scotland’s Castles, Whisky Distilleries, Island and Munros now!

Google Chrome Logo

Chrome has made online life for the average user much simpler, safer, faster and generally more efficient. Chrome is also at the forefront of online technology and standards, leading the current browser-race to be compatible with the various aspects and features of the impending mass-introduction of HTML 5, the latest version of the ‘language of the web’.

Chrome (amongst many other features that could be listed here) provides Extensions that can aid your browsing experience further, by allowing quick access via the browser-window to popular online services and user-interface manipulation. This is nothing new, as Mozilla’s Firefox browser has done this for years; Chrome just does it better.

If you try Chrome for a week, you won’t look back. Here are some useful Chrome Extensions to help make everyone’s web-life that little, but oh-so-satisfying, bit easier:

• Chrome SEO – Check to see how a website is ranked in search engines and many other useful Search Engine Optimisation tools.
• Mini Google Maps – One-click access to Google Maps, ideal if you’re dashing out to an unknown destination and need some quick directions.
• Google Tasks – A more than worthy substitute for the tried and tested ‘post-it notes’ and ‘to-do-lists’ – but even more simple and organised.
• Google Mail Checker – Displays unread messages of the popular email system from Google, creating more browsing space by eliminating that pesky extra tab/window you need to keep open so you can check your mail all the time.
• Smooth Scroll – If there was one complaint about Chrome, it would have to be the ‘jumpy’ scrolling on a page. But don’t worry, this extension will smooth the scroll of pages in Chrome to your browsing pleasure.
• Favicon -  A little bonus for Google search results: get the favicon (the small icon that precedes the URL of a website in the address bar) to show for each search result item. Nice touch!
• Google Dictionary – Allows you dictionary definition with just a double-click on any word, on any web-page, in pretty-much any language.

These are just some examples of a vast selection of Extensions for Chrome; there is an extension for just about anything (and more!) that exist to make online life easier for you.

If you currently use another browser (particularly Microsoft’s default browser Internet Explorer) and want to try using Chrome, you can download it direct from the Google Chrome website.

Google also are in development of creating a full Operating System to rival that of the well-established industry leaders such as Windows, Linux and Mac OS. The new OS will come under the ‘Chrome’ title which is derived from the origins of the Chromium Project; the open-source code project that made possible Google’s venture into the internet browser and OS market.

the colour of the internet is a question you can help to answer!

Imagine you have just been appointed the creative director of the fictional World Wide Web Society, and your first task is to re-brand ‘the internet’.

Where do you start?

Well, you could begin with the origins of the web and Sir Tim Berners-Lee’s stroke of genius when inventing the World Wide Web as we know it – the popular Operating System and Internet Browser of the time (X Window System and ViolaWWW respectively) were primarily monochrome in appearance.

But let’s get this straight; black, grey(s) and white aren’t colours! They are tones.

You could also say that the Internet was limited in its early days to web-safe colours, but that doesn’t exactly narrow it down – there are still 16,777,216 of them!

Today a large proportion of our internet connections are channelled through fibre-optic cable which uses light to transmit data… so that opens out the possibilities even more!

What do you think? What would you do? Give us your answers and comment below! Be as witty or as controversial as you like, we are on the internet after all!

Ramsay’s favourite answer will win a printed copy of a bespoke, one-off piece of artwork featuring their name and answer. A selection of the best answers will also be featured here on this page.

All answers must be submitted in the comment form below (or tweeted with #colouroftheinternet) before Midday GMT on Valentine’s Day, the 14th of February 2010.

———Competition Now Closed ———-

Thanks to everyone who took a minute to speak their mind – a winner has now been chosen. The winner’s prize is currently in production and will be delivered soon.

Ramsay had to agree with Samwello on his winning comment:

Yellow is the colour of enlightenment. The internet is used for so many reasons, but most of all it is used for comunication and the passing of information from one to another…

PLEASE NOTE that the poll is still open – Keep on Voting!! – but be aware you do not stand to win a prize by voting in the poll.

The Ship Website

The Ship (aka ‘The Ship On The Shore’) is a seafood restaurant and bar located on the Shore in Leith, Edinburgh.

The Ship’s identity was developed based on some existing features (such as the typeface ‘Kimberley’) and the newly-created art by Davy Macdonald that will feature on the restaurant’s own-brand champagne label.

Whether it’s just a drink and a light lunch you’re after, or our luxury seafood ‘orgy’, accompanied by our own Champagne, The Ship offers informal, understated excellence. We aim to supply Scotland’s best seafood dining experience.

The website is fully content-managed allowing the client to update the menus and other content on the site. A Twitter and LinkedIn account were created and integrated into the website to allow The Ship to use Social Marketing to target potential customers online.

Below you can see The Ship on the Shore at night:

Photo of The Ship at night, taken by Ramsay

The project was carried out in association with CullenSkink.

Aim high and make it your life’s work to bag Scotland’s 3,000(ish) Castles or why not try to bag ALL of Scotland’s 95 inhabited Islands in a year? By Bagging the 85 Malt Whisky Distilleries in Scotland, you’ll just happen to pass through some of Scotlands best scenery which is full of Castle culture, history and heritage as well. It’s simple, with Bagging Scotland.

The Bagging Scotland team will use a modified VW Transporter, AKA 'The Baggin Waggon', to tour Scotland and in the process 'bag' lots and lots of Whisky Distilleries and maybe some Castles, Munros and Islands too.

For instance, if Islands are your bag, Island Bagging’s website will enable you to put up your own blog, post photos or videos or demonstrate your recent Island conquests, all on your own Bagging Scotland page. If you’ve got a photo of you at the ferry terminal sign at Tobermory or at a recognised Island landmark like the Mishnish bar, then you’ve Bagged Mull! You can compete against others, find out the REAL truths about the Islands and see how others have Bagged the islands, to decide which one you’d like to do next! It’s the same with all our sites. Interactive, educational, organic and above all, great fun.

Build up your own exciting Island Bagging travelogue, get advice from others, develop friendships with liked minded people and be part of Scotland’s newest tourism trail.

Are you Gaggin’ to go Baggin’? Soon, you can!

Bagging Scotland is co-founded by Victor Brierley (of CullenSkink) and Ramsay MacFarlane (yes, that’s me!) and we are currently in the process of developing the business model and concept to attract investors, ready for launch in March 2010.

Catherine is a professional photographer based in Central Scotland.

Ramsay was also resposible for the design, manufacture and installation of the stainless steel sign in the new Gallery.

As well as being one of the UK’s leading Livestock Photographers, Catherine specialises in a wide variety of fields, including; Weddings, Portraiture and Fashion Photography.

She prides herself in producing unique, stylish portraits that are filled with energy and fun.

Catherine also provides images vital for the marketing of your business, capturing every detail with imagination and creativity.

The branding exercise was based on a previous concept; Catherine’s silhouette is used as the secondary brand imagery. This was decided as the best solution to represent Catherine’s rather diverse range of photographic disciplines she works in.

The MacGregor Photography Website

The new logo was designed using a smooth serif typeface for the ‘MacGregor’ part, and a wide-tracked sans-serif typeface for the ‘photography’ part. The ‘O’ in MacGregor has been stylised with the iconic shapes of aperture blades in a camera.

The general brand look is black and white, with the use of images with thin white borders and drop shadows to represent printed photographs.

After some considerable rush due to the opening of the new Gallery at Knockraich Farm in Fintry, the new website is available at: www.macgregorphotography.com

The new website makes use of other web-based services such as Flickr, Twitter and OnlinePhotoProof to allow Catherine a degree of control over the content that is displayed on the site.

The Honkys

John Mcfarlane (no relation) approached Ramsay to create an identity for his new show The Honkys – he required a dynamic online platform to allow the public to view the show and see for themselves the quality of the production.

After completing the branding/identity and website project, Ramsay travelled with ‘Honky John’ twice in 2009, first to New York, then later to Los Angeles.

On the trip to New York, they met with various TV Networks including Comedy Central, MTV and Fox, to pitch for funding to shoot the whole series of The Honkys. They also hosted various screenings of the new Brooklyn-based pilot all across New York, with much of the USA-based cast also in attendance.

The second trip was to the Los Angeles Independent TV Festival, where they attended screenings of the The Honkys and competed for a prize at the festival. Some members of the cast also turned up to show their support.

Below is a trailer of The Honkys for all to see and you can see all the other episodes on The Honkys Website at www.thehonkys.com