Samuel at Wakeup Later.com has written a very informative blog about how websites of some major brands have changed over the past 10 years. See MTV's website of 10 years ago and the one they have today as an example.

Afterwards, I too began to reflect on the projects and websites that I have been involved in over the course of my career. Although the building blocks of a website have changed little, over time they have each matured and been ingrained into conventional wisdom. Online media is now one of the most pervasive mediums available to market any product or service.

The internet is however full of websites that were created over 10 years ago and have not been updated significantly since. Websites are often seen as a requirement for any business but their full potential is rarely achieved. A website should not only clearly present a company brand and contact information but it should also clearly facilitate interaction with the target audience. A website is more than a simple brochure or flyer, it is an opportunity to add value to a brand, product or service.

In conclusion, I believe that website users expect, no in-fact demand more from the websites they visit. Even infrequent users pick up on the styling and functionality of mainstream sites and expect smaller sites to function in the same way.

Design standards and user expectations may have changed in the past decade, the two most important criteria for designers have remained the same:

1. We need to stay up to date and develop our skills and knowledge.
2. We need to support our clients in keeping their sites moving forward.

At Engine, we are firmly committed to both these objectives.

We've just launched the new Clubland Babe Competition for Universal Music to find the cover girl for album no.13. Now that Clubland has its own TV station we thought this would be a great opportunity to expand on the Competitions advertising.

We wanted to come up with a fun campaign that would work on TV and also as a web viral. So we came up with the idea of producing a selection of adverts based around BAD Competition entries, that included unexpected viewers, dodgy web cams, naff dancing and badly shot photos.

We have a couple for you to see here, we call these Garden 1 and 2. Check out Clubland TV or the Web for the rest.

A new award created by Northampton-based creative agency Engine Creative aims to encourage the best students of the University of Northampton by offering a cash prize and a placement at the agency.

The Engine Creative Award will be awarded annually to the highest achieving student of the Advertising with Design course at the University of Northampton. The three students with the highest grades in years 2 and 3 will be shortlisted. Their final dissertation will then be judged by the team at Engine Creative. The winner will be the student who shows the greatest potential to make an impact in the industry.

Engine Creative has close historic links with the University of Northampton. Managing Director Matt Key and Creative Director Phil Christer started the company after meeting at the University and Team Engine includes a number of alumni.

Projects Director Andrew Wise hopes the award will encourage students to think creatively about all aspects of the industry:
"Approaching the University was a logical step in the aim of encouraging the talent Northampton has to offer. Creativity shouldn't be restricted to the actual process of developing design solutions and we are keen on supporting the University of Northampton in developing creative thinking in all aspects of the design and advertising process from initial strategy to planning and delivery."

The Advertising with Design BA (Hons) course provides students with an understanding of both the creative design elements and the marketing functions of contemporary business organisations. This results in a greater understanding between designers and marketing professionals, increasing the opportunity for combining creative approaches with tangible marketing results. The inaugural Engine Creative Award will be awarded in June this year.

Engine Creative has made it on to the exclusive Recommended Agency Register (RAR) for 2008. The RAR undertakes extensive research every year to identify the most respected agencies in the core marketing disciplines. Thousands of clients across the country were contacted to give their verdict on the quality of their agencies' performance across five criteria: account handling, creativity, value for money, strategic thinking and overall professionalism.

Engine Creative's Projects Director Andy Wise comments:
"This validation of our abilities as a creative agency is great news for us and particularly rewarding as the research is purely based on client feedback. We pride ourselves on being client focussed and delivering creative and high impact solutions without any restrictions to the exact format or media utilised. This research reflects the strong partnerships we build with our clients and we're extremely proud to be on the register."

Steve Antoniewicz from RAR said: "During our research, your clients paid testimony to the high standards of services provided by your agency. This information also helps us to provide impartial guidance to clients' companies on agency selection."

Engine Creative have built up an enviable reputation for creating high impact design, complex digital media solutions and quality video production for a range of clients that includes the BBC, the British Library, EMAP, Loans.co.uk, Mercedes-Benz HPE, Ministry of Sound, National College for School Leadership, the Open University and Universal Music TV.

Founded in 1997 and now based in a converted chapel in Northampton, Engine Creative have enjoyed substantial growth over the past few years and are currently working with a number of local organisations including Northamptonshire County Council, North Northants Development Company and Toyo Tires to develop various marketing initiatives.

The music landscape is littered with excruciating cover versions of classic songs. There are exceptions of course. The secret of a good cover is to take a song and run with it. Make it your own, rather than trying to recreate what's been done already.

I chanced upon this while listening to Jonathan Ross' Saturday Radio 2 show. Enter The Last Town Chorus' version of David Bowie's "Modern Love". Being a big Bowie fan, I had to track it down.

Unfortunately the quality of the promo video doesn't quite match up to the song... ( just hide the browser window and listen to the audio)

"Modern Love" is the first track on David Bowie's album 'Let's Dance'. It was issued as the third single from the album in 1983. Here's the original.