Septiembre es un mes nefasto para la mayoría de los humanitos. Suele ser el final de las vacaciones, el final del descanso, el inicio de poner en práctica los proyectos que hemos ido postergando pero que al toparnos con la pertinaz realidad nos vemos obligados a desistir.

Septiembre representa la pesadilla de muchos niños y de sus profesores. Es una puerta cerrada o a punto de cerrarse al llegar a la empresa. Septiembre debe tener algo bueno. Pues no sé. Ni el origen etimológico como séptimo mes del año le corresponde, y a partir de él, los demás meses van confundidos.

Es un mes que engaña, nos confunde, aparcamos ideas y proyectos en julio pensando que en septiembre serán más factibles y que tendremos fuerzas para llevarlos a cabo. Y somos persistentes, año tras año. ¡Si ya sabemos que en septiembre todas nuestras ilusiones se enmascaran detrás de muchos problemas de la cotidianidad!

La escritura me ayuda a salir de la realidad y postergar los proyectos a momentos más adecuados, mientras tanto plasmamos nuestro espíritu lowcost esperando el preseptiembre de 2010.

“I am sorry Madam, you are too bulky, if you want to travel with us you must pay the cost of 2 tickets”. This is what an EasyJet check-in assistant told a 55-year-old woman in the Bari airport. After a few minutes of discussion, the woman decided to give up the flight and went back to Rome by car.

The woman, once arrived at the check-in desk, showed her ticket and her hand baggage, but it didn’t take long for the employee to notice the size of the lady and to  demand she’d buy another ticket: the lady, very short and weighing around 100Kg, was believed to be too cumbersome to occupy the space of one seat. She would have needed 2, so she was requested to pay for 2 tickets.

"She has to pay for 2 seats"

The comment of the Easyjet assistant irritated the woman, who replied: “How do you dare telling me I’m fat? I’m not an anorexic like you flight assistants, and since I started travelling, nothing like this has ever happened to me!”

This conversation happened in front of the long queue of passengers waiting for checking in, and the embarrassment of the lady is justifyable. It became even more evident when they suggested she’d weigh herself “like a baggage”. It was the woman’s son to stop the discussion and invite his mother to go back to Rome by car. Which she did, taking with her the unused plane ticket, intending to get a refund for the treatment received.

Easyjet apologized to the woman, and started an internal investigation. “Referring to the facts happened yesterday in the Karol Wojtila airport, Easyjet” – says Thomas Meister, Corporate Communication Manager of the company – “wants to apologize with the passenger for the inconvenience. It was an unforgivable and personal mistake of the check-in staff. Easyjet doesn’t have a section in its Terms and Conditions dealing with the weight of the passengers. There are, however, indications of the space between the two armrests, which is 44cm to guarantee comfort to the passengers. We would expect any person who believes they would not be comfortable in that space to purchase 2 seats, but for us it’s impossible to determine the size of a person when they buy the ticket. And even though I think it it might be possible to ask, in particular cases, for the payment of 2 seats, it’s not acceptable to ask them to weigh themselves. We are again, very sorry for what happened.”

This is an article I found today while reading the news, and I thought it would be good to translate it for the “English audience” out there, since, oddly, I’ve not been able to find an English version of it.

It’s definitely an interesting subject to debate upon. I only fly lowcost myself, so I’m daily (well, monthly) faced with the difficulties and discomforts of what that implies:

• No seat assigned
• Fees to check in the baggage
• Fees if the checked in baggage is too heavy
• Fees if the hand baggage is too heavy
• Fees if the hand baggage is too big
• Having to deal with more stupid people than usual
• Fees if you forget to check in online
• Fees if you don’t print the ticket

New fees are being added as well. A fee to go to the toilet, I’ve heard. So what, if I need to fart and I don’t have money, I fart on their faces? And it could be worse than a fart.

It makes you wonder if the amount of money you’re saving equals the amount of years of life being eaten by the stress. Being not able to quantify the latter, I still choose to fly lowcost, and spend a little as possible for my frequent trips.

It's time for the showdown

Just to give you a general idea of what I go through when I fly lowcost (matters made worse if the lowcost company is Ryanair – but I’m sure Gnagno will elaborate on that later), I will share with you one of my “flying days” when I have to bring both the hand baggage and a baggage to check in, a computer and liquids.

I wake up very early in the morning, because normally the cheapest flight available is the one at 6am. Chances are, since I’m quite organized, the suitcase will be ready from the evening before. But let’s make things difficult by making me pack when I wake up. I take my 2 suitcases, the big one and the small one. I start filling the big one with clothes, cables, chargers, shoes and things – the big one has no limit of size, but a limit of weight of 15Kg with Ryanair and 20Kg with Easyjet. I weigh myself on my own first, then holding the baggage. I find it’s 1 Kg more than allowed. I open my baggage, I remove a few things I don’t need. Weighing process again. It’s now the allowed weight. But what if their scales are set differently? That would mean paying a fee of 15€ (for each Kg). Let’s remove a few other things then, just to make sure. I open my baggage, remove a few other things, close my baggage and set it aside. My little suitcase now, which is going to contain my computer, and a few other stealable, breakable things. Oh no, I forgot the liquids! Toothpaste, cream, shampoo, cocoa butter – each inside a less than  500ml receptacle. Damn, my shampoo is 750ml. I’ll buy one when I get there then, since putting it in my big bag would mean opening it up again and adding weight to it. No, I’m not going to do that. Right, I need one of those plastic bags for the liquids, the ones that can be closed on top, with a volume of max 1 liter. Found one, and the liquids all fit in there. Right, my computer now. I’ll put it on top of everything else, since I’ll have to take it out for security check. I close the little suitcase, and check its size. They’re very strict about hand baggages size now, it must not be over 20×40x55cm. I guess it’s okay, its depth is 2 cm more than allowed but with a little push I’m sure I can fit it in those horrible “You can take your baggage on board if you can fit it in here” stands. I’m not too sure about being able to take it out of those though. Whatever. Its weight now, since I’m flying Ryanair. If it’s more than 10Kg, I’ll have to pay a fee. It’s more than 10Kg. I open it again, remove those 2 books I put in there and just wear trousers with big pockets to fit in the books. And the wallet and my keys, with my mobile phone, will fit in the pockets as well. How much fun will I have at the security check!? Right, everything is okay now. I take my passport, the printed ticket (not the booking, the printed ticket!) and go. I get to the airport, and start the check in queue. In front of me are people who were not very organized, and are now forced to pay the equivalent of a first-class British Airways ticket for Ryanair fees. Nice! It’s my turn, I put my baggage on their scale and observe, with relief, that it’s perfectly in the weight allowance. And they haven’t made me measure the hand baggage, wonderful! I’m ready to go to the security check. I’m there now, emptying my pockets of all the goodies, which is taking a long time. Oh, the computer. I take that out, separate from everything else. Oh, the liquids! The same for them. Beep! “What do you have inside the hand baggage, madam?” – “It’s photographic equipment, camera and lenses.”  - “Good”. I fill my pockets again, while the person behind me seems always to be the one who’s about to lose the plane, in a mad hurry. Be patient, for God’s sake, don’t you see the amount of things I have to put in my pockets?? And I have to put the computer and the liquids back in the bag as well. Right, all done. Let’s go and board. Luckily I bought the priority boarding, I’m going to be boarded before most of the people. I start queueing in the Priority Boarding side, which seems unexpectedly full of people. Too many, why? Oh, I forgot I was in Rome. Italians are not able to easily understand the concept of queueing, let alone the one of  Priority Boarding. The flight assistant announces that they’re boarding, good. 80% of the people in front of me don’t have Priority Boarding, so they’re kindly asked to go to the other queue. I give my ticket, they rip it hastily, and they make me go on a bus, that’s gonna take us to the plane. But wait, it was just 7 of us that had Priority Boarding, why are they making the other passengers come on the same bus?? I will write a complaint letter later, this is ridiculous. The bus leaves when it’s so full that there are only 30 more minutes of oxygen left. The doors open, people start running to the plane. I’m one of them, the most competitive I think, but I want my seat next to the window. I get on, try to be far from parents with kids, sit down next to my window. Good. Put my hand baggage on top, there’s still space since I’m one of the first people to have boarded. I look at the people who are boarding in the eyes, it’s a good technique for not making them sit next to you. I put my books on the seat next to me. A nice business woman, that’s ideal, she can sit here. I don’t look at her, take my books away, and she sits next to me. An old lady occupies the third seat. Wonderful. Let’s fly.

Now, this is what I go through every time I fly lowcost. And I am very organised, and fly frequently, so by now I have learnt the secrets to minimize stress and avoid fees. But a person who’s not used to it, will generally have this experience:

I have to fly today, I have packed everything I need and more. I printed my booking with Ryanair, so I must make sure I don’t forget to bring that with me. I’ll put my make up in the hand baggage, so I can use it if I need to. I’m ready to go! I’m at the airport, waiting to check in. It’s my turn. I give them my booking paper. “Madam, you forgot to check in online and to print your boarding card, you now have to pay a fee of 40€”. Shit, 40€! That’s more than I paid for the ticket. Whatever, let’s pay it. I then put my baggage on the scale, it’s 19Kg. “Madam, your baggage is 4 Kg more than allowed, you must pay 60€”. Are you joking?? “No, that’s the company rule.” Right, 60€ more. “Madam, would you please try and fit your hand baggage in that stand?” Okay. Damn, it doesn’t fit. No matter how much I push, it doesn’t fit. “Madam, I’m afraid you will have to check in that baggage as well. The cost for that is 30€.” This is ridiculous! “Maybe if you empty your hand baggage a bit, it will fit in there. You can put some stuff in the checked in baggage, paying the excess weight for those items as well, of course.” I open my hand baggage, put some of the stuff in the checked in baggage, which now weighs 1Kg more. I pay the 15€ for the 1 Kg excess. My hand baggage now fits in that stand, I can take it with me. I am at the control stage. Beep! “Madam, you can’t bring receptacles of liquids which are more than 500ml. We will have to throw your shampoo, your shower gel, your bottle of water, your expensive body cream, and your tweezers.” There’s nothing I can do about it. And that body cream costed me 40€. I’m now boarding. Wow, what a queue. And why are those people boarding first? I wait 15 minutes to board, it’s finally my turn. I get on the plane, I’m one of the last people to board. There’s no space for my hand baggage on top, where do I put it now? And apparently there’s no seat. Oh, actually I see one, there, in the middle. I found a little space for my hand baggage, but it’s so far from that seat. Well, when we arrive I’ll wait until everyone has gotten off the plane, and then I’ll take my bag. I sit in the only spare seat. On the left I have the fattest guy ever, he’s all over my seat. On the right, there’s a mother with her child. Shut up child! Stop crying! Damn, I forgot my books in the hand baggage. No way I can stand up now. Let’s fly.

As you can see, this is a much more tragical experience, but it’s what most people go through when they fly low-cost.

Going back to the fat woman of the article… after all I go through when I fly, it is impossible for me to be compassionate and feel pity for her. I have 2 points:

1. If she’s fat and short, she is definitely going to occupy some of my seat as well, if I happen to sit next to her. And how is that fair? I pay for my full price ticket, she pays for her full price ticket, I get half a seat and she gets 1 and a half???? Ridiculous.
2. There are fees for weight in excess, for your baggage. Now, I weigh 50Kg (optimistically), and my baggage weighs 30Kg. Together we are 80Kg. Mr Fattall weighs 110kg, and his baggage weighs 20Kg. They make 130Kg together. Again, how is that fair that, being 20Kg the limit for baggage weight, I have to pay 150€ for 10 Kg in excess for my 30Kg baggage? 80 Kilos against 130 Kilos, and I AM THE ONE to have to pay 10 Kg of excess baggage?!? Ridiculous.

"Go away, fat people!"

What I propose is that, when booking the ticket, you have to input your weight. If the weight of your baggage and you doesn’t go over 100Kg, then no fees. If it does, then FEES. Isn’t that fair? Am I being racist? Am I putting people on the level of baggages, by weighing them? YES. It’s just a matter of fairness. So, that fat woman should be fair to herself and others and purchase 2 tickets. Easyjet says that the space between armrests is 44cm. If your diameter, you fat woman, is more than 44 cm, then do purchase another ticket, or I, flight assistant, will tell you to do so myself, to safeguard the other passengers.

For once that an EasyJet / Ryanair employee did something right, and it’s rare that they don’t act for their own interest or nastiness, let’s acknowledge it, not criticize it.

Esta semana por motivos laborales he realizado un viaje de 2 días a Basilea (Suiza). Para evitar escalas incomodas, planeé realizar el viaje con la compañía EasyJet (es la única aerolínea que tiene conexión directa desde Madrid a Basilea) aunque no todos los días sino tan solo los Lunes, Miercoles y Viernes. Los horarios y la frecuencia estaban totalmente acomodados a la duración de mi estancia y a los horarios del cliente. Con esta elección comenzó mi odisea …

Tenía planeado iniciar el viaje el Lunes 17 cogiendo el vuelo de EasyJet programado para las 20:40 con la idea de trabajar en Basilea el Martes y el Miércoles  para volver a Madrid el mismo Miércoles en el vuelo de las 17:40.

De lo planeado a lo ocurrido en la realidad hay muy poco parecido: El avión que nos tenía que llevar a Basilea el Lunes 17 llegó con más de 30′ minutos de retraso por lo que nuestro embarque se retrasó y no embarcamos hasta casi las 21 h. Tras finalizar el embarque y cerrar las puertas del avión el comandate nos informa que debido al tráfico del aeropuerto de Barajas nuestra salida se iba a retrasar. Aproximadamente a los 20 minutos el avión inició la maniobra de puesta en marcha y al poco el avión comenzo a rodar … pero nuevamente hacia la puerta de embarque. Eran ya pasadas las 21.30h y el comandante volvió a comunicar con nosotros para informarnos en este caso que el aparato (Airbus A320) tenía un problema técnico en una bomba hidráulica e iba a ser revisado por los técnicos. El jarro de agua fría nos cayó encima cuando seguidamente nos advirtió que por su experiencia ese problema no se resolvía en un periodo corto de plazo, lo cual podría ser un problema ya que el aeropuerto de Basilea cierra por restricciones a las 24h. Aproximadamente sobre las 22.15h se procedió al desembarque del avión, indicándonos que esperáramos en la puerta de embarque a que el personal de tierra nos proporcionara más información.

La espera se prolongo casi 1 hora en el transcurso de la cual un empleado de la compañía repartió algunos ejemplares de un documento de EasyJet en el que se informaba a los viajeros en un perfecto inglés cuales eran nuestros derechos. Dos empleados finalmente nos informaron que el vuelo saldría a las 14h del día siguiente, iban a proporcionar alojamiento a los viajeros y nos acompañaron a recoger nuestras maletas a las sala correspondiente. En mi caso me marché a casa.

A la mañana sigiuente contacte con la agencia de viajes de la compañía para la que trabajo y replaniqué mi trabajo para venir a Basilea el Martes 8 y poder trabajar dos días como estaba previsto (ahora serán Miercoles y Jueves). Puesto que el Jueves no hay vuelo de EasyJet, la vuelta la realizo con Lufthansa via Frankfurt. Aunque mi vuelta con EasyJet del Miercoles ya no tuviera sentido debido al retraso del vuelo de ida (en ese caso mi estancia sería solo de unas horas), la compañía justifica a la agencia de viajes la no devolución del trayecto de vuelta acogiendose a la escusa de que el problema ha sido en el vuelo de ida y no el de vuelta.

A las 11.50h llegaba a la cola del mostrador de facturación reservado exclusivamente para el vuelo de Basilea. Una hora y media tardé en facturar el equipaje … aproximadamente 10 minutos antes de comenzar el embarque. Por supuesto no era el último, faltaba todavía mucha gente por facturar.

Llegó la hora de embarque y este no se produjo, en la puerta asignada no se veía ningún avión. Al poco, un empleado de la compañía nos informo que el problema técnico no se había solucionado todavía y que el embarque se retrasaba hasta las 15.15h.

Increible, tras más de 12 horas la compañía no había buscado una solución al problema: no digo ya resolver el problema técnico puesto que este tipo de problemas se tienen que arreglar bien y sin prisas, sin hacer chapuzas, por la cuenta que a todos nos tiene, me refiero más bien a llevar a cabo un plan de contigencia que pasara por ejemplo por habilitar un nuevo avión por si el problema del aparato averiado no conseguía resolverse.

Nuevamente el embarque no se produjo, al rato las pantallas de Aena mostraban un nuevo retraso de 30 minutos y así sucedio en varias ocasiones, las pantallas no paraban de acualizarse con nuevos retrasos de 30 minutos (parecia un patrón automático). Mientras tanto nadie de la compañía acudía a informarnos, los propios viajeros trataban de obtener información a través del propio telefono instalado en la puerta de embarque (el que habitualmente utilizan para comunicarse el personal de tierra de las distintas compañías). Entretanto un grupo de viajeros decidió dirigirsa a la ofinica de ventas de EasyJet y/o a los mostradores de facturación (este extremo no lo tengo muy claro porque permanecí en las inmediaciones de la puerta de embarque) para tratar de que alguien dijera algo.

Sobre las 16.45h un empleado de la compañía nos informó que el problema no se había resuelto y que traían un nuevo avión desde Londres (sede de EasyJet) para llevarnos a nuestro destino. Repartirían también tickets para poder comer y beber algo. No sé la que se organizó en la oficina de ventas pero tuvo que ser grande porque antes de que regresara el grupo de viajeros que había acudido en busca de información, miembros de la Guardia Civil bajaban de una furgoneta y accedían a la terminal por la misma puerta de embarque permaneciendo detrás del empleado de la compañía aérea. Desde este momento permanecieron junto a los empleados cuando nos informaban.

El empleado nos informó que el vuelo cambiaría de puerta de embarque, solicitándonos por tanto atención a las pantallas de Aena. Finalmente la salida se programó a las 21 horas con el embarque a las 20.20h (creo recordar, nos dieros tantas horas estimadas …) y cambiaron la puerta de embarque.

Llega el avión  y … nuevo retraso, en esta ocasión falta la tripulación de cabina. Ya el colmo, otra vez en el límite, a las 24h cierra el aeropuerto de Basilea y el vuelo dura aproximádamente 2 horas.

Finalmente embarcamos en el avión y despegamos sobre las 22h. A las 23.45 aterrizábamos en Basilea y finalizaba el calvario.

Ahora queda la vuelta, esperamos que sea más tranquila, en esta ocasión vuelvo con Lufthansa haciendo escala en Frankfurt, 4 horas de viaje en total que espero se desarrollen con normalidad.

I was wondering about the red band which has to be added in all the labels of Schedule-H drugs. I dont know if there is any law for the way the red band that has to be put. My question is on the thickness of the band, the positioning and if there are any other rules. Here are some explorations. If someone knows about it or comes across my blog at some point of time, please let me know if you are aware of the rules for this.

Something stricken me suddenly and this idea came up. I took a very basic rounded rectangle and tried  making labels. LOCOST have had the same labels for years which goes into the jars as well as the boxes. So keeping in mind not to confuse them much with too many variations, I tried keeping the outline smae for both, but arranged it in a way the the vertical one goes for the box where it communicates as well as seals the box, and even if it is torn, no information is disturbed. the printing is done by photopolymer process where, when the stcker paper is fed in the mechine, it prints, cuts and trims the labels to their finished stage, so I could incorporate a perforation for the vertical lebel too. The horizontal one will go on the jars as the vertical space is less for the same lebel and also at the same time it will also add some variety and an element of interest to it.

Una segnalazione veloce:

Friendfeed si dimostra sempre un ottima fonte di informazioni utili, sopratutto

se seguite delle persone interessanti, o dei gruppi come quello di Talkyoo.

Vi segnalo quindi il post di ikaro.net segnalato da Daniele

“Rebtel crea numeri telefonici locali per telefonare all’estero, grazie a questo semplice meccanismo ti permeterà di fare chiamate internazionali tramite una telefonata urbana (se risiedi in una grande città) o al massimo con una interurbana nazionale se vivi in un piccolo centro. Il bello è che puoi usare un qualsiasi telefono, anche un fisso. Supporta anche gli SMS.” l’articolo completo

ora vado in spiaggia per un bagno serale

The discussion that took place with Tarun, my guide, recently, helped me clear my mind a bit more regarding the labels. This is true that in case of designs like the medicine labels, the text or the content is usually given to us. Which basically consists of the following:

1. The Generic name of the drug

2. The Brand name, under which its been sold

3. The chemical composition

4. The Dosage and storage instructions

5. Warning (if any)

6. And finally the name of the manufacturer.

Its very clear here that we can not at any cost fiddle with this information. Which in our language is “the Given Content”. So how do we deal with it? Do we look at these texts as chunks of gray patches or what ever color it is, and do a basic composition or typographic exercise? The answer is NO. We as communication designers, will also have to look at the ‘Information Hierarchy’. We here are not just doing th composition of the given words but also looking at the various levels on which these messages are going to effect the user.

Like for example, this above concept, I tried some patterns in them at the background, for an uniform feel of color and also to make it distinctly stand out of the lot. But after printing I saw, its not working. The medicine packaging is something so intense and serious, that the feeling of playfulness factor totally vanishes whenever I think of the intensity or impact of a mislead or misunderstood information can cause.

The idea of putting the generic name of the drug at the bottom somewhat kind of looks like working. May be I spoil it by putting the other fat color  patch at the top.

Make a full-time income from home!
Go to:

www.netpennystocks.com/36998-robertsr-3

The world’s best, secure, online direct pay,

lowest invest amount ($1.95)

with highest returns of US $101,970.75 …

an incredible 6M% GAIN over your

investments isthe world’s highest paid

investment opportunity today!

Signup Today and check it out!

Get your first investment ($1.95)!

Introduce a minimum of three

who will introduce a minimum of three! (More is good!)

Watch your income grow almost daily!

Funds Paid Directly To Your account weekly!

Enjoy A Lifetime of Financial Freedom!

It’s Simple & Exciting!

I actually GET PAID weekly! You will too!

Check It Out!

www.netpennystocks.com/36998-robertsr-3

It’s Growing Fast! Get in now and start Getting Paid!!!

To your success,

GOOGLE ME . Robert Beaty presents NetPennyStocks

Os produtos lowcost estão se proliferando no mercado lançando  junto com eles a dúvida de como construir uma marca dentro da filosofia de preço, respeitando e criando laços com o consumidor. Ainda quero fazer esta reflexão aqui, mas enquanto isso, falemos um pouco das líderes deste movimento, as companhias aéreas.

Passando este ano em ponte aérea Madri – Barcelona e tentando fazer vários roteiros para aproveitar este tempo na Europa, vivi de perto o drama lowcost do consumidor.

Primeiro em primeira pessoa. A Vueling, empresa lowcost que tentou criar uma ponte com o consumidor com uma imagem descolada, funcionários atenciosos e plano de milhagem, foi com certeza minha pior decepção. Depois de uns 20 trechos voados com a empresa pelo menos, tudo que tenho para contar são histórias tristes: cancelamento de um vôo sem avisar, junto com uma resposta de que me enviaram inclusive um torpedo avisando ao telefone do meu marido (o que nunca aconteceu) e que me fizeram um favor em alocando em outro vôo no dia seguinte sem nenhuma assistência. Mais uma promoção do meu programa de milhagens em que o preço das taxas que eu teria que pagar era o mesmo que comprar uma passagem livre, uma não devulação de vôo não ocorrido por conta da neve, prevista no regulamento do setor, e uma propaganda enganosa em que eu teria descontos para mim e acompanhantes na próxima viagem, que só valiam para mim.

As última cenas antes de vir para Londres me pareceram ainda mais sérias. Num vôo entre Madri e Alicante da Ryanair, eu e Arnaldo tivemos que carimbar o bilhete de check in para conferir nosso visto antes de viajar dentro da própria Espanha, sendo que tinhamos em mãos nossa identidade de residência de estudos. Outro passageiro, europeu, que também tinha residência foi impedido de viajar dentro da própria Espanha por não estar com passaporte em mãos. E só para completar o desespero assisti a negação do vôo de uma menina estrangeita pela empresa EasyJet, que já tinha sido autoriza pela polícia federal local para viagem porque seu documento estava com data vencida, porque a Easyjet não reconhecia o documento da Estrangeria Espanhola autorizando o trânsito.

Eu poderia dizer que são histórias de lowcost,  e  histórias que se passam na Espanha, mas parece que esta aceitação de queda da qualidade de atendimento invade outras empresas e não vejo nehnhum órgão de defesa do cosumidor atuando.

Nos EUA, a empresa United Airlines, num verdadeiro desprezo pela bagagem dos passageiros quebrou a guitarra de uma banda. E não foi só isso, enrolou o passageiro um bom tempo sem reparar o dano. A banda não deixou por menos e respondeu com as ferramentas que tinha: música e internet.

Depois da repercussão da história a empresa ofereceu ressarcimentos.Veja a história:

Este é o futuro do atendimento que teremos daqui para frente com as companhias aéreas? O lowcost tem viabilidade dentro de padrões de respeito e atendimento ao consumidor? Em breve…

The Orderform and the pricelist is a very important part of the communication that’s happening between LOCOST and the cliets and also to the rest of the world. I have posted earlier the image of the existing pricelist and the order form. Click here for a link. The keywords for the designing of the new order form and the pricelist are :

Economy :: Message :: Information :: Clarity :: Crisp :: Focused :: a Flexible System to add more info and pages

Following are the earlier design approaches :

orderform_earlier

While designing the pricelist and the order form, at the initial stage, the first thing that came to my mind is that the existing pricelist id way too big for its size and matter. all they should do to reflect their economy and concern and the values is to reduce the size to atleast half to two- third. So after deciding on the size I started with the layout and the designing of the information.

As I went on and on with the addition of the information, it became possible to streamline the information, for example the units for the quantities of the medicines which were mentioned in ‘mg’ in all the rows, and also the expiry date or the shelf life as ‘years’, I observed that there were many info in the pricelist which I could club up together to a common header, where the usability of the info became more and more legible and started making more sense.

Another simple idea that came to my mind was the use of symbols for tablets and capsules rather than writing and repeating the same words again and again, which can be seen in these explorations.

The fonts were another issue that had to be resolved. After  using several fonts, at one point of time i realized that I actually dont want to make my client buy fonts to make this project possible. I thought that it was possible to achieve a good and legible design withe available free fonts as well.

Following are the other explorations :

Center stapled, size : A5 .

Thought should work, as it also had the possibility to add pages.

The three folded one : I could accommodate all the existing info in it with all the ease. But it had the limitation of adding anything in future and also had the issue of clipping it up in a file.

3 fold price list

The above design was an exploration of implementing the idea of a ready to post letter type of folding which would include the order form and the pricelist together.

Finally we decided to dismiss this idea as this is the only communication happening in a proper way, as they do not advertise so this is the only that that stays back with client of the organizations, so to avoid the way it might get spoiled on its way while posted, this idea has to be re-considered.

Finally we thought of keeping the size considerably big so that it does not get lost in a pile of papers in a file and also thought of trying out some single colored printing on colored paper too.

]]> http://miriamreyes.wordpress.com/2009/05/30/ir-de-shopping-a-london-es-passed-water/ Sat, 30 May 2009 07:50:21 +0000 miriamreyes http://miriamreyes.wordpress.com/2009/05/30/ir-de-shopping-a-london-es-passed-water/

Para buscar chollos, aquí tienes twitter, youtube y facebook. Ante los malos tiempos, ¡¡low cost!!

Foto: S'Arenal de Llucmajor, HOTELMEDIODIA

El arranque de la temporada de verano ya tiene un protagonista: los precios. La necesidad de hacer caja está llevando a grandes redes y proveedores ha tirar los precios como nunca. Una estrategia que los líderes del Sector no dudan en calificar como “suicida”, pero que genera una dinámica imparable.

No es necesario enumerar las agresivas campañas de descuentos sin precedentes (el 22% de Halcón Viajes es sin duda el paradigma), a cargo de las grandes minoristas, simultáneamente a turoperadores, transportistas y hoteleros. El anuncio de descuentos de Catai Tours o de precios insólitos por parte de Sol Meliá o los cruceristas de prestigio, por citar tres significativos casos, se suma a las ofertas y descuentos de grandes agencias de grupos verticales.

Esta feroz guerra combinada de rebajas y descuentos tiene como primera víctima la rentabilidad empresarial y, por supuesto, al agente independiente. La acusación de “comprar a los clientes”, realizada por el presidente de AEDAVE, pone a las claras la depredadora política de precios actual, que está llevando incluso a renunciar a cobrar el servicio. Y no sólo en el vacacional. También la captación de cuentas de empresa está haciéndose prescindiendo de los fees.

El objetivo prioritario es captar clientes, aún a costa de perder el margen comercial. Un lujo que las agencias independientes, carentes de músculo financiero, no pueden permitirse. Una prioridad suicida que desplaza el valor añadido que la agencia presta al cliente, haciendo del precio el único atributo comercial.

En suma, dando un paso atrás en el enorme esfuerzo realizado por el Sector para que el cliente final valore lo que el agente de viajes ofrece. Y que tiende a igualar la intermediación tradicional con la online. Siendo fácilmente predecible el final del crecimiento constante del comercio electrónico puro, en beneficio de las principales minoristas con posicionamiento multicanal.

Foto: calderilla, CUCHA QUE TE DIGO

Aunque la guerra de precios no es algo precisamente nuevo, durante el pasado verano y las últimas temporadas de invierno y Semana Santa había comenzado a remitir. Tanto las mayoristas como los transportistas aéreos, además del minorismo, habían aplicado el sentido común, disminuyendo riesgos y reduciendo la oferta que ponían en el mercado. Parecía que, por fin, se anteponía la obtención de margen a sumar cuota de mercado. Tras años de pugna, la prioridad era ganar, no crecer. Pero el buen sentido no ha durado mucho. Y un tercer factor (asegurar ventas ante la caída de la demanda) se está imponiendo.

La actual guerra de precios es aún más perjudicial para el Sector que el intrusismo, según reconoce el presidente de FEAAV, que vaticina que “podría traer consecuencias trágicas”. Es la nueva acepción del aserto “lo barato sale caro”. Pero esta vez no será el comprador, sino el Sector, quien pague este alto precio.

Apostar por el factor precio como el principal atributo de la oferta, como había hecho la intermediación en Internet, es pan para hoy y hambre para mañana. Vender a cualquier precio es una política comercial que siempre acaba mal. Aunque permita sostener en parte un mercado emisor lastrado por el ahorro y la incertidumbre ante un futuro que se prevé incierto.

Para muchos, esta estrategia es ya un camino sin retorno, aunque es algo que sólo podrá saberse tras la recuperación de la confianza perdida y del poder adquisitivo. Y lo único seguro es que esta perversa dinámica es ya imposible de parar.

Lamentablemente, una feroz lucha por asegurar ventas combinada con la pérdida de la rentabilidad es el preludio de malos tiempos para aquellos que no pueden soportar el envite. Como si de un epitafio se tratara, lo barato podría acabar por salirle muy caro al Sector. O, al menos, a su parte mas débil.

Que le sea útil. Ese es nuestro mayor interés.

Fuente: NEXOTUR, 27 de mayo

¿Qué opinas tú sobre ésto?

Anche le Sim card evolvono.

Extended Sim è la nuova micro scheda distribuita da Nòverca compatibile con qualsiasi cellulare, che consente all’utente di usufruire automaticamente di alcuni servizi utili, da quelli più comuni come gli SMS, MMS, il traffico voce, la segreteria telefonica, ai servizi più evoluti come il Mobile Banking o “Vicino a te” che consente di ricevere via Sms informazioni georeferenziate relative a punti di interesse più prossimi all’utente oppure “Estero Low Cost”, con cui è possibile effettuare dal cellulare chiamate dall’Italia verso l’estero risparmiando fino all’80%.

Insomma, nel mercato delle telecomunicazioni è sbarcato un nuovo operatore mobile virtuale… e un concorrente in più non può che far bene al mercato.

The next level was to carry on with the  learnings of the firt level. Refining was done. certain features were added to see how they contribute to the information.

Because of continuing with the research part for a very long time the designing was kind of stuck, so it had to be started somwhere. These are the initial thoughts. To begin with I considered Paracetamol Tablets only.

It was totally thoughtless to begin with. If compared to the existing labels, one thing was clear that the background had to be solid for sure to increase the readability. These are the existing ones.

As the cost factor was constantly under consideration, so I kept in mind the single colour printing option very strongly.

]]> http://drugsforall.wordpress.com/2009/05/17/existing-stationaries/ Sun, 17 May 2009 06:46:08 +0000 mridusmitanath http://drugsforall.wordpress.com/2009/05/17/existing-stationaries/

The logo and the logotype aplication of LOCOST can be seen here. The color navy blue is carried out thoroughout 25 years as their identity.

Hoh! almost saved my nose.

Date : 7th may, 2009.

Location : LOCOST, Baroda.

The deadline of this project was somewhere near November.  And here I am …. still working on it. No wonder I got demotivated in the middle. Thats a confession. I feel much better now. Afetr seeing those smiling faces and hearing the word of trust and appreciation. Thanks to Chinu and Krishna.

Ok. Now, about the meeting .. I showed them the various stages of the evolution of the Design of the order-form, the pricelist and the labels. Had a long discussion on the pros and cons of all the options in all the categories. Will be uploading the designs asap from the scratch.