Red Nose Day is happening this coming Friday.

For those who are complete unaware of the event, it is a huge charity event organised by Comic Relief and fronted by the BBC that uses comedy to raise money for worthy causes in Africa and the UK.

The concept was founded by writer and director Richard Curtis (famous for films like Four Weddings and a Funeral and Notting Hill as well as hugely successful TV series like Blackadder and The Vicar of Dibley) and has gone on to be one of the most successful charity events in the UK.

Anyway, the online presence for Red Nose Day has really come into itself this year - they have setup Twitter accounts, Bebo, Facebook and MySpace pages as well as Flickr and YouTube pools.

In an attempt to raise even more awareness for the event and to show your support, I have created three Red Nose avatars based on the three noses available to buy this year.

Feel free to use them as your own avatar around the internet. I’ve used it as my Twitter, Facebook and Flickr avatar as they are my most used websites but you can use them wherever you spend most your time.

The images are 32-bit transparent PNGs so should look good on any background.

Buy a Red Nose from their website or at participating Sainsburys or WH Smiths. It’s only £1 with 85p going straight to the charity.

This website is desperate for a makeover. Since its first incarnation as a “quick fix blog” back in 2005, I’ve always intended to give the website some full attention in an attempt to both prove my worth as a web developer as well as convince the visitors its not just another WordPress installation.

When I remembered we were fast approaching the Pink For October campaign - a month completely devoted to promoting the Breast Cancer Awareness initiative - I thought it would be an ideal opportunity to have another “quick refresh” with an added incentive of delivering a more organised and appealing redesign for November 2008.

I’m not promising huge changes but it will certainly break out of the typical installation which concentrates on the reverse chronological blog content, dismissing the core content to a lower level. There may also be some drastic design decisons, hopefully turning a few heads in the process. Who knows?

In the mean time, you can make do with this garishly pink reskin as an attempt to raise the profile of breast cancer awareness and hope you can either donate some time or money to the cause during October.

You can donate by sending your contributions to one of the many endorsed breast cancer awareness charities or even by simply clicking a few links on The Breast Cancer Awareness Site.

I’ll add some new links to this post throughout October to make donating easier.

The sun is out, everyone is feeling good so what more reason do you need for a healthy dose of fresh and funky house, all mixed up by your resident DJ? Let’s get straight on with it…

Promotion

With it being Deaf Awareness Week, it seems appropriate to highlight the Don’t Lose The Music campaign. Being a DJ and huge lover of music in general, I am constantly aware of the dangers of losing my hearing, especially after watching the awesome movie “It’s All Gone Pete Tong” where DJ Frankie Wilde (played by the brilliant Paul Kaye) loses his hearing from over-indulging in the Ibiza lifestyle. The intention of Don’t Lose The Music is to raise awareness of playing your music safely, be it in a club atmosphere or on your iPod earphones. One Phat DJ strongly urges you to consider taking care of your ears, as well as bring awareness to those around you. Those of us who can appreciate music should not take it for granted - there are some people who aren’t so lucky. Give those people a thought too…

With the serious issues said and done, it’s now time to cheer things up again and present to you Episode 46 of the One Phat DJ Podcast - it’s the May ‘08 Warm Up.

Download

• May ‘08 Warm Up MP3
• May ‘08 Warm Up artwork (by resident artist, Sam Hardacre)

Track Listing

1. Pulse - The Lover That You Are (Marlon D & George Mena Club Mix)

   • Label: Jellybean Soul
   • Released: May 20th 2008
   • Buy from Traxsource
   • Time: 00:00:00

2. Michelle Weeks - A Purpose (The Jinks Classic Vox Mix)

   • Label: Code Red
   • Released: April 7th 2008
   • Buy from Traxsource
   • Time: 00:06:15

3. Mikkel Wendelboe & Sensual Soul ft J-Sun - Free Your Mind (Original)

   • Label: Soulmagic
   • Released: April 28th 2008
   • Buy from Traxsource
   • Time: 00:11:15

4. Michelle Williams - We Break The Dawn (Mr. Mig Remix)

   • Label: Sony BMG
   • Released: TBC
   • Exclusive!
   • Time: 00:16:45

5. Morten Trust ft TeeBee - Everything (Original)

   • Label: Soulmagic
   • Released: April 28th 2008
   • Buy from Traxsource
   • Time: 00:21:37

6. Sound Famiglia - Need Me Want Me (Original Mix)

   • Label: Panevino Music
   • Released: April 25th 2008
   • Buy from Traxsource
   • Time: 00:27:07

7. UBP presents Michael Procter - Love Don’t Live - Part 2 (The UBP Classic Club Mix)

   • Label: Soulfuric
   • Released: July 1st 1996
   • Buy from Traxsource
   • Time: 00:32:15

8. Souldynamic ft Nicole Tyler - Meant To Be (Park Street Remix)

   • Label: Sun Soaked
   • Released: May 12th 2008
   • Buy from Traxsource
   • Time: 00:39:11

9. Stefano Gamma vs Jenny B - Shine Into My Life (Sounds Of Life Full Vocal Mix)

   • Label: Undiscovered Records
   • Released: April 24th 2008
   • Buy from DJ Download
   • Time: 00:45:54

10. Knights Of The Round Tables - Saxed Up (DJ Spen & The Muthafunkerz Mix)

    • Label: Groove Baby Digital
    • Released: April 21st 2008
    • Buy from Traxsource
    • Time: 00:51:09

11. Ricki-Lee - U Wanna Little Of This (Club Mix)

    • Label: Hed Kandi
    • Released: May 19th 2008
    • Exclusive!
    • Time: 00:58:16

12. Winston & Yoddy ft Kyla Sexton - Disco Dynamite (Saming Mix)

    • Label: 2Delicious Recordings
    • Released: April 25th 2008
    • Buy from DJ Download
    • Time: 01:02:54

13. Licious K ft Saskia - All For You (Licious K ‘Soulsession’ Mix)

    • Label: Club Oryx
    • Released: April 12th 2008
    • Buy from DJ Download
    • Time: 01:08:39

Since starting work at Yahoo! Europe last Summer, I’ve managed to make some great friends. As if befriending some of the most experienced and talented “Web devs” in the world wasn’t enough, it wasn’t long before I ventured further a field and found some great friends in other departments. When I discovered some of the HR team were running the Reading Half Marathon for charity, it seemed like an ideal opportunity to offer my web design services to set up a quick website for promoting their cause.

One of the main charities the guys are running for is the Elimination of Leukemia Fund - a charity set up to raise awareness of the cancer and research ways of beating it. When it came to think of a name for the group (and website), it wasn’t long before we realised the acronym of the charity was ELF. Putting two and two together, the ELF Runners were born!

The website specification was pretty simple, close to a brochure website. It needed the basic information such as what it was all about, who was involved, details of the marathon and, most importantly, how to donate towards the charity.

With the project being a blank canvas, I had complete creative freedom over the branding and design (which can help sometimes, although as most designers know, can also be a complete nightmare). Knowing the guys as quite an outgoing crowd, rather than conform to the typically bland designs of charity websites, I decided to have a bit more fun creating a mascot for the group and incorporate it into a relatively vibrant and fun environment.

Putting pencil to paper, I mocked up a few different characters with “elfish” qualities. Picking out the key features as the pointy hat and shoes, I tried to keep the image nice and simple and opted for a silhouette style of the mascot, avoiding too much detail but, at the same time, getting enough detail into the character to recognise what it should actually be.

By creating a mascot for the project, it opened up so many options for the future, creating it in a variety of poses, as well as opening up avenues for merchandise such as t-shirts and posters.

With approval from the ELF Runners team, I went ahead with converting my sketches into vectors and creating a scene for the mascot to be running in. Again, sticking to the idea of creating a vibrant and fun feel to the website, I decided to implement some thick outlines and bright colours, in a very comical fashion.

The rest of the process was quite straight forward - nothing out of the ordinary when designing websites. After much slicing, dicing, coding and tweaking, the website was pretty much ready for launch.

With website completed, we also considered how best to promote the group. Jumping on the bandwagon of social networks, it made sense to create an ELF Runners Facebook group, not only to raise awareness among the group’s networks but also put a personal edge to the project. Facebook gives the guys an opportunity to update friends and members of the group with announcements, start discussions, as well as attaching links, images and videos from the big day.

The key aspect to the website was to aid towards donations. I was already aware of the service Just Giving so urged the guys to sign up straight away. We toyed with the idea of incorporating PayPal Donations as well but decided it would make sense to centralise the deposits into a system that also allowed for other’s to see progress. By using Just Giving too, we could make use of the freely available Flash-based Fundraising Widget by incorporating it into the ELF Runners website, as well as getting others to use the Just Giving Facebook application too.

Considering the life span of the project, it need a relatively quick turn around for launch as soon as possible. Due to the close proximity of the team I was working with, it certainly helped with meeting such a short deadline. It made life so much easier with the fact I could meet with the guys so regularly, showing them my progress and getting their input straight away rather than every few days.

It has been an absolute joy working with the ELF Runners and it makes the project seem so much more worthwhile knowing it was for such a needy cause. There comes a time in most web developer’s career when they need to do at least one pro-bono project for a charity and I am so glad I’ve done it for a charity that is investing so much time and effort into the research of leukaemia, a cancer that affects so many people and can actually be treated.

I know the ELF Runners are extremely passionate about the charity and are making fantastic progress in the training up to the big day. With just 19 days to go, it seems like a good time as any to make a donation. Even just a fiver can make such a difference…