Samurai Chef Indiegogo Update #4

Nigel December 7, 2012 No Comments

As the weeks go by we’re getting closer to hitting one of the more wackier perks of our Indiegogo campaign – pets!

That’s right, as promised we will be turning pets into featured extras in the Samurai Chef storyline.

Two people requested this perk and this week we were sent the pictures of real pets doing real pet things.

We’ve got two very cute cats and and one goldfish who answers to Diamond.

 

 

 

This is what each pet looked like before their mayamada transformation.

Now comes the hard part. In a future update you’ll get to see how we turned these three into characters in the manga book.

…I for one am interested to see how Diamond turns out…Stay tuned ^_^

Cosplay Hall of Fame

Convention season is almost here and we’ve got something cool in store for cosplayers at this summer’s London Anime Convention on the 30th of June and 1st of July.

 

Throughout the two days we’ll be taking pictures of the best cosplayers at the show to be entered in our website Hall of Fame: A section on the mayamada website dedicated to the best cosplayers from every event we go to.

Here’s how it works:

  • You track us down (we’re not that hard to find, honest) and get your picture taken by a member of our team.
  • After both the London Anime Con and London Film and Comic Con are done, the pictures will go up on our Facebook page.
  • We’ll then let our fans vote on the best cosplayer characters.  Voting will end on Sunday 15th of July.
  • The cosplayers with the most votes will be forever immortalised in our summer Cosplay Hall of Fame on our website.

To be involved, make sure you stop by our stall on either Saturday or Sunday and demand to have your picture taken by someone.  Shake them if you have to 🙂

Don’t worry if you can’t make the London Anime Convention, because we’ll be continuing the competition at the London Film and Comic Convention just a week later.

Be sure to get your tickets for the shows. You can’t enter the competition if you can’t get in the building!

Get your outfits ready and make sure you’re looking your best.

We can’t wait to see you ^_^

Mayamada Picnic Recap

Nigel September 2, 2011 No Comments

We have more pictures from the mayamada picnic the past month. Look out for a few videos from the day and a behind the scenes look as me put together the mayamada cupcakes 🙂

 

Thankfully umbrellas weren’t needed all day!


Everyone got stuck into the cakes as soon as they came out.

Everyone waited in anticipation for the t-shirt giveaway

One of the lucky t-shirt winners…

We’ll have to do another next summer.  Check out our Facebook page for all the photos.

Mayamda Super Fun (and Only Slightly Damp) Picnic Time!

Nigel August 22, 2011 No Comments

There are a few things we at mayamada learned over the weekend.

  • Don’t trust British weather or weathermen.
  • Touchscreen phones don’t work too well in a downpour.
  • Good people will come through whatever the weather.

This past Saturday saw the first mayamada picnic this weekend, but it almost didn’t happen.  It started off well when we got to the park and unpacked everything in the middle of Hyde Park…and then came the rain!

After getting very wet, buying a few emergency umbrellas, a shower curtain and deck chairs for an improvised tent…we decided that we couldn’t wait out the rain and found nearby cover.

But the great thing is people still turned up, and once the rain cleared we went from this….

To this.

A really great turn out considering the early downpour.

Of course, we had mayamada cupcakes on show again…

…and things turned out well in the end – high five!

For all the planning you do beforehand for an event, it’s highly likely things will not go to, well, plan. Don’t let that fact put you off planning though. Just remember to stay flexible and positive so when things go a little off the rails you can still have a good time – and we did! A big thanks to everyone that came down to make it a super fun time 🙂

Look our for more pictures on our Facebook page.  If you were there on the day be sure to let us know what you though too.

COMIC CON!!! Part 3

Okay first things first, I’ve just noticed a startling trend in our blog titles concerning exclamation marks. Now that’s out of the way we can have a look at what we got up to at today’s 2011 MCM Comic Con in London (UK).

We had a great time and in the process met some great people sporting awesome cosplay.

What follows are all of the entrants in our cosplay competition. The best dressed will win a free T-shirt! These pictures will also feature on our facebook page so you can tag yourself if you have been featured. Winner’s will be announced in a week’s time so check back often for updates.

 

 

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Mayamada: Behind The T-shirts

mayamada January 16, 2011 2 Comments

Ok maybe not so much behind as right in front and taking pictures.

Things are finally coming together with the t-shirts and hoodies for our new brand.  The t-shirts have been printed and we’re putting the finishing touches on them now.  Remember, you can still put in a reservation for a t-shirt or hoodie and we’ll save one for you when they’re available.

There are three new designs in a range of colours.  Here’s a sneak peak of a few:

As we speak our t-shirts are being stitched with with come cool tags…we got a bunch just to be sure!

We’re also giving away free goodies with every order.

It’s exiting to be making progress heading towards the launch of the new brand.  Drop by our Facebook page and let us know what you think.

The launch is in February…Stay Tuned!

Websites and Brand Perception

If you’ve been following us on Facebook and Twitter (you are following us right?) you’ll have seen we updated the our website.  We’ve been getting plenty of good reactions from fans and it made me realise how important a website is to the perception of a brand.  So for people in a similar position to us here a few tips from my experience …

Get the colours right

Colours are so important to perception in ways that I don’t even fully understand yet!  What I do know is that even I get a different and better feel looking at our new site than the old.
Think about how you want people to feel when they look at your site.  This isn’t just about you favourite colours but about what each one represents and how that relates to your brand.
I’m not even going to get into colour theory because I’d be way out of my depth.  However, you might want to take a look at helpful article from Smashing Magazine we used to get us to think about this.

Show, don’t tell

If you’re selling something, visitors should be able to go on the website and immediately see what you sell.  Don’t make people work for it, because you usually only have a few second before they go back to Facebook so don’t waste time!
If you didn’t know about us, it wasn’t easy to tell what we did looking at our old site.  There’s no question now: T-Shirts (OK, we do hoodies to but stick with me here I’m trying to make a point).
Pictures help in a major way as they let people see your product in action and let people get a better idea of what you are about.  Hopefully they like it and look deeper.i.e. start browsing your shop.

Let the world know!

Don’t just keep it to yourself, tell the world.  There’s always a danger of being blind to your creation’s faults,  but your site can always be improved so be on the look out for opportunities to do just that.  It is so important to get feedback from people who have had nothing to do with the development.
It never ceases to amaze me how someone can point out something that I had been staring at for ages, but never even noticed.  Plus,  getting people involved engages your audience and makes them feel part of the process, which is a good thing.

And on that note…What do you think of the new site?  How important is the website to a brand?  Let us know your thoughts here or on our Facebook page.
Don’t forget we also have to new tees ninjastar and superstar, available now in male and female.  Check them out!