Archives - October 2010


Week 12

[ image courtesy ]

Week 12 and the time is flying by. But in a good way. I’m into my third week at Profero, and really enjoying the variety of different briefs and particularly getting the chance to work with great people who I’m learning loads from. It’s really different to be applying strategic insights much closer to the executional process rather than the very high level, more conceptual work I was doing at Naked. Not that one is better than the other mind, just different. And different is good. The ASOS iPhone/iPad brief has been really challenging as we’ve been wrangling between the vision for the kind of interactions and experience we want to develop – and we know the user (and client) would want – and the realities of what’s going to be technically possible in the shorter term, and building upon existing legacy systems. But that’s all part of the process, and just means we have to think about how we phase these ideas, balancing pragmatism with more visionary concepts. I’ve been learning tonnes from brilliant UX designers and an incredible content strategist who’s got a fantastic background in both print and digital publishing and experience design, so it’s all very rewarding.

Andy Whitlock very kindly asked me if I’d be up for speaking at an event he’s curating for Poke as part of Internet Week Europe. It’s called Metaphwoarh! – because metaphors – and changing perspectives through metaphors – are sexy. Really looking forward to seeing the other speakers do their thing, although this does mean I actually have to prep my bit. It’s going to be held on 7th November, and it’s free, so if you fancy some beers and some food for thought from some cracking speakers (and me), it’d be lovely to see you (RSVP details on the site).

Last week also saw a lovely catchup with Toby about Chromaroma and other bits ‘n’ bobs, and a cracking afternoon of brain fodder at CityCamp. Project Southwold with Rattle is forging on, and really looking forward to seeing the results of this week’s game testing.

[ image courtesy ]

 

In summary – getting excited and (being part of a team that) makes things – not quite as snappy as Mr Jones’ lovely design & slogan, but it’s where I’m at. Good times.

October 14, 2010 in Weeknotes | Permalink | Leave a Comment

Stack – Magazines that Matter

I’ve been meaning to write about the wondrousness that is Stack for ages, and because I’m rubbish I’m only just getting around to it now.

Stack rocks. Fact. It’s really awesome, and one of those ideas that is so brilliant you wonder why no one thought of it before (as is always the way with the very best ideas).

In their own words:

Stack is a unique service that brings together the best independent English language magazines from around the world and delivers them direct to your home. Beautifully made and offering an intelligent, alternative view of films, music, art and whatever else crosses their pages, they guarantee a fresh perspective on the world. Every Stack delivery is a surprise – you never know what you’re going to get next, but you do know that it will be an excellent independent magazine that you probably wouldn’t otherwise have found.

As Mr Terrett observed, it exposes you to things you wouldn’t necessarily have come across, or chosen for yourself. As I mused in a blog post a while ago, the double edged sword of our increasingly on-demand and personalised media world is that we end up being exposed to only the things we’re already interested in, and as a result often lose the magic of serendipity.

Discovering things you wouldn’t otherwise have stumbled across – and actually in many cases probably wouldn’t have actively chosen – is essential. If we only read, watch or experience the things we know, it’s safe, and comfortable, and you don’t really learn about new stuff. Froma planner’s perspective, as Mr Davies pointed out, it’s massively important to be interested in order to be interesting (and arguably just as important to be an interesting person, planner or not).

Stack makes discovery easy. It quite literally brings it to your doorstep – it doesn’t get much easier than that. It’s a cracking idea and one I’d heartily recommend. Here are just some of the cracking publications that have come to my doorstep over the last few months – which I’d never have otherwise discovered:

Fire & Knives

The place where serious food writing and beautiful graphic design meet, Fire & Knives is a new food magazine made by London-based writer and editor Tim Hayward. Big name contributors like Matthew Fort and Tom Parker Bowles will be familiar from the Sunday supplements, but in Fire & Knives they get to write about the aspects of food that fascinates them. Combining food with film, architecture, history, literature and much more, it’s an eclectic and impassioned exploration of British food culture.

Fire & Knives [Stack Feature]

 

Manzine

Made by a group of seasoned men’s magazine writers, editors and designers, it’s their attempt to get past the focus groups and the aspirational advertising and create a magazine for the bloke down the pub

Manzine [Stack Feature]

 

VNA (Very Nearly Almost)

With its hundreds of pictures of graffiti, stencils, paste-ups and tags, Very Nearly Almost (VNA) is a snapshot of the art on our streets. It’s inevitably controversial, but fascinating to see the work being done in different cities around the world, and to hear from the people creating graffiti at a time when ‘the Banksy effect’ is beginning to drag it into the mainstream.

VNA [Stack Feature]

 

Postr

Postr Belgian magazine designed as an A1 poster and distributed free around selected sites in Belgium and the Netherlands

Postr [Stack Feature]

 

‘SUP

‘SUP, the inventive, ultra-cool trans-Atlantic music magazine. Started 12 years ago by editor Marisa Brickman and going stronger than ever, it’s full of clever design ideas and refreshingly unpretentious writing.

‘SUP [Stack Feature]

 

Anorak

It calls itself ‘The happy mag for kids’, but really that’s just Anorak being modest. It should call itself ‘The happy, cool, clever mag for kids and grown ups and anyone else who likes to see a good story told in an interesting and innovative way’.

Anorak [Stack Feature]

 

Under/current

Provocative, disruptive and intelligent, Under/current is a brilliantly original arts magazine that mixes in fashion, music, literature and lots of photography. It takes itself very seriously, but it carries the reader along with it as it investigates themes such as ‘Downfall’ and ‘Dawn’, gathering an eclectic range of work and taking the time and space to properly explore its meaning on the page.

Under/current [Stack Feature]

 

If that’s whetted your appetite (and I hope it has), why not give it a whirl and try Stack for yourself.

October 11, 2010 in Inspiration | Permalink | 1 Comment

Week 10

[ photo courtesy ]

Bloody hell, how did it get to week 10? I’ve clearly not been keeping them weekly, but as that’s because I’ve been busy with good stuff to feed my brain, hopefully that’s no bad thing. The thing you’re most afraid of when you leave the comfort of a monthly salary for the brave new world of freelance is of course will I get enough work? And also if part of the reason for leaving the safety of permanent employment is to get variety and explore different opportunities, there’s aso the question of will I get the right work – stuff that interests me, the stuff I want to be doing? And so being behind on weeknotes because the answer to those questions is yes and yes, then that can’t be too bad.

Project Alberta has pretty much been wrapped up – thanks to some sterling team work and particularly excellent work by my partner in crime John Connell, the work’s been delivered to the client, who’s really happy – we just have our closing review call to answer any final questions. Because the client’s in Canada, all of our meetings have been via their very whizzy web-based video conference software Elluminate, which has been a huge help in the absence of face to face meetings.

One of the other questions you have as a freelancer is will I get paid? Happily, I’ve so far had the satisfaction of all invoices issued being paid on time, which I’m making sure I don’t come to expect, but it’s been very gratifying to kick things off on a positive note.

I’d not been working in an office since leaving Naked at the end of June, but this week I started a 3-month contract at Profero, where I’ll be spending 4 days a week until Christmas. One of the aims of being freelance was to get explosure to different agencies and organisations, different ways of working, and to soak up as much as possible from these opportunities. Profero have a lovely agency proposition: ideas that people can belong to – which is most definitely a point of view that strongly resonates with me. And the chance to work in a full service digital agency is already offering me new opportunities I’ve never had before. For a start, we’re making stuff. I’m working with creatives, UX specialists, developers, designers, project managers….all very different from my experience at both PHD and Naked, and it’s awesome to be able to soak up so many different points of view and areas of expertise.

I’m working on a cracking brief for ASOS, which is a brand I both adore personally and hugely admire professionally, and it’s a totally different experience to be applying strategic insights directly to a development process to stuff that’s actually being made, rather than at the high level, more conceptual strategic level I’d been working at whilst at Naked. It’s brilliant to be able to sit in a working session and absorb so much new stuff, process, thoughts, ways of working – this whole journey was about learning and exploration, and so far it’s shaping up very nicely. As well as ASOS, I’m working on a mobile brief for J&J Skincare and will be prepping an innovation session to inspire the M&S client team about digital innovation in retail. So far, so good.

Friday is my non-Profero, other stuff day, so today I’m cracking on in earnest on the bits I’m doing to help input to Project Southwold with Rattle. Also hopefully going to be doing a bit of thinking for Rebel Alliance, which is all very interesting.

In other news, last week I joined Jamie Coomber, Le’nise Brothers & Graeme Wood on a panel representing the IPA to discuss different ways that brands can take advantage of social media at a conference put on by an organisation called the Social Media Academy on Thursday 23rd, then spent the following day at Conway Hall for the utterly delightful Playful 2010. Playful was a cracking day, too much to write up here, especially when others have done so already so eloquently, but one of my highlights was Sebastian Deterding’s self-described “grumpy talk on ‘badge measles’ and the confusions, side effects and missing parts of gamification”: Pawned: Gamification and its discontents. I also had a couple of moments on the stage as part of the What the Foursquare? panel, which was marvellous fun, and which I’ve written up in greater detail in the previous post. A good time was had by all (and we inadvertently started the rumour that Dominik Diamond had died, sparked by his sudden appearance amongst trending topics, all the result of his appearance on a live recording of Shift Run Stop. Oops.)

And obviously, I still haven’t seen Inception.

October 1, 2010 in Weeknotes | Permalink | Leave a Comment