Grazia Does Augmented Reality

This time last year, Augmented Reality was this hip new buzz word I'd just heard about and it seemed that everyone was whispering 'Is this the future??' in sci-fi voices. It's a groundbreaking piece of technology but a lot of people didn't quite know how to apply it, and brands weren't really sure what it could do for them. Cool for cool's sake, were a lot of people's first thoughts.

Now though, it's really beginning to pick up momentum, and perhaps it's now burst onto the mainstream with this week's Grazia Magazine doing a '3D' (term applied loosely...) issue.

I wrote about Augmented Reality and it's uses in a post I wrote a while back about my Ted Baker project. I (regrettably) never did submit that project to YCN because I got a full time job and that's against the rules :( My idea was great, as well. Yep, genius almost.

Anyway, the example that still stands out is Hugo Boss's augmented reality shop windows:


I liked how the technology takes the image of what you show to it, and manipulates it, moves it around etc, so that it looks like what you are holding is moving in front of you.

When I saw that Grazia were using AR, I assumed it would be a similar thing - hold the page up with all the fashion pieces and the page would come to life in your hands. It's almost that, but not quite. Instead of something like the Lego AR...


...Where the 3D image of the product seems to appear in your hands, instead the webcam/iphone app is activated by the little black and white logo, but then just reverts to a pre-made video which displays the content, with no interaction with your individual copy of the magazine. For example, on the cover, I thought that when you held it up, lovely Florence would dance about within the confines of the cover, weaving through the 150pt type and knocking silly subheadlines away with her mega-voice. But... not really. This is what happens when you hold your cover up:


Not what I was expecting. It's still cool and fun, but not as interactive as I thought.

Also, I don't have an iphone so had to use my imac's camera. The online content delivery bit at graziadaily.com/3D is a bit flaky, I've found. I don't know if the app is better, but my cover didn't want to work at all, and when I went to activate the tutorial on creating smokey eyes, it activated the fashion editorial instead =/ Not cool. So perhaps needing a bit of work.

That said, the idea behind it is great and definitely a step forward in bridging the gap between physical fashion magazines and online content - after all, these days you can find out about new trends in an instant - weekly mags seem old within days. I'd like to see this being a permanent feature within the magazine. Get rid of the cover shoot bit- it's nice but flashy and doesn't actually do anything except give models/singers/whoever a platform to prance around on. But the fashion editorial section could really benefit from this.

If they changed the format to be more like the Lego example above, it would be brilliant. I'd love to be able to hold my iphone (future iphone) over any garment/accessory/whatever in the magazine, and it would come into 3D life on my iphone screen - I could rotate it, see what it looks like at all angles - this is especially good for bags. Then there could be a link to buy it straight away online - done. All through the app. This is a solid way of ensuring fashion magazine's relevance in a digital age. Or even simple things like, you've read a really great, interesting article in the magazine, and want to tweet about it straight away - hold the app up to the title, or photo say, and it will automatically tweet a link to the digital article online. Or an extract of it. Things like that would be so great if they were incorporated into Grazia as a normal, weekly thing, instead of a special one-off 'collector's "3D" edition. Cos it's not exactly 3D is it... no yet. Things aren't jumping off the page at me.

I don't even know if AR has the technology to do all this yet; although I'm pretty sure it can; especially with games such as The Hidden Park around. So it's a step in the right direction, and props to Grazia for having the balls to showcase technology like this, it just shows they're a forward-thinking mag. I just hope they expand on it in the future.

Meanwhile, next issue they're doing a big 'Culture Special' focusing on what's cool this spring. Trend hunters, keep an eye out...

Look what dropped through my door.... H! Outfit post

When I started this blog, it really had no direction and was just for me. Now I realise it's a great outlet for my writing (which gets a bit pushed away in the career of a visual-type person) and my love of sharing new stuff and talking about what's hot and what's not. The perks, which I'm just starting to see, are that sometimes, people send you stuff. Which is amazing! It doesn't happen often (some bloggers get tonnes of stuff, if you are one, tell me how ;) not that I'm a sell out....) but it's really nice when it does.

I blogged about the new H! by Henry Holland collection at Debenhams a few weeks ago, because I love it so. I also talked about how much I loved one of the cardigans, but super couldn't afford it because I'm not rich and famous yet. Anyway the lovely people at team Henry at Debenhams spotted my post (this always surprises me, generally I feel that I talk to no-one, seeing as I get hardly any comments! Do comment, people, it helps me feel loved) and kindly sent me the cardigan! I know! I couldn't believe it. I've literally worn it everyday since. I'm not even joking, mum had to pry it off me to wash it. That was a sad day.
Oh, outfit posts. The eternal conundrum; how to pose? Do you smile and look like a holiday snap? Do you chop your head off? Do you look all model-y and weird? Or do you just not smile much and look a bit awkward, like me? This picture confirms two things for me 1) Get a bloody haircut, those roots are not rock n roll and those ends are just bleh 2) I really need to get contacts.

Anyway, so there's the lovely cardigan from H! by Henry Holland :) It goes with everything, as far as I've found so far. Ace. Rest of outfit: lace top Primark, floral top underneath H&M, floral skirt Primark, tights Debenhams, bra (not normally a fan of bra straps showing but I felt lazy) La Senza. That's quite a cheapskate outfit =/ I don't normally wear lots of Primark. I have the guilt. But also, I am poor. Ugh. Hopefully not for long! You know, with employment and all. Yay.

So thanks friendly Debenhams people ^.^

If anyone else wants to send me stuff, feel free....*

*only half joking. Mmm stuff.

Featured: My work on Photo-Nomads.co.uk

A nice surprise the other day was being featured on Photo-Nomads.co.uk. It's a lovely little blog by Richard & Sue Broom - take a look.

Thanks for featuring me guys :)

Ads I love: Marmite 'That May Be Too Far' Campaign

I'm starting a new post subtitle - Ads I love. There are many. Considering I want to work in advertising and I'm quite adept at thinking up concepts (apparently), and I have tonnes of opinions about advertising, I don't actually post enough about it. I think it's because I have too many thoughts on the subject and don't know where to begin.

Well I'm beginning on a brand that everyone knows and you either love it or you hate it - The new Marmite ads of course.




I've been seeing these everyday on my way through Euston station and they make me smile, and think as well - which is a good thing. What I love about these ads is Marmite's willingness to embrace the knowledge that many people hate them, and using it to their advantage. I'm sure a lot of people would think 'A Marmite cereal bar is a bit too far' so they have hit the love it/hate it discussion head on, with spoof products that marmite lovers may buy, and marmite haters would subsequently hate them for loving it. Nice.

Brands that are brave (ish) with their advertising like this make me feel better about the state of the advertising sector. Apparently they even put up versions of these posters without the strap line, and marmite lovers were actually asking where they could get these products from. They make me think when I look at them as well because they are representing advertising stereotypes and taking a satirical view on them - how much do these adverts look like the real thing? How many times have adverts like these been plastered in front of our faces? Especially the perfume one... Gucci anyone? I like that these adverts are saying, 'Well we may as well make these products, there are people like you who will buy them with advertising like this'. Which is true.

The ads are from the ever-successful DDB, executing them with a confidence and hitting the target audience head on. Even if you hate the taste of Marmite (like I do), you can't help but love the brand. It's a British icon but it hasn't kept itself in the dark ages; especially with a fresh and fun campaign like this. Keep it coming.

Found the pictures via the blog of Sell! Sell!, which is a great Shoreditch based creative agency I've just recently discovered. Here is their website. From reading the stuff on their blog, they seem pretty cool though and I'd love to have a chance to work with them in the future.

Immersion 2010: Session 5

Last week we had a really good session actually. It was called 'Nuts and Bolts' and was focused on the specifics of being self-employed/starting a business. Talking about the differences between Sole Traders, Partners, Limited Companies (which I learned in Business Studies GCSE but it's always nice to have a reminder) and making us think about ourselves as a business and we would probably be. I'm definitely of the Sole Trader/Freelancer kind, backed up by being a normal employee for the foreseeable future. Being a normal is good for the bank balance but bad for my lifestyle, I think.

So we had Magnus Long from Viable London back in talking about his route to where he is now, and how some of it he spent as an employee and then taking the decision to form a partnership, then a limited company, and the pros and cons of each.

He said a really nice quote - "It's better to be at the bottom of a ladder you want to climb, instead of halfway up one you don't." Which I quite like.

He also told us about Hidden Art, which I'd never heard about but seems really interesting and useful maybe in the future.

"Hidden Art helps designer-makers and designers transform their passion into products.

We do this through promoting and supporting members to place their products both nationally and internationally through international trade fairs, the Hidden Art E-Shop, global press coverage, Hidden Art Awards and our annual pre-Christmas Open Studios event." It's about £50 a year; I think probably more useful to product designers and designer-makers, that is, people with physical things to sell. I don't really have any of that yet.

We then were given a talk by Be Kaylor-Blake from Futureheads Recruitment, who gave us advice on job hunting through recruitment agencies, what to do, what to expect, that kind of thing. I'd always thought recruitment agencies were a really good idea but according to Be, the process in London/Uk as a whole is quite bad - and other people had bad experiences too. Which was interesting to know, I had assumed they were a good route to go down but maybe not. She said it only worked if there was a good relationship between you and the agency, you had a strong relationship with someone in the team and that it was a two way street, you had to work on it.

Lastly there was Catherin Gregg, who was really nice and has a great company called Make:Good, who "are an architecture and design company working to make public buildings and spaces more friendly and enjoyable places to be. More than this; we empower the very people who use these spaces to be at the heart of delivering the transformations." She had good advice as well, simple but valuable things like, you need to offer things that people actually want, and to have a distinction between yourself and your work. It's ok to sleep! I know I have guilt over being tired a lot and thinking 'but I must work 16 hour days to make it' and actually... no you don't. Chill. Sleep. Sleep is nice. Mmm.

In the evening, we had a panel session with Sue Odell, who does casting, styling, production, and is a general whirlwind of energy and amazingness - the stories she had! And also Gail Gallie, who works in marketing/strategy, and again had a really interesting background and seems to have done amazing stuff.

Sue Odell has shot the images for so many ads that I like -

That toblerone one is great.

She's had such an interesting life - and the one thing that came through clearest is she never set out to be any of the titles she puts on her career - she started out as a graphic designer, then kind of fell into casting by working with Lord Snowdon and other amazing photographers, then through that fell into styling, and so forth - she never set out saying 'I want to be a stylist', she just did what she enjoyed every day, always grabbed new opportunities, got a bit lucky, and so has had a really exciting and varied career. She also admitted to being a complete control freak and never relinquishing control over her projects - hence why she still runs around like a mad woman when she cuould employ 'people' to do what she does.

Gail Gallie was equally interesting - she was behind the labour 1997 campaign, (which proved to be successful), and then moved on to become the head of marketing and events at Radio 1. Which must have been such a great job! She was also behind setting up the Electric Proms too, which was a brilliant idea. I think she ended up moving on to be the head of marketing and events for over a third of the BBC in the end. Crazy stuff.

She then moved on to working on the development and fundraising at the Roundhouse in Camden (if you've never been there, it's a really great venue, lots of nice exposed brick and glass stairways etc). From there I think she worked more freelance and now runs her own campaigns agency, GallieGodfrey as a partnership. That's one varied career.

To read about all the Immersion sessions so far, click here.

Combining Fonts: 4 ways of getting it right...

In my new job as a graphic design assistant, I'm having to play with type a lot more than I usually would on a daily basis. This is a good thing, for the most part (isn't leading fun?) except I hate trawling through fonts trying to get things to work and match up. There are brand guidelines/default fonts to use most of the time but I'm always trying to mash it up a bit. I've just come across this really great 'Four Ways to Mix Fonts', found via Swissmiss. It's a really simple and clear way to explain how best to use 3 or 4, or even 5 fonts in the same design. I was always told 'less is more' and be simple with things, but I'm definitely from the maximalist school of thought and love when you've got typefaces all over the place - but my challenge has always been getting it to look right. Eclectic but not cluttered. Well this little guide has simplified things quite well and it's definitely worth considering next time I do something with a zillion typefaces:




Wit, Energy, Poise, Dignity. Read the full page because it's really interesting and makes some good, obvious-now-you-say-it points. Things like giving each typeface it's own role (header, body text etc) and enforcing that separation. And mixing fonts that are all from the same era, or have the same proportions.

Also, aren't those examples lovely in themselves? Especially No. 2. Really crisp and pleasing.


Mmm, letters.

Organise or Die

Bit of an ominous Post Title there. I like to be melodramatic. In my Immersion course that I'm doing at St Martins at the moment, a lot of emphasis at the moment is being put on organisation - having lists, priorities, goals, ambitions, and a system in place to record them all so that they can be acheived. I generally use my diary and lists on random bits of paper. But I've been coming across a few things that would make the process entirely more fun, or at least a bit prettier.

First up, these genius Reminder Magnets found via Art At Heart:


Great if you keep bills/random stuff/your entire life stuck to your fridge. Time to bin those awful novelty seaside magnets and put all that important and forgotten stuff under the right magnets! I particularly like the 'fyi' and 'etc' ones the most, as they are the most ambiguous... and thus least useful I suppose, which kind of defeats the object. Whatever, I just like the thought of having a pile of stuff under the title 'etc...' They can be bought from See Jane Work, which is full of other lovely 'I will find a use for this' things like these Day of the Week pegs:


Next, also from Art At Heart (great blog btw, I recommend it), is this rather awesome All in One Wooden Desk Organiser...with iPhone charger! Nifty:

Actual wood with actual charger for actual iPhone. Nice mix of organic and technological. Made to order though... $199. Maybe not eh.

Next is one of my favourites. It's from Erin Vale Design, free printables for Blog Post topics!

Anything DIY is cool in my books. It's a downloadable PDF that you print out and then either just stack up or be a bit adventurous with it - I discovered it via Gingham Cherry and she made this ace little book using it:


Having a blog post schedule is a really good idea and something that I don't adhere to enough. Bloggers like mrYen have got it down to a T - what with his Weekend Goodness and WIP Wednesdays and all that. I don't really have that discipline yet - difficult with a full time job though. But I'm always writing down ideas for blog posts in random places so this is perfect for me, and a step in the right direction! Going to make this this weekend I think, will be nice. The only thing I find is that I have post ideas anywhere - not usually when I'm sitting in front of my computer. So should probably keep them in my bag or something. Although I usually end up noting things down on my phone. Hmmm. When I get an iphone this will all be solved. Atm my 2 year old phone is driving me crazy. Tiiiny screen =/

I saw these in Paperchase and still need to get them. Get The Hint mini sticky notes, I want to use them for bookmarking my magazines etc when I'm in the middle of reading them. And also just for sticking around the house. Or on people's faces.

More fun than actually critically important but still ace. And less than a fiver. Very needed.

On to a much more useful item; a real to-do list. With an octopus. You basically can't get any better. From Shanalogic, the octopus to-do list:

And it's printed on recycled paper! Bonus points all round. I like that it has 'Done' and 'Not yet' boxes... no pressure, like it.

A really good online tool for those who 'don't do paper' is Teux Deux - which is basically To Do in a french accent. How very high brow.


I heard of it a while back now through Swissmiss, who I believe had a part in its creation. This blog explains Teux Deux very well, (which is also where the above image is from), but is beauty is it's simplicity; it's not got loads of gadgety extra bits, it's just a simple list format, with a week to view - type in what you need to get done, and if you don't do it, it gets moved on to the next day. As soon as they do an iphone app, I'll get it. When I have an iphone. Which hopefully will be soooon =/

Last is from See Jane Work again - these cute and slightly sarcastic sticky notes for the office:

I need these a lot at the moment. Especially the 'Do This By' and then the 'Yesterday' box. And Note To Self, that's great. Seriously though, I can see these actually being quite useful around my mac area, being a fan of the overuse of post-its myself. With these I can stick my to-do lists to things like... lightswitches so I remember to do them.
"Blah Blah Blah'. We all need a pile labelled that.

So hopefully one or many of these items will inspire you to get yourself organised a bit. Or just laugh at the lack of organisation you currently have. Either is good. The plan for me next is to develop some kind of planning system for my life. Hopefully using the above things!

Coveting: Irregular Choice 'Iced' SS10

Any girl who loves heels and isn't of the wall-flower variety probably owns several pairs of Irregular Choice shoes. We all know how amazing they are, but let's just remind ourselves anyway...






And so forth. I could post them all - they're just so beautiful. I cannot possess them all :( That last picture there is called 'Crystilina' and I love it. Words cannot express.

I think the one fault of Irregular Choice is also the one thing that makes them great - they're just so lovely, works of art sometimes, that you don't want to wear them. I had a pair years ago and loved them so much that I barely wore them in case they got ruined - now they're too small. The trick is just wear them and not get too precious I think. I mean they're not that expensive - clearly not high street, primark price range, but then you get what you pay for - here you get amazing, creative, wacky, out-there shoes. Just don't wear them in the rain. Or snow. So basically summer. Which brings us to their new SS10 collection...

The thing about Irregular Choice is that sometimes you have to choose prettiness over comfort. They do flats, but I have stupid high-instepped feet and can't get my hoofs into most of the flats they do, especially the ones with the straps. Like the one pair of flats I chose to feature at the top, I can't wear those. Silly square feet, me. Seriously. Wide as they are long, I swear. Anyway, they now do a collection called 'Iced', which is much more casual type shoes - think trainers and flip flops. But MENTAL. They have names like 'Galactic Fire' and 'Electrokill'. Check it out - Irregular Choice Iced:






Just.... woah. I love it. I don't wear trainers myself - not exactly the sporty type and so feel a bit weird wearing puma/adidas/nike whatever - I'm more of a heels girl than a 'street urban' type person. Trainers etc are so dull and really don't go with much in my wardrobe - I like to make some kind of a statement most days. But I would definitely wear these. What a statement! Perfect with leggings or jeans or even dresses actually, you can't go wrong. And those flip flops are immense - I love flip flops, I live in them during summer. Remember my weird feet? They have a mahoosive gap between the first two toes which makes them perfect for wearing flip flops - no pain ever :) yay for my feet. So I'm saving up and getting those as soon as they are available! Amazing geometric panelling, lightning bolts are a love of me and Gaga alike. And the peep toe boots are great too. Oh I just love it all! Again, in the higher price range - something that is going on my wish list again =/ Expensive taste is annoying.

You can buy most of the range at the Irregular Choice store here - not the flip flops yet though. When? When? I don't know. Hopefully soon.

Oh wow and I've just spotted this bag they do as well:
Sigh. So good. Enough now.


All of the images here are taken from the Irregular Choice website, except for a few which were taken from this blog post at High Snobette. Copyright remains with original owners, I'm just ranting about how much I like them.

Banner featured on the homepage of Red Lemon Club!

Red Lemon Club is a nice little website giving loads of good advice on Online Self Promotion for Creatives. If you're a freelancer then the site is a must to check out - some really useful hints and tips on there.

I entered a competition to get free advertising on the site for a month - it was one of those 'Retweet to win' competitions on twiiter, always good - and I actually won! So my humble little banner...

...With a link to my website is now up on the homepage for the next month!

I can be a bit jammy sometimes, me ^.^

Immersion 2010: Session 4

Last week saw the 4th session of Immersion, only a half day this time. It meant the train was cheaper (hurrah) but I prefer having a whole day, I can really settle in and get into learning mode. This session felt like the least useful of them all so far, in terms of things that I gained from it. It was more of a continuation of the previous time-management/organisation session, and the tools to use.

Planning as a Creative Process
We looked at:
-Different ways of working
-Why planning is important
-How planning can be a creative process
-Visualising the business of 'you'.

The two speakers we had in session 2 came back, Gavin O'Connell and Marcus Long, and they both gave presentations on the tools they use to organise their days/months/years. Both seemed to use iCal/Google Docs type things - the latter useful as it is able to be shared with colleagues, thus making scheduling meetings etc easier.

Gavin also talked about a really useful tool of putting lists into priorities: There's a name for it but I can't remember. It's about asking if the thing is Urgent? Significant? Important? Or a mixture of 2 of them. For example, something could be Important and Urgent, but not Significant. Or it could be Significant and Important, but not Urgent. So it's easier to prioritise things that way. Asking yourself, will be day feel complete if I don't do this? Generally things that are Urgent should be done first, but if something is Important, or even Significant, it should be given more attention as it's something that will move you/your business forward. See? Kind of complicated but also quite simple really. It's made me think a lot more about prioritising my lists: I often write lists everyday of things to do but often with no hierarchy of what must be done, what should be done, and what would really help me if I got it done. So now I will start doing that, hopefully with some kind of cute notepad. Heh.

Other things Gavin talked about were the books 'Getting Things Done' and 'The 4 Hour Work Week', both of which apparently really helped him. I will check them out I think. Maybe at the library.

Magnus talked more in detail about his day and the way he organises his business. He kept a spreadsheet of actions that he took to get an internship - who he called, what they said, any leads etc. As a matter of fact, I did (and do ) the same thing with my self promotional efforts - who I've sent a postcard or handmade book to, when I followed it up, what they said etc. The process could be more efficient but it works quite well at the moment.

He also uses a colour coded calendar, iCal thing, which at a glance you can see what youre doing when. I use this too, more loosely (I have a colour for 'work' a colour for 'freelance' a colour for 'social' etc, it works quite well, especially for adding up working hours!

Also prioritising actions into what you get out of them: Are they short/long term gain, just for cash flow, for PR value, or for relationship building. What are the most important to you at this time? Etc.

We then had to consider:
-What drives you?
-Personal values
-Visualising dream business/job
-What makes what you do special?

So like I said, an interesting week, but a lot of the things mentioned were things I already have in place, but could use a lot more efficiently.

We were also made aware of Futurising, a two day event aimed at graduates. Think I might go, depending on work etc. Looks interesting and useful.

Next Immersion session is this wednesday :)

Co-Creation Hub: Logo and Branding Co-Creation Day

Back on the 15th January of this year, I took part in a Co-Creation day at the Co-Creation Hub, London. We couldn't post about the day until after the Co-Creation Hub had gone live - now it has and I've got some time to post about it.

A group of abut 15(ish?) of us got together, via Headbox, and spent a day thinking about what the Hub stood for, it's values (we picked them apart pretty good and proper, it had lots of marketing speak which gets on my nerves a bit and other people all felt the same too - values in plain english please), it's brand, it's name, and it's logo. Everything really, it was an intense day but really fun.

We were shown logos that had been sent in by Jo Public as part of a crowdsourcing competition - as their blog says, some were good, some were... not.

But some bits were quite good so we took a bit of inspiration here and there, and also sat down with our amazing marketing minds and come up with some more, in groups. There were 3 groups I think:
To kick us off, each group was given a few different words to inform the logo and drive us forward - words like Diversity, Communication, etc etc. Top left 1 and 2 were mine :) Hurrah. I think that was based on conversation/exchange, I can't quite remember - I just drew a circular object with a back-and-forth line to represent a back and forth conversation and we all kind of went 'yeah... quite like that!' As so happened with lots of other ideas that came out of our group. We had some good thoughts I think. The fish came out of our group too. Oh Em Gee that fish caused some controversy. Let me state right here that I wasn't keen on it from the outset - but as should be done in group brainstorms, no-ones ideas should be shunted. I'm sure some of my ideas weren't liked by everyone either. Anyway everyone else in the group loved it so I'm not one to dampen people's ideas... I just way wasn't keen on the cartoon fish. I liked the thinking behind it though, it was all about Evolution, you know evolution of ideas through co-creation etc, and a sea-creature coming onto land and evolving.. etc. It's just I hate cartoon-y logos, especially ones with animals. And I think the meaning would be so lost. Normal people would be all 'What's co-creation, and what's a fish got to do with it?' But I think this point was lost on people.

Anyway it got to presentation time and it was definitely a Marmite moment - some people liked it some really hated it. Being part of the group that presented it made me feel like I had to like it but I really didn't. Maybe this is a lesson in telling people if you think the idea is bad. And just sucking it up. But I kind of believe co-creation is all about letting everyone put their ideas on the table without scorn or ridicule or whatever. Hmmm.

Our group also took the typographic approach and started from one of the competition logos, where they had made the word 'HUB' and joined the letters together - we liked that, but simplified it without the speech bubble etc. This was my favourite I think, and I'm glad they took the initial idea and used that as the final chosen logo after we were done:


I think they also took ideas from other groups where they made another version of the logo using loads of different coloured handprints:

Which I really like. It upholds the spirit of Co-creation too :) Here is the blog post they wrote about the whole process.

I really enjoyed the whole day, I love brainstorming and collaborative thinking, especially when it comes to branding and marketing projects. I miss it actually, did it a lot at my placement at Open and don't get to do it so much anymore. Hopefully in the future.

The Hub are now implementing an initiative called Co-Create London where they ask a very simple question: ‘What Would You Do To Make London a Better Place?’ By gathering ideas, solutions and fresh thinking about the city the site hopes to address issues that are important to people of London and give citizens the platform to make positive changes. It's a nice idea and it's gaining momentum - follow them on twitter for up to date examples of what people are saying.

A bit about the background of the Co-Creation Hub London:

"The Co-creation Hub is a collective of organisations, academics and individuals who believe in doing things ‘with’ people rather than ‘at’ people.

We currently work in the branding and communications industry, but we think our approach can be applied to any number of industries and organisations in order to solve almost any problem.

We believe great ideas can come from anywhere and anyone. And that means there is a huge untapped resource of creativity out there that co-creation can allow to flourish."

You can get involved with the Hub here.

Exciting Happenings: New Job!

Very exciting news! I have a new job! :D And not a job working minimum wage in retail, exhausting myself on a daily basis with the constant 'I am better than this' running through my head, oh no. An actual real graduate job that I need my degree for! I'm so happy it's untrue, I've been despairing recently over my work/general life situation and now it's seems things are really looking up! It's a full time Junior graphic design position in London, which I'm so happy about because it's been my ambition to start my career in London. (It's the place to be, really, isn't it.)

is the company I am designing for, they are a small range of clothing companies such as Yumi and Uttam London. You've probably seen Yumi in House of Fraser.

Yumi clothing.

So my role is designing things like brochures and POS, and also helping out on pattern designs and illustrations on the clothes. Really exciting, and exactly the kind of thing I love doing. I start on monday!

So what does this mean for my personal and freelance illustration? Well, this is a full time job so I may not be able to undertake as many personal projects. However I am still (as always) available for commission for editorial and other work too. I will only ever take on what I know I can manage.

I will still of course continue blogging :) Maybe i'll invest in a netbook to make use of my commuting time. The joys of trains and tube at rush hour will now be mine! Ha.

So hopefully this is the beginning of a really great career for me. Sooo happy. There's hope for us recession graduates yet!

Immersion 2010: Session 3

The next session of Immersion had a change of leadership, from the Palmer-Hamilton Partnership. This session was all about Action Planning: putting targets, dreams and ambitions into realistic goals with timescales that are achievable, and ways of organising/streamlining your time and your life to be more productive. 'From your dreams to your diary'.

A lot of this stuff was things that I was already aware about from my Creative Industries module at Uni, things like S.M.A.R.T goals and having a diary (duh), colour coding, lists, mind maps, wall pplanners, all sorts of things that I already utilise, but probably not the fullest of advantages. So this session wasn't midn blowing but really useful for visualising and solidifying goals.

Action Planning and Tools
A lot of people don't organise their lives very well - I like to think I'm a naturally well-organised person and I've had a diary for years. I live by it. If I lost my diary I'd go mental. But it definitely could be more organised; they suggested using pencil so things can be changed easily; there are so many scribbles in my diary where my life changes from one minute to the next! Here's my diary:
Which is slightly silly but I love it. I used to have a moleskine one, last year, which is week to one page and notes on the other. SO useful. I sort of wish I'd got that again this year; it's dull looking but brilliant to plan on. This diary hasn't got as much space for notes etc. So it may be that I need to get a small 'ideas dump' notebook, which they suggested as a good way to get all your ideas/thoughts down on paper to then action into things to do, instead of keeping them in your head. A good idea.

I also use lists - religiously so - but to the point where I make huge lists, often with no timescale or sense of priority, and then get the fear/depression at the end of the day when things aren't done. This is due to my goals for the day being unrealistic, not because I'm lazy. So I'm learning to separate lists into order of priority, to be more realistic, and to set a time limit on them. This is already helping a lot, especially with things like emailing people, blogging, etc.

I don't write down big goals or milestones I want to achieve and I've learnt that this is really useful. I've also learned that there need sto be timescales attached to them, and that they also need to be broken down into smaller goals. And obstacles and resources that I may need also need to be listed so that these can be taken into account. I haven't really started doing this yet but I shall.

I also have a wall planner that I use for 'big' things like events etc so I can look at my year quickly.

We also discussed the digital vs paper debate. I sort of use both. I have iCal on my mac which I double up everything that's in my diary - just in case I lose it. But I prefer using an actual physical diary; I've never been one of those to use the Calendar function on my phone for example. Maybe when I get an iPhone this will change; afterall you can sync iCal with iPhones so this might be something in the future. But you can't beat the freedom of scribbling Things To Do on an actual real piece of paper. It feels more vital and urgent that way, and less easy to forget.

We also talked about the importance of leaving room in your diary for social/you time. This is something peopl eforget but that I feel is so important - every so often you need a sofa day, right? I definitely do. A day where you have nothing planned, have a lie in, eat nice food and watch good films/telly, or go out with friends for the day, or anything like that which isn't work. Most people fit these things round everything else in their life but I'm a firm believer that you'll burn out if you do this. So it's ok to have a blank day in your diary every so often. In fact it's good for you. I haven't had one in months.

Visualising Goals
We then got on to the subject of visualising goals. We had to do an exercise that actually turned out to be really fun - draw, using as little words as possible, how we felt about our life now, what we had etc, and then what we wanted our lives to be in a year's time, if everything went to plan. Here's mine:

What my life is now

What I want it to be in 1 year's time.

I found this really fun and amusing. To sum it up:
My life now - Working in a well-known shoe retailer as a sales assistant to make money; not that enjoyable and a waste of my talents, to put it bluntly. A means to an end.
Having to do the thing I love - design & illustration - at night, when I am tired.
Tired and unhealthy, need a hair cut, a little bit doughy round the middle. (lol).
A bank account that is in bad shape with not much coming in and quite a bit going out.
No social life to really speak of - I love dancing and having nice cocktails in bars and dressing up and going out - who doesn't? This is how I enjoy myself. As I live with my parents I mostly drink wine with them. That's about it. All of my friends are up in Wolves still so if I want a night out I have to travel 200 miles.
Generally unsatisfied. Single. Grumpy.
1 years time- Working and living in London, nicer clothes, good steady cash flow. Thinner. (lame but I don't care. I want to be healthier.) My hair is better. I work during the day on what I love, i a studio/freelancing, whatever. I make my living on a mac, basically. I travel to cities for random breaks. I'm totally in the middle of cosmopolitan culture and know all the cool places and people and things. I have a varied social life. I have a boy-type person. I am busy and happy about it.

and I know it seems a weird task but it's great to do - in fact I think I'll match it up in a year's time and see what I've got - then I can do another one for the following year. Who knows if it will all come true - just aiming for it is the main thing. And if I'm still single in a year I may die.

Then we had to look at the gap between the two images and write down what we needed to bridge that gap. It was really great to clarify the things I seek like that.

Priorities
Following on from this, we then had to write down a list of priorities, things we want to do, what obstacles are in their way and possible solutions. An example of my priorities are:

• Leave retail job - Obstacles: Need to have a new job to go to. Solutions: Apply to graduate jobs I know I want to work in. Not just any old job. That's how rubbishness happens.
• Live/Work in London - Obstacles: Need enough money for a flat, need a social life/friends to live with. Solutions: Live at home and commute for 6 months, build up social circle. See what happens.
• Continue with freelance illustration career - Obstacles: Not enough time to focus on it, not enough regular clients yet. Solutions: Set aside certain times of week to focus on work and then on self promotion, keep at it.
• Extend social circle down here in London - Obstacles: All friends up in Wolves, don't know many peopl ehere to go out with etc. Solutions: Meet new people on evening classes/through work/exercise classes, be more confident.

HOWEVER. As we've just seen, I achieved my first priority! I now have a job in London :) So I need to rethink all these priorites now; I know things will shift. I need to spend time on doing this. Some will change, some will stay the same. Exciting times.

I have also decided that I need to get feedback on my website - critique from someone who knows what they are talking about, are things clear, does it run smoothly, what should I change. That's on the list.

Presence
The last section of the session was run by a Theatre Director, who helped us with our confidence and physical presence. We had to do silly breathing/shouting exercises which were loads fo fun and actually really helpful. Also helping us to think of our confidence as a scale - 1 to 10- someone who is a 1 being so shy that they barely talk and have no presence at all, to someone who is a 10 who is so loud and confident that they must be slightly irritating. It's best to aim for an 8, for things like presentations, interviews etc. And it really worked to think like that! 'I am an 8' You remembered eye contact, pace, breathing, smiling, etc. We all left feeling great about presenting ourselves and our work.

Immersion 2010: Sessions 1 & 2

A couple of weeks ago I started a brand new course at St Martins, called Immersion. It's a short, one day a week course aimed at design (any discipline) graduates needing help and advice getting into the industry/where they want to be. In a nutshell. It's really varied and has loads of advice, everything from time management and planning to nuts and bolts of setting up a business. There are tonnes of different people there from all disciplines and walks of life, some graduated like me, some wanting to change their career direction etc. I decided to do it because I felt that after Uni I missed having that support network of creatives, I wanted to meet new people to network and collaborate with, and also to help define me and my work and what I want out of my career; not as a tool just for getting a job/placements etc in the short term, but I want to use it to help me build my career from the foundations and assess what I want to do, the kind of company I want to work for/if I just want to freelance, or if, as I have found out, I want to do both! It's about realising your dreams and ambitions and making the most of yourself and your career. Good stuff.

I've been a bit slack about blogging about it because I've been so busy and putting it off because I know it involves a lot of typing. But I want to record the process and it helps me to validate things in my mind if I assess and write about them, out loud. That's why I've decided to do public blog posts about them; it's mainly for my benefit but if anyone wants to read about the course and what I'm learning about myself as I go through then go for it :)

So the first 2 sessions were 2 consecutive days and were really intense. We had a guest speaker who runs the Digital Health Service, so is going to be with us throughout the course, talking about his journey and the mistakes and triumphs he has had to get to where he is.

The things we focused on for these sessions were aspects like:
Communication
Presence
Self-belief
Environment
Values - What's important to you
Motivations
Skills
Networks
What you can offer
Curiosity

Environment
One of the main things we focused on was Environment. We had to do an exercise where we visualised exactly the place/space where we ideally wanted to work; what it looked like, sounded like, where it was, was it with other people or on your own, things like that. It's sounds like a really obvious thing to do but actually doing it was quite enlightening. For some people (like me) it solidified things they had an inkling about, for others it completely surprised them and made it clearer about what kind of work they needed to look for. I realised that:

'I want to work in a place that is full of creative, like minded people, not necessarily all of the same discipline, fairly young, let's you get on with it but still there for help if you need it. Focused environment that encourages hard work but also play, social aspect, music in the background. Separate desk spaces, not too precious, with messy areas. Basically a place with people; I've realised I don't work so well isolated on my own. This could manifest in loads of different ways, including a design studio with similar attributes to this, all working together. '

Even though an aspect to what I do (or want to do) is freelance, I've realised I don't have to sit in a darkened loft all my life. I thrive on company and creative healthy competition and the right dose of pressure. Whether that comes from working within a design company or just sharing desk space with other creatives is the thing that is negotiable; and not mutually exclusive throughout my career, I want different things at different times and just because I have or want one doesn't mean I can't have the other in the mid to long term future. Right now I think I need a stable, full time, creative job that will get me settled financially, socially and creatively. But this is approaching 'Priorities' and that's another session :)

Values
We also talked about Values and what our values are and how they should affect your working lives. Things like 'what do you value most' to ethical/environmental/moral values. Kind of similar the the graphic design First Things First manifesto where they agreed not to work with morally dodgy companies, asking yourself if you are the same? If a massive company asked you to do some work for them for quite a lot of £££ but you know they're a bit ethically dodgy and don't treat their foreign staff right or don't trade fairly etc etc, would you take the job because financial security is valuable to you? Or not because you don't want to be associated with a company like that? (even though someone else somewhere will take the job anyway). All open-ended questions to make you think, defo. I still haven't solidifed my values as of yet, we do more work on them in later sessions. Initial values for me are companies/clients that are:

'Social, ethical, fun, reliable, unique, individual, conscious, ambitious, forward-thinking, progressive'

Critique and Feedback
Interesting points made were that you don't always have to accept feedback - if you don't want it. Everyone has opinions and that's great but sometimes you just need your own opinion, and if you don't want someone's feedback, that's ok. It's an interesting concept. Also the notion that throughout our creative lives so far (uni etc) we have been taught very well how to Critique work and pick the negatives in order to make it better. This is fine, but it was said that we also need to learn to pick out positives in ourselves more and look at what we can do, not what we can't yet. We then had to get into groups and talk about something we did/achieved which made us feel really proud and good about ourselves, and identify the skills used to achieve that thing. My skills that were identified by my group were that I am:

Good at researching
I follow ideas through
Have creative flow
A deadline achiever
A hard worker
Dedicated
Attentive
Confident about my ideas
Able to communication ideas
A conceptual thinker.

Which was really interesting to see that written down by someone else. But there you go.

Ambitions
We then were encouraged to think about our ambitions - no matter how big or small- and articulate them. Realise that ambitions change, you may achieve something and everything then shifts to encompass new ambitions. Everyone should have one B.H.A.G - Big Hairy Audacious Goal, something that is so out there and ridiculous, but that you should aim for. Mine is to live, work, and be successful in New York. Not slum it at the start of my career, but really be established and make it and thrive, not just survive, in New York. Other ambitions are have may be more vague and also don't have a timescale as yet - this is something to be addressed in later sessions. In no particular order:

Form/Be a part of a Collective
Do what I love to earn a comfortable living
Inspire others
Be recogised for my accomplishments
Live in London
Be a design writer/commentator (random I know but I still love writing, haven't lost it since English A Level)
Design/work sustainably.

I definitely think these will morph, solidify and change throughout the course, and over the next year too as I start my career.

The last thing we had to do over these 2 sessions was choose 2 pieces of work and present them in a one minute speech to the entire class. Scary scary. This was about developing our 'elevator pitch' and getting more confident talking about ourselves and our work in front of strangers. It went quite well I thought, I hate doing things like that, I get really breathless and too excited and talk too fast, but people said I came across OK so that's good. I've never been a natural speaker and that's something I need to address. It was great seeing everyone's work though and a real ice breaker.

After the sessions we stayed behind for drinks (hurrah) and chatted amongst people. I'm enjoying that aspect of it the most actually; I wanted to meet new and interesting people and I really have, it's quite a journey we're going on so it's good to see other people in the same boat as you, with the same dreams and fears. Everyone is so different but I can already see there are people I'd want to keep in contact with in the future.

So that's sessions 1 and 2 - I'll do 3 and 4 in the next few days. Sorry for there being no pictures. Time to start using your brain, kids.

TOMS Shoes: You need these in your life

I just wanted to do a quick post about TOMS shoes, if you hadn't heard of them... then why not? Basically. They are a great shoe company and here's why:

TOMS Shoes was founded on a simple premise: With every pair you purchase, TOMS will give a pair of new shoes to a child in need. One for One. Using the purchasing power of individuals to benefit the greater good is what we're all about. The TOMS One for One business model transforms our customers into benefactors, which allows us to grow a truly sustainable business rather than depending on fundraising for support.

That's a pretty damn good business model right there. More (or maybe just as) importantly, the shoes are AMAZINGLY COMFORTABLE. If your feet could talk, they'd say 'ahhhh'. So nice. The main style is a simple canvas pump type shoe, they do others but it's all about these really:

Classic colours
They do vegan friendly ones - the ultimate moral/ethical boost; ethically sourced materials that are completely vegan AND you're helping out a child in a a poorer country. Amazing.
Special edition hand painted artist editions...
And my favourite, the plain old cream canvas one - my favourite because you can customise it! Draw on it, paint it, whatever. This is what I plan to do. It may get dirty easier but you can can completely make it your own. Nice. And so great to wear this spring with tights/leggings and a cute dress as it warms up. This brings me on to an event that Topshop help at LFW this year:

The event was called Style Your Sole at took place at Topshop Oxford Circus, of course. This was the "first Style Your Sole event to take place in the UK and was part of Topshop's greater event schedule for London Fashion week. Customers, fans, and fashion week attendees purchased canvas TOMS and had them transformed into one-of-a-kind, hand painted kicks." Sounds like it was great, I really wish I could have gone!

The one thing I really want to talk about is this:


On 8th April, they are holding the 'One Day Without Shoes' event which is encouraging people all over, for one day, to try and not wear shoes. If possible. 'We ask people to go the day, part of the day, or even just a few minutes, barefoot, to experience a life without shoes first-hand, and to help spread awareness. ' Sounds strange (and fashionably questionable) but it's to highlight some really important facts:

• In some developing nations, children must walk for miles to school, clean water and to seek medical help.
• Cuts and sores on feet can lead to serious infection.
• Often, children cannot attend school barefoot.
• In Ethiopia, approximately one million people are suffering from Podoconiosis, a debilitating and disfiguring disease caused by walking barefoot in volcanic soil.
• Podoconiosis is 100% preventable with basic foot hygiene and wearing shoes.

Its sounds really simple but shoes can change a person's life, especially if they are living in poor conditions. Not because 'Oh em gee these shoes are amazing, they go perfectly with this outfit, this has saved my life', but because these shoes can actually save lives. So get involved, if you can. April 8th is a Thursday which makes it virtually impossible to go the whole day if you have any kind of employment at all; it's illegal to drive without shoes and pretty unthinkable to go barefoot on the tube (think of the rush hour.. all those people treading on your toes... oh my) but if you can do it for a couple of hours, that's cool. Go to www.onedaywithoutshoes.com to find out more!

You can also follow TOMS on Twitter @TOMSshoes :)

I'll be buying a pair soon. I've only tried them on at work (I work at Schuh... not for long though, I'll tell you why in a new post, hint... tres exciting news...) and so I know how comfortable they are but I have 0 money to buy anything right now, including ethical shoes, so payday they are first on the list.

All images in this post are from the TOMS shoes website, copyright is theirs.

This post has a massive gap at the bottom and I can't get rid of it. Stupid blogger formatting. Very strange. Apologies.