A new book about the life of graphic designer Barney Bubbles is out now.
Reasons To Be Cheerful: The Life and Work of Barney Bubbles, by Paul Gorman, is a celebration of the creative legacy of one of the most mysterious yet influential figures in graphic design.
Barney Bubbles work influenced a generation of graphic designers, including Neville Brody, Malcolm Garrett and Peter Saville.
Bubbles designed sleeves for The Rolling Stones, Billy Bragg, Ian Dury and Elvis Costello to name but a very few. Bubbles committed suicide in 1983, leaving a body of amazing graphic design work, including videos and product design.
Reasons To Be Cheerful is available from 4 December online and book stores. The forward is written by Billy Bragg.
I really like the work that the two guys at Common Craft are doing. Through the use of short, entertaining videos, they make really complex subjects easily understandable. All of the videos use a white board and paper style of production, and copies are available to share online. For commercial purposes you can license hi-res versions, or even commission Common Craft to make a bespoke video.
I like their philosophy of keeping the company small and the quality high, and am looking forward to future productions.
The one thing we all know from the credit crash is that the way we do business will change. When we come out of the other side of this financial crisis we will have a new breed of organisation and a new way for brands to operate and communicate. Many old, slow and lumbering business will fall by the wayside. In fact, we're already seeing that happen.
This presentation by Neil Perkin really sums up for me how businesses that are more open and honest and even generous will have better interactions with their customers. In a hyper-connected world the next generation businesses have a unique opportunity to really interact with the world in a totally different way.
Why don't we get the best out of people? Sir Ken Robinson argues that it's because we've been educated to become good workers, rather than creative thinkers. Students with restless minds and bodies -- far from being cultivated for their energy and curiosity -- are ignored or even stigmatized, with terrible consequences. "We are educating people out of their creativity," Robinson says. Robinson's point is well-made, and difficult not to agree with.
A visionary cultural leader, Sir Ken led the British government's 1998 advisory committee on creative and cultural education, a massive inquiry into the significance of creativity in the educational system and the economy, and was knighted in 2003 for his achievements.
I saw this brilliant film yesterday. It's nearly 20 minutes long, so get comfortable and watch to the end - it is one of the most inspiring speeches I have ever seen. I'm sure you'll enjoy it as much as I did. You can
download it to your desktop if you want it to run faster.
Source: TED
Today we launched the new website for Callender Howorth, an amazing firm of London-based interior designers.
The HTML and Flash site features some stunning imagery from their interior design comissions.
Callender Howorth
I've been experimenting this week with Cooliris. Cooliris transforms your browser into a lightening fast cinematic way to discover the web. It's a bit weird to get your head round at first. Essentially it could potentially change the whole way we look at websites, providing a virtual 3D window to shopping sites or a 3D wall to discover a whole range of media.
As I understand it, websites need to incorporate Coliris code into their sites to enable it to be viewed in the platform. But I'm pretty sure more and more sites will cotton on to this in the coming months.
Download Cooliris now and have a play. Let me know what you think!
Cooliris
The past few weeks
A busy few weeks as usual at Lavish Towers. We’ve been doing some video and sound editing for the IWM. We delivered 16 bespoke typefaces and helped one of our clients with some artwork and print consultancy work for a product brochure. We delivered some roadshow materials for a major communications organisation and are part way through a Flash website for an interior design company.
In the next few weeks we’ve got a heap of InDesign templates coming up, some more print work for Public Concern at Work and a website for an amazing creative concepting team.
So pretty much business as usual for our studio. We never know from one day to the next what we might be asked to do. But it’s all in a days work for one of London’s leading creative services studios.
Only a quarter of those involved in computer and mathematical occupations are women. And yet, in the ever-evolving world of Web 2.0, women have often been pioneers, redefining the way we interact online. Fast Company magazine has tracked down the most influential of these innovators.
The most influential women in web 2.0
Interesting article on John Caswell's Just Think blog about how social media is challenging the '6 degrees of separation' theory.
"Is it time to revise the old saw that everyone in the world is connected by just six degrees of separation? A study from French mobile carrier O2 has found that strangers are more connected to each other than they ever have been.
According to the study, the average person is now connected by just three degrees within a shared “interest” or social group instead of six. In fact, it found that people are usually a part of three main networks: family, friendship, and work.
O2 asked adults across three different age groups — 18-25, 35-45, 55+ — to make contact with random strangers from areas all across the globe using only personal connections. By linking their shared interests, the participants were able to connect to that person in three person-to-person links.
Stanley Milgram originally coined the term “six degrees of separation” in 1967 to show that everyone in the modern world was capable of connecting to another by linking people and interests. But in today’s world of social networking, links between strangers are closer than in Milgram’s day.
According to Jeff Rodrigues, a social networking specialist that carried out the study, 97 percent of the participants said they felt more connected to people today than they ever have in the past and for older respondents, email and mobile phones were the key factors in reducing the degrees of separation. But for those in the younger generation, Facebook was the main factor. Text messaging was also mentioned as an important component in reducing degrees of separation.
“What the study has brought to light is that the way we now interact means it’s never been easier to make connections and build networks of contacts,” Rodrigues said in an interview.
It should be noted that the research is not the epitome of a real scientific study — O2 paid for it, after all. And anyone who has a LinkedIn account knows that it is still easy to find plenty of people who are more than three degrees away from you. But the study does underscore something we all know: more so than ever before, everyone is connected (even if it is only tangentially).
Maybe it is time to revisit Milgram’s study in a more robust way. It could help silence the critics who believe Facebook and the rest are nothing more than places for kids to waste their time. Let’s face it – how often will you find one service or industry that can totally transform the way people are connected?
Just Think
Australian Edge is a really nice independent site maintained by Clayton West and Tey Vandenberg. The idea is simple: to promote Australian creativity in all forms.
There's some beautiful creative work on here, along with interviews with designers, directors, animators and others. It's a real mine of talent across all creative disciplines.
Australian Edge
My pals over at Made by Many have spotted a great series of postcards based on typefaces, and the subliminal messages we send out by using them.
As an old-fashioned lover of type, and a member of the Metrotwin team, this article definitely hits the spot for me. You'll know from previous posts that last month we had the dream brief to create 16 new typefaces for a client. We take our type very seriously here at Lavish. Oh, and did I mention the fact I'm on a personal, one-woman crusade to promote the banning of Comic Sans forever!
How do you say London in type? .
Interesting information on who's using Facebook, and the opportunities for marketing that Facebook offers, which was published on my friend Iain Millar's blog this week.
Who's using Facebook? .
Having spent many years despising both the use and users of the travesty of a typeface that is Comic Sans, I am pleased to report that the cause to ban it forever has been taken up.
Since its creation in 1995, the typeface Comic Sans has enjoyed immense popularity among numerous digital type users including librarians, human resource managers, Powerpoint presenters, and Disney advertisement designers. The typeface has recently become so popular in fact that it has attracted the attention of several important typographic institutions, most notably the Foundation of National Typographers. A recent study by the FoNT foundation reveals some remarkable trends for the fledgling face.
These projections are based on a scientific survey of long-term type usage trends and include a standard margin of error. The report finds that Comic Sans usage has steadily increased since 1995 at a geometric rate and is well on its way to becoming the most universally used typeface surpassing even Helvetica and Times by approximately 2018. Even more astonishing is the typographic event horizon predicted for the year 2027. The FoNT foundation has determined that according to these trends the only typeface anyone will use by the year 2030 will indeed be Comic Sans.
STOP the march of the evil Comic Sans. Visit the Ban Comic Sans . website and register your support!
We have recently launched a dedicated blog to support our Big Stories campaign, and to provide insight into great campaigns and news in the not-for-profit/third sector.
Lavish has strong not-for-profit, brand, marketing and direct response experience. We have worked with leading charities, including Crisis, Public Concern at Work and the Carbon Disclosure Project, as well as some smaller ones throughout our careers.
Big Stories is our dedicated not-for-profit campaign, showcasing our specialist offer and experienced team.
If you want to find out more about Big Stories it has it's own website . The site is currently undergoing a design and content refresh, so it will change slightly over the coming weeks, with new content being added all the time.
Lavish Big Stories blog
Slugs have 4 noses.
Owls are the only birds who can see the colour blue.
In 1386, a pig in France was executed by public hanging for the murder of a child
No centipede was ever found with 100 hundred legs.
Octopus have 2 legs and 6 arms.
Ergophobia is a fear of work.
Our eyes are always the same size from birth. that’s why some babies look like frogs.
The ant can lift 50 times its own weight, can pull 30 times its own weight and always falls over on its right side when intoxicated.
The flea can jump 350 times its body length
A cockroach will live nine days without it’s head, before it starves to death.
Butterflies taste with their feet.
An ostrich’s eye is bigger than it’s brain.
Starfish don’t have brains.
Donkeys kill more people annually than plane crashes.
You are more likely to be killed by a champagne cork than by a poisonous spider?
Right-handed people, on average, live nine years longer than left-handed people
Polar bears are left-handed.
Oak trees do not produce acorns until they are fifty years of age or older.
In ancient Egypt, Priests plucked EVERY hair from their bodies, including their eyebrows and eyelashes.
A crocodile cannot stick its tongue out.
You can’t kill yourself by holding your breath.
Americans on the average eat 18 acres of pizza every day.
Every time you lick a stamp, you’re consuming 1/10 of a calorie.
You burn more calories sleeping than you do watching television.
Cartoon from Savage Chickens
Nonsense from Karlology
Due to expansion and our need for more space we are moving offices. Not too far, just down the road to Old Street. The new studio is going to be named the 'Lavish Lounge' so now it will exist online and in reality!
More details next week.
There's some interesting research on how the credit crunch is affecting UK internet behaviour.
The findings highlight three key areas in which UK online behaviour has started to adapt.
1. Consumers are searching for cheaper prices online
No surprise there then that UK consumers are increasingly using price comparison and other discount websites to find the cheapest deals online. Following a 2 year decrease in traffic levels, UK Internet visits to retail price comparison sites increased by 20% between July 2007 and 2008.
Similarly, searches for the summer sales have trebled this year compared with last, while consumers searching for discount vouchers have led to a 130% increase in traffic to specialist voucher websites.
2. Property searches have fallen, but traffic to House and Garden retailers has reached a new high
The credit crunch has hit online estate agents hard: in August 2007, websites in Hitwise's Business and Finance - Property category accounted for 0.85% of all UK Internet visits, but last month (August 2008) this figure fell to 0.55%.
Falling demand for houses is mirrored by consumer search behaviour, with UK Internet searches for 'houses for sale' down 53.1% between August 2007 and August 2008.
At the same time, the share of UK Internet visits to websites in Hitwise's Shopping and Classifieds - House and Garden category increased from 0.49% in August 2007 to 0.59% in August 2008, overtaking the Business and Finance - Property category on the way.
One of the factors behind the success of House and Garden retailers online has been the increase in online DIY queries, as UK consumers look to improve their accommodation on a budget.
UK Internet searches for the top 10 DIY-related 'how to' queries have increased by 25% over the last 12 months. In August 2008 the top DIY search was 'how to plaster', followed by 'how to lay decking' and 'how to wallpaper'.
3. Consumers are shunning ethical consumerism in favour of energy efficiency
UK Internet searches for ethical consumer products such as fair trade and organic have not increased over the last 12 months, but searches for energy efficiency terms, such as 'loft insulation', 'underfloor heating' have more than doubled over the last 12 months. Similarly, UK Internet traffic to the websites of gas and electricity providers has also doubled over the same period, as consumers hunt to find the best deal.
Find out more about this research Net Imperative
Source: Hitwise
Metrotwin, the British Airways powered online social recommendations resource I have been working on is now live. It's still in Beta, and will be for a while, but you no longer need an invite to get in.
As I've mentioned before, Metrotwin brings the best of London and New York together in one place. Some of the key new features are:
The Metrotwin Index - an attention-based, dynamically generated score that applies to every place in both cities on the site. When people pay a place attention it goes up, and when no-one’s interested it ticks down.
Metrotwin Recommends - a new personalised recommendation panel within the user profile. It works by looking at everything you and everyone else have loved, saved, visited and reviewed - and it tells you the kind of places that people like you are interested in.
The ability to add links to external services (Facebook, Flickr, Twitter, IM and Skype) to your personal profile
City-wide map views - a nicer way to view.
A Site Tour - to help you find your way around.
Metrotwin has been delivered by a highly talented multi-agency team.
Visit Metrotwin
We are picking up a fantastic brief tomorrow – to create 16 bespoke typefaces. For a production studio whose roots are in the creation of type, this really is a dream brief.
Typography is probably my most favourite of all of the creative services disciplines. The ability to convey words and messages through type is, to me, the most creative of arts. Not only that, but from a production point of view, the rigour and rules that surround the use of words really inspire me. For me, a perfectly kerned, beautifully crafted piece of typography is very hard to beat.
There are some great groups on Flickr dedicated solely to the art of typography. Take a look at some of these:
Found TypeTypophile Vintage Type
A beautiful portrait by my wonderfully talented photographer friend, Jorge Monedero, appeared in Luxx magazine in today's Times.
The specially commissioned portrait of John Galliano captures the regal presence of this unique fashion icon. The portrait accompanies an article by James Collard.
View the full article snd Jorge's fabulous image on the Times website
Times Online Luxx magazine .
Metrotwin, the British Airways powered social bookmarking resource I have been involved with for 5 months has launched this week into an invitation only Public Beta. We’ve still got 2 weeks until the stabilisers come off and we go fully live, but you can now sign up to the site request an invite and join the community.
Metrotwin is a fantastic resource which features the 'best of the best' from London and New York, recommended by the people in the know. We have been working with content partners, bloggers and of course the very talented multi-agency team to get great places recommended, reviewed and twinned.
Team MT are more than a little bit proud of what has been achieved in quite a short period of time, and can’t wait to see how Metrotwin grows.
Take a look at the blog or visit the site and get yourself an invite.
Metrotwin .
For anyone who has ever had anything to gripe about with their Adobe products, this site is for you.
Dear Adobe has the best gripes on all of the Adobe products. My particular favourites from the top 100 being:
At no 15: Could you make Adobe Reader start up slower? I'd like to have enough time to go get a sandwich before I read a one page document.
At No 22: Adobe Updater is the single worst piece of software I have ever seen. Please fuck off with that.
and finally:
At no 55: Enable auto-recover for Photoshop, so when it inevitably crashes for the 9th time today I can get back to the corporate schlock I was working on.
Read the full list and submit gripes of your own...go on, you know you want to.
Dear Adobe .
The V&A have produced a book called Posters of the Cold War, in conjunction with their forthcoming exhibition Cold War Modern Design 1945-70.
The exhibition explores modern art, architecture, design and film in the period 1945-70, highlighting the ways in which artists and designers responded to the conditions of the Cold War.
The poster was a key medium in the Cold War, used to produce both fear and loyalty at home and abroad. Posters of the Cold War surveys poster design from the late 1940s when the ‘Iron Curtain’ was drawn across Europe to the collapse of communism in the Soviet Union in the early 1990s. Featuring over seventy designs by some of the leading artists and graphic designers of the period including Pablo Picasso, Grapus Design Collective and Peter Kennard, posters have been selected from twenty countries to demonstrate the wide international reach of the conflict.
Really looking forward to this exhibition, which runs from 25 September 2008 to 11 January 2009.
V&A
We create and produce offline and online brand and marketing assets for creative agencies, brand owners and not-for-profit orgnanisations. We specialise in creative production for both traditional and digital technologies, and creative services and project management consultancy.
This blog is a random selection of stuff we like, stuff we do and places we go.
A new book about the life of graphic designer Barney Bubbles is out now.
Reasons To Be Cheerful: The Life and Work of Barney Bubbles, by Paul Gorman, is a celebration of the creative legacy of one of the most mysterious yet influential figures in graphic design.
Barney Bubbles work influenced a generation of graphic designers, including Neville Brody, Malcolm Garrett and Peter Saville.
Bubbles designed sleeves for The Rolling Stones, Billy Bragg, Ian Dury and Elvis Costello to name but a very few. Bubbles committed suicide in 1983, leaving a body of amazing graphic design work, including videos and product design.
Reasons To Be Cheerful is available from 4 December online and book stores. The forward is written by Billy Bragg.
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