As a member of Girlguiding UK in Bedfordshire County, I celebrated the Guiding Centenary in 2009 & 2010. During the year there were a lot of events happening locally and nationally which had to be advertised, and I found that some of the publicity was lacking in inspiration to the Guides. To improve the attention the events received, I designed a set of posters for our unit and to be used by division and county if they wished.
Here are the results:
One thing I love about working in web design is the community. From colleagues, to fellow university graduates setting up their own businesses, to contacts from conferences, other companies collaborated with, and chance meetings. Everyone I’m in touch with I admire for their individual talents and achievements within the community, and I’d like to keep this post updated with people I meet and admire, and hope to work with, if I haven’t had the fortune of doing so already.
Go here if you would like to link up with me on LinkedIn.
Chris describes his company:
We specialise in network and website testing for small businesses, we can also provide training if required.
DigiPest – security specialists is run by Chris who as well as reading the same degree from the University of Hull (2008) also went on to complete the EC-Council Certified Ethical Hacker qualification. I would recommend Chris to you for any security concerns regarding websites and networks, even if you think you may be safe as houses, he would be able to tell you.
LinkedIn | @digipest | www.digipest.com
Artiatesia describes herself as:
I’m the Founder and Creative Principal at ArtDeal Designs, a boutique design studio assisting Solopreneurs and Small Businesses with their web & graphic needs.
ArtDeal Designs – US small business design studio is run by Artiatesia who not only has a passion for blogging and all things tech, but creates designs for small businesses and entrepreneurs. With strengths in social media (Facebook, Twitter) design as well as traditional website, blog and print design, ArtDeal is an ideal contact for any freelancer or small business.
LinkedIn | @artdeal | www.artiatesiadeal.com
DooBurt is a web developer, project manager and designer and a former colleague at Harmony Internet. With interests and surprising catacombs of knowledge in a number of obscure subjects including aircraft, air disasters (and building them out of LEGO), and World of Warcraft (I didn’t necessarily mean healthy interests). Chris was also part of the Audiostylists, and a DJ, and is still in his twenties, honest.
LinkedIn | @dooburt | dooburt.squarespace.com
Pete describes himself as:
I’m just some guy with a site who posts things
Pete Hindle is a creative soul from Biggleswade who blogs and tweets thoughts, writing, photography and insights from the creative community with good humour about Bedfordshire and its quirks. Pete is also an illustrator, juggler, and reads mountains of books.
@petehindle | www.petehindle.com
Sarah describes her company:
Imaginative, professional design and creative digital art (with a twist of quirkiness)
Creatingle – simple, beautiful design is Sarah’s freelance website, where she has great talents in print design, while also designing for web and more diverse outlets, including bar designs for big UK music festivals. Sarah is a very thoughtful, intelligent designer who I would recommend without hesitation.
LinkedIn | @creatingle | www.creatingle.co.uk
Albofish – musings of a clever web developer is Alex’s personal website, where he posts articles and advice from a developer perspective. He is a Harmony Internet’s senior developer, and my colleague. As well as turning his hand to classic ASP and PHP, Alex has a keen interest in jQuery, CSS and HTML and is a fantastic and creative problem solver.
LinkedIn | @albofish | www.albofish.co.uk
Tom describes himself as:
I’m a web developer for Blitz Games Studios and have recently moved onto IndieCity.com – the one stop shop for all things indie games.
Tom is a gifted artist, designer and developer. A Flash wizard, he’s also pretty nifty at the guitar too, and is far too humble to agree with me on that. Blitz Games Studios is on the top five independent European developers of video games with titles on the Playstation 3, Xbox 360, Wii, PSP and PC platforms.
LinkedIn | @diggersworld | www.blitzgamesstudios.com | www.indieCity.com
Illiya describes his own company as:
Smartdog digital is a specialist online marketing consultancy & training company helping business to measure their ROI online.
Illiya set up his own business, Smartdog and is a PPC and search engine guru, speaking at events, conferences and keeping up with a wide range of contacts. He blogs, tweets and is always right at the leading edge of what’s going on in the business. Illiya is the first person I look to for advice in online marketing as an expert, and he can provide insight and analysis to save hundreds of pounds from a marketing campaign.
LinkedIn | @illiyav | @smartdogdigital | www.smartdogdigital.com
Sarah describes her freelance business as:
BearOnFire is a home for custom illustration and graphic design. Roarin’ good!
Sarah is a designer, illustrator and creative writer living in central Iowa. With a passion for dancing, Sarah juggles creativity in multiple forms along with managing a busy online forum and blogging about it all. Proud creator of a featured deviation on Deviantart, Sarah has been recognised for her contribution to the community and has many happy clients who have commissioned her individual talents.
LinkedIn | @sarahsellaphix | sarahcarneycreative.com | Thrive Art Blog
Noel describes his freelance business as:
Creative solutions to everyday challenges
Many of us have too much to read, reports, blog post, emails and probably many more. Keeping up can be a nightmare. I help you by showing you how to read faster and more efficiently. And yes, you read every word.
Perhaps you have problems at work that just don’t seem to go away, they pop up again not matter what you try. Costing you time and money and leading to frustration. I use creative thinking to identify the underlying issues and then give you a new perspective to overcome them.
Noel is a clever soul with a passion for problem solving! Not afraid to grace boardrooms and corporate environments, Noel brings his great experience and brings down barriers to progress. A great thinker, academic and listener, Noel’s services have been sought by GlaxoSmithKline and The Chartered Management Institute amongst other high profile names.
LinkedIn | @kNOELedge | kNOELedge.com | kNOELedge.net | Facebook
The Elisabeth Curtis Centre is the Bedfordshire branch of Riding for the Disabled, a national charity in the UK. As the Elisabeth Curtis Centre is its own charity, they run events to raise awareness and funds, the posters for which I have in the past put together for them for significant events on request.
Here are some examples of artwork created for the charity:
During my degree at the University of Hull, I was the Academic Issues Officer for Scarborough Campus as part of Hull University Union. (I’m now a lifelong honourary member for my work to change the way student academic representation worked.)
Here are some examples of design work I put together, mostly posters.
I read Internet Computing BSc (Hons) at the University of Hull, Scarborough Campus between 2005 and 2008, graduating First Class with Honours.
During my course, I completed several pieces of technical writing, including my final year project (dissertation) on web storytelling. Overall, my favoured modules included managing a team of fellow students to deliver projects to multiple clients (personas played by our tutors), web authoring modules (HTML, CSS, web standards, accessibility, implementation) and research (proposing hypotheses, conducting tests, drawing conclusions, critical thinking, formal paper writing).
Here are some examples of my writing during my degree:
Short response to the title posed in a second year Animation and Simulation module. .pdf format, December 2006
Formally presented research paper on social networking in UK universities. .pdf format, April 2007
A response to the theme, in relation to mobile phone tracing in the always on society. .pdf format, November 2007
Research project presentation given at the end of the first semester, following completion of literature review and the outlook of the project in the next semester. .pdf format, November 2007
Final report submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree of Bachelor of Science in Internet Computing. .pdf format, April 2008
Written for a student employment site, while working for Harmony Internet. The project was suspended indefinitely. Image on a CC license from Philip Taylor PT
Sometimes running out of money at the end of the month is less to do with your job, and more to do with what’s draining it. The less money you have, the more you need to get clever with your spending. Its more about ‘what can I afford to do’ than ‘how can I afford to do that’ thinking in tough times. Well, at least until your next student loan instalment.
The corner shop is really handy and all, but its actually expensive for what you get there on a regular basis. Team up with your housemates and do the weekly shop together – cook with each other, try not to buy expensive microwave meals. If you all go together, you can split the cost of a taxi back if it’s a distance, or chip in for someone’s fuel, and get a six pint bottle of milk rather than six single pints.
If you’re not already a regular or Lidl, Aldi and Netto, take a visit. You may find you can cut the cost of your shop for your favourite foods, even if it means walking a bit further, or not buying the branded goods every week.
If you live in a student house and pay your own Internet bills, check the terms and conditions and your regular usage. If you’re paying for unlimited, are you actually using very much? Would it be cost effective to downgrade to a limited download package or change companies?
Don’t install multiple phone lines and Internet unless you really don’t like or distrust your housemates. Share the cost of the Internet bill and line rental. Just be careful that you keep an eye on the amount downloaded and the terms of your contract, as if anything questionable is downloaded, it is the name on the contract who is responsible.
If you have a landline and nobody else does, get beer money for people popping in to call 0800 numbers or call centre numbers off your landline instead of their mobile. Just don’t let them get put on hold too long, or call their mother.
It’s a good idea to register a landline with telephone preference, and be ex-directory to avoid unwanted calls, or anyone persistently calling for a housemate on the landline after collecting the number using 1471 or caller ID.
If you don’t want to run up a big phone bill or don’t have a super contract with free minutes you want to spend talking to your mother, set them up with Skype when you go home and teach them how to use it. The voice and video features of Skype make it great for pacifying your parent’s worries about whether you’re looking after yourself if they can see your face. Best of all, Skype is free to use and run to call computer to computer, and just requires webcam and microphone.
Companies you pay monthly may offer you a discount overall if you pay by direct debit or standing order. If you don’t know what these are, look them up and ask your bank how to set one up. If you can use Internet banking, it is easier to keep up on your bank balance and direct debits if you’re worried about your balance and overdraft. Stuploy tip – try to stagger direct debits if possible, and time them after any monthly pay goes into your account from your employer, and before you get too overjoyed with a healthy bank balance to ensure you don’t run into problems with bank charges.
Banks and utilities may offer a slight discount each month if you go paper free billing. This means less post to worry about losing or not receiving, or redirecting, and you can check your bill online regularly. Win.
If you’re serious about bank charges and switching your accounts, compare plenty of banks for their overdraft charges or sizes, and see if you could save money or stretch your overdraft further.
Keep an eye on petrol station prices in your area either with your own eyes and friends or by using a website. If you have a friend who shops at a supermarket but doesn’t own a car, ask them nicely if they can give you any fuel vouchers that the supermarket may automatically provide them.
Sell your unwanted things on Ebay, such as last year’s course books, CDs you’ve stopped listening to, or dodgy Christmas presents from aunts who still think you’re seven. You end up with a lot of stuff as a student, which you’ll often need to get rid of before you leave. Just don’t try to sell the landlord’s furniture.
If you use rail travel, it can be very expensive. A Young Person’s railcard is invaluable, despite the initial cost. Unconvinced? Use a journey planner website such as National Rail or The Train Line and compare a journey with and without a railcard.
Stuploy tip: if you do travel by train, try breaking your journey into different tickets as this sometimes works out cheaper (for instance, London to York, York to Scarborough as two tickets).
Look out for weekly saver tickets if you use the bus a lot, or even pay as you go top up cards similar to Oyster cards. These can reduce the cost of your journeys overall than jumping on the bus and paying full price.
If you know a student who has a similar timetable to you, arrange to share taxi rides, and costs, or if they have a car, get a lift. It’s only polite to pay them petrol money or buy them drinks in return, considering how much you might be saving.
Perhaps you have your own transport? If so, don’t just blindly renew your car insurance. Compare different prices, use your own eyes as well as comparison websites, which may also charge a commission, and not include some of the better providers. Don’t opt for the cheapest, compare the perks and advantages of one to another, including legal cover, courtesy car and breakdown assistance.
You can’t technically rent a DVD out for money to someone, but you can all save a bit of cash on renting films by borrowing from each other. You could always barter a drink if its not returned on time, or lost, of course.
University libraries may also have DVD collections to rent, though they’re really meant for media students, they can save you cash – as long as you return them on time. Fines can be hefty.
Loyalty cards and tickets for shops and restaurants you use often can get you freebies with discounts or a free drink for every five or so you buy. Designed to encourage you to use their services, they’re actually quite handy if you do use them regularly by routine.
Work out with shops and retail chains whether they accept only NUS cards to give you a discount or whether your plain student ID will work. Some retailers will have bought into the deal with the NUS (for which you must decide whether the card is worth purchasing and signing up for) but others will honour a discount with a valid student ID from your university.
If you are able to switch energy providers for your utilities of your student house, it could save you money. If you rent, you may have to check the technicalities with your landlord, and beware of long term contracts you can’t cancel.
Perhaps there’s no way to switch your provider and you’re stuck with a coin meter for your electricity and heating. If so, reduce your consumption by switching lights off, and switching bulbs to energy savers.
Throw an extra duvet on the bed, put your heater on a timer plug and wear warm socks. If your windows are single glazed, try some temporary double glazing from a hardware shop to keep out the draughts. Do a Blue Peter and make a draught excluder if you find your front door is particularly guilty of letting in cold air in winter.
At worst, learn the fine art of nursing a beer for a long time in your local and enjoy their heating instead!
Written for a student employment site, while working for Harmony Internet. The project was suspended indefinitely. Image on a CC license from doug88888
There is the expression ‘thinking outside of the box’ which entirely applies to finding unusual ways to make money as a student. Not all income will be from a job during the holidays, or part time as you study. Sometimes opportunity will present itself; sometimes you need to get a bit creative. Here are our suggestions for unusual ways to make money.
If you have a skill, whether it be playing the piano, speaking a second language, fixing computers, advertise your services. This may be amongst fellow students (but remember they probably won’t have any money too), the university community and the local community. Even if you have no formal teaching qualification, teaching your degree subject to a GCSE or A-level standard privately for a family can be a way to make a little money. Foreign visitors wishing to improve their English could be a way to teach a language without knowing a second one fluently.
If you have a little capital to allow for an initial outlay, and enjoy sales, then catalogue companies and similar may be a good way to make some money. Companies such as the Body Shop, Avon, Anne Summers, Virgin Vie and Littlewoods all have a network of representatives working from home to promote their products. Avon may involve distributing catalogues and delivering orders to homes, Anne Summers and Body Shop may involve running parties for groups, for which you may need some transport.
Clubs and bars, student union events, shops all need promotion. If you’re willing to stand on chilly street corners with a bunch of flyers in your hand promoting a club night, seek out such roles with local entertainment venues. If you’re lucky, you might get a mascot costume to wear…!
If you’re artistically minded or inclined, get crafty. Make greeting cards, offer your services in web design, offer to take photographs for a band for a fee, sell your wares at fairs, or online at Etsy or Ebay. This may mean you have an initial outlay, but if it’s a strong talent, you could command good fees.
Perhaps words are more your forte? If you are good at spotting mistakes in essays, offer your services as a proof reader. You could read all manner of short essays, enormous PhD papers, lab reports, or even drafts of books for overseas clients if you set up online. If you don’t fancy so much reading, turn your creative talent to writing articles and reviews for websites or publications, or write short stories.
If you are lucky to have a car and a license while you’re a student, it is no doubt a bit of a drain on your finances. If you’re not using your car quite so much, consider services to rent out your car – such as Whipcar, or become a courier and pitch to deliver parcels for people at stuff2send.com.
Perhaps you’ve no car, but a car parking space or a driveway? If you live close to the university or a busy train station where parking is charged at a premium, rent out the space for money to a commuter. Parkatmyhouse is a site to help you to do that.
Dab hand with the bucket and sponge in cold weather? If your local market hasn’t already been saturated by the cheap valet services appearing in hardware store carparks, offer to wash cars for a fee. Get creative, consider where you’ll get the water from, what equipment you’ll need. Find a few business people who need their company cars kept clean.
Enter competitions and surveys asking for opinions or market research. This is a whole process known as ‘comping’ where you can strategically enter competitions and fill out surveys to maximise the likelihood of receiving a prize or cash in return. This does come with an element of risk, so be savvy how you go about this and seek advice from the existing comping network.
If you enjoy listening to new music and can review it objectively, then music review site slicethepie.com may be your thing. Get paid for listening to tracks it selects for you to review. With some dedication, you might earn some fairly decent beer money.
Soul Leather front end development to create a new shopfront for existing retailer, BaronJon (Fashion Brands Online). .NET development by C.Laythorpe, design by S.Newton. Completed while working for Harmony Internet.
Web Development while working at Harmony Internet Ltd. Mini site for Atlantic Financial Management, called Atlantic Debt Solutions. Design by S.Newton, additional development A.Hollyman.
NB: The copy below was commissioned by mobilitypitstop.com while I was working at harmony.co.uk. It was part of the SEO work undertaken, though was chiefly aimed to provide useful information to the site’s audience. The original article can be read at their website. Image by antphotos on flickr, CC license.
Legal Issues and Insurance for Mobility Scooters and Powered Wheelchairs
The Law on Scooters and Powered Wheelchairs
There are UK laws that cover the use of scooters and powered wheelchairs outdoors off private land. In law, these are still referred to as “invalid carriages”. The powered scooters and wheelchairs fit into two classes:
Class 2
- Pavement vehicles
- Cannot go on the road apart from to cross them
- For use on the footway “a portion of a carriageway that is set aside for use only by pedestrians”
- Limited to 4mph
Class 3
- Constructed or adapted to go at 4mph, but no more than 8mph
- Cannot exceed 4mph while on a footway
- Tend to be larger vehicles than class 2
- Often there is a switch to change from 4mph speed to 8mph speeds
- Not permitted to drive on motorways, cycle lanes or bus lanes
- Must have lights, indicators, horn, rear view mirror, brakes and rear reflectors
Drivers of both classes must be disabled, and at least 14 years old. Drivers of these do not need to hold a UK driving license.
Mobility Scooter Insurance
Insurance is not required by law for your mobility scooter, but it is a very recommended essential. At the very least, you should insurance yourself against claims from third parties.
Insurance will cover you if you knock someone over, run over a person’s foot, knock a display of expensive goods over, scrape a parked car, or cause an accident.
When looking for a policy, look for:
- Comprehensive cover, including loss or damage as a result of accidental damage, fire, theft and vandalism.
- Equipment replacement, new for old, so that if your equipment is stolen and not recovered, or damaged beyond reasonable repair, you can get a replacement, as long as the equipment is less than two years old.
- The option of a daily allowance to cover you if your equipment is unusable following an insured event.
- Public liability cover for you or your carer to cover third party injury or damage by using your equipment.
- The opportunity to add cover for ongoing repairs, though the insurance cost may go up substantially if you add this
Costs vary between companies, but are usually between £40 and £90 per year, with the usual discounts for paying up front or in advance.
Remember, unlike a car, there is no recovery service you can call out if your equipment goes wrong while you are out. However, some insurance offers you to cover yourself for the cost of getting home, if you are stranded by breakdown or accident.
It is good practise to protect yourself from accidents by wearing a fluorescent waistcoat while driving your scooter outside, especially near or on roads. By hanging one on the back of your seat will increase your visibility to others, especially vehicle drivers.
Drive your scooter with care and attention, wearing your spectacles and hearing aid if you need them. Look out for small children, those with limited mobility and the visually impaired in pedestrian areas. Be considerate.
Always avoid leaving your equipment unattended, as equipment thefts do occur. If you do have to, ensure it has a key operated switch, and that you take it with you when you park up. Another way to secure your equipment is to use a cycle lock to secure it exactly as you would a bicycle. If you fail to do this, the insurers may not pay out for theft of vandalism, as they will claim you have not taken proper precautions to prevent an incident.
NB: The copy below was commissioned by mobilitypitstop.com while I was working at harmony.co.uk. It was part of the SEO work undertaken, though was chiefly aimed to provide useful information to the site’s audience. The original article can be read at their website.
Writing about mobility had to be done with care – its very easy to think that only ‘old people’ use mobility scooters, but its simply not the case. The project included a couple more articles which were released periodically and remain part of the website’s advice section.
Photo by TempusVolat/mrmorodo at Flickr on CC license.
Choosing the Right Scooter for You
Anyone struggling to carry out their daily routine due to limited mobility can benefit from a scooter, whether it is to move around their property and garden, visit the local shops, visit friends or explore places further afield independently. Mobility scooters are easy to use, economical to run and require low level maintenance to look after them.
Before you look at a range of mobility scooters, you will need to consider quite a number of factors to find the best fit mobility scooter for your needs. Always compare prices of scooters, and services such as maintenance contracts. Compare many scooters, and always test the stability of the machine yourself, and read the manual before you make the important purchase.
Here are some useful questions to help you decide the type of scooter you should consider.
Where will you be using the scooter mostly?
If you will be using it mostly indoors, it will need a small turning radius, be easy to manoeuvre, and compact. You may also want to consider a scooter that folds down for easy storage if you haven’t got much space. Consider portable scooters with low speed.
If you will be using it mostly outdoors, it will need to be a stronger scooter than a portable one, so it can handle the uneven ground outside. Stability and speed is important, so go for a scooter with 4 wheels. It may be worth choosing puncture proof tyres if you know you will be covering stony ground regularly.
Outdoor scooters come in two types, the 4mph version, which is suitable for driving on pavements only, and the 8mph version, which can drive on pavements at 4mph and on roads at 8mph as long as it is fitted with headlights, indicators, rear view mirror, horn, brakes and rear reflectors.
The disadvantage with outdoor scooters is that they are larger, and have bigger turning circles making them harder to manoeuvre. However, they will go longer distances, over more challenging ground.
How far do you wish to travel in your scooter?
The further you wish to travel in your scooter, the longer your battery life and power will need to be. Small, fold away scooters will not go as far as a larger, 4mph outdoor scooter, or even a 8mph scooter.
If using your scooter outside, will you need to go up hills or up and down curbs?
If you need your scooter to do either of these, you will need 4 wheels and extra power. Test your scooter out before buying it to check it can handle the slope to your front door, or behind your house on the route to see your family.
Will you need to drive your scooter where there are no pavements, such as on the road?
Check your local laws. A scooter that drives on the road must be able to travel at 8mph, have working headlights, tail lights, indicators, horn, brakes and rear view mirror before it can go on a public road. You do not however need a car driving license, just be over 14, and entitled to use a mobility scooter for health reasons.
Does your home have restrictions on the scooter & where will you store it?
Look at the width of your front gate, and avoid buying a scooter that you will not be able to access your property with, unless you plan to widen the gate.
Look at the width of your front door, if you plan to keep or use the scooter indoors and the garden. Can you fit the scooter through the front door? If you don’t plan to use it inside, where will you store it outside, do you need a secure container?
Are there steps up to your front door? Will you need a ramp, or will it be more practical to store the scooter in an outdoor, secured location out of the weather?
Is there much room to store the scooter inside? Do you need to fold it down or dismantle it to fit it into the space?
If you live in shared accommodation, or a block of flats, and plan to keep the scooter in the hallway, will your landlord consent, or can they help with alternative storage solutions?
Does your storage location have a mains power point?
Does the place you will store your scooter have a nearby power point for recharging the batteries? Is it suitable to install one, if not?
Will you be comfortable sat on your scooter and while driving?
Make sure your scooter has enough leg room to accommodate your legs, particularly if you are tall, or cannot bend your legs very far. Consider a model with a swivel seat to help you get on and off the scooter, or improved suspension for your comfort when travelling over uneven ground.
Consider your height and weight. Don’t sit in a position that will cause you extra aches and pains. Can you turn tight corners and still be in control of the scooter with your hands? Do the controls need moving to help you reach them or use them?
Will you need to transport your scooter in the back of a car?
Foldable scooters will fold down into the back of cars, or dissemble for reassembly at your destination – without the use of tools.
Seek advice from your supplier on the suitability, ease of assembly and size of the scooter with respect to transporting it. Scooters that dissemble will often come apart in pieces such as the chair, rear wheels, front section and battery, not only making it easier to fit, but reducing the amount of weight that needs to be lifted.
Decide who is most likely to be dismantling and putting the scooter into the car. Is it manageable for them, and are you still able to safely get into the car? Will you need a small hoist fitted in the car boot, or would it be better to have a ramp?
Do you want to take the scooter on public transport, such as train, bus, tram or taxi?
Scooters are unlikely to be accepted in taxis or on public transport, unless the user can demonstrate they can fold or dismantle them to go on the transport, and the user can sit in a standard seat. A powered wheelchair is more widely accepted on public transport, within size restrictions. Seek professional advice if the use of public transport is important to you, and you are considering a mobility scooter.
I strangely found myself renewing my BCS membership for £48.00 tonight. Its been on my Rememberthemilk list for about a week, as it expired at more or less the same time as my young person’s rail card. However, that cost £26, and I always see it as a valid investment. The BCS, each time they survey me, I wonder if I’m really getting the full value out of them.
Its always somewhere down my list to do, that I rarely pay high attention to, to the point I somehow maintained my student membership after graduating, and eventually after several letters from them asking if I wanted to upgrade, rolled it up to full MBCS membership.I’m the only one in the office who is, as far as I know. My course was partially accredited by them, which is why we all joined as freshers.
At work, our sets of business cards were printed without any titles or qualifications after them (not that this bothers me). Unfortunately they are too thin, and the spot uv wasn’t great either. For the sake of the few that most of us may give out, we ended up sticking them together to double the thickness. We were each issued a whole box full, which was a surprise.
Taking one over to the folks (look at the shiny thing and my new job title!) the first thing my family remarked on was not the lovely logo, not the thin card, but the fact my degree status and MBCS status wasn’t on there. This made me chuckle over priorities. We’d been typically more preoccupied with presentation, given our industry.
Our rebranding is finally reaching the office (we worked from outside to inside). What with the news that we have some land in Biggleswade (nearest town) which we plan to build an office on from scratch, if all goes well. [Update March 2011, it is going well see: Office space in Biggleswade ] I’m not holding my breath, there’s been enough 80% jokes already (80% being the point a lot of projects in web/software development gets stuck at).
Its brilliant if it does happen. In the existing office, we’ve had more furniture than IKEA stocks arrive in the last three weeks. Lovely cupboards for upstairs so we no longer see a pyramid of archive boxes. Just a bit more light up in our loft, and our designer might be able to stop sitting by the window on a regular basis to stop his creative talent wilting (he’ll get used to it soon enough – the light I mean)
Retrospectively, it would have been more useful to have photographed other areas of the office, but a lot of the more impressive additions are still being settled or rearranged downstairs where clients are received. However, we have all been issued with bright orange chairs.
It will be good to see the meeting area settled. At present, you can see the elements of it like jigsaw pieces, but the puzzle is not completed. Of course, being web people, not DIY or interior designers, we’re not flying along with the changes as quickly as we might otherwise. Here was the upstairs office about two weeks ago:
Though, its an awfully long way from where it used to be, when half of this room was used for storage.
Web Development for Zizz Hotels in Stevenage while at Harmony Internet Ltd. Design by S.Newton.
I am toying about putting together content for a comic, yet lessons learnt article. So this is a bullet list of ideas for an article entitled “How to Exterminate Customers”.
Any ideas of what to add are welcomed.
What puts you off from using a site, or shopping on it?
I’m in no way as big a typography buff as some designers I know are. But it doesn’t stop me loving Ronnie Bruce’s Typography.
Typography from Ronnie Bruce on Vimeo.
I’ve noticed typography more and more in advertising lately. I hadn’t really realised that this typography had its on subcategory, with a huge number of videos flooding art video sites, or students at university posting the lines to Fight Club in. So, after a while of being sucked into the “Kinetic Typography” Channel on Vimeo, here are two of my favourites:
The Duke from Lauren Fundora on Vimeo.
Eric Hutchinson “Ok It’s Alright With Me” from Chris Marrs Piliero on Vimeo.
