Interaction at the museum

Saw a quite interesting interactive display at the Fitzwilliam museum recently. Not the interactive we usually think of, you know...push this button, prod that, watch this film, walk over there... This was much better: a bank of screens showing marvellous images of nature, celebrating the diversity in life which Darwin spent his life trying to understand. the neat 'interaction' was that you could add your own colourful nature photos to the display via flickr. So it's not instantly gratifying in terms of interaction but I'd wager this was a bit better in some ways. If you submit, you need to come back to the museum to see if it was accepted! Encourages re-visits and a great feeling of connection with the exhibition! Two for the price of one.

Camcreative Networking

I always used to think networking was a great way of getting business. But now I don't think it is. Networking is a great way to extend your (wait for it) network. More often than not I'd find myself at networking events where there was a glut of suppliers with not many potential clients in sight. Sure I might be going to the wrong networking events but even so I think there is value in this. 

Camcreative is a bunch of creative professionals who get together frequently to chat and keep in touch. This is very valuable to me: keeping in touch with what's happening in creative terms, with the industry and with client industries. A lot can be gauged from chatting to contemporaries in a relaxed atmosphere over a beer. In addition to this Camcreative features a guest speaker each month who brings something useful and interesting to the discussion platform.

I don't go to Camcreative expecting to find new clients but I do find like minded creatives and we can discuss what's afoot in the industry.

Here's the Meetup page.

Here's the webpage.

Culture Jamming

Culture Jamming

Seen on Regent Street, Cambridge.

Giving the logo space

You see it everywhere.

It's all around us but usually goes unnoticed.

And it's a disease - we need to take action today to stop it spreading!

Thankfully this disease is curable and I'm here to help you recognise symptoms of this damning condition and to help you STAMP IT OUT!

The disease is: Logo clear space impingement.

Mostly this is seen on PowerPoint presentations where business people have pinched a logo from a website and crammed it onto a heavily laden slide (the contents of which can't be digested anyway) and omitted to give the logo some breathing space. OK- not so critical, but check out this on the new Grand Arcade building in Cambridge:

I mean..on a building! With an amazing brand like John Lewis!?

Give the logo some room dammit! Compare it to the John Lewis website here:

http://www.johnlewis.com/

You'll see that I'm not talking about miles of space around the mark; just enough to comfortably recognise it as John Lewis and for it to 'feel' comfortable in its own space!

The reason that when I see this I get slightly uncomfortable is because the logo, which identifies the company and to a certain degree projects corporate values of John Lewis, feels cramped, squished in, about to fall off, unable to breath and at worst: an afterthought. Logos need this white space around them not only to give it a good sense of proportion but to enable a consistent feel across all media so we can easily recognise it time and time again without thinking. OK so John Lewis is a good, solid recognisable brand but if the white space is built into the logo usage visual clarity is maintained and reinforced.

Save the logo now!

Give it air and space to breathe properly....!

CIM: Digital Marketing Conference

I find myself in the unusual position today of being able to spend time on MY business rather than other people's. Quite refreshing.

So I've booked myself on to the Chartered Institute of Marketing's (CIM) Digital Marketing Conference. http://www.marketingconference.co.uk/

Note the seminar named: "Is Blogging good for business?". You may see a shift in emphasis in my blogging patterns as of the 7th July...!

I am intrigued by their bold statement: "Cambridge is the UK’s e-hub, so it’s natural that this should be the location of the leading e-conference"

Oh yeah? Since when? Is this because it's the birthplace of PIPEX or the home of the Cambridge Network? I've just looked up a definition of an 'e-hub' on the web and am more confused. Well I'm happy to be corrected but it seems like that statement is nonsense to me. I'll try and pin someone down on this next week :-)

Looking forward to the venue! I love conferences in the colleges... :-)

Lines of Enquiry

I draw stuff. That's, on a basic level, my job. OK it gets a bit more complex than that and if you fancy a coffee I'll buy you one and tell you about it sometime. But I draw when figuring out a way of communicating information or when actually illustrating technical concepts.

Lines of Enquiry at Kettle's Yard in Cambridge:
http://www.kettlesyard.co.uk/exhibitions/linesofenq.html , shows other professional scribblings. Beautiful illustrations of boffins of all sorts thinking through their highly complex work through drawing. Fantastic! Not only an insight into how non-'designers' (graphic) illustrate concepts but just plain beautiful too. This aesthetic beauty was largely a by-product, but sometimes intended (as in the illustrations by Dick Powell and Richard Seymour).

"Sketching helps me think" Professor Philip Cooper.

So what are you waiting for?
Get sketching kids.