everything

I am not sure if it is just me but I go through phases of writing alot on various blogs and then not writing any for ages. There is the stock response of I have been busy and now let me tell you what I have been doing. However what I really think it is, is that we as people are always learning and testing naturally we are curious and looking for new things to experience. These events are generally so different and diverse that they make you challenge your thoughts about many things. This then leads to the fact that you are not immediately able to articulate exactly what you think about the new learning and then what value that learning has.

So this last year there have been a load of experiences that have in many ways changed my thinking about a lot of issues. So for those that are interested I am listing a few issues that have stirred these changes:

- good businesses evolve and become more experienced.
- the only way you can get better is through testing and prototyping.
- i am not good at anything :-)
- owning is wrong but there is something nice about it.
- being social is a lot of effort, but saying yes is way better than staying at home.
- ideas are really not that new. making them happen is HARD.
- you are always going to meet someone who you can't have a conversation with.
- people love people, why else would you day on day cram yourself into the smallest places to get to work.
- one man occupancy cars in the morning should be band.
- every so often there will be an amazing tv advert that gets things just right.
- street games really, really, really create amazing life changing experiences for the players.

I think that is about it. I am going to try and write about all of these as soon as I get a chance. IS there any one in particular people would like to hear about first?

experience and a life in BETA

Over the last two years I have tapped into something that has always been with me. The concept of journey and experience is within us all but there is a difference when you decide to use this within how you live and how you work. I am passionate about always pushing and developing and ultimately doing.

This has led me and a group of others to be constantly developing new projects that challenge everything from time restrictions right through to technology and how businesses operate. I think what is also interesting is how this has always been with me but never really focused on it some how. The work I do for Hoffi for example is always very different we try to look at the company and design things to fit we do not design something to a house style for example. This has gone even further with the recent projects with thinkARK and the games I have been working on with Allie through everwake and playARK.

So what am I getting at? Well I think the concept is to realise failure is GOOD and should be embraced. And while I don't want to get too philosophical you only get one chance in this life, so why not leave it with the idea that you tried everything you could have in all the fileds you thought of. Remembering every minute you put into a project or journey is a minute closer to the goal or a minute more of rich content and understanding within that field. You put the time in and you get the results (in time). I guess finally the one point to leave you with is the idea of if things arn't moving fast enough in a project then keep at it and if you find yourself with some extra time on your hands why not start something else that might feed into the project later on down the line?

Everything will help you even if it to simply say that isn't what I want to do. Hope that wasn't too much of a rant.

Seminars for 2011

We have three branding seminars available for businesses looking to gain more understanding of how it can be used within your business. The first one is in April so if you want to learn more drop me an email. Will pop a fuller post on the blog as soon as we have the confirmed dates etc.

Two years on - what will language look like in 2021?

As 2011 fast approaches I came across this video of us filmed about two years ago. Over the next decade or so I think the concept of language and protecting language will be ever more challenged and discussed. With new technology quickly allowing text to be translated through applications like google translate, and the latest Augmented Reality apps such as World Lens pushing the boundaries of visual translation it seems only a matter of time the spoken word will be translated on the fly as well. So what does this mean for 'language' and preserving the ones culture?

The week so far

I remember having a conversation with Andrew a while ago about never being too busy to do something, there is always time to fit something in. So far this has been some of my work starting on Saturday.

Saturday
ARKADE - shop interior and do some voxpop's for research project

Sunday
Day off - (although I did manage to edit the voxpop video's and plan some workshop's for later in the week) also I went to visit the folks.

Monday
Work then me and Car drive to North Wales.

Tuesday
Meeting for Hoffi (hope they liked us), nipped to LLanberis Pass for a quick climb (rude not to) drive home, once home go and do a few things for the ARKADE at Laura's studio. SLEEP

Awesome

Irony

On our way back from meeting one of our customers. The project is about lactose free and soya based products. Ironic about the company nearby.

NESTA @ the Pierhead building

I managed to get to the Pierhead Building this morning to hear a seminar about NESTA's Big Green Challenge and also their publication 'Mass Localism'. Chaired by Peter Davies, Commissioner for Wales, Sustainable Development Commission (SDC). with other attendees being Viv Sugar, Chair of Consumer Focus Wales, Dr Michael Harris, Director of Research, NESTA, Chris Blake, member of the Green Valleys community project in the Brecon Breacons, one of the winning communities in NESTA's Big Green Challenge and Cris Tomos, Chairman of Cymdeithas Cwm Arian Association.

I found the talks very encouraging for a number of reasons. Firstly a number of thoughts and beliefs that we have been investigating in ARK seem to be vindicated by the findings of NESTA's paper. Also within Hoffi it also seems like we are moving towards the findings and ways of thinking that are going to be necessary in the coming years. In particular looking at our role as a company within the marketplace of our community. Looking at how we improve our community and seeing if there are ways we can help generally as citizens. I look forward to the challenge.

Specialisation in sectors and businesses'

NOT A BLOG ABOUT BIKES.



On friday I went to one of the Pierhead Sessions. I managed to get a ticket for the George Monbiot's keynote lecture. (thank you @harri80 for the ticket). For me it was interesting to hear someone who I had recently quoted in my MA thesis. While most of the speech was about climate change and the impact of Carbon Dioxide is having on the planet. I was particularly taken with a small section of the lecture around the concept of specialisation. The sheer complexity of climate change and the science surrounding it has made the language in Monbiot's words, almost impossible for people to penetrate and understand the scientific facts. To such an extent that 'even the scientist don't understand what another scientist means'. There are a number of points that I have been thinking about around this subject;

Over the last few years Hoffi has moved from a company that has tried to do everything for everyone to a much more focused approach where we target branding both on and offline. This specialisation is then introduced throughout all market sectors. It is a classic way of structuring a business. For example can provide many different services for a particular sector or you can provide a specific service for all sectors.

Although it has been documented before this, it is probably Kevin Roberts book 'Lovemarks' that discusses the idea of brands moving away from the traditional attention advertising, to an attraction economy. This is taking place through many different portals both on and offline but there are two things that seem to be a re-occurring themes. The first being storytelling and the second is conversation. So for me the interest lies in how companies / brands / scientists / governments / people, communicate complex issues to the correct audiences in a way that they understand yet do not feel spoken down to or unengaged / uninvolved?

My final part of this brainstorming ramble is the 'missing link'. Recently my work with ARK and investigating other similar co-design programmes such as dott and creative co-op I have come to think that maybe there is a group of people that could be the link between these groups of people. As translators these people could bring information together and then tailor them to the reader. In someways this has been what 'designers' have done for years. However traditionally they have done it through a physical response. It could have been a website, brochure even an tv advert. But what if the designers role were to change from being a 'maker' in this sense and move more to facilitator? The rise of co-production or co-design are some examples as to how this maybe slowly taking place. The role of a designer could ironically become more and more specialised to allow for people to understand each other? Some designers choosing a traditional craft approach. With others using socialising as their 'craft'.

I do believe that people may have differing views of this and indeed if there are groups of people that are this missing link it would be great to hear about it.

The Year that was

Well it's that time of year again when people reflect on the year that is slowly losing it's grip. This year has been difficult for everyone. Financially the recession has hit and it's been all doom and gloom, if the media is anything to go by. For us experiencing a recession for the first time it was initially quite daunting. While we are not fully out of it, we seem to have weathered the storm.

I think what has been different from previous recessions has been access to information. People have been able to look historically to see what happened before and what brands came out stronger from these recessions. From our experiences. People seem to be looking at their businesses and brands ever so slightly differently. It's now seems to be a case of looking broadly as to how a business can contribute to society rather than only making money. It has been really exciting to explore this new way of working with people through the strategy and branding process. For us personally it has been something that has been integrated into Hoffi from the beginning.



Having setup NakedWales - a community space that allows for artists and designers to share information. We set it up with the idea of raising the overall profile of design in Wales. With this added awareness we hoped to raise the overall perceived importance of Design. With the idea of raising standards and exposure of design. In a similar way the recent work I have been involved in through ARK which has been set up to try and answer some of the current social issues.

Finally one thing I really need to remember is when attending launch events I need to take home the goodie bags.

Learning about electricals

This last few weeks have been manic getting an advertisement ready for our client Wyeverne Electrical. We have recently produced their brand and have been looking at ways to increase their presence in Cardiff. To this end we have used an empty shop front as an advertisement for Wyeverne's flagship store on Cyfartha street.

This is me being stopped by packaging. Why is packaging always so hard to open?

Chapter subsidence

Had a great weekend which included a quick drink at Chapter Arts Centre. In the new Cwtch area I came across this small object. Not being a builder or surveyor I can only assume it has been setup to check that the walls are not moving too much. For me though it leads on from a talk I was involved in a few weeks ago at the unConference. The talk was about the possibility of building 'talking' or reacting to the user. While a very basic interpretation of this I loved the idea of what information the building is giving us as to how this particular wall is reacting to the world. I am sure sensors in buildings are not new but I wonder if they can be used in fun and interesting ways to aid understanding could be very interesting. It also reminds me of some similar work Andrew is working on with the development of the nakedwales site.

Chapter subsidence, originally uploaded by julian marshall sykes findings.

Future of branding

I came across this article via marketing week's website and think that the examples of the way branding and communication are potentially changing is very interesting and exciting new direction for this type of design. As the article suggests the future logo's do seem like they will have to be so much more than just a stationary 'mark'. It seems like it is almost mirrored in history by painting, to photography, to animation, to film and now virtual reality and even 3D which seems to be having a bit of a revival recently.

As technology allows this the brand and the ability to move and alter and perhaps personalise is fantastically interesting for us at Hoffi and something we would be really interested in investigating further. There is also a strong sense that with this type of branding then there is a much greater need for a strong strategy and story behind it and it is something I have been looking at in terms of ARK's recent development and how through story telling it is possible to include people from various sectors in complex issues through simple language.

ARK launch

After 12 weeks of meeting up regularly on a Wednesday we (me, Simon and Lynsey) finally launched ARK. We were hoping for around 15 people for the event. We were planning to give people an idea of how ARK works and the issues it hope's to address. In the end we had around 25 which is great. There are some more photos on my flickr account and also a few on SImon's as well. Finally I would like to thank ATRiuM - University of Glamorgan for letting us use there foyer for the event. Also for attic 2, Hoffi and EcoDesign Centre for allowing us to put a bit of time into the project.

launch, originally uploaded by julian marshall sykes findings.

NakedWales Pub Quiz

NakedWales Pub Quiz, originally uploaded by julian marshall sykes findings.

The NakedWales quiz took place this week. We had a great turnout. Thanks to everyone who came. You can see some more pics on my flickr account.

John Lewis Handbag

Unless you have been on Mars this last week or so in Cardiff, then you could not have missed John Lewis' opening of it's first store in Wales. The launch of the store was preempted by a number of over sized objects being placed around Cardiff to advertise the store. For us at Hoffi we loved this idea, mainly due to the fact that we had proposed a very similar project for the launch of a free entry campaign for Amgueddfa Cymru – National Museum Wales, about a month or two before. Unfortunately we were unsuccessful in our pitch, but for us to see how successful the campaign has been for John Lewis then we will be sure to think outside the box for future proposals at Hoffi. We have also recently being short listed for this project in the recent Cardiff Design Festival, and we should learn our fate this monday so wish us luck.

IMG_0598, originally uploaded by julian marshall sykes findings.

ARK exhibition

At last I have managed to finish my MA. The final presentation of ARK took place at the end of last month. For me it has been a great year, and I have learnt allot of new things. I have managed to meet a number of great people and been able to invest in an on going learning programme which has been really good to have a constant on going project. To this end the final piece of the MA is going a bit further and we are trying to get it up and running. We have already managed to get a number of interested parties involved and cant wait to get some investment. We are holding a launch party on the 28th of this month. The launch will hopefully produce the manifesto for ARK and will be formed by the collaboration of all those who attend.

ARK exhibition, originally uploaded by julian marshall sykes findings.

Hoffi brand seminar

Well it's over... It's been a long day and I am knackered but it's been good. Our first seminar took place this morning at gwdihw and we had a great turnout, and I think everyone got something from it. We have have already had a good response and will definitely be doing some more in the future. If any one would like to be informed when the next one is going to be just drop me an email.

MA nearly over

I have been trying to blog for the last month or so and only now have had a chance to catch up on some work. Until very recently I had always thought there was time to blog, that was until recently when I have had no time to do anything. I have been working generally a 18 - 20 hour day trying to get my MA and Hoffi work done. Now it is nearly over I have the MA completed we have applied for a recent big tender and have been to some really big pitches. Only have one more big day on Monday and then it's back to being a bit less hectic.

For me the MA has made for a great year in terms of learning and developing thoughts and ideas for the future of Hoffi and also the future of me personally. My final project for the name titled 'ARK' is slowly being formed through regular meetings with Lynsey and Simon. I hope that we have something that becomes a genuine venture for the future. The private show is this wednesday and I should get feedback at around the same time, fingers crossed.

Challenging creativity - new thoughts

I came across this project by Emma Smart recently after finding the link via Tom Harle's blog. The project named 'Creative Studio' got me thinking about recent projects I have been working on and also our studio space back at Hoffi. It is quite easy to get sucked into becoming stagnent within the place we work, at Hoffi we try and change our work area in terms of position and style about every 6 months, everyone complains about it because they have to move all their stuff but after three years I have always felt refreshed by the move.

The theory goes back to some work I was involved in over seven years ago in university. The piece was centered around office workers and focal points. The theory being that if you have the same stimuli day in day out your senses start to regress and take things for granted. Ultimately you can become depressed and unhappy. In the business we are in it can also lead to lack of creativity.

progress with branding seminars

We have finally announced the date for our first seminar on branding. It's going to take place on the 28th of September in Cardiff. If you want to book at place email me or my colleague Elin at elin.williams@hoffi.com.

We are really excited about the seminars and hope everyone who comes along gets something out of it. As we have said before but it is the first seminar we have done so its going to be pretty nerve wracking, but we have been working with clients now for over four years on their branding issues so we must be doing something right. As I was saying just today to the Director of Marketing of WAG, we started as a generic design agency, and it is hard to get those words out of my head, but as we have found our feet we have moved into specialising in branding. We have developed as our clients have developed and introduced them to more and more strategy based design work for them. It's been a step change within the company but it is slowly coming together. We have always had the skills in house to provide branding in the broadest sense however the locality we find ourselves initially seemed to limit us. I think for me though being inspired by companies such as elmwood who have expanded from a location outside of London and are a hugely successful company, has made it seem possible.

What is funny about the branding process is that it is very much a process that has no really obvious visual responses until later on and the responses obviously range from brand communications through to increased turnover or staff retention being increased. Which leaves the branding process for companies looking into it for the first time to question what they get out of the system other than a larger bill but still get the same outcomes, that's really why we have set the seminars up to show the real value of branding. I would also argue as design agencies we are our own worst enemy. Mainly because from a business sense we have to show we understand design and branding so we trademark ways of working and systems which are pretty much all the same. The problem then follows that how do people gauge which companies are value for money and which are 'poly-filling'. to be continued