Life of an international playboy

As mentioned in my previous brief post, the lack of presence here is due to a new job. It's not like I haven't wanted to post here, or had things to post about. No siree bob. My life has been a constant stream of bloggable events.
Actually that's a lie. I've been working my boney white ass off. Probably like I have never done before. Or for a very, very long time. To illustrate this point I'm currently posting from Gate 38 of the South Terminal of Gatwick airport. Up until a month or so ago I had been commuting weekly to Yahoo in Hamburg for the past few months, monday in London, Hamburg in the afternoon and then back to good ol' Blighty on the Thursday. I've just started doing it again and it's an interesting experience, the life of an international playboy, and it really is as truly as exciting as you can imagine.

Ok that's not entirely true and by entirely I mean not at all.

I hate airports.
I hate the smell (which, thanks to the smoking ban has been transformed from a smokey, greasy food, wet dog and tax free perfume smell to just greasy food, wet dog and tax free perfume smell) I hate the people, I hate the families, I hate the grannies, I hate the brits who queue for their plane too early and the Germans who refuse to adhere to any kind of queuing manners at all. I hate the cheap airline, the wasted hours, the crap tea, the delays, the stress and the turbulence.
Apart from that traveling each week on the red eye is a joy. Especially the 4.30 start, followed by a 12 hour day in the office and then dinner in a hotel food dispensary of some sort or the nearest place that I can understand the menu and they don't put bacon on everything.

It's great.
I love my life!

The best of it is I finish at Yahoo! this week, no more traveling there after tuesday. That means, hopefully a much more settled lifestyle, more blogging again, proper working hours and home cooked food more often. Not as glamorous as being an International Playboy but it'll do.

And the best thing, I'll be able to write about my experience working for Yahoo! and that my friend, is a whole different story...

Video Links Ten Twelve Oh Seven

43 Folders round up their favourite videos of the year, of particular interest are the Inbox Zero presentationand the IDEO know how talk.

Virgin America's unique and entertaining take on the inflight safety movie.

Coudal Partners videowall. Chock-a-bleedin'-block with visual stimulus and interesting docs. Watch the 'western state' series on creative individuals, particularly the Geoff Mcfetridge clip.
Much like the link above Hillman Curtis have an extension collection of self initiated and client based pieces online and well worth a watch. They have just completed a short on Pentagram but also watch the piece on Milton Glaser. In fact do yourselves a favour and watch the entire 'Artist' series up there. You won't regret it.
And finally, something completely different...

Play-Doh

The third TV commercial for Sony Bravia out does the previous ads 'Balls' and 'Paint' by using 2.5 tonnes of Plasticine, 40 animators, New York and the Rolling Stones.

Just outstanding.

Links for September Seventeenth Two Thousand Seven

In Photography: Martin Klimas' photography of porcelain figures being dropped in total darkness and captured as they hit the ground.

In Design: Jamie Wieck is an illustrator at Airside. He's also ridiculously good...

In Graphic Design: Build is 6! Happy Birthday to Build

In Animation: Steve Jobs and John Lasseter talk before Jobs' return to Apple

In Mobile: Andy Polaine highlights some interesting thoughts on mobile gaming and touchscreens

Monchique

Apologies for the state of my last post, it was a bit rushed trying to get one up before I legged it onto a plane (yet again) for a long weekend away with everyone from Fjord. Currently we have 35 odd members of staff spread between the UK, Finland and Germany and we all went up a mountain in Portugal to help plan the future direction of the company (as well as consume vast amounts of port). It was a really positive weekend. I won't bother with the details but I came away with a greater sense of ownership in the place I work and also a clearer picture of my place in that.

To give over a brief idea of Fjord's history, they have been developing concepts primarily aimed at the mobile market, many of our clients are from that field and develop software or devices aimed at handsets. Fjord's philosophy has always been that handsets or mobile devices are enablers and access points into greater social networks. This idea is becoming more and more prominent and we are finding our skills increasingly in demand.
As I have said before, the thing I love about being here is having a belief in the ideas we are developing.
We are trying to make communication easier.
We are simplifying complexity.
We are trying to bring a human face to technology.
As this is happening the ideas we are pitching are increasingly abstract concepts. We are describing devices or solutions that are about filling gaps or introducing new possibilities. It's getting harder to explain these things through case studies or power point. We need a way to make these concepts tangible.
I guess that's where my role is going to be.
I am going to use storytelling as a tool to explain the concept we design. It could be a demo movie of the final application.
It could be a story explaining the area we have identified for development.
It may just be a visual mood board setting the stage for an idea or it could be something completely abstract.
We are still working out the details but it's pretty exciting and I'm really looking forward to it!
In fact there is a big culture of change at work at the moment and it's an exciting time for everyone there right now. I'll write more about it when I have a clearer picture to paint.
(Yet again this is another rushed post but I'm trying hard to keep writing even when I have a flight to catch!)

I know, I know..

In my last post I said I would be writing more regularly now. I obviously haven't been doing it.
The thing is, I really want to but I'm struggling to find time to do it.
The last 6 months or so in the new job at Fjord has been pretty intense to say the least. I'm currently mostly based in Hamburg working on a big project for Yahoo. That's proving to be an experience I'll talk a bit more about when I have some more time.
All in all it's going well, lots of hard work but big clients and moving into mobile design is proving to be an exciting shift. The one thing I particularly like is we essentially produce communication ideas. By that the company has an ideology that is about how to make it easier to communicate. After years of working for clients that sell shit I'm not interested in or wouldn't think about buying I now am producing things that aim to make the world a better place. Well, almost!
Saying that the work is hard and pretty relentless and is forcing me into making some big decisions regarding work and life balance.
I guess I'll talk more about that when I get some more time... :)

And So it Goes

One of the things I have been meaning to write about here and haven't had the time, was the sad and untimely death of Mr Manchester.

Anthony H. Wilson was a proud citizen of Manchester. But he was more than that. He defined my generation. I can't think of anyone who would have such an influence on music or culture in my lifetime. Through the formation of the Factory Club, later to become Factory Records, to the opening of The Hacienda he shaped music, culture and design.
He was a champion of all of the above, but nothing more than Manchester. As a hybrid of visionary, bully, TV hack, producer, philosopher and self styled Genius he helped regenerate a city.

As a mark of respect the Union Flag on Manchester Town Hall was lowered on the news of his passing.

Famously he wasn't interested in money, none of the acts signed to Factory had contracts, he was more interested in making history. He commented before his death: "When they said I would have to pay £3,500 for the drugs each month, I thought where am I going to find the money? I'm the one person in this industry who famously has never made any money. I used to say some people make money and some make history - which is very funny until you find you can't afford to keep yourself alive. I've never paid for private healthcare because I'm a socialist. Now I find you can get tummy tucks and cosmetic surgery on the NHS but not the drugs I need to stay alive. It is a scandal."
He had been denied use of the drug Sutent by the NHS due to the £3,500 a month it would take to fund the treatment.

When it's all said and done, he would have probably been dismissive of all the tributes to him. I found this quote on a guardian blog and although I'm not sure it's a direct quote from the man, it seems to fit:

"Best not to dwell on the past to much. It is, after all, a foreign country to which none of us have visitor visas."

Rest in Peace Tony.

Tony Wilson - memorial mix.




Better people with bigger words written below:

Tony's wife Yvette in an interview with the Manchester Evening News.

The Guardian's Obituary.

BBC Manchester reports.

Alan McGee Blogs, lots of good comments.

Don't call it a comeback..

..Because I've been here all the time.
Hello, my name's Darren and I used to live here.
Well, ok I still do, sort of.
Over the last few months my new job seems to have taken over every aspect of my life.
This is a really short first post back to try and slowly break myself into the routine of posting again..
Bear with me, I'm getting there, just might take a little while to grease the joints a little.