aspire to enquire

I moved.

Sorry I forgot to mention. 

I copied this whole blog over to my Palumbus site, which is my not-so-great-name-in-hindsight company name now that I've gone freelance. And there's some new content too! And all my work! In once place!

That happened nearly 2 years ago so I really should have popped back to Typepad by now.

It turns out we still get some hits here, mainly from image searching, but seeing as I'm going to stop paying typepad soon I thought it would be worth adding a little signpost to where all the fun is now.

 

A close relationship between buildings and landscape - New Ash Green

I used one of the fantastic days over the Easter weekend to visit New Ash Green, the 'latter 20th century village in Kent' designed by Eric Lyons for Span, a postwar housing developer.

Simultaneously tucked away in the Kent countryside or right next to the M20, it's a modern housing development built around some traditional notions of place and community. I've learned most about Span and New Ash Green in the last few years, but the reason it caught my interest initially was that it was where my parents lived with me and my sister until I was 5, before moving to Wales. I haven't been back since my gran left there in the early 90s.

That's me outside the old gaff :)

Span went bust in the process of building the place, and my parents eventually moved to get away from the commute. But walking around the village, we discovered new amazing spaces around every corner. With the ideas I've formed in this century about sustainable, enjoyable communal living, I was amazed at what was achieved.

Span built around existing trees and woodland, and pushed cars to the perhiphery of the housing areas. In the central spaces, small crofts and landscaped communcal gardens are linked by pathways designed just narrow enough to force an interaction between passing residents.

I've been revisiting my copy of Eric Lyons and Span by Barbara Simms: There are so many great insights from Lyons and the peope who surrounded him, on everything about his practice and methodology. I especially enjoyed some of the structural approaches to encouraging community spirit and sense of place.

Here's an excerpt from the foreword of the book, by Graham Morrisson from also much respected Allies and Morrison Architects:

"In low-cost housing, the two of them were masters of the value of systematic repetition. This was never celebrated in the manner of some of their well-regarded (if over-heroic) contrmporaries, but was used carefully to form elements incomplete in themselves but which, when placed together, would form a whole in which much more might be possible than by the simple sum of individual parts. They knew the value of a well-planted landscape and were unafraid of bringing buildings and lanscape together in deliverately picturesque compositions to the benefit of both."

It's encouraging to see both major parties move towards policies that may see opportunities for New Ash Green style developments to happen elsewhere - it wasn't developed as an 'eco town' or anything of the sort, they didn't exist then. But I've never felt such a connection between building and landscape, and the variety of plant and animal life we saw was amazing. It's a beautiful and peaceful environment, seperated but connected reasonably enough to major places of work.

My only suggestion of criticism would be that it is still too isolated, and it was sad to see the village centre so empty on a public holiday. If we could learn anything it would probably be that we need to go further when we plan spaces like this - Span were groundbreaking in designing a whole village, from positioning of kitchen sinks (so people could wave out of their windows) to the paths through village orchards and meadows, but they were limited in the wider ecosystem. Our New Towns of the future need fast, functioning and frequent public transport links, and enough local interest to draw surrounding people into the town centres for leisure time, so that over time people feel less need to leave at all as the economy develops.

We don't just need New Towns, we need new train stations, new roads, new broadband connections, and new means of generating power for them. I'm starting to wonder if some of the money that's been suggested for HS2 might be better spent doing this kind of thing.

Here is a map link, if you want to go and look yourself.

How car 'configurator' tools show there's a lot further to go in planning connected experiences

There’s lots of positive stuff going on in the world of cars right now. For example, I was privileged to watch the incredible BMW team at Dare get lively around the launch of the new i3, a completely new electric vehicle that has been developed by BMW with the full product life-cycle in mind. And lots of other manufacturers are brining in economy and ecology as key parts of their propositions.

My own recent experience has not been so positive. We’ve been sort of car shopping these last few months, grappling with the choice of repairing or replacing our (very economical) much loved runabout. It's got me and Ali to some lovely spots, like North Wales last year (below), but it's also getting old.

It’s not my particular journey, but a general trend amongst manufacturers that I wanted to talk about, the 'car configurator', and where I see implications for those interested in customer experiences.

These tools traditionally let you choose a model, engine, colour and trim level to your exacting specification, whilst seeing how these choices effect your On The Road price. They’ve become steadily more elaborate over the years I’ve had a car interest, and they’re often my first destination on a car site.

At first, these tools seem like an awesome idea - instead of deciphering some thick brochure that i have to get from the dealership, listing all the different combination options, I can change and swap options to make my future car look exactly how I want it to. And without talking to a dealer who may be commission-driven, I can get a real sense of the cost implications. Fundamentally, I can get an idea of how sexy I can make my future car look and perform, within my financial means (or dreams).

But here's the thing - once I've made my perfect car, I should be expecting to order it there and then, or go to a dealer and test drive one just like it, right?

Nope, it turns out that most brands expect you to start all over again once (if) you've made contact with a dealer. Some of these tools are now fantastical big touchscreen/gesture interfaces that you play with in store, but they're still far removed from what you can actually take home. 

Where is the 'start order' button?

Every time I have been into a car dealership, for whatever reason, one of the first options I’ve been offered is to choose from a list of existing vehicles, with a set set of options already installed, in specific colours. Actually the antithesis of configuration.

From a systems/technical perspective it's quite easy to see why. Dealerships are often franchises, so their finance options might be different to those advertised. Also, forecourts all over The UK are full of car stock that they actually want you to buy, because they've already made the cars with the most popular/profitable options packs.

“Sure, you could order one from the factory, but didn't you want to take advantage of this finance offer that conveniently finishes before the production lead time? Yes, the metallic paint option is lovely, but we only have a car in that colour with that entertainment package in Basingstoke - could you come back next week to test drive it? By the way, it's not actually the colour you wanted.”

There are macro factors to take into consideration, but I think there’s a problem brewing.

Essentially, as Experience Planners become more embedded in processes, and develop deeper relationships with more upstream clients, they're able to push the boundaries of user-centred-design to create immersive, engaging, memorable, compelling and ultimately more effective experiences that senior clients want to invest in. But that boundary-pushing isn't going on in the same way in the stock control department, or the database department, or the supply chain department. So the experiences being created often don't seem to interact with these back-ends at all. The result? An amazing online experience that completely breaks when the user tries to relate it back to the real world.

I think ‘big ticket’ items have been shielded from competition online a little bit so far, because no one in the UK who’s grown up digital has any money to buy them. And they have arcane regulation and process behind them that make ‘digitisation’ that little bit more difficult.

But I have a feeling that pretty soon, the people who have grown up researching and buying their holidays online, planning their nights out and consulting their personal stylists (have I told you about Thread?) will be looking to do the same with their carpets, cars and houses. And right now, in car world, it looks like new challengers like Motorpoint, and, dare I say it, Lings Cars, are getting that more than the manufacturers and dealers.

It can’t be down to agencies to solve this, whatever kind of agency they are, but I think we can help organisations understand and get excited about the possibilities that shifting to a more connected approach could bring.

The new Race For Life App and my small part in it.

Just before I left Dare, there was quite a nice little launch. One of the subtler ones when compared to some of the big TV and tactical stuff that’s happening there at the moment, but a launch none the less.

I wasn’t massively involved in the production or design stages, but the pitch work I did for the Cancer Research Race For Life App was hopefully a part of winning the project, and lots of the IA seems to have made it through a bit, certainly more than you'd expect given how many data feeds, functions and stakeholders were involved:

And now it’s live and hopefully starting to play a part in people’s race preparations.

It’s designed to be used by people taking part in a Race For Life, so if you’re not, you won’t get very far with the app, which is a shame. But if you are, maybe it’s worth a look.

The final version was lovingly crafted by a crack team of Dare and Future Platforms smarties including (but not limited to) Alan Prater, Suki Rai, Alex Vitty, Phil Buckler, and Nick Holroyd-Doveton.

Here’s the concept notes I made when I was putting the pitch version together. I quite like them, even if I did use the word 'key'.

It's incredibly refreshing working on something like this after having got good at more protracted and more in-depth platform build work. I was lucky, really; this came about for me just because there was a gap in my schedule between never-ending projects (more on those later), and I really enjoyed just getting fully stuck in with the team. One of the great things about pitches like this is that everyone genuinely does get a chance to have their own input into the shape of the work. It's come on leaps and bounds since 'my bit' but it's nice to look at the live version and see how some of the seeds I was involved in planting have blossomed into beautiful flowers!

If you do use it, I'd love to know what you think...

Kitten!

This little lady, named Mewriel, has been with us for just over three months now, and she's totally bonkers. I love her to bits.

It's amazing how our focus has changed since we got her - I'd say she'd made us more sensible, in a good way, but the amount of time we spend cooing at her and trying to take pictures would probably negate that. It's also a bit of a worry to look at my instagram feed these days. 

 

My top 5 tips for getting on after uni

I revisited the BA Graphic Communications course today as a former student, to talk to the current 3rd year class about what I've been up to since graduating. I did the usual rushed ramble through a bunch of projects, but then I thought it would be good to summarise into some key things that I've learned or that have worked for me since I left. Here they are:

 

Be Interested

It’s about showing that you have a passion, giving people an insight into what motivates you. After an interview or portfolio review, you want to be remembered as ‘the one with the great idea’ or ‘the one with the collection of…’ or whatever magical spark it is that you possess. Take an active interest in what other people are working on, and their ideas. They'll like that, and it's a good opportunity to start some new conversations.

Have a read of Russell Davies 2006 blog 'How to be interesting'.

 

Don’t offer to make the tea

You have trained for countless years, perfected your portfolio, spent months stalking the studios you dream of working with; When you actually do talk to them about an internship, or maybe even a job, don’t present yourself as anything less than a junior among equals.

Whilst its true that a number of interns are expected to run errands, mount presentation boards and so on, most are still taken on based on their creative talents and the promise of what they may be able to offer when they’re not doing the menial tasks. Make tea, sure, but do it as a valued part of the team. Also, there’s evidence that people’s starting salaries can have a major impact on their longer-term financial situation. So don’t let yours start at ‘tea monkey’ level!

Take a look at Major Players' 2014 Salary Survey.

 

Sketch

There’s so much pressure now to make everything as glossy as possible so that it can look good on a tumblr blog somewhere. But I remember how much longer things took to finesse when I was still getting to grips with my software. And often it would turn out that I was just polishing the wrong idea. 

Sketching is amazing for blasting out ideas quickly and iteratively - and if you’re clear with it, it can often convey the thinking just as well as the finished product. Make sure you’re fully explored the range of possibilities before dedicating time to the awesome final piece.

This piece on levels of fidelity in sketching may be useful, as well as some nice examples of different sketch techniques here.

 

Keep your psds tidy

Colour profiles, trapping, bleeds, half-pixels, grid lines, layer names, folder structures. The designer in control of these things is in control of their destiny. Leave a trail of immaculate files behind you and you will be invited back to every place you intern in. Carry it through to any coding or site architecture you do and you'll unwittingly be creating a neat, fast-loading and accessible experience, without even trying!

Have a look at ustwo's Pixel Perfect Precision handbook.

 

Don’t be afraid of change

The creative career path isn’t really one that you can plan in advance - new opportunities present themselves, or grow out of old ones, seemingly at random. Some of the decisions I’ve taken have been pretty tough and they left me in a few financial tight spots at times, but they’ve turned into new awesome things. I’ve learned a little bit more about what I’m looking for and what I want to do, on nearly every project I’ve worked on. So if opportunities present themselves, or if you’re wondering whether to go and actively look for some, go for it. 

Back again

So it turns out that about 15 months ago I gave myself a little ultimatum on this blog; start publishing more often, or shut it down after 6 months.  

As well as all the amazingly positive things that being at Dare has done for me over the past 2.5 years, it’s left me completely fried. Somewhere in there were all kinds of things I wanted to capture and convey, but the space to sit back and bash them around a bit never materialised. 

This week, while I’ve been between Dare and the hugely exciting and inspiring Friday (I start on Monday!) I’ve mostly forgotten about the internet. But I can feel something bubbling again. Maybe there’s just time for one more ultimatum... 

Floor posters

I've been spotting a few of these recently.

I'm not doubting their effectiveness, I used to put posters out in the same way for a club night in Cardiff. They're more disruptive than you might initially think. I guess that's why I'm a bit surprised to only really recently see the format used officially out in the wild.

Maybe councils are just at the end of their list of things they can monetise. 

Hipster statues

Photographer Leo Caillard, featured in Feature Shoot:

This series asks the question “What is the importance of clothing in our modern society?” How you dress is who you are. When you dress statues, suddenly no longer are they simply reclining figures from the distant past, they now look to be figures from modern and hip cities of today. Because they are made relevant to our current styles, we can see the realism and humanity in each figure.
—Leo Caillard

Georgia Ruth

Don't let anyone tell you that Welsh isn't a beautiful language.

I've just recently come across Georgia Ruth, who has a new album out. It's one of the reasons to regret not still living in Cardiff, that I hopefully would have heard her music sooner. Anyway, now that I'm on it, I'm looking forward to catching one of these performances soon:

I quite like how a lot of independent and folk music in Wales draws this really interesting line through Americana and bluegreass - somewhere between Nickel Creek and J.J. Cale. I don't think it's immediately obvious, but when you listen to acts like Gorky's Zycotic Mynci and Gruff Rhys - even though they brought something new along - you can kind of hear a common thread.