We weren’t quite sure what would happen when we unleashed the power of children’s imaginations on the 21st century objects in the Modern British Childhood exhibition. But we were amazed at the results. A ten year old girl gives the MMR vaccine a voice – “When I was born, everybody feared me”, a Lily Allen […]
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How to own the room When we give a presentation, we turn into animals, according to actor and public speaking coach Sharon Duce. Our bodies break into fight or flight mode, anticipating an attack. Our hearts race, our mouths go dry and our jaws tense up. We scan the room for predators. Will they come […]
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The other day, sitting in a yard in Shoreditch, in front of luminous orange glasses of Aperol and Prosecco lined up on a garden table made of an old pallet, Charlie announced that his boss wanted to celebrate a petabyte. Well, of course you’d want to celebrate a petabyte if you had one, wouldn’t you? […]
Read more...How Sam Gray designed the book of 26 Treasures How’s this for a brief? Create a book that features 104 treasures from four museums across the UK and the work of around 100 writers. Use photography from various sources. Show artists’ interpretations of the treasures on a quarter of the pages. Have another quarter in […]
Read more...Thanks to 26, the writers’ collective, for putting the spotlight on me in their latest newsletter. Read the article to: Find out about the latest 26 Treasures exhibition at the V&A Museum of Childhood in Bethnal Green. Read my advice on tweeting. See why you should read ‘Bird by Bird’ by Anne Lamott. It will […]
Read more...There’s a reason why they called that film ‘Snakes on a plane’ rather than ‘Snakes on a bus’. Because if you’re spooked by snakes on a bus, you can just ding the bell and get off. Or, if you’re in a complete panic, press the emergency exit button and leg it between stops. Whereas if […]
Read more...In the mix: colour, film clips, tomato sauce, magic and Martini soup On Monday this week I spent the day at Olympia judging the Writing for Design category at the 2012 D&AD awards. It was a privilege to be involved as a first-time D&AD judge and I was in great company. The jury included some […]
Read more...Here’s some advice for entrepreneurs that you probably won’t read in the Harvard Business Review. You have to know when to hit yourself on the head with a rolled-up newspaper. More of that later. But first, here’s what people said when I asked them for their best business tips. Have a big hairy goal and […]
Read more...The 26 Treasures exhibition went live at the National Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh on St Andrew’s Day and will stay up until Burn’s Night 2012. See ‘my’ treasure – Alexander Peden’s mask and wig – here: http://www.nms.ac.uk/our_museums/national_museum/exhibitions/26_treasures/the_treasures/alexander_pedens_mask_and_wig.aspx You can also read an article about the show in The Scotsman: http://www.scotsman.com/lifestyle/heritage/historic-sites/26_treasures_an_in_depth_look_at_a_historical_project_with_a_difference_1_1989235
Read more...Why is this dodgy-looking bloke holding a cat on a dog lead outside what looks like a club in Berlin* in the 1980s? As part of an ‘archive dive’ project, the D&AD asked people from the 26 writers’ collective to write about previous award winners. I could choose any winner that began with ‘F’ (a very fine letter). I chose […]
Read more...Take a look at my article on the History in an Hour site – which gives historical snippets for busy people who are passionate about rediscovering the past. It’s about how writers in Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales are reinterpreting historical treasures in just 62 words for the 26 Treasures project.
Read more...I’ve been working on a fascinating project where writers are paired with historical treasures and asked to respond to them in just 62 words. It’s a follow on from a V&A project last year. This year, 26 Treasures is joining forces with the National Museum of Scotland, the Ulster Museum and the National Library of […]
Read more...Why would you say no to new work? Does having firm principles increase your influence? How important is chemistry? And do principles go out of the window because you need the work or want the money? On 5 May 2011, three eminent design principals gathered at a Designer Breakfast event at the offices of Bartle […]
Read more...The landscape of Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) is changing fast. It’s no longer enough to stack your copy with keywords and hope that you’ll fool Google into shooting your site up the rankings. Search engines are getting smarter, so it’s time for a new approach. “Clients want their assets to sweat more,” says Ryan Kliszat, […]
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