Blog
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Election horror graphics
What is it about election campaigns that brings out the very worst design and advertising? Its as if UK politics has had some kind of design and good taste bypass, particularly when you compare the current crop of clip-art party logos and appalling billboards to the Obama campaign in the US.
The TV coverage often appears almost satirical (Peter Kay’s Britains Got the Pop Factor meets Brass Eye). And just as I thought it couldn’t get any worse, this assortment of horror shows fell through the letterbox. Some of them look like pages from Viz magazine – absolutely unbelievable.
If anyone can beat the Lib-Dem crime scene flyer above please shout…
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TfL: video & social networking
Our video for Transport for London’s careers department has just gone public, and can now be found on TfL Careers’ Linkedin page.
From the Linkedin page you can also access some social networking tools we’ve developed, including a Facebook app and Twitter page. These tools allow potential candidates to follow the latest job vacancies, which are automatically updated via their preferred social network.
You can read more about our work on TfL Careers’ communications strategy, including the video, on our TfL project page.
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Rework
I have a pretty long commute to and from the studio each day, with an hours uninterrupted train journey each way, and when I’m not asleep I usually pass the time by reading something (so expect a few more book related posts to appear here). My last two train rides have been filled by a book called ‘Rework – Change the way you work forever’, not the kind of title that would normally feature high up my list of future reads. However, two things attracted me to this book – the conflicting reviews I’d read, and the authors – they’re the key people behind 37signals, the development company responsible for project management software called Basecamp – an integral part of our working day at Applied Works.
There is much I like about the book, and having worked with a few start-ups over the years, I think many would benefit from adding this to their bookshelf. In broad terms the message throughout is to reject as the only option, some commonly held notions of what it is to be professional or successful in business – or put another way, have the confidence to do it your way. I also like the over-arching theme of making things more simple – the book itself has been edited down to a two hour read (and I’m not a quick reader), which is a great example in itself of the effectiveness of being concise.
As with any ‘advice’ themed book the only sensible approach is to try out those aspects which are well suited to your particular situation – it’s not a blueprint for conducting business. And there are many aspects of business tackled in the book, all with catchy titles and illustrated statements, eg. ‘Meetings are toxic’ and ‘Resumés are ridiculous’. But if I had to pick out passages that I particularly identify with, they’d have to be ‘ASAP is poison’ and ‘Go to sleep’.