Books & Magazines
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Applied Works in print
We’re very pleased to have received two books featuring our work recently. The first, ‘The Graphic Design Exercise Book’ by Carolyn Knight and Jessica Glaser (below), published by Rotovision, includes work for Save the Children, Spiritualized, Friends Reunited, Miguel Mera, Giles Revell and Dealerward.
The second is ‘Motion Graphic Design – Applied History and Aesthetics’ by Jon Krasner and published by Focal Press, which features our title sequence for Amulet Films’ short film ‘Moth’ and one from the archives – my first project after leaving college in 1997, a title sequence for ice hockey series ‘Inferno’ (below).
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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’.
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We Are What We Do
We’ve recently been introduced to We Are What We Do, a movement that inspires people to use their everyday actions to change the world. They’ve published two books, the bestselling ‘Change the World for a Fiver’ and the just-released ‘Change the World 9 to 5’. They’re lovely books and enormously worthwhile to boot. They can be purchased at a wide range of bookstores and online at www.wearewhatwedo.org
