My Facebook account has been disabled… I have no idea why, I’ve sent my begging message to them to find out. Apparently I’m looking at up to a week for a response.

Well it might be because it was hacked Saturday morning and might be whatever the hacker was up to before Brett White of fab design firm Peekaboo Design kindly phoned me and let me know that I’m there telling him on their instant messenger that I’ve been mugged at gunpoint in London and am stranded and he please send me ‘$$’

(So funny on Saturday morning to find this out…. but obviously not funny now my account has been disabled!)

So if you are wondering why I’m no longer your ‘friend’ or seem to not exist any more, that’s why. If you want to beg on my behalf because you cannot bear to not to hear my witty Facebook rapport this week please kindly email disabled@facebook.com with your outrage ;-))

Sigh

Ho hum… seems like I will actually get some work done this week then, ha ha ;-))

Happy New Year!

That’s right, be impressed, instead of lying in bed nursing a hangover I’m here, in my office, working, and have been for three hours. Not only that before even getting here I’d already tidied my house from the party I had last night and have a load of washing on … so you can be double impressed.

So, it’s back to work time self employed slackers .. you know it, I know it. The fun’s over.
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The Northern Design Competition is offering over £12,000 in prizes to higher education students!

No it’s not just a glorified spec work competition because I don’t post those (boo to spec work), it’s a genuine opportunity for not just for cold hard cash, but the chance to impress your peers, gain industry exposure, and go to a fancy dinner.

The Northern Design Competition aims to reward talented students across the north of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland for their work in the creative arts.

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You may have heard that I’ve won (!) a brand new HP notebook, well wow, I’ve not won anything for years. How very generous of HP to offer it up as a prize, the least I can do is give them some HP Notebook PC link love from my paltry ‘insignificant in the world’ blog. You never know, maybe they subscribe and will be honoured? What do you think?

I’ve not entered any competitions for many years, and the first time in ages I actually bother to fill in something and I win a prize, a grand prize it is as well, see below;
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FOR EMPLOYERS
Whatever the size of your business you may find it beneficial to take on students for work experience, in addition by doing so you make a valuable contribution to education and as such society as a whole.

There is no requirement to pay a student for work experience so no financial loss is made as such by taking in a student for a period of time, but one must consider that time spent teaching them some of the ropes of graphic design could have a dent on office productivity and hence a financial impact if the student is in residence for a long period of time.
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I can’t count how many times I’ve been asked when first communicating with a new graphic design client with regards to how fast designs can be delivered; what our ‘timescales’ are.

Usually before finally been given the tightest deadline known to man that no design provider on this earth could ever manage without reducing their standard of design, or customer service - or both.

Now consider this when very first planning ahead for your project, when it comes to your design provider, do you want to be served by ‘Ask’ or by ‘Macdonalds’?
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Someone said something very interesting the other day about how graphic design is like theatre.

Indeed art, design, and basically any other creative output that one may be required to pay money for is like ‘theatre’.

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Finally after months and months of banging on about it to all and sundry, I have installed and moved into my new office! It’s at the very bottom of my long garden and overlooks a big pond.

TA DAHHHH!!!

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‘Spec Work’ is an abbreviation for Speculative Work … this is design work that is created specifically for a client (often in the form of a competition against other designers) on which you speculate (read gamble) as to whether or not your design will ‘win’.

Spec work isn’t just for designers, although it’s rife in this industry, all industry types can fall victim to working in this way, which I promise you is not the most profitable way in which a company can win business.
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I seem to be having a bit of an eco theme this last month … turning all eco-warrior I am.

I just received from email spam from Signs Express about their new Eco-Friendly Exhibition Banners, it’s the first time I even thought about the fact that you could get eco-friendly banners over and above ’standard banners’ and certainly piqued my interest.
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