2009

Well 2009 was a great year for myself, hope yours was equally as rewarding. A lot can happen in 12 months and it certainly did. 2010 is promising to be a busy and even more rewarding year by the looks of it. My new years resolution is to actively seek out new employment, i have been all over the internet scouring the web for new jobs. My ideal would be for me to apply to the police once again but they are not hiring any time soon, so i have to carry out my contingency plan, Sales or Retail. Fail.

Well its been a while since i managed to get on here and update where i am at. I have moved out of my parents once again, after Jaime and i made the decision to put our Australian expedition on hold for a few years. It just felt a little quick and we need more experience in what our chosen career paths have to offer. The decision came about after we visited Abu Dhabi, we realised that it was extremely hard for everyone to come to terms with family members living 1000's of miles away. We haven't cancelled it altogether, we have postponed it for a few years. Its still on our agenda.

One thing that happened in Abu Dhabi was we got engaged! Yes, thats right, i popped the question. I even got on one knee, how good am i!

We've not set a date in stone yet but we have September 2011 in mind. I'm even going to see a wedding planner in about a weeks time at a prospective venue in worsley.

I'm going to upload some photos of my Abu Dhabi trip very soon.

Bye for now. x

Charisma.

Over the last year or so I have been interested in modern politics more than ever. The current climate and global recession have most certainly attributed to my sudden interest, as well my age and responsibility starting to manifest.

The topic at the forefront of my mind is not politicians policies or promises to the nation but the charisma that the person exudes. For instance, in America when Barack Obama was sworn into the White House, people across the globe were hopeful and ambitious about what the future held for all of us. I was rooting for Barack all the way because he was young, bright and a breath of fresh air and exactly what everyone, not just the USA, needed to see.

Now in Britain, it's a completly different situation. I don't feel like any of the three main party leaders have that charisma. Not since Winston Churchill have we had a person in power who, I feel, had a certain appeal to them. I obviously wasn't alive during his time in office but his persona and legacy left me with an idea of a man who lead the country during the second world war and seemed to be a natural leader. Churchill was, obviously, not perfect, he was a drunk but still that aside it doesn't tarnish my perception of him.

I can't honestly sit here and say I would feel ambitious or hopeful if either Gordon Brown, David Cameron or Nick Clegg were voted into Parliment.

Tony Blair is possibly the only leader who I believe had a certain something about him but on the same hand lacked that special something. He took the nation into the war on terror but he was one of the only foreign leaders that I am aware of that convinced a president of the USA to change his mind on a ground invasion in the Kosovan war.

Tony Blair is now being considered for a European Presidential position that hasn't even been created yet. I honestly believe that he is one of the only former leaders from a leading European country that has the political connections that could benefit Europe. His strong connections with America and the far east from his time in power would surely benefit everyone.

I'm no politician or have any in depth knowledge on the subject buts it's just something I have been thinking a lot recently.


-- Posted from my iPhone

Designing Obama

Everyone has to see this. His presidential election campaign has to be THE best for design work produced by some talented and innovative designers.

Now there is going to be a book. But only if they reach the $65,000 pledge mark. It's a minimum of $10 pledge, for which you receive a digital copy of the book, all the way up to $150+ and you'll receive a special edition gold sleeve with your name printed in the book. Seriously tempting to order a hard copy of it.

If you pledge and they don't make their target by the required date, then you'll keep your pledge but the book won't get made. Can we really afford for that to happen?

Go Here, to pledge before November 4th and get your copy.

Charles Saatchi

I recently search far and wide for some good design books to sit down and read to try and get my head back into the right place for designing. I found one or two good looking books on Play.com so i thought i would pick them up.

One of them happened to be a collections of questions put to the notorious recluse, Charles Saatchi. If you speak to anyone with even a basic knowledge of Art & Design then they will no doubt know of Saatchi & Saatchi. Formed with his brother at the beginning of the 1970's, it became the worlds largest design agency, with clients including British Airways and the Conservative Party, during Margaret Thatchers time in power.

I didn't really have a preconception of what i thought he would be like. Artist's, Designer's and people in power are generally associated with being either softly spoken, shy and reclusive or being loud, obnoxious and complete wankers, Hence the title of a well known design book "Designers are Wankers".

Charles Saatchi has kind of settled into both of these categories for me. He is an obvious recluse, reluctant to offer any type of interview, even ducking out of the office to speak to massive clients who are more than likely paying his company a hell of a lot of money. On the other hand when he talks he sounds like an obnoxious, "i am Charles Saatchi", i make someones career type of guy.

After reading a few questions, i came up with quite a comparison. He sounds like a typical teenager who is "not conforming" or "being an individual", everytime he was asked something, it was always "I don't do it to leave a mark" or "How can i feel proud?".

It seems like most Graphic Designers are, in fact, wankers.

Book is available here for just £5.49

City of the Sun.

As some of you may or may not know. I used to run a clothing firm called City of the Sun. I was certain we had a good thing going and that we had what it took to make it a credible success. We had solid ideas, what we thought were great designs and a group mentality that we were friends at the end.

Well that last bit basically attributed to our demise, it shut us down. Out of the 6 involved, i am only in contact with 2. Those 2 i have been friends with for more than a decade so therefore we have a strong relationship. I, once in a blue moon, speak to a third member who i wish i was in more contact more with. As for the last two, i don't know what happened. We were all so close, spent a lot of time together, even had a holiday together which obviously had its good & bad moments but we got on with it.

After a resignation and many arguments later, the group dwindled itself down to 4 members. It's not like i didn't want to speak to the other members but after us all agreeing that we "will have our friendship no matter what"... we learned the hard way that things don't always pan out the way we would like them to be.

You could say we had some success, we were in magazines, our sponsored bands had shared stages with the likes of Lostprophets, Paramore to name a few, but we never really hit the jackpot. Not even with all the help and support we had from a hardcore few (you know who you are) that were at every event we were at, bought every single design that we released and generally spread nothing but love for us.

My verdict of what happened to us was pretty much Accidental Death. We imploded and crashed landed because of our delusions of grandeur . Our internal squabbles would effectively lay the ground work for a failing company. I recently went through EVERY email i ever received from other members of the group regarding decisions, absence from meetings, petulance and everything in-between.

I never knew it could have ended like that. I never knew 6 men, could have had such petty arguments and cause so many issues on such trivial issues. Maybe some of the disagreements were legitimate but we never seemed to find a middle ground. I am not singling anyone out, collectively, we dropped a ball. I am sitting on lost investments, shirts in boxes doing nothing. A constant reminder of a business venture gone down the drain.

But even after i analyze all of this, i still don't regret doing it. I had some great times, seeing some of our hard work actually pay off. I can honestly say that there is no better feeling for a designer or businessman to see your product being worn by someone you don't really know, walking down the street, or when you see a band member on stage doing what they love and choosing to do it in your shirt.

As for future ventures, i am not sure where we will all be in 5 years time. I'd like to think we all took something positive away from this and can build on it to make our lives a little more exciting. I am going to sell off the remaining shirts over the coming weeks on eBay, for pretty much the cost price.

Knowing our luck, we will probably hit the jackpot and demand for our shirts will be higher than it ever was. A boy can dream can't he?

T-Shirts have always been something i enjoyed making, and i am looking into the prospect of doing something along similar lines, to coincide with my portfolio getting updated which is still a work-in-progress.

I think i have gone on for long enough now. Plus its 3:07am and i should be sleeping, so night people.

BTW, go watch District 9, it's actually a really good film!!