Because I have a few blog posts in my draft folder that don't seem to get finished and because I saw someone else do this the other day, here are a few things in no particular order.
* There is a recession going on. A big horrible one. Friends of mine have lost their jobs. But generally speaking everyone I know who is very good is very busy, everyone who is average or worse is quiet. Possibly there are two reasons for this; firstly in difficult times clients go for safe bets, secondly talented people are better are making themselves busy.
* I keep hearing people say the internet is going to change, nay revolutionise, politics. A new dawn is coming. Fine, except I see an Eton educated Tory Prime Minister coming over the horizon. That doesn't feel very new does it?
* People keep telling me that no-one is interested in politics any more. Wrong. Go and speak to some constituents of a Duck House MP. Go and speak to some Tories. They are all very engaged with the forthcoming election. The world is not full of Labour voting social media consultants.
NB I imply nothing about Eton, Tories, Labour, social media consultants or ducks. This is not a political blog.
* More and more it appears to me that small companies are good at innovation and big companies are good at Getting Things Done. Both of these are attractive at different times. Very few companies (Google being a clichéd example) are good at both. £££££.
* That fucking Philippe Starck programme is awful. Lots of people say it's good that design is on the telly. Not when it's design like this. Mind you, designing does not lend itself to exciting TV.
* They should bring the two Dicks back. Do not Google that, the reference is here.
* Advertising agencies are much better at account management than design companies. This matters and is one reason why ad agencies have the relationship many design agencies grave.
* If you say, out loud "the internet is going to change my business" you are fucked. It already has changed your business. All that is over. But there's some good news, it probably hasn't changed that much. All you need to do is work out which bits of your business are good and then concentrate on those.
* You work too late. Really. It's no good for you. Stop it.
* Sir Harold Evans, famous editor said last week, “I’m in love with the craftsmanship of print. But I have to say I’m intoxicated by the speed of the web”. He's right and that gives me a cute link to remind you Newspaper Club launches in January.
* Anish Kapoor is worth a visit.
That is all.
" why ad agencies have the relationship many design agencies grave." Did you mean crave? Bit of a Freudian blowjob there!
Posted by: Womb For Improvement | Oct 13, 2009 at 10:04
Yes! That Seymour/Powell programme was the best part of my DT GCSE (which was otherwise a mistake). More like that.
(And now I have a weird version of The Automatic in my head: "What's that coming over the hill, is it a TORY?")
Posted by: James | Oct 13, 2009 at 10:24
I agree with you about Design For Life. I gave it a try, I really did, but Starck is so annoying in real life and the people on that programme don't make me proud of british design. There's better people out there. Probably why they're not on the programme I suppose, they don't need to be.
I also agree with pretty much everything else there. I am an unemployed graduate, therefore I must be average or worse. Eeep.
Posted by: Rachel | Oct 13, 2009 at 11:51
that last Eton-educated PM was Sir Alec Douglas Home in 1963/4.
So for anyone under the age of 64 it's the first one in our adult lifetimes.
So pretty new.
http://www.etoncollege.com/PrimeMinisters.aspx
Posted by: botogol | Oct 13, 2009 at 14:52
Botogol, you use a very short term of reference for new.
18 of all the British Prime Ministers, about 65 in number, have come from Eton. Therefore another one is hardly a new phenomenon, especially compared, for arguments sake, to a black Prime Minister.
Posted by: Ben | Oct 13, 2009 at 17:28
Yes, it's true, but all the same I bet it's the first Eton-educated PM in the lifetime of all your readers.
Yes, a black prime minister would be really new indeed. But we have had a woman one more recently than an eton one (she a tory)
- the last PM was Fiennes (kind of like scottish eton, no?) he was labour..
- the PM before that was was a grammar school boy who didn't go to university (tory)
But what they ALL have in common is being career politicians. What would be really new is to have someone who had had some kind of career outside politics. I'd welcome that - whatever colour they were, or school they went to.
Posted by: botogol | Oct 13, 2009 at 17:54
botogol - this is exactly where I didn't want this conversation to go. I don't care what school the PM went to.
What bothers me is people who say the internet is ushering in a "new dawn" when it isn't. Just a slightly different version of the dawn.
Posted by: Ben | Oct 13, 2009 at 21:10
It struck me while watching Design for Life that this must be how proper chefs feel watching Hell's Kitchen.
It's an awful show, but I'm addicted to it. From Ilsa not understanding a conceptual hotel room to Nebil's Tunnel of Mutations, the whole thing is riveting. Although I do wonder if the contestants' faces ache from having to smile at every piece of Starke Zaniness.
As for the internet - it's television for the irony generation. Like television, capable of some wonderful things, but used by most people as a huge waste of time.
Posted by: Simon | Oct 13, 2009 at 21:51
you started it! :-)
Posted by: botogol | Oct 13, 2009 at 21:58
Oh I understood the hotel room fine - it was a load of bollocks!
Posted by: ilsa parry | Oct 13, 2009 at 22:30
* They should bring the two Dicks back. AGREED
* You work too late. Really. It's no good for you. Stop it. AGREED, I'm trying to!
On the plus side though I am very busy at work and with other work outside of work. Am I successful or simply under charging for my time?
(previous post I know but hey why not)
I'd rather but buy this lego book - http://www.amazon.co.uk/LEGO-Star-Wars-Visual-Dictionary/dp/1405347473/ref=pd_sim_b_1
That is all... for now
Posted by: Russell | Oct 14, 2009 at 11:47
Does that mean you didn't win then, Ilsa?
Posted by: davidthedesigner | Oct 14, 2009 at 15:41
designing does not lend itself to exciting TV
...
I think design could work on the TV...
http://designyak.typepad.co.uk/design_yak/2009/10/design-for-life.html
Posted by: Steve Leard | Oct 14, 2009 at 17:17