Archive for July, 2008

Sunny Sheffield

We’re doing some work in Sheffield at the moment and while waiting for the meeting took a few shots of some hidden gems (to those of us who haven’t visited Sheffield for a while).

Sheffield Hallam University, Andrew Motion poem

Sheffield Hallam University, Andrew Motion poem (click the image for a larger view)

Stone type on building

Stone type on building

Stone type on building

Stone type on a restaurant called Silversmiths, presumably after the original type on the building

Winter Gardens

Winter Gardens

Winter Gardens

Winter Gardens

Winter Gardens

Winter Gardens

Winter Gardens

Winter Gardens

BBC Monkey

BBC Money Air application
With the Olympics just around the corner the BBC has enveiled it’s Monkey characters from the Gorillaz team. Not content with characters for TV and web you can also download the Monkey Air application for your desktop to follow the unfolding news.
I suspect Monkey will take on a whole new life this summer as the Olympics unfolds. The Opera finished at the Royal Opera House yesterday but hopefully will get some new dates soon, soundtrack and lots of content is already available.
Monkey - Journey to the West
Desktop Monkey

Ah luxury



From Dezeen an article well worth a browse of the new Liberty of London boutique by the Paris based architects, Pierre Buecler and Jean-Christophe Poggioli. While the middle ground is suffering, Marks & Spencer and John Lewis for example, there still seems a lot of money left to make in the luxury end of the market as well as other opportunities for growth as shown by asos.

Hedge retail anyone?


As oil hits $145 a barrel on it’s never ending upward trend, a new kind of ecommerce appears, Hedge Retail. Buy your produce online, probably using credit, and then use what you’ve bought over whatever period of time suits you. The first one of these I’ve noticed (and I’d like to see if there’s any more) is MyGallons.com, a US site where you can buy ‘tomorrow’s gas at today’s prices’. An interesting concept that could work across a great many commodity and product areas. Next step will be a trading site where you can sell your stuff at marked up prices. We’re all designers, we’re all marketers, we’re all retailers. Just depends how good you are.