Over the past year I've put together quite a few fashion spreads for Fused and Area including a selection of purse friendly suggestions for the annual student guide and more recently (but not yet published) a colourful autumn spread. Fused and Area are independent magazines and as such I like to include a mixture of well known brands and lesser known gems. One such gem that I have used in several recent spreads is Temporary Secretary.
Sarah Wong founded the brand in 2008 and it's gone from strength to strength with fabulous designs and a great blog. In fact, she recently won the A/W 11 Look Magazine's Blog Competition - congratulations! In all honesty though, I think she shines when she gives the reader an insight into her life...particularly her adorable posts with the lovely cat Oscar.
Brand wise she is always a pleasure to work with, ready to help and with lovely pictures of her quirky and kitsch handmade jewellery. I can't wait to get my hands on some of her latest pieces... particularly her laser cut wood range and typewriter rings. I love the bright red tab key, I think I'll have to get that and a letter. Thankfully, it'll be Christmas before we know it. This year I am definitely making a list.
Images from the Temporary Secretary blog and website.
Volkswagon have created a concept called The Fun Theory "dedicated to the thought that something as simple as fun is the easiest way to change people’s behaviour for the better. Be it for yourself, for the environment, or for something entirely different, the only thing that matters is that it’s change for the better."
They even ran a competition for people to suggest ways that normal, every day things and the issues related to them could be made more fun, i.e. speeding = speed camera lottery, fitness = piano stairs, litter = world's deepest bin and recycling = arcade bottle bank.
The winner of The Fun Theory Award 2009/10 was Kevin Richardson from the US with the speed camera lottery. "Can we get more people to obey the speed limit by making it fun to do? The idea here is capture on camera the people who keep to the speed limit. They would have their photos taken and registration numbers recorded and entered into a lottery. Winners would receive cash prizes and be notified by post. Better still, the winning pot would come from the people who were caught speeding."
However, my favourite was the bottle bank arcade, which made a game out of recycling bottles. What I find great about this is not only did it make people intrigued, it would also keep them coming back and interacting. It also makes them smile...it makes me smile just watching it and who doesn't want to be happy?
It's not just about making things fun it's making people want to interact with and consider their world more. If design can make things more fun and therefore make the world and people happier then why isn't everything thought of like this?
If you read my blog you'll know I love untapped talent. If it's untapped local talent even better because it gives me the chance to experience it first hand. That's why I love Created in Birmingham so much. In order to encourage new talent I'm going to try to do my best to lace in some competition info into FCR so that all you budding creatives can get involved. First up is 2Weeks 2Make It, Birmingham 2010.
"2Weeks 2Make It is a music video competition pairing randomly drawn teams of filmmakers and musical artists who then have exactly 2 weeks to shoot and edit a music video from scratch! The aim is to have fun and encourage teamwork, initiative and creativity “under fire”, whilst working to a challenging and immovable deadline."
Kicking off on 21st May there will be a Professional Music Video Masterclass followed by the official launch where the bands and film teams will be randomly matched. On June 15th, following two weeks of madness, there will be a screening and party for all involved to share their stories, watch their videos and...of course...a prize ceremony. The perfect way to get your talent noticed. The only drawback? Today is the final day for registration, which ends at midnight. I know, it's late...I only just found out about this so I apologise.
For all the information you could need visit the 2Weeks 2Make It Brum 2010 website...don't miss your chance! For an added bit of inspiration here's what the winners from last years Yorkshire based competition came up with. Sheffield did a good job but I think Birmingham could do better...
