They're Creepy and They're Kooji

Happy Halloween everyone :) Have a great time and don't eat too many sweets! :P

Leeds Digital Week 2008

Gill Howard invited us along to an exhibition at Pavilion called 'Twelve Dogs, Twelve Bitches,' a series of photographs by Jo Longhurst. Jo worked alongside several British Whippet breeders over many years during this project.

"Although I photograph dogs, the questions I ask are always specific to the question of 'what it is to be human'." Jo Longhurst.

(Sounds similar to my dissertation title for my art degree: "Artificial Intelligence and Natural Man: An Investigation into the Meaning of Humanness," although there weren't any photos of genetically manipulated dogs and Deckard was nowhere to be seen).

The exhibition is being held as part of this year's Leeds Digital Week. We think its wonderful that so many events like this are going on in Leeds, this week in particular has been very busy throughout the city.

Image © Jo Longhurst 'Twelve Dogs, Twelve Bitches'

During our flying visit we bumped into Jonathan Smith, Director for artsmix*, who I first met almost two years ago during a competition I took part in called 'Yomping the Nations.' Jonathan very kindly offered to give myself and my team mates some advice after we won the regional event and were about to enter the nationals. It was lovely to see him again (and for him to remember me too!) and great to hear about his involvement in artsmix*.

"artsmix* is an enterprising and creative Leeds based Social Enterprise providing sales and development platforms for artists and quality arts projects across Leeds and the wider Yorkshire area." http://www.artsmix.co.uk/

Jonathan introduced us to his colleague Gina Yates, who told us about the Arts Markets they'll be running weekly later this month. artsmix* @ The Loft looks set to be a fantastic opportunity for artists to get their work out there and we'll definitely be there to see it!

artsmix* Arts Markets weekly indoor markets from 23rd November 2008

© Don't Get Ripped Off

The topic for this month's Creative Networks event was Intellectual Property. Gary Townley from the IPO gave a really useful presentation on how to protect your IP; he also explained the differences between Copyright, Designs and Trade Marks.


Gary gave a similar presentation at the Flying Start Summer School last year, and this one was no different: really entertaining and memorable. Here are a few key points he made during his talk:

Copyrights need to be assigned by the contractor otherwise it remains with them, not the client.

Anything produced whilst under the employment of a company means that the copyright is theirs not the creators. (e.g. Wordle was produced by Jonathan Feinberg, but the copyright belongs to IBM, his employer).

"As mentioned on the credits page, I wrote the core layout algorithms on company time. That code belongs to IBM, so it isn't mine to share. I'm sorry that I can't share it with you." Jonathan Feinberg.

TM (Trade Mark) has no legal power in the UK (in the US however it means that an application for registration has been sent). The Registered Trade Mark symbol ® is the one that should be used to prove that your logo has been protected. It doesn't hurt to use the TM symbol though in the meantime, to scare people off ;)

If you enjoy listening to the radio in your workplace, your employer really should have a licence for this as it is classed as 'Public Performance.' That also includes using music on your phones while your caller is on hold. (I know... unbelievable).

Use watermarks on artwork you put online. This will help to prevent people stealing it (Although at 72dpi no-one could steal it to use for print anyway!).

Put the copyright symbol © on work that you want to protect (don't forget to update the year!).

The pantone reference 2685C (purple) has been registered by Cadburys. They could only register this as a trade mark once it could be proven that it had become recogniseable as Cadburys.

image taken from http://www.britishsweets.com.au/index.php

Jelly Babies were originally made by Bassett's, but they only registered the design (shape), not the trade mark and so when this expired anyone can now make Jelly Babies.

Polo has registered the shape as a trade mark (again, only when it could be proven that the shape is recogniseable as a polo) - and its registered only as a 'mint confectionary' not the fruity polo.

Toblerone did the same - but their registration covers both the chocolate and the box.

ASDA has registered the 'two pats on ya bum' gesture as a trade mark as most people recognise this as theirs.

And finally here was the best point Gary made: Always check your logo before sending an application to register it as a trade mark. The company OGC spent 14K on their brand spanking new logo, had lots of promotional materials produced and then to their horror made a terrible realisation:

image taken from: http://www.ebaumsworld.com/pictures/view/385510/

OGC unveils new logo to red faces - Telegraph

Good Things Should Never End

I got sucked into a black hole this afternoon and only just managed to scramble back out. Go visit and see what you think. Look out for my friend 'Buzz the Robot' while you're there ;)

We won two mobile chargers and a sim card while we were there too! :O Bonus.

Big Draw: Beyond The Line

On our way back from a meeting in Leeds we happened to pass by the Learning Centre at Leeds Met and spotted this display running along the corridor. Students from the The Leeds School of Contemporary Art & Graphic Design have put together an exhibition which celebrates and promotes the importance of drawing.

The Big Draw was launched in London this year with a festival called 'Drawing on Life.' This marked the start of a month of national drawing events. The educational charity, Campaign For Drawing produces publications for educators which show drawing to be an invaluable part of learning. It's programme The Big Draw has over a thousand venues across the UK all hosting drawing events for enthusiasts of all ages and abilities.

These drawings were painted, etched and drawn onto the glass panels along the side of the library, inspiring passers by to grab a pencil and join in :D

The trail of doodles following along the wall next to the library was stunning. Each sheet spread into the next with a repeater image joining them together.

We found this piece next to the lifts in the library. There was a post-it note that someone had attached to the wall next to it. It said 'Whoever did this, you are amazing! X' We totally agree. This is incredible work; its made up of several sheets of A1 and has been drawn in charcoal - beautiful.

"This annual programme shows that drawing is the perfect medium for observation, self-expression and fun." http://www.campaignfordrawing.org/

Blog Action Day 2008: The Domino Effect

Yesterday, while Johnny and I were having a quick break from decorating, I came across this post from Octwelve, a design blog written by MaryLuc Melgar. Luc has written an article as a contribution for 'Blog Action Day 2008.' What's that then I hear you cry? Well...

"Blog Action Day is an annual nonprofit event that aims to unite the world’s bloggers, podcasters and videocasters, to post about the same issue on the same day. " http://blogactionday.org/

Blog Action Day 2008 Poverty from Blog Action Day on Vimeo.

This year's topic is poverty and bloggers everywhere are encouraged to write about this subject, giving it their own unique spin.

Today, I was reading through an email from Just Creative Design, a fantastic design blog written by Jacob Cass. Jacob has a weekly feature called 'Designer in the Spotlight' and this weeks focussed on a really talented designer called Doug Cloud. I took a look at Doug's blog and found another post, similar to the one on Octwelves called Poverty of the Heart. It's strange I thought that I hadn't heard about this before so I looked at JCD and sure enough Jacob's written about it too, here.

BAD:08 was on 15th October, so although we're a little late here is our contribution to this year's Blog Action Day.

Just over a year ago we both got involved in an International Volunteering project called 'Leeds Met Poland 2007.' With only a couple of weeks to prepare for the trip we were able to secure sponsorship from many companies including Dean Clough Art Gallery in Halifax, The New Technology Institute in Leeds and Yorkshire Forward. We travelled to the city of Lublin on the East side of Poland (one of the poorer areas) to work within two arts therapy centres: Matki Teresy z Kalcutty (Mother Teresa of Calcutta) and Fundacja Miedzy Nami (The Among Us Foundation). For two weeks, along with a team of volunteers and staff, we worked with adults who have physical and learning disabilities.

During our stay we took part in various indoor and outdoor workshops including ceramics and painting. We even had the opportunity to help put an exhibition together to celebrate the work of ‘Stash’ one of the artists from MTK.

This is our diary from the Leeds Met Community, Partnerships and Volunteering webpage. Here’s what I wrote about our experiences after we returned last March:

Nine months have passed since our first visit to the arts therapy centres. The experiences we had and the friendships we made during our time in Poland were extraordinary. The artists are so talented and the people running the centres, so visionary that when we were asked for our help in promoting their creative endeavours we both eagerly accepted.

Working with disabled artists was at first a daunting prospect but after seeing for ourselves the warmth and kindness that they have to offer the nervousness just melted away. Our first visit was incredible but returning to visit our friends for a second time was a real honour and a joy. We entered the centres believing we were there to teach them something when in fact the opposite was closer to the truth. They taught us more about ourselves, how fortunate we are and what we have to offer the world than any amount of teaching we could offer them.

Me, with my new friend Agnieszka who's sporting a Fundacja T-Shirt. We had these made to hand out as gifts.

When the opportunity arose to give them something back, to help them in their creative endeavours and to raise an awareness of their pioneering work we both leapt at the chance. We felt that this could be best accomplished by integrating this project with the final year of my BSc and in parallel through our branding and promotions company, Kooji Creative. The end of the degree is now within sight and it has been a hugely rewarding project but it doesn’t end here.

I wrote several reflections after this trip as I felt I needed to let everyone know how eye opening it had been. Here are some relevant snippets from the ones that were published:

It's amazing how one decision in your life can affect so many others. The experience was so fulfilling and really opened our eyes to new possibilities. It made us realise how fortunate we are and how important it is to make the most of what we have. This single opportunity began to branch out and when we were asked to help them by promoting the centres and their artwork we were very keen to do whatever we could. By integrating this with the final year group project on the BSc and also through our business, Kooji Creative, we were able to involve so many more people.

However impossible something may appear it is important to reach out and grasp opportunities, to make the most of every day and to see how in turn, you can make a difference to the world around you.

International Reflection – 26th March 2008

Community Reflection - 21st April 2008

It was an incredibly rewarding experience and our involvement is ongoing. Most importantly we learned to appreciate what we have and to remember that there are always others less fortunate than ourselves.

Secret Message

I had a quick look at the 4IP website after receiving an email from Screen Yorkshire and found this article: The Obligatory Wordle Cloud. I remember Monica Tailor from Kilo75 recently twittering about Wordle so I thought I'd have a play. Wordle takes the words used on your webpage and creates a 'cloud.' Depending on how often each word is used the bigger it gets.

Creative seems to be the most used word on our blog which is good to know, but more interestingly the words seem to spell out a message: 'Leeds Made Yorkshire Creative.' It must mean something...

images created with http://wordle.net/

Social Networking Overload

Okay, so I've posted my blog, added everyone I ever laid eyes on to my 'friends list' on FaceBook, I'm being followed on Twitter, got my space on MySpace, I Stumble Upon a few websites, I really Digg them so I'll let the world know how Delicious they are. Did I miss anything? Oh yeah... I'm Linked In, my Pulse has almost stopped from exhaustion, I should take a photo and upload to it Flickr. Better yet I could film myself sat here and stick it on YouTube!

Is anyone else feeling a bit drained from all this? I've just spent the last few hours searching for cool plugins for blogger, the men in white jackets are here. I'm being dragged away! "Wait! I didn't fix this widget!!"

MY WIDGET DOESN'T WOooorrrKKK!

The Monster Blog: Are You on Social Networking Overload?

Dangerously Irrelevant: Social network overload

What It Is is ... Dylan Moran

So this is what it is. A bunch of us decided it was about time we went to a stand-up comedy thingy and the suggestion was Dylan Moran in Manchester. A quick train trip, some shopping and some Wetherspoon's fun later and we're heading into the Palace Theatre for "What it is" with Dylan.

We were sat on the highest balcony area which tested my vertigo somewhat but at least we could see everything (from a sorta retro rpg overhead viewpoint that is). He was funny, pretty similar to how he was in Black Books (someone shouted "where's your wine!?" at the beginning) and before long he was sporting what looked like a rose wine. No cig though due to the new rules so this was substituted by chocolate. A wise choice in my opinion.

By the second half the drink had settled in and he was babbling away when not swearing in the general direction of camera flashes (he seems to really hate pics being taken). Time seemed to fly by as he ranted and we chuckled until it was over and we were back in Wetherspoons (We couldn't get into Fab Cafe while Colin Baker was doing a talk, invite only and all that).

(image taken from http://roswell.fortunecity.com/angelic/96/613.htm)

Glam Metal Detectives

Does anyone else remember the Glam Metal Detectives? It was this really bizarre tv show from the mid 90s with the best theme tune: 'Everybody Up!' It was all centred around this Rock Band, GMD, and every week I used to watch their crazy adventures: "Glam Metal Detectives. Your mission is to save this planet's ecology with your top hit records." The tv ads that were mixed in there really made it too, remember this one? "Yes! Open that door... with a key! Door-key from Key Care.' Marrrvellous!

Check out this episode on YouTube: