Thompson Brand Partners

Olympic Dillon

Delighted to see that Fontsmith's FS Dillion has been implemented as a signage font for a number of key venues at the London 2012 Olympic park, and it looks fantastic. Well done guys!

Take a look over at the Fontsmith blog.

Music, comedy & funny coloured sheep

Have you seen the 2012 summer festival line-ups? Some cracking stuff going on. I've thought long and hard but my festival of choice this year is Suffolk-based festival of music, comedy, arts, coloured sheep and general strange-goings on, AKA Latitude. Check it out.

Rach x

Sculpture/Performance

If you're stuck for a Bank Holiday activity for this weekend, pop down to Yorkshire Sculpture Park and witness sculpture - live.

Artist Florence Peake is coming to Yorkshire to conduct the live build and then deconstruction of a monolithic structure before the eyes of a live audience. The build/performance begins at 17.00, is FREE to attend and will last for about an hour, with refreshments available (theatre-style). 

http://www.ysp.co.uk/events/florence-peake-make

Pimp my IKEA sofa

It seems so obvious, I can't believe no one beat Prettypegs to it... This Swedish company produce quirky, playful legs that screw into the bottom of IKEA sofas and beds, allowing you to quickly, easily and relatively cheaply update your furniture (well, it's cheaper than a new sofa anyway).

Prettypegs allow you to choose your design and colour, and will ship it all the way from sunny Sweden for you to install yourself, IKEA-style. 

Their website is nice too - www.prettypegs.se

Rach x

Creative Cakes

I recently discovered that a friend of mine enjoys baking cakes. What I didn't realise was the attention to detail that went into the cakes. Check out these masterpieces!

Amazing!!

P = The Protagonist

 '22 Stories'

Apparently it doesn't matter which Hollywood film you look at, the plot will follow one of these 22 stories. See here for the full shebang. Using this model, my analysis tells me this:

1. Transformers = a classic 'Monster'

2. The Rock = somewhere between 'Quest' and 'Pursuit'

3. Gran Torino is another classic, this time of 'Maturation'. Albeit 'Maturation' with slight hints of 'Tragedy'

4. Zombieland, whilst an amazing tale, involving 'Escape', 'Maturation', 'Discovery' and 'Rescue', is ultimately a total 'Underdog'.

Rachel x

PS I hardly need point out that our 5th learning is my questionable taste in films.

Phaidon outlet store

I’m not the biggest shopper in town, but do enjoy a wander through the Victoria Quarter (in Leeds) and the occasional rummage around the sales. One place I do enjoy shopping is the Designer Outlet just outside York. This is where I bought my wedding suit, from Paul Smith, so I’ll never forget it. When you’re there, if you brave the ranks of discount shoe stores, you’ll be rewarded with some real gems, like Margaret Howell, Daks and The Kooples.

My visit on Saturday was blessed with another fantastic discovery, a Phaidon outlet store. Can you believe that? The outstanding British publisher of arts, culture and design books, with a consistently amazing level of quality, has an outlet store! And it located less than 40 minutes from where I live. Now that’s what I call a find.

The shop is relatively small, but is packed to the ceiling with a combination of photography books, travel guides, art collections and some of the best design books ever written. I picked-up a selection by Alan Fletcher and John Pawson, and could have done some serious damage to the bank account if I hadn’t been dragged out.

The best feature of the store is their ‘Hurt Sale’. This is what others call the bargain bin. These are books that are not in mint condition, and its usually just the cover that has a few marks. Once inside the experience is just as good as always. These titles have been seriously discounted and its such a lovely way to find a new home for them. Its as if they have not had the best of lives so far, but can still be special to the right type of owner. 

What a great way to sell ‘slightly soiled’ stock, in a very human and meaningful way. Great idea by Phaidon and great news for the design community of Yorkshire. Get yourselves along there and help to keep the shop in business, for all of our benefits, including the poor old shabby books.

Shut up and play the hits

One of my favourite bands, LCD Soundsystem sadly disbanded in April of last year. I was fortunate to have seen them live a handful of times and they remain one of the best live acts I have seen. I was very excited to see this trailer for a docu-film, following them in the build up to their final show in New York. It looks like a really nicely put together film that is due to be debuted at the Sundance Film Festival later this month Hopefully it will be shown over here at some point. I can't wait to see it.

shutupandplaythehits.com

 

Great story about innovation (and Americans)

I believe true innovation can only come by breaking the rules. If you just do what you are supposed to do, how can you possibly discover new ways of doing things or new ideas? It simply just doesn't happen.

This week I read a great blog by Dave Trott (thanks to Dave Trott's blog), which had a wonderful story of innovation, which definitely happened by breaking the rules. Turning a jet fighter engine round in mid-air just to find out what might happen could be construed as pretty crazy. Listen to what happened...

The Harrier was designed as a VTOL aircraft.
 Short for Vertical Take Off & Landing: a jump jet.

Everyone in the world had tried to make a VTOL aircraft.
 No one could make it work.
 The Russians built a plane with a massive engine underneath, to lift it off the ground, and then switch to a conventional engine for horizontal flight.
 But this meant two engines, and all the accompanying weight. 
It was ungainly. Inefficient and impractical.

But the Harrier was truly revolutionary. 
Because it took off vertically, then switched to horizontal flight, using a single jet engine.
 So it was lighter, more aerodynamic, more fuel-efficient.
 The first truly practical jump-jet. 
It did it by having a rotating nozzle on the single engine.
 To take off, the nozzle would be pointed down, so the thrust was upwards.
 To fly horizontally, the nozzle would be rotated backwards, so the thrust was forwards.

Naturally, the Americans were very interested in this new type of aircraft.
 So they sent an evaluation team to try it out. 
Two of their pilots each took a Harrier up on a test flight. 
The two Harriers took off vertically, as approved. 
They switched to horizontal flight, as approved.
 Side-by-side, they flew at 700 mph, as approved.
 After they’d done everything that was approved, one pilot called up the other.
 He said “What did they say would happen if we turned the nozzles backwards?”
 The second pilot said “They didn’t say. I don’t think they’ve tried it.”
 The first pilot said “Well let’s try it.”
 And he disappeared.
 The second pilot kept going at 700 mph while the first pilot stopped dead.
 Because of the rotating nozzles, the plane could stop without falling out of the sky. 
The American pilots were so thrilled they tried it again.
 This could revolutionise air combat.

Eventually they landed and told the British what they’d discovered. 
It was totally untried, unapproved and unrecommended.
 But it worked.
 In fact the British then tried it for themselves. 
And it worked so well it became established procedure. 
It even acquired a formal name: VIFFing, for Vectoring In Forward Flight. At that time there wasn’t a name for what the Americans did.
 They just called it flying by the seat of their pants.
 Testing something to see what else it can do.
 To find out how far it could go.
 What works, what doesn’t work.

Now we have a formal name for that, it’s called Beta.
 Another name for it might be Initiative.
 Americans aren’t as obedient as the rest of us.
 They don’t wait around and just do what they’re allowed to.
 They have a country formed from rebels and rejects. 
It’s in their DNA.
 To question authority.
 To think for themselves.
Not to just do what they’re allowed to do.
 They don’t accept everything unquestioningly. 
They keep testing, and prodding, and poking, and trying stuff, and fiddling, and experimenting. And a lot of times it doesn’t work. And sometimes it does.
 And then they find out something no one else knew before.
 And that’s what truly creative people do.
 They don’t wait for a brief and then simply answer the brief.
 They go beyond the brief.
 They get creative. 
They get playful.
 They get surprising.
 Because they come at a problem out of a question, not out of an answer.
 Asking what don’t we know yet?
 Not just asking, what are we allowed to do?

As Orson Welles said “Don’t just give ‘em what they want. Give ‘em what they never dreamed was possible.”

BAE Systems, who developed the Harrier, is a client of ours and they absolutely love this story. They love the fact that in our world of hyper health & safety and the need to follow process, there is always a way to think differently, to do things differently and to make great new things happen. Inspiring story.

Be excellent

Quote from Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure + embroidery = a total gem

http://tinyurl.com/7v7wf62

Rachel x