I have finished working on the MotoGP end of season review 2008 book, I contributed to the project by designing the race report pages, which forms the bulk of the book. It’s a great project to work on for a MotoGP fan, and especially as Rossi made a great return as champion again this year. Thanks to Haynes for offering me the work and to Jules for being a jolly editor.

Which leaves me free for the time being, to work on any nice juicy projects that come my way. Until then I am working on writing a children’s action adventure story, with lots of alchemical and historical influences. Being more of a visual creator than writer, it’s quite a challenge to change tools, but as the winter draws in I shall sit huddled next to the most environmentally unfriendly rayburn and scribble away. (Don’t blame me for my gas guzzling ancient range cooker, it’s not mine it is the landlady’s.)

Contact Redminx Creative

Please send an email via the form for any enquiries.

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The Brightest Star

Every year, a good friend of mine Michael Bland, a consultant and author, has crafted a Christmas short story exclusively for friends, family, clients and colleagues - and every year it has had such a powerful effect that they have constantly urged him to publish them so that others can enjoy them too.

So finally he has added a Resource Centre on his website, where people can download PDFs of the stories for a very modest price (£3.99 each) and e-mail them to family, friends, clients and colleagues who will appreciate, keep and treasure them far more than yet another card. And they can be transferred to a memory stick or disc for a stocking filler or promotional gift (or printed off if preferred). The cost saving is massive; it helps the environment; and that last-minute Christmas card panic is solved at a click!

And now you can be one of the first to obtain The Brightest Star, a beautifully composed and deeply touching tale about the remarkable relationship between a lion and a mouse facing the ultimate test together on the night of the birth of Christ.

Here’s what authors and journalists say about the stories and The Brightest Star:

Michael Bland’s short stories are highly original, offbeat and

entertaining tales - always thought-provoking and often delightfully humorous. My Christmas for several years has been satisfyingly completed by the arrival of  Michael’s latest creation in this ongoing and unique series. Long may it continue…

The Christmas card is dead - long live the Michael Bland Christmas short story. For many years now his incredibly funny compositions have been the highlight of the festive period. I have actually kept them all as I always felt they would become collectors’ items. It is marvellous news that they will soon be enjoying a much wider audience.

http://www.michaelbland.com/brightest_star.html

Salespeople have a roadmap of the sales process, often called the Sales Funnel. The Sales Funnel
is a metaphor for the typical process, from contact with many potential customers to the eventual
payment of a single customer. It’s time we designers treat ourselves to our own funnel metaphor:
The Design Funnel.
The Design Funnel doesn’t introduce any new tools. It’s simply a roadmap of when a designer can use which tools to stimulate better work. As a matter of fact, many successful creatives use similar processes on a daily basis.
Here are the steps:
1. Define values and goals
2. Discover moods and metaphors through association
3. Generate ideas and define a concept
4. Create a visual language
5. “Design” it
Between each step comes the same sub-step: Verify that you’re on the right track. Why is most design bad design? Because most designers “jump into the funnel” at step 4 or 5. These are the steps involving “using Photoshop” and other fun, tool-based stuff. The funnel, on the other hand, focuses on the hard mental work involved in designing. Let’s walk through these steps in more detail.

DEFINE VALUES & GOALS

Notice that the Design Funnel is slightly different than the design process most of us have seen before:
• Define the problem
• Generate ideas
• Design stuff
• Pick the best design
• Produce it

These steps are implied in the Design Funnel, but the problem is defining the problem. Ever heard a client say they’d like a “modern” design? How about something “dynamic”? Or “professional”? Well, what are these people talking about? Don’t worry about it. We’re at step 1. Our job is to aggregate everything the client (or you, if you’re designing for yourself) can give you, no matter how vague. Ask the client what they want to accomplish, communicate, sell, or tell. Ask them for keywords describing their company, product, services, values, and most importantly, ask them for keywords describing how they would describe the ideal design for this project.
Remember that clients often offer solutions to problems instead of simply stating their problems. They’ll say, ”We want the focus to be on the brand, so the logo should be pretty big.” Don’t fire your client just yet. Just get this stuff down.

Ask lots of questions. To whom are we communicating? Are there any branding guidelines? Who will be making decisions regarding the design? Are there any restrictions whatsoever? Technical? Creative? What are they? How will success be judged? What’s the budget? What design work do you like? What don’t you like? Why? Once you get the answers to these questions, go home. Review your notes, and then do nothing for a day or two. Let these things incubate. You’ll start to form ideas about what the client is looking for. Often, it’s not necessarily what the client says it is.
Do look at what the competition is doing design-wise, but see this simply as an orientation exercise. Note the things that work and the things that don’t. You will not be copying what the competition does. That would be design sameness. Read that sentence about five million times. VERIFY: Reformulate the client goals in your own words, as YOU think they should be, based on your findings. Just goals, no solutions yet. Make the goals measurable, and give them a deadline. Present this to the client and ask if you understood them correctly. If the client agrees with you, go on to step 2. If not, review your notes again, think again, ask more questions, reformulate.

Once you get the answers to these questions, go home. Review your notes, and then do nothing for a day or two. Let these things incubate.

To read the rest of the manifesto click this link: 4804designfunnel

About the Author
Stephen Hay is co-founder and Creative Director of Cinnamon Interactive, one of the first web design and development firms to successfully combine professional visual design with open web standards and accessibility best practices. A native Californian now living and working in the Netherlands, he worked as art director at a Dutch advertising agency for 8 years before moving full time to web development in 2000. Stephen was instrumental in the development of the Web Guidelines of the Dutch Government for the accessibility and sustainability of government websites. Aside from his client work, he speaks and writes on the subjects of web accessibility, open standards, design and creativity. Visit Stephen Hay online. http://www.the-haystack.com/

The creative person basically has two kinds of jobs.
One is the sexy, creative kind. Second is the kind
that pays the bills.

Good ideas alter the power balance in relationships, that is why good ideas are always initially resisted.

If your idea is so good that it changes your dynamic enough to where you need them less or,
God forbid, THE MARKET needs them less, then theyʼre going to resist your idea every chance
they can. Again, thatʼs human nature.
Good ideas alter the power balance in relationships, that is why good ideas are always initially
resisted. Good ideas come with a heavy burden. Which is why so few people have them. So few people
can handle it.

See the manifesto - follow this link

605howtobecreative

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Hugh MacLeod is a brand consultant, copywriter and cartoonist. Born in America but educated in the
UK, he has spent most of his life shuttling between the two countries.
He started out in straight TV advertising writing in the early 90s but with the advent of new media it
evolved into new brand thinking and cultural transformation.
His website, http://gapingvoid.com, is widely read in the blogosphere.