Last Saturday, Thoughtful were lucky enough to be invited to two events that celebrated creativity. One was The Tony Wilson Experience held in Manchester, and the other was Russell Davies’ Interesting 2008 in London.

It was a shame they were held on the same day as we all wanted to go to both, but such is life, so we went our separate ways. James and Stu headed off to the bright lights of the capital, and I went down to Urbis where the Tony Wilson event was.

The Tony Wilson Experience

When I first heard that this event was billed as a ‘24-hour conversation’, I was both intrigued, and slightly concerned. If I go to watch a film in a cinema, I'm fine until it goes past the two-and-a-half hour mark. I then get very uncomfortable and fidgety, to the point where my attention is definitely not on what I’m supposed to be watching. So the thought of sitting listening to around 50 people talking over one day, wasn’t really inspiring me to say the least.

The intrigue over the event however, was swaying me the other way. To pull off a 24-hour live conversation would be quite something. The line up of speakers would have to be great to attract people, and most were. Some had stronger links to Tony Wilson and Factory Records than others, but all shared a passion for what the man was about, and how he could inspire future generations.

The 200 young creatives that were invited were labeled as 'The Talent’. The speakers were ‘The Experienced’, and the big idea was to get ‘us’ and ‘them’ interacting, and sharing ideas and discussions. Unfortunately though that didn’t really happen. Don’t get me wrong, the event in my view was a success, but from what I saw, it was just more ‘us’ listening to ‘them’ than ‘all of us together’. It may have partly been ‘The Talent’s’ fault because we were encouraged to ask questions and participate, but in a room full of wallflowers, bright lights and big TV cameras, it’s understandable that not many questions were asked. Still, the other ‘Talent’ I spoke to, were in agreement that there could have been more workshop type segments to the event.

I didn’t make the full 24 hours. Urbis were providing shelter and camp beds for some of the more dedicated attendees, but the schedule got a bit thin in the early hours, with an open mic session billed at 5am, for example. So I took in around eight hours of conversation, and made it back the next morning for some more, from the likes of Tim Burgess, Peter Saville and Professor Brian Cox.

All in all, it was great to be a part of the Tony Wilson Experience. Mr Manchester would probably not have wanted the fuss made over him, but would have secretly liked it. The event was filmed, so may appear on the web sometime soon. For this reason, photography and filming weren’t allowed, otherwise we would have shot some of our own footage and put it up here. If it does end up online, the talks by Mark Radcliffe, Steve Coogan, Tom Bloxham, Jayne Casey, Sue Woodward and Clint Boon are worth looking out for, as well as the speakers I mentioned before. Frank Sidebottom was pretty funny too. I’ll be looking out for the talks that I missed.

One quote that did stick in my head was from Mark Radcliffe who said ‘People who don’t try anything, never fail’.

I’d like to say ‘thanks!’ to Ruth, a music promotor/journalist/band manager, who came over and introduced herself because she was on her own too. Ruth runs a successful fanzine for bands in Doncaster called Doncaster Live, as well as managing a band for the first time, despite having no experience in managing. She couldn’t stick around for the 24 hours, but wanted to hear what Alan McGee had to say the next day. Well Ruth, from me to you, you didn’t miss much really, I think that was due to the host of that talk though.

Interesting 2008

Like the Tony Wilson Experience, Interesting 2008 was jam packed full of speakers from start to finish. It must have been good as Stu and James had to get up at around 3am on Saturday morning to make the trip down, and they didn’t fall asleep once throughout the talks.

Lots of bits on Interesting are already floating around the blogosphere for you to look at, and a great place to start would be Russell’s post here.

The award for pure entertainment value went to Michael Johnson, who blew everyone away with a very unexpected show of talent.

Watch the video here.

And special thanks to Arthur.

Rock on!

Last night Thoughtful travelled up to Newcastle to listen to a talk by Adrian Shaughnessy, organised by Design Event.

Adrian’s talk was centred around the essential attributes of the modern graphic designer.

The audience was largely made up of students with a few designers dotted around, and what was great about the talk was how relevant it was to everyone. It would have been quite an eye-opener for the students to hear that sometimes, being a designer isn’t great, and it can be hard and boring. (We can’t remember being told that when we were at college.)

As a relatively new start-up, we’ve had more than a few tough times already, and it was reassuring to know that someone like Adrian, who’s been kicking the UK design industry’s arse for 20 years has been through it all too.

It’s fair to say though, Adrian is one of the few people who can write about and discuss his experiences without fear of upsetting clients or giving away his company’s edge - which is why his talk was so refreshing.

We love listening to other heavyweights like Dick Powell or Stefan Sagmeister speak but so often these talks only cover their achievements within their respective fields, which can feel a world away from where we are at the moment. Last night highlighted the shared experience we all have as designers, from a self-taught graphic designer who’s been there and written a book about it.

Adrian’s a very busy bunny, but we’re going to try our hardest to bring him to Manchester to discuss his thoughts and experiences about the ever changing design industry.

One last thing, if you ever need a petrol stop, be warned about a creepy little place called Barton Park Services. Their petrol is more expensive per litre than Prada perfume, and you’ll run the risk of actually running out of petrol before you get to it.

A year ago today, we decided to make a commitment to a company who we love. We told them that we would send them an idea or thought which we hoped would push their business on, just a little bit further. But not just one idea every so often - we decided to challenge ourselves and send a new ‘thought’ every day for a year.

It didn't matter if we were busy doing other things, or if we found it hard to get access to a Mac, or even if they were just too busy to read it - the idea would get sent, no matter what. They got one on Christmas Day, every bank holiday, and sometimes even two in a day if we were feeling particularly inspired. The company who has been receiving our ideas is howies, an ethical clothing company based in Cardigan Bay, Wales.

Before we started TFTD, we had some contact with howies. They liked what we were about, and we liked the way their company was about more than just selling clothes - they want to make people think, as well as buy. So we wanted to find a way to put put ourselves at the front of their minds every day. It would have been easy to give them a Thoughtful-branded mouse mat, or Post-It notes with our faces on, but thats not us, and its certainly not them. howies are into ideas, and they’re always looking for ways to do things better. TFTD seemed like a great way to get on their level.

The first few weeks were great, we had loads, but soon enough, what we thought was a relatively easy task started to get a bit more difficult and forced us to think harder...much harder. Our first ideas were written down in advance, meaning we could come in each day and just copy-and-paste each new idea into an email. But the lists dried up quicker than a slug taking a salt bath. So everyday (from about four weeks onwards), we would all sit down in the morning and discuss what was going on in the world and how howies fit into that world - it was tough, but we enjoyed every minute.

We don’t mind admitting some of the ideas were a bit rubbish and off the mark, but some were OK, and some were just so brilliant, we couldn’t believe David knocked them back!

OK, we’ve given away our ideas for free, and we’ve spent a huge amount of time thinking about them. But in return, we’ve learnt so much about new subjects, people and technologies which we would never have, which we feel is an essential part of being a designer. And it got us much closer to a bunch of people we greatly admire.

We make a point of trying to push ourselves everyday, regardless of budgets, timings or distance - which is why we seek out companies like howies. We believe we’re good for each other.

We dont mind if others out there take on the TFTD idea for their clients, though like we said, it isn’t easy, but it’s definitely worth it. Here’s why.

Thanks to our past placements, Steven, Hugh and Sarah who have also given their ideas.

We’ve been watching the aftermath of this year’s D&AD awards with interest over the blogosphere these past few days. There have been some interesting and controversial comments floating around which are well worth reading. Stu has voiced his own thoughts on the subject on Creative Review’s blog. You can read all the comments here.

‘To begin with, excellent article. But it might say something about the relevance of the results when (as far as CR's blog goes) people feel more compelled to comment on Sony’s new ad than design’s absence from D&AD's awards.

I was part of this year’s design jury for the first time in my career, so I got to see the whole judging process for myself. Being selected to judge was a huge honour but I must say my own experience has left me with very little faith in the judging process. It did seem to me that a lot of people felt they had to behave in a particular way – hyper-critical, seen-it-all-before, impossible to impress – just because D&AD had chosen them as arbiters of creative standards. Couple that with tables upon tables weighed down with design work, much of which (but not all) being labeled as "appalling" and it's little wonder we've arrived at this point.

It’s a problem at both ends of the scale. On one hand it would appear (and despite their best efforts) D&AD is failing to attract some of great design work we all see flying around the interweb. And on the other hand, it would appear design judges walk into the judging hall looking for Gold from the outset. Ideas are needed on both sides. But ideas which work alongside the other disciplines. (I'd be interested to hear what folks in adland think about the awards.)

Here's my thoughts on what's already been put forward:

Pre-screening of design entries.
Good idea. Please don't think I'm being “hyper-critical” when I say 50% of what my jury looked at really was awful. And I'm guessing it's the same every year. I'd like to think I was generous in spirit when I judged but I was left wondering if some UK design agencies really know what D&AD is all about? I know how that sounds, but until D&AD decide to switch to an online vote or you see it for yourself, please take my word for it.

You might argue it makes the good work stand out – to some degree it does, but it's more a feeling of relief than excitement when you come across a good piece. The point is, SO much mediocre work does bring the mood down. It certainly effected me.

(I have to add, every one of my fellow jury members gave their full attention and professional consideration to each and every one of the 500 or so cards, invitations, calendars, stamps, bags, T-Shirts, boxes and letterheads.)

Fewer juries sweating harder over less work.
In my view, Michael Johnson's recent ‘You say Tomarto…’ thought lays out the problem with design juries. How can so many Witty Young Fogeys / Counterless Geometricals / Gridnik Modernistas etc. agree on what is good design? (And do judges actually enter work into D&AD, themselves?)

Perhaps fewer juries, predominately made up of designers but with a good mix of experienced photographers, writers and illustrators would provide a more rounded view of the work and yield more positive results? Designers judge writing don’t they? Graphic design uses photography, doesn’t it? It might also avoid the "Fuck NB Studios" situation which Ben highlighted or the usual whining about the "big boys sticking together".

Separate award judging and ceremonies.
Split the awards up. For arguments sake, let's say Digital / Advertising / Design & Environmental. Make everyone feel a bit special :-) ADC don’t do it, that's true, but ADC don't carry the baggage of their awards being labeled an ad man’s show.

Shelve ‘the book’.
I agree with Tony. (A few interesting jackets aside) If the Annual was really testing the boundaries of book production, then perhaps it has a place. But as lovely as it is to see your name in print, I think an on-line archive is the way to go.

Lower entry fees.
No brainer. It’s probably the one aspect of the awards which everyone can agree on. Sure, there’s a number of design groups out there who couldn’t care less about awards – that’s fine – but judging from the comments made elsewhere in the blogosphere, there’s a number of design groups who are also pushing design forward but have turned away from D&AD soley because of its crippling entry fees.

Separate events could allow D&AD to set entry fees more in-line with what a small design practice can afford.

One small point, D&AD should really be the first people to post the results. 5pm the next day, after the world and his dog have debated them isn’t really good enough.

I’m not really someone who likes sticking their head above the parapet. I’m sure everything I’ve mentioned can be scrutinized and argued against, which is why I much prefer to confine any half-arsed ramblings to the studio. But on this occasion I feel it’s important to speak up and hope it helps bring about the positive changes needed to keep D&AD connected to contemporary design.

I sincerely hope this will be a watershed moment for the ‘D’ in D&AD and something good will come out this year’s results. I passionately believe in what D&AD stands for and hope it will still mean something to the global design community in ten year’s time. I would encourage other people who feel the same way to contribute to the debate – along with D&AD.

So this doesn’t sound all doom and gloom, I must say I was hugely impressed with the way D&AD ran the judging. It is a jaw dropping moment to walk into the judging hall and see all the work on show. I can’t begin to imagine what it must take to put it together and make it appear so effortless - everyone involved at D&AD deserves a big hug and a slice of cake.

And for the record, we did enter one piece into the awards – I watched the jury walk past it when they were reviewing their in-book selection – miserable sods, the lot of them ;–)

Congratulations to all the winners.’

Stuart Price

On Saturday, Thoughtful had two big AGMs to attend. One was for the Triodos Bank, and the other was for innocent drinks. Unluckily, they were each at the same time and 120 miles apart, so it meant we had to split up. James took the Triodos AGM in Bristol, and Chris and Stu went to innocent’s AGM in London.

Triodos Bank AGM

The Triodos Bank Annual Meeting was this year based around food, and how we meet the challenges of producing enough without damaging the planet we depend on. We also got a chance to discover more about how Triodos has become the UK’s organic bank.

Triodos Bank’s UK Managing Director Charles Middleton and CEO Peter Blom looked back at 2007, and shared their plans for the future. We also got a chance to hear from some of the people who benefit from Triodos Bank finance, including Brigit Strawbridge from BBC 2’s ‘It’s Not Easy Being Green’ who spoke with such enthusiasm and passion. She has bought a yellow bus (which she is getting sprayed green) and taking it around the country to people who want to know more about living green but don't know really what to do.

Charles ran the day well for the audience of 400 plus, and said something that I felt was so refreshing coming from a bank, he referred to them as members rather than customers which gives them a sense of belonging. In his opening he also asked the members to let others know of Triodos Bank so we thought we'd put it on our blog.

After a quick chat during one of the breaks I told Charles Thoughtful were going to do their bit and he was only to glad to give us a shot.

innocent AGM

There has been much discussion about innocent over the years, and in particular their tone of voice. Questions have been asked along the lines of ‘How can a company expect us to believe that they’re as nice and friendly as they make out?’, and ‘Surely it’s all a clever disguise to sell more drinks?'. Well, it’d be easy to think those things. No-one can be that nice, right? We’re talking about a company that turns over hundreds of millions of pound a year and plans to put their drinks in every country. Well, we’re glad to report that it’s all true (them being nice, that is). We’ve never met as many friendly, smiley people as the innocent staff on Saturday. One of them walked the whole length of the car park just to say hello and welcome us (thanks Kelly). And we thought she was just going to tell us to move the car somewhere else, the cynics that we are.

The way we were treated makes us understand why innocent are such a success. Apart from having a great product, it’s the small details people remember, and to innocent, they are as important as the big ideas.

When we entered Fruit Towers, we were again met by lots of nice, smiley people and were given a name badge with a fruit on. I was a banana, Stu was an orange, and we got given a quick guided tour by Jo Jo, seen below.

Fruit Towers is a brilliant working space. For anyone who runs a business from a David Brent-style office, and wonders why the staff have a low morale, try and get down to innocent sometime. A good working environment can do wonders. We felt like two 8 year olds in a Wacky Warehouse.

So then the AGM started, and we listened to the three founders, Jon, Richard and Adam tell us how innocent began, and where they plan to go. We then recreated the famous 'Yes No bins‘ story as we were asked to try out two brand new recipes, and vote for our favorite. The one with the highest votes will be on supermarket shelves soon.

The next part of the day was to split up into smaller groups to let innocent know what we thought of them, what they do well, and what they could do better. Here’s Ceri calling for all bananas.

In the banana group, Ceri and Rowena talked to us in detail about innocent’s labels and tone of voice, which was great for me. They were very receptive to our thoughts and ideas, and sent us away with some homework which was to try and write a label for them. Stu got the inside track on marketing innocent by Charlotte’s orange group, which again, couldn’t have worked out better.

Then we ate cake and chatted to more people, before the final part of the day which was a Q&A session, introduced by Rowena, who was natural stand up comic. You can see the videos of the Q&A session here, or you can read the written replies here.

The day ended with everyone being given an innocent goody bag with an annual report, a mug, some tea and an amazing personalised innocent bottle. The excitement must have gone to my head as I picked up the wrong bag and got someone else’s bottle, which wasn’t very clever of me (Sorry Lydia, I'm sending yours back today). Here’s Stu’s very own innocent bottle.

Our thanks go to all the team at innocent who made us feel very welcome (and a bit special), and for pulling off a great first AGM. And to Hannah for doing the running around regarding getting us to the AGM.

Special thanks go to Dan for inviting us down to the event.

You can read and see lots more about the AGM here.

Stuart is down in London today and tomorrow, to take part in D&AD’s judging process. He’ll be on the jury of Graphic Design, which is a category with lots and lots and lots of entries, so he’s in for a long couple of days.

We sent him off with a comfy pair of walking boots and a flask full of black coffee to help him get through it. Good luck Stu.

Here’s a wall of this year’s judges.

Stuart is at the bottom, and is the one on the left. Or right.

We recently entered Stereohype’s 4th badge competition with an idea we thought of a while back.

We just missed out on making the shortlist, but we did get a little mention for our effort.

We didn’t think about entering our Sett of Badgers which was silly, so we’ll see how they do next time.

Click here to see all the finalists and winners.

When we first set up Thoughtful, we always liked the idea that one day, whenever the word ‘thoughtful’ was seen or heard, people would think of us before the dictionary definition.

Well, we’ve a long way to go, but it seems we’re making small steps in the right direction. Google now ranks us above the dictionary, which we think is pretty cool.

On Saturday 15 March 2008, after a £12.5m redevelopment, The Bluecoat in Liverpool threw open its doors to the public for the first time since early 2005.

The opening was made by the first 200 visitors, who were each handed a pair of scissors to cut a giant red ribbon, which stretched around the whole building.

The Major of Liverpool and Phil Redmond were amongst the first through the doors, and with live drumming from the Liverpool Samba, excellent organisation and helpful staff, the opening was truly superb.

Once inside, our favourite piece was The Wishing Tree by Yoko Ono, which was quite a crowd pleaser.

We’d definitely recommend visiting the gallery next time you’re in Liverpool.

Last night we attended a D&AD President’s Lecture featuring Nick Bell.

He attracted an audience of over 400 people, and it was clear to see why. The work was of an exceptional quality, especially the exhibition work for the Churchill Musueum and the Sellafield Visitor’s Centre, which was very eerie indeed.

He also showed us his thinking into rebranding Manchester United, which was a huge task, but was given a simple execution that for want of a better word, 'united' the many different parts that make the club. Unfortunately, the rebrand didn't see the light of day which was a shame. He also flashed up a shot of Christiano Ronaldo being shown a red card, much to the delight of James and Stu.

Normally, we would have tried to film the event, but D&AD had that covered, so it may appear on their site soon.

Thoughtful also used the event as an opportunity to raise awareness of our friends FRANK Water. Thoughtful and copywriter Lindsay Camp have been working with FRANK on their tone of voice recently, so we were interested to see what a room full of creative types would make of their very honest way of communicating what they do. The responses we got back were really positive, and we know all too well that designers are a hard bunch to please.

FRANK branding by Peter Gibbons.

A while ago, our friend Lindsay Camp told us he was no longer going to update his blog. You can read why here. Well, we weren’t too happy with this news, as his was one of the blogs we enjoyed reading, and it made a nice change from all the blogs that just link to other designer’s nice work. So, we asked Lindsay if ever he had a thought he’d like to share, to be our guest. And he’s just taken us up on the offer.

Matters of judgement and credit.

I'm delighted to see that my old friend Martin Lawless of 300million is judging Writing for Design at D&AD this year. I've known Martin since he was a promising newcomer at The Partners, and he's always impressed me as a genuine "communicator", who understands what words and pictures can achieve when they work together. In fact, I can't think of a designer better qualified to judge this category.

But hang on, let's just check which distinguished writers have been asked to judge Graphic Design...er, none, as it turns out. Out of a stonking 21 judges on three juries covering this category, not a single one makes his or her living as a writer. So the overall creative success of a whole range of communications, including things like corporate brochures and annual reports, will be assessed without reference to the views of anyone whose trade is words.

Would somebody care to explain to me what that's all about? The only possible defence I can think of is that the juries include outstandingly talented designers - ranging from Partners founder Aziz Cami to Thoughtful's very own Stuart Price - who can be trusted to judge work intelligently, taking into account all elements of the communication.

But really, that isn't good enough. Much of the work that comes under this heading is writing-based. A brochure or report of any kind most closely resembles - what else? - a magazine or book; forms of communication where words are, at the very least, as important as imagery. And the best writers understand how words work better than even the best, most literate designers. Judging the year's best graphic design without asking a single writer for his opinion is bizarrely unprofessional.

Which brings me to another related rant. Credit. The giving and withholding of. Over the years, experience has taught me that, in print work which includes a roll of honour, the designers will always get a name a check, the printers usually, the paper sometimes...and the writer almost never. I've found that the only way to do anything about this is to start noisily lobbying for inclusion in the credits at an early stage of the project.

Frankly, I don't believe this kind of recognition is particularly valuable. I can't think of a single occasion on which I've been approached by a potential client who has seen my name in the back of a brochure. But it's the principle of the thing. What does it say about the standing of writers in the communications business if designers, when leading projects, behave in a way that suggests they believe that the type of paper a document is printed on is of greater importance than the words which appear on it?

(A horrible thought occurs: it may be that, in some cases, no writer is credited because no writer has been involved in the project. But no, let's not go there: you don't want to see what I'm like when I'm seriously riled.)

It's fashionable to say that, in recent years, the design industry has arrived at a better understanding of the power of words. And certainly, there are individual designers who genuinely seem to get it. But as long as your business as a whole goes on treating writers roughly on a par with the bloke who services the photo-copier, I think I'll keep the champagne on ice and the bunting furled.

Unfortunately, one of us recently had to suffer the mighty injustice of receiving a parking ticket. This, as some of you may well know, is a bit annoying, but just to make the ‘ordeal’ slightly more irritating, the council seem to rub it in just a tad more.

We’re of course referring to the wholly inapproppriate use of an e-commerce ‘shopping basket’.

Now come on, it’s not like we were going online to do a bit of internet shopping, and came across this bargain.

Oh well, if nothing else, it’s probably a good lesson in knowing what tone of voice is right for your audience.

We’ve definitely learnt our lesson.

An idea we had for a poster, if Audi ever came a knockin’. It’d be specifically aimed at creatives.

And if we were designing envelopes, we’d have to borrow a few Citroens.

Adam Morris from Manchester Met was the first out of the tombola, winning one of our D&AD Annuals. His act of Thoughtfulness was designing a set of motivational badges that take you back to the good old days of being rewarded for doing a good job with a gold, silver or smiley face sticker.

Here’s Adam collecting his Annual, today.

www.adammorrisdesign.com

Maithili Kabre won a D&AD Student Membership, and her act of Thoughtfulness was to collect scrap pieces of A4 paper to make into sketch pads. Maithili studies at the National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad.

Maithili with her sketch pads.

Rob Butcher and Caroline Paris from Loughborough University also won a Student Membership with their cool projections for the Samaritans.

www.streetlights.org.uk/

And James and Joe from the University of Leeds, won a pair of D&AD Lecture tickets. Their act of Thoughtfulness was to make a stranger merry for Christmas.

www.jamesandjoe.co.uk

We’ve just drawn out the winners for Thoughtful’s Tombola Competition. Click the link below to see the outcome. It may take a moment to load in, so bear with it.

http://www.wearethoughtful.com/movies/tombolaresults2008.mov

We‘d like to thank everyone that entered, and to D&AD for supporting our competition.

If you won, congratulations, we’ll be in touch soon to get your prize to you. If you didn’t win, better luck next time, and hey, it’s not all bad. Through all the acts of thoughtfulness you did, you probably made someone’s day.

We’ll put up the winner’s work after we’ve contacted them.

We’ll continue to be D&AD Members next year, which means we’ll again be left with some spare Annuals to give away.

Thoughtfully
Chris/James/Stu