CONTINUED CONCLUSIONS

I have had a really good long think about looking at the outcome of my professional studies and the related pathway for year 2 of this course, and have come to these conclusions:

Whilst I have a small interest in Motion Graphics for the web, I don't feel that I should be getting into a big stress about it. What I am and have been mostly into since the first day I arrived here in September 2006, is good graphic design, and image-making. I know Jon Burton and Martin Pritchard feel that same way; we all dig the motion part, but the majority part of what we're into and want to do is based on good image-making, typography, composition, colour, vibe and hopefully some originality. I am much influenced by Non-Format as I am by Dstrukt.

I really want to work on my layered image making next year, and I would also like to look at some bespoke typography for logo/display use. I also want to get an original spin on what's out there and avoid blandness. I am definitely interested in motion, that animated aspect, but don't really want to spend too much time on the finer ends of action-scripting if it means it's going to take up lots of time. I feel that if I will need to work more on the web than in broadcast I should be able to address this later, as I think it's quite likely that I will stay on for the extra year and get a BA.

I recognise that there is an element of 'Blue Sky Thinking' in my plan for my future career, but I honestly feel that there is little point basing future career choices on the current working environment as it is certain to change by summer 2009. I am seeing motion graphics everywhere now, it's all over the TV, idents, adverts, the news, even in my local Spar, and this will certainly increase. In addition to this, I think that to be good at this you have to be first and foremost, a good designer. This is the foundation and skills can be transferred. I am just going to stick to my guns, and try and work hard but also have some fun with it.

Professional studies CONTINUED

I had thought I'd finished my professional studies assignment, but I do have a small interest in motion graphics on the net, which I want to explore a bit. The reason for this is that the motion graphics industry is pretty much based in Soho (although there are freelancers around the country), and it is unwise for me to put all my eggs in one basket.

I am yet look at it properly, but I don't feel that I am that interested in lots of interactive work, more the graphics and motion side. I realise that this isn't a sufficient answer at this stage, so I will contact some people to find out what is what.

Summer School & Bruce Dunlop Associates

I recently filled out an application for McCann Erickson's Summer School program in Macclesfield. This could be a great opportunity to gain work experience. Here's what was said:

1. What was the last big idea you had? (Not related to advertising or business.)

My wife and I have two daughters, so I would say my youngest daughter was the last big idea.

2. What bribes/qualifications do you have that would convince us that you’re cool enough for school?

Since the early 90’s I have worked as a record producer, remixer and globe-trotting DJ (this pays enough to fund my return to education). Years of travel have given me a real insight into spotting global trends plus a good understanding of the universal language of branding.

3. Have you any idea of what you’re getting in to?

I think I have a pretty good idea. Brainstorming, team-playing, and good old-fashioned hard work should factor highly.

4. Where would advertising be without the internet? (Max 100 words).
Oh and what site do you visit the most?

I would say that good advertising has always been about fresh ideas and timing. In recent times however, viral marketing/advertising has revolutionized advertising, breaking the stronghold of the major TV stations and their biggest shows. This means more quantity and variety in advertising, (the best ideas can as easily come from a college student or a huge agency). The internet also has a global reach. The mainstream ad agencies are starting to re-appropriate the best viral/p2p ideas.

My most visited site is http://www.motionographer.com/ - A design portal which concentrates on Motion Graphics. Many of the world’s best ads, idents and music videos are posted here.

5. You’ve just entered the Dragon’s Den. Use no more than 100 words
to pitch your award winning business idea.

Natra-Pak - Biodegradable packaging for food: Kellogg’s annual turnover alone is $100, thus creating billions of tons of waste via packaging. My business has pioneered 90% biodegradable bags, made out of vegetable matter. These bags have a standard zip lock to reseal the food product within for freshness (the handle part can be snapped off and re-used on further bags).

The manufacturers can choose to place these bags within cardboard boxes (which can be recycled), or simply sell in branded bags.

6. The Dragons seem interested. Explain how you would reach your customers
and then how you plan to expand your business in the future. (Max 100 words.)

The product would be initially sold to the big cereal manufacturers, upping their virtually non-existent green credentials, thus helping them to be seen as ‘saviours of the environment’. The current pressure on businesses to be seen to be doing something about the environment will grow over the next decade, and this product will help pre-empt this problem.

The big cereal manufacturers such as Kellogs and Nestle’s upfront investment and early use of this technology (which will surely become industry standard in future) can be used as a big publicity stunt. Patented technology will enable us to license the product globally, used across many more types of food packaging.

7. Tell us about a trend that’s going to change the way we look at things?

Integration and synthesis; the recent shift towards higher, cheaper bandwidth, and cheaper technology will mean more screens. The combination of images, video and sound, once restricted to television and movie advertising can additionally be shown to similar effect on any screen from mobile phones, electronic billboards and any modern computer, all connected to the web wirelessly. I predict that it will be increasingly difficult to avoid these in any urban environment (this is already happening, but this is just the tip of the iceberg).

8. Our swimming pool is redundant 99% of the time – what would you do with it?

Throw it open to the public, free, as an advertising stunt.


9. And finally, why do you not want a proper job?

I do. This is to help get me one!

In addition to this summer school, I have made arrangements to work at Bruce Dunlop Associates Sydney office for a week whilst I am over there touring. Final etails are yet to be arranged, but this is a bonus for me as I will already be out there doinga small DJ tour which will pay fairly well. In the past I had always spent the week between gigs chilling, but I didn't want to waste my time this time. This solution is ideal. I will be massively jet-legged whilst being dropped in the deep end with a real firm. lovely!

Conclusions

I have written up my conclusions to my professional studies assignment on my main PDP blog.

Grunshaw

Neil Grunshaw is another outstanding motion designer I like from the UK. Like Dstrukt he has his own decidely British take that resonates with me more than some of the more flashy American stuff around. His reel speaks for itself!

I emailed him these questions:

1. How much percantage of your stuff is screen design and how much animation? (percentage wise). and where should i conecntrate my time studying over the next year?
2. Is motion work stuff reasonably well paid, or is it truly a labour of love?
3. do you have any early influences? (i'd like to be able to get a glimpse behind the ideas that make up todays motion graphics, search them out)

and got these answers:

100% of the stuff on my reel was animated by myself, and a good 75 percent was designed by me too. As a freelancer though you do end up doing more actual animation rather than design for the simple reason that the pay is better! Remember, companies don't get paid for pitching. Also, there are surprisingly few good, quick After Effects people out there, so our skills are in demand!

Obviously good design is at the heart of everything we do but practically you should spend time learning AE inside out. It's a huge program, you can literally do anything you want in it, nothing is impossible! Clients know this, and they'll really push you to your limits. Also, use of a 3D package is pretty much essential in my opinion, it makes life a lot easier, and it makes you much more employable and indispensable to clients. I use Cinema 4D for it's simplicity and top-notch After Effects integration.

Motion graphics can be well paid, but usually only if you are freelance. I charge £***!!xx per day (rate removed at artists request). Staff jobs are notoriously badly paid, especially for a junior. Only thing is, you really need 3+ years in a production environment to gain enough experience to go freelance, and the only way to do that is as a staffer. I didn't study graphic design at uni, I did fine art, so I started out as a runner at Addiction. It was really hard work, but I gain invaluable experience, not just in the graphics side of things either, you gain a real insight into the whole production process. You could study design at the best college in the world still end up having to be a runner to get a foot in the door so be prepared for that.

If you are serious about a career in motion graphics, you pretty much have to be in London, unfortunately. I wish it wasn't like that to be fair as I don't like being tied to one place, but that's the way it is. Media folks are very short sighted that way!

I don't really have design influences, I tend to be influenced by music and comedy, and everyday stuff I see around me. I LOVE retro in all it's forms too, If I had my way i'd live in the mid 1960s. I'm a big fan of lo-fi too, I can't stand wanky uber-design! Retro influenced work doesn't date badly, either. My advice would be to find a look and go for it!

Hope this helps, don't hesitate to email me if you have any more questions.


This is invaluable to me, as it's my "non-reality" based ideal direction. It all looks ok, except those two big bits about having to be in London and being a runner and grafting for buttons for a while.. oh well. still, I'm still keen to be honest, but I'm sure my wife won't be. shite. arse. oh well....

Universal Everything and the possibility of Freelancing.

Universal Everything was founded by Matt Pyke in 2004, after 8 years at influential studio The Designers Republic where he designed music, retail, fashion, architecture, advertising and broadcast projects worldwide.

Universal Everything is a multidisciplinary
creative studio, with members worldwide collaborating on web, film, print, fashion, interior and curation projects for an international range of clients including
Nokia, Nike, MTV, Adidas, Samsung and Warp Records

Since its birth, Universal Everything has
exhibited in Barcelona, Paris, Hong Kong and New York
and has featured in numerous publications worldwide
including Wired (USA) / Creative Review (UK) / Idea Magazine (Japan) / StashDVD (USA) / Chinavisual (China) / Refill (Australia)

From what I have seen on Matt / Universal Everything, he seems to work from his house in Sheffield, collaborating with designers/animators/illustrators/coders etc from all over the globe for worldwide clients. Matt is profiled on the Apple Pro Site and from this an insight can be gained into how he works (obvoiusly most of this film consists of Apple hyping, but I dare say he gets lots of free stuff in return). His client list is in the main those huge name brands that are seen cropping up elsewhere except he does work from a normal looking house in Sheffield. The public face of Universal Everything looks like it's this big studio, and in reality it is in terms of the services they can provide, but modern technolgy enables UE to operate as a virtual multidisciplinary set-up. This is where I begin to see parallels between what he is doing and my previous work as a record producer and remixer:

I remixed over 100 tracks over a 13 year period. Many of these acts would have been underground artists or mere ephemeral pop acts, however in that time I was half of a team which remixed amongst many others: U2 (for Island Records UK), The Killers (Island Records NYC) and Underworld (for V2). Every one of these remixes were made in recording studio near Wrexham, across the road from one of the finest fish and chip shops in the UK. I can see now that the same kind of thing could be done in the design world if the work is good enough. As a younger man I have certainly been ambitious and willing enough to make things happen, but I could throw all of my energy into that kind of thing then. The whole idea about retraining and returning to education was so that I didn't have to live for work to the same extent. Maybe the design world isn't so different from the music business!

I am going to attempt to speak with Matt Pyke and try and get him to answer a few brief questions.

My sensible short to mid-term ambition is to get a proper job with an employer, as self employment can be tough (I have been self employed since 1992), however I can also see that freelancing could be viable at some stage, possibly a bit fourther down the road. I must therfore find what kind of start up grants are available. (although I already run my own limited company, so I could simply trade from that).

The only other concern is that I definitly have it in my plan to do the 3rd year and gain a BA as one of my career options could be as a lecturer. This would mean I wouldn't be leaving NWSAD until summer 2009, and any grants available now could have changed by then.

Wyld Stallyons

Wyld Stallyons was born on the first of October 2006. Comprised of animation director Chris Sayer, illustrator Richard May, Pixelsurgeon cofounder Jason Arber, motion designer Chris Hewitt (aka Dstrukt), and financial director Ian Trisk-Grove, we create Moving Image work for the music, broadcast and advertising industries.

KEY STAFF:

CHRIS SAYER
Formerly of award winning moving image and design house Intro, Chris has worked on music videos for bands such as Orson, The Doves, Joss Stone and Pet Shop Boys, and broadcast title graphics for numerous BBC productions. Chris was Director of Animation on the BBC funded feature-length animation, The Snow Queen.

RICHARD MAY
Black Convoy illustration collective and Pixelsurgeon.com cofounder Richard May has produced hundreds of illustrations for a diverse range of editorial, publishing and corporate clients, such as Wired, Vogue, Peugeot, British Airways, Nordstrom and Waterstones.

JASON ARBER
Jason is a highly respected industry figure, holding senior positions at NOWWASHYOURHANDS, Carat International, and Green Cathedral. Jason is an experienced graphic designer, web designer, photographer and writer, and is also co-founder, and Editor-in-Chief of Pixelsurgeon. Previous clients include Adidas, Vodafone, MTV, The Arts Council and Daihatsu.

CHRIS HEWITT
Working under his Dstrukt guise Chris has produced work for a variety of big name, international clients, including MTV Networks Europe, Channel 5, BBC, VH1, Vodafone, Rolls Royce and Discovery Channel. Featured in numerous industry publications and presenting at various design conferences in the UK Chris has received critical acclaim in both online and traditional media.

Thier work is the kind that really inspires me. I think this is because they are a collaborative multidisciplined group working on well relised ideas for the compemporary market. I have seen plenty from Chris Dstrukt before now, and knew that it was all too good to be just the work on one man alone! This must be true of many of these type of operators, e.g. i see the typography designs on one persons site, then on another person's showreel the same work is being animated in a motion piece.

I am realising that it is impossible to be great at everything (unless you are the design world's equivalent of Prince or Stevie Wonder), therefore I think I will need to work out what I can make my speciality so I could become a great part of a team in future; I have always thought being a great typographer would always be handy, especially if I could create fresh logotypes form non standard commercially available typefaces. The only problem is that at the moment I don't know if I'll be good at it, as I haven't tried doing any yet. If Alan and Adam want to set me work like that do over the summer, that would be handy.

I have been trying to email a few of these people, and have had no joy, however I will be in London staying within half a mile of Wyld Stallyons office, so I will try and see if I could actually pop in to see them.

UPDATE - I got an email back off them:

1. how much of your work is motion graphics, and do your designers / illustrators etc. do much work outside of this area?

All our paid work is motion graphics, although I run Pixelsurgeon outside of Wyld Stallyons, and *that* is a labour of love!

2. does it pay enough or are you all in a labour of love situation?

It pays. Perhaps not enough just yet, but we've only been in business for six months.

3. do you all still have to work very long hours or does that calm down after you get established?

We still work long hours; but occasionally we get to see our families. We work long hours partly out of necessity and partly because we love it.

4. any hot tips?

Do it because you love it.

Blind

Blind are another of those big Californian design companies that also have a NY office. They have huge clients for all the usual monster brands like Nike and Microsoft, however I am just posting this as I'd seen the video for Gnarls Barclay "Crazy" many times (the world's best selling track of 2006), which appears to be an After Effects / graphic type project.

This is something I am very interested in. I also have many contacts in the music world, and could possible be able to at least be able to pitch ideas for this kind of thing if I had the skills/talent/ideas. This for me is a huge motivation!

Their main site is here.

Dstrukt

Originally hailing from Manchester, Chris is a skilled motion designer, animator and art director. Inspired by movie titles and with a background in both online and traditional media, Chris began working under the name Dstrukt producing work for a number of high end clients including MTV Networks Europe, Channel 5, BBC, Vodafone, Discovery Channel and VH1.

Chris is also regularly featured in design and industry magazines, such as Computer Arts and IdN, and presents at design conferences around the world. As well as running Dstrukt and numerous personal projects, he co-founded the experimental film collective Devoid of Yesterday with Rob Chiu from The Ronin. Chris is passionate about photography, music and cinema and channels these influences into his glitchy, dark and edgy creations

Dstrukt is currently a fully active Motion Graphics studio catering in 3D, Compositing, Animation & Art Direction. Chris is also a key member of London based motion house Wyld Stallyons.

Watch The VH1 "Smells Like The 90's" short here

See the AWESOME showreel here

Manchester Work

I already know it is unlikely that I would be able to move away, so commuting seems to be the best option, therefore a sizeable amount of the profiles on this file will be commuter feasible from Wrexham.

Manchester appears to be the "second best" place in the UK for design and digital media. I am yet to learn whether this was always the case, or whether it's "on the up". I have researched and found links to around 55 companies, ranging from graphic design, advertising, branding, web, motion graphics, and tv. The bulk of the companies are mostly graphic design and advertising and / or web companies.

I will be doing full reports on most of these companies as soon as I get time, however I have spent several hours scanning through the websites to get a feel for what's out there. I have discovered the following:

There are a lot of uninspiring web companies working out of Manchester, There are also a fair few rather dull looking brand / graphic design companies too, although there are plenty of them which I think means at least there is work to be had.

There are also some very good looking places, at least 5 companies are inspiring. These companies do appear to be the print side of things, which I have been not too keen on in the past. I am now starting to realise that the web has the potential to be really boring-but-functional. It can be entirely characterless, whereas some of the design and advertising firms are doing some very nice work in print.

I have recently read through the web-sites of: BJL ,Unit Communications ,Funnel Creative ,Love Creative , Fanatic ,BDH/TBWA ,Studio North , The Chase, Cicero , Delineo , Illustrated History , Kr8iv , The Like , and these (sorry, but I have already read though all the websites, and most of them aren't really inspiring me at all): http://www.justforlaffs.co.uk/
http://www.likeariver.co.uk
http://www.magneticn.co.uk/
http://www.moonfish.com/
http://www.90degrees.com/
http://www.purplepenguins.co.uk/
http://www.bubblemedia.co.uk/
http://www.chamele.com/
http://www.fireandskill.co.uk/
http://www.ideasfoundry.com/
http://www.influencedesign.com/
http://www.lemoncherry.co.uk/
http://www.luxson.co.uk/website/
http://www.neasdencontrolcentre.com/
http://www.pandoragraphics.co.uk/
http://www.race-international.com/
http://www.reflexdesign.co.uk/
http://www.reformcreative.co.uk/
http://www.sputnikinternet.com/
http://www.faithcreative.co.uk/
http://www.3gdesignstudio.co.uk
http://www.creativelynx.co.uk/
http://www.dawsondesign.com/
http://www.definitivelabs.com/
http://www.fifthlevel.co.uk/
http://www.focalpop.co.uk/
http://www.finite.co.uk/
http://www.four23.net/
http://www.nypocreative.co.uk/
http://www.touchpointuk.com/
http://www.wests-web.com/flash.html
http://www.day-light.co.uk/
http://www.eg-g.com/

I am as yet to draw full conclusions from this research, but it has made me consider a more general design approach. My gut instinct still tells me the whole motion graphics thing is really going to explode by the time I finish my BA in 2009, but I now know this ought to be based on good graphic design and image making skills and a sound footing in 2d design and stills (i.e. paper).

True North

True North are a design firm in manchester. They seem to have a great reputation, but I haven't been able to get much more information, as their site is pretty useless. It just states they are from "ooop north" and they win loads of awards.. hmm.

Dinosaur

Non-Format

Company: Non-Format
Type: Art Direction, Design and Illustration
Based: London, UK
Staff: 2

Non-Format is a creative team comprising Kjell Ekhorn (Norwegian) and Jon Forss (British). They work on a range of projects including art direction, design and illustration for music industry, arts & culture, fashion and advertising clients.

I really like their typographic work. It has that graphic design thing but pushes the envelope a bit. They obviously know their stuff, but their designs aren't conservative. I also really like the way many of them are black and white, no mid-tones, and still work really well. It's powerful stuff. I hope over the next year (or 2 if i do the BA course 3rd year) to be able to try many typographic "experiments", like limited colour palletes, black and white or a bit of print work. I hope this will give me more ideas to "cash in" later when I leave, however for the puposes of professional studies, I have no idea if they make money and are succesful. I will have to find out!

i want

Company: iwant design,
Type: illustration, graphic design, web and art direction.
Based: London, UK
Staff: 2 full time


I want design comprise of John Gilsenan and Bruce Allaway. John originally studied fine art for turning to design and working at a London design agency, whilst running club nights in London. Bruce studied design communications and has worked in the design industry for several years working for London's major arts organisations.

I want have undertaken a variety of work since their inception, putting equal effort into club flyers, websites, music packaging, art direction and work for the fashion industry.

This company initially came to my attention prior to my decision to return to college to study design. I am an acquaintance of Ben Watt, who has worked with i want over the last few years for the identities for his various ventures such as Everything But The Girl, Buzzin Fly Records and associated club events and branding. My background pre-college is in dance music, clubs and all that stuff, and I had seen Ben's identity and knew I liked it. I have since looked into that direction more, and read some pieces on i want in Eye and Creative Review.

In addition to their music identity work, i want are also doing work for Brent Council and short-film makers Misty Films and Future Shorts, who are an organisation who are showcasing short films. I like the idea of doing other work, some variation. I have emailed John from i want to ask if their approach is financially working.

I also asked a few other questions:

Is it just the two of you, or do you work with any freelancers or people to help you do anything?

Yes, there is just the two of us and no, we don't use freelancers or have any help for anything. However, we are becoming more stretched and need a new premises, a junior and somebody to concentrate on all web and new media aspects.

Does the music design pay enough to scrape a living or is it just a labour of love?

I suppose music design in all it's facets does pay enough to scrape a living and more. But it depends who you work for, how much work you do, what kind of work you do, if you are in any kind of demand and so on.

Is the income from your very groovy looking work feasible?

Groovy work - ooh that scares me. We earn a decent living and most of the work we do is creative and work we enjoy. However, we could probably double what we earn if we had the time to manage things better and get a few more people in to handle the everyday crap that we shouldn't waste our time on. I think we are carving out a space in an extremely difficult and saturated market but it's difficult to gauge how you are perceived and on what level.

any hot tips?

Hot tips. mm it's not easy, sooo many people think setting up as a freelance or starting a small company will be a walk in the park but it's tough. Winning, and come to think of it, losing pitches is haaard work. We have found ourselves pitching against the likes of Neville Brody and Peter Saville so we must be doing something right.

Pros: They look like they do great, satisfying work, somehting to be proud of, and after a bit of research, it seems that it's possible to make a decent living if you don't mind hard-work and are a bit lucky.

Cons: They are in London, and are fairly small. I do however think that if were to work as a freelancer, they have an interesting business model, and one I think I could tap into.

View Creative

Company: View Creative
Type: Graphic Design for Print and Web, identity and branding.
Based: Llandudno, Wales
Staff: 11 Graphic Designers, 6 Web designers, 1 Marketing Executive, 1 business Developer and 3 support staff.


View Creative is an award winning multi-discipline creative agency specialising in ideas-led solutions for print, web and interactive design.
Our team is a collective of 11 graphic designers, 6 web designers, 1 marketing executive, 1 business developer and 3 support staff, all with one thing in common ... a passion for design.

View are almost "local" so in that respect are very interesting to me and my situation. I have visited them, and have met Neil who used to be a design student at NWSAD. From my visit there, it appeared that the most interesting work there is carried out by the "creatives" who are all in the print side of things. The work Neil has done is very good, and I would like to be able to aspire to that type of image creation.

Their web team develop the design work made by the creative people such as Neil, and make sites tailored to the marketplace. They get a lot of Welsh companies who can get funding via the EEC and the Welsh Development Agency to get websites up and running. There is nothing wrong with this, but I would ideally like to be able to do more of the creative work and not just web coding and development.

I contacted them to ask about working conditions:

working hours 9 - 5:30pm plus overtime if there are deadlines to meet or loads on.

All the print designers are permanent, and they also occasionally add extra freelancers if busy. Half of the Web staff are permanent, the rest are freelance with regular weekly work, plus they also hire the odd specialist if required.

Salary details I haven't been able to obtain, although I will keep nosing to see if I can find out!

Pros: A good company within commutable distance. They seem to be onto a good thing getting the bilingual work in, so they look like they might prosper.

Cons: Their web side appears to be a limited for someone with creative ambition (e.g. I would be keen to be able to create the images as well as work on the site development). If I were to work there, I'd want to work in the print design side, or persuade them that i could have a more creative role.

Overview at commencement

I did think I knew exactly what area I wanted to go into (Motion Graphics), yet I now realise there are many other areas to learn that lead to this. I would like to be realistic about my skill level at the moment. I still love motion graphics stuff, but I am very much interested in good image making and typography (good 2d still work is my current goal), so I am looking at a greater area of work. I am also yet to find out which companies are out there. I have a family and we're settled here in Wrexham, so moving to London or abroad isn't really possible and highly unlikely.

I will be looking at companies all over the UK initially, as I might then have something to strive for in the northwest, or could look into the possiblity of freelance work. I ideally want to work at a muti-disciplned and dynamic company, where I will continue to learn and make a lot of good contacts.

I will update these reports half way through and as a conclusion. Hopefuly by that point the path will be a little clearer!

Airside

Company: Airside
Type: Design, Multi-disciplined
Based: London UK
Staff: 11 full-time

Airside is a London-based design company set up in 1999. We work in moving image, graphic design + illustration, and digital + interactive media. The Airside folk have diverse backgrounds, from fine art to programming, knitting to English literature.

Although we mention three main areas of work above, in fact we work in as many different arenas as we're able to get our hands on, what's more important and what Airside is best at, is having good ideas that work across all medium, be it a TV commercial, a website or a billboard. Everything we do is done in-house. Clients range from Unilever, Orange and Coca-Cola to institutions such as The Royal College of Art, The Science Museum and Greenpeace. We have also worked with musicians and individuals like Richard Ashcroft, Lemon Jelly and Nadav Kander, photographer.

Airside staff consist of a hands-on MD and two creative directors, one of which is Lemon Jelly's Fred Deakin, three designers / typographers, an interactive designer, in house project managers, studio managers, PR and accountant. A good cross section of work is covered as mentioned on their site, and their output has a definite personality to it. I would describe this as colourful and vibrant and upbeat, although they do produce more formal websites (e.g the Pet Shop Boys and Nadav Kander)

I like their ethos, their desire to get their ideas out in many ways. This way the same visual look can be seen on adverts, packaging, installations, music videos and on the web.I also think this approach would help them survive as a company even if the market changes, whereas a company that had a niche speciality might be more vunerable to these kind of changes.

Pros: Inspiring, multidisciplined, succesful and really groovy.
Cons: Based in London.