hold that thought

We are no longer using this part of the site. I hope that doesn't cause too many problems :0)

It's that crazy time of year again when we're all busy, busy, busy. We decided to extend a festive helping hand by designing this stylish Hold tote bag to not only help reduce the number of plastic bags used at this time of year* but for you to use all year round. If you would like to receive one of these limited edition cotton bags simply click on the Donate Now link.

We suggest making a Five Pound donation but feel free to dig deep. All monies received will go to our designated childrens charity - Starr Trust.

*Between 2006 and 2009 carrier bag use was down by 40% but in 2010 the downward trend was reversed - more than 6.8bn were used, up about 5% on the previous year. Source: www.wrap.org.uk.

We haven't blogged for a while and yes, its probably my fault. So here is one of our more recent logos.
MECS is a great project and we have been fortunate enough to be working on it. Mountain Exploration & Conservation Society is a charity being set up and will be looking for volunteers to help with conservation projects across the globe.

Here is a sneaky peak at the logo. Ok you can see the full version.

We will be designing and building a website along with it, so keep your eyes peeled.

Yes indeed, we are proud to announce that today we have won the pitch for designing the forthcoming Fabrica exhibition literature.

If you haven't heard of it, Fabrica is a fantastic visual arts space (formerly a Regency church) in the heart of Brighton commissioning contemporary art installations.

Laurence Hill was looking for a fresh approach to their literature and we got our pitch spot on.

Cant wait to get started!

We were lucky enough to be given some wonderful gingerbread men to consume this morning, finally giving our office some Christmas love.
Thanks Jenny!
 

Our latest piece of marketing has just arrived hot off the press. If you are in the charity sector you might be lucky enough to get one of these. 

The stationery we have produced for Hitchell Associates has arrived recently and its looking rather smart.

We designed the logo a few weeks ago and now have the full, set. We are hoping to design the website for them soon, which, if it follows the logo, should look sweet!

The artrepublic leaflets we have recently designed have just come back from the printer. They have a great feel to them and look very tidy.

Artrepublic will be at the Manchester art fair 28-31st of October, so if you are local then pop in to see them.
Click here for more information.
Or you can see them online at their art prints website, or in one of their 2 stores in Brighton and London.

We have just received our copy of Los Logos Compass from gestalten who have published some or our work very kindly for us.

Its a great book with over 400 pages of inspirational work in it, so get your hands on a copy as soon as you can. Have a Look here.

We are proud to announce that we have recently added another fabulous client to our list.
The registered charity Martlets are a local hospice who care for people affected by terminal illnesses in and around our city Brighton and Hove.
We have wanted to work with more local businesses and like us they are very passionate about what they do, so as a gesture of good will we have given them a preferential rate.
We are pleased as punch to get them on board and cant wait to get started.
If you would like to get involved with Martlets in any way please click here.

I completed the London to Brighton Bike Ride in record time yesterday. Possibly the slowest ever that is. With one major accident and unfortunately one heart attack it was one of the slowest rides in history, well, my history anyway.

I raised over 500 pounds for the British Heart Foundation and was one of 28,000 others. There was a great spirit all the way and after the infamous Ditchling Beacon we came down into Brighton, the sun finally showed up, and with the crowds cheering us on we crossed the line and deservedly picked up our medals.

I have another ride coming up, so keep your eye out for team Hold at the Big Dog off road endurance bike ride on the 14th of August. Game on.

McFaul Studio have put on a show called A beautiful Machine at Howies in Bristol and invited us to send over some artwork. Its all for sale and all the money raised goes to the charity Save the Children - Haiti Earthquake Appeal. Have a Look.

Ant and Myself made it down to Glug 2 on Friday night, admittedly we got there late, but there was still a good crowd.
Local illustrator Graham Carter had a small stand in the foyer with some great lectures from Norma Bar and Studio Output. Modern Toss covered the animation while there was plenty of live art being divulged. We had a great night.
I'm already looking forward to the next one.

Photographer Ricky Powell did a talk last night at the old music library aka prescription art in Brighton and we were there.

Ricky is known as the 4th Beastie Boy having hung around with the boys back in the day.
He started off his career selling frozen lemonade on the streets of NYC. Having grabbed a camera off his girlfriend after an argument he headed out onto the streets and took pictures of the guys in the hood. They just happened to be Andy Warhol, Run DMC, Beastie Boys, Fab Five Freddie, LL Cool J, Cindy Crawford, Sophia Coppola, to name but a few.

He spent a couple of hours entertaining us with the stories of back in the day while sipping on, not Hennessey, but Baileys cream and getting steadily unsteady.

I was a great night with beats supplied by DJ Format, all thanks to Janeen Witherspoon for putting the night on.

The Peter Conway and Union Exchange Albums that we designed dropped on our doorstep this morning. We are very happy with them, so are the record label and hope you like them too.

Keep an eye out for Peter as we think he is going to go far.

You can see more of him and Union Exchange on youtube, just click here for more.

I went to the snowfilm fest at Komedia last night and was treated to a couple of bangers.
Black Winter from Standard Films, and a cracker from Japan. Car Danchi 4 rent! It’s a low budget film full of inspirational powder riding. The kind of riding that is achievable by most of us mere mortals. No big ego’s, just guys wanting to ride.
The only problem is I now want to go to Japan, and I was unfortunate enough to be sat on a table with two people doing just that. Have fun out there Mark and Sam.

Yep, we are among many of brighton designers heading down to glug Friday night for a bit of notworking.

Looks like it could a good event, a chance for us to get to know a few locals as we have only just started up.
not sure if there are any spaces left, but I do know they opened up another room due to its popularity.
Looking forward to it.

Ant and myself went to London to meet with the Dogs Trust to talk through the forthcoming Wag Magazine.
After we popped by the Dogs Trust Harefield Centre and were blown away by the facilities there.

We could see that the staff were extremely helpful and the dogs were in the best possible hands. I had never been to any of the centers before and could not believe the level of attention to detail that the Dogs Trust teams go to.

I take my hat off to them all. Keep up the good work!!!

The figures are now online on the E-day site that we designed and Idonix built from the Isle of Scilly’ s groundbreaking experiment.

The Islands‘ 2.9% reduction in daily electricity use, compared to the UK baseline, was achieved despite bad weather on E-Day and would have resulted in a £3 million saving or a large power station, such as Sizewell B, being turned off if it had been matched nationally.

The Five Islands School‘s 10% saving and the Moore family‘s 52% reduction, compared to the UK baseline, shows how much is possible if institutions and families try to make a difference, by doing what they can.

Peter Conway was in the studio on Monday going through his new album artwork. He loved what we have been doing and so he wanted to come down and bounce loads of ideas off us throughout the afternoon.
Then when things were all tied up we all went down the local for sherry, as it was my birthday.
Peter’s Album Mother World is due for release on Rainbow Hill Records soon.

Our design for the Dogs Trust Annual Review has been included in the Designing For The Greater Good Book.

In this first-ever book of its kind, noted design experts Peleg Top and Jonathan Cleveland gather the best and most current work in the field of nonprofit and cause-related marketing to create a comprehensive resource for designers, creative professionals, marketers, corporate communication departments and nonprofit organization leaders.

Based on the authors' nearly forty years of combined experience working with nonprofits and corporate communication departments from coast to coast, Designing for the Greater Good takes you through the creative processes of the minds behind great branding campaigns in twenty-four inspiring case studies and hundreds of illustrated examples.

Available in a bookstore near you January 2010.
Keep up the good work Ant!

On my way to work this morning I saw a new piece on a wall opposite Gresham Blake's on Chruch Street in Brighton that looked fresh. Get down there and check it out.