Flushing away poverty

We have just twinned our toilet!

Toilet Twinning has been running since 2008 and raised more than £2.3 million, twinning about 35,000 toilets in more than 40 countries. It provides people in the poorest communities with a decent toilet, clean water and all the information they need to stay healthy.

There are a number of contributions you can make by either twinning your toilet with an individual toilet or a school block. The donation is used by Tearfund to provide clean water, basic sanitation and hygiene education.

In return, our toilet now houses a personalised certificate, complete with a colour photo of its twin and GPS coordinates so we can keep an eye on it via Google Maps (Lattitude: 11.19123000, Longitude: 105.64234000, Beong RaiChoeng, Cambodia, Latrine No.5140).

For more information on how to twin your toilet visit www.toilettwinning.org

Starting out....

Our newest recruit, James Howe, takes us on a journey of starting out in the digital world...

Pressure, an overwhelming feeling of pressure!  Third year of University has come to an end and all eyes are focused on you. It’s been a turbulent run, and you’re not sure whether at the age of 23 you should be feeling quite so uneasy as to what lies ahead. “What’s next?” they all ask, ‘they’ being family, friends, neighbours, and friends of neighbours whose family show an unhealthy amount of interest in your chosen career path. Why wouldn’t they all be intrigued? Surely it’s big news, huge in fact, you’ve just got yourself a degree in Digital Media.

*silence*

It becomes all too clear that you’re on your own. Advice is scarce, opinions differ and the man from careers guidance suggests you do a summer course in CV writing. Not exactly the end goal you were aiming for way back when you were labouring over a lengthy UCAS form. But you compose yourself, strap in for the long haul of uncertainty and start putting the feelers out.

HTML, CSS, Javascript; this is your mantra, rinse and repeat.

Application after application, they all begin to blur into one with a glaringly common requirement: EXPERIENCE.

And so you try a different approach, the Internship.

Unfortunately it seems yet again you may be out of your depth. Enquiries go unanswered and the ones that reply do so commending enthusiasm but doubting skill level. It’s hard not to start doubting your own worth at that point. Reminded year after year that the course you have partaken on is self-taught/directed; you are bound to having courage in your convictions and continuously hoping that you’re heading down the right path.

But all it takes is for one opportunity along that path to fit better than most. For me that was finding Gendall Design. Understanding of my current skillset, and empathising with my want to learn, they kindly allowed me a place within their team. I am aware of my limits, but don’t wish to stay limited. Here at Gendall the environment allows you to flourish under a nurturing eye, and day-by-day that skillset grows:

PHP, SCSS, responsive design; the new mantra, rinse and repeat.

On the look out for a talented individual to join our team...

What we need:

We are currently looking for a Middleweight to Senior Designer who is just as much at home designing for the web as they are designing for print. You'll understand how to bring a brand to life and effectively tell it's story through all communications from the digital environment (website/mobile) to print and interpretation.

The ideal candidate will be a conceptual and strategic thinker, driven by ideas and effective user solutions, not style. With the kind of creative empathy that allows you to get to the heart of complex branding challenge, but commercially savvy enough to understand the importance of working to a budget.

For this role you will have at least four years studio experience, displaying the expertise and confidence to take a project from a blank sheet to delivery via multiple channels working as part of the team. You’ll engage well with clients and colleagues alike and have a genuine passion for design.

What you get:

To work on regional, national and international brands as part of a small but skilled creative team. Our clients vary from bespoke start-ups to recognised brands, clients include the National Trust, Eden Project, NHS, and The Duchy of Cornwall.

Our waterside studio is in Falmouth, one of Cornwall’s most eclectic destinations – a buzzing university town which boasts beaches, galleries and independent shops with a year round atmosphere. The studio is truly inspiring – you can see the sea from the window and go to the beach for lunch. Our team are a group of talented designers, developers and account handlers and we work sensible hours to ensure a good work / life balance.

If you are considering moving to Cornwall you’ll need to understand this is not a retirement role, it’s a lifestyle change. However the work pace is as demanding as you would expect in the city.

To find out more and how to apply click here.

Challenging the norm

Always on the look out for things to inspire us, we were very excited to come across The Challenger's Almanac, a Kickstarter funded project which is a set of ‘curated stories and wisdom written by people who aren't afraid to break the rules’. 

In essence, it looks at companies who have challenged the norm and doing business their own way. Introducing you to the people behind the brand, you find out how each business was realised, warts and all and what makes them tick. Challenger brands have strong values and ethos, and the success of the examples given show that it is possible to make money as well as create a social impact.

Apart from being beautifully designed, it fully loads you up with food for thought. Some of our favourite extracts from it include:

“The work you do when you’re procrastinating is probably the work you should be doing for the rest of your life”, Jessica Hische

“The life you want doesn’t exist. You have to make it up”, James Victore

“Life begins at the end of your comfort zone”, Neale Donald Walsh

A great read, definitely recommended. Also nice to see a few local businesses being featured such as Finisterre, NaturePaint and Stranger Collective.

The beautiful art of paper cutting...

The design and craft world has for some time now been understandably obsessed with the beautiful art of paper cutting, including one of our designers, Emily, so we thought we would peek into the paper cutters world and ask her about her passion for paper, her desire for popping out paper creations in her free time and some of the paper artists that inspire her.

Emily:

"I started making paper cuts a few years ago by designing and making one as a present for my former design manager who got married in Vegas. I've always been hands on, crafty and keen to create pretty things, but that first one really gave me the bug. I've been making them for friends and family as presents and as commissions ever since, I even have a shop on Etsy."

"The reason I love paper so much as a medium is because it is such a simple material, in abundance in our everyday lives, but it can be manipulated and given a different purpose in life so easily. It has the potential to become whatever you want it to be. 

I admit the process of paper cutting is painstakingly slow and at times frustrating (especially when you slip with the knife, cut off a piece intrinsic to the design and have to start again), but the end result is totally worth it. I love seeing an image slowly appearing out of the blank sheet of paper, cut by cut, holding it up every now and then as I go to see how the light and the shadows work with it. I find it quite therapeutic and I feel a great sense of achievement when it's finished.

Because of the growing importance of digital within modern society, some people believe paper is a dying art form, but there has been a resurgence in the last few years with artists exploring this tactile medium more and more in different ways. There is something really special about seeing a paper cut, knowing that so much time and effort would have gone into it and there are so many incredibly talented paper artists out there, here are some of my favourites..."

The talented Brittney Lee creates beautiful fantasy paper illustrations with the use of various paper techniques including paper cutting, quilling and layering to add more depth.

Julene Harrison's paper cuts are elegant typographic designs often mixed with foliage and natural patterns and have caught the eye of big clients from publishers to advertising.

You will have probably seen some of Kate Forrester's paper cut illustrations on passing McDonalds trucks over the last few months. Working with advertising agency Leo Burnett her designs form whimsical, surreal, paper landscapes that reinforce the brands ethical ACB campaign.

You can check out more of their lovely work here:

britsketch.blogspot.co.uk

madebyjulene.com

kateforrester.co.uk

(and Emily's Etsy shop) etsy.com/shop/ThePapercutParade