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Our musings, thoughts, ideas and on Mondays, rants.
Welcome to the Firedog thinking space. This is part blog (we've been nattering since 2003), part white paper and part engagement platform. Read up on our news and opinions, find out if we are currently hiring or grab a bit of free knowledge with our goodies and downloads.
The thinking space is also where we get to rant and rave about issues pertaining to the design, branding and creative industries both locally and abroad. Our aim is to develop a strong, balanced voice for the UK design industry. And probably most of all, to entertain you.
We have contributors across the board, not only from Cliff the Firedog Chief, but also from all the talented people who create and work in the Firedog studios. Therefore the views, opinions, comments and criticisms do not necessarily represent Firedog views, they're the independent and collective view of all staff, authored and presented independently without bias or censorship. Enjoy...
Engineering the self – Firedoggy style
It’s not often that you can clear the decks in the studio to get to work on your own materials. Hence, we’re releasing updates of our site in parts.
A few months back, we were fortunate to work with one of the world’s most eminent cloud software producers, Mimecast. Being so close to their engineering team, we learnt to release software and digital products in what they called “Sprints” – the idea being a liquid product release timeline, where the team doesn’t sit around attempting a “perfect” release.
Digital Designer and planner, ex Butcher and fishmonger, proper code zealot, built this site
17
June 2013
Our favourite April Fools
So, April fools again – in the last few years the big brands have really caught on to how grab your attention with their April fools gags. Much more entertaining than your Dad sticking a tail to you to walk to school in or putting Tabasco on your toothbrush! Oh how we laughed!
This year was better than ever with a long list of sustainable trees, drone mail and the end of YouTube – here’s a list of our faves.
Invaluable advice for design graduates (and young designers)
Any agency worth its salt has a very active internship scheme whereby the owners of the business look to harness young talent – with the view to turning them into viable creative generators of income. If this sounds rather commercial, it’s because realistically, this is how the creative industry works.
Further afield and in other sectors, internships have become the government’s bridgehead into the dangerous territory of youth unemployment within the UK. And it’s easy to see why, with one statistic reading : “One-third of this year’s graduate vacancies would be filled by applicants that had worked for the hiring organisation during their studies”
Managing and Creative Director, digital music nut, traditional pen and paper fan yet loves all things clickaty blinky
9
April 2013
Firedog prepares to speak at Digital Shoreditch for second year running
The technology industry in the UK has shown refreshing vital signs in the recent dark paralysis of the UK’s economy. And at the geographical centre of this industry lies what has been coined Tech City (aka The Silicon Roundabout). Digital Shoreditch is a respected and growing annual conference which brings the movers and shakers of the tech industry under one roof for a week in May.
Firedog will again be making a presentation after delivering a rip-roaring speech in 2012. In last year’s presentation we tackled the concept of Digital Branding and how it applied to digital start-ups and online businesses. This year we’re going to have a little more fun. Our subject this time? “The reduced work of the interwebz 1988 – 2013”
Managing and Creative Director, digital music nut, traditional pen and paper fan yet loves all things clickaty blinky
4
April 2013
We want! – A talented integrated digital branding creative
We are looking for a brand designer / creative who is currently working in a branding agency, who feels perhaps that their current business lacks a bit of future vision. We combine old school branding skills with new digital thinking. We work with pioneering clients in the technology, media, education and venture capital sectors.
Our culture is “A breed apart”. We make a point of differing ourselves from the usual suspects and bring a fresh agenda to the world of brand design and creation. We couple this energetic creativity with a sense of authenticity and a truly genuine nature. We are not pretentious. We just like to push ourselves with our eyes firmly on the future of creativity. We’re also not that into minimal, we like a bit of energy and breaking rules and formulas (All in the constrains of good design though).
Managing and Creative Director, digital music nut, traditional pen and paper fan yet loves all things clickaty blinky
22
February 2013
