i-d media london

D&AD New Blood began yesterday. Some very interesting and thoughtful pieces of design work from this years university graduates, it looks like a good year for new talent!

New Blood Part 1
New Blood Part 2

I am writing this as a stunned and inadequate adult who is completely in awe of the contestants in the inaugural Times Spelling Bee Championships staged in London yesterday. The standard was something to behold !! Words were being spelt which I didn’t even know existed never mind what they meant,

and therefore definitely couldn’t spell !!

We were kindly invited by our friends at The Times with whom we worked very closely to develop the www.timesspellingbee.co.uk website which proved to be a vital window to the world in promoting the whole event going forward. We even managed to be nominated for a Webby !!

They say the best ideas are the simplest and without doubt a National Spelling competition for schools seems obvious, but never before has an initiative been undertaken of this nature in the UK. Hats off to The Times and especially to the Editor James Harding who has been the driving force behind the realisation of this competition, although in his speech he did credit his girlfriend Kate with having come up with the idea !!

So he’s a gentlemen as well as a scholar !! Top marks James…

Congratulations to everybody who competed in both the heats and the final with the winners being St Martin’s School in Middlesex who have already made an appearance on BBC Breakfast this morning !!

Life will never be the same again……..

www.timesspellingbee.co.uk

Catherine King, of Adecco Group UK & Ireland is the latest CEO to post a challenge on the Times Online Business Wisdom website.

Business Wisdom is a website that we developed in conjunction with Times Online. The project invites five CEOs to share a challenge that their companies might face over the next few years. This is then broken down into its component parts (e.g. Marketing, HR, Technology, Research & Development) and presented to the Times Online audience, who are able to propose a possible solution. This is then presented back to the CEO, who will have the opportunity to endorse or challenge the collective wisdom generated by the site.

The current brief centres around Adecco’s challenges in recruiting the right calibre of employees for the London 2012 Games, sustaining momentum on a three year project, ensuring diversity is a key part of the recruitment process and creating a legacy for the Adecco Group that goes beyond 2012.

Can you solve the question?

With the Apple WWDC keynote pegged for today the rumor mill is buzzing with predictions for what it’s going to deliver. According to the rumor mill daring firball has emerged as one of the more accurate sources.

http://daringfireball.net/2009/06/wwdc_2009_predictions

What’s for sure is that the iPhone has changed the mobile landscape for good and there’s no going back for users and vendors alike. What Apple has done is to create a lifestyle choice out of a technology and it’s heading for a cultural status similar to that of the iPod. If what’s supposed to happen happens and Apple releases a $99 iPhone we’re going to see a fresh wave of users who’ve been put off by the inital price of previous generations. And if O2’s exclusivity contract comes to an end we’re going to see some quite interesting things happening in mobile stores across the UK very very soon.

We launched a new campaign-based website for Cockpit Arts last week called Maker Difference.

Cockpit Arts is the UK’s only creative business incubator for designer-makers. Renowned for being a ‘hotbed of creative talent’ their studios are brimming with cutting edge fashion, jewellery and interior products.

As a registered charity they exist solely to nurture creative talent, from first beginnings through to international success. They house 165 designer-makers at their incubators in London all benefiting from affordable studio space, inclusive professional development support, one-to-one business mentoring and public selling opportunities.

Cockpit Arts is launching ‘Maker Difference’ a new campaign to raise awareness of, and encourage support for talented designer-makers.

The campaign comes to life on 12-14 June 2009 and 19-21 June 2009 when Cockpit Arts opens the doors to its renowned London studios, inviting the public inside. At these free summer ‘Open Studios’ events you can meet designers and see new trends in the making.