Brilliant. You can't imagine Eric Gill writing letters to Charlie Chaplin about the typefaces on his subtitles can you...
Jan 24, 2012
Jan 20, 2012
Jan 19, 2012
Thoughts on joining GDS in the Cabinet Office
I've written about it on the GDS blog
Jan 17, 2012
Thoughts on leaving Wieden & Kennedy
On December 23rd I left Wieden & Kennedy and on December 28th I joined the Government Digital Service in the Cabinet Office as Head of Design. But more about the new job later, this post is about the old job, Design Director at Wieden & Kennedy.
I was incredibly sad to leave Wieden & Kennedy.
There's a good, strong culture that feeds directly into the work. They have a few mottos. Sayings that everyone takes seriously because they aren't just words, they're statements people believe in.
There's one motto, the work comes first. And it really does, the downside of this is that it inherently means everything else comes second, but you can't fault the quality of the work. I've never worked (or indeed visited) anywhere with such energy and passion to just make brilliant work. To raise the bar and then keep raising it. To push on longer and harder than anyone else until the work is amazing. And I'm not just talking about creatives, I mean account people, producers and all the other guys who don't get the glory creatives do. One Saturday last November a friend said to me, 'what are you doing tomorrow?' when I replied going into the office he said, 'I guess that's what makes you guys so good, you just work harder than anyone else."
But it's not just putting in the hours.
It's having a standard and trying to go beyond that. Never settling for good enough.
There's another motto - you're here to do the best work of your life. That focuses the mind, is this the best work of my life? If not, why not? You'll notice there are no duff clients at w+k. No big cash cows where the work is shit but the money is good. No clients they keep off the reel. Every client gets the same creative energy and every client gets the same good work. No other ad agency in town can say that.
Last year was a tough year for the agency. They (we) took the difficult decision to part with Nokia and that meant significant job cuts. It wasn't a great year creatively. And yet they deservedly won ITV's ad of the year - and that's a bad year!
This year will be great. The new Lurpak stuff is fantastic and completely different from any other low fat spreads ad out there. There's a big campaign in the summer which will be pretty special and the new Schweppes win is a perfect fit for the agency. Good work will come from that. And that's just a taster of stuff you can expect this year.
Design usually has a hard time in ad agencies, but Tony and Kim have always been lovers of graphic design and are very design aware. Design is important to the agency and together with Guy (my predecessor) they have built a stunning body of well designed work. That's rare in an ad agency.
Like most ad agencies it's an aggressive shouty culture. Yes Tony and Kim will scream at you, yes there's loads of Shoreditch twattery on a regular basis, yes they are an ad agency with all the baggage that brings. Yes you'll lose your evenings and weekends. As Shay used to say, the best work of your life - the most work of your life. But you'll learn a lot, you make lasting friends and you will do the best work of your life. If you ever get the chance to work there - take it.
So why did I leave? You'll find out tomorrow…
Jan 16, 2012
Dec 31, 2011
Flickr 366
4 years ago, a leap year, I did a Flickr 366. Where you take a picture every single day. It was an interesting year. I left The Design Conspiracy, the Credit Crunch started, I went to Portland for the first time.
This year promises to be just as interesting, I've got a new job, I'll be going to SXSW and to the Olympics. Some good pictures to be had there.
So I'm going to do the same again this year. All results uploaded to my Flickr.
Dec 19, 2011
Less typing more drawing
That's the motto for 2012.
Based on Moleitau's wisdom
I need to do more drawing and less typing in 2012
— Matt Jones (@moleitau) December 13, 2011
Because someone asked on Flickr, click here to download the PDF
Dec 15, 2011
Dec 14, 2011
CMYK
We had some stickers made at Newspaper Club.
If you'd like a set, order a newspaper and you'll get some. Simple, eh?
Dec 13, 2011
Radio Roundabout returns today
Last year we had great fun broadcasting to Tech City on Radio Roundabout.
We're doing it again this year. Today at 3pm. We'll have lots of Christmas music, guests including Matt Webb from BERG, the Makies and the UK Prime Minister's Ambassador to Tech City, friendly chit chat and a massive competition!
I'll be your host with Russell and Engineering.
You can listen here from 3pm.
Ben
Head of Design, GDS, Cabinet Office. Co-founder Newspaper Club, spare part at RIG. (Also ID8, San Francisco).
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