Tracking another client on the icy wastes
17th November 2008
At Erskine, we’re lucky enough to be working with two incredible polar exploration teams this year. Back in the Summer, our man Ben Saunders hit the Arctic once more, and as I write, the Shackleton Centenary team are in the early stages of their Antarctic expedition, retracing the final stages of Sir Ernest Shackleton’s epic Nimrod journey.
Last week we plumbed in a bunch of new features tracking the team on their journey. Read on for details…
#759 | 17/11/08 | 2 comments | More >
Eulogy
14th November 2008
You all know that I believe our blogs can be as much for personal reflection as they can be about bloody web design. For me its a cathartic exercise. This post is typical of that.
A couple of months have passed now since my Dad passed away, and (as I was warned by friends) the impact of this is having a greater affect as time moves on. I’ve moved past the initial business-like, pragmatic and stoic few weeks, and am now entering a gradual heightening of anger, upset and confusion that eluded me at the time. This will eventually lead to a more manageable, easier period I hope.
So, I wanted to archive my eulogy from the funeral. The large number of people who showed their support on that day made me very proud, and for those of you that wanted to read the eulogy in your own time or couldn’t be there on the day, well - here it is…
#758 | 14/11/08 | More >
Fleet Foxes, Nottingham
3rd November 2008
I haven’t written one of my typical ill-researched and untidy off-the-cuff gig reviews for some time, perhaps because I haven’t really been to many gigs this year. I think my ill-judged attendance at a Verve comeback gig earlier this year put me off. Anyway, the balance has been amply restored thanks to a stunning evening with good friends and Fleet Foxes at Nottingham Trent University (bloody students) last night.
#757 | 03/11/08 | no comments | More >
Despite apparent bankruptcy, Iceland can still fly an entire pub to London
18th October 2008
Yesterday I found myself sat once again in one of my favourite Reykjavik bars. I sipped a cup of cold Thule, served by an Icelandic lady, half-conversing in my rusty Íslenska. “Kemur þú oft hingað?” I asked. She laughed, politely. I suppose this would all make some kind of sense, were it not for the fact that I was about 30 minutes walk from King’s Cross.
#756 | 18/10/08 | More >
Frith Street Gallery
9th October 2008
Another week, another launch. We got blisters on our fingers. Erskine was asked to redesign and rebuild the website for the renowned Frith Street Gallery, now based just behind Piccadilly Circus in central London. To be quite frank, most top-end gallery sites are rubbish and desperately outdated, so we relished the opportunity to rethink this one. Read on for more…
#755 | 09/10/08 | More >
WallSwaps - an experiment
2nd October 2008
We love doing web stuff every day, and we love our clients. However, all too often what we do is bound by rules, criteria and technical specs. So occasionally we (like many of you) need to break free and do something for fun. That is why we created WallSwaps.
Read on for an explanation…
#754 | 02/10/08 | More >
Pens are Jon’s Friends
1st October 2008
Yes, its time for more pimping of our friend and office amigo Mr. Burgerman. Last week I wrote about the Heroes of Burgertown toys, and this week I am sitting thumbing through my own preview copy of his new 300 page monograph, published by IdN.
#753 | 01/10/08 | More >
CSR360 and ENGAGE
30th September 2008
We recently launched a major new website in that London - the ambitious CSR360 Global Partner network - a network of independent organisations that work at the interface of Business and Society to mobilise business for good. Read on for a little more info…
#752 | 30/09/08 | More >
Under the stars & over the moon
28th September 2008
After the traumas of the last few weeks, I’ve been itching to just get away and get out of Nottingham. Its many months since I first suggest that the whole Erskine Design gang go camping, but this weekend we finally got the Defender, the Datsun and, erm… the Peugeot, and set off up North, mob-handed.
Our trip was a blast from start to finish, taking in the spooky ruins and fishy smells of Whitby, the smuggler’s coves and shanty-singers of Robin Hood’s Bay, and the vast moorlands and curious holes of the North Yorkshire Moors National Park. This part of the world is stunning all year round, but for our trip to coincide with an incredible sunny and warm blue sky dream of a late-September weekend was something none of us expected (though we all took our shorts just in case).
At no point did we even mention the internet, computers, clients or work, seeing as we’ve actually become friends first, colleagues second. So, we were too busy having real japes. Drinking ale and dodgy cider from plastic containers; cooking steaks on fires and consuming massive stews; doing keepy-ups or batting a ball; playing guitars or singing sea shanties; hunting for crabs in rockpools; walking through enchanted pitch-black woods to find strange pubs, and getting covered in wet dog. That is - as they say - how we roll.
I’ve put aside my need for a good scrub and instead thrown together a Camp Erskine 2008 Flickr set, should you have some time to waste, or are curious to see what these “outdoors” are that I speak of. Alternatively, our Glen has summed the whole thing up from his perspective, removing the need for me to write much more. Good work that man. Update: Finally, our Greg has illustrated the whole weekend using images and a list in his own unique way.
All in all, this was a perfect weekend that couldn’t come soon enough for me. It made me a little sad at times, as I spent quite a few family holidays on that wonderful coastline, but with good friends around I didn’t dwell on those thoughts for too long. Now then, back to the grindstone…
#751 | 28/09/08 | More >
Heroes of Burgertown
24th September 2008
Ok, lets put personal crisis (read “cry-seas") to one side and get back to some blogging, beginning with hot news of Heroes of Burgertown from the funny doodly chap who lives in the corner of our office - the man they call Jon Burgerman, because it is his name.
I’m thrilled for Jon, as these little critters have been in design, production and general flux for nearly five years. Some of you will know I’m a misguided fan of such “adult toys” (steady) and I have a fair old collection. No, I don’t know why either. I think its because they’re cute, have interesting backstories, and mainly because I get them as payment for websites rather often.
Anyway, they arrived in the office yesterday and our chum Jon was all giddy and weak-kneed with childlike excitement. Kind of like a proud father of multi-tuplets or whatever. I recall these toys being primed for mass production when I built his site in 2004, so it certainly has been a long period of labour.
They’re exquisitely made by the fine folks over at Kid Robot (about whom I have written before), come with little descriptive cards, foil-packed in nice boxes. You’ll want one, you’ll want them all. Or you may not. We’re all different.
You can adopt them via Jon’s site should you be so taken. I have a suspicion that these will be (as they say) big in Japan.
By the way, soon I’ll blog about the forthcoming enormous book all about Jon’s work over the last few years. Its a weighty tome full of creative idiosyncrasies that really does him proud. I’ve seen a copy (and even get a credit inside - yippee) and its a fine retrospective.
#750 | 24/09/08 | More >
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This is the personal home of Simon Collison; web designer/developer and author. Simon runs Erskine Design, a web agency based in Nottingham, UK. Read more...
Note: I've stripped down the site for a while whilst I rethink it. I'll give it a fresh lick of paint really soon.
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