first new post thingy

Hi and welcome to the new more listener friendly kinda blog. It's now all bout my personal work rather than my personal opinion. Well let's go for it.

I've wanted to create a caricature of myself for a while now and several pages of my sketch book have been taken up to create something that not only looked like me but modern too. (Not that I'm that old you realise).
























The development of this has taken a lot longer than I anticipated. Above are a couple of the sketches to show the development.

I also wanted something that could be easily changed to match my clothes, mood etc. Below is a selection of three of the finished illustrations. The one without any clothes on shall remain on my hard drive!









The next stage will be to create an actual 3D model of the figure but that will have to wait for a future edition.

nothing doing

well, great plans and all that. I set this blog up over a year ago and it's had about as many readers as listeners to Shetland FM. So I've decided to shift the focus of the blog (giving it up was never an option). Rather than a vitriolic rant from me I'm going to use it to showcase my scribbles, scratchings and general messings about with paper and a pencil. It's going to be an extention of my 'A day off doing nothing' newsletter that most people have found......well quite interesting or better than a poke in the eye with a stick anyway. So from now on let's say FOD to the posturing and say hello to what being a designer is all about.............fun. (I hope). Lots of love 'n' stuff. D.

Why nothing does?

I'm often (always) asked why I called my company 'nothing does' and to save repeating myself yet again I thought I'd just post this to clear the whole matter up.

When it came to naming my company it was like naming a child; what will it be abbreviated to? What will be its nickname? The same level of thought that I employed to name my children went into naming my company.

I wanted something cool, something different and most importantly something that could 'roll out'. I also wanted to give the whole thing a feeling of 'if you don't get it then you ain't cool', a cult feel. I wanted a company that was seen as THE company to work with. Not because of a heritage borne through the boom of the eighties or because they were the biggest around at the time, but because they were smart, sharp and really understood what was down right cool. I went through a whole host of names to try and focus what we were about and what we did but in the end I though: "stuff it" and named the company from the last line of my favourite poem. I'm not going to spoon feed you and tell you what that is; you can do a bit of 'googling' and find out for yourself. But in the end it seemed right. It had the right balance of intrigue and questioning and the scope to be 'rolled out': nothing, something, everything. Does, do, did etc.

I'm still here trying to create the cult I always wanted and I know I will get there because..........if I do nothing, nothing does.

Happy New Year

I thought it might be nice to share some of the work nothing does have carried out over 2007. It's been a busy year with various branding and re-branding work carried out. I have included a small selection here but there is a more detailed gallery on our website along with a selection of case studies. If you would like to receive more information regarding our work or wish to see some of our case studies then please just get in touch.

Small Business, Small Mind

'Isn't branding just for big companies?'

This was the question I was recently asked and it is true that large companies spend vast amounts of money on their respective brand and it's also true that branding is a multi million pound industry. However that doesn't mean that it's only the global companies who should take branding seriously. Or equally that it isn't just as important for the smaller companies. In fact it could be argued that due to the huge competition within the S.M.E. arena (sorry about the acronym, you have permission to hit me with a big stick) that branding and brand position are actually more valuable for the smaller business.

It doesn't have to cost you your whole marketing budget for the next five years or even swallow up huge chunks of your time. Done properly it's actually a fun and interesting venture that can and will help you and your company stand out in a crowded marketplace and give you a huge advantage over your competition.

So go and stick one in the eye of the global giants and get branded like the big boys.

9 Branding Top Tips

Well 10 would be too obvious and at nothing does we like to do something different.

Communicate what you want to be and how you want your customers to think you are. And then believe it 100%

Your brand is your company's personality. Make sure your personality is right for you and your company.

Love it and live it! Embrace your brand and eat, sleep, drink, shower, shave and sh** it.
It does mean THAT much.

Ensure all your staff understand, and more importantly are proud of the brand they work for.

Your brand should be in everything: The way you answer the phone, send emails and the pictures on your (branded) walls. It all speaks volumes about your brand. (See point 3).

Review it. Brands do (and should) evolve. Customers and climates change and your brand should adapt to your business changes.

Less is more. Don't over egg it with mixed messages. Focus on what makes you and your brand unique.

Create a cult. Getting people to fall in love with and express loyalty to your brand is the holy grail.

If it ain't working change it. Don't carry on with something that doesn't express your company, this will only damage your business.

Revolt-ing

Go on then lets do it; Let's say 'it's revolution not evolution.' (I hate tired old marketing terms more than Ikea even if you do turn them on their heads.)

Right, well we've got that out of the way but come on let's really go for it. If you want to stand out, if you want to be seen as different and if you want to take the lead then you are going to have to revolt. You are going to have to say: screw everybody else I am better than them and the way I do it is the best. By god it takes guts to do that and you may find yourself stood alone but soon everyone else can see that because you have had the balls to stand alone and you have positioned yourself exactly how you want to, without any influence from your competitors. That this sets you miles in front of them.

Great design and great marketing comes from revolution and ultimately having the guts to believe so much in who you are that you will go out on a limb and revolt. So hats off to the revolutionaries and long may they find the courage to stand-alone.

It's great to stand alone when it gives you the time to watch everyone else catch up