We’ve had some pretty big books in reception over the last couple of weeks, so thanks to Tracey Gibbs and her fab collection of photography books… we have a tiny one this time. But don’t let the size fool you… these photographs are as amazing as any of the ones you may have seen in those big books!

Mick Williamson makes small, intimate photographs; with an intuitive feel for light, contrast and texture, he captures the fleeting moments of everyday life, finding beauty in the smallest scenes and details.

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Sometimes I have to pinch myself about how lucky I am to do a job that has so many varied and fun aspects to it and get paid for doing them all in the name of Red C’s mantra of ‘getting under the skin’.

Wandering around the Grand Designs Live Show at the NEC last week was one of those times. Once we had negotiated the car park that was as far away from the venue as it was possible to be; the courtesy bus scrum and the entrance and coffee bar scrums I observed as much to my colleague, Rachael.

In my too many to mention years working in marketing I have worked in call centres, on shop floors, in a betting shop  and been out with delivery drivers in their vans all in a days work but this was a teeny bit more glamorous.

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Barbara Kruger was the first truly postmodern artist that I discovered as an art student. Being a fan of thought-provoking art and literature and having experimented with text and image collages I was immediately struck by the power of her work. Barbara Kruger is a conceptual artist known for her stark photo-and-text collages that appropriate the language of consumer culture to comment on it. She became an artist in the early 80’s after working as head art director on Conde Nast magazines. Her art continues to speak the language of magazines and advertising, and, in addition to appearing in galleries and museums, it can be found on billboards, T–shirts, and shopping bags. She used the skills she gained as a commercial art director to stunning effect with her provocative ‘found’ black and white photographic images, slashed with red stripes of text bearing now instantly recognisable slogans such as “I shop therefore I am” and “Your body is a battleground” delivered in her trademark Futura Bold Italic typeface. These iconic works masterfully employ the look and feel of propaganda, but directly raise questions with the viewer about values, taste, stereoypes and materialism.

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Banksy is probably one of the most famous artists alive. His stencil-style ‘guerrilla’ art became his trademark along with his strong anti-war, anti-capitalist and anti-establishment messages. His first pieces appeared on the streets of Bristol and London in early 90’s and many more have appeared around the world since.

Although his art carries strong political messages they are also quite amusing and daring… in 2006 he left an inflatable doll dress as a Guantanamo prisoner in Disneyland to bring attention to the conditions of the terror suspects. He’s also believed to have smuggled a fake picture he created of a smiling Mona Lisa into the Paris Louver museum and hung it near the real one.

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It’s not very often that I see a graphic design book that really amazes me with the levels of inventiveness contained on every page. Tactile, however, is certainly a book that does that.

Tactile shows how graphic design is moving into three-dimensional objects and products and presents graphic design that works with space or the perception of space. The book focuses less on murals than on products, objects, installations and collage that demonstrate how designers are developing and implementing their ideas spatially from the very outset of a given project. Tactile proves that spatial innovation in graphic design is not limited to personal work or artistic endeavours for exhibition, but is being sought out more and more often by commercial clients, for example in store design.

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Inspired by the pioneering design work of Paul Rand, Herb Lubalin, Wally Olins,  Saul Bass, Milton Glaser and Neville Brody I became a graphic designer and worked primarily in branding for the first 10 years of my career. This was back in the day when the ‘designers are gods’ mentality still held true and being a bit ‘precious’ was the norm… which suited me fine, thank you very much.

Doodling away in a sketch pad (usually in the pub) and hunched over a drawing board armed with paper, fine point pen and a steady hand didn’t really feel like work to me (the apple macs were still not commonplace in design studios at this point). The process fascinated me and still does to this day.

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It probably hasn’t escaped your notice that in September an edition of Entertainment Weekly in the US will feature the world’s first video-in-print advert. Previewing programmes from CBS’s upcoming season as well as adverts for Pepsi… the video advert will work by having slim screens inserted into the magazine that are activated when the magazine pages are opened – kinda like what happens on greeting cards.

Each chip that feeds the screen can hold up to 40 minutes of video with the battery that powers the chip and screen being able to play for about 65 to 70 minutes. This battery can then be recharged by plugging in a mini USB cord and once you’ve got bored of the content contained in the chip… you can download additional content from the Web. Sounds clever, and expensive… so will it take off?

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These days you need more than just a great Portfolio of work to get yourself a job in a Creative Department. You need a certain drive and attitude that will get your Book noticed, and help you stand out from the other great Candidates out there who are competing for the same role.

It can’t have escaped you that jobs are thin on the ground at the moment in this industry. So I’ve written this posting to not only give you some essential advice when you get in front of someone like me… but also some advice on how to market yourself so someone like me is impressed enough to make time in their day to see you.

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