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heist booty

Tuesday, June 8th, 2010

We were proud to come away from the recent Heist Awards with three winners on the night. Two Bronzes for Best Postgraduate Prospectuses with Anglia Ruskin and the University for the Creative Arts would have been a fair haul in themselves. Topping these off was a Gold for our Internal Communications Campaign “The Point”, raising awareness of green issues and reducing waste and emissions for City University London. Congratulations to all finalists, it was a great night and an honour to be recognized for our work in the sector.

creativity vs the procurement process?

Wednesday, March 10th, 2010

A biscuit always tastes better when dunked in a china cup, and now I have a lovely one from the House of Lords that I picked up in their gift shop last week!

Hudson Fuggle are members of the Design Business Association and I was invited to the launch of a joint report by the Associate Parliamentary Design & Innovation Group and the DBA, which took place in the magnificent surroundings of the Palace of Westminster.

The report is entitled ‘Design and the Public Good: Creativity vs the Procurement Process?’ and as someone who deals with procurement on a regular basis, I was keen to hear the outcomes.

Working with public sector clients has become increasingly frustrating for SME’s in recent years with the introduction of procurement as a way of buying design.

Whilst no-one would argue that a fair, transparent system is paramount when you are spending public money, reams of paperwork and complicated PQQ’s can be a barrier to the workings of the creative process. It requires a close working relationship and a degree of trust between the supplier and the client to arrive at something original – as any designer knows, it’s the element of risk that drives creative thinking.

The recommendations make for interesting reading and if you would like to see a copy please send an email to the usual address

Now, pass me the HobNobs….

less and more – dieter rams

Tuesday, January 12th, 2010

Dieter Rams’ Ten Principles of good design:

Good design is innovative.

Good design makes a product useful.

Good design is aesthetic.

Good design makes a product understandable.

Good design is unobtrusive.

Good design is honest.

Good design is long-lasting.

Good design is thorough down to the last detail.

Good design is environmentally friendly.

Good design is as little design as possible.



The current show at the Design Museum is retrospective of work from Dieter Rams. It gives a great opportunity to see the full extent of one man’s passion for design and how this evolved over his time designing household items at Braun. The work makes perfect sense as an evolution and it ends with a number of today’s designers talking about how this work impacted and effected their practice. Apple’s Jonathan Ive is amongst them and it is clear that the work of Dieter Rams has had a profound way on how he approaches the design of ipods, and Macintosh computers.


The incredible thing about this work is just how contemporary these products still look and feel today. Clearly the design manifesto has stripped away all that is superfluous and what remains is function and beautifully designed form. Dieter Rams was clearly a visionary and has set the tone for generations of product designers to try to follow suit.

Tickets available here.

alan kitching exhibition

Tuesday, November 24th, 2009

AK2

AK6

We had the pleasure of working with Alan Kitching at the Typography Workshop to produce the 2008 Hudson Fuggle calendar, which some of you might recall. Alan has a terrific exhibition celebrating 20 years of his latest letterpress work at Advanced Graphics London which is only a five minute walk away from the office – perfectly placed to fill a lunch hour.

anish kapoor

Tuesday, November 17th, 2009

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kapoor01

The current Anish Kapoor show at the Royal Academy is well worth a visit if you have the opportunity. The installation consists of a number of chambers within the beautiful Royal Academy building, one of my favorite pieces was the wax cannon that is fired 3 times per hour. The artist’s work is entirely dependent on scale and this setting is a perfect backdrop for an incredible show. The show runs until the 11th December, and tickets are available from the Royal Academy.