In April Cheltenham housed its very first Design Festival. Spread over three days the programme showcased influential figures from the design industry. Set with a Friday day ticket I prepared myself in a sponge like manner, to be inspired. Talks covered all design disciplines, with speakers from an impressive line up of creative backgrounds.

I'd signed up for four talks throughout the day (with a convenient 1 hour lunch break for afternoon tea!). Simon Kavanagh gave us an insight into The KAOSPilots, a school positioned half way between a business and a design school. Their values are based on risk-taking and they pride their programme on being in the real world with an aim to bring out "positive social change through personal growth". Students present their big idea and lecturers support them (no matter how crazy they are). Extraordinary achievements included the Baisikeli idea where a student shipped Danish scrapped bicycles to Tanzania where they're repaired/rebuilt and sold, with all profit forming the foundation for the creation of a sustainable bicycle industry in Africa. He asked us what our big idea was, I couldn't quite answer. But the prospect of one idea transforming somebody's life was quite powerful and it reminded me that as a designer, we all have the potential to shape lives.

(image credit - Peter Stanners)

Not as design led as I'd expected, it became clear the event was about all aspects of creativity. It delved into processes, responsibilities, and innovation, it made us question our roles and what we can do with them. Design is just a small part of that collaboration. I also learnt, that it was okay not to understand what's going on all of the time! Nick Jankel, a life and leadership coach discussed chaos and where progress is concerned - it pays off to go deeper into the rabbit hole, for better results.

Each speaker had a different story, a different perspective but the one thing that remained consistent was the vision. Creative thinking affects our daily lives and also ensures the development of our future. From Simon Waterfall discussing the Sat Nav sucker marks on windscreens (that dramatically increased car crime in a matter of weeks), to Steve Haggarty explaining the cultural shifts in Chinese markets with youth culture and brands. 

I think it was safe to say I left feeling exhausted, but truly inspired. It's quite exciting to think that with perseverance, the right tools and platform - what one individual, or collaboration are capable of...

Last year a convo over a cuppa led to the exciting collaboration between myself and Birmingham Royal Ballet. Pointe Blank was born in May last year with a collection of works based on BRB's production of Coppelia, inviting 27 artists and designers to produce a piece of artwork to be exhibited.

With the success of the project I was pretty chuffed when Rob (my partner in crime at BRB) approached me back in December, inviting me to work on another Pointe Blank project with thorough support from all the company. It gave us an opportunity to really think about what the collaboration was about and what we were trying to do. The majority of the contributors had never been to the ballet before (me included) so we were really keen to tap into a new audience, the brief encouraging the designers to see the productions as a story, rather than a ballet. We felt that opportunities to collaborate were few and far between in Birmingham and with the use of a certain 140 character social media network we didn't have to search too far for talent!

This years production is Hobson's Choice. We were keen to keep the brief as unprescriptive as possible, allowing participants to be as creative as wanted to be. We filled the 27 spaces within a few hours with designers from Birmingham, London and Berlin!

We launched the collection on Monday 20th February at Birmingham Royal Ballet studios and it'll be exhibiting at 6/8 Kafe on Temple Row from 5th March. There's talks of a collaborative event with FAKE too, watch this space...

Last month I was invited to be part of B-Hive, sitting on the graphic design judging panel. B-Hive sees students and graduates from Birmingham’s universities and colleges pitch themselves and their work to the City's leading creative agencies, with the goal of securing themselves a four-week work placement. With myself, Lee and Jim all joining Substrakt straight from university a 3-4 years ago, we were really keen to get involved as we know how difficult the industry is, and how tough the competition can be! A four-week paid placement is an invaluable opportunity for gaining experience in a real studio environment.

The candidates came from the fields of digital, PR, graphic design, marketing and advertising, with a placement up for grabs in each discipline. All briefs followed the same campaign, each having their own objectives. Entries had be whittled down to 12 students who presented their ideas to our panel, including designers/directors from Orb Creative, Viva Aspire, Seal, Tomorrow People and Chosen. Think Dragons Den - with less dragon-like dragons.

The overarching campaign ‘Eat Birmingham’ was to position Birmingham as gourmet capital, communicating its diverse culinary offerings whilst improving perception scores of the city with great restaurants and bars. The graphic design brief was to unify it under one umbrella identity; a name and logo mark that can easily be displayed at participating restaurants to promote their contribution to Birmingham’s culinary diversity.

The level of work was really impressive from the students, five of which were given two two-week paid placements at two of the agencies involved. We went to the presentation evening in Zellig at the Custard Factory where the winners were announced. We are pleased to have Joseph Heeley (BCU) who will be joining us in June and Nathan Matthews (Met) in July who both impressed me with their unique approach and direction on the brief.

Photos courtesy of B_Hive, Taste Birmingham artwork by Joseph Heeley