March 30th, 2009 by Dean Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »

Doing a blog regularly certainly gives you a perspective on time. It seems only days ago I did my last blog in December which was very reflective following certain events!

3 months on and business is good (hard but good). Our clients seem to be getting through well so far and I’m also happy to welcome Darren Wake to our team to further strengthen our frontline.

Personally the family is great all healthy and doing well and after Open Door Designs’ rebrand we’ve managed to do a bit of redecorating.

Busy doing budgets, cash flows and business planning at the moment, but in and amongst we have some exciting stuff happening and our Team continues to mature and keep coming up with great ideas.

Enjoying ourselves will be a priority this year and we have a number of events planned to make sure that happens.

Until next time.

The future of lunch time

March 27th, 2009 by Nick Posted in office | No Comments »

The Pizza vending machine, personally, I think this is one of the best inventions of all time….

A massive turn off!

March 26th, 2009 by Gareth Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »

Saturday 28th March gives everyone the opportunity to be involved in a truely global event. 

At 8.30pm (GMT), people, businesses and iconic buildings around the world will switch off their lights for an hour in support of action being taken to tackle climate change.

This event has been conceived by the WWF, and they are hoping that a billion people will sign up and get involved. It’s WWF’s way of reminding the worlds leaders of their responsibilities to us all when making decisions effecting the environment.

I really like the idea of this and will participate. Not just because I care about the issue of climate change, but also for the knowledge that your are involved in a simple, but big, idea that is so far-reaching.

If you’re at home at this time there’s no excuse not to get involved. I mean… sitting in the dark for an hour has got to be better than watching some Saturday night garbage tv like…. Strictly Ballroom Dancing Celebrity Idiots on Ice.. or something like that! Ha.

To find out more visit:  http://earthhour.wwf.org.uk

Durham

March 24th, 2009 by Chris Posted in Personal Lives, Travel | No Comments »

Last week I headed up to Durham for the day to help out at the Durham University Humanist Society’s Reason Week. The society are doing some really great work up there and so I was glad to go up and give them a hand, though I may have swallowed up more of their time than I actually spent helping lol!

In between events Ellis even managed to provide me with a tour around the city and many of the college bars too including Castle Bar which is built in the basement of the castle’s keep! Drinks up there are significantly cheaper than Leeds too so it’s a fantastic place to drink as well as absorbing the sights.

Leeds Design Agency on the Google Map

March 19th, 2009 by Nick Posted in Google Street Car, office | No Comments »

Today saw the launch of  Google Maps Street View for Leeds, it’s been a while since we saw the Google Car driving ’round our streets.

Now you can see where we are, there’s no excuses, we’d love to see you for a cuppa or to drop in and discuss your next design project.

Open Door Design - Leeds Design Agency

Take a look at Google Street View for Brown Lane West in Leeds

Big Gigs

March 10th, 2009 by Tom Posted in Personal Lives | No Comments »

My recent foray into online shopping a few weeks ago has taken a turn for the worse. Ordering prescription glasses online obviously sounds like a great idea. There’s no hassle – No salesman sitting you down and trying to sell you a special lens coating for an additional £30 pounds for your first pair and a further £15 for your FREE second pair to be coated! Fat chance, but the spiel and demonstration is always good for a giggle. I went in to this particular store with the sole intention of acquiring a new prescription and then bolting out of the door to find a more suitable/funky pair on the WWW. But why I toyed with the sales assistants emotions for half an hour, I don’t know. 

Now, online, your choice of style is endless. And I’m looking for that certain ‘geek chic’ look. So thick black geeky looking frames are what I’m after specifically. I find a few pairs… great. I have an unusually large head so I better go for the widest pair, I think to myself! (Dimensions are provided). I enter in my prescription, part with the money and wait in anticipation. 

Two weeks later, a little package turns up. And out of which come the biggest pair of glasses I have ever seen! Seriously, they’re on par with those oversize joke glasses you can pick up in fancy dress stores!… I can’t wear these I thought?!? So I’ve spent about a week wearing them around the apartment, trying to warm to them, but to no avail. They now sit in the living room as some sort of ornament and have also become a bit of a party piece when we have friends round. My bad experience is now their joy and possibly yours! Photographic evidence below!

Big Gigs

(Note: Geek chic refers to the embracing of stereotypically unpopular “geek” characteristics such as glasses, comic books, and computer games).

Give Me a Break

February 24th, 2009 by Gareth Posted in Personal Lives | No Comments »

Due to the bad weather and my finances still recovering from the festive period, I seem to have spent alot of time hibernating in our front room recently.

After exhausting my classic Reeves & Mortimer dvd’s I got for christmas and waiting for the lovefilm.com subscription to kick in I’ve been forced to watch tv. In between the football and skysport news on loop I’ve been trawling through the endless channels of US sitcoms and 1980’s drama re-runs to find something to watch.

Among all this brain-numbing tv though, there are some brilliantly creative commercials on the box at the moment. Of which the following ones have really stood out;

Audi Q5
Typical of the Audi brand; this is clever, innovative and slickly produced. It’s definitely one of those “how did they think of that” ideas, that competitors will be envious of. The quirky music also adds a sense of effortless cool to the ad.

Microsoft
This is so interesting I was shocked it was for Microsoft! Brilliant Monty Python-esque animation perfectly illustrates the open-minded, free thinking message they are plugging. The slow toned american accent gave the Microsoft game away though!

6music
We’re big 6music fans in the studio, so they can do no wrong in our eyes.The humour and playlist on 6music is a unconventional and unpredictable mix which makes it more entertaining than other stations. So graffiti cartoons running across the side of a wall in a jerky stop animation style to a upbeat Vampire Weekend track sums it up perfectly. Different & fun.

Proof, that there’s something worth watching on the box after all!

How I met Richard Dawkins

February 24th, 2009 by Chris Posted in Personal Lives, Travel | No Comments »

I was down in London last week for the press launch of the National Federation of Atheist, Humanist and Secular Student Societies (thankfully abbreviated to the much shorter name, AHS) to which I sit on the board of trustees, as we made ourselves known to the British media.

We managed to rack up an impressive line of speakers including AHS president Norman Ralph, British Humanist Association president Polly Toynbee, Professor A. C. Grayling and Professor Richard Dawkins (described unknowingly by Lil as “the posh old guy with the banana”). It was all very exciting, I said “what type of microphone would you like” and Professor Dawkins replied “a lectern will be fine.” That’s my Richard Dawkins story .

We got coverage by The Guardian and The Independent (who were impressed by our president’s “sharp suite and trimmed goatee”) as well as plenty of donations so the future is looking bright for the AHS. All eyes on our national events now.

Pictures: Richard Dawkins poses with myself and other members of Leeds Atheist Society, myself asking people to take their seats for the second round of speeches (ha, how glamorous) and Polly Toynbee delivering her speech.

Google Latitude – the next Proximity Marketing tool?

February 6th, 2009 by Nick Posted in Online, Proximity Marketing | No Comments »

Yesterday Google launched the eagerly awaited mobile application ‘Google Latitude’, a Big Brother like tracking tool that you can install on your mobile phone to enable your friends, family, employers to find out where you are, accurate to some minutes and metres.

It’s a nifty bit of a kit and as you’ll see from the pictures it’s tracked me to my desk in the office.

So what’s the point of this? Well, currently it’s a great way of finding your friends and where they are, or you could keep track of your kids to make sure they’re where they say they are etc. 

From a commercial point of view, it’s a hell of a lot cheaper than installing vehicle tracking for trucks and vans, or for businesses where they want to keep track of their employees; however, I’m sure that a commercial / fuller featured version will come out in due course with a price tag to match.

And you can bet your life that Google won’t have missed a future trick with this type of technology. I reckon it’ll only be a matter of time before, much the same as sponsoring pay per click terms with adverts; we’ll be able to sponsor regions and co-ordinates in locations to prompt you of services in your region. Could this be the future of Proximity Marketing?

Snowed in!

February 3rd, 2009 by Duncan Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »

Sitting here on a very snowy Tuesday lunchtime, lost as I can’t get to the office. The wonders of modern technology however, allowing me to communicate with the outside world so I am not totally cut off. Approximately 12 inches of snow fell over the last 24 hours and our lane is totally in-accessible, even for a Tesco delivery van!

Today has given me a snippet of a window to reflect on 2009 so far. January has been a bumper month, with a host of new clients coming on board and some major projects underway. Don’t want to speak too soon…but credit crunch, what credit crunch!!! Just hope that the run will continue into the coming months.

In all seriousness, the CC has hit many of us including some big high-street names, but it seems that if you pick your client base carefully and stick with them, you can ride these bad times out. My biggest concern is how long it will last and how much money we will all end up owing if the government gets its way!

Anyway, on a lighter note, Monty is not enjoying the snow, as he can only just stand up in places, but has a new found love – his ball! Driving us both totally mad as all he wants to do is play fetch! Here are some more picts for the scrap book.