The Jotter - issue 37
“If I had more time, I would have written a shorter letter.”
A paraphrased quotation often attributed to Mark Twain, but perhaps originally written by Blaise Pascal.
Hello,
On the day the last Jotter was published I was visiting the home of Vitsœ.
©Vitsœ;Dirk Lindner
It will be one of the most memorable days of my year. I am still absorbing all I saw and heard.
At the end of the fascinating tour I was savouring a chocolate brownie made by the in-house chef and their MD Mark Adams shared the most important thing he has learned in business.
The confidence and tenacity to say “no.”
Not in a negative way, but in a profoundly positive way.
The desire to do less of everything so that you end up with something better.
I wrote some words about it here.
Onwards
Andrew
01, Buzzwords.
I don’t like corporate buzzwords. They are often meaningless. The lazy option.
Only the least innovative businesses use the word innovative. If they were truly innovative they’d use a different word.
David Ogilvy was very clear about what his business did. But his successors prefer to add words and more words. Perhaps they ran out of time?
Then…
… and now
02, Slow down
Cole Shafer encourages us to slow down when we are traversing from A to B.
“All of us have been conditioned by society to commute rather than cruise. We speed to our destination. We ask for the bill before the meal is over. We rush through the airport without any sort of consideration of the travelers around us. We leap-frog elderly walkers hobbling down the street without so much as a smile, a wave or a have a good day.”
03, Photography.
“The last time I changed my camera was 50 years ago. All I need is a good face and the right light.”
For six decades Jane Bown (1925 - 2014) worked at the Observer newspaper capturing the traits of eminent people on black and white film.
She said no to new cameras and no to using a light-meter. No fuss, no studio lights and no assistant.
Working instinctively and unobtrusively, she found a natural light source, gauged her camera settings by how the light fell on the back of her hand and then took out her trusty OM-1 from a shopping basket to take some of the most iconic portraits of the post-war era.
04, Architecture.
As a Bath Rugby season ticket holder I was intrigued to see this proposed Colosseum-like redesign of our hallowed stadium. It would be an impressive place to cheer on our team but I fear it would fall into pastiche unless there was an eye-watering budget available.
05, Creativity.
Thomas Sharp shares three stories to remind us that if you want to be creative you need to unshackle yourself from the rational world and say no to ‘process’ and ‘strategy’ and ‘research’. At least for some of the time.
06, Business.
Blogging is a good way to attract people to your website. Sometimes it can be hard to know what to write about. My advice is to answer the most common questions your customers ask. This might help you.
Thank you DO Lectures for leading me there.
07, Work.
You’d think August would be a quiet month but for me it’s been full of working on interesting projects. Perhaps holiday month gives people a break from the day-to-day and time to think about how to market their business?
This week we launched Humble Bee Films new website. I’ve had the pleasure of working with them since 2007 and I think this might be the 4th iteration of their website.
The trials and tribulations of being a web designer no.48. Working on a website for the Bristol Cheesemonger and not having any cheese in the house…
Here in Bradford on Avon, we have a very good Film Society showing the best in world cinema. Their programme is full of gems which you may have missed while on general release.
I designed their first website over 10 years ago. Although the design had lasted well, behind the scenes it was getting long-in-the-tooth so I was very happy when they gave me the go-ahead to design a new version.
Thank you for reading the August Jotter. The next issue will magically appear here on Friday 29th September at 11am. In the meantime, I hope you have a very enjoyable bank holiday weekend.
Onwards
Andrew
Brutiful Brutalism
A 24 page tabloid with a selection of photos and accompanying text of my favourite brutalist buildings. Printed on quality 80gsm bright recycled paper. Buy or browse here.
“When burdened by the feeling that there are too many photographs in the world, I ask myself if there are too many flowers.”