all a bit of a rush >> space

it has all been a bit busy on the 'house of george' in the last few days I am almost looking forward to going back to teaching stuff next week as it will be a bit less stressful, well it probably won't but it feels like that today.
my eldest son luca has moved from brighton to live with us while he goes to college which is really nice so I have spent a lot of the day organising a room partition so that he has his own much needed space. as well as putting up a new bedroom wall light for my youngest son ben, the partition made his space a bit dark. all pretty routine for most people I know but still, I don't really do d.i.y. unless its painting walls which I enjoy.

anyway I have very nearly thought myself to sleep today. so I wanted to put up a picture just to make me remember just why I choose to live in the area I do, and surprisingly it is not a surf picture.

it's one carol took yesterday while she was walking on the moors with ben and her mum (who has been down for a few days from south yorkshire). it shows the space we are luckily enough to live near never mind room partitions.

professor guy claxton >> creativity

I spent a large part of today listening to professor guy claxton speak at a network learning day he managed to make me think about things like I haven't done for some years, which has to be a good thing & I am still thinking................ as much about my work as a teacher as I am about myself as a learner.
creativity a guide for the advanced learner (and teacher) .pdf
guyclaxton.com

cross curricular >> different thinking

never mind the london olympic logo have a look over at for some great opinions and ideas davidthedesigner and noisy decent graphics. am fighting with my own design demons to create something that will hold the attention of 14 year olds for the best part of a year. it is part of a large cross curricular project. I am currently making a flash movie these here a couple of images from the as yet unfinished film.
the idea/premiss is a good one, drawing together the disciplines of product design, food technology, textile design, graphics, ICT, resistant materials, systems and control, & new media. to make a complete marketable package for a healthy, fast food restaurant/diner food chain.
I think we have a lot of work ahead to get it right.

back to what I know >> starman

I have been a fan of david bowie since I first saw him on top of the pops playing starman in 1972. my best friend ham ran over to my house to see if I had seen it. He also asked me if thought david bowie was a man or a woman!

This particular song reminds me of being at school putting henna in my hair and listening to music my parents didn't like things were pretty good and I probably thought that I was pretty cool around that time.

so busy again >> but I stopped for this

another silly, busy day of even more stuff to do, sorry again for such a short post.
I did however have enough time to check the shop that had the printing sets as above that I had talked about in previous post.
this time I bought one (it was 2.99! reduced!) and I have had 10 or so minutes of fun loading it, getting printing ink all over my hands.

(sorry for the very crude picture editing of my mobile number, just thought it sensible)

I like this blog >> dan lockton

I am not really sure how I found my self looking at this blog/website today but I must have spent 30-40 minutes just finding more and more to read.
dan lockton an industrial designer, engineer and writer with a special interest in consumer products, transportation and mobility, and the relationship between technology and society, especially architectures of control.
dan seems to have got things sorted as far as the thinking, looking and doing, so I will be sure to check again.

if only >> drawing +

it has been a strange day, annoyed at the week I had been through with all the best laid plans I had, failing and falling through my hands. I was in a self imposed denial looking and thinking too hard and what might have been really stressing and stuff.
when I stopped and noticed my son very quietly drawing.

I remember the positive childish freedom I had before I learnt stuff, and had to try be 'creative' as I got older and thought and learnt more at 'school' some good, some not.








I watched for a while and noticed that he was so happy simply drawing because he wanted to. making little noises as he drew was a humbling and motivational moment, managing to change the original subject of this blog completely.

I realistically see the process of his concentration and enjoyment, was/is far greater than what was produced, but does that matter?
if only I could realise that in a project?

not connected I have to mention a couple of stand out blogs I found today.
graphicdesignblog
mymobileguide

rugby >> owens party >> sky

on a day when the rain came down so hard they had to get all the competitors (10 tors competion) off dartmoor because of the flood danger, after the most unbelievable amount of rain falling in a short time down here in the west country.
it was time to get to the rugby club for owen's birthday, great fun and some great rugby lessons learnt from the big guys it was sunny for all, well almost all of the time.
I could have stuck some pictures of the rugby or the ground or hot faces after playing hard but as the party finished one of the little sisters of the rugby guys let go of her balloon I thought it would be good to have a picture of that, so I took some this is one.

new bathroom >> well nearly

isn't funny builders & plumbers acquire names like steve, bob, and dave and also have at least 4 spoons of sugar in the tea, rarely coffee, read 'the sun' of 'the mirror', 'the mail' (that was hard to type, I have a problem with the paper, that's a different story) when the want an intellectual view!!
it is with apology that I have not included the fact that there are women builder/plumbers I haven't been able to find one locally, believe me I have tried they are probably happily working all the time.
male plumbers in my area of the country are few and far between so are also impossible to pin down to a day or a date. something always happens to the van or it will have to be next week.

I am only making these largely unfounded claims (or perhaps not) as since january this year the builder/plumber has be evading us. he eventually arrived on tuesday to say that he would be starting today thursday. so he reasonable asked that we strip the bathroom of all the old fitting and tiles, as you can see in the grainy picture. living up to archetype guess what he didn't turn up and now wont be here until next week. so we now have a bathroom with out being able to use properly.

I fully realise in context it is hardly a hardship as more people in the world don't even have access to clean drinking water than do. but it just that if we as designers or creative people in what ever field took months to turn up we would never be employed.

if he arrives next week as now planned I wont say anything or complain instead probably just welcome him in with the offer of a sugary cup of tea! probably whilst I smugly hide behind the guardian, I feel embarrassed now.

corny >> predictable

yes I know this picture is corny and even predictable.
so to set the scene I was rushing home to get in take the dog out, change and rush out again to go and collect ben from the child minders. I was late, as I had spent time at work sorting out .pdf files that were part of re-structuring a web site using a more naturally creative way of doing things. the basis of the idea was to save time for the user by making the front end intuitive and useable so that everything they need is on one page, only what they choose is downloaded so making the website very readable and text light.
any-way in my rush, cross with the rain and the sun at the same time I just glanced at the grasses and noticed the tiny droplets of water. I had to take a photo without my proper camera handy I only had my blackberry. the camera on it is ok so I took some pictures, this is just one.
I thought a while the colours and the water made me relax a little, I stopped rushing still got to the child minders in plenty of time to get ben, happier for the tiny break to look at something corny and predictable, oh well that's me then.

torch >> recharging >>99p

it is not often that I find something (apart from the occasional food stuff) that I actually like in a morrisons supermarket.
I had gone to the dentist with ben we both had check ups great nothing wrong so I am free from the dentists chair for another year!! ben has to go back every three months as they are monitoring his new teeth as they come through (he is 8). the dentist is near morrisons so we dropped in to get some bits (as carol says).
while we were there carol pointed out this torch. I am sure that it was produced in china under bad conditions of overwork and underpay. just looking at the design and the function and had to buy one (well we bought two). the torch is selling for 99p, as it works using dynamo system and no batteries it should have a much longer life, the batteries alone for most torches would cost more than a pound.
I thought I would post it I realise that it is nothing new, both wind up radios and torches have been used across the world for more than ten years largely thanks to trevor bayliss.
it was more the place and the price that I found interesting. its not to get you to rush to morrisions (as it probably would not be worth it) but just to make you think that things do not have to be expensive to make a difference.

batteries are so difficult to breakdown when dumped in land fill and at least this torch though plastic does not need batteries and actually feels nice and I think looks good as well.
at 99p, I do worry how a profit can be made on it with out exploitation, I wonder whether the workers who make/assemble the torch have the opportunity to have their children's teeth checked every three months without charge?

(morrisons press release fair trade coffee in their cafes)

at the beach >> looking down

as much as I look up when I walk around towns and cities I also look down at the beach , not just to avoid the (dog mess), have to say I have in recent years that is much less of a problem than it used to be.
you see the most amazing things. this was just one day in late winter at a beach very near where I live in cornwall.

the last of the winter storms had brought up a lot of kelp as well as man-made stuff.
as is clear much of the material is harmful and will take years to breakdown.
I do like the way the colours work but feel guilty for it.

any way I thought I would share the pictures.
for more information about what can be done to help with keeping our beaches clean
check some of these links.

http://www.sas.org.uk/pr/
http://www.surfrider.org
http://www.mcga.gov.uk/
http://www.satobsys.co.uk/CSeas/

the hammock

one of the best things I ever did when I set up an area in the house to work (when not at work) if that makes sense. was to put two hooks in the walls each side of an alcove that doubles as a dining area. in which we have a square table, a couple of computers, and the dogs crate on one side on other side is a round dinning table.

when we have family staying and we have to juggle bedroom space or when I fancy an afternoon relax I get my parachute hammock (carol bought it for me when I was away in france a couple of years ago) hooked up using a couple of climbing caribinas. (I love caribinas)
today was such a day I cut the grass in the front (its a very small garden so it is not much work) and generally took it easy outside in the beautiful spring sunshine. then came in an put up the hammock and had a lovely snooze ZZZZZZZZZ ......

meetings >> designing >> what do you use?

I apologise for the rambling nature and poor grammar of this post. perhaps I should have planned it in pencil first?

I have just come out of that (two hours plus) meeting I mentioned in yesterdays blog, it was very productive that is not something I can always say.

during the meeting I was struck by they different way the people involved chose to record their thoughts or used to bring their ideas to the meeting. taking in to consideration the make-up of the meeting, it included two people from an ICT (information communication technology) background, two from a design technology background (with four with a science background for the first half of the meeting) then ending with a longer discussion of design technology at the end. all the people present would by the nature of their work and qualifications would generally be thought of as academics.

I always take my filofax making sure I have got fresh plain paper and lined paper in, all but two had paper based forms of writing either with a pencil or a pen. only one had a pda (personal digital organiser) and one had nothing at all, I felt jealous that I didn't have the courage to not bring anything but myself, surely it is showing extraordinary confidence or that they couldn't care at all. knowing the person I have to say the former is the truth.

I thought more, with the assembled at the meeting all of whom work on computers every day, and all being computer/technology literate. why did no one bring a laptop? why did only one use a pda? and how is it the tool of choice for most a pencil?

then I thought more the one person using the pda is probably at least 15-20 years younger than the rest of us who where writing. the only one in the same age bracket as pda man was the person who didn't bring anything but his thoughts. I know others around the table have pda's and all have laptops of some description. I have a pda (i-paq) in fact I have had two, I gave one to carol and now I use the other as a sat-nav. I tried to use the first one I bought instead of the filofax after about 6 months I stopped I could just not get on with it I felt it made me think far too slowly, I was becoming bound by the software.

If I am trying to put an idea down visually I will always now start with a piece of paper (nearly always A3). even when it is for a web idea's or something with a digital outcome. this was not always the case up until a couple of years ago I would design totally on screen but I started to find that the ideas were being driven by the software and I started to design to the software specifications which became very limiting.
I would be interested to hear if I am the only one who works like this? do you design directly on your mac or (pc). do you still use a pencil and paper? is it an age thing? when I learnt to write we used paper and pencils then ink-pens when we went to the junior school! it would be nice to hear from you, if you have managed to get to the end of this!?!

skateboards >> skimboards

after yesterdays post and with the continued great weather in cornwall I started the thinking of the beach and all things summer. it has been rather poor for surf over the last few weeks especially on the south coast so I though it must be skimboard time!! after all sunny evenings a flat sea not that many visitors yet, and the beach only an 8 minutes walk away!! I thought about it around midday carried on thinking about it while trying to explain to a group of over hot students how to make a an animated flash banner to insert into the dreamweaver created website, in the early afternoon. while also replanning a room in my head and trying to remember if I was collecting ben from the child minder?

by the end of the day I had completely forgotten my skimboarding idea, when I did get home I had that horrid feeling that I had forgotten something, (you like left something on a train or not locked the house) it wasn't ben he was already home with carol, it wasn't work related had my laptop and layout paper (more drawing tonight) . I had my blackberry, filofax, pencil & memory sticks, so not lost of left anything.

oh well I thought I have a cup of coffee while carol and ben went off shopping. more phone calls and another coffee then it came back to be 'skimboard time', by then it was getting a bit late and it would probably be cold and any more excuses, oh yes I could take a photo of it and put it on here.

oooppps! I have just used a list even with a photo as an excuse for not doing something! maybe tomorrow (no, I have a meeting) probably the weekend then?

its back to 'the hub' >> I am still trying

I haven't given up on 'the hub', I have mentioned it on this blog a few times.
it is a silly idea really, not because it wouldn't work as I believe it would but it would be just too expensive, and unless created in its entirety it would not have the same impact.

I don't now why but it has continued to make me think about the use of space in an educational situation and will still for a long time yet.
I have clearly seen that students or learners of any age react to their surrounding in such different ways but one thing they all do it respect something that had been designed with their use and only their use in mind, rather than something that just looks good.

futurelab have some really good stuff on their web site but it still follows the classroom model, in the original sense. however I like their (now unfortunately closed) invitation for ideas to create a better working and study space for learners.

I think what I am trying to say is that students are led to believe that a classroom must be quiet and the teacher speaks and the students listen the process is then repeated over and over for an hour. then they move on to someone else (another teacher) doing the same thing in another room that looks the same. in the later years of education I believe it is not really preparing them for employment or further vocational study because the situation is so different to the work place.

I know when I am studying I usually like it to be quiet but I well remember not to far from the college I graduated from there was a pub full of books looking as much like an old book shop or library as it did a pub.

it did get very lively in the evening yet within that environment some of us read books, often books we would not have even given a second chance in a way that was alien to us but good fun.

that said I want to make it absolutely clear that I am not advocating student of any age drinking alcohol in classrooms.

I do think that consideration to different solutions has to be found. just consider most of the larger waterstones book shops have a costa coffee shop in them to encourage browsers to spend more time thinking reading and in the end buying, a result as far as retail.

here are some current educational space practitioners web sites to have a look at if you are interested further.
ncaltd.com
tq.com
jisc.ac.uk

to be continued....................

thinking >> it's just words

I spend hours and hours keeping up to date with both (ICT/enterprise) educational thinking as well as current business practice.
I worked in the real world as a designer, and a retailer before hiding away in the comfortable world of education! (well perhaps not that comfortable but for different reasons).
but I find myself spending more and more time reading only half the book, the first couple of pages of an academic paper or a .pdf document only to get bored at the point when I realise that so much of the stuff I am reading is probably just common sense wrapped up in a well designed cover, perhaps by some-one who hasn't even read the book, or 'just words' telling me the same thing.

whether it is web usability or information architecture, even planning for business success through a multi layer intranet. I have say that some stuff I have seen and read lately simply is just not very good, that said I am still a great fan of jakob neilsen and the useit web site.

I keep thinking about what my photography lecturer (in the late 70's) said to me when I was trying to measure to perfection where I was going to put my lovely art school 'black and white photo', using a really clean stainless steel ruler and my finest mechanical pencil spending ages and then finding that it still looked a bit wonky. I also remember feeling a certain amount of horror as he took the photo away from me and picked up a new clean piece of mounting board and with out measuring it at all put it in exactly the right place, saying "if it looks right it is right", but then it's just words, or is it common sense?

sunshine >> good to see gabes >> a bit like summer

it felt like summer today as we drove across cornwall on a trip to sort out some quite important stuff, we were running late as I had all off a sudden started working on the surfing article this morning (has to be done by the 5th) and carol was waiting for the post.
then over to dhl in north cornwall to pick up a new body glove wetsuit courtesy of surfgirl magazine for carol.
then back down to the city (in devon) for me to sort out my broadband account with orange and pick up a new phone. sorry people but its a blackberry I know probably more than half the people reading this will be waiting for the i-phone (from apple) to reach the uk, but I have to think about the service I use and what I need.
in cornwall if I want to get information from the beach by email I need a phone that I can do that with. I know that blackberry work predominantly with a windows user in mind and the rim technologies are again set to work with microsoft. I got the 8100 so a small phone, and to my eyes at least a nice looking phone, be interesting to see if it is any good?


the indulgence of the day was another visit to mcdonalds for the second time this year, it was my son ben (8) who wanted to go. I was surprised that they accommodated my strange dietary needs, I am vegetarian and don't eat cheese anymore, as you can see from the picture it looks a little odd but it tasted fine, I just can't help fueling the all these american monsters.

then towards evening we went to met gabes another of my sons from his coach journey. he had been on a coach since 9 in the morning and had pretty much seen the whole of the south coast of the uk on route to cornwall. all things considered it was a successful day. that's better much better.

busy week > > new challenges

this week seemed to rush by can't believe that it is friday already.
something new I have been asked to write for a monthly magazine that is being launched at the end of the april. so I have to deliver/email my copy by thursday next, I was sort of hinting at it on yesterday's blog but things were confirmed today.
have to say that I am happy to get involved, all being well I will be writing a monthly column, making sure to add my thoughts on surfing, the surf scene in the UK and surfers (of all types). I will be sure to plug the magazine when it comes out provided that they don't cut or over edit me!
I didn't add this site yesterday so it's here today, good surf photos find your wave well worth looking at.









thought I would sneak the magazine logo in to my blog, hopefully it won't get me in to trouble.

back to today, earlier in the week I mentioned meetings and today was a day of meetings and many short conversations. I have no idea why but I found it extremely hard to engage myself in any of them.
not because I didn't think they were worthy, because they where. one faculty meeting was very productive indeed, very interesting, and working towards what I believe in. I couldn't get in to any of it. maybe it was because I am simply too tired.
so think I will get myself off to bed.

too texty >> more images >> surf sites

I have realised the last few blogs have become a bit 'wordy' I don't mean in a precocious way just too much text to get a real feel perhaps?

on the back of some lengthy email conversations I had today with the deputy editor of a soon to be launched extreme sports/lifestyle cornwall based magazine. surfing and surf literature, writing have been foremost in my thoughts. further still I have to think a bit about a surf related proposal on offer?

until then I thought a much better way to end the day was to give you a brief tour around some good surf related websites, using and containing some great images as well as good writing. check their websites for more.

from left to right surfgirl, a1surf, kneeboard surfing uk, and bottom kneeboard surfing usa.