At the end of this week the Cardiff Design Festival will be once again upon us. This year a two week jam packed event with more things going on than hours in the day. You can pick your highlights on the website and also by downloading the pdf of the poster. So if you fancy going to see what architects are thinking about, or what the latest thinking about eco design is there is something for you.

We normally arrange something during the festival but due to the amount of events and workload getting the design work produced for it. It seems like we missed the boat this time but perhaps next year... For us it seems like it's the first year that the public will be in touch with the festival particularly through the use of the empty shops within Morgan and Royal Arcade which should bring a wider audience. Well hope everyone involved has a fantastic time and the events go without a hitch:

Events to watch out for:

The Launch

ARK in the PARK - games day

Pecha Kucha

WonderCulture Market

E:DN Futures Seminar

Bringing a commercial view of the Arts and what it brings to our economy.

This weekend myself and Carwyn visited Bristol for the annual games festival igfest. We got there a bit late for the earlier games but did manage to get to take part in The Running of the Bull and also Pleasure Hunt, after spraining my ankle in The Running of the Bull I was a bit concerned by the game we were about to play through the dark streets of Bristol, 2.8 hours later is a zombie chase game that was simply amazing.

One of the most engrossing experiences in terms of pervasive games I have come across so far. There are already a number of video's up on the internet covering the game such as the one below by Will Ablett. We were too busy running to do any filming.

On Wednesday I attended the briefing for this years professional development project for the third year graphic students in UWIC. It's the third year we have been involved in the project and every year it is always interesting to get an idea of the people that will be graduating in around 9 months or so.

This year the project is a very challenging one. UWIC have managed to arrange a joint project with Cardiff Airport to look into how people experience Wales for the first time. How on arrival, do passengers perceive Cardiff and what it has to offer? For a graphic project it is going to be interesting to see how the project develops as it could quite easily be an, interior design/product design/service design, even architecture brief. So I think their initial issues will be how BIG do they go?


Around Rhoose.

The format for the project is very interesting as well with the meeting/workshop being attended by members of Visit Wales, airport staff, stakeholders, and a number of design agencies. Thinking back to when I was a student this would be a huge deal for me as these people have taken time out of their schedule to help out on the brief, and it is a great chance to get noticed.

The initial workshop being delivered by elmwood design agency, who will be delivering the brief to the students in the next week or so. We are looking forward to seeing who we get for the project and to see what they come up with, in response to the challenges.

This last month we have had Andrew Hong joining us for a spot of work experience. We asked him to write a piece for the blog almost as an advise to others who go on Work experience in a design company. This is what he had to say.

Ten helpful tips for being a successful intern within Hoffi by Andrew Hong

1. Have fun at work, and work hard at everything you do, even if the task's do not require design. This shows motivation and that your willing to do any task to the best of your ability that contributes to the studio.

2. Home in on the skills you already possess, refine the process that you prefer to work in, and your work will improve also.

3. Constantly question all the design choices your trying making and find reasons to justify them, this will give your work depth and will be better understood by others.

4. Do not be afraid to ask all your colleagues the same question, normally this is how you can piece together information you are looking for rather than relying on one source.

5. Do not be afraid to make mistakes, your an intern. You do not have all the correct answers, making mistakes is often the best route to finding the right solution to a piece of design your trying to achieve.

6. Be prepared to manage your own work flow, this is not university anymore. Expect to be working on 2-3 different things at once, where often short notice tasks will be given also.

7. Immerse yourself in the studio culture, banter with others and get to know them. Interpersonal relationships are just as important as the work your trying to achieve.

8. Take breaks and have lunch when this suite you, often coming away from a piece of work for a moment lets you reflect and come back with improvements to better your ideas, which is essential in combating creative block.

9. Broaden your interests during your time at the studio, find new sources of interests such as books or magazines that you would never have though of looking at before. These are often the best sources to relate back to design for inspiration.

10. Finally avoid all invitations to play Wii tennis or bowling by Julian, you just know its just another invitation to be beaten by him again this week.

At the end of last week we managed to get to UWIC's / CSAD MA show at Howard Gardens. The graduate show covered ceramics right through to new media. As with everything there were pieces I really liked and others that I didn't get. There were a number, however that I will remember for a while longer such as the above image and also me and Carwyn playing around in the piece below. If you are in Cardiff city centre and half an hour to play with I would definitely recommend you having a look around. It is on until the 17th September, go see.

Match them to locations in the city and we will give you a prize.

Yesterday saw me visiting Wales Millenium Centre for a Crossover workshop. The workshop was held as part of a short film competition based around the Sheffield Documentary Festival, with the brief around how digital has effected our lives over the last few years. As someone with an interest in film it was interesting to see how they used the workshop to create ideas and a mini script for a prospective film.

It was also great to see a workshop that worked well and you never thought about how long it was taking. Below are some wise words about how workshops should be run.

On June 12th, the cameras from S4C magazine show Gofod followed Carwyn around for a few hours to catch him taking part in this years Photomarathon and to find out a little more about why so many people take part in the annual event.



You can view the full clip at http://www.s4c.co.uk/clic/e_level2.shtml?programme_id=368306450 or find out a little more about Photomarathon on http://www.photomarathon.co.uk