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"Right from the start, from the tendering process, you have displayed a level of utmost professionalism that has made Hugeobject simply a pleasure to deal with."
Posted December 31st, 2007 by Scott
The charity site Too Young to Work (TYTW) is now live, and it looks fantastic. TYTW is a registered Australian charity that aims to assist in the elimination of child labour in India through the provision of education.
TYTW currently supports three schools in India and is part of a broader network of 14 child labour schools supported by European non-government organisations (NGO) in the same regions. Approximately 2,500 child labourers are in attendance at these 14 schools.
The website was completed by us at no charge, one of a number of sites we have completed for free as a way of giving back to the community.
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Posted September 14th, 2007 by Scott
Where would you invest your money these days? From Gigaom:
“We’re now at a point that business plans really don’t matter,” said VC Randy Komisar of Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers. “It’s an iterative process of quickly getting your ideas into the hands of others.”
Scary stuff.
When even the VC’s have their heads so far in the clouds that they think business plans have become irrelevant, it is probably time to take your money out of tech stocks and stick it under the bed.
Wait for the crash, then buy back in.
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Posted August 15th, 2007 by Scott
Sometimes it would be nice to be able to close your inbox, take the phone off the hook and just kick back and read a book for a few days. Take it easy.
I recently bought “The four steps to the Epiphany“, based purely on the strength of this recommendation. The same day I read the blog post I jumped onto Amazon and ordered the book, and the friendly delivery man dropped it into my lap this morning.
While I have to keep motoring through work for now, at least I know now what I will be doing this weekend!
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Posted July 29th, 2007 by Scott
We need someone to organise our Basecamp, but we’re not talking about mountain climbing. If you are viewing this advert through an RSS feed, go straight to the head of the class.
We need this person sooner rather than later, and are willing to offer an initial 6 month contract with a view to full time.
As our project/production manager, you will:
You should ideally have:
Compensation is commensurate with experience.
Read about us at www.hugeobject.com.au, or email your resume to scott@hugeobject.com.au.
Applications close 10th of August 2007.
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Posted June 26th, 2007 by Joni
I remember when I was in my final year of study and I was talking about buying a ticket to the Melbourne held AGIdeas conference, organised by the highly esteemed designer/entrepreneur Ken Cato. I had previously been to a couple of these conferences, and couldn’t quite work out whether they were more positive or painful. But feeling the need to feed on some famous designers creative drive, and telling myself there would be at least a few interesting designers over the 3 day conference, I forked out the $360 to buy a student ticket.
At the same time some of my fellow students said they were heading off to Sydney to a conference up there, one that was a little “less corporate and a little more creative.” It all sounded good to me at the time, but flying up to Sydney as a poor student wasn’t really an option.
A few years later and now designing for Hugeobject, I checked out a design competition Triple J was running that had a trip to Sydney and a ticket to Semi-Permanent as a prize. I think I had completely forgotten about the conference over the past few years.
A month later I was on the plane to Sydney, and no I hadn’t won the Triple J competition. With experience comes a greater understanding of time management. I quickly decided that it would be much easier and cheaper to get work to send me, than spend hours working on a competition with the odds of winning stacked against me.
I’ll give a quick overview of some of the speakers i found most interesting and inspirational (that would be most of them), then if you are interested you can visit their website for further information. For those that I haven’t mentioned, I either didn’t find their talks very stimulating, or I just don’t have an affinity with what they do.
Sophie Howarth
The first Semi-Permanent speaker was Sophie Howarth, the official photographer for the Big Day Out. She has just self published Peace, Love, and Brown Rice, a book documenting her time with the Big Day Out from its inception in 1992. One thing that struck me about Sophie was her easy going personality, undoubtedly an important quality for a rock star photographer. She wasn’t arrogant about what she does. If anything, she was playing it down.
Overall she started off shyly, having technical problems playing photos in iPhoto. But she increasingly became more confident, blatantly pushing her book. I guess you can’t blame her, as she did spend about 2 years sorting, compiling, and personally overseeing the printing (on recycled stock) in South Korea.
Toko
A two person outfit from Rotterdam, Netherlands, Toko are currently living and working in Sydney. Eva Dijkstra and Michael Lugmayr spent the first part of their talk giving a humorous introduction to Dutch design, the difference between the Netherlands and Australia, and the relationship of the two. In one comparison they said the most dangerous animal they have in the Netherlands is the cow, compared to the numerous poisonous and deadly creatures in Australia. They explained how Dutch design is known for its clean crisp appearance, focus on typography, and almost religious use of the grid. This was especially apparent when they began showing their own work.
What impressed me the most about Toko was their attention to detail, especially in the area of Typography. For many of their clients they will design a unique typeface. This means their clients will have completely individual outcomes. They explained that everything in the Netherlands is designed, and companies are willing to spend large amounts of money hiring designers in a bid to set their business apart from others. Because of this, a relatively slow process such as designing a typeface is much more possible.
Overall, Toko gave a humorous yet technically interesting presentation.
Si Scott
Apart from being extremely nervous and at time incomprehensible, Si Scott’s work was somewhat of a hit at the conference. He has a very distinct illustrative/typographic style which has been adopted by other designers. All of Si Scott’s work is drawn by hand only to be touched up digitally at its final stage.
Initially I was spellbound at the beauty of his work, but later as he continued showing work after work of a similar style produced for larger and larger clients, I became a little bored. This is not to say the work itself was boring, but that the style itself has been overexploited and now seems a bit old. He did on the other hand lightly delve into some of his most recent work where he was consciously trying to move his work forward, aware that his unique style has now become a commodity.
Tiffany Bozic
I found Tiffany Bozic to be an exciting addition to a conference mostly attended by designers and design students. It was refreshing to see and experience the passion of an outstanding artist who creates work for herself and no one else. All her painting streams from her love of exploring her own imagination and creative passion, mixed with her endless curiosity for nature.
Her work is not only conceptually and symbolically complex, but technically she is a master at what she does. I especially enjoyed her explanation of her process, how she would intricately lay down overlapping strips of masking tape to mask off areas of wood grain which remained untouched by her brush.
Tiffany was one of the most well prepared speakers at the conference. She passionately told her ‘rags to riches’ tale, and never failed to explain her work. I can safely say she was one of my favourite speakers at Semi-Permanent. Her creative passion was addictive and I left adamant to find time to pursue my own creative endeavors.
James Jean
A fit follow up to Tiffany Bozic’s presentation was the illustrator/artist Jame Jean. Like Tiffany, James had a well prepared presentation and was a pleasure to listen to. James Jean studied at the School of Visual Art, New York and graduated with a BFA in 2001. He began his professional career illustrating comic book covers such as Fables and has subsequently illustrated for a breathtaking number of internationally renowned clients.
One thing that set James apart from most of the other speakers was his detailed descriptions of his creative process. He even went through some of his works from start to end, showing initial sketches through to colouring/finishing in Photoshop. Like Tiffany, James Jean was one of my favourite speakers at Semi-Permanent.
Dave Kinsey
Dave Kinsey brought a little more attitude to the the conference. He is renowned for his street art, fine art and graphic design. He’s the founder of BLK/MRKT and BLK/MRKT Gallery, and has worked for some big name clients including Absolut Vodka, the job he said paid for the Gallery.
Marmalade
In the Semi-Permanent Event Program it stated “If their presentation at the London Semi-Permanent in 2005 is anything to go by, Marmalade look set to rock Sydney with an awesome presentation. Not to be missed!”.
It could have been that they were the second to last speaker of the conference, or that the expectations were set a little too high, but I was a bit disappointed in their presentation. It seemed a bit unprepared and short in length. They actually started running through the slides again when they realised that they finished way too soon. The magazine itself was reasonably interesting, laid out entirely by hand with a mixture of hand cut text and 3D object, photographed and then laid out for print.
Method Studios
The final speaker/s to the show was Method Studios from Los Angeles. Out of the two motion graphics businesses presenting, Method was by far the most interesting and inspiring. It was represented by a funny French guy and the director (can’t remember their names).
What I liked most about Method Studios was their mentality. They know they are good at what they do, and try and do the most creative job possible for every client, even if the client may be a little conservative. Towards the end of their presentation they talked about the staff at the studio. They mentioned that a lot of the people there are not formally trained in the field of cinema graphic, but have found their way there through their own personal interests and creativity.
Method Studios mainly works on commercials, but also dabbles in music videos and feature film work.
Overall I found my two days in Sydney an inspirational experience and I was shocked to find that I liked all the speakers and found most of them interesting. I’d rank James Jean, Tiffany Bozic, and Toko as the 3 most interesting!
The Semi-Permanent 2007 lineup was:
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Posted April 9th, 2007 by Scott
Indigenous Australians die 17 years earlier than non-Indigenous Australians and Indigenous infant mortality is three times that of non-Indigenous Australians. It is a national disgrace that Indigenous Australians do not have the same access to health services that other Australians enjoy.
ANTaR (Australians for Native Title and Reconciliation) is one of a number of organisations who refuse to accept the status quo. When they decided to take their iconic Sea of Hands online, they partnered with Hugeobject so that together we could create something truly unique.
Together we proudly launched the Online Sea of Hands in Sydney last week, with Cathy Freeman and Ian Thorpe both in attendance to add their hands to what we hope will evolve into one of the largest tools for change in the country.
A healthy range of media turned up for the day, no doubt drawn in part by the recent turmoil in Ian Thorpe’s swimming career. Surprisingly, all questions on the day remained on topic and focused exclusively on the Close the Gap campaign.
Joni and Helena Chan were the Hugeobject design talent behind the online Sea of Hands, shown here in front of one of their banners.
A traditional welcome kicked off the day, before a number of speakers took to the podium and discussed the current state of Indigenous health.
One of the speakers was journalist Jeff McMullen. Without the use of notes, he spoke articulately and with passion about the need to act now.
Cathy Freeman spoke about the impact of the current Indigenous health crisis on her own family, while Ian Thorpe talked about his efforts to assist Indigenous communities.
Thorpe is an extremely polished public speaker, delivering well thought out and confident answers to all media questions. While not quite as polished, Freeman showed why she is one of the most loved athletes in the country with her honest, transparent and heartfelt views.
Cathy Freeman added her hand to the Sea of Hands, and used the tools provided to write out the word “Love”. Nice one.
The launch was held at Telstra Stadium, with the giant screens being put to good use.
A small physical implementation of the Sea of Hands was there on the day.
The target for the online version is 4 million people, or the equivalent of one in five Australians. You can assist by:
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Posted April 3rd, 2007 by Scott
Years ago, it used to be okay to put up your website with a few pages that said “coming soon”. The truly tacky amongst us supplemented this with animated construction men (myself included!).
These days you can’t get away with such a sloppy effort and still expect people to take you seriously. If you want to know how closely people are watching your Internet efforts, consider that the major websites are now having their “uptime” tracked.
Pingdom shows us the results of the top 20 websites for 2007.
In years gone by your call centre may have gone off line for a few hours, but at least the vast majority of people never knew about it. Now, you take your website off line for even a minute and everybody knows.
It’s a raising of standards, which can only be a good thing.
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Posted March 11th, 2007 by Scott
How far behind the US are Australian political parties when it comes to using the Internet for campaigning? Light years it would appear. If there is a major political party in Australia that really “gets” the Internet, I have yet to see them.
Case in point - the NSW State election which is currently underway. You can see that both the major parties have made more of an effort this year to try and use the Internet effectively, but both continue to make major mistakes.
Blog
A chance to really connect directly with the electorate has been missed here.
Video
Which videos allow me to see the real Morris, or even allow me to see what others think about him?
Content
Not only does it make it more difficult for search engines to pick up your content, but it makes it more difficult for people to read it. It effectively says, “There are more important things on this site than our policy”.
Design
The site may have started out with a restricted colour palette and an appropriate hierarchy, but in the hurly-burly of electioneering it has been lost for good.
Blog
Domain-squatting and Ordinary Viral
I guess we should take points off Morris and his team for not snapping up the domain name in the first place?
There is so much more that is wrong with political campaigning on the Internet in Australia, and this post was inspired by my utter frustration at how ordinary most of it is. Hell - I don’t even live in NSW!
Want to know how to do it properly? Try www.barackobama.com.
There is no reason we cannot do the same or better in Australia.
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Posted March 3rd, 2007 by Scott
We are pleased to be sponsoring the inaugural Melbourne Barcamp, to be held this weekend at Lake Eppalock. Andrew Edwards (Director) will be in attendance to give a talk on PHP development.
A BarCamp is an ad-hoc gathering born from the desire for people to share and learn in an open environment. It is an intense event with discussions, demos, and interaction from participants. If you want to attend, you are encouraged to give a presentation or a demo of some kind. Have a look at wikipedia for more information.
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Posted February 26th, 2007 by Scott
In the last few weeks we have launched a couple of new websites for clients. One smaller website for a new legal firm in the city, and one much larger events website.
Construct Law
Demetra at Construct Law can assist you with property, construction, new media, e-commerce and general commercial law matters. We built her website for her and are now embarking on a search engine marketing program as well.
Check out the site at www.constructlaw.com.au.
Mothers Day Classic 2007
This event keeps getting bigger and bigger, and the site is no exception. This year will see up to 7 different people blogging about their training schedules, as a way of creating some “sticky” content for users of the site.
In fact, even I will be blogging regularly as I try desperately to get fit enough to run the 4km required to finish! Check out the site here, or read my ongoing blog here.
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