Back in early 2012, along with 14 other artists I took part in the Feminist Playing Cards project: http://www.feministcards.com/

The project launched a Kickstarter campaign and successfully surpassed its goal of £12,000, which quickly turned the project into a reality.

The deck features 52 influential feminist musicians illustrated by 14 artists, all of which bring something different to the pack. As a huge music fan, it was pretty much a no brainer that I chose to illustrate one of my favourites for the deck – Brighton based band Electrelane.

It was such a fun project to be involved with especially along with musicians and artists who’s work I admire and a great bonus that artists Tegan & Sara recently endorsed the project, telling music magazine Rolling Stone: “Everyone needs a pack of Feminist Playing Cards! One of our favourite gifts in a long, long time!”

All 2,500 decks have now been packed and delivered to backers of the project, along with the wide range of backer rewards. Take a look below at my take on Electrelane…

Clare
clare@intimation.co.uk

A new round of funding is now available for North East Businesses through NBSL. Designed to offer a support fund to businesses in the North East who are looking to grow in turnover or staffing levels over the next three years. As a registered provider we’re working with a number of our North East clients, who’ve accessed this fund to support brand and web projects, to get that bit of extra value out of their marketing budgets, which always helps.

For more information on the fund click here, or see below a brief outline.

What’s included…

• Providing support and funding for eligible SMEs and social enterprises that have potential for growth and are based in North East England.
• Up to 40% funding for business development projects (including branding, marketing strategy, website  and social media projects)
• Maximum funding of £1,400 excluding VAT

The service (funded by ERDF) provides grant support giving businesses a fantastic opportunity to access specialist help, to develop the growth and profitability of their organisations. So, if you employ less than 250 people, run a private sector company or social enterprise, undertake the majority of your business in the Business to Business arena and can show that you have aspirations for growth over the next three years, then you may be eligible for up to £1,400 of funding support from the North East Business Support Fund, matched by a contribution from your business.

Application Form…
The fund can only support certain types of projects and is for companies that operate in a business to business market - check out the guidelines before completing the application.

Apply Online Now…
Interested? Then click here to apply online.

If you’d like a chat about how this fund can support your business then give us a call on
0191 478 21 34 or drop us an email.

We’ve been tasked with creating communication for AkzoNobel Aerospace Coatings which highlights particular product benefits over their competition in the market. Though at the early stages of development we thought you’d like to see the start of our creative process on this project… be sure to keep an eye out for more as the project develops.

Just as many of you are starting your well-intentioned New Year Resolutions, quite possibly involving an improved ‘healthy’ lifestyle, here at Intimation Creative we can’t stop thinking of cookies, and we would like you to put them at the forefront of your mind too!

Unfortunately there is a serious matter behind this, regarding the new EU law, ‘Privacy and Electronic Communications (EC Directive) (Amendment) Regulations 2011, commonly referred to as the “Cookie Law”.

Cookies are small files that store information about visitors to your website, allowing your site to ‘remember’ if a user has visited the site before and information such as their stored preferences or registration details.

To comply with the law you must essentially notify visitors to the website of the cookies that are being used and request their consent, by directing them to your privacy policy and get them to tick a box stating that they understand it before they continue.  This may seem a nuisance but it is something that must be complied to, as failure to adhere to the law can result in hefty fines up to £500,000.

We would certainly suggest immediately complying to this directive if your website offers e-commerce, login details or third party cookies.  The great ‘grey area’ of this debate is the use of Google Analytics.  Strictly speaking, the use of Google Analytics means that cookies are in use (albeit first-party), and so by the letter of the law should be notified on your website.  However, even the Government Digital Service (GDS) are unsure of this, arguing that the minimally intrusive nature of Google Analytics means that a footnote or similar would suffice.  http://tinyurl.com/82ztvsu

At Intimation, we would prefer our clients to have peace of mind as they begin 2013, and we can offer a very reasonable fee for making sure their website complies with the ‘cookie law’.

For more information please do not hesitate to contact;

studio@intimation.co.uk

Press Release – 21st December 2012

Following the success of last year’s Christmas Window, Gateshead graphic design company, Intimation Creative were under pressure to offer a sequel to an eager audience.

Utilising Durham Wildlife Trust’s discarded cardboard to produce a festive scene was a design masterpiece in 2011, however incorporating QR codes to promote clients’ work was a work of genius and had daily crowds outside the studio window; Arch 14; mobiles in hand.

Demand for a repeat performance has been high reports Intimation’s Director, Andy Smith:

“It is unbelievable! Last year’s window proved to be more popular than we expected and there was quite a buzz about the place. Promoting our clients’ work was an added bonus and recycling old cardboard, kept our costs to a minimum. Over the last few weeks, we have had people popping in, off the street, asking about the window for 2012, which is quite amazing but put the pressure on to produce another attractive, eye-catching window display”

Keeping things simple and again, recycling waste material, Intimation has not failed to deliver in 2012. Linking their Christmas window display to their client festive e-flyer; “where did Santa get stuck?” offers a nice lead-in and a touch of humour to this year’s window; fast becoming the one to watch in Gateshead!

ENDS

For more information please contact: Lisa Wilson – lisa@intimation.co.uk

The Christmas window at Intimation Creative’s Gateshead studio is beginning to take shape!  Here are a few more photos, giving the clearest clue yet as to how the finished festive display may appear…

Like most designers, I love a good doodle on anything I can get my hands on – notebooks, napkins, torn receipts and even envelopes – so way back in January when Doodlers Anonymous put out an open call for artists, illustrators and doodlers alike to submit to their annual Colouring Book, I quickly jumped at the chance to contribute.

They ended up receiving a wapping 365 entries from creatives all over the globe, so I was very pleased to find out last month that my entry ‘Feels Good’ had made it down to the final 60 to be printed in the book!

The book is being printed this very moment and is available to order on their site here: http://www.doodlersanonymous.com/coloringbook/

I’m well excited to see my entry as well as the others in all their printed glory!

If like me you like to doodle to your hearts content then Doodlers Anonymous is a great blog to follow, check them out here: http://www.doodlersanonymous.com, or catch up with them on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/doodlers or Twitter: https://twitter.com/doodlers

- Clare Brown

If you missed the Christmas window down at the Gateshead studio last year I urge you to look at previous entries to this blog!

Inspired by the famous ‘Fenwick’s’ Christmas window the team set off to create something just as memorable (albeit on a slightly smaller budget!) and were inspired when told of the vast amounts of wasted cardboard on hand from the Durham Wildlife Trust, and from some of our always encouraging clients.  The resulting window decorations, displaying the creativity and craft at the disposal of the Gateshead studio speak for themselves.

This posed one problem however…

What to do this year?  How can we do something to top last years effort?

Well we now have a few teasing photo’s which we can present to you alluding to what may appear this festive season…

Keep posted to see how things take shape!

As a young designer with a passion for fonts, paragraph styles (boring I know) and all things typographical I was pretty stoked to be offered a place studying newspaper design and information graphics at the Poynter Institute in Tampa, Florida after I graduated. I say graduated – because of the way my studies in America overlapped with the end of my course in the UK, I was in sunny climbs when our graduation photos were being taken, so mum has no actual proof of my graduation (this is still a bone of contention years later!).

On completing my studies I was fortunate enough to work out in the States, working for some of the most influential papers and media agencies.

Well, nearly 10 years on things have changed a little. I’m no longer working in America for a start and no longer working for the free press (whatever that means these days!). Today you can find me back in my beloved North East at Intimation’s studio in Gateshead. We’re a small team but perfectly formed as they say, each person bringing their own influence to the table. Though I think about the Grey Lady (The New York Times) from time to time, I find I’m never that far away as I find in every project which I’m involved with I’m fortunate enough that the team and our clients let me indulge in paragraph styles and font styles to my hearts content. The skills I learned cutting my teeth in studios across the pond still hold water with current projects, from setting up magazine styles for The Wildlife Trusts, creating engaging branding for the Belhaven Brewery to being involved with the creation of a new font for an emerging ice cream brand.

As 2012 comes to a close, I’m looking back at whats been a great year with new client wins and continued work with clients that have been with us from the start. We’ve expanded the team over the year in both our Gateshead and Haddington studios and we’re looking forward to 2013.

With so many varied projects all under the one studio I’m definitely not type cast!

— Andy Smith