When asked to write this piece my first thought was who am I writing this for? I know most of you are “Creatives” and have your own ways of approaching your creativity; but we can all become a little lazy in our practice and use off the peg template colours. I hope you’ll find this simple exercise of use.

Colour palettes are ranges of pleasing colour combinations taken from a image used as inspiration. I started mine just as an exercise in looking at colour and for use in my textile designs..

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Firstly, I should say that these views are personal, and not a reflection of CIN’s views. Important to say that straight up top, as I am attempting to discuss a topic which is highly divisive in the creative sector.

On a number of occasions we have been asked to submit designs for projects before we’ve been commissioned to do the work. To add to this, we’re not the only company who has been asked. Speculative work (or Free Pitching) is a wide spread practice in the creative sector. A projec..

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Keri Hudson has recently made the news as the intern who took her employer to court and won the right to be recognised as a paid worker. This will doubtless have caused concern in companies throughout the land who currently give places to unpaid interns. There is a long history of unpaid internships in this country, and those in favour of it argue that it’s a mutually beneficial arrangement. I can understand the argument; after all, most job adverts list a requirement for relevant experience. But que..

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As creative professionals we put a lot of ourselves into our work, but we will almost always be aiming that work at someone else. To be truly effective, we must have a real understanding of our target audience. What are their interests? What kind of language is appropriate? How should we use colour?

I recently received a letter from my credit card company explaining the benefits of its new loyalty card programme. My wife also received a letter from the company which I opened (because she won’t)..

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Stock image libraries are strange places for graphic designers. The rise of cheap, affordable image libraries in recent years could be seen by some as a God send. However I don’t see it that way. I see them as a kind of Hell, Purgatory if you like. A place where a once creative individual can spend hours locked in a world of annoyingly over smiley, slim, attractive American models with perfect teeth. Not that I have anything against attractive American models with perfect teeth, it’s just they don�..

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As you will hopefully have noticed, CIN has recently been upping the number of events available to members. The question is, what kind of events do our members really want?

Maybe you’re hankering for a ‘Design Social’ type of a thing involving chat with other creatives over a beer (or a fine wine of some sort). Perhaps you’d rather spend an evening in a group brainstorm focussed on the best way to set rates, hire freelancers and write proposals? Maybe what you really want, is a chance to ..

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Wayne Hemingway – Host of CIN Awards 2010.

Winner of Best in Show – 1623 Theatre (above)

Judges comments: “They were highly impressed with the company’s innovative approach to taking a well known subject and placing it into a contemporary context. The work has been seen at the National Theatre in London and is proving to be a viable business model. They truly embody the creative spirit at large in Derby and Derbyshire.”

Winner of Best Creative Team - Subism (above)

Jud..

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Are you one of those people wondering what the point of Twitter is? I know I was. Twitter seemed to take one tiny element of Facebook (status updates) and stop there. But to think of Twitter as Facebook-lite is to completely miss the point. Here’s my top four reasons for getting your tweet on.
Marketing

A warning: Twitter should never be used purely as a sales channel or somewhere to go on about how great you are.

Nobody will listen if all you’re saying is “Buy our products”. T..

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I’m a graphic designer which means I care more about how something looks than the words that accompany it. NO! If I ever say that, I’ll have to fire myself.

I firmly believe that it is the designer’s job to make sure both text and image work harmoniously. You can’t do that if you’re ignoring the text. Too often I see otherwise excellent design work spoiled by shoddy copy. I’m talking about spelling mistakes, grammatical errors, bad typography or just plain nonsense. Consider the follo..

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Anyone more interested in listening to Adrian Shaughnessy than Chris Moyles? I know I am!

I recently discovered this show, called simply ‘Graphic Design on the Radio’, and thought I’d share it with you all. Adrian Shaughnessy is probably best known for writing the essential ‘How to be a graphic designer without losing your soul’ as well as founding the design company Intro. Amongst the interviewees you’ll find Stefan Sagmeister, Rick Poyner and many other influential figures. There’..

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