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infront insight

Tue, 04 Jan 2011 12:47:05 -0500

Some of you may be aware I help run and publish a website by the name of Australian Infront. If not, Infront is a community that focuses on creative talent and related events happening within Australia, providing a platform for individuals and organisations to share their skills and voice with a greater, sometimes international audience. It's been around since 1999 (which is almost prehistoric in digital terms) and it does a wonderful job of bringing creatives together.

Over the last year, we have made some dramatic improvements to the site, not only in terms of aesthetics and functionality, but also in the offerings we established outside of the digital realm with a variety of events and exhibitions on offer in Sydney and Melbourne.

This year we are hoping to step this up a notch and one of the regular events we have put together is a monthly series called 'Insight'. Held at the Apple Store Sydney (which alone is huge), these talks will feature some of Australia's leading creative professionals. Not only that, they are also completely free and open to the general public which is pretty amazing. Our first one features Barry Mowszowski on 'Brands Instigating Social Change – Profit + Purpose'. Be sure to check out the event page on Facebook for more details and come along at 5.30pm on Wednesday the 2nd of February at the Apple Store Sydney.

Fear not my interstate friends, we are also in talks with Apple to bring the series to other capital cities within Australia and seeing if we can set up a podcast channel on iTunes.

Many more things on the cards for Infront this year, more on that shortly.

new additions

Wed, 12 Jan 2011 23:58:10 -0500

Today was one of those days that just blow me away. In under eight hours I picked up three new clients: Dinosaur Designs, Mart Gallery and Lucky Cat. All are incredibly talented and amazing at what they do, can't wait to get started.

barry mowszowski

Wed, 06 Apr 2011 23:12:39 -0400

Infront's first Insight series at the Apple store in Sydney was a huge success. Just over 125 people packed into the front of the store to hear Barry Mowszowski talk on brands instigating social change. Massive thanks to Barry and the wonderful Bree at Apple for helping us make this happen. Delighted with the results and can't wait for the next one.

moffitt.moffitt

Wed, 06 Apr 2011 23:18:55 -0400

One of my favourite things about organising the Insight series at Apple is being able to ask people that I work with on a regular basis to speak there. Andrew and Mark Moffitt of Moffitt.Moffitt and I have been collaborating together for several years now and I am in total awe of the skill and thought process that goes into their work. The lads are twins (as you might be able to tell from the pic) and they are quite forward with the way they brand and market their own business - so I thought what better thing to get them to speak on ‘Visibility. Defining your own creative identity’. It's all taking place at the Apple store once again on Wednesday the 30th of March. It's a little while off (moving all talks until the last Wednesday of every month) but it's one not to miss.

process

Wed, 06 Apr 2011 23:29:09 -0400

This one has been under wraps for a while now so it's with great pleasure we can announce that Process have finally launched their new website! Built by Zann and myself to co-inside with the launch of issue four, a cleaner, more functional website was developed for the team whilst merging over all the pre-existing data from an existing Wordpress site. Sales have improved already with the new shopping cart facility and the boys are enjoying entering content with the new backend in place.

andrew and mark

Wed, 06 Apr 2011 23:37:31 -0400

Our second Insight down and it's getting bigger and better each time. Close to 200 people came to see both Andrew and Mark speak at a highly entertaining, funny, well thought out and intelligent presentation on developing your own creative identity. This one was recorded and pending approval from Apple this one will make it onto the iTunes vodcast series. Fingers crossed.

amtwins

Wed, 06 Apr 2011 23:43:21 -0400

I'm the proud dad to twin boys - Nic and Zac. The guys are currently five years old, just started school and are pretty darn adorable. One of my favourite side projects I have started this year is a blog for the boys where we upload their drawings from each day. It's been running for a couple of months now and I try and updated it as often as I can – already I can see changes in their abilities so it will be incredible to see what develops if they keep it up for a years time. Take a look at amtwins.com and judge for yourself.

mart gallery

Wed, 06 Apr 2011 23:51:42 -0400

Another launch! On a roll this month. Working with Moffitt.Moffitt, I developed a new site for Mart Gallery which acts not only as a way to showcase upcoming and existing shows, but also as a way for them to talk about the culture of their gallery, which is based around music. Always incredible with their artist roster, Mart is a leader in terms of their output and the way they handle their galleries brand – online and offline.

lucky cat

Mon, 18 Apr 2011 19:57:17 -0400

Small site for my good mate Scott. He imports cool shoes and the like. Check out his new blog here: http://www.luckycat.com.au

there

Mon, 18 Apr 2011 20:01:00 -0400

Have just been commissioned to build There's new website, looking forward to working with these guys on a number of projects. A talented team of thinking designers, which I can assure you is a rare thing in this day and age.

patty

Wed, 04 May 2011 13:15:49 -0400

Bit late with this one, has been a busy week. Patty Huntington spoke at Infront's Insight series last Wednesday night, funny and insightful to the ways and means she got her start and what its like to work as a freelance writer in this day and age. Always a plesure and an honour to have such talented people speak on Infronts behalf. Follow her here and here. I do - Patty helps me understand the weird and wonderful world of fashion that my better half works in.

monster children v3

Wed, 04 May 2011 13:32:39 -0400

I'm a bit of a sentimental git at the best of times, but I'm pretty excited to be entering my fifth year on working purely on my own with my very first client, Monster Children. This will be the third version I have designed and developed for the lads.

sugar mountain

Wed, 04 May 2011 13:54:54 -0400

Over the weekend I had the opportunity to fly down to Melbourne and cover the art/music festival Sugar Mountain for Australian Infront. I can honestly say that it was the best festival I have been to. The mix of amazing bands, the gallery filled with high profile artists, the live visuals (insane), the venue – incredible. Most definitely a festival to keep an eye on in future years and certainly a benchmark for other promoters. Above is Virgo Four whos 'Resurrection' album is getting a ton of airplay in this office. Big thanks to Remote Control, Sugar Montain and my pals Sonny, Biddy and Andrew for the rad times.

five years

Thu, 02 Jun 2011 23:48:57 -0400

Today marks five years working on my own. I dig these kind of milestones, reminds me that good things do happen to hard working people and that I'm extremely fortunate for my work and my client base. Thank you to everyone who's been involved in my career during this period. I truly appreciate it.

Another of my early clients Supply have just come back for a redesign of the site that was built just under five years ago. Still really proud of that site despite its age, at the time it pushed the limits of javascript and what could be achieved with HTML/CSS in terms of movement. Looking forward to taking them to the next level.

visual response melbourne

Fri, 15 Jul 2011 14:37:11 -0400

One of the projects we run apart of Australian Infront is something called Visual Response. It's a bi-annual competition where we ask the Australian creative community to submit a poster based off a one word brief. We are now up to the fifth in the series and the theme for VR5 was 'Woman'. A whopping 252 people submitted work to this round and the quality was outstanding. A select group of judges whittled them down to a top twenty which we then took down to The Compound Interest in Melbourne (it was also our first big event in the southern state also). The people of Melbourne didn't let us down with a huge turn out, easily over 300 people walked through the doors and sucked down the booze quicker than you can say 'I'm really here for the art. No really, I am'.

Massive thanks to everyone that took part, our incredibly generous sponsors, the judges and the team that made it all happen on the day (Zann, Justin, Lorena, Sonny, Biddy and Andrew). Can't wait for the next one in Sydney at the end of the year.

c+i

Fri, 29 Jul 2011 15:33:57 -0400

It's been a few busy months around these parts work wise but everything is starting to see the light of day. First off the ranks is the talented architectural partnership of C+I, Richard Cullinan and Vladimir Ivanov. The guys work on everything from enormous hospitality projects to drool worthy residential with relative ease and style. A slick / minimal design solution was called for to best showcase the work and their brands clean lines with some clever javascript for movement to give the site a point of difference (this will become apparent on the portfolio page). What I like most about C+I is their personal side projects where you will find everything from a Rubber Band Gun (RBG) to a christmas tree that you would want to keep up all year round (Holey Tree). Take a look at the full site here: http://www.cipartnership.com.

new monster children

Mon, 01 Aug 2011 12:41:20 -0400

New version of Monster Children is now live. This is now the third incarnation I have produced for the guys since 2006 which is pretty cool to still look after them after all this time. Apart from just being a standard refresh the guys wanted it to be much easier to update to give the site more activity. In fact, the brief was to make it as easy as Facebook (as that is where Campbell seems to spend most of his time). We built a front end CMS that does just that for their news content, they can jump in and in a few simple fields have the ability to post content within seconds. This was a custom module developed for the Silverstripe platform that also includes the ability to edit or make feature of other contributors posts on the front end. The team still does have the ability to manage everything in the traditional CMS that Silverstripe provides including another custom shopping cart module to bring everything over to just the one admin system. Take a look at the new site here. Lots of other neat features to be found: http://www.monsterchildren.com

sebastian chan

Fri, 05 Aug 2011 10:19:27 -0400

Next in the series of Insight talks at the Apple store is Sebastian Chan, Digital, Social and Emerging Technologies department at the Powerhouse Museum in Sydney, longstanding DJ, creator of Cyclic Defrost and much more. Seb will be speaking on ‘Interacting With The Past: Museums For The Next Generation’. I've been following Seb's career since the very early 90's, first as a teenage raver in love with electronic music right through to now as someone who admires the great advances he is making with technology in an educational realm. It's taking place this month on Wednesday the 31st of August at the Apple store in Sydney. Get full details here. Seb is a truly inspirational speaker, hope to see you there.

new clients, new work

Mon, 15 Aug 2011 15:31:49 -0400

Looking forward to starting work with Australia's premier illustration agency (my words, not theirs) Jacky Winter Group on a number of new projects. Work has also begun on a new website for DEMO magazine, a beatifully designed broadsheet music magazine by Moffitt.Moffitt set to be launched in September.

mix

Wed, 21 Sep 2011 13:27:54 -0400

In the interests of self interest I have started a small project uploading a new track getting heavy rotation in my studio each day at mix.aistrope.com. Music is a huge part of my day in the office so it makes sense to share the best bits with you. You can also get a bit stalkerish at my last.fm profile too.

Image courtesy of my good friends at AIAIAI. The TMA1's are some of the best headphones I have ever owned, they are also a sponsor of many Australian Infront events. Go support them.

vince frost

Sun, 25 Sep 2011 13:53:02 -0400

This week sees the legendary Vince Frost speak at the Apple store in Sydney on behalf of Australian Infront. It's a free event as always and a bit of a rarity for Vince to be speaking in person so it's well worth getting along this Wednesday the 28th from 6.30pm to see him in action. You can RSVP on the Facebook event page here. Come along to Grasshopper afterwards for drinks too. Great chance to have a beer or two with some of Australia's finest creatives.

talking

Sat, 14 Jan 2012 15:20:34 -0500

Happy new year! Hope you had a wonderful break and are getting back into the swing of things.

Every year I try and give myself a few personal goals, some I stick with and others, well... let's try and stay positive here.

After a year of getting other people to talk on my behalf for Australian Infront I figured it was time I stepped up to the plate. I get asked quite a bit to do public speaking engagements but nerves get the better of me and I decline - not 2012. Starting in February 8th I will be moderating a panel of talented individuals at the Apple store in Sydney on the topic 'A Students Guide To Working In The Creative Industry'. In May I will be heading to the Gold Coast to speak on behalf of DIA around the topic of self promotion at DIAlogues and then over to the Sunshine Coast for a brilliant creative conference by the name of Analogue/Digital.

I've still got plenty of time to practice in front of a mirror so wish me well and I will post more details closer to the dates.

this summer

Mon, 30 Jan 2012 19:38:51 -0500

I normally dislike January. Work dries up, people are having fun while I'm stuck behind a desk and bills very rarely get paid. Not this year, no siree! New projects are underway for AIAIAI, Dinosaur Designs, Jacky Winter, Miss Gertrude, Gary Galego and a bunch more. Now if only the sun would come out...

build

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 17:42:20 -0500

I've been doing quite a bit of architectural builds of late (websites that is, not real buildings) including LAVA (Toko), WMK and Futurespace (THERE). Interesting navigational systems in these three worth taking a look through. Image credit goes to the talented folk at LAVA.

students guide

Thu, 09 Feb 2012 19:52:36 -0500

Had a brilliant time last night at Infront Presents at the Apple Store Sydney as part of their 'Back To University' month with 'A Students Guide To Working In The Creative Industry'. This was my first big speaking event for the year so I was quite nervous (you can see how big the crowd was) but my lovely panel helped me ease into it all and we had a cracking event. Massive thanks as always to Bree, Nick and Sonia at Apple and also Chris, Pip and Jon who made the event what it was. For some more photos head on over to my Facebook page here.

field trip

Mon, 05 Mar 2012 15:54:26 -0500

I have been keeping this one pretty close to my chest for a while but I can finally announce that Australian Infront and Jacky Winter have joined forces to put together a conference like any other called Field Trip. How so you say? Glad you asked. You see, creative conferences are a neat way to meet some of your heroes and learn more about them, but we couldn’t help but feel that some conferences were lacking in, ah, fibre.

While it's all well and good to hear from your favourite designers and the like in terms of their process, influences, and portfolio, we wanted to dig a little deeper. So often you look at a speaker’s mind bending work and all you want to know is “how the hell did they make that?”

Come to Field Trip and you’ll find out. Actually, we’ll do you one better and show you.

Through live video feeds and screencasts, the audience will gain a direct insight into the tools, processes, and thoughts of some of the most successful commercial artists working in Australia today.

Field Trip
http://www.thefieldtrip.com.au
April 20 2012 @ ACMI in Melbourne.
Tickets are on sale now.

slack updates

Fri, 17 Aug 2012 11:25:31 -0400

It has been ages since I updated this... so what's been happening? Since I last posted on here I've done a range of talks around the country on a variety of design related topics at creative festivals including Analogue/Digital, The Loop Masterclass and DIAlogues, I am also speaking Look Hear in Newcastle in the next two months.

At this moment I am working across a range of new projects for brands such as Carona, Lomography, Container, Becker Minty and Toko. In the last few months one of my personal projects, Australian Infront, has rebranded and also relaunched a new website which is doing extremely well. We have also just locked down a Sydney venue for Field Trip and this will be taking place in December of this year.

Some sad new, our Aus Infront Presents series has ended at the Apple Store in Sydney, but we have just located a new venue and these will be starting back up again next year.

Very busy, but no excuse for lack of updates. I will post some new project work shortly.

recent builds

Wed, 22 Aug 2012 09:50:18 -0400

A couple of recent builds that have taken place via Expo and myself in the last month are Melbourne based design outfit Hunt Studio and also Estate One for The Hungry Workshop, more coming shortly.

paper, audio, action

Tue, 09 Oct 2012 08:59:53 -0400

Few more new builds have gone live in the last few weeks including AIAIAI, MADE Quarterly and also my own baby (which has a new skin), Field Trip. Really proud of all three and they have also recieved quite a bit of design and development related press from sites I really admire, including Site Inspire, HTTPsters and Made In Germany amounst others.

More about Field Trip though, it's taking place on December 7th at the Seymour Centre in Sydney and tickets are on sale right now. It features an amazing line up of talented commerical artists who will be working live on stage right before your eyes. Sounds excellent right? Melbourne earlier this year was a ton of fun and it sold out too - so I highly suggest you grab a ticket before they all go.

AWARD 2013

Tue, 15 Jan 2013 06:17:01 -0500

First post for the year and I'm pleased to say I have been selected for the design jury for AWARD 2013. For over 30 years AWARD has celebrated the best creative ideas in the region and their judging is not something to be taken lightly, I'm quite honoured to be involved.

The AWARD Awards will be held on Thursday 21st March 2013 as part of The Festival of Commercial Creativity “Circus” to be held 19-21 March 2013.

dittmar

Tue, 29 Jan 2013 05:42:27 -0500

They say you should never work for family and friends. They are probably right, although in some instances, such as this one with my good mate Daniel Dittmar, we have created a beautiful website which is a lot of fun to explore. Daniel is a talented graphic designer who recently packed up shop and headed to Berlin fulltime. Crazy? Perhaps... In my attempts to help him on a sensible path in life I built him a new portfolio website to showcase his incredible skills. Go take a look at Dittm.ar.com. It's fully responsive too.

desktop

Sun, 24 Feb 2013 21:34:57 -0500

Run out and grab yourself a copy of the March issue of Desktop Magazine, which features a full page of life and style purchases I recommend. On news stands now.

field trip melbourne 2013

Mon, 25 Feb 2013 23:30:27 -0500

Very excited to announce that Field Trip is back for its second year at ACMI in Melbourne this April 12th. Last years event sold out super quick, best head on over to thefieldtrip.com.au for tickets and more info.

blp

Mon, 11 Mar 2013 19:03:21 -0400

Working with TOKO, I have recently been able to work with some of the best architectural firms in Australia. BLP is another addition to that list and I am extremely proud of this one. An AJAX loaded site that allows the user to browse a whole bunch of content seamlessly, without having to refresh the page. It's a lot of fun to explore. Go take a look at blp.com.au.

higher order

Mon, 18 Mar 2013 08:36:37 -0400

Higher Order is a personal project my wife and I have been working together on for some time now. As a creative, with a wife who is also a teacher, we found it frustrating sending our kids to holiday workshops where they were shown how to perform a task and obtained not much more from it than a craft item that soon ended up in the bin. That is where we are hoping we step in and make a positive change.

Higher Order delivers design and art based workshops in collaboration with trained teachers and an alternating roster of professional designers. Each workshop will feature a different project and focus on a range of different skills and will provide the opportunity for participants to actively engage in the design process.

We believe in the inherent value of providing participants with the opportunity to find innovative solutions to design related problems. In our workshops, participants are provided with a range of materials and shown a variety of techniques. Participants are then guided through the process of designing and creating a product to take home.

It all starts this school holidays from the 15th of April through to the 19th. Tickets are limited and available from our online store. Please tell your friends and family!