march 2010

IF YOU’rE NOT PrEParED TO FaIL, YOU’LL NEVEr crEaTE aNYThING OrIGINaLSir Ken Robinson (5 Feb 2009). The Element: How Finding Your Passion Changes Everything. London: Allen Lane. Buy his amazing book on Amazon here: http://bit.ly/9Xidjj, or on iTunes (audiobook): http://bit.ly/7XAZsA

Dear Reader,I recently decided that the time I was spending on writing, editing, re-writing, designing, laying-out, coding and sending beautiful, HTML email press releases was, quite simply, a waste.

Most recipients are bombarded with enough press releases to make anyone’s head hurt on top of their more pressing emails, copy deadlines, it is little wonder that most are resigned (automatically, or otherwise) to the junk/trash box before it’s even opened! Well those days, for me, are over. Welcome to the fi rst Project10 Newspaper. It’s a paper, and inside is news.

Its’ original purpose was to talk about Project10, but I quickly summised that this meant talking about myself/my work for far too long, and who wants to fi ll in twelve pages of a newspaper about themselves? Not me. So I invited friends, peers and those that I am working with on Project10 projects to submit words, images, illustrations, etc.

Th e theme is Collaboration, both for this newspaper and for Project10. When I decided I would donate my time to NGO/NFP’s (or fun) projects I assumed I’d be working with charities (there are two that I am talking to) but most of the projects I’ve been invited to join are fascinating, inspiring and have rejuvinated my passion for design.

Th e ones I can’t talk aboutTh ere are three Project10 projects that I cannot talk about for fear that their very revelation would cause your eyes to burn from their sockets, your ears to melt, and your tongue fall out. Th at, and the other people involved would be well upset.Th e Badger+Bodger Club: Th is project involves a Badger. All I can say is that if the talk becomes the walk, it could be amazing. We’ve made massive leaps in a short space of time thanks to Badger and the team we’re building to run the project. A preliminary launch might be as early as April 1st (TBC).Triangle: A collaboration with the highly intelligent, and inspirational minds of Matthew Knight, Hege Sæbjørnsen, and Kate Andrews.Running: A possible project with a renowned digital ≠agency in London. A brief for a major charity has been received and discussions are afoot.Lewes: Lastly, but by no means least… Hamish Makgill has introduced me to some fi ne people down in Lewes – discussions very much happening with regards a new web site and communications strategy.I have also been writing for, the D&AD University blog and volunteering when I can with SheSays.

Th e VanDoosOriginally called ‘Notes’ this (now) three-piece band have returned to the table with new tracks including: Tenter Hooks, for which they have asked me to consider doing the video. In light of this, I am collaborating with Naughty James. If you don’t know him, he’s a fantastic stills photographer, who is very, very naughty.

(artwork (left ) is by Giles Arbery for the forthcoming releases)

AutismI created this originally to appear in a book called ‘Art for Autism’, by Ryan Killeen to help raise awareness to the symptoms and/or misconceptions about the condition. Th e book unfortunately never made it to the cold light of day, which is a great shame. Generation Press have kindly off ered to get involved with produced 100 limited edition screenprints. All proceeds will be donated (minus postage costs/etc) to the National Autistic Society. Available from: plan-bstudio.com

MemoriesGarrwick Webster has invited me to create a piece for a beautiful book called ‘Memories’. Th e result will be a beautiful art book where powerful and touching stories will be accompanied by visual responses from artists and designers alike. Proceeds from the sales of Memories will go to the charity: Maggie’s Cancer Caring Centres.

(artwork shown is the emblem for the book, not my design)

Hvitbryggen (White Wharf )Th is is a logo I have designed for a project myself and my girlfriend have on a beautiful, small, remote island in the Arctic Circle, North of Norway: a 3,000sq ft fi shing wharf building. Our plan is simple: Convert it in to two beautiful apartments as creative spaces for rent. With a gallery/space on the ground fl oor as well as a recording studio.We are also currently working to help organise this year’s Nyksund/Ti ‘Near and Far’; a music, arts, and culture festival.

Project10 isn’t about working for free for charities it is about much more. It’s about collaboration with like minded, enthusiastic, passionate, motivated, intelligent people who haven’t just questioned their role in a social context, they have actively gone out there to fi nd answers.

Th is newspaper is a celebration of the people I’ve been lucky enough to meet and start collaborating with. It is a celebration of the design, digital and advertising industry and the amazing opportunities and results that collaboration can bring about.

Inside you’ll fi nd thoughts and prose from the likes of Shane RJ Walter who reports with ‘Word on the Streets’, Nik Roope answers my fi ve questions. Simon Waterfall & Matthew Grey of Social Suicide (SS) report on their SS10 collection and give you an insight to the raison d’être behind SS.

Simon White warns you about the risks of not collaborating, with illustrations from Mr-Bingo and Alec Kennedy. I interview Prego, a band whose second studio album is deserved of great things.

Daljit Singh discusses his sleepwalking-artistic-alter-ego Dave. Matthew Knight talks of not one but 272 collaborations . Badger Says, You do. All of these people kindly contributed for free: Th e Power of Collaboration.

Simon White: @purplesime (page 8)Mr Bingo: mr-bingo.org.uk (back cover)Alec Kennedy : alstrang.com (page 8)Shane RJ Walter: onedotzero.com (page 5 & 11)Nik Roope: pokelondon.com (page 11)Matthew Knight: webponce.com (page 9)Simon Waterfall & Matthew Grey: socialsuicide.com (page 6)Daljit Singh: daljitsingh.posterous.com (page 4 & 11)Simon Britcliff e/Prego: myspace.com/pregomusic (page 10)Dom “Badger” Baker: dombaker.co.uk (page 7)

Would you like to contribute to next months installment, or perhaps you want to discuss a project, or a feature in your lovely magazine? Use any of the following:email: project10@plan-bstudio.comtwitter: @planbstudiophone: +44 (0)7971 207 276 - Steve Price

Design&Art direction: Steve Price (www.plan-bstudio.com)Editing: Claire Selby

10 YEars / 10 PrOJEcTs / 10 PrOJEcTs

cONTrIBUTOrs, ThaNk-YOU:

cONTrIBUTE/cONTacT:

crEDITs:

march UPDaTE

produced by:

www.plan-bstudio.com

printed by:

www.newspaperclub.co.uk

wOrDs + PhOTOGraPhY: shaNE rJ waLTEr

The streets are littered with original literature. If you are not blinded or too jaded, look beyond the adman’s commercial onslaught, media messages, visual overload and ‘official’ street paraphernalia - there is so much more to see and read. The street is an art gallery – in the case of Banksy’s work, a pricey one where people are trying to chip away at early stencils to take a chunk of his art home with them for free rather than pay the hundreds of thousands that he now commands. His work is the tip of the Street Art iceberg, with a variety of artists vying for the attention of those that know where and how to look for it, from stencils to stickers, paste up to graffiti.

Take a dive deeper and you will find something more humble, direct – the form of original graffiti that has real urgency. These are the scrawled messages, slogans and ideas of the everyman. This literature of the street is a barometer of the day. Its strength and allure perhaps is its very ephemeral nature. It does not always last – pasted over, cleaned off, scrubbed out or decayed and faded away – leaving a fresh page for the next scribbler. But it has impact and power none the less. And often it is the start of a collaboration between unknown forces, spirits and actions.

Collaboration is something everyone talks about but it actually rarely happens. Us creative people can have quite big egos and we generally like doing it on our own. Even when we have the skills around us we only work together and don’t think together.True collaboration is much harder, it needs more than just work it requires understanding, respect, honesty and the ability to drink beer with one another. It doesn’t stop once we leave work it carries on even when we are without our team.Collaborations get better over time providing our collaborators share an attitude. My collaborations work best when there is a fight. Innovative collaboration needs argument and different perspectives to get a solution that solves more than just a problem but there must be respect. When it works and all the planets align we create remarkable work at which point, people you have never met before claim to have collaborated on your project!

The pseudonym Dave has been given to Daljit Singh’s sleeping activity - portrayed through different forms and materials. The favoured forms of expression manifest as clothing sculptures or the emulation of a whole host of animal species. There are however many

sub-genres of activity including regional comical accents and character portrayals; brutalist kitchen sculptures; spatial fruit arrangements based on repetition and occasional street walking with bespoke bags packed for each dreamt-up trip.

Dave is particularly drawn to animal behaviours and mimicry. Amongst a gamut of species from the animal kingdom some of the classics he has performed include a grass snake - emulating the movement of the tongue and long slender body; an eel - awaking with a long sock pulled up over both arms writhing on the floor; a monk fish gaping for oxygen and more complex - a flutter of moths around a light.

Though Dave’s activity is often perceived as outlandish it is often logical in its own way: one very visual enactment was a troubled duck quacking away - starving because ‘someone had put a doughnut on (his) bill.’

Alongside animals, one of Dave’s preoccupations is to create figurative or styled pieces. He draws on favourite props and tools from the wardrobe - especially high heels that

are often found hanging on doors in the morning. Though the actual styling itself is questionable he is always thorough in ensuring all the elements are present from underwear to outerwear.

The very existence of Dave was threatened for a period after a concerned call was made to The London School of Clinical Therapy who were confident they could ‘mop up the patient in just a few sessions’. Happily, it was concluded as long as the more edgy activities were tempered – those that saw him leaving the home and crossing certain thresholds then Dave is just harmless and endearing fun. Dave would be missed by a lot of close friends and family if he were to be banished from the night.

You can see more from Daljit/Dave: daljitsingh.posterous.com

At its best it provides short sharp bursts of wit and incisive comment – nuggets of wisdom even. Take any area of an inner city today and you will find a plethora of street musings. The Hoxton and Shoreditch triangle in London’s East End, for example, is a mecca for urban culture but also has a vibrant scene of street scrawlers with unique messages who alert people to their thoughts and concerns. This is today’s news in written snapshots more valid than the vacuous water cooler moments of chitchat or cheap celebrity driven glossy mags. They may be the preoccupation of the few but they often reflect the sentiment of the masses.

These scribes are covert and underground by their nature and don’t have access to the mass media of newspapers or TV – even the internet and blogosphere is not the domain for them to share their sharp views. It is street culture from another more direct and human source, humble, local but with a passion to say something. The tools are low tech, certainly not digital but entirely functional and fit for purpose. The quills of choice are the spray can, stencil, chalk, pen or paint ready for easy and swift application for the delectation of the passer-by.

What interest me in this interventionism is also a spirit of collaboration that is in a sense accidental, open for comment and for anyone with the application and time to respond to, remix, amend, build upon and carry on the dialogue. All are an invitation to collaborate.

It’s the place to air personal grievances, political comments, angry rants, frustrated fears and calls to arms - always delivered with purpose and confidence. There is something quaint and almost medieval about the practice. I love the personal, almost inexplicable writings that at first leave you totally clueless to their meanings or motivations. But they stay with you, playing on and with your mind, resonating much longer that you would have thought possible. As one street writer puts it, “Gold in my head.”

Shane RJ Walter is the creative director of onedotzero (www.onedotzero.com) and onedotzero industries (www.onedotzero.tv) organisations that commission, produce promote and distribute progressive new ideas from surprising talent in moving image and beyond. To see more of his photos visit: www.flickr.com/photos/szen_volta

WORD ON THE STREETcOLLaBOraTION as INTErVENTION

I makEI sLEEPmY cOLLaBOraTION wITh a cLOsE FrIEND: ‘DaVE’ wOrDs + PhOTOGraPhY:

DaLJIT sINGh

BaDGEr saY,YOU DO:

“Too long have men stood as second fi ddle to the female fashion orchestra. Playing the same monotone song, again and again, year after year. Dancing to someone else’s tune, at a party we weren’t invited to, in shoes that don’t fi t.”

market? Well, we have always maintained that, far from men not being interested in fashion, much fashion is just not interesting to men.

Building on this philosophy our Summer 2010 collection has a depth and type of thought that is almost unique in the fashion world. It is also some of the fi nest work we have ever done.

Simon and I hope that you’ll fi nd it refreshing and inspiring enough to join with us in our undertaking to create better fashion.

Th e Holidaze collection: built for vacations and inspired by deck chairs. Reminiscent of childhood Kodachrome holidays of never ending summers, green grass, sandy beaches, lazy days, vanilla ice-cream and irrepressible irresponsibility. Lightweight, natural, breathable fi bres; reds, blues, creams, frays, stripes and pipes; ginghams, checks, twills, dotts and detail, detail, detail. Jackets lined with chess, checker, word and number games; packed with pockets and fi lled with function; pack-away stuff able, treat ruff able and utterly loveable...

wOrDs: maTThEw GrEY / www.sOcIaLsUIcIDE.cO.Uk

ss10 PhOTOGraPhY (LEFT, aND aBOVE): JULIa kENNEDY / www.JULIakENNEDY.cOm

ss POrTraIT (aBOVE , LEFT):JOhN DaY

I have known Matthew Grey (above, right) and Simon Waterfall (above, left ) for many years, and followed their fashion label Social Suicide with great interest. Not least because they were already two of the busiest people I knew, who then decided to throw caution (and a potential long-term friendship) to the wind to set up a fashion label, a tailoring one at that. Th e result is a clothing label that has is indicative of their approach to everything in life; challenge it and create something unique and original.

Th e term “social suicide” is an English colloquialism akin to the French “faux pas”, meaning to do the wrong thing in a social context.

Ever since we started in 2004, we have done “the wrong thing” with suits and sports jackets. Th e suit, a traditional staple of menswear, so tried and tested, so safe and stable, made exciting with careful thought and imagination. We make no compromise on quality either. Our block was developed on Savile Row, we use the fi nest purest fabrics and we hand make each piece. And our

DIaL 1-800BEING a wIsE BaDGEr I caN saY ThaT ThE PErFEcT PrOJEcT Is aLwaYs a cOLLaBOraTION OF DIVErsE TaLENTs. crEaTING sOmEThING OUT OF NOThING Or VErY LITTLE wITh a cOmmON GOaL aND PrOBaBLY VErY LITTLE ThOUGhT BEYOND ThaT. aNYThING BEYOND achIEVING YOUr OBJEcTIVEs Is a BONUs. FINDING a GOOD TEam OF PEOPLE YOU waNT TO wOrk wITh aGaIN Is a DOUBLE PLUs BONUs.

GOOD cOLLaBOraTIONs GrOw OUT OF GOOD PEOPLE, BaD cOLLaBOraTIONs DIE VErY QUIckLY.

sO, whaT makEs a GOOD cOLLaBOraTION?

1. BE FLExIBLE – haVE a PLaN, aND BE PrEParED FOr IT TO chaNGE/ EVOLVE/FUck UP.

2. wOrk LIkE sTINk & TrUsT OThErs TO DO ThE samE

3. wOrk wITh ExPErTs Or ENThUsIasTs.

4. LEarN FrOm YOUr FELLOw cOLLaBOraTOrs TaLENTs aND skILLs.

5. BE PrEParED TO FIGhT FOr whaT YOU ThINk Is rIGhT & GIVE waY whEN NEcEssarY.

6. YOUr FELLOw cOLLaBOraTOrs arE YOUr TEmPOrarY FamILY, YOU caN caLL ‘Em waNkErs, BUT NO ONE OUTsIDE GETs awaY wITh IT.

7. sUsPEND ONE’s EGO TEmPOrarILY aND LIsTEN TO OThEr PEOPLE, ThIs IsN’T aBOUT YOU.

8. TakE aND GIVE crITIcIsm FaIrLY (wIThOUT sULkING).

9. BEING hONEsT wITh YOUr FELLOw cOLLaBOraTOrs, EsPEcIaLLY aBOUT mONEY, TImE & FEELINGs - BUT ONLY rEGarDING ThE PrOJEcT, NO ONE LIkEs a crY-BaBY.

10. mOsT ImPOrTaNTLY haVE a DamN GOOD LaUGh aND ENJOY ThE rIDE.

11. wOrk wITh GOOD PEOPLE aND IF POssIBLE TrY aND wOrk wITh ThE BEsT, aND LEarN FrOm EVErY PrOJEcT.

12. as PETEr cOOk ONcE saID, “I’VE LEarNT FrOm mY mIsTakEs aND I caN rEPEaT EVErY sINGLE ONE OF ThEm PErFEcTLY”

- BaDGEr (aka DOm BakEr)

I met Dom “Badger” Baker in the summer of ‘09. He was dressed as a gun-slinging cowboy, me, a second world war parachutist. We were at the V&A Summer fete, or course. We got to talking about a project, and in January we started making the ‘talk’ become a ‘walk’, which is already more of a ‘jog’.Badger’s advice is spot-on. Our project (which for legal reasons we can’t yet discuss) is as ambitious as it is daunting, but we (and the small team we’ve enlisted) are prepared to give it our all. With the combined energies of those volunteering to help. Want to know more? project10@plan-bstudio.com

Here’s something shocking: lots of people don’t like to collaborate, to share the ‘business’ of making something with someone else. No, really! Collaboration is not the same as paying people to create your vision – it’s still your vision; collaboration is about asking someone else – or a group of people – to help shape your vision. And that’s something designers, writers and creative types are not always so comfortable with.

Okay, maybe not all of them. In fact, I love collaboration and in advertising (the industry in which I work) that’s generally frowned upon. Or it was. Because of this attitude – and because creative people are hired on the strength of their portfolio – advertising agencies suffered as digital crept up on them.

At the heart of digital is the need to collaborate. It takes a lot of skills to put together even the smallest digital project – from coders, Flash developers, writers, designers, art directors, film directors, etc: all these people could be involved. And it’s not about paying them; these people will want to shape your vision – or will have to shape your vision because what you’re asking just isn’t possible.

And you’ll have to live with that. Or spend lots of time learning how to do it yourself and either a) failing miserably or b) making a half-arsed job of it. Even with the advent of

Back in April 2008 I was collecting some dry cleaning for my wife in Balham. The dry cleaners were in Balham, rather than my wife in Balham; implying I have a wife in every postcode of South London! In the dry cleaners, amongst the brushes, clothes pegs and carpet cleaner, lay a pile of disposable cameras for sale. How quaint and delightfully, ‘Analogue’, I thought. With an idea bubbling away at the back of my head I bought them.

When I got home, I registered a domain name (as so many of my projects start out), set up a blog, and made the first post, explaining the concept - why not leave disposable cameras around the city of London, with a little note saying ‘if you find me, take a few photos, and then leave me for someone else’. I’d work out the logistics of the rest of the project later, but the disposable memory project was born.

I dropped the first few cameras, and after emailing a few of my friends about the website it wasn’t long before I started receiving a handful of emails from people asking if they could set up similar projects in their city. I wrote back responding that of course, they could set something up, I didn’t feel I owned the idea, and seeing as I had already programmed a little google map, and database for each of my own cameras, why not send me details of the where your camera is left, and I’ll help you keep track of them. Within just a couple of months, we had cameras in London, Germany, Scotland and the US. ‘I’ had turned into ‘We’, without me ever thinking it would be a project which extended beyond the reach of my carbon footprint.

Two years on, and the project has released almost 300 cameras in 60 countries. They’ve travelled to the most remote parts of the planet, including the North and South Poles and Everest. Some have travelled over 30,000 miles, others have stayed in the same pub for their entire lifetime. All of the 20 cameras which have returned home, have contained wonderful, evocative, unusual, and most importantly genuine images.

There is no way we could have achieved this without the free involvement from anyone who was willing to purchase and release a camera.

We’ve managed to create a group of over 250 people who drop, find, pass on and return home these little plastic cameras, and are collectively creating something magical. I have turned into little more than a curator, collecting together the stories which float around the globe into a consumable package. I haven’t personally released a camera in about a year, and the project still grows.

Individuals are bottlenecks. I knew that the only way for the project to carry on would be to put things into place that allowed the concept to continue whether I was involved or not. Now there are hundreds of people who have invested in these little cameras journeys, its not fair that I should be in a position which decides whether the images get online or not - so I wanted to make the project sustainable without me as that bottleneck.

The first step was to let anyone release a camera, which was allowed from the first few months. The second step was to allow anyone to comment on the cameras live on the site, rather than me being a gatekeeper to the content. The third step was to create a system which allows the running of the project to be managed by a team of people, those in the community who have stood up and said they want to be involved.

This is my current challenge, to create that system, and relinquish curation to the community itself. Technically, it is a small challenge (although will take an amount of time). Emotionally, it is a massive challenge, but I know that without handing over the keys, the project will never really become truly sustainable - and for me, that’s the most important aspect of the project, for it to live beyond when I get disinterested in the day to day running of it.

websites that let you create almost anything without the need for learning the technical stuff, the world is littered with failures.

Okay, I admit, the world is littered with collaboration failures too. Often, it’s because they have a celebrity attached (and we all know that it’s not about the collaboration but about lifting a sleb’s profile, trying to resurrect a dying career or flogging a new TV series, etc) or because the collaboration was doomed to fail from the outset as there is no shared belief: the two parties can’t agree on what the vision is.

But there’s something that has collaboration at its heart. It thrives on it: charity. Charities rely on collaboration: members of the public giving time and money, volunteers working to raise funds, to staff shops, etc; advertising agencies and designers working pro bono to produce campaigns. In fact, charity proves that collaboration works, that there is something in it for everyone who participates. Take this newspaper you’re reading, for example. Everything about it involves a collaboration of some sort.

So if you’re one of those people against collaboration, who prefers to be the giant riding a midget, you may find the only place to keep your ideas your own is if you’re designing the next fucking Argos catalogue.

sTaNDING ON ThE shOULDErs OF GIaNTs mIDGETs

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128 129 130 131 132 133 134 135 136 137 138 139 140 141 142 143 144 145 146 147 148 149 150 151 152 153 154 155 156 157 158 159 160 161 162 163 164 165 166 167 168 169 170 171 172 173 174 175 176 177 178 179 180 181 182 183 184 185 186 187 188 189 190 191 192 193 194 195 196 197 198 199 200 201 202 203 204 205 206 207 208 209 210 211 212 213 214 215 216 217 218 219 220 221 222 223 224 225 226 227 228 229 230 231 232 233 234 235 236 237 238 239 240 241 242 243 244 245 246 247 248 249 250 251 252 253 254 255 256 257 258 259 260 261 262 263 264 265 266 267 268 269 270 271 272 ExamPLEs OF cOLLaBOraTION

wOrDs: sImON whITE / @PUrPLEsImEILLUsTraTION: aLEc sTraNG / www.aLsTraNG.cOm

wOrDs: maTThEw kNIGhT / wEBPONcE.cOmDIsPOsaBLEmEmOrYPrOJEcT.OrG/

I might have mentioned that Project10 is about collaboration? Non more so than where Matthew Knight is concerned. Considering we met via Twitter/email we’ve actually met, face-to-face, twice(!). We are already talking about collaborating on two projects - both ambitious and one of which has brought on board the immense talents of Kate Andrews and Hege Saebjornsen. He’s a Technical Creative Director. He co-founded digital creative agency de-construct in 2001. Since 2008, he has been working with a number of agencies and clients in a freelance capacity, including Sidekick Studios, a social innovation agency, Maek Digital, a design studio and a number of other agencies mostly based in London. He is a D&AD award winner, works with charities and non-profits for at least 20% of his time, and created and curates a number of collaborative projects such as the Disposable Memory Project (disposablememoryproject.org) and MeatSpaces.com. Matthew is one of those truly inspiring individuals whose passion and articulation is only over-shadowed by his motivation.

1 Do you prefer to do it alone, or collaborate? I love collaboration. I’m shit at most things but I’m a great conductor (orchestral not bus) and healthy collaboration is the only way to get sweet music out of all the egos and instruments that make up every orchestra. For many creative people they must be the sole authors of their craft. For me I really don’t care, if I can be part of making something happen and a useful tool in its delivery then i’m very happy.2 When was the last time you collaborated and who with?

About 10 minutes ago with a couple of the Poke peeps, an I.A. (Tracy) and a PM (Eze). They’ve been thinking about a customer support process for a client of ours and we just spent half an hour riffing off their initial thoughts and put forward a few thoughts and improvements. 3 How do you like to collaborate - with new people, people you know, strangers in the night, or with students?Anyone and everyone providing they’re not dim and lazy. There are brilliant, creative people from all backgrounds and the best, most innovative ideas often come when you bring different perspectives together.Client relationships are most productive when there’s a real collaboration between us. Seems so obvious but some take a lot of persuading because they’re so used to a more adversarial relationship.4 With the design industry constantly shifting and changing direction, do you see collaboration becoming more or less popular?For those of us buried neck deep in digital stuff then I would say collaboration will only become more important, for the next few years at least. We’re steadily relying on more and more on input from specialists in the field as the the landscape further fragments and complexity soares. It’s very old fashioned to pretend to know everything. It’s a real weakness in fact. 5 If you could collaborate with one person, who would it be?Larry Page or Sergey Brin?

Nik Roope is co-founder and Creative Director of Poke (www.pokelondon.com), and previously creative director at various leading digital design agencies including Oven Digital. In 2004 he also founded the product design company Hulger — two of its phone designs and its Plumen low energy light bulb concept are now part of MoMA New York’s permanent design collection.

1 Do you prefer to do it alone, or collaborate? Both .2 When was the last time you collaborated and who with? Last week with Dave at approx 3am.3 How do you like to collaborate - with new people, people you know, strangers in the night, or with students?Anyone.4 With the design industry constantly shifting and changing direction, do you see collaboration becoming more or less popular?Internet = more collaboration.5 If you could collaborate with one person, who would it be?Samantha Fox

Daljit Singh is the Creative Director of Digit (www.digitlondon.com) as well as founder of my new favourite sausage company: Mt Singh’s Bangras (www.brangras.com).

I first met Simon Britcliffe through work, he works for a client of mine; The Shop at Bluebird, as Music and Publications Buyer. We got chatting one day and he mentioned that he was in a band. Given Simon’s clear knowledge of music and diverse taste in new bands I was intrigued. He gave me a copy of their (unmastered) second album and before the end of the third track I was bowled-over. Give us a bit of background on Prego, who you are, where you all come from, how you got together?Prego has existed for the last 5 years or so. Edd (Simpson) originally started out writing with a very lo-fi “bedroom recording” approach until he heard a record called “A Story in White” by a Scottish band called Aereogramme.

After moving from Suffolk to London friends who were all playing in other bands helped out to develop the sound from Edd’s initial songs. A collaborative ethos and atmosphere has undoubtedly made the Prego the band it is today.

The definitive line-up was reached last year. Three of us, Edd, Caspar (Williamson) and myself all hail from Suffolk originally, Dan (Best) is from South London and Alex (Walker) is from St. Albans. In your opinion, how is the music industry changing and what will the future be for bands, artists, etc?The music industry is very unpredictable, it seems in a constant state of flux and it’s hard to gauge what’s going to happen.

The advent of new technologies, although in many ways is a liberating and positive thing has also caused a huge amount of turmoil. Music is more accessible which makes it

easier to get your music out there and heard - ostensibly a good thing. At the same time it is devaluing the recorded music side of things and making music more disposable than ever – the shear volume of recorded music available on a day to day basis is making it harder for anything to have any real resonance with the general public unless it is spoon fed to saturation point with an expensive marketing campaign

I think people have been buying music on a track by track basis for the last few years. In the pop world it’s less about the album as a body of work and more about getting one or two great tracks out there to promote the live side of things or get syncs for a soundtrack, film or TV program, where there is more chance of making money now.

Musicians will still continue to make great music for the compulsive love of doing what they do, but it’s about diversifying to survive - viewing the band as a brand and having to try and make some income through folks buying into it as a label or representation of lifestyle as opposed to just owning the record for their collection.How do you manage the band, who makes the decisions and why?Prego has always been fiercely independent, probably through a strong sense of maintaining control over all aspects of what we do. We are being looked after at the moment by a great guy called Iain Baker who is a DJ on NME radio. All action though, is always taken through consultation with us all.

It has always been important to work closely with people who really love what we do in whatever capacity they are helping us, they are usually (or have become) great friends. Guy Massey, for example, who recorded the album, or Grant Berry who filmed, directed and edited the videos we’ve made - both amazingly supportive and humble guys.

Within the band each member has their own trusted responsibility – Caspar does all the artwork and screen printing for sleeves and t- shirts. Dan and I spend hours in Dan’s studio on pre-production and experimenting with sounds. Edd deals with the day-to-day communications as well as being the principal songwriter. Alex edits video content for the website and Myspace. It’s a combined effort.In days gone by A&R would have picked you up, given you a deal whereby you’d have all signed away a fortune to invest in making your

first ‘major’ (signed) album and then gone on to promote and part-fund the tour and subsequent albums. What’s changed and why?The process is still pretty much the same if you are talking about major labels, it’s just of late this model only works for pop music. There is very little artist development these days and whereas previously a label would be prepared to lose some money on the first record to break the band - the second and third albums making them the money, this seems just too much of a risk right now. Majors will, it seems, only sign an act guaranteed to make them money, understandable really!

Because there are very few development deals being offered by major labels a lot of the early development of a band has to come from the members themselves and any support they can get from around them, putting out early releases on small labels to get themselves heard and touring as and when they can.

What seems to be happening is that once a band starts down this route and becomes relatively successful they realise they don’t actually need a big record company unless they want to do some massive worldwide marketing campaign. The system has essentially been beaten and the music is more cohesive and better off for it too.Your new album has been completely funded by the band with considerable investment, what was the thinking behind this and why?We had been playing the tunes for a while and done some cool shows with some great bands, built a good following and had some major label interest. This interest fell flat when the industry realised there was no money in the deals they had been signing acts up to, and refused to sign anything that wouldn’t sell 300,000 records to recoup their costs.

We collectively thought ‘it’s now or never!’, Guy (Massey) kept saying he’d do the record if we could pay for studio time. The opportunity presented itself and we jumped at it.

We started pre-production in April 2009 in Dan’s studio and spent all the spare time making sure we knew exactly what we were doing for every track - making detailed notes on sound settings and tempos, recording the songs and sending them to Guy for feedback. By the time we went into the studio it was like a well oiled machine and we saved ourselves loads of time and money!

I guess the outcome of this is that we are all immensely proud of the record and feel very close to it as we invested so much care and time in it.Prego has a healthy 7,000+ Myspace ‘friends’. But it seems that the subsequent surge in popularity, and now ultimate saturation of Myspace with musicians can you see the wood for the trees being on there? What/where do you think the next step is for aspiring artists?Hard to say. For the bands that have benefitted from such platforms, Arctic Monkeys as one example, the hype around them was really just as much about Myspace as it was the band. But the band had a huge amount of buzz surrounding them and a great fan base, they’d have been a big success regardless.

The next evolution of the benefits and functions of Myspace for the musician or independent label is the notion of using the data collected through any band site or fan site to pinpoint the right demographic in cyber space or indeed the real world. For example which blogs to write on and where to concentrate marketing and promotion – trying to get the right product to the right fans as efficiently as possible. What is the future for Prego, and how will this be achieved? (if you can tell us)Well it’s really about getting the album out there at the moment. We’re looking at a few different options and the best way to make sure it gets to the right ears. Response from friends, musicians and generally creative people who have heard it so far has been that it is an important record and needs to be heard by the whole world, so we’ll see if we can make that happen!

PrEGO!INTErVIEw BY sTEVE PrIcE

PhOTOGraPh: JasON TEmPLEwww.TEmPLEarTs.cO.Uk

PrEGO / www.mYsPacE.cOm/PrEGOmUsIc

chaNTELLE FIDDY shaNE rJ waLTEr NIk rOOPE DaLJIT sINGh

5xquestions4xpioneers

1 Do you prefer to do it alone, or collaborate? I love doing it. Full. Bloody. Stop. But without something or someone to bounce off I can get stale, like a loaf of bread disregarded by a fat feeder on the Atkins diet. And that’s just wrong. I’m a strong believer that to conquer and achieve the best results you need people to come together. And remember, together we stand, united we fall (over ourselves at how endless the possibilities are). 2 When was the last time you collaborated and who with? Nearly every day I find myself collaborating in some sense of the word. Just today I’ve been discussing, with a group of American entrepreneurs, putting on a concert in Amsterdam due to the fact so many street artists can’t get a show in the UK without the police locking it off. But my proudest collaboration so far in 2010 would be the Rave 4 Haiti, put together by Ctrl.Alt.Shift, True Tiger & SomeNight, back in January. We only had three days to organise it and relied on the good will and efforts of countless DJs, MCs, artists, volunteers and media contacts to pull it off. We reached full capacity at 10.30pm and had to turn away well over 1,000 ravers but with around £10,000 collected on the night, we did our bit for both Haiti and the homegrown music scene. 3 How do you like to collaborate - with new people, people you know, strangers in the night, or with students?You need to think on your toes, know your ass from your elbow... If you tick those boxes, whether I know your name or not, it’s likely we can work something out. Twitter has proved most interesting for random collaborations. Afterall, that’s how we met, over a shared love of something I can’t even remember it’s that irrelevant. 4 With the design industry constantly shifting and changing direction, do you see collaboration becoming more or less popular?I’m no psychic but in my world it’s becoming increasingly hard to go it alone. The age of chaos we live in demands multi-tasking at all levels, quick solutions, fresh ideas at the drop of a hat... for that you need collaboration. Also, with cultures and music merging more than it’s ever done before, such collision of creativity requires cooks from a variety of kitchens. Get me?5 If you could collaborate with one person, who would it be?Nicki Minaj. She’s a rapper with Young Money (Lil Wayne’s camp) if you’re not down with the kids. Like a Lil Kim for 2010. Having first caught my attention thanks to her massive Barbie necklace, with a shared love of plastic dolls, give us a designer, Jeremy Scott perhaps, and I think Nicki and I could revolutionise Barbie’s brand amongst generation Z.

Chantelle Fiddy is editor of www.ctrlaltshift.co.uk and the bi-annual magazine, an edgy current affairs publication aimed at using popular culture to turn 18-25 year olds on to social injustice and global development. She also writes a monthly column for RWD Magazine and pens for Mixmag, SuperSuper, The Guardian, Dazed & Confused, Sunday Times Style.

1 Do you prefer to do it alone, or collaborate?I am a serial collaborator and love the idea of connecting with others on a base level but enjoy the unpredictable adventure you can get with you put ideas, people together – each components route never stays the same and invariably is altered to a more interesting trajectory2 When was the last time you collaborated and who with? On a daily basis. The last formal collaborative project was last week for the Red Bull Music Academy who approached onedotzero industries to visualise the travelling sound coming from Illustrious Company’s 3D sound-system in a soundclash between artists from Warp Records and Ninja Tune. The event took place in the loading bay of the Royal Albert Hall.

We pulled together a team of creative’s including Minivegas [Nexus], Quayola, Field and Tommi Traum to build a system that responds to the audio and MIDI values outputted by the sound-system. The result was an awesome blend of coding and design that delivered over 50 different looks throughout the night for 6 different recording artists, 2 record labels, 5 production companies, a great venue and an enlightened client. So a huge collaborative effort!

And of course a large recent collaborative project is the Decode Digital Design Sensations with the V&A Museum London that runs until April 11th3 How do you like to collaborate - with new people, people you know, strangers in the night, or with students?Other creatives I know well, some I don’t know at all, some I would love to. onedotzero is open and collaborative by nature at every level – across education, curation, venues, partners and clients.4 With the design industry constantly shifting and changing direction, do you see collaboration becoming more or less popular?I believe the idea of open source – essentially a collaborative process being a fundamental shift in whom we practice now to be a positive force for good. At its heart if is about essentially sharing to make thing better. Nice to be nice.5 If you could collaborate with one person, who would it be?Hard to answer but it would probably be connected to the global touring festival that kicks off in London in November 2011, onedotzero adventured in motion at the BFI Southbank. (Nice plug Mr Walters!)

Shane RJ Walter is the creative director of onedotzero [www.onedotzero.com] and onedotzero industries [www.onedotzero.tv] organisations that commission, produce promote and distribute progressive new ideas from surprising talent in moving image and beyond.

It’s from a book which I worked on with Rich Fulcher and Dave Brown (from The Mighty Boosh). We had some really good pub sessions where we just sat down over a few beers and came up with ideas for 50 illustrations to accompany Rich’s writing in the book.Because I do ‘funny’ and they do ‘funny’, it was a great combination of silly brains and we came out with some good stuff.

- Mr Bingo

wOrDs + ILLUsTraTION: mr BINGOwww.mr-BINGO.OrG.Uk