A design off

Steve Sponder posted this really cool video on the blog ages ago and it has given us an idea that may or may not work, but who knows, it's worth a try?

The idea is to have a design brief every month to promote something internally. For example, the concepts could encourage more people to use the bar, save more energy, car share, less meetings about having meetings etc. We could have a company poll to decide the winning concept and may be even give out a prize. A Boost bar at the very least!

We are only looking for a concept in A3/A4. If you want to do something more, that's up to you really. It's open to everyone, but I'd imagine you will need to be familiar with Photoshop.

The first brief is to create a new ID for 'The Dullard Llama'. There are no limits, anything goes. The brief is to just weird us out. Entries should in the form of a PDF and should be emailed to thedullardllama@lawtoncommsgroup.com

Good luck, but to give you some inspiration here are some definitions.

Dullard - a person who evokes boredom

Llama - a woolly-haired South American ruminant of the genus Lama, believed to be a domesticated variety of the guanaco: often used as a beast of burden

Lama - a Hebrew word meaning why

Lama - a priest or monk in Lamaism from Tibet or Mongolia

Lama - a title for a Tibetan religious teacher. Lamini is sometimes used as the female form.The name is similar to the Sanskrit term 'guru' The title can be used as an honorific title confered on a monk, nun or (in the Nyingma, Kagyu and Sakya schools) advanced tantric practitioner to designate their level of spiritual attainment and authority to teach

Web 2.0. What's it all about?

Web 2.0 is a bit of a digital marketing buzz word, but what is it all about? It might seem hard to get your head round, but here are two really interesting perspectives.

Welcome padawans

Welcome, I am the Dullard Llama, I have been training for over 100 hundred years perfecting the art of communications. The time has come for me to pass on this knowledge.

As one one of my forefathers said: "The cure for boredom is curiosity". However, be warned, there is no cure for curiosity.

This blog is a collection of thoughts and things from the curious world of communications. Use it wisely. With great knowledge comes great responsibilities.

This blog will support our new training initiative.

The teachings of a curious communicator

The Dullard Llama, with the help of the values team (and you), is launching a new training initiative. Although it's less of a formal programme and more of a knowledge sharing, inspiration type thing that is created and managed by us all. At least that's the plan.

What are the aims? There are five things we want this initiative to achieve;

Inspire people in the agency
Provoke thought and discussion about communications and interesting stuff
To help the agency do things better
To make the concept of training less boring and more accessible for everyone
To create a programme that is manageable and co-owned

Who is responsible? The Dullard Llama is approaching his disciples as we speak (it could be you). We want to make it very open and anyone is welcome to take a session, although some will be expected to!

When and where will the talks take place? People will be doing the talks in the bar during lunch breaks for one hour. There is no schedule in place and the aim is for it to be quite fluid. We will try and give as much notice as we can.

What will the talks be about? There's going to be a mix of the thought provoking and the practical, but ultimately it is up to you. You can sit back, relax and listen to your colleagues or get involved. A bit of both would be nice.

What's next?
Chris Buckley will be doing the first talk. The current title of it is, 'Enquiring Minds and the importance of questioning'. The date is yet to be confirmed. We'll let you know as soon as possible.

In the meantime please drop us an email @ thedullardllama@lawtoncommsgroup.com if you would like to share something with everyone and we'll do all the organising. This will only work if people get involved. Go on, you know you want to!

About the curious reading list

These books can be borrowed from the planning team. The catch is they must be signed out, returned within 2 weeks and you must write a 100 word review on this blog.

Any person wishing to add their books to this list please feel free to let me know.

About the curious list of blogs

This list has been created to provide you with an up to date view on the latest thinking and stuff from the world of communications.

It is a growing list, so please feel free to let me know your favourites.