No, not your typical day in the neighbourhood but a new social group set up by 3 people, one of them being our very own Head of Noise Mike.

The premise of the group is to act as a support network for those in creative positions who have a business development function as part of their role. Meeting on the first Wednesday of every month, they hope the evening acts as a place to meet new people, expand your network and share best practice.

As the group states; “Business cards are banned and leave your elevator pitch at home, all we ask is that you bring one positive and one negative thing you’ve encountered within business development during the month before”.

The first evening launched with lively debate on processes currently employed within respective roles, viral marketing and dreaded cold calling!! Overall impressions judged the evening to be a success and they hope future meet ups bring the same diversity (and banter!). Follow them or check out their website here.

There are many interesting nights to be found in Manchester throughout the year, in particular Manifest - the annual Manchester Animation Festival organized by Wes Westley (Creative Director at CITV and owner of the second largest online animation components shop) and Steve Boot (one the region's most well known and well loved animators).

As the flyer made clear for those that hadn’t been before, “It’s not really a festival as such but a good chance to have a catch up with other people involved in the local animation industry and have a drink”

This is a night where those working within more traditional broadcast animation fields can come and chew the industry fat, make some new contacts and sample some of the best animation shorts on offer. Wes welcomed everyone with a warm smile, and encouraged any newbies to mingle with the regulars.

Several studios were represented on the night including, amongst others, Mackinnon and Saunders, Kilogramme, and CITV. We also saw highlights from Aardman and Spike Jonze.

The event has been running for a few years now, and with the calibre of work on show this year will no doubt continue to grow.

Bigger, Better, Brighter, Bolder... Though not quite the 'official' rallying call from the Design Business Association, this was a sentiment endorsed by Tim Hill, Executive Director of Siegel+Gale who gave great insight into selling branding on a global scale at a recent DBA event in Manchester.

Delivering engaging and inspiring ideas is central to our creative approach as a studio, and essential at a client and brand level which is why Mike and Jon were there to explore what this means for us as a business interacting with an international audience.

Tim was quick to stress the importance of market knowledge; understanding tastes and cultural differences at a global-local level is vital, as something that works in the UK doesn’t guarantee results elsewhere. His enthusiastic vision for the future was also apparent... from digital converging with traditional principles, to new opportunities in Asia and the Far East.

His final point on identity was extremely reassuring: Be authentic, be proud, create great teams, live by your identity and make your culture part of it.

Remember this?

Well, we were thrilled to hear that the Saucy Fish Co. TV ad has been swimming its way up to Glasgow, where it appears to be hitting home creatively as well as gastronomically with a group of young students.

In Bellahouston Academy, a class of talented art pupils inspired by Tracy Worrall's fishy illustrations have created some fantastic paintings of their own to illustrate a recipe booklet. The project is a collaboration between the Art and Home Economics department, and sees the students experimenting with graphic design from an advertising perspective.

You can read more about this project, and see some of the fabulous artwork they created here.

Once every 3 months all the hoodies gather together for Show and Tell - an informal opportunity for everyone to talk a little about what they've been working on. As we continue to grow, we've found this to be a great way for each of us to keep sight of the multifaceted work that goes on here be that creative production, development wizardry, or behind the scenes graft.

This month we covered a whole spectrum of topics from growing up as a studio, developing our processes and growing our team, to the relationships we are continuing to build with exciting clients like Land Securities and Heston Blumenthal. Others chose to articulate their craft... the importance of selecting just the right viewpoint, or the reason behind being 'particular' about reflection. We also got an insight into the activities that go on here to enrich the culture of the studio, such as skill sharing, internal design projects, and the fun you can have with an Xbox Kinect!

We are excited to see what the next few months bring and look forward to sharing this with you!

Good stories have the ability to capture the imagination on a personal level, but when a story takes hold of the public imagination and allows their participation within it the effect can be extremely powerful. For 3 days in April the city of Liverpool was brought to a standstill by crowds of people gathered in awe at the spectacle of giants walking the city's streets. What they were witnessing was a 3 day event, a story commemorating the 100th anniversary of the Titanic disaster unfolding at an epic scale.

Sea Odyssey is the brainchild of French street theatre company Royal De Luxe and tells the story of a giant who died on the Titanic, his orphaned little girl, the girl's dog and her uncle, a diver who has spent a century trying to retrieve her father's last letter from the bottom of the ocean. The story took place around the north of the city culminating in the union of the girl and her uncle as they were lowered onto a boat and sailed away up the Mersey. The effect was spellbinding, inhabitants and visitors alike have been captivated by the spectacle, being transported back to their childhood in a scene from a fairytale.

Perhaps what is most encouraging about this event is that in an age when attention spans are supposedly decreasing and our collective sense of place under threat from the growth of technology, there was a real public display of engagement and ownership of the 3 day story, and a renewed sense of identity and civic pride. The mixture of story, neighbourhood pride and hope on display certainly warms our hearts here. Let's hope we see more projects on this scale in our cities in the near future.

Say hello to our two newest hoodies Luke and Leila!

After rubbing shoulders with Simon Cowell - and half the population of the British Isles - working as a runner on Britain's Got Talent, Leila has joined us as our new Studio Assistant and the friendly face of the neighbourhood. Luke is our new 3D Artist from across the pond - Australia to be precise. Luke has been working in the UK for a few years now but has moved up north to join the neighbourhood, and by all accounts is still getting used to the wonderfully idiosyncratic Manchester weather!

You can read more about them on our about us page, but in the meantime we asked them to answer some burning questions...

Your role at the neighbourhood in 5 words?
Luke: Inspire, create, innovate, storytelling, 3D
Leila: Welcomer, Biscuit buyer, Financer, Oddjobber, PhoneVoicer

Favourite 'craft' related thing to do?
Luke: Photography and finding ways to use it in creative ways.
Leila: Making boring things look pretty.

Chippy Friday or Biscuit Wednesday?
Luke: Chippy Friday, although both are foreign concepts to me!
Leila: Chippy Friday (Savoury Forever).

What's on your 'walkman'?
Luke: A healthy variety from Beastie Boys to Gorillaz to Fleetwood Mac and everything in between
Leila: Beyonce.

Special skill?
Luke: I have the strange ability to read text upside down and back to front. I'm still waiting for the day this will come in handy.
Leila: I speak Portugese.

They say you should never meet your heroes, so when Blab announced it had secured the services of Peter Saville and Vaughan Oliver for its 10th talk both excitement and trepidation (no one wants to be disappointed by their idol) were generated in equal measures amongst the loyal, clued up Blab crowd.

Both are considered great visionaries for their contribution to design, and rightly so.  Over the course of a 60-minute timeslot each highlighted a retrospective of their collection which proved that point with great humility and humour. Peter Saville preferred a Q+A with Blab founder Matt Booth asking a range of  questions submitted by Northern Digitals members. Whereas Vaughan Oliver opted for the more traditional speaker stance, taking the audience through his career by way of a presentation (all 153 slides of it!).

What’s not to like about Saville’s Factory output, or Oliver’s Pixie record sleeve creations? Both these men deserve the positions they are in today be it through hard work and creativity, or a bit of Mancunian bravado! They are who they are because of what they’ve achieved.

Whilst some skeptics in the room may have expected big egos and old guard clichés, we were actually met with two warm and individual personalities speaking honestly and genuinely about doing something they love in changing times. They won us over that evening because they spoke from the heart and told it like it was, and had been. They were true to themselves and in this media savvy, ephemeral age of the ‘next big thing’, that’s iconic enough.

At the neighbourhood we very much believe in building a community of likeminded individuals who share a passion for creativity and storytelling. We have gained a lot from our extended family of collaborators and co-conspirators, and so we like to give something back where we can.

Over the past 2 weeks we have enjoyed the company of Tom, Sarah, and Jack - 3 very talented final year students from the LJMU/Stockport College Moving Image course. We asked Sarah to give us some insight into her thoughts about entering the 'industry'...

"As a graduate entering the industry in just a few short weeks, it’s pretty daunting to think about 'the real world' and understanding what that word ‘Industry’ actually means. These past two weeks have been a great eye opener in appreciating what the future may bring. I came here with a knowledge of the visually stunning work that the studio produces, but I have also discovered the richness in personalities and talents that The Neighbourhood has to offer. The inviting studio culture encouraged here is second to none; I have felt very welcomed and useful to ‘the hoodies’ I have been placed with, consistently learning new skills and shaping my professional ambitions. Nobody is too busy to answer questions or give advice, even when they are working on big projects, and I feel much more prepared for what awaits me over the next few weeks."

We are really pleased to be able to give something back to promising, young individuals. Hopefully we can continue to nurture and share, and expand the future of our neighbourhood.

(p.s. thanks for the cakes!)

Here at The Neighbourhood, collaboration is in our DNA, and we built our studio to facilitate team working in a shared working environment.

We've a busy spring and summer of multi-disciplinary projects coming up, and are looking for a few new freelance roles to extend our growing full-time teams, to work here with us in our studio.

Firstly, we'd like to meet two Senior Architectural 3D Artists for a 2-3 month assignment in the studio.

Whilst we're here, we're also on the look out for freelance Digital Project Managers (working across online and touch applications), again for 2-3 month assignments.

And we’re always on the lookout for freelance Senior Creatives and thinkers, with a strong multi-platform storytelling approach.

If any of those float your boat, we'd love to hear from you - drop us a line to collaborate@the-neighbourhood.com.

There are several office buildings in London that boast fantastic skyline views for their occupants, but it’s very rare to find one as special as this.

This extract from our marketing images for 62 Buckingham Gate in Victoria, celebrates the unique view from the top floor terrace – a view which includes Buckingham Palace, The Mall and St James’ Park.

The building, currently under construction, is one of the ‘jewels’ within Land Securities’ expansive vision for the redevelopment of the Victoria area over the coming years.

The building is due for completion in April 2013, but if you can’t wait that long – have a look at our full project here.

The Neighbourhood is very much as it sounds; a diverse community with a broad range of skills. We love to share our community spirit with the wider world, and one way we do this is through working with universities to help inspire and develop the upcoming talent. Recently our 3D Artist/Innovation developer Stuart Dearnaley and Lead Creative Rob Millington headed off to give presentations to university students in both Huddersfield, and Salford. The students involved came from mixed media and computer science courses, so the guys had a chance to talk about some of the more innovative and technical areas we have been developing, such as projection mapping and physical computing. Here's what Stu had to say about it...

“I think it's great for us to get involved with students as they progress through their chosen courses, as that's where a lot of future talent will emerge from. We went to present the studio, give advice on how we see the future of innovation developing, discuss what we'd be looking for in potential 'new recruits', and hopefully give them some general inspiration. Whilst at Huddersfield we also had chance to meet some of the students individually, which allowed them to share with us some of the things they have been working on. There were some really interesting ideas being presented and I'm looking forward to heading back to see the work at the end of year show.”

Back in our neighbourhood we're hoping to continue to build on these relationships, and to start up new ones, so neighbourhood nerds Stu and Rob may be appearing in a lecture room near you soon!
 

Ah the sun, that beautiful, wonderful ball of hot gas and vapour that burns so brightly and warms us all with its radiant glow. Thank you sun! One member of the team who has recently returned from foreign lands where the sun is actually a permanent resident is our Head of Noise. Back in February Mike made the pilgrimage to Australia, not just an overspill for us Brits, but also a thriving culturally diverse metropolis whose lust for life is as infectious as it is boundless.

Melbourne, Sydney and Airlie Beach were stop offs during his 3 week trip, during which he’s seen ex pat and former Neighbourhood employee Phil, Harry Kewell (from a distance), baby penguins (from 10 metres), dolphins and baby tiger sharks, manta rays and turtles... and great icons of Sydney including ‘the iron lung’, the Opera House, and the Whitsundays. Along with some breathtaking scenery he’s met some wonderful people from all nationalities - Facebook friends for life! It can be said he’s had the trip of a lifetime. So much so that he’d quite like a Neighbourhood Sydney office!! (There’s already a neighbourhood hotel – no connection)

Even though technology can bring the world closer together it sometimes cannot beat the real life experience.

Welcome to our brand new, Tony Hart inspired feature 'What's On Our Wall?'; bringing you insight into the artwork and aphorisms adorning our studio surroundings. This week we're focusing on Manchester and macaques!

Since moving into our studio back in October 2010, we have been doing the green thing and reducing waste by re-using our old business stationery with a cool sticker twist! However, as 2012 dawned and stocks dwindled we thought it was about time to design some new additions to our letterheads, and so began a mini internal competition. The 'winning designs' were illustrated by Michelle and Chris, who had these words respectively...

'I got to thinking about how holiday postcards tell you a story about their origins and hint at the landscape from which they derived. Why not capture the same thing in a letter? Since we communicate with people all over the country, I wanted to convey to them a sense of our neighbourhood and the Manchester cityscape that we interact with daily... with a bit of artistic license of course!'

'My design was inspired by the David Attenborough TV series, Life. I got the book a couple of Christmas's ago and have been wanting to draw some of the creatures for a while. After drawing a few of the animals (mainly primates) I decided to work up one of the playful Japanese macaques. I then gave him a Neighbourhood twist by setting the little fella up in a street party scene.'

We hope you like them! And if you keep your eye on the blog, you might spot a little bit more macaque action soon!

Tuesday evenings are fast becoming ‘get out there and learn something new’ days for us! We’ve recently been to a couple of great talks at the Cornerhouse, so the ‘Tools and Trends on the Horizon’ workshop was certainly something we were looking forward to. We sent Mike and Rob down to take a look...

Presented by Martin Bryant the talk highlighted applications that are adding value to our everyday working lives and covered themes such as collaboration in the shape of Wunderkit, and social sensibility via Taskrabbit and Skill Share. There were far too many apps covered to mention here but those of note included ‘Proximity based Networking’ apps Highlight and Sonar for new introductions and missed opportunities. Flipboard - a ‘social magazine’ created from user generated content based on what your friends look at - seemed really promising, as did Ommwriter - an app that allows you to create an inspiring writing environment (for budding JK Rowlings!). And if you fancy doing something different in your spare time, try Gidsy!

The session ended with a glance to the future; apps with the Fun Factor such as Pinterest the social peg board, 18million users and counting. Existing platforms such as Soundcloud and Path growing into fully fledged networks in their own right. Add to that ‘The internet of things’, Apple TV, NFC and 4G and we have technology that will not only change the world around us but more importantly how we interact with it.

Since moving into our new studio last October, we've been expanding the team with several new faces, including Kathryn, Hannah, Rob, Brett, John, Leila, and not one, but two Steve's.

As our philosophy of building worlds and telling stories continues to bloom, we're looking to expand our neighbourhood some more.

We're now looking for a Creative Technologist - which is one of those zeitguisty job titles which is hugely open to interpretation. Depending on who you ask it's either a role that has already passed its sell-by date, or a role that every agency needs.

We're not too hung up on job titles here, but to find out our take on this role, just take a look at our Join Us section.

And if this sounds like a role that could be up your street, get in touch!

Here at The Neighbourhood you'll often find members of the team dabbling with experimental Creative Technology all in the name of research and development. In another life designers were designers, and techies were...well, nerds! Nowadays the line in the sand is becoming blurry as we move towards a more encompassing approach. We were flattered to appear in the April issue of Digital Arts magazine as they explore this exciting meeting point of creativity and technology, and decided to ask our Lead Creative Rob how he feels about his new found fame as a nerd. Here's what he had to say...

"When I was a young boy I didn’t dream of becoming a fully fledged nerd. I, like many other youngsters, wanted to be a footballer, a fireman or perhaps a fighter pilot. But 20 years later here I am, as part of The Neighbourhood featured with Stu Dearnaley, in the Digital Arts Get Your Nerd On feature article. Somewhere along the line I swapped playing at the world cup for England, battling fierce fires and shooting down enemy planes for thinking about interaction methods, tinkering with electronics and sitting in dark rooms.

Apparently we are involved in this year's up-and-coming trend ‘experiential’ design. Binding together thinking, design, electronics, projections, coding and anything else we can get our hands on to create new and exciting projects."

It's officially time to Get Your Nerd On!

They say there's no such thing as bad publicity which may not be a bad thing as we seem to be getting a fair share of media spotlight at the moment. In addition to the Fat Duck story mushrooming across the blogosphere we are proud to be included in the Computer Arts 'Studio Life' series this month alongside some of our favourite studios.

Inside March's magazine Neighbourhood founders Jon and Ben talk through their influences and the background to developing the studio across a very colourful 6 page spread! On the accompanying DVD (graced with the shy and retiring Stu and Chris) you'll find a 15 minute documentary directed by Paul Wyatt taking a tour around our space and exploring what we are all about in a little more depth. You can watch the film here. We hope it provides some additional behind the scenes insight into how we work here.

Right, time to lie low for a bit and get back to work!

Far be it from us to have the last word on what has been an incredible journey with Heston we’d thought we’d leave it up to those better equipped at summing up the work, like you lot out there!

Freshly plucked from the digital ether, you can find some of our favourite musings describing the online reservation experience created for Heston Blumenthal’s Fat Duck restaurant here, here, here and here... and some very lovely sentiments on Mr Blumenthal from bloggers here, here, and here!

“If I were to do LSD ever, this is probably how my acid trip would be like”

There was an international guest list at Madlabs last week as Mike and Rob joined a handful of people eager to learn more about the growing appreciation for digital storytelling.

Dr Luke Dickens from Goldsmith University in London started proceedings by highlighting certain processes and principles around the discipline, and then showcasing his work on the Salford Boys Clubs “Tales from the Camp” project.

Steve Daigneault, Senior Vice President at M+R Strategic Services also joined the group live from New York via Skype to give an insight into their work with third sector not for profit groups, and to express the need to “Champion the hero” within fundraising activity.

Having thanked Steve it was then a short journey to Seattle (via the aid of Skype) to meet Kirsty who brought proceedings to a close but not before speaking of her work with Techsoup.

What was clearly evident from all speakers was not only the passion they have for their art but how digital technology can break down social boundaries and stigmas and bring people together from all backgrounds to have their stories, and more importantly their voices heard.

As part of Exposures and the UK wide BAFTA events program, the Cornerhouse has been running a series of interesting filmmaking lectures. Last week we caught a Masterclass in Cinematography with Erik Wilson, speaking on such topics as sandwiches, big cheese and the element of surprise!

Wilson gave an interesting insight into his career to date, from paying his dues shooting corporate videos in the early days to more recently getting his 'big break' with Warp Films. Rather than work his way up through the traditional ranks, Wilson's ethic has been to 'shoot shoot shoot' learning much along the way, and developing an exceptional intuition for cinematography (yet no giant ego to speak of!)

Interestingly Wilson's attitude on film versus digital is unexpectedly non-purist, instead using the equipment available to achieve the best results within the constraints of the budget or the requirements of the script. The two feature films he has worked on to date are good examples of this, with Submarine shot largely on Super 35, and Tyrannosaur shot on digital, with the night scenes created on a Canon 5D!

Overall a very talented yet humble chap, and we're already looking forward to his next project with Richard Ayoade - a comedy based on Dostoyevsky's classic The Double.

BBC's The Magicians returned to the box in January, and with it a few slight tweaks to the title sequence we created first time round with The Council.

Our animator Chris gives an insight into the making of with a 16 step After Effects tutorial for Digital Arts magazine. Featuring some 'magical' tips and tricks to achieve depth with 2D elements, and glowing floaty orbs with CC Particle effects.

Check it out here.

'Just like that!'

This year was probably the closest we have come yet to the BAFTAs... with our friends over at Zelig creating the music stings, and the inimitable John Hurt (aka: narrator of 'Like A Kid in a Sweet Shop') deservedly walking away with the award for Outstanding Contribution to British Cinema.

Watching the ceremony we couldn't help but be impressed by the standard and diversity of up and coming British talent in the Outstanding Debut category, with nominations for the likes of first time feature directors (but well known industry figures) Ralph Fiennes, Richard Ayoade and Joe Cornish.

It was also very interesting to note the culture of collaboration and cross-pollination within the British film scene with category winner Paddy Considine (director of Tyrannosaur) also appearing in the cast of  Ayoade's film Submarine, and cinematographer Erik Wilson creating the stunning photography for both films.

Even more exciting is the fact that Wilson (also known for his work on British music videos) will be giving a craft masterclass in cinematography at the Cornerhouse next week. Perhaps we'll see you there?!

Love is in the air for February's Creative Sessions, with Valentine's Day on the doorstep. But you won't find any candy hearts or cupid arrows here, oh no! Instead you'll find hoodies with a soft spot for stationery and a penchant for Postmen and Pantone, a hankering for handcrafted bike frames and a fondness for French film. And, if you look hard enough you might even find collaborators with a love of sci-fi and futuristic geekery!

If your passion is more for adventure and adrenaline highs though, then you might like this home video of resident innovator Stu learning to fly (and loving it!). Or how about the thrill of the chase in Shapeshifter, a beautiful piece of animation by NY studio Charlex?

And finally, to serenade you on this day of love here are some inspired one-shot, music videos by Bombay Bicycle Club.

Our new online presence for our friends at Hawkins Brown Architects has just gone live.

Hawkins\Brown are a rare breed amongst architects, and creative studios generally. With over 70 staff, they are an established practice of significant size, but have maintained an approach which is intelligent and professional, yet eclectic, expressive and playful.

When we got to know their studio, and their work, initially through our work on Corby Cube, we discovered a very open and progressive studio. There existed an atmosphere which was very different to many other architects offices we have visited, with a really vibrant collaborative culture existing in the studio, a passion for storytelling and craft, and an engaged and involved team.

We wanted to reflect this in an online presence which would provide a 'slice' through the studio, and to move beyond the 'portfolio' site often associated with architects websites. We wanted to give the stories, the journeys, the sketches and the creative thinking behind the projects an opportunity to be told. We wanted to reveal and celebrate the collaborative culture of the studio, and give the whole team the opportunity to share their influences and insights.

The final execution for the site brings some of these considerations to the fore.

Take a look see, here.

To further pursue an R&D project, Rob and Stu headed over to Fablabs in Manchester to have some fun with their Shopbot CNC Router.

We wanted to see how the process happened, to test out the smoothness of the insulation foam after milling and how the machine dealt with curved and angled shapes.

The process took longer than expected (around 45 minutes for a rough pass and a fine pass for each 17cm x 17cm x 10cm block) but the results were pleasing.

Next step something bigger!

You can never have too much inspiration and we believe one of the most infectious forms of inspiration is to hear about people's passions first hand.

In addition to our monthly team inspiration lunches we are also inviting external speakers to come and tell us about what they do, how they do it and what makes them tick.

As longtime fans of local legend Brendan Dawes we thought it timely to hear what the man had to say for himself. Quite a lot, thankfully.

We were entertained, informed and enchanted by his refreshing approach to the art of making stuff, on being a generalist, serendipity and a whole host of lovely tangents.

You too can enjoy a bit of Brendan via his website, with this talk about 6 things he thinks are important in interactive design, or go buy his new invention POPA.

Following the success of our talk at the fantastic show and tell / ’not-working’ event Glug in London in 2010, organisers Studio Output invited us down to speak again, this time at their biggest event yet - the 2011 Christmas Special.

Jon, our Creative Director hit the 1,000 strong audience with a bit of Northern inspiration with a curiously titled talk, 'Fish, Smink and the Cubic Tree of Light' - a cross section through some of our recently completed projects.

With a stellar line of the UK's top design studios, the evening was jam packed with inspiration including Jason Bruges' behind the scenes stories about public art commissions, the always entertaining Mr Bingo, Studio Output's baptism by fire into the world of projection mapping, and Airside's  final swan song from the UK design scene.

You can watch Jon's talk here. 

We recently finished this cinema advert in collaboration with our friends at Hemisphere, to promote the exhibition ‘Once Upon A Wartime’ at the Imperial War Museum North.

The exhibition explores themes of loyalty, separation, excitement, survival and identity, through the true life inspiration behind five powerful books for children. War Horse, Carrie's War, The Machine Gunners, The Silver Sword and Little Soldier all look at the experiences of war and conflict through a child’s eyes.

The final piece is currently airing in cinemas in the North of England, and can be viewed here.

As part of our developing laboratory of creative technology, last week we received our first shipment of Arduino parts.

Like two excited young children Stu and Rob took some time out to explore the box.

Our first experiment was to setup a temperature sensor and the 16x2 line LCD display. Just about a 100% success.

The figures being sent to the LCD are slightly out, something to do with the mathematics that convert the sensor voltage to a celsius temperature. To be investigated!

Cracking TV land can be hard at the best of times (just ask Timmy Mallett). One minute you're a prime time show-stopper, the next you're tomorrow’s fish ‘n’ chip paper! Ouch...

So, to have not just one but two projects created by the team here in flagship spots on BBC, ITV, digital and satellite channels is, well, something to shout about.

And before you ask Strictly Come Dancing sadly haven't been in touch with our Stu regarding his efforts at the Christmas party. No, our work for the Saucy Fish Company and The Magicians is on TV!

The new series of the Magicians has just started to air on Saturday evenings on BBC1, with a new presenter and new acts along with our refreshed titles and graphics package. Catch up with the series here.

Over on ‘the other side’, following initial rave reviews from early trials in both the Yorkshire and South-West regions (resulting in some supermarkets selling out!) - the Saucy Fish TV campaign has gone national. See the advert we created here or watch out for it on your screens during the ad breaks of some of the nations favourite evening programmes. Lets make 'Fish Without the Fuss' a tea time classic!

It's December... there is a winter chill in the studio and the sweet smell of gluhwein permeates the Manchester atmosphere... it's time for Creative Sessions!

Though not specifically Christmas themed, the festive force was still strong as we took a peek at a whole range of treats including the white knuckle ride that is the Isle of Man TT and a fun Japanese musical toy called an Otamatone (think Stylophone minus Rolf Harris, plus cute character design).

Continuing along the musical theme we absorbed the eerie whale song of the Waterphone and saw what happens when Music meets Cliff Richard. We then took a detour on the London Bus until we arrived at this great collaborative illustration blog paying tribute to the 'masters'...

And if you like that then we'll leave you with a pictures-based game, after all  - what's Christmas without a bit of friendly competition!

So, back in October 2010, we moved into our new studio. We thought it would be a nice idea to launch our new digital home at the same time.

It wasn't quite ready when we moved, so we thought we'd put up a little holding page whilst we finished it off. There's no proof of this, but we're sure we can remember Ben saying "it’ll be ready in a couple of weeks, no problem.”

Then things got really busy. The projects were rolling in, and our own work never quite seemed to make it to the top of anyone's to-do list. The weeks turned into months, until the 'W' word became the elephant in the studio, and 12 months later we still, embarrassingly, had the same holding page.

Our friends at Music seem to have captured what may be a familiar process for many on their site. (Have a look at their list, and their beautiful work while you’re at it!)

A lot's changed for us in last year – we’ve settled into our new home, we’ve grown the team, and even our lovely studio illustration by Chris Gray has made way for one by Matt Saunders.

But, thankfully, we're now launching. We'd still call this site a work in progress, but in the words of Seth Godin - we need to ship!

Huge thanks to our regular collaborators Stuart Preece and Andrew Disley for their hard work and persistence!.

We hope you like it, let us know what you think!

Building worlds and story-telling are subjects close to our hearts at The Neighbourhood. Finding the most engaging way to communicate information, ideas, anecdotes, anything really.

There is good reason for this, humans are hard wired with imagination, making connections, embellishing, creating worlds and narratives of their own out of small pieces of information.

It explains why kids can become absorbed in a game with a cardboard box, why people 'discover' hidden meanings and conspiracies in album covers. It’s that innate search for context and meaning that made The DaVinci Code a worldwide best seller, even if the 'facts' are questionable. We all want to believe.

It was with interest that we stumbled upon this study by two psychologists in 1944 called 'An Experimental Study of Apparent Behaviour'. They played an abstract animation of simple geometric shapes interacting and asked people for their responses as to what they thought was happening.

Many people anthropomorphised the shapes, imbuing them with personality that wasn't outwardly expressed within the animation. Was the circle kind? Was the triangle aggressive? Further proof of how sophisticated human perceptions are in creating meaning.

Take a look and do the test yourself.

This weekend, Rob and Stu started an adventure into electronics and coding.

They enrolled on the Beginners guide to Arduino and Physical Computing at Madlabs in Manchester. During the class they explored and discussed many different ways of creating electronic prototypes that gather information and allow interesting user interaction methods.

They then set to work interpreting this data digitally with Processing and pushing it back out to Arduino to LEDs and motors, and are opening up a whole new world of DIY electronics, interaction design and rapid prototyping.

So, before long, we might be doing things like this, or this, or this….. or even this…..

Watch this space!

Organised by Mr Matt "how on earth does he fit all this stuff in" Booth and Northern Digitals, Jon and Ben were delighted to be invited to talk at BLAB, alongside one of our design heroes Airside.

Jon and Ben took the audience through a quick journey through some of their personal creative history which has led us to this point with The Neighbourhood today, and concluded with an exclusive screening of our Heston Blumenthal Sweet-Shop project.

Thankfully our ambitious plan to give all 200+ people in the audience wireless headphones to immerse themselves in the binaural sound design (courtesy of Zelig Sound) - seemed to come off!

Although the event was back in April, the talk's now been published on the Northern Digitals site here.

We all love secret peeks into the lives of the rich and famous, seeing how the other half live. We're not particularly avid followers of Hello magazine but this little peek into the house of one of our heroes Pixar legend John Lasseter certainly inspired us.

So what's his house like?

Model railways running from room to room (Wallace and Gromit inspired perhaps?) Check.

Secret rooms and hidden staircases? Check.

Water park in the back garden? Check.

Wardrobe of vintage Hawaiian shirts? Of course!

Looks like a fun place to live, although we did expect the architecture to be a bit more John Lautner perhaps!

A lot of our work in The Neighbourhood involves an acute eye and attention to detail.

Lately, Jon Hey’s been standing outside shops with large floor to ceiling windows, manoeuvering himself and trying to pinpoint a viewing angle that gives equal visual weight to both the reflection in the glass and the view inside the shop.

Trying to see both this combined reflection and the view beyond in an instant is not that easy, because there are different focus points.

He tried this for 3 reasons.

Firstly, he’s inspired by Richard Estes - a 'photo-realist' artist whose work demonstrates the artful balancing of both reflection and transparency within a single composition.

Secondly, he’s always had a fascination and a frustration with trying to represent glass in architectural renderings. More often than not there's a requirement to show glass with maximum transparency to allow greater emphasis to the view beyond. The general perception is reflections are distracting and unnecessary, but instead they can tell so much more about the architecture and it's environment.

And thirdly, because that’s the kind of meticulous pursuit that sums up how we do things round here!

Our Senior Project Manager Vanessa is moving to pastures new this month. She is following her heart down to Brighton after finding the man of her dreams (ahhh!)

She doesn't so much leave big shoes to fill than lots of big shoes - there were 10 pairs stashed under her desk at the last count, we never imagined a person could ever need so many!

And so we welcome Kathryn, a multi-talented, multi-tasking Project Management Ninja fresh from TT and Hot Animation.

What attracted you to The Neighbourhood?
Firstly it was the work, the showreel blew me away! I love the different styles of animation, and the innovation and imagination. When I came for my interview I could tell it was a fun place to work, great people, great atmosphere and a great company ethos. Even being evacuated due to a fire alarm, just seconds before my interview couldn't put me off!

What have you been working on lately?
I've been working on the second series of an award winning children's TV show called 'What's Your News?' It's a news show for kids, presented by some crazy animated ants and an anteater called Antony. Obviously.

Favourite film?
Most recently I loved The King's Speech.

What's on the stereo at the moment?
Take That. It's a good job they're cool these days. (really?)

Unusual talent?
I can play the theme tune to Juliet Bravo on the piano.

Give us a quote of wisdom.
Smile and the world smiles back to you. Cheesy, but true. If you haven't done it in a while, why not give it a go.

It was a sad day, but one we knew would come around.

We called time out for Chris Gray's fine 'Welcome to The Neighbourhood' mural, which has adorned our wall for over a year. We said our murals would have a 6 month shelf life so lasting a full year is testament to how much we loved it.

So we welcome the multi talented Leeds illustrator Mr Matt Saunders, offering his unique quirky take on ‘the neighbourhood’.

Goodbye lost tribes, hello cat houses. Like houses, but with feline features of course!

Our Michelle’s a bit of a craft junky, and loves tinkering away on lots of different projects... if it involves art supplies, strange ideas and lots of mess then she’s there!

Over the last year she’s set up a small online presence under the pseudonym Bisabuela selling handmade jewellery, designed and made by Michelle right here in Manchester.

She tends to use resin in a lot of her work, as well as wood, fabric, real flowers, colourful paper ephemera, hand drawn elements and upcycled vintage bits and bobs.

Take a look at her blog which runs alongside her Folksy and Etsy stores, where she likes to write about what she’s been learning, or other work that inspires her by along the way.

Role at The Neighbourhood: 
Project Co-ordinator 

What are you working on at the minute:
Loads of exciting projects with some fantastic new clients. More internally, I’m working to help develop our internal processes for the architectural visualisation team.
 
Main aims of the brief:
To work with the team to find ways to improve our working process to enable more transparency and efficient workflow as we continue to grow as a studio.
 
Challenges overcome:
Well, I’m still relatively new to the studio so thoroughly understanding the existing processes!
 
Where can we see the finished project:
In a workshop near you! It will vary from project to project, but across all of our visualisation jobs there will be an element of the ‘processes’ involved.
 
Chippy Friday or Biscuit Wednesday? 
Both please. Thank you.

What are you doing at the weekend?
Looking for a new bike for my London-Paris cycle next year.
 
What’s the best thing about working at The Neighbourhood?
The future. There are so many exciting opportunities and new developments on the horizon, and the studio really nurtures everyone in it to grab these opportunities and make something of them.
 
What’s next?
Wait and see…

Our monthly lunchtime inspiration sessions took a new twist this month with a fitting Halloween theme.

Among the ghoulish delights being shared were an edited history of Ray Harryhausen's monster creations, some finely crafted pumpkins (the Lionel Ritchie one was particularly scary!) and a vintage Queens of the Stone Age video from Shynola.

We also discovered what happens when Dracula and Blaxploitation movies collide (Blackula!), the unexpected results of making an oversized paper mask of your own face, and a beautiful French CG short about the Grim Reaper's mischievous son who invents a more efficient way of collecting souls.

We are looking forward to the next themed session - Christmas anyone?

It often feels counter productive to think that you can do more by doing less. Passionate creatives are often some of the worst culprits for not switching off or taking a break.

A creative block is rarely solved by 'keeping on working at it'. Shifting perspectives, coming at things afresh from different angles, are part of the discipline of idea generation.

Changing your environment is one approach - and Ben, our MD took this to the extreme recently with a trip to the awe inspiring landscapes of Patagonia in South America.

Several wonders included this incredible sight - the Perito Moreno Glacier in Argentina. 20km deep, 5km wide and 70m high - an awe inspiring sight where one feels the true scale and power of nature. Mother Nature is the ultimate 'starchitect'.

Thankfully the glacier is relatively stable and currently is not retreating, in contrast to so many others around the world.

It does, however, move 2m every single day, with the resulting sights and sounds of the ice moving, cracking and falling.

It’s a moving experience, on every level, and a reminder to keep things in perspective!

Our Mike has never (touch wood) seriously done himself any physical harm in life - be it sport or otherwise. His pride has been dented on many an occasion, but on the whole nothing severely impressive accident wise. (Yes sadly, he’s a bit of a girl).

So, dislocating his finger and fracturing a bone in his hand playing for team ‘hood’ came as a bit of a shock*

Fortunately in his absence the team has gone from strength to strength, and currently find themselves top of Creative League 2 having gone unbeaten all season - scoring a whopping 122 goals in the process, and with Mike finding his strongest position (on the bench).

Team ‘hood are currently on course for promotion into the top tier of Creative (League) football where tougher tests await.

Follow our progress at the Creative Cup website, or via #creativeleague2 on Twitter.

*Finger’s fine thanks for asking

On the back of our new and improved personal development programme, 3D Artists Matt and Brett went for gold and shipped out to Venice for a few days! This wasn’t just a company funded jolly, there was actual work related stuff involved.

State of Art Academy were hosting an architectural visualisation conference which saw people from across the globe flying in. Artists from China to Mexico and many places in between all descended on a new hotel outside of the main town, the Move Hotel. (note, there is a ridiculous surcharge on jumping in a taxi from the airport!)

As they arrived the day before the conference began they soaked up some of the culture of Venice town. After polishing off some fine Italian cuisine and a bottle of red, they delved deeper into the maze that is Venice. (They suggest not bothering with maps, you’ll stumble across the most fantastic things just by using ‘the force’ and the odd rare sign!)

The conference itself didn’t disappoint either. A huge range of theories and workflows were showcased, and our particular thanks go to Mr Peter Guthrie who was so open with his methods and techniques.

The next 2 days were awash with lighting, materials, scatter software, RT software, speed painting, photography, Wacom previews...

So, a good trip, some great new acquaintances, and an array of new skills! What more could you ask for? See you there next time.

Our Like a Kid in a Sweetshop project has been gaining a few admirers lately, including the judges at this years Roses Design Awards.

We were thrilled to bring home 2 gold awards from the event at the Ramada Hotel in October: Best Digital Design and the overall Grand Prix of the evening.

A great night was had by all including our friends at Eskimo Creative who won a Silver in the Visual Design category for their sterling work on the Manchester Design Symposium.

Our dance floor action also won many accolades and admirers, but sadly no official award!

What links James Bond and porn producer Jackie Treehorn?

The answer is the architecture of American architect John Lautner who's remarkable designs have been exotic backdrops to many movies over the years.

He’s famed with being a part of the 'Googie' architecture movement, a curious form of futuristic Californian mid century modernism associated with the 'Atomic age'.

Defined by use of bold geometric shapes, angles, cantilevers, glass and neon, it was popular among motels, coffee houses and gas stations. But Lautner's architecture was much deeper than formalistic concerns.

A pupil of Frank Lloyd Wright he was a master of light, space and materiality and his designs have a very human quality that belies their fantastic forms. His re-appraisal is timely as the John Lautner Foundation is currently celebrating his 100th birthday.

Also, be sure to check out the documentary of his work.

So as soon as you mention a bowling visit around here, references to both the Big Lebowski and King Pin fly around. And so when the bowling pop up that was “Pin-Up Bowling” appeared in Spinningfields, it was too good an opportunity not to get the paisley shirt out the wardrobe, dust off the flares and get ourselves down there for a night of strikes and spares.

Administration and technical issues aside, a few teething problems from the venue, we managed to squeeze 20 people onto 2 lanes, and so Hannah’s team took on Brett’s team to see who could walk home with the coveted title of Neighbourhood Bowling Team 2011.

It was evident early on that it had been a long time since many of us had bowled – the lanes seemed a lot smaller, the balls a lot heavier, and the gullies a lot wider. There were some ‘interesting’ bowling techniques on show, with a certain Sarah Baker in close contention for stance of the night!

If memory serves correctly, you want to be on a team with Dave Buckley, steady all the way through the 10 games, clocking a very respectable score.

We can’t really remember who won, but there were plenty of smiles around!

Now our Mike’s only had the pleasure of going to the Notting Hill Carnival once, but the mix of sounds, smells, vibrant colours and wonderful people culminated in a great day.

The Northern Quarter Street Party earlier this year took him back to that day in West London. It's a celebration of those that make the Northern Quarter what it is, its people, whether it’s the diverse and eclectic businesses they own, or those that simply work and live there. There is something very special and unique about this part of town and that day just summed it all up, just hope they do it again.

And boy can that Mr Scruff get a crowd going!

This week's lunchtime creative session focussed on a bit of a 'share and show' of some of the things that inspire each of us creatively, things we like, or things we've done away from the studio.

A truly eclectic and wonderful mix of things ensued, including record sleeves, amazing wall painting, the 'shock of the new' from Little Richard, pencil line art, sculptures, light installations, patterns, photoshop animation and photo-documentaries.

Here at The Neighbourhood we think that there are few greater feelings than seeing an idea realised. But having a great idea often isn't the issue - there's plenty of great ideas the world over. To quote Thomas Edison and one of our favourite sites over at The 99 Percent - 'Genius is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration' - it's 'making things happen' which can often be where so many ideas stay as just that - ideas.

How great to see Kickstarter really flourishing now - to crowd-source funding, and link ideas with imaginative people, and the funding required to make them happen.

Our team have backed a couple of projects recently, including Design & Thinking – A Documentary  and this iPod Watch

A great example of neighbourhood thinking, we say!

We have been working a lot of late with the lovely people over at Stockport College, and have been hugely encouraged by the passion, talent and dedication of both the students and the tutors.

From running live briefs to offering work experience, we have been mightily impressed by the quality of thought and execution, and enjoying helping to nurture the next generation of talent.

The latest addition to our arsenal of ninja animators is recent graduate Steve Swanborough who caught our eye with his film title sequence final project, and its accompanying live shadow theatre sculpture.

Welcome Steve.

You can’t keep a good city down can you, and especially not one like Manchester. We all know what happened on that balmy night last August, a night of anger supposedly against cut backs spilled into mindless violence and looting.

It was very sad to see this element erupt on the streets of Manchester, even worse for them to target those at the very heart of what makes the Northern Quarter great, it’s independents.

If anything good came out of that night then it was the united tide of support for Manchester the days and weeks after. To say to those that tarnished the city’s image that we don’t support you, we don’t believe in your actions and to prove that we’ll pick up the pieces you’ve left behind, regroup and start again.

We’ll repair our lives and businesses you’ve broken and move on only stronger, collected and together under one banner, a great deal of what the #IloveMCR campaign stood for. 

As they always have, the people of the NQ didn’t let the side down, and 2 days of music, food and dance showed them again why this part of town not only does things differently, they do them uniquely.

So, we were down in the charming village of Bray again this week to meet with Heston Blumenthal and friends to discuss our latest phase of work together (watch this space for more news on that).

No bacon and egg ice cream for breakfast though, but we did enjoy some rather special coffee, and wondered how, in the dozen or so times we've been to Bray, the sun always seem to shine!

Is it part of a magical bubble created by the man himself, we wonder?

Like eating fish but sometimes lack the inspiration to know what to do with it? Or feel like it's a lot of mess and fuss preparing?

We know how you feel, and so do the Saucy Fish Company. Their mission is to show us how simple preparing a tasty fish dinner can be and inspire with their range of fish and sauce combinations.

A new product on the market, you may have seen their distinctive packaging on the supermarket shelves designed by our friends at Elmwood.

We have been commissioned to direct and produce their first TV campaign due in the autumn. Looks like fish again for tea tonight! Watch this space.

Well the time had come to pack up the studio (for 1.5 days) and take the annual break to a pre-determined destination as voted for by the studio some months back. This year it was a choice between Madrid and York, and York if you hadn’t realized it already, won.

After a short train ride and a couple of beers and glasses of wine later we arrived in York. Whether York would be ready for Phil, Chris, Dave, Brett, Rik’s Sambuca activity and Stu’s dancing only time would tell. Sadly no photographic evidence exists of Stu’s dancing but we believe the term used was ‘legendary’.

A quaint B&B was our lodgings for the 2 days, pretty much a 10 minute walk from the town centre. Ideal for 4am nights out, and of course all that history and culture bit.

In the space of 2 days we managed to cram in cocktail making, a dinner and lunch, a visit to the races and a ghost walk. If The League of Gentleman did ghost walks – they’d be something like this.

We all left York as we found it, a little drunk and slightly tired. Leaving behind some ‘interesting’ bars and a Graham Norton cocktail or 3. Sadly we’ll also be leaving behind some of Sarah’s wardrobe, left in the wardrobe of the hotel and as yet not returned. We’ll also sadly be leaving behind Rik’s ability to drink, which would have been interesting if we’d have left Rik there with it. He doesn’t look capable, 5 ft with glasses but drinks Sambuca like tea... They raise them hard in Altrincham.

Next year we’re all agreed that a little more culture wouldn’t be a bad thing. We’ve heard Wakefield is lovely this time of year, maybe the Hepworth Gallery followed by a Rugby League game and the local conservative club for hot pot and bingo.

After a long search, many an interview and a nail biting X-Factor style conclusion, we finally ended our search for a Lead Creative to join our team.

Meet Rob, he's a top designer/animator type chap from around these parts but left for 'The Big City' to seek fame and fortune a few years ago. He's finally come to his senses and catching up with what he's been missing all these years and very glad we are too.

Welcome Rob.

What attracted you to The Neighbourhood?

I've been looking to get out of London for a while now and Neighbourhood was on my short list of good companies doing high quality national & international work. When the opening popped up I jumped at it, but it does mean moving house, getting married and starting a new job in the space of a month. Think I'm going to need a back-rub and a pint after all that, but looking forward to a new start and new challenges.

What have you missed about The North whilst AWOL in London?

Family. Northern hospitality. Rain. Cold. Fields. Hills. Trees. Reasonably priced beer. 

Name 3 key creative influences in your work and approach.

My Dad - He's a graphic designer, I probably learned a lot via osmosis from him and the things in our house.

Josef Muller Brockmann - I drew this name from a hat for a project at Uni and didn't know anything about him. The next 8 weeks were very eye opening. Still love his work and have a few of his posters dotted around the flat.

Prologue - These guys do a crazy amount of great work. The Tron stuff is right down my street.

Favourite album of the past year?

At work I’ll probably listen to some mix’s on www.r.fm or maybe the radio, like www.ntslive.co.uk. 
But to answer the question at home I tend to listen to more chilled out music. I've been enjoying Noah and the Whale recently.

Football team?

Watching: Manchester United. 
Playing: Clissold Thistle (The team I played for in London - but will be looking for a new one now!)

Give us a quote of wisdom:

"Only the madman is absolutely sure". Robert Anton Wilson. I spotted this a few months ago on www.butdoesitfloat.com and kept it as my desktop background for a while. 
The only other one that crosses my mind is "Better out than in". I think my dad told me that one. :)

Every so often we come across ideas which are a step above the norm. Ideas which have the potential to actually change the world, and address real, urgent, global problems.

With the world population estimated to increase by a staggering 50% by 2050, and with 80% of those people projected to be living in cities, the world faces urgent challenges around sustainability and simple provision of food and water.

At the recent Manchester International Festival, the visionary Dr. Dickson Despommier, author of the book 'Vertical Farming', set out his vision to provide safe, fresh food around the globe in a way that he says is impossible with modern farming. He points out that while horizontal space for growing crops is limited, vertical space remains abundant, and by developing vertical farms in disused (or purpose built) buildings within cities, we will simultaneously address some of the downsides and challenges with traditional farming, and engage citizens much more closely with sustainability.

Most exciting of all, the theory is now becoming real, with live projects in South Korea and Holland, amongst others - and the UK's first vertical farm (called Alpha Farm) is under construction here in Manchester in a disused office block in the suburb of Wythenshawe.

There are more insights into the plans, and important developments on the Alpha Farm blog.

We've been having some meetings in unusual places lately from lawn tennis clubs and world class restaurants to greasy spoons, but a ship has to be the most surreal to date.

Our friends at Hertel recently invited us to meet at their suite on the SS Rotterdam. A vintage vessel that shipped dutch emigrants to America in it's heyday, it now functions as a hotel, with restaurants, bars and corporate entertainment. It's been refurbished to it's former glory and sports some fine retro decor, especially the disco!

After a high tech 4-way global video conference call, we were treated to a full ship tour and entertained by a strange group of travelling Dutch troubadours!