SKAGGS

Welcome to the ramblings from an Intern and the City. My name is Jeni, I’m from from Scotland and I am priviledged to join the wonderful Skaggs team in New York for an internship. Over the new few weeks I shall share my diary of events and thoughts as an Intern, but also as a travel journal as a first-time visitor to New York with observations, restaurant reviews and general tales. Carrie Bradshaw I am not, I have neither her wardrobe nor column writing ability. But I do love to gush about Design. I am hugely passionate about Design, across the board- graphics, architecture, web, products, illustration, interaction, fashion, typograhy, exhibition… and all, perhaps, an obsessive level! I read too many Design blogs, subscribe to too many Design journals, spend too much jet-stetting to Design events and own the complete Borders Books creative section. I can bore anyone who takes me out for dinner about the font choice on the menu, I get frustrated with poor illustrative diagrams building flat-pack furniture and detest things that don’t work due to thoughtless product design. I like things that are well thought-out and user-centered*, functional, simple, with a touch of aesthetic elegance. Keep an eye on my blog posts over the course of my time here at Skaggs.

* my spelling is not wrong or right, it’s just British.

Good Design comes in many forms. My personal favourites include the London Underground map, Macbook, Aston Martin Vanquish, Dyson ball vacuum, Olivetti Valentine typewriter, Chrysler Building and customisable doormat to name but a few.

But infact, the best pieces of Good Design are the inconspicuous things that make everyday life just that little bit better, like paperclips, biros, and folding chairs.

Today I acquired the most inspiring and useful simple object I have seen to date: a coffee cup stopper. This genius little device eliminates the on-the-move spill and scald issue familiar to surfing Subway commuters. I feel there is a market for personalised versions and marketing opportunities… something I’m planning to look into - watch this space!

This is why Starbucks is in a league of their very own.

I haven’t had much opportunity to travel extensively through America, but every time I do get the chance, I absolutely love it. Why? Because I see the most random stuff ever!
Take for example a trip I took a few months ago for an ad campaign we shot for Skanska in Ohio.
As Cole Ruth (Communications and Brand Manager at Skanska USA) and I headed down the highway at night we saw Jesus…literally. All 62ft and 42ft wingspan of him.
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I’m a self confessed model fan — Kate, Lily, Gemma, Chanel, Irina and of course Agyness Deyn.
She’s my absolute favorite and not just because she won Model of the Year.…She’s feisty, pixie and punk yet sophisticated and she’s from my home town of Manchester…her infamous cover on POP magazine came with the tagline - “Agyness - The world’s most Mancunian super supermodel.” Nice one lass!
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Dear Smart Design
First of all I’d like to begin by saying my views are not representative of SKAGGS or any of its other employees. Secondly I’d like to say that I’ve bitten my tongue for long enough. The new NYC Taxi Logo is absolutely awful…AWFUL!!!

Not a day goes by where I don’t gnash and grind my teeth about it. The fact that I have to see this big black blocky logo every single day frustrates me immensely. I can’t ignore it and I’ve tried to get over it and accept that bad design still exists. However this has proved nearly impossible, as yellow cabs are everywhere.

Smart Design, you’ve ruined New York’s most ubiquitous symbol in fact you’ve pretty much murdered my love for the NYC cab aesthetic. I’m not a native New Yorker - but as a legal alien that lives, breathes, sleeps, eats, designs and works here I feel that I have every right to call you out on your despicable design.

“Let’s make it iconic and big,” he said. “Everybody knows what it is. You don’t need the words.” — Davin Stowell

Mr Stowell, I fully understand what you were trying to achieve, but many large brands have perfectly good logos that are iconic and big, without being ugly. Please see: Nike, Adidas, Fedex, Virgin, Apple, Coca Cola…even Home Depot!
I also read that Wolf Ollins, had a dastardly part in this, with their awful NYC Visit logo - didn’t they do enough damage with the London 2012 Olympic logo disaster?!?!!?!?!?

I could go on and on for days re: what’s wrong with the logo but I won’t. My blood pressure is high enough as it is, and I’m quite sure you’ve heard and read everything there is to read about how bad the logo is all over the blogosphere.

All in all, as a designer I have to commend you for your hard work, I’m just terribly disappointed. As a member of the public, I’d just like to say that I hope we never meet on a dark night*.

*I would never think of doing anything that involved actual bodily harm, ’tis a figure of speech.

We’ve been really busy here at SKAGGS HQ, so I was looking forward to the Labor Day weekend more than usual. I discovered Breathe Inn courtesy of Worship Worthy and I have to say I was not disappointed. Located in Lanesville, NY and close to the Catskills, Breathe Inn is a beautiful bed and breakfast that caters to the city folk, who want need to refresh and rejuvenate with the premium “perks” that NYC has to offer.

There was no cell phone reception and I have to admit…I panicked a little at first, but owners Camella Ehlke, founder of Triple Five Soul and Marlon Aitcheson, private chef to the stars, have made sure that no details have gone un-missed. Beautiful decor and top of the line finishes, swimming pool, complimentary yoga lessons in the morning, all organic cuisine, hiking, movie screenings, unlimited wireless internet, basketball court, on-call masseuse and rooms each customized with their own themes, it truly was the perfect country with “urban sensibilities” getaway.

We’re planning a SKAGGS retreat up there soon, and even though it may be closer to winter than fall, it doesn’t matter ‚Äî there’s snowboarding and skiing AND a roaring fireplace perfect for warming up in front of. It’s definitely a place to check out and check in.

I’m an absolute sucker for scents, particularly those that smell like “clean”.
Laundry scents, citrus scents, rain scents, white something or the other scents, anything that smells like and I quote “Magic and Fairies in a fresh spring breeze” or “Babies.”

I’ve been known to say that alot when referencing how things smell and sometimes I come across things that smell so wonderful I can really only refer to them as Magic. I literally fell off my chair and died when I discovered Demeter Fragrance.

They are a fragrance company who produce products designed to bring you back to your childhood days. The odor receptors in your nose are directly linked to the olfactory lobe in your brain. As a result, odors can trigger some of the most intense childhood memories possible. These are typically more intense than both visual and audio induced memories.

[Source]

Wow, wow and more wow!!!!!
Can you believe it!?!?! Not only do they have Clean Windows, Laundromat and Baby Powder - they have a plethora of others too! Sugar Cookie (yum), Gin & Tonic (I’m not sure I want to smell like that on a Monday morning) PlayDoh and many, many, many more.

I’ve passed this site on to almost every living family member and friend that buys me fragrances at Christmas and on birthdays, so I don’t get stuck with yet another bottle of Miracle (Not that I don’t still love it, but I have quite a few if anybody is wanting one).

“For the really bad days, for the days when you want to quit, when you feel like everything you do is sh*t, when you feel your self-esteem plummet, when you decide that you would rather wait tables for a living, when you start to think you will never make a living making art, when you are working on something and feel like you hate it more than you’ve ever hated anything in your life…”

Wow — heavy words!

I came across The Artist Survival Kit on author/illustrator turned guerilla artist, Keri Smith’s website. There’s a variety of her work on there as well as a number of other fun tips - definitely worth taking a look at.

As the internet continues to make stars out of ordinary folk (Lonelygirl15, Tila Tequila, Perez Hilton) and a plethora of party-kids on the big city night life scenes The Misshapes, Last Nights Party and The Cobra Snake), the general public continues to lap it up and demand more, there’s a new star born almost every week.

Ok, so I’m late in blogging about this, but I’ve been well aware of her presence and at first I thought it was a passing fad…but it seems Cory Kennedy has been around for awhile and by the looks of things she doesn’t seem to be going anywhere. There’s been a large amount of coverage on the hipster chick that won’t quit - including this really good article in the LA Times.

Yes, her run-on sentences, bad spelling, name dropping and party hopping can get tedious, and I’m forever thinking “why aren’t you at home in bed!” when I read her blog. There is however something enchanting about her - she’s not classically beautiful, she doesn’t really do much except look bedraggled in photos (she’s being hailed as a style queen??), but still I can see why America and much of the Euro fashion blogging universe find her captivating.

Perhaps it’s her youth (she’s 17)? Her candidness maybe?, The new Kate Moss?
Either way, her rise as Internet Celebrity is something I’m interested in.
In a celebrity obsessed culture, ordinary nobodies (not in a negative way) are being turned into somebodies (sorry it’s the best example I could think of right now) and I think I kind of like it, after all they’re just like me and you.

Whilst the PSFK Conference was an eye opener and inspirational, I couldn’t help but notice the severe lack of women on the panels, and I mean severe. Out of 30 speakers, 7 were women. Where are all the ladies at??!??!!?

I know I’m not imagining it and I know there’s lots of women doing amazing things, I was just a little surprised when two consecutive panels went up and it was all men. Last years Tokion conference had similar issues and there was a big hoo-haa about it all.

I’m not here to rant or burn my bra and I don’t want to focus on the negatives. I came across this list at Worship Worthy of Downtown New York Ladies doing their thing and I wanted to share, because I think alot of them really are admirable.