With the benefit of hindsight

We have recently been working on our Design Virtual Portfolio and it has been quite exciting to look back on past endeavours and realise just how brilliant we are.

Projects always begin with a sense of excitement about how we’re going to respond to the brief - How can we give it The Phoenix Partners treatment? How can we make it better than the client wants? And they always end with the sort of excitement that comes from both accomplishment and, let’s be honest, relief.

But during a project we rarely get a chance to appreciate just how brilliant the project actually is.

Looking back on our Design Portfolio has given us an opportunity that we rarely have, to view our work in an objective light without the pressure of living it. And you know what, it’s pretty darned good!

Go tell it on the mountain

As I write there is travel in the air, Mark and Rachel are about to leave for South Africa.

Yes, there is a conference to be run but we all know that ‘all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy’ and so an extra couple of days in the sun are very much in order.

Mark gave us an excellent, and somewhat unnerving, example of just how small the world is while out on a recce for the job. He did this by using the office printer to tell us that he could use the office printer. Marvellous.

So what are his aims for a couple of days R’n R? How about a little cloud computing on the top of Table Mountain? Those of us left in the office will look forward to receiving an appropriately spiritual missive!

The Phoenix Partners in Alaska

With some of the most rugged and wild places on earth; there can be only one destination to shoot a film in the style of History Channel’s, Ice Truckers and that place is Alaska.

After sending our initial proposal for their perusal, we have been appointed by BP to produce a 25 minute, gritty programme and our film production team will be touching down later this month to explore Alaska’s landscapes and ecosystems; which will equip them with the dramatic shots they are looking for.

With a great concept and some of our inimitable magic - this has all the makings of an excellent project.

Turning this into that

When we were asked by Canon, one of Europe’s largest Blue Chip Companies; to build a dinner venue for an exclusive conference; we couldn’t wait to get started!

What made this project even more appealing was that fact that we were faced with a challenge on a mammoth scale – to turn something that had no infrastructure into an exclusive dinner venue - and that was not all; this had to be directed from our own offices and the proposed venue was more than 1600km away, on the outskirts of Lisbon in Portugal.

So taking into account all of the above, there really was only man for this job. Our head of live events, Mark Huffington. With more than 35 years of working on live events; Mark simply, as they say ‘worked his magic’ with a vision to set Broadway alight; he liaised with suppliers and specialist contacts to ‘turn this into that’!

Virtually anything?

As the internet, for better or for worse, has become an integrated part of our existence it seems that we are more than willing to tell the world information that we would probably not say out loud in our local pub. We have, almost without realising, become so accustomed to posting information about ourselves that we have lost comprehension of the infinite audience that can access this information.

Our real and virtual lives are often blurred and intermingled and it is not unusual for users to post online information in real time.

This has prompted Dutch developers to spend four hours of their time creating PleaseRobMe. The site is designed to highlight the fact that players in an online game called Foursquare, which is based on the players location in the real world, are telling the world when their homes are empty.

So next time you are tempted to change your facebook status to ‘Justine is packing for Barbados – only three days to go!!!!’ It might be worth thinking again.