We know the website is lacking the attention we are desperate to give it, and our blog has been quiet, but it is for the best possible reason; we have been extremely busy working on some immensely exciting projects for some incredible clients. All of which will be up online when finished or when it is appropriate for us to put there.

There are obvious reasons why the Product Design section of our site will probably remain quiet for a little while longer; confidentiality agreements. The work done here; the Feasibility Reports and User Studies through to the final prototypes and all of the design work in-between is extremely important to the success of our client’s products and will not be published by us until it is appropriate to do so.

We are very excited about the month ahead and very soon hope to be embarking on a project that will involve communities throughout Bristol and as many designers as we can squeeze into one room...Mucho más muy pronto!

Until then we are going to run our monthly ‘Photos of the Month’ post. Yes, what a cliché, but we have some beautiful photographs of our goings-on that we want to share – in one way to prove our activity and in another to show you the fantastic Bristol businesses that have enlisted The Ideas Monster’s design services.

The Ideas Monster team! (Except me of course, somebody had to take the photo). Heidi, Duncan (nice Superman curl!) and Dean outside Rosemarino on their grand opening. Graphics and signage were done by us too!

Here’s George Pickup taking a photo for Dorkbot to work his magic on & draw a portrait, and that’s me (Chris Brooker) standing behind him not working as hard. Taken at our recent Designersblock exhibition: Bristol Air, from which two of our exhibitors have already had work commissioned. A full write up of the event will be coming soon. 

One more from our exhibition at Designersblock, though there are so many stunning photos to chose from thanks to our installation artists Gemma & Tristin, this one shows Monster Duncan Iraci warming up Dorkbot and Neil Ferguson (Bristol Design Festival Director) enjoying the view...of Dorkbot obviously.

The Ideas Monster is currently developing a website for the sublime Hyde & Co bar.

And last but not least as we build their online store an image from inside the stunning Louche Furniture Boutique.

It's First Friday of the Month time! 

This month we have a special venue, the new product design R Block at UWE.
(See attached map for details on parking)

Join us for an evening of free drinks, chats, and catching up. 
This is the monthly get together to share thoughts, ideas and imagination. 

Everyone is welcome. 

FIRST FRIDAY OF THE MONTH

This has to be one of this countries fastest growing and most successful design schools and this is a great chance for all to come and take a look.

17:00 to 19:00hrs

After that, we will probably relocate to the Lansdown.
The LANSDOWN public drinking emporium
8 Clifton Road, Bristol, Avon BS8 1AF

1st October 2010

Bristol Air at Designersblock London 2010 23rd – 26th September. Only one week to go! 

Register now for free entry! 

Bristol Air aims to highlight the work of individuals working in the area and the creative atmosphere of the city.

Exhibitors Include:

Eco Chic & David Henshall Design

UnoFuori Studio

Other Exhibitors: 

Dorkbot Bristol/Draw 

George Pickup

Pamela Graham : THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS RUBBISH ONLY RAW MATERIAL

2D WALL

With Obama’s top domestic priority achieved the House of Representatives passed the biggest reform of health care in America for 40 years.

Service Design has only begun to scrape the surface of the public health service in the UK and the US system is an entirely different animal, with complex financial, political and social elements. But what lies at its core is health care and whether you bring service design methodologies to the existing (organically grown) system or start again from scratch everything else has the potential to align with the delivery and structure of a new health service.

From community health centres to hospitals if the health service is made sustainable and functions in such a capacity that it is equipped to serve the massive influx of people now granted access it will impact health insurers, Medicare and Medicaid, medical staff and training institutions, the private sector, pharmaceutical companies, public opinion, tax, the budget deficit, philanthropic organizations, social and economic development, and the health of 300 million people.

The current president has been the pioneer of transparent democracy and an opportunity has arisen to once again be at the forefront of innovation by discovering how best to provide the one fundamental need of all citizens, access to healthcare, with a transparent and open approach to rebuilding the health service from the ground up.

This is the most exceptional and exciting service design challenge facing the democratic western world. Existing public health services, the success stories and mistakes, can be identified. Only in this instance Service Design will be needed far beyond the realms of healthcare.

Mr Obama has said ‘that the public option was only a means to an end, and he remained open to other ideas if they had the same effect’. His outlined, more detailed blueprint for healthcare overhaul is barely the beginning. 

Chris Brooker

Set against the backdrop of Hyde & Co’s faultless 1920’s decor designers from across Bristol once again got together to talk about the thing they love the most and do what they enjoy almost as much, drink the sublime cocktails of Bristol’s new speakeasy.

It was a pleasure spending an evening with you all again, and as one design industry mogul said ‘Bristol is an extremely exciting place to be at the moment’.

This month we were joined by James Koch who has contributed some truly stunning photographs of the evening. To see more of his extraordinary photography visit him at http://dontforgetthesun.wordpress.com/ Seeing Bristol through his eyes is an experience I would recommend to anyone.

Let’s hope he can join us next time.

If you were able to make it please get in touch and tell us what you thought, did you like the change of venue? How was your cocktail? Do you have any thoughts for next time or about the future of the event in general?

And once again I would like to extend an open invitation to all designers, artists, musicians, engineers, photographers, students & lecturers or indeed anyone who thinks they could benefit from the fine services of these good people. The next First Friday of the Month is the 2^nd April, and as soon as we are sure of the next venue we will post it on our Twitter page and send out the invites.

Cheers again everybody! Have a busy March! 

As The Ideas Monster grows not only have we had the privilege of working with some of the best young, up-and-coming designers out there but also  some of the finest, established designers & artists currently practicing.

Rob Carr is an illustrator/animator currently living & working in Bristol who unsurprisingly has been snapped up by Aardman Animations.

http://www.robertcarrcreative.co.uk/

Our further developed brand identity is on the way thanks to his truly beautiful imagination and subsequent animations.

We thought it would be great to show you his work in progress.  Every member of The Ideas Monster needs their alter ego depicted by Rob, if only we could steal that much of his time.

And on top of all that...he can also do this...   

Well it’s the morning after another fantastic First Friday of the Month: Bristol’s monthly get together of passionate young, and some slightly older, designers. A big thank you to everyone who made it to The Lansdown‎ last night, it was great to see you all.

Hello! We’re really glad to have finally found the time to start throwing ideas, inspirations, observations, musings, scribbles and basically anything we think needs to be shared with more brains than our own, at our blog.

Please get in touch with your thoughts as without your opinions and feedback the whole exercise would be pretty much pointless!

For the first blog post, as we wrap other future posts into sexy digestible packages ready to be thrown at the internet, we'll start with something fun and, as all the best things are, visually stimulating.

The beautiful city of Valencia is heavily influenced by design but has been kept very understated by its subtle and creative use.

At the IVAM, the Valencian Institute of Modern Art http://www.ivam.es/ we recently stumbled across a design exhibition showing the work produced by various design agencies purely for the city of Valencia, which we thought was a brilliant idea and in the warm sunshine something we would recommend to anyone.

This was a design exhibition that gave you a real feel for the creative possibilities in an energetic city.

Here are some of our highlights.

And from around the city...