My wife used to work at ROSPA. Unfortunately not when these posetrs were being designed and illustrated; she's not that old. But she did put me on to this exhibition. The simplicity of the illustration and the strength of the messages is fantastic. And something lost in a lot of today's graphic design and advertising.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-birmingham-18056866

Last night I went to the private view of the new Bauhaus exhibition at the Barbican. If you have any interest in graphics, go. It's that simple. Beautiful, simple, functional. The type design room is outstanding. Go.

http://www.barbican.org.uk/artgallery/event-detail.asp?ID=12409

I blogged a while ago about how crap Adobe Ideas is as an image manipulation tool. So I was glad they bought out PS Photoshop for free on the iPhone and iPad. It's free and pretty good actually. But now I'm even more pleased that Adobe has rethought Photoshop completely for the iPad. It's seven quid, but pretty good for the money. And it works on the top deck of a bus. I like it.

My son has started playing chess (or chest, as he used to call it when he was cute) at school. So I thought I'd buy a chess set. The problem is, if one is design savvy, that they are all rubbishly old fashioned and anachronistic. Except this on. Designed in 1923 by Josef Hartweg when he was in the Bauhaus School. Each piece represents how that piece can move on the board. It's beautiful.

Recently we completed the identity for Hôp Namô a Vietnamese street food restaurant which just opened in Boxpark Shoreditch. Namô is a well know restaurant in Hackney with a great reputation for top quality Vietnamese food and Hôp Namô will be no different. The food is made from traditional recipes with a modern twist. It's delicious and a very nice place to spend a long lunch or just grab a quick bite. You can have a look through the identity we created here and don't forget to pop by for a bánh mì and to check the place out.

An inspired wardrobe clash. We all know whats happened here. David Beckham and Rachel obviously copied Vish

It's easy to forget we are so close to so many amazing things working on Southbank so this afternoon we took a stroll over to the Tate Modern for a spot of Christmas shopping and to have a look at the Tacita Dean installation part of the Unilver series. It's quite amazing, you should go and check it out for yourself. More info on clicking www.tate.org.uk/modern/exhibitions/unilever2011/default.shtm

I bought a pair of these. They cost me an arm and a leg, which is a shame as I need my legs to hold my feel to put my shoes on. But they are beautiful.

Although the first time I wore then they caused me a matching set of life-threatening blisters. These got better and I wore them again. And all was well.

I wore them again yestarday and a completely new set of incredible blisters have appeared.

They are nothing if they are not persistant. Once I break them in they will be the comfiest shoes in Christendom. Until then then are like wearing the Taliban on your feet.

But they are beautiful.

I like this. And I don't like books. I like Kindle. But I like this.

Buy it for your Nan for Xmas.

http://kapitza.com/products/organic-book

We've done a couple of events for Freedom from Torture now and they're always brilliant. This one was no exception. We did the catalogue, invites, signage and website for their 2011 Art Auction. A special event which raises a substantial amount of the money needed to keep their doors open. Art was kindly donated by established artists such as Julian Opie, Antony Gormley, Jake & Dinos Chapman, Quentin Blake and Paula Rego to name a few. The final figures aren't in yet but based on the furious bidding on the night it went very well!

And hey, they even painted a 12 foot tall mural of the event logo 3fish created on the wall outside!

Have a look at art.freedomfromtorture.org to see the work that was up for auction.

www.freedomfromtorture.org

I might be shooting myself in the foot here, but I passionately believe in open source. Ideas that further the course of man should not be owned by anyone, but be accessible to everyone.This flies in the face of a company that charges for ideas. If everyone has access to the idea then there is no value on it. And we sell ideas; not pretty pictures. It's a dichotomy.

That said, today I listened to a Radio 4 programme that was an anology for that. It talked about a different discipline, but the root causes and effects are the same as in the design world.

Listen to it and make your own mind up.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/i/b017mrbd/

We've said it before and we'll say it again, the 3fish twin situation is getting out of hand. Today we had two sets! Behold Dan & Phil and Em & Vish.

A few months ago I decided to treat myself to an apple product only I didn't know what to get. In the end size won out and I got an iPad. Everyone thought I was mad. Why an iPad when I didn't have an iPhone? I couldn't explain it fully, but I knew I made the right decision and ever since I've been happier than a pig in the proverbial. Until the other day that is, when I ordered something on a very nice Friday afternoon. Everyone else has one and it's hardly a shock for a designer to have an iPhone but I do. So now I have finally succumed to the pressure of Apple's marketing and I feel great about it. Of course Jo and Duncan think I'm silly (they have Androids) and there's a bit of debate over black versus white and whether or not Siri is a load of codswallop but for now I'm chuffed.

I live in a flat. No, don't be silly, it's okay. It's right by Victoria Park and the architectural practice that designed it was the Basil Spence Partnership. They diid some good stuff. And my flat is good. However sometime in its life over the past 40 years, someone who lived here decided to put beading on all of the doors. Beading; totally incongruous. It's a 70s flat. It looks awful. Anyway, I tried to take a bit of it off one of the doors to a cupboard, but there is so much paint on the doors it is impossible. So, we found a local place which will take the beading off and strip the doors for us for a small fee. 

None of this is exceptional design-wise, except for the fact that I have taken all of the internal doors off their hinges in my flat. Including the built-in cupboards. So my house has no internal doors.

And it's wierd.

Even though we don't reallty close doors, having no doors is strange. I feel exposed.

That said, I think I like it.

I might not put them back once they are stripped...

This is real open plan.

I'll ask Francesco, but I think that ombra means shadow in Italian. It is also the name of a new Italian restaurant/caff on the end of Vyner Street, just around the corner from where I live in Hackney. My lovely wifey and I had dinner there tonight, we had an Italian cured meat platter between us, steak tartar, spagatini with pesto and potato, and panna cotta, with two glasses of Campari and Prosecco, and three glasses of wine... and it was under 50 quid...

Go, but don't tell anyone, because it will get too busy and too famous and I won't be able to get in any more.

At 3fish everyone is generally quite healthy, I always make sure I eat three pieces of fruit every day around 11 am as part of my structured balanced diet. However when your apple looks like an arse, there is always that doubt in your mind whether it is right or wrong. Sure I love an apple bottom... who doesn't, but I honestly could not bring myself to put my mouth to such an oddly shaped apple. So to give this poor apple some justice I thought I would share it with the world and give it some fame...so here you have it, The Apple Bottomed Apple.

I don't like things that look old which aren't. But I like this. Not the crappy 'handwritten' typeface, but the bottle and the whisky and the price. £8.99 for 200ml for a 16 year old single malt. (This one is Talisker actually.) You'll find it and others like it on the 'damaged' shelf in the whisky shop on Old Compton Street. There are lots of different distillaries in there so if you are experimenting with which whisky you like, this is the way.

Air France and KLM Royal Dutch Airlines are targeting the African and Chinese communities in the UK in a bid to attract people visiting friends and relatives abroad. 3fish worked on 3 creative routes across the 2 airlines including direct mail, mobile advertising, and online digital media. It goes live today. To read the press release in Marketing Magazine, click here.

I love minimalist design, I love things that make sense and I love things that make me go 'how did I live without this before?'

My iPad was the last one I got, my macbook was the one before that. Now I have my new wallet designed by Kristen Wentrcek in Wintercheck Factory. It's brilliantly simple and very easy to use and that's why i love it. Gone are the days of sitting slightly sideways due to a wallet full of receipts and useless tat.

The fact that it can only hold a few cards and notes and that's it makes it great and I've learned to not carry everything I've ever owned around with me. They're out of stock as I write this but pick one up if they come back at their online store here.

A few days ago I used the digital medium of the internet to order a new fountain pen: probably the most analogue of writing tools.

I find that funny.

I think that makes me an idiot.

Okay, it's a Rotering collapsible carbonfibre fountain pen, one of the most lovely fountain pens ever made and on sale for less than 20 quid, but it still doesn't have a USB port.

Sorry.

We have just added the lovely Hannah to our website. She's the newset fish, started on Monday. And while I was looking at her profile page on our site I saw Phil's and Eve's* photos.

Separated at birth or what?

Probably the best bit of software I use is Apple Logic Studio. Imagine Illustrator that works with sound and you are only still halfway there. It is beautiful, powerful and intuitive. And it's even better now that I bought this Editors' Keys keyboard. It has all the key command shortcuts written on the colour-coded keys. It makes editing and recording sound even more of a pleasure than before.

The problem is that it is an American layout. And not a standard one at that. All of the keys are in different places, not the QWERTY keys, but the odd ones that you use more often than you'd imagine. Plus, the § key is next to the space bar on the left and I keep pressing it when I try to press Apple...

I'm having to rethink how I use a keyboard.

Which is exactly the same as me retuning my guitar I suppose.

Which is good for me... I suppose.

First(ly) I appologise about the missing gerrunt in the title of this post. I didn't add it on purpose, to make a point, but no one will realise so I'll carry on.

iOS 5 is very good. No suprise there. Every time Apple upgrades its OS (either on its mobile devices or on Mac) it's a winner. I particularly like the quick use camera function and the iCloud photo streaming.

But this isn't an iOS piece, it's a 'I can't believe I've used an app that actually works in a very different way, but it still works very well' post.

Check out the LinkedIn app for iPhone. It is nothing like any other app I've used and it works really well.

Which is unusual. 

I told you that I was relearning the guitar. I am. But it's hard. So every now and again I tune my axe back to good old EADGBE and play a few rock'n'nroll licks. Songsterr is a site I've found that shows you guitar tab transpositions of a load of tracks. There's an iPad and iPhone (and probably Android) app that are great too.

But what I really like is that the site is really well designed and works like a dream. I wish I'd done it.

A couple of weeks ago I met someone I used to work with 20 years ago and, because I am rubbish at carrying around business cards, I had to scribble my contact details in his notebook. The guy he was with, someone I'd never met before, commented that I had to be a designer with handwriting like that. Ha. I know I'm pathetic, but I liked that. Especially as I actually turned my handwriting into a Mac and PC typeface, it's free to download here.

That said, I actually never realy write anything any more. The odd scribbled note in my book and a PostIt every couple of weeks. So, when I received a package from one of our lovely clients the other day I was well made up to see how FANTASTIC the handwriting was on it.

I only ever send her things with typeset stickers...

I am ashamed. Sorry Jane. 

Life is pretty good here at 3fish and a big part of that is the amazing projects we get to work on. Often they take us on a whirlwind journey of paper sizes, pixels and pantones. Occasionally they take us somewhere else. 

One of the last projects I was fortunate to work on was for the Freedom from Torture event at the top of the BT Tower. The event was to celebrate the 20th anniversary of John McCarthy's freedom. 3fish created the invitations & handouts for the morning flight pass, a wondrous trip to the 34th floor and the evening event, an auction in aid of Freedom from Torture also held atop the tower. The event was a sellout and it was pretty clear that all who went were thrilled by the experience.

Head over to http://www.freedomfromtorture.org/feature/5404 to check out photos of the event and see the good work they're doing.

At 3fish we don't specialise. No sir, no ma'am. Not in medium or sector or target market or anything. We do this because we believe that if you do the same thing day in day out you create a creative muscle memory. If you only do one thing you end up doing it the same time in time out. Maybe not on the surface, but the thought processes you put into the project end up being the same thought processes you've used a hundred times. You can't help it. It's good to mix it up and do something that throws you outside your comfort zone.

That's why I've decided after 32 years of playingthe guitar to adopt a completely new tuning. 

The new standard tuning was invented by Robert Fripp and extends the guitar's range by  four semitones in the bass register and three in the trebble. It also means that everything I've ever learnt is now redundant. To all intents and purposes, I'm learning to play the guitar all over again.

I'll let you know how it goes.

I am middleaged. I am having a midlife crisis. Other people buy Harley Davidsons. I bought a Gibson Holy Explorer. It is beautiful. I have been playing AC-DC tracks on it. It's a Whole Lotta Rosie.

It's back

After a couple of months in dry dock at Captain Francesco's base deep in the Lewisham System, the 3fish Indperial Star Destroyer is back where it belongs; on display in the 3fish window. Swing by and have a look, you won't be disappointed.

But don't get cocky kid.

London's ace. Never a dull moment. Especially working on the South Bank. Whenever friends back home (oop North) ask me if I'm bored of London yet and ready to come home I rattle off a whole list of what's on in town and they soon end up grumbling into their ale.

A prime example is the Festival of Britain. Where else could you go to work getting off the bus opposite a 20ft high straw fox? Brilliant.

I have a gripe though. London is a modern, dynamic forward thinking experimental city. Likewise the UK is a diverse muti-cultural ever changing society. This "Festival of Britain" is more of a celebration of Southend on Sea circa 1950. Beach huts, seagulls, allotments and war photos.

Surely Britain has more to offer? What a bleedin let-down guvnor. You'll find me at the Lambeth Country Show watching the sheep sheering, drinking scrumpy, eating jerk chicken and listening to Dub Reggae. Now that's a Festival of Britain right there.

I found this schematic while I was Googling 'Lego Minifig Images'*. Pretty obvious I suppose. But there is something extraordinarily beautiful and perfectly formed about the maths and design and beauty of the Minifig. My son and I have about 400 of them and I have an obsession with making famous people Minifigs.

I love them.

* BTW, I don't really know why I was Googling 'Lego Minifig Images', I was bored I think.

I have been using an Apple laptop for the past 11 years. When 3fish first set up I had a G3 PowerBook. Since then I have had various models, including a titanium G4 PowerBook, one of the first 17" G4 PowerBooks one of the first Intel 15 MacBook Pros, one dual-core 15 and about three dual-core 17" MacBook Pros. Day to day, I'm using a fully specced-up 17" and it rocks. It can do anything. But it's not really that portable. It's like a desktop in your bag.

That's why my favourite EVER MacBook is my 13" MacBook Air.

I can use it anywhere. The battery lasts for a week. It runs what I want super quickly with its solid state hard disk. I can cut cheese with it.

It is the mobile device of choice. And I have an iPad.

Actually MS Word has a lot of good points. As a wordprocessor, it can't be faulted. Well it can, but that's just me being churlish. As a design tool, however, it is the worst piece of crap ever coded.

That is why I love, and almost universally use, OmWriter.

It's simple. It's beautiful. It doesn't try to help you. (MS paperclip asks: you look like you are creating a bulleted list, shall I format it for you? I reply: NO FUCK OFF.)

It's just a simple way to marshall your thoughts to write clearly and simply.

And it's coming out for iPad soon.

I'm getting it for that too.

OmWriter

Our lovely Em has a claim to fame...

She once sat on The Princess Michael of Kent's Lap

She did up her cardigan - that's TPMoK did up Em's cardigan, not visa versa

It was after she did a dance for her as a bird

She is sacked

I just said that Windows 7 is better than OS X.

I'm just going out to kill myself by swallowing gummi bears till I choke.

>I've just updated to OS X 10.6.7

Something weird happened.

When I minimise an application window it hides behind the app dock icon. A bit like WIndows 7, but not as good.

Why and what's the point?

Or is it just me?

I'm not talking about the iPad2, or the new multicore laptops or even the rumours of OSX10.7. I'm talking about something the got right and then messed up. The new MagSafe design. When Apple introduced the original MagSafe I was impressed. I knew of two people who had caught their old jackplug-tipped powerlead around their leg, dragged their PowerBook off a table and smashed the screen. The new magnetic plug plug means it is impossible to do this. Then, I think when they launched the MacBook Air which has a very low profile socket, they redesigned the plug to make the lead enter from the side, not the front. The problem with this, as we discovered to our horror last week, is that if you pull this lead there is a chance that it will not release because it is caught of the flange around the socket. Sorry Steve, but here's the proof.

I get through a lot of notebooks in the course of a year. When they are full, I keep them for a bit. Then eventually throw them away. The problem is that some of them have info in I occasionally need after I've binned them. This could be the solution. An electronic notepad with a 1-bit interface, an editable OS and connection to my Mac. Perfect. Plus it's a bit of tech, which is always nice. It's out soon apparently and looks like it might launch at only $99. Too good to be true?

That's the problem. As many people who are hailing it as the next revolution in human/computer interfacing are accusing it of being a hoax.

I hope it's not.

noteslate.com

I witnessed the introduction of Podcasts with damp unenthusiasm. I couldn't see the point. I couldn't see where they fitted into my life. Then I started trying to listen to Radio 4 on a radio streaming app on my iPhone 4 on the bus in Hackney. It didn't work. I'd get two minutes of talk and then 20 mins of buffering. It was driving me mad. So I looked for Radio 4 podcasts of the shows I was trying to listen to and hey presto, there they are. The new podcasts even download automatically. They are fantastic.

I finally got them.

Thanks Apple. And thanks BBC.

Pixels are your friend. And this pixel watch is as cool as cucumber frappe. Especially at 9, noon, midnight and 3 o'clock.

I didn't used to watch TV. I do a bit now, mostly Dave and cooking programmes, but still I'm in the 90th percentile of TV watchers in the UK. I love films though. And I love projects. So, my wife and I are in the midst of a film project. We are watching the Ten Best Vampire Films Ever Made.

The list is: (on no particular order)

Van Helsing

The Hunger

Lost Boys

Blade

Interview with a Vampire

Nosferatu

Blood – The Last Vampire (Dir. Youki Kudoh)

Dracula (1931)

Bram Stoker's Dracula

Salem's Lot

We forgot about Let the Right One In, but we watched that recently.

Claire went on Ebay and bought them all for £35.

Sharp.

I was quite excited last night on the way to the first night private view of the new Barbican exhibition of work by Anderson, Brown and Matta-Clark. To set the scene, the Barbican website puts it like this: 

Performance artist and musician Laurie Anderson, choreographer Trisha Brown and artist Gordon Matta-Clark were friends and active participants in the New York art community, working fluidly between visual art and performance. 

It's that time of year where birds sing furiously, daffodils punch their way through the soggy grass and the air smells of new beginnings. It's Spring.

It's also the time where Rod Stewart's familiar face pops up from nests in trees, under roof tiles and brickwork cracks.

Nice.

One of the side effects of spending so much time together is that we're turning up wearing matching clothes. This can only be a Good Thing.

Cigdle (pronounced Cheedle) is back in Istanbul but still working remotely for 3fish. In fact, she's doing some great work for Beachcroft that we are presenting next week. That said, she is more pregnant that is feasible. Have a look... I'm sure she won't thank me for this photo. Sorry Cigdle.

R

I like Japanese things. I like to play my ukulele. I like the 'make your own ukulele' kit my eldest son bought me for my birthday. It's a Japanese idea and the translation of the manual is really funny. I'll scan it in and post it here soon.

The design of the whole thing is great though. Well done Sam. (And Naomi.)

We've got a love new studio floor, and it exactly matches our yellow henry hoover. 

The Future Beauty exhibition at the Barbican runs for another fortnight or so.

Go and see it, it is beautiful and inspiring and full of the energy that is so often missing from design today. I could write a thesis on its greatness, but I think you should just go.

http://www.barbican.org.uk/artgallery/event-detail.asp?ID=10771

On Radio 4's Today programme this morning I heard an interview with a neuroscientist who, whilst reading his Kindle, thought that he was finding it more difficult to remember what he was reading. He thought on this and came to the conclusion that the easier to read a font is, then the less rememberable the words are. This seems to fly in the face of common sense, which tells me that the easier some copy is to read then the MORE likely you are to remember what they are saying because you can apply more brain power to simply remembering, rather than understanding.

Anyway, since his conjecture tests have been done and he seems to be right. We may never recover from the effect this has on typography and graphic design. 

Read the article, it's very interesting.

http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2011/01/the-benefit-of-ugly-fonts/

Yesterday was Cigdem's leaving do. And today is her last day. The consequence of the former is that I have a Raki-induced hangover the size of Hackney Marshes. The consequence of the latter is that we will all miss her very much. She is a great designer and a lovely person.

I can't moan too much though (about her leaving, I've been moaning all day about my hangover) 'cos she is returning to her native Turkey to have her baby and be a great mum. 

Good luck from all the fishes.

They say that a fish only grows to the size of its tank. That's why we are expanding our tank and sharing our space with builders, electricians and decorators in an attempt to make the most of our space. It's going to look fantastic when it's done. But for now, here's a work in progress pic. And watch out we might even have a studio warming party. I'll let you know if we do.

Ha ha ha, Ho Ho Ho.

Every year for the past two years we have made our Christmas presents for each other at 3fish. This is my pressie. Cigdem made it.

I think she wanted to make her presents felt. (Sorry, bit of a cracker joke that one.)

Last February Duncan, who shares our studio, came round to my house with his lovely girlf Andrea. Andrea is a brilliant singer and I had given them a copy of a song I had been working on for a couple of months, but had reached a dead-end on. Andrea sang her heart out and left with me promising I'd mix the song and give her a copy.

Ten months later I've finally managed to get an end result I'm happy with. Not because of her singing but because of my orchestration... 

Anyway, whatever the reason, it's done now and here it is.

I hope you like it. I'm dead pleased actually.

01 All For You (Feat Andrea Semas).mp3 (13.59 mb)

Our Christmas party... nuf said.

I have a guilty secret. It is something that has caused me considerable ridicule and lampoonment from my work colleagues at 3fish. The fact is, that in a graphic design studio where everyone uses Macs, I choose to use a Microsoft mouse.

Yes, you heard right. Microsoft.

Is it because I have a secret love of PCs? No. When I’m in front of a PC I’m a little ashamed to say that I am virtually clueless as to where anything is, or how to do even the simplest of tasks. 

Is it because I harbour a deep-seated resentment towards Apple? No. In fact quite the opposite. My first computer was a Mac. At university we were all taught on Macs. Now I use a Mac every day at work and would never even dream of using anything else. Like almost everyone in the office I have an iPhone, which I love.

My girlfriend once even accused me of having Stockholm syndrome whilst we were talking about my affection for Apple. (For those of you who don’t know, Stockholm syndrome is the psychological phenomenon wherein hostages express adulation and have positive feelings towards their captors.)

As if to prove her point, a while ago at 3fish we decided to commemorate 25 years of the Mac with a series of desktop wallpapers to give away as freebies to clients and friends. I decided to do a take on the famous Milton Glaser ‘I Love New York’ logo, replacing NY for SJ and the heart symbol for the Apple Logo. If you haven’t already guessed, SJ refers to Steve Jobs, the charismatic co-founder and CEO of Apple. If you’re interested, the wallpaper, along with all the others designed by the fishes, is available to download here.

Anyway, we digress. All this is just a roundabout way of making the point that my use of a non-Apple mouse has nothing to do with some kind of anti-establishment sentiment. (And yes, I think it is fair to say that Apple has now become the establishment, having recently pushed past arch-rival Microsoft to become the world's biggest technology company.)

Rather, my gripe with the Apple mouse has more to do with its design. Now, I realise this is a pretty strong statement to make – especially when directed at a company as fanatical about design as Apple. Even more so when you consider that Apple are widely credited with having invented the mouse.

The problem I have is this – while the mouse is clearly beautiful, it doesn’t fit that well in your hand. The shape is a perfect ellipse, but the cavity of your hand when you hold a mouse is not. Sure, you can hold it and move it around, but a mouse is a tool that many people use all day every day. It becomes tiresome to use.

You might even say the guys at Cupertino are sacrificing ergonomics in favour of aesthetics. Less ‘form follows function’ more ‘form follows emotion’. And who can blame them? It’s a philosophy that has worked brilliantly. Can you imagine Apple being quite as successful if their products weren’t so achingly beautiful?

In a way, I wish the cavity of my hand was perfectly elliptical, because sometimes I do look down at my mouse and think “you should be a pure white orb and not a grey plasticy funny-shaped object”.

Until that day comes however, I’ll settle for my not very beautiful (but very functional) mouse made by the good people at Microsoft. 

Unless, of course, I get an iPad…

I am truly ambivalent about Ikea. Some things it sells are truly great. Most things ware out after a week. These hand puppets are £1.99 each and make me smile. Great design at a great price. What more could you want?

PS I plan to use them in a presentation soon.

We have a vacancy for a mid/senior designer

This doesn't happen very often, but we are recruiting. We need a middleweight/senior designer. If you think it might be you, send your CV and a small portfolio and one page of A4 saying why it should be you to 

someone new@3fishinatree.com

And good luck.

Although I've been in the creative business for 22 years, I actually trained as a physicist. And I still have a soft one for all things maths and the like. So when I discovered this app, I nearly died and went to calculatory heaven.

The i41CX+ iPhone, iPod and iPad app.

The webiste is atrocious, but the app is ace (and at £14.99 with the printer module, which you need, that is a big ace, this is not a 59p thing that is okay but throwaway, this is serious)

http://alsoftiphone.com/i41CXplus/

It is a simulator of the CLASSIC (and I mean classically revolutionary) Hewlett Packard 41CX calculator launched in 1979. When I went to university I wanted one, but couldn't afford it, it was about £300 in 1984, more than a car. It was available until 1990 and people actually collect them and everything.

It comes with a set of retro and modern skins and works like a dream. Proof that design is more than aesthetic. Design is what something does.

If you aren't maths-savvy you might find it actually hard to use as a calculator, but if you have even half a maths brain get it, you'll never use the in-built Calc app ever again.

But just look in the window of our office, you'll soon work out that I like 80s stuff.

I lost my Japanese knife. I had owned it less than 24 hours. If you find it, can you return it to me c/o 3fish?

Thanks

My eldest son was 19 a few weeks back and he told me that he wanted an Amazon Kindle. I went online, but there was a two-three week waiting list as everyone wanted one. I ordered one and told him he'd have to wait. Then, last Thursday it turned up and Sam came down from Oxford, where he is at university, to collect it and see me and Claire and his brother Felix.

It was a good day, but what really made it special from a design perspective is how beautiful the Kindle actually is. It is slim as a cream cracker, the screen is unbelievable contrasty, the battery lasts a month, it allows you to sync where you are in the book you are reading between it, your iPhone, your iPad, and your Mac or PC.

It is truly a lovely piece of kit. 

I have asked my wife to buy me one for Christmas.

After nearly slicing my finger off on some Japanese plaster packaging, I thought I'd go one better and actually buy a Japanese thing that is meant to be dangerous. 

Well not exactly. You see I really like penknives. I live in Hackney so I don't carry the bigger ones I own around as I'll end up banged up like a kipper quicker than you can say knife if I ever got caught with them, but I do own quite a lot.

And this is my latest purchase. It's from SCP (www.scp.co.uk) and comes from Osaka in Japan. It's a carbon steel carpenter's knife and is stupidly sharp. It's 15cm long fully extended and not actually that specially made, but it's a super-functional piece and I can't see it falling apart for the foreseeable.

But what I really liked about it was its box. First because the illustration is not the same as the actual knife. And second because the cheap three-colour print is beautiful.

My son is learning to speak Japanese so I'll ask him what it says. If I find out I'll let you know.

And if you see a good penknife, buy it for me, I'll let you have the money when I see you.

A few days ago I bought a pack of Hello Kitty plasters. Ace or what? And this morning I thought I'd have a look at them. 

Unfortunately I cut my finger opening the box.

How ironic is that?

Hey the people who know us, or work with us, will know that, as well as designing stuff and fixing our Macs, I write a bit. Mostly marketing copy, but the odd bit of fiction.

In fact, last year I had my first short story published to great critical indifference. But not one to be put off easily, that didn't stop me and my second story is in print and available on Amazon. In fact I even get a mention in the review section on the Amazon page which describes the story being 'a stand out tale'. Ha ha.

It's published by Glasshouse Books, so Google them and have a look. Or check out the Amazon page.

Now, where did I leave my typewriter?

A few weeks ago we launched a quiz for KLM aimed at the gay community:

www.theklmgaygetaway.co.uk

It's doing quite well so far ...but this Saturday, the legendary Mr Stephen Fry was kind enough to twitter about it, creating a HUGE surge in interest.
Thank you Mr Fry!

Following the newspaper run, it felt only right to throw a party for our friends. Matt and Di were challenged with picking up a rather hefty order of fish and chips totalling to 70 portions – quite the spectacle!

It has been a while since our last post but during that time 3 fish in a tree turned ten. To celebrate, the studio put together a small run newspaper, each of us contributing a lovely page design.

Dear 3fish,

     Thankyou very much for letting me apart of this company for two weeks for work experience. In that time i Have learnt a lot of new skills and have seen the world of graphics. I'm very lucky to get a placement here, I've met some really nice people and they've helped me and always answered my Questions. In my two weeks that I have been here i have worked on Mac laptops helping to design logos for companys. I have used programmes like Photoshop, illustrator and Indesign, i have learnt a lot of useful skills from these programmes. My work didn't just end at the office, I went around taking pictures of simple and complicated things with Ricky's camera and have also helped Eve taking pictures of Ribbons, I helped Matt too with his energy books. People have helped me much more than I have helped them, they really know their stuff.

One final thankyou to everyone, in helping me towards my right career path. Hopefully i will see you guys again soon and I really have met some genuinly nice people here. This didn't feel like work, it felt more like a holiday.

Now before I go me and Eve have drawn some pictures of everyone to represent which animals they are if they were to be in animal form. Some are quite strange. I hope you all have a great laugh at these pictures

Ricky- Parraroo

We just had to pick two animals for Ricky, he's so special and unique and just a really great person. We picked a parrot to represent the colourful side of Ricky. He's not afraid to wear what he wants, and that's a

good thing. We also picked a Kangaroo because they're such bubbly, likeable creatures and Ricky is very much like that. A mama kangaroo would do anything for her young, and like Ricky he'd do anything for his

employees. For the time I've worked here, he's been such a fantastic supervisor, not only to me but his other co-workers aswell. Always offering to bring stuff in like Dvd's and like the brownie guide code: lend a

hand and he does just that. I appreciate everything you've done for me and you're a great person to talk to NOT mouthy at all. Thanks for all your help Ricky, stay amazing.

James- Kuala bear

We picked a kuala bear for James because like him Kuala bears are loveable and cuddly, They sleep 23 hours a day and the rest of the time they eat and James loves food. James has helped me a lot 

with my work here and even gave me a cool website to buy my T-shirts from. James has a great sence of humour and can be really funny sometimes. Thankyou for helping me James You've been

fantastic.

Di & Matt-Lovebirds

Sorry if i embarrass you in anyway but you guys are so perfect for eachother. When a lovebird find his/her partner they normally last forever. Di is such a seriously lovely person and she's so pretty!

Matt does not look his age (I will not reveal it but i do know how old he is)or anywhere close, he look years younger! He again is a very likeable person and funny too. These two people are genuinly

very nice. We picked Di & Matt as love birds because whether they're together or seperate they both look adoreable. Thanks Di for letting me be here for two weeks, you truely are amazing and naturally

 very beautiful. Matt you've helped me alot and yet again you too have been amazing. Thankyou to both of you and I really do appreciate

Natt-Chipmunck

Natt you have a really great sence of humour and can sometimes come out with some funny jokes. Like a chipmunk you are very cute and Your hair is just so lovely. You are very nice and talkative. Thankyou for helping me.

Paul- Dollyphant

We picked both dolphin and elephant for Paul because like Paul they're both very intelligent creatures. We could not pick which anima to do for him so we thought what the heck lets pick both. Paul is very hardworking and he seems

to be an expert in Design. He's very adventerous with his camping and bike riding. Thankyou Paul you are friendly.

Maiko- Panda bear

Like Maiko Panda's are very shy and timid creatures. Maiko is very friendly and sweet. She's very hardworking too.

Cidgam-Ant

Like a ant Cidam is very hardworking. She's friendly and always relaxed.

Tom- Gorilla

Tom you don't look anything like a gorilla but you are calm and cool. You laugh at my jokes which means you have a great sence of humour, lol joke but seriously you do have a great sence of humour.

You're a patient person who dresses cool, not that unpatient people don't dress cool. Thankyou for helping me with my work and for being a great person.

Eve-Ostrich

Last but definately not least, It's Eve. This Ostrich is wearing bright red lipstick because it's a very crazy ostrich and So is Eve. Eve you're mental and don't ever change! You're so cool and pretty. It's been

great working with you and thankyou for helping me with my work. I wish you good luck with your next placement (not that you need any luck) as you too are leaving. You have thought me to use certain

bits from photoshop which I  can learn from. Thankyou for all your help and for being a very funny person.

I was asked recently to write a story for inclusion in an anthology of vampire stories.

I did and it's been published. And I'm reading extracts from the story, along with some of the other authors, on the 13th April at The Wine Press in Trinity Square, Tower Hill EC3N 4DJ.

Please come along and see me make a fool of myself.

I bought the Southpark Avatar app for my iPhone to keep my six-year-old son happy on train journeys and then I got addicted. So I made a bunch of 3fish Southpark characters. Then Cigdem joined in and made Rids and Eve.

Ha ha. They are going to be our website photos next week... have a look. 

Made by Duncan for James: electric thump piano

Made by Matt for Alastair: felt Alastair doll

Made by Paul for Cigdem: Turkey cake

Made by Nat for Chris: I hate cushions cushion

Made by Di for Ricky: ginger threesome

Made by Ricky for Di: balsa wood lamp

Made by Christian for Paul: a gansta P Riddy tee

It was our Xmas lunch yesterday and we all had to give each other a present. But to break with tradition a little and to add a bit of extra fun we decided that everyone had to make their present. The results were fantastic, truly witty, clever, beautiful and thoughtful. But most of all: creative. I'll post them all up here for you to enjoy one by one. Cigdem, James, Alastair and Nat haven't bought their pictures in yet, so I'll post them tomorrow.

Here's number one, made by James, for Matt: a gay Airfix Spitfire

I have just attended a seminar on diversity in design and whilst it turned into a seminar on ethnicity, not diversity, I did learn some pretty interesting facts:

93% of people who work in design in the UK are white*

68% are male

60% are younger than 40 years old

65% earn less than £20,000 a year

Now I don't know what constitutes * 'design in the UK' but these figures are awful. We all have a duty to try to change these statistics and make design a more equal place and a fairer place for everyone.

I'll let you know what we plan to do to help.

At 3fish we have a pretty clear view of what makes good design. We aren't minimalist, but we do kind of believe that form follows function. The issue is that if you want your 'function' to be 'everything under the sun' you end up with something like this.

(BTW, this is a real Swiss Army knife available in the States for $999.)

You may not know this, but our Di... yes our very own Diana Boyle... is also a professional illustrator. She's pretty damn good too.

Check out this interview in Amelia's Magazine: click here

And you can see more on her own website: click here

We think she's ace. Look out for Di's drawings... they'll be everywhere soon.

Why did I let anyone talk me into this? Transporting a shed on the top of my executive motor? It was a disaster waiting to happen. In fact, how Di and I managed to get from The Old Kent Road to the 3fish studios without killing anyone was a miracle, But we did.

All we have to do now is paint it pink and build it. (It's going to masquerade as a seaside hut and we think pink is the best colour for that.) When it's done, we'll post more pictures.

Oh, and if I ever get around to cleaning my car, I'll let you know as well.

Hey, it's the Style Birmingham awards and we want everyone to vote for our client The Mailbox. It's ace there and they deserve to win, so get along to the Style Birmingham website and stick your ex in the box.

http://www.stylebirmingham.com/style-awards

Thanks

It's the 25th aniversary of the Apple Macintosh this year, and where would we be without them? Erm... the same probably but we'd be using PCs instead. Not that we're Mac Anoraks or anything like that (well... maybe some of us are) but we do love our Macs.

We've cellebrated by designing some desktop patterns/posters for your pleasure. Have a look on our site: www.3fishinatree.com/downloads/desktops .

...super.

It's 10.30am and I'm jumping around like a little giddy school girl. Why? Well it all comes down to QR Codes. QR Codes are a kind of barcode destined to one day phase out barcodes or maybe work alongside them, who knows. They're currently used in Japan and when you get a QR scanner you can read the codes that point you to websites and other sorts of information. But I can hear you say but i need to carry another device around how lame whats the point!? Well you don't! You can use your current phone and camera to read the codes and then redirect you to whatever the info is. The applications for this stuff seems endless! Can you imagine unfortunately being in hospital and then having your details placed in a QR code and emailing that code to the doctor he scans it and maybe all of you medical info comes up onscreen, obviously for that scenario some sort of security will be needed, but could even be used for test results and all sorts it's just insanely excitably excit ing! If you have an iPhone I recommend the QR app its ace, and for you to test it all heres the image I made!

It's all over. It is now.

The three way final was between EJ, Di and me. We all took two shots each at our two opponents and it moved round like that. First to go was Di (and her concker Bill) after only three hits. Then there was just me and EJ left. EJ hit like a demon and smashed into my concker (affectionately known as  The Old Man's Testicle) and I was worried. Then I hit back and smashed a piece clean off hers. Then she swiped me and the end was close. 

One last smash and...

Both conckers smashed apart.

A draw. EJ and me joint winners. Well done.

We get loads of emails asking if we have any work placement opportunities. And the people asking range from designers with a few year's experience, through recent graduates and second year undergraduates, to year 10 school children who want two weeks to fulfil their national curriculum. Most of the emails and CVs and portfolios are simply underwhelming, a few are absolutely great, but most aren't, however today Di got an email from someone in year 10 that really stood out. Simply for the following line.

"... and I'll do as I'm told with a big smile on my face."

I think I might write that into people's contracts from now on.

The draws have been made for the 3fish conker championship 2009 and we kick off this lunchtime.

We have six matches in the first round and Matt gets a by as Nat doesn't want to play. Then the semis and it's a three-man final. How that's going to work, I have no idea. 

I'll keep you posted of the results.

Mallory may be back in Baltimore studying for her degree, but she's not forgotten. Especially when she emails and tells us about her new pet. Lucy the sqrl (American pronunciation) is an orphan and Mal stepped in to rescue the her. I'm not sure we'll ever get to see Lucy in the flesh over here as petpassports are not available for rodents at the moment. But, hey, that might all change now Obama is in. Wait and see.

Monday sees the first day of the Official 3fish Conker Knockout Challenge.

Fighters will be required to enter one conker and fight their way to the top. Obviously, 3fish staff are eligible, but anyone with a vague 3fish link can enter. Entrance fee is a pound and winner takes all. Come on, what are you?

Conker or plonker?

We had a bit of a jolly over to the Hayward last week to see the "Walking in My Mind" exhibition.

You've probably seen the dotty madness by Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama which is pretty cool, but so's the room full of string by Chiharu Shiota, the card-board caves by Thomas Hirschhorn, and the Eternity Chamber by Charles Avery.

If you like the Psycho Buildings thing they did, you'll love this.. we did.
It's on untill September 6th so get a shifty on.

See the Hayward website: click here

Any time I see any design work we've done in print, or an ad we worked on on a billboard, or an illustration we slaved over out there (like the time I saw something I'd done decorating a plate in the Museum of Modern Art in NYC - well it was on sale in the shop there) I am dead chuffed. And it should have been like that when I saw a proof cover we worked on for the new Iain Banks novel recently used in a magazine reviewing the book. The novel hasn't been released yet properly, and they shouldn't have used our cover, but they did and there it was in lovely four colour print.

Unfortunately the magazine was SciFiNow.

I don't think anyone I know will see it, I have to admit.

Still it's 3fish work and it's in print.

Save 600 jobs at Vestas

Vestas Blades UK (one of the UK’s largest wind farms) closed on 31st July. Six-hundred jobs were lost immediately, many more that depend on the farm will follow. This makes no sense environmentally or socially.

The government has just announced a major expansion of renewable energy including wind power. We are calling on Vestas to keep the factories open, saving jobs and offering those who want to leave a better redundancy deal.

We are calling on the government to intervene to save jobs at Vestas - through nationalisation if that is what it takes - to show that it is serious about saving the planet.

What you can do:

Send messages of support from yourself or your organisation to: savevestas@googlemail.com.

Send a donation. Cheques payable to:Ryde and East Wight Trades Union Council, 22 Church Lane, Ryde, Isle of Wight, PO33 2NB

Contact energy minister Ed Miliband:Email: MILIBANDE@parliament.uk

His phone number in his constituency is 01302 875 462, at Westminster, 020 7219 4778.
Flood him with calls for the government to take over the Vestas factory and keep it producing, under new management.

For more info visit:

Save Vestas

Guardian website

Campaign Against Climate Change

Save Vestas on Twitter

This week we'd like to introduce you to Tom. He's a recent graduate from Nottingham Trent University (Where our James went). So far he's worked out great, being a good laugh and doing some cracking work with Matt and Rick. You can view some of his mad cat skills here.

When the time comes we'll show what the 3 of them have been working on, we think it looks ace.

Our D&AD Award Winning Director Matt Dent (what a mouthful) is this months guest writer on the 2nd best design blog on the web Noisy Decent Graphics. He's already written a few articles and a little bird tells me the next article is going to be based on patterns - released this Saturday. Jump over and have a look there's some great stuff up.

So this morning we was all doing the usual lark around and have a giggle, it's Friday so why not, then our placement Emma decided to disclose something not so nice about herself. I mean we thought our pal Mals tongue thing was weird but this is a whole new kettle of 3fish!

Check it out or send us your nastys!

It seems like two minutes ago that Mal said hi and walked into our design lives. Now she's gone. Flying back to Baltimore Saturday. She drank Stella and bought us cheesecake and was a good designer. I think we'll miss her. 

I won't miss the creepy thing she can do with her tongue though. Euw.

Most briefs we work on lend themselves to two or three solutions. (Sometimes more as was the case when we recently produced an identity for the lovely Adam Beard and his lovely new business The Elevator Consultancy, but that's another story.) Anyway, if the ideas are good enough we present them and let the client decide which he or she is going to go with.  Which is ace, except sometimes a great piece of work never gets to see the light of day. So, from time to time, I'm going to post some of the ideas that got killed because I think they deserve to be seen. The first is an illustration Di did for a proof book cover for Little, Brown Books. I think it's lovely.

Yesterday was a day for brollies, galoshes and at the very least a jacket. Sadly I had none of these. This was how London looked at 5.45pm from the Oxo Tower's viewing gallery.