Dear London Town

It is the current trend in blogs to write some sort of retrospective or a ‘best of’ from 2009. Since I barely had time to blog this year, which really makes no sense as a student, I wont recall a list of links. I would rather share a few things that made life fun and interesting this year regardless of whether they made it on my blog. So here is my top 5 of 2009.

QYPE – Early on in my time here in London, I came to need a hair salon. Not having many friends who have similar hair needs, I went online and came across a recommendation. I booked at appointment, had a successful experience and returned to the website to add my own opinion. Not only did my hair salon reward me for this on my next booking by giving me a free treatment, but after I began using the website more and more, I received an email to join a guru event. I, along with some other fantastic ladies and a couple of men, had an opportunity to go on a speed boat tour of London. Meeting the lovely people of Qype, and some new friendly faces, I was hooked; thus began my relationship with Qype. They allowed me to attend master classes, wine tastings, food tastings, special shopping events and more in exchange for my opinions of the businesses online. Being a poor student, this was a great way to be treated to some of the best things London has to offer in a budget friendly way. It also brought me new friends and true understanding of the importance of peer recommendation.

Below is the video that shows that first Qype experience.

Qype Does London : Thames RIB Experience from Qype UK on Vimeo.

2: Social Media – Without Twitter, I would not have the social life or business connections that I have now. My first week in London I attended a social media cafe event called ‘Tuttle’ and a few weeks later I attended my first London tweet-up in Shoreditch. These events expanded my network and introduced me to other events coordinated via social media including Twestival, London Bloggers Meet-ups, Silicon Stilettos and various conferences. The list is long, but I’d like to mention some of my favorite people that I have met along the way: Mat, Darika, Josh, Mauricio, Lewis, Dom, Litman, Laura, Stuart, Melanie, Kai, Willem, Fernando, Alfie and Conor. There are many others who have been friendly faces to look forward to at each event, or even in random passing on the streets, but this list includes those people who have become friends. They are my dinner dates and drinking buddies and they are inspirational and encouraging.

3: Central Saint Martins – 2009 was also the year I returned to school for my Masters. I chose a program called Design Studies where the students from multiple disciplines come together to tackle briefs in a collaborative way. While many MA programs are based solely on research, this program also had a practical element, which I found to be more relevant to my needs. In the end, I tackled the subject of trust and how having an online/digital presence could strengthen trust in offline relationships. While my final exhibit was not a mind-blowing demonstration of my knowledge, I am perfectly comfortable with the wisdom gained from this project. While I do not have my degree in hand yet, I have completed my MA and can walk in full cap and gown glory in the summer.

4: Visits – I wouldn’t have thought I’d see my family so much this year, being abroad and all. My parents came in the spring and we set off for Paris for a few days and also had a couple days around London to visit. Then, in the summer, they flew over to Vienna for a cruise. I flew over to meet them for a quick visit. In September, I went home for a few weeks before returning just in time to have my sis and niece visit. We had such a blast! We did video-blogs for Lauren that were so cute. I loved seeing her discover London. It reminded me of why I loved this city so much after my first visit.

I also had a chance to visit with many friends who were either passing through or spending a few days in London. This list includes:
Steffi – a friend from Holland that I learned to surf with and went to school with in Australia — came to see me (twice!)

Chris – an ex-boyfriend/now friend — came to study the archives at the British Library for this PhD in Theatre (plays with absinthe!)

Megan S – a co-worker from BR — came over with her MBA class, we had dinner at Jamie Oliver restaurant Fifteen (yum!)

Megan R – one of my best friends from KC and former classmate at Oxford — here for work (please send her back for more!!)

Vince – a co-worker from BR and all-around great guy/good friend — here on holiday with his bros, it was bonus that I was here (haha)

Matty – Hendrix/Choir friend – here on holiday and was the one who set me up with a singing opportunity at Westminster Abbey (bless!)

John De- American Idol PA friend — here to photograph a wedding, and again, I was bonus (good times!!)

5: Sam – The majority of my year would not have been complete without this wonderful guy. I can say without hesitation that he is my best friend. On many occasions he was the voice of reason and encouragement, my caretaker and my ass-saver. He made me laugh until I had tears more times than I would care to admit – it seriously became a joke. We traveled together to Dublin, Brighton, the Cotswolds, Derbyshire and Vienna; played ridiculous amounts of Scrabble; and watched hours and hours of tv episodes. I have very few memories from this year that do not include him, which tells you how big of a part of it he was. While I dont know what the future holds for us, I’m glad he is in my life for now.

MADS FULL TIME AND PART-TIME YEAR 1 MODES 2009

Project Five:
Wednesday 18th February – Monday/Wednesday 9th – 11th March

PLANET ME

Introduction
This project is designed to encourage you to define your self and give dimension and access to the process of self-analysis. You can start this project as soon as you like.

Brief
We would you like you to clarify who you believe that you are, and who you would like to be, by creating your own planet ‘PLANET ME’. Your planet should take the form of an artifact (i.e. you give your thoughts dimension, or sensory presence). It should not exceed 0.75m in any dimension. Like any planet yours will need to have a system that will sustain life and therefore evolution. Because it is your own planet you do not need to worry about other species so include only those ingredients that are essential for your own sustenance and growth. Your planet will be accompanied by a brief manual (300 words max) that allows others to know what you need them to do to maintain your growth. Try to avoid the literal. For example you will need food, but instead of naming your favourite curry, explore some metaphors: “Yum yum, I eat other people’s garbage by applying my imagination to developing new ways of recycling it.”

Presentation
Your ‘Planet’ and its Maintenance Manual will be exhibited in the studio in the week beginning Monday 9th March and will be reviewed by you, your colleagues, and your tutors.

Criteria
The project will be assessed against the following criterion:

• Your ability to utilize and apply your imagination
• The quality and range of your research
• Your ability to manage and take responsibility for planning, executing and delivering your own project
• Developing an artifact that manages the distinctions between clarity and intrigue
• The level of risk taking you display in your presentation
• Your ability to move beyond the predictable
• Your ability to understand and give dimension to metaphors
• Your ability to summarize and communicate succinctly what you have learnt in a way that stimulates the reader to want to know more

I beg your forgiveness. The combination of school and life has left me little time to begin to catch up on all the things that have been going on, but here is my short list of things to tell you about:

Inamo -  a cool restaurant for geeking out

London Eye – the night flight was worth the money

Fish & Chips – I found the only place I’d suggest people to go

Chinese New Year – I started a post, but there’s more to come…

Twestival – Where 2.0 + IRL come together for charity

The old place – Why I moved

Moving – Yes, I did

La Casa Perfecta – the new flat and my Italian flatmate Elena

Snow – we had a snow day! A LOT of it.

Reading – visiting Steve and Nora and 30 sec cooking shows

Vince – nice to see a friend from home.

I think that’s what I need to catch up on…but I’m using wifi cafes now to try to catch up on emails and school stuff until the new place has internet. It might take another week. Bah. But I’ll suffer through by using my time better and enjoying the city.

This weekend, my plan w/ Elena is to finish up getting some things for the house and to show her some of London. She really is unfamiliar with all the wonderful things here. So I am sharing my London Town with her so that maybe she can begin to see why I love this city so much.

Project 2: Gifting
Wednesday 21st January – Wednesday 4th February

Introduction
Project Two: Gifting
‘Giving’ emanates from a range of motives and addresses a range of perceived needs, including philanthropy and self-advancement. This project explores the value of giving including its impact on others and us, but it also allows and encourages you to re-evaluate the relationship between the creative and the consumer.

Brief
Working as teams we want you to evaluate another team’s needs and potentials so that you can create a gift for them of something that they really need. The projects will also highlight the role of the consumer in ways that encourage the ‘creatives’ to assume more responsibility for their relationship with the people who receive the products of their imagination.
This project is intended to move you outside of the short-term profit driven agendas of business in order to introduce you to, and allow you to explore, alternative paradigms of economic and social interaction.
You will work together to analyse ideas, research and presentation strategies and report back on Monday afternoon and Wednesday evening according to attendance requirements (F/T Monday and Wednesday, and P/T Wednesday evening only) but you will need to find mutually convenient slots during the project to meet and work together.

Presentation
Three of the teams will present their outcomes from this project on the evening of Wednesday 28th of January. The other three teams will present on Wednesday the 4th February. Presentations should last a maximum of 10 minutes to be followed by about 10 minutes of feedback, in the form of constructive criticism. We expect all of you (during the evening) to contribute to the critique. Effective feedback is facilitated by a supportive response that offers opinion rather than questions. Please remember that feedback is undermined by defensive responses.

Criteria
The project will be assessed against the following criterion:

• Your ability to utilize and apply your imagination
• The quality and range of your research
• Your ability to respect and utilize each other’s skills and opinions
• Your ability to manage, delegate, share, take responsibility, plan and deliver
• The clarity of your presentation
• The level of risk-taking you display in your presentation
• Your ability to move beyond the predictable
• Your preparedness and ability in understanding your target consumer group
• Your ability to manage your consumer group and yourselves
• Your ability to work constructively as a team
• Your ability to communicate effectively and persuasively to all who are involved in all aspects of this project from permission to approval
• Your ability to sum up what you have learnt
• Your ability to evolve a presentation strategy that succinctly allows you to communicate the essence of the knowledge that you have gained
• Your ability to challenge yourselves and your audience

Result:
After discussing various options for gifting and how to complete market research, we decided to go back to an opening exercise for the class. The question essentially asked what we wished for from the course.

Having made notes about peoples’ responses, we then set out to make them a road map for their success. That map turned into a tube map. Each line was done for a specific person with encouraging stations. Their was a key full of quotes, books, role models and other helpful suggestions to guide them on their quest.

We think it was well-received. It was something cohesive, yet individual. Marianne, a part-time student who works for Evolve Design, did our mock tube guide fantastically!