Sinai calling...

In between the mad and exciting rush of sustainable design in 2007 I will be jetting off to Sinai in February to visit our clients', The Makhad Trust!

The Makhad Trust provides a meeting place in nomadic regions of the world, such as Sinai, Tibet and the Arctic Circle, where there is a powerful relationship between the environment and the spirit.

"The Trust takes action to sustain the natural heritage of these regions and to cherish the indigenous wisdom of the people. It does this in a broadly educational context and through cultural exchange, by means of a programme of practical projects in which visitors making a journey through the area are able to participate. Thus it operates as a model for sustainable development and eco-tourism, at the heart of which is the principle that the indigenous peoples are the hosts and the visitors are their guests."
The Makhad Trust

I can't wait to see the great work The Mackhad Trust are doing. But I might have to climb for an insight; one current project involves restoring traditional walled family gardens in the High Mountains of the Sinai, many of which go back over 1000 years but were abandoned in response to the lure of the city. They will grow herbs, fruit, olives and medicinal plants for Bedouin use and for sale.

I'll send you a post card :)

Paper price hiking; the dominos will fall...

The impending paper price hike of 8% is about to descend on us like an unwanted Christmas gift. And be sure that printers will no doubt have to react with adding a further 7or 8% to the overall costs :(

Choose your suppliers wisely, sustainably and recycle, recycle, recycle....

National Energy Efficiency Awards honours our client!

Our client, the Wiltshire Wildlife Trust have received the Highly Commended Award at UK CEED's inaugural National Energy Efficiency Awards, in the Community & Volunteers category for their Urchfront Climate Friendly Communities project. Leap helped launch the project and are happy it has been recognised at such a high profile event.

The prestigious Awards ceremony, held on 6th December at the Science Museum, showcased the innovative energy efficiency work of 49 finalists across the Award's 9 categories.

The Awards, sponsored by EDF Energy, Defra, English Partnerships and the Independent newspaper, received 170 high quality entries illustrating a broad range of good energy efficiency practice by public, voluntary and private sector organisations.

Nice one WWT !

Why we support Good Energy!

The debate about renewable energy is heated, but there is no denying the severity of the challenge facing us: there has been little long-range investment in our energy system while we have been harvesting north sea oil. But the chickens are coming home to roost: where will our electricity come from?

Carbon Dioxide (CO2) is the primary gas responsible for Climate Change and conventional power stations are the biggest source of CO2 emissions. Therefore, one of the simplest and most effective solutions is to switch to a 100% renewable electricity supplier. Using the power of the wind, sun and running water to provide electricity does not generate CO2 during its generation. Wind power has its critics but most thoughtful environmentalists ? who wish to defend the countryside from predatory development ? accept it as an inevitable, and least-bad, option. Many consider it to be part of the potential solution to our electricity-supply problems.

We buy all our electricity from Good Energy, which is based in Wiltshire and supplies only 100% renewable electricity to homes and businesses in the UK. Their parent company, the Monkton Group only invests in renewables too. We rate Good Energy as among the best of all the renewable suppliers. If you switch to them you will have several benefits: the real pleasure of dealing with a dedicated team, with human beings on the end of a telephone line; and the satisfaction of knowing that you are really making a difference and reducing your impact on Climate Change. In 2004 the average Good Energy customer saved two tonnes of CO2 emissions, the equivalent to not driving over 5,000 miles in a petrol car.

Tis' the season to be jolly ( and green : )

Some interesting festive facts....

"The cost of the average Christmas lunch, with wine and crackers, is
estimated to be £14 per person but the ingredients could have flown 84,612
miles producing the same amount of greenhouse gas from planes as 50,000
three bedroom semis in a year. So when shopping look for locally produced
food and wine to help the planet and support local businesses!"
Times 20/11/2006

"In 2004 we sent 744 million Christmas cards and if all were recycled it
would have saved 248,000 trees. Last year only 82 million cards were
recycled but this meant 1,630 tonnes of rubbish diverted from landfill."
Green Guide

"In 2001 of the 7.5 million Christmas tress bought only 1.2 million were
recycled the rest created enough rubbish to fill the Albert Hall in London
three times over. Why not buy a tree with roots?"
Defra

Yo ho ho :)

Say hello to Lee

During the festive period, Lee Rogers, a graphic design student from University College Falmouth, will be joining the Leap Team as temporary Creative Assistant to gain a professional insight into the world of sustainable design. Check out a brief auto-biog from the man himself:

Lee (Buck) Rogers:

"Hi my name is Lee, I’m 22 and I am studying Graphic Design at University College Falmouth. There’s only 2 terms left, and there’s lots to do! When I’m not designing I love to surf, which is more of an obsession than a hobby. Surfing throughout our cold winters, along with an interest in travel motivated me to visit several places around the world, which include; Austria, Costa Rica, Cyprus, France, Indonesia, Ireland, Italy, Mexico, Morocco, Panama, Portugal, Spain (+Balearic and Canary Islands), Sri Lanka and USA.

Art & Design was always my favourite subject through school, and into college. On a foundation course at college I decided Graphic Design was for me. I’m still trying things out to help me identify the areas which I enjoy most; this allows me to work broadly experimenting with brand identity, editorial, typography and ideas. I had a good work placement at Nixon Design in Hayle for two weeks over the summer, where I learnt a lot about the working environment.

Some of my favourite designers include;
Josef Müller-Brockmann - For the clarity of the message in his posters.
Derek Birdsall – For his book designs where content is paramount.
Yugo Nakamura – For his experimental web designs.

But rather than finding inspiration from particular designers, I like to find inspiration in everything.

Some people I’d like to meet include;
Occy, Arnold Schwarchenegger and Lenin.

Throughout school Buck Rogers was my nickname – Not because I did anything superhero like, my second name is Rogers.

The goal for a sustainable future is ever more important. I’m writing a dissertation about ‘Greenwashing’, which is a term used to describe large organizations that project themselves as green, when the reality is often that their environmental actions are insignificant."

Ethical consumption on an all-time high

Good news:

Shoppers are now spending £29.3 billion on 'ethical' products, according to the Co-operative Bank's annual 'Ethical Consumerism' report. For the first time, the amount being spent on such products - including organic food, Fairtrade items and 'green' energy - has overtaken the £28 billion a year spent on beer and cigarettes. The figures, from 2005 and based on data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS), showed an 11% increase in spending on this type of product.

There is more information at:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/6186778.stm

Speakathon 2007

It's gonna seem like that, and we are, as always, chomping at the bit to spread the sustainable word so to speak. And speak we will; in January 2007 Leap will be giving a talkshop type seminar on Sustainable Marketing for Cornwall Tourism Skills Network, and in June 2007 we'll be presenting a course with Rezolve's Jon Rolls on Sustainable Marketing & Packaging, and Waste Minimisation.

It's good to talk...

Leap sponsors Cornwall Sustainability Awards 2006!

Morning blog fiends!

A busy week unfolded last week. As well as being immersed in the hectic normality of Leap that is the world of good old fashioned sustainable design graft delivered at lightning speed, I also found myself slap bang in the middle of some glitz and glamour.

No I wasn't quarking in a sequinned dress and stilettos, I was honoured, as a main sponsor, to join 80 local businessmen and women at Trerice Manor in Newquay in cheering on the winners of the Cornwall Sustainability Awards 2006, not to mention presenting the overall winners Ginsters with a unique trophy designed by Leap and Parc Signs.

The trophy was constructed from local Yew, sourced from Heligan Gardens, recycled banknotes set in a resin made from melted car headlamp lenses, off cut acrylic and recycled PVC.

The Cornwall Sustainability Awards 2006 rewards top Cornish businesses for their excellent environmental practices.

Leap is pretty proud of sponsoring this event which utilised our design skills to the max; we designed all the branding, graphics and print literature for the awards.

Check out the link below for the Western Morning News take on the event; I've no idea who the grinning dude is holding a trophy aloft...

ttp://www.thisiscornwall.co.uk/

Leap gets a green thumbs up in IT WEEK!

Yes that's right! Massive IT orientated business weekly ITWEEK magazine have given Leap a nice thumbs up in their Green Business section, albeit with the occasional misunderstanding of our status and ethos (1. we ain't carbon 'neutral' but we are 100% carbon 'zero' company , 2. we also love to work with small businesses AS WELL as the colossal ones - because we want EVERYONE to get sustainable, and we're a small business ourselves!)

Minor edits aside, we appreciate ITWEEK giving us a sizeable chunk of praise and making us turn a rich shade of rouge! Read all about it:

http://green.itweek.co.uk/2006/11/cornwall_aims_t.html

That's all folks ;)

Leap & Wrigley unite!

Leap were recently recruited by Wrigley UK to design a new brochure for the company and give them advice on how to produce the brochure in the most sustainable way. The brochure is on 100% recycled stock, using vegetable based ink, minimises waste and is produced in their main area of local operations.

We're leaping for joy that we are working with internationally recognised company Wrigley and hope to continue and build upon this relationship.

We're absolutely chuffed that Wrigley are employing these sustainable practices.

The new Wrigley brochure is available in 2006. The image featured is just one of many we commissioned for the brochure.

Over and out...

p.s wants some gum?

We've only gone n' won another award!

Fantastically unexpected plaudit for Leap Media! At the recent Cornwall Design Week 2006, Special Guest Amanda Lavete from the internationally famous Future Systems awarded Leap with the Speakers Award for our Recycle for Cornwall final report design work; the culmination of 18 months hard graft!

Visit http://www.recycleforcornwall.org.uk

The funny thing is we didn't even know we'd been nominated let alone won the thing, so grins all round...

Green Futures nominated for Green Award 2006

Some fantastic news for Good Energy just in! They've only gone and grabbed a nomination at this year's prestigious Green Awards for Creativity in Sustainability, and an opportunity to compete with some of the UK's leading pioneers of global change.

Good Energy, formed in 1999, is a company passionate about providing simple solutions to people and businesses that want to reduce their impact on climate change by reducing their carbon dioxide emissions and empowering them to continue change.

All the electricity they supply comes from wind, small scale hydro and solar power generators from all over Britain. They are either small or medium sized sites and many of them are the result of diversification from areas such as farming and other family businesses. Their Home Generation scheme supports the smaller generator and home owner.

Good Energy has been selected as a Green Award finalist for its spectacular Wind Turbine Illumination that advertised this summer's Delabole Wind Fair in North Cornwall.

But why is Leap Media literally 'leaping' for joy at this news do you ask?

Well apart from getting a big green fingered salute of approval from Leap Media because Good Energy is the UK's only 100% renewable energy supplier, the company has also received a sizeable portion of design work from yours truly in the past few months, hopefully helping recruit new customers but also garnering a gust of publicity for the company in its bid to beat Fifteen Cornwall and Recycle Western Riverside to win Green Award's Best Outdoor Ad category.

The annual Green Awards, created by marketing agency, Satellite, have been created to recognise excellent creative work that illustrates and communicates the importance of CSR, sustainable development, and ethical best practice. And they will be awarded to brands or organisations that have demonstrated their commitment to these issues in a creative and effective way across different media platforms and marketing disciplines.

The winners will be announced on the 29th November at the London Guildhall. Leap Media supports Good Energy's nomination and hopes its contributary design work will help raise a smile of triumph in the Good Energy camp, on the night.

For more information on Good Energy visit http://www.good-energy.co.uk .

This blog was written by a freelance writer in search of a green shelter from the rain..

Simple stylin'

Just a mini bloggage this time, as we are flat out with more design projects and consultancy work than you could shake a stick at. The new office in Cornwall continues to receive a stream of friends, clients, (and both) journeying up the stairs.

We're currently working on the branding for the Renewable Energy 4 Devon project, a great two year cross-sector initiative. We won the project in a multiple agency tender and eagerly await the chance to roll out our innovative branding.

Amid a multitude of projects we're handling at the moment, we recently received a surprising request from none other than Microsoft, to brand and style an office area for one of their UK teams based in Reading. We have been working with Brainstorm Communications on the identity, event organisation, (to roll out the ident to their 80+ strong team), on-screen graphics and the office decor. It's been a rewarding project for all involved, and in a recent trip to view their office space we got to see a buzzing office environment, (with the Xbox floor area an attractive highlight of the redesign).

Our work will be a surprise install with the team being introduced to their new identity on a forthcoming Friday. Over the weekend we install window, wall, pillar and door graphics with possible meeting room graphics to follow for the team to walk into work on the Monday to a hopefully pleasant surprise.

We'll update more on Leap activities soon, but surfing & socialising is needed now.

New :)

Born 22 June 2006, 7lbs 13oz in a 3 hour push of a water birth session, with some Chris Coco playing in the background, this is Gracie, our new fantastically beautiful addition! We're having a couple of days of chill time and then we'll be back riding sustainable design wave again.

Paper for life

Now I don't know if this is the way to go, but I personally love paper, or recycled paper to be exact. I love new & old books, the turn of a 'real' page, my surf mags by the toilet, my Design Week through the letter box. Now admittedly this could save some paper and landfill space....but I think it's going to be for some and not for others!

http://www.livescience.com/environment/top10_emergingenvironment_technologies-10.html

Imagine curling up on the couch with the morning paper and then using the same sheet of paper to read the latest novel by your favorite author. That's one possibility of electronic paper, a flexible display that looks very much like real paper but can be re-used, over and over again. The display contains many tiny microcapsules filled with particles that carry electric charges bonded to a steel foil. Each microcapsule has white and black particles that are associated with either a positive or negative charge. Depending on which charge is applied, the black or white particles surface displaying different patterns. In the United States alone, more than 55 million newspapers are sold each weekday.

We will mostly be plate spinning this week...

We're about to embark on a week of plate spinning!

So what's on the agenda? 1 baby due on 14/06/06, all our Wiltshire gear goes into storage on 15/06/06. On the same day we've been shortlisted to pitch for the Renewable Energy 4 Devon 2 year project; it's us and one other agency. And we're also in talks with Eden Project to see if we can base ourselves there for the summer. I'd like to have Leap at Eden for the summer as it will be a little full circle journey back to where the idea for Leap was conceived. Oh, and on top of that our two Burmese studio cats, Monkey and Dude, (no graphic talent but good foot rests), don't have a home for the summer. Fingers crossed that something will turn up this week.

So you can see it's all zoom zoom, and there's all the other weekly work to sort as well, and we're mid way through writing a presentation for our Sustainability Day that we are doing for South West Tourism and some of their supply chain.

And the reason for moving...we're going to Cornwall for a short time/long time. We're buying a home with an external office, (if all goes well), we're putting in for an Unlocking Cornish Potential (UCP) graduate to help do more stuff with our website and support our existing designers. We've also contacted Cornwall Enterprise and ActNOW to see how they can help Leap grow in the right way, (sustainably of course).

So you can see why I say plate spinning!

We move to Cornwall on 17/06/06

The way to have a good read

And why not! More of this, less into landfill and no loss of quality. To top it off it should bring down recycled paper costs not that there is a great difference anymore!

A Random Act of Mindfulness
Random House to bump up use of recycled paper

For you fogies who still read books made of ... what do they call it? ... "paper," here's some good news: Leading U.S. publishing company Random House announced last week that it plans to increase the recycled-paper content of its books to 30 percent by 2010. It's an ambitious goal, as only about 3 percent of paper currently used in Random House books is recycled. The average recycled-paper content in the biz is about 5 percent. Random House, which buys about 120,000 tons of paper each year for book production, claims that 550,000 trees a year will be saved when it reaches its goal. The initiative will be a "multimillion-dollar investment," but the company doesn't plan to raise book prices. Said Tyson Miller of recycled-paper pushers Green Press Initiative: "What they're doing is phenomenal."

one Good step

A late posting, but last week we got an excellent and hoped for phone call. Good Energy ( www.good-energy.co.uk ) called to say that after an informal presentation last month, Leap are to become their main design consultancy. This is brilliant for the development of Leap as well as the fact that the few people we have met from Good Energy seem really excellent people. We are hoping for a really good relationship out of this opportunity so look out for our joint work.

So now Leap works for our home and business energy supplier how cool is that!

Good Energy is available to homes and businesses in England, Wales and Scotland and offers a simple way for you to take environmental responsibility by cutting your contribution to climate change whilst not having to change your lifestyle.

This was a doubly good moment as we'd been holding off finding a replacement client now that the Recycle for Cornwall campaign that we branded and designed for the last 18 months comes to it's funding end in late May. Hopefully the energy, people and information will carry on making a difference in Cornwall, even better would be that the current team carry on doing the the fantastic work they have been part of, www.recycleforcornwall.org.uk

So this is a renewable powered family and business!

Max, Bo, Clare and I with a double wedge of cheese! Image taken by the Mail on Sunday from an article about home and business renewable energy use.

A Leap week...

I may be a blog virgin, I may be too busy, and I may write papness but I thought I should atleast give this blogging fad/reality a shot. And with all that Leap get's up to there is a lot to say...

So what's been happening?

Leap's producing graphic design and print work that reduces our client's impact on the environment, educates a little about what can be done to reduce and become proactively responsible. We're now in our 19th month and it's going good, good clients, good working environment, good vibes...good on tap. And it's fun, we call it making a living...making a difference.

Anyway, there is too much happening right now to go into detail, but what's on the horizon?

Well keep your eyes peeled between the pages of the 23/04/06 edition of The Mail on sunday's financial section, for a snippet of feature about the Hocking family! We were asked by Good Energy, (a fab renewable energy supplying outfit who we are hoping to start working with soon), to speak about using 100% renewable energy to supply our home/studio's power. So we spoke. I have no idea how it will come over but I spoke in my usual frank, honest and true style!

The remainder of this week will be immersed in, (with an emphasis on full steam ahead), the exciting world of new design; all environmentally and responsibly thought through.

Whilst thinking of getting myself some surf time, being evicted on 19/06/06 and the birth of our latest baby on the same day, it's gonna be a fun-packed rollercoaster of a ride over the next few months.