zoom zoom and zoom

Well it's been a while since I've written here, the previous dodgy post have been written by my good pal and part time employee Robin Fuller. He's been freeing me up to do various designs, consultation and adventures with Leap. But it's time for me to start getting verbal again. And to put the record straight I am not a fottie fan. Give me surf anytime over any sport, well mountain biking comes in close, and snowboarding.

And yes we have a fantastic new edition as previously posted Claire England has joined us and as been admirably looking after the studio and our lush clients whilst I went on a client related trip to the Sinai Desert with one of our oldest clients Makhad Trust. I'll write more about that, alot to write and I'm still assimilating what happened - let alone the fact I had 8 days without any technology around me...ace... well I did have my ipod and a solar powered Solio charger to test.

Two things before I go...
I've been voted in to take a seat of the Cornwall Design Forum, representing sustainabiliy within creativity in the South West. A very important happening.

I've also very appreciatingly been given a bursary to join a Common Purpose matrix - more to follow but it starts in March and finishes in July. Thank you Mandy Milano for thinking of me/Leap

And just for fun, as fun is something that should be part of every day no matter how hard that day may be.. go to www.cheatneutral.com is a witty wee site that satirises the abdication of moral responsibility for dealing with the challenge of climate change that many feel may be a side-effect of carbon offsetting. Now you f*** the climate or f*** around on your partner - and just offset your climatic and, ahem, climatic misdemeanours!

catch you soon for a Sinai update and a few other Leap happenings.

Matt
xx

Leap supports England!

The title above isn't in reference to England's struggling soccer team, of which I support with all the dedication of a well upholstered sports bra, but in fact refers to a completely different England all together; a new Leap recruit, Claire England.

Claire, 24, has joined the team as a designer to assist with various graphic design projects for 2007, and we'll be supporting her in every way we can as she navigates through the labyrinthine world of Leap sustainable design!

Mind you, talk about being dropped in it at the deep end... no sooner have I said welcome to the Leap family, have a Hobnob, than I'm leaving her on her tod to jet off to Sinai!

But I have a 100% confidence in England, and will be frying away like a sizzling streak of organic bacon, foodless and podless, in the safe knowledge that Leap is in good hands!

Been jugglin'

Certainly have! Been juggling time between some exciting design work and consultancy, a bit of domestic DIY and my favourite pastime of all, spending some quality time with my bambinos and my lovely better half!

Sorry for the blog famine but the post-Chrimbo awakening has well and truly set in, so it's been full steam ahead for Leap with some exciting 2007 projects beginning to see the light of cold January days, and the occasional opportunity (or breather) to...well...draw breath!

Oh and Sinai is just round the corner; alone in the desert for 3 days with only starvation, meditation and inspiration to keep me company. Mind you, I might try and smuggle a Kitkat Chunky past the nomadic watchmen...

Adios

It's 2007! New Year Greetings from Leap...

To our Leap buddies across the Southwest, the UK and pockets of Europe…

2006 was an exciting year of sustainable growth and prosperity for Leap and our homeland, Cornwall. Amid the masses of design work and consultancy, Leap has forged some exciting partnerships and friendships with small and big businesses across the Southwest and the UK. This has and will always be crucial practice, and the reward for us of seeing new clients engaging in sustainable thinking and practice is immeasurable.

Cornwall was buzzing with new innovations and sustainable thinking during 2006, and Leap loved every minute of being part of this ethically minded community.

We supported a few awards, were on the receiving end of a handful, and even designed the odd press garnering trophy or two for the events. Speaking of the press, during the course of the year positive word of mouth attached to a rising profile meant Leap grabbed a few column inches regionally and nationally in the press, including The Independent, The Mail on Sunday, and The West Briton.

…Oh and we had a little baby too…

In a case of leading by example, Leap went 100% CarbonZero in 2006 by reducing its CO2 emissions and offsetting the rest with co2 balance. Luckily using 100% renewable electricity supplied by Good Energy helps us reduce a good portion of our CO2 output.

Leap also became Leap Ltd in November and moved to new offices in St.Austell. We also changed our business bank account from the Cooperative to Triodos as we feel this shows even more commitment to our social and environmental responsibilities. Triodos Bank finances companies, institutions and projects that add cultural value, and benefit people and the environment. For more information visit www.triodos.co.uk.

Our new bank details to note are as follows:

Acc. Name: Leap Media Ltd
Acc. Number: 20081529
Sort Code: 16-58-10

Please make sure your finance teams have the above details.

For more information on what Leap has been up to during 2006, check out our Blog at www.leapmedia.co.uk.

So with 2007 a few days in, Leap is now beginning its third year of sustainable design consultancy whilst its Creative Director is now in his sixth!

Thank you for your continued business, your awards, your inspiration and your support in 2006; working with you is fantastic and we are very proud to support all your exciting initiatives. Here’s to all of us making a difference, making a living in 2007.

Please note:
Leap’s Creative Director Matt Hocking will be out of the office from February 4th to February 11th 2007. Matt will be visiting clients The Makhad Trust in Sinai and meeting with the nomadic inhabitants there as well as spending 3 days in the desert by himself. Without his trusty laptop, will he cope?

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 Leap office will be manned but design facilities will be limited during this period, Please schedule your work appropriately for this time by either placing commissions before, or informing us of impending work.

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.