Tuesday 8 December 2009

How will the past decade be remembered?

A rather searching topic for sure, but one that gets you thinking. It came to me as I read the article on the Beebs website about whether a decade could be summed up in one word: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/8395297.stm I think this is asking a lot, not least as there have been numerous additions to the English language over the past 10 years. I daresay back in the 90’s we’d have struggled with the concept of bling, nonebrity, tweets, globesity, staycations and so on.


So would it be the technological advances that feature in your future recall of this decade? The advent of social networking and ability to work from Mc D’s (if you so desire) due to wireless broadband. Without doubt the advent of the internet and it being accessible to all has brought our global community all the more closer. Having said that, what could be construed as a step back in advances came when Concorde was de-commissioned, a sad day for a magnificent method of travel.

Or would it be the impact of so called climate change, the effect of devastating floods and droughts that have resulted in people re-building their lives at the most basic level. Indeed anything that affects us on a personal basis be it losing a loved one, having children or buying your first home is bound to feature in our recall of the early noughties.

Of course there have been other iconic events that have shaped these 10 years with not all recalling happy memories. For example the 9/11 terrorist attack on the twin towers in 2001, our involvement in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars where so many of our brave soldiers have been injured or lost their lives , the Soham murders, abduction of Madeline McCann, death of Baby P the death of Michael Jackson as well as other musical, literary and acting greats, avian & swine flu, the removal of Woolworths from our high streets, Parkinson leaving our TV screens, many European currencies replaced with the Euro….the list goes on.

On a positive note…you can now visit a pub safe in the knowledge that the air will be clear of smoke (although not so great if you happen to be a smoker), mobile phones have advanced, we’ve become the ipod generation, Sky, HD, even bigger ‘but thinner’ TV screens, series such as Lost, Prison Break, House, 24, The Soprano’s, music to cater for every musical taste, a variety of films with ever more stunning visual effects, the PS3/Xbox 360/Nintendo Wii, sat nav, I could go on....but won't!

Many would argue that the last 10 years have seen freedoms lost with few advantages gained but it is for each of us to decide what shaped the past decade for us as individuals. For me it will be the birth of my first child, buying my first house, entering my thirties, the loss of some family members and our business surviving the recession *wipes away nostalgic tear*….let me know how you’ll remember the past 10 years that seem to have passed all too quickly.

We're an approachable bunch so if you have a visualising/animation project that you think may benefit from our services and you want to talk it through please give us a call on 01344 6363369.

Friday 6 November 2009

‘What makes for a good working relationship between Architect & Visualiser?’

Having worked in both camps I have been involved in projects that have had varying levels of success when it comes to presenting a design proposal in the best light.


For example, information supplied by architects differs from practice to practice. I have worked in offices where I would have faced death by firing squad had I dared to issue drawings where floor plans did not concur with elevations and with no revision clouds shown. Seemingly this is not common practice, nor is checking drawings prior to issue or standard issue of drawing issue sheets. Indeed, increasingly it falls to the visualiser to highlight where a design simply won’t work.


By no means am I favouring the position of the visualiser. Architects can be heard snapping scale rules through sheer frustration at lack of roughs, only to be issued with a finished image minutes before a deadline that isn’t correct.


We have our standard approach to working which has stood us in good stead for a number of years and the result is we have a loyal group of clients. That said, there is always room for improvement and it would be interesting to hear from both sides to understand where the problems arise and how the stress can be avoided!

So what can we do to improve this working relationship? What are your experiences, good, bad or somewhere in-between…?

Let me know your thoughts and please sign up for my blog feed.
Cheers,












Gate House, Ward Homes Development

Tuesday 3 November 2009

Welcome

Firstly, welcome to our first blog post. We're just getting to grips with 'blogging' so bear with us, it's a bit like homework without the detention at the end and we're sure you'll give us marks out of ten via your comments!

We're feeling somewhat upbeat following the publication of CG Architects 2009 Industry Survey results http://www.cgarchitect.com/news/newsfeed.asp?nid=4664 , thanks to Jeff Mottle for compiling a valuable insight into how the economic downturn has affected our industry. We concur that whilst the recession has undoubtedly left many businesses reeling it will ultimately provide a 'reset' to what was an unsustainable level of growth. As Jeff suggests


'Those who will recover and stay the course will be the companies and
individuals who are both savvy in business and have the talent to separate
themselves from the masses. I would hazard a guess that these companies
will be better off in the long term as they will be more diversified in the type
of work they do and better positioned to grow more organically with the
industry'.

2009 started on a rocky footing and Animated Remedy was no exception to the many visualising firms that felt hard times had arrived. That said, business picked up and our good client base has seen us through what has hopefully been the worst the recession has to offer.


Animated Remedy kicked off 2009 with the launch of its new HTML site. If you haven't visited already please take a look http://animated-remedy.com We're pleased with the results and the site now offers visitors the opportunity to view a vast array of our work to date. Let us know what you think, we value your feedback.


We're an approachable bunch so if you have a project that you think may benefit from our services and you want to talk it through please give us a call on 01344 6363369.