Tuesday, February 26th, 2013
Everyone has a talent – and the folk here at Top Left Design have so much talent it’s coming out of our ears. I would like to say “literally” but that wouldnt be accurate. However, we do like to show off a little more than just amazing websites. I am proud to present a selection of artwork by Chris Dal Din (see him on our team page)
You may wonder why we use owls in our branding at TLD. For this reason, I wrote a blog about it and you can read it here. See, it’s all related and relevant!
Friday, February 8th, 2013
Hello lovely person who wants to work for us! We are flattered! We love to have interns here, as it gives us the opportunity to meet new people. And out of the people who work here, Chris, Nichaela, JP, Kevin, Tamlyn and Aric all started out as work experience or internship people. We like to “try before we buy”. (more…)
Friday, December 21st, 2012
Here is a video of me singing the TLD Xmas Song. And some fun facts about the history of the song: (more…)
Wednesday, November 21st, 2012
When I came for the interview at Top Left Design I was excited, but not particularly optimistic about my chances of being selected to intern here. As an advertising and brand management graduate I knew little about web or graphic design and had always considered myself to be computer illiterate. However, I was eager to learn and the always friendly and helpful team at Top Left Design took the time to teach. So here are the seven most important things I’ve learnt:
When I began using Photoshop, I found it comparable to a spaceship’s dashboard. A vast array of controls, no idea how to use them and a high potential for disaster. However, now I have a good level of comfort with the basics and if Photoshop really was comparable to a spaceship, I would now be able to turn the windscreen wipers on.
WordPress has been my most used new skill. Unlike Photoshop, WordPress is very user friendly. Whether I was entering content into a website or managing blog posts, WordPress was easy to pick up. I’m still working on understanding EndNote and Sublime!
HTML has always seemed very mysterious to me. Initially, looking at a page of HTML felt like trying to read a foreign language! However, it’s been much easier to learn than I anticipated. Now I’m beginning to see recurring ‘words’ that I understand. Because I felt so apprehensive to work with HTML in the beginning, I’m very proud of my new found skill and I’m excited to keep learning!
It has been impossible to work under Keren and not pick up a certain amount of social media skills. Like many people I know, I had been avoiding Twitter. I thought it would take up too much of my time and that it was only used for bragging about who you know or all the exciting things you do. It’s safe to say I was pretty cynical about Twitter and the whole concept of internet ‘friends’ or ‘followers’. I also had the proud notion that I should have more followers than people I’m following, which kept the number of people I was following very low!
Now I understand that Twitter is just one of many social media platforms that can be a really effective business and networking tool. Sites like Buffer and TweetDeck can help organise your social media so it doesn’t become a time thief. Knowing how to use each type of application and the different types of content to share through them will increase your reach to the right audience and help you become a more efficient social media user!
When I was asked to start image sourcing, I was unaware of all the pitfalls; cheesy poses, tacky settings and bad composition. Scrolling through websites like Dreamstime could engulf entire chunks of my day. Then I learnt to take a more artistic interpretation towards image sourcing. Images do not have to be of the exact thing you are trying to caption; what’s important is the quality, composition and mood of the image.
Having a rather naïve view of what it takes to build a website, I assumed that a super intelligent computer entered all the content into newly built websites. How wrong I was.
Perhaps I’ve had bad luck in the past, perhaps I’ve watched the film horrible bosses too many times, or perhaps it’s because she has such a lovely staff, but Keren’s attitude to leading the team here at Top Left Design has opened my eyes to a different style of leadership.
So there you have it, the top 7 things I’ve learnt whilst working at Top Left Design. I hope it inspires you to keep learning and to never turn down a challenge!
Monday, October 1st, 2012
On the 28th of September, 2012, JP and I (pictured below) went to spend a day learning new skills and trends at The Designer’s Fiesta – a “celebration of design and digital”, brought to London by the UK’s leading Adobe Authorised Training Centre – Academy Class. We went check out the latest trends in design and development and to hone our skills. Keren asked us to blog about it, and thought interview style would be the way to go. Read her Qs and our As below!
What was the event you went to?
JP: We went to Designer’s Fiesta 3
Who was it aimed at?
JP: It was aimed at web designers and developers looking to learn something new and expand their skillset.
Chris: The Designer’s Fiesta was aimed at designers and developers to share tips and tricks from some of London’s top creatives.
Who ran the event?
JP: The event was run by Academy Class, a training centre for web developers and designers.
Was it well attended?
JP: Yes very well attended, all the rooms were full. At some of the talks people were sitting on the floors because they ran out of space.
Chris: The event was well attended with maybe around 150 people – a lot of bum’s on seats and even a few on the floor.
Did you meet any new people? Who?
Chris: Tony Harmer- Expert in Print, Academy Class. Tony spoke about Illustrator’s Colour Tools and enlightened the crowd about Adobe Bridge.
Were there speakers?
JP: There were loads of speakers there, from designers, typographers, mobile developers and industry experts.
Chris: The speakers were well prepared for hour long talks reviewing new tools and actions in Adobe Creative Suite and answering questions from the crowd.
What were they like as speakers?
JP: The speakers were really well prepared, well most of them. They gave good presentations and kept their talks interesting. My favourite speakers of the day had to be Leon Baird and Andrew Dobson. Leon’s talk on mobile development sparked an all new interest on mobile app development, and even got me think what it would be like to develop and use a Mac.
Who was the best speaker?
JP: While I really enjoyed Leon’s talk on mobile development I have to say my favourite talker was Andrew Dobson. He gave a really good talk about the industry and how it’s been developing over the years. He spoke with over 15 years experience and has been in the industry when there wasn’t standards and the job description was just figuring stuff out. He also spoke about how designers and developers should work more closely together and not as separate work stations.
Chris: The speaker who stood out for me would have to be Tony Harmer, his extensive knowledge of Adobe Creative Suite was incredible. From his knowledge of Adobe CS6 he utilises and manipulates elements over all Adobe programs to create exciting and interesting design.
What did they talk about?
JP: Most of the talks that I attended were about mobile development and responsive design. While a lot of the focus was introducing you to the basics and the concept behind the technology and what we should do to move forward in this exciting merging market.
Chris: The majority of the Designers Fiesta talks were based around the Adobe Creative Suite CS6 introducing new tools that have been added. Each presentation was funnelled into specific areas for hour long talks about : Sexy Texty – Typography, Illustrator colour tools, CSS for Photoshop fans and loads more interesting talks.
What did you learn?
JP: My answer below hopefully answers this question.
Chris: As a fan of Illustrator I found the colour tools talk by Tony Harmer very informing he spoke about colour pallets how to manipulate colour harmonies and apply them to designs. Also his talk on Adobe Bridge was very good.
What will you do now differently?
JP: I will try to break stuff more. What??? Yes I said I will break stuff more, here I will explain.
In Leon’s talk he spoke about when he worked at huge corporate company’s developers and designers were told to sit in the corner when they broke something. But when at agency’s or app/development company’s you got a pat on the shoulder. You see when you do something you know how to do the chances are you will succeed and everything will work perfectly. But when you do something you don’t know, or experiment with a new method of coding you’re bound to break something and by doing so you have to fix it and learn. In short if you’re not breaking anything you’re not learning.
What are you itching to try now that you learned about it?
JP: Oooo I am itching to try and make an app, it’s completely different to what I am used to developing but I am sure I can learn.
Chris: I really want to have a go at using bridge to utilise its tools to speed up the ‘in-between’ time between changing through programs, designing and searching for files.
Bridge provides a platform where you can organize files and create categories for speeding up design time and making the most of your time.
Would you recommend this event to others?
Chris: Yes I think the event was well worth going to, they had some very knowledgeable speakers and some good information to share.
Tuesday, August 21st, 2012
Some of our lovely clients came into our offices to give us video testimonials. The videos were shot by a company called 42 Video who specialise in making quick videos.
Jacqueline Skött from Kell Skött Haircare
Wil Watts from Seminars at 38
Beth Abbott from Bee Communications
Abbie Tanner from A Business Innovation
Wednesday, August 15th, 2012
Red carpet, Movie premier, Hollywood celebrities, VIP after parties and champagne!
Monday 13th August was the UK premier of the star stacked film – The Expendables 2.
After a day of hard work, the office was transformed into a hair and make-up studio with everyone preparing for the exciting night out.
It was an exciting and surreal experience walking down the red carpet knowing some of the biggest names in Hollywood like Sylvester Stallone, Jean-Claude Van Damme, Jason Statham, Arnold Schwarzenegger and of course Keren Lerner’s talented father Avi Lerner, who produced the film.
There were a lot of big smiles and photos taken, blinded by the fluffy aura of the red carpet and camera flashes. Some of us were even asked for autographs!
The movie was excellent, and is out in theatres worldwide now – be sure to go see it!
Our friend Tom, with Kevin
Nichaela and boyfriend Tre
JP and Kevin in the theatre
In case you needed a reminder of which movie we saw!
JP, Nichaela and Kevin
Keren's dad Avi, with Keren and her older brother Yariv
JP and Kevin
JP, Jack, Tamlyn, Keren and Aric
JP, Jonathan, Tamlyn, Aric, Tom, Danny, and Jack
Jack, Sly and Tamlyn
Jason and Nichaela
Friday, July 27th, 2012
On the eve of Tuesday the 24th of July 2012, the whole of Top Left Design – including Amy who normally works for us from South Africa – attended one of our legendary team building events – bowling at All Star Lanes in Bayswater. We brought a few friends along too. For those who don’t know, Amy lives in South Africa but works full time for Top Left Design. We bring Amy here every year to enjoy some of her company in the London office – and we try and arrange lots of fun things and do at least one big team building night out – so it’s not all work work work!
Our night started off with two team members (who shall remain unnamed) forgetting their wallets – only realising after we had all as a big group arrived at Tottenham Court Road tube station. They had to turn back, promising to reunite with us soon.
The rest of us clambered onto the tube, heading for All Star Lanes in Bayswater. After a few checks for directions on Google Maps, we found our way, and luckily our two wallet forgetters joined us later.
After a couple of cold drinks and a yummy ‘American diner’ style meal, we slipped into our bowling attire, and the bowling banter began!
All Star Lanes - retro signage
We took over two bowling lanes and with a few egos boasting their intentions of humiliating the rest with their Fred Flintstone bowling skills, the games got underway.
Everyone had a great time and plenty of laughs. We were joined by a few “Friends of TLD” who you may or may not recognise in the pictures.
A moody and arty shot at All Star Lanes
The entire company - ALL of TLD - in one picture! Amazing!
The winning team - TLD boys with Chris and Kimmy
Can you guess whose shoes are whose?
It didn't end at bowling. There was drink clinking too!
Wednesday, July 11th, 2012
We surprised Kevin and JP with cupcakes and balloons today. It was a wonderous moment, but the rest of the team had been planning it for weeeks. We had labelled the day “Geek Appreciation Day” but within the office it was known as codeword “GAD” – and Kevin and JP must have heard that word flying around loads but they never noticed! Haha!
We associate geeks with lots of things – superheroes, comics, gaming, Star Wars, Star Trek, science, computers, coding. And everyone knows we need these things in our lives – they make things fun, colourful, fantastic and awesome.
Kevin and JP are our 2 coders in our Top Left Design London office. They love code, they love HTML, CSS, WordPress. Many times we have seen JP’s eyes LIGHT up (like a lightsaber) when he talks about cool WordPress plugins. And Kevin also talks about “eating code” when he is working on a build. These guys make our websites possible – and here are 6 reasons to honour our geeks: (more…)
Sunday, June 24th, 2012
Is plagiarism really the sincerest form of flattery? We at TLD didn’t really feel that way when a loving fan of ours called Ashwin filled out the form on our website and said “these guys are using your website template without your permission. Please see http://www.khiweb.com/index.html”
Except that they have done a really poor job of placing their logo and have put badly written text in. Many of the pages look incomplete, and they have icons and buttons linking back to our site anyway!
See below screenshot.
