Do you need refreshing new energies in your Project?

Have you got the will power and the magic to develop new ideas ?

New ideas are vital to promote the economy, keep investors happy and make sure you and your team enjoy every day. When individual minds come together in a lively creative atmosphere, they generate the energy to move forward on projects and stay ahead in the market.

I host creative atmospheres and spark participants into activity and catalyze ideas from within groups.

Groups of between two and ten are ideal. The results are yours. Say hello.

As a hands-on Designer, I motivate people to design better tomorrows for themselves and those around them. Being hands-on, my design folio is also full of interesting practical design solutions produced for people-projects.

Whilst most projects remain private and personal, I am gradually uploading the bits that have become public and by clicking on the Gallery links below, you will find much to make you smile, wonder, laugh and ponder.

Some of my hands-on design ingredients:

Live, face-to-face realtime promotions (At meetings, events)
Interactive studio Art-Direction (Training for books, posters, advert designs)
Building works on site (Creative installations - both practical and fanciful)
Static displays ( For shops, interiors and exhibitions )
Educational Cartoons
Character Design (For magazines, mascots)

Photography

Copyrights in designs appearing are the property of either the designer or client named in the respective caption and must not be reproduced without permission.

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This web site is hosted by The HoBB

And annually, many visiting students from around the World help us to grow the HoBB Project House into an ever better place of useful action.

By keeping this balance of helping and being-helped, we make happy progress. We never know or pre-judge what project is around the next corner so it could be your project.

If your project is yet to start, some way along its progress, or even on-hold, you may need some space to do some fresh thinking on it. You can find this at the HoBB Project House by ‘dropping-in’ for a cuppa and a chat or by taking a break for a couple of days to concentrate on your Project, away from the distractions of regular home-work-life.

Whatever stage your Project has reached, you will find it of interest to receive new input, new ideas and new insights. We’re great at providing all three and more. [We are always happy to sign any non-disclosure form you may wish to use. You can print off our form for FREE.]

There are several Project Houses in the World but nearly all of them are linked to large city companies and therefore, situated in large cities.

Our Project House, The HoBB, is hidden away in peaceful, beautiful countryside where time ‘stops’ long enough to allow your project to surface fully, without distraction – well OK, we’ve just got a new puppy dog who may demand a stick to be thrown if you happen to be in the garden.

So when you need a break and really want to concentrate on your Project away from the distractions of everyday life, come to The HoBB, a traditional stone farmhouse with open fires and a host of fresh country creature comforts – a very green location for your ever greener shoots to grow.

Contact me - let’s:

* compare diaries
* book a time and date and
* get ready for your first cuppa and think-over.

Posted by : Grant
Filed in : 2012-01-08T14:03:39Z 2012-01-08T14:03:39+00:00 tag:,2012:/1.251 2012-01-08T14:03:39Z

grant beinglive@thehobb.tv Projects and Ideas

Everything needs doing by somebody.

Some people achieve a lot on their own but most of us like to tackle projects with partners – as part of a strong enthusiastic team.

If you are a team member without a team, it’s time to get one started. At the HoBB Project House we ‘Goal Share’ to create teams.

‘Goal Share’ is where we progress-chase you on your project and you, in return, progress-chase us on one of ours. This way you get an instant ‘bolt-on’ team, and so do we. If you are not so wonderful on progress chasing, you can pick a weekend to visit the HoBB and together, we’ll plan the stage progress of your project whether it is at its starting post or part progressed.

All ‘Goal Share’ input and ideas are yours for you to keep and use with no ties.

There are several other ways to find team members online and offline – all require networking with your plans and ideas. You can network to get support for your project on free sites first, like gumtree and craigslist.

New Projects are in demand – there’s a lot to build and re-build so that the future becomes brighter for all.

Posted by : Grant
Filed in : 2012-01-01T23:05:05Z 2012-01-01T23:05:05+00:00 tag:,2012:/1.230 2012-01-01T23:05:05Z

grant beinglive@thehobb.tv We Write

(Above Webpage Source : littlepeoplebooks.co.uk)

I figure this adaptation of Cinderella is the first in the World to include raised fonts (Braille and Moon) and raised image outlines so as to help blind parents teach their sighted children to read.

Pete Stonehouse at Acuitydesign.eu is presently looking into some new ways these double braille books can be produced - doubly useful because they use both Braille and Moon (fonts).

We have looked at producing both raised fonts using thermography, but so far, this printing technique cannot achieve a sufficiently high-off-the-page level for use by those who are blind.

The production method we now need to find must make it possible to outline the illustration as well as both fonts. Regular braille printers cannot achieve this.

Please contact me if you have any thoughts that may help this useful teaching development.

Posted by : Grant
Filed in : We Write

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Why do we write and tell stories?

The following words from ‘The Art of the Storyteller’ by Beverley Mathias, say it all:

“Storytellers are the direct medium between the story and the audience, able to change pace, alter or explain a difficult point, dramatize or play down an event, according to the needs of those listening.

We tell stories …

• To help children to learn, to listen.
  
• To enlarge the listener’s vocabulary.
  
• To extend a child’s knowledge of the worlds of fact and fantasy.
  
• To stimulate the listener’s imagination.
  
• To create an appetite for words.
  
• To introduce the shared activity of storytelling – from author or teller to audience”.
  

If you share some or all of the above aims, make contact so we can grow the storytelling tradition together.

Our stories ‘travel’ as written texts, oral tales and picture books and we welcome all new opportunities to author, illustrate and tell stories at formal events and informal get-togethers. Let me know about your intended audience - their likely age, interests and listening experience.

Links:
BookBod Storytelling – Transporting the listener into the World of Water
Whose Book Is It Anyway Storytelling

Posted by : Grant
Filed in : We write - we Storytell

LPB (Little People Books) has one priority, to explore this new world and, in the words of children's book author Rebecca Davies, keep it "full of new pirates and dragons, new dinosaurs and time machines, new aliens and regular kids in extraordinary situations."

Under construction (as I type) is a new, and obviously very secret, den for digital storytellers. These tale spinners are working hard and subjecting themselves to all manner of magical myth and fable, to create a collection of ebooks for you to chop, change, juggle, share, adapt and enjoy TO THE FULL.

This blog - this very page, will bring you the news as it grows. In the meantime, visit Blu for a fun alternative view.

Posted by: Grant
Filed in: We Write - we Storytell

Whose Book Is It Anyway?

Above the sea
Will’s fish sleep.
They do not snore
Or make a peep.

Above the sea
Will’s fish lie.
They do not move
I think they’ll die.

Will just smiles,
I think he’s chuffed.
His fish smile too,
I think they’re stuffed.

(c) 1996, 2010 World of Water (Reg. Charity 327188)

Ted bumps his head on street lights
When he flies too high.

He’ll bump his head on taller things
Higher in the sky.

He’ll bump his head into the moon
And if he goes too far,
He’ll bump his head on Jupiter
And maybe on a star.

Illustration : Ollie Tomlinson
Posted by : Grant
Filed in : We Write

(c) 1996, 2010 World of Water (Reg. Charity 327188)

Petra’s spraying flowers again
She even sprays the moss.
She sprays the insects and the trees,
I bet that makes them cross.

(c) 1996, 2010 World of Water (Reg. Charity 327188)

Grant supports Third Sector design projects that, by fate of time, or place, or circumstance, connect with him. Grant also provides help to individuals who care for the overall wellbeing of the planet.

For information about Grant’s services, including how to set up a meeting to discuss your design needs, please contact him directly at the HoBB Project House and Gardens

A snapshot of Grant’s recent Design Projects includes:

• A ‘living outdoor schoolroom’ - growing each year for a Community Trust
  
• Two wooden (DL Size) leaflet holders and card design option.
  
• Books for children - designed and illustrated to improve very early reading skills
  
• Fundraising Web site – to save and relocate a hermitage
  
• Carnival procession hats
  
• Mascot costume for use in school and community storytellings
  
• Site interpretation board for community land
  
• Gate-fold leaflets to gain support and raise funds
  
• Interpretation stories – written and performed to promote community allotments
  
• A regional career and job-seekers plan
  
• Community group event posters
  
• Messaging system – designed to bring online and offline networking together
  

Links:
Visit the section of this site devoted to our designs, or select "We Design" in the menu (Top Right hand side) or type Design in search box (above right).

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(Filed in We Produce

If you are still wondering exactly how to go about it, read sites such as WordPress, Moveable Type or go to authorselectric.co.uk - a self-help group of authors helping each other into epublishing.

I'm always learning more about publishing but ever happy to share what I know from my background.

B.I.G. Background Info.

Once upon a time …
A useful self-help group of photographers and illustrators was born, called the Birmingham Image Group. Everyone in the group was keen to get into publishing and be published.

For many years, monthly meetings were in Birmingham (UK) pubs, members’ homes, wine bars and restaurants. These were well attended. As membership grew to include graphic designers, calligraphers, model-makers, cartoonists, architectural delineators, fine artists and sculptors, the group changed its name to B.I.G. (British Image Group).

Sadly, the Group’s founder, the late great Jonathan Inglis, was hit by a bus outside the Custard Factory (Birmingham) and died. The enthusiasm to continue meetings dropped suddenly. Many of the members, including myself, moved away from the Midlands - just a few members kept in touch.

B.I.G. could have fizzled out or ended there, but the Group’s web site continued to attract enquiries and assist others keen on publishing and being published. It was hosted by the now defunct geocities for a while but it needs a good rebirthing. So if you are interested, can put together a great web site and are keen on getting involved with quality creatives, contact me and let's stretch w3 or maybe launch w4/ w5 ...

Posted by : Grant
Filed in : 2010-11-11T21:21:45Z 2010-11-11T21:21:45+00:00 tag:,2010:/1.242 2010-11-11T21:21:45Z

grant beinglive@thehobb.tv We Write BRENDA

Auntie Brenda makes a noise
and puts it on CD.

Auntie Brenda gets awards,
I’ve seen her on TV.

Auntie Brenda likes herself
and fancy cakes, with tea.

I hope when Auntie visits us
she doesn’t fancy me.

---

Illustration : Ollie Tomlinson
Posted by : Grant
Filed in : We Write

(c) 1996, 2010 World of Water (Reg. Charity 327188)

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