We don’t do games. We don’t mind the odd game of Kerplunk or bout of Twister, but when it comes to consoles and losing 5hrs pretending to be a sniper we just switch off and would rather talk to another human being or open up a good book. Same too for apps on our wonderful handheld smartphone device thingies. Angry Birds passed us by and that was that. No biggy. We’ve got better things to do on the tube.

But then our friends over at ustwo caught our eye. They’ve been busy working away for ages developing a neat little app called WhaleTrail. Now, we’re all for promoting and supporting our friends, but the game is actually very good. Coming from self-confessed non-gamers that’s quite a thing. So no hard sell, it’s just a really good game and we recommend you checking it out. It’s 69p so you can’t go wrong. Buy it here.

It’s nice to be nice. Keep reading…

When we meet clients for the first time they’re often quite surprised to find out how long we’ve been established and how many people actually work here. It happens all the time, and even comes from other agencies within the industry too. “Really???” is a common reaction. People’s perception of Mat Dolphin is based on a number of factors. Our creative work, the brands we’ve been fortunate to work with, the exposure we’ve had, our twitter presence, this very blog etc. all go together to paint a picture, and one that is apparently bigger and louder than we are. So why don’t we just be more open about it all? The vast majority of design agencies these days share what they want to be heard or seen. Like well oiled PR companies, they carefully control what the world finds out about them. But that’s kind of missing the point. What makes agencies unique is the people that work there. Designers constantly encourage brands to be open and honest, yet hide behind the typical designer ‘cool wall’.

We’ve been talking about this topic for a while, but the original train of thought came from Bernadette Jiwa ‘brand and business catalyst and verbal designer’ who we regularly chat with on Twitter. She questioned why we at MDHQ portray ourselves in the way we do and it got us thinking. We were going to write a blog post about it but thought who better to write a post than Bernadette herself.

Keep reading…

There has been some internet chatter of late debating whether it’s necessary for designers to learn back-end coding, much of it around Frank Chimero’s Designers vs Coding post which is currently doing the rounds. Being the all-knowing opinion formers that we are, we couldn’t help but let our thoughts be known on the matter.

Keep reading…

A couple of months ago we took a trip to the Pentagram offices in Needham Road, West London to attend a talk by designer, Pentgram partner, author and all round nice-guy Angus Hyland. The talk focused on symbols and was organised in conjunction with the publication of Symbol, the recent book by Hyland and Steve Bateman. The talk was utterly brilliant and the book is equally so. Highly recommended.

Whilst I could write at length about the talk itself and the points Hyland raised, there was one thing he said that particularly stuck out for me. When talking about the more unusual, quirky and perhaps even awkward logo designs from years gone by Hyland said…

Keep reading…

Whilst we do lots of different things here at Mat Dolphin, our main focus is graphic design. We design graphics. The stuff that sits on a computer screen and showcases what a person or company is offering. Or stuff that is printed onto a business card and introduces who that person is and what they do. Some of the stuff we design has to communicate a great deal within a very limited space or format. Some of the stuff we do has to communicate a great deal without actually saying too much. Often we have to work with strict, client-imposed constraints and occasionally we have complete carte blanche (which can often be the more difficult way to work).

Keep reading…

That’s a fairly big number right? Well, it’s a slightly daunting number when you think about that number being actual people… And they’re all looking at you… Waiting on your every word. ‘Perform Monkey!’

Well, it wasn’t quite that bad, but following our The Tweet Goes On… post this week, I guest edited Creative Review’s twitter feed for one day yesterday. They had in excess of 374,000 followers before we took hold of the reins, and I’m glad to say that the number is still rising and it would seem as though their great magazine hasn’t been affected too much by my diatribe.

Keep reading…

Last week we were granted the opportunity to take control of the Creative Review Twitter page. We’re big fans of CR and their output both printed and digital so we’re very chuffed that they’ve agreed to hand over the steering wheel and allow us to connect, excite, interest, amuse and engage with their 372,565 (and counting) lovely followers and the design world at large. The big event will be happening this Thursday 26th May so tune in for our unique blend of inspirational creative goodness, Wildean witticisms and bullshit chit chat.

Big thanks to Neil and the crew at CR for getting us involved.

Mat.

So it’s award season again. Well — least it is at the D&AD — the one we all know about and keep tabs on.

At some point as a hungry ‘n’ thirsty new design agency eager to succeed, you mention the word ‘AWARDS’ amongst yourselves. You only need chat for less than a minute though as straight away reality kicks in when you consider the entry fees and who you’re up against. You soon realise you’re punching above your weight and think to yourselves ‘…what’s the point of wasting the money?…’ and back to work you toddle.

Mat Dolphin is coming up for its second year in business soon so awards are definitely something we’ve discussed (and dismissed) in our small studio on more than one occasion. With a heavy dose of risk involved entering into the fray, we wanted to explore some of the merits, pitfalls and woes of being a small agency in a big award pond.

Keep reading…

Well, it seems like only a few days ago I was hanging up my stocking and untangling the Christmas tree lights. Before you know it, another year is upon us and the team at Mat Dolphin are charged up and ready for a good one. We’ve hit the ground running with some great new projects on the horizon and we can’t wait to get stuck in.

Catching up after the Christmas break and comparing socks, we got into a chat about what non-Christmas related activities we got up to. Being the geeky types who spend a bit too long slaving away in front of our layout pads and computers, the chance to go and check out the latest exhibitions and events is always a pleasure. We thought we’d share a couple of the best with you.

Keep reading…

Neville Brody is one of the most influential graphic designers of the last 30 years. His groundbreaking work for The Face magazine in the eighties played a key role in the development of British Graphic design and, for many, showed the possibilities of what a creative mind could achieve with words and images. After his role as art director of the magazine from 1981 – 86 he founded his own agency, Research Studios, and has gone on to grow rather impressive client list. Redesigning The Times newspaper and the BBC website – not bad work if you can get it. If that wasn’t enough, in March this year The Royal College of Art announced that Brody was to head up their Communication Art and Design course.

Keep reading…