This month’s DWYL news round up is brought to you by our Senior Editor, Rachel Kempton.
Do What You Love HQ has been buzzing with activity as Beth and Paul enjoy precious time as a family and bond with their new baby daughter, Maia. While Beth takes some well-deserved maternity leave (and pursues her own special passion project during Maia’s naps!) Paul and the team are as focussed on work as ever and there’s lots of exciting news to report:
1. On a mission: Our Marketing Manager, Vickie, has been on a quest to discover if becoming a digital nomad can help people to sustain a happier life while doing what they love. As part of her mission she flew out to Berlin to attend the first-ever global digital nomad conference, www.dnxglobal.com, an event which helps people discover their passions, find out more about starting a location independent business that fits their lifestyle and balance work and travel. She then stayed in Berlin for a week, living like a local, and working remotely. You can read about her experience here. And if you’d love to see if life on the road is for you, download our brand new FREE resource, Are you cut out to be a Digital Nomad?, here.
2. Loving reading week: When work gets busy we often find ourselves going about our daily business, ticking off things on our to-do lists and forgetting the bigger picture. So this August the team decided to spend five days away from email, Skype, the blog, and social media – and instead spend the week reading. We all read a book on a subject we feel passionately about and then using this for inspiration, drew on our own personal experiences and skill set to come up with plans for new resources to help support people who may be in similar situations. It’s not often that we make the time to focus on one big project without distraction but it’s been amazing to see what happens when we do. Watch this space!
1. The Global Talent Search has started and we’ve had over a 1,000 participants! The Grand Prize winner receives two years’ international representation from Lilla Rogers Studio, plus a host of covetable product licenses, and a series of prizes to support the development of their professional career – you can read all about them here. Good luck to everyone who’s taking part!
2. MATS Part A + Part B start in October: If you want to learn how to make your art more commercially-viable n the hottest markets while staying true to yourself then join us for Make Art That Sells, Part A or Part B starting October 19, 2015. These five-week e-courses will give you a great insight into the industry while helping you to build a professional portfolio. You can find out more and register for MATS Part A here, or for MATS Part B here.
1. Register for September’s surface pattern design courses today! If you’re interested in becoming a successful surface pattern designer, or are new to surface design and want to hone your design skills and discover more about what the industry can offer you, check out the latest courses from The Art and Business of Surface Pattern Design: Module 1 – Designing Your way; Module 3 – Monetising Your Designs and The Ultimate Portfolio Builder. All three courses start September 21, 2015.
2. ‘How to build a brand’ video series – coming soon! When it comes to building a thriving business, branding is vital. It takes time and effort to get your branding right, but as anyone who has a successful business knows, it is absolutely worth it in the long run. In Make it in Design’s brand new five-part video series, Rachael Taylor and Patricia van den Akker from The Design Trust take you on an incredible journey to discover what it takes to create a truly brilliant brand. This fabulous new resource is completely FREE and videos start on Monday, September 7, 2015. Sign up here.
3. Rachael at Printsource New York… On August 11 & 12 Rachael Taylor hit NYC for Printsource New York – one of the top surface and textile design shows in the world. Rachael joined the likes of Pantone and Trendstop to deliver two presentations on ‘The Rise of Surface Pattern Design’ and ‘Blazing a New Trail in Surface Pattern Design’ which were really well received. Rachael was thrilled to have the opportunity to meet so many talented creatives from the Make it in Design community who came to see her talk. Read more here.
4. Summer School: Hundreds of designers from over 35 countries took part in this year’s Summer School, where they had the opportunity to work on challenging briefs, connect with other designers and even win some cool prizes. The Make it in Design galleries are now bursting at the seams with awesome designs in response to creative briefs inspired by WGSN trends. Join the waiting list to be the first to hear when Summer School 2016 returns and to be inspired by all the amazing patterns created during the event.
5. Welcome to the HOME edition of MOYO Magazine! Issue 8 of MOYO, the world’s first on-line magazine dedicated to surface pattern design, is out now! This issue is all about the home and it’s packed with ideas and expert advice to help you style-up your house and make it truly feel like yours. Wherever you are on your design journey there’s plenty to inspire you with design briefs, colour stories, student showcases, travel features, news, trend updates, and fascinating interviews with industry experts, including:
- Sophie Robinson (our cover star), one of the UK’s top interior stylists who specialises in magazine features, photo shoots, room sets and high street style
- Heather Moore, founder of the wildly successful blog, shop, and online business Skinny laMinx
- British textile designer Emily Burningham
- Keith Stephenson and Mark Hampshire, the dynamic duo behind the contemporary interiors brand Mini Moderns
- Ceramics expert Kate Thorburn of What Kate Loves
For all this FREE goodness, and much more besides, download your copy of MOYO Issue 8 here.
To make sure everyone you know gets to MOYO Magazine too, we’d love you to share it on your website, blog and social media using the following link: https://bit.ly/moyo8 and hashtag #MoyoMagazine
Thought of the month… a little time can go a long way
“Everything changed the day she figured out there was exactly enough time for the important things in her life.” ~ Brian Andreas
During reading week I read Arianna Huffington’s insightful book Thrive, which challenges us to redefine the commonly accepted definition of success. She likens our drive for money and power to two legs of a three-legged stool; it may hold us up temporarily, but sooner or later we’re going to topple over. In order to live a healthy, productive, and meaningful life, she believes that we need a third leg – a Third Metric for defining success – one that is made up of four pillars: well-being, wisdom, wonder and giving. And that these four pillars are pulled together by an overarching goal, which is to reconnect with ourselves, our loved ones and our community.
This section in Chapter 2: Wisdom rang so true for me during my reading week when I parked my usual work duties, removed digital distractions and focussed on nothing but my exciting new project.
“Slow thinking is is intuitive, woolly and creative,” wrote Carl Honoré. “It’s what we do when the pressure is off, and there is time to let ideas simmer on the back burner. It yields rich, nuanced insights and sometimes surprising breakthroughs… the future will belong to those who can innovate – and innovation comes from knowing when to slow down.”
It also served as a valuable reminder that gaining a sense of time affluence – the feeling that you really do have sufficient time to pursue activities that you enjoy and that are personally meaningful – genuinely can lead to greater wellbeing and deeper wisdom.
What activities are meaningful to you in your life and how can you make more time for them?
Until next month,
Rachel
