Fresh talent required! We’re looking for a highly creative designer who can switch effortlessly between print and digital design. Are you someone who’s just as comfortable crafting type on a piece of print as they are designing UX for digital projects?

We also have a position open for a Front End Web Developer. It’s an excellent opportunity to further your skills and develop your knowledge in a studio environment.

Take a look at our Working with us page to get all the information on both roles.

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SNAP a picture, choose a filter then share. It’s photo sharing, reinvented.

This is Instagram, less than two years old, around 10 team members and no clear revenue stream. Last week it was acquired by social giant Facebook for $1bn.

You could speculate about how their partnership will develop purely by looking at the features both social networks currently offer their users – photo sharing, tagging, Facebook places, the new timeline and filters. But if this was all Facebook were interested in then they could have bought the rights to the software, not the entire team.

The real strength of the Instagram developers is how they understand mobile.

That vision of this ever growing way to access your data is something Facebook have struggled with. Poorly designed apps and a lack of a strategy to utilise advertising on mobile devices have hampered Zuckerberg and co for a while now, and with their approaching debut in the public market next month this move will surely reassure investors and analysts.

The other side of this deal is all about the images themselves. Facebook have tried to create their own mobile photo app but obviously realised that it would be far easier to just acquire the biggest and most successful competitor in the marketplace.

Having millions of additional tagged and categorised photos attached to profiles – along with your likes, shares, favourite music, most recently- watched films and books and news articles you’ve read – makes Facebook’s real business model that much stronger.

The service that Facebook offers users like you and me may appear to be free, but we aren’t the customers – the advertisers are.

The more information they have about you, the more detailed and targeted their advertising service can be, and the more revenue they can make from their best- selling product: You.

As a creative with a design business I’ll be keeping a keen eye on how this relationship develops.

 

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Tags: Facebook, instagram, Photography, social

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Tags: 2012, London Marathon, NSPCC

We welcomed two school placements into B&L at the beginning of January. Bethan and Daniel both from Calderstones School. On what sometimes can be a slow and dreary start to the year, Beth and Dan brought a breath of fresh air into the studio. I can confidently say that they both have a flair for design and quickly picked up Adobe Illustrator. We tasked Beth with writing a blog post about her time here which follows.

“Recently I came to work for Bolland & Lowe for 2 weeks as work experience. These 2 weeks have been enjoyable and fun, and I now feel part of the team. I got to know everyone through making endless amounts of tea and coffee and now know everyone’s name and tea order.

I have learnt how to edit my drawings, improve them and how to use new technology like an Apple Mac. I love using new programmes like Illustrator to bring my drawings to life , as well as making posters, letterheads, stationery and newsletters”.

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We visited Cyclopark last week to see how things are shaping up, to say that we were impressed would be an understatement. Opening to coincide with London 2012, Cyclopark will be Europe’s largest cycling venue. We’ve been working with the team behind it from the start and we were lucky enough to be invited down to Kent last week to see how things are shaping up.

We were really impressed to see how quickly things are progressing and the scale of the site really has to be seen to be believed. The BMX track and the mountain bike ‘black run’ look amazing, if a little daunting!

We’ll be working on a number of exciting projects and little surprises in the run up to the full opening of the park next year!

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Tags: bmx, Branding, cycle park, cyclopark, kent, London 2012, Mountain Biking, Olympics

On Friday 7 October between 4pm – 7pm we’re throwing open our studio doors to reveal the inner sanctum of Bolland & Lowe as part of the Liverpool Design Festival’s Design Studios Open Day.

Come along to the launch of illustrator Neil Keating‘s exhibition at the Bolland & Lowe studio, and bring the kids along to his fairytale themed workshop. Chat to designers, clients and printers about their approach to design and marketing with Bolland & Lowe and get tips on working with international licenses and designing for greeting cards specialist Hype Associates. If you’re a graduate who wants to get a taste of a working studio and receive feedback on your creative work then bring along your portfolio for a review with the team, or if you’re a design buff just wanting to have a nose around, then we’d love you to drop in to see us.

 

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Tags: Bolland & Lowe, Design Studio Open Day, Liverpool, Liverpool Design Festival 2011