Cornwall is a wonderful place to live and work but is most often perceived as a popular holiday destination. There's so much more going on here than you might think, and certainly over the past 30 years I've encountered some truly remarkable businesses operating successfully on a national and international level. 

Cornwall.uk aims to spread positive news about Cornwall's diverse business sectors whilst also celebrating its rich culture and heritage for a global audience. If you like what you see on the website, you can sign up to become a Cornish Ambassador, and join us in 'championing Cornwall for one and all'. Kernow Bys Vyken!

Wired.com goes behind the scenes at Jack White's Third Man Records to document the fascinating process of cutting, pressing, and testing vinyl records.

Now that the clocks have sprung forward and there’s a hint of blossom in the air, many of us may start to dream of booking a trip away to get some summer sun.

But I’ve been inspired by our clients Luxury Boltholes to look a little closer to home for a recharge break. Here are just a few of their properties I’ve been swooning over...

Figgy Farm is the latest edition to their beautiful portfolio and their rustic-Scandi interiors are seriously on-point. The Cabin looks like the perfect little woodland retreat to stay cosy in the colder months. And The Lake House is the stuff of fantasies that would make for an extra special treat with close friends. Discover the full Luxury Boltholes collection and learn how we collaborated with owners Kate and Ed to build them a website that is truly bespoke to their business.

Spring this year has been a super busy time, with not only the birth of animals out here on the farm, but for me embarking on my first full website build for Nixon. There are always challenges but it’s nice to celebrate springtime with a sense of accomplishment and optimism for the future.

In 1934, while travelling to visit Agatha Christie in London, Allen Lane became frustrated at seeing only overpriced, poor quality books for sale at Exeter St Davids train station. He famously vowed to make good books affordable to the masses – and Penguin Books was born.

Now, Penguin has gone back to its roots by installing book vending machines at the Exeter station. It’s not a totally new concept (in fact, Penguin did it back in 1937), but I like the circularity of the idea – all the more because the profits made will be split between the independent bookshop Bookbag and Exeter City of Literature, which promotes literacy in the area.

During a recent day spent with third-year Graphic Design students at Falmouth University, I had some really interesting chats on the role of AI in design and copywriting. The future of the creative sector is in constant flux with the role of AI and how it'll be influencing our day-to-day roles in the future. It was fascinating to hear the thoughts of the next generation of creatives on this.

As a creative, you should always be excited by the contemporary and embrace the opportunity of a new tool. Far from being opposed, the focus was very much around using it to our benefit and how we shape the interaction with AI to get the most out of the creative eye of artificial intelligence to interpret a brief. We're planning on running some creative workshops with the team to have a play. I can't wait to see the results.

At the weekend, I drove up north. During the four-hour drive I caught myself barely glancing at roundabout signs in order to figure out which exit I needed to get off at. I was reminded of the story about how the road sign system was created. The part about the story I find most interesting is the choice to move to upper- and lower-case letters, rather than the previous convention of using just upper-case letters. This aids word recognition as the shape of a mixed-case word is easier to recognise than a word using just capital letters. The road signs in the UK are so well designed that personally I don't even realise I'm using them.

Similar ideas can and are used in web design to reduce what is called cognitive load. The opposite can also be applied to force a user to really think about what they are seeing in order to draw attention. To learn more, read this article from Wired.

I recently attended a Sustainable Development Webinar with the DBA, and found it really insightful when it comes to the level of impact that design has on the climate crisis.

The webinar emphasised the need to move away from simply setting up a sustainable business model, and more towards regenerative futures, and rebuilding societies. 80% of the environmental impact of a product is determined at its design stage. The Design Council has created a ‘Design for Planet’ campaign to encourage designers to consider their impact, making design regenerative and not extractive.

Design can be part of the solution – products can be designed to be repaired, packaging can be designed to reduce waste, and digital services can reduce their energy consumption. These are all practices that we are looking into as part of Nixon’s corporate social responsibility.

Since the pandemic I think everyone has noticed a shift in the discussion over mental health. We hear on the news that the number of people seeking support since the pandemic has increased seven-fold. In the constantly busy world we live in, the pandemic and the associated lockdowns gave some of us the time to slow down, concentrate on our family and friends who were close to us, and simply take life day by day.
 
Now we are back to “normal” life, people are yet again feeling frazzled, getting burnt out, and becoming run down with all the viruses that have been rife in the last 18 months. 
 
I feel like we need to take something from the pandemic, which made us all stop and pause life for a moment. We need to live more in the now and appreciate each day we have. Focus on the positives in our lives rather than letting everything pass us by in a blur.
 
Personally, I’ve thought it would be nice for me to make time to do something crafty every now and then, as it’s something that I find quite peaceful. No noise, no staring at screens, just something in front of you which you are going to create. The joy of holding something you have made is wonderful, and to make a gift for someone else is a lovely thing to do and more personal than buying something off the shelf.
 
That’s why I’ve signed up to Mind’s Pause monthly subscription box. It’s delivered to your door (or to someone as a gift) and contains something crafty each month for you to sit down, slow down, and pause to enjoy creativity. Not only do you get something for you to enjoy doing but the funds go straight to Mind, helping them support the people who need it.
 
We all need to pause and take care of ourselves, now more than ever.

I recently went to London for the weekend and saw this really lovely diagram of London libraries in the form of a tube map. It’s such a great way to visually demonstrate how many libraries there are, where they are, and what they contain. I was also really interested to learn about some specialist libraries they have, including ones focusing on typography, stamps, and paranormal activity, as well as one in London Zoo.