NESTA February 2, 2009
Posted by townsend51 in creative economy, design, economy, gaming, innovation, nesta.add a comment
NESTA is a ‘non departmental public body’ which seeks to promote innovation in the UK. Whilst it is funded by the UK Government, it operates at arms length, and hence it can be quite critical of current policy, and it tends to paint a stark and informative picture of the UK economy. It publishes papers on a regular basis, covering a broad spectrum of industry sectors. I’ve blogged about their publications before, and here are another two that I find particularly fascinating:
UK Video Game Development
Changing Nature of Early VC Funding in the UK
Character design and other stuff May 16, 2008
Posted by townsend51 in character design, creative economy, graphic.add a comment
I have an ongoing interest in the ‘Creative Economy’ in Britain, and I’ve found a well written article which gives a fair assessment of where British creative business currently stands, and where it could be going in the future:
And on an entirely different note, here is my latest character design. Its a bit wacky this one, admittedly. I’ll keep churning them out ’til I’m sick to death with Inkscape.
UK video game industry May 3, 2008
Posted by townsend51 in Liverpool, UK, animation, creative economy, economy, gaming, programming, video game.add a comment
I’ve been looking into the game development scene in the UK, and found some welcome results. I’d always believed that game developers were largely based in London, with the exception of Rockstar and a few others. In reality, there is a much more even spread. Sure, the companies tend to nucleate around hubs, but as far as the distribution of these goes, its all very positive. For instance, I’ve always had aspirations of working in Liverpool when I graduate, because I’ve always liked the place, and its very close to home. I’m sure other people will have found themselves in a similar position, and even though I’ve lived in London for the last couple of years, I have little intention of staying here indefinitely.
This isn’t just confined to the games sector either; there are also opportunities for other digital creatives. These companies didn’t spring up overnight, so why do they keep such a low profile? I would have been interested to know about the employment prospects when I was a young whipper snapper, who through the tyrannies of the world, came to believe that computer games were bad.
During my brief foray into this area, I’ve encountered some useful on line resources (see the bottom of the post).
- Advice for budding animators (Independent Newspaper)
- Info for animators (Prospects)
- Bizarre Creations Fantastic Liverpool based developer (Project Gotham Racing, Geometry Wars)
- List of game developers (only large ones – doesn’t include subsidiaries):
- Skillset (perhaps the greatest asset for a budding game programmer or artist)
Piecing together the… March 3, 2008
Posted by townsend51 in animation, creative economy, graphic.add a comment
You here the phrase ‘Knowledge Economy’ bandied around a lot nowadays, but what exactly does it mean? The government has published a report, answering just that question.
It mainly concerns the creative sector, and seeming as we make very little nowadays, we are increasingly dependent on intangible assets which result from the labours of artists, designers, film makers and the like. In fact, the creative sector has grown twice as much as the rest of the economy in recent years, so it is firmly on the government policy radar.
But where exactly is this growth happening? Well, undoubtedly the lions share is in London. No surprises there. But the reasons merit further discussion. London is a truly cosmopolitan place, and the creative industry thrives off the multiculturalism. In fact, the creative base is so strong, that it acts like a giant magnet. And even within London there are red hot areas for the creative sector: Soho for post production and visual effects, and Kings Cross for pretty much anything.
All this seems to suggest that young creatives should likewise set up shop in the big smog, but there are alternatives. Manchester has a strong creative industry, which will only be bolstered by the development of the MediaCity:UK in the Salford docks, which promises a centralised area for creative start ups to rub shoulders with the big players, such as the BBC.
Likewise, Edinburgh and Glasgow are strong in this sector, partially owing to the proximity of high quality art and design colleges.
And hopefully Liverpool will be stimulated by its year as Capital of Culture to forge ahead with the creative headway that its undoubtedly made in the past.
All of which points to a fairly positive future. It was one of my personal gripes that the late 20th Century city redevelopments centred on superficial improvements, which purported to be design and arts led, but did little for the wider creative economy. Hopefully, this new legislation will change that, with design and the arts being acknowledged as central to both our personal and economic well being.
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If you are interested in this, either from an arts or business perspective, then the following may be of interest.
New Talents for the New Economy
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And just to stress the point, here are some creative companies and individuals which are truly top notch, and as such deserve recognition.
Young animation company:
http://www.breakthrufilms.co.uk/
TV production company:
http://www.propellertv.co.uk/Default.aspx
Building infrastructure for the creative economy:
http://www.sohonet.co.uk/
Ethical product design:
http://www.diykyoto.com/
Post production:
http://www.dneg.com/
Visual effects:
http://www.the-mill.com/
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