Swap you Email address for updates:
(I don't spam or sell)
LE16 7AF, UK Post PO Box 144, Oneroa, Waiheke Island, 1840, New Zealand
This is where I ramble on about stuff that interests me, stuff about my work, my projects, industry news that I find pertinent, environmental news and other bits of this & that.
book _ at the waters edge
Thu, 26 Feb 2009 23:49:34 NZDTMy first book of photographs, published by blurb is now ready for purchase in softback, hardback as an image wrap and hardback with a dust jacket, its not a huge book and will fit nice on a coffee table or in the loo, or probably more fitting on a yacht, and not the book I've been alluding to (more on that latter, when the details are finalized) but its NICE, and the process thanks to blurb was a nice and simple one, so go and get your self a copy if you like, all proceeds will go towards funding an exhibition of paintings and photographs.
Publication _ Five Dials Magazine
Mon, 16 Feb 2009 09:15:30 NZDT5 Dials is a great PDF magazine published by the folks at Hamish Hamilton, not only is the content well written but the look of it just blows me away in its black and white, printer friendly loveliness.
Launch _ Student recipes
Mon, 16 Feb 2009 09:09:56 NZDTAfter a fairly lengthy amount of development time the new look student recipes site, that I designed for them has been launched.
Portfolio _ The McCoy Blog
Thu, 29 Jan 2009 13:20:55 NZDTAfter messing about with Wordpress before to no great effect or commitment on my behalf I decided to, in the words of a weirder man then me to 'Grip it and rip it' (stifled chuckle) and have now hopefully mastered the art. What pushed me to do this is the fact that I get asked so often if I can adapt and create Wordpress templates and I've always answered with an embarrassed murmur "Not really tried". With the explosion of blogging several years back It struck me as absurd that I hadn't taken the time out to get my head around it, so in no more then 2 evenings (a fist full of hours) I have now created / adapted an existing template to suit my needs, and here it is. The subject matters I will blog about will be as erratic as my likes and interests as will the frequency of update will reflect my workload. The spelling and grammar will still remain 'Quirky' at best, also I suppose reflective of my nature & personality.
Comment _ Happy new year
Thu, 01 Jan 2009 10:12:52 NZDTHave a great new year, to all those still in yesterday back in the UK, I'll just let you know that its already started for me and its pretty good, I look forwards to sharing it with you, I just received a nice email form one of my most favorite companies in the world tiled 2008: A year of pressure points. Godspeed and have a great one, I'm off surfing / boggy boarding with my daughters as its also the youngest girl / my middle child's 6th birthday. hooray.
Type _ Ecofont
Tue, 30 Dec 2008 14:20:37 NZDTSome time in the fog of the last couple of days that hides between Christmas and New Years I received an interesting email from Ecogeak informing me of an interesting idea in font design, the idea was to create a font that cut down the ink needed in order to print with it, it does this buy having holes in the body of the font, humm I wasn't sure about it when I read it but it looks a damn site better then I thought it would and am looking forward to the opportunity to use it in action.
Type _ Type from the UK to JP via NZ
Mon, 22 Dec 2008 14:45:42 NZDTToday I took delivery of 2 packages from the UK containing 2 sets of metal type the first is Bodini Italic 24pt and the second is Gill Sans 6pt and my intention is to make some beautiful objects using them for sale through an online store I am developing for this site, via the lovely Etsy and through the Saturday Market on Waiheke Island. On the subject of type I received word today that one of my first fonts is to be distributed in Japan as part of a book on Dingbats, the book is Type Dingbat published by BNN and it looks a great looking book
Portfolio _ Packaging Design
Thu, 18 Dec 2008 12:55:49 NZDTJust to go some way towards proving that I'm not just a one trick web pony I have finished my first that I can recall but hopefully not my last piece of packaging design. It was for a UK company that makes a delicious sounding bread, not that I got to try any with me being the other side of the world on Waiheke Island in New Zealand for the entirety of the project, but I am going to have to try and make myself to satisfy my curiosity.
Portfolio _ Christmas presents
Fri, 12 Dec 2008 16:45:58 NZDTThis year instead of messing about wit sending around the world bottles of cheep wine, melted chocolates or crushed trees with garish things printed on them, I decided to pop into Oxfam unwrapped, and bought a cow, twenty five trees and an allotment and decided to let Oxfam decide where the best place for them was, and as a thanks to my clients, loved ones and buddies I've created 3 illustrated desktops allowing them to choose what they wish there love, encouragement and money to have contributed to.
Have a great sessional break, and a fine new year filled with doing good things for good people and hopefully in at least a teeny tiny, diddy way making the world a better place for us being in and of it.
Portfolio _ Lore little hellos
Fri, 12 Dec 2008 16:38:58 NZDTA few new pieces have snuck through onto my photography site Little Hellos, a few shots of Karakara on the west coast of Auckland, a turtle and a hornet (or something else stingy and nasty), and some of the ever present lichen that model train enthusiasts spend a fortune on bags of, ohh and I also updated the front as its always niggled me that it was a load of fluff text.
Portfolio _ New portfolio pieces
Wed, 10 Dec 2008 09:39:01 NZDTI've neglected updating this site for a while as I've either been so busy on client projects or off line personal projects. So here is an update, First launched is Cork Voyages a site I built for the lovely Illustrator / designer & writer couple Mark & Rowan Sommerset, it features paypal integration so you can buy copies of there books signed and shipped internationally (I recommend them as great presents for children and creatives), as is Tui a site I designed for Saatchi & Saatchi DGS, both in New Zealand then 2 sites that I both designed and built for folks back in the UK the first is for the actress Tiffany Haynes and the second includes a set of illustrations as well as design and build and is for my brothers search engine optimization company .
Comment _ Spam Scum
Tue, 02 Dec 2008 10:37:31 NZDTWhat's the bloody point? I don't understand, I must get form 20 - 30 form failures a day from folks attempting to spam my inbox with crap, I don't mean useless stuff that they have no chance in convincing me into buying, nope it really is just crap, random gibberish, what a pointless wast of time and energy.
Book _ Web Designers Idea Book
Thu, 20 Nov 2008 10:32:40 NZDTThis morning on the way back from dropping the kids off at the school bus and having my morning coffee in town before heading back to start the day I checked my Po Box to discover, waiting patiently for me the fine Web Designers Idea Book and T-shirt, on flicking through the pages I discovered that my sites have been featured not once but twice, both my photography portfolio [ little hellos.com ] and my CV [ web fellow for hire.com ].
Portfolio _ T-shirt Concepts
Mon, 17 Nov 2008 00:39:50 NZDTI've finally put together 3 of the 4 concept illustrations that I hope to produce as limited edition hand printed and painted on fair trade, organic cotton T-shirts, I'm just at the moment sourcing the materials and testing the water to see if any one might actually be interested in them, so if your tired of these mass produced, bold, garish and even aggressive t-shirts and are interested in something a little more handmade, soft, individual and playful then take a peak at the T-shirt concepts and drop me a line to let me know as it will give me the encouragement to invest the time and money into getting them into production, Encouragement is by no means a commitment to buy!
Site Launch _ Cork Voyages
Mon, 17 Nov 2008 00:33:41 NZDTThe corkvoyages.com site I have been building for Sommerset Studios based on Rowan's designs and illustrations and for there great picture books is now live, and if you love well written and illustrated picture books as much as I do you'll drop but and get some signed stocking fillers for your kids or design junkie in your heart.
Portfolio _ Busy Busy
Thu, 23 Oct 2008 00:36:56 NZDTI've been so pre-ocupied with doing stuff I've neglected to keep everyone informed as to what I'm doing, including myself. I've started a project for Saatchi & Saatchi New Zealand, I'm about to finish a web site build for a great book series - Cork Voyages & am about to start illustrating a book for the same people in New Zealand, I've finished a design for Theanan Villas in Cyprus, am still working on web sites for the actress Tiffany Haynes, Oxford University's History Department & Get Visible SEO in the United Kingdom, some logo design for Alamande Consultancy in Dubai & a side project with a leading movie producer from Hollywood. Oh and I'm also designing some T-shirts and books of my doodles, photos {more on that soon} & Louise's more light hearted poems.
Portfolio _ New navigation in JQuery
Sat, 18 Oct 2008 00:28:02 NZDTSpent most of the rewriting this sites navigation from scratch using JQuery and am very happy with bot the results and the fact that its only taken an evening to learn and execute, might try and see what else it can do, another night though.
Site Launch _ 42 Writers for Liberty
Thu, 16 Oct 2008 09:45:58 NZDTI am extremely proud to have been involved with a project for Liberty Human Rights to appose and get over turned the 42 days detention bill that the Labour party in the UK has tried to push through parliament. The project that I designed and built for Liberty is named 42 writers and like it says in the title is 42 leading writers such as Phillip Pulman, Hari Kunzuri, Monical Ali, Julian Barnes, Mohsin Hamid, Ian Rankin, Ali Smith and A.L. Kennedy who have written and donated a piece for each day of detention without charge that is proposed in the bill.
Portfolio _ New McCoy and new site launch
Fri, 10 Oct 2008 12:17:20 NZDTWell without any fanfare or fuss I am happy to say that the new McCoy site is live and kicking and your looking at it, it boasts a new more rationalised navigation, a calmer more considered placement of doodles and elements and an expanded and categorised portfolio there is also the odd easter egg page. The redesign is set to coincide with the launch of a new project I worked on for Liberty Human Rights that is set to be launched exclusively in this weekends Observer newspaper so I cant say any more until next week as I wouldn't want to spoil the exclusivity but needless to say its a great idea and a bloody good cause and I am proud to have been involved.
Portfolio _ What else I've been upto
Thu, 02 Oct 2008 12:02:41 NZDTApart from networking and client work I've also been working on a re-design of this site that dramatically rationalizes the taxonomy and design and offers information and peak-holes into the other work I do, talking of that I've also been working on several illustration projects documenting vegetables I'm growing, cameras in my collection and New Zealand Birds. I've also been planning some picture and poetry books, a collection of purchasable paintings and t-shirts, a lot of worm farming, vegetable growing, swimming in the sea, mountain biking and jam making (now thats variety)
Portfolio _ What I've been upto
Thu, 02 Oct 2008 11:28:54 NZDTOk apologies for the lack of updates since returning to freelancing, I've been keeping myself busy with getting work in, networking and making contacts down here in New Zealand (Quite hard work for someone who is not the most pushy person). I've been working on projects for the following firstly I've been doing some web build work for a great inspirational couple who live on the island and who make the excellent Cork Voyages books, I've been doing some righteous web design and build for a project for Liberty Human Rights in London, some design work for WSI in Cyprus, some more design work for Oxford University's history department and some rebranding and web design and build work for Internet marketing and search engine optimization company Get Visible in the Northwest of England
Portfolio _ Lomo section open
Fri, 19 Sep 2008 23:00:12 NZSTAfter much tinkering and bashing and taping and gluing I have now gotten back my first set of photos from some of the vintage cameras I have been collecting since I was a kid. I have now opened up a new section on my Photography Portfolio Little Hellos to showcase there raw and quirky richness. I'll be adding more pretty soon though, as there is only a few so far. I also have plans to create a couple of sets of ltd. edition photo and doodle books to be sold through this web site and local design book stores, watch this space on that one!
Portfolio _ New Photos
Mon, 15 Sep 2008 23:56:34 NZSTI have decided to forgo sleep for tonight in order to update my photography portfolio site Little Hellos with some of the photos I have taken over the last 3 months on living on beautiful Waiheke Island in the Haruki Gulf, New Zealand. Photography is a passion of mine and I am pretty chuffed to receive my box of vintage cameras safely and am in the process of going through them to evaluate there photo taking capabilities, quirks and imperfections and when / if I get any interesting results back I'll be adding them to Little Hellos in a fresh section.
life _ Return to Freelancing
Mon, 08 Sep 2008 09:44:05 NZSTAfter being in employment in New Zealand for just over 3 months my employment sponsor has realized that they didn't need a Creative Director after all and have made my post redundant. Thankfully in all the time I was employed I was getting requests to do freelance work so I have some projects to keep me going for a while. If you are looking for a good creative web designer, Illustrator, user interface developer, consultant and general web busy body and you don't mind that I am stranded on the island paradise of Waiheke, then please get in touch.
portfolio _ Illustration
Tue, 26 Aug 2008 21:37:30 NZSTLiving in what is ostensibly the creative community of Waiheke Island in New Zealand has inspired me to brush up on my more traditional creative skills and shake awake my already stirring illustration skills. Most of these illustrations where created on the ferry commute to and from, and for the place I am working at, but alas they didn't want them so here they are for your edification and viewing pleasure. I would be very interested in doing more illustration if anyone has a need for them!?!
life _ Office arived
Sun, 24 Aug 2008 01:17:27 NZSTAt last after a very long 3 months my office including my production machine has eventualy caught me up down under on our funky island of Waiheke in New Zealand, I've now half set it up and am enjoying being able to get digitaly creative again, although its been fun and refreshing playing with pencils and paints for a didi while, to celebrate I have just done a bumper portfolio update.
life _ Relocating to New Zealand
Tue, 20 May 2008 20:46:05 BSTI am so excited to announce that I am shifting everything from Market Harborough almost smack bang in the middle of the United Kingdom to Waiheke Island about 35 minutes off the coast of Auckland. I am to be working as the Creative Director over at Eventfinder & The Hive. No doubt a new atmosphere will spark my photography and painting projects back to life again.
portfolio _ Busy times
Wed, 07 May 2008 17:12:39 BSTWell I've been pretty busy of late, I have just finished the design and build of a little site for Fierce Model Management, the re-design of the Czarnikow web site for Noko, A rebranding of Claims Direct for Graphico, the Duchamp Autumn / Winter collection web site for Drive Business, Oral B professional micro site for Defected London, Our Eczema web site for Our Eczema, am finalizing the designs for the Joules Spring / Summer collection web site and am making preparations for a flip of hemisphere.
Articles _ Sliding over to wordpress
Tue, 29 Apr 2008 19:39:51 BSTI am slowly moving the Articles on this site over to wordpress as the off the shelf comments and cms engine is more robust then anything I have the time to build a secure one myself. Initially I booked out variations of my name to stop xclusivemedia using them for blackmail as they have done with other folks who have spoken out against there crimes but I actually like the interface a lot and have started exploring it for doing a music reviews project that I have wanted to do for nearly 20 years, nut more on that later.
internet _ Stop Virgin
Tue, 15 Apr 2008 23:42:39 BST"The new CEO of Virgin Media, Neil Berkett, has openly stated in an interview that they think net neutrality is "a load of bollocks" and claimed theyre already doing deals to deliver some people?s content faster than others. They would then put websites and services that dont pay Virgin in the "slow lane", meaning those sites would load slowly and cause most users to give up using them, feeling forced to use whatever Virgin wants to push through their network."
portfolio _ Shut it, I'm not listening anymore
Sun, 13 Apr 2008 23:54:28 BSTIt is with regret that I have had to close the comments function to the articles on this site, I have been forced to do this because of the overwhelming quantities of spam I have been getting and fear others may have been subject to as a result of the comments functionality becoming hijacked by dreary unimaginative sub beings who wish to peddle there porn and pills. I fail to see the point or purpose in this approach to marketing your wares, but I suppose I'm fortunate enough to not really be in the market for such nonsense. I often annoys me how puerile the internet is.
win _ Fierce Model Managment
Sun, 13 Apr 2008 21:28:49 BSTIt is with much pleasure that I can announce that I am to design and build the new web site for London's very own Fierce Model Management agency.
portfolio _ rss feed restructure
Wed, 09 Apr 2008 14:00:47 BSTApologies to the subscribers of my rss feed as I have had a bit of an adjustment in how I produce them and moved away from hand authoring to using a nifty little widget. the benefits of which are that the widget has a build in spell checker and it should take me less time to update the feed so I will probably post more tat more often.
web design _ Design Coding
Wed, 09 Apr 2008 10:52:10 BSTI love both music and web design, I am especially interested and involved with the standards approach of user interface development, so I watched the rap Design Coding by The Poetic Prophet on YouTube with a faint smile. There is another HUGE announcement that concerns music and design that I am itching to announce but am holding off until everything is finalised, that being said its probably more exciting to me than anyone else on the webiverse.
accessibility _ British web accessibility standard
Wed, 09 Apr 2008 10:45:35 BSTIt long over due but BSI British Standards has began work on a accessibility standards that it is expected will become part of a wider series of standards. Quite how far reaching or what impact it will have remains to be proved but its a step towards ensuring that those commissioning and building web sites take seriously the importance of doing it properly.
website _ Penguin rocks
Sunday, 27 March 2008 22:31 GMTI have just stumbled upon a project by penguin books that involves 6 authors telling stories in very unique ways and I am very excited and impressed, so far the first two have involved a story using what looks like a google maps mash up and another that is being told through a blog, they re both extremely well written and engaging and I think Penguin should once again be applauded for there ingenuity.
Internet _ Xclusivemedia / Scott Dylan / Reece Dylan / B-spoke mag / Converse mag
Sunday, 23 March 2008 17:25 GMTMy payment issues with Scott Dylan / Reece Dylan / B-spoke Magazine are now resolved and he has approached me and paid what is owing fro works rendered. I sincearly hope that this signifies a closure to any further indiscretions on his behalf and I will continue to keep a close eye on things with the spirit of protecting my pears in the global freelance industry, any issues that I become aware of will be reported to the community and appropriate authorities.
podcasts _ Stephen Fry Podcast
Tuesday, 17 March 2008 10:01 GMTStephen Fry has turned his near omniscient focus to the medium of pod casting out of necessity due to a broken arm and thank god for the mother of invention. He has a balanced enthusiasm for the internet that is balanced with an interest in, in well nearly anything. His podcast is a fine companion to the otherwise lonely pursues of working freelance. Both entertaining, informative, endearing and extremely funny.
life _ New beginnings
Tuesday, 17 March 2008 09:54 GMTThe McCoy empire / family / company / personal / self obsession is set to shift in a new and exciting direct details of which will be posted as they solidify, needless to say they represent a paradigm shift in how we work and live.
win _ Graphico
Tuesday, 17 March 2008 09:51 GMTI am happy to announce that I am working with the top 50 UK agency Graphico on some rebranding work, quite what it is I'm not at liberty to discuss, but its a bit of a welcome distraction for my usual pure web based design work.
win _ Student Recipes re-design
Tue, 04 Mar 2008 12:36:00 BSTI am proud to anounce that I am re-designing the student recipes web site.
win _ Our Eczema web site
Tuesday, 4 March 2008 12:36 GMTI am proud to anounce that I am designing and developing the Our Eczema site, a web site detailing peoples struggles with eczema and sugested treatments.
life _ A different selection in forms
Wednesday, 27 Feb 2008 00:01 GMTYet another year older and a lot more water under the bridge, many unpleasant lessons learnt, and good experiences had, I now have to select a whole new age banding in forms and documents and I suppose am now officially middle aged, weird as I feel no different then when I was 18, just responsible for more people and carry a few more scars.
business _ Can a successful business be Ethical?
Thursday, 20 Feb 2008 23:50 GMTA perspective that challenged my view of the Body Shop's sale to L'Oreal and by that measure Nestle is in focusing on the fact that it is a separate entity and the better it does then the more money passes up the chain and the more the owners of the bigger businesses will notice that ethical branding and action actually pays.
portfolio _ Re-cut of navigation
Thursday, 1 Feb 2008 08:27 GMTI've just rebuilt this sites navigation using the SuckerTree navigation model. The old navigation was too limiting from an administration perspective, however I'm not 100% keen on this one yet as I need to work out how to make it keyboard accessible.
portfolio _ Redesign of Isis Tablet poetry site
Thursday, 1 Feb 2008 08:27 GMTBeen spending my free time re-designing my wife's poetry site Isis Tablet using a mixture of model making photography and good old fashioned web design! I'm trickling through content at quiet intervals. But we are both happy with the way its going.
win _ LeftCast and Latin Radical Logos
Thursday, 31 Jan 2008 12:03 GMTI am very proud to donate my services to Ratbag Radio for their LeftCast and Latin Radical broadcasts in the form of Logo development and blogger template alterations.
web design _ Dearth of experienced people in digital media?
Tuesday, 25 Jan 2008 08:25 GMTChinwag whave conducted a survey into the a dearth of experienced people in digital media that is hindering the growth of the sector and what people in the industry think is going to happen this year. And here are the results of that survey.
portfolio _ Curlylocks and the three W's
Tuesday, 22 Jan 2008 01:02 GMTI have started writing up the history of how I found myself working in web design with some fairly comic tales of the companies I worked at, the bad choices I made and the fallout of those choices, when I encountered new technologies, love stupidity, fortune and miss-fortune.
win _ B-Spoke Magazine
Sunday, 21 Jan 2008 16:54 GMTI was conned whilst working with Xclusive Media to produce a holding web site, a full web site and the stationery for their brand new B-Spoke magazine, I am annoyed and disappointed that people can behave in the way that Scott Dylan or what ever it transpires his name is behaves in his treatment of his staff and contractors and only hope that justice befalls him in a swift and fair manner.
jobs _ One of the worlds best designers is looking for work
Sunday, 20 Jan 2008 19:48 GMTDamien Frost is quite possibly one of the best designers (web and print) that I have ever worked with and he is a great guy too, but life has kicked him squarely in the nuts and left him destitute in a foreign land with no home, no job and very little idea of where to go. So please if you have come here looking for a designer, either freelance or permanent and pretty much anywhere in Europe or Australia then don't pick me, pick my mate, I'll be OK without it for a while.
web design _ Firebug on Firefox 3 Beta Fix
Thursday, 14 Jan 2008 14:00 GMTAs any web designer / developer will know Firebug is pretty much and indispensable member of your arsenal. I upgraded the copy of the Firefox browser on my Mac to the version 3 beta because the last version was so unstable but it appears that many of my add ons are not yet compatible, for the most part this isn't an issue but Fire-bug I cant do without and was having to run my PC alongside my Mac just to use Firebug (Not very conscientious I admit). However I just came across a version of Firebug that will allow me to use the indispensable tool.
portfolio _ Home page jiggle about
Thursday, 04 Jan 2008 16:47 GMTOver the last couple of days whilst waiting for business to warm up again after the seasonal chill I have been reading some brilliant Seth Godin books and as a result have given this here home page a jiggle about and a tweak here and there, some of the cross browser stuff may have come loose so if you do spot anything please just drop me a message. Annoyingly I upgraded to the Beta of Firefox 3 and as yet the ever useful Firebug extension isn't available.
portfolio _ re-launch of Little Hellos
Sun, 30 Dec 2007 23:58 GMTIt is with great pleasure and excitement that I can announce that I have completely re-designed my photography portfolio 'Little Hellos', all the photos have been remastered, re-selected and repackaged into a format that hopefully shows them in a better light, and allows me to update quicker and more frequently with less haste, there's still a few tweeky bits that need to be done but its pretty much there. The background freeze was illustrated by my 2 daughters as its was their favourite website so I decided to let them have a go at designing a bit of it.
portfolio _ My Issues with non Dyslexics, not understanding Dyslexia
Fri, 14 Dec 2007 16:21:36 GMTI have just written an article about my experiences with Dyslexia and my issues with non-dyslexics attitude to those who do have dyslexia. I have also added the ability to make comments to articles.
launch _ Car
Fri, 14 Dec 2007 16:21:36 GMTEmap's Car Magazine website that I worked on the User Interface design and some of the development is now live and looking sweet, I think this and the recently released web site for Trail and country walking magazines called Live for the Outdoors, I now have spare capacity along with a few days rest and relaxation until the McCoy world tour starts at some point in the New Year.
life _ Important lesson number one
Fri, 14 Dec 2007 16:21:36 GMTI have had cause to pause and reflect long and hard on something recently and it revolves around being offered the opportunity to create something different that flies in the face of conventional wisdom with the intention of doing something unique. Doing this will always polarise opinion and the negative camp will always be the loudest, most passionate and most personal in their vocalisations, they will make sweeping generalisations and often get things out of context and wrong in their rush to be heard. It will hurt to receive such criticism and you will get little visible support when things go bad, the comments will be cutting and harsh... But the lesson that must be learnt in all this is do not lose your cool and start fumbling to justify your self and cover your arse. Instead stand proud, don't expect people not in the firing line to join you, and let it wash over you, it will pass, but loosing your dignity and integrity will last. Never let it put you off getting involved in brave, difficult and potentially unpopular decisions, if you do then nothing interesting will ever happen, there will be no innovation and there will be no progress. Sure it won't always work out and you will look like a fool, but every now and again it will, and I would happily trade one hundred mediocrities for one success and a bag of failures.
web design _ The Internet Will Save Billions of Tons of Carbon
Fri, 14 Dec 2007 16:21:36 GMTAn interesting article over at Eco Geak about the reduction in environmental impact as a result of business moving over to the internet, with some interesting and some daft responses, for example the adoration of Al Gore as the Godhead of the environmental movement makes me nervous as I never wholly trust the motives of any politician and I am old enough to remember his families involvement in the PRMC and the harm that has done to freedom (google it). Plus I truly believe that the answer to these issues isn't in some celeb or leader but in fact in a ground swell of communities choosing to make a difference, and that is why the internet is so powerful in that it can serve to unite geographically diverse but ideological neighbours. But the focus must always be on the issues that effect us and not at creating eco-celebs and allowing them to usurp the issue for their own political and personal gain, but if it helps to solve the issue and unite and inform an otherwise distracted majority then I'll bite my lip and put up with it.
jobs _ Web Design Jobs
Fri, 14 Dec 2007 16:21:36 GMTAfter many emails from young whipper snappers asking if they can come and work at McCoy Digital and having to explain that that's not really my business model at the moment but that I may know some folks who are hiring. I have now teamed up with Krop and am able to offer their jobs listings service for employers and job seeker right from this very site, how cool is that!!!
web design _ Google's Carbon Footprint Project
Fri, 14 Dec 2007 16:21:36 GMTEvery now and a gain apparently disparate passions collide and thanks to google two of mine the internet and Environmental issues have in that Google have launched in the UK at least a Carbon Footprint Calculator and combined it with Google Maps, what interests me the most is where are they going to take the idea next?
web design _ Are Skills Shortages Crippling The Digital Sector?
Fri, 14 Dec 2007 16:21:36 GMTChinwag are running a survey on the difficulty of finding skilled staff a quote from their blog reads - Is there a dearth of candidates in the digital industry? Is it hindering the growth of the sector? And what do employers, recruitment consultants and HR professionals think is going to happen next year?
action _ Give a Loo to the world
Fri, 14 Dec 2007 16:21:36 GMTAnother brilliant TV campaign for Christmas by Oxfam, you can see it on-line along with the out takes.
portfolio _ Podcasts
Fri, 14 Dec 2007 16:21:36 GMTI've been listening to a lot of really interesting, informative and useful web design and related podcasts over the last couple of months, and I think for me at least its the best way of taking in information and making the freelancers day a little less lonely, anyway I value them so much I have put a list together to share them with the world, even better then that is I have made the list from XML so you can have it as a RSS feed, but even better then that I am also asking for folks to send over any I have missed so we can all share, but wait as a little bit extra I've also done the same for web design books and web sites, so don't be selfish if you have a great resource pop it over and lets share.
portfolio _ The Lost Doodlings
Fri, 14 Dec 2007 16:21:36 GMTI found a pack of zip disks under my bed that contain old archives of this site from way back when I started it in November 1998 (Yes this site, really has been going that long) back then it appears that I was a lot more experimental and less standards aware, still that's just growing up I suppose! I have started integrating them into the McCoy.me.uk web site.
portfolio _ Dynamic(ish) Navigation - The eclipse method
Fri, 14 Dec 2007 16:21:36 GMTNow, before we get started let me just say that being Dyslexic I've never been much of a writer in the conventional sense, but then again I've never really wanted to do anything conventional. I've been asked about how I create my Dynamic(ish) navigation's a couple of times and instead of going over it again and again I've written it up and published it as a new chapter of this site, I'll get around to documenting other things in time.
action _ New eBay site helps finance poor
Fri, 14 Dec 2007 16:21:36 GMTI was extremly impressed and lightened to read the report on the BBC web site about Ebay's new initiative that allows people in America to invest in micro finance initiatives in developing communities, I have two hopes the first being that other huge companies follow their lead and instigate other socially focused products and second that they roll it out to the rest of the world.
life _ Eden
Fri, 14 Dec 2007 16:21:36 GMTTaking a short break to go down to the Eden Project in Cornwall, for a rest and to take some pictures with my old 120mm film and newer digital cameras.
portfolio _ New design
Fri, 14 Dec 2007 16:21:36 GMTNow rub your eyes again, yes it is a fresh new design on this site, yes I have better things to do, no I am not sleeping and this is what happens when I cant sleep, I work, if you can call this work, anyway its pretty nearly done, a few more sketches hear and there and a good bit of testing.
life _ A New McCoy
Fri, 14 Dec 2007 16:21:36 GMTThe McCoy team has expended by 1 to 5 with the addition of one Hunter McCoy born on the 23rd September 2007 at 10:40pm, weighing in at 8 pounds 7 ounces. And for those of a brooding / curious / friendly / interested disposition there is a photo of the wee fellow on little hellos.
portfolio _ 3 Little Hellos Images
Fri, 14 Dec 2007 16:21:36 GMTJust added 3 new photos to Little Hellos, I say new but 2 where on the previous version of he site and 1 is a new image although it was taken on some film that had been in one of my cameras half used and in a box that has travelled to Australia and around the UK for the last 10 years! Oh and I shifted the navigation about too, as much as I liked the idea the execution was annoying me!
portfolio _ McCoy on the cover of Photoshop Magazine
Fri, 14 Dec 2007 16:21:36 GMTI have just learnt that much of my freebies stuff is going to be distributed on the cover CD of Photoshop Magazine, apparently they have already been on the CD of Photoshop Creative and I was told but with work, having another baby and my plans to invade Asia Pacific it fell out of my memory! so Photoshop Magazine if you want them.
life _ From Leprechauns to Pixies
Fri, 14 Dec 2007 16:21:36 GMTAway again this time to Ireland on business and I was happy to return to the delivery of a print of the photo used on the cover of the pixies album Surfer Rosa as taken by the exceptionally talented Simon Larbalestier, he has the pixies photos for sale on his site and a percentage of the proceeds from the sale will be donated to the Cambodia Trust.
portfolio _ Quiet Times in High Places
Fri, 14 Dec 2007 16:21:36 GMTHave just returned from a screen break in the Peak District in England and I am pleasantly surprised at how nice some areas of England are, loads of photos for Little Hellos that I will upload when I get a spare evening.
portfolio _ My Pepper Soul 121
Fri, 14 Dec 2007 16:21:36 GMTWell when you have a mind for something and the weathers dull and there's nothing else to do of an evening but get hypnotised by the tragic lantern trying to sell you shampoo with science in or the latest milarky that will make your life perfect... any way drivelling aside another My Pepper Soul form - Empire of Daydreams in a similar theme to the last, I like that theme and hope to do may more like that. go see...
doodle _ Web Site: My Pepper Soul 120
Fri, 14 Dec 2007 16:21:36 GMTI've had this photo on my desk for months now, I found in a box of vintage photos that I bought decades ago and have finally gotten a few spare minutes to illustrate over it and create the My Pepper Soul form number 120 - Sleep, little sister, SLEEP...
jobs _ Dot Cog Job
Fri, 14 Dec 2007 16:21:36 GMTCool and funky London agency Dot Cog who are based in Greenwich (one of the nicer areas of London) are looking to hire a web designer. They have a fun portfolio of interesting work that must have been a pleasure to work on, and they come across like nice folks.
love _ Tijuana Moods
Fri, 14 Dec 2007 16:21:36 GMTIt's such a very long time since I truly appreciated a music cover but yesterday whilst browsing through a record shopI saw the cover for Charles Mingus's 'Tijuana Moods' and fell in love, it helped that it wasn't a digipack, as I have now removed them all from my shelves for the offence of being the worst piece of packaging design, they take up far to much space, the plastic used is horrible and they are often a pain to use, anyway 'Tijuana Moods' check it out.
launch _ diy.com
Fri, 14 Dec 2007 16:21:36 GMTOK so it launched a few weeks ago but I have been so wrapped up in work and life to update my site. I am happy to say that the redesigned and restructured diy.com web site has been launched with much improved functionality, a cleaner more friendly build and a slick new interface and I am honored to have been involved.
industry _ Holiday web sites
Fri, 14 Dec 2007 16:21:36 GMTAt the request of my family I have been looking at booking a holiday online and I can not express my disappointment and frustration at the terrible quality of holiday web sites withh shocking and confusing design, poor use of technology, frustrating taxonomy, poor understanding of users needs and just dull holidays to insidious destinations for shocking amounts of money. I have made a note to write up my findings in an article.
launch _ Beats Walkin Europe
Fri, 14 Dec 2007 16:21:36 GMTOn the 1st of July Bam, a lad who has never left the country is going to skate 4000km across 5 European countries to raise funds for 3 charities, please go and show your support.
media _ 4 talent magazine
Fri, 14 Dec 2007 16:21:36 GMTI am extreamly proud to anounce that I have been featured in Issue 6 of Channel 4 Creatives - 4 talent magazine - Ten 4 in an article about Dyslexia and the Creative Industries .
industry _ Design Leicestershire
Fri, 14 Dec 2007 16:21:36 GMTIt was the launch of he Design Leicestershire initiative last night and I was proud to be one of the invited delegates and proud to be involved, it was interesting to learn that apparently Leicestershire has the largest design community in the UK outside of London.
win _ New Projects for Emap
Fri, 14 Dec 2007 16:21:36 GMTI am proud to anounce that following on from my envolvement with the LBi agency and Emap publishing I am now being awarded the contract with Emap to develop 2 further magazine web sites.
action _ G8 Summit, Germany, 6 June 2007
Fri, 14 Dec 2007 16:21:36 GMT40 million people around the world called for action against poverty during Make Poverty History in 2005. The G8 responded with historic promises to help many millions escape extreme poverty. The promises that have been kept have already changed millions of lives. But most are at serious risk of being broken. And that's a disgrace.
portfolio _ 3 New photos on Little Hellos
Fri, 14 Dec 2007 16:21:36 GMTLittle Hellos has just been updated with 3 new photos: Dandelion Clock, Chick in Charlie's hand and Mother Duck in a plant pot
personal _ Stolen labels
Fri, 14 Dec 2007 16:21:36 GMTFor some reason some dirty little thief has stolen from the post 1000 cloth labels bearing the McCoy logo, quite what they plan to do with them I do not know but I am a little annoyed, perplexed and fascinated as to the possibilities, and the greed of the random theft.
font _ Hello Lori font is top 100
Fri, 14 Dec 2007 16:21:36 GMTThe font Hello Lori is now one of Dafonts top 100, I will soon finish the perfection of the font Cheeky Charlie and send that over to them , there is a rough draft available for download in the freebies section of this site for now though.
portfolio _ My Pepper Soul Update
Fri, 14 Dec 2007 16:21:36 GMTA scout in the first and only war of the woods
portfolio _ del.icio.us tags
Fri, 14 Dec 2007 16:21:36 GMTI have just added my del.icio.us tag cloud to the news / blog section.
font _ Dafont now distributes my fonts
Fri, 14 Dec 2007 16:21:36 GMTLeading font distribution web site Dafont has agreed to distribute my Hello Lori font
launch _ Dodson and Horrell ~ Live
Fri, 14 Dec 2007 16:21:36 GMTA site that I designed for Earthgazer and Dodson and Horrell has now gone live and I am very proud of how its fared despite me not seeing it for a good 6 months of back end development.
win _ McCoy to help build Nature
Fri, 14 Dec 2007 16:21:36 GMTI have just found out that I have been awarded a contract to work on the build of Nature.com
industry _ Skill Fair - Fee rate survey results
Fri, 14 Dec 2007 16:21:36 GMTFood for thought, often one the most difficult things about freelancing is fixing and justifying your rate.
portfolio _ McCoy Gear
Fri, 14 Dec 2007 16:21:36 GMTFollowing on the success of my posters campaign, (sorry if you didn't get one they where more popular then I had anticipated) I now have the beginnings of a merchandise range and in true McCoy style I have resisted the temptation of creating T-shirts first instead I have produced a beanie hat, that is now required attire whilst working in the office. Images to follow...
win _ AWOL at DIY
Fri, 14 Dec 2007 16:21:36 GMTI have a couple of days a week work on site at DIY.com so if I don't respond to your emails as soon as I usually do then many apologies and hang on tight I will do as soon ASAP.
media _ 4ten Magazine
Fri, 14 Dec 2007 16:21:36 GMTI am to be interview for Channel 4's Creative industries magazine, the article is about Creative professionals and Dyslexia.
portfolio _ Say hello to Little hellos
Fri, 14 Dec 2007 16:21:36 GMTMy photography site Little Hellos is now back after I increased its bandwidth. I have also added 5 new photos form my trip to the south of France, I have also in my boredom of being, how do you put it between jobs started playing with flash, admittedly not my strong suit, but I think that until I am a little more confident if I keep things simple then I can make it work for me. I am beginning to replace the mastheads of this site with new flash ones. So please give lets do some work together.
launch _ McCoy for Malawi
Fri, 14 Dec 2007 16:21:36 GMTI have just finished a quick freelance web design job for a nice little company working in Malawi helping do all sorts big things for people that need it.
art _ have you helped an artist lately
Fri, 14 Dec 2007 16:21:36 GMTTed Stanke just returned to New York from his show in Berlin and has been working hard to produce new work. In an effort to recuperate from his 2 weeks missed wages and the airline/shipping expenses he is offering many archived sculptures at reduced rates this month. If you or someone you know is interested in buying some art, check out his website.
font _ Another Free Font - Cheeky Charlie
Fri, 14 Dec 2007 16:21:36 GMTTwo new fonts in a week, I must either be very inspired, very bored or its getting easy! To be honest I have had both the new fonts planned for a while it was just finding some new software to make the build of them smoother, The new font is made of a stamping set and is a lot more cheeky then previous fonts, It is named after my second daughter and I think pretty accurately carries her personality (awkward but lovable)
font _ New Free Font - Hello Lori
Fri, 14 Dec 2007 16:21:36 GMTAfter working most evenings of the new year I have today finished my first font in over 2 years, Its called Hello Lori after my eldest daughter who watched me illustrate most of it and I am going to name all subsequent fonts after my wife and kids and when I run out of names I'll just have to have more children to accommodate my font making fun. Hello Lori is an open and friendly found font in a lo-fi but not grungy feel that looks best large.
portfolio _ Updated Little Hellos photography portfolio
Fri, 14 Dec 2007 16:21:36 GMTI have just updated my photography portfolio Little Hellos with a couple of photos from a recent trip to the ever exotic Banbury in Oxfordshire, the two new photos include possibly one of the fastest animals on these wind battered and rain soaked shores. I have also finally created a portfolio page for Little Hellos.
portfolio _ accessites award
Fri, 14 Dec 2007 16:21:36 GMTI have just received notice that this site has been awarded a rare as hens teeth - NOTABLE UNIVERSAL DESIGN - award from Accessites.org [Accessible, Usable, Universal, and Stunning Web Designs] so thats my hosting bandwidth totally knackered this month, every silver lining has a cloud, seriously though these folks at Accessites are super strict on their awarding procedures, thats what makes them so hard to get and so worth getting, thanks guys for your time and patience.
accessibility _ Going Dutch on accessibility law
Fri, 14 Dec 2007 16:21:36 GMTThe Dutch Government has introduced a new law on accessibility that is to impact on all its web sites, whilst this is good for those who require a higher level of accessibility its is also good for us freelance web professionals as stated by the linked to article this should help reduce the number of new amateurs who are swamping the market with cheep and second rate skills devaluing the profession.
portfolio _ photography portfolio is finished
Fri, 14 Dec 2007 16:21:36 GMTIt is with great pleasure and a little bit of relief that I can announce that the Christmas break bore fruit in the form of an overhauled and improved photography portfolio - Little Hellos, I say finished with the exception that I intend to spend the odd weekend looking through my photo archives and adding more work and I could do with a spell check but other then that its all up and sorted.
action _ The Global Compact
Fri, 14 Dec 2007 16:21:36 GMTI definiatly support the core principles off, and am pleased to see that the United Nations has the Global Compact.
portfolio _ Thanks for the kind words
Fri, 14 Dec 2007 16:21:36 GMTBack from a quick trip to France and back into work, had a nice time and chilled out. Whilst I was away I got some cracking reviews of the new websites design so thank you all for that and I am glad it has all gone down well.
industry _ Lightstone launched
Fri, 14 Dec 2007 16:21:36 GMTOld friends Lightstone (Previosly Pool.Net) have just launched (Actualy it was a month ago) their new web site, I for one cant get over he quality of the rendering on the flip flop, quite what the relevence of it is I dont know, but I like it all the same.
business _ Companies to update websites and email footers before 2007
Fri, 14 Dec 2007 16:21:36 GMTThanks to Rob at Enotions for pointing me in the direction of some new legal requirements for UK companies on the web, that requires them to display their registered office, company number and place of registration.
life _ International jet-set
Fri, 14 Dec 2007 16:21:36 GMTI'm off to the South of France for a week (4th - 10th January) to do some work and a little relaxation. I'll be away from my mail for the most part. Hope to have some good photos, illustrations and a new free font to share when I return.
industry _ Google gift no good
Fri, 14 Dec 2007 16:21:36 GMTI recieved one of googles digital picture frames as a christmas gift and started to plan all the fun and funky creative ways I could use it only to find the next day it wouldnt even power up, I have done a bit of digging around on google and have discovered that I am not alone and that it is quite a common issue. The thing seams to have been very cheaply made and as a result is just going to be filed as toxic landfill. Not sure how this gifts inability to work reflects on Google.
portfolio _ Me Painting
Fri, 14 Dec 2007 16:21:36 GMTI've been taking the Christmas break to wind down from what has been a busy and hard year and I have taken time to put my house in order, as a result I have just added some fresh new content to McCoy ME uk in the form of 2 collections of paintings, Ill add some more when I track them all down and when I have finished getting other things in order.
portfolio _ New year clean out
Fri, 14 Dec 2007 16:21:36 GMTAs part of a new year clean out I have given the site a proper over hall and with the help of Google Analytics cut out a lot of the under performing areas of the site, I have also utilised a more visually intensive and back to form interface style, I still have a fair few illustrations to do for many sections and will be doing these in the new year. I have also utilised an image replacement script so that much of the images you see are not really there ???
portfolio _ Busy whilst commuting
Fri, 14 Dec 2007 16:21:36 GMTI have been so busy over the last 3 months at LBi that i have prety much neglected my own portfolio but thankfully I work off a laptop and have spent the commute working on adding a lot of the work I have created over the last year, there is still plenty more to be added but this should do for a little while.
action _ Dazed and Confused (red) alert
Fri, 14 Dec 2007 16:21:36 GMTUpload your red images and videos to the Dazed and Confused (red)alert broadcast project
portfolio _ A change of space
Fri, 14 Dec 2007 16:21:36 GMTSometimes moving the furniture about is as refreshing as a new home. With mccoy.co.uk I tend to do a bit of a re-design annually as new content outgrows the the site architecture. However, events have forced my hand, but whilst its not a redesign, so to speak it is a tightening up of a few bolts that have worked themselves loose both in the build and the brand.
portfolio _ Business: McCoy goes Limited
Fri, 14 Dec 2007 16:21:36 GMTMcCoy is now McCoy Digital Limited, whilst I will continue to maintain this site as my personal web site I will also be developing an off shoot business focused presentation.
industry _ Google is God. Don't Piss Her Off.
Fri, 14 Dec 2007 16:21:36 GMTArticle on Web Pages that suck about the wider issues of accessability - I'm not selling to the blind so why should I go to the trouble of making my site accessible? - Why? Because the most powerful Internet force known to God and man visits your web pages like blind people and folks who use Lynx -- Google.
portfolio _ How Does Dyslexia Affect a Person's World View?
Fri, 14 Dec 2007 16:21:36 GMTDecades of scientific research show the brains of people with dyslexia are structured differently, work differently, and learn differently - compared to those without dyslexia. Does it follow, then, that people with dyslexia actually think differently? If so, how?
portfolio _ shopping organic
Fri, 14 Dec 2007 16:21:36 GMTI seem to have sidestep the whole create a fan site thing in that the only things I am a fan of (Music, films etc.) are better served by bigger fans, so I have been spending my evenings building up a database of online Organic produce makers and stockist's, its still in its very embryonic stage and needs lots of content writing but I think you should be able to see what I am getting at.
industry _ Web Designer and Proud of It
Fri, 14 Dec 2007 16:21:36 GMTRecently rediscovered a great article on A List Apart by Chris MacGregor.
media _ McVille
Fri, 14 Dec 2007 16:21:36 GMTJust found some time to do a quick interview for McVille
action _ One Man Fight
Fri, 14 Dec 2007 16:21:36 GMTAmnesty International - Stop Violence Against Women
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