Innovation Archives | Page 5 of 12 | Bristol Creative Industries

Launching today, SOL-ART Visions will see a series of artworks on display at the Tobacco Factory Cafe Bar from 17th – 31st July to showcase the reimagining of Bristol for the renewable energy transition.

The exhibition features conceptual artworks envisioning solar facades, by acclaimed artists AcerOne, Andy Council, Bex Glover, Dave Bain and Elaine Carr. The artworks were developed through a number of creative co-design workshops hosted by Upfest as part of the UWE Bristol project Towards Solar Facades as Participatory Public Art.

The project is a partnership between UWE Bristol, street art specialists Upfest, and the pioneering manufacturer of building integrated photovoltaic solutions BIPVco. The project is funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC), part of UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), under the Design Accelerator scheme (Grant Ref: AH/X003574/1). The project lead is Dr Eleonora Nicoletti from UWE Bristol (the University of the West of England).

The exhibition is the result of a series of events to co-create with the Bristol community visual concepts for integrating photovoltaics into facades of existing buildings in the Bedminster area. The artworks reflect thoughts from Bristol residents, architects and other built environment specialists, considering possibilities for integrating solar photovoltaic technology into building facades, which would in turn generate electrical energy from sunlight. Steve Hayles, co-founder of Upfest explains:

“Being able to give the local community the chance to come and see how the neighbourhood they’re living in could potentially be transformed is something we are all excited about. The public has a great opportunity to give feedback to artists to help shape and improve their surroundings.

“We hope the renewable energy concept of the designs is well-received by residents and Bedminster can be used as a launching pad for similar projects throughout the world – there’s no better place to start!”

“If we think of integrating photovoltaic technology more into buildings to decarbonise the power grid, we need to engage the local community early on in reimagining their urban environment. With such a strong presence of street art in Bristol, we are looking forward to seeing which possible directions driven by the local community building-integrated photovoltaic (BIPV) technology may take in the city.”

Exhibition visitors from the broader Bristol community will be invited to join the conversation and express their views on the displayed work via an online questionnaire, to help shape the future direction of this progressive project. For further information follow Upfest’s social media channels Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.

Redeemer City to City is an international non-profit organisation with a heart for urban renewal – seeking to recruit, train and resource leaders to start new churches and strengthen existing ones.

Studio Floc were invited to create the identity and event collateral for Redeemer’s ‘Hub Weekend’; a high-profile fundraising weekend based in New York City.

Campaign idea
Taking place at the 1 Hotel Brooklyn Bridge, the driving idea behind the event’s campaign was one of connection, with delegates travelling from all over the world to join for the weekend. Studio Floc used the idea of connecting people and creating paths to new places as the core concept. This was rolled out across an extensive design suite of event collateral which was used in the lead up and throughout the weekend.

Never ending connection
At the heart of the event’s design concept was a vast illustration, created in-house to capture the breadth and vitality of life in New York City, the home of Redeemer City to City. Subtle details in the cityscape worked to honour other global partner cities. The mural, formed from continuous line drawings, was then, paired with type and colour, used both in sections and as a whole piece across the event assets.

Colour and typography
Supporting the illustration-heavy campaign was a subtle, yet extensive typographic system that was driven by the elegant serif, Chronicle Text (Hoefler & Co). Alongside the typography, a stripped back colour palette of navy and alabaster were used as the foundation for every design.

At the event
As part of the event, Studio Floc recreated the core illustration and hand drew a 17ft x 9ft mural in the atrium of the 1 Hotel Brooklyn Bridge, as a visual centrepiece to the event. Other designed collateral at the event included; table numbers, name cards, place cards, menus, bespoke fabric napkins, tote bags, information booklets and cards, signage, wayfinding, video creation and much more.

The Hub Weekend was a great success in raising money for the continuation of Redeemer’s work in cities worldwide. Studio Floc are already working on the event design for the next Hub Weekend in 2024 and look forward to further collaboration with Redeemer City to City in the future.

“Studio Floc are my go-to designers for event collateral. They are creative, sensitive, timely, very fun to work with, and brilliant at bringing my often-incomplete vision to a finished, effective, beautifully designed product. I’ve already recommended them to others and will continue to do so.”

Susan Thorson
Manager, Communications
Redeemer City to City

Having started the process in 2021, they join around 70 other companies in the region who are committed to making business a force for good.

B Corp Certification is holistic, not exclusively focused on a single social or environmental issue. To achieve certification, a company must:

saintnicks achieved a score of 88.9, but as with any company to gain the certification, they acknowledge that this is just the beginning of a commitment to do even more.

“We’re incredibly proud of the work we’ve done to become B Corp Certified, but we’re just getting started. We’re committed to continually reviewing our standards across the board, to not only maintain our efforts, but improve them.” said company Director, Chris Price.

“We’re very proud to be working with some brilliant clients, who are also committed to making positive changes to their business, so it’s a journey we’re going on together.” Price added.

When: Wednesday 19th July 2023.
What time: 6.30pm – 9pm
Location: Huboo, 41 Corn St, Bristol BS1 1HT
Drinks and pizza provided.

Join us for the first Bristol MotherBoard community event! This event will be a networking event, with a panel talk starting 7.30pm.

With 50% of women leaving the industry by the time they are 35, we will be asking the important question “how we can retain more women in tech”.

We will offer practical takeaways including how businesses can support their female talent and drive retention, how businesses can offer an inclusive environment for mums and what we as individuals can do to support our peers and be advocates for all women working in tech.

If you have not been to one of our events before, MotherBoard is a community, event series and charter for everyone who believes we need more support for women working in the tech industry. We encourage everybody to join who is interested in understanding more about how to drive inclusion in the workplace.

To tackle the visible lack of diversity within the UK design industry, Kinneir Dufort’s EDE Programme offers an opportunity for three students from minority ethnic and heritage communities entering their third year of university to take part in a funded 8-week internship.

Supported by an industry-wide EDE Council, with distinguished council members of minoritised ethnic backgrounds from AstraZeneca, LettUs Grow, No7 Company, FluoretiQ, Unilever and Reckitt, the programme offers three students in their final year an immersive opportunity to learn and develop within an industry environment. The successful applicants will also take part in school outreach programmes to help increase awareness of the design sector to help boost diversity in future generations of designers.

Along with 8 weeks of hands-on experience, mentoring and advice, the individuals will receive a £2,000 sponsorship along with £1,000 travel and accommodation expenses. This opportunity is open to all universities in the UK.

The driving force behind the programme, Sunny Panesar, Head of Portfolio Management at KD, is driven by the lack of ethnic diversity in the product development industry, and the need for change. Sunny says: “Having often been the only person of colour in the room throughout my career, the lack of ethnic diversity is striking, if we’re truly going to design a better world, we need to reflect the people we’re designing for.

“I understand how important it is for ethnic minority students to have this opportunity, firstly to make them aware of this incredible industry as a career option and then to help them overcome complex systemic barriers holding them back when trying to break into industry. Our goal is to level-up and give minoritised ethnic students an equal playing field. We want to offer interns a high-quality experience which is immersive and potentially life-changing; they will learn and develop within an exciting and unique environment with external mentoring from industry experts.

“The last two years have been a resounding success for KD, we have taken on full-time employees from the scheme and have a seen a vast improvement in all areas of diversity throughout the team. This year, we’re excited to launch the programme again and encourage students from around the UK to watch our webinar and submit their applications.”

Kinneir Dufort believe that they, and the wider innovation, design and product development industry need to do more to mirror the diversity of who we are designing for within the UK, and beyond.

Learn more about the application criteria, how to apply and the deadline here. If you would still like to learn more and see if this programme is for you, you can watch our recorded live Q&A with our EDE Council.

We’re delighted to share that Unfold have taken on organising the Smart Cookies meetup group, started by the wonderful Nic & Nat Alpi, previously of Cookies HQ.

Smart Cookies is a quarterly meetup group of over 1,000 entrepreneurs, involved in the Bristol creative and digital industries, passionate about design, development and marketing.

We want to continue the events in the same spirit and ethos as our predecessors, promoting collaboration between disciplines so we can devise better solutions for all aspects of the creative process.

Each meetup will feature either individual speakers or an expert panel, where discussion will centre around a set theme related to building and growing digital ventures.

Whether you’re a tech professional, an entrepreneur, freelancer or student, there will be something for you. It’s a great opportunity to meet new people, make connections and join a community of smart cookies.

Come along and be inspired or – if you’d like to share your own experiences – why not contact us about becoming a speaker?

HeyFlow is here to help businesses understand the female workforce better, equipping managers with the confidence, practical skills and knowledge that will reduce absenteeism and increase the retention and attraction of women, at all stages of their career.

It is widely recognised that women are leaving the workforce, absenteeism is increasing and there are significant skills shortages across multiple industries in the UK. The link between absenteeism, attraction and retention of women in the workplace directly links to the understanding the impact of female reproductive health in the workplace.

That’s where HeyFlow comes in. An insight-driven data surveying and L&D tool that empowers businesses to build a truly inclusive company by understanding the impact of female reproductive health in the workplace, identifying and implementing management development opportunities and policy advancement.

With the combined expertise of the Founder of not-for-profit MotherBoard, Sophie Creese, Nick Dean, CEO of ADLIB / B Corp Ambassador, and Sabrina Walls, Marketing Director of ADLIB / Marketing Lead of MotherBoard, the Co-Founders of HeyFlow have intricate knowledge of how purpose, understanding and knowledge can drive positive change for businesses, driving significantly improved retention, attraction and absenteeism levels.

HeyFlow has been created to provide a solution for all businesses. From a management introduction to the female reproductive cycle and its potential impact in the workplace, through detailed employee surveying and coaching on periods, pregnancy, maternity and menopause (amongst much more).

HeyFlow provides unrivalled insight into a company’s female workforce and provides understanding of the gap between feeling and policy. Through our insight surveying we provide clear actionable solutions and offer consultancy and training to upskill employees to better support their teams.

Our starting product focuses on cisgender females, our roadmap progresses into a much wider employee community where there is an essential need to understand underrepresented people.

We’re looking forward to being part of a solution that is much needed by businesses and women alike.

Striving to make post-caesarean care more wonderful

Imagine if we could re-address how we care for women approaching and recovering from a C-section. What if it was more considered, or even more wonderful? Rather than expecting them to have a typical post-partum pattern, why not acknowledge the extraordinary, and at times, unwanted circumstances they’ve been through?

Image credit: Erin Patel http://www.erinpatel.com/

Whilst every 4th trimester comes with extreme challenges, the nature of recovering from major surgery whilst entering a new life chapter gives rise to a complex layering of physical and emotional effects, which have been underserved.

According to the WHO, **caesarean sections are rising globally**, now accounting for **21% of all childbirths** and is set to **increase to 29% by 2030**.(1) With those significant numbers and the clear gap in support, it’s time to start *seeing* these women.

**Uncovering more**

We explored this in more detail by sitting down with five women who gave birth via c-section, between 4 months and 8 years ago. Their experiences covered emergency intervention and planned surgery.

What we learned

Within our group, none of the mothers-to-be had spent significant time in the hospital setting, let alone faced the prospect of major surgery. They described feelings of shock, fear and helplessness, whether it was a planned or emergency C-section.

Birthing through caesarean section is not the ‘easy option’ and the road ahead is long. With every step afterwards, from 1 hour post operation to many months later, something else emerges: the need for self-administered stomach injections and a wound to care for, to potential unforeseen heavy bleeding, abdominal difficulties and deteriorating mental health.

The consequences are immediate and limiting. Our group described **an undignified sense of failure, as simple tasks become challenging**, and lifting, breast feeding or bonding with the baby can be tough.

With all childbirth, society has a tendency to focus on the new life. The baby’s condition is scrutinised, but the **women are often considered secondary**. The loss of identity many new mothers face can be exacerbated after such a procedure.

Whilst hospital procedures are for the most part out of our control, the period prior to admission and the time back home are rich in potential to serve mothers who go through a C-section.

The opportunity

Whilst there are plenty of services for women in pregnancy, general post-partum and some stand-alone C-section products, how can we create an empathetic, overall experience to ease post C-section mothers out of the professional but transactional experience they’ve just been through?

We think the key is a unique staggered experience – ‘the right thing, at the right time’ – reducing the complexity and overwhelm associated with the lengthy post-caesarean period.

What if there was a kit with physical and digital elements that are **revealed over time**?

It would address what might be needed prior to the C-section, on the first days back home, to many months later. By combining aspects of clear **information & guidance**, **dignified care**, a **supportive ‘village’** and **curated ‘me’moments** we could enable new mothers to control their care and feel seen.

Lead up (pre-planned C-section)

Medical advice or a previous procedure can mean a C-section is expected, allowing for some planning and preparation.

Imagine if there was a printed guide that honestly summarised what to expect at each hospital stage: waiting areas, the operating theatre, and a post-operation ward.

We’re aware that those who have emergency intervention will not necessarily gain from this section.

Subacute (1 – 5 days back home):

The first hours back home can be emotionally overwhelming, physically tentative but also tedious and sedentary.

Imagine if the next chapter of the guide **helped** **initiate light mobility around the home:** how to comfortably hold & feed the baby and navigate basic tasks simply and safely.

Imagine if an adjacent phone app **prompted women, or partners to administer the stomach injections** on the right schedule.

Imagine if the medical compression socks given post C-section **resembled lifestyle socks instead.**

Imagine if those first nights navigating sleep with an abdominal wound were **soothed with calming pillow spray and a personalised healing tea blend**.

Early recovery (2 – 8 weeks back home):

As new life patterns form and the body improves, previous freedoms start to be recalled and frustrations of feeling restricted start to emerge.

Imagine if the guide clearly explained **when and what exercise you can do.**

Imagine if the app initiated a C-section **community platform when the women was ready to share** and learn from her experience with others.

Imagine if we could provide **shaped scar strips, curated in different skin tones, to offer protection and reassurance** to a delicate area.

Imagine if we introduced **relaxing bath infusions, at the time it’s safer to take a bath,** or a melt in shower version for those without a bath.

Long term realisation (3 – 6+ months):

The reality of the physical and psychological trauma can be delayed and understanding how to come to terms with it can fall into focus much later.

Imagine if the guide concluded with focused pelvic floor AND abdominal exercises, to reintegrate the abdominal muscles and increase strength.
Imagine if the app sent a scheduled notification at 3 months to suggest women seek out specialised physio or talk therapy and provided relevant local contact details.
Imagine if there was a nourishing balm to encourage loving touch of the sensitive skin around their scar.
Imagine if we included a reflection journal, to encourage quiet moments to acknowledge and process what has happened.

Who could ‘own’ this opportunity and deliver the most impact?

We think an existing brand could credibly extend into this space to bring new value to those who need it. What space that brand comes from, is up for grabs.

Could it be a trusted skincare brand with the existing knowledge of women’s bodies? Or could it be a FemTech brand, that already has the digital infrastructure and client base to make huge impact? It could even be a menstrual tracking app, who wish to bridge their audience through a gap in usage?

How could this approach be available to as many as possible? There could be private / public model, where for every kit purchased or gifted, a kit is donated to a state healthcare service or insurance provider – making sure we ‘see’ more women after their caesarean.

References

(1) https://www.who.int/news/item/16-06-2021-caesarean-section-rates-continue-to-rise-amid-growing-inequalities-in-access

Launching a startup or innovation project can feel like stepping into the unknown. While there are countless success stories, the fact remains that 20% of UK startups don’t make it through the first year. However, by focusing on 3 key areas — Validation, Design and Funding — you can massively de-risk your project and be well-set for long-term success.

Hosted by Hugo Walker, Head of Marketing at Gravitywell, this interactive webinar will feature insight from:

Caroline van den Bergh, Co-founder at Lunos — Supporting businesses from early idea to scale up to get market confidence and demonstrable traction

Tom Foster, Head of Commercial at Gravitywell — Providing award-winning Digital Innovation that allows tech startups and scaleups to achieve their goals
Sara Palmer, Head of Partnerships at Granted Consultancy — Securing non-dilutive funding for innovative organisations making the world a better place

If you’re an entrepreneur, startup founder, or a later-stage company looking to innovate, this is the event for you. Come ready to listen, learn and get involved in a Q&A!

Sign up here

From Midjourney to ChatGPT, AI tools are flooding the internet with exciting possibilities, imaginative new imagery and many a meme – from the inspiring and amusing to the downright gruesome.

Possibly the most accessible and widely tested AI tool yet, ChatGPT has got many marketers thinking about the power of this emerging technology. But AI advancement doesn’t come without its critics and controversies – often generating more questions than answers.

So how can marketers make the most of this powerful technology? And should we approach with caution? UX and UI designer Dan Marek explores.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) has taken the world by storm recently, with one of the leading players being the natural language processing (NLP) model known as ChatGPT. In just two months, it set a new record for the fastest-growing user base ever to reach 100 million users.

Tools like ChatGPT have already begun transforming our lives. You can’t go more than five minutes without seeing a news article about it, or stumbling upon AI-generated imagery (albeit mostly more disturbing and amusing than beautiful). But make no mistake, this is the very beginning of a fast-moving revolution. So how can businesses make the most of this opportunity?

This article examines how businesses may leverage AI to solve problems more efficiently and gain a profitable advantage. We’ll also look at some of the limitations of AI tools like ChatGPT, so you can avoid making costly mistakes and stay ahead of the competition.

Imagine generating top-notch product descriptions, social media posts, and even entire search-optimised articles in a matter of minutes. How about 3000% returns on ad spend, automatic meeting notes and summaries, or asking AI to generate spreadsheet formulas? It may not all be possible yet – and it certainly won’t replace your copywriting and UX experts in the near future. But there’s certainly a big opportunity here.

“…It may not all be possible yet – and it certainly won’t replace your copywriting and UX experts in the near future. But there’s certainly a big opportunity here…”

With ChatGPT, businesses can streamline their processes, freeing up time and resources to focus on other areas of operations. It might sound cliché, but the opportunities for companies to leverage AI tools like ChatGPT in 2023 are endless.

Hold on a minute – does this mean we’re ready to replace humans with AI? Not yet. AI-powered tools like ChatGPT are not a quid pro quo for genuine creativity and expertise. For now, it’s far more likely that you’ll be replaced by a human using AI rather than the tools themselves.

Think of ChatGPT as the Iron Man suit to your marketing team’s Tony Stark. Iron Man enhances Tony’s abilities, and ChatGPT can enhance your team’s capabilities. But just as Tony still relies on his human expertise and creativity to save the world, your marketing team should continue to rely on their own skills to resonate with the right audiences and create truly effective campaigns.

The capabilities of these tools are quite difficult to comprehend as they are only really limited by our potential to ask the right questions.

“…the emergence of “prompt engineers” indicates the importance of creating the right prompts to unlock the full potential of AI tools…”

Just like calculators, they can only provide the correct answer with the right input, called prompts. The emergence of “prompt engineers” indicates the importance of creating the right prompts to unlock the full potential of AI tools.

AI tools present real risks of biases, such as generating discriminatory content and spreading misinformation. As responsible users of these tools, we must be aware of this and be sure to evaluate any responses provided. The CEO of OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT, recently acknowledged inherent bias in the tool and assured users that they’re working to improve the default settings to be more neutral.

AI tools pose a risk of plagiarism and factual inaccuracy. An astronomer recently called out Google’s AI chatbot Bard for making a factual error in its demo. But everyday users may not realise that the output generated by the tool is not original, leading to unintentional plagiarism. You can take measures to avoid this, for example, by including a request for sources of any facts and figures as part of your prompt.

“…everyday users may not realise that the output generated by the tool is not original, leading to unintentional plagiarism…”

The relevancy of information can also be brought into question. While writing this, ChatGPT has only been trained on data from September 2021.

Google’s guidelines favour genuine, relevant, and reliable content. AI-generated content may struggle to meet these guidelines. This means that sole reliance on AI-generated content might negatively impact your website’s ranking on Google.

Using AI tools raises ethical concerns around data privacy, bias, and deception. These tools collect vast data through web scraping – sometimes without explicit consent. So regulations and policies must be implemented to ensure AI tools are used ethically and responsibly.

It’s worth remembering that AI tools are an emerging technology, so there are plenty of limitations to consider. But by using them as a starting point to generate ideas and assist workflows, businesses can largely mitigate these drawbacks.

AI is not the enemy. It’s the opportunity of a lifetime. As AI technology continues to advance, it’s becoming increasingly clear that tools like ChatGPT will play a crucial role in the future of business, with those early movers able to leverage an unfair advantage over their competitors.