Rapid prototyping is like Speed dating for business. You gotta sell a huge idea quickly, help the other party buy into it and then if you’re both aroused, hope for some hugs and sexy time afterwards.

Anyway, we were invited to UWE to take part in a Rapid Prototyping 2day workshop (much like our week long version) to help brush up on skills and solve a question plaguing the music industry. “How do we re-erect flacid music industry sales with a ubiquitous sexy product? Something physical to aid the declining CD and LP record sales.”

Not an easy question, but all the groups worked tirelessly to try and fathom a solution. The event was an ace mix of people; artists, engineers, script writers, technologists, students and research scientists.

I was lucky enough to be involved with an orgy of very clever minds from HP R&D, The Pervasive Media studio and UWE.

Our idea was to create a new market and intentionally stimulate interest in an album before it was even completed. Using some expensive Remote Studio Headphones which tune into the band’s recording studio sporadically. Super fans would to listen to new riffs, bouncing jams, banter and sparky live sets. It was called Gold Jack, see our mascot below.

Gold Jack mascot

To visualise that for a pitch, it was in all a proper dirty experience. With 3D printers burning through litres of plaster, post-its being slammed un-ceremonisasly to most surfaces and all interspersed with a lot of heated USP chats!

Post its

The workshop finished with all groups pitching to Seth from PIAS music and showcased some very beautiful ideas, like the “Music Vault”, engineered to capture memories and “dieTunes”, music only released when the artist had popped their clogs.

dieTunes

Thought Den value these training workshops very highly, it keeps the directors on their toes, tickles their digital gray cells and allows blind exploration into new business opportunities for all our clients.

Thanks UWE and Pervasive Media Studio for a very well organised 2 days.

Sex. (just felt like I needed to write the word after that post)

In other words, an incredible opportunity to work with one of the world’s most respected media institutions at a very important time in their history.

The brief

Run a week long thinking/doing workshop to help the BBC’s brightest new talent design a pervasive experience that welcomes visitors to the BBC’s new base in Salford Quays, Manchester.

Ingredients

Take ‘The Apprentice’ and mix rigorously with ‘Dragon’s Den’. Chuck in a dollop of ‘Tomorrow’s World’ and leave to set. Before baking gently stir in some ‘Big Brother’. Serve with fanfare and flourish.

The process

Take our Industry Day series (intensive practical workshops with 150 students) and combine with our Professional Development workshops. Rejig the program 400 times, develop some unique brainstorming techniques, hone some team-work exercises and squeeze in the all-important ice-break / brain-melt activities. Not to mention a few fantastic presentations from members of the BBC fold – Adrian Woolard, Head of Research & Development. Richard Greenwood, Head of Format Entertainment Development. Robin Kemp, BBC North Events Manager.

The 5  day Manchester trip was fantastic, as much a process of learning for us as it was facilitation for the group. Over 100 ideas were generated to launch the arrival of the BBC in Salford Quays, flagship “oop norf” location, as part of their grand vision to embrace the nation and be less London-centric. 12 trainees were put through the Thought Den mill with invaluable support from the Simons, Bethan and Alice.

The week started in the heart of Manchester where we looked at how to create magic moments for audiences without blinding them with technology. Mid-week was a maelstrom of brain-dumps and idea orgies that left the team shell-shocked to say the least. Come Friday, they were reborn and reinvigorated, pitching two bizarre and captivating ideas designed to inform and entertain visitors to the new Salford site. It was a humbling and inspiring 5 days.

Our unique training courses were first trialled in 2007 for the students of Bournemouth University. Since then we have worked with students and professionals throughout the creative industries, sharing our front-line experience and helping each student define a toolset for conceiving, building and evaluating modern media experiences. Whether for games-design, mobile or interactive installations, we teach timeless techniques to help generate ideas that work. It’s the magic that makes it!

Doh!

Or is it a “Doh!”? This email has actually come from a chain of events starting at a simple idea, putting it to Paypal, getting it selected, heading to Whitiker House (Paypal UK HQ), being part of Paypal’s entrepreneurs discussion group and all the way to actually receiving some honest sqilla’ for it!

Not bad, eh eh eh and here’s a piccie from the day with the other entrepreneur winners, I’m the goon posing on the side…

http://www.flickr.com/photos/54389050@N05/5038261043/

In-fact our  competition entry said, “give us £100 and we’ll buy an Apple Dev licence”. A pretty sensible thought with all the requests for iPhone, Blackberry, Palm and iPad apps our studio is getting.

Low and behold, we won it and now, Thought Den is already working on our first app for the iTunes store!

And here’s the official mail out, (head to Ideas 101)

Official email

So now TD is officially producing apps for the mobile market using our extremely honed skills in games and rich website development. Contact dan@thoughtden.co.uk if you think you business, game or idea will be better placed directly in the hands of your consumers as an app…

…and please don’t send me a good looking spammy email. I will click it.

Thought Den were invited down again to Bournemouth University last week to run a professional studies day to second year Interactive Multimedia, Script Writing and Film Production students. So we packed our buckets, spades and a condensed version of our Thought Den Industry Day workshop and headed to the seaside. With Ben being away in San Fran, Helen (that’s me) developed the session with Dan, adding my unique insight into multi platform production into the Industry Day package.

The Industry Day was part of the students Professional Studies module, the aim of which was an introduction to the processes involved with producing content for the current market. With this vast subject in mind, we chose to include reflections on current market trends, ethics, legal issues, pitching, production roles, career routes and brainstorming methods. Opening with a ‘Pop Quiz’ to assertain the student’s understanding of terms used in current media production (and to make sure everyone was awake), we were able to focus on areas in which they were less knowledgable later on in the day. The day ended with the students developing ideas to pitch for the Bournemouth University student television channel, ‘BUStation‘ using the techniques that we had shared with them.

In addition to our professional commitments, there was also the important task of getting fish and chips to eat down by the sea, however, with autum starting to show signs of arriving, a walk along the beach…on the way to a nice pub (http://www.sixtymillionpostcards.com/) which served fish and chips (with mushy peas, thank you) was chosen instead.

Contact us if you are looking for help with external lecturers for a Professional studies modules or similar. Places with a good reputation for fish, chips and mushy peas will be given priority…

The dust is settling and the bikes are on the wall. Finally all the boxes are un-packed, the desks have been scraped together and the recycling bins have been swallowing 50 cans to the dozen…

…so it must be time for the moving-in party!

Thursday 29th, 5:30 until late
14 Backfields Lane, Bristol, BS2 8QW

All Thought Den peeps are invited! Email party-invite@thoughtden.co.uk and then after a rigours process of elimination, we’ll put you on the doormens’ list.

Come and drink booze and eat BBQ niceness!

Here’s some piccies from the move so far…