Author: Dixon-Spain

tee.uno: t-shirts as blog on a daily basis

You may have wondered why I have been quiet of late, well, for the last month I have been adding a t-shirt a day to tee.uno inspired by something that’s happened during the day, it’s become a sort of blog. A tee-blog if you will. One of the first posts was that tee about BoJo for president …

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Why? Well, obviously in the hope that some of the t-shirts sell, but more because I enjoy designing visuals to be seen. At the moment these designs feel as if they are scratching the surface of the type of tee I wish to create and that after a while I’ll start to develop a typographical / editorial modus operandi that will distill visual and meaning into really pithy, well-wrought slogans.

My favourite is either the previously mentioned Boris for President (US) or Boris for President (EU)… then again maybe it is ‘Brexit entirely Fuxit‘ or even ‘I didn’t come this far, to come this far‘.

I am also working on commissions for a certain theatre company I design for. The Ninja tee (pictured above) is a line from one of their shows… there’ll be a series of these over time!

Boris for President @ tee.uno: If its going to get even hairier over the pond, then he’s the man for the job!

boris_for_president_tee

@Shopify et @Langify = brilliant e-commerce in translation on http://scottishlaird.co.uk

If this sounds like an advert, it is not – well, unless you call it promotion for my business.

I have been working with Shopify for a while now to deliver the ScottishLaird.co.uk website. It has been a wholly fantastic experience answering all of my needs as an ecommerce vendor without let or pause. We’ve seen 40% growth this year simply by transferring platforms. Things like cart recovery and customers signing up for notifications on when new stock comes in have really helped. 100% uptime, rock solid servers and well-thought out user experience have also done their bit. But what has been really impressive is how, when we ask a particularly difficult question of the system, it rises to the challenge.

Languages represent a barrier to entry for any website wishing to break into new territories. English is the Lingua Franca of the internet, but frankly, there are limits. We found them in Finland, Sweden and elsewhere. But for us France has been one of the most difficult countries and languages to break into. French is a lovely language, and having a very little, I appreciate how different and distinctive it is. We were recently very lucky to be approached by the folks at franceagora.fr who wished to promote ScottishLaird.co.uk in France (See ‘Figaro! Figaro! Figaro!…’).

To cut a long story short, after wondering exactly how we were going to create a fully translated website to service this new and exciting market which Anne and her team have been busily working on, we finally found Langify, an app within Shopify, and its been a revelation!

With translations from Agora and some on-the-fly work from google translate, which we’re updating for accuracy, the system now recognises our French customers and serves the French version, including our wonderful slideshow en Français!

As my girls would say, Ooh La La!

And you can see the (admittedly work-in-progress) French version by visiting our website, scrolling to the bottom and selecting the language in the pop-up.

Now, I’ve got the bug. First php, then mysql, now French … Anyone for German?

Figaro, Figaro, Figaro! Features Dunans Castle & ScottishLaird in ‘Le Figaro et Vous’

Delighted to report coverage in the National French newspaper, along with exposure on French Radio and Online News outlets here and here!

Here’s the cover of the supplement, with a photo by our very own Jean Donaldson at Powan, gracing the cover:

Coupure-du-figaro

Thanks to Anne des Froux for the coverage! and to find out more go to ScottishLaird.co.uk

Skijoring: The Snowsport I’ve been looking for all my life …

Combining the two elements of sport I love: skis and horses! Fabulous.

#EarWorms: 4 tracks that have “for posterity” written all over them – @Spector, @TWBS, @DanielRateliff, @OVSC

These five are in my forever hundred. Thoroughly recommended, along with the albums and other tracks associated with. Well, maybe not all of OVSC’s oeuvre (particularly MILF … you have been warned).

  • The Wood Burning Savages, America – Why is this not a global hit? Northern Ireland’s next big export.
  • Nathaniel Rateliff & the Night Sweats, Howling at Nothing, only slightly better than S. O. B. – an album of genius.
  • The Ouse Valley Singles Club, Girl from the Fens. Still listening to this, and still laughing! Who’d have thought … the video is priceless.
  • Spector, Bad Boyfriend. Keep coming back for more.

The ScottishLaird #GiftGuide: What to buy for everyone in your life & support the restoration of #DunansCastle

Stuck for a gift for the man who has everything? Can’t think of what to buy your teenage nephew? Mental block about a gorgeous Christmas present for your mother? ScottishLaird.co.uk has the answer – of course it does!

dunans-rising

Nous sommes unis: By their guns become not their gun #paris #beirut

By their guns become not their gun,
by their killing hasten not their death,
by their hate, forget not the Love
which should infuse every breath:

so embrace them for they are unaware
of the mud they smear upon their souls;
embrace them so that they might learn
only Love is the answer to their call.

Smartphone Cases for Lairds & Ladies: #DunansRising tartan, #DunansCastle and Lechadhu insignia on the back of #yourphone

Delighted to announce another product now launched on the ScottishLaird.co.uk website: smartphone cases for iPhone 5 onwards and the Samsung Note range.

We’ve presently four designs to choose from, the plain Dunans Rising Tartan, the Lord’s/Laird’s/Lady’s phone (on tartan), the Spring view of Dunans Castle (taken by myself in 2005) and Jean Donaldson’s wonderful shot of the insignia which graces the curtain wall at Dunans.

We think they are all fabby, hope you do too! You’ll find them all here.

 

@what3words: Coordinates for #DunansCastle in three words, include fragment.curly.firebird and cups.domestic.inventors

Postcodes and GPS coordinates are, let’s face it, complex and easy to get wrong – particularly when you are trying to remember them to put them into your satnav / maps / google maps. The What3words app is the answer. I know without looking at the title of this post that the coordinate for the drivehead at Dunans is fragment.curly.firebird. The postcode covers at least three other houses and the GPS, well, I am just not sure. But a mirror image of a phoenix with curly feathers ripped in half, means that whenever someone needs an accurate location, I have it to hand, immediately…  Similarly, I have a visual image of a bunch of guys in lab coats, in a kitchen, drinking tea back to front … genius, particularly as they’re in the castle when they are doing it.

With 40,000 words and consequently 57 trillion combinations, the world can be covered in three metre squares, or the size of the average room. And it is all so memorable. So for example here’s one I particularly love which identifies a place I often have to meet newcomers to the glen in – flukes.reports.unicorns. However, I am not sure the committee would approve – but then I do have a mental image of a narwhal reading a paper inside out?!

For balance I should just add sheep.conga.pleaser … !

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