It wasn’t the first time that the students from Falmouth University had visited our agency and been introduced to Powerpoint Karaoke. Previous years never tell the next generation of students what’s going to happen, and sure enough when the students finally arrived at our studio, they seemed clueless.

But to see other people sinking in awkwardness was not the only thing I was waiting for. I was also excited to meet young graphic designers from England, to see their work, and to sneak in some conversation. It wasn’t so long ago that I finished my own study at the Royal Academy of Art in the Hague.

After the rules were announced and the show began, I felt quite happy that I was not one of the students because it was fun to sit back and watch. Even though some topics like “Camel Toe” were a mystery to me, up until Powerpoint Karaoke that is! All up I enjoyed the performance, some students were quicker and more inventive with their stories than others, but everyone gave it ‘a good Aussie go’.

I think everyone was inspired by each other that day, and I was very happy to hear back from some of the students after they returned to the UK, sending their gratitude to Dolly Rogers for the nice time they had visiting our studio.

Here’s a short film I shot and edited of the event and some pics to check out.

At Dolly Rogers we support Movember every year because we believe it’s a great cause. This year we were asked to develop a campaign to motivate the creative community in The Netherlands to get on board. We came up with a very simple idea : An oversized Mo with a girl riding it. We wanted it to be cheeky and fun while highlighting the sex appeal and rugged masculinity a good moustache can bring out in you!

The challenge was to organise everything without budget and within a week. What follows is what never usually happens:

By chance my friend and photographer Sarah was in town with Isabelle (you might have seen her nice smile in the latest Cassius video). Photographer✓  Model✓. Our mate Paul Barbera hooked us up with the good people at Studio13 Amsterdam Photo studio ✓. Fellow Aussie Leah Dunkley, who just arrived fresh off the boat wrote a clever line. Finally, hair & make up was covered by Tynke who we met through our previous project, Spinnin’ Yarns. Make-up artist ✓

The rest is just fun, the video speaks for itself. I still can’t believe that everything went so smoothly. Thanks again to all the amazing people involved.

My name is Mirte Pauline van der Lugt and I’m the new Dutch native in the Dolly Rogers crew. I’m a 23 year old grasshopper who will be interning my little heart out for the next six months as part of my branding studies at the Amsterdam Fashion Institute (AMFI).

This is not the first time I’ve stood eye to eye with the infamous Australians. I got a little taste of Aussie culture while living down-under in Melbourne for two and half years with my Australian bloke Damon. I’m a girl who likes to walk around in heels, but I tend to have a blokey attitude towards life. I like to learn, be realistic, act tuff, get my hands dirty, be positive, get involved and stay open to what or whoever comes across my path. My interests are eclectic and vary from psychology, religion, traveling and history to art, culture, fashion, documentaries and film.

I’m looking forward to the hard work and good times at Dolly Rogers creative town!

Tynke Jeeninga, portrait by Anne Britt

Since working with Dolly Rogers, I’ve learnt the fine art of storytelling. Spinnin’ Yarns is my internship project, telling the stories of people who live, laugh, create, fall in love, explore and share our city of Amsterdam.

My mission was to find out what it is that connects us all emotionally by delving deep into the extraordinary stories of the people that call this city home. Hopping from one side of the canals to the other, I’ve gotten to know the people that make Amsterdam a vibrant and interesting place to live, with its many cultures and ethnicities. I’ve met Melle, a ten year old classical clarinetist; Mr Stift, a sailor who survived WWII; Hollywood Mark who migrated here from the ghettos of LA…plus many more.

Each week a new story will be revealed on Spinnin’ Yarns until the end of July. From these stories I will create a unique t-shirt collection that will be exhibited in Amsterdam for the completion of my internship for AMFI. I will translate each yarn into an illustration to be silk screened on t-shirts and given back to the people who inspired them. And so, the stories will take on a new life form and travel through the same streets in which they were created.

My mate Mikael and I are the winners of the FrameRate Festival – a competition organised by Microsoft who put the call out to developers to go wild with HTML5 and showcase the performances of the new Internet Explorer 9.

Mikael is a kick ass developer who I completed my graduation project in multimedia with and he asked me to help him design his submission: Amazing Maze, a 3D environment in HTML5.

My “big” contribution to this project was actually creating a 225×300 pixel pattern, all the tricky coding was done by Mikael.

Congrats to him and all the crew at thispagecannotbefound for the win!

Last weekend I journeyed off to enjoy what Dutch beach life has to offer and opted for a few days of peace, love and happiness at Surfana Festival in Bloemendaal. It was a weekend for lads and ladies, beginner to pro surfers, who are inspired to celebrate the good life with surfing, BBQ, party, camping and good vibes all around.

I’m not really a camping girl, so I made myself a cosy home in the back of a 60’s lime green Volkswagen, which incidentally saved me from getting soaking wet when a storm cloud settled in off the coast in the middle of the night. The next morning the sun broke through and I welcomed a new day with a fresh fruit shake before running up the dunes, taking in the view looking out over the ocean and then diving into the dark blue waves.

Surf Zandvoort is planning another mini surf festival this summer; a must-go for anybody who has affinity with sea, sun, beach and of course, surfing.

"Inspiration lies in the eye of the beholder" by Jennette Snape for Adformatie (published April 8, 2011)

Our industry perpetually challenges us to generate original, creative, effective and sustainable ideas. Yet it’s riddled with as much imitation as it is innovation. I created this piece for the launch of Adformatie’s new podium section of their magazine.

Titled “Inspiration lies in the eye of the beholder”, it’s a variant on the classic quote “Beauty lies in the eye of the beholder”. Beauty will always remain a prominent theme in our industry, it’s what we use to create desire for our products and designs.

Inspiration is personal and private, what and how we find it is unique to our own sensors, and then what we do with it influences our work and creative expression.

So, where do you get your source of creative food?

Switch to full screen and enjoy the show!

Nathalie Djurberg - Filmstill, clay animation. Part of the installation Snakes Knows it’s Yoga, 2010