This is the first in a series of posters aimed at informing Luton's yoots that there's more to the diverse, talented and much maligned local community than gun toting' gangstas. Inspiration and role models worth having are already here. Download the poster for free, print it out and put it up somewhere.

Text below courtesy of Ed Smith

“You can’t blame me, it’s not my fault”
Said the man whose bullet bolt 
Came from the gun and hit the boy
And lay him down like a wooden toy
“Cos I got beaten by my dad, when I was just a little lad
He hit me and my mumma too, tell me then, what would you do?”

I know this has been around for ages, but it still makes me chuckle and is truly creative in its own way. This post might be better for a Monday where people need cheering up, than a sunny Thursday but there we are. Put down your dogma guns and enjoy.

£100 PRIZE DRAW

To celebrate the launch of our brand spanking new, shiny website, 49th Floor Design and Artworking are giving away £100 of cash to one lucky person in May (2013)!

To be in with a chance of winning, simply sign up to our free e-newsletter (where you’ll be kept in touch with all our news, offers and competitions), follow us on Twitter, Like us on Facebook or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. . Your details will be stored and put into a random draw which will be made on May 1st 2013. Terms and conditions apply, read more below for details.

Clients want what they want, but what if what they want isn't what they need? Should we be following instructions to the letter because it makes for an easier life all round and the client gets what they've asked for and are happy? The answer is no as we see it and to try and explain please consider the following hypothetical case study; 

'Zammo' started his fish-finger sandwich business in 1994 after an ill-advised and rather brutal crash course in heroin addiction left him sadly unemployed from his previous employer. He visited the local print shop in 1994 and got 500 business cards done which have now just about run out (even his mum hasn't got one) so it's about time for some fresh marketing. As a child of the 80s Zammo reckons he's pretty nifty on computers, so he fires up QUDOS on his BBC Micro and puts together a layout that the designers can use as a starting point. He posts over a floppy disc that stores his layout in all it's 666k of glory and tells us that 'he's basically done the designing already' and that he 'just needs it tidying up a bit' meaning that 'it should only take five minutes and cost £25'.

The designers take a look at the layout and conclude that to be fair, they could just take 5 minutes, tidy it up a bit and send him what he wants, charge £25 and get it out the door. The problem is that as well as being genuinely offensive to the eyes, Zammo's layout features a heavy emphasis on brown sauce being part of the sandwich services offered, which makes no sense at all. Even a pregnant lady who has enjoyed a range of suspect delights including coal, tar-mac and kipper flavoured ice-cream would recoil in horror and disgust at the notion of brown sauce in a fish finger sandwich - hitherto a versatile dish of gastronomic perfection if sensibly accompanied with ketchup, salad cream, mayonnaise or tartare sauce. I guess you could have brown sauce on a fish finger sandwich if you really wanted to, but it has niche appeal at best and in this case is fully based upon Zammo's own personal tastes (golden-brown), which aren't necessarily reflected in his target market. The sensible route forward is to discuss the difficulties of the supplied layout with Zammo and conduct a process of research and development to establish a route forward that improves the presentation wherever possible and maximises the potential outreach of his marketing communication. This might well mean the budget will need to increase accordingly, but based on an improved likelihood of a return on the investment it's a no-brainer really. 

At the 49th we'd never just dispose of a client's ideas, but we do aim to fully engage with every project we work on in a way that might not have been considered before, even if the initial design route has already been established in principal by the client. We hope that by offering best advice as we see it and by questioning as many aspects of a project as possible, we add value to the service we offer and this will go beyond just re-drawing what we've been supplied or taking the path of least resistance for an easy ride. 

This is the 4th version of the 49th Floor website. We like to try and develop ourselves and our ways of promoting our services over time and make sure the services we offer reflect what we have tried and tested ourselves. Things can change quickly and if you aren't up to speed then in all honesty you can find yourself falling behind the pack really quickly. I think it remains a sensible idea to try new things and not to be afraid of ditching the elements of your business that you believe can be done better.