So it goes

I had some fun this week making a custom Twitter background (and finally putting to use that fine raven my talented illustrator friend Tom Hunt drew for me).

(Check it out in vivo: @hilarysinger.)

Also, if you’re in Edinburgh, check out Tom’s work at the Edinburgh College of Art degree show. Obviously, Tom’s the best artist there, but there are loads of other interesting things to see as well.

At work, we’re running a competition over the summer to try to keep students thinking about entrepreneurship and next year’s business plan competitions. It’s called Business Shorts, and we’re asking students to post a one minute video describing a business idea.

Of course, that meant we had to produce our own promo video. I did the shoot yesterday using the Flip, edited in iMovie, and then had the final version up on YouTube within an hour. I am so impressed with that little Flip camera. Here’s the results:

Here’s another quick Flip video of an event we had earlier this month.

After an introduction to entrepreneurship support at Edinburgh, six teams of students each came up with a new business idea and pitched it to the audience.

The ideas all fit into one of the six categories for the Business Idea Competition we’re running. This year, students will be awarded specific prizes for arts and culture businesses, social enterprises, e-commerce sites, product design, science or technology-based businesses (including software), and new ideas in retail. I’ve put up a page on LAUNCH.ed with all the details about the competition. continue reading »

I had to do some photoshopping for work. This banner and the following “hot desk” button are some of the results. I think they add a little something to the homepage: www.launch.ed.ac.uk. continue reading »

Tonight we had our second event with iCUE, an entrepreneurship society on campus. This one was an Idea Generation Workshop, led by one of the guys at SIE’s head office (Anthony Ives).

Anthony raised some interesting points, and clued us all in to some current trends in product design. Anthony’s lessons: continue reading »

Here’s the prezi I made for this week’s iCUE event, Edinburgh Enterprise 101. It’s a mind map of the resources available to student-entrepreneurs at Edinburgh.

You can click on “more” to view the presentation in full screen. I’ve also enabled free exploration of the presentation, so you should be able to fly anywhere you like and click on any of the links to find out more. continue reading »

It took a while, but I finally thought of something I’d like Preston to do. Basically, I’d like him to absolve a little of my guilt about never having introduced myself to my neighbours.

If you missed it, here’s Preston’s original YouTube request, complete with my video response.

If you don’t want to post a video response (mine took me ages—I guess I’m just webcam-shy!), post some suggestions for Preston in the comments under the video!

My friend Preston wrote to me the other day. I met Preston when I was traveling in Germany. He was waiting for the same night bus to Hannover, and his German was infinitely better than mine. Preston is talented, ambitious and hysterically funny.

Anyway, here’s what he said:

“Could I trouble you for… continue reading »

The Business Idea Competition launches on the first of October. It was high time for some new marketing materials.

Here’s the general theme I made for this year’s University of Edinburgh round, thanks to a very helpful Photoshop tutorial website.

Watch for more details about the competition soon!