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drawing

Networking

By Work


pictogram of business networking

A few weeks back I shared a cartoon from a work project we started in the office… just for that bit of daily fun. If you missed that post, fear not, I’ll explain here.

I’m calling it The Art of Us and it comprises of a series of cartoons that each portray one of our cultural  strengths as an organisation.  The panel above depicts networking as one of our key strengths in a business that spans the globe in over 40 countries and 100 offices. It resides amongst a set of other images that depict our culture and is slowly growing into a giant checkerboard of colour and inspiration.  Best of all, it’s a community project and allows anyone in the business to get engaged in the art.  These aren’t my ideas; these are the thoughts and feelings of people in the business when I ask them ‘What is our key business strength?’ All I do is bring their idea to life in a few cartoon strokes and a bold splash of colour (cunningly coloured in our corporate approved branding pallette 🙂 ).

I feel it is a small but meaningful way of introducing the inspiration of art into our workplace.  I’m a big believer that art helps spark people’s imagination and put simply, makes us feel good. Rather conveniently, it also allowed me to cover up that uninspiring beige wall adjacent to my desk.

So how would you describe your workplace in one word or sentence?

 

 

Thinking together

By That's life

Thinking together - the unified whole is greater than the sum of its parts

And now for something completely different…Yes, you’re right, not one of my normal cartoons. I thought I’d mix it up a bit and share with you some of the other cartooning work I do.

I’ve been looking at ways of introducing art into our workplace as I’m believe that art helps spark people’s imagination and put simply, makes them feel good. But, the art had to fit in with the business environment (hey, we’re a serious bunch of engineers at work); it had to be another element of the business that made sense amongst the library of engineering standards, 3D CAD machines and meeting rooms.

Ultimately, this idea manifested itself into what I call The Art of Us. This is one panel from a growing series of panels that I’ve checker boarded onto the big blank beige wall opposite my desk (What is it about engineering offices and their love of all things beige or warm grey?). Each panel aims to depict in images and a few words the culture of our organisation and express what it means to work here. But best of all, it’s a community project and allows anyone in the business to get engaged in the art.  These aren’t my ideas; these are the thoughts and feelings of people in the business. They simply tell me what they think one of our cultural strengths is and I interpret their thoughts and feelings into a one panel drawing.

So what do you think?

What word or phrase would you use to describe the culture of your workplace?

 

Bad Hair Day

By That's life

Cartoon of a bad hair day

…I’ll let you be the judge…

Speaking personally, bad hair days I can cope with; but the first day I spotted a grey hair took the concept to a whole new level. No longer was it confined to the constraints of a day, this was the beginning of a journey I was not mentally prepared for. So I did what any sensible person in denial would do…I plucked it out.

How do you deal with bad hair days?

And now a word from our sponsor…

By Dung Beetles, Pot Luck

Launching of Doug the dung Beetle website

I do mean it, when I say ‘click here for a word from our sponsor’. Go on, give it a go.

OK, I admit I’m playing with your minds – just a bit – but I would really appreciate it, if you not only visit my new site Doug the Dung Beetle, but also subscribe.  I’ll reward the first three to subscribe with a Doug Dung Beetle cartoon of your choice – hand signed and posted by snail mail to your very door. Oh, and if you subscribe, I promise not to inundate you with posts. I plan to post every fortnight or so.

The unfortunate time glitch

By That's life

parallel universeThe Australian Cartoon Association 28th Annual Stanleys awards were held on 17 November. Unfortunately I couldn’t attend as it was interstate, but hope it will make it to Melbourne next time round. However, I didn’t totally miss out, and all ACA members were invited to contribute a cartoon with a ‘timeline’ theme for exhibition during the event. Best of all, I didn’t need to win to get exhibited as all entries were accepted.

And in case you’re wondering who won the golden Stanley award, it was David Pope from the Canberra Times.