My doppelgänger in Northern Irish politics
A couple of weeks ago I found myself on the homepage of the BBC News NI website, after I tweeted the leader of the Social Democratic and Labour Party in Northern Ireland.
A couple of weeks ago I found myself on the homepage of the BBC News NI website, after I tweeted the leader of the Social Democratic and Labour Party in Northern Ireland. This is my third time going viral, and each time is no less exciting (and mental). The first was after I wrote a letter to Nestle. The second was for a guide on how to make your own wedding invites. But this one escalated so quickly that it made my head spin.
On the 22nd Feb 2017 I was sent a picture of the leader of the Social Democratic and Labour Party in Northern Ireland, Colum Eastwood. He was running an election campaign for a seat in the NI Assembly and all over the TV in the UK, which is where my friend Luke spotted him and sent me this...
When I showed this to my wife, she asked where the picture was taken as she'd just assumed it was me. From this angle, we look almost identical. So I had a little fun with the web camera and tweeted him some pictures, asking if he needs a body double:
Saw @columeastwood on TV last night and god we look similar. Let me know if you need someone to play you at parties! #doppleganger pic.twitter.com/JJBbftJOPb
— James Barnard (@barnarddotco) February 22, 2017
When Colum himself retweeted it, a journalist at BBC Radio Ulster got in touch, and then that evening this article appeared on the BBC News NI homepage, as well as getting a mention on the radio.
Then everyone in Northern Ireland had a little fit...
...and now I've got a new buddy! Honestly, the whole thing was a bit silly. But it was a lot of fun meeting Colum, if not a little weird. We were genuinely laughing our asses off, and his campaign team took a short video, which again made it on to the BBC website. I posted the whole thing to image site Imgur, and it made the front page, getting around 150,000 views in a day. Check it out here: http://imgur.com/gallery/ofQbC
Press:
BBC News: NI Assembly election: 'Newsnight' and Eastwood double
BBC News: SDLP leader Colum Eastwood meets doppelganger in London
Belfast Live: Could this Colum Eastwood doppelganger be the best lookalike ever?
Irish News: Spot the difference: Colum Eastwood has a doppelgänger
Derry Now: Seeing double! SDLP Leader Colum Eastwood contacted by English doppelgänger
Imgur: My doppelgänger in Northern Irish politics
From Illustrator to Ink: Designing my own tattoo
process (and a little pain), but I've never had the balls to design my own.
I already have a few tattoos. I once went through an 8-hour sitting on a hangover, so I'm no stranger to the process (and a little pain), but I've never had the balls to design my own. This is for the same reason I couldn't design the logo for my freelance business; I'm my own worst critic. I'd be forever wanting to tweak and change the design, and this isn't exactly possible with tattoos.
However, I've been doodling these little geometric shapes for years now (some older examples here) and I finally decided to put my money where my mouth is and be proud enough of one of my designs to get this done. Thanks again to Marcus from Evil from the Needle in Camden who helped me through the process. We needed to make sure that the tattoo was large enough to incorporate the detail. FYI, the needle used for the line work is similar to that of a 0.6 size fine line pen, so if you can draw the intricate parts of a design with this pen, you can replicate this detail in a tattoo.
[Edit: So my brother saw this and asked me to design him one too. He liked it so much he had it done the next day!]
WINNER! Cateys Awards 2016
Last night I earned the right to put 'award-winning' in front of my bio, after winning 'Best Use of Technology' at hospitality industry Oscars, The Catey Awards 2016.
Last night I earned the right to put 'award-winning' in front of my bio, after winning 'Best Use of Technology' at hospitality industry Oscars, The Catey Awards 2016. As 'digital and brand manager' at M Restaurants (read out by the same guy that does the voice of God from X Factor) I was luckily allowed to represent M after creating the 'Choose Your Table' Functionality' on the restaurant websites.
The presenter, Claudia Winkleman, read this from the judges, "This clever use of disruptive leading-edge technology empowered the customer to be the integral part of the booking process. The solution would challenge the rest of the [restaurant] industry to sit up and take note."
Read more about how I went about setting up this AWARD WINNING feature here.
Cateys Awards 2016
Cateys Awards 2016
Cateys Awards 2016
Cateys Awards 2016
Wedding table names: From the mind of my new wife
When my wife Laura and I first met, we were both working for Bauer Media, who publish magazines like Grazia, Empire and FHM before they closed.
When my wife Laura and I first met, we were both working for Bauer Media, who publish magazines like Grazia, Empire and FHM before they closed. In the early, flirty stages, Laura would sometimes set me little design challenges during the day. She would usually ask me to create some sort of peculiar scene in which an animal is performing a human task. For example...
"Design me a cowboy sloth, wielding a trident at a piñata."
Mental. So on our wedding day, we used this as a nice idea for our table names. I was allowed to spend no longer than 15 minutes creating 10 of these little hybrid beasts, all from the imagination of my wife. We framed each of these creations and placed them on our guests' tables. We got a few funny looks, but most people had a lot of fun trying to find where they were sitting, especially as distinguishing between a 'lion-sized duck' and a 'duck-sized lion' after a few glasses of champagne is quite the challenge!
A tipsy Tyrannosaurus rex winding up a jack in the box
A cowboy sloth wielding a trident at a piñata
A mad scientist porcupine playing basketball with a balloon
A duck-sized lion
A lion-sized duck
A giant Lady (Laura’s mum’s dog) sipping an espresso martini at the Mad Hatter’s tea party
A football fanatic hamster arriving at a cocktail party full of emperor penguins
A Marvel fanatic gummy bear escaping a factory explosion in slow mo
A goat with braces tries to get popcorn out of his teeth at the movies
A surfer cat becomes scared for his life when a menacing cucumber starts circling around him
INTERVIEW: Website landing page examples 2016: Top trends for boosting conversion
I was recently interviewed by eCommerce Insights on how to best optimise landing pages in 2016. They featured a few of my campaigns, including Honda's King of the Hell, and the M Restaurants Choose Your Table feature.
I was recently interviewed by eCommerce Insights on how to best optimise landing pages in 2016. They featured a few of my campaigns, including Honda's King of the Hell, and the M Restaurants Choose Your Table feature. Read the full interview here »
Passive aggression with design
The lift in my apartment block in London is a claustrophobic’s worst nightmare. It is a four foot wide coffin, just big enough for two people and it constantly breaks down.
The lift in my apartment block in London is a claustrophobic's worst nightmare. It is a four foot wide coffin, just big enough for two people and it constantly breaks down. If you don't close the metal gate as you leave, the lift won't work. So when the bloke from the third floor leaves the gate open in the morning on his way to work (every bloody day), I can't call the lift from the top floor (and I have to carry my rubbish down the steps). Similarly, when he comes home, (and leaves it open on the third floor), I have to walk up to the top floor, usually after a run or a gym session.
On Monday, in classic British fashion, someone wrote a sign and stuck it with parcel tape to the 70's-styled, linoleum wall on the inside of the lift. It was very polite, and I was impressed with the succinct wording...
“PLEASE CLOSE THE METAL GATE SO THAT OTHERS MAY USE THE LIFT. THANKS IN ADVANCE FOR YOUR COOPERATION.”
But the haphazard way it was stuck on, with a crease in the middle and mis-aligned blue brio screamed 'temporary' to me. Fearful of our third floor companion with the memory of a goldfish, I put aside half an hour to create a more permanent installation.
I've learned from my career in advertising that nothing sticks in a person's head like a good hook. Since placing the poster below, the lift has worked every single time I've called it. I've never had a more successful campaign, even though my neighbours think I'm a complete twat.
