Capturing Cambridge

Hello!

I hope you had a great July. It was a month of highs, not least the temperature. And it's still flipping hot!

I am exercising a?zone of control?as I decamp to our living room which is bearable with a cool fan. Adjusting my hours is helping and managing my mental health through breathing exercises is useful too.

I wrote a new Tips and Tricks on?managing our feelings and taking action. It was written when Cambridge hit 39 degrees. There's a little bit of carbon maths and some useful reading. I’d also like to recommend?Twist Consultants. Jo is working on inspiring change management training around the climate crisis.?In the UK we’re facing hosepipe bans. What’s that got to do with data? Quite a lot so says Digital Data Center as?data servers use water to keep cool. Keeping an eye on data is important, do you need to store everything? Check that your data supplies recycling water too.

This August, we could focus on…

Marketing

I'm working on several websites and newsletter branding as clients take a little time over the holidays for a 'back to term' refresh. If you're using a pre-existing brand and struggling to get visual coherence, feel free to get in touch. My?VIP Day?might be just the ticket for efficiency and fresh eyes.

Get ready for the festive season (I didn't write that word, yet!)

If you sell products, it's a good idea to get ahead. By October, your online shop needs to be ready to sell. It's worth checking keywords and tags on your content, and photographing great images to show off your work. Doing this now means that 'future you' will be thankful!

If you need a hand with getting your online shop ready, get in touch; I'll take the load away so you can get on with making your products. You can ask me about?website maintenance, which includes loading copy, setting up a shop or creating a new page.?

Finance

Are you reviewing your costs and prices before September starts? I'm looking at my overheads, reviewing my range of packages and checking my pricing. I've added two new services which have been requested by clients.

• Publishing support.?Suppose you need someone to carry the load without getting into a complex contract? Ask me about illustration management and finding an illustrator, image research, promotional packages including your own website, design reviews for covers and book rescue for publishing projects that went wrong and need navigating back on track.?
• Squarespace site maintenance.?This includes removing dead links and any superfluous content; maintenance covers new content, blog posts, new pages and additional features for set price each month, tailored to you business.
• VIP half-day.?The same as my full day but in half the time with half the price. You just decided to offer a new freebie that needs to be branded with your branding design, a new page on a website. Whatever that looming design task might be, we can solve it in a few hours. Let me help you take those all off your plate and give you peace of mind knowing that you have a professional designer on your team for one day or maybe half. I'm still trialing out the VIP days, if you'd like to book me between now and end of September, I'm offering 20% off and would simply like a review in return.

Rest

It's August. Remember the last time you did nothing? If you can't... stop reading this, go make a brew. Sit for a moment. Take a breath.

If you are in need of some co-working support, Sophie Cross, founder of?the Freelancer Magazine?has set up a Wednesday morning online space. The sessions are hosted by a different freelancer each week and start at 9.30am and finish at 11am.?Register on lu.ma?to take part. I’ll be hosting on?17th August?and 5th October.?

Great things about Cambridge

Stuck for a day out? Here’s a list of lovely things about my home city if you fancy a trip this way. I’m always pleased to show visitors around.

Mill Road

You will find many tributes to this road and debates about the bridge being open, but if you get a chance, head to a summer street party or the Winter Fair (Covid permitting). I was honoured to know the late Suzy Oates who was the force behind the?Winter Fair which began in 2007. Just off Mill Road is the not-so-secret?David Parr House. For years I cycled past this small terraced house and wondered. No more! It's open to the public on pre-booked tours, and there's a library of online talks. I was thrilled to work with the trustees for their exhibition at the prestigious Cambridge Art Fair a few years ago. I got a tour around David Parr's home as they removed his granddaughter Elsie Palmer's furniture before the place was restored.

Community

It's that spirit that keeps people going. We remember Suzy, Allan Brigham a much missed local historian (whose dog trained with my Molly!) and other who have influenced Cambridge. My street has a WhatsApp group that reunites lost glasses, swaps plants, and arranges tree watering. We decided to celebrate birthdays in lockdown. It's a city that one can get lost in, but you can also say hello to neighbours as well.

Cycling

You can get all over our city on two wheels. The new?Chisholm?bike and walking trail makes my house an equal distance between both rail stations. It also goes past the fascinating, and newly restored,?Cambridge Museum of Technology?and the Kerb Kollective's riverside cafe. Our city Bike Barometer on Parker's Piece counted 1 million cyclists passing it during 2016.

Bookshops

All ten of them if I've counted correctly. Plus?Bookish, a stall on our market and second-hand shops at?Denny Abbey,?Wimpole Hall?and?Anglesey Abbey. And numerous 'little libraries' on the streets. We're also home to the oldest bookshop,?Cambridge University Press Bookshop?and the windows are used for art too.

Our creative community

We have a thriving arts community supported by galleries including the famous?Kettle's Yard?and our fantastic?Fitzwilliam Museum. There are smaller places such as?The Rowan Foundation?which holds annual exhibitions to support their work with adults who have disabilities enabling them to live independent lives. Creative people come together with?Cam Creatives?who have resumed their meetings.?Cambridge Open Studios?is held during July and I'm the latest Art Member (more on that in another newsletter). Just over the border in Suffolk, there's the?Curwen Print Study Centre?founded by Stanley Jones, MBE and Sam Alper, MBE. It's the best centre I know of for learning about printing techniques. Their new venue in Great Thurlow is a peaceful, creative space.

Typography

I have taken visitors on a very different walk! I encourage people to 'look up'. If you do, you'll know where to find these words on a building, 'Free School. Supported by voluntary subscription.' On Victoria Road is the?Cardozo Kindersley Workshop, a letter-cutting workshop founded by the late David Kindersley. Many of the street signs in Cambridge use his font MoT serif.

Gravestones and parks

Some of these letters can be found in gravestones.?Gordon Young's?sculptures are found in Mill Road Cemetery where birds drink from the bowls nestled in the wood.?The Ascension Parish Burial Ground?lies North of the city, a nice walk from the Museum of Cambridge. It was the burial ground for the parish of St Giles and St Peter's and you can find graves of noted academics and the studio of Eric Garland in the parish church. And there’s apparently 119 parks in the city too.

Capturing Cambridge

Thanks to this?website?and many lost hours in the Cambridgeshire Collection, I found out that my great-great grandfather was the landlord of a pub near my house!?Capturing Cambridge?allows users to locate the history of a building through their map. It's also collaborative so people can submit their own history.

Have a great rest of your month!

My?Tips and Tricks?is packed with free snippets of creative and business advice on everything from book design, copyright and case studies. I invite suggestions on topics too, just drop me an email or tag on social media (Twitter,?Insta,?LinkedIn) and I’ll consider it for an article. If you need design support, I have space for new clients from mid September and taking bookings for VIP clients from October 2022. Please?do get in touch?for a no-obligation call.

Best wishes

Berenice (and Molly!)