Brussels
Written at 9am on 20.05.06
Filed under Travel / Life In The Real World / ALL CATEGORIES
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Bonjour! If this post contains a few mistakes, it’s because I’d completely forgotten to anticipate the different layout of French keyboards… Anyway, for this reason I shall be brief. Yesterday was without a doubt one of the most amazing day ever and Brussels in a city undervalued by so many. It’s true that the amount of attractions are few, but this is made up for by the kindness of absolutely every person who lives there. Everyone we’ve met has been extremely friendly and put just about everyone in London to shame. More details to follow later, as we’ve spent far too long in this Internet café.
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Speaking engagements
- Web Developers Conference 12th November 2008
- Spletne Urice, Ljubljana 29th October 2008
- SkillSwap Brighton 20th August 2008
- Future Of Web Design, London 17th & 18th April 2008
- Future Of Web Design, New York 7th November 2007
- SkillSwap Bristol 25th September 2007
- iDesign: design for life (part of the London Design Festival) 18th September 2007
- Oxford Geek Night 25th July 2007
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- Why being freelance does not mean you have to work more hours
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Blogroll
UPDATED! I’ve been known to while away a few hours on these blogs, most of which are written by my friends in the industry...
- Jørgen Arnor Gårdsø Lom
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- Mark Boulton
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Recent Comments:
- Rajesh Pancholi said: sorry for the babbling : )
- Rajesh Pancholi said: Good for you, remember why you’re making the change and don’t...
- prisca said: Elliot, great to read you’re making such a success of your freelance life ;-)...
- Christoph said: Very motivating and encouraging article! But I have some second thoughts :-)...
- Pete Eveleigh said: BTW I loved this bit… I’m not the type of guy who’ll write a blog...
- Pete Eveleigh said: I tend to agree with what you say but the article doesn’t really say...
- Gary Stanton said: Wish I knew how you did that. I’ve been freelance for around three years...
- Phil Bowell said: Whilst your post is very encouraging, I’m in agreement with John (the...
- Dave Ellis said: I seem to be going the opposite way, I need to make a conscious decision to work...
- Alex Older said: I’m looking to make the jump after Uni depending on how things go and this...
Recent Reads
-
Basics Design: Layout (Gavin Ambrose & Paul Harris) - A beautifully designed book about beautiful design. Some key layout principles are presented in an engaging way, and this is more a book about inspiration than pure instruction.
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Poe: Illustrated Tales of Mystery and Imagination (Edgar Allan Poe) - Some fine contemporary illustrrators take on some Poe classics and the result is a gorgeous collection of words and art.
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Penguin By Design (Phil Baines) - A history of Penguin Books’ cover designs, as educational and inspirational as you’d expect from this prolific publisher.
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Thinking with Type (Ellen Lupton) - I first saw this sitting on a desk in the nytimes.com offices, and after thumbing through it, realised it was one of the best books about the technicalities of typography that I’d seen.
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Hellboy: The Troll Witch and Other Stories (Mike Mignola) - The latest Hellboy trade paperback collects yet more classic stories, although this time Mignola is joined by other artists.
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The Ten Commandments of Typography (Paul Felton) - A book of two halves (the flip-side deals with so-called ‘Type Heresy’), this is a witty but informative book bout typographical techniques.
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Great Beers of Belgium (Michael Jackson) - No, not that Michael Jackson. This is the one who really knows his stuff when it comes to fine beers.
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London: The Biography (Peter Ackroyd) - A lively, engaging book about the history of London, told as it the city itself were a living thing.
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Tres Logos (various) - I could look through logo books until the cows come home; this kind of collection is invaluable to the identity designer, and this is, of course, just one book.
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Business Cards 2: More Ways Of Saying Hello (various) - This is another great source of inspiration and a lovely ‘coffee table’ book that’s a joy to flick through even if you don’t need to design a business card.
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Schild’s Ladder (Greg Egan) - One of the most full-on sci-fi books I’ve ever read, with its use of real physics and exploration of quantum mechanics shaping much of the narrative.
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Wolverine: Weapon X (Barry Winsor Smith) - A landmark story in the history of this legendary comic book character, Weapon X has become a real classic.
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Casa Batlló: Gaudi (various) - Sam and I visited Barcelona last year, where we saw several amazing architectural feats by Gaudi. This book captures some of the beauty that our camera couldn’t.
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The Fundamentals of Typography (Gavin Ambrose) - This was the first bok I bought specifically about typography, and it pretty much does what it says on the tin, although a nice bit of history is thrown in as well.
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Analog In, Digital Out (Brendan Dawes) - Magnetic North’s main man explores some arty, experimental projects without any of the ponce usually associated with the genre. This is a book about merging new and old ideas, and it’s inspiring all the way through.
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The God Delusion (Richard Dawkins) - Possibly one of the most important books in print today.
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Foundation’s Edge (Issac Asimov) - Another Asimov classic, this part of The Foundation Saga encapsulates some monumental ideas about humanity far beyond the boundaries of regular sci-fi.
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Web Standards Creativity (various authors) - 10 great lessons for writing better markup, using the latest CSS, and adding subtle Javascript tricks
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Transcending CSS (Andy Clarke) - Rethink the way you design and code. This book was hugely influential on me whilst building the latest version of this site and made me even more pedantic
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Dune (Frank Herbert) - An absolutely legendary sci-fi novel full of very complex ideas... much better than the film!
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Neverwhere (Neil Gaiman) - A dark and charming tale of a man who eschews normal life for the secret underworld of ‘London Below’
Why being freelance does NOT mean you have to work more hours: http://moourl.com/mtsdj 7 hrs ago
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JK
23.11.06
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Hi Ellio’ and Sam,
Glad to hear you’ve got off to a good start! Have fun!
Graham L Stocks
23.11.06
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Hi Elliot and Sam. Pleased you’re enjoying yourselves, sounds like a varied experiece already and just a few days in! Can’t believe you’re almost a week into it already. Let’s see lots of those pictures. Some balconies from Sam maybe!
Looks like I might be getting a trip to Ravenstone.
Much love and fun. Dad X
Alice
23.11.06
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Good stuff boys and girls, I went to Brussels once and I loved it so I’m very glad you feel the same way! I will def be reading your ‘tedious’ blog entries anyway so keep ‘em coming. See you soon! xxx
KJ
23.11.06
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Hello Elliot & Sam! Wow, it sounds like you’re having a really great time out there! Your site is really cool too :) and the photos so far look great. Continue having fun both of you! Bye bye!
~ Kayleigh xXx