#PictureTheNews
#PictureTheNews
The idea was partly sparked by our New Year's card (shown above) which began as a celebration of the 'word of the year' and then snowballed into a 280-character celebration of the roller-coaster ride that was 2017. It made us think - rather than wait until the end of the year to do it again, why not record the year as we go along, in real time?
We knew we were guaranteed great content from the political buffoonery on both sides of the Atlantic, and that's already proved to be true. The Donald has inspired a whole clutch of them so far and we could easily rename the project 'what @POTUS said next'.
But that would stop us from turning our gaze onto Brexit, or keeping a beady eye on our home-grown clown, Boris Johnson.
Other topics have included the British comedienne who is being sued for defamation by her estranged husband…
…newly discovered Salvador Dali's that are coming up for sale…
…The Queen turning up unexpectedly at London Fashion Week…
…and KFC (equally unexpectedly) running out of 'C'.
And then there are random stories, such as the world's tallest wooden skyscraper that is being built in Tokyo…
…or the image that sparked a copyright furore by revealing that the new Formula one logo may have had some precedent.
More recently, things have taken a serious turn after yet another mass shooting in the USA and the right-wing/NRA reaction.
In case you're wondering if we've got nothing better to do - the working rule is that if it takes more than fifteen minutes to do, you're trying too hard. And the simplest and most shared ones have taken five minutes or less.
We started in black and white, using just one font family, and that's still the fall-back position. But colour seems to be creeping as we go along.
By dint of the lack of time, they often need to be 'graphic' but just occasionally something photographic suggests itself, such as the week that every British retailer announced shocking winter figures whilst the Amazon ship sails on…
…or the sad news that one of Rennie Mackintosh's most famous buildings is basically dissolving.
Can we keep it up for a year? That's the plan. Is it affecting the way we work? Perhaps. Make this kind of commitment and it forces you to think fast, crystallise an issue and work quickly - and, of course, pay attention to what's going on.
It's already influenced on at least one live project and they seem to be shared constantly on Twitter and Instagram. The challenge is to see if we can keep it up. Watch this space…
Follow Picture The News on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, our new Instagram account or just tap #PictureTheNews into social media.