What do all the coloured circles and animals mean?! watch our Twitter and Facebook feeds to find out soon.

2009 saw the successful launch of the Dorset Design Forum – set up to inspire the sector, graduates and design buyers alike, as well as connecting the local industry with, not only itself but others. Strengthening and promoting the design industry in Dorset, the DDF took a considerable number of smaller steps in order to make huge leaps forward for the local design industry.

The Dorset Design Forum managed a very successful training programme consisting of a series of one day workshops specifically for the creative industries in areas which they themselves have requested and teaming up with Meetdraw for a number of very well-attended networking events. Having caught the  attention of the Local Authorities and hopefully garnering their support, Meetdraw ended 2009 in style with “The Meetball” held at the Winchester.

Following the success of 2009, the activities planned for 2010 look even brighter and more exciting. With both the DDF and Meetdraw set to continue with their inspirational workshop series and networking event line up respectively, alongside a host of other events the Dorset creative industries are going to have a busy 2010.

During the course of the year there will be an inspirational speaker programme whereby four undisclosed big name speakers, well known within the wider creative industries will visit Dorset in order to inspire our local creatives. We also look forward to the publication of the Cream of Dorset, a book which is dedicated to the celebration of Dorset’s design industry.

In addition, the future of our local industry has not been overlooked. Local creative agencies are being encouraged to tap into the local talent pool via the Graduate Internship Programme which is offering a £1,000 grant towards the cost of employing a graduate. And in conjunction with the South West Design Forum ‘Buddies’ will be launched, a mentoring scheme giving under-graduate students the opportunity to work alongside some of Dorset’s most highly regarded Creative Directors.

It certainly is going to be a busy year for the creative industries in Dorset, so there has never been a better time to get in touch and get involved.

Many thanks for all those individuals and agencies who gave there support last year.

More information on the Dorset Design Forum.

On a recent train journey I was playing around on my laptop and came across the original agency list I made back in 2002. It was really interesting not only to see how the list has changed over the years, which companies are still around and how they have matured, but also to see how much the local industry as a whole has evolved and how many more businesses have sprung up over the years.

Local agency list 2002

Local agency list 2010

At the time I was surprised by how many agencies there were in the area but the same time puzzled by the lack of community surrounding it, something completely alien to me having started my career in London. It seemed to be a view shared by others too. With the aid of Wayne Medhurst at Intunet and others we came close to setting something up but alas it never materialised.

In retrospect, I doubt the industry was strong enough at the time to support a regular event and without social tools such as Facebook, Twitter and Linkedin it would have been almost impossible to spread the word.

With the fifth Meetdraw less than a month away (18th March) It’s great to see how much stronger the local industry now is. Hopefully Meetdraw will continue to grow this year and along with other events such as Bournemouth Barcamp, OpenWeb Southampton, and Dorset Design Forum it’ll help to sustain the community for the forseeable future.

If you represent a local agency and I’ve missed you off the list feel free to add a comment below

Meetdraw 5: So Meety is being held at Bar So on Thursday 18th March from 6:30pm. Everyone is welcome whether you work for an agency, in-house team, freelance or currently studying so please join us for a drink.

We’ve been freezing our giblets off in the Meet Locker for the last couple of months planning the year ahead as well as putting together a crack team of digital animals to help organise the first event of 2010.

I don’t want to give too much away but sufficed to say there’s some great ideas floating around and I’m sure you won’t be disappointed by Meetdraw5.

I don’t want to rob the team’s thunder so won’t talk any more of Meetdraw5 but thought I’d take this opportunity to share with you the dates for the next 4 events.

Meetdraw 2010 calendar

• Meetdraw5: So Meety – Thursday 18th March
• Meetdraw6: (summer BBQ) - June/July TBC
• Meetdraw7: (student takeover) – Thursday 14th October
• Meetdraw8: Christmas Meetball – Thursday 9th December

Apart from the March event the other dates are subject to change so keep checking back just in case.

Well I’m pleased to report that here in Pixelfish land we have managed to secure the services of a rather talented student from the Meetcounter event in October. As we are the new kids on the block so to speak, we used this as an opportunity to meet and talk to others within the creative digital industry around Bournemouth but also keeping an eye on some of the development talent out there.

I was most impressed when meeting student Chris White, first of all having the initiative to attend such an event rather than playing on an Xbox back in his student pad! Having graduated recently myself I can appreciate the pressures to stay out late and when getting up early means 3pm.

Chris was a breath of fresh air and promptly sent us an email after the event to arrange a meeting over potential work. We took him on for a brief trial and it quickly became apparent that we had a very talented guy at our disposal and with this Chris has become the latest paid up member of the Pixelfish team.

So who exactly is writing this gibberish you are reading? Well it is me, Dan Hinton, co founder of Pixelfish, you can find our home here – www.pixelfishcreative.com. Having started up Pixelfish with Adam Bowen we are keen to do our bit and help put an end to the trend within the creative industries that involves giving unpaid placements to students and graduates.

Meetdraw then, has been the platform for us to enjoy a drink or two with fellow digital creatives but more importantly provide a crucial middle man for meeting freelancers and students out there. It is with this that we owe a big thank you to the head honchos that have organised Meetdraw. It is events like this that will help put Bournemouth on the map as one of the places in the UK to come and work within the creative digital industry.

Check out a whole bunch of photos on Flickr and see what other Meetdrawers want for Christmas.

Thanks to John Parker and Jamie White for capturing it all.

We’re chuffed that Creative Advantage & the Dorset Design Forum have again given us a huge chunk of money to put behind the bar. Those of you that get there early enough can swap your signature for one of our beer tokens.

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If you fancy a listen head over to the Rule of Thirds website and download episode 4: Traditional vs. Digital.