15 October 2008
The Carsonified Journal
[Update: We've decided to release 100 to the public. We didn't want to sell them, but so many people asked to buy them we decided to give in. The journals are expensive to produce and it'll help us offset some of the costs.]
We wanted to express our gratitude to everyone who came to FOWA this year. We know that you have to commit your valuable time and money to hang out with us, and we really appreciate it.
So we decided to design and craft something special that we’d give to every single person who came to FOWA, so we came up with the idea of a limited edition Carsonified Journal.
Mike spent weeks designing and crafting the packaging and journal. We didn’t want a single sponsor logo or any overpowering Carsonified branding on it – just a simple gift for you all to enjoy.
We included a pencil and a sharpener in each box, so that you can sketch and write to your heart’s content. We chose a pencil instead of a pen because it’s the epitomy of analogue, which we miss in our everything-is-digital world.
To hold the journal box, we wanted to give you a bag that was climate-neutral and not smattered with FOWA logos. We found this amazing company that makes Jute bags, which are completely compostable and we added a simple ‘Carsonified’ tag. It’s got enough room for a laptop or anything else you might want to carry. The idea is that you’d actually want to keep it and use it, instead of chucking it straight in the bin.
We also spent a bunch of time writing hand-written thankyou cards for everyone who came to FOWA, just to let them know we loved them.
So … thanks for coming to FOWA! We appreciate you. Here are some extra photos of the journal …
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James Deer
# October 15, 2008 - 12:26 pm
I’ve not even used mine yet, I don’t want to ruin its pure elegance!
Such a great idea tho guys, and especially with the bags to carry the endless amounts of swag!
Michael Espinosa
# October 15, 2008 - 12:28 pm
Great job team Carsonified! It’s beautiful.
Lee
# October 15, 2008 - 12:31 pm
Fantastic idea and very much appreciated. They’re great quality with superb illustrations. Couldn’t believe all the hand written messages! Well done Mike & the team.
Simon Doggett
# October 15, 2008 - 12:31 pm
I’m having severe Moleskine vs. Carsonified Journal issues at the moment.
Manfred Ekblad
# October 15, 2008 - 12:33 pm
Great idea, I’ve already used half of it. Giving away a journal is so “Back to the future”, right on target ;)
Warren Buckley
# October 15, 2008 - 12:36 pm
Thats such a nice gift and to have a personalised thankyou note is great! Shame I didn’t attend FOWA, as they swag looks great!!
Warren
Rob Stevenson-Leggett
# October 15, 2008 - 12:38 pm
Ryan,
Thanks for the time and effort you guys put into the conference. Personal touches like this and the road trip last year make FoWA something special and takes off that corporate edge.
Cheers,
See you next year!
Rob.
Adii
# October 15, 2008 - 12:42 pm
No amount of begging will land me one of these babies, will it? :)
This is a truly awesome gesture and in my mind, this just shows again why Carsonified is a true trendsetter and why so many people are modelling their own companies & business approaches based on your example!
Aden Davies
# October 15, 2008 - 12:47 pm
I don’t know what to do with mine it is too nice to write in! Liked what this guy did with it at FOWA though…http://www.flickr.com/photos/kaichanvong/sets/72157607943518388/comments/
Mark
# October 15, 2008 - 12:47 pm
It was indeed delightful :) When I saw the box, my immediate thought was going to be a box of sponsor stuff, so I was very pleased to find the journal. As was my wife when I gave it to her :)
Tim Hodges
# October 15, 2008 - 12:47 pm
Ryan,
FOWA was a great experiance and the whole team should feel very proud of themselves. I love the simplicity of the small touches that made it such good fun.
That said mine’s still sat on myself, taunting me with it’s elagence…I need to make it last 12 months till the next show. I feel compelled to only fill it with items worth of the quality with which it was put together.
Great Job
Sam Hardacre
# October 15, 2008 - 12:50 pm
That is AWESOME!!!!!
How much bribing would it take to get my hands on one of these (if there are any left). Some original artwork? Free badges? My left arm? : D
Bloody brill, Carsonites!
Charles Kelton
# October 15, 2008 - 12:56 pm
Great idea, what really sets it apart is it looks like a labour of love.
Great conference overall, shame I’m not omnipotent to have been able to be in both developer and business tracks at the same time, but i’ll definately catch studd I missed online.
And a special shout out to Elliott for the personalised message, must have an achy wrist after all that!
Matthew
# October 15, 2008 - 1:01 pm
I’m so jealous, I really want one!
I was going to attend but I was on my Honeymoon.
Good job Mike!
Jason Zimdars
# October 15, 2008 - 1:04 pm
Wow, I really love who you guys are as a company. Idea after idea, transcending profit and money. Goodwill overflowing!
You should definitely sell these. I’d buy one right now. Seriously, beautiful work.
Dan
# October 15, 2008 - 1:09 pm
Haha, those are awesome, if slightly too eco-hippy-sandal-wearer for my tastes.
I agree with the above, sell these and you’d make [more of] a killing.
Martin Sarsini
# October 15, 2008 - 1:09 pm
Awesome! Wish I was there, but just learnt about the event too much late. At the next UK event I’ll be there!
David Hughes
# October 15, 2008 - 1:12 pm
By far the best gift/freebie I’ve received from any conference.
Thanks
Mark MacInnes
# October 15, 2008 - 1:17 pm
This is an awesome gift. Was well pleased when I opened the bag and found the journal – really is something different from the usual conference freebies. All my workmates are very jealous! Ha!
Cheers guys and gals!
Max Shanly
# October 15, 2008 - 1:20 pm
I am going to unseam my bag, pad it out with memory foam (got some left over from my bed), re stich it and use it as my new laptop bag
kat neville
# October 15, 2008 - 1:31 pm
Are you going to sell them? I was away on holiday and missed the whole show… I would definitely buy one… Looks great Mike!
Pixelbox » FOWA 2008
# October 15, 2008 - 1:48 pm
[...] At the end of last week I attended FOWA2008 with Tom from work. Having only really been to the excellent dconstruct previously (I’m not counting things like internet world) I wasn’t sure how it would match up. I wasn’t disappointed as it turned out to be a great event with some fantastic talks, and some great swag, such as the Carsonified Journal!. [...]
Roy Scheeren
# October 15, 2008 - 2:15 pm
Now I’m even more jealous of the people that got to go to FOWA.
Great Idea!!
f6
# October 15, 2008 - 2:24 pm
I can’t go to the FOWA, maybe I can buy it online??? :)
Richard Lingard
# October 15, 2008 - 2:26 pm
Thanks for a great couple of days, guys. Truly inspirational stuff. And I’m using my lovely Carsonbook as a scrapbook for great design ideas…hope y’all approve. Thanks again – Rx
James McDonald
# October 15, 2008 - 2:41 pm
I love it, really wish I could have made it this year. Unfortunately due to some money related issues I couldnt! FOWA next year FTW! :)
Jason Sadler
# October 15, 2008 - 4:17 pm
Ryan & Team – great job with the give away. You guys are doing great work and this is a nice cherry on top. I think you guys should sell these as I am sure you have a large audience willing to buy who can’t attend FOWA events.
Ryan
# October 15, 2008 - 4:40 pm
We’d never sell these – it goes against the whole reason we made them :)
Paul Sturgess
# October 15, 2008 - 5:00 pm
Please could you tell us the company you used to get the jute bags made. :-)
Ryan
# October 15, 2008 - 5:12 pm
@Paul We used Jutexpo
TomDeleu
# October 15, 2008 - 5:37 pm
Nice. So much better than your average throw-away-conference-goodie-bags!
Carsonified gave out personalized journals for all attendees of FOWA | K3NDALL | Seattle web marketer
# October 15, 2008 - 5:53 pm
[...] Ryan Carson and his crew at Carsonified continue to make the web a human place. They recently put on the Future of Web Apps conference in London. As a Thank You gift to all of the attendees, they created a journal. This isn’t your everyday Moleskin journal. It has a human touch, and very little Carsonified branding. They were thoughtful all throughout the design. It came with a pencil, rather than a pen to ensure the analog usage of the journal. They included a jute bag (that is completely compostable – Nice touch), to carry the journal in. And to top off the human touch, they included hand written notes to each of the attendees. [...]
David Petherick
# October 15, 2008 - 6:30 pm
Beautiful object, which I presented intact to my wife (the bag) and to my daughter (the journal).
They both want to use the other’s gift, I want to thank you for that, and I uploaded a photo of my journal which you might enjoy – http://www.flickr.com/photos/also/2944154116/
A great touch, and a great event, thank you Ryan.
Regards, and thanks, David
Barry Frost
# October 15, 2008 - 6:57 pm
Are you planning anything similar for FOWD in New York?
I couldn’t come to the event in London and would love for this to become a new feature of Carsonified conferences so that I can get one too!
Jamie Rumbelow
# October 15, 2008 - 7:43 pm
Somebody had left one on the floor, so I grabbed it. Waste not want not!
Since then, it has been fantastic. It felt really nice to receive them and I have been using them for everything.
Everytime I read all the quotes and stuff I want to cry :)
Thanks all you guys, FOWA was Fantastic.
Ian Cleary
# October 15, 2008 - 8:54 pm
I absolutely very totally love mine… I was really taken with it and when I saw it was personalised I was blown away!
My daughter has mine now as she fell in love with it (she’s 6 and promises only to use it for very important words and pictures) and my wife has clung onto the numbered one that came in my conference pack…
I am in danger of starting to sound like a stuck record, but everything I’ve seen you guys touch is golden, and having seen how hard the team worked… above and beyond guys!
Awesome work Carsonified-superhero-team!!! Human is absolutely the right word :-)
Ryan
# October 15, 2008 - 9:22 pm
Thanks for the really kind words everyone! Really, really appreciate it. I know the team works so hard, so it’s nice to hear.
Bill Biwer
# October 16, 2008 - 3:28 am
Simply gorgeous! Wish I could have attended the event, maybe next time…
Dan
# October 16, 2008 - 1:47 pm
How long before one shows up on ebay? moreover, how much will it go for? :)
Paul Smith
# October 18, 2008 - 2:04 am
Ok I have to admit, I came across this article when I was searching Technorati for articles about things compostable, to chime in about my company’s leaf based plates. But never you mind that, I am super impressed by the effort, creativity and generosity you put into this whole effort! You deserve all the goodwill that I’m sure this and other things you do generate.
wako
# October 18, 2008 - 4:55 pm
What a gorgeous gift. I believe a really important aspect of sustainability is beauty. When a thing is beautiful, there is inherent value, and that means the thing will be valued and used–hence further along on the sustainable spectrum.
And the thought and personal care you put into the design is all about connection, about building relationship. Says a lot about your company… about which I knew nothing until now. But now I’m very curious!
All that high-level mumbo-jumbo aside, I have a huge stationery and bag fetish, so I am very envious of the lucky (and deserving, no doubt) FOWA attendies.
Ryan
# October 19, 2008 - 11:09 pm
@Paul & @Wako – Thanks for the super nice things you said about us and the journals. *Really* appreciate it!
Sam
# October 20, 2008 - 3:32 pm
Ryan and team Carsonified – here’s what I wrote on my blog:
“First of all, I would like to thank Ryan Carson, Jo, Kier, Elliott and everyone behind Carsonified ( http://www.carsonified.com ) for putting on a top event.. expo hall, mini university sessions and speaker sessions. Fantastic and well done to all!”
I’ll add – the FOWA bag was fantastic, not to mention the ‘Name badge stickers’, the massive name badges.. and the notebook journal inside the bag – great touches like this make a show fun to attend.
I’ve now uploaded 4 podcasts (over 30 minutes each) from FOWA 2008, featuring interviews from the show floor and sessions too (the view from the audience), come take a listen via the new audio player I’ve added to my site:
http://www.dsoundz.co.uk
(you will find it on the sidebar on the Tech:Casts player!)
enjoy the interviews and FOWA features! there’s another 2 podcasts to come… from Sam Downie’s Tech:Casts
Cheers :)
Carsonified » Blog Archive » FOWD NYC - only two weeks away!
# October 21, 2008 - 4:49 pm
[...] If you checked out our previous blog post you’ll have read about the journals that we gave away at FOWA London last week. The good news is that we’re packing a new bunch in our bags right now for all FOWD NYC attendees. They were beautifully designed by our very own Carsonified designer Mike Kus. [...]
Carsonified » Blog Archive » We’re releasing 100 Carsonified Journals
# October 23, 2008 - 1:14 pm
[...] As soon as I blogged about the Carsonified Journals we created for FOWA attendees, we had a mob descend on us asking to buy them. [...]
Miiitch
# October 26, 2008 - 7:58 pm
Those are so nice! Oooh, now I want one!!
cheritycall
# October 28, 2008 - 7:19 am
How are you?, Give something for help those hungry people in Africa and India,
I made this blog about them:
at http://tinyurl.com/5pul7l
Anders
# October 28, 2008 - 12:51 pm
hmm… been thinking of maby going on a carsonified event for some time now, i think i will…
Steffan Williams » Blog Archive » Really Small
# November 5, 2008 - 2:10 am
[...] Drawn on the very first page of my Carsonified journal. [...]
A part of my life has been stolen - Carlos Matallín is a geek and a blogger
# November 9, 2008 - 7:59 pm
[...] I couldn’t believe her. I took a quick look around and my bag was indeed stolen. I plunged into a feeling of powerlessness and fury. Why? Do you want to know what was I carrying that day in my bag? Yes, that bag. [...]
Dane Glerum
# March 17, 2009 - 3:26 am
Hi Guys,
A bit after the fact I know (even the spam bots beat me to the post!) but I was just wondering who you used for the printing/packaging of the journal box and pencil/sharpener kit.
They look great.
Ryan
# March 18, 2009 - 3:20 pm
@Dane – Mike can answer that for you. His email is mike at carsonified daaaawt com :)