John Polley Brand Communications

31/03/2022

One minute snow, the next minute sunshine! Despite that we’re all ready for tonight’s CVBN - Colne Valley Business Network meeting at from 5pm - 7pm tonight. This evening we have a Sustainability theme - we’ll be finding out more about the green corridor planned for the Colne Valley and the new Cycle To Work scheme which includes electric bikes. We’d love to see you - Today!: 31 March 2022 • Time: 5pm – 7pm • Location: Dark Woods Coffee, Holme Mills, West Slaithwaite Road, HD7 6LS
See you this evening! WHATEVER THE WEATHER!

24/03/2022

I've been busy helping to arrange the next CVBN - Colne Valley Business Network meeting that takes place next week. Please come on down and join us!
SUSTAINABILITY EVENT
DATE: 31 March 2022
TIME: 5pm – 7pm
LOCATION: Dark Woods Coffee, Holme Mills, West Slaithwaite Road, HD7 6LS


More information at:
cvbn.org.uk

Book for FREE on Eventbrite
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/293705821017

07/10/2021

Always lovely to be appreciated! Got this cute card from my good friend and colleague of this morning. It features the bright and upbeat designs of . The image on the Mac screen shows one of the designs I did for the shop windows in . Think this one didn’t make it to press but I felt it had the right sentiment! Thanks Janet!

17/07/2021

Sun down on or as it is officially known. This is one of the highest points above . From the top you can see as far as power station in the distance which is well over 40 miles away.

04/09/2020

Check out the new - today - website for Honley village. It’s been a real privilege to work on the branding and website designs - working in a great team! It’s been really enlightening to research some of the history of the village - you would be amazed!

Months in the making but we have to say the results speak for themselves.

http://honley.info

It's been all about team work & working with some incredibly talented people. Special thanks to our very own Rebecca for her hard work, along with John Polley Brand Communications, John Steel Photography, Sandie Nicholson - Photos of Yorkshire & Jeanette Dyson on copy.

28/08/2020

I first discovered MacDonald (Max) Gill’s work about 10 years ago when I bought a book celebrating the textile industry of the Colne Valley called Colne Valley Cloth written by Phyllis Bentley. The book is beautiful illustrated with black and white line drawings by Harold Blackburn. But the real surprise treasure is its fold out map which illustrates the mills and textile heritage of the Colne Valley near Huddersfield. What really impresses me is the detail and skill of the illustration which was drawn way before we could ever have dreamed of Google maps for reference. MacDonald Gill lived in London which would have added to the complexity of creating an accurate portrayal of the region. Having discovered the beauty of McDonald Gills work I found, at the time, that there was little information about his work and history. His brother Eric Gill seems to have dominated and overshadowed his younger brother’s life. However there is a brilliant new biography written by Caroline Walker and published by called MacDonald Gill, Charting a Life. It’s one of the best biographies I have read! full of humour, suspense, intrigue and insight: as good as any historical novel, but better, knowing that all the characters, events and historical references are true. It’s a book that I would thoroughly recommend and one which I will pick up again and again.
&Crafts @ Slaithwaite

25/07/2020

9 YEARS! To celebrate the 9 years I’ve been working independently I thought I’d share a typeface design I’ve been working on in recent months. The last nine years have been a roller coaster ride! I never intended working for myself, it just happened (kind of). My intention was to work for myself while I looked for a ‘proper job’ and nine years later on here I am, still pinching myself every day and thinking ‘hey, I’m still alive and earning enough money to keep my family alive and comfortable!’. And now that I’m here I can’t think of living any other way! Every day is a new adventure, living under my own terms, which really aren’t that strict! So thanks to everyone that’s helped and encouraged me over the last nine years - I appreciate the friendship, love, kindness and inspiration!

So back to the typeface - This is just the number 9 of an ever expanding font that started it’s life about 3 years ago as just an idea. It’s gone from sketches, to drawings, to scribbles, to the bin and back out again to become my daily obsession - each day I discover a new glyph that I can ‘quickly do’ before I publish the full font. So it’s gone from a simple digital mono-spaced font of uppercase characters into upper and lowercase, numbers, punctuation and now into alternate glyphs for each character. You’ll see here - an alternate number 9 if you swish across. I’m loving working on this font and it’s teaching me so much! But I want to know MORE! I need recommendations on how I can learn more about type design and courses I can take (online at the moment) to make this a fully functioning typeface. So please leave your comments and suggestions of courses you’d recommend. Preferably in a UK timezone.
#9























@ Slaithwaite

11/06/2020

They are back! The mighty Handmade Bakery return. Moved around the tables to create indoor queueing out of the rain. Here’s Joe against the backdrop created by Alice Parker. They are serving fresh bread and takeout coffees Thursday, Friday and Saturday. So glad to see things emerging from the storm!