Digital DUMBO London

It's looking like this weeks tube strike will be going ahead which may make your journey to and from Digital DUMBO a bit of a bugger. Fear not my friends, some services are still running conveniently from our Old Street location...

The Tube

Old Street, Northern Line

"We intend to run trains over the whole line with a train around every five minutes via both the Bank and Charing Cross branches in both directions." Say TFL. However... "These trains would not stop at Angel, Borough, Chalk Farm, Charing Cross, Clapham North, Clapham South, Embankment, Goodge Street, Leicester Square, Mornington Crescent, Oval, South Wimbledon, Tufnell Park and Warren Street stations."

Liverpool Street, Central Line

No service would operate through the central area. We intend to run trains between Epping / Hainault and Holborn around every ten minutes in both directions. So anyone going east from Liverpool Street should be OK, however trains would not stop at Bethnal Green, Chancery Lane, Redbridge or Wanstead stations.  Further information detailing all underground services can be found in this document... http://www.tfl.gov.uk/assets/downloads/strike-advance-travel-advice-11-to-13-feb.pdf

Busses

Good old busses are still going strong. Old Street and Shoreditch have excellent bus links, take a look at these maps to find your way home... Busses from Old Street and Moorfields Eye Hospital Busses from Shoreditch High Street

Taxi

If you'd like to share a cab home with any new friends from Digital DUMBO, we'll have a post-it wall at the event. Just pop up roughly where you're heading and hopefully others from the event will be heading to your neck of the woods too. Alternatively, feel free to tweet @london_dd and we'll re-tweet your cab share requests.  

Bike

Firstly, kudos to anyone considering this option, but I'd be a bad cycling ambassador if I didn't mention it. There are Borris Bike docking stations at Old Street Station, Leonard Street and Shoreditch High Street. For a full map, click here

Tell us about Beyond…

Beyond was formed three years ago through the merger of an analytics company and a creative digital agency. Our founding ethos is that in today’s complex world, the analysis of data, and the insights that come from it, are key to forming and executing successful digital programs. We aim to make people’s lives easier and more enjoyable through the creative application of technology.

  What makes you different from the other guys?

Traditional account planning and strategy is influenced by insights taken from focus groups, which rely on interviewees being a true representation of a target audience and the right questions being asked. Beyond do things differently.

We look at thousands of conversations happening online and through ‘social listening’ we analyse genuine, un-prompted conversations and take more accurate insights to inform our strategic and creative work.

  What’s the best part about working at Beyond?

It’s a really humble and curious place. We like everyone to have the tools, confidence and chance to add to our creative thinking and ideations no matter what their 'role' is. Creativity can come from anywhere and is the lifeblood of Beyond.

  What’s Beyond’s favourite drinking hole?

That would be The Ship on New Cavendish Street. On Thursday nights or after a pitch you will always find a good crew of Beyonders getting “ship wrecked” in there.

  What’s the best company perk?

Each month the whole agency (from San Francisco to London) get on a Google Hangout and the 'Above & Beyond' prize is handed to one employee in the UK and one in the US who has done some great work during that month. Winners get a cash reward and the chance to spend a week in another Beyond office all expenses paid.

  What have you been working on over the past few weeks?

A creative workshop with some of our client's digital teams. It's very interactive and fun. Participants do exercises, reflect on what they have just done and then draw principles and lessons from it. This means people learn simple, effective and at times counter intuitive creative principles through experiences rather than lectures.

We also use briefs they are working on and show them a new way of generating ideas other than brain storming including negative brainstorming, mashups and random picture association. For clients it helps them understand that they can be creative if they see creativity as a process with tangible tools rather than a mysterious art form.

Without giving too much away, tell us what you’ll be showing at the next dd:Social event?

We have been working on the new Virgin.com website for about a year and we are really proud of it. It was a great brief. Virgin wanted us the rethink why Virgin.com should exist given that each of their operating companies had their own websites. They wanted the .com to be more than just a portal through to those companies. It needed to show Virgin understood how to tell engaging stories around the principles their company is built on.

We believe this website is disruptive in the way it uses data to inform the content written, the mechanisms it displays that content so each reader has an experience tailored to them and because it provides a platform for entrepreneurs to learn and talk about how things could be done better.

  What’s Beyond’s proudest achievement?

Our roster of exciting clients, many of whom are leading their industries, is a representation of a lot of the best things about Beyond. We have had to build our data driven process, creative methodology and technical capabilities from scratch and with each new client you need to push your limits a little more.

  What’s exciting you in the digital world right now?