Manchester let’s ‘ave it: come on, group hug

One pissed-off little duck!

As the 2011 UK Riots moved North, any oppression displayed in Tottenham was replaced by savage kids wanting leisurewear. I had a rare half-day holiday, I was driving home listening to the radio and I was angry: at the cretins who had ruined the livelihood of others for new trainers, at the North West for letting itself down, but right then (I’m ashamed to say) I was also angry at the “I ♥ MCR” logo that was plastered all over the web and the city. Not that the sentiment bothered me but Manchester is one of the most creative cities on the planet and here they are ripping off New York. I agree that my priorities may be in question but maybe also this was just the one area where I could effect the situation.

I thought of a familiar Manchester slogan, “Let’s ‘ave it!”…thank you Liam. I wrote this out in capitals – it was obvious and epitomised how I was feeling. So before I took the kids to Alton Towers I quickly threw this together at home, tweeted it and asked the guys back at FDHQ (who clearly didn’t have a clue what I was banging-on about) to put it up for the next week as the landing page on our site. Before I had finished riding the Oblivion, the logo had been re-tweeted to over 300,000 people that same afternoon.

A few things came from this germ of an idea. Firstly, if you are passionate about something, pursue it. If you can somehow invigorate design with honesty and energy, do it. Secondly, whilst I’ve always had a working-class attitude towards creativity (as with sport I feel practice makes perfect), I also believe that often the best ideas come from relaxed thinking. It is when your mind is wandering freely that ideas will present themselves.