Georgina Henshall's winning design and adaptation for Works With Water's Bag

“When I first read the brief for the Works with Water competition, I was instantly captured and I had lots of ideas that were immediately running through my mind about potential outcomes. On the other hand, before entering I was slightly hesitant at first because although I have worked on projects before at University, I had never entered a design competition where everything would be down to me as such.

With finishing my degree later this year, I really wanted to begin to do as much work outside of my degree as I possibly could to get myself out there and to put some of my design skills to practice, and what better way to start than this. Potentially winning the chance to do a work placement in such a major company like Elmwood was always the goal, but I definitely didn’t expect it to come true.

Before I came up with my idea, I decided to do some background research. As the bag was to be used by a young and modern audience I thought there was no better place to ask people than at University. I asked various people, boys and girls, about what they would find most visually appealing on a bag they would be happy to carry around – either text or imagery – with creative text being the most popular.

With typography becoming somewhat of a trend at the moment and also being a subject that is a great passion of mine, I decided to take the typographic approach to my design.  I also read a lot of articles about raising self-confidence and self-esteem, where I found that in almost every article the main advice for this was based around this notion of increasing positivity – which therefore became the focus of my design.

When I had the email to say that my design had been chosen, I was absolutely ecstatic. Knowing that my design will now be placed on a bag that will be used and seen by hundreds of people is an idea that was once a dream and is now becoming very much reality. The competition has been such a great opportunity that I couldn’t be more grateful for, especially for getting the chance to work at Elmwood with professionals in the industry that I aspire to be a part of in the near future.”

We are delighted to announce the results of our Design Competition. The judging panel has awarded the first prize to 21 year old Georgina Henshall from Windsor for her design entry, which showcased great creative ability and graphic design skills.

WINNER – GEORGINA HENSHALL

The four runner up prizes go to David Bridges, Rebecca Howard, Tanya Beri and Tim Kirkman for some very innovative designs, all answering the competition brief to create a visual design under the concept of ‘help: your confidence’, which portrays a positive notion of increasing confidence and self esteem in young people. This is in recognition of the affect that acne can have on people’s confidence, and how acne treatments like help: clear skin, a Works with Water Neutraceuticals product, can help build self esteem..

RUNNERS UP

David Bridges	Rebecca Howard
Tanya Beri	Tim Kirkman

Thanks to all those who entered!

If you suffer from acne, please take a moment to fill out the survey here http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/AcneSurvey – it doesn’t take long and all respondents can enter themselves into a prize draw to win 1 of 6 four-week packs of help: clear skin – a 100% natural and clinically proven skin supplement treatment that helps to clear spots, blemishes and acne.

We have many acne sufferers contact us about our help: clear skin acne treatment and who share their own stories about how their acne prone skin affects them. Acne is much more than skin deep; it can have an affect on people’s confidence, social skills and daily lives. Some people believe that they will never be acne-free.

A big thank you to everyone who took part in our design competition.

Our judging panel are currently putting their heads together to choose the winning entry which we’ll announce in the New Year.  Some terrific designs, so well done to everyone… although you’ve made our job very difficult!

Thank you to all our customers for your support in 2010!
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For more information: http://www.workswithwater.co.uk/pages/design-competition.aspx

EXTENDED DEADLINE due to volume of requests: 5pm on 15 December 2010

Heartfelt thanks to the Daily Mail for their backing and support of a campaign by leading charity the Patients Association to demand an overhaul of the NHS to ensure everyone is treated with dignity and their complaints are heard.
 
The suffering of our elderly relying on the ‘care’ of the NHS is something which has affected my family during the past 12 months as my maternal grandmother was hospitalised for several months before being forced to move into residential care.
 
I say ‘forced’ because the treatment she experienced during her stay in hospital impacted so heavily that, within a few days, she  became undernourished, severely dehydrated and extremely confused.  Physically and mentally it was impossible for her to return to her own home.
 
This after living independently in her own very comfortable home with the love and support of family and good friends…at the inspiring age of 92.
 
The view of the nursing staff was very clearly that the needs of the elderly are something of a nuisance and that it is acceptable to speak to them as though they are either children, deaf or stupid.  Oh, but their ‘human rights’ need to be observed.  If an elderly patient is asked if they would like a bath and they say ‘no’, even if they are sitting in faeces and vomit, then they cannot be ‘forced’.  That is their human right – even if they are so confused they don’t even know where they are.
 
Someone of my Nan’s generation tends to subscribe to the ‘don’t make a fuss’ philosophy.  She didn’t want to be a nuisance and was pathetically grateful to the nursing staff for the smallest gesture.
 
My Mother and I fluctuated between enormous distress, guilt…and anger.  I think we exhibited great restraint with the nursing staff as we realised that to act otherwise was counter-productive.  We just wanted her out of there as swiftly as possible so they could do my Nan no further harm.
 
I’ve had many conversations with people during and since that period who have experienced the same, or much worse, for an elderly relative.  The common thread seems to be neglect and a complete lack of dignity and respect.  It took it happening to my own Grandmother to make me realise just how helpless and powerless one feels.
 
My Nan was a ‘little old lady’ – but she was made of stern stuff.  She lived a full life through difficult times and, like countless others of her generation, deserved better care at a vulnerable time of life.  We’re all going to get older and many of us may end up at the ‘mercy’ of the NHS. 
 
If we don’t use our voice and lend our support to this campaign, let’s hope we’re all made of stern stuff too.
 
Over the coming weeks, we’ll be sharing our plans to actively support the Patients Association.
 
Read about the Daily Mail’s campaign here
Visit www.patients-association.com to learn more, get help and advice and make a donation to raise £100,000 for two extra helpline advisors

Brrrr it’s cold out there… and with forecasters telling us that it is here for a couple of weeks, that fire and a good book are calling. But a word of warning the cold can also put a strain on your heart by making it work harder to keep you warm, so remember to wrap up well with plenty of layers before stepping out into those freezing conditions.

Just walking through snowdrifts can put stress on your heart. So you can imagine how much strain shoveling snow produces. If you must shovel, scoop fresh, not packed snow. Push, rather than lift, and fill the shovel to only half full or less…

… and just be careful!