Two Sides Same Coin

There’s always that famous saying that we live in such a small world and one way or another everyone knows everyone. However when we think of this really it is just a quote that can mean nothing and that we never take no notice of.  

When it comes to making friends and knowing other people, it seems just a simple way as you are always told, just talk to someone and they will become your friend, or people you may meet from school, work and throughout your life in general. 

However no-one in the world actually takes the time to stop and have a look around and try to find people who are similar to themselves, life just passes you by, so why waste it not finding people who have similarities to yourself. People just accept who they meet at the time and become friends with them.

‘Life just passes you by’

We all know how friendship works. You meet a random person, then after a while from talking to them you start to assign yourself to their characteristics or personality. 

Even at certain times most people may change the way they act, what they like doing or what they believe in just so they can fit in with other people. 

There’s no need to do that. 

This can cause some unhappiness for some people as they may not enjoy doing what their ‘friends’ are doing, but to fit into that social group or for some people to even have friends they will go along with it. 

It sometimes is not the right thing to do.

As stated above, it is such a small world that we live in and from time to time you may have already bumped into that person that is so similar to you, you don’t need to change who you are. You can enjoy being who you are and doing what you do from just talking to other people and making new (possibly the right) friends.

            "Friendship is weird. You pick a human you’ve met and you’re like, 'yup I like this one,' and you just do stuff together.”

The above quote is great! It can have different meanings for many different people. If you’re a random person who likes doing a lot of different stuff and living a busy changing lifestyle each day then you will meet a lot of new people who you like and then decide to do stuff with them. 

If you didn’t like this person or feel like you do not fully get along with them then it would not be a big problem for yourself as you would be able to find other people who you most likely will get along with and will find time to fit them in with your busy changing lifestyle.

So you’re probably now thinking why all the talk about friends, similarities, small world and the title of this blog post: 

"two sides same coin?"

Well until recently I have never thought much about just how small a world we live in and how we meet people who are similar to us but maybe never meet them properly or become friends. Lately I have experienced this and seen it first-hand.

I work at skignz and for the previous 12 months or so I was the only girl working in the company as the rest of the team were boys. This was fine with me as we all got along really well and they were really nice people, however I would have liked to have a girl around the office. 

Then the time had come when our Film and Media Producer got a years secondment working for FITV in the Falklands which was a great opportunity for him, which meant we had to hire a new person to take over his position! 

Whether it was to be a boy or girl I would not have minded, although personally I thought a girl would have been a great addition to the team.

Then comes the time when you realise whoever does gets chosen, we would both have to get to know each other and become colleagues. However this was not the encounter that I was expecting.

We interviewed a lot of people for the role and narrowed it down to a few, a mixture of boys and girls. 

I asked if I could sit in on one of the interviews one day to get some experience of what it was like. The day when the interviews were taking place I sat in one interview with a girl Sarah (now our new Film and Media Producer but I will get to that soon). 

The interview went well and after she left I said to our CMO, that I felt like I knew her from somewhere and that I knew who she was, even though I didn’t know her or recognise her name I had a feeling that I sort of 'knew her'.

When the decision was made, they had chosen Sarah for the position. We all decided to meet up for a chat before she came in and started working here at the beginning of June. 

When meeting in the more relaxed surroundings of a local coffee shop, we were all chatting away getting to know one another when we started to notice similarities. 

It started off with small similarities, such as the way we had lived when we were younger, because when travelling to school neither of us liked to get buses so instead we both got taxis. We realised we both don't like to be alone and that suprisingly we had both had the first same date with our boyfriends: we each went to the same seaside town, to the same part of the beach. 

We were both shocked and started laughing about it when we found about how many similarities we each had and we thought well that could maybe be just it, even though without us realising it, there was actually far more in store.

On Sarah’s first day at work we started to get along really well chatting to each other a lot. When talking to each other, we both discussed our previous placements with Teesside University for three month before being here at skignz. 

Talking about our three month internships we realised that on one day, we had actually both sat down and had dinner together! We both didn't recognise each other at the table and it was only now that we work together that it finally clicked! Such a small world…

When you start to realise that you have had a lot of similarities in life with someone that you have just met, it can seem a bit strange depending on how you get along with that person. It seems really strange to you that you are as similar to someone as this, but is it really a bad thing?

That’s where we realised it wasn’t. We just laughed at every similarity we had, yeah it was strange at first but now it’s just amusing. We had a lot of strange similarities that are still appearing this day such as we had the same first car, the same email address and even buying the same DVD’s on the same day!  

Spooky or what?

‘We don’t meet people by accident, they are meant to cross our path for a reason’

Everyone is judgemental when they see a person or come to meeting someone new. For instance people may class blonde as stupid and dumb, when two people such as Sarah and me get along really well and have so many similarities/personality we could get classed as the same people, and I am not blonde! It’s a big wide wondering world to not judge someone and get to actually know a person that you may get along with really well.

‘Blonde and Brunette – different but the same’

Meeting someone new is a great part in everyone’s life at some point, so make sure you do it. We have figured it can be hard for people to meet each other or even just start to talk to each other. 

Now your wondering how this links with skignz other than we both work here?

Well just imagine if everyone had skignz. It can be very similar to everyone having social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter; however skignz is a much easier way to get to know someone and interact with them, you even can know where they are, so you never have to lose them again!

skignz is a great way for making friends and staying in contact with them if you have only met that person for a short while. 

You can connect to each other, add each other as friends and get to see where you each are when arranging to meet up, open your smart phone and see where they are?

You can keep in contact by talking to each other and interacting through skignz.

If you would like to find out more about skignz or if you have a struggle to make friends or even meet new people, then please get in touch or download the app and we will help to assist you in this tricky but so simple situation!

www.skignz.com

www.facebook.com/discoverskignz

www.twitter.com/skignz

Oversea Students Are Impressed!

At skignz we always want new people to be informed and test out the new technology that we have created. We love seeing how impressed they are with it and just how great of a reaction we get from everyone.

The 1^st July saw a group of oversea's student’s travel across from Africa to Teesside University on a 4 week course as a consideration to study their Masters here. 

within a day of arriving in the UK, straight from getting off the plane they came across to Teesside University to meet skignz and get involved in a treasure hunt/orientation activity.

Now some may wonder students have travelled across from Nigeria on a long flight, why would they want to come and first of all see skignz before they do anything else. Well skignz is their guide, essentially. 

They need to get to know the area and know where they are going while they are here, and skignz is the way for them to do that. Also we wanted them to get introduced to this great technology and see just how impressed they were with it.

When they arrived at the university we decided to give them a short introduction to skignz; what it is and how they can use it. We showed them a couple of videos of how it worked and then got them to download the app to their phone ready for the treasure hunt/orientation activity.

Just from watching the video and talking about it, we could see by the reactions on their faces and some of the words they were coming out with: “wow, amazing, great” just how amazed they were by how good this new piece of technology is.

We started them off on their orientation activity. The original plan was to split them up into groups of 5 however there was a slight problem with them coming from overseas not all of them had 3G connections (expensive overseas roaming charges) which was no at problem when on campus due to the use of the Wi-Fi, but upon stepping off the campus they had to rely on only a few members of the group who could access 3G and off they went to discover the surrounding area beyond the campus.

The orientation activity started from Teesside University leading around Middlesbrough down Linthorpe road into town then back up to the university again. 

It was set to take around two hours so that they could get used to the app, have some fun and also get to know about Middlesbrough. All aimed at helping them to decide whether to come over to study their Masters at Teesside University.

After the orientation activity was completed, they arrived back at Teesside University and we gathered some feedback from how it went.

The engaged students gave positive feedback saying that it was good, not so hard to use and was fun getting to know about Middlesbrough. 

They said it was an easy way to understand where they were going and did not get lost.

After the feedback was gathered we then decided to gather back in the Business School and get some further feedback of how they found the app and how they decide they are going to use it in the future. 

We also offered to answer any questions that they may have had about attending Teesside University or wanting to study here.

Some of the feedback from the students that we received was excellent. 

Statements ranged from:

            - “It will be helpful at concerts”

            - “We have large carnivals in our country, including big festival”

            - “I will use it wherever I visit the UK”

            - “I will skignz up our University back home”

            - “We will introduce it to our friends when we get back home”

            - “It is great technology that is beneficial and fun in a lot of ways”

The students from Africa were very excited about the technology that skignz offered and were excited about using it back home. They were excited to tell all of their friends about it and wanted to know what more we could do with it, giving us a lot of ideas which were really appreciated. 

Fresh ideas from overseas students!

We were really pleased with reactions and feedback we received. The students were very cheery and had a lot of positive thoughts about skignz. They stated that they were going to use it while in the UK for four weeks to help find their friends if they get lost and to also find the accommodation where they are staying if not sure where they are. 

The skignz app will defiantly be useful to the over sea students while they are over in the UK.

When we were showing them the videos of the work we were doing with some luxury brands at the moment they were amazed with what we showed them. 

When we showed them all a video of a luxury car makers, Car Configurator and the work we have planned to do with skignz they got even more excited about the technology, stating once again, just how amazing the work is that can be done with skignz.

We hope to be having a catch up with them in a couple of weeks, see how they are getting on and how they are enjoying it over here and also to see how they have found skignz.

If you want to know more about studying at Teesside University then visit their website www.tees.ac.uk to see some of the amazing under graduate and post graduate courses they offer. 

If you are a college or overseas university and would like to come and visit the TU campus and discover skignz for yourself then please contact either Teesside University or skignz.

If you would like to get to know more about skignz or if you have taken an interest in it, whether it be beneficial to you or to a brand you may know of then please get in touch with us using the links below.

www.skignz.com

www.facebook.com/discoverskignz

www.twitter.com/discoverskignz

www.youtube.com/skignz

The Teams Work - Sarah Spowart

Hey Guys!

My name is Sarah Spowart and I have recently joined the skignz team as a Film and Media Producer. How professional does that sound! 

My job role involves creating short training, promo and online sharable videos that can be sent to potential clients showing them how their company can benefit from using skignz.

I finished University last year qualifying with a First Class Honours Degree in Broadcast Media Production which is my biggest achievement yet. I enjoyed my course a lot and love that I can finally put the skills that I learnt into good use here at skignz. 

When I was offered the job I had a huge mix of emotions going through my body all at once. Some of these included:

I haven’t been here long but it’s already becoming a busy month for me, learning how to use different software and of course not forgetting being the ‘star’ of a recent photo-shoot. Busy times!

In my spare time I like to bake and experiment with new recipes, whether they’re from a book or simply made up. I love baking cakes and sweet things - check out some pies I knocked up: D-LISH!       

I look forward to working for skignz and hope they enjoy working with me! Together we can cook up a storm!

Catch you later,

Sarah xx 

Aerosure - Health and Personal Care Technology

Health is a big issue now and is getting talked about more each day. How a person lives their life, how they work and their daily activity can have a massive impact on their lives and their health. 

It won't however just affect them, it can and the majority of the time will have an effect on others around them.

Technology is getting more advanced each day

It is great that technology is getting more advanced each day as it is better for us and how we can all benefit from it; however it starts now from a young age that a lot of kids and younger children start to use technology which overall can have a big impact on themselves and their life ahead of them. 


From watching TV to playing on their games and being on the computer, all of this is a lot for kids to do from a young age.

Recently being talked about in the news a lot is that obesity levels are rising

Young Kids and Technology

high and that it’s causing health 

issues for a lot of people. Kids are starting to become more obese and so are adults. 

Being overweight and obesity can rise from how a person has lived their life each and every day. The government are recently bringing new schemes out to help people on the NHS lose weight by teaming up and joining weight-watchers referral scheme. 

This is a way to help people who can't afford to lose weight or are not able to do it themselves have the ability to be able to take that step to being healthier.

Weight Watcher provide NHS Weight Loss Referral Scheme

The team at skignz know how all of this can have an impact. We sit at computers for the majority of the day doing work and at the end of the day the first thing that is definitely not on our list is to go home and be straight on another computer. 

We have seen how widely talked about this is that the impact it can have on someone’s health. Sitting at a computer desk most of the day is not good for our eyes, focus, brain activity and more. It can affect the inside and outside of your body.

This is when we came across this great piece of technology – health and personal care: Aerosure. 

                   

‘Aerosure is a personal respiratory device that causes oscillation of the chest wall as you breathe in and out. 

Aerosure was developed by Dr Paul Sumners initially as a device to stimulate the respiratory system for scientific research, but as it progressed it was realised that the oscillation could do more than what had initially been anticipated. Initially we tried to use it for respiratory muscle training in a similar way to power breathe and it was effective but they soon realised that the benefits of respiratory muscle training were limited. 

This has enormous implications for lots of conditions where breathlessness is a major symptom of disease progression. Further in some patients whose oxygen saturation is low because of inadequate ventilation of the lungs they saw an increase in oxygen saturation whilst the patients were using Aerosure.

This suggests that Aerosure could be used as a portable ventilator. This again has massive implications for diseases involving loss of lung tissue or respiratory inefficiency. Further work is underway so it is still early days but the future for Aerosure looks exciting’.

Aerosure - Personal and Healthcare Technology

This type of technology for health and personal care is a great new advancement and will be sure to help a lot of people in the future. Whoever may develop problems from whether it just is natural causes or from the use of technology too much then this will be a great benefit for them to have.

Keep a look out on the advancements that this type of technology will make. We sure are going to, and just a last small piece of advice, if you do have children maybe limit the use of technology that they use each day. 

However don't just consider Aerosure for how it could affect you now and society, look at the long term prospect for the future. Aerosure can improve your health and help to keep you fit for longer allowing you to breathe easier and have clear airways. It is your direction to better health and keeping it that way. 

It will keep them healthier for longer and you never know just how much they may need to use it in the future with all the advancements getting made each and every day as we go on. As we said, we sit at computers each day, which is definitely not good for our health or our body weight, as we are not getting any meaningful exercise throughout the day.

If you would like to read up more on this new health and personal care technology then please use the links below.

bit.ly/1tTBdvy - Aerosure Medic 

If you would like to please feel free to take a look at the rest of skignz blogger. There are a lot of interesting articles on there that you may find interesting or useful to read about and could maybe just benefit you in some way. 

www.skignz.com

www.facebook.com/discoverskignz

www.twitter.com/discoverskignz

www.youtube.com/skignz