Festival Hack Day - BBC6 Music

Summary of the Event...

Friday 20th February 2015, 9:30am till 4pm the next day!!! 

Located at The Core, Newcastle University, Newcastle, Students and local tech based SME's attended and partners included BBC 6 Music, Generator, Newcastle University.

AIM: To produce an app that would develop their festival ideas into web and mobile apps to trial at the event. From creating personal line ups, to finding friends, learning more about the bands performing live and sharing unique festival stories – the creators at Festival Hack Day will have an open brief to look at all elements of the live music experience.team

So where do skignz fit in?

We decided to take part as one of the regions Tech based SME's, but we felt as the skignz technology platform which we have been developing over the last few years. 

skignz provides any festival with a significantly enhanced user experience, introduces fresh new tech and helps in areas where problems have only been present in the past.

  

We felt it would be unfair to 'enter skignz' so what we did was provide the 'hackers' with some code that they could include in their own app ideas that would launch the skignz tech. So we developed an onsite demo for each of the hackers to access, giving them an understand of what skignz is capable of then we encouraged them to set up their own accounts, so when they launched the skignz browser from their apps they would have meaningful content.

              

Many congratulations must go to the awesome OrangeBus team as they were overall winners with the best Hack!

Check out the story of the hack on their storify feed:
https://storify.com/orangebus/orange-bus-follow-the-music-and-win?utm_source=orangebus.co.uk&utm_content=storify-pingback&utm_campaign=&awesm=sfy.co_i0KTL&utm_medium=sfy.co-twitter

What did some of the participants say?:

Take a look at the below links all connected with the event. Lots of feedback, insight and musing about the whole event:

Hugh Rawlinsons Blog Post:

http://blog.soundwave.com/bbc-6-music-festival-hack-day/

Newcastle University:

http://www.ncl.ac.uk/press.office/press.release/item/hour-festival-hack-day-announced-as-part-of-the-6-music-festival-on-tyneside

M Magazine:
http://www.m-magazine.co.uk/news/6-music-festival-host-hack-day/

OrangeBus:
http://www.orangebus.co.uk/en/blog/orange-bus-follow-the-music

If you would like to know more about Generator NE

http://www.generator.org.uk/

For more information on BBC Radio 6 Music festival then please take a look here:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/events/e8qbj5

Check out the Gallery below for some further images through the eyes of skignz:

 

If you would like to know more about skignz then please visit our website at http://www.skignz.com and don't forget to check us out on a range of the popular Social Media Channels.

Are you the right person for skignz? We are hiring for varying positions.

Are you coming out of University and need that experience? Or are you ready to move on to that next step? Then skignz are pleased to announce that opportunities have opened up within the business for a wide variety of roles. 

skignz welcomes anyone to the company and considers all applicants. 

So if you or anyone you know is looking for a job or is looking for a new job, then don’t hesitate in checking out these roles and get applying as in some cases some positions have an almost immediate start.


Available Roles:


1. Graphic / UX  / Digital Designer

The ideal candidate will be:-

• Proficient in the use of Photoshop/Illustrator
• Knowledge of HTML5, CSS would be a huge advantage
• Experience to show working with websites / Apps
• Knowledge of Responsive design

Number of vacancies: 1

Degree subjects required: Graphic, 3D, industrial, product, UX, web design or other relevant digital design subject.

Location: Stockton-on-Tees.

Type: Permanent

Basis: Full Time

Salary Details: Competitive Salary

Method of application: Email CV and Covering Letter

Include 2 references in your CV. In you covering letter include which role/ company you are applying for, a short paragraph as to why you would be the ideal candidate for the role and why you would like to work for the company. Please ensure the job title is the title of your email.

Contact name for applications: Si Brown

E-mail: uk@skignz.com

Web Site:     http://www.skignz.com

Closing Date: 20th March 2015

2. Programmer/App Developer in Objective C

Skills:
Essential:-
• Proficient in the use of Objective C

Desirable:-
• Ability to build apps for IOS, Android, Windows and Google

Desirable Additional Skills:-
• HTML, PHP, Javascript, CSS, XML, XHTML

Number of vacancies: 1

Degree subjects required: Computing or Similar

Location: Stockton-on-Tees.

Type: Permanent

Basis: Full Time

Salary Details: Competitive Salary

Method of application: Email CV and covering letter

Include 2 references in your CV. In you covering letter include which role / company you are applying for, a short paragraph as to why you would be the ideal candidate for the role and why you would like to work for the company. Please ensure the job title is the title of your email.

Contact name for applications: Si Brown

E-mail: uk@skignz.com

Web Site: http://www.skignz.com

Closing Date: 20th March 2015

3. Programmer/App Developer in Java

Skills:
Essential:-
• Proficient in the use of Java

Desirable:-
• Ability to build apps for IOS, Android, Windows and Google

Desirable Additional Skills:-
• HTML, PHP, Javascript, CSS, XML, XHTML

Number of vacancies: 1

Degree subjects required: Computing or Similar

Location: Stockton-on-Tees

Type: Permanent

Basis: Full Time

Salary Details: Competitive Salary

Method of application: Email CV and covering letter

Include 2 references in your CV. In you covering letter include which role/ company you are applying for, a short paragraph as to why you would be the ideal candidate for the role and why you would like to work for the company. Please ensure the job title is the title of your email.

Contact name for applications: Si Brown

E-mail: uk@skignz.com

Web Site: http://www.skignz.com

Closing Date: 20th March 2015

4. Programmer/App Developer in C/C++

Skills:
Essential:-
• Proficient in the use of C/C++

Desirable:-
• Ability to build apps for IOS, Android, Windows and Google

Desirable Additional Skills:-

• HTML, PHP, Javascript, CSS, XML, XHTML

Number of vacancies: 1

Location: Stockton-on-Tees

Type: Permanent

Basis: Full Time

Salary Details: Competitive salary.

Method of application: Email CV and covering letter

Include 2 references in your CV. In you covering letter include which role/ company you are applying for, a short paragraph as to why you would be the ideal candidate for the role and why you would like to work for the company. Please ensure the job title is the title of your email.

Contact name for applications: Si Brown

E-mail: uk@skignz.com

Web Site: http://www.skignz.com

Closing Date: 20th March 2015

5.  Marketing Executive / Marketing Manager

Essential:

• Marketing or related qualification
• Understanding of PR & Blogging
• Proficient in the use of Social Media
• Customer Service Experience
• Responsible, show initiative, enthusiasm & dedication
• Excellent attention to detail and deliver work of the very highest standard
• Ability to manage multiple projects simultaneously

Desirable:

• Knowledge of of Mobile technology & App development would be a huge advantage
• An eye for good design, understanding & identifying trends is very helpful
• A second language is desired but not essential
• Experience is desired but not essential

Number of vacancies: 1

Degree Subjects required: Marketing, Business, Design Marketing

Location: Stockton-on-Tees

Type: Permanent

Basis: Full Time


Salary Details: Competitive salary

Method of application: Email CV and covering letter

Include 2 references in your CV. In you covering letter include which role/ company you are applying for, a short paragraph as to why you would be the ideal candidate for the role and why you would like to work for the company. Please ensure the job title is the title of your email.

Contact name for applications: Si Brown

E-mail: uk@skignz.com

Web Site: http://www.skignz.com

Closing Date: 20th March 2015

The roles above are also available via Teesside University website on the careers search site. 

If you know of anyone who is looking to start their career or further advance in any of the above roles then please don't hesitate to let them know and share this post. 

If you would like to know more about skignz then please visit our website at http://www.skignz.com and don't forget to check us out on a range of the popular Social Media Channels.

skignz on Stag Parties

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Placement Opportunities

Each year current students and graduates start looking for placement opportunities to gain themselves some essential experience or even to hopefully start their new career path. And some people can find this stressful, but it doesn't have to be as hard as it seems.

There are a lot of companies out there that do start to hire at the beginning of the year, and while some may be hard to get into as they already require experience and good education, there are some that are always open to offering placement opportunities to graduates, students and the younger generation.

That is where skignz comes along.

All year round skignz is always offering placement opportunities to students and graduates. That is one of the most important aspects about skignz itself as a company. skignz believes that everyone should be treated equally and that by allowing the opportunity to be available to everyone, we are providing that equality.

skignz is currently actively looking at the moment to hire. So any graduates or students who are currently looking for work experience please feel free to contact skignz.

skignz vacancies are advertised through Teesside University as that is where our focus is. We currently through Teesside University provide the opportunity for a graduate to come and do a 3 month placement through skignz as part of their degree, hopefully with the intention of leading onto full time work.

Jeff Bramfitt came to join the skignz team this year on a 3 month placement with the possibility of keeping on as full time employment. Here is a little brief on himself:

“I trained initially as a Graphic Designer then spent over 20 years as a computer graphics artist at legendary games company Psygnosis/Sony Studio Liverpool, until recession hit and Sony started downsizing drastically.  Sadly, the studio ultimately closed as a result.  In my time there I had the pleasure of contributing as a 2D and 3D Artist on over 30 titles, including classic Playstation franchises Wipeout and Formula 1.

More recently, I decided to update my skills and improve my career options by doing a Degree in Web & Multimedia Design, graduating with a 2:1 in 2014.  I hope my unique combination of recent Web Design development combined with my C.G. production experience will help me move forward in a rapidly changing landscape.

I have an unhealthy habit of purchasing large dilapidated old houses and lovingly restoring them, which is the closest I come to having a hobby. At the moment (the last 4 years) all my spare time is spent bringing an early Victorian town house on Hartlepool's historic seafront back to it's former glory.”

skignz will be looking at expanding the team as the year goes on as you can read about our 2015 plans in skignz year ahead blog post. So do feel free to apply if you are interested or contact us personally to see what vacancies are available.

If you would like to know more on skignz current vacancies then please visit http://bit.ly/1myDwzK 

If you would like to know more about skignz then please visit our website at http://www.skignz.com and don't forget to check us out on a range of the popular Social Media Channels.

2015: The Year of the skignz ;-)

After a great and successful 2014, skignz now looks to what we have to aim for in the first half of 2015. Through a lot of opportunities being provided in 2014 for skignz.

January has already begun at a hectic pace. Setting us up ready to embark and progress onto fulfilling those opportunities, plus more when they come along.

We decided to have a small outlook on what the first half of 2015 will bring us and hopefully be able to fulfil our New Year’s resolutions! 

The very beginning of 2015 sees skignz with a new intern who has applied to gain some work experience alongside studying at Teesside University to help their career get started. 

Jeff Bramfitt is a Digital & Graphic Designer who recently completed his studies at Teesside University and was looking for some invaluable work experience to enhance his skills and help take the next steps in his career. This is also an interesting experience for skignz as we love taking on new members and getting fresh ideas and minds to the company. 

Also in the first month of 2015 we have continued working on a project, but not one we can divulge at this moment but more of that when we can! However the project will be big and very exciting and we hope to share some examples of the fantastic work we will have embarked upon over the coming months. 

The first quarter of 2015 has so far began in earnest with follow up on all the opportunities skignz was presented with in last year. Such as our visit to Boston, MA to develop relationships with a number of global brands and some truly awesome people. 

Attending Most Contagious in London, allowed skignz to meet a lot of companies and brands from around the world and quite a few were very interested in the skignz technology and looking at how they can work with us going forward.

The few months will also see skignz developing more relationships and projects with companies across Europe & The Middle East, whilst we increase our activity in the US both on the East & West coasts from our office in Las Vegas, NV. 

Moving onto the subject of offices, we will be announcing soon our new offices and later in the summer we are aiming to open one more office somewhere within the UK.

As the projects start to increase we will be requiring more staff to join skignz as we will aim to keep the quality of service at a very high level, but we aim to continue our significant work on R&D. 

We pride ourselves in always offering a range of opportunities at skignz for Internships & Work Experience. 

We love nothing more than people who are really keen to learn and want to make progress in their careers being able to come and join the skignz team just like our latest intern has last month. 

We are actively looking for new people to join our expanding team. So if you, or someone you know might be interested, then please get in touch.

We have an incredible amount of activity planned for 2015 and having already presented/pitched four different global brands in January alone, above are just a few of the New Year’s resolutions we hope to keep within the first half of 2015. Wish us luck and keep an eye out to see if we fulfil these and for further announcements on our client and projects wins.

Happy New Year to everyone! lets make 2015 the year of the skignz ;-)

If you would like to know more about skignz then please visit our website at http://www.skignz.com and don't forget to check us out on a range of the popular Social Media Channels.

Most Contagious 2014

To round last year off, skignz had the chance to exhibit at one of the most exclusive gatherings of the year - Most Contagious. 

This was a great opportunity to present and demonstrate our technology to leading agencies & brands companies from all around the world attending Most Contagious.

Most Contagious is an annual, uniquely curated innovation event in London staged by Contagious. 

Most Contagious celebrates the biggest innovations and analyses the most impactful marketing from the year to decipher what influence these will have on the immediate future for brands and advertising.

Contagious helps brands and advertising agencies understand and adapt to shifts in marketing, consumer culture and technology. 

The team at skignz were very grateful that we were allowed and provided with the opportunity to not only present our technology at the event, but to also learn about other great companies who had invested in their own technology alongside a range of other new companies. 

Most of which were featured in their 'Small But Perfectly Formed' section over the previous 12 months.

Besides being given the opportunity to exhibit, skignz also got the chance to listen to some great leaders and speakers at the event and allow them to provide us with some great inspiration. 

Listening to each speaker was great for skignz, however one thing we noticed along the way from many speakers was that the current technology they were explaining to the audience could have been skignz (in a different placed sense). 

See these two images to the right.... essentially skignz tech! These images were used in different presentations by the speakers

However at the event each year is the Small But Perfectly Formed companies whereby Contagious has celebrated seven small companies hoping to change the world. 

skignz got to meet a few of these at the event itself and was great to find out how they were doing with their company and what their future plans looked like. 

skignz hopes that we could featured in Contagious's SBPF throughout the coming year and  become one of those companies chosen in the short list for Most Contagious 2015.

The whole day of the event itself was a truly amazing experience to have. Not only was it Most Contagious 10th Anniversary, it was an exceptional day to meet, discuss and learn about Most Contagious themselves and everyone else there.

Meeting so many worldwide companies and brands was very exciting for us, so we hoped to impress them with the skignz technology. 

Many people who came and learnt about the skignz technology and got to see it demonstrated were very impressed and left some great comments;






- “skignz is the most exciting thing I have seen all day”
- “This could be the Internet in the sky”
- “Seeing the live demonstration has just blew my mind… I need time to think of what great opportunities lie for skignz”
- “The possibilities are endless” 

The above were just a few comments from people attending Most Contagious and took the effort to come and tell us. The feedback that we received was truly inspirational as it gave us so much hope for the future and a lot of exciting opportunities to look forward to with a lot of brands.

Meeting people from Australia, Brazil, Ireland and many other places just goes to show how much of a great event Most Contagious really is and what it offers to all brands and companies around the world.
  
From this, skignz has begun a lot of relationships with people and we will be working together providing some great work in the future.

The skignz team had a truly awesome time and would like to give a big thank you to the Most Contagious team and directors for allowing us the opportunity to attend this event and meet some truly exceptional people. 

 


We would also like to thank the people and brands we met that gave us exceptional feedback to put us in a bright light for future developments.

If you would like to have a read of Most Contagious X based on their tenth anniversary then please follow this link to their on line PDF or download it to get your own personal one. 

If you would like to know more about Most Contagious 2014 then a good place to start would be http://www.mostcontagious.com/ 

If you would like to read Most Contagious X PDF then please visit https://magazine.contagious.com/x 

If you would like to know more about skignz then please visit our website at http://www.skignz.com and don't forget to check us out on a range of the popular Social Media Channels.

Boston, BABCNE and our very own Mr Brown

The date is the 1st December 2014 and not only is skignz embarking on the 1st day of December but Co-Founder and CMO was setting off to Boston MA, USA, to speak to some of the worlds largest brands.

Joining Si on this trip was a delegation from the North East of England including UKTi, NECC and a number of businesses keen on finding out what Boston has to offer them.

Deb McGargle, the awesome Co Founder of Particular Law, one of the UK's leading law firms working with start up tech companies was Si's travelling companion. Si takes up the story of the trip:

Deb and I were routed through Dublin from Newcastle and the biggest shock we came across was Passport Control, normally what you have to go through in the country you land in, was in Dublin Airport, right after you went through security. US Sovereign soil in Ireland. Hence no time for duty free or even breakfast! The trip had begun.

Both Deb and I are still not quite sure if this is a good idea or not, as it felt rather strange, but upon landing in Boston and literally getting off the plane, walking through a corridor, one door took us right out onto the taxi stand where the other led us to the baggage carousel. Not the usual miserable face wanting to know your 'inside leg measurement' as proof your visit to their country is for anything worthy.

 

BABCNE (British American Business Council of New England) and the British Consulate were fine hosts and many of their board members were on hand through our trip to welcome us and introduce us to many different people. I was slightly shocked as the President of BABCNE, Ken Vacovac was my own father's Doppelganger! The Boston, Malcolm Brown. Both seemed that their counterpart was probably the best looking guys in their native towns ... mmm!

Back to business and whilst I was off spending a number of days in meetings with different organisations including UKTi, Microsoft, CIC, British Consulate, Local Government office and a number of local businesses, Deb was off meeting other lawyers across Boston, whilst taking some time out to address a group of students at Harvard Law school! As one does!

I'm very privileged to say that I've actually known Deb since we were in primary school and she's equally at home in the House of Lords or Harvard Law as she is in a start-up company's garage trying to understand their next move!

I spent a lot of time showing demo's of the skignz technology to various audiences including many people from our own delegation, in turn finding out what got those guys out of bed on a morning. I must say we had quite a wonderful eclectic group of people and thoroughly enjoyed their company.

Over the years I have been on a number of delegations with UKTi and I always enjoy meeting and enjoying talking to others who have gone on the trip. I think I find a kindred spirit that these guys are prepared to get off their derriere and go out and make things happen. There does not seem to be an age, sector, industry or background barrier. They are all out there as I am trying to make things happen on a global scale, trying to get a slice of the bigger pie than what is on offer in our own immediate areas.

Not many of you will know this but both Gary (skignz other Co-Founder) and I met on a UKTi mission to Cannes, France way back in 2001. I believe we were the only people to secure work from that trip, but that was from each others' company as we went on to build a strong partnership and longer lasting friendship and now a partnership.

So if you have not spoken to UKTi or been on a 'Trade Mission' Sector visit, then I highly recommend you do, not just from a business perspective but also from your own personal development point of view.

Back to Boston and BABCNE, where some of us were invited to their Christmas Luncheon at the Harvard Club. A most splendid afternoon was had by all and I walked away with quite a few prizes from their quiz ;-).

Another reason for the trip was to engage with their Venture Capital Community to try and get an understanding of what they are looking to invest in, what profile of company, stage of growth etc. However nothing prepared me for the 'sheer size of this VC Community'.

In the building, One Broadway, in the centre of the Cambridge area of Boston, they have five times as many Venture Capitalists than the whole of Europe combined! Yes you did read that right! From what I was told, their combined wealth would place them as about the 5-6th world's largest GDP!

After pitching skignz to a number of potential VC's I then went on to take a look at the government buildings, the Consulate General's Residence for an early reception and a visit to WCM, one of Boston's top media agencies.

One of the visits that really stuck out in my mind and was probably most relative to skignz (other than the fine people at Microsoft - you know who you are ;-) ) was visiting CIC (Cambridge Innovation Centre) also in the same building as ALL these VC's and the British Consulate.

After showing us around the start up and growth accelerator areas, they invited us to take part in their Thursdays weekly gathering, free beer and plenty of interesting people with similar interests in creativity, tech and all at different stages of their business growth.

I even had the opportunity to speak to some Russian students who were on an exchange programme for four weeks. It was really interesting to see what they made of the tech scene compared with their homeland. Obviously this conversation took place in Russian, with me being fluent! Yeah, right oh!

In summary, Boston was an awesome experience, a worthwhile trip and a great opportunity to meet new friends, catch up with old friends and expand the gospel of skignz ... speaking of gospels ... Gospelware who were another awesome company on the delegation I spent time with.

I had met Ryan previously but it never ceases to amaze me, his passion for all things in the mobile tech sphere!

 

Since the trip we have already met one of the key guys from Microsoft for lunch in Newcastle, UK, we have pitched skignz to the most senior people at 3 different leading global brands.

We are hoping that a delegation from Boston & BABCNE will come over to the North East of England for the return leg! They are very welcome and I'm hoping that between BABCNE, UKTi, British Consulate, and the NECC, plus the guys who went out in December can make this happen in 2015.

skignz will certainly be returning to see our new friends in Boston in the coming months as we increase our US activity and fingers crossed with the 3 brands we have already engaged with ...

Watch this space as we update you all through the year on our progress stateside ...

If you would like to know more about BABCNE and what they do, even how they can help you and your business then please visit http://www.babcne.org

Would like to know more about UKTi and see how you can take part in their annual activities. Please visit http://www.greatbusiness.gov.uk

If you would like to pray at the altar of Gospelware, see how these guys eat, sleep and breathe mobile. Please check them out at http://www.gospelware.co.uk

Do you have a tech business and need the best legal support team on the whole planet then you need to get in touch with Deb and her team at Particular. http://www.particularlegal.com

However if you just want to know how skignz could help your Business or even just be a cool thing to have for your own personal use... http://www.skignz.com

Apple, Google, Facebook - Reaching out to brands across the world

At skignz we like nothing more than to reach out across the world to brands to let them know of skignz and how we would love to do some awesome work with them! 

We love working with brands locally, however GLOBALLY is where skignz was designed and developed to be used. In everyones local area, regardless of where they are on the planet. 

We have recently been thinking of global brands and how best to introduce them to skignz. We felt that skignz is best 'experienced' so we began by finding a number of specific places where we could skignz up the environment for the local people to experience it for themselves. 

For our inital foray, we have chosen Apple, Google and Facebook to be our 'Guinea Pigs'. We believe that we could demonstrate to them the varying ways in which skignz could help them, especially as most of the people who work at these companies are early adopters and very tech and marketing savy.

Its this approach we hope will provoke thought, questions and ideas of not only how their brands could use skignz but also how skignz could link in with their brands, their technology for the mutual benefit of not only the companies, but also the end consumers, by creating something very different, yet very exciting! 

Initially we have decided to skignz up their HQ's/Main Campuses. We created different skignz personalised to each brand and then placed them around their headquarters! (If any employee from Apple, Google or Facebook is reading this, then please download skignz now and take a look at the interactive digital content we have created and place in the sky above your Headquarters/Campus!). 

                                








The skignz above each of the brands campuses shows just a small amount of the what skignz is capable but hopefully enough to peek interest for people to find out more.

There is a whole lot more that skignz can help with and the possibilities are almost endless, especially when partnering and working with others who have complimenting technology and the same outlook to development as us. There can be general skignz, personalised skignz and now even 3D skignz! They can be placed on map, in situ where you and and even follow objects, people etc... around!

We are working on a range of further developments for increased functionality and hopefully soon users will be able to pull in their Social Media profiles/updates into a skign above their own head! (Sounds impressive?...) That's just a small taster of what skignz has got planned for launch in the near future.

Below you can see an example video that we have created for the Apple brand itself, to show you how we can improve the enhance the experience of staff and visitors alike at thier HQ! 

If you enjoyed watching the video then we would love for you to get in touch with us. skignz's passion is supporting you, so your brand can help improve the lives of others. 

We have already opened an office in Las Vegas, NV, US in the early part of 2014. So our global reach is already well underway! However we would love to expand our partnerships into more global consumer tech brands. 

skignz keeps up to date with technology changes in the market everyday, and right now we have technology that is changing the way people see the way things are and how they could be using skignz.

If you would like to know more on this or what skignz is or how it can help you, then please take a look at our social media sites and our YouTube channel where we have a range of great videos to show you just what is possible with skignz! You hopefully will have more ways in which skignz could be applied or used.

www.skignz.com

www.facebook.com/skignz

www.twitter.com/skignz

www.youtube.com/skignz