This time last year we set out some aims for 2009 and our second year at toggle, the key points we wanted to focus on were Simplicity, Design and Open Source. How did did we do?

Simplicity

2009 was an extremely turbulent time for us. We moved offices twice, and then back to where we started. We took on freelancers and paid work experience students. We talked about expansion, discussed diversifying, discussed focusing on one business area, launched our shop, a new website and the laundry service. All of these were experiments to establish a route forwards. A route that would hopefully afford us some financial security and allow us to continue doing the work we love. It is safe to say we moved away from simplicity in a the hope it would take us somewhere new. It didn’t – but at the same time some of these experiments were essential. We now know what we want, what works (the shop has been a huge success) and what doesn’t (huge overheads and staff). They are important lessons to learn.

Design

2009 was a good year for design. The shop allowed us to experiment with design a great deal. We produce our own packaging and labels as well as getting to make the actual products. We also experimented with print making, book binding and illustration for various projects throughout the year. We would like to do more handmade work – I think our own site illustrations prove that it can be very effective both online and off.

Open Source

Our Open Source efforts continued with Pixie and as a result we were rewarded with a runner up prize for “the most promising Open Source CMS“. That is a massive achievement and puts our little CMS along side some of the greats (WordPress, Drupal etc). Things were not all rosy for Pixie though. In July we received a legal threat from Tech4Learning with regards to a Pixie trademark in the USA. The letter was a “cease and desist” so we decided to ignore it. Our reasons for this are simple; If Tech4Learning would have approached us with a civilised inquiry then a discussion could have taken place about the Pixie name. Instead they took the route of a scared business. One that is afraid of competition. If anyone from Tech4Learning is reading this – we would still be open to a discussion about it.

This year we need to look at ways to monetise our Open Source work – while we love to help, it has proved to be extremely taxing on our time. A decision needs to be made about the future of the Pixie project and we a currently experimenting with ideas. We will keep you posted.

2010

So here we stand at the dawn of 2010 (the year of the flying car! – ha) and its time to make new plans. We want to talk a leaf out of Carl’s (Fellow Creative) book and tip our hat towards transparency and honesty for the coming years. Being open about ideas, plans and money is a good thing. If you know where we stand you can decide if you want to stand with us (or otherwise).

Right now we are in a period of flux as we make changes to the business – both in terms of company structure and how we work. You will notice that Mike is no longer with us as he moves on to start a new business. But no fear, we are not going anywhere, we just want to make sure that whatever we decide to do in 2010 is the right choice for us and our clients. We are in the process of working out our plans and will post back the outcome. Decisions, decisions…