Lucy and I are delighted to welcome Anna and Gareth of Able and Game to the Guest Blog! Able and Game create hilarious and unique greeting cards for every occasion and also have great gift items like mugs, tea towels and calendars too. Gareth and Anna have created an incredibly entertaining series just for The Design Files this week – The Trials and Triumphs of Life! They’ve also put together a sweet giveaway pack too [see the details here!]. – Jenny x
Gareth and I are super excited to be guest bloggers this week. We want to send out a big thank you to Jenny and Lucy for letting us loose on their lovely blog and to Emily Green for last week’s guest blog goodness.
This week we are looking at the trials and triumphs of life. The small things we often overlook are something we love to celebrate by featuring them on our greeting cards. The more mundane the better – some of our most popular cards feature circumstances that don’t often get much attention.
The Trials and Triumphs of Work
Gareth and I recently made the transition from working from home to working in our own studio.
When we were looking for spaces we decided we would both need our own space to keep things sane. I’m messy, listen to the radio and like the office to be warm. Gareth is tidy, likes to watch Eastenders and often has the window open despite it being winter, so you can see why separate offices are important. As we are so busy we communicate via instant messenger, often using our own language called Smashlish where we just smash at the keyboard quickly.
Can you come in and check this drawing?
Becomes
candk hyou come isn nn chek thoss drawongg///
…and despite me often thinking I’m going to have to repeat myself, he always seems to understand.
Having been self-employed for over three years I forget what meetings are like. I recently attended one where words like KPIs and quorum were bandied about, and I realised that many workplace meetings just go around and around in circles. I drew this diagram during the meeting, and had a new found understanding as to why people like Anna Wintour only allow for meetings which are 7 minutes long.
Staying motivated when you’re self-employed can be hard at times. Gareth is organised with task managers and schedules, whereas I’m more of a scrap of paper on the desk type of person.
I think I have seven systems to track my work and don’t use any of them all that well, much to Gareth’s annoyance. They include a list stuck on the wall, a diary, Google calendar, a desk calendar, a downloaded task manager we don’t use and a downloaded task manager we do use and finally a pretty sketchbook. I also have a wall planner that needs to go up, but sadly no “hang in there” cat poster.
- Anna and Gareth x
110 Comments
Completely hate meetings. Love the rubbish circle. People love the sound of their own voices and a captured audience. Do we achieve anything in these things?
I’m going to have to keep the circle of rubbish in my head as a mantra. It’s just a circle of rubbish, it’s just a circle of rubbish.
Your stuff cracks me up. I love it!
genius
Excellently funny start to the working week :)
Perfect for a gray Monday morning. I best do as they instruct and watch out for ‘woof’ today :)
You guys are so funny! I love your work :) Thanks xo
Very very funny and very very true. Beautifully captures the mundane lunacy of office life.
Ooh so accurate.
I am def gonna get these cards for my boss (circle of rubbish) and husband (to do)…OMG is that him posing for the card???
True that – very accurate.. love your work.
super sweet and so funny! and as a cat-lover but not in the crazy-i-have-20-cats-way-or-anything i love all your references to cats too!
Love it! Have always loved the cards you guys make. “I go to Zone 2 for you” remains one of my favorutes (Although Jewel and Sunshine also make me smile). Great work guys.
The best!
We need that top picture in our meeting room at work.. Great stuff.
hilarious, and scarily accurate! Love your illustrations
Great stuff, very funny.
A great cartoon can change the world. Or at the very least make my day. Love these!
your cards make me laugh out loud in shops, and people think im a mad person- and i dont care! too funny!
7 minute meetings – great idea! Love love your cards
I totally agree with the meeting ‘spiral of repetition’ as each point gets rehashed over and over. Dot points should definitely be utilized! And I can totally relate to that scenario in a meeting where the points just get repeated all the time and said different ways. Totally know where you’re coming from.
very funny! great work
love these guys.
Anna and Gareth are my fav card makers! Make me laugh every time!
I received one of your cards for my last birthday – loved it! Is still proudly on display on the mantle piece :)
You guys have a card for every occasion. Love your work!
love your take on meetings, so true!
These cards always make me smile!
I need a ‘hang in there’ cat poster!
have just seen your great work recently at a friend’s home. Now I seem to see it more and more. Love it!
So funny, very creative and witty indeed!
Love your work :D
I’d go to Zone 2 for you. Best card ever.
My organisation system is post it notes. My office is coated in them!
I just left a job last Friday where there was definitely a “circle of rubbish.” What a crack up!
Nice to read your post this morning A & G on being self employed .. I can relate oh so much.. thanks for sharing your gorgeous ideas on the cards, my customers love them! Nothing like an Able & Game to provoke a chuckle. Cheers, Shelley x
Such accurate observation of life. I agree the best humor comes from the mundane
perfect!! thanks for this monday morning moment :)
Very funny stuff! I needed a laugh this morning!
As I begin a week of meetings it’s nice to get some perspective. I think A&G should release a ‘hang in there’ poster too.
The circles of rubbish at my work also seem to be conducted in range of interchangeable clichés – “Let’s talk about that offline”, “I’m going to action these points”, “Let’s park that for now”, “So, moving forward…”
So refreshing to see meetings reduced to a simple, easy to navigate diagram. Thank you!
So true! Huge fan of your work
This year I realized I shouldn’t buy pretty calendars as I now know that I don’t write anything on them because I don’t want them to get dirty. I love you Able & game to infinity infinity infinity infinity xoxo
loving all the “dad” cards!o))
Love your stuff! I would love to be the winner of your fabulous giveaway…
hee hee hee!
thanks for sharing this – perfect for monday blues.
Super Cute and original! Love it
anything that helps me work!
many giggles. x
Hunka Hunka Laburnum Love… My favourite card ;-)
That ‘How meetings work’ diagram is spot on!
Seven minute meetings would be awesome, precisely because meetings work exactly like you described!
Haha, some good points there!
I love the cat references too. My cat lives in the country so I have to travel to visit her. I do miss having my cat around, but I don’t think she’d appreciate all the hazardous organising structures of the big smoke that you describe!
I can completely relate to Anna’s “reminder system”. My desk is adorned with post it notes, note books, scraps of paper, wall planner, calendar and of course various programs on the computer to trigger my colander of a memory.It’s a wonder how any work gets done after settign all of these things…
Ah you make me laugh Anna. I think I’m a bit like you, I have lovely post it notes to write reminders on, but usually I forget to remind myself, somehow I manage to get stuff done though
:-)
Bless you, bringing some whimsy to the world of work.
i love the diagram of meetings, i think that should go up on my wall at work for everyone to see and ponder.
Love your stuff since i saw you guys at finders keepers about 6 months ago.
haha! I am with the cat, I have so many to do list, I have lists to check my to do lists! love it!
Hi Anna! You should just make a hang in there cat poster.
xoxox
You guys are genius. Love your work!
love it!
I’ve started framing some of your cards guys, too funny and too cute to put in my fave cards box. Keep it up, so happy to be ignoring the big boring card makers at the newsagents.
This is the most fun, fun stuff! Makes my day every time I see them… Personal fave is the “I’d go to Zone 2 for you” which I’ve done for birthday cards several times :)
So fun and clever!
Such awesome cards! Ever since I moved to the other side of the world (almost three months ago), I have been actively sending cards to family and friends. For my mom I always pick cards with cats – preferably funny ones – because she’s a huge cat lover. The card with the text “I love you just the way I am” with the fat cat is just perfect, I would love to send that one to my mom. Kind of reminds me of my cat that is still living with my parents, her name is Muffin and she looks like she has swallowed a ball. Pretty much like the cat on the card, but then in black and white… :-)
oooh yes i want some of these funny cards… thanks for the fun start to the week!
A tip of the hat to your funniness
The simple things in life are what make us laugh the most. Keeping it real.
Love your work! ;)
Your stuff is bloody hilarious. I loved giving my mum a “You are my sunshine” card as she is a sunshine girl. And my husband and I have been so obsessed with Survivor since the beginning so cracked up when I gave him the “I want you in my last two” card for an anniversary. Spot on with your humour……
Hi guys, great blog! I think I’m going to try and apply the 7-minute meeting rule at work this week! Should be all is needed. Love your work. :) x
Love your stuff!
What fun these would be to have in my present drawer, so clever and gorgeous!
Ah Fantastic! So Good – Just love the cartoons!
You guys just kill me. I’m in an obscure country town and nearly wet myself when I saw your cards for sale in a quirky cafe we have here. Got lots of strange looks at my muffled hysterics whilst reading the card range.
Haha – so true.
The 7 minute meeting rule should be brought in as law!
smashlish?! LOVE it! and the most clever greeting card drawings, ever!
I love smashlish. Must learn it.
Nice one!
I love those quirky drawings – groovy
So glad I’m not the only who feels like that about meetings and getting organised!
Oh la la!
Always a good laugh. Will love a set of these for Father’s Day.
After having a look at your stuff, it was almost like I was with my best friend. Honest, light hearted observations. Love how it’s the everyday things that make us laugh the most. You must have a happy house!!!
Thanks for all your ace comments guys! Some of these comments are almost as funny as the post!
ps. What the hell is ‘Quorum’ anyway!?
I emailed a link to your meetings drawing to our staff team ahead of tomorrow’s weekly meeting. Good move or bad? Time will tell! Haha love it. Love A&G so much…
Tuna casserole remains both my favorite card and favourite dinner – see, win win!
I love the fun drawings! Can’t stop laughing at the “hang in there” cat poster!
Lol! Sounds just like my days… unfortunately…
Hysterical. Love them all!!
AAAhhhh love it!!! hilarious
I love the ‘Circle of Rubbish’ – perfect description of the countless mind-numbing meetings I have endured so far this week (and it’s only Tuesday!!!)… Love your work, it certainly put a smile on my face! :-)
you just made my day!!! Thanks!!
Can totally relate to ‘How Meetings Work’. Love your work!
I love your meetings drawing..I’m almost game enough to pop it up on my desk at work!
Thanks for capturing many moments of my life. Enjoying the blog.
Your scribbles make me smile
Found your stuff in a shop in Olinda on the weekend- LOVE it. Thanks
Able and Game are my go to for all my stationary needs! Love them
love it :) x
Can “How meetings work” please be produced as a print? I think it would be perfect for my office!!!
I love it! Some meetings are just like that!
So, looks like you sat in a meeting at my workplace!! Just the laugh I needed as I prepare to return to the workplace (tomorrow…eek!) after 12 months maternity leave.
oh, and I second the request for this to be made into a print- would take pride of place on my ‘work station’
ha! love it!
I’m looking at about 30 post-it notes on my desk right now!
Love your work Anna and Gareth. Hilarious!
Your drawing describes nearly every day in our office at the moment – going around and around in circles – made me laugh so much – I’ve printed it out and put it on my wall – LOVE IT – too funny!!!
Sweet stuff, thanks for sharing. :)
My cat’s called fluffy! Let’s minute that! – love it x
he he very funny