Hi, Despite the weather there are plenty of things for you to do this month as we come into the graduate show season. Freerange is packed from now until the end of July with everything from Art to Fashion to Interiors. D&AD's New Blood festival is also a great place to see some of the hottest new talent, and New Designers 2012 is another fascinating event that's set to bring together over 3,500 designers. On the job front London is still as strong as ever but we have seen increases in direct jobs in both the North West and South East. Michael Tomes @CPMike

Spotlight Interview Adam Ismail

Adam, who also goes by the name studio ish, is a passionate digital artist and photo manipulator. He gave the advice 'pursue a great concept and stick with it' and told us he's 'not afraid to stand up for a creative idea'! Sparky-that's what we like to see! We also got to hear about his badminton escapades and a bit of an obsession with Bejewelled 2...I'm sure he's not the only one! You know who you are! Fantastic interview and amazing work - ish...

Social Media “LMFAO!!! SEE WHO VIEWED YOUR PROFILE!! Click Here –>”

Since Facebook took over our online social lives a wave of networking politics has accompanied it. Recent developments even include being able to find out if someone has seen the message you sent them and what time they saw it. Whilst this is a useful tool it can drum up a lot of sulking and paranoia if someone has has chosen to ignore you. There is one taboo which will always remain so - finding out exactly who has been snooping at your page. It would seem that in all of our DNA is a curiosity in others and a curiosity to see who is curious about us. Curiouser and Curiouser. Curiosity killed the cat...and Facebook!

Showreel Ben Mason a.k.a Red Dog

Ben Mason a.k.a Red Dog is a motion graphic designer and digital film-maker. He's created for the BBC, Discovery Channel, Channel 4, Nokia, Diageo, Sony, McClaren, Orange, Royal Albert Hall and Glastonbury to name but a few! This showreel highlights his TV work and as well as creative projects. Take a look at his profile here. Woof woof!!

Product Design Easy Rider. The Raleigh Chopper

Alan Oakley, head designer at Raleigh, died last month. But one of his major surviving legacies is that he was the brains behind the iconic Raleigh Chopper. Unwieldy, wobbly and heavier than your average small car, it was beloved by a whole generation of youngsters with bowl cuts and ugly cardigans. Ashley delves into the biggest biking phenomenon of the Eighties. Are you an easy rider?

Logo Design The launch of Twitter's new logo

Twitter has freshened up it's logo, with a new design that "grows out of love for ornithology, design within creative constraints, and simple geometry." Take a look at the video that shows how geometry went into the design. But much more exciting than that, the little bird has had it's hair chopped and has a happier beak - if that's possible!! Hair cuts and happy beaks!

Awards The Fresh Awards

Entry Deadline is Friday 20th July 2012. The Fresh Awards are a celebration of innovation and creativity in advertising, design, digital and media. To keep things fresh, the awards always look to set up new categories and pride themselves on listening to the opinions of their members. A great bunch of categories to get involved in this year. Take a look at the website... Freshen up!

Career The specialist versus the generalist

Do you have to be a designer that specialises in print or can you be a generalist who delivers print, online and anything else that’s thrown at you. Will you be more sought after if you’re a specialist? Will you have more creative freedom if you’re a generalist? And why do we have to be pigeon holed anyway? What are you, and what do you want to be?

5 minutes with... Andrew J Brown, Brass

Andrew is the Creative Director at marketing communications agency Brass. Some great advice on seeing work as a vocation and not an occupation. Read more about how Andrew thanks the internet and the job centre for his career, his pretty unexciting superpower, and how he likes to shake it all about rather than being in or out! Whatever that means? Shaking it all about!

Blog of the week For Print Only

For those of you who aren't so into digital, we introduce you to For Print Only (FPO). This blog began in 2009 and is dedicated to the development and production of printed matter. There's loads of fantastic work on here that should inspire, and a cool function that lets you search the website by print or production method! 'For Placement Only' - given a refurb!

Logo Why Twitter shall remain nameless

The microblogging site with a bird for a logo has some big ambitions. In fact just last week it broke some news about the future of the brand that caught everyone off guard. Yes, they decided to give the little bird a makeover, but more important than that, they’ve gone all global symbolism and dropped the name Twitter. Taking flight...

Festival Entries up for Cannes Lions 2012

The International Festival of Creativity that is Cannes Lions is kicking off in just 6 days time! And this year it's bigger than ever with nearly 6,000 more entries than last year! Whether you're interested in digital or more traditional creativity and design, there's tonnes to learn and to give you inspiration. If you can't make it to France - keep an eye on their website for info... More, more, more!

Social This week's top LinkedIn discussions

We've set up a number of LinkedIn groups so that you can talk to other creatives online. There's always plenty of discussion going on, so if you haven't already, take a look. We have four groups: the main Creativepool Network is for everyone working in the creative industries, we also have a Creative Director only group, one especially for freelancers, and one for conceptual creatives (Art Directors and Copywriters). On the main group help Simon find out about networking opportunities (can't miss this chance to plug - Creativepool Meetups!): Can anyone recommend the best ways to start networking/events to attend or groups to join to meet creatives in london as a first year ad student starting out? On the freelance network we're talking books!: What are you reading right now? On the conceptual creatives network we're asking what truths you see behind the copy used in ads: The truth behind the advertising copy... On the creative director network there's some fantastic repsonses, especially by Marc Riley who gave us a short essay on the subject: How do you stop a customer, (who's increased spend) from going out and employing a design team 'in-house' because it's more 'cost effective'?

Freelance This week's pick of freelance talent on CP

	This talented bunch are some of the newest and most exciting freelancers on the site right now! If you didn't make it in this week but you've got some great work on your Creativepool profile get in touch and show us what you can do! Our newsletter is sent to over 57,000 opt-in users, that make up the cream of UK creative candidates and employers. If you'd like to have your news included our newsletter or find out details of our sponsorship options email Owen.

	QuirkTools Want to see how your website looks on phones, tablets or TVs? Give this a try! This site also gives you the tools you need to build a wireframe of your website - check this out web designers and let us know what you think!
	accentCOLOR Get the accent colour of any website. A fairly useless tool as far as I can see but still good fun to find out the signature colour of any website. If you've got your own website give it a try!
	Hourly Rate Calculator We came across this slightly more useful tool! Great for freelancers to work out what rate they should be charging. Add in all of your outgoings from office expenses to advertising and promotion, and see what you're left with!
	Engrish First of all, this isn't a dig at anyone or their level of english. English is a complicated and nuanced language and that's exactly why there's so many cock ups! Engrish.com dedicates itself to collecting hundreds of examples of unfortunate (mis)usages from around the world
	Overheard I was a bit disappointed when looking for sites that featured overheard conversations. It's probably just because I'm incredibly nosey, but I'm a little obsessed with overhearing funny conversations. I think it's from the fact that the comedians have no idea how funny they are! Anyway I challenge someone to set up an updated site with lots of these on, just so I can read it!