Futuretheory Holiday Closure

Futuretheory will close at midday on Friday, 22 December, and open in the new year on Monday, 8 January 2024. While our office doors may be closed, we’re still here for support. Please email support@futuretheory.co if you need help.

Looking back on 2023

We have had a busy 12 months! A few things we did this year (on top of our client projects):

• Launched our new website
• Launched Inspo.st, an idea generator and a one-stop shop to get fresh content ideas
• Made some upgrades to FT Studio
• Welcomed new team members.
  

We celebrated the end of the year a little differently. Instead of the standard work drinks, our team brought out their competitive side with a few races at the electric go-karting course, followed by a team dinner.

We’re excited about the adventures that lie ahead in 2024 – if 2023 is anything to go by, it’ll be a great year for Futuretheory. Here’s our year, wrapped:

Thank you for being part of our journey. We hope you enjoy time with family and putting your feet up over the break, and we look forward to seeing you in the new year!

New Additions To Our Studio Spaces in Canberra

One of the most useful new features we’ve introduced is a sizeable makeup area in Space 1 for those all-important touch-ups between headshots or during portrait photo shoots. The makeup table features a large illuminated mirror, two handheld mirrors, two chairs and two full-body mirrors nearby, so you can make sure you’re completely camera-ready before your shoot!

We’ve added new furniture and props to our shooting spaces. This includes a selection of chairs, tables, stools and artificial plants if you’d like to add more visual interest to your photos.

We also have new gear on hand for photographers, including both wall-mounted and movable backdrops and two bright Neewer 660 PRO RGB lights. These news lights come with versatile lighting capabilities, imperfect for experimenting with different colours and brightness levels during your shoot. 

360 Virtual Tour

Want to take a tour of the studios before you book but don’t have the time? We’ve added a virtual 360 tour of our studio hire spaces to our website for just that event. The virtual tour gives you an idea of just how large Space 1 is, with 126 sqm to shoot, 6m high ceilings and a massive roller door for easy access and to let in natural light. Beyond just a photography studio, it’s a place to dance, rehearse, host workshops, or film large-scale productions for commercial use

New Meeting Room/Podcast Studio For Hire 

We also have a whole new, podcast studio available for hire – Space 2. This smaller 15 sqm space is ideal for podcasts, corporate meetings and smaller recording sessions. Space 2 includes:

• Access to Common Area
• 70-inch 4K TV (Hisense Series S5 – 70S5)
• Zoom PodTrak P8 Podcast Recorder
• 2 x RØDE PodMic (additional mics available)
• OBSBOT Tiny PTZ Camera
• M-Audio BX4 D3 4.5in Multimedia Reference Monitors
• Foam padding to reduce noise levels 

It should be noted that neither space limits what you can create – while Space 1 is ideal for larger shoots and Space 2 is aimed more at podcast recordings, Space 1 can also be used to record a podcast with a larger group, and Space 2 can be used for photography studio hire or even film studio hire.

Studio Facilities

We fully believe comfort leads to creativity – that’s why we’ve made hiring FT Studio as convenient as possible, with plenty of amenities and creature comforts so you can take a break and spring right back into action. These amenities include:

• Fully equipped kitchen facilities with a microwave, fridge and coffee machine
• Comfortable lounge and dining area in the shared break room situated between Space 1 and Space 2
• Large bathroom with a shower 
• High-speed wifi network with 250Mbps download speed
• Nearby street parking or up to 2 spots of reserved carpark spots available for hire

Additional Photography Gear For Hire in Canberra

We have also added some affordable photography equipment hire for off-site use (and of course, these can be included with bookings too). These include:

• Elgato Green Screen
• Heavy Duty Light Stand
• Heavy Duty Light Stand with Casters
• Heavy Duty Photographic C-Stand With Boom Arm
• Neewer 660 PRO RGB

Studio Hire Rates

FT Studio is available for bookings on weekdays, weekends and public holidays. The studio hire rates for Space 1 start at $120 an hour and $50 dollars an hour for Space 2 during business hours on weekdays. To see our half-day and full-day rates, check out our full studio hire rates page. Please contact us to make an enquiry if you have any questions! Our friendly team is always more than happy to help.

Looking for a photography studio or creative space in Canberra? Enquire today

Do we sound like the studio hire for you? If so, please get in touch either by phone during business hours or over email, and we’ll get back to you as soon as possible. Alternatively, we offer the option to book online through our handy portal.

FT Studio is located at 10d Alumina Street, Beard, Canberra, Australia.

How Often Should You Post

Posting regularly isn’t just for influencers. Whether you’re a small business owner or a freelancer, keeping your online presence fresh is essential. It drives more traffic to you and can even improve your search engine rankings.

However, we know that content marketing isn’t always easy. The more you post, the more eyes you’ll get, but consistently generating new content ideas is challenging, even for the most creative people.

Inspost Is Easy To Use

Creating content is hard enough, so we made Inspost as easy to use as possible. If you ever feel stuck and aren’t sure what to post, simply hit the shuffle button to get tons of ideas for your next post, no matter the format. The blue box has video-based post ideas; the red box has blog post ideas, the yellow box has ideas for shorter text posts like Instagram captions, and the purple box has photo-based post ideas. 

You can shuffle as many times as you need until you find the perfect idea for your post. We’ve kept our ideas simple and easy to follow so you can get straight to it without hassle. 

To try it for yourself, head to the website now and start shuffling. We’d love to hear your feedback. Good luck and happy shuffling (and posting)!

A little about you

• Enjoy researching and conveying your findings
• Great with people
• Care about the work you do and the outcomes you deliver
• Strong grammatical and copywriting skills

Your responsibilities

• Write content for clients and for internal projects.
• Edit content written by other team members.
• Optimise content for SEO (prior experience in SEO-driven content is nice to have, but training will be provided as well).
• Publish content on Content Management Systems (primarily WordPress).
• Suggest content ideas and provide feedback on the content calendar.
• Collaborate with designers, developers, copywriters, managers and clients
• Work closely with the Director and other team members – the ability to give and take constructive feedback is important.
• Take responsibility and drive projects forward
• Collaborate and communicate with the team – taking opportunities to contribute to the development of others and getting a taste for the other areas of what we do.

Requirements

• A portfolio of work demonstrating your copywriting
• Excellent communication skills (written and verbal)
• Ability to collaborate and work well within a team

What to expect at Futuretheory

• A small, friendly team who love what they do
• Comfortable modern office in Beard (5 minutes from Fyshwick) – away from all the hustle and bustle
• Parking close by (and it’s free)
• Access to modern software, tools and equipment

You must be legally eligible to work in Australia and speak and write fluent English.

Please note: this is not a remote role. This is an in-house position; you will be working at our office in Canberra.

Applications close at 10am on 7 June 2023. We will be reviewing and interviewing applicants prior to this, so we encourage you to apply at your earliest convenience.

Questions? Email hello@futuretheory.co

How to apply

Please apply through https://jobs.cvviz.com/ft/job_59803_Marketing_Assistant_(Content_&_Digital)

No two days will be the same, and you’ll get to work on projects of all sizes – from small one-person businesses all the way to large corporations. So if you like variety, and enjoy diversity in the type of work you do – this is a great opportunity for you!

A little about you

• Great with people.
• Have a keen eye for design and a portfolio to back it up (we aren’t worried about years of experience – we’re more interested in your eye for good design).
• A creative thinker who strives for innovation.
• Care about the work you do and the outcomes you deliver.

Your responsibilities

• Design practical, user-centred websites using modern design principles.
• Collaborate with designers, developers, copywriters, managers and clients.
• Work closely with the Director and other team members on design – the ability to give and take constructive feedback is important.
• Develop brand guidelines and implement them.
• Take responsibility and drive projects forward.
• Collaborate and communicate with the team – taking opportunities to contribute to the development of others and get a taste for the other areas of what we do.
• It’d be great if you have an interest or experience in other forms of media (videography, photography, animation, etc)

Requirements

• A portfolio of work demonstrating a keen eye for detail and a high level of understanding of design and UX fundamentals (please include a link or a document with your application)
• Excellent communication skills (written and verbal)
• Ability to collaborate and work well within a team
• Experience with modern design tools & techniques (Adobe Creative Cloud etc)

What to expect at Futuretheory

• A small, friendly team who love what they do
• Comfortable modern office in Beard (5 minutes from Fyshwick) – away from all the hustle and bustle
• Parking close by (and it’s free)
• Access to modern software, tools and equipment

You must be legally eligible to work in Australia and speak fluent English.

Please note: this is not a remote role. This is an in-house position; you will be working at our office in Canberra.

Applications close at 10am on 5 June 2023. We will be reviewing and interviewing applicants prior to this, so we encourage you to apply at your earliest convenience.

Questions? Email hello@futuretheory.co

How to apply

Please apply through https://jobs.cvviz.com/ft/job_59798_Web_&_Graphic_Designer

The role is part-time, 20 hours per week, with the potential to extend to full-time in the future. Remuneration to be negotiated based on experience, but please use the full time salary as a guide. The remuneration on the advertisement is the full time range, your salary will be a pro rata amount based on this full time equivalent range.

The ideal candidate will have 2+ years of relevant experience with demonstrable results, strong communication skills, a keen eye for detail and a passion for helping Futuretheory and our clients grow.

Key responsibilities/skills

• Paid advertising management (Google Ads, Facebook Ads)
• Coordinate content marketing
• Liaising with external suppliers and clients
• Copy editing, writing, content upload and content management for websites, email newsletters and social media
• Social media management (YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, Pinterest)
• Marketing analysis and strategy
• EDM Marketing

Nice to have

• An understanding of Search Engine Optimisation
• Conceptualisation and implementation of PR strategies
• Ability to make simple edits to video
• Experience using Adobe Creative Cloud programs

How to apply

Please apply via our Indeed advertisement – https://au.indeed.com/job/marketing-coordinator-330c0e367693f977

Before we share some of our achievements this year, we’d like to wish you for the holiday period ahead. We hope that you have a safe and relaxing break and wish you all the best for 2023!

Our Work In 2022

We delivered some great projects this year, across website design and development, branding and design, and marketing. The projects ranged from member organisations, to small businesses and start ups, to established businesses, across industries including haircare, education, construction, retail, eCommerce, charity and non profit.

Some Results

We delivered some results across Marketing and SEO that even surprised us – including tripling one website’s reach to over 600,000 impressions per month. Another project that stood out was a brand new website that launched in May – we took this site from 0 to almost 1,400 impressions a day and don’t see the growth slowing down.

In the new year, we will tally up the year’s data to get final numbers that we will analyse and use to better understand trends, strategies and how to deliver even better outcomes to our clients in 2023.

The ideal candidate will have at least 2 years of relevant experience with demonstrable results, a keen eye for detail and a passion for helping Futuretheory and our clients grow.

Key responsibilities/skills

• Develop WordPress child themes based on supplied website design
• Write efficient, clean, low maintenance PHP code and functions
• Utilise WordPress functions, hooks and filters to achieve desired layout/functionality
• Develop Gutenberg Blocks with Advanced Custom Fields using HTML, CSS, PHP and JavaScript, or React (no page builders ie. WPBakery Page Builder, Divi, Elementor, Visual Composer etc.)
• Setup/manage WordPress sites on cPanel hosting
• Configure user friendly WordPress backend
• Add functionality to existing WordPress sites
• Troubleshoot website issues
• Experience with Adobe Creative Cloud applications to export assets for website development
• Communicate with non-technical designers, team members, clients and other stakeholders

Nice to have

• Interact/integrate with APIs to develop custom solutions with WordPress
• Experience configuring and managing DNS
• Experience with UI/UX and website design

How to apply

Please apply with a cover letter and CV by emailing Germaine Muller at germaine@futuretheory.com.au

We expect to close applications by 23 October 2022, however, we encourage all applicants to apply as soon as possible as we may organise interviews with applicants prior to the deadline.

Note: successful candidates will be asked to participate in a short coding test.

Why move to .co?

We have a global audience. Our website has been visited by people from 75% of the countries of the world. While we are limited by being an English-only website, we cover topics with global relevance and application, and we wanted to extend this relevance to the domain name.

The website also reaches peaks of 400 visitors and 2,000 page views per day, organically, without any advertising. By having a domain extension that is global, we can create content that serves more people.

.co is shorter than .com

There isn’t a better way to put it. We wanted a domain name that was as short as possible while having the company name in its entirety, and .co was the only way to accomplish this.

.co is becoming more common

.co is a domain extension that is used by numerous companies today, including those like zip.co and thankyou.co who are well known consumer products. This increase in the public’s awareness of the .co domain extension, and studies that indicate that it is nearly as good as a .com from a recall and trust perspective, gave us the confidence that almost everyone would recognise futuretheory.co as a legitimate domain name and not an error/omission.

Why not .com?

The .com version of the URL has been registered since 2001, and when we first registered the futuretheory.com.au domain in August, 2016, we were 15 years too late! We may acquire the .com domain in the future if it comes up for sale again.

When I first learnt about the opportunity to undertake work experience, I was thrilled at the thought of this. I spent a while looking for the perfect work placement until I came across Futuretheory’s website. Their overview of what they had to offer had me intrigued, making my decision easier. 

My end goal for this short work experience was to gain more knowledge about the world of design and to see if this field was right for me and a career I would like to pursue. As this was my very first work experience, I had no prior knowledge of being in an office environment and I had no idea of what to expect when I first started. Despite this, I was looking forward to experiencing something new and different from my normal school routine.  

Reflecting back to my first day at Futuretheory, I was guided by the marketing coordinator, Kelsey, and she assigned me a couple of minor tasks which involved making posts for Futuretheory’s Instagram and designing thumbnails for their YouTube channel podcast, Future Tribe. On my second day, I worked on four more thumbnail designs which I really enjoyed making. Towards the end of the day, the Director of Futuretheory, Germaine, assigned me a project which involved designing a logo for a blog, WeCanberra. 

On the third day, I continued working on the logo, researching the different types of logos and inspiration to find out more about simple and modern logo designs, which was what Germaine was looking for. I began sketching out my ideas and experimenting with what worked and what didn’t. 

On the fourth and final day, I was walked through Adobe Illustrator by Kelsey, which I found quite difficult to get the hang of as I have never used it before. After experimenting and implementing my designs using Illustrator, I began this journal documenting my experience working at Futuretheory. 

Overall, my work experience at Futuretheory was positive. I am very pleased with the number of things I have learnt and experienced within the few days of being here. Although I didn’t get the full experience of a “9 to 5” job, I did get the most out of the hours I did spend here. I am glad to have experienced this wonderful opportunity, to get an insight into what a job is like in the real world. Thank you to Germaine and his team for enabling me to have this experience. I wish nothing but the best of luck to Futuretheory as they continue to grow and achieve great things. 

Q&A

What was the highlight of your work experience?

The highlight of my work experience at Futuretheory was the opportunity to express my creativity through many tasks and to be working in a different environment opposed to school. I also enjoyed viewing all of the designs they created for previous clients and being able to work on meaningful projects. 

What has been the most valuable thing you have learnt?

The most valuable thing I have learnt from working at Futuretheory would be the knowledge I have gained. Before working here I had no experience working with any Adobe applications but I had always wanted to learn it. Fortunately enough, I was able to be given the opportunity to use the application and be taught the basics, which will deem helpful in the classes I will be taking in the future. 

Has anything surprised you during your work experience?

If I’m being completely honest, I was surprised by how tired I was at the end of each day. Not even completing a full 9 to 5 job, I now understand what adults mean wishing for it to be Friday. The “lunch breaks” were also very different from school, as everyone would eat at different times and often at their desks, so it was just all weird to me. I also wasn’t used to such a quiet environment as school is often very loud and everyone’s always chatting nonstop. 

Do you have any advice for people looking at doing work experience themselves?

My advice to anyone wishing to complete work experience, would be to just go for it! I think it’s a great opportunity to experience what you are passionate about and to find out whether that field is right for you, or even to just get a taste of what a job in the real world is like. It’s a great place to learn many new things, which you can apply to future jobs, and even day to day life. 

The new location is 15 minutes from the city, 10 minutes from the airport, and 20-30 minutes from most parts of Canberra. Best of all, parking is free!

We look forward to meeting with and welcoming more clients at our new office as we return to a more normal life.

Take a glimpse at our new office:

You’ll be greeted by our Monstera as soon as you enter our office.

The meeting room is also designed to be used for previewing video projects thanks to a 75-inch screen and studio monitor speakers. It has also been configured to be used as an audio recording space.

The office is predominantly lit by natural light, with light bouncing off the various concrete surfaces and an exposed ceiling.

The open-plan office space is an intentional decision to encourage communication within the team and to add to the spacious feel.

When it’s time for a break, the dining table and couch are comfortable places to have a bite or read a magazine.

The biggest addition is our in-house 125 sqm studio, which is used for photography and videography by the Futuretheory team but is also open to the public through FT Studio.

Tilton’s products and services are used in a range of building types that include residential, commercial, retail and government projects. They have completed projects for a number of renowned Canberra businesses including Australian National University (ANU) and ACT Law Courts.

Life beyond business

When asked about his hobbies, Kosta mentions that apart from being a father to 3 wonderful children, he also enjoys fishing and hunting.

Tilton Racing

Kostinken Pohorukov is an avid racer, having raced in different formats with varying levels of success, including 6 podiums and 1 win. He has a race win percentage of 2.9% and a podium percentage of 17.6%

He has raced at hallowed tracks such as Mount Panorama in Bathurst, Sydney Motorsport Park in Eastern Creek and Phillip Island Circuit in Phillip Island.

In terms of race results, 2019, Kostinken Pohorukov finished with 154 at 7th position in the Radical Australia Cup racing a Radical SR3 RSX. You can hear more about Kosta on this episode of the TL podcast, interviewed by Thomas Le Hoang:

Kosta also gets involved with Time Attack. The Tilton Interiors Evo 9 Pro Class entry of Kostinken Pohorukov and his team have long been a force to be reckoned with in Australian time attack racing and has competed in every single Superlap event with a Pro Class victory to their name in 2009 at the final Oran Park event. Read more about it at https://worldtimeattack.com/index.php/tilton-to-hit-the-pro-class-with-a-new-weapon/

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by Mitsubishi Ralliart 🇯🇵 🇪🇺 (@mitsubishi_ralliart83)

Kostinken Pohorukov also has a profile at Driver Database, take a look at https://www.driverdb.com/drivers/kosta-pohorukov/

InnovationACT is a free two-month entrepreneurship program that provides the skills, tools and networks to those looking to begin their startup journey. This year, teams involved in the initiative were vying for a share of the $50,000 grant pool and additional startup support prizes from IACT partners.

Our package this year includes website, marketing and design services and we are delighted to support a Canberra-based startup in this capacity. It was a difficult decision to make, as all the participants had exciting ideas but we had to make our choice. This year we selected Sweet and Sour, a bi-monthly Zine focusing on the experience of being Asian in Australia, to receive our support prize.

“Our focus is on Asian identities, and the unique experiences associated with being Asian in Australia … Sweet and Sour and is a safe space to explore and share our cultures in a supportive and creative environment.”

Read more on the Sweet and Sour website: http://www.sweetsourzine.com/

Sweet and Sour hit a sweet (sorry) spot for us for a number of reasons.

“IACT this year had a really strong showing and it is fantastic to see business and ideas thriving in Canberra. It wasn’t easy to decide on who we wanted to present the package to this year. However, representation of Asia in Australian media is quite low, despite over 30% of Canberra’s population being people born outside of Australia. We think it’s a great opportunity to hear from more diverse voices and support a startup that is enabling that. We’re also excited to get involved in more traditional print media – something we have expertise in but haven’t been as involved in lately with the growth of digital media. We look forward to working with the team and see where we can take things.”

Germaine Muller, Director and Founder of Futuretheory

Despite not being able to come together in one venue this year (unlike last year), it was fantastic to see the strong and supportive network of established businesses in Canberra, all eager to help startups. 

Congratulations to all the teams involved this year! You can find out more about the initiative here: https://innovationact.org/iact20-awards-night-a-night-of-celebrations/ 

This all comes at the same time as the change of our business structure and a new addition to our team. So, why have we made these changes?

Going back to the start

We worked with our first client in 2008 on a video editing project. Since then, we have been involved in everything from web development, to photography, to marketing and design. On this journey we’ve had a name change and a number of logo changes but our goal has always been to represent who we are and what we do.

Why now?

Until now, our focus has been solely on our professional services (websites, marketing and design). Our vision is to build a more rounded business that is more accessible to more people, by sharing knowledge, tools and providing a creators space, all of which align better with our mission:

We make your goals come true.

The new logo

When we began exploring a new logo we had a number of requirements. It had to be:

• Modern but timeless
• Flexible in its application
• Distinct from others in the market
• Representative of the people behind the business

We went through over 250 sketches, countless iterations and extensive conversations before we refined our vision to what you see today. We arrived at a very minimal shape, complemented by crisp text that can be used at small sizes without losing legibility. It is flexible and lends itself to a design language that you will see used in our marketing and collateral moving forward. Our new logo is modern but doesn’t rely on any trends, so we can keep this identity for the foreseeable future. We believe the casual, quirky and bold icon represents us and the way we like to do business – welcoming, informal, and confident.

The refined blue

From our first brand colours of yellow and purple to our most recent vibrant blue – we’ve made some daring choices. We’re sticking with blue but we’ve reigned it back, allowing our bold icon to speak for itself. This refined blue is more palatable and can be used in more applications. It is a minor change but it feels like a more mature representation of who we are now.

The new website

Our new website replaces one that has served us well, but left us wanting. This new design fills a few gaps from our previous version and increases our capability as a business. An exciting addition (that we’ll be exploring more in a later post, along with other features) is our latest section – a central platform for resources, knowledge, our Future Tribe podcast and so much more.

What’s next?

With a new logo and website that better represents who we are and where we’re going, we’ll continue on our mission of making goals come true. We are looking forward to this next phase of Futuretheory and we are excited to start sharing more through our online home. Keep an eye out for our next announcement in the coming weeks!

For those who don’t know, InnovationACT is a free, ten-week entrepreneurship program that provides the skills, tools and networks to those looking to begin their startup journey. The program supports hundreds of budding young entrepreneurs from ANU and the wider Canberra region each year.

I’ve been aware of InnovationACT and their work since their inception, but my involvement in the previous years has been only as a spectator. This year, however, I wanted my involvement to be bigger. When Vicki Stanley, the InnovationACT program manager reached out, it was the perfect opportunity to really get involved, so Futuretheory offered a website, branding and consultation package up as one of the awards.

It is fantastic to see established businesses support startups in Canberra in this way, from law firms, to accountants, to printers, there is a very strong and supportive network of Canberra businesses ready to help startups.

Website, branding and consultation package

Our website, branding and consultation package was awarded to Two Step Tommy, who is developing data-driven generative graphics to help businesses build stronger brands and increase engagement with customers. (I’m not really doing the business justice, but more about what they hope to do will be released in the coming months).

It was a pleasure to meet Declan, one of the minds behind Two Step Tommy, talk about what he had in mind for the business, and talk about how we can work together in the future. I’m sure you will hear about Two Step Tommy very soon!

Once again, congratulations to all the teams involved this year, you can find out more on the official article at http://innovationact.org/canberra-student-startups-share-50000/

Why the name?

The first question that comes to mind is, why Future Tribe? It’s fairly simple. We wanted to give a name to the community of listeners and readers who access our content, and a tribe has a sense of sticking together and helping each other. The name still relates back to Futuretheory but it also has the freedom to exist independent of the work we do with our clients.

Making things a little easier for us

We love creating content. It is a core part of why Futuretheory exists and why the Future Tribe is now taking the reigns. However, the creation of content is resource-heavy and adds a lot of admin overhead. So by bringing the podcast and the newsletter under one name, we only have to manage one list for updates, announcements and news. This allows us to minimise some overhead while still serving our customers and creating content.

More content coming soon

Another reason for this reshuffle is that as the back catalogue of both written articles and podcasts continue to increase, we needed a banner under which we could separate our content and the future content we have in the pipeline. Our new website will be designed with a better home for ‘Future Tribe’ and a better focus on our content separated with the services that we offer our clients.

We’re excited to grow the ‘tribe’ and we look forward to the new types of content we’re currently working on.

What was initially planned as a small celebration between friends and family eventually turned into a fairly sizeable event with some nibbles, drinks and a whole lot of thank yous!

I’m happy that the night itself reflected what Futuretheory is all about, creating a welcoming environment where people can come and get to know each other in an authentic setting. There were no long-winded speeches, no ribbon-cutting or any other spectacles. It was simply a night where people from all walks of life came together to converse, celebrate and most importantly, enjoy some really nice food (thanks Krofne and Silk Cafe for the amazing spread).

Looking back on the messages people wrote on the canvas (that I plan to frame and keep to mark this milestone), I am grateful to have so many supportive people in my life and it is another reason to be excited about this new space and the future (no pun intended) of Futuretheory.

For clients, as well as anyone else who was unable to make it, please feel free to drop in. I can’t guarantee tasty doughnuts, but I’d love to catch up and show you around the space.

Over the course of the last three days, I completed some work experience at Futuretheory. As a Year 12 student at Lake Ginninderra College, I aspired like many others to undertake a work experience that allows me to learn and grow.

The task of finding the right work experience host was long and didn’t seem within reach until I came upon Futuretheory’s website. The end goal of completing a short work experience was to see if the marketing field was the right fit for me and my future career. Before starting work experience, I had no prior experience in an office environment and had little idea of what to expect. Despite this, I was excited to experience something new and different from school and my usual day to day life.

On 1 July, my first day, I worked on a task that involved identifying target markets for a group called the ‘Future Tribe’. Prior knowledge from business studies classes helped me to complete the task and I also learned about the target markets needs, motivations and how to reach them. After completing this task, I worked on researching the world of podcasts. This research included finding out the most popular podcasting platforms and identifying podcasts that Futuretheory could partner with. I enjoyed these tasks as I found them interesting and I also learned about how a business in a similar space to Futuretheory would go about identifying and executing on opportunities.

On my second day of work experience I worked with Jasmine, an intern at Futuretheory. I started off this day by completing a solo task about social media and advertising which involved researching into local Canberra Instagram accounts. During the second half of the day, I worked alongside Jasmine to complete tasks involving writing and researching for a blurb about the new photography/videography studio located in the office.

After that Jasmine gave me a crash course on Adobe Illustrator, which I found difficult but interesting as I had never used the application before.

The third and final day of my time working with Futuretheory involved investigating further into the business itself. I completed a SWOT analysis which involved looking at the strength, weaknesses, opportunities and threats concerning the business. To finish off my last few hours of the day, I wrote this post detailing my experience of working at Futuretheory.

Overall my experience at Futuretheory has taught what it means to work within a 9-5 office environment – from the type of work you do to what day to day operations look like. The most enjoyable part of work experience was being able to implement what I have learned over the years in real life business tasks. Overall, I’m glad and thankful for this opportunity to work with the team and space at Futuretheory. I have thoroughly enjoyed my time and wish the best for the future of the business as they continue to grow and expand.

Q and A

What is the highlight of your work experience?
The highlight of my work experience at Futuretheory would be the opportunity to work with a business that works in the social and marketing space. I found it engaging to work with new people, in a new environment and learn from knowledgeable individuals.

What has been the most important thing you learned?
The most valuable lesson I have taken away from my time at Futuretheory would be living in the day to day life of an average person within a workplace. It was valuable as a young student on the verge of adulthood to see what the world looks like outside of school. I learned how different a usual school day is from a usual work day. All of which is valuable experience to bring into early adulthood and my time at university in the coming years.

Has anything surprised you during your work experience?
With Futuretheory being the first office/business environment I have engaged in, I had preconceived ideas of what to expect which where far from the truth. I imagined a large room filled with busy hustlers ready to start the day, which would be true for other office environments but Futuretheory is more of a digital space where work happens in the digital world rather than running around in person.

What are you thinking of doing/studying after school?
After graduating Year 12, I hope to study at the University of Canberra. I am yet to commit to a degree but the most likely outcome will be a Bachelor of Health Science with a Major in Marketing.

Do you have any advice for people looking at doing work experience themselves?
My advice towards others wishing to complete work experience would be to put your worries or negative thoughts aside and just give it a go! Work experience isn’t a hard chore like some think and instead is a valuable learning experience. Even if the work experience you choose doesn’t go as you expect, you can at least go on your way knowing that the specific field is not for you and explore other avenues.

For the keen-eyed who noticed, the time according to the dashcam is incorrect. It was actually 10pm not 9pm – I’ve been too lazy to correct the time on there.

As the Mt Stromlo Observatory reports, “It was a nice and bright but relatively small meteor. This would have been on the order of 20 – 50cm when it came into the Earth’s atmosphere. The blue-green color is iron melting in the atmosphere!”

We’ve just opened up our studio for hire in Canberra and of course, moved Futuretheory into the office as well. So seeing a meteor is supposed to represent good luck (at least in some culture according to this site: http://www.meteoritemarket.com/legend.htm), I’m going to take it as a positive sign!

We’ve been rather quiet in 2019 – we’ve been quiet on social media, quiet on the newsletter front and been a little secretive. But that stops now!

We’re proud to announce that two weeks ago we moved to a new office at 15 Moore Street, City. Along with the move to the new location, we also thought the milestone and slight refinement in our focus should be celebrated with a refresh to our branding. So today, we’re announcing our move and our new branding (even though its a public holiday in Canberra – yes we’re at work!)

New branding

When we rebranded from numaine to Futuretheory a few years ago, we did not spend a lot of time refining our brand. So this time around, having reached another milestone, we decided that investing time and research into the brand was an important step. The result was over 60 hours spent trying to better understand what we wanted to do, the services we wanted to provide and the brand we wanted to be represented by.

Our final solution takes the bright electric blue we had used for a little while, simplifies the wordmark, changing it to a sentence-case wordmark and introduced a monogram ‘F’ that is bold yet different. This ‘F’ is ever so slightly pointing ‘forward’, and when rotated looks like a ‘T’ for theory. You will also notice that Futuretheory is now written like a singular word or name rather than being broken in the middle by an uppercase ‘T’.

The logo can also be used in more modern, fun instances like below.

And we also introduced a new tagline that you can already see in use on the homepage. This tagline is about playing with the phrase ‘we make your dreams come true’ and then reworking it to show that we take the guesswork out of a dream to make it a goal and then we strive to achieve the goals, the future, the vision that you would like to make come true.

New office

Our office at 15 Moore Street is a bright, lively place we get work done in and more importantly, where we meet our clients. We are a part of the Regus office suites that is home to a large number of businesses from well-known law firms to multinational technology companies.

You can find out more about our new office including how you can get here and where you can park, at https://futuretheory.co/office/

We’d love to hear from you about what you think of the new branding, and of course we’d love to catch up for a chat and a coffee. Get in touch with us at https://futuretheory.co/contact/

A few standout projects during the year are:

• A new website and slight re-brand for our long time client CSYMI whose website is fast approaching 300 members
• A new website for Natural Eclipse whose expansive online store is home to nearly 200 Australian products
• A new website, branding and marketing support for DME3 whose mission is to build a online music streaming service

While these projects are a just three that stood out during the year, the true highlight has been getting to know the people and families behind these businesses. Working with them to grow their businesses and watching them as they continue to go from strength to strength is not just rewarding but also exciting as 2019 is sure to be another positive year.

Throughout 2018 we also continued to support a number of community organisations. The first that comes to mind is Integra Service Dogs Australia, who were there at the Invictus Games 2018 in Sydney. Their amazing work continues to make a true difference and we encourage you to support them however you can!

 

View this post on Instagram

 

HRH The Duke of Sussex has laid down the challenge for all Aussies to cheer on the 2018 Invictus Games competitors, share their stories and be inspired. Today he heard one of those many stories, meeting Integra’s super star Dido alongside veteran, competitor, and Aussie co-captain Matt Brumby @kensingtonroyal @smpmatty78 @invictusgames2018 #ig2018 #gameondownunder

A post shared by Integra Service Dogs Australia (@integraservicedogsaustralia) on Oct 21, 2018 at 12:40am PDT

We’re also continuously supporting Homes for the Poor Sri Lanka whose mission has now seen over 600 people receive a roof over their heads.

In 2018, we hopped on board to support our first Motorsport team Shinka Autosport. As car fanatics ourselves, its nice to be supporting a local racing team.

 

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HERE SHE IS! Shinka sporting the fresh war paint. Chrome red vinyl wrap with homage to the evo’s WRC roots. #wrc #wtac #rally #timeattack #evo #shinka #racecar #motorsport #wrap

A post shared by Shinka Autosport (@shinka_autosport) on Oct 10, 2018 at 12:10am PDT

Last but not least, we’ve also begun work on FUTURETRIBE which we hope will be a great resource as we add podcasts, blog posts, videos and more around topics of business, personal development, and growth. Keep an eye out for this and a number of new services announcements we will be making in the new year.

No matter how you celebrate, we hope that the holiday period is a safe and loving one. We hope that 2019 is a year full of success. We look forward to working with you – growing more businesses and helping more people achieve their future goals.

See you next year!