Between 10 and 5

1.5.7 Between 10 and 5

Between 10 and 5 is one of the most popular blogs in South Africa. It is also the third Blog that Alix is involved in. This blog is a showcase for the South African creative industry. It was started in 2008 by Uno de Vaal and Johanne Schmella. More recently they have employed Kate Desmarais and Alix-Rose Cowie to work with them as contributors.

“We felt frustrated because we knew a whole bunch of our friends who worked in design fields, and we knew that South Africa was producing some amazing creative work, so we thought let us create a space for that.” –Uno de Vaal

Between 10 and 5 consists of daily posts featuring the latest and best work from South African advertising agencies, freelancers, illustrators, artist and other creatives. Most of their features currently consist of ad agency produced material such as TV commercials, posters and other advertisements. However they are day by day adding illustrators and designers from other mediums to their database.

Between 10 and 5 is one of my personal favourite blogs. I find that the content of the posts are always interesting and in some way inspiring. Each contributor has their own style, which keeps the blog fresh. When I interviewed Alix and asked her if she enjoyed working for between 10 and 5 she gave me this enthusiastic response:

“I really enjoy working for Between 10 and 5 because I believe in their cause. They aim to showcase all the great design, advertising, web sites, photography, jewellery, fashion and product design that comes out of South Africa. Everything on the blog is South African work or is relevant to SA. Another thing that I think is great about 10and5 is that all the work is part of an open forum where the design industry can comment, give constructive criticism or praise. The regular commenters are also very vigilant about plagiarism; if they've seen something done before by somebody else they are quick to call it out. This keeps an eye on copy cats getting credit for work that isn't theirs. The really fun part about working for 10and5 is that we take submissions, so often people will send in an advertising campaign, fashion line or music video that we get to view before anyone else. And the invites to exhibitions, gallery openings and media passes to events such as The Loerie Awards don't hurt either!”

Between 10 and 5 is a slightly more complicated blog than the other blogs I have included in this body of work. There is a vast amount of information to be found on this blog, which can often become confusing. However, through the use of cleverly placed links, for example “expanded categories”, “recent posts” and “popular posts this week” the problem of navigating the blog is solved.

The first post I have included (posted on July 7th 2010) is an Advertisement for Woolworths. The advertisement is in conjunction with the FIFA World Cup 2010. Woolworths is a South African based corporation. The post is short and the only text is crediting the creators of the advert, thus allowing for the actual advert to draw the attention of the reader. This fulfils the aim of the blog itself.

The second post (posted on July 7th 2010) is an example of Between 10 and 5 showcasing new design talent in South Africa. It is also notable how the two posts differ in both subject and style. If both had been on the same subject, the posts would not be as interesting when read in consecutive order.