Unfinished Business

It’s a good one this week. I’m joined again by [Elliott Kember](http:twitter.com/elliottkember) to talk about whether being acquired is just a poncy way of saying that you’re taking a job at a big company. We discuss Google buying a nest thermostatNest Labs for $3.2billion when they could’ve got one for a hundred quid at B&Q and why some people have reacted very negatively to the deal. Best of all, we start and end this episode with a song that sounds absolutely nothing at all like Purple Rain. You don’t get singing like that on The Freelance Web or The Big Web Show, I can tell you. Thanks to our sponsors this week, they were [Espresso](http://unfinished.bz/espresso) and [Shopify](http://unfinished.bz/shopify). Please support our show by visiting them.

[This week on Unfinished Business](http://unfinished.bz/52), I’m in a relaxed mood as I’m joined by [Josh Cleland](http://www.joshcleland.com/) to talk about how we filter enquires from potential clients through our websites and emails. We also try really, really hard not to talk about moviesfilms. Thanks to our sponsors this week, [Hammer For Mac](http://hammerformac.com/unfinished) and [GatherContent](http://gathercontent.com/unfinished). Listen to this episode for a very, very special offer from GatherContent.

For [the first Unfinished Business of 2014](http://unfinished.bz/51) I’m joined by my really good friend [Dan Davies](http://twitter.com/danjdavies) to talk about film marathons, what we’d hoard for the apocalypse and Dan’s totally unrelated career change from front-end developer to UX designer. This episode is sponsored by [Ghostlab](http://vanamco.com/ghostlab) and [Perch](http://grabaperch.com/unfinished). We love them both. Please support the show by visiting them.

For this, [the fiftieth episode of Unfinished Business](http://unfinished.bz/50), I’m joined by regular guest [Laura Kalbag](http://twitter.com/laurakalbag). We talk about ethical statements and whether we, and the companies that people work for, should set out what they will and won’t work on our websites. I would like to say an enormous thank-you to [Anna Debenham](http://twitter.com/anna_debenham) for helping me get started with this podcast. To all our guests and sponsors for making the show possible and to you, our listeners for being lovely people. I’d like to wish you all a very happy Christmas holiday. Special thanks to Forge, static hosting made simple, for sponsoring this week’s episode.

The wonderfully generous [Sean Johnson](http://twitter.com/seanuk) joins me twice on [Unfinished Business](http://unfinished.bz/49) this week to first answer a listener’s question about competitive payment terms, then to talk about our downs and ups of 2013. This episode is part of a whole week of Christmas crossover podcasts including The Freelance Web, Beyond Ink, The Back To Front Show and Boagworld. I want to say a huge thank-you to [Perch](http://grabaperch.com/unfinished) who’ve not only sponsored the show this week but have made it possible for us to record Unfinished Business all this year, from Anna and mine very first episode. We use their little CMS ourselves almost every day and can’t recommend it highly enough. Please support this show by supporting them.

Illustrator [Josh Cleland](http://www.joshcleland.com/) is back on [Unfinished Business](http://unfinished.bz/48) this week to talk about his work on [the new Stuff and Nonsense go, go, go, rillas header](http://stuffandnonsense.co.uk/blog/about/go-go-go-rillas-the-all-new-stuff-and-nonsense), the difficulties of designing our own branding and how we can make visits to our sites more memorable by improving the design of pages we often forget. #### Nominate Unfinished Business for the Net Awards 2014 One way you can say thanks for the time we take making our podcast every week is to [nominate Unfinished Business for Podcast Of The Year at the Net Awards 2014](http://thenetawards.com/). We’d love, love, love you if you did that. This episode is sponsored by the [Device Lab from Vanamco.](http://devicelab.vanamco.com/)

[This week on Unfinished Business](http://unfinished.bz/47), I’m joined by [Elliott Kember](https://twitter.com/elliottkember). We talk about listening to feedback and the differences between client feedback on design projects and customer feedback about apps. Then I amuse Elliott with my new found adoration for LINGs CARS and that I think Ling is a marketing genius. Thanks to our sponsor this week [WebCode](http://www.webcodeapp.com/)—Spend your time drawing, not writing code.

[In this week’s extra length special episode of Unfinished Business](http://unfinished.bz/46), [Jon Hicks](http://hicksdesign.co.uk) and I talk exclusively about Doctor Who, so there isn’t a single piece of business advice anywhere in the show — not that there’s usually much. In particular we talk about the Doctor Who 50th Anniversary episode, so if you haven’t seen that yet — spoilers! Before that we talk about ‘An Adventure In Space And Time’, the story of the First Doctor William Hartnell and ‘The Night Of The Doctor’ mini episode that set the scene for the 50th Anniversary last week. Thanks to our companionssponsors this week [Perch and](http://grabaperch.com/unfinished) [Riot’s new Forge](http://getforge.com/unfinished). Please support our show by supporting them.

[This week on Unfinished Business](http://unfinished.bz/45), I’m joined by [James Young](http://www.welcomebrand.co.uk/) to talk about his recent, first conference presensations and why confidence in front of people is as important as a designer’s skills with Photoshop. We discuss his knives business and how a side business can improve the work we do on the web and give us more varied content to talk and write about. Thanks to our sponsor this week [GatherContent](http://gathercontent.com/unfinished)—helping people who build websites work with their clients to plan, organise and collaborate on web content.

On [this week’s Unfinished Business](http://unfinished.bz/44), regular co-host [Laura Kalbag](http://laurakalbag.com/) and I talked candidly about hosting workshops and whether they make commercial sense and how we make money from them. Laura asked me about choosing [Stuff and Nonsense](http://stuffandnonsense.co.uk) for our business name and we talked about how people can make the best, first impression when you write to us. (Sorry for Laura’s audio quality. We’ll try to do better next time.) Thanks to our sponsor, [Blush](http://blushpublishing.co.uk/unfinished), beautiful letterpress printing of cards, stationery and more for designers and artists. Support Unfinished Business by supporting them.

[This week on Unfinished Business](http://unfinished.bz/43), I’m joined by CSS hero [Harry Roberts](http://csswizardry.com) to talk about being typecast (literally,) going Keynote commando and Harry’s first week on the dole. We talk about how people can improve the way they think about sending and dealing with email and why we’re both obsessed with the backends of vans. This episode is sponsored by the new [Device Lab from Vanamco](http://devicelab.vanamco.com/) and by [Smashing Magazine’s workshops](http://shop.smashingmagazine.com/workshops) including my [CSS3 For Responsive Web Design workshop](https://shop.smashingmagazine.com/smashing-workshop-andrew-clarke-responsive-web-design.html) and Harry Roberts’ [Planning And Building A Big Front-End](https://shop.smashingmagazine.com/smashing-workshop-planning-building-front-end-zurich.html). They’re happening in Zurich, Switzerland on December 10th, 2013.

This week, I’m joined by fabulous designer [Veerle Pieters](http://veerle.duoh.com) to talk about whether cycling or eating toasties is the best exercise, when working on retainer for long-term projects makes sense and the right questions to ask in our customer enquiry questionnaires. This episode is sponsored by our friends at [Perch](http://grabaperch.com/unfinished), the little content management system for projects where you don’t want a big, complex CMS, and [Hammer for Mac](http://hammerformac.com/unfinished), the nifty development tool for designers and developers. Please support the show by supporting them.

Designer and author of A Pocket Guide to CSS Animations [Val Head](http://www.valhead.com/) joins me this week to talk about practical uses for CSS animations, how small publishers have made publishing books more accessible to first time authors and, of course, The Sooty Show. Thanks to our sponsor this week [GatherContent](http://gathercontent.com/unfinished) — helping people who build websites work with their clients to plan, organise and collaborate on web content.

[This week](http://unfinished.bz/40), illustrator [Josh Cleland](http://www.joshcleland.com/) joins me to talk about how far we can go using a movie or TV character’s likeness, the differences between an illustrator’s and a web designer’s contract and Josh’s 100% satisfaction guarantee. Thanks to our sponsor, [Blush](http://blushpublishing.co.uk/unfinished) — beautiful letterpress printing of cards, stationery and more for designers and artists.

In this week’s show, Alex’s friend [Brad Frost](http://bradfrostweb.com), who having survived his trip to Brighton, returns to talk to Andrew about designing ‘in the open’ and what the benefits for you and the people and organisations you’re working for can be. Thanks to our sponsor, [Ghostlab](http://vanamco.com/unfinished) — Synchronized cross-browser and mobile testing taken to the next level. Get 30% off at checkout with the offer code **UNFINISHEDBUSINESS**.