The idea is for them to come and speak to some of our team about what we do, including how we approach client work and the way we promote ourselves. It’s a chance for students to see how the work they produce on their course might one day translate to client-led, real-world design. They leave with a much better idea of how to get noticed and begin their career in the industry.

You can see the full image gallery on our Flickr profile.

The launch took place aboard The Golden Hinde, a replica of the historic ship once captained by Sir Francis Drake and now moored on the banks of the Thames. Needless to say, there was plenty of pirate-themed fun and games. Not to mention the costumes.

We were joined on the high seas by the folks from Radio 4, Ordnance Survey and the Evening Standard, plus some the leading lights in the geography world.

You can dive straight in and visit the Mission:Explore website or download the iPhone app through iTunes now.

About Mission:Explore

The Mission:Explore website and app were based on The Geography Collective’s interactive book of the same name. We built the technical platform for Mission:Explore and adapted the book’s look and feel for screen and mobile.

Here’s how we described the project back in April:

‘Misson:Explore aims to get young people out and about, engaging with geography and learning about places. Through a series of playful missions, users get to explore new locations in novel and exciting ways, and see the world from a different perspective.

‘The missions are designed to get young people using and exercising their skills, often without even realising it. One mission asks the user to try and cross Trafalgar Square without scaring a pigeon – think of all the risk assessment and planning required!’

For more background to the project and the thinking behind it, listen to Alan from the Geography Collective talking about Mission:Explore on London SE1’s Audioboo stream.

We recently created our fifth interactive website to support The Royal Institution’s Christmas Lectures and we’re currently developing a game-based iPhone application for The Geography Collective.

Reality football

To celebrate the start of the World Cup, we’ve created Nutty Footy, an augmented reality football game, which we launched last night at a party at our Sheffield office.

We also offered an accessible alternative (of course) – lo-fi, augmented reality, footballer’s hairdo mirror sticker kits. We have a few kits left, so let us know if you’d like one of your own or to complete your set.

Our footballer's hairdo mirror stickers offer some back to basics augmented reality

Win a Nintendo Wii

If you weren’t part of the evening’s shenanigans, you can enter our online competition. Play at work (during lunchtime, of course) or even host your own league with friends at home.

We’re offering a Wii console with 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa game to the player who gets the highest score.

The competition runs for the duration of the World Cup – Friday 11 June to Sunday 11 July. The winner will be announced w/c Monday 12 July, so there’s plenty of time to get on the leader board.

What are you waiting for? You can play Nutty Footy now!

With a Wii to be won and places on a Top Gear-style leaderboard at stake, competition was, on the whole, good natured – with a tussle at the top between Laura James from Specialist Schools and Academies Trust and Peter Stidwill from the Houses of Parliament Education Service.

When the competition drew to a close Peter just edged it, with a time he’d set on his first go! A huge thank you to everyone who came along and joined in the fun.

You can check out the pictures on our Flickr profile.

And didn’t we have a smashing time? The weather was kind and Maynard Flip Flap, our post-ride entertainment, kept us going after a rather tasty picnic.

Of course, apart from all the fun and games, our aim was to raise money for charity. Well here’s the good news. Together, we raised a wonderful £1,005 for Roundabout, the Sheffield charity that helps young, vulnerable people gain important life skills and get back on their feet again.

So a huge thank you goes out to everyone who took part in the bike ride, plus all of those very kind donators who contributed on the day or online. You all helped make the event a great success. Thanks – we appreciate it!

There are plenty of pictures from the bike ride over on our Flickr account, so head over and take a look.