Radio Song of the week - 3

Cheers Ken

Panda-rama

What?!...

Orangina Oddness

I'm not sure if I want Orangina or some sort of farm animal...

taken from Creative Review
http://www.creativereview.co.uk/cr-blog

Grandma's Hearse

Spotted this on the way back from Amsterdam.

Radio Song of the week - 2

Suspicious Red Towel

Took this photo a couple of weeks ago in Kingston. I hope they like pink.

Gunpower, Treason and Plot

This evening across the country the sky will be illuminated by hundreds and thousands of fireworks, lawns will be scorched by bonfires made up of garden debris (most likely a little damp and green) and the odd effigie of Guy Fawkes will sit a little precariously on top.
It is the anniversary if the Gunpowder plot of 1605. It is also by coincidence Diwali, the Hindu festival of lights, the first time it has fallen on November the 5th since 1972.

An interesting article on Creative Review blog today looks at the names some of these fireworks are called. Mostly nowadays derived from military terms, war and conflict. It references how names for fireworks have changed over the years with reference to current affairs, notably the language of space exploration that adorned these recreational explosives in the '50s and '60s. More relevant names for some of today's fireworks might be, 'Tuition Fee Rocket' or 'LibDem-olition'.
The recent U-turn by the LibDems on tuition fees is horrendous. Many people voted LibDem as a direct result of their public declaration and almost unanimous signing of a pledge not to raise them. Now within this coalition they have bent over and voted in favour of increasing the fees. This is of course a coalition and like any relationship you can't get everything your own way, but within the vote anyone had the opportunity to abstain....they didn't. You may think it naive to believe that a politician could be honest and not back track, but the LibDems had a unique chance to buck this trend, and stand up for key policies. They were never going to win a majority government, so if they did get into power it would be in a coalition. Ultimately they should never have signed and publicly declared to prevent any increase in tuition fees if they weren't prepared to follow it through. They are now completely and utterly tarred with the same brush as the other two parties. Well done.

I think that this day is a very important one within British history, and maybe more relevant this year than for a long time. While the original plot was intended to commit regicide of King James I of England and VI of Scotland, it's location of The House of Lords is perhaps more poignant. In the wake of the expenses scandal and with the country in financial dire straits, maybe this should be a day where politicians remember the potential of people power and to tread a little more carefully.

Tonight I hope all politicians feel a little hot under the collar and can see the metaphor in the burning fuse.

http://www.creativereview.co.uk/cr-blog/2010/november/fireworks-design

Radio Song of the week

Scary Pumpkin

This is one of the ways I've kept myself busy this week.

Limit to your Love

I have been refraning from posting this because it's done the rounds a bit already. But I've not been able to stop listening to it from the first go. It's now nestled in my top 10 songs of all time....I realise it's a big statement, but I think it's valid.

Dave Osborne

My favourite poem
by a friend of mine,
who I have not seen
in a very long time

Cheat Legal

Good ad - this is the long version

Panique au Village

You'll recognise this style of animation from the Cravendale adverts. I've always been a fan of them, but never known who did them. Now thanks to It's Nice That (not for the first time) my knowledge has grown.
This is the Trailer for a feature length film...if you can believe that. quite a jump from 15second shorts.

http://www.atowncalledpanic.com/

Chinese Swan Lake

Probably the most mental balancing act I've ever seen

iPad light painting - Making Future Magic

Making Future Magic: iPad light painting from Dentsu London on Vimeo.

This is awesome...I can just about grasp making the words, but as far as making the abstract shapes spin, change and move in all directions, my head just can't bend that way.
This is waiting to be raped by a massive ad agency.

The Reluctant Father

Phillip Toledano's photographic diary of the first month he was a father. Genius funny. Here's the caption that accompanies the picture above:

Some men deal with their baby rage by drinking, or playing video games.

I made plates.

I thought this was high comedy, but Carla was not so amused.

For the longest time, when people asked to see a picture of Loulou, this was what I'd show them.

I liked not showing the usual cherubic photo. An adorable shot of Loulou poking her head out of a casserole pot, or something similarly bilious.

Does every baby picture have to be sweet and beautiful?

Crying is as much a part of it, if not most of it, at the beginning.


Read the whole thing, it's very good
found at: http://www.itsnicethat.com/
Phillip Toledano: http://theanthropologist.net/#/PhillipToledano/TheReluctantFather/

nendo: thin black line

A collection of black wire furniture by Japanese studio Nendo will be shown at the Saatchi gallery in London later this month.
The collection also includes a clothes rack and all are intended to look like sketches.....mission accomplished. The chair (above) certainly achieves this and I love the boundary it crosses between practical furniture and sculpture/art. I wonder how comfy the chair is?? but also in a wider context, does the fact that it's going to be presented at the Saatchi gallery make it more art than furniture? If they let you sit on the chair then maybe its furniture, if not....then art? Or if the chair isn't comfy, then does it become art by default as no-one will sit on it anyway? Or is it a case of what the intention was when it was originally designed/made; I guess it's still furniture if it was intended to be uncomfortable from the idea's conception.

http://www.nendo.jp/en/
taken from: http://www.dezeen.com/2010/09/07/thin-black-lines-by-nendo/

Antidote

I'm currently on a month long internship at Anitdote. Just started my second week, and enjoying the challenges so far.

http://www.antidote.co.uk/
http://antidotelikes.blogspot.com/

Brew Dog

This is Brew Dog an experimental beer company and "A beacon of non-conformity in a increasingly monotone corporate desert" in beer world. Whoever got the job for branding this company must have had a lot of fun, not that I really like it that much. But its besides the point.
Above is their new brew, 'The End of History' in taxidermy packaging and is a head thumping 55% ABV and costs about £490 a bottle.

Found on DesignPorn
http://www.brewdog.com/

Everynone: Words

WORDS from Everynone on Vimeo.

I was told about this last week during an interview, and didnt think i'd seen it. Now I realise I had, but I wasnt paying attention. It's already been dong the rounds on various blogs, but i'm still posting it because this would have been the perfect place to take my dingbat typeface.....

Drugs Law Review

I've not actually written about my feelings towards the advantages drug legalisation would have on people, but I have had deep conversations with friends and family about the matter. Most of the time I have been shot down (especially within the family), but more and more we are reading about more high profile people than myself lobbying for at the very least, the laws to be reviewed. I also think you'll find Daniel Craig will back me up (as in Layer Cake) and Ben Elton puts forward a good case in High Society. Now the outgoing president of the Royal College of Physicians Sir Ian Gilmore also seems to have an opinion. There are also the documentries on Channel 4 at the moment by Angus Macqueen entitled Our Drugs War.
This fire is starting to get a bit more fuel...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-10990921
http://www.channel4.com/programmes/our-drugs-war/episode-guide

Women are Heroes - JR

full trailer for 'Women are Heroes' by JR

Alexa Meade

These images blow my mind!....human canvases. I love them
http://www.alexameade.com/

found at http://www.todayandtomorrow.net/

worth holding on to? Kingston 2010

worth holding on to? from Rob Bowes on Vimeo.

The real talking point

If you look at design blogs regularly then you've probably seen this photo before, or at least one of the other two in the series. The project was a comment on the confusing and somewhat farcical laws that surround the issues of photographing children. I probably didn't need to tell you that, it's a very good project very well executed, and therefore it communicates.
This was done by two of my good friends Samantha Harvey and Anna Brooks this year at uni. Now i don't know whether it's because I've seen this project develop over a long period of time, but the point that the image is trying to raise is a serious one. It does have underlying connotations about paedophilia, but ultimately it's an observation about the big brother society ours is slowly mutating into.
Of all the blogs this has been on, including It's Nice That and Creative Review, no one has commented on the actual message this photo sends out very well. It's being overlooked due the the technical accomplishments of the photography. All 3 are rather beautiful images in their own right, bold colours, the composition is spot on, as well as the little bit of nostalgia you feel when you see that the background looks something like your very own primary school; these things, and others, all contribute to the message becoming blurred. It is not Sam and Anna's fault at all and ironically the fact that this Orwellian tinged message is mostly overlooked, actually makes it communicate and comment on precisely that problem simultaneously.
We are not very good at viewing our own society from a neutral position, we are far too involved, moaning about tax rises, pensions and the state of youth today. What we are missing is messages from designers, artists, directors and authors that our world is changing right before our eyes in ways much more subtle than a few polar bears struggling to find solid ice and a slightly higher water mark on the white cliffs of Dover. We overlook them because of the masterful way in which these messages are woven into the fabric of context.
A film's message may be lost despite the fact it could (and probably is) shouting you in the face. We don't believe it because it comes in a box stamped "Hollywood", full of special effects, millions of pounds and beautiful people we would love to fuck...it's far fetched and nothing brewed in Hollywood could ever really happen, could it? Fundamentally though this film was once, just an idea, that most of the time is thought of by an intelligent person needing a medium for the message, but during its transformation from idea to blockbuster, the message becomes transparent. Invisible but so obviously there.
The message of a book is probably the most effective, as it's a much more tangible object than a film. We can imagine the intelligent person writing the lyrical prose, that we could never articulate even if we tried. You respect the author more than the director, you're ready to listen. The problem here is...the message doesn't reach most people, most novels never make it into the heady heights of popular culture, something that a film falls into without even trying to. It's a bit like a free loading, reality tv celebrity getting many more column inches than a scientist who just cured cancer.
The photograph above is much more in the book category, the frustrating thing here is, lots of intelligent people do see it...but once again the real grit behind the final object is passed over.
It's the same mentality which causes us to overlook changes in our own society, and move us a couple of pigeon steps closer to 1984.
Point in case: the smoking ban
It was the first law change for a very long time that actually reduced our freedom of choice. "you will not smoke because we say it's bad for you". Of course smoking is bad for us, the people around us, and it puts a big strain on the NHS and and and...easy justification for the government and ourselves to agree it should be banned in public. No protest, (or pretty inaudible anyway) done. What it tells the government though is, ban the things people feel bad about protesting about, even if it causes them to lose freedom, and it'll be fine. Do it over a long enough period of time and people will have forgotten they could even do the banned thing in the first place, also forgetting they lost freedom each time too; it will just creep up. Next on the list...alcohol and fatty foods.

This is the debate that photograph should provoke, not one about composition and how "lovely" the idea is.

www.samantha-harvey.co.uk/
www.anna-brooks.com/

Guillaume Nery base jumping at Dean's Blue Hole

I've just found something new to try and achieve in my life

found at
http://www.todayandtomorrow.net

Kingston Uni Show

My exhibition area for my Loss in London newspaper and my Dingbat typeface WorDing. Both can be seen further down my blog

here's a few other pieces that were displayed. The photos don't do them justice hence why a lot of other things didn't get put on here.


Dan Prettejohn
Portraits of champions of weird things. On the left we have the 6 time cheese rolling champ, and on the right the world champion Egg Roulette'r.

cheese rolling is this btw, as depicted in the awesome video/song Can You Give It by the Maccabees



Joe Provis
A quite beautiful drawing about something that i can't remember, aesthetically seductive though


Jess Harvey
Looking at making herself look like certain typefaces, based on when, where and who designed them. It's amazing what you can do with a couple of hairpieces and some make-up


Tom Digby
Proposing to repackage some of our best known products. I just like how amazingly pretty they are...quality screen prints


Mark Rogerson
A map of the world's economy - love a good map

To be Found

Loss In London Newspaper

caption on cover
Loss of human life is always tragic, and it is often the manner in which death occurs that resonates with us most, especially if we didn't know the deceased personally

Nike: Write the Future - Full Length

Awesome

Nike: Write the Future

If Carlsberg did Teamtalks

Not sure how much I like this really, just had to post it because its World Cup related. Phil Taylor's cheeky dart is a bit naff...i'm assuming they did it so everyone knows know he is, and Tevor Brooking's little quip just sounds forced. o well.

My World Cup 23

Barry in for Parker if he's fit

Siggi Eggertsson at Pick Me Up

Went to Pick Me Up the other day at Somerset house, and I thought it was quite good, it was a really interesting exhibition...if you can even call it that, because it was a little bit more.
Screen printing workshops from Print Club and the ‘It’s Nice That’ cinema, nicely broke up the work on display, all of which was available to purchase. It was also nice to see an exhibition that was purely graphic ART, no major concept, no problem solving; just pretty things, and sometimes that’s all you need.
This piece above was my highlight though, a huge 2x2.5m quilt by Icelandic Siggi Eggertsson, made out of a massive 10,000 pieces.
Somerset House was also a very nice setting, Pick Me Up is on until 3 May.

Opposites Attract

WorDing

A dingbat typeface based on word association. The dingbats are based on the most commonly occurring words during word association experiments undertaken by the University of South Florida in 1973.
More than 6,000 participants produced nearly three-quarters of a million responses to 5,019 stimulus words. Participants were asked to write the first word that came to mind that was meaningfully related or strongly associated to the presented word.
For example, if given BOOK _________, they might write READ on the blank next to it. This procedure is called a discrete association task because each participant produces only a single associate to each word.

See if you can get what they are, R is probably the hardest, but they are very common words. Probably need to redo 'i', don't think its quite bright enough, if you catch my drift.

The Election Debate

why so blue?

So the first ever live election debate was on last night, and overall I thought it was quite good, I didn't feel the need to switch channels at least. No idea who i'm voting for, to quote Victoria Coren on Have I Got News For You last week; "you know those really great tennis matches where you think it's a shame that any player has to lose? Well it's the exact opposite of that."
Also was it just me or did the blue team visually stand out over the others? And thought it was quite interesting that in the edit of the closing statements put on ITV's YouTube channel (below), they've edited it so Nick Clegg speaks last, when on the Live broadcast he spoke first...why would they do that?

2012 Logo 1972

I've always really liked the London Olympic logo, I think it's the most original since Munich 1972. And these new badges posted on It's Nice That today are also very cool.
http://www.itsnicethat.com/articles/2609-london-2012-logo

Four Letter Words

Four Letter Words from Rob Seward on Vimeo.

it's nice when you come across something that's relevant to work your doing.
Word association is something i'm exploring to further 'Words of Numbers'

"Four Letter Words is an installation made by Rob Seward. It consists of four units, each capable of displaying all 26 letters of the alphabet with an arrangement of fluorescent lights. The piece displays an algorithmically generated word sequence, derived from a word association database developed by the University of South Florida between 1976 and 1998. The algorithms take into account word meaning, rhyme, letter sequencing, and association."

taken from: http://www.todayandtomorrow.net/

HG Wells book covers

Brief:
Design a stunning and contemporary cover look for one of the 20th Century’s most acclaimed authors, HG Wells
Creative Challenge:
Known mostly for his Science Fiction writing, HG Wells also wrote incredible social novels that are still relevant today, covering topics such as the mid-life crisis, class, feminism, materialism, consumerism and love.

Description:
I wanted to strip the books down to their bare bones and effectively re-title them. The new ‘titles’ are well known sayings that give a prospective buyer a very basic idea of what the main plot is about. As HG Wells is predominantly known for his science fiction writing, I felt that this would be an appropriate method to clearly show they were not from this genre. It also aims encourage a new reader base for Wells’ novels.

The dust jackets are double sided, the front being treated typographically in relation to what the book has been ‘re-titled’ to. The back is more illustrative, reflecting another element of the story the main character has to deal with or is involved in.

JR - Women Are Heros - Paris

from: http://blog.vandalog.com/2010/03/jr-women-are-heroes/

PUMA Hardchorus

Bring on the World Cup!
http://www.pumahardchorus.com/

OXO not cube

This is one of the stingiest pieces of "design" I have ever seen. I'm not sure how long oxo "cubes" have looked like this, but it is such a blatant attempt at cost cutting. I know we're in a bit of a financial black hole at the moment, but seriously, shaving off what cannot be anymore than half a gram of dust is just crap.
Whoever said "...I know, lets make the cube into an 'X' cos there is an X in our name and it saves us 8 quid a year!"...fucking genius. They probably had to change all there equipment in oxo land so they can make these grooves, money well spent when there isn't much about...i think not. Change for change sake. No doubt the suits think it's 'a bit of fun', not sure i've ever been that bothered about having a laugh when making gravy? maybe some people have.
If they're going to be that pedantic about things, then they should change the brand name to EX-O and find out what a 3D 'X' is actually called so you can bung that on the end of the title.

Flutes des Monts Mandara

African Music Packaging - Flutes des Monts Mandara
October 2009
Joint project with: Ed Baigrie

Brief:
A project from Andersen M Studio. Design and create the album cover for an LP of the album Flutes des Monts Mandara, a compilation of traditional music from Cameroon in Africa.
The design must make the music appeal to a young, artistic and open minded audience in the UK/Western world. The essence of the music must be depicted in an authentic West African way, but with a modern artistic approach.

Description:
We looked at how the music was recorded, all the songs were played outside and directly recorded with microphones, very low tech and uncomplicated. This recording is essentially a one-off copy of the music, that could never be repeated exactly, there is little or no production and it’s raw.
To access the music the outer sealed layer must be ripped off, the inside of this layer is a three colour screen printed poster, so depending on how you’ve opened the packet, will determine what your poster looks like. The ink on the centre of the vinyl is made to come off when rubbed (like a scratch card). This way every time you open the case to play the music, the disc itself becomes marked, changing the appearance; further enhancing the one off concept.

Words of Numbers

Self Initiated
November 2009

Description:
I was looking at the relationship certain words have with a number, more specifically 0 to 9, as these are the fundamental digits for every number.
This specific 0 to 9 are things that should be understood by everyone over the age of sixteen, and if not then you might learn something as it will give the viewer provocation to understand why a certain word is used.
It still needs some work as some are perhaps not as clear as they should be and I don't think 'A' sized paper is the best format. Eventually I want to collate ten 0 to 9's in a book, each set based on a specific subject.

If you have any suggestions for words you think could be associated with a number feel free to leave a comment....and be the firs person ever to do so at the same time. x