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