A long time coming

Ive been working on my project 'iliketext.com' in every spare moment I've gotten, so I've not managed to add any posts here for a while. Above is a experiment I did with outputting stats collected from the service I'm building, and while I was trying to look at ways of displaying data and statistics such that they are easily accessible and interesting, I quite like the above beyond-basic result, I find it quite interesting in a very minimalist abstract sense, though its not helpful at all. It quite reminds me of a train departure board.

On a more productive note, Ive been working on the User Interface of Iliketext.com and think I'm almost there, heres a preview of the work in progress:
Things are going along well.

working-title('TXTface');

Ok, so I'm quite motivated about this new project I'm working on, as I've mentioned in my last post. Here's a snippet of what the post on the website would look like (so far).
I am still looking for people to collaborate with me though, as I'm pretty sure my server-side/programming skills are seriously lacking.
The Empire Collective > TXTface

TXTface

A new project I'm working on.
TXTface would essentially be a purly text-based faux-social bookmarking tool, based on the internet. Drawing inspiration from great sites like FFFFound.com by Yugo Nakamura and with the obvious tip of the hat to Facebook.com by Mark Zuckerberg, but with the focus being given to purely literary examples. As a project, I'd like to find a Developer to collaborate with, but hey I could just do it myself.

of rhyme or verse

of rhyme or verse i know none,
aside from perhaps
the taste of my thumb;

as for satire or wit,
of neither have i ever writ;

i know not why i write,
or even if it amounts to nothing
but trite.

Light, angels & a short film concept

It's been quite difficult staying creatively active away from home, in a foreign county and totally out of the local creative culture loop. But recently I've been brooding over a number of projects. The above series of images was just a quick gap filler in my day full of applying for and getting no response from design agencies and recruiters in London.

The project I'm tossing backward and forward in my mind the most, is a short film project called 'The Runner', a short film about anxiety, frustration, and perseverance. At the moment I'm still working on the script, and looking for interested parties to collaborate with; you can see a vague outline of the idea on the Facebook group I created for organizing it.

London Towne

I'm in London, at last. The last 3 months organising Visa's and such like, and now I'm finally hereI arrived on Saturday the 8th of November, and have as yet only done 1 day of freelance design work (for a company called Velvet). But so far so good.

I had told myself that I wasnt going to do the whole touristy thing, but really its hard to avoid. The pic above is what seems to be a Shepherd Fairley poster that I past on my way to my interview in Battersea. I'm not sure if its the real deal or not (and I suppose it doesnt really mean much to people who pass stuff like that all the time), but I was quite chuffed. Especially since (via the interwebs) I hear the Smithsonian Institute is planning on buying Fairley's portrait of US President Elect Mr Obama, for $75,000.00. Thats pretty awesome.

I did manage to let my batteries run flat on the one day I happened across a SpaceInvader tile installation (near Westminster Bridge) whilst sightseeing with fellow South Africans Tammy and Jason (dunno what their surnames are), but oh well, I'll take a pic of it soon enough.

Anyway London is awesome so far, and I look forward to meeting tonnes of people.

The Remnant

Well, I tried to organise an exhibition... It was due to be called "Share & Share Alike" but due to participation issues, the name has had to be changed, I think it's quite apt.

Title: The Remnant
Time: 6pm (The Evening) 17th Oct
Place: The Corner Cafe (Durban)

I'll take pics of my work once it's all up, I was quite chuffed with my contribution in the end, It's just a pity so many of the original participants pulled out at the last moment.

Graphic Finger-wear

I'm by no means a jewelery designer, but I'm busy with this at the moment a quick project before a leave RSA to try my luck in London-town. I'm doing it more as a gift idea than anything else, I have yet to source the right kind of resin to seal them with though, but I should get my hands on that pretty soon.
Its quite funny actually I was at movies with a friend of mine and my girlfriend and we saw something similar at a shop for R300 (only way uglier), and I declared then that it was a total ripoff and than I could do that myself anyday. So here I am proving a point (If only to myself).

The Flow of Communication

Thanks to my following the happenings at The Diagram, who have just published version 8.4. I've started experimenting with diagrams to communicate poems, prose, and found text. I'm still in the process of developing the execution, but I'm rather pleased with it so far.
Like the one above, that's still in sketch form, based on the children's rhyme "Georgie Porgie Pudding And Pie".

I hope to produce a series of limited run screen prints, for my up coming collaborative exhibition "Share & share alike", so any criticism (good or bad) would be much appreciated.
[Inspiration via The Diagram]

Share & Share alike

Here's a quick and oh so vague preview of the stuff I'm working on for an upcoming exhibition I'm taking part in. It'll hopefully be at the Corner Café (Durban) in August.

Moar Post-its

My last post was of the idea of doing a varnished Post-it Bird... well heres the result (the first atempt anyway) It lasted all of one day before passers-by started vandalizing it. how dare they (hehehehe kidding). I quite like the weathered look though.
I must say I prefer it from a distance more than up close. The whole point of the project is: "Aiming to bring a childlike admiration and appreciation back into the hearts of Durbanites, Durban really is a beautiful city, if only people would take the time to notice."
Right/Ctrl click on the above images and view, to see larger sizes.
And here is what my agency (Modern Museum Communication) gets up to along the same lines when the power goes out, in the comfort of our own agency.

LLLLOST & Post-it Birdy

Firstly, this is a most sincere request to anyone to happens to cross paths with my blog, and is in possession of a ffffound account, from which they can invite me. I love ffffound and am llllost without an account. Please ... please find it in your graphically orientated hearts to invite me.

Anyway... The above image is a mild excursion into urban/street pixel art that I found myself doing to pass the time during a power outage at work. The idea is that I will create roughly 8x8 images with Post-Its then varnish/wheat-paste them in place. So far all I've done is the above experiment on a piece of found wood. But, urban canvas here I come. Inspired by boredom and space-invaders.
[image from my flickr]

UPADTE:


After making the above half of the post, I was browsing ffffound, and came across the red pixel image above. Its a silk screened poster available at Hybrid-Home. I thought it was cool, and relevant, so added it to my post.
[via ffffound: Apartment Therapy : Hybrid-Home]

Hiber & Procrasti Nation

As seems to be the case with most designers and their blogs. I've been totally bogged down with work, which is both good and bad, but because of it, I've had to give blogging a rest.
But I missed to far too much, so I'm back.

While I was gone, my work saw fit to send me and a couple other colleagues from Modern Museum to the Design Indaba in Cape Town.
Its was totally awesome, and unbelievably inspiring, so I have lots of content to impart to any of the readers who as of yet have not abandoned all hope of me posting again. hahaha

But as a starter, I'm not going to jump in arms flailing, but rather ease into it again, so I started with an illustration/typeplay, of a line I saw at FriendsWithYou, it makes no sense, but I love it.
So I was wondering, if anyone reads this, if you also attended the Design Indaba Conference, who was your best speaker? Mine was Marije Vogelzang. She was amazing, but I'll leave that for my next post.
[tis good to be back]

Wolf wrapping-paper, A New Year

Well it seems I'm not the only one who's bin taking it slow towards the end of the year. But I must say it really has been a great one for me. I just finished by Btech desgree in graphic design, as well as my first year of working in the industry. 2007 was bloody fantasic, come on 2008.
Im still on holiday though (visiting faminly in Johannesberg), but thats not to say that I've been idle (although I havnt been able to make any posts till now).

Inspired by Jesse at jezzeblog, with her foray into fabric printing, I started doing some experimenting myself. And trust me to go about it backwards (and insideout), for christmas I decided to make my own wrapping paper. So I did lino/block prints using sceenprinting ink and acrylic onto papers like stamps.
Here are some of the pics I took.

So as soon as I get back to Durban, on the 6th, Im going to carry on experimenting with printing, it really is fun. And I'll most definitly post the results here.

100 Posts, and a New Website

I had planned on doing a post on the website I'm working on. So I only just realized that this would be my hundredth post on The Empire Collective blog. The site is the coming together of a whole bunch of talented Durban designers, all with their own styles and skills.
The (true) Empire Collective.

I'm in the process of building the site, and waiting for content from each of the members. Here are some of the banner designs that will be part of the site to come.

Konkord retro t-shirt prints

I'm not sure what inspired it, I was browsing ffffound, and had the sudden urge to do these rough t-shirt designs (I think I saw something with a similar font). I quite like them. Check more stuff out at my Flickr page.

The time is, NOW

I found a great article at the DesignBOOM weblog, on how even bad design serves a purpose. I think the NOW watch is flipping cool, esp since I recently did a clock design for my B.tech/Degree, using the clock as a call to action : "Its About Time".

The "hands" are clear discs (with the type printed onto them) that rotate. And the "issue" is interchangeable. Highlighting issue like Climate Change and Deforestation.

As an aside, most people that I've showed them to don't realize that they DO work, probably because they don't have a continually moving seconds hand. But I promise they are fully functional (It was bloody hard to do).

My Birthday YAY!

Well, today was my birthday... my 22nd to be exact. And unfortunately I'm in the middle of the final dash to get everything ready for my final degree show. Which would explain the slowdown in posts recently.

I thought I'd post a thumbnail view of my favorites from flickr. Check out my flickr page here.

A3 Bags and A0 Posters

You may have seen this bag (Done by designer Tim Pokrichuk) elsewhere already, I first saw it at the Russian design blog omami.ru, but its simplicity grabbed me.
For at least a week I saw everything around me in terms of its ISO size. So to get it out of my system I decided to do an A0 poster using the same concept. I quite like it so I took a pic to post. Not sure how long before the novelty wears off though.

Premio Vico Magistretti results

Finally the results for the Premio Vico Magistretti
'Living simplicity in furniture design' competition have been published. Although I never won (the winning entries were brilliant), I was one of he shortlisted participants and will have my design featured in the book being published by DesignBOOM. You can see all the other shortlisted entries HERE (Mine is about 8th from the top).

Check out he book for sale HERE, I've ordered mine already. I must say, I'm quite chuffed.