this is my heart

Its quite coincidental, that (since I'm traveling and haven't been able to do much graphic work) I've started writing, and happen to have come across a great blog 'this is my heart. it is a good heart' thanks to my friend back in South Africa - Fathima.
The image (from love notes) also caught my attention seeing as I'm away from home at the moment. Hopefully I'll give my writings a graphic treatment and post them here soon. via Fathima

Edinburgh, is awesome

I've been out of the loop. Traveling is awesome, and Edinburgh is so far my favorite city in the mini version of the world that I've seen. It's very difficult to stay in the design loop, whilst backpacking around with non-designer/creatives. But. When I ran into this A6 flyer/poster on the streets of Old Town in Edinburgh, it injected we with some new vigor.

Well... I'm back in London, looking for work, working on my portfolio/book. The economy sucks right now, and with the whole fact that 70% of advertising jobs go unadvertised (go figure) it makes it really hard to find work for a creative who isn't part of the "design culture" of a city. But I'll keep going. Hopefully I find something/anything soon.

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.

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]

I came across this quote on ffffound, and although (due to it being on ffffound) everyone has probably seen it, it struck such a chord with me, that I just had to re-post it. And along with this one, I found another great quote, via WikiQuote.

"Is graffiti art or vandalism? That word has a lot of negative connotations and it alienates people, so no, I don't like to use the word 'art' at all" Banksy

Public Art

Following my own progress into critically considering the roll of graphic design, be it commercial or expressive, individual or collaborative, I found the above work entitled "Public Art", by designer Chris Clarke, his own words describe it best;

"The notion of ‘public art’ is an awkward idea to resolve. By definition, it encompasses any artwork which is publicly accessible, typically situated in outdoor spaces. It is expected that ‘public art’ somehow exists for the public, but typically does not involve them in its making. Its record suggests that the majority of ‘public art’ is not so different from the ‘art’ which occupies the gallery spaces of the ‘art world’, and is often taken by artists as a chance simply to try out bigger and more adventurous, weather tolerant projects. This canvas, entitled ‘Public Art’, is a proposed reality check on the term from which it derives. The piece comprises a collection of marks made in, and extracted from, the public domain. Sampling from a collection of pen tester sheets found in stationers and art shops around the city of Bristol over a four month period, the composition bears true public authorship in its form, capturing directly the voices of a random cross-section of Bristolians.

The result of this incidental public collaboration is a pseudo abstract-expressionist composition, essentially concerned with colour, mark and vocalisation. Both as a display of public identity and a record of the visual musings of the public unconscious, ‘Public Art’ brings value to the overlooked output of the Bristolian public, in documentation of the assumed banality of everyday public history." Chris Clarke

Design Education Criticism

My father recently bought me a book, Looking Closer Five: Critical writings on graphic design, to help with my critical thining on design, especially since I've decided I want to do my MA in graphic design.

While I'm nowhere near finished the book, I came across an article by Jessica Helfand entitled "Method Designing: The paradox of modern design education", and it really stuck home, especially since I've just completed my B.tech Degree and have been looking at my contemporaries and I, and analysing how we each dealt with our "design education" at DUT (Durban). The Article draws lines of similarity between the technique of acting introduced by Stanislavsky called "Method Acting" and graphic design. The quotes below particualarly stuck home.

"The good news is that in an effort to produce designers who can think for themselves, we ask our students to identify a method which becomes evident through the work that they produce. Such an emphasis on authorship is, by and large, a way to train young designers as thinkers — and not merely as service providers. (So far, so good.) At the same time, we encourage them to seek references beyond the obvious: the richness of their sources testifies to an ability to engage a larger universe, and their work benefits from locating itself along a trajectory they've chosen and defined for themselves.

The bad news is that as a consequence of seeking validation elsewhere, there is an unusual bias toward false identity: so the design student, after looking at so much art, believes that s/he is making art. The design student, after considering so deeply the intangible forces framing the interpretation of visual form, comes to believe that the very act of interpretation is itself the form. This is where the method backfires so paradoxically: in being true to ourselves, we distance ourselves from a more universal truth, the kind that designers, in making messages clear, are so naturally predisposed to understand."

Though I'm not really affiliated with the university that I studied at, beyond being a student, I wish I could pin this article up on the notice boards, but I know (havning only too recently been a student) that most of the people that would most bennifit from it, will mostly likely not read past the first paragraph. Its a Shame,really.

The article, although from the book Looking Closer Five, can also be found in it's entirety at DesignObserver where the author is an Editor. The site is in my opinion one of the leading Critical Design blogs, and well worth being read often.
I'm hoping (counting on the fact) that I'll find more articles like the one above that with influence me, no end, and hopefully help me flesh out my Masters proposal.

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.

DIAGRAM :: 8.2

I'm at a loss, both at how awesomely intriguing Diagram is, and as to what they are exactly. So far as i can glean, they are an online magazine dedicated to writing and poetry.

"We're interested in representations. In naming. In indicating. In schematics. In the labeling and taxonomy of things. In poems that masquerade as stories; in stories that disguise themselves as indices or obituaries." www.thediagram.com

Me being more graphically orientated, I prefer the visuals on the site more than the writing on it's own, the mixture of existing diagrams with unrelated yet somehow meaningful text is brilliant.
[via theDiagram8.2]

Paul Willoughby illustration

Some awesome illustrations by Paul Willoughby, I particularly like the above one, seems like its printed on or in the style of traditional Chinese porcelain. I dig it, check out his portfolio at the link below.
[via www.paulwilloughby.com]

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]

Keri Smith, Guerilla Art

I found Keri Smiths flickr Page, via the above picture, on ffffound. and after going through her stuff, I've fallen in love with her typographic doodles, however simple they might be. I particularly like her "Guerilla Art Signs". check out her website www.kerismith.com.

"For the really bad days, for the days when you want to quit, when you feel like everything you do is shit, when you feel your self-esteem plummet, when you decide that you would rather wait tables for a living, when you start to think you will never make a living making art, when you are working on something and feel like you hate it more than you've ever hated anything in your life, when someone makes an offhand remark about your work and afterwards you feel dejected, when you wish you had gone to school for accounting, when you start to believe that maybe your family was right, when you want to lie in bed for a month and eat chips.

It pays to have a sense of humor.

The artist's survival kit offers some help." Keri Smith

The Great Wave off Kanagawa, Tatebanko

I recently came across Tatebanko, which is a "forgotten Japanese art of creating amazing dioramas and scenic perspective from paper." Tatebanko was popular and widely admired from the Edo period ( 17th century ) to the early 20th century. Then it all but disappeared.
The site Tatebanko.com is now attempting to revive it, above is a sample of a tatebanko made from the famous Japanese painting The Great Wave Off Kanagawa.

I've seen this technique used before, for a CD cover, but for the life of me (and despite my ever expanding bookmarks folder) I cant find the example...sorry. But I'm definitely going to put in on my list of crafty techniques to experiment with.
Stumbled upon via CoolHunting.

All Wrapped Up

I came across a very strange thing indeed. I found the PPP (Pink Prank Project) thanks to Kristi Moore at Asphalt and Air. Talk about OCD, but it really does look good. I don't think I'd have the patience to try anything like that.


It also reminded me of a post I saw (above) in August on Amy's blog Tummy-Ache.

On the walls of Beijing

Photographed on the streets of Beijing, I really really like it...alot! "chinoiserie meets militarism" via LCerre at 2 or 3 things I know.

Ice Lolly: Update

"Water that floats freely and makes contact with minerals is able to regain its vitality and its crystal structure. This was the inspiration for Dutch designer Nienke Vording to develop a series products for water consumption." via Core77

Its a very "Nice" idea, not sure if it goes much beyond that though, I cant help thinking its a little contrived... although that sounds a bit too harsh. Whilst I applaud those people that drink natural water, I can hardly see how the "Ice-lolly" is making it more accessible or practical. But to be fair I'm not sure what the designer's original intention was (His website is in Dutch). It's a "Nice" idea, but not sure whether it's much more than that.

UPDATE: In hindsight, that was way too harsh... An anonymous commenter posted this:

"Ice lollies with a laser crystal as a rod. The ice has various flavours: mint, red pepper, lavender, rampart note, star anise and other fruit. Each frozen element uses its own taste and fragrance to flavour the water without further additives. - So i guess its a natural alternative to a chemical filled ice lolly." Anonymous

I can't be sure if this is the designer "defending" his work, it would sound so, and I apologise for the harsh tone, it wasn't intentional. Just a passing thought.

I think they look brilliant, and I think that forgetting to include how cool I thought they were in my previous entry may have made it sound all the more harsh. eeeek sorry.

Amazing work, by Nienke Vording

Luke Chueh Paintings

I love Luke Chueh's paintings and I'm can safely say that I'm mortified I don't live in LA so I could go to his exhibition at the 1988 Gallery ...aaararrgg! But seriously I went to his site, and besides the fact that all his paintings are so cool, they look especially so when they're displayed as small thumbnails next to each other. very very cool.

Etsy of the Week, The Black Apple

Unfortunate I've limited myself (due to justified addiction) to only post one Etsy find per week, or else every post of mine would be a new brilliant thing/person I'd found on Etsy, and not much else.

Like Emily Martin from Georgia USA, who is The Black Apple, "curiosity peddler and picture scribbler".
Her paintings and prints are some of the cutest portraits/characters ever. I think they're brilliant, you can check out her Blog, or her Etsy Shop.

USB Lock, Dialog05

"what is the difference between analogue and digital, physical and virtual? what connects and bridges these apparently different worlds?"

"this phenomena inspired us to use the USB interface, with all its possibilities and ambiguities as a medium for this project. we created installations, objects and products that are surprising, enlightening, inspiring and questioning, and on the other hand ironic or even amusing."

Dialog05 presented these conceptual designs/art at an exhibition, but I quite like this one (above) as it is, and its practical enough to be a working product. Unlike some of the other pieces they've done. But overall some very cool stuff. Discovered through ffffound!