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

Bullshit!

Only recently read yet another great piece of design criticism over at Design Observer, called: On (design) Bullshit, its well worth a read. The following are just snippets:

"In discussing design work with their clients, designers are direct about the functional parts of their solutions and obfuscate like mad about the intuitive parts, having learned early on that telling the simple truth — "I don't know, I just like it that way" — simply won't do."

"... it's beside the point whether bullshit is true or false: 'It is impossible for someone to lie unless he thinks he knows the truth. Producing bullshit requires no such conviction.' There must only be the desire to conceal one's private intentions in the service of a larger goal: getting your client it to do it the way you like it."

"Calling bullshit on a designer, then, stings all the more because it contains an element of accuracy." - Michael Bierut

"I believe he used the term finesse to mean bullshit." - Niti Bhan

I've been working on some stuff for a local magazine here in Edinburgh, called Muckle Sandwich, with another designer that stays at the same hostel, I'll post some of it soon.

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.

Chokolate Mmm

I've been getting very weary of those "lists" that seem to be flying around the internet, especially those that claim such extravagances as "top 50 business card ideas". For me that roughly translates into "How to get out of doing anything even remotely creative for your 1st year Corporate ID project", or "Idiots guide to copying and plagiarism."
This on the other had I found over at Graphics-Exchange. And I have to say I think its awesome, not in the sense that makes one think "Oh gee wiz, I gotta try that", rather in the sense that it makes ones heart race and thoughts fly through your head like "Fucking hell! I wish I'd done something that cool. Ever!" ... I think you get the idea.
The comprehensive identity entitled "Chokolate Mmm" was done by Bunch Design, for dance studio and agency Chokolate.
[via Graphic-Exchange]

Data Representation, US Tax Cut (proposal)

I have recently found, or come to the realization that, my interest in design is constantly shifting it's preferred specialization and of late I've been rather taken by Information-Design, it could be due to my rather geeky background, or just my programming background mixed with design. Either way I really liked the above graph/chart redrawn by Viveka Weiley of Chartjunk.

The beauty of it is more evident when its viewed with the chart it would be replacing, or improving upon but, I figured for both the reason that it disagreed with my aesthetic predispositions (and so didn't want it on my blog), and that viewing both together in the context of the article written by Viveka Weiley is probably a better idea,

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]

Mr Moustache Tote Bag

Possibly because I've been cultivating my own crop of stache, but I really liked this tote bag I found over at Monster Munch. Very much like the Mr Mr series that I also happened to really enjoy.
[via Monster Munch]

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

Milk gone bad

Though I think the milk carton with with that particular stye of illustration isnt quite my cup of tea, the presentation, and technique for showing artwork and illustration is beyond awesome, thats what I find most intregueing about this work by Anatomic Factory.

"The Milk Gone Bad table lamp by AnAtomic Factory with illustrations by Bombo is a follow-up to the earlier Long Life Light. When the Milk Gone Bad light is off, it resembles a simple white milk carton. When switched on, the light reveals the mold that grows unseen inside. The imaginary cartoon-like mold happens to be a lot more pleasant than the real life version and is available in 8 colourways, each with a different personality. The lamp comes flat and is constructed much the way a milk carton would be." moco loco

I'm going to be looking into doing light box like displays for my own work, but most likely will be wall mounted rectangles as apposed to table top objects.

[via mocoloco ]

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.

Sole Porn

I quite like the play with colour and transparency, this piece of work by graphic designer Peter Bruce, of Badly Spelt.

He describes it as "A collaborative project for an exhibition undertaken early in the second year which explored the hypothesis that the character of a person could be identified by looking at the sole of their shoes."

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]

Fertigo font by Jos Buivenga

I found this unbelievably brilliant font by designer Jos Buivenga, he has 8 free font that he offers on his site, but of them all I think this (Fertigo) is the most beautifully crafted. I think the above image speaks for itself. See the full font at the above links. [via Fawnt]

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