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.

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

Melting Words by Kotama Bouabane

Melting Words, by Kotama Bouabane. As simple as they are, I love them. You can see Bouabane's portfolio at the link above.
[via Pan-Dan, Omami]

Im busy working on an upcoming exhibition I'm organizing with fellow members of The Empire Collective, called "Share and share alike", I'll post work in progress (as soon as I've progressed, hehe)

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]

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

You Dont Matter

"We converted a plotting machine into an output device, that can draw, scratch or cut with almost any traditional drawing technique, in order to achieve aesthetics looking neither drawn by hand nor produced with only a computer. Most interesting and inspiring are all the little mistakes this machine produces, because of too much data, too much water, color, pressure etc. There are always gradients because the color gets less and less as the machine draws on. This expansion space describes the machine's actual identity. No Image looks like the other. And if you put a camera infront of the machine and take a time exposure it draws with light in the air like Picasso did with his hand." You Dont Matter
Very cool experiment, looking at the role of the designer, and in the end showing that you don't need human intervention for that "mark of the maker" effect. I especially like the work done by etching/scraping into wax (abive). I vaguely remember using this technique in primary school. [via ManyStuff]

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]

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.

Classic Type vs. Lumo Colours

I recently revisited a site I had bookmarked ages ago, called Graphic-ExchnGE. Only to realize how brilliant it is. Its fairly similar in concept to most design blogs, in that its someone finding well designed things and showing the world. Although the "writer" (Fabien Barral) lets the images talk for themselves, showing only the work and providing just a link to the company/designers site.

This is where I found the two pictures I'm showing you, the first (above) by Mucca Design is awesome, I love the grey and lumo green with brilliant type.

The second is also very cool, this time by design studio Hawaii Design London, I'm sensing a trend in the ones I liked though, old fashioned type juxtaposed with grey stock, and lumo colours. All very cool. via Graphic-ExchnGE

I Love Durban, Crystal Campbell

I recently came across this illustration, done by Crystal Campbell, who worked as a designer at Modern Museum (where I work). But now she's off to do her Masters in the UK. Good luck to her.
She is also part of a creative collective, Rosebud&Grumpers.
She has done some brilliant work check out her portfolio here.

Me been Tagged, Arrrg

Ok here goes, I've bin tagged for the second time, (you can tell the novelty hasn't worn off yet, cus I've kept count, hahaha a whole 2). This time by Jesse of Jezzeblog.

And here are the 7 things: hmmmmm,
1) I drink far to much tea, it has to be unhealthy.
2) I am loving Japan and I, a band from jo'burg at the moment.
3) I'm in the process of trying to write my 12 000 word Btech Academic report for my graphic design degree. Arrrrggg!!!
4) Currently I'm holding my breath, until I sell my first item at my Etsy Shop. (it may be a while :)
5) And am an admitted Estyaholic
6) At this very moment I have Orange on the brain, thanks to Denise of Freshly Found.
7) I cant wait for the 3rd of October, when DesignBOOM is announcing the results of the Premio Vico Magistretti furniture competition i was shortlisted for. Hold thumbs!

Hmmm, and the people I'm tagging are:
Sunday Workshop
Freshly Found
Smoke & Ochre
Lead & Light
Throughfares
Whimsical Delights
Workingclass Heroes

Phew, I'm done.

It Struck a cord.

I came across this image whilst browsing through flickr. And all I can say, is that it struck a cord. Photo by Violaceousdaisy

I was born on a pirate ship...

These "tongue depressors" are brilliant, done by Tamara Shopsin, they most definitely tickled my funny bone. Although I must admit I didn't catch on right away, but when I did, it got a sincere chuckle out of me. The fact that I love pirates just makes it that much better.
Some very cool stuff to check out at her site - Tamara Shopsin.com.

I FFFFOUND Great Images

Recently I found the site ffffound! and although its still in the private beta testing phase, I can wait for it to be fully functional. Its seems to be halfway between design blogging (minus the text) and bookmarking your favorite sites.
Basically users bookmark there favorite images, and then these are posted to the main site dependent on the number of users that favorited the same images. And thats not all! once you browse the sites many posted images, when you click on one you like, it dynamically shows you other images related be users that voted for the same images, thus giving you images mostly of the same style/taste... very useful I think. check it out here: FFFFOUND!
Thats how I came across this cool image by Peter Hempel, there are many more unrelated images at his site, definitely worth a look.

Type Trump, by Rick Banks

These "type trump" cards, by recent graduate of Cumbria University are really cool. Above are just a few of the full set, which I got off Rick Banks online portfolio. With Typefaces from Avant Garde (above) to Comic Sans (Puke). Very cool idea, although possibly only for graphic designers and typographers. via CR Blog.

Sagmeister on Happiness

I was browsing the TED site the other day, looking for interesting talks by "famous" people on design, that related to my 4th year work, to include in my academic report. And I came across a talk by Stefan Sagmeister on Happiness, very cool, if a bit sentimental (but I suppose thats happiness). Anyway heres the link to the talk( Yes, design can make you happy ), its worth a look :)

Sky Type

The alphabet made from those photos of looking up at buildings. Not exactly a run-of-the-mill solution, I think its so cool. via Noisy Decent Graphics