Can Your Pussy, Do the Dog?

The Cramps, Psychobillies first proper heroes. The band who fused together B movie themes with the raw power and energy of rock and roll to make a beautiful noise. Not many people can say that they have heard of Lux Interior or Poison Ivy or claim to of seen the stunning live performances that they were capable of. If you haven't heard them, do it it now and proceed to answer the following;

1. Can Your Pussy, Do the Dog?
2. The Bird, is the what?
3. What is it She Said?
4. Where Do I Get My Kicks?
5. I Was a Teenage W_______?

Once complete please observe these marvelous posters displaying the visual, style and cool the band had. Trusty Helvetica proved to be a useful tool, given it's many variants in weight and density. The Photos are sourced from Various online resources but all feature Lux and Ivy on stage being amazing.

Raising Awareness

 

The world was moved by the death of Robin Williams and the public has reacted by saying that we need to raise the profile of mental illness in society. This is a topic that is very close to my heart as some people that I love and care about have been effected. So I made a stand as a designer to raise awareness about this cause. A simple two colour type poster is what I thought would be most effective. "Depression" stays in the same place as it does in most peoples lives who suffer from it. The additional text works around it. The messages are simple and clear.

If you are effected by depression or know someone who is please share this and hopefully we can change peoples thinking. You are not alone in your plight. If you are feeling low or anxious contact your GP or "Mind" for advice. 

Juxtapositioned

 Yellow and black are two f my favourite colours to use. They are the colours used on one of my favourite pieces of design done by the one and only design legend, Peter Saville. Opposites are also fun things, but its how you visualize them is the challenge. A simple font choice, some light tracking adjustments and Italics.

Light Show

I fell in love with this effect. So I made a poster with it. Its a lens flare effect, copied and offset with the colours turned up so that they are brighter. Sounds easy, was easy and looks fancy.

Visual Verbs

 

Some words are action words they are something that a person can do, physically, in the "real" world. So how do you visualize an action with out actually showing a person.  You use the power of the letters themselves to show the action. SO when the word is "Cut", it must be severed in some way. "Half" is the way that something is chopped into two equal separate bits. "Split" is to separate into two parts.

A Club Like No Other

An explosion of fun would be had at this club. That's why I wrote and recorded a song about it, then designed the sleeve for it as if it was a single. I've chose the pop art feel because the lyrics of the song references a few points in pop culture. Inspired by the Hacienda club in Manchester, its all about having a good time and that is what I have tried to achieve visually.

Everything is a Conspiracy

 I am skeptical bout everything, I source every like on Social media to see if it is from a REAL person or just a spam account used to generate more likes or comments. I have become more skeptical in recent years about who is ruling the people of this earth. In an age of wiki leaks and Secret services it's hard to take things as they come. So when  had the chance to design for an album about this very interested. It's a home grown project but that makes it no less credible.

The iconography of war first came to mind when this was brought to my attention. hence some parts of the design depicting war. I feel very passionately about the mistakes that the UK made to go into Iraq. The monoo chrome style came very much out of the punk politics and fanzine culture around that time. Saying stand up and have a voice, Print your message using the cheap photocopiers and a pen. The display typeface is Helvetica but the other one is called Karton and it looks like the font Crass (the Band) used to use.

Look Dad, I Design

 

Designing for the funniest, Non Commercial but absolutely brilliant band had to be a hard task. They've been hard at work since the post punk years and have made a number of classics without the recognition they deserve. I give you Half Man Half Biscuit. My Papa put together this compilation of all of their "No Tunes"and it is great listen. So I was enlisted to design the cover and insert. Typography was the best option as the approach they have to design is one that is intentionally quite terrible. The Colours are from the Football Club Dulka Prague because one of the song they have is called "All I Want for Christmas is a Dukla Prague Away Kit"which is a classic. The Font is Helvetica in case you hadn't noticed. The Title itself is a play on the album titles that they have themselves, who's names range from Four Lads Who Shook the Wirral, Some Call It Godcore and Achtung Bono.

It's a simple design for the most complex of bands. 

Give'em a listen if you haven't already.

A Very British Type

 Mike Skinner once wrote "Go to Heaven For the Weather, Go To hell For the Company" by which logic he wasn't referring to the UK as heaven because traditionally in the main our weather is grim. What makes it worse is we are always complaining about it. Even if its sunny we say that its too hot. Maybe we are just picky. Anyway, to celebrate all things that's wrong with the weather I made these. I think they are pretty. I hope you do. I have always wanted to try out using negative space so I think that these encapsulate my experimental ideals. 

Nightclubbing

 More than just a song by Grace Jones, it is a concept, where people go out on a night and enjoy themselves and consume alcohol. Never been much of a fan of it but one thing I know about it is it normally is promoted with some really bad posters done by the PR staff in the back of the clubs office. Below are the alternatives. I have made up some Club nights and made posters for the them. None of have out of date or blurry pictures of drunk people or stock images of people enjoying themselves. To me these are the type of posters designers want to see and go to on a night out.

No Jazz Hands, Please

 What kind of design student would I be if I said I didn't like Jazz. It is almost essential for every student of the design variety to have a copy of Unknown Pleasures by Joy Division, A Smiths album and a copy of Davis, Coltrane or Mingus. Brubeck, Coleman or Parker depending on your taste. Personally I Brubeck and Davis, but that's just me.

Jazz and design come together perfectly at the Blue Note label where designer, Reid Miles had to produce quality sleeves on a small budget for some of the biggest names in the genre. The quality of the design complements the jazz as well. If you don't believe me look it up you will be just as pleased as I was. It's perfect. Below are my tributes to Reid Miles' work. The added ring wear was added to give it the LP feel.