Wednesday's Weekly Write Down; Moving On In

This is as you may or may not know is my final year of university and on Sunday I moved into my new student house. Into a room you can swing a cat around in (not that I would want to). It is a beautiful little set of flats above a William Hill (other bookies are available), it feels like it is further away from uni but I am sure it isn't gonna be too bad.

I am a big fan of the odd furniture in the room; a brand new wardrobe, a vintage cabinet with folding doors (who thought that was a good idea), a smoggy two seater sofa, a wobbly computer desk & a solid set of draws that contrast the flimsy nature of the desk. What's most amazing is this is standard in all rooms so they must of got a job lot of each of the units. How do you find groups of such odd furniture I will never know.

It's a double bed two which is massive in comparison to what I am used too so if you don't see me for a couple of days I have gotten lost on my big bed. Just a warning to those who normally see me on a daily basis.

Communication Breakdown; Motown Style

 

 

Imagine doing four different flyer designs for four different events (16 designs in total) and in the end you only really needed to do four different flyers designs for all four events (4 designs in total). That is exactly what happened to my new Client; the Chester Le Street Soul Club. After my message sitting in their inbox for a few months, I got a reply and hurried to make some sexy looking designs to impress.

The client was using templates for flyers and mod based imagery on the facebook page so as a rebrand concept I stripped the colours away and went for high contrast imagery of the soul stars they spin on a regular basis. I had to cover the range of soul music; Stax (Otis Redding/Aretha Franklin) & Motown (The Supremes/Martha Reeves) as well as all of the other various labels who put out Soul (Phillies, United Artists, Atlanic). It's a broad church.

Happy Birthday Dad

 Most of my friends think I am normal but I will tell you one thing my parents don't, every birthday or christmas, they fear my present presentation. It will be wrapped up in newspaper or political propaganda because I think wrapping paper is a scam (paper just to be ripped & binned). They do like a good card though and this is this years card for my dad because he likes them heavily blogged "Swissted" gig posters. However because I make my own cards, I didn't have an envelope to fit it so I sealed it in 2 sheets of card & sellotape.

Art Wonder Everywhere?

 

 Inspiration comes from odd places of course it does, thats why when it strikes you it is a pleasant surprise. So imagine listening to Radio 4 and a piece about an art gallery opening in Africa come on. and you think that will be a brilliant to do branding for an art gallery. One of my favourite design companies "Experimental Jetset" did a spot of branding for the Whitney museum and it looked amazing. I think I will follow this up with individual posters for exhibitions because I like.

When you see a great piece of art, you sit in awe of it hence the name. The AWE gallery was born and the first idea I sketched done was similar to the above finished logo. I needed a subtitle to the gallery, something snappy that could attract people to this fictional venture, & deemed an acronym would make sense. Art...wonder...everywhere?...everyday! For A 7 day a week museum of art made it made so much sense to choose everyday over everyday.

 

Below is my adverting campaign at a bus stop, as you will know big type is my thing so to see "Art Wonder Everyday" massive on the street will surely draw your attention, it certainly would me. So a bit of bias on design and with the artists on the ad. I am an art fan, I find wandering round the tate fabulous, but most of it, I don't get, so to promote this I only chose artists I like, "expect Lichtenstein, Duchamp, Warhol, Rosenquist, Picasso, Dali, Pollock, Mondrian, Banksy, Blake & Magritte."  So now you know what art I like.

Eye Spy with my little eye something begining with ...

What happened to spy's that used to spy on international terrorists or world leaders? The spy's are now spying on the citizen's of their own country. This charter is meant to help prevent home grown terrorists attacking our streets and to stop the radicalisation of young people in this country. Solving these issues does not start online, it starts in schools & places of worship. It's all about education, education, education!

Educate these young people that terrorism is wrong, that fighting for ISIS is wrong & wiping out another human life is wrong. How hard can it be? I came out of the school system not too long ago and terrorism was not on the agenda. PSHE or citizenship was 3 hours a week skirting around the realities of Sex education. Religious education; didn't teach tolerance of other relationships it taught Christianity, Christianity & you guessed it Christianity. There is plenty of time in the school system to fit in a simple lesson, just one lesson a term on terrorism and how it is wrong. If it stops home grown terror springing up and stopping a 7/7 happening again, surely that can't be hard.

So stop spying on those people who are watching Bake Off on iPlayer, applying for jobs so that people can better themselves & watching Cat Videos on yotube.

NHmesS

The NHS is genius, genuinely genius and is the envy of a lot of the world. Not least from America, Michael Moore, one of my favourite Americans, visited an NHS hospital in his movie "Sicko" and loved the idea of universal health care for all, which America doesn't have.

I am confused because this government wants a 7 day NHS which means doctors have to sign new contracts so that they have to work on a Saturday and Sunday. Which I agree with. The doctors are not willing to sign them because they are not going to be paid any more money for the pleasure as it will be compulsory in the contract hours. So they are doing more work for the same amount of money. Which we should all be tightening our belts. Lets be honest.

But tagged onto this is that funding for the NHS is running at an all time low. They are trying to run a 5 day NHS on 4 day funding. Next year, they are getting another cut to funding so they are going to be running a 7 day NHS on 3 day funding. This government makes so much sense. Add this again to no pay raise prospects, they are driving people out of the health care profession.

Trumpet Crumpet

Money can't buy you love. Money can't buy trust. Money can't buy common sense but money can make you a political candidate. Yes, I am talking about a walking quiff; Donald Trump. How is this man popular? How?
He is a racist, sexist, billionaire who people are actually considering voting for to be president of the united states. Has the world gone mad or is it just America? It makes us across the pond look rather normal. They are debating for next year's election and after every single one of them he is the headline. It's the new outrageous thing he has said or it's the way that he behaved. why is he even being considered.

1. He has said Obama is a Muslim
2. All Mexicans are rapists
3. Implying he would, with his daughter
4. thinks Women don't commit 100% to work
5. refuse entry to the US for Ebola patients
6. Suggest the Death plenty is just
7. wants to repeal Obamacare

Holding up the NRA's dangerous manifesto with both hands

7 reasons why this nut job needs to be stopped and I am not saying by Kanye's bid to be president in 2020 (if it happens), we just need to halt these draconian views that some Americans still hold. This is the 21st century, this is progress, don't let a silly rich man get rid and dispose of progress. 

We are Lost like Refugee's

We are lost because morally where can we stand that doesn't sound like we are evil or anti- humanitarian or pro refugee. The best way that I think about is put yourself in that position. You are a person, of course you are not a cow, and you are in a war torn country that no one globally cares about. You need to decide whether to stay in that war torn country or up sticks and leave for a better life somewhere else. More questions come to mind; do you take your children? Do you take your wife? How much stuff do you take? more importantly where do you go? It is the big decision or whether to stay/go that people don't grasp the enormity of.

I am a refugee sympathiser and would help them all if I could. They have a legal right to seek asylum where ever they go and to build a fence just to stop them is a selfish waste of money, money that could help them. Politicians Europe wide have made it so hard for the people who have already been hard done by. The Syrians especially have had to be escape Assad, the DICtator of Syria and ISIS, the terrorist group. These are the people that we need to target so that we solve the reason they are fleeing and therefore they can all return to their homes, in the their homeland, the one it took more than just fear to leave.

 

No politicians are talking about this, Dave, said it once I think. Merkel, the most compassionate leader toward the refugees, hasn't mentioned it, I think. I am going to leave you with a music reference, relevant to this crisis.

Love -Byn or hate -Byn

Is it really bad that I got over excited by Jeremy Corbyn's win to the labour leadership? Probably not because many people did. He a long term left winger won without my vote, much to my shame; I realised too late. He won with 59.5% of the first round of voting, shocking many people.

        I am writing this as not to promote his awesomeness, no I am writing this to talk about him. He has been "trending" on Facebook since he won, the fact that he did so trended for 3 days and everyday I have seen his name on that list. The media perpetuate his every move making news out of it.

• The first full day of his leadership, camera's pestered him at his home & as if a few hours in the job, he will of sorted it all out.
• Announces his first members to the shadow cabinet, few are women & the press take it like it he anti women. 
• Makes a vague statement about europe & media takes it like he is going to leave europe.
• Wants to change PMQs to be more civil, the press say it's a lost cause & his MP's don't like it.
• He did not sing the national anthem, makes the papers on the same day the government agree the tax credit cuts & no one stops to think he has freedom of speech or lack of it. 
• media says that he is not doing enough, that is he controversial & haven't given him the time or the room to prove himself. 

 I am not saying that it's just Corbyn, the media do this to a lot of people and they need to sort there act out.

Politics week

All of this week, I am rejecting my normal design structure of the blog to do a series of blog posts on politics. I have gotten really political since Gordon Brown entered downing street. That is when I first got engaged with the financial crisis. I remember coming out with a really angry right wing-ish, people should survive by themselves and stand up on there own two feet, in English class. Post rant, I was asked by an orange lady, how do you know so much about politics and simply said I watch the news.

I am now ashamed at my right wingish past, there are many reasons why people are on benefits, (at the time of the rant, benefit fraud was everywhere on the news). In the first post you will find out what wing I am now, followed by my opinions on various subjects effecting world politics.

Between the Credit Crunch and Corbyn; I have been heavily politicised by the singer by Billy Bragg. He is a man who has taught me more about politics and the human condition than school ever did and I would like to share this great video of him singing one of his classics rewritten to fit the times.



*None of the images this week will be mine but the opinions will be.

bean better

of all of the many emails I have sent out I have had so few replies much to my dismay so I have taken matters into my own hands and tried to give myself a few branding tasks to practice, the only real projects I have branded is Visualizing and the Hadfield trust and they were with uni. I love doing logos and branding but haven't done much.

Bean is the first pun based coffee shop, that I invented. I started doing it a while a go but due to the slump in work I thought I would finish it. So what is there to say about this fictional brand. I love puns, I have started to love coffee and am a big Bebas fan, so it's a combination effort of all of them. 

The mugs are the main reason it's a pun based coffee shop, they are there because they make good conversation starters, or that was the plan any way. It is also the type of coffee shop I would want to go to; independent, different & punny. 

click to enlarge the image and enjoy the puns

So keep your chin up, Chin Up

the title as you will never of guess is a quote from a Back to Basics song "We Cannot Change", it's a good song, but has literally nothing to do with this.

It's a charity gig for the charity called Chin up, with three indie bands (two bands and one solo musician, if you want to be picky) from the UK. "Chin-Up provides a respite self-catering holiday for families whose child/children suffer from either a terminal or life limiting illness." So it's all in a good cause.

It was a tricky as a poster in one sense as the logos given to me were low resolution so remade one  in Bebas (I think) and found a (slighty) higher resolution version of the other. Lewis ... just needed a nice typeface. It was also tricky not to make it look like a gay pride event.

I am the Resurrection

This is now my favourite poster that I have done for the Brickyard. Resurrection are a tribute band to the Stone Roses, and I really love the Stone Roses. That first album melted my face the first time I heard it. Also Love Spreads as a single is fabulous.

Last time. they came to Carlisle, my Rival/Friend Wincent Valden did the poster and it sold out before I managed to get to it. Hopefully this time I will get round to getting a ticket before it sells out. Life goals: to create a poster for a sell out show and it be a famous people/band.

The image is Waterfall by the band and works the best as it actually has composition, my other examples or tests didn't have this luxury due to the abstract nature of most of the covers. The type is massive in the James Reay stylee. I always try my best to do this stamp of James. It has also been stamped with a link to my website which has had a little change up. so go, as the Beastie Boys would say, Check Check Check it out!

Who wants books without the looks

When the works was falling down in Carlisle I bought some cheap books for stock images, to cut up and design via collage with. One was a book of images from the 1930's and the other a book of northerners. A selection from each of these books is present in these five covers. 

Using the coloured card, I bought to make business cards with, I Blu-tacked the images onto, scanned them in and added type. I made a mess putting hand rendered or cutting type into letter forms so it made the most sense to do it digitally. They are simple, things but I just wanted to try a combination of digital & analogue.

Bear Tumour's in Mind

 

Luke's Life legacy is a brain tumour charity that I did some work for a little while ago. They asked me to create a mascot for there promotion idea; Lukey Bear. A bear that children take on holiday and take pictures with to promote the charity. Above is the bear that is based on the toy that is sold to make money for the charity. 

With the logo decided on, they wanted a t shirt designing, initially we used a slogan that I coined "Where's the humour, in a tumour". This was later replaced by the much improved committee decided "this little bear is brain tumour aware". Instead of using the much hated Comic Sans MS as the rounded font, arial rounded bold suited it much better. Below is the mock up of the t shirt, which are to be made this Autumn and should be available soon after for purchase.

  

Below are the facebook banners and adverts for the bear as well as the instructions on what to do once you have purchased the bear. Using the same font as the t shirt and the mascot to keep the theme going. I hope that they are increasing sales of the bears.