I AM NOT A GRAPHIC DESIGNER

Back to Basics

This was a project that I did for my band Back to Basics. We were doing a release for a present for our mother (our joint biggest fan w/ my dad). At the time I was very inspired by the ideas and concept laid down by David Carson; a hero of typography who challenged legibility of type while still trying to convey the message. That is what you can see on the back of the sleeve; layers and layers type all fighting for attention. The Front is more simplistic that the back but in the sense follows the same principles. Is the B still readable as a B if the two holes in it are covered up? yes. These are my favourite covers from the project because you can see where the ideas are coming from. The final covers were very straight forward and lack the ambition I started with.

Jack is Back

I have always been a fan of Jack White, whether it be in The White Stripes or The Dead Weather or any of his other projects. But in his solo stuff he out does himself. He is not trapped by the constraints of any members because he'll just form a band to fit around what he does. The new record is faultless;bittersweet ballads, blues freakouts and some amazing song writing. His first record is also amazing but it is only know that I have realized. So as a strange and unusual ode to the amazing man I made him a poster to celebrate one of my favourite songs. I think I am obsessed with typography posters (oops). The colours are from Jack White's Label "Third Man Records" and the lyrics are from "Love Interruption". Hope it is to your satisfaction and if you click the poster; I have put a link to the song. 

The Lights are Blinding My Eyes

Over the holiday, I got heavily obsessed with light and how much of it is used in America. Lights seem to be on 24 hours a day 7 days a week. Even in this country lights always seem to be on, maybe not in homes but in town centers and street lights. It baffles me how much engergy we use.

This was a "Lightbulb" moment, I chose to utilize this to see what shots I could get. I soon discovered moving as the shutter was taking a picture was enough to generate some fabulous results. Click the images to see them full screen. They are better at that size.

I have always been obsessed with the idea of long exposure shots and especially doing them with light sources. Seeing the results that other people have managed to accomplish employing this technique made me wanna have ago. I have gone for the more abstract patterns rather than trying to spell words or tells because I know that has been done numerous times before by hipsters, who think they are so arty and cool.

 ...and with heavy tinkering around with the levels tool you end up with the chaotic but beautifully strange image.

Design Withdrawal

I have not posted on this here blog for over two weeks now. This is because I have been to magic America (as Damon would put it) On my excursions abroad I have taken lots of cool photos which one sorted will be here to see. I have also done a lot of record shopping which has made me truly appreciate how vast music is as a hobby and how much good design is on the sleeves. But while I have been having fun I have missed doing design work. Expect a lot of cool posts in the up and coming days.

All Typography Posters *Sung in a Nico Style*

I know it's all very fashionable to say that I am a fan of the Velvet underground and it is also very fashionable to say that the Velvet Underground and Nico album is one of the best albums ever made. But I am not saying it because it is fashionable, I am saying it because it is true. I did these posters to pay tribute to that great band. Ever since Lou Reed's passing I wanted to make something that I could be proud of to say how awesome he was (Metal Machine Music and all).

The Velvets lyrics are almost as important as the ground breaking music that they made. I have taken a snippets from a selection of the best and most interesting lyrics. Dare, I say it one of these songs is sung by Nico. I tried to get a typeface match for the albums but this was not easy.

If you have not listened to any of their albums, do it now.

Fathers Day

 So Yesterday was Fathers Day and as you may or may not know that on any occasion like this it is designers job to do a card for the appropriate occasion. For my dad I chose to do a bit of rhyming and a bit of typography. Perfect combination. After all of these years of borrowing his records I thought it would be the perfect to pay tribute to his awesome collection. I think he liked it.

Punk Rock + Stamps = Obvious Combo

A rare glimpse at some work that I did prior to university now. This is some work that I did at A2 level. It shows me during my punk phase. I got heavily obsessed with The Clash, Sex Pistols and Buzzcocks as well as all of the classics (not that I ever got out of it or intend to). The design of all of these bands were all very different but also very similar. They were all founded on the DIY ideals. Entranced my this new (to me) music I applied it to the next project that came along a college which was stamps design. STAMPS! Yeah I know but hey I'd buy these stamps.

The work of Jamie Reid Heavily inspired me on these as he was the one who pioneered the type style of the Sex Pistols. Size, Case or order or font were never considered too important. The designs on these are song titles from four famous punk bands all from the US of A. Make a guess and answers will be in the comments section

Motown in my Town

I was offered by a friend, who had been offered a poster design job, to try out some designs my self to see what I could come up with. So I came up with these six very original designs for the brief that was requested. It was for a Motown and Soul night based in Carlisle, England. My thinking was to get the great giants of those genres into the posters. I went with monochrome images on the basis of soul music is either black and white. He/she is in or out of love (this was the case with many early Motown singles). I am a big fan of soul music and I am really pleased with how these turned out. I am certainly hopeful that these will be used.

Speaking With Typography

 

 The Talking Heads are a great band. A fusion of Punk, World and funk music doesn't happen everyday. there movie Stop Making Sense is a flawless masterpiece showing the band the the peak of their creativity and musical diversity. All of them were art students and they all took calls from the arts for the music as well as the packaging. Bearing this in mind I made these posters influenced by 4 very different art styles as well as different designs that they have made.

A Present of Typography

The Wedding Present are just one of those great British bands whose refuse to quit. They have been active for many years and they still have the capacity to fill a decent size venue. They are independent of any of the big record companies which is evidence that you don't need them to survive. For all of these reasons they have had a big impact on me (that and they played a flawless gig in front of my very eyes).

To return the favour, I made these typography posters to demonstrate some of David Gedge's best lyrics. Each Poster features Lyrics from the best song on the album (in my opinion) and in one form or another a version of the album sleeve. These were self initiated designs but have sent them to the band but no feedback has been given.

Highlights; Trying Something New

 Trying something new is always a good way to develop as a designer but doing so isn't always that easy. In uni, an entire unit was dedicated to doing exactly that. We were given two different designers or artists and we had to do pieces in the style of said person. Above you can see my work inspired by the great design guru; Chip Kidd, who is probably most well know for his logo for Jurassic Park. His main selection of work is in the design of high quality book jacket design. All of the above are mocked up potential book covers in the vain of what he would design.

Below, are selection of four different paintings/drawings that I did during the other part of this unit. I have not done any painting in many many years as secondary school kicked it out of me because they taught me nothing. These didn't turn out half as bad as I thought considering this fact. These pieces are in the style of Joan Eardley, a Scottish born artists who's main focus was landscapes and images of the poor youth.