LUKE THINKS...

Dazzle Camouflage

2011-01-18T06:55:00.000-08:00

Un, Deux, Trois, Quatre, Cinq...

2011-01-17T12:28:00.001-08:00

Back to the blogging, it's been a while.

A lot has changed since my last post and I am now working as Assistant Art Director at Ogilvy & Mather in Paris.

As I now have a job I'll be posting bit's a pieces of side projects I'm working on here is the first...

Aviary is a typeface I've been working on for a friends magazine of the same name, originaly created as a logotype I've been expanding it to a full face and so far so good, more to come once the magazines been launched.

Also while working on a number set for Aviary I ended up creating the numbers above and I hope to expand that to full face over the next month or so, updates to follow. That's it for now, drop me a comment/email if you'd like me to send you a copy of Aviary once it's done.

My new favorite politician

2010-10-01T08:53:00.000-07:00

"I leave here as president or they take me out as a corpse."
Ecuadorean president Rafael Correa

Since researching into American politics for my dissertation you get bombarded by fake, glossy passion and caring, in contrast British politics always seems to missing that real conviction and belief. South America on the other hand is where politics is still alive...

Yesterday when Ecuadorian police forces took strike action President Rafael Correa went to a regimental barracks to try to negotiate but was surrounded, punched, doused with hot water and almost blinded with teargas. After being taken to hospital police sieged the building and tried to get into his room by force. On state TV he announced "They're trying to get into my room, maybe to attack me. I don't know. But, forget it. I won't relent. They are a bunch of ungrateful bandits."

As news spread his supporters gathered outside the hospital and which prompting Correa to address them from his hospital window where he ripped his tie loose and shouted "If they want me, here I am, I leave here as president or they take me out as a corpse."

Whether he was right or wrong, and ignoring the reasonings behind the coup I can't help but admire a politician who's that blazon and that passionate.

I can't imagine in my lifetime that I'll ever see or hear a British politician speak with even half of that conviction but I can hope.

Light painting goes high-tech

2010-09-14T08:48:00.000-07:00

Just came across this incredible video made by Dentsu London who've invented a technique using long camera exposures to record the iPad moving through space in order to make a stop motion film of 3D light forms.

It's great to see people really playing with new technology and using it to create some great stuff. Enjoy the video.

bonjour peut-être, espérons-

2010-09-07T17:55:00.001-07:00

Have you had a look at my website recently? If not pop on over and have a look starting on my amnesty typographic case studies - www.justluke.co.uk

Hope you enjoy

A big change may be in the horizon

2010-09-07T17:48:00.001-07:00

Well it's odd. No longer a student yet not quite a full time working designer. Sorry for the large gap between posts, I think it might be time to kick this off again...

Well I'm on day two of my 6 week job as junior designer at nobrow and all is going well. It's really cool to get a chance to understand and be involved with a company who are really trying to push whats considered printing while still managing to survive.

Definitely a great place for any budding illustrators to spend a bit of time at and amazing to see how much a small company can grow in the space of less then two years.

If you want to see some of their stuff or buy some amazing prints head on over to their site/blog here - www.nobrow.net

On other news might be some pretty exciting updates in the working world of Luke in the not too distant future but we'll have to wait and see about that....

A Deep Breath

2010-06-11T05:54:00.001-07:00

A truly stunning and incredible video, showing the amazing ability of the human body. All filmed without diving equipment by free divers and shot with a Canon 5DMkII, which is fast becoming the industry standard for creative beautiful video.

Enjoy

A big block of metal

2010-05-04T16:49:00.001-07:00

Well today I finished the main letterpress part of my final major project and here are some photos;

Over 4000 characters of metal type all set out and locked in the printing block, it's been a great week, frustrating at times but over all really enjoyable. Working with metal type has been really useful to help me understand more about typography and has given me a real appreciation for all kerning, leading, spacing etc that is normally so easy on the computer. I definitely feel this is the beginnings of a bit of an addiction and I'm already searching the net for letterpress proofing presses and metal fonts.

A to Aardvark

2010-04-25T07:12:00.001-07:00

Well I've been playing around with a collection of bits and pieces and the beginning stages (from A to Aardvark as the James Murray might say) are starting to come together so thought I'd share a little online.

Still trying to refine what I'm doing and work on how the various elements I have planned will fit together best but heres a sneak peek.

Final project research

2010-04-23T04:37:00.001-07:00

So I'm working on my final project of my Graphic Design degree and I've come across some great stuff ng the way while researching.

The project is about the dictionary, and about giving as much time and effort to those words that don't make it, these 'non words', as was given to those words that did.

To really express this I am in the process of creating a small dictionary of 'non words' that I plan to print using letterpress and screenprinting, something that I felt was fitting given that much like these non words if these old processes aren't used then they will be forgotten forever. So here are some of the nicest bits I've found while doing this project;

Letterpress Coasters from Paper Fortress on Vimeo.

Ravensbournes new logo

2010-04-02T05:29:00.001-07:00

My attention has recently been drawn to the new Ravensbourne branding, on the whole I like it, it's stayed nice and clean and the 'cut' boxes used throughout look pretty good. However they seem to have completely forgotten about the logo.

It's a real shame, the Uni is moving into a brand new building with and is looking like it was going to launch itself with a bit of a bang until this. Hopefully they'll rework the logo into something that does the rest of the brand and the Uni justice. Until then we'll have to make do with the parodies - Check out the facebook group

Eye Popping colour

2010-01-24T03:03:00.001-08:00

Alexander McQueen S/S 2010 : Raquel Zimmermann by Nick Knight

Have to say its a pretty amazing photo not sure if it shows off the clothes that well but it certainly makes your notice.

Woops

2010-01-22T14:11:00.001-08:00

Well I've been a bit slack updating my blog with dissertation, the new issue of cub and uni work back on. But now I am back at it all, I'll be updating my blog with in progress work and ideas from projects in the pipelines.

But here is the 5th issue of CUB for viewing pleasure, enjoy.

Back on and straight off

2009-12-15T18:30:00.001-08:00

Well, hopefully if all goes well I'll be back up with my 360at3 photo blog from thurday/friday.

However from Friday I'll also be flying away for christmas, so the posts will probably by a bit sporadic. Hopefully though by the time the new year roles round there will be a plethora of new 360's to kick start the new year off.

Libre Culture

2009-12-02T08:56:00.000-08:00

Well after traveling on a 60mile round trip, lots of work with scalpels and numourous practice cuts I have now finnished a project on 'The Libre Manifesto' a manifesto that sets out the idea and benifits of an open source approach to creative ideas.

The manifesto is the basis of which many successful companies and ideas are based, wikipedia being the most successful of these, and dispite being a quite weighty text makes a lot of interesting points (have a read - http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Libre_Society_Manifesto )

I'll soon be updating my website with this and a few other things but in the spirit of open source here are some pictures of the process.

CUB steps up a notch

2009-11-29T15:32:00.001-08:00

So with the new year brings a new approach to CUB. Through a few tweaks here and there, I'll now have a month to design each issue and this has meant something even more exciting.

CUB is getting a design team. More details to follow but hopefully it's going to mark the beginning of a definite jump in quality and I'm sure a load of new problems.

I'm really looking forward to getting to art-direct the magazine as well as design it. Here goes I guess.

ps. CUB's on Twitter - follow here

Issue 520

2009-11-28T12:03:00.000-08:00

Well this months issue has just made it to the printers and there is a sneak peak for you blog readers.

The Devils In The Detail

2009-11-28T11:58:00.001-08:00

Wow these are probably some of the best looking paint jobs I've ever come accross, still not sure if it beats a bike I saw covered in old postage stamps and clear gloss. See what you think here

Updated confusion

2009-11-26T17:34:00.000-08:00

An update of my earlier post

A little confusion

2009-11-25T05:04:00.001-08:00

I'm having a bit of fun with this months issue of CUB and playing about with readability for an article of the seperation and confusion of Europe.

Work in progress, the background is going to contain an image not the block of colour and of course a load of other tweaks.

Toxicity

2009-11-21T03:24:00.001-08:00

Always nice to see people taking something and using it in an unexpected way.

LEGO for MUJI Paper and Block Sets

2009-11-19T16:29:00.001-08:00

You know those ideas you wish you had thought of, Bravo MUJI Bravo

MUJI partners with iconic building-block company LEGO on a super fun new concept. Together they’re encouraging us to think outside the blocks (horrible, I know) by punching LEGO-sized holes in paper. The rest then becomes obvious – but wow – how innovative is that? Perfect really. Available November 27th at MUJI Japan – just in time for the Holiday season. US and European MUJI locations have yet to confirm stock.

[From LEGO for MUJI Paper and Block Sets]

Cheer up London

2009-11-19T16:12:00.001-08:00

Well I've had a nice idea for a self initiated project that I'll be working on over the next few weeks. Recently London has seen its free papers fall by the wayside, with 'The London Paper' and 'London Lite' both cutting their losses and abandoning ship. This has meant that commuting londoners are now faced with less choice of what they read on their commute and in this time of recession grumpiness I think its time London smiled again.

So I'm going to take inspiration from by gone student activists and their love of single sheet screen printed newsletters/posters and create a free little something that brings a smile to the face of commuting Londoners.

I'm looking for any comedians or illustrators that want to do something for the love of it and give something back to this brilliant city. If your interested in helping out let me know.

Its a pity when

2009-11-18T03:48:00.001-08:00

It's a pity when an idea that seems original and different turns out to be a complete rip off. I hope they worked with the original artist at least cause ti even use the same music is taking the mick a bit. Have a look at the two videos yourself, play them at the same time its quite shocking.

City vs Country (Phone Snaps)

2009-11-17T17:04:00.001-08:00

Seeing is beliving

2009-11-13T14:27:00.001-08:00

One of the most inspirational videos I've seen in a long time, such a nice cause and use of open source technology

The Eyewriter from Evan Roth on Vimeo.

Members of Free Art and Technology (FAT), OpenFrameworks, the Graffiti Research Lab, and The Ebeling Group communities have teamed-up with a legendary LA graffiti writer, publisher and activist, named Tony Quan, aka TEMPTONE. Tony was diagnosed with ALS in 2003, a disease which has left him almost completely physically paralyzed… except for his eyes. This international team is working together to create a low-cost, open source eye-tracking system that will allow ALS patients to draw using just their eyes. The long-term goal is to create a professional/social network of software developers, hardware hackers, urban projection artists and ALS patients from around the world who are using local materials and open source research to creatively connect and make eye art.

This week the team behind the EyeWriter project released all the Source code, free software, DIY instructions, and eye tags by Tempt1 to the public at eyewriter.org

[From EyeWriter Source Code Released To The Public]

Block

2009-11-01T09:47:00.000-08:00

A little something to help combat creative block. http://creativeblock.monomoda.com/

A fun idea even if they are well known statements.

Cub Issue 519

2009-10-29T07:09:00.001-07:00

A little sneak peek of the new issue for everyone - click the picture to view

Fast Approaching

2009-10-29T04:51:00.001-07:00

I feel the time is fast approaching where I will have to face facts. I shall be consulting my little book of ideas and actually having to pick ones to continue or finish. It's strange after 2 years of having time spare now I wish I'd done a bit more, oh well good ideas will last.

Cub Issue 519 (my 3rd issue) has just gone to print, off to check the proof of that later today. My 360degree project is going strong with almost 500 views in about 2 weeks if you havn't already have a look at www.360at3.blogspot.com. I'm beginning work on a project to address the number of people wearing bike helmets with Jenny Rice as well as weighing up which RSA brief to have a go at. Oh and that lovely thing called a dissertation is looming its head still.

As not to leave it on a downer look at these amazing photos I found from a new york photographer called Weegee here

The Art of Juggling

2009-10-27T05:49:00.001-07:00

I have to admit I've never been much of a juggler. I never thought it would be much of a problem, I wasn't planning to join the circus and its not that great a party trick. However I have discovered that its a key part to a graphic design degree.

Issue 3 of CUB magazine is almost ready for print and in talks with a paper mill to get some different paper for certain parts of the magazine which could be fun.

My 360degree project is going strong, over 400 views and a couple of blog posts in 2 weeks isn't bad.

Uni wise It's a bit strange getting back into it all and balancing dissertation with project work and allowing myself to have a resemblance of a life. Oh well I'm sure it'll all come together soon enough.

Oh and to make it worse, I've had to start thinking about what happens after uni, anyone want to offer me a job?

If a tree falls does anyone listen?

2009-10-18T17:40:00.001-07:00

A really interesting art piece replacing the places logged trees used to be, with the sound they used to make. I really like how these are not just done digitally and that they are painstakingly made in order to fill the gap, I think it adds move value to the lost trees life.

"The white forms in these photographs are the sculptural manifestations of audio footage that was recorded along the border between Russia and Finland. Here the unique old-growth forests stand, The Green Belt of Fennoscandia. Recently these ancient trees are being logged for their valuable timber. There are only few remaining areas of ancient forest in Europe with the vast majority of the vanishing old-growth forests remaining are in the North of European Russia.

The soundwaves are actual objects, each is 6 metres high, reminiscent of the height of a tree, despite looking like digital intervention. I recorded them when the forest was still there. Then, when the trees had gone, I put the ‘sounds’ back to where they used to exist, sounds that look like trees that will never be heard again."

check out the rest of the pieces on the soundstills page at www.iratviga.com/

Darkness

2009-10-17T15:58:00.001-07:00

The initial solution to our recent project set by Mark Bonner from GHB Design

This is a poster that is designed to be put up over ad-shells, phone boxes or any other area that obscures the darkness during the night, to encourages people to embrace creativity and journey through the darkness.

During the day when the item causing the light is not lit up it appears at first glance to be a black poster but for those that choose to give into curiosity and have a closer look the words 'JOURNEY INTO DARKNESS' can be made out.

The poster is printed on both sides and when the light comes on from behind the poster the light can only shine through the bit that hasn't been printed so it reveals its hidden message encouraging people who are out in the darkness to consider its possibilities.

Journey into darkness

2009-10-17T15:10:00.001-07:00

Over the last week we have been working on a project set by Mark Boner from GHB Design, who was kind enough to come in and give us a great talk on Monday.

The project is an extremely open brief that asked us to pick and object or subject and to delve into its associated meaning and related ideas and to come up with a solution that uses an idea gleamed from our research.

We have been looking into the subject of darkness, and have been exploring the notions surrounding it. One of the most interesting things we looked at was how throughout history and spanning various darkness has been considered something to be scared of.

This is something that Miroslaw Balka's installation at the tate currently exploits in order to make people feel uneasy and unsafe. But through our research we found that the basis for these feeling as rooted in past problems where darkness was a time when we were at risk from predators and in fact has very little basis (apart from psychological) in todays world.

From this we started to explore the positives of darkness and found a wealth of inspirational poems, quote and pieces of work that reveled in the joy and peacefulness of the darkness. One of these that really resonated with us was the Oscar Wilde Quote that says...

"A dreamer is one who can only find his way by moonlight, and his punishment is that he sees the dawn before the rest of the world."

From this we wanted to create something to both encourage those 'dreamers' and also to promote more intrigue into exploring the darkness. We started exploring long exposure photographs in the darkness and wanted to create something that during the day would emulate the effect of gradually noticing details in the dark as well as make those who were in the darkness think of the potential for creativity etc that darkness brings.

We began by creating 3D letterforms that we were going to photograph in the dark to create an image that at first glance appeared to be just a black image but after looking a bit harder details would be revealed within it.

This was one of our experiments during our photo shoot that allows you to see the type and below is the final image that we chose to use. Though it may not seem it on screen the phrase 'Journey Through Darkness' can be made out in print form.

Best viewed large - Click to enlarge.

CUB Issue 518

2009-10-12T09:53:00.001-07:00

After a hectic week or so with content coming in a bit slowly. Issue 518 (my second issue as designer) is proofed, approved and ready for production.

This issue has had a little tweaking of the basic layout and I'm definitely happier with how this looks/feels on a whole so now just got to wait for it to get back from the printers.

A new regular feature.

2009-10-12T08:01:00.000-07:00

I have started a little project for my third year.
It's called 360 at 3 and will involve me taking a 360degree photo every day at 3pm check out the daily photos at 360at3.blogspot.com

Enjoy

Printers & Paper

2009-07-24T05:39:00.000-07:00

Good news, I've now joined forces with the brilliant Bethnal Green printer co-operative that are Calverts they have agreed to take on all 8 issues of CUB this year as well as helping me to find a lovely paper company based out of Bow in East London. So all future issues of CUB are going to be printed on a fantastic 100% recycled 140gm uncoated paper and with glorious vegetable oil based inks and produced/supplied within a 2 mile area.

I think I'm going to go have a tyre bonfire to celebrate.

Before

2009-07-18T09:34:00.000-07:00

I'm starting completely from scratch on the CUB design, and hoping that they will let me change pretty much everything. Below are a couple of snaps of one of last years issues.

Plans for the changes include:

- Size & Format - Currently cub is A4 the which I don't think is very practical for a free magazine that you want people to pick up and pop in their bags, so exploring a range of alternative sizes that will help it to stand out as not just another magazine on the shelf as well as make it easier for people to carry with them. This should also mean a higher page count making it a less flimsy item.

- Paper, Printing & Enviroment - At the moment cub is printed on the kind of paper that should only be used as a kebab flyer and at a printers located just outside the EU, conveniently EU sustainable printing rules don't have to apply. I'm currently trying to source some local printers and paper companies that we would be able to work with to improve the print quality as well help us to reduce the currently huge carbon footprint. Keeping my fingers crossed that I'll be able to find a nice recycled paper and printer that works with vegetable inks, we shall see.

- Photography & Illustrations - An area that really lets down the magazine at the moment is the quality of its visuals so on the hunt for some student photographers and illustrators to with with on future issue. If you know anyone get them to send an email to introducingluke (-at-) gmail.com

CUB Magazine

2009-07-16T06:01:00.000-07:00

After wanting to get involved with some more live briefs and get some production experience I have not managed to become the sole designer for Queen Mary University's student magazine called CUB.

I've agreed to take on the design of all 8 issues this year and this should hopefully be a real chance to have a lot of fun with a live project.

Check back for updates on how its all going.

Sorry I'm late

2009-05-31T02:28:00.001-07:00

Wow this stop motion video puts most others to shame, so fantastically crafted.

Sorry I'm Late from Tomas Mankovsky on Vimeo.

Flat our winner

2009-05-14T17:09:00.001-07:00

A really beautiful piece of product design, such a simple idea with an elegant solution. I look forward to seeing these everywhere.

via yankodesign

Wooster in the Whitehouse

2009-05-14T03:03:00.001-07:00

Nice to see that the new Obama administration is engaging grass roots art collectives. Wooster have a nice article on how they felt about being invited, especially being an art group that champions street art and graffiti. Hopefully the UK government will be watching what's happening across the pond and taking notes.

The full article can be found here

WTF

2009-04-22T16:45:00.000-07:00

What's the function? What's the Form, What's the failure?

Fun new blog to vent your frustrations about packaging http://weallsay-wtf.blogspot.com/

2009-04-21T10:02:00.000-07:00

Website has had a bit of an update and there is now a couple of new projects up.

Obama - A chance to experiment with various layouts and grids in a 50 page commemorative book looking at voting statistics and the inauguration speech.

Deteriorate - An typographic code that deteriorates with use. Based on the way that the short-term memory of an Alzheimer patient breaks down quickest. The more you use a character the quicker it breaks down.

The foibles of the internet

2009-04-13T03:22:00.000-07:00

So currently for a self initiated project I have been working on a type based interpretation of Barack Obama's inauguration speech. At the moment I'm bout 30 pages in (about half way through) and then this pops up on the internet...

its a "typographic interpretation of obama's inauguration speech, made for dutch magazine 'creatie'"sound familier...

to be honest it is quite different to what I've done. I've been looking the voting figures from the election as well as the speech and mine focuses more on varied layouts for each paragraph rather then stressing the emphasis on within the speech. Heres a couple of working pages, the eventual plan is to screen print the pages (thus the limited colours) and make a commemorative book. We'll see how it all goes.

Buisness Cards

2009-04-12T03:37:00.000-07:00

Something amusing for your Easter Sunday, think about this next time your designing a business card.

Hugs For Monsters

2009-04-09T12:59:00.000-07:00

Some rather amusing splash pages for Internet Explorer Users from the Joe over at Hugs For Monsters.

Fabric Molotov

2009-04-07T15:27:00.000-07:00

Some brilliant work from brazilian born fashion designer Vítor Manuel da Cunha Bastos who has created these knitted molotov cocktails. His label Ofilhobastardo is definitely worth a look.

Something strange for your wednesday

2009-03-18T00:27:00.000-07:00

Well there seems to have been a surge in strange music videos recently, strange but good. Here is Bloc Party's song "Signs" remixed by Armand Van Helden and underneath that is Depeche Modes new song "Wrong"

Enjoy

The original eyebrow dance

2009-01-26T02:27:00.000-08:00

As I'm sure many of you will have seen the new Cadbury's Ad if not here it is,

but the people over at todayandtomorrow have uncovered this amazing video could this be where falon got their idea from?

Randy anyone?

2009-01-13T17:03:00.000-08:00

Well after a bit of tweaking and playing about I have managed to make a font. It's something I started last year while working on a poster based around the work of Paul Rand. I have tweaked a few bits from the original version but even though it is readable it is essentially still a display font.

If anyone would like to have a play with it here it is here

Photoshoped

2009-01-13T00:17:00.000-08:00

Nicely done.

Another example of brilliant adbusting, a billboard on the subway in Berlin has an elegant sarcastic pasteup. The board announced the disks of Britney Spears, Leona Lewis and Christina Aguilera, but on top of them were pasted several images representing the palette of tools in Photoshop .

The Portrait of a Future Citizen as a Young Boy | NO CAPTION NEEDED

2009-01-12T12:51:00.000-08:00

Scary stuff

The image of Palestinian children (as well as Iraqi children) with “toy guns” has become such a cliché in recent times that I’ve almost stopped paying attention to them when they show up in journalistic slideshows. But the photograph below, which appeared recently on the Washington Post website, warrants a close look despite what might seem initially as a weary stereotype.
What distinguishes this image from the many others in the “toy gun” genre is that the young boy is not with other children playing with his fake weapon, nor is he being watched over by a small group of approving adults. R [From The Portrait of a Future Citizen as a Young Boy | NO CAPTION NEEDED]

Sewing in the digital age

2008-11-10T12:02:00.000-08:00

Came across these tonight, the site is really fantastic and there is something really beautiful about them all. Have a look for yourself http://gingeranyhow.com/textmessages.html

Rex the Dog

2008-10-29T00:40:00.000-07:00

A brilliant stop motion music video that also acts as a how to guide/making of. Enjoy.

Bubblicious from Rex The Dog on Vimeo.

Barack is my best bicycle

2008-10-28T05:52:00.000-07:00

Firstly I'm sure I've mentioned this again but have a look at this

barackobamaisyournewbicycle.com/

Secondly have a look at these incredible photos over here...

http://digitaljournalist.org/issue0810/callie-bp.html

A peek

2008-10-22T15:12:00.000-07:00

A slightly bigger sneak peek. (basically all the hard, boring stuff is now done)

Crazy type

2008-10-22T09:41:00.000-07:00

A bit of a sneak peak at my latest project involving some crazy typography. It's so soul destroying having to justify and then kern a block of text only to have to distort it afterwards, hopefully it'll be worth it at the end though.

Who is Max Kerning

2008-10-11T00:56:00.000-07:00

I came upon a rather strange site the other day and thought I'd share it.

Max Kerning (despite the the bad kerning, or keming, in the title) is not a messy or sloppy man, a man who doesn't care about what he sees, some people say he cares too much they say "max you care too much about type" but I say clean type is godly type and anyone who doesn't think so it, how do you say, an idiot.

Max Kerning seems to be a character created for pure enjoyment by some anonymous designer, with no obvious commercial motif. The overall message taken away from the site is that clean type is boring type, sumed up with the phrase "I believe in exploration, especially in a tidy well designed environment" "Clean type is godly type, which is the only type you will find around here."

Anyway see what you think at www.maxkerning.com

Impressive lighting

2008-09-30T23:36:00.000-07:00

Found these on the net and thought WOW, so thought I would let others see. Fantastic light drawings made by lapp-pro (sorry the site is in german but there is an english option in the top right corner)

Type oozing with cool

2008-09-24T02:01:00.000-07:00

I found this beautiful type on my travels and had to spread the word. Its work by Alex Trochut a freelance designer from Barcelona you can see more of his great work here

Look into the mirror

2008-09-15T13:39:00.000-07:00

Wow, some really cool stuff from interactive artist daniel rozin the 'mirror' is made of loads of wooden tiles that make up 'pixels' More of his stuff here

a heart beat away…

2008-09-07T13:30:00.000-07:00

McCain is known for his rash decisions. His VP pick is evidence of his “great” decision making. The scary thing to think about is that Governor Palin (VP pick and pictured above) is a heart attack away from being the President of the United States.

[From a heart beat away…]

Is this the next Vice President of america, God I hope not.

Pop up Type

2008-09-07T08:08:00.000-07:00

WOW, I'm not really sure who made it, but the original post if from here

Bring back fur

2008-09-07T07:30:00.000-07:00

A really cool look into replicating the quality's of fur in hightech means the blub goes as follows:

"The way this started was through the process of imagining fantasy animals; animals that could be genetically manipulated, part robot, part organic, how they would move in their environment and what they felt like to touch. Bart then took his (imagined) gun and "hunted" them, looking for their extra ordinary, high tech furs. He thought about tactile qualities like reflection, the way the hair grows and three dimensionality and took these characteristics, magnified them, manipulated and exaggerated them"

If you want to see some more of his work, or experiments he's been doing with Lucy McRae click here http://www.lucyandbart.blogspot.com/

Enjoy

Birthday Card fun

2008-09-07T03:45:00.000-07:00

While making a birthday card for a friend I got a chance to play about with constructing some 3D type, or more type applied to a 3D object, and now I'm kind of hooked. I'm really enjoying experimenting with how type looks when viewed from various angles and while wrapped around shapes. I think I might even try to develop a typeface using individual letters applied to these pyramids (see the far bottom picture for my attempt so far) So I just thought that I would share this with the world and see what people think. Feel free to email me.

The Met's new ride

2008-09-05T01:57:00.000-07:00

The Metropolitan police have done it again.

First scoda's now mopeds. I kid you not this is an actual police moped it was parked in Peckham with the policeman standing just round the corner from it.

It least its saving fuel I guess. But next time you think about breaking the law remember you could be getting chased (well followed slowly) by one of these.

Type for Thought

2008-08-31T03:11:00.000-07:00

Type for thought.

2008-08-31T03:09:00.000-07:00

Point Of View

2008-08-01T16:10:00.000-07:00

mmmm tasty type

Let me write

2008-07-10T03:49:00.000-07:00

A really fascinating look at well know typographers handwriting here

This is Eric Spiekermann's

justluke

2008-06-15T01:51:00.000-07:00

Well my portfolio site is all up and running now. Head over and have a look www.justluke.co.uk and feel free to email with comments, I'd love to know what people think of it.

Take-aways

2008-06-05T03:53:00.000-07:00

Ok so the idea is simple a band plays a song in a place that they wouldn't normally play a song. Sounds pretty average but the results really are fantastic.

They've had everything from 'Arcade Fire' playing in an elevator and the middle of a concert crowd, 'The Spinto Band' playing while having a drink in a restaurant and 'The Kooks' just walking into a school while playing and then walking out again. Their all a pleasure to watch and make for really great viewing.

Have a look for yourself here at 'The Take-Away Shows'

#35.1 - Cold war kids - St John

by lablogotheque

My 2 cents

2008-05-25T03:46:00.000-07:00

An interesting piece of collaboration with the ten thousand cents project the image is made of ten thousand individual anonymous drawings, each being paid 1 cent for their contribution making a $100 dollar artwork. Have a look at the site for an interactive drawing, Enjoy

Advertising 2.0

2008-05-20T13:38:00.000-07:00

Ebay gives people a chance to buy a tv spot for their product and in turn gets 10 original adverts and a ton of press coverage. Clever ebay.

Reprints

2008-05-20T02:45:00.000-07:00

To celebrate Esquire magazine's 75th birthday, they asked some of the worlds best and most influential fashion designers to recreate some of esquires most iconic front covers, and the results are brilliant.

Domenico Dolce & Stefano Gabbana photo by julian broad based on Floyd Patterson and Muhammad Ali photo

by Carl Fischer (august 1966 cover)

Karl Lagerfeld photo by Karl Lagerfeld based on Richard Nixon and cultural icons photo by George Lois and Carl Fischer

(june 1969 cover)

sir paul smith photo by nadav kander based on Andy Warhol photo by Carl Fischer (may 1969 cover)

Vivienne Westwood photo by Jurgen Teller based on army portrait of George Lois (december 1962 cover)

Giorgio Armani photo by Alice Hawkins based on Marcello Mastroianni photo by Timothy Galfas (february 1965 cover)

Ohn Galliano photo by Jean-Baptiste Mondino based on Muhammad Ali photo by Carl Fischer (april 1968 cover)

Donatella Versace photo by lorenzo Agius based on Roy Cohn photo by Carl Fischer (february 1968 cover)

Christopher Bailey photo by Bryan Adams based on model and pig photo by Carl Fischer (september 1969 cover)

Miuccia prada photo by Ilan Rubin and 2x4 based on esky cover by Henry Wolf and Dan Wynn (march 1955 cover)

Alber Elbaz (self-portrait) and Luscus Ossendrijver of Lanvin photo by Desmond Muckian based on models

photographed by Carl Fischer (march 1968 cover)

Tommy Hilfiger photo by Douglas Friedman based on Dustin Hoffman photo by Carl Fischer (july 1970 cover)

Melting

2008-05-19T07:11:00.000-07:00

Henry David Thoreau ISBN Tag

2008-05-14T00:24:00.000-07:00

I really like the idea of this, something so simple which is able (with a bit of digging) to say something so expansive.

From Torontoist:

"This year, a more cryptic stencil has appeared on the Humber Bay Arch Bridge, boldly proclaiming "ISBN 486-28495-6" for all to see and ponder. This International Standard Book Number turns out to be a paperback edition of Henry David Thoreau's Walden; Or, Life in the Woods.

In Walden, Thoreau wrote, "A lake is the landscape's most beautiful and expressive feature. It is earth's eye; looking into which the beholder measures the depth of his own nature."

Photo by Val Dodge.

You think you work hard

2008-05-12T01:31:00.000-07:00

If you think you work hard have a look at this:

This is an animation created by the graffiti artist blu it inspiring to see someone put so much hard work into something purely for themselves, the work isn't paid for by anyone, and its not available to sell (because its on a wall) its all really impressive, and you should check out his illustrations n his site.

Fun Adverts

2008-05-09T17:28:00.000-07:00

Definitely the best advert I've seen in a while

Red Ken or Blond Boris

2008-05-01T17:05:00.000-07:00

Well in the race to see who's going to be looking after London for the next 4 years the BBC have a nice simple web widget click here to see the current results or here for the politics RSS feed.

Arrrrr

2008-04-26T15:24:00.000-07:00

Well it seems that pirating has become a worthwhile business again, its a while since there has been a pirate article in the news, but I'm sure after these guys made off with a $1.2m after holding a tuna boat to ransom there will be a few more stories in the news. Full story here

Imposters

2008-04-17T03:05:00.000-07:00

Having recently seen this advert

Which is a blatant copy of this music video

It got me thinking, I wonder how many other blatant rip offs I could think of, then I remembered this

Which is obviously stolen from the mighty boosh

This is probably the biggest reason to never rip something off, not only does it never look or work as well as the original but when people always find out your work always suffers greatly. So here's to originality. Can anyone else think of any more?

Voting and stuff..

2008-04-12T16:34:00.000-07:00

A fantastic bit of apathy for all you non voters, now you truly have something to not get behind.

Click here go on you know you want to.

Move on dot org

2008-04-11T00:56:00.000-07:00

I happened to bump into moveon.org this morning while reading my emails and I started to have a read. Basically they are an american website that aims at getting people move involved with politics through various things. One of this things has been its '...in 30 seconds" campaigns.

Basically they challenged the public to create 30 second political adverts, on a theme so currently they are doing "Barack Obama in 30 seconds" but what seems really refreshing is they are not worried about which way you present your video, it can be for or against or unsure anything really and that lead to some really interesting videos for "Bush in 30 seconds" last year.

Here's the very powerful winning one

I thought it was really interesting and yet simple advert so head on over to their site or their youtube to learn more or have a look at some more video's.

Enjoy

Genuis

2008-01-21T17:37:00.000-08:00

turn your pens into utensils!

din-ink by cingoli. - they'll tell you more

Sunday afternoon coolness

2008-01-20T09:03:00.000-08:00

A little something for you all about Theo Jansen, an artist/engineer who creates incredible kinetic sculptures.

Heres some of his work

Ps. does anyone know how to embed youtube/flash files in our blogs?

Typographic Graffiti/Art

2008-01-19T07:15:00.000-08:00

So there I was walking around the world (wide web) and I stumble across some interesting typographic graffiti well i guess you would call it graffiti but its beautiful so i'm going to call it art, make your own choice http://www.truthtag.com

Trials and Tribulations of a Macbook Pro and his friend Leopard

2008-01-18T08:14:00.000-08:00

Well its been a little bit of a roller coster ride, there has been issues with speed, lack of codes, upgrades, defective programs, and wifi issues.

But the plus's are still outweighing any number of negative things that could happen.

Lets start from the beginning everything kinda starts with a lack of codes... as my 30 day trial was coming to an end I was faced with a problem, I would be unable to carry on with any of my work using any of the adobe programs, this was quite a big problem, so I looked at my options and not really knowing how to alter the BIOS date like you can on a pc, the only way that I was going to be able to keep using any of CS3 was to do a complete erase and instal of my computer. This wasn't the worse thing ever (I had backups of all my files and program installers) but it was still going to be a pain. So I treated myself to the leopard upgrade (all £5.95 of it) thinking that if I was going to wipe and start again I might as well gain a new operating system.

Now at this point I will point out that yes Rebecca, Finola, and several of the IT guys did warn against installing leopard, due to it having bugs and the first release of the OS being a bit rough around the edges (which is true it is) but I felt that if everyone always waits until the stable version of an OS comes out then how are they meant to find out where its bugs are and fix them. So knowing I would probably have a few problems I installed.

At first everything went really well, I was able to use my CS3 suite for another 30 days and despite the myths it was functioning fine on leopard, they new features were (and still are) brilliant, and generally it all seemed to work really well.

Then the problems began, at this point I do need to point out most of the next set of problems are self induced and were solved with some common sense.

The first set of main issues were wireless related, it seemed that this was one of those rough edges, luckily most of the issues were confided to one wireless standard that doesn't normally appear on home networks, it does how ever appear on our college network. This is an issue thats still not fully sorted with apple yet, but it is being worked on so thats good.

Then there was a bit of a speed issue, this ended up being attributed to a small program called 'synergy' (a brilliant itunes controller) that unfortunately hasn't quite sorted out their issues with leopard - another one that is being sorted but a lot slower then apples issues.

and actually the thing that ended up saving me by showing my which program were slowing everything down was a bit of serendipity, my CS3 suite again ran out agian, so I ended up having to wipe my computer again, and this actually allowed me to find what was slowing it down.

So for now all is good, i've got another 18 days left in my trial and hopefully they will give us our actual codes some time soon.

Turning time on its head

2008-01-18T06:34:00.000-08:00

Its a clock...

No really it is.

Basically as time moves through the day the clock also moves, rotating on your desk, and the bit that is in contact with the desk tell you what time it is.

But this piece has taken a really interesting look at time, instead of going for the normal super accurate time piece it has instead taken a rather relaxed look at time, preferring to have type around the edge that says things like "it can be nine, and then it will also become ten"

for more pictures --- http://www.sandermulder.com/about_time.html

The disapearance of man

2007-09-11T13:01:00.000-07:00

Something was raised in a conversation I was involved in and this thing got me thinking, and I guess that it has mulled around my head for a few days now, slowly fermenting and now I think I'm ready to distill it, here goes:

The point that was raised was this;

"Is man on the way out?"

Thought at first my reaction was one of defiance and I pushed the view that there was nothing human kind could not overcome, that we would adapt, we would survive, we would live forever. I stated that our population was booming and our health was good.

The Issue of global warming cropped its head to which I countered that we are already starting to adapt to deal with the problem faced by mother nature herself. We are in fact already using the excess heat from the sun as a tool to allow as to promote solar power. The unpredictable winds are being tamed and used to drive us towards a greener future.

Then it hit me, at first slowly and then like a wave;

Its not ourselves that could be the reason that we are on the way out. No I'm not referring to human kinds need to brutally prove their individual worth, or the fact that we encourage and support the most violent of all hobbies, war. No what I realized was worse then that, for there will always be those that don't fight, and those that strive to help rather then hinder. But it is those that I fear are leading to the downfall of man.

Reading an article on the tube the phrase "people feel threatened by me because they can't instantly tell if I'm a girl or a boy" stuck in my mind. It Echoed about stirring up the fermenting thoughts causing them to explode into a volatile mess. It was then I realized that;

We are already on the way out.

The boundaries are blurring and the divide is unclear, men are disappearing. For proof of this you need to look no further then the nearest perfume counter. The words "Pour Homme" emblazon the side of every container of liquid, needed desperately by your brain to decipher the minute difference between the female and male fragrance. "Men" are buying ladies jeans cause their cheeper then their own 'skinny fit' jeans and fit pretty much the same. Now shoulder length is just as home on a "man" as shaved hair is on a "lady".

But what is to blame for this shift? Why has this happened in our generation?

I think this round about sums it up;

"Blame the wives and girlfriends.

They want their men smelling squeaky clean"

"arena HOMME Winter/Spring"

Though referring more to the blandness of the perfume industry rather then the demise of man I think it is just a poignant when referring to the latter. There has been a drive from the general female conscience that they want their men to be clean shaven, fresh smelling, considerate and loving.

But why now? What kick started it? What pushed it forward now.

The push for woman to be classed as equals seems to have a down side. A woman is no longer bound by approval of a man, it is we who now look for approval, we who compete for woman's attention, and we who do as requested.

So I think that it has begun and men are on the way out, and for the at the moment it seems were going willingly.

Ultimately the rise of the woman has led to the demise of the man, at what point well we raise our head and say;

"We deserve rights too"

"Things were different in my day"

2007-09-10T13:01:00.000-07:00

I found a beautiful piece of type and information design on the net today and here it is....

This is taken from a flash graphic ( found here ) basically the piece takes all the speeches made by US presidents and makes a collection of the most used words, the one's that feature the most are the largest and the one's that have been said most recently are brighter.

I really loved the way that this graphic allowed for a real sense of what is happening in each time period, the key words change from, freedom and constitution (back in the 1700's) to terrorists and iraq currently.

Well worth a look.

Today they arrived

2007-09-09T13:01:00.000-07:00

Well today after a few weeks of waiting, our new laptops arrived and they let us start to play. Pretty cool eh

So now begins the task of putting all the software onto the new one. I'm in for a fun evening