Boobs

Just a quick update (because what else would I be doing up at 3 AM?!) on what I've been up to. First up something really exciting, seriously now, strap yourself in because this is amazing, the pub that I work at asked me to design their Christmas newsletter. If that isn't a sign that you've made it then I don't know what is. All the other Marstons pubs in the area are having a go (I've seen their efforts and all I'm saying is COMIC SANS GALORE) and some poor soul is going to judge who's best and the winner gets a whole fifty English pounds. I'm not expecting to win because the judge will know knob-all about design and will probably mark mine down because it doesn't have some wicked Christmas styled clip-art in it. Gutted. Anyway. Here's what I did, simple say what.


(As you can tell there's fack all going on at our pub so we had to flesh it out a tad and ew, I actually hate this now. Why did I use Georgia?)

In other exciting news, I have my first design job interview on Monday! To say I'm shitting a kitten would be the understatement of eternity. Strangely enough the job is Wigan hospital who are looking for an in-house designer, of sorts (think annual reports, information leaflets etc). So they gave the successful candidates (me, boojah) a small brief to do which we have to present on Monday. Hopefully I won't throw up because yeah, I hate doing that. Anyroad. The brief was on something I can't say I have much experience with...breastfeeding. Norm. All the content was given to us and we had to do something with it. Again, tres simples.


Back off to Dust on Tuesday, cannot ruddy wait.

Follow

Bonjour, I'm now on Tumblr. Follow me +here for daily updates.

Currently doing a placement with the lovely chaps at Dust, hopefully will have some collaborative images to upload soon.

That's all, folks.

P.S. - Look at this example of amazing typography I found in Blackburn. Beautiful, don't you agree?

When you work in a pub you hear people say the most stupidest shit in the whole world. Here's a sample of a few of my favourites.

SignaturesWillBeForged

Working on a piece for Dust which is part of their Signatures Will Be Forged project. Initial idea was to do something with my three Fs (family, friends, football) which basically rule my life (sad, I know). However, not much scope with just three letters and not that much you can actually do visually. Back when I was a third year (sob sob I miss it) I came up with a list of Life Instructions, I was just browsing through and something I wrote stuck out at me. "You can have your cake and eat it." Came up with two rough concepts based around this quote. 'ere have a gander.




I have to admit that the first one isn't at all my usual style and the more I look at it the more I don't like it, but eh, they're only rough. More coming soon.

I want to write but have zero inspiration. Nothing's really pissed me off or upset me enough to rant. Someone say something to wind me up. Go on, dare ya.

BRFC

Due to utter, utter, utter boredom I decided to try my hand at web design, this also gave me the excuse to mess about with the most important men in my life (BRFC). I am a complete novice and this probably shows but anywho, here's the rather cluttered original:


And here's my effort:


Going to fiddle with it a bit. Boredom is really shit.

Nostalgia

(Because I don't want to write/think about football, let's write/think about something else)

Nostalgia's a funny thing. I don't know if I'm just imagining things or if my generation actually are obsessed with it. Every time we're sat in the pub, especially with my mates from home, conversation always seems to crawl into it's tardis and travel back in time. Not that I think nostalgia should be shied away from because really, who doesn't enjoy alcohol fueled discussions about which Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle was best (Leonardo obviously) or which high school teacher you fancied/despised (Mr Broderick/Ms Bestwick).

My circle of friends have all known each other for a good ten years, some even longer than that (I punched Jake in the face when I was seven) and I think we just like to cling on to the memories. Maybe it's because the past is certain and the future isn't. Talking about the previous makes us all feel a bit fuzzy and warm on the inside, (or maybe that's the beer?) but memory lies. Memory is whatever we want it to be. I think that maybe, when you leave teenage-dom, when you're seen as an actual adult, you feel the need for nostalgia. You finally feel "all grown up" and that you're now allowed to talk about the past with a glint in your eye and a knowing smile. Because the "old days" were so much better, weren't they? Actually no, in reality they probably weren't, it's that sneaky bugger nostalgia rearing his head again, he enjoys coddling you and telling you that, in the words of Slade, "the old songs were the best", so on and so forth. I can't believe I just quoted Slade, but I digress, my point is, I think us British have a sort of doomed attitude. We're always convinced everything is so awful nowadays and the past was a nice and happy place to be. Kids these days, they all have knives! Eee by 'eck I remember when a bag of salt 'n' vinegar was only 27p! Recession! Immigration! Terrorism! Yadda, yadda, yap, yap!

Just stop. Life really isn't that bad and back then, life really wasn't that good either. Yes, things change, but so do people. We adapt and just carry on living. Bad will always happen and believe it or not, so will good. Don't forget to remember that.

...bloody hell

I GOT A 2:1. OH HAPPY DAYS!

Why I'm Scared of Design Reason #1239328

Right. Wrong. They don't exist in this world of kerning and text alignment. Instead there's a non-existant list of imaginary ideals we adhere to. It's frightening. Why? Because everything is dependant on the eye and not the brain. (Obviously we don't discount Mr Brain entirely, he has his place in the creative process, I just think Mr Eye is higher up the metaphorical food chain) There is no right answer, there is no wrong answer, there is only simply what looks right and what looks wrong and well, if you don't know the difference, you're pretty much fucked. If you told me this doesn't scare you, I'd tell you that you were lying. Right and wrong make the world go around and when you're stuck in Purgatory, it's a little mind boggling. Maybe that's exactly what design is; Purgatory. It lounges in the middle as it waits for it's inhabitants to make up their creative little minds. But perhaps it's just me, I've always been one who likes things black and white, you're either right or you're wrong and that's it. I don't like middle ground and I don't like sitting on the fence so to be in a place where the answers aren't so easily defined, yes, it's a tad frightening. Someone hold me.

Dumb

In relation to my previous post, I think they should show this advert to any male aged over 18 who still uses Lynx.



(Also, Ben Reed has a perfect face/everything)

WakeUp&SmellTheMisogyny

"Because girls like you to remember things...like their names. Wake up and stay alert." - Lynx print ad 2010
(Image credit: http://www.feministing.com/archives/021341.html)

Ah, the sweet smell of misogyny, how you warm my feminist cockles on your ever so manly open fire.

Believe it or not, Feminism really isn't my thing, (yes it gave us the vote and (more) equal rights, but it also gave us the impression that those naughty things with penis' are trying to keep us sistas down and that's just silly) I believe Feminism can be as damaging as misogyny if utilised incorrectly. Case in point, this highly intellectual piece of print advertising for Lynx aka the essence of boyhood puberty (because really, what self respecting man actually wears Lynx deodorant? Anybody? No? Good).

The chaps (I assume they're chaps?) behind this ingenious print ad obviously know who their target audience are, (teenage virgins) and for that I'll give them an ounce of credit, but for that only. These guys are incredibly lazy and that just pisses me off. How long do you think it took them to come up with this concept? Ten minutes or so? I mean, how much will these spanners be getting paid to come up with a "creative" solution to sell Lynx? A shitload more than the average worker is my guess. Advertising should be witty, it should be well thought out and, well, y'know, it shouldn't be sexist. Obviously they're not trying to appeal to the female population so it's ok to annoy the living shite out of us, isn't it? Aren't these ads as offensive to males as they are to the females? Don't they just assume that the most important thing in a man's life is shagging as many different women as possible, so much so you can't even remember any of their names? Yes, because this is certainly a quality I look for in a man. Oh, you wear Lynx? You fucking stud, c'mere! I certainly know I can't help myself, I smell Lynx on a man(?) and I immediately de-robe and throw myself at him, for I am a female and therefore, by the rules of Lynx, will always fall for the sweet smell of excessive teenage masturbation. Must be The Lynx Effect, eh ladies?

Perhaps I'm over-thinking it all. Perhaps they know that sex(ism) sells and therefore just keep on abusing it. Perhaps I'm just too bloody defensive for my own good.

Now, I'm not saying that I want a fluffy world of rabbits where boys and girls sit around and plait each other's hair while sharing biscuits and chocolate, I'm not saying that at all. I actually love a bit of sexist banter, what I don't like is mindless adverts such as the above which makes it seem like sexism is actually ok when in fact it's really bloody ugly. But what can you do eh? Sexism has always existed and it always will. There will always be lazy advertisers who use it to sell things. Way of the world, it won't change but that doesn't stop me being incredibly wound up by this relatively small injustice.

I guess I just hate that some idle tools make money by employing such lazy, lazy, lazy bastard advertising tactics. As my mother would say, "get a real job." Be able to actually grow a beard and wear real aftershave, then we can talk.

Arty Bullshitzu

Here's my idea for our degree show.

Whilst procrastinating I decided to watch a random documentary (The Culture Show: Tate Modern Turns 10, look it up on iPlayer, it's tasty) and was particularly inspired by a chap who talked about how, due to Tate Modern's popularity, often artwork is misunderstood by the (uneducated?) general public.

This got me thinking about our degree show. No doubt on opening night, most of the visitors will be students relatives, significant others etc that most likely, won't have a particular understanding (or real interest) in our work like we do. I assume most people will trot around, look at their child's work, go "hmm, well done love" and then move on. (Maybe I'm just cynical?) Anyway, my idea is to provide a list of things to consider whilst conducting said trot. Hopefully this would encourage people to consume the artwork rather than just chewing it for a bit and then spitting it out, figuratively speaking of course.

Here they are:

Literal Vs Obvious

Singular Vs Plural

Significance Vs Throwaway

Niche Vs Understood

Meaning Vs Visual

Style Vs Content

Edition Vs Obsession

Conformity Vs Individual

Audience Vs Idea

Message Vs Style

Quality Vs Quantity

Scale Vs Need

Understanding Vs Knowledge

Misunderstanding Vs Interpretation

Impression Vs Study

Elitist Vs Democratic

Perspective Vs Flat

Safe Vs Radical

Soul Vs Sale

Needs "tweaking" and editing, yet. Just a general scribble of ideas as of yet.

Digest

So I've pretty much finished everything for uni (hopefully I'll have some images of my XLA to show later on this week) and I kind of feel at a loose end. I don't know what to do. I get home and feel bizarre because I feel like I should be working. So, I don't know where this came from but I want to do something with my daily intake of food (or the lack of). I have absolutely no idea if anything will come of this but if I don't do something my brain will rot.

So, today I have eaten:
2 packets of crisps
1 Alpen breakfast bar
Slice of chocolate cake
1 Galaxy chocolate bar
2 Refresher ice lollies
4 single Pringles (snigger that rhymes)
Bit of cheese
1 Thai red curry
1 shit BLT sandwich

Bloody hell that's awful. Please don't judge me.

Call Me Wanker.

Hmm, wonder who I voted for...

Re:Kern

Rekerned my Truth/Happiness piece. I didn't want to at first but think it looks much better now.

Secret Panda

I've been working on my delicious XLA for a bit and thus have neglected my poor blog. Still plenty to do where XLA is concerned so have this really good video to tide you over. One of mine and Capstick's personal favourites. It's impact and affect on mainstream culture will speak for itself. Absolute tearjerker, kids.



"In the middle of making love we notice the time, we both get nervous 'cuz it's way after nine..."
Was there a better lyric ever written? I think not.

[insert anger here]

Ever have one of those days where you just hate everyone? It's not particularly something someone said or something someone did it's just that today, today you just hate everyone. You can't help it. And it's ok. It's ok. It's not a choice. You can't help but want to projectile vomit all down yourself when you hear overly positive people describe everything as "amazing" and "fantastic". You can't help but want to throw your brew over them and see if they find this event "amazing" and "fantastic" also. You can't help but want to tear somebody's throat out because they nag you like they birthed you. You can't help but "accidentally" flatten the chunky scouser who purposely keeps tredding on your toes as you try to keep goalside of her. You can't help but want to scream at the ejit who gets in the lift with you and goes down from the forth floor to the third. You can't help but want to smush your sandwich in the face of the overly greasy teenager who's displaying his manliness to us females by yelling obscenities across Tesco to his even manlier friend. You can't help but want to cry when Everton beat your boys in the ninety second minute. You can't help wanting to push someone off the sofa when they come home and put the central heating on when it's already hotter than the Sahara desert in your abode. You can't help but want to flick the ears of the asshat who pushes in front of you at the shop to demand they recount his change as you idly stand by waiting, watching your overpriced brew going cold in your hands.

But it's ok.

Breathe.

Right. So maybe it is things people say and things people do that make me hate everyone. I can't help it. That's my excuse and I'm sticking to it. Sometimes I do wish I were both stupid and ignorant so I wouldn't get annoyed by the slightest little things like "official" documents that use Comic Sans and "funky" clipart.

Breathe.

I love you all really.

Truth/Happiness

Back working with my OxyMoron list, wanted to develop the initial idea of a series of posters into something more visually stimulating. The coloured circles are used to represent the overlapping between the words; how hypocritical they can be. Here's what I came up with.


Also working on a series of small, snappy quotes (not always my own words, though) which I am turning into posters. This is what I have so far.


Anybody that watches Lie to Me will recognise the quote ;-)

Ragstick

(Blogger being a douche about uploading images properly so excuse it looking all odd)

Kind of obsessed with letterpress at the moment, here's a collection of images which I did last week.


Finished my embossing piece but it's really hard to get a decent image of it. Might try using the copy stand thingy-ma-jigger.

Value

Dunno where this really came from but I kinda like it. An ode to the inner hypocrite in myself/everyone.

Sticky Rag

Had a play about with letterpress today. Very nice getting my little mitts off the keyboard and into some ink. This is what I'm printing, by the way.


Was a bit of a pain to lock-in as I'm not overly familiar with the process. Oddly I enjoyed doing it though, spoke to my OCD nature.
[Note: ragstick means umbrella in "Northern", not tampon like everyone is thinking it does]

Don't have any images of the actual prints yet, leaving them in uni over the weekend to dry properly. Some work better than others, but I'm generally really pleased with the outcome. Again, it was just kinda nice to get my hands grubby (although I'm paying for it now, damn eczema). Admittedly I get very bored, very easily and sometimes just have to do something spontaneous and different to get creativity flowing again. I don't know if it's something that all creatives find themselves doing or if it's just me and my short attention span.

Embossing is finished, not photographed that quite yet. Will try to get around to it tomorrow.

At a bit of a crossroads where my writing is concerned. I think/know that my better pieces are those that are personal, they mean something to me and aren't just random drabble and this is why they're better than all my other stuff. But this poses me with a bit of a problem. These personal pieces, well I'm just not sure if I want to share them with everybody. I'm an incredibly private person, I don't know why, just am, putting myself out there as I do with my writing makes me feel a bit vulnerable to be honest. So this is my problem. How do I put myself out there if I don't want to? Random musing over.

Oh and decided to do the LifeInstructions piece in lino instead of letterpress. Not enough letters/space for it. Poop.

Fashionista

Well I've had a fun filled morning trying to figure out how to make clipping masks work in InDesign. It was so enjoyable I nearly threw my laptop into the wall and then curled up in a ball and cried myself to sleep. After many a trip through Google I managed to figure it out, my own sanity thanks you Mr Google. Anyway I've gone back to my LifeInstructions list, I had the idea of creating a set of beermats with my instructions on and placing them in pubs to (hopefully) create more stimulating conversation than normal pub banter. (Perhaps it's just me that gets sick of all the beer and shagging talk) This was supposed to be a quick task and I was supposed to have a lot more than one done by now, however InDesign decided to try and fight me so it took longer than planned. The rest of my day will be spent pummelling InDesign's face into the floor :-) (Not sure why the black one's type seems to have some sort of white stroke around it?)

Real Life Oxymoron

Remember my list of oxymorons? Well here's friendly rivalry.



Starting filming an abstract piece tomorrow, this will run alongside my Life Instructions. It was suggested to me that I concentrate on beauty rather than the literal but I live in Blackburn so that could be tricky...

Sigh

For the past four days I've pretty much constantly felt like I was going to vomit, this hasn't been helpful when I'm trying to create masses of work but anyway. Been working on producing something visual from my "Oxy, Moron" list. This piece is incredibly simplistic but that's what I was going for. I don't want to dress this up too fancy. Looking to letterpress this.


Second image is what I actually did first. Original idea was to split the list up and just print them individually but looking at this now, I'm not sure it works as well. Perhaps if they were in a series it'd make more sense?

Also been working on a brief given to me by Mr Marston, which is to come up with short stories consisting of 20 words, each word 4 letters long. Yes, it's a huge challenge and my brain is breaking but I love conquering things. If all goes well, one will be selected and displayed at our degree show across the printroom windows, 20 windows = 20 words. Here's what I've got so far:

Down fell Burt, deep into debt. Done with, they said. Want cash, mate? Sell your used gold, ease your pain.

Karl died last year, mind, body, even soul, worn with hate. Nazi jinx, they said, very just. Hell took Karl.

So this is how I'm spending my Saturday nights, thinking of 20 word stories. Rock Star Prescott is what they call me. I'm forgoing the Blackburn V Burnley game tomorrow to hand feed penguins and giraffes. I hope it's worth it.

(apologies if my writing seems more odd than usual, I blame this stupid, pissing virus that won't leave me alone. Now I'm going to look at some pictures of Tim Roth to make me feel better)

Embossy

I somehow managed to drag my sorry corpse into uni today despite having another IBS attack this morning. Wanted to proof the first few lines of my tHINGs piece, more than anything I just wanted to get myself familiar with the method. Obviously unfinished but wanted to get some visuals before they lock up the printroom for Easter break.





Hard to get a really good image of them because the font size is rather small.

Oxy, Moron.

ImperfectPerfection
PersonallyImpersonal
AdorablyDisgusting
CreativeBullshit
VirginMary
StrangelyHandsome
StupidlyIntelligent
ModestShowoff
ProfessionalFoul
AnonymousDonor
FreeLove
CanNot
SweetMisery
ConstructiveCriticism
GoodNews
VegetarianSausages
VirtualReality
FriendlyRivalry
MindLess
OpinionatedBullshit
BlackHumour
LivingDead

Something I thought up on the bus. God knows where it came from. Looking to add to this. Visualising this as a series of prints.

Splodge

I think my brain's about to fall out. Splodge! I don't know if it's because of today's IBS flare up (rejoice!) or too many thoughts/things to process but wah, my head hurts. I'm trying to write my way out of these stomach and head related issues.

In other, less moany news, I decided to emboss the "tHINGS" piece instead of simply digitally printing. This makes me feel better because I prefer using an actual physical process instead of Apple+P. Yes I know it's more complicated than that, pipe down. Only problem with embossing is the sheer amount of time it takes, especially when you're doing large bits of copy as I am. I would've got more done today but I had some very adorable whippets to contend with this morning. Hopefully I'll have something visual to post tomorrow.

In the mean time, have a picture of the gang of geese that ran a very cute tirade of terror over our road in January.



Sigh. I'll be back on point tomorrow, promise.

B.I.B.L.E. (basic instructions before leaving Earth)

Basically this is just a list of how I think people should try to live. Not in an order of importance, just as they came to me. Parts of this may mean different things to different people, hopefully that's the beauty of it. Personal impersonality I guess.

Thinking about using black vinyl and putting this on a white wall somewhere.

Very similar to my list of hates. I think I love listing things a bit too much.

Gamble
Be a snob
Don't follow fashion
Do what you like
Keep old photos
Work very hard
Minimise fast-food eating
Run
Adopt an animal
Don't try to please everyone, you'll only fail
Be kind but not over-kind
Be generous but not over-generous
Read a newspaper everyday
Watch the news everyday
Write
Cry if needs be
Sleep
Keep a diary but don't let anyone read it
One day of the week, don't shower
Be opinionated
Don't describe yourself as "random", everybody does this so it's really not that random
Don't pretend you don't care what people think, everybody does it's only human
Keep in touch
Invent your own language
Take the piss
Be sarcastic but don't be an asshole
Turn off the lights
Don't ignore politics
Listen
Fuck Morrisons (not literally)
Second isn't good enough
Let the phone ring
Don't be afraid of hurting people's feelings
Don't be ignorant
Don't leave the house without perfume/aftershave
Get your eyes tested
Draw, even if you're shit
Sing in the shower
Sing in the car
Don't drive like a knobhead
Indicate
You can have your cake and eat it
Don't say yes to things you have no intention of doing
Vote
Use correct grammar
Sometimes you have to lie
Don't put your life on Facebook, nobody cares
Regret things
Mourn
Don't ever work in an office
Show off in small amounts
Don't kill things
Dream
Listen to music with substance
Get plastered once in a while
Try not to wallow
Give a shit about things
Embrace change
Don't run from pain, go towards it
Get angry
Don't believe everything you read/hear
Expand your mind
Be interested
Speak
Don't take shit from anybody, no matter who they (think they) are
Reminisce
Don't like something just because everyone else does (Fight Club is shit)
Don't wear make-up everyday
Boys, never wear make-up
Complain
Leave something to imagination
Don't be a slag, nobody will respect you
Take yourself seriously but not too seriously
Enjoy
Take your time
Don't try to be different, all humans are different by definition anyway
Ask questions
Demand answers
Don't wait
Give tough love, it works
Being over-sensitive will get you nowhere

More tHINGS

Something a bit more visual created from the writing I did earlier. The idea is the background colour represents skin which refers to the first line. I wanted the text to appear hidden as that's the whole feeling of the piece. Things are hidden from sight and you need to dig to find them.

Think I need to make the type a tad darker because at the moment you can barely see it. Hmm.

tHINGS

I have admittedly been stuck in a bit of a rut for the past few days, however someone kindly threw me a rope and helped pull me out (hello Mick). We decided that I need to be concentrating more on my writing, first and foremost because it's what I do best and furthermore, because it's what I enjoy most.

Here we go.

People hide Things, between layers of skin and bone is where they lie. Some Things want to be found while others strive to remain camouflaged. Public perception is a powerful Thing. It is the main reason why people bury Things: Things we don't talk about, Things we want to forget, Things that happened and Things that didn't. Things can be miniature or they can be magnificent, this is irrelevant, all that matters is where they stay and for how long. Sometimes people drag these Things out of us, other times we free them. Sometimes this helps, sometimes it just makes Things worse.

I hide Things. You hide Things. We hide Things. They hide Things. She hides Things and so does he.

These Things are mine and I don't like sharing.

Rothgasm

Again experimenting with redesign. Here I took an online article and redesigned it to turn it into something that resembles a more commercial outcome (magazine, publication etc). Also, Tim Roth is amazing.

Graphic Design, Piss Easy?

"Look, no matter what you do, how hard you work, who you work for or how good you are, you will always be associated with doing a piss easy degree."

Believe it or not, this man was actually coming to my defense. Let me paint the picture. Glen is a successful stock market businessman (I'm sure they have a technical name I just don't know it) who works from home, he is also on my pub quiz team. When I found out what he did for a living, it opened the door for me to take the piss a bit, I'm sorry but it's what I do by instinct, if not anything else, it's a sign that I like you. Now Glen isn't exactly in my usual demographic for what I call a friend; he's a 52 year old, Bitter drinking Yorkshireman with a passion for stocks. What could we possibly have in common? Well, we are both regularly berated for our choice of lifestyle. He works from home so that means he must watch cricket all day, right? I'm doing a Graphic Design degree so I must just colour things in, correct?

My point is, how do we as graphic designers, illustrators, artists etc defend ourselves? Can we defend ourselves? I think it's fair to say that most people who don't study or work in the design industry don't really understand how much time, effort and commitment goes into it. I'm pretty sure most people think that we just say, "No it'd look better in green, change the font to Comic Sans" and have done with it. Can we prove ourselves to be hardworking without coming across as pretentious assholes? Why should we have to? Maybe it's just me. Maybe I care too much about public perception.

Perhaps being able to defend what you do comes with age and experience. Discuss.

Hard Graft

I can't believe this took me all of two days. I forgot how time consuming screenprinting is. Anyway I finally got them done, going to nip in tomorrow to get them cut down to size.

Excuse the terrible quality but I went and forgot my camera, doh!

Hi Thar Mr Plagiarism

I was just casually looking at some illustration before bedtime and came across this. Erm, plagiarism much?!


First image from Non-Format whom I'm pretty sure didn't design this Drake album artwork...

XLA

So it's the time of year for dissertations, (apparently) however, my lovely course tutors decided that we didn't have to do one as such. Rejoice! Instead we get to nuzzle on the tasty tidbit that is the "extended learning agreement", or XLA as the cool kids are calling it. Us graphic designers are expected to produce some sort of design which will contain said XLA. I want to produce something huge that will look quite snazzy in my degree show. I had the idea of creating a double sided 1000x700mm document-come-poster in the style of a newspaper. Ideally I want to combine digital print and screenprint as my techniques because throughout all three years, these have been my main means of production. However this could come down to how busy the printroom will be when it comes to screenprinting. Hmm.

At the moment I'm still working on layout as I am yet to rework the XLA essay I submitted before Christmas. Here are the initial visuals.



Screenprinting going relatively well. Hopefully I'll have images to post tomorrow :-)

Screenprinting, Thou Shalt Not Defeat Me!

So I'm screenprinting again tomorrow. Hopefully everything won't go wrong like it did last time. Hopefully I can blag a little time silkscreening too. I want the yellow text to be all shiny an' shiz. Going to send this out to prospective employers. Scary, scary.

Again experimenting with layout. I'm just trying to up my InDesign game.




Hmm. Ich liebe yellow, jah jah.

I Hate Everything

Hate is good. It is healthy. It's the soap we lather ourselves with in order to rid our brains of all the worldly bullshit that is oh so evident. We can't be afraid to hate, people. Let it in; stop smiling and start getting angry. People complain about how bad this world has become, (I know as I am one of them) yet most people are unwilling to actually react. Get angry, get pissed off and shout about it. Ram your opinion down other people's throats until they have no option but to listen or argue back. For anybody that thinks I'm just a miserable git with too much time on my hands to rant and rave (I probably am), I have tried Positivism, it doesn't work and now I hate that too.

Rawr! This little rant came about with me actually listening to myself speak. I seem to moan a lot so I decided to write down a comprehensive list of everything I hate. It is embarrassingly long; five pages to give you an idea. My initial idea was to make a small book based around the idea of hate. However I underestimated the amount of content I would need for such a project so I therefore looked at producing a series of images instead of a whole book.

Initial imagery for book contents. The huge "03" is just the page number, a bit on the large side huh? I call it my ode to Bauhaus.

Initial two page spread. Idea behind this was to juxtapose a visually "happy" image with the text, "I Hate Everything". I really like this, somehow. Very simple but affective.

Another potential two page spread. Not overly keen on this one.

Re:Design

This is still sort of unfinished. I tend to get annoyed by how much paper is wasted on crap that clogs up our letterbox and how many "cool" flyers are thrust into my hands as I walk through the town centre. My idea was to simply give these somewhat offensive objects a more modernistic twist and redesign them to suit my stylistic preferences. I'm not suggesting my design is at all better, I'm sure this ugly bugger does it's job, I'm just making it prettier...hopefully.

Heroism

Response to a Martin Firrell (http://www.completehero.com/) exhibition I traveled the length of the country to see. Worth it.

Heroism is unselfish.
Heroism is modest.
Heroism is nonjudgmental.
Heroism is sacrificial.
Heroism is humanitarian.
Heroism is quiet.
Heroism is unknown.
Heroism is non-existent.

Again taken my written words into something visual. Looking back over all of my work has made me realise that this is how I work. Words and then visual outcome, yessum.

Added a few more lines to the initial response.



Took the digital image and screenprinted onto a variety of different stocks. In all honesty screenprinting this, however simple it looked, turned out to be an absolute pain in the arsenal. Screenprinting something different on Monday, determined not to let it beat me!