36/P/ptI.
Something I’m currently working on with Matt Flynn aka electronic b-b-b-b-bad-boii Sduk. The project is to develop and push a method of printing resulting in an edition of 50 prints, 12″ x 12″. Whilst much of the swing toward analogue printing methods is an attempt to capture “happy mistakes”, the digital world isn’t perfect; amongst the 0s and 1s it’s a messy place, there are mistakes there too. Using Photoshop to lose yourself three stone and gain the perfect skin complexion? Purr-leaze. Things look like they are going to turn toward fucking with code and the traditional output method of your digital console – the inkjet printer.
Here’s some of our inspiration : -
- Super Mario Clouds
- Some of my favourite Jodi workings
— %8.02 WRONGbrowser
— http://wwwwwwwww.jodi.org/ (view source)
— Screen Deconstruction (Q might be needed)
- Blackmoth.org
- Yvette’s
- One of many Angelfire sites
- My own feeddeath
Nothing beats early internet (non-)art. Scan courtesy of the Brother HL-1450.
34/NS004/LilSilva.
Latest Night Slugs EP is Lil Silva’s Night Skanker, it’s out tomorrow, as usual I’ve done some work on possible concepts for the cover.
I’m having difficulties with ownership of work and people repeatedly saying it’s your ability to imagine an idea and not the technical skills to realise that idea that’s important. Ok, idea is key but when you hire photographer, illustrator, coder etc. to carry out said idea can you really claim ownership of the final product? In the art exhibition the artists work is always bigger than the curators but in graphic design it seems fame is reversed; designer plays role of curator, employs the artists and basks in the limelight. This seems to be pretty much most of the game at the moment. So much has to be said for development of an idea through process, ranging from mistakes made, a designers unique style and to pushing the boundaries of what a technology can actually do. I’m very much in the thought sphere that knowledge of technical process can only aid the creative outcome and not restrict it. With all that in mind I’m not sure how much ownership I can really take for these, at the end of the day it’s Alex’s vision that brings them to life. It’s also very much his direction and choice at the end of the day, hopefully my thoughts offer him something to spark off.
Anyway, key theme here was ENERGY which resulted in looking at the structure of dams. My ideas part i / part ii.
Cover after the jump.
28/NS003/GirlUnit.
More Night Slugs action; again coming up with concepts that Alex then turns into a cover. I’m really liking this way of working, it’s almost as if he does most of the hard work making the idea a reality…
This is Girl Unit’s EP I.R.L. – chat room abbreviation for “in real life” (tune of the year so far, check it). This started off with islands, and taking in detroit architecture and freeways we ended up on spaceships. All isolated imagery that fits with both the timbre of the soundtrack and the title too. An image I sourced from Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Oddessy clearly sparked something; of course, rendered in that Tron-like style that Alex has created.
Cover after the jump.
26/NS002/Egyptrixx.
More Night Slugs work here.
Following the Mosca cover, Alex asked me to come up with a similar set of ideas for the second EP cover that he’d then develop and illustrate himself. The EP is The Only Way Is Up by Egyptrixx – twisted and epic house music, grab it here. The name changed halfway through so there’s two sets of ideas, the second more developed. It seems obvious but he settled on an Egyptian pyramid due to obvious ties to the name and also as a continuation of the epic, ancient structure explored in NS001.
Finished cover and sketch after the jump.
24/BadType/ChooseNow.
This was a joint project with Joe Mania, Helen Chesner and Jessica Waters. The brief was to “explore bad type. Seek it out. Categorize it and then devise a strategy or campaign”. Other key elements were recognition, participation and the giving of awards.
Our response began with fun and games before we made t-shirts, dressed up in classic party gear (Joe Mania had bubbles) and gave awards to several shops guilty of bad typography. We asked some questions and filmed the results. The footage was turned into an interactive online game, that, as the minisite says, “brings the fun back into bad typography” whilst hoping to “reveal the people behind the type”. The original idea was to have an amalgamation of different shops but one character in a kebab shop stood out so the focus is solely on him. Depending on the score you get, you get a different shop keeper giving you a message on the end. Hopefully I can get some pictures of the party gear, bubbles and real life t-shirts.
As you may guess the game was constructed in Flash, the code wasn’t actually as hard as I anticipated but I haven’t really optimized it for web so apologies on loading times…
22/CuringComicSans.
We’ve just been set a brief to create a campaign celebrating bad typography. What with this and previous Comic Sans Destruction, it seems to be a recurring theme this year.
Both fit with a project I did last year with @Bhav_Mistry. We had to save one of the problems of the world in a day, whilst most were solving issues like racism, global warming and war, we opted for something a little bit more serious. The problem of Comic Sans MS.
Yes that parasitic mother fucker of a typeface. The solution, then, was to make Comic Sans compulsory – if it is the only font available to use, would we be forced to appreciate and find good uses for it? Would the archives be rewritten? Would Max Miedinger be hated whilst Vincent Connare celebrated? Would the corporate face of America be one of fun?
See classic pieces of typography from Jan Tschichold and Marinetti modified, cult brands reimagined and a brand new clothing line all on Flickr or after the jump.
(There are more but these are my favourites…)
21/NS001/Mosca.
So the first Night Slugs release is in a few weeks. It’s actually one of the best pieces of music I’ve heard in a while so I’m really glad to be the labels intern, they definately going good places. Ages ago I came up with some type designs and concepts for the cover that Alex could then work from. He used one of my ideas that I came up with, cannot wait for it to be printed…
See the whole 12″ after the jump.
7/MoscaConcepts.
Been doing some more work on the Mosca album cover for Night Slugs, following on from here. Alex / Bok Bok wanted more concept and ideas for the cover before they were rendered and designed. Just a few at this stage, will be adding more soon once I get some actual work out the way.
You can see my ideas here.
6/+value/Emperor.
Brief was to add value to something around the college. A joint project with @Bhav_Misty and whilst most people added value to objects we aimed to add value to both the experience and person of lecture and lecturer.
Pictures after the jump and even more on Flickr.
Going to carry out the campaign at next week somepoint.
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Words from campaign posters:
Julius Caeser, Tutankhuman, Darth Vader. All preachers with an entire nation holding on to their every word, commanders of men willing to fulfill their every desire; Emperors in the truest sense of the word.
Emperor is the new Chelsea School of Art and Design initiative to reinvent the lecture theatre; inverted and reverted. Instead of the lecturer looking up at their audience, the theatre will be turned around and the audience will be looking up at them. When the lecturer looks over his audience as if he were a great emperor he will be filled with both courage and confidence. Then, as the audience look up they can do nothing but have unquestioning belief in this higher authority.