When we were first set the blog brief, I was glad to have it enforced on me. As every design student knows, blogs are a vital way of keeping track of your findings, logging pieces away for inspiration in the same way as you slowly build up a reference library of books and magazines, and yet it was something I had never got round to doing.
I had always been a big fan of blogs, having my favourites bookmarked across the top of my homepage, and running through them each morning when I sat at my computer. Yet I had never actually started blogging myself. Also, using social networking sites such as Facebook, I had always been fond of swapping links and sharing resources with other design students, and so the natural progression from this would surely be to start my own site, and I always accepted this inevitability without actually taking any time to push it along.
Initially I wasn’t keen on blogging, posting up things I found seemed a chore, and not as beneficial as I’d hoped. I struggled to write up what I was looking at, and found the process dull. However, I soon realised this was because I wasn’t posting design work that I was truly interested in, just anything I’d seen which I thought was attractive aesthetically. From this I developed my blog screening process to anything that I thought either solved a problem I had encountered, or just fell short of their aim through a flaw in either the design or copywriting.
This process lead me to the Schweppe’s “Leopard” advert (created by Mother). Immediately after seeing it for the first time on television, I was confused by its message. The father figure makes a irresponsible decision after drinking Schweppe’s tonic water, a drink more commonly mixed with gin than drank on it’s own. To me, whilst obviously intending to be humorous, this was highlighting the main problem with the brand, its parasitic reliance on alcohol brands to survive, and the issues that go along with those products.
Once I had spotted this flawed advert I found myself becoming ever more critical of the major design agencies output. Whenever I saw an advert I’d think, “If I was on the team that produced this, what questions would I ask?” and from this I found it increasingly easy to assess work for myself. I also started to think “If this was my work I was showing at a university crit, what questions would I expect to field from the lecturers?” Having these questions in mind helped me to be increasingly critical, and I was able to approach work from different viewpoints, constantly questioning how work could be perceived by different groups, and looking deeper into the messages advertisers, designers and filmmakers wanted us to accept at face level.
I made quite a few blog posts based on fashion tear sheets, and I have found having somewhere to keep track of the shots I find like to be incredibly beneficial, both from a design inspiration point of view, but also in developing my own personal style, mixing and matching influences where it is appropriate, and really evaluating what a designer was trying to say about their target market by what different cuts, materials and styles. I started to analyse fashion in the same way I analyse graphic design; “Why did the designer choose that fabric?”, “What influences can I see in this garment?”, “What is the tone of voice of the collection?” Initially these questions were simply arbitrary because I knew I’d have to write an analysis underneath each post, but I slowly realised these were the questions I should think whenever I observe anything creative.
Running through questions like these helps to maintain presence of mind when observing visuals, ensuring every aspect of their design is scrutinised and fully understood, and not merely accepted as “nice”, a habit it is easy to fall into.
Through blogging, I believe my own work has greatly improved, but not for the reasons I first thought it would. I originally thought of blogs as mere reference libraries, huge piles of beautiful images of photography, illustration and typography that can be called upon later in times of “designer’s block”. Inspiration on tap. However, I found that rather than being a source of inspiration for artworking, it was much more helpful in idea development, a more elementary area of graphic design. This was down to my developing skill for expository thought, constantly questioning and evaluating my work, as I knew others would be doing the same. Well developed work should not need any explanation, every aspect should be covered within the visual and nothing should be left unsupported by reason and sound logic.
This means I now make an increasing effort to see my own work from as many different perspectives as possible, aiding in avoiding ambiguous messages and discouraging wanton visual effects that add nothing to the design. When I see work from established design houses that has overlooked a simple element of their message (again, for example, Mother’s Schweppes advert) I cannot believe that something that was immediately apparent to me was never brought up in the studio, and if it was, did they deliberately overlook it? Hope no one else would mention it? Or was it (as I suspect) too far into the design process to start again? As I mature as a designer I am becoming more thoughtful in my output, more considered, and therefore more willing to take a step back and look at my work with fresh eyes, and if need be, start over. This can be a hard thing to accept following weeks of work, but if your piece has become too detached from its core message, releasing it can sometimes do the client more harm than good, especially when there are Smart Alec bloggers like me out there.
Channel 4 rebrand
Channel 4 Branding 2010 from ruddstudio on Vimeo.
Rudd Studio has just completed their Channel 4 brief to redesign its on-screen idents, whilst incorporating the existing multi-bar 4 logo.
Rudd has constantly been updating the work they did 5 years ago, where they first introduced animation to the channel, and this years rebrand sees a slightly calmer tone of voice, and an interesting split screen animation displaying the logo from two different angles, a clear nod to the channel's history of producing cutting edge programmes looking at topics from an alternative perspective.
The work consists of a whopping 100 one-second stings, and several longer, photography based idents.
Alan Partridge returns for Foster's
Foster's move into comedy sponsorship has taken a huge leap recently, in convincing Steve Coogan to return for 12 short "webisodes" featuring his hit character Alan Partridge, which will be screened from November 5th on their specialist website .
As a huge fan of the original Alan Partridge series I cannot wait to see these, hopefully after 8 years on hiatus Coogan has amassed enough new material to keep the show as fresh and funny as it once was.
My only worry is that the Foster's branding that apparently will be "evident throughout the series", won't descend into cringe-worthy product placement and unnecessary references.
Scott Pilgrim vs. the Reviewers
I was excited to see Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, primarily as a chance to see Toronto again, and also so I could annoy the people I was with with endless "I've been there" comments. I did this, and it was fun.
Unfortunately, the film itself less than impressed.
It is easy to divide the film into two sections, the first is classic Michael Cera territory, lo-fi filming, witty dialogue, indie soundtrack, tick, tick, tick. However once the film really starts to find its feet an increased amount of CGI is used throughout the fight scenes, in order to maintain the comic-book theme of the film. Often this leads to a visually cluttered cinema screen, and so much action occurring it is difficult to understand what is going on.
At times it feels as if director Edgar Wright (someone whose previous work in Spaced, Hot Fuzz and Shaun of the Dead I am a massive fan of) actually set out to produce a film that was more about form than function. At times Scott Pilgrim vs. the World is both visually stunning, funny and well acted, and yet the majority of the time leaves very little space to think.
The Gentleman's Lycra Part II
As a follow on from my post about the Rapha/Paul Smith collaboration from a couple of weeks ago, here are a few tear sheets from New York brand Outlier's latest campaign. As a bicycle commuter I understand the difficulties you can have trying to pick practical, hard-wearing and yet stylish clothes to wear whilst on the bike, and the people at Outlier have tapped into that niche.
I'll leave you with a little from their "Philosophy" sectiom from the website:
"The sun is rising, the air clear, the city unfolds below you as you reach the top of the bridge. Your legs are spinning fast, heart pumping, maybe you are sweating just a touch. It's a magical feeling of exhilaration and liberation that comes from riding a bike in a city. Inside trains, humans are imitating sardines, while drivers stall and stew in their own exhaust. The cyclist however is completely free, in motion, almost flying, a huge smile wiped across their face.
We firmly believe that the bicycle is the best form of urban transit for the 21st century, and our clothing is designed to make that fact even more true. Your clothing should work as well on a bicycle as it does on the subway or in a car, without shouting to the world "I'm a cyclist." We are a clothing company first, not a cycling company. But we're a clothing company that designs simple, good looking and hard wearing garments for a world where bikes are a part of your daily life."
Architectural Review through the ages
Whilst browsing the AR archives, just stumbled upon their first ever issue, dated 1864. The front cover boasts information for the "artist and craftsmen", although apparently this was later adapted to "the artist, archeologist, designer and craftsmen" in order to appeal to rapidly emerging disciplines in Victorian society.
Compare this to this months edition, how times change eh?
Flicking through the articles, looking at the pictures...
Has anyone seen the back cover of this month's Creative Review? It's a cracking piece of promotional material for Telegramme and it's a gorgeous collection of slogans and images screen printed in a subdued 4-colour pastel palette.
Telegramme (or Robert Evans to his mum) is a young creative specialising in "gig posters and eye catching illustration work".
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