Dubdog

And the title of the next programme is…

2012-02-05T12:47:00.020Z

I've recently noticed a major lack of quality control in title sequences for some of the BBC's output. This is despite the continued excellence of some of the programmes. Take, for example, this atrocious piece of typography for Go West, a Friday night BBC4 programme that is currently running, about British bands 'making it' in America.

It appears as if the producer has allowed a GCSE work placement student to knock this together in iMovie, as the type slowly pans down the screen while images of adoring audiences at rock gigs in USA stadiums fills the background.

Unfortunately, the overall effect of the sequence just gives the impression of being 'cheap'. It is as if these type of BBC4 'talking heads' programmes have had the majority of their budget spent on paying guest speakers, while stitching together archive footage from the Beeb vaults. Hmmm, I'm probably not far wrong in this assumption.

The first title sequence that made me choke on my tea for its complete lack of aesthetic consideration was Timothy Spall's Somewhere At Sea. Be thankful I wasn't able to find an example online to post here. Like Go West, I'm sure it wasn't a big budget affair, but it did showcase a BBC veteran of high regard. Much like the programme that really did make me wonder what was going on in the minds of the graphics department at the BBC; Stephen Fry's Planet Word.

Comic Sans, please! This programme was dedicated to language—one episode even looked at the visual side of sign language—and yet the designers seem to have completely dismissed the importance of visual language in its title sequence. This is even more baffling when given that some effort had gone into the trailer, which at least attempts to smpathetically visualise and authenticate the subject matter being discussed.

Now I understand that the same level of design savvy can't go into everything, and that not all budgets will cover getting Why Not Associates to do the titles, (see Life On Mars and Ashes To Ashes), but the issue is that you don't need to spend lots of time and money on making a considered and understated piece of typographic communication as this is more about rudamentory design choices—things that second year undergraduate graphic design students are adept at. And they are decisions that I am paying my licence fee for. You can seriously undermine the entire credibility of a TV programme with this sort of basic insult to your audience's intelligence.

Finally, don't get me started on the end titles; I'll leave that particular rant to David Mitchell, who is much more adept at such things than me.

It's not made by great men

2012-01-31T21:57:00.007Z

"Doing art should not be a full time job for the validated few. Doing art should be something we all do as part of everyday life… None of us should be getting our highs and lows vicariously through what other people do, we should all do the fighting, kicking, loving, fucking, painting, throwing, jumping, killing, singing, shouting ourselves, and not have actors, sportsmen, musician or artists doing it for us.”

Bill Drummond on his new book, 100, on Quietus.

KC&CO—FO

2012-01-29T13:21:00.017Z

Ever since it started appearing everywhere about two-three years ago, I have had a problem with the poster 'Keep Calm and Carry On'! The basic premise of the piece is that you should accept your lot, never object to anything, and continue with the status quo as if nothing had changed. Adorned in shop windows and dressed up as an admirable trait of the British psyche, the concept that adversity is something to shrug off by being quietly subservient, actually makes me angry. The idea that ignoring our problems and not questioning the root causes will somehow 'fix' everything, in my mind, is tantamount to telling children not to do anything if they get bullied in the school playground. Should we also accept a bit of racism now and again as well? It is bad enough that this poster, (supposedly), became an ironic statement on how people felt about an economic system collapsing around them, but when the current edition of Creative Review puts the phrase at number 12 in a 'top 20 slogans of all time poll', I am incredulous. (And that is not just because my vote for Cresta's, “It's Frothy Man”, didn't get a look in.) The insidiousness of this poster is made even more apparent in the accompanying article. Apparently, commissioned by the Government's Ministry of Information in 1939, it was never released, despite the Government stockpiling 2.5 million copies, and was only intended to be pasted up around the country should Britain be invaded during the burgeoning war with Germany. Therefore, its intention was to tell people to accept their fate and to not challenge their new Nazi leaders—as if I didn't like it enough before I knew that, I now hate the poster even more. I'll be tempted to smash any mugs I see with it printed on as well from now on.

It is not just me who sees the insipid side of this graphic blinkering. Justin McGuirk argued in The Guardian, "Take that odd phenomenon, the "Keep Calm and Carry On" poster that has been ubiquitous since the credit crunch. In its appeal to the plucky stoicism of the blitz years, it seems designed to dampen down any unrest aimed at the political-financial establishment." These thoughts led me to think about other graphic conditioning statements, albeit in fiction. The KC&CO shares a resemblance, in intention at least, with George Orwell's 1984 doublethink sloganeering; War is Peace; Slavery is Freedom; Ignorance is Strength. Likewise, in the 1968 TV programme The Prisoner, hung throughout official buildings were the slogans; Questions are a Burden to others; Answers a prison for oneself.

Jon Gray's cover for George Orwell's 1984 (Penguin Books)

So why rant about this now, other than because Creative Review sparked a renewed hatred for the poster. Well, the article coincided with a piece on the Creative Review blog about the launch of Occupy Design, whose first conference was held this weekend. Jonathan Barnbrook, one of the conference organisers told CR: "There are … some ridiculous things going on at the moment which show that much of design and advertising is simply pretending it's business as usual. For instance: D&AD setting a brief for students to rebrand the City of London, to make it look cool when these people are responsible for the mess we are in and the huge cuts in education." Likewise, Jody Boehnert states on the Occupy Design website: "Communication design is used to sell products – but even when it is not explicitly engaged in manufacturing consumer desire, design can function to conceal the impacts of conspicuous consumption and the socio-political-economic system through a process known as symbolic violence. While communication design can be used to reveal consequences, illustrate systemic dynamics and facilitate public processes—capitalism needs designers to promote consumption not to critique consumption!" Both these views pretty much sum up my feelings on seeing a 'Keep Calm and Carry On' poster staring at me from behind the counter of a shop.

Occupy Design logo

Beware any tea drinkers with KC&CO mugs.

Style counsel

2012-01-21T10:32:00.009Z

Apart from The Guardian not knowing their en dashes from their em dashes, I cannot recommend this book highly enough for anyone interested in the written English language.

"Guardian Style will help you distinguish between the so-called rules of grammar that are an aid to good writing and those that you can cheerfully ignore. It is also a mine of information about everything from spelling to punctuation, from commonly misused words to foreign terms and expressions. If you're not sure what the difference is between principle and principal, if you have ever been puzzled by the rules governing the use of that and which, or if you are unsure as to whether brackets and parentheses are the same thing, then this superbly straightforward and straight-talking reference guide is for you."

It is not as pedantic and dry as it may sound. That said, don't expect the grammar on this blog to be perfect as a result. Available here.

Sweet F AAA

2012-01-15T17:45:00.007Z

The Saturday edition of The Guardian has been sitting on our kitchen table since I finished leafing through it yesterday morning. This image has been staring up at me every time I've gone into the kitchen in the last 32 hours, and only just a few minutes ago did I get the visual gag.

Street graphics

2012-01-14T17:12:00.017Z

Most mornings, as I walk to work, I pass these road markings that look decidedly like monster's teeth.

I have often wondered just what they indicate. It seems odd that Ipswich Borough Council decided to paint them on one side of the road, clearly assuming that this residential road accommodates traffic going in either direction at the same time, which it doesn't. Whoever took this decision didn't consider that local people parked their cars outside their houses, which effectively turns this road into a single lane—most days the triangles on the pavement side are completely hidden from view.

I Googled 'road markings' and I couldn't find the meaning of these anywhere. I found examples of two triangles painted on traffic calming speed humps, pointing in the direction of the traffic flow, (rotated 90 degrees to these), but they are something different.

There are more of these 'teeth' on the same road just before, (or after, depending on which way you look at it), a one way bridge.

If anyone knows what these abstract graphic marks are meant to communicate, please let me know.

Design for all

2012-01-08T19:36:00.008Z

Occasionally, site specific architecture—designed purely for public enjoyment and recreation—crops up online and makes me want to pack my bags immediately and go and experience them for myself. Recent examples include Why Not Associates and Gorden Young's typographic Comedy Carpet in Blackpool, and further afield, New York's The High Line. One that grabbed my attention today is this vertiginous forest walkway in Estonia.

Other than imagining the wonder of the spectacle in the flesh, what I love about such installations is the fact that they are there to be experienced with no entrance fee, no intellectual symbolism and no spiritual veneer. They exist just for the enjoyment of being in the here and now, and engaging with good design that heightens a sense of a specific environment.

Thanks to City Of Sound for bringing this example to my attention.

Ipswich Arts Centre launch (tbc)

2012-01-02T16:45:00.011Z

Ipswich has long been the poor relation to its neighbouring towns of Colchester, Norwich and Cambridge in terms of gig venues. The former two have thriving Arts Centres. Both attract touring bands as well as using these stages to showcase emerging local talent. The Cambridge Junction is another great venue with large and small stages. In the last 2 months I've been to see Magazine and The Fall at The Junction, and I have the choice of seeing King Creosote and Jon Hopkins in either The Junction, or in Norwich's Arts Centre this coming February. These venues are great for someone like me, who can afford to go to such events and is prepared to share the driving with friends, but it would be so much better if these sort of venues were available in my home town.

Ipswich has two large venues that rarely go below the £21 mark for a gig, and lots of small pubs with stages that (mostly) local bands use to play to each other. A new mid-sized venue has opened in the town, but seems to cater mostly for covers bands. There are a couple of rooms above pubs, (with no disabled access), that some promotors use to showcase some of the exciting things happening in the Ipswich music scene, but you have to hunt for them. There is no focal point, and anything that is happening is only doing so because of people doing it off of their own backs and who are prepared to do so in inadequate circumstances. With a cultural scene firmly establishing itself in Ipswich in the visual arts, dance, theatre, and film, it seems short sighted that there is no cohesive policy from the powers that be in the town to promote, encourage, and make accessible divergent music. Especially with a growing university.

Then recently a new Arts Centre for Ipswich was announced in the local papers as being on the cards. Planned to take the space of the former Ipswich Arts School and with a 3 year plan to get the venture up and running, there was much excitement. The excitement soon turned into bitter disappointment when it was discovered that this would not contain a space to be used as a music venue. How short sighted.

So disappointment has turned into action, of a sort, with a new website aimed at encouraging discussion to help promote the need for an Ipswich Arts Centre, and lots of local musicians are getting vocal. It appears it might be kick starting some useful debates, providing a focal point to rally around and looks set to prompt a few tentative meetings to look at what may be the next move to this project.

Check out the website here to read the full story, sign the petition, and to get involved if you have any interest in the Ipswich music scene.

325 in 365

2011-12-31T17:55:00.002Z

830, a photo by Dubdog@Flickr on Flickr.

McJunk total at end of 2010 = 505
McJunk total at close of 2011 = 830
Hmmmm. McHappy New Year!

Talk to a brick wall

2011-12-29T07:43:00.003Z

Talk to a brick wall, a photo by Dubdog@Flickr on Flickr.

I saw this scrawled on a pavement in Ipswich yesterday. Is this a very concrete form of Brian Eno / Peter Schmidt's Oblique Strategies?

This is what a year sounds like, 2011

2011-12-27T10:11:00.033Z

Well, here is the annual round up of what I've been listening to this year; be it bought, given or burnt.

It's been a strange but good year musically. Many of my favourite artists released something, and only a few were disappointing. Bonnie 'Prince' Billy's Wolfroy Goes To Town is his best for a while, and Wire still have it—Red Barked Tree hasn't been far from my headphones all year. The critics got it largely right with PJ Harvey, and it was right that she was recognised for such a major work, although I would also have cheered had King Creosote & Jon Hopkins got the Mercury Prize instead. Björk proved she doesn't need app gimmickry to still make compelling music. The Fall and Magazine were both great live, and while I like both of their 2011 albums, neither stand up to what were exhilarating live performances. Tom Waits was Tom Waits and Mogwai were Mogwai—who would want either of them any other way? Beastie Boys made me smile again, that is until I got tired of Hot Sauce after about eight listens. There is enough that is good on Roots Manuva's 4everevolution to tip its balance away from lacklustre. Unfortunately, I found King of Limbs to be a bit featureless with only a few moments of clarity—if only The Daily Mail and Staircase had been included to give it a little more texture. Robert Wyatt got in there during 2011, sort of, with The Unthanks live recording of some of his and Anthony Johnson's work. And lastly for the ancient's, appropriately the album that has tickled my fancy of late is the bizarre folk world of those post-punkers The Mekons with Ancient & Modern.

So, that's the oldies out of the way, many of them making better new music than younger artists. Where are the decent new bands and artists of creative integrity? They are few and far between on my radar, although I'm prepared to believe my modes of delivery may be slightly to blame for me not finding them. There's got to be more life out there!

Of the new acts I did discover, (I'm painfully aware some of these have been around for a while), DELS astounded everyone by not hiding the fact he's from Ipswich and making a truly interesting record; the boy has a bright future. On a guitar kick, Bo Ningen's noise screech, one year old but heard by me for the first time this year on Mark Riley's 6music show, was a trip down memory lane and provided a balance that ideally complimented Iceage's punk thrash. I discovered both bands in the same week and though they were more refreshing than brilliant, they awakened an old aesthetic in me that I'd long ago dismissed no one could do justice to again. Impressed by Warpaint's live Glastonbury set—seen on Freeview, I only go to folk festivals these days—I bought The Fool, but I was disappointed it didn't have the same sonic dynamism of their live performance. However, above and well beyond anything listed so far in this post, the new (to me) artist who knocked me for six this year was Merill Garbus's Tune-Yards. Her far from singular vision that was the album Whokill had me considering influences as wide and disparate as; The Slits, Nina Simone, Pil circa Flowers of Romance, Adam & The Ants, Solex, Vampire Weekend and Polar Bear. All this was forced through a crude fucked up splicing machine, which for me, defined 2011 much better than any other music I heard all year. Here's a sample for the uninitiated:

That said, my favourite album of the year actually came out last year. For some reason I resisted buying it at the time and it took some friends to get it for me as a birthday present this year for me to hear it's brilliance, (thanks to the Allpresses). It is the Tradi-Mods vs Rockers Congotronics compilation where post-rock artists rework and remix tracks by the likes of Konono No1 and Kasai Allstars. I couldn't possibly do justice to the album here, but this clip should go some way to showcasing its unique soundscape. This is a film of a collaborative tour that was thrown up in the wake of Tradi-Mods vs Rockers release:

Kinshasa Superband Promo Reel (english subtitles) from pierre Laffargue on Vimeo.

The list:

Sons of Joy - Sons of Joy EP

Wire - Red Barked Tree

Wire - Strays EP

British Sea Power - Valhalla Dancehall

The Jesus & Mary Chain - Upside Down, The Best of…

Prince - Sign O The Times

Wire - The Ideal Copy

Consolidated - The Myth Of Rock

Akron/Family - S/T II: The Cosmic Birth and Journey of Shinju TNT

The Streets - Computers and Blues

PJ Harvey - Let England Shake

Various - Froots/Folk Against Fascism compilation

Radiohead - The King Of Limbs

Mogwai - Hardcore Will Never Die, But You Will

The Beatles - White Album

Gil Scott-Heron & Jamie xx - We're New Here

King Creosote & Jon Hopkins - Diamond Mine

The Beatles - Abbey Road

Flux of Pink Indians - The Fucking Cunts Treat Us Like Pricks

TV On The Radio - Nine Types Of Light

DELS - Gob

African Head Charge - Voodoo Of The Godsent

Max Romeo & The Upsetters - War Ina Babylon

Gorillaz - The Fall

Kode9 & The Spaceape - Black Sun

Varous - The Ugly Truth About Ipswich

Metronomy - The English Riviera

Magazine - Play.+

Buzzcocks - Spiral Scratch EP

Kate Bush - Hounds of Love

Magazine - Magic, Murder And The Weather

Beastie Boys - Hot Sauce Committee Part Two

Flux Of Pink Indians - Strive To Survive Causing Least Suffering Possible + Neu Smell

Crass - The Crassical Collection: Christ The Album, Yes Sir I Will

Kasai Allstars - Kasai Allstars

Aidan Moffat + The Best-Ofs - How To Get To Heaven From Scotland

Lou Reed - The Raven

Burial - Street Halo EP

DJ Shadow - I Gotta Rokk EP

Lee 'Scratch' Perry - The Return Of Sound System Scratch

Tune-Yards - Whokill

Sons & Daughters - Mirror Mirror

Scientist - Scientist Launches Dubstep Into Outer Space

Warpaint - The Fool, Exquisite Corpse EP

Brian Eno - Drums Between The Bells

Lou Reed - Ecstasy

Velvet Underground - White Light/White Heat

Various - Invasion Of The Mysteron Killer Sounds : 3D Dancehall Digital Dub

Lou Reed - Growing Up In Public

Various - The Wire Tapper 26

Various - Caveat Emptor

Andy Moor and Yannis Kyriakides - Empire Abroad, Surveillance At Home

Various - Tradi-Mods vs Rockers

Little Dragon - Ritual Union

Steve Mason & Dennis Bovell - Ghosts Outside

Public Image Ltd. – Plastic Box

Gang Of Four – Content

The Who - The Who Sell Out

The Jam - In The City, This Is The Modern World, Setting Sons, Sound Affects, All Mod Cons

King Creosote - Bombshell

Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band - Trout Mask Replica

Radiohead - The King of Limbs Remixes

Bjork - Homogenic

Pete and the Pirates - One Thousand Pictures

Iceage - New Brigade

Bo Ningen - Bo Ningen

Half Man Half Biscuit - 90 Bisodol (Crimond)

Thee Oh Sees - Castlemania

Roots Manuva - 4everevolution

Magazine - No Thyself

Björk - Biophilia

Jeffrey Lewis – A Turn In The Dream-Songs

Bonnie 'Prince' Billy – Wolfroy Goes To Town

Tom Waits – Bad As Me

Lou Reed – Take No Prisoners

Iggy Pop – TV Eye

Nick Cave – Kicking Against The Pricks

Dave and Ansel Collins – Double Barrel

The Stranglers – X Cert

Scott Walker and The Walker Brothers – The Best of

Kate Bush - 50 Words For Snow

Gillian Welsh - The Harrow and The Harvest

The Mekons - Ancient & Modern 1911-2011

The Fall - Ersatz GB

The Unthanks - Diversions, Vol 1: The Songs of Robert Wyatt and Antony & The Johnsons

Low – C'mon

Sugar Minott – Reggae Anthology: Hard Time Pressure

Sons of Joy – Songs of Joy

King Midas Sound – Without You

Mark Stewart – Nothing Is Sacred

The Kinks – The Kink Kontroversy

The Pioneers – Long Shot

Jello Biafra And The Guantanamo School Of Medicine – Enhanced Methods Of Questioning

Tune-Yards – Bird-Brains

The mysterious case of the Christie typeface

2011-12-21T18:07:00.014Z

My wife likes to read books in the bath. Due to this we have a growing collection of charity shop bought Agatha Christie books on the windowsill of our bathroom, with the paper getting slowly damaged by the changing humidity therein.

Apart from worrying about the condition of the books, I haven't really paid much attention to this collection until the other day. For some reason I decided to check out the covers, and I immediately noticed the lack of cohesion in the choice of typefaces used. This is particularly striking when looking at the one consistent feature of these covers; Agatha Christie's name. To illustrate my point, below are scans of a selection of our bathroom books ranging from 1956 to 2002 .

1956

1960

1971

1976

1980

1981

c.1995 (American edition with no date in book—1995 noted on price tag sticker)

2002

As an experiment, before scanning these in, I laid them out in the order I thought they were released in, based on the choice of typeface. Apart from one—the 1980 Helvetica rendering that I thought was late 1960s—I got the order spot on.

Considering the attention to detail that is lavished on TV adaptations and films of Christie's work, in terms of getting date specific references for architecture, clothing and product design correct, I find it interesting how typographic details on these books are rooted in the time of the reprint's release, rather than paying any attention to the context of the book.

Flailing

2011-12-19T18:25:00.004Z

Different methods of getting in touch with Innocent drinks company:

I particularly like the idea of getting in touch via the medium of interpretive dance.

Go2 Kontroversy

2011-12-18T10:18:00.013Z

Yesterday in Southwold, I happened upon a CD Fair. That was pretty much the rest of the afternoon written off!

Trawling through the 1960s section, I found some Kinks. Owning only Something Else and Village Green Preservation Society on CD, and a greatest hits compilation, I snapped up The Kink Kontroversy. And what a great record it is.

However, music aside, the back sleeve was intriguing. At first glance it is standard fair for a 60s release. Title, track listing and blurb about the band.

But on closer inspection the copy involves a lot of humour which mocks the band—such as bemoaning poor Pete for singing on Till The End Of The Day—which I thought was quite brave for 1965.

Then, as I read the Michael Aldred penned piece about the band, I got the feeling that it seemed somewhat familiar.

After a few minutes I worked out what it reminded me of; XTC's sleeve for Go2 (below), by Hipgnosis. I have always considered this sleeve to be an ironic postmodern masterpiece, in terms of sleeve design, and further to this, I had also previously thought of it as being completely original. Now I'm wondering whether I'm right in that assumption. Not that this new knowledge changes my view of the brilliance of Go2, everyone has to get their inspiration from somewhere, and Hipgnosis developed the concept much further and took it to its logical conclusion.

Compare the two pieces and make up your own mind about whether the 1978 post-punk classic below is indebted to the 1965 mod original above. (Click on images for larger view).

Closing shops

2011-12-16T09:46:00.008Z

I hope that the trend for closing up shop doesn't increase, as this week, Design Assembly blog announced its closure after 3 years of excellent design writing. If you haven't seen the blog previously, they are honouring its memory with 3 books, available here. My copy is on order.

This comes a few weeks after Airside announced they were winding down next year, see the Creative Review article about it here.

R2 R1

2011-12-10T10:36:00.001Z

R2 R1, a photo by Dubdog@Flickr on Flickr.

A photocopier engineer left this test sheet behind at work the other day.

Turner trailer

2011-12-03T20:09:00.006Z

I've just seen the Channel 4 trailer for their Turner Prize 2011 coverage, and my gut instinct was that is was yet another quality output from Why Not Associates, and I wasn't wrong—a quick look at the WNA website and I find that they did indeed do this.

In the usual end of year polls, Why Not Associates have got to come top in the design company category. Equally adapt at turning their skills to good use for corporate and cultural clients, their work just get better and better in my opinion.

Why Not Associates' website

Post-postmodernism

2011-11-29T20:58:00.004Z

Today I spent a very pleasant day at the V&A with first year UCS graphic design students looking around the Postmodernism exhibition. A little overwhelming at first, it is an intense visual overload that thrusts itself into your eyeballs. But despite this, there is much to like.

Divided into three main rooms, each split into different sections, you get a glimpse of where you are heading as you walk around. A hole in a wall, to lead the eye to what is around the corner; the sound of a video filtering into a neighbouring section; brightly coloured semi-transparent plastic strip curtains hiding corridors; and neon arrows directing you between rooms—regardless of the work on display, it is a well laid out show that visually, and aurally pulls you through it.

The students clearly responded well to an area dedicated purely to graphic design, which is rare outside of specialist galleries and the Design Museum. This was far braver than the V&A Modernism exhibition circa 2006 where graphic design was sidelined. All the expected works were there. Saville, Bubbles, Griemann, Brody, Scher etc. It was a little like walking through the postmodern chapter in a graphic design history book, but good to see in the flesh, none-the-less. I thought the graphic design section seemed the most sober and serious of the whole exhibition, as if the printed page that work appears on contained and controlled the work, unlike the frankly bizarre range of teapots and pop celebrity clothing on display.

I have a bit of a love/hate relationship with Postmodernism, outside of graphic design, but I thoroughly enjoyed the exhibition. It'll be interesting to hear what the students made of it when I'm next with them on Friday, especially as I don't usually teach Postmodernism until next semester, so they went only knowing what contexts I could deliver to them in a hastily put together 45 minute lecture, and what the exhibition text told them.

Postmodernism at the V&A

Underneath the cover, the…

2011-11-26T08:44:00.044Z

Over the summer, for some reason, I ended up reading a lot of hardback books. Biographies and autobiographies mostly. Doing so, I got to thinking about dust jackets, and how most were really poorly designed, and were only there to make the book stand out on Waterstones' bookshelves. These flimsy paper wraps really don't offer any real protection to the hard casing, as was their original intention.

How these jackets helped the books stand out from other biographies seems difficult to comprehend as well, considering many follow a pattern of large cropped portrait of the author/subject with large sans serif type writ large, such as the cover for Andy Kershaw's painfully honest autobiography.

On removing these covers, and I always take a peek, you generally discover an equally dull hard case with the title printed large on the spine.

Interestingly, at the same time I was having these thoughts about dust jackets, Ben Terrett of Noisy Decent Graphics blogged about the topic, stating that the first thing he does on getting a hard backed book is to throw away the dust jacket, (link below).

I can see his point, but I prefer to keep mine covered, despite the fact that the jackets become tatty over the course of reading the book. The main reason being that the flaps work as great place savers. I'm not a fan of book marks or torn scraps of paper wedged in between pages. I somehow lose them during the course of reading a book—I'm never quite sure how this happens because the book marks should surely stay with the books! Also, I'm never quite sure what to do with them when I'm in-between books. Paperbacks aren't a problem, as I commit the mortal sin, (according to some people), of turning down the corner of the page I'm on. Unless, of course, it's a book I've borrowed—I do have some respect.

So while I do see dust jackets as mostly pointless, they do have their uses. However, what does really annoy me is when the dust jacket is exactly the same as an image wrap on a hard case. The otherwise excellent Design Series Format by Brian Webb is a perfect example of this.

However, there are gems out there that demonstrate how dust jackets can become an integral part of the design. For example, Ann and Paul Rand made the most in their children's books, Sparkle And Spin and Little 1. Sparkle And Spin literally sparkles, by incorporating a glitter ink as an element within the design.

And if you take a peak underneath the jacket, which I always do with any books I pick up, you find the image wrap is different from the jacket and there's the lovely personal touch of the author's signatures.

In the case of Little 1, no pun intended, when you remove the jacket, you discover a rather lovely illustration on the red cloth bound book.

Despite liking the image itself for its simplistic beauty, what really chimes with me about this is that it makes the whole book interactive, and creates a reveal within the construct of the artefact. As both child and adult, this tactic has always engaged me and made me feel more personally attached to an item. That act of discovery on the part of the user is an important design device that helps to bond them with the product on a deeper emotional level. Without the dust jacket, this would just become the cover image—nice as it is—but I wager it wouldn't carry the same impact.

Of course, designers should always be looking for ways to utilise all components, especially in times of environmental concerns. The Design Series Format books seem incredibly wasteful when thinking along these lines. If you insist of having a dust jacket that is going to be printed on, then at least do something with it. An example I came across several years ago is Change The World For A Fiver, which incorporates a poster on the inside of its dust jacket.

I thought it strange when I bought it that this paperback book should have an extra wrapper, but on getting it home and looking under the cover, I discovered why.

A more recent example I've found is The Beach Beneath The Street by McKenzie Wark. This is in keeping with the situationist metaphor, 'underneath the paving stones, the beach', (referring to the sand beneath the paving slabs that student demonstrators, in Paris May 1968, ripped up to throw at riot police). The difference being that in book form, underneath the book jacket lies a graphic novel, which helps to contextualise some of the theories contained within the writing in the book.

Links:
Wikipedia on dust jackets
Ben Terrett on dust jackets
The dust jacket is dead, according to the Guardian in 2010
Buy old dust jackets

Post-poster post

2011-11-22T22:39:00.001Z

Post-poster post, a photo by Dubdog@Flickr on Flickr.

So I don't have to...

2011-11-14T19:08:00.004Z

A summary by Neil McGuire of the Critical Tensions conference at St Bride Library last week: Tense

Critical (mis)quotes

2011-11-13T20:57:00.002Z

"Never ask permission to do anything, just do it.
Then keep doing it until someone tells you to stop."

Alan Kitching, Critical Tensions Conference, St Bride Library. 10.11.11

Go Fetch

2011-11-13T18:00:00.001Z

Just launched, the blog of my colleague Russell Walker, Fetchaset.

This monkey's gone to heaven

2011-11-11T09:19:00.008Z

I'm currently sitting in St Bride waiting for the second day of the foundation's tenth annual conference, Critical Tensions, to start. The train journey down was accompanied by the Pixies, in honour of the first speaker of the day, Vaughan Oliver, the man behind 4AD record label's visual identity. A long time admirer, I'm looking forward to hearing him speak about his work.

The event has thrown up some interesting topics of conversation already. One of the reoccurring themes for me, much like the Graphic Design: History In The Making conference I came to earlier this year, is the lack of recognition graphic design gets relative to other creative arts. I'm slowly building a cannon of examples when this topic raises its head in lectures, conferences and general conversations. This doesn't just seem a prevalent topic among practitioners, design journalists and historians; first year students at UCS, relatively new to Graphic Design, are picking up on this as well. Expect more posts here on this in the future.

That's not to say that this is all that is being discussed here. Certainly not, and all naval gazing aside, during Critical Tensions yesterday it was great to hear some of the stories behind Jonathan Barnbrook's fonts; Gerry Leonidas spoke about typographic structure still being defined and restricted by books and newspapers when these formats are increasingly less relevant in non-paper based design; Alan Kitching showcasing new and old work; and Tom Ferrand looked at breaking tradtional ways of working to inject fresh thinking and innovation in the not for profit sectors through the Design For Nothing project.

For more details about the conference, see the previous post on Dubdog for a link to Eye's take on the morning session yesterday, (and see if you can spot me in the audience—this is the second St Bride event I've been to and ended up on Eye blog as a result).

Apologies for no links in this post, I'm writing this on the go, and will provide a list at the end of the two days.

Eye blog » Take a deep breath. Good for Nothing hits the St Brides delegates with a design challenge

2011-11-10T15:54:00.000Z

Eye blog » Take a deep breath. Good for Nothing hits the St Brides delegates with a design challenge

Thank you

2011-11-05T16:25:00.007Z

A big thank you to Artists of Walberswick for dedicating space in their bi-annual exhibition last weekend to some of the many paintings by my Uncle, Terry Ball, who died earlier this year.

Self-portrait, circa 1949, submission 11 of 15 for entry into the Royal College of Art

View photographs of the exhibition and other work on Flickr.

Terry Ball's obituary in The Guardian

Starling wasn't stallin'

2011-11-04T18:55:00.003Z

Shame about the music, but full screen this for some Friday evening wonder.

Murmuration from Sophie Windsor Clive on Vimeo.

Via Swissmiss

Brooks goes sabbing

2011-10-30T18:09:00.008Z

Great little short video about the making of the new Brooks saddles advert that marries anti-fox hunting and cycling. I'm not sure which it makes me want to do, go and sabotage a hunt or buy a new leather saddle, but either way, it's stylishly done.

Link:
Brooks

Childhood Remixed

2011-10-28T17:04:00.004+01:00

I've been working on an identity for some colleagues at University Campus Suffolk recently. The first unveiling of the results came this week, with the above logo, in a call for submissions for Childhood Remixed, an electronic academic research journal themed on childhood. There's more work to do on designing the publication itself over the coming months as submissions come in and are peer reviewed.

The launch of the first issue is expected in spring 2012 and will initially only be available to those from within the institution. This PDF based downloadable journal will act as a publishing opportunity for UCS staff, alumni, postgraduate students and final year undergraduates producing both written and image based work.

Right

2011-10-23T09:40:00.001+01:00

Two ends of a spectrum

2011-10-15T17:25:00.008+01:00

Today I've been impressed by two items of publishing, both at opposite ends of the media/medium's spectrum.

Firstly, this morning I got my first copy of Varoom through the post. For those who don't know, it is the magazine of the Association of Illustrators. We'll, it used to be, it is now the newspaper of the Association of Illustrators. It is sensitively designed, beautifully laid out, and, suiting its content, tactile. Intelligent writing about contemporary illustration and its relation to society, graphic design and art make this a fully formed publication and it is stuffed with great work.

What is really interesting about this publication though, is that it has rejected its previously 'glossy' magazine format as a response to the economic crisis on everyones doorstep. This has resulted in the price dropping to an affordable £15 for 4 issues (one issue free for subscribers), with no change to its previous high editorial standards. I've only read Varoom in libraries, or been loaned someone else's copy, but I can immediately see this new stance of change for survival sake, sets it apart from many other design/illustration magazine's out there. Instead of trying to impress with some major stylistic overhaul, it has zagged where everyone else is zigging, and is all the better for it. Eye and Creative Review are great magazines for different reasons, and I will continue to get both until they give up due to falling sales, and, I suspect, the strength of the free content available on their blogs. But Varoom really does beat Grafik–which is untrust worthy in its existence, having nose dived several times in the 10 years I've been reading it–and It's Nice That, which is a new kid on the block. While being well produced with varied content, which strangely makes it more transitory than interesting, it does tend to be much more of a surface read and concerned with the über trendy. But then a magazine with the word 'nice' in the title always was going to be more of a showcase rather than a critique.

So, onto my second revelation of the day; I downloaded The Guardian iPad app this morning. I wasn't expecting much, to be honest. I like the paper edition, and usually flit between that and the website depending on whether I want to sit, read and contemplate, or whether I want to get the most up to the minute information. I wasn't sure this was going to be anything other than forced content. However, after 10 minutes getting to grips with how it functions, I must say I'm impressed. It's certainly better than the website in terms of making you feel like you are navigating through the days paper edition. And as long as you've wifi connectivity, it links to the most recent stories on their website, (and external sources). This, on first impressions, is a real contender to the print edition and certainly beats the New York Times app, the only other newspaper app I've downloaded, (but stopped using once I had to pay for it). The layout of the articles is logical, it is clear how to get between stories, suggests other stories that relate, and like the paper edition, as opposed to the website, each page feels like it belongs to the whole. One of the things I don't like about guardian.co.uk is that when I jump to an article, because of the greater blank space around it, I feel like I've left the main website. In design terms, the app has the sense of cohesion between different elements that is lacking online. In this, the design team behind this app have managed to make the interaction relate much more to the paper version than the website, which is an impressive feat in itself.

Whether I will completely go over to the app version once my free trial runs out, or still continue to buy the daily print version, is difficult to say. During the week I can get the paper cheap from the Student Union shop at work. The paper version also gets me away from a screen for a while, which is always a good thing. However, the advantages of getting the Saturday edition for the iPad was that I didn't get the frustraitingly ultra-middle class Weekend magazine, (apart from the odd article). But then I didn't get the excellent Guide either. Nor does the print edition's commitment to commissioning contemporary illustrators seemed to have made it across the digital divide. So I guess I'll have to use my few months free trial wisely to assess the pros and cons between print and digital, but on the current evidence, this app will set the bar for many other cross overs.

United Kingdom

2011-10-11T20:57:00.001+01:00

United Kingdom, a photo by Dubdog@Flickr on Flickr.

Critical tensions

2011-10-09T09:34:00.007+01:00

Tickets ordered.

Programme
St Bride Library

Steve Jobs: The man who changed everything

2011-10-06T18:15:00.002+01:00

There's lots I could say about the sad passing of Steve Jobs, just like every other design related blog out there. However, why repeat when someone else does such a good job of saying it. Read Creative Review's article here: Creative Review - Steve Jobs: The man who changed everything

R.I.P Steve Jobs

Stoned

2011-10-05T18:31:00.015+01:00

I got the new Roots Manuva CD, 4everevolution, through the post today and was immediately struck by the track listing on the reverse.

From the photographs I'd previously seen of the cover, I hadn't realised that what I was looking at was a real stone carving. However, this is clearly the case seeing the reverse. Stone carving is very beautiful when done well, and the type here demonstrates that. I was also drawn to the fact that the process is on display. Rather than seeing the finished article, we get the see the sketching—the marking out—before the chisel has finished all its strokes and the chalk is washed away.

On the inner sleeve the demonstration of process is continued with the stone that forms the front cover shown in the studio of stone carver Jim Kirby.

Designed by Oscar & Ewan, this theme is followed through into the CD booklet, where Rodney Smith's (Roots Manuva) own process is on show, that of his handwritten lyrics. Roots has always been a great wordsmith, twisting words and syllables to fit his dub and hip hop hybrid rhythms, and I've often wondered how he writes. Whether these are first drafts or rewrites is not known, but that doesn't matter. In both stone carving and in Smith's lyrics, we are actually seeing the hand of the artist and that brings a human resonance to fore in this ultra digital age. And while Kirby's hand is literally set in stone, Smith's is formed on paper to later be recorded and evolve into some form of cultural permanence through the tunes we hear as listeners that get lodged in our minds.

It's rare that a CD sleeve provokes so much thought in my mind before I've even heard it. I'm looking forward to getting to know this piece of work if initial impressions are anything to go by.

Links:
Oscar & Ewan
Jim Kirby

Costings

2011-10-01T10:09:00.001+01:00

Diagramatic

2011-09-22T19:41:00.008+01:00

A work colleague showed me some old board games he had knocking around the other day. These diagrams came from the instructions to a sub-subbuteo football game based on tiddlywinks. Due to the haircut and clothes of the guy playing table top football with two perfectly happy and grinning children on the photo on the box, we guessed the game dated from the 1960s.

What is it about the combination of sans serif, geometry, dotted lines, arrows, and red & black that will always appeal to me?

A town called modest

2011-09-17T16:14:00.021+01:00

Rabobank riding through Christchurch Park without a parkie in sight

I've never previously understood the phrase, "it'll be good for the town", often repeated by local newspapers and parochial councillors talking up some event. I heard a local official stating it on the radio yesterday when talking about the Tour of Britain. I could never quite work out what was meant by 'good', always assuming that whoever was saying it meant financially. Cynically I thought, 'great, so the local Chamber of Commerce is happy, but what about the people working in shitty jobs for crap money'. But today I got a sense that the phrase was as much about the perception of where you live. There are a lot of positive things happening in Ipswich at the moment, culturally and socially. Its not perfect, obviously, and lots of opportunities aren't being realised, but the Tour of Britain coming to Ipswich today did feel 'good'. It was great to watch the riders come through a local park as crowds lined the paths and cheered them on.

The Tour of Britain website says of Ipswich, "…the birthplace of Cardinal Wolsey [is] a modest town with a big ambition. Ipswich is in the throes of cultural renaissance now boasting a state-of-the-art new DanceHouse and University located along the rejuvenated Waterfront amongst a bevy of bistros and restaurants."

A modest town with big ambitions. I'll settle for that.

No shit

2011-09-15T21:16:00.001+01:00

No shit, a photo by Dubdog@Flickr on Flickr.

Up above the streets and houses

2011-09-11T14:48:00.015+01:00

Claire and I took Timmy the dog for a walk in the rain yesterday early evening. As the clouds cleared away, a fantastic full double rainbow revealed itself. Unfortunately my camera phone was never going to be able to do justice to this amazing optical illusion but the photo above at least sets the scene. However, what was interesting, other than the natural visual phenomena itself, and the fact that a few other people also walking across the field stopped and gaped in awe just as Claire and I did, was that a train running along the bottom of the field slowed right down, we assume, to allow the passengers to gaze at this wondrous sight. It was one of those moments that demanded you look. Nothing else, just look.

Timmy largely ignored the spectacle.

Inkonomy

2011-09-10T11:20:00.004+01:00

From The Guardian sometime this week.

Apocalypse

2011-09-08T19:15:00.003+01:00

So this is what they are spending my Tate membership on. I approve.

Apocalypse at Tate Britain

Plantation Garden, shhh!

2011-09-04T17:15:00.022+01:00

Yesterday, Claire and I took my Mum to a 'secret garden' in Norwich that some friends introduced us to last year. Started in 1856, the garden was abandoned after the Second World War, but has been slowly restored since the 1980s. It is one of those special places that demands you sit back and relax in wonder.

However, the reason for me posting about it here is to showcase these wonderful 'medieval' walls that run around certain sections of the garden, lining the banks of what was once a chalk pit.

I love the fact that found remnants of different buildings appear to have just been shoved into the wall as seemed appropriate at the time, creating a bespoke folk art memorial of different dwellings from the local area. A complete hodgepodge, it juxtaposes amusingly against the more formal aspects of the garden.

Alongside this, there are church window arches and gargoyles placed in flower boarders, seemingly at random, that give the place a strange quirkiness not dissimilar in feel to Clough Williams-Ellis' Portmeirion.

If you are in Norwich and want to get out of the hustle and bustle, then it's well worth finding the time to pay the gardens a visit. Check The Plantation Garden website for more details of its history, restoration, and more importantly, how to get there. Just don't tell too many people.

Mirror image

2011-09-04T16:47:00.008+01:00

For some reason someone decided it would be a good idea to mirror the windows in the building behind the one I work in. This leads to a disconcerting sight every time I look out of the window; I see the roof of the building I'm in reflected back at me, below the roof of the building I am looking at! If I glance down, I see the windows of the floor below me. Windows within windows!

It has been like this all week, and it catches me out every time I turn around from my desk. Thankfully the floor height of where I am based and of those adjacent are different. I will therefore never catch a reflection of myself staring back at me as if standing in a different building. That really would be freaky.

Stock replies

2011-08-24T10:10:00.004+01:00

As someone who suffers intermittently from RSI, I get tired of writing the same email responses over and over again. I have therefore started building a database of stock replies that I can just cut and paste as needed and amend according to the specific enquiry. Here are two that I use most regularly:

Reply to poorly written emails
As a university student, it will be worth getting into the habit of ensuring your emails are grammatically correct. You don’t capitalise your ‘I’s on many occasions, your spelling needs greater attention, and you use colloquial phrases throughout. I know emails are not essays, but if you get into the habit of ensuring you pay close attention to how you write in all your communications, this will become second nature and much easier when you do have to write essays/dissertations. It will also make sure you don’t accidentally write like this when sending emails to prospective employers, which would pretty much cancel out any chances of getting an interview.

Reply to request for free design from students by local businesses/organisations
Thank you for your email and details of what sounds like an interesting project.

Firstly, as I’m sure you can appreciate, students are approaching the end of the academic year/at an important stage in their studies (delete as appropriate) and therefore all levels of the course are currently extremely busy.

The ideal situation for this sort of project would be to include it as part of an appropriate academic module, but unfortunately we are too far into the teaching programme to introduce something new—we plan our scheme of work well in advance of actually delivering them. While this brief is something I would be happy to field to students as a personal project, as we could not include it as part of the curriculum, it would be up to students individually as to whether they got involved or not. I therefore cannot guarantee any would take up an offer of involvement.

Secondly, as for the idea of a competition, I would not consider offering this up to students unless there was some sort of appropriate reward. We are asked a lot by different organisations if students would like to be part of a live project, which has obvious benefits for a student’s portfolio, but I believe it is ethically responsible to offer some recompense for what would otherwise constitute a free piece of design. The additional benefits of this are that it would offer some sort of incentive for a student to take part.

(In light of the above, if there was any extension to your proposed deadline, this would further encourage students to get involved as they are always looking for work to do over the summer break once the intensity of university projects subsides.)

Once again I’d like to thank you for your enquiry and I look forward to hearing from you.

Post-posters

2011-08-19T19:44:00.001+01:00

Post-posters, a photo by Dubdog@Flickr on Flickr.

Spectacle of the big society

2011-08-16T20:34:00.005+01:00

Here's an interesting article about links between graphic design/advertising and looting that is worth a read:
the-politics-of-desire-and-looting

It is particularly interesting when you consider how major youth fashion brands use imagery of protest to flog their goods. Levis decided to pull an add in the aftermath of the UK riots last week. See this feature on Creative Review blog for details:
Awkward timing

All this creative navel gazing should make for a lively debate at the forthcoming St Bride Library conference Critical Tensions.

The Inside Out Project

2011-08-15T16:48:00.008+01:00

A friend & colleague sent me a link to the video below stating how much it moved him. Cynical as ever, I watched and waited to be moved. Around the point that the shanty town is featured with the roof tops adorned with posters of their inhabitants, that's when it got me—the vinyl prints also help keep the rain out you see.

Then there's the shot of the train passing above posters on an embankment completing the picture, a thing of beauty where there isn't much. Watch for yourself:

Inside Out is impressive enough to have won the TED Prize 2011, an annual award that goes to a person whose one wish is to change the world.

As the project's website details: "INSIDE OUT is a large-scale participatory art project that transforms messages of personal identity into pieces of artistic work. Everyone is challenged to use black and white photographic portraits to discover, reveal and share the untold stories and images of people around the world. These digitally uploaded images will be made into posters and sent back to the project’s co-creators for them to exhibit in their own communities".

Where will you be exhibiting your portraits?

Links:
The Inside Out Project
TEDPrize

Thanks Dave.

2B or not 2B?

2011-08-10T14:58:00.003+01:00

Ever wondered how a pencil is made? Then watch this fascinating video!

Via Core 77

McJunk 700

2011-08-08T17:36:00.008+01:00

I photographed so much McDonald's litter on the way back from town this morning, that added to what I found on holiday last week, McJunk now totals over 700 on Flickr. Considering that at the turn of this year the total was just over 500, that's some mass littering going on out there.

I haven't scientifically measured my finds but I am noticing more McJunk about. I could draw parallels between this perceived increase in litter and the fact that McDonald's profits are up on last year. This leads me the question whether people are turning to fast food, (and thus cheaper food), as a more regular meal option as their finances are squeezed even further and general food prices rise? Sure, McDonald's are hit by food price increases as well, but they can still provide cheaper food relative to other suppliers because of their business model. I also wonder whether the fact that some children that are fussy eaters are less likely to turn down a trip to the golden arches than they are to waste food put in front of them in the home. If so, this would certainly make McDonald's a more attractive option to cash strapped parents not wanting to see food they've spent money on go in the bin.

Any research you may stumble across relating to this would be greatly received, post URLs as a comment. Thanks.

Links:
McJunk on Flickr
McDonald's profits rise

Above us only sky

2011-08-07T11:59:00.027+01:00

Claire and I have just got back from a week in Lincolnshire. It's not a county that either of us knew, which is exactly why we chose it for a holiday destination. Apart from two seaside resorts of static caravans and amusement arcades, it was virtually devoid of tourists, which was to our liking and meant clear roads and empty sandy beaches. Lincolnshire hosts some striking scenery once you get out of the fens and into the Wolds, as well as some honest and welcoming market towns unspoilt by McDonald's and endless coffee chains. In fact, the most disappointing aspect was visiting the county city. Lincoln, despite the historic Cathedral area at the top of the appropriately named 'Steep Hill', which had our calves aching just looking at the cobbled road we had to climb, appeared to be one big shopping complex full of coffee chains and generic fashion and sports shops. We could have been in Chelmsford!

One of our great finds on the holiday, about 5 miles from where we were staying, was this Cloud Bar at Anderby Creek.

Thankfully it wasn't a beach bar serving cocktails and lager, but somewhere to go and watch clouds from. The Cloud Bar, endorsed by the Cloud Appreciation Society, is part of a project by Bathing Beauties: Structures On The Edge. According to their website, this is… "a new concept to integrate permanent small structures designed by artists and architects for the enjoyment and understanding of the coastal environment, on the extreme edges of the Lincolnshire coast."

Set in sand dunes on the edge of a massive underpopulated beach, the bar is well worth a visit if you are in the area. Don't worry if you know nothing about clouds other than the fact they float above you in the sky, as there are loads of information panels on top of the single story hut.

I was particularly taken with these concrete seats designed for you to lay on and stare up at the sky. I like the fact they look as if they are brutalist clouds that have just fallen out of the sky, too heavy to float.

These sky mirrors are also a neat idea. You can rotate them to pick out and follow your favourite cloud and bring it down to Earth. Unfortunately it was a little too cloudy when we were there for these to work properly—you need it to be a brighter with breaks of blue sky to offset the edges of clouds to create distinction.

I also loved the fact that some of the information panels were printed on perspex panels which visually connected the physical phenonemon of clouds with the scientific explanation.

One panel dubbed cloud watching as a 'theatre of the skies', which is a rather nice phrase that will stay with me. As Lennon said, "above us only sky".

Links:

Bathing Beauties

Cloud Appreciation Society

R.I.P Alex Steinweiss

2011-07-27T07:50:00.025+01:00

Alex Steinweiss, Columbia Records

Despite the fact that I trawl design blogs daily, I seem to have missed the announcement that Alex Steinweiss died earlier this month.

Steinweiss has been dubbed by many as the originator of Album Art. This seems to do him some disservice in my mind. He didn't just come up with the concept of putting images on plain cardboard record sleeves, he produced some very beautiful images that were effectively evocative of the recordings they accompanied. In doing so he spawned an art form in its own right. We can never truly know whether there would have been no Saville, Garrett, Hipgnosis, Bubbles, Oliver et al without Steinweiss, although I think the majority of graphic designers (and music fans) can agree that we owe the man a great debt.

I've mentioned in posts here before that if it wasn't for record sleeves I wouldn't have become a graphic designer. One of the first pieces of artwork I did that I can call 'graphic design' was a mock sleeve for a Clash song in an art O' level class. Then, before doing a degree, what kept my visual creativity going while working in the print trade and through bouts of unemployment was doing artwork for bands I was involved in—cassette sleeves, record sleeves and gig posters became a hobby that I enjoyed more than actually being in a band. I was able to produce something that was tangible, and that had a direct applied link to another form of creativity. This gave me a bigger buzz than standing on a stage shouting at people. Many others have said similar things and I've lost count of the number of interviews I've read with graphic designers who cite record sleeves as their primary inspiration for deciding to pick up a pencil or mouse.

So it is with great sadness to hear the passing of Alex Steinweiss. Not because we won't see anymore of his work, he'd done with the record industry sometime in the 1950s, citing that his imagery didn't work for Rock 'n' Roll. We should mourn his passing because he was an innovator, because he bought us many fantastic record sleeves, and because his influence lives on through others.

Links:
Alex Steinweiss website
Interview with Alex Steinweiss, Eye Magazine
NYT obituary

Printing for all

2011-07-26T14:18:00.011+01:00

I haven't been to the Museum of East Anglian Life for a few years so it was a joy to see that they are slowly but surely making lots of improvements for visitors when I was there this weekend. They are even running printing workshops, brilliantly titled Printing For All, in their mock up of an old print shop. This holds several small letterpress machines and a lovely Columbian Press, as seen on the flyer above.

I also found this book in the replica corrugated iron school/chapel. I was immediately taken with the endpapers.

Link:
Museum of East Anglian Life Stowmarket, Suffolk.

Atrium studios

2011-07-23T15:08:00.006+01:00

Atrium Studios is a new art and design space based at University Campus Suffolk, Ipswich. Although the initial idea was to give graduates from the School of Arts & Humanities a stepping stone into the professional world at an affordable rent, the concept of a creative hub has grown far beyond these early plans and will now also be open to local artists and designers. For a monthly rent, residents will have the choice of desk, office or studio space for a maximum of 12 months with options to extend beyond this if demand allows. Rent is inclusive of Wifi, electricity, access to the UCS library, cafes and arts facilities, with the additional bonuses of UCS Waterfront Gallery membership and priority booking to the Arts & Humanities visiting lecture series.

Although similar ventures have been planned in Ipswich previously, none have seen the light of day. With support from the Arts Council, Suffolk County Council and Ipswich Borough Council, Atrium Studios is due to open its doors to the first wave of creatives this September.

If you are an artist, designer or writer and would like more information, please send your details to:
Carol Gant, University Campus Suffolk, Waterfront Building, Ipswich, IP4 1QJ

TorTour

2011-07-16T19:17:00.005+01:00

July means the Tour de France in the Dubdog household. Every evening between 7 and 8pm you'll find Claire and I tuned to ITV4's excellent coverage. Or rather you won't, because we won't answer the door or the phone.

Skoda have been sponsoring the Tour for many years now, and this year they've been running a great advert during the coverage. Like much of Skoda's advertising in the last 10 years it is witty, but at the same time cleverly suggests that their vehicles are as tough as the riders taking part in what has to be the hardest sporting event in the world.

Link:
The Tour on ITV4

Rolling news

2011-07-13T18:11:00.009+01:00

Much as it maybe painful to look at pictures of Rupert Murdoch and Rebekah Brooks, there is something strangely comical about seeing their decapitated heads roll around the screen on this Guardian Twitter gauge. Press play on the timeline and image circles bob about, grow, shrink and crash into each other depending on the amount of tweets sent with the #notw hashtag since last week.

It is a great piece of info graphics. Take a look here. Sorry Apple mobile device users, Flash required.

General non-specific advice

2011-07-12T20:38:00.008+01:00

I visited an abandoned church in Ipswich today to see if it might be suitable as a location for a student project. I was taken with this general non-specific advice.

Hacks hacking hacked

2011-07-09T14:36:00.006+01:00

The recent and still unfolding events at the News Of The World have bought back memories from 25 years ago as I stood on a picket line in Wapping in support of striking printers and journalists.

The dispute was staged as a protest against Rupert Murdoch moving News International from Fleet Street to a fortified industrial plant at Wapping, along with the introduction of new technologies, working patterns and no-strike clauses. As a printer at the time, I felt it important to show my support.

Despite having lived in Nottinghamshire during the 1984-85 miners strike and attending many demonstrations in solidarity with their cause, Wapping was the first time I saw indiscriminate and heavy handed police tactics. On a nightly basis they ensured The Sun, News Of The World, The Times and Sunday Times left News International on time. In the name of Murdoch and Margaret Thatcher, they were brutal. I can assure you that printers' blood runs red. The irony that the Metropolitan Police are involved in this current scandal isn't lost on me.

Murdoch had good reason to fear his workers. During the '84 miners strike, the unionised workforce refused to print a front page of The Sun where by a casual photograph of the NUM president, Arthur Scargil, was made to look like he was Sieg Heiling. The paper had to run without the offending headline and photo, and instead displayed a statement that introduced the public to the historic vocabulary of print unions, (union branches are called chapels and shop stewards either Father or Mother of the Chapel).

Left: The offending article, right: as it appeared on the news stands. Image courtesy of: the-sun-lies.blogspot.com

These sort of insidious tactics to discredit political opponents were common place in the pages of The Sun and the News Of The World in the 1980s, and not much has changed in 25 years. Their influence doesn't stop their though, I've always believed that these papers editorial stance influences the public mindset; you only have listen to a pub conversation to realise how the national debate on immigration aligns so closely to that of a right wing press. Successive governments and power hungry opposition parties realise this, which is why they desperately rewrite policies in an effort to keep in touch with a tabliod version of public opinion. No wonder there is so little explicit and intelectual ideology in politics in 2011.

It doesn't stop there either. It is impossible to discuss these papers without mentioning the duplicitous attitude to sex, as scandels appear next to page three 'beauties', and pedophiles are shamed next to half-naked women dressed in school uniforms. Mixed values emerge, and ones that have bought attacks on innocent people after a pedophile naming and shaming exercise by the News Of The World under Rebekah Brooks', (nee Wade), editorial control. There is nothing, absolutely nothing, that I have ever been able to find that is redeeming about these publications.

Billy Bragg's take on the tabloids

As I remember back to standing on the picket line at Wapping, I could be forgiven for thinking that there is some sort of moral victory in the News Of The World being axed. However, I know this is just game play and while The Sun still stays in circulation, I can not toast the demise of this single despicable cog in a wider power machine that is Rupert Murdoch's empire.

CMYK

2011-06-30T18:58:00.000+01:00

It's party time

2011-06-23T18:22:00.015+01:00

I've been meaning to post about how much I love this British Heart Foundation party pack for a while. Designed by Hat Trick, the minute I saw them on the Creative Review blog I had to buy a pack. What a joy it was to receive through the post and open up.

Every now and then a piece of design comes along that works immediately on an emotive level—an honest heart felt response in these days of throwaway 'likes'. Johnson Banks' interactive Fruit & Vegetable stamps for the Royal Mail in 2003 had the same effect on me. Likewise, last year's Hoxton Street Monster Supplies store for the 826 literacy program, by We Made This, also had me beaming from ear to ear, (see links below).

The playfulness of this alone is enough to make it a winning piece of design. However, as this was designed to encourage healthier eating, it manages to be entirely appropriate for its target audience of young children while avoiding being worthy and preaching to their parents. None of the guilt, all of the fun.

Unfortunately my scanner is broken and my photographs don't do this work justice, so head on over to the Creative Review blog for a complete write up and decent photographs. Or better still, buy a pack from the British Heart Foundation. You don't have to be a child or have a party planned, although you'll probably want to have one once you've seen this. A party that is.

Pin the tail on the donkey anyone?

Links:

Creative Review post

Hoxton Street Monster Supplies

Johnson Banks' stamps

McBlogged

2011-06-22T18:12:00.005+01:00

McJunk is featured on Eye Magazine blog today. Link from here to view.

GraphicDesign&…what?

2011-06-11T17:51:00.014+01:00

GraphicDesign& has recently been set up to celebrate the "interactions between graphic design and the wider world". Respected designer and writer Lucienne Roberts, and design educator Rebecca Wright, are behind the venture. Although still in its infancy, with the website content still in development, this could prove an important project for the future of graphic design.

The relationship between graphic design and where it meets society is something that I am particularly interested in. In fact, it could be said that this is exactly what McJunk is about. However, I think GraphicDesign& is pertinent for more than just a personal interest due to some of the debates that came out of the recent St Bride conference; Graphic Design: History In The Making. (See recent post about History In The Making here). At the conference, while debating why graphic design history isn't as revered by the public as art history, Simon Esterson, Art Director at Eye Magazine, commented that to engage the wider public in the subject of graphic design would best happen through discussing everyday design the public knows and interacts with. In doing so, he implied, this would have much more resonance than talking about glossy annual reports the same public will only ever see reprinted in a design press that they don't read. This is an opinion I wholly agree with.

One of the questions I came away with from the conference was whether graphic design historians and academics have a chip on their shoulder, particularly in relation to art history and the weight and pretensions that such a subject brings to the academic table? Graphic design has always been a poor cousin within the arts community in terms of stature bestowed upon it. Herbert Bayer stated in 1967 that, "the graphic designer is designated with the minimising term 'commercial' and is generally ignored as compared to the prominence accorded by the press to architecture and the fine arts", (source; Armstrong, 2009, Graphic Design Theory). Casting your mind back to any recent furore over rebranding costs slated in the press should prove a testament that Bayer's concerns are still true today.

Graphic design historians and writers should not be competing against fine art in terms of academic relevance or public acceptance. For a start, this displays insecurity. Secondly, the descriptor 'fine' art betrays an elitist attitude, and the last thing graphic design should ever be, as a discipline to be understood, is disconnected from the very public it attempts to communicate with.

It is for these reasons that I will be keenly watching the development of GraphicDesign& to see what it brings to the table. Graphic design needs more champions, and those champions should not try to shoehorn the discipline into academic precedents dictated by another, entirely different field of study. We should have the courage to set our own terms of reference.

Links:

Graphic Design Theory

Congratulations

2011-06-11T12:36:00.005+01:00

Graphics show just after doors open

Congratulations to all Graphic Design students at UCS for a highly successful degree show. Friends, family and invited industry guests thronged through the Forefront Gallery from the minute the doors opened through to closing the bar at 9pm.

Graphics show just after doors open

All the work proved popular with invited guests as business cards quickly found pockets and students were offered interviews. The portfolio table proved extremely popular and a showreel complimented the final project work displayed on the walls.

Luke Mitchell recieving the TCM Internship Award from Provest Mike Saks and Head of School Chrissie Harrington

Prizes were awarded to:

Matthew Davis, 1st Year Studentship Award

Beth Eddolls, 2nd Year Studentship Award

Laurence Berry, 3rd Year Studentship Award

Laurence Berry, The Graham Scott Award for Typography

Victoria Patmore, 3rd Prize, TCM Adam Easdon Award

Dan Welsh, 2nd Prize, TCM Adam Easdon Award

Luke Mitchell, Internship winner, TCM Adam Easdon Award

Sean Cooper, Tony Heffernan Award for Motion Graphics

Final year students awaiting the doors to open

The show is on until Sunday 19 June, 10am-6pm weekdays, 11am-3pm at weekends.

More details available here.

UCS School of Arts & Humanities Degree Show 2011

2011-06-04T11:28:00.008+01:00

From the UCS website:

The Graphic Design show is an exciting and professional collection of applied design. The work investigates a diverse range of themes and concludes with a display of imaginative solutions produced to industry standards. Producing work realised through print and motion-based media, the show reflects the real life contemporary practice and contexts that students will face as graduates.

Course Leader, Nigel Ball, says, “The entire Graphic Design lecturing team are proud to stand alongside students and their work and to celebrate their many achievements. It has been a privilege to work with them over the last three years and they can be confident that they are now ready to take their place as the next wave of creatives to influence our visual environments”.

BA (Hons) Graphic Design
9th - 19th June: Ground Floor, Arts Building, University Campus Suffolk, Ipswich

Link: UCS Degree Show 2011

R.I.P Gil Scott-Heron

2011-05-28T10:46:00.003+01:00

Really, really sad news.

Next batch

2011-05-23T18:28:00.002+01:00

Final year UCS Graphic Design students launch their website in the run up to the School of Arts & Humanities Degree Show 2011.

Link: Next Batch

Strange book

2011-05-17T18:11:00.001+01:00

From Keep Britain Tidy on Twitter

Bloody graphic design gits

2011-05-15T10:10:00.002+01:00

The Artist Taxi Driver

No surprises

2011-05-14T14:04:00.023+01:00

Luckily my King Of Limbs package, the latest physical release from Radiohead, wasn't damaged by being left in the sun all day by our local postie. I had to resist ripping the wrapping off to see if the vinyl was warped as soon as I rescued it from my doorstep and got it through the door. I resisted because I wanted to get some photographs of the unveiling, as I had avoided reading any blog posts about it and I didn't know what to expect.

Thankfully the 10" discs weren't warped, but the packaging was pretty conventional, so overall, no major surprises. That said, the artwork generally didn't disappoint. But then Stanley Donwood rarely does in my opinion. From the paintings and drawings that adorn the record sleeves themselves, along with the screen printed CD sleeve on uncoated cardboard, to the newspaper accompaniment filled with more drawings, paintings, random text and photographs (newspaper not pictured), it is a package to be pored over. And like all great album art, one that needs to be pored over while listening to the album as an accompaniment to the music. In fact, you have to play the record several times through in order to do the artwork justice, considering that King Of Limbs is a relatively short recording, and the artwork is pretty extensive. The promise of the first ever 'newspaper album' in press releases many months ago, long before the physical release was available, unfortunately proves to be a let down, or rather it doesn't live up to what my imagination conjured up of what that could have truly meant. But that is a minor point, and that was marketing after all, (sucker).

That said, there is one disappointing aspect of the whole, and that is the inclusion of the acid tab style sheet of icons.

The reason this feels like such a let down is not because of the item itself, but because it is so incongruous to the rest of the concept. It feels like a last minute idea. One that someone felt just had to be included regardless of whether it aesthetically worked with the rest of the package. Unfortunately it breaks the tone of voice of the whole. It is rare that Stanley Donwood appears to have a moment of insecurity about what he does, either in his own work or for his Radiohead commissions. However, that is exactly what this feels like, a last minute addition, included incase people felt they weren't getting their monies worth. Personally I think it would have been better to keep it for its own purpose rather than for it to be shoehorned into another. Otherwise, why not throw in a pack of stickers as well, a few badges, and how about a Radiohead patch to sew onto denim jackets?

Where's Wally?

2011-05-12T20:34:00.000+01:00

While I try to find the time to write a post about the Graphic Design: History In The Making conference I attended last week, you can find a brief summary of the event on the Eye blog. And in a 'Where's Wally?' kind of way, see if you can spot me doing a bit of chin stroking while you are there.

Link: Eye at Graphic Design: History In The Making.

History story

2011-05-06T20:53:00.004+01:00

I've just returned from a very enjoyable and thought provoking day at St Bride, 'The World's Foremost Printing and Graphic Arts Library' in London. I was attending the Graphic Design: History In The Making conference. Speeches by Rick Poyner, David Reinfurt, Catherine de Smet, Christopher Burke and Sonia de Puineuf, and the panel discussions afterwards, will be feeding future posts here as I reflect on issues raised, and after I've trawled through the 28 pages of notes in my Moleskine!

Shamefully, this was my first visit to St Bride, and I will certainly be heading back there. However, I was disappointed to find that the soap dispensers in the toilets didn't have Swarfega in them!

Link:
St Bride

Remix, everything everything

2011-05-04T20:43:00.006+01:00

This is part 1 of Everything Is A Remix by GoodieBag, and focusses on music. Well researched, argued and produced. Part 2, focusses on films and part 3 is currently in production. Head on over to their website to watch part 2 and find out more about the project.

Links

Everything Is A Remix

McJunk submissions

2011-05-02T14:49:00.005+01:00

In order to open up submissions to McJunk, I've created a Tumblr account. If you come across any McJunk on your travels, please feel free to snap away, and then email the results to me. I'll post them to Tumblr once I've optimised shots of online viewing, with full credit and copyright displayed.

McJunk on Facebook will still operate, so feel free to 'like', if you haven't done so already.

Links:
McJunk submissions
McJunk on Facebook

Punk rock gig

2011-04-30T15:42:00.003+01:00

Saw this on the way into town the other day. I can't think why I've missed it before. Very funny.

Green orange on yellow on orange

2011-04-30T10:44:00.002+01:00

R.I.P Poly Styrene

2011-04-26T21:25:00.024+01:00

Like Ari-Up's untimely passing last year, it is sad to hear today of Poly Styrene's death. Although I was never a big fan of X-ray Spex, more a casual admirer, the singles Oh Bondage Up Yours, World Turned DayGlo, and the ever brilliant Germ Free Adolescents were striking, the latter always sending shivers down my spine. I didn't need to by their album, as I heard it on near constant replay for an entire summer as it blasted out of the room of someone I lived in a house share with many years ago, (thanks Helen). Poly, like Ari, challenged the male dominated punk movement.

Excepting Pauline Murrey of Penetration and Siouxsie Sioux of the Banshees, there weren't enough women in punk, and Poly would have helped the confidence of strong female fronted groups that were to follow in her wake. Bands such as The Rezillos, The Selecter, (the sometimes female fronted) Crass and Poison Girls spring to mind, and I'm well aware I'm probably missing out plenty of others. Then there were the countless female fronted or all female indie bands of the mid-eighties that formed well after New Wave, Post-punk, Anarcho-punk and 2 Tone had died out. And because of this, like Ari-Up, Poly Styrene's importance can not be underestimated.

And reading Poly Styrene's obituary on The Guardian website just now, I also found that I share my birthday with her. I'll toast you this year Poly, truly, rest in peace.

Link:
The Guardian obituary.

Ugly

2011-04-25T10:22:00.010+01:00

Saturday night saw the launch party of the double CD, 'The Ugly Truth About Ipswich'. The CD features many bands from Ipswich's 30 year back catalogue, along with more current bands doing the rounds. I'm particularly pleased, as one ex-half of Pindown, to be sandwiched between Earth Mother Fucker and Tender Lugers, two of my favourite tracks on the release. Alongside such delights are Extreme Noise Terror, who are the only band on the CD who can claim the duel boast of inventing a musical genre and to have appeared on stage with KLF at the Brit Awards (R.I.P Phil), and the short but perfectly quaffered 1980s pop icon Nik Kershaw. Ipswich's musical history is nothing if not diverse.

The launch party featured Henry Homesweet, The B. Goodes, These Are End Times, Jack Rundell, The Waxing Captors and Broken Shapes (ex Life And Times Of) across two rooms in an Ipswich venue, with a CD being given away with the ridiculously cheap admission price of £1. However, fear not if you didn't make it and want to get your hands on a copy of the CD, it is available from the Antigen Records online shop for £0.99. More details about Antigen Records can be found on their Facebook page.

Links:
Antigen shop
Antigen Facebook

You don't have to be Prince

2011-04-21T10:37:00.018+01:00

In a less than regular feature highlighting the album sleeves currently residing in the Album Art frames on my landing, I've just recently been up in the loft to choose 3 new LP sleeves to showcase there, and here. This is my current selection:

According to Andrew Sherman's blog, Age Of Chance did three things right:
1 they wore cycling clothes,
2 their artwork was done by the fledgling Designers Republic,
3 they did a great cover version of Prince's Kiss.

I have to agree with all three. Looking somewhat dated now, (see video for Kiss below), it is impossible to gauge the reaction I had to seeing them live at Essex University in 1986, as I was just starting to pick up on hip hop, sampling and ironic intent in music. They went a little too pop for me later on in their short lived career, toning down some of the sonic guitar frequencies they were keen on dropping into the middle of their songs and polishing up their drum sound. I liked the fact that rawness and technology gave them an industrial bite to their hybrid pop sensibilities.

All very 1980s. If you wonder what Wolff Olins researched in order to design the 2012 olympics logo, then I think you'll find a few pointers in that video.

On the subject of Designers Republic, for whom Age Of Chance were one of their first clients, they have an exhibition coming up in Croyden. Details here.

PS—Since my last post on Album Art frames, the Wire triptych of Pink Flag, Chairs Missing and 154 have been displayed. These regular favourites will return and I'll post about them then.

Cold calling

2011-04-17T09:13:00.003+01:00

Daniel Eatock's Thank You Pictures.

Old Town

2011-04-16T14:46:00.016+01:00

While in Holt, north Norfolk, last week, Claire and I popped into the Old Town clothing workshop and showroom. If you like your clothes made to order, in the UK, with a certain 1940s understated styling, then this is the place to go. I imagine British Sea Power would love it.

If the clothes aren't to your liking, then the shop is well worth a visit for its interior design alone. Resembling a store in the 1940s, it feels honest and a breath of fresh air in comparison to the majority of soulless and generic clothes shops; Fat Face this aint!

Old Town have a novel way of selling their wares as well, one that should thankfully keep immediacy seeking fashionistas away, (should the 1940s ever come back into fashion that is). No clothes are available to buy on the spot—you try on the styles you like to get a size fit, then trawl through swatches to pick the fabric and colour you want. Then you wait 4-6 weeks for your garments to arrive by post once they've been hand built. This avoids over production and ensures quality items that have had time spent on them rather than knocked out as quickly as possible in a sweatshop in China.

I also like the fact that they produce their own newspaper; above, with typographic jokes on the front page; below:

Images grabbed from the Old Town website.

Norfolk types

2011-04-15T17:01:00.013+01:00

Claire gets pretty frustrated with my constant photographing of found type wherever we go. This last week, a spring holiday on the north Norfolk coast, was no exception. However, even Claire was impressed with this village sign using the local vernacular:

It's rare that I stop the car specifically to take a photo, as I did with the above. However, I did again for the image below. A sign from a bygone era, impressed as I was by the awkward diagonal stacking of the letters and the Norwich City colours (almost):

Is the E trying to eat the cross bar of the T?

After a stroll through a particularly poor market (I'll not name the town involved for fear of provoking a Suffolk/Norfolk dispute), Claire spotted a row of antique's shops she wanted to look around. One was held in an old church building, and above the entrance I found this ghost of where type had previously been:

I now feel a new project coming on: recording ghost typography. This was reinforced as an idea when across the road I saw an abandoned shop with this above the window:

It also struck me as odd that the shop with the word 'technology' above its emptied shop front was across the road from a row of shops selling antiques. Technology has less longevity than antiques, obviously. Or is it that each piece of technology soon becomes an antique, and in this case, just moves across the road into a different shop?

Camping campervan

2011-04-03T20:48:00.003+01:00

Daniel Eatock's Thank You Pictures.

Seeds, not with standing

2011-03-30T19:26:00.005+01:00

Not standing on Ai WeiWei's Sunflower Seeds at Tate Modern today.

Tate stops visitors trampling on Sunflower Seeds

Tate Modern

Wim away

2011-03-30T18:40:00.013+01:00

Wim Crouwel portrait at The Design Museum, photo via CR-Blog

Returning from the opening day of the Design Museum's Wim Crouwel retrospective, A Graphic Odyssey, I can whole heartedly agree with Creative Review blog that it is one of the best exhibitions that has been staged there. The first year graphic design students that a colleague and I took were amazed by the fact this work wasn't done with a computer. This led to many interesting conversations about how much of the terminology Photoshop uses for its tools comes from pre-digital processes and much guessing of how some of the imagery was produced. A similar reaction and conversations happened when I took second year students to see the Barney Bubbles exhibition at Chelsea Space last year.

Check out the CR-Blog post via the link below for a more detailed review of the show.

Wim Crouwel, A Graphic Odyssey, runs until 3 July. Go see.

Creative Review - The Wonder of Wim

The Design Museum

The last post

2011-03-23T21:32:00.004Z

A link to Terry Ball's obituary in The Guardian, 23.03.11. A very touching tribute.

The Vapors

2011-03-18T19:42:00.023Z

A lot of design blogs are re-imaging the Japanese flag in an attempt to show sympathy with what is happening there at the moment. This is quite understandable as we watch in absolute horror and sense that we in the west, and the Japanese authorities, are powerless to have any effect on the devastating results of a natural phenomenon. A natural phenomenon that has been made worse by a man made phenomenon. We all fear the devastating results that we suspect are just around the corner.

Many of these blogs are urging you to donate to the Red Cross campaign to help those that survive the tragic circumstances of an earthquake followed by a tsunami in, ironically, one of the richest countries in the world. The irony goes on to add insult to injury by the fact that this is a country that has felt the effects of nuclear devastation more than any other. This leads me to consider that if ever there could be a stronger advert for getting rid of nuclear power, then I don't know what it would be.

Unfortunately the same graphic designers that are re-imaging the Japanese flag, and whose hearts are in the right place, aren't discussing the politics of this, and that is a shame. The world right now needs strong visual voices that have the power to affect change. And it needs this much more than it needs sympathy.

Red Cross appeal
Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament

The smell of linseed oil

2011-03-06T08:52:00.034Z

Yesterday I spent some time trawling through old family photographs trying to find a decent portrait of Terry, my Uncle, for his obituary. My brother is currently writing this with someone Terry used to work with at English Heritage, in the hope we will get it published in The Guardian this/next week. While I found some great photos, unfortunately, none really seem suitable for an obituary.

However, during this search, I came across these photos of Terry's studio I took on one of my last visits to the home he and Christine had made in Walberswick. They took me back, and reminded me how privileged I felt being allowed into his creative space and him asking my opinion about the latest sketches he was working from. I had always loved spending time in his studio, even when, for the majority of his life, it consisted of a bedroom in a cramped council house in Rose Hill, Carshalton, Surrey. The smell of linseed oil, the stacks of canvasses leant up against walls, the scraps of newspaper clippings and open books that Terry would be using to fuel his visions. They all helped shaped my view of art over the years.

Then I came across a photo of a model I had forgotten about. Terry and Christine had recently had this studio built—previously he had been working in a small back room that was cold and damp. Terry being Terry had made a model to get a sense of what the extention would be like on completion. This was something he would often do when working on his reconstruction artworks for English Heritage and Cadw, architectural research that gave him a sense of scale and perspective for his paintings. I would gaze in wonder at them as a small boy and I did so again when I saw this on this visit—I've never been particularly good with 3D myself. But what I really like about this crude model is that he has carved a figurine of himself—here he is coming down the stairs.

This personalisation of his work is something that I would also see in his reconstruction artwork. Occasionally I would see some of these staring out at me in an English Heritage guide book and think, "is that monk there my Dad?" Or, "that servant looks a lot like photographs I have seen of my grandmother as a small girl". And of course, like many artists, he would draw himself in, the bald head and thick set mustache being a dead give away.

I also came across a photo of a catalogue of his reconstruction artwork I put together for him about 10 years ago. I think he was hoping to get it published, but unfortunately that never happened.

A slight irony that strikes me as I look at these photographs is that on the night he died, the week before last, I was actually putting together a lecture for students at UCS about workspaces, albeit from a graphic designer's perspective. I haven't yet given that lecture and maybe when I do get around to it I'll include some of these shots. Until then, they can be seen on my Flickr account in their own set.

Dubdog@Flickr

Pindown

2011-03-05T17:02:00.003Z

Pindown circa 2009. Photomontage for The Ugly Truth About Ipswich CD booklet.

Peace be upon you

2011-02-26T17:01:00.007Z

We found this pencil in the bag of belongings the nurse gave us. It made us smile in circumstances that didn't dictate such a reaction. Anyone who knew and loved Terry will understand why.

Terry Ball

14.08.1931 - 23.02.2011

Support your local printer

2011-02-19T12:18:00.003Z

Many thanks to everyone at Alphaprint, Colchester, for their hospitality when giving a tour of their premises and processes to second year Graphic Design students from UCS earlier this week.

Link:
Alphaprint

How long must we tolerate error descriptions

2011-02-15T19:42:00.007Z

Entourage email application wouldn't work on my work Mac first thing this morning. On reading the error message, I found out it was due to those post-punk, avant garde, free jazz, funk, political slogan happy, dub industrialists The Pop Group. Could not synchronize record indeed.

Weekend roundup

2011-02-13T08:53:00.039Z

A quick round up of things seen on my weekend in Brighton last week. Briefer than I would wish, but time's pretty restricted at the moment.

First up is a statue of Max Miller just outside the Brighton Dome. I didn't really register the statue until Claire pointed out that it had a piece of knitted graffiti attached to it. Apparently this is quite trendy.

We saw the statue on leaving the ever excellent Brighton Museum and Art Gallery. I posted from our B and B last week about how much I enjoyed the Capturing Colour exhibition at the Museum, but haven't really had a chance to talk about the rest of the venue. There are some great exhibits of modernist furniture and paintings, as well as really well put together displays about Brighton's social history, of which it has plenty. There's too much to go into here, and needless to say photos will be up on Flickr over the coming week, but this quote on the wall near a section about cycling has to be posted, (excuse the poor image quality).

The other aspect of the museum I want to mention is the fashion section. What I like about this is the fact that much of it is about street fashion, and lots of the clothes are donated by locals, with back story.

On some items they even has responses from local school children. I wonder whether Tony Lord ever did use his belt to repel vampires?

On the return journey, we decided to take in the De La Warr Pavilion in Bexhill-on-Sea, another modernist masterpiece.

Apart from the fact that it's always good to pop into this magnificent building, one of the things that drew us on this occasion was the Moving Portraits exhibition.

While I'd seen several of the pieces on display before, particularly Sam Taylor-Wood's David and the Gilbert and George Living Sculptures, what I wasn't expecting was to be bowled over by anything by Andy Warhol. His Screen Tests 64-66 gave an eerie sense of voyeurism as I looked at famous icons from the 60s who were all staring back at me, in complete silence. Wondering what was going through their minds is a natural reaction, steeped as many of them are with cultural significance, but I found them strangely powerful as well—the addition of motion seems to have given the traditional portrait not only life (obviously), but somehow made the subjects more tangible and ordinary, given that our relationship with these people is usually through the eyes of the media. I got the feeling I was being given a very personal and intimate audience with them. Particularly when, (spoiler alert) unexpectedly one of them, Susan Sontag I think, starts to cry. Very powerful stuff.

Other highlights included Margaret Tait's Portrait of Ga in which the unwrapping of a sticky sweet seems to suggest more about the personality conducting the action than seeing her going about her daily routines in the rest of the film. She wants the sweet, the simple pleasure, but is so very careful not to get her fingers sticky. I also enjoyed Candice Breitz' Factum Misericordia, where two identical twins are interviewed on camera, asked exactly the same questions and sat in exactly the same chair so that the only difference you could tell was in their narration, their individual take on their experiences as one of a twin, and how they felt they related to each other. The editing of the interviews, shown side by side, and the sound track running out of sync and switching screens added to the draw of trying to relate to these two people as individuals talking about their collective experience.

Highly recommended, and free.

Links:
Knitted graffiti

Brighton Museum and Art Gallery
De La Warr Pavilion

Bass for your face

2011-02-08T20:01:00.001Z

Kemistry Gallery

The Ugly Truth About Ipswich

2011-02-06T20:00:00.008Z

"Antigen Records, in association with Corndog Records, are relieved to finally announce the imminent arrival of The Ugly Truth About Ipswich. A definitive 2 CD compilation featuring 30 years of pop, rock, punk and unidentifiable strangeness from some of the most successful and innovative Ipswich artists."

Well, I can now proudly say that I am going to be on a CD alongside Nick Kershaw. Well, not directly alongside him, Pindown are in fact sandwiched between Earth Mother Fucker and Tender Lugers, but hey, Nick will be opening that particular CD from this 2CD set.

Too many other bands on there to mention here, check out the immense track listing on the Antigen Records Facebook page here.

The Ugly Truth About Ipswich compilation. 2CD set for 99p.

Released 23 April 2011.

Capturing colour

2011-02-05T17:26:00.008Z

I visited the Capturing Colour: Film, Invention and Wonder exhibition at Brighton Museum and Art Gallery today. If you're planning a trip to the Sussex coast before 20 March, it is well worth a visit.

Tracing the history of colour in early photography and then into film, it takes you though all the technological advances from early monochrome tinting right through to capturing colour motion on mobile devices today. A fascinating story that, in equal measure, is a display of the technical, the scientific and the artistic.

It also has the potential to be one of an important double bill of motion/photographic exhibitions if you also take in the Moving Portraits show at the De La Warr Pavilion in Bexhill-on-Sea, an hour down the coast by car from Brighton. I'm hoping to visit that tomorrow.

Link:
Capturing Colour online.

Get lobbing

2011-01-30T10:49:00.010Z

Claire bought me some of these for Christmas.

Great idea. And great graphics

Head on over to kabloom.co.uk to watch some stop frame videos of seedboms in action, see a map of locations, and buy your own seedboms.

Get lobbing.

More exhibitioning…

2011-01-29T13:47:00.007Z

2011 promises to be a year of major exhibitions, well 3 at least:

The Design Museum
30 March - 3 July
Wim Crouwel: A Graphic Odessy

Time your trip wisely and take in the Brit Insurance Design Awards at the same time.

Tate Britain
14 June - 4 September
The Vorticists: Manifesto for a Modern World

The V&A
24 September - 8 January 2012
Postmodernism: Style and Subversion

Ipswich Art School show at UCS

2011-01-29T13:39:00.007Z

3 - 26 February

The Class Of…
An exhibition which celebrates the legacy of the Ipswich Art School through a mixed media show of past tutors. On at The Waterfront Gallery, University Campus Suffolk, Ipswich.

Hyper upload

2011-01-23T15:50:00.018Z

I've just added two videos to Vimeo, Aggressor and Hyper Reality. Both were made in 2009 as additions to the projection Jason and I performed in front of for the last Pindown live outing in Colchester in the same year. The rest of the backdrop was made up of older pieces of motion I had made for a gig the previous year, as well as footage by long time collaborator Richard Rasu.

Of the older work I had produced for the backdrop, these were mostly culled from my existing foray into experimental film making; Back Chat, Contractual Freedom, and DigiDigitDigital, all of which are available to view on Vimeo in their original state.

These two pieces are not intended to be viewed as 'music videos' as they were created to be seen in a live environment, partly to add another dimension to the aural assault that was Pindown live, but mostly to take attention away from the fact that Jason and I weren't exactly a dynamic presence on stage. They have been added now, with the original recordings of the tracks as they appeared on our 2004 Democracy In Action release, as a document of work I've done to date. While this is something I've been meaning to do for ages, now that I look at these out of context of them being designed for a live environment, I'm not particularly keen on them although I do feel they suited their purpose at the time of their production.

Production note:
The reverse type in the Hyper Reality video is due to the fact we needed to project with the use of a mirror in order to get the visuals to fill the wall behind us when performing on such a small stage.

Link:

Dubdog on Vimeo

Korma karma harmer

2011-01-20T11:39:00.007Z

Picture the scene; Claire and I decide on a Sunday night curry. We walk to our nearest take away, order, pay, and go across the road to the pub for a quick pint. Back to the take away 20 minutes later, we pick up curry and go home to enjoy.

But, in unpacking the curry from the brown paper bag, I find this hideous piece of insidious advertising visually mugging me at my own dinner table. It almost put me off my vegetable korma. Not only was I pissed off that our trusted local take away had stooped to such levels of income generation, I was also beside myself in terms of how it was such an inappropriate piece of advertising—it is suggesting that what I am about to eat is going to make my breath repulsive. Not a good advert for the food inside.

And that's before I even start discussing the crap graphics of cartoon vegetables.

I know take away restaurants are struggling at the moment because of the recession and that ad creep has been a common aspect of 21st century capitalist desperation, but this really did take me by surprise.