Materials
Newspaper Club
18/03/1008:07
‘Helping people make their own newspapers’ is the tagline. There’s not too much more that needs to be said about this, other than it’s the closest ‘anyone’ can get to on demand newspaper publishing. From the examples I’ve had the pleasure to see, the quality and service is superb. Just make sure your deadline hits at the same time as the presses start rolling and order the number of copies you need.
For more news... webfeed your browser to: http://www.newspaperclub.co.uk
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Signage overload
18/11/0920:15
For anyone fascinated by typography, a visit to Buchstabenmuseum - the Museum of Letters - might result in a need to lay down for a while. Over just 5 years the organisation has been rescuing amazing typographic icons. The current collection contains historical letters from all over Berlin and beyond.
For more info, take a look at the museum’s website: buchstabenmuseum.de
Greengaged on film
06/10/0917:01
This was the week that was ‘Greengaged’. For further information check out our blog posts at Greengaged.com.
Creative cleaning in the urbane jungle
18/09/0920:09
Clean streets, free from litter. We love that idea, largely because it has something to communicate about our civilised nature and the way we prioritise our surroundings in the same way as we do our homes. Just as our homes reflect different characteristics from controlling through to dangerously ignorant, our use and prioritisation of public space is similarly diverse, often seeing rubbish and vandalism rule over a seemingly impossible minimalist space which is the dream of architects. We do live in a dirty world. However there is probably something in all of us that are creative that take pleasure in seeing graffiti, so long as it is crafted, well done.
Though it’s a relatively small gesture the project by the British street artist, Paul Curtis who is known as ‘Moose’ is a really interesting one: Moose specialises in ‘reverse graffiti’, yes that’s it, reverse graffiti. Taking an area such as the Broadway Tunnel in San Francisco – the walls of which are caked in dirt from 20,000 vehicles which currently pass through it each day – the layers of grime are cleaned back to expose the light coloured concrete surface.
Check out Paul’s website, Reverse Graffiti. What a fantastic, creative way of inventing a new medium out of dirt. All the better that the work has been sponsored by Green Works, manufacturers of a plant-based cleaner. A what a cool bit of marketing on their part, cleaning up a dirty world...
Experiments in experiential typography
16/04/0900:13
One Day Poem Pavilion, by Jiyeon Song
Life gets interesting when different worlds start to collide. The increased focus in the media on creativity of artists and musicians to offer hope and an idea of rebirth to a struggling financial system is one obvious example. I’ve previously blogged on the merging of art and design practice but my real fascination at the moment is looking at more extreme worlds merging, get an engineering mind with an artist for example...
On this post, you are looking at the thesis work of graduate Masters student Jiyeon Song; he positions himself as Media Designer / Artist, his practice being focused on the exploration of ‘Experiential Typography’. Anyone involved in design will recognise the phenomena of the typography ‘geek’ who can name any typeface from 100 paces whilst being blindfolded, most people who find this site will know at least one person like that. I would be very surprised if Jiyeon would classify his work in the context within typography. The fact he works with hardboard sheets and yet calls himself a Media Designer is fascinating... that’s a new hardware approach perhaps.
‘Media’ as a classification is nowadays assumed to relate to the digital world, at the very least. And with that comes the idea of instant change, rapid update ability, fast control of information. Imagine a billboard which reveals its message over time in opposition to instant messaging (Stefan Sagmeister and others have explored this idea in various ways). There is a cultural confusion — in the positive sense of redefining how we classify the world or read information — where artifact blends with experience, where design message blends with art object. Experience of the art object carries with it the assumption that time is taken to absorb meaning, and that meaning is taken away with the viewer. That sense of reflection, consideration, mulling over is a fascinating challenge to a world which has been about speeding up. Maybe we’re recognising the value in moving forward ‘effectively’ is more rewarding simply moving forward ‘fast’.
It is interesting to contrast the speed at which we need to move towards sustainability with the need to slow down and consider the consequences of our actions that will help make it a reality. Lets have more designers considering slow communication and encouraging consideration. If your computer loads this image more quickly than the work itself appears then consider what we’re loosing in the tremendous value to be accrued from just waiting.
As the poem is slowly revealed, the meaning can resonate with its patient audience.
Read more about the project on: www.OneDayPoem.com
And read more about Jiyeon Song at: www.artcenter.edu
Guides to sustainability for designers
28/10/0819:02
Not so well known in the UK as it could be, this is a really interesting site giving designers some of the equipment required to work more sustainably. For more information check out Re-nourish.com
Worth a check is another project by Sophie of thomas.matthews in collaboration with Caroline Clark (lovely as a tree), and Nat Hunter of Airside, take a look at their approach at threetreesdontmakeaforest.org
Studio visit No. 1
01/10/0809:55
Whilst this isn't the first studio visit for thomas.matthews (by any means!) it marks the first to have reached my blog, so more to come.
Another amazing installation commissioned by the frequently inspirational ArtAngel organisation, this show by artist Roger Hiorns. A quasi immersive experience of blue crystals that coat every wall of an otherwise completely unassuming council flat 15 minutes south of London Bridge underground station.
Many photos are flooding the internet of this space, with relatively few of the close-up (imagine a room covered in with this intensity, so much more than simply a blue wall). What did people do before mobile phone cameras. Go see it whilst it remains in place. Runs to 2 November; the experience is better than the imagery!
For more information visit Artangel.org.uk
Hey old bag!
09/09/0809:35
It still stuns me that such a high
percentage of lunchtime shoppers nipping out of their
office for a hurried bite to eat still insist on
taking their sandwich and pack of crisps away in a
brand new, volumous, plastic bag -- in my case from
the local Sainsburys -- only to throw the bag into
the bin a minute later as they enter the park around
the corner (it is summertime). Worse still, the
supermarket staff haven't cottoned on to the idea
that they could actually ask if the aimless customer
if they actually 'need' a bag. Lets see how long it
takes for this post to start to become irrelevant.
You could watch this on your iPhone your in the checkout line: www.plasticbagfree.com
You could watch this on your iPhone your in the checkout line: www.plasticbagfree.com
Make it instructable
31/07/0820:14
You have a spare hour, perhaps you fancy building a Stirling Engine? Welcome to the online hangout of the modern Heath Robinson at instructables.com
If you’ve not explored the portal of the Instructables website, some might say you’ve never lived, the reality is more that you will be amazed by the ingenuity of ordinary people looking for home cooked solutions to a myriad of problems so broad ranging it is almost untrue. Yes there are plenty of weird and wacky, with a few neat ideas rolled in to the mix.
Let awe and wonderment begin: Instructables.com