New work: Plastic

Art direction of design and photography for conceptual fashion and art with attitude publication, Plastic Magazine. This was the final project of the year and a hell of a lot of fun, especially in the photography stage, getting the model and photographer together, location scouting, making lots of phone calls, test shoots, and so and so forth. Extra super mega eternal thanks to Laney Gaffney my wonderful pink haired photographer and Loren Harker my pretty model. The idea behind the shoot is a girl who sells her soul for eternal beauty, there is a brief narrative at the start about performing a ceremony and being left feeling empty, which is supposed to run through the photos.

I tried uploading these from Flickr so they were nice and big and pretty looking here but the spreads are too wide and the stupid blogger template cuts the side off. If you go on my photostream though you can see all the images much much bigger and better. In fact, please do that.

We wanted to shoot on 120 film but because its so expensive we shot digital as back up. Fortunately the photos turned out really really good, Laney with her Bronica totally nailed it. I cant tell you how much i love that camera, i really want one of my own. Looking through the view finder on it is seriously BETTER than looking at stuff with your eyes.

You may notice that i recycled a lot of elements from my brickyard poster for my front cover. This is because i had an epiphany that i couldn't run the cover i had already designed (which you can see here) the night before i had to go to print and then got up at 8am and re did the whole thing. 

Thank you so much to all the people who helped me out in one way or another, ranging from advice to running around a forest at midnight, with this project, you guys are AWESOME:

Laney Gaffney

Loren Harker

Damian Sealey

Tony Moore

Judith Kinsella

James McCarthy

Tom Sinclair

That german girl who's name i cant remember but came to talkin tarn last minute with me

Natassia Gunn

James Lodge

Lina Scheynius

Here is a much shorter list of people who said they would help me but never actually did, but i would like to thank them anyway:

Sarah Smith

Lucy Johnson

Gary Thermo

Dawn Morrison

Anna Lachowska

Charlotte Michie

So that's it then, year 2 finished. Got a lot of personal projects planned for the next few weeks, so don't think im going anywhere! Although i am going somewhere: ATP, and hopefully Sweden for a bit too. Oh yeah and i PROMISE an online portfolio over the summer.

FINISHED!

LETS PARTY!

New work: The Brickyard

Here is the gig listings poster i've just designed for the good people at The Brickyard. The reverse has all the listings for May, but i didnt design that. I really had a lot of fun doing this and it feels like i'm getting my act together pretty nicely now. The collage is made from a combination of images from Flickr, ones i scanned from old books (amazing knitting Vogue books and early 90s fashion guides, thanks to Tony for those) aaand photographs that i took myself. Ignore the little grey boarder around the edge, that is just from the photoshop window when i took a screen shot, not part of the design.

I wonder how long before i should retire that graph paper scan?

Whilst making this poster i listened to:

The Sonics - Boom

Big Black - Songs About Fucking

Glass Candy - deep gems

update: These are going to get printed on uncoated heavy matte awesomeness. 1000 pieces. 

Total Badass

look at this kid! what a total bad ass! He's got style and he knows it. I found this in an old (80s/early 90s?) Vogue knitting book. Quite interested in acquiring old fashion, illustration and reference (photographic and illustration) books at the moment if anyones got any recommendations or offers or anything please get in touch :)

New work: Mapping

So here is the mapping project i did, i chose to map The Creative Process of a Design Student. It should be pretty self explanatory! Its a bit of fun and supposed to be somewhat tongue in cheek. Hopefully you can read it if you click it. Anyway apparently i got a 68 for this which is not too shabby. It's pretty weird how we've only got one project left now though, this year has gone so fast. Next year is going to be insane.

Life was short

I deleted my other blog, Life Is Short as it became apparent that everything i posted on there was infact relevant for this blog too, i wasn't really updating it AND i dont think anyone was looking anyway, especially with hopefully the full proper actual fancy launching of my personal portfolio website in the coming weeks, so whatever, welcome to the dawning of a new era of MYGD!

I hate graphic design

Its 2am. Stop me before i design again.

Sarah Smith

Guess what YES THATS RIGHT my favourite Sarah Smith just hooked herself up with a blog. She is a beautiful and talented photographer from Sheffield. If you don't believe me just have a look at the self portrait she did at the top of this post. Bookmark it!

Square America

Square America is an amazing collection of found retro photos documenting american life and history. Truely something else. Click on each image to view a full gallery of related images.

Scott King

Classic poster by Scott King for Joy Division show. The text along the bottom reads:

Joy Division, 2 May 1980, The High Hall, The University of Birmingham, England. 

You may notice some similarities between this poster and the poster i did for Something Else! Hopefully one day i can be as influential as Mr. King haha. His work neatly treads the line between subtle and subversive.

a bigger version of the poster can be seen here

Taken from Scott King's website:

"Scott King trained as a graphic designer. He worked as Art Director of i-D and Creative Director of Sleazenation magazines, for which he was awarded 'Best Cover' and 'Best Designed Feature of the Year' prizes. King occasionally produces work under the banner 'CRASH!' with writer and historian Matt Worley. King’s work has been exhibited widely in London, New York and European galleries including the ICA, KW Berlin, Portikus, White Columns, Kunstverein Munich and the Museum of Modern Art, New York."

Vancouver & Seattle

I've just been on a lovely little trip to Vancouver & Seattle. I got to go to a stellar record shop called Zulu Records, many different American Apparel stores, visit the actual real life location of Twin Peaks learn about native canadian art and see lots of totem poles. Pretty good trip if you ask me! Unfortunately i did not get to hang out with Obama when i was in the USA though, but you know you can't have everything. Canadians are just the best people in the world so if you get a chance to visit, DO IT! (Americans are cool too obviously)

Something Else

poster i've designed for Sarah and Mikael and the rest of photography year 2 exhibition they're holding at the end of the year for their final project. Initially wanted to use some of the photos that would be put in the exhibition, however it quickly became apparent that that would not be a possibility for various reasons, so i had to come up with...something else. There is a flyer for this i've done also but i don't really like it so i am not going to post it. Definitely get down to see this if you are about when its on because there will be some good stuff. Not wanting to plug her work too hard but i've seen some of the early/test stuff that Sarah's been doing and it's really looking good.

Something Else

A Collection of Photographs

The Bank Gallery (Upstairs at The Griffin)

Court Square

Carlisle

CA2

4-7th May

12-5pm

FREE ENTRY

In other news i am going home to London tomorrow and i am very excited. You can take the boy out of the city but you can't take the city out of the boy as they say. James is coming with me too and we're going to tear it up. As much as i hate carlisle though, there's a handful of people i will miss very much. I am only going to be away for 2 weeks, how much of a sissy do i sound right now? Anyway, none of that matters because on monday i am going to CANADA. My brother moved there last november so my mother and i are going to visit him. He lives in Vancouver which, from what various people have told me sounds like some kind of liberal, anti corporate artist record collector utopia so that sounds pretty good. We will be going to visit Seattle too which im excited about. Ill wear ripped jeans and listen to grunge the whole time. Another little treat will be on the way down to Seattle getting to visit the little town where they shot Twin Peaks! freakin' awesome. I think im going to have to have a twin peaks sesh tonight in celebration.

Explain This Image

so much amazing/hilarious stuff HERE

Art Direction sneak peek

Working with the beautiful, pink haired and highly talented Laney Gaffney has been a dream and so far this art direction thing has been a truly collaborative effort which is what i wanted from the start. Above are some roughs (you will notice that they still need to be cropped) that are the spoils of todays labour in the studio. May post some of the photos we shot on medium format too later, as they are b e a u t i f u l.

Want

Dennis Tyfus poster for Sonic Youth (one of my hands down all time favourite bands, if not the number one). Limited edition and its like $25 or something.

Get Excited

In the world of design you see the same things day in and day out and monotony is boring, and being cynical and critical is useful, however every once in a while you will see something that makes you think "DAMN, I WISH I DID THAT" For me, that was the new issue of Lodown magazine.

Lodown started as a skate magazine but is now more of a visual culture magazine with lots of skate adverts in it which is just fine by me. They change and shift their design each issue and use multiple paper stocks and experimental ideas. Last issue they printed this insane pink which is the most beautiful pink i have ever seen and it just glows off the page, i don't even know how they did it. I might make a post just about that pink alone. At the top of this post is a scan of the cover of the latest issue. I wish i designed it. Its exciting and unsual, interesting and irreverent and like nothing else you see on newstands, not even from design magazines. How many magazines are there out there that use a borderline illegible typeface for their constantly changing anyway masthead? Couple with an unusual format and exciting content and you have the best damn publication £5 can buy. There was only two copies in the shop though and me and Noo got 'em, so keep your eyes peeled for a copy on your travels.

Check out their website right HERE

Also i have added a little Mixtape widget because i love making mixtapes. Each one will have a thematic title and then the idea is maybe you can listen to it all on spotify or something? I dont have spotify but i know that thats what all the kids are doing these days.

Tara McPherson & ATP

Ok so me, james, andy and gemma go ourselves tickets to go to ATP this summer! For those of you who don't know ATP (All Tomorrow Parties) is a festival that is held in cornwall - and more specifically in the Butlins there. The whole Butlins is taken over by the festival so i guess its pretty much the opposite of what Butlins is like the rest of the year round? We are pretty much kids are christmas right now as we are going to get to see The Breeders, The Bronx, Wire, Deerhunter, Melt Banana, Bon Iver and a whole bunch of others, as well as getting to go like horse riding or and do archery and eat fish and chips, which is pretty good, although i am terrified of horses and i've stopped eating fish. I would like to shoot stuff with a bow and arrow though. Ok whatever i'm rambling now so ill get to the point:

The festival is also going to be hosting an art exhibition of the delightful Tara McPherson. I Don't know if its common knowledge or not but i really love Lowbrow art and Juxtapoz magazine and people like Robert Williams, Frank Kozik, Tim Biskup, Coop, David Choe and Art Chantry are artists and designers who i have tremendous respect for, so getting to see a show of Tara McPherson's is a real treat.

On McPherson's work:

"Tara McPherson is an artist based out of New York City. Creating art about people and their odd ways, her characters seem to exude an idealized innocence with a glimpse of hard earned wisdom in their eyes. Recalling many issues from childhood and good old life experience, she creates images that are thought provoking and seductive. People and their relationships are a central theme throughout her work."

The images at the top of this overly long and excitable post are taken from McPherson's website which can be viewed right HERE

Let's go Over The Wall

Poster i've been lucky enough to do for the upcoming Over The Wall gig in leeds. Over The Wall are a magical band and if any of you are around the Leeds area on the night of the gig make sure you get yourself down to the show! Click to enlarge and get a better look/chance to scrutinise.

Over The Wall

Just Handshakes (We're British)

Sal's Paradise

Sam Airey

Tuesday 14th April

Royal Park Cellars

39 Queen’s Road

Leeds, LS6

Doors 7.30pm

Tickets: £3 adv.

available from

hideandseekrecords

.bigcartel.com

it should probably also be noted that a couple of the images i used for this were taken from Flickr. I tried to use creative commons images wherever possible, but either way, thank you very much to the uploaders of the original photos!

Inspired by Kittens

ok so a non design related post but this is actually the most joyous thing i've ever seen

NCC & TVOTR

Neasden Control Centre directed video for 'dancing choose' by Tv On The Radio. Good stuff.

Terror at Talkin Tarn

Went out to talkin tarn the other night to have a go at some ideas for the art direction project. This game is way harder than it looks! Basically we just messed about in the dark and i didn't achieve as much as i had hoped, but there you go. Got some cool photos one way or another!

Grow Your Own

It might be a bit of a faux pas to rant but this brief has been really horrible and possibly caused me the most stress in my entire life (haha thats probably a bit dramatic maybe). The brief itself was awkward and ambiguous and there has been way to much emphasis on coming up with 'wacky', 'creative' ideas, that are fundamentally meaningless. This is not first year anymore. I would post more images buuut blogger keeps inverting the colours for no reason. Cheers blogger!

On a better note, the art direction project is going well. Working with laney is a dream, did some test shots i will post later, everything is coming together and hopefully ill be able to do some good work to be proud of!

Terry Richardson on Communicating with people

 so its no secret that i really love Terry Richardson. I understand why you wouldn't be into his stuff, but whatever, he gets two thumbs up from me and my copy of 'Terryworld' is probably one of my most prized books. Anyway, this post is aimed largely at all the boys and girls in class who are doing the art direction project. Since this project is, i'd say, about 50% to do with working with other people, communication is key, but its not always so easy is it? Building a rapport and being spontaneous and really getting that creative connection is how you're going to get the best results. Terry says it a little better than i do, so have a little watch and see what you think :)

SO MUCH SPACE SUCH LITTLE IMAGINATION

i took this photo a couple months back when i was in Newcastle. Dude is so right.

The Gutenberg Press

So obviously you know that Johannes Gutenberg invented printing and obviously you know that Stephen Fry is awesome, so obviously you want to watch this class film on bbc iplayer that goes through the history of the first printing press' creation, and they even make their own replica of it, hand cast the type and print up pages of Gutenberg Bible.

Stephen Fry & The Gutenberg Press

I really need to get myself down to shaddonmill soon and have a go on their letterpress stuff...

Magazine geeks, fall in LOVE

So next week sees issue one of LOVE magazine which is the new title from Condé Nast (aka the dudes who publish Vogue). Im pretty excited about this and theres a lot of hype around it. Hopefully it'll be great and not shit and maybe we will talk about it in years to come with the same kind of affection that we talk now about Dazed, i-D and POP. Maybe.

For everyone at uni i am pretty certain they are gonna be getting it in the shop so keep your eyes peeled and don't take them all before i can get a copy.

p.s how awesome is the cover??

KesselsKramer Studio

ok so everyone knows that KesselsKramer are pure class, but did you also know that their studio is super awesome mega amazing class? Check out the image above if you dont believe me. Flickr has lots of great images of design studios so get searching and tagging and whatever it is the kids do these days. Man i would love to work there.

Motive Sounds: THE BLOG

Guess what? yes! thats right, Motive Sounds have a blog. It's a good little read, check it out.

Motive Sounds Blog

RIP LUX

The Cramps. Man i love The Cramps so much. I really wish i'd got to see them back in the day. Wearing sunglasses after dark and drinking a tequila sunrise. Anyway their singer Lux Interior just died and it totally, totally sucks. RIP, Lux. Above is an amazing video of them live at Napa State Mental Hospital.

You dig?

Here is pretty much just a bunch of links and other stuff i'm feeling right now:

The illustrator Matthew Green

The Cap'n Jazz song "precious"

The William S. Burrough's book "Junky"

The artwork of Stanley Donwood

The design of Human Empire