London

home!

(well, not Battersea specifically but whatever.)

(also taken on my iphone, would you believe it)

Musical interlude: Bowerbirds "northern lights"

Sorry for no blog posts in a while. No time.

Books update

Contrary to popular belief, i am selling books and not hot cakes! The following have been sold:

Profile: Pentagram

The Picture Book

Creativity for Graphic Designers

MIA

Design It Yourself

Graphics Alive

influences

But that means there is still tons of really good stuff left, make sure you get it before its gone!

BOOKS FOR SALE!

As every member of BA (Hons) Graphic Design Yr3 classes up and down the country the end is very much in sight. Within 2 weeks the ladies and gentlemen in my class will be handing in all of their final projects and then cracking open some drinks in celebration. We can't spend all our time now patting each other on the back and telling everyone we love them and we're going to miss them. Soon the real world will be knocking on the door and in order to stop my real world experience not being one of "living on the streets" I have decided to sell some of my collection of design, illustration, art and photography books. There is tons of really great stuff here and I 100% gaurantee i am not trying to get rid of any books just because they suck, but purely because I feel that there are others who will appreciate them a lot more than I do.

To view the above poster at a legible size please click here, or better yet download the .pdf by going here (mediafire link).

If you're interested in any of the titles please please dont hesitate to get in touch via email, phone, facebook, face to face conversation or however you see fit. Cash or cheque preferred!

Paul Blow

I was reminded of the work of illustrator Paul Blow today. I love it. Take a closer look on his website here

MISTD

Today I received an email confirming that I had passed the entrance competition to become a member of the mysterious elite group The International Society of Typographic Designers (more commonly referred to simply as ISTD). This means I am officially now able to put MISTD after my name on my business card. I've never felt so important! It's fair to say that i'm pleased! I would also like to congratulate the other fantastic designers and good friends who got in also. We are invited to the formal awards ceremony in June, which is going to be held at the secret ISTD super hq, inside the main volcanic lava pit of Eyjafjallajokull in Iceland. Exciting!

You can view photos, and read about the project I entered by clicking here

Snask sweet Snask

Today is the last day of Snask. This is a dark day. It might not yet be my last day in Stockholm however as even though UK airspace is open again, and the Swedes seem pretty relaxed about it, it would appear that many flights to London from Stockholm are still totally fucked. FINE BY ME! I love Stockholm and I think I might just make it my home instead of going back to London.

Yesterday was the final day of the Malmofestivalen photoshoot. There was a real live parrot on the set (or "pappagoya" in Swedish). My job was basically to float a purple balloon on a stick at it which really pissed it off. I think parrots (along with ostriches, probably my least favourite animal) are quite scary even when they are in a good mood. The photos look incredible though so its totally worth the jungle fear. To get home i rode in the back of the van with Axel and Hanna. We felt like illegal immigrants, sitting on bags of trash in the dark, wondering when were going to get home. Of course, i was genuinely wondering when/how I was going to get home. Let's hope never! I love you, Snask!

Day ?: Snask Vs. Super Volcano

Oskar och Axel

Sorry for not updating for a while!

Here is a list of things i have learnt recently:

- All doors in Stockholm are really, really heavy and open the opposite way you expect

- A lot of people spit on the street here, including fancy looking girls

- Saying "tjena" is cooler than saying "hej"

- Argentinians in hostels are obnoxious, germans are smug, and poles are peculiar.

- The shop Weekday is incredible

- Sodermalm is where i want to live

- Volcanoes are fucking cool

- If you're a tiny bit brave (but nowhere near as brave as you need to be in London) you can ride the metro for free.

- Everyone in Sweden is good looking, even the ugly people

- People LOVE whining about volcanoes, when in reality they should be rejoicing that they are FORCED to take a longer holiday

- Swedes drink an unreal amount of coffee

- Helvetica Neue is so last year. Helvetica Neue LT Std is the real deal. (especially 85 heavy)

- Spray paint is fun but gets all over your shit

- Freddie, Magnus, Erik, Michael, Jens, Axel, Oskar, Daniel, Hanna, Klara & Emilie are unbelievable and i love everyone. (i make myself sick)

- Pet Sounds in Sodermalm is probably going to feature in my top 5 record shops of all time. Apparently its Quentin Tarantino's number one.

In other news, there is some chance my flight on thursday will be cancelled. Fingers crossed! I love being here!

Snask off!

Day 7: Snask down, Snask to go

Another day, another dollar/red furry horse being made. (Horse-manufacturer: Hanna, my lovely co-intern.)

Can you believe I have been in Stockholm for one week tonight? You can? Weird, because I can't. Time flies, as they say, when you're having fun. Today I think i learnt more in ten minutes than I have in the past year. I wish I was kidding. It fried my brain so i had to go home from the studio, but tomorrow i will be going at it full-tilt. Tack så mycket Freddie!

After I left the studio i bought some stuff in the incredible Weekday (its so good its good we don't have it, because British people would ruin it) and then i asked the incredible Clara where to go for an adventure this evening. She seemed keen I go drinking on my own (?), although after some discussion she decided it would be better if i went and checked out some attractive Swedish architecture. She was right. Tack så mycket Clara!

The only thing i can believe less than the fact that i have been here a full week already is the fact that i am yet to make a swedish themed "musical interlude" post. OH WAIT! Love Is All "Sea sick" - such an underrated band. Sweden (and most of scandinavia) produces some of the best pop and indie pop in the world.

Day 4, 5 & 6: Tired & frustrated. Am I a designer yet?

Wig, model's own.

Friday marked my first weekend in Stockholm! So logically I decided to catch the train out of Stockholm C to the very small little village of Knivsta to visit my good friend Sofie. Knivsta translates, literally, as Knifetown. There are ghettos in Hackney which don't even get nicknamed Knifetown. Needless to say it was very quiet and everyone was very friendly and stabbing each other was probably the last thing on their minds. Saturday night we went to Uppsala to party and hand a grand old time. Uppsala will always have an awesome, drunk little place in my heart ever since I visited last summer.

In the UK when you have a hangover you eat fried food, puke and watch shitty TV all day long. In sweden you eat waffles and visit tiny little villages (Sigtuna) which people used to write fairy stories about then hang out next to a frozen lake. This is reason No. 14356 why Sweden is way better than the UK.

Today i have been continuing my work on the Teaterhogskolen project. I got frustrated and decided to abandon some of my ideas and take a fresh perspective and i think that that was definitely a wise move. Hopefully i can get it covered tomorrow and move on to something else. This frustration is something that me (and everyone else no doubt) has experienced countless times at the university studio, however experiencing in "real life" certainly puts it into perspective. Especially when you've seen the invoice for what you've been doing.

Day 2 & 3: Roses are red, violets are Snask.

Pluto (shh don't tell anyone)

Snask translates as "candy". It also translates as sexy, trashy filth.

I picked up the (huge fucking) coffee delivery when everyone was out to lunch.

Yesterday was quite a quiet day helping Mike come up with ideas for the Malmofestivalen films. This was fun, but i have never done anything remotely animated before and Mike is basically a pro, so i think my role was mostly moral support. Hanna's job was to read "tellmewhy" by KarlssonWilker (a classic, and judging by the amazon marketplace value, also a design antique). When all of this hard work was done, it was time to drink beer and play ps3 on the huge fucking projector wall. I was introduced to Oskar, who is great, and makes music videos and adverts. For nearly two whole days he thought I was a client and not an intern. Thanks Oskar! It is safe to say that life at Snask is pretty sweet. We then rode the subway, ate some burgers and went to Pluto, which is a top secret members only kind of bar/venue to see Erik's friend's band, who were actually pretty good, especially if you like Can, Liquid Liquid, Silver Apples or LCD Soundsystem etc. Erik agreed with me that "Washing Machine" by Sonic Youth is their best record (we're right).

Today Freddie passed me my own brief, designing a poster for Teaterhögskolan in Stockholm. The poster is for a sort of drama class for the homosexual society, or something along those lines. More on that soon!

Snask off!

Day 1: Snask Down

Today was day 1 at wonderful Snask in Stockholm. Above is a sly photo i took and as you can see everyone is hard at work. I met some really, really awesome people today, not all of whos names I can remember, but some of which are called: Freddie, Michael, Hanna, Erik, Magnus and Daniel. Right now Snask is working on this years identity system for Malmo Festival, and me and Michael (the super-intern) have been assigned the top secret mission of coming up with ideas for some short films for the festival. I will say no more (otherwise Magnus will kill me in my sleep) but i will say that Michael clearly knows what he is doing, not least because he did this:

SNASK from Mike Crozier on Vimeo.

Needless to say, i am pretty damn excited to be onboard.

Snask's Away!

Tomorrow i am going to be flying to Stockholm. Tuesday is day one interning with the nobel prize winning international playboys at Snask in sunny/snowy Stockholm. It is going to be a great two weeks of not sleeping, being terrified, excited, confused, overjoyed and worried, often all at the same time. But, as the ancient Scandinavian proverb goes "if you're not tired, terrified, excited, confused, overyjoyed and worried all at the same time, what are you? some kind of god damn sissy?". I carry that proverb with me wherever I go. Snask's away!

Musical Interlude: Memoryhouse "Lately (Deuxième)"

Memoryhouse - Lately from Jamie Harley on Vimeo.

I am currently obsessed with this song and this band. You may recognise the sample from "phonecall" by Jon Brion aka that really pretty song from the Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind soundtrack. If not, i highly recommend you get familiar with it!

Also, why is vimeo not more ubiquitous?

New Work!: One night, two gigs, two posters.

The Lucid Dream & Black Market Karma at The Source

Vivian Girls & German Measles at the Brooklyn Bowl

Pow! Right in the kisser! In one night i managed to do two posters and i'm pretty pleased with that. The top image is for The Lucid Dream & Black Market Karma gig at The Source in may (put on by the good people of Holy Are You) and the second is for the Vivian Girls gig at the Brooklyn Bowl which was actually last night. The idea behind that poster is a sort of punk-meets-cops-meets-stalker clippings collected about the mysterious behaviour of a mysterious band. I also wanted this one to be deliberately a little on the experimental side. If you click here to view the large size image on my Flickr you can read the copy and hilarious jokes i added in. I enjoyed getting a chance to go back and do some of my lo-fi punk and psych influenced work that i've not really done much of for a while now (a post about two great designers in that area will be coming soon, hold tight!)

The details for the Holy Are You gig are:

Holy Are You presents:

The Lucid Dream

Black Market Karma

Plus Holy Are You DJs playing a velvet evening of mind expanding, foot stomping psychedelia.

Saturday 8th May

8pm - 1am

The Source Arts Cafe, Nelson St, Carlisle

£5 on the door

www.myspace.com/holyareyoucarlisle

get yourselves down there, it'll be a lot of fun. Besides The Source is a massively underrated and overlooked place to hang out!

some Mac icons circa 1985

!!!

Untitled, 1988 by Bernard Voïta

Nice one, Bernard.

Musical Interlude: The Besnard Lakes "albatross"

Absolutely phenomenal and criminally underrated band, The Besnard Lakes, have a song from their new album "the besnard lakes are the roaring night" available for free on itunes. It's called "albatross". It's a slightly slow burner, but once it connects, damn is it good.

Work: Saison De La Nouvelle Vague Au Le PCC

detail of print

detail of print

Poster series for a french new wave film festival at the PCC cinema. Bon bon!

Gordon

My house mate gordon is the man. Seriously. I can hear him doing the washing up right now and he is half signing half rambling to himself and it sounds a bit like he is possibly pretending to be the vampire from the muppets. If you don't believe me, check out the photo i took of him above. Proof.

Happy St. Patrick's Day

T: "Mine's a pint of the black stuff"

M: "...you can't drink a pint of bovril."

Birds & Bee

Here is a little letterpressed type a made a couple of weeks ago but only just remembered about. If you've not already i hiiigghhllyyy recommend that you go down to Caldewgate and hang out with Smiling Alan and use the print making facilities down there. It also a much better fine art silk screen printing facility than what is available at Brampton, which is much better suited to textile printing. Speaking of printmaking, get this book, you wont be disappointed, it teaches a hell of a lot and is an awesome reference:

Printmaking: A Complete Guide to Materials & Processes

Logorama!

Watch the Oscar winning 15 minute short film "Logorama" at the link below. It'll make you think, and/or bring a wry smile to your face, i promise. Definitely worth your time!

Logorama

New Work: The Secret History of Free Market Capitalism

A 28 page booklet printed on newsprint for the ISTD Student Awards 2010. I chose to work on the brief simply titled "Imbalance". Fingers crossed I pass and win membership! Part of the entrance criteria is a "strategy" (aka, explanation) of what you have done and why. Read mine below:

(Warning, its about 700 words long)

"As designers we are gifted with skills and opportunities that allow us to communicate with a great number of people. This gift should not just be confined to projecting brand values or persuading consumers to purchase products, but instead to give everyone the possibility to engage with politics, thought, debate and ideology. Design with a conscience is key to a progressive society and culture – a society that is always aware and always questioning the institutions and regimes that are trying to influence, control or oppress us.

“The Secret History of Free Market Capitalism” is based around “The Shock Doctrine”, a book and short film by Naomi Klein & Alfonso Cuaron. Klein is a highly regarded left wing political writer who often engages with topics such as consumerism and globalisation. “The Shock Doctrine” deals with what she describes as “disaster capitalism” – an economic policy of exploiting human suffering (through wars, natural disasters, massacres, coups etc) to implement free market economies on to societies whilst they are in a state of shock – allowing right wing and emphatically capitalist governments to reap the financial benefits. Inevitably, great divides and imbalances between the wealthy and the poor are created, highlighted by fissures of death, violence and suffering. I wanted to promote Klein’s perspectives and criticisms of these policies, as well as the serious issues and largely overlooked facts that she draws attention to.

“The Secret History of Free Market Capitalism” is fundamentally based on the short film version of “The Shock Doctrine” which is highly succinct and straight forward with its presentation of the facts and ideas that Klein discusses. I feel it is important to offer people who may not have any knowledge or prior interest in economics or politics, relatively short, interesting and easy to digest pieces of information which do not patronise the reader, but also do not require a great deal of knowledge on the subject to gain their attention. Politics, education and information are important and should be accessible for everyone – and that is the fundamental intention of “The Shock Doctrine” and therefore “The Secret History of Free Market Capitalism”: to inform, to educate, to create discussion and to create thought.

For the design of the booklet I took influence from newspapers and inexpensive, easily distributed political posters and pamphlets, their “lo-fi” production and cheap printing methods – referencing them through matt paper, headline style display type and images with heavy halftone dots applied. It was also important to reflect the stark, bold and serious nature of the topics discussed in the copy, shown through my choice of the bold, austere condensed typeface, Trade Gothic Condensed No. 20. For copy I chose to use Aksidenz Grotesque regular, complimenting Trade Gothic with its clean neutrality, but also acting as an attractive replacement for the often over-used Helvetica. Trixie, a typeface designed to look like the letters printed by an old typewriter, was also used in small sections of copy which are quotes from CIA interrogation handbooks published during the early 1960s. Horizontal lines are used throughout the spreads of the book as a graphic device to help create structure within the pages, but also to add an element of discomfort and dissonance, in particular on pages 2, 3, 7 and 10 where they collide with the text and do not comply with the grid formatting used on the columns of type. Their vertical placement down the columns of type is also used to allude to missing sections of the CIA manuals the quotes are from, as if there is even more to the story than what is being presented here – hinting back to the secrecy suggested in the title. This device is also used on pages 5 and 4 where the display type scrolls off the top and bottom of the pages, suggesting that the list of torture methods is far longer than what has been shown on the page. The book is essentially split into three sections: the first, between pages 2 and 13 act as the “Set up” of what the book is about, explaining the details, ideas, economic perspectives and theories about free market capitalism. The second section, spreads between pages 14 and 23, act in contrast to the controlled and collected style of the first section, communicating the facts and realities of the disaster that capitalism has exploited with much more vigour and energy. These spreads are designed to be loud and immediately engaging. The final, and shortest section (pages 24-27) is a deliberate and sharp jump from the noise of the spreads that come before, creating a sudden return to silence, emphasising the shocking and harsh content dealt with in the previous section."

and here is the short film that the entire project was based on (highly recommended viewing):

Musical Interlude: King Khan & The Shrines "Welfare Bread" (live at SXSW)

If this video doesn't make you want to party, then you're dead inside/dead to me (same thing)

Ian Mackaye

Everyone knows that Ian Mackaye is the man. Seriously. But did you know that he is also really good at creating hilarious facial expressions in response to really dumb questions relating to Minor Threat and hardcore punk? 24 seconds is particularly good.

Thanks to Alex aka Jesus Beard

New Work: Summer Exhibition 2010

Poster, private and general view invitations and signage system for the University of Cumbria Summer Exhibition 2010. This is a live competition brief, and a few people have entered: prize is £100 (i am totally gonna blow it all on stuff i dont need) and obviously they then use your work to promote the exhibition which would be pretty neat. I am pleased with what I've produced, not least because i did it all in one day. So tired now though.

To view the invitations and signage please check out my flickr! (the images are too wide to fit on here unfortunately)

Musical Interlude: The Strange Boys "be brave"

one of my favourite bands right now, garage rocking, country-fied goodness. This is a hell of a song to drink a beer to.

The Digital Economy Bill

Incase you havnt heard already, The Digital Economy Bill is being forced through and should be law, unamended by may the 6th. It will rob EVERYONE of their copyright over any image they choose to publish online and will also prevent people from taking photographs in many public places. Much like "Section 44" (which allows the police to stop, search, harass and arrest pretty much whoever they like by accusing them of being a terrorist) it will hand powers over to people who do not deserve it and who will not use it fairly or rightly. It is a disgrace and an insult. Maybe we will see some kind of neo-luddite internet exodus in the near future. That would be beautiful.

RIP flickr!

Read more about it here:

http://www.photoactive.co.uk/archives/7061