Seeing Positives

I admit I haven't had much work to show you lately due to being in the middle of two client projects, due to be finished soon and they will be up for you to see.

For now though I do have a small piece of work to show, a poster I have designed as part of the Positive Posters Project based in Melbourne, Australia.

The competition is held annually between July and October. They give designers two months to create and submit a positive design that responds to the theme of that year. An exhibition is held of the top 30 posters, and the winner chosen by a group of international judges. They then print 4000 copies of the winning poster and paste it all over the streets of Melbourne, Australia. And send a few off around the world too!

This years brief:

"I haven’t failed; I’ve had 10,000 ideas that didn’t work 
– Benjamin Franklin

We think Mr. Franklin had a nice way of looking at things. So the 2010 competition theme is ‘A Glass Half Full’.
 For those who don’t know, this saying refers to optimism. Some people see situations with optimism (Franklin – glass half full), and some see situations with pessimism (glass half empty)."

Here is my poster, see it larger here and here

I'm Comic Sans, Asshole

Below is an article written by Mike Lacher that I found in the current issue of Creative Review, re-printed from the original source over at McSweeney's blog.

As much as I am one of the 'pretentious buzz kills' referred to in the piece, I still find this article brilliantly amusing. But it must be noted that I will never retreat to the dark side that is Comic Sans.

Enjoy:

Listen up. I know the shit you've been saying behind my back. You think I'm stupid. You think I'm immature. You think I'm a malformed, pathetic excuse for a font. Well think again, nerdhole, because I'm Comic Sans, and I'm the best thing to happen to typography since Johannes fucking Gutenberg.

You don't like that your coworker used me on that note about stealing her yogurt from the break room fridge? You don't like that I'm all over your sister-in-law's blog? You don't like that I'm on the sign for that new Thai place? You think I'm pedestrian and tacky? Guess the fuck what, Picasso. We don't all have seventy-three weights of stick-up-my-ass Helvetica sitting on our seventeen-inch MacBook Pros. Sorry the entire world can't all be done in stark Eurotrash Swiss type. Sorry some people like to have fun. Sorry I'm standing in the way of your minimalist Bauhaus-esque fascist snoozefest. Maybe sometime you should take off your black turtleneck, stop compulsively adjusting your Tumblr theme, and lighten the fuck up for once.

People love me. Why? Because I'm fun. I'm the life of the party. I bring levity to any situation. Need to soften the blow of a harsh message about restroom etiquette? SLAM. There I am. Need to spice up the directions to your graduation party? WHAM. There again. Need to convey your fun-loving, approachable nature on your business' website? SMACK. Like daffodils in motherfucking spring.

When people need to kick back, have fun, and party, I will be there, unlike your pathetic fonts. While Gotham is at the science fair, I'm banging the prom queen behind the woodshop. While Avenir is practicing the clarinet, I'm shredding "Reign In Blood" on my double-necked Stratocaster. While Univers is refilling his allergy prescriptions, I'm racing my tricked-out, nitrous-laden Honda Civic against Tokyo gangsters who'll kill me if I don't cross the finish line first. I am a sans serif Superman and my only kryptonite is pretentious buzzkills like you.

It doesn't even matter what you think. You know why, jagoff? Cause I'm famous. I am on every major operating system since Microsoft fucking Bob. I'm in your signs. I'm in your browsers. I'm in your instant messengers. I'm not just a font. I am a force of motherfucking nature and I will not rest until every uptight armchair typographer cock-hat like you is surrounded by my lovable, comic-book inspired, sans-serif badassery.

Enough of this bullshit. I'm gonna go get hammered with Papyrus.

Published

My CMYK 'Ink Low' pillows were recently featured in the June issue of the Malaysian 'Home Concepts' magazine. Only a short feature in their digital edge section, but nonetheless a published article within the design world.

Still available to buy at www.envelop.eu

Plastic dreams

Melissa is a contemporary shoe selling website, soon to be selling designer shoes (all plastic, but stylish) from the likes of Vivienne Westwood and Zaha Hadid (as featured in 50 shoes the changed the world).

Although unavailable to buy at the moment the website is worth a visit just to take in it's cleverly interactive design, scroll over the shoe boxes to see what I mean. I do however feel the identity could be worked on some more, which is a shame as the rest of the website is great.

Also check out the 'watch the dream' videos featured on certain articles, they are brilliant.

Fifty shoes that changed the world

A small in size but big on content, a book from the design museum showcasing what they believe to be 50 of the most influential shoes to date. From plimsoles to platforms and flip-flops to dorothy's ruby slippers in the Wizard of OZ, this book catalogues a more than interesting array of footwear you couldn't even muster up the brain power to imagine.

On sale at Amazon.co.uk for only £8.44 this is a fabulous little gem to give you an insight into fashion's most celebrated article, the shoe, or pair of.

Notebook cover series

Grafik is no-more

I discovered today that Grafik magazine (for the time being at least) is no longer going to be produced due to their publisher, Adventures in Publishing, having liquidated the company.

This is a sad time for all readers and followers of the wonderful publication that is was Grafik.

I hope to see them return in the future, the design world will lack terribly (for me anyway) without it.

However all is not lost as they will be carrying on with the blog etc on the website, linked above.