ben mcqueen graphics

Move to tumblr...

2010-03-04T11:04:00.000-08:00

Ok so blogspot was really annoying me with how restrictive and lame it can be so I finally decided to move home. Hopefully this will mean more posts. anyway the new link is here if you actually bother to read this.

Farewell Blogspot.

When on bad form get the tiny dancer out

2010-01-27T09:07:00.000-08:00

Everybody was a little stressed out last night so just had to put this on.

mmmm I love this...

2010-01-27T07:50:00.000-08:00

Jasper Goodall is just too damn good. I love really slick graphics and this boy just takes it one step too far. Something to aspire to in my own graphics? I wish... I don't think I could even make stuff like this in my dreams.

This looks like a lot of fun

2010-01-26T04:19:00.000-08:00

Great use of downhill skateboarding and neons!

Time to post something worth talking about...

2010-01-24T09:41:00.000-08:00

Believe it or not over the Christmas period I didn't really have anything worth posting that you haven't seen before and I didn't feel there was a need to rant either for once in my life. That's not to say my Christmas was boring as it was far from it, Damn hectic to be honest. I spent most of my Christmas in Hmv serving the very ungrateful public... when I say ungrateful you may think whaaat? but believe me when you come in to work at 9am on boxing day and there is a queue of about 100 people looking for returns, then you will understand. People, be grateful for what you were given over Christmas, fair enough if you already have it but no need to be a cock about it. Ok rant over!! Next up I'm back in London again doing a work placement and oh man does it feel weird to be back, almost like I never left, but there's definitely something missing. I had a good chat to some of my London friends and they agreed London times are different now, I think our art college days of pissing around and having a care free life are over. Everyone is is stuck in their 9-5 grind and are they loving it? Some are, but the majority def not. I don't want to end up one of the unhappy fellows, but where are all the decent jobs hiding? This placement isn't bad, its down more of the commercial line of graphics so its mainly packaging and retail, not really my cup of tea but the experience is well and truly needed if I want to become a respected designer, I thought I wasn't too bad at all the design software like photoshop and illustrator but I was very very wrong. Anyway I have another week at least of possible learning and after that who knows.

Right now for the fun part of the post, I have so much to share with you for once. Firstly one of the most beautiful films about surfing, snowboarding and music I have watched in a long time "The Lives of The Artists". Produced by the boys at Relentless, (that's right the energy drink company)it follows the paths of snowboarder Xavier De Le Rue, big wave surfers Fergal Smith, Micky Smith and Tom Lowe and the Gallows. This film is beautifully shot and carefully put together, with an interesting portrayal of each persons biggest conquest. I really admire Xavier De Le Rue free snowboarding in Greenland of all places, it looks absolutely desolate, lonely and undoubtedly jaw dropping. The surf aspect to the film is more jaw breaking than anything else. These boys are attempting to surf "the perfect" wave in the entire world but it comes at a price, it is also the heaviest wave in the world as the whole ocean dumps onto a razor sharp coral reef only bout 3 feet deep. I wasn't so sure about the Gallows to be quite Frank they have the typical punk rock attitude to stick the finger up to everything in society but at the same time they are brilliant at what they do and they are essentially a rebellion to the shit music that is being churned out everyday on the radio and tv. You can feel the intensity of these boys like the are almost destroying themselves from the insides, you just wondering how long they can last before they combust. Have a look at the film its being streamed free on the relentless website.

Ok finally I'm going to leave you with some new tunes, I spent maybe a good 3 hours in rough trade today. Possibly one of my favorite places to shop in the whole of London, there always seems to be some really obscure album on the shelves that I find intriguing.

Have a good week people.

Merry Christmas

2009-12-13T14:03:00.001-08:00

check out the image I've been working on for Fuel's
christmas cards, kinda love how well this has come
out without any photoshopping! It took me forever
to get to this point almost gave up after weeks
of hitting dead ends but then I thought I would
have a go at some origami for a change and this
was the result.

Some bits and bobs...

2009-12-13T13:31:00.000-08:00

Just a few images of what I have been up to as of late...
Seabird made my life so easy for this poster and ticket.
They had high quality images of them underwater which
they wanted to use so all I had to do was place the
type and size everything up correctly but it looks
good and my good old buddies goodbye pluto
are supporting them on friday so check them out
if you are free as I am sure it will go down
as a great night.
The fuel image however was not so easy as you
may remember from my last post it involved
some frantic dances in the cold and punctured
tires, well here you have it.
Was rather impressed with the final shots
and this is what comes up on fuels main
page of the website at the moment.

What a night...

2009-11-29T17:29:00.000-08:00

Hey, yes I am still alive, the blog was left gathering
dusk on the shelf there for a while,(a month, sorry)
but I have been so busy with new part time job,
swimming and a little surf here and there, oh yeah
and some graphics. This is a graphics blog supposedly
so I better show you the goods for this month.
Well first off, I've got a couple more quote
Ts printed up, and will be available on Folksy
very soon. Started doing design for small Music
Festival in Northern Ireland called Fuel, it's been
quite manic to say as deadlines keep appearing out
of nowhere. I was working on this image for the front
page of the website. Trying to keep it slick and minimal
as last years designs were far too busy, but then I was
interrupted by my great friend and photographer Shelley
Garrett wanting to do a super secret late night photo
shoot at 11.30pm. Shelley, her boyfriend Ricky and
I set off into the night and had such a laugh doing
the photos for fuel, I'm not giving anything away
at the min until the photos have been edited but
it did involve us dancing around like idiots
in the pitch dark absolutely freezing our asses off.
Also my car suffered a fatal flat tire incident that
ended up being a complete nightmare to change but
shelley got some comical photos of the alpha males
(Ricky + I) being defeated by a small tire change.
Such a funny night but totally worth it,
let's hope the photos turn out well.

oh dear, I have been neglecting the blog again...

2009-10-26T11:41:00.000-07:00

Well it's been a while since I last posted,
apologies, everythings been a bit more hands
on since I finally got round to printing
Tshirts. Been a bit tricky getting the hang
of it but I've put some of the prints on Folksy
and they have actually been selling!!

The Eagle

2009-10-12T12:16:00.000-07:00

Ok bit of a crap photo, but I have been drawing this for absolutely ages
and it is now ready to be turned into a screenprint hopefully tomorrow.
Looking forward to seeing how this will work on a Tshirt. Could be tricky.

The end of the romantic era...

2009-10-07T06:44:00.000-07:00

...well hopefully the end. Just spent the morning with Debbie making final adjustments to the programme for the night. Took quite a bit of tweaking to fit everything in that she wanted, but we've finally got there in the end. This should be off to print in the next few days and then I can get a proper photo of it folded to the way it will be for the night. You can probably tell a few things from other pieces of my work have crept into this programme, like the bastardize typeface I had done for the Give me Truth and also the ink clouds that had been used for Goodbye Pluto. This is because Debbie took a strong liking to both of the styles and felt it worked well with what she was looking for in particular for this project. Luckily enough I had that many different photos of the ink, I used one for this that looked completely different to the one I used for Goodbye Pluto. Right now I'm off to sort out This give me truth Tshirt print and try and find some more freelance jobs to keep me busy. Before I go I'll leave you with this Nine Inch Nails Track, I know I said I would post a tune everyday I like a while back and never really upheld it but here is a song I'm loving today, well to be honest I'm loving all of NINs songs today. Discipline

Give me Truth

2009-10-03T03:51:00.000-07:00

Ok so been working on a quote I love,I'm pleased with how the type turned out but for a Tshirt print this isn't going to work just yet, afterall these are just found photos from a few books I had. Thinking of doing some illustrations to bleed into the type as well and take away the photo, gotta add a bit more of a personal touch I'm thinking, or even get off my ass and take photos myself. The Goodbye pluto Tshirts came out really well, I'm surprised they actually worked. Thinking of doing a few more styles for the guys at some point once I get the Truth T sorted.

The modern romantics is almost finished as well, posters and flyers are up around town and have been getting a rather good response from them. The actual programme itself is nearly finished and is starting to shape up quite nicely, photos to come of the final product.

Other than that theres not much to say today, been so busy recently with training and surfing and a bit of part time work haven't really had time to sit down and mull things over. Well apart from one thing, a person I hold close to me said a lot of things that made me wonder for a while who I am deep down, kinda felt lost like Kerouac on the road, but I think I've sorted out my head now.

"I woke up as the sun was reddening; and that was the one distinct time in my life, the strangest moment of all, when I didn't know who I was — I was far away from home, haunted and tired with travel, in a cheap hotel room I'd never seen, hearing the hiss of steam outside, and the creak of the old wood of the hotel, and footsteps upstairs, and all the sad sounds, and I looked at the cracked high ceiling and really didn't know who I was for about fifteen strange seconds."
- Jack Kerouac, On the Road,

I'm a proud print parent...

2009-09-22T16:56:00.000-07:00

I have quite a few interesting pictures for once, sorry about the quality, my normal camera's battery died just when things where getting interesting. Anyway as you can see from the pictures I have one completed poster for Modern Romantics. I am currently awaiting the text for the programme that needs to be designed, I have about 2 weeks to come up with something special, have promised paper engineering and what not so I better live up to my word. Took a little photo of the ocean the other day as I thought you may like to know what me and my buddy Gareth paddled into and surfed for 8 hours yesterday, only getting out at lunchtime to munch on a quality ulster fry from none other than the silver sands of portrush. I have stupidly agreed to get up tomorrow morning at 6am for another early riser surf, who said the unemployed do nothing with their day? The surf better be good. Also before I forget, check out that bad boy of a Tshirt I just baked for Goodbye Pluto, and when I say baked I literally mean it was in the oven at 150C for 15 mins to cook the ink. Mum was so overwhelmed by this she took a photo of the finished crispy T coming out of the oven,(photo will come at another time if you are lucky). I am surprised the printing when so well, the one thing I was scared most about was the exposure times in my make shift lightbox that was originally my wardrobe but it all worked out great apart from applying far too much ink the first time round and covering the en suite in the parents bedroom with red ink, it now looks like Norman Bates had a wild time in there. Anyway its been a good day and tomorrow is going to be a proper burner, have the surf in the morning, more Tshirts to screenprint and goodbye plutos first gig since they finished recording. Night all.

The living quaters/studio

2009-09-18T07:11:00.000-07:00

Been doing quite a bit of thinking today about ideas and what not and little jobs I have on the go and I can definitely say I've never been so busy with work I actually like doing. I put up a blank sheet of A1 paper on my wall and filled it with jobs and ideas I have in mind to be completed in the forthcoming weeks. Somewhat liberating and daunting at the same time to see what I want to complete, but hey it's got to be a mammoth task or there's no point in doing it now is there? Thought I would take a photo as well and show you the space I'm working in at the min,yes admittedly it is at home with the parents but how many of you have the space and money to set up screenprinting in your own room? I'm loving the setup at the min.

Before I forget...

2009-09-17T17:19:00.000-07:00

I've actually been doing some graphics and I thought I better blog about them for once as this is supposedly a design blog. Firstly I want to note that I have almost gathered all the materials to start screenprinting in my self made studio, my little brothers bedroom (sorry Ross but couldn't let your room go to waste). The plan is hopefully after a few tests to get some Tshirts printed for Troggs (the old surf shop I used to work in) and also Goodbye Pluto. I have a few designs in mind but haven't had a chance to work on them because I have been trying to finish the Goodbye Pluto album sleeve which is looking like this at the min:

I was up at the studio with Danny the other day listening to some of the final mixing on a couple of the tracks and the album is sounding pretty epic already, I'm actually amazed at how they managed to record something heavy. I will keep you updated when that is realized as it is something that you really shouldn't miss out on.
I have also been working on some promotion material for a fundraiser classical concert titled Modern Romantics. Actually been a great little project so far as my client is just as anal about typography and layout as I am so everything has been visually abused to the minute detail. Here is what the flyer is looking like and the poster at the moment. It's not quite there just yet but I thought it would be worth putting up so you can have a look yourself.

Anyway thats where everything is at, I'm sure you have heard enough of my rambling for one night. I am for my bed, I bid thee farewell.

Alone in the wild

2009-09-17T16:34:00.000-07:00

Ok starting of this entry with something amazing I watched earlier: Alone in the Wild.
Absolutely brilliant, among all the mind numbing shit reality TV shows comes this amazing heart warming, real programme about a man Ed Wardle trying to live of the land for 3 months in the wild with no aid, nothing, he is completely alone, well apart from the grizzly bears. It can't go unnoticed that this is clearly inspired by Chris McCandless trek into Alaska but I respect the man for taking on such a task, if you watch the programme you can see how much he actual struggles to live and the littlest things that pass us by are so incredibly important to him because his life is on the line. I guess I love it so much because I think it gives a real feeling of what McCandless when through up until his untimely death. Sometimes I wish I could be McCandles or Wardle and have the balls to just leave everything behind and go off into the hills of Alaska or where ever and just live, I mean really live, cause right now we are not living, we are just numb. Can I do what they have done?

Two years he walks the earth. No phone, no pool, no pets, no cigarettes. Ultimate freedom. An extremist. An aesthetic voyager whose home is the road. Escaped from Atlanta. Thou shalt not return, 'cause "the West is the best." And now after two rambling years comes the final and greatest adventure. The climactic battle to kill the false being within and victoriously conclude the spiritual pilgrimage. Ten days and nights of freight trains and hitchhiking bring him to the Great White North. No longer to be poisoned by civilization he flees, and walks alone upon the land to become lost in the wild. - Alexander Supertramp May 1992

More than anything I would love to but I don't have the balls to just get up and leave everything. Afterall even McCandless himself said "happiness is only real when shared" and that I totally believe but some days you just want to forget everything and be alone.

What now?

2009-09-07T16:31:00.000-07:00

So... I have just arrived home from what looks to be like my last trip to London for a while. 4 hectic,lovable, testing years in the big city to come back to rural life in the sticks, how am I going to cope? I really don't know just at the min, my mind is a muddled jigsaw puzzle consisting of a million pieces which do not fit together or have been lost. Let me explain, leaving London for the last time as resident did not strike me at all until I took a trip to the Natural History Museum while waiting for my sister who was attending a pre med course at Imperial. Why did it strike me there out of all the places? I'm not sure but if you have ever been to the building it is the most fantastic place in the world. I love aimlessly walking around glass cabinets staring into the eyes of the dead static taxidermed animals. I get lost in their cold fake eyes, imagining I am that animal wondering the forests of wherever it eventually lay to rest. You probably think I'm crazy about now, but try it sometime, the places amazes me everytime I go. I also went to the very top of main hall entrance where the massive tree trunk is, it is the best spot in the whole building to watch the best animals of all - people. Feels almost surreal people watching as there is a massive carved statue of Darwin directly opposite who appears to be staring down into the depths of the crowds with you. I swear I stood there for about 2 hours taking it all in and there it hit me, no more London, no more Brick Lane, no more Rough Trade, no more Brixton Bowls, No more Camden Market, no more Bar55, in fact hell of a lot no mores but hey, it's not the end of the world. I'm back home to gain money and experience, I have my friends and I have ocean to Surf, I am not going to go crazy, you make the most of your surroundings, and believe or not there is a lot at home to keep me busy.

Again another rant my apologies, but it felt like a much needed one, it's all going to work out. Here are some photos from the Natural History Museum, get sunk into the eyes of the eagle and drift off into their world, I dare you...

I've come properly prepared this time

2009-08-27T02:37:00.000-07:00

As you can see from photo A my tent did not quite make it through Benicassim in one piece. Bearing in mind it was a full week of Sandstorms, bush fires and alcoholic 14 year olds contaminated with swine flu I think it did surprisingly well. I'm heading to Reading this afternoon and since I'm a bum I've managed to get free entry as long as I serve the Reading crowds their long sought for sweet tender beverages for 6 hours a day. Free entry, food and drink to a festival, not a bad deal! This time though I am not taking any chances, my packing for Benicassim was somewhat naive to say the least but this time I'm ready for all weather conditions and mindless teens. So here is the check list for the forthcoming bad holiday weekend of madness:

£9.99 tent - check
Dad's sleeping bag - check
Little Bros wellies - check
2 pairs of jeans - check
heavy duty rain coat - check
carry mat - check
assorted range of flannel shirts - check
torch - check
undergarments - check
toothbrush - check
Jack Kerouac's on the road - check

I think that is everything apart from the all important food and baby wipes which I will collect en route. Enjoy the bank holiday weekend people and I will hopefully see you on the other side with everything in tact! (I know it's not going to happen, but I can at least dream it will)

Some actual graphics

2009-08-22T04:52:00.001-07:00

My friend Fran needed some help doing some fake rock band T shirts for some forthcoming feature film for the BBC, not sure exactly what is it but I do believe these Tshirts were designed for Martin Freeman who was in the office and Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. The fake names were Lesser Spotted Crumb and The Anatomicals, and given that I had 4 days to draw these up, they aren't too bad. I had a few other ideas I wanted to do for them but hey maybe another time.

Rumour has it on the grapevine that the surf is to be epic this weekend, I was already in last night for a wee paddle and I'm actually amazed I can remember how to stand up. Lets see how the rest of the weekend unfolds.

Drunk on Aluminium

2009-08-13T16:18:00.001-07:00

I should really be asleep by now, trying to be the Hoff is killing me but anyway just scanning through my itunes looking for what to play and came back to this beauty..

I forgot how good Wintersleep are and this album in particular (welcome to the sky night), I love it when that happens, it feels like you are listening to a band for the first and get totally blown away by them. They played in Auntie Annies to about 40 or so people not so long ago and I was lucky enough to be there. They are mesmerizing live, if you get a chance to see them play, take it, you will not be disappointed.

Best lyric by far off that album is "I used to dream about saving the world
Now i just dream about the holidays"

I need to stop talking gibberish and actually do some more graphics. Once I have finished my baywatch course I will get back on track with real graphics, I promise.

A little bit too excited for this to come out...

2009-08-12T16:06:00.000-07:00

Yes it totally looks like a kids film but it does look amazing and bring back wonderful memories. I wish it was out sooner!

Also tonight I've been trying to lay out a random quote over a few photos for a very good friend of mine Shelley Garrett. It's suppose to be for the banner of her blog but she's not feeling the type over her photos so much. In the end we decided/well she decided to leave the quote out of the banner as it takes away from her photo. Even though it was done in about 15mins I still quite like it myself so I thought I would just post it up here anyway.

Oh I also heard the other night from Danny that Goodbye Pluto may have to change their name to something else due to major copywrite issues, uh oh, but it does mean I get to play around with some more designs for them. Oh here's what the stuff currently looks like at the min if you don't already know it.

I think that's all for tonight, I have to get up early tomorrow morning to learn how to save lives the David Hasselhoff way and I wish I was joking.

You have to see them live to understand

2009-08-11T00:09:00.000-07:00

One of the most epic bands at home and prob one of my favorite songs live. You have to see them play, I think Kerrang's write about them said something along the lines of"... if armaggedden had a soundtrack these guys would provide the sound."

A bit of an update/rant/whatever

2009-08-10T15:37:00.000-07:00

So it has been months since I last posted on this due to a course director wanting D&AD to be top secret, I kinda left the blog alone and forgot about it, but I have linked my website to the blog so I have no choice, also a good friend of mine complained that there wasn't anything new on it so here it goes. First off I have a website, I know very professional of me but I wanted to have a go at the old web design and after weeks of slavery to html and flash finally have something to show for it... benmcqueen.com,made me appreciate of tough and evil flash and dreamweaver are together.

Ok I'll share with you some info on the graphics scene, still no job but hey it will happen soon enough I hope. I'm thinking of some screenprinting and T shirt making tactics when I get back to the motherland next week, to hopefully help or more than likely scare off potential clients. I was scanning through YCN earlier and came across
this that made me smile. Somebody in the design world knows we exist.

Anyway not much to report on graphics at the min but hopefully a few things will creep up in this in the next few weeks. Other than that I'm reading Jack Kerouac's on the road, typical boy novel I know, but I'm in love with it already and I've only read 75pgs of it. That and Richard Longs' exhibtion in the Tate at the min really make me want to travel.

Check him out in the Tate, the amount of work he has done is breathtaking and also the amount of miles that man has cover by foot is insane. I wish I could accomplish something as epic as that one day.

I seem to pick books at the min or like pieces of work by people on a quest, the next books I have lined up to read are Moby Dick, which most people laugh when I tell them and I'm dying to read some of Jack London's work. It will probably take me another year to get through on the road and moby dick though as I am the slowest reader ever.

Here's another random thing I think I might share, I was at a club on the Thames on Saturday and about 3am I decided to go home, now normally the bus would be the usual option but I felt like I needed to walk. I don't know if anyone else ever feels that way but walking a long distance home after a night out with Explosions in the sky in your ears really is something special. Made me think about a lot, but in particular about coming home and I guess it also made me think about that one girl who you feel like you need to share everything with. Chris McCandless said "Happiness is only real when shared" out of all the quotes I know this is probably the on quote that hits me the hardest. I don't have the balls or the vocabulary skills to explain anymore about my own quest home other than I'm getting damn anxious about seeing her and I think it's the good anxiousness.

I'm going to try and leave a blog entry everyday with a song or video of youtube so here's the first thing I listened to this morning when i got up that just made total sense. The Temper Trap

peace out and apologies for the rant.

scanimation

2009-01-28T14:51:00.000-08:00

I still love the idea of kinetic type but i need to find something else that could achieve this.

This seems to be following the lines of optical illusions, there is still an aim to create book covers with with a little more than just some pretty illustration or design. sagemeisters book 'made you look' is a great example of doing this.

looking for other more up to date ways of capturing motion on paper and found this scanimations although i think it is slightly more gimmicky than the zoetrope. The idea again would be to create a moving typeface that can only be read when the book is tilted.

Faber book design

2009-01-26T15:16:00.000-08:00

Ok only one real idea that i think might work, the idea is to make book covers that appear abstract at first. They only become clear when they are removed from the book and processed through filming equipment such as projectors or zoetropes. I havent figured out how to do this with a projector but i think it could be possible with the zoetrope.

The idea would be to make a typeface that can only be read by the zoetrope. Another way of doing the zoetrope idea would be to use kinetic typography to display the title of book etc and have quotations spawning from the title frame by frame making the cover appear to flow.

squid lino

2008-12-16T06:36:00.001-08:00

more poladroids

2008-12-14T05:01:00.000-08:00

poladroids

2008-12-14T04:52:00.001-08:00

the second chilled video

2008-11-27T12:48:00.000-08:00

changed a few things round and got rid of the quick flashes, think it works better this time

chilled

2008-11-27T12:04:00.000-08:00

I think it needs a little tweaking and i totally forgot to delete the extra crap footage at the end but its getting places.

one of the final edits i hope

2008-11-26T11:49:00.000-08:00

colourful cornstarch

2008-11-26T09:09:00.000-08:00

seductive waves

2008-11-25T15:38:00.000-08:00

few more images of waves... trying to figure out how to apply them to each hedkandi range.

Hedkandi

2008-11-25T01:20:00.000-08:00

Finally got back to some more hedkandi designs. Just trying to make soundwaves looks as slick as possible.

CMC

2008-11-21T08:03:00.000-08:00

These were a bit rushed because my good old lino skills failed me last night. I had intended to cut these images into lino but it really wasnt working. The intention is to go back and redo these posters for portfolio and properly print them.

Raving it up with the cornstarch

2008-11-20T14:33:00.000-08:00

My speaker isn't too fond of ministry of sound logos

2008-11-19T15:00:00.000-08:00

and here's one i made earlier...

2008-11-18T12:29:00.000-08:00

after destroying my £30 subwoofer chris informed me that i could purchase a new cone to replace it from a lovely little electric store for literally peanuts. So with a bit of blue peter magic and reiwiring, some black cardboard and a glue gun (sorry sticky back plastic wouldn't hold) i rebuilt a new and improved subwoofer. Filming starts tomorrow on hopefully the final edit.

more cornstarch

2008-11-05T14:38:00.000-08:00

Tried to edit some footage to a song by Battles called Leyendecker, was just playing around again with the starch in the speaker, there's a rather interesting moment when i try to pour the starch into an empty speaker and it refuses to go in... potential??

Messing around with the cornstarch

2008-11-03T14:31:00.001-08:00

Just playing around with different frequencies and types of music to see how it mutates. Some especially creepy parts when the bass is just switched over to a low frequency. Enjoy...

Finally jumping around like it wants to eat you

2008-11-03T14:26:00.000-08:00

Right bass frequency and the right texture of cornstarch makes it want to mutate and jump right out at you.

2nd attempt this time on clingfilm

2008-11-03T13:58:00.000-08:00

Slightly better result, the cornstarch created some interesting results as it reacted differently to different songs with heavy bass. Realized the cornstarch mixture was too watery at this point but it was still a better improvement than the last few times.

cornstarch failing to mutate in a tray

2008-11-03T13:48:00.000-08:00

Im not sure if you can make it out but there is some vibrations forcing the cornstarch to move but its very faint. This was the first attempt and as you can see, baking tray isnt the best method for holding cornstarch.

Attempt No.2

2008-11-03T13:15:00.000-08:00

The cornstarch finally came alive and i managed not to blow any speakers this time. Took a few photos of the cornstarch mutating, and i have some video footage which i need to edit but will be up shortly, bare with me.

cornstarch madness

2008-11-03T13:04:00.000-08:00

Ok first up i attempted the cornstarch on speakers i bought for £8 from the first charity shop i went to in Camden and non surprisingly they blew up after bout 15mins of messing around with different frequencies. I'm guessing it was part and parcel with me not knowing too much bout sound waves. The first attempt was a miserable failure, I didnt even manage to get any footage of it working for a couple of seconds. here are a few photos of the aftermath...

speaker fun

2008-10-27T18:11:00.000-07:00

was looking into what sound waves actually look like visually for the hedkandi brief and came across this very interesting video, that has given me a few ideas of my own for the ministry of sound brief.

Hedkandi

2008-10-22T18:10:00.000-07:00

Just having a bit of a brainstorm, since Hedkandi isn't really my type of thing I was having a think about the stuff it reminds me of and to be brutally honest I thought of vanity straight away so high glossy reflective packaging first came to mind and it is still possible but I have also been thinking about creating packaging out of the same style as ornate wooden jewelry boxes.

Change of plans

2008-10-22T17:45:00.000-07:00

I have been working on the momiji brief but the more I look at it the less I want to do two moving images pieces so I've decided to put the momiji on the shelf for now and work on the Hedkandi brief, looks like its going to be a late night. Also here is a look at layout for the pitch tomorrow.

Shadow Logo

2008-10-22T14:43:00.000-07:00

Constructing ministry of sounds logo out of paper is not fun. I had anticipated building a 3d model but could only achieve a cutout in this short space of time. Been playing about with lighting and the shadows to see what I could get out of it Some interesting shots but at this point its not what Im quite after. Going to head to the workshop and cut a proper 3d model from wood. Then the idea is to play around with it before I set it on fire. At the moment that is pretty much a bare standard logo but I want to make it look as slick and as simple as possible. The other idea which I havent quite figured out how to illustrate, is filming empty nightclubs. I want to have these clubs almost feeling like ghost towns where they are stark and gloomy, a place you really wouldnt want to be and then possible have quick flashes of a tv with the ministry of sound logo. Think I want to get the message across that Ministry of Sound TV is the new place to be.

Film4 Idents

2008-10-21T00:52:00.000-07:00

Ministry of Sound chillout album

2008-10-21T00:48:00.000-07:00

This is one of the few ministry idents I think that are actually done well. The logo was constructed from ice and while being filmed was dropped in slow motion with some stylistic angular shots.

bbc 2 idents

2008-10-21T00:45:00.001-07:00

some still images and video of the iconic BBC2 idents

3rd year

2008-10-19T13:56:00.001-07:00

I think it's about time i finally update this blog. Started researching Ministry of sound brief for creating a new ident. I've had a few ideas, one of them I hit in the middle of the presentation of the brief to us whenever some one asked if the logo could be taken apart and then the guy replied with a abrupt "no, it's indestructible" after Luke and him attempted to cover up parts of the logo on the projector but not managing to succeed. The question is what do i do with this indestructible logo that I intend to build? I do love the old BBC 2 idents where the metallic 2 is so dominant and simple. I also have a particular love for the slow action shots of different stunts for the film 4 idents. But where am i going with this? does need more development. Other ideas are on hold at the min.

book revisited due to boredom

2008-06-13T04:06:00.000-07:00

yeah re-printed the hunger strike book and hopefully fixed all the typos. there were quite a handful of stupid mistakes. anyway bound the book properly this time and i have to say its looking sexy. im too scared to trim the edges or put a cover on it cause i know i'll wreck it.

the end is here...

2008-06-13T03:56:00.000-07:00

somehow the 'im not here' placard always seems to find its way into my projects unintentionally. I do like this photo though to sum up the terms work and stress and my wonderful makeshift photo studio in my living room. im glad its all over.

finally finished...

2008-06-05T16:59:00.000-07:00

here are a few images from the final presentation. one complete functional megabrick sized phone and the packaging done and dusted. instruction manuals galore and some failed attempts at previous boxes.

packaging madness

2008-06-05T16:54:00.000-07:00

the final plan drawings of the inside and outside of the packaging. also one of the instrustion manuals included with the package

2008-06-05T16:28:00.000-07:00

sorry for delayed upload, here are a few photographs of the production stages, as we can see a not so happy clare cutting away at our first attempt of the package. there are also a few photosgraphs of me trying to use the phone's gadgets. also the photo of the ironing board was a complete accident, i was taking the light of the room and clare noticed it later on when we were sifting through the photos.

possibly the final model

2008-05-18T13:34:00.001-07:00

...

2008-05-08T05:57:00.000-07:00

forgot to say, still waiting for camcorder, calculator and pager. should hopefully be all gathered by next week and then get down to proper business of messing around with the phone.

slowly coming together

2008-05-08T05:50:00.000-07:00

question is how do i stick them together and make it look more believable as a phone? thinking a couple of ways to hold it all together would be with a mash of cables or industrial velcro, i like the velcro idea more because can customize the phone into different models. needs further work. Also want to start producing a whole advertising campaign for this phone, like instruction manual, packaging, posters call plan etc

few more lino prints

2008-05-02T03:30:00.001-07:00

my new mobile!!

2008-05-02T03:15:00.000-07:00

got this brute off ebay for £10, still switches on and you can dial a number but as i said before network has been switched off so cant make a call which is a shame and the battery lasts for about 20secs

Analogue

2008-04-25T05:34:00.000-07:00

I have been contemplating designing a sculptural piece with old analogue technology to create my own mobile phone In other words finding an old analogue telephone, Polaroid camera, video camcorder, personal cassette player etc and combining them to make my own analogue mobile with all the gimmicks of a digital mobile phone. My problem arouse with the fact that most people seem to think that mobiles have always run on digital format, I myself thought so but with some extensive research I found out that the first mobile phones worked on radio wavelengths and did not convert to digital gsm format until the 90s. With bit rummaging through ebay I have managed to find a few old analogue mobile phones like the one below.

back to basics

2008-03-11T11:38:00.000-07:00

lino cut and mono print ive been working on since we finished for the term. the butcher is a bit of a grizzly image but i couldnt resist printing the different shapes and tones of the sliced up piggy.

the final edit

2008-03-01T04:28:00.000-08:00

I'm so glad this is finished. there are a few shakey camera angles here and there but i dont exactly have the best camera equipment in the world so deal with it and enjoy this version. also before i forget the music is by the books and is call 'be good to them always' well its a little shortened down.

this might not look like it but it took forever to make!?!

2008-02-26T13:15:00.000-08:00

had a good think bout what to do with the boxes and then thought bout projecting different adverts onto each face. I guess the idea is to show that commercialism is everywhere we go no matter where we run to in the city it always dominates and if they could they would advertise on every last square inch of space... this has taken quite a while but its turned out rather well as a test run. need to iron out the kinks and actually create something that is watchable.

requiem

2008-02-20T10:26:00.000-08:00

16mm

2008-02-20T10:19:00.000-08:00

another test run

2008-02-19T15:16:00.000-08:00

mirrored image

2008-02-19T15:03:00.000-08:00

thought bout trying to create and infinite backdrop to the city by connecting a camera to the projector and filming the boxes which are then projected onto the background creating the mirrored effect. creates a nice effect as the skyline fades to white and looks almost misty. problem was incorporating moving image. gonna try and blend the two filming techniques together tomorrow..

projection test

2008-02-19T14:42:00.001-08:00

arranged a few carboard boxes to look like a cityscape and then projected moving image onto the buildings to produce a distorted image.

collaboration ideas

2008-02-15T01:49:00.000-08:00

I have been talking to Fran and we both thought along the lines of making a paper city, think this has been heavily influenced by our jobs at paperchase and love of science of sleep. as far as the paper city goes we've thrown ideas back and forth, there have been a few paper cities made before.

Now what has been playing on our minds is what to exactly do with paper city once it has been made. Building it we consider a celebration of the every day mundane so do we went to destroy it and how? personally i wanted to set the place on fire but there is not real theory behind this other than my destruction side.

Furthermore we have been looking into other paper structures and ideas. i am quite keen on the idea to make obscure objects out of paper and actually place them in the city for example if we are celebrating the mundane, we fashion telephone boxes, trees anything boring out of paper and place it on the streets. my reasons to this though are for personal fun. i actually physically want to build something playful for this project as the city to me is so dry and drab. anyway need to look further into these ideas and actually produce something tangible. we have found a few designers who have played around with this medium before. few links and pictures of work below

http://www.stevenharrington.com/site.html

http://viveletuning.ch/

moving image

2008-02-15T01:40:00.000-08:00

really needed to update this. thinking about the moving image came up with a few ideas but as only one person and no money i dont think a motion picture epic is possible just yet. I was looking into how the city makes me feel as a person and how it makes other people feel. at first i felt like all i wanted to do was leave london but it always felt impossible to get away. been thinking bout how to illustrate this and whether i actually want to do something along these lines. i was also interested in looking at paranoia, everyone in london is a little bit edgey be it their job or walking down a street at night. question that posses is how do i actually make a film bout it. ive been trying to look at various angles using the camera and also find my feet with final cut and after effects. as far making this piece goes i wana refrain from using loads of filters and special effects. i want the actual subject matter and filming do most of the talking.

H

2007-12-03T03:26:00.000-08:00

the 'H' book finally complete

typeface continued...

2007-11-26T16:30:00.000-08:00

part of the typeface folded, as you can see i messed up position of the K so it reads as the wrong typeface

concertina

2007-11-26T16:19:00.000-08:00

prototype of concertina A with times and helvetica typeface... didnt have sabon at the time I made it.

2007-11-26T09:42:00.000-08:00

the almost finished contradiction font. need to fix a few nags and possibly do numbers and punctuation as well. should hopefully read from the left as univers typeface and from the right sabon

work in progress

2007-11-26T00:18:00.001-08:00

looking more into contradiction... tschichold made two books that went completely against each other, i am creating a typeface that contradicts itself. using sabon univerz i have sliced the letters and put them together to for a new letter which is only properly readable when folded like a concertina, only then can you read the typeface as serif from looking at it from one side and the sans serif if you looking at it from the other direction

2007-11-20T15:35:00.000-08:00

illustration of tschichold, planning to make it into a fascist poster illustrating how strong he thought his theories were.

2007-11-09T05:02:00.001-08:00

penguin book designed by Tschichold

Tschichold...

2007-11-09T04:59:00.000-08:00

Life

Tschichold was the son of a provincial signwriter, and he was trained in calligraphy. This artisan background and calligraphic training set him apart from almost all other noted typographers of the time, since they had inevitably trained in architecture or

Tschichold's artisan background may help explain why he never worked with handmade papers and custom fonts as many typographers did, preferring instead to use stock fonts on a careful choice from commercial paper stocks. After the election of Hitler in Germany, all designers had to register with the Ministry of Culture, and all teaching posts were threatened for anyone who was sympathetic to communism. Armed Nazis arrested him and his wife in 1933, and Soviet posters were found in his flat, casting him under suspicion of collaboration with communists. All copies of Tschichold's books were seized by the Gestapo "for the protection of the German people".[citation needed] After six weeks a policeman somehow found him tickets for Switzerland, and he and his family managed to escape Nazi Germany. Apart from short visits to England in 1937-1938 (at the invitation of the Penrose Annual), and 1947-1949 (at the invitation of Ruari McLean, the British typographer, with whom he worked on the design of Penguin Books), he lived the rest of his life in Switzerland.

Jan Tschichold

2007-11-09T04:44:00.000-08:00

I wasn't really too sure who this guy was to begin with and yes i know i should be ashamed. basically one of the legends of typography.funny looking chap that got into all sorts of trouble with the gestapo during the second world war over communist posters he had.he created the book Die neue Typographie which is basically an extremist modern design manifesto laying out proper structure to book design, typefaces etc.

hunger strike

2007-10-18T15:10:00.000-07:00

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1981_Irish_Hunger_Strike

list of the men on hunger strike found on wikipedia

mapping project

2007-10-18T14:40:00.000-07:00

As far as interesting maps go, I thought about using a map of the maze prison, however on the wonders of the internet I could not source a proper map of it. Even though the maze has now been closed for 7 years a proper prison layout has not made it onto the internet for obvious reasons I guess in that we may try to use it to plan a breakout. any how the closest thing to a map i found was an labelled military aerial view of the prison.

as far as research has gone, donvan wylies book "maze" has become very useful in getting a feel for the prison's bleak confusing layout. found quite a lot of useful information on wikipedia laying out the history of the maze. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maze_%28HM_Prison%29 what particularly caught my interested was the hunger strikes of the early 80s where the infamous bobby sands died after 66 days of not eating, the reason being a protest for the prisoners to be see as political figures and have special privilages. I managed to find a photograph of the hunger strikers

also managed to find a few layouts of the infamous h blocks

2007-10-12T04:49:00.000-07:00

bali

3 week surfing trip to bali, just a few images of time away.. really didn't want to come home

im not here slideshow

2007-10-12T04:35:00.000-07:00

im not here slideshow

2007-10-12T04:32:00.000-07:00

i'm not here... long long long video where nothing happens