Just Some Stuff...

Tracy Thorn:

Saw this typography in Creative Review then found this flyer with it on and took a pictue to put on here. Can't remember who it is by but i think that it looks pretty good, and i like the tree 't' and just the general greatness of this type

Other Stuff:

Just from the sketchbook planning for monoprinting

Music Packaging: What Went Wrong?

From Creative Review March 2007

"Things changed after the introduction of CD packaging," says Fred Deakin, musician, owner of record label Infinte Fury and founder of design studio Airside. "The jewel case was brought in by record companies to make profit: you're essentially just getting a silver disc that comes with a couple of bits of paper. They made lots of money this way but they also shot themselves in the foot because, by doing this, they were actually encouraging the audience not to place any value in the package they were buying. The value of the release as an object as therefore been whittled down as a result.

"The ethos now is, while you can download something, if you really care about the release then you buy the product. Small labels, like Motive Sounds, do the cardboard thing - and labels like this have a desire to make artefacts to treasure: a plastic jewel case is never going to be pored over, it's just not go the resonance. So CDs are the cause of their own demise, really. The record companies have been greedy and the consumer now wants to gain some value. In manufacturing terms, to make a jewel case CD costs about 50p. or probably less. That's why when you go into HMV, they have releases that are only six month's old selling for £5. You pay for the newness of something.

"If you're running a small label - like Motive Sounds, like Impotent Fury - you're trying to achieve substance and have an intrinsic core value in your releases. I buy lots of white labels and downloads; they don't have any packaging or artwork. So I think it's either zero artwork or incredible packaging: the stuff in between is bullshit isn't it?

"Lots of white label artists release stuff in a plain sleeve with something scribbled on it. But that's a good aesthetic too. As soon as you're in the middle ground it's where the CDs are saying, 'Hey, we're not ripping you off, honest Look, it's a photo of some girls...' I burn CDs and make compilations and I use images from magazines to make covers. Why buy a jewel case when you can do it yourself?"

Also from the Motive Sounds article:
"fight against the dwindling interest in actually owning a CD, the excitement of holding a labour of love in your hands and not just worrying about how much space is left on our iPod's hard drive"

Links:
http://www.airside.co.uk
http://www.airside.co.uk/impotentfury/
http://www.motivesounds.com/

Research Websites

http://www.graphicpush.com/the-reality-of-lo-fi-design
http://www.curbly.com/
http://www.makezine.com/
http://www.thriftdeluxe.com/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lo-fi
http://www.papress.com/designityourself/
http://www.aiga.org/content.cfm/the-diy-debate
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diy

Things from Research

"the almost universal automation of commercial printing is designed to minimise the need for human intervention and, it this way, to reduce the possibility of errors and serious flaws in quality"

"there is more to the handmade article than the human factor that produced it; something about the handmade object, or its results, has always been valued"

Look At:
-William Morris (Arts&Crafts Movement "handicraft")
-A2 GRAPHICS/SW/HK
-Frost Design (Vince Frost)

"the handmade object states its speculative nature by the fact that eah piece, (even with letterpress) is and original rather than a copy of the original"

"fitness for purpose" futurists (cheap, standard, mass production) durability

"there is an element of fashion in most design, but inevitably more so in printed matter designed to function for just a short length of time"

"in an effort to seperate creative endeavours from financial speculation some book artists hae attempted to make their books valueless"

All quotes taken from "Letterpress: The Allure of the Hand-Made"

Thinking About The Learning Agreement

"Is the recent return to handmade a form of nostalgia?"

My Work deals with LO-FI / DIY styling, traditionally this means handmade / analog / low quality

But now anybody can get hold of software to produce high quality graphics, so what is lo-fi? is it the nostalgia of making through applying more physical effort than using just a computer, just because something is physically made does it have to be low quality?

Before computers there was still high quality design, books, signs, products were all high quality but without the technology we have today

manual printing processes (ie. letterpress) were the only way of reproduction after hand made

surely you can have high quality design with using modern production processes & techniques

how did they used to layout pages before computers?

are things better designed because we have technology or does it mean that there is more bad design?

What is it that appeals to me about lo-fi design, because i also have an interest in "higher" design too
What Is the best way to cross over the two?
What can be considered as lo-fi techniques these days?

What is lo-fi?
What is handmade?
----------------What is the difference?

Pagination..Please

The four sheets to be double sided printed for zine style booklet, 1/4 folded.

Analysis Of Sorts - Sunday 4th March

Looking over my recent work with monoprints and felt tip drawings, comments and quips on the modern world. and just generally get some direction. So far I'm pretty pleased with how things are going and ive not got bored yet which is always a winner.

After starting off with text only mono-prints both using stencils and moving the ink around towards the end of the day I started to include text and images, icons, compositional items into my prints. Along with the selection of stencils inverted and such. Beginning to experiment more freely was good. Looking at the work these later stencil works are definately the stronger images. Something I think is also important is the way that there is a residue left behind in the ink from previous prints. that is one of my favourite things about monoprinting is that its a process which shows itself through the work.

I also began to think about how layers can be used with monoprinting using greaseproof paper for its slight colouration and see through qualities to build up a more complex and deeper image which keeping the work flat and vibrant. The think pigmented areas of ink. the arrow as a symbol was the starting point for this piece and runs throughout with virtually no type throughout. I think if i begin to consider the method for printing more throughroughly and how the image is constructed in this way then they can only improve on what i have done so far.

scaleing up my method of working made me feel free-er to explore ideas, and it also speeded up the creation of images aswell.

I think that continueing with a similar line of engagement whilst bringing in other elements such as shapes, forms, icons, symbols along side the typographic parts of my work to counter-point each other, also trying multiple colour prints could be worth while and very achievable with stencils.

Aim: To continue along my current line of investigation and ideas using techniques involving stencilled monoprinting and photocopying to present my written work.

Learning Agreemen Questions

Why is it hand rendered type?

Because the subject mater is a reaction to everyday life and experience. If the typography was perfect (ie. computer generated) it would loose its relevancy and become numb; therefore the imperfections make it come alive.

Why is it so important that it is my writing?

As I am finding my place with the world I want my work to reflect this personal journey

How important is the poetry?

The poetic form is not important, it is more the lyrical approach to the writing that I want. Not everything has to be a poem. But writing poetically helps to articulate my thoughts and opinions.

In what way am I reacting?

It is very much a comment on modern popular culture and society. Subversive and critical; my opinion of the world kept open for interpretation. The news, TV, people, shops, songs, everybody's life interacting and crossing over with one anothers and mine leaving an imprint.

How do I want other people to view it?

I want my work to be presented in a poigniant wa that shows it to its best. Scale plays an important role, larger text giving more of an impact on people. However I am also interested in the idea of smaller scale portable work (zines etc) so I feel that experiments with both formats will be neccessary.

Bye.

Even More Mono....

More Mono...

Thursday 1st March 2007

Hey Hey Hey

Okay so here is the monoprinting that i did on thursday on 9th with frazer. it was a good day, got a lot done and tried a few good things out, thought big and printed big, a lot of these photos arent cropped to help give a sense of scale.

Over and out