Dissertation topic change....

I began doing some reading today which was very productive. I almost finished one book off my reading list David Crow's 'Left to Right : The cultural shift from words to pictures'. I am finding it really interesting and comprehensible. However it has made me think more deeply about my initial proposal, and I think that I want to put the emphasis of my topic onto this cultural shift from written word to pictures in 21st century mass media, rather than looking at hand rendered typography. I think that this should be okay as this will in many ways require me to cover more or less the same areas of research and theory. I am going to re-write my proposal and decide on some possible chapters and a more specific direction and then e-mail Richard tomorrow to see if this is okay. In the meantime I can carry on reading as the books I have sourced are equally relevant.

<post notes ?>

Design Brief for Red Bull at Notting Hill Carnival

A friend of mine runs the Red Bull attraction at Notting Hill Carnival each year and has just emailed me about quite an exiting brief. The brief involves designing various elements for the event as well as some large scale artwork for the space. This would be great for recognition as the work will act as self promotion - after a phone conversation I understand that she has 5 relatively high profile artists working on it but would like input from as many up and coming creatives as possible. 

Unfortunately I am booked in to work at Leeds festival on the 5 days leading up to carnival which is when the space is available for this work. I am going to see if I can do this as well as my shifts, or potentially drop on shift so I can be part of this for at least a day. She is sending me the mask template so I can start work on that tomorrow no matter what.


Here is the brief outline......


--------------------------------------------


Hello dear friends..
I'm messaging on behalf of Sophie as she is running the legendry Notting Hill Carnival Red Bull party again and would love your artist input...
Have a look and let her know if you want to get involved…
(Molly please pass on to Tommy)

Artist Brief.
Notting Hill Carnival 2011
RBMA Presents Major Lazer.

Let me introduce myself, I’m Sophie, the project manager for all creative props and event aesthetics, this is my third year running the event and I want to make this year the best with help from you guys.

For the first time since I’ve known the venue, the walls are fresh white!
It seems criminal to have so many people in the venue with out seeing some fine work filling the walls, I therefore hope you guys read through the brief and get back to me with your thoughts on the project.


There are 3 main areas that I would love to let you lose on.

The walls.
I’m sure many of you know the place under the west way where we are holding the event at- the corner of 1 Acklam road. I have been told that underneath the west way is one of the holy grails of the London graffiti scene!
As mentioned below there is a loose colour theme, the pantone references are listed at the bottom.
Regarding the theme, I am working along the lines of:
Put your hands up in the air and party!!
I want it to be colourful… previous years have included skulls and flamingos, so it would be great to see them again!
It is the legendry Notting Hill Carnivals, which means partying, dancing, Caribbean and colour!

Knowing that the walls are fresh white I am looking for artists who can throw up big detailed pieces of work to cover those bare walls, whether it be with a brush and paint or cans I want to hear from you.


The masks.
This year I will also be organizing limited edition masks designed by different artists, as well as up and coming illustrators. If you would be interested in creating a mask I would need each design each to be made in to a high-resolution portable file that can digitally printed.

The Hands.
This year for the first time I will also be making 50 life size hand made casts, these will be a snatchable props to take along with the masks.
Again if you would be interested in designing 1 or as many of them as you wish please see the arrangements below and contact me for further details.

Tabletops
This is literally small square table tops approximately 20x20 Inches but to help bring the space alive during the event we need to design as many as possible, even if your around during one of the set up days you may just want to bash out one for fun- with it being free materials and all.

Short and Shoes
I would also require one artist to style his or her own version of a carnival girl!
I have arranged a pair of 5 meter high inflatable legs (photo attched) which are currently a little slutty.. We need to cover this lady up and get her in some suitable street attire.
I was thinking to paint a long strip of material (exact measurements to be given on application) in to a pair of women’s ripped denim shorts as well as some high top sneaker of your choice. If you wish to take this task in hand please contact me accordingly either by email or telephone.
..

Arrangements.
I would like to invite you down to the venue in the up and coming days. Something along the lines of Wednesday 24th, Thursday 25th, Friday 26th, Saturday 27th and Sunday 28th before the party starts on Monday 29th.
I will be providing all materials with a rough colour palate in mind, however if this is a big issue then please feel free to do what ever gets you in the carnival mood.


Colour Palate:
THREE MAIN COLOURS:
Pink
Pantone Pro Mag Pc.
C:0 M: 100 Y:0 K:0
Cyan
Pantone Pro Mag Pc.
C:100 M:0 Y:0 K:0
Grey- also can use Silver but I couldn’t find a reference for it.
Pantone Pro Mag Pc.
C:100 M:0 Y:0 K:0

OTHER COLOURS
Yellow
C:1 M:16 Y:75 K:0

Peach
C:0 M:39 Y:48 K:0

ALSO: White and Black!

Please feel free to contact me anytime


----------------------------------------------------

Tschichold's composition rules adapted for web writing.

I came across this while reading about Penguin books as a case study for my dissertation. I though that it was particularly interesting that something written about 60 years ago can be re-applied to something contemporary.

more branding

Personal Branding

I have been meaning to redo my branding for a while so I think this summer is the perfect opportunity for me to do this. I really don't want to get out of practice especially with the software and so far I have not had a lot of time to spend with my computer! I have spent some time looking at new fonts - I particularly like this one, "Masana". I like the freestyle element to it, but also the control and the composition of the letters. The size difference between upper and lower case is quite dramatic, but I think this contrast works well creating an interesting composition. I have chosen to base my new self branding on this type face as I feel that the style and aesthetic suits my design personality. My work and usual choice of subject matter is mainly playful and decorative, like this typeface. 

I did some sketches to kind of redesign the letters roughly in the way that I wanted them :

<images of sketches>

I then used these and the original font to start vector drawing my redesigned version.

I actually did a lot of it free hand rather than tracing through the layers.

This dot below the "o" is an alteration that I came up with. I think that raising the "o" creates a more interesting composition, and the dot adds some decoration to the negative space.

I decided to play around with a variety of different shapes.....

With dots :

With dot and triangle :

With triangles :

With crowns :

Further experimentation :

I'm happy with the progress so far but its not quite there. Obviously colour choices will need to be explored. I am currently developing my website designs and having this branding a little bit more complete will help me with the website aesthetic and layout decisions.

08/08/11

Finally home for a week to get stuck into some proper work! Extremely confused as I have been working 12 hour night shifts at Big Chill but seem to have sorted out my body clock now! I'm really looking forward to having a week to myself to get into something without having to fit it around work commitments!

Job 4 : Working at Big Chill Festival 03/08/11

This week I'm working at the big chill festival. Fairly annoying as I got an email this morning offering me a brief to design a relatively simple website for a friend of mines new catering company with a similar design aesthetic to that of the Hendricks gin brand/website. This would have been right up my street! However he needs it done by the 14th and as this will only be the second website I have made I feel that I would not want to leave it until next week to start. Unfortunately in this situation I have to prioritize this over that as I will earn a lot more working at Big Chill. I really hope this will be the last Summer I have to do that!