Research – London Transport Museum

As part of my research for an interactive experience brief, I visited the London Transport Museum in Covent Garden today to see how they get their visitors to engage with the content. Alongside valuable information regarding user interaction/human-computer-interface, I loved this simple projection that ran across the walls and down onto the floor.

technically simple, but visually striking, I like that a lot.

I’ll post more on this project and detailed research findings later in the week, but i’ll leave it at these lovely (yet shoddily taken, sorry) images for now.

Filed under: Museums, Research

Research – D&AD (pt. 2)

Continuing my research for the D&AD HG Wells brief, I came across an interesting article by John Partington of Reading University for the International Relations journal. It’s called ‘H.G. Wells and the World State: A Liberal Cosmopolitan in a Totalitarian Age’.

A bit lofty perhaps, but it raises the interesting point that HG Wells was a strong advocate of some form of ‘world state’ in a time where the world was plagued with imperialism, fascism and intense nationalism. It also coincides with the period in which he wrote the books mentioned in the brief. Since nearly every novel covers political ground in the form of mistrust of the class system, I feel this could provide valuable knowledge and possibly a way into a creative solution. I’m unsure of the copyright issues, so the first part of the article can be read here: http://ire.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/17/2/233

Filed under: Research

Research – D&AD

Further research into HG Wells, the period in which the novels were written and any surrounding information that may be useful:

More spreads on the sketchbook page. As always, click images to enlarge.

Filed under: In Progress, Research, Sketchbooks

In Progress – D&AD

For this years D&AD Student Awards I have chosen the Orion Books brief that requires a set of book covers for the non-fiction work of HG Wells. I’ve therefore been out researching the man himself, the period in which the books were written, the subjects of the books and, of course, graphic / book design. The photos in this post fall into the latter category, and were taken at Waterstones in Eastbourne on 31 December ’09. They show interesting sets of books, and have helped give me insight as to how they may be put together.

I find the above photo most intriguing, as it shows how a set can be put together without any of the books looking the same. As Karen, one of my tutors would say, they’re cousins, rather than brother and sister. They’re done in a similar style, and all give off the same feel (the most important aspect) but they confidently stand up on their own.

Filed under: In Progress, Research

Experiments – Found Type

So today I sat down for an hour or so with a box of found metal type. I didn’t have any of the other tools / pieces need to letterpress correctly, so instead spent my time experimenting with elastic bands and ink from a felt-tip pen.

This is something I’ve touched on before with my work for The Spook House, and wanted to really get a feel for putting the letters together, learning how kerning was done with metal and generally just get a bit of trial and error on paper.

One thing that I really took a shine to was an old Royal British Legion crest. The work is so intricate, and when stamped (poorly) it leaves a very unique mark which feels alive somehow.

I’m now looking into buying an old case of letters and learning how to typeset properly.

Filed under: Experiments, Research, Sketchbooks