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 – Sam Little Logo

I’ve been asked by my very good friend Sam Little to create a logo for his solo music project. He simply needs his name and wanted a stylised, old-school pop letterform, so I’ve been doing some rough sketches based on the House Casual typeface by House Industries. In the photos you can see my sketches and alterations intended on perfecting the mark. Work in progress. Click photos to enlarge.

Filed under: In Progress, Sketchbooks

Dada Poem

I’ve been reading up on art-movements recently in preparation for an essay I’ll be doing over the next week (more to follow on that), and one thing that has stuck in my mind is the concept of a Dada Poem, which I thought would make for an interesting typographic experiment, as well as a chance to break away from the norm, learn about art history and get my hands nice and dirty.

Here’s it explained by Tristan Tzara, one of the founders of Dadaism:

• Take a newspaper.
• Take a pair of scissors.
• Choose an article as long as you are planning to make your poem.
• Cut out the article.
• Then cut out each of the words that make up this article and put them in a bag.
• Shake it gently.
• Then take out the scraps one after the other in the order in which they left the bag.
• Copy conscientiously.
• The poem will be like you.
• And here you are a writer, infinitely original and endowed with a sensibility that is charming though beyond the understanding of the vulgar.

Rather than copying the words as they came out, I simply taped them into my sketchbook. I felt that this would be more honest (eliminating mistakes when copying) and also aesthetically pleasing in quite a post-modern, scrappy way. Make of it what you will!

As always, click the pictures to enlarge.

Filed under: Experiments, Self-Initiated, Sketchbooks

Experiments – Peace Off

To be completely honest, I’ve been jonesing to make a silly typeface for a while, but haven’t had any ideas. That’s all changed now, though, as I was inspired to make one out of the peace symbol after watching a documentary on Vietnam & the anti-war movement.

It’s completely silly and of no commercial use, but it’s been an interesting experiment for me as I gave myself strict limitations in the fact I couldn’t skew, modify or rotate the symbol at all – only remove lines where they intersect with others. This caused some problems that I’m yet to solve (note the lack of a ‘K’) but made it all the more a challenge.

You can see the evolution from my ‘eureka’ sketchbook moment below. Click the images to enlarge.

Filed under: Experiments, PPD, Self-Initiated, Sketchbooks

John Reynolds – Photography Masterclass

On Thursday we were treated to a visit by photographer John Reynolds who ran a workshop on commissioning photography as a designer. He took us through everything (that’s possible in a day anyway) from how to choose the right person for the job, copyrights and ownership to the importance of communication throughout. It really opened up a world that’s bigger than design, and I can’t wait to start commissioning other like-minded people to work on projects with me.

After this, John was kind enough to have a chat about how to get the best out of photographing your work and I proceeded to learn so much stuff it’s absolutely unreal. Everything from the different types of light/hard light/soft light to aperture settings, shutterspeeds and even the inverse square law(!) I’ve added a photo of one of the spreads I covered in my sketchbook throughout the day.

Click the image for a larger view!

Filed under: PPD, Sketchbooks

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