Logos-a-gogo
Having been unsure what to expect from an animation ‘made entirely from corporate logos’, I’m glad I forked out the princely sum of … errr, just £1.49 actually (through iTunes) to buy Logorama.
Its award for Best Animated Short Film at the Oscars earlier this week seems well-deserved as it’s thoughtful, extremely well-executed and full of clever references and uses of logos. And I’d certainly not anticipated the use of various corporate mascots – all of which have been characterised in ways that might not be entirely expected; the Green Giant is particularly revealing in this regard!
As the end credits rolled, I was surprised to discover that the team behind the film are French, as the voices are all American (including that of David Fincher as Pringles Original) and many of the logos I didn’t recognise look like they belong to US corporations. I’ve done some very shallow digging and can’t find an awful lot about the directors’ previous work – though I’m sure they’ll be much more high-profile following their win.
Logorama is bold, colourful (in language as well as actual colour – you have been warned), sassy and fun but with a serious underlying message.
As such, it’s well worth spending 16 minutes of your time on. If you do watch it, make sure to keep an eye out for one of my favourite moments: the very timely appearance of a Weight Watchers logo …
A new leaf
Our latest work for Mosaic (the Campaign for National Parks project aimed at attracting an ethnically diverse range of people into the countryside) is an illustration for a forthcoming promotional event. The brief was to design something meaningful, appealing and eye-catching.
Our solution? A tree, created from a range of different types of leaf, and with the Mosaic logo placed at its root. Simple yet effective.
Twinfix
Glasgow style
The annual Summer Eventia is a mix of keynote presentations, discussions, workshop sessions and networking activities for movers and shakers within the events and live marketing industry.
We’re designing the promotional materials for this year’s Summer Eventia which is being held in Glasgow – hence the Charles Rennie Mackintosh-influenced graphics and typography.
University of Warwick, Centre for Cultural Policy Studies
Last week I was at the University of Warwick to talk to a group of MA students at the Centre for Cultural Policy Studies. Focussing on fields including Arts Management, Cultural Policy and the Creative Industries, I was invited in to give some industry perspective on things and talk about my background, Supercool and issues surrounding running a small creative agency.
Having been slightly dreading the prospect of having to talk about myself for 45 minutes it actually went really well. Nobody dropped off to sleep and most people responded well by asking some tough questions. In fact having rushed over to Warwick straight from a pitch, I found the students’ questions were far more testing than any potential client. Issues ranged from creative sign-off, budget approval, business planning and cash flow. Hopefully everybody learned as much out of it as I did.
Thanks to Dr Jonathan Vickery [Associate Professor and Director of Graduate Studies] for inviting me in, and everybody who listened to the talk and managed to remain looking interested, I really enjoyed it.
A message from Sophie
I’ve spent my winter in Birmingham.
It was an exciting opportunity for me to go abroad as an intern. Why not? Besides from experiencing being a graphic designer in the real world, I get to discover a whole new country! I just couldn’t let that chance pass me by.
James and Katie really made an effort to make me feel welcome. For instance getting my own orange office chair! Sadly I couldn’t fit in in my suitcase!
My main project while staying at Supercool was branding the Library of Birmingham.*
I was also lucky enough to be invited along for the lovely Chitterlings event with other interesting local creative people and John Berry, who works for Microsoft. That was a really great evening. I also joined in on a couple of the Likemind events, where I met new people from Brum.
I have learnt a lot both as a person and as a graphic designer and gained new confidence in myself. Thanks – it’s been supercool.
Sophie
(Sophie’s internship at Supercool ran from November 2009 until February 2010. She is a final year student at Skolen for Visuel Kommunikation)
* A project based on a recently circulated tender brief – KP
Arts + Media
An Olympic first
The logo for the XXII Olympic Winter Games in Sochi, Krasnodar Krai, Russia in 2014 has the first ever Olympic logo to include a web address.
Smarty Pants Marketing
Font Aid Update
The ampersand font, Coming Together, that we contributed to a few weeks ago is now on sale.
Around 400 designers (some listed above!) from around the world took part in producing this cross-platform OpenType glyph font, and all the money raised from the sale of the font is going to help the relief efforts in Haiti.
You can buy Coming Together from the following places now – Veer, Ascender Fonts, FontShop – and from MyFonts later this week.
(Ours is the zero, by the way!)
Meshed Media
Eventia
Love letters
Did you know there’s more than one Chinese character for ‘love’? The characters for ‘lovey-dovey’ love and ‘friendship’ love have a fairly similar design – but the former includes the representation of a heart within the centre of the character. Lovely!
Have a happy Valentine’s and Chinese New Year this Sunday.
Another 48 hours
A couple of years back we put together a quick logo for Film Dash, Birmingham’s 48-hour film-making challenge. This year, organised by the fine folks at Meshed Media, Film Dash is back – bigger and better than ever and with some brand new Supercool design.
The theme of the competition is ‘happiness’ so; mark March 5-7th in your diary, start thinking happy thoughts and get ready to use your time wisely; you can get a lot done … in 48 hours. Find out more at www.filmdash.com
Hop, sway or boogie?
Last year saw the launch of People Dancing; a three-year Cultural Olympiad initiative to encourage people across the West Midlands to get involved in dance and dance-related activity.
A number of People Dancing projects have already taken place (including the impressive Bollywood Steps) and we’ve just put together a leaflet which gives folks a taster of what’s been happening so far.
There are still opportunities to take part in the programme – to find out how you can get involved, visit the West Midlands for 2012 website.
Imagination in education
Cre8us, formerly Creative Partnerships Coventry, is part of the government’s creative learning programme; designed to develop the skills of children and young people through – you guessed it – creative learning.
Supercool were tasked with designing and building the Cre8us website and developing their identity from an existing logo and set of illustrations. So that’s what we did!
Under cover
Twinfix are a leading UK designer, manufacturer and installer of polycarbonate shelters, canopies and covered walkways in places such as schools and railway stations; amongst others.
We’ve recently completed a revamp of their visual identity and built a brand new website for them: www.twinfix.co.uk
Font Aid IV: Coming Together
I follow Ellen Lupton on Twitter (@ellenLupton) so saw a recent tweet of hers about Font Aid IV: Coming Together.
The US-based Society of Typographic Aficionados (SOTA) are putting together a font made entirely of ampersands, designed by loads of different designers from around the world. (Hence it’s name, Coming Together.)
They’ll then sell the resulting font via MyFonts, with all proceeds going to Doctors Without Borders who are one of the many organisations helping out in Haiti at the moment.
SOTA are on the hunt for submissions at the moment, so I had a go …
My contribution is based fairly closely on the ‘et’ from which the ampersand shape derives and is (loosely) made up of a heart shape and a kiss. Ahhhh! I tried to make it simple but with a bit of thought behind it – though only time will tell if it’s good enough to be part of the font or not.
If you’ve got the mad Illustrator skillz, why not spare half an hour or so to create an ampersand?
Here’s what you need to do to take part:
> Submit a black and white “ampersand” icon.
> It should be a vector image file, not a bitmap.
> Keep it simple, not too crazy.
> Send it in EPS format to by 01/29/10.
(Remember to check back on MyFonts and buy the font once it’s ready!)
Thinking backwards. And sometimes upside-down.
I’m working on a project related to typography and patterns at the moment and, following a period of “Errr, where am I going to go with this?!”, I decided to link the two subjects by concentrating on palindromes.
Incase you’re not sure what palindromes are, they’re words or sentences – sometimes number sequences – in which letters (or numbers) appear in the same order when read forwards and backwards. Generally they ignore any punctuation marks, spaces and/or capitalisation.
The palindrome example that immediately jumped into my head (as it’s fairly logical too, making it extra-clever) is: A man, a plan, a canal – Panama. Neat.
Further research into wordy patterns also led me to look at ambigrams. The Wikipedia entry on which reads “An ambigram is a typographical design or artform that may be read as one or more words not only in its form as presented, but also from another viewpoint, direction, or orientation.” So, there you go.
I like the style of this example; and for some reason it really tickled me that it’s over a century old.
Early ambigram by Mitchell T. Lavin, published in The Strand, June 1908
Happy half dozen
Despite what you may be seeing on the supermarket shelves already, this is not about Easter eggs. No – today we’re celebrating Supercool’s sixth year in business!
There will be most certainly be cake (Swedish apple cake, to be precise) at Supercool HQ today and there may even be a drink or two – likely a nice, strong cuppa. Happy half dozen; and here’s to the next six years.
Sounds of Supercool #5
This afternoon, in tribute, we’re listening to Lhasa de Sela. A talented lady. RIP.
Well, well, well
Our latest work for the National Examination Board in Occupational Safety and Health (NEBOSH) was for the launch of a brand new qualification; aimed at helping to improve health and well-being in the workplace. Softer in tone than NEBOSH’s existing promotional materials, the design style we developed was so well-received it’s now being rolled out across an array of other NEBOSH awards, certificates and diplomas.
The well-being qualification was launched in Dubai earlier this month.
Season’s Greetings
Warmest winter wishes to you, from Supercool!
Have a relaxing and revitalising break – and a happy, healthy 2010.
Silver-screen gold
Earlier this year we did some design work for the premiere of Land Gold Women; a feature film tackling the controversial and emotive subject of honour killings. The premiere was organised by Rewired PR and held at Cineworld in Birmingham – the perfect location as the film was shot here in Brum.
We’ve just learned that Land Gold Women has won the FCA (Foreign Correspondents Association) Purple Orchid Award for Best Film, and was a joint winner in the Best Script/Screenplay category at the 2009 Asian Festival of First Films which took place in Singapore at the beginning of December. Fantastic news!
It’s heartening that such challenging and, for want of a better word, plucky film-making is going on here in Birmingham; and even better that it’s won such positive international recognition.
(Hat-tip Rewired PR)
A local site, for local people (and lots of other people besides)
The Created in Birmingham blog has been ‘linking up Birmingham’s artistic and creative communities’ for three years now. Three years exactly, actually – today is the site’s third birthday – and long may it continue, I say.
It’s an ace resource for finding out what’s going on in and around Brum and that’s why Supercool have signed-up as a Supporter of CiB. (That, plus the promise of being sent a nice Christmas Card …)
Find out how to become a supporter on the ‘Support CiB’ page of their website.
Food for thought
Last night was the second Birmingham Chitterlings dinner; an event which is probably most simply described as a supper club for people interested in design-related things.
We were thrilled to be asked by the organisers, Type, to design a piece of print for the event. The 6-page, roll-fold, DL leaflet acted as a nameplace, menu-reminder, guestlist, brief biography of our speaker – and also included some pertinent quotations … as a little food for thought!
(My write-up of Chitterlings II is over on the blog.)
Chewing the fat about fonts
Following on from the first event back in June, last night James, Sophie (our intern) and I went along to the second Birmingham Chitterlings supper club – again held at The Vaults in the Jewellery Quarter and organised by the lovely folks at Type.
Chitterlings is essentially a smallish (there were 16 of us) gathering of folks interested in design-related things, who get together to listen to a guest speaker, then have a chat over dinner. It’s all very civilised, don’t you know.
Our guest speaker last night was John Berry, a designer, author, President of ATypI (Association Typographique Internationale) and program manager at Microsoft Typography. John recounted how he found his way into typography (serendipitously) and told us a bit about his role at Microsoft, banging the drum for good, legible typography on-screen. (Incase you’re wondering what the secret is – it’s all about space.)
Just like the previous Chitterlings (properly pronounced “chitlins”, John informed us!) it was a fun, interesting and enlightening evening; good food, good chats and good people.
Oh, and we were each given a calligraphic artwork of our name too, expertly penned by calligrapher Paul Antonio.
Besides all that, I was chuffed that Caroline from Type asked me to design the menu/nameplace/programme leaflets for the event. Although there’s not much scarier for a designer than designing for other designers, it was great to have a play around with Baskerville and some grub-related quotations. Typography and food – two of my favourite things. (And my design even got a compliment from Mr Berry, so I was very relieved. Phew!)
Fun and games
The big event itself may be a way off yet, but there’s lots happening in the lead-up to London 2012.
We’ve just produced a swathe of work for the region’s Cultural Olympiad projects. Following an existing brand style, we designed exhibition, print and downloadable pieces to let people know how they can get involved in the build-up to the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games … right here, right now.
Hands on
A while back I signed-up to a Crafts Council thing called ‘Craft Matters’, which aims to demonstrate that hand-crafted things are important to an awful lot of people.
The nature of my job means a lot of my day’s spent at a computer; researching on the web, emailing clients, organising virtual ‘paperwork’ things … oh, and actually designing of course. I love my Mac – in fact it’s invaluable to me – but that’s not to say I think computer-generated stuff is the be-all and end-all.
I’m also a big fan of handmade, crafty things – whether it’s limited edition ‘zines, hand-printed t-shirts, locally-made jewellery, handmade letterpress posters or any other beautiful, useful and/or bizarre bits and bobs that have been lovingly created by hand.
So, yes, craft matters to me. If it matters to you as well, here’s the link so you can sign-up too: Craft Matters
Est. 1979
Having previously worked on a number of print projects with NEBOSH, our latest work for them is a microsite; part of their 30th anniversary commemorations.
The site features a selection of ‘memories’ from staff and students, a timeline of notable events from since NEBOSH was established in late 1979 until the present day, and an area for NEBOSH to post the various celebratory events they’re planning over the next year – including a recent evening reception at the House of Lords.
Sustainable business
Last month Axis (who provide consultancy on development projects and strategies) exhibited at the UKs leading renewable energy conference and exhibition, BWEA31 – which this year attracted almost 3,500 delegates.
Working with JRS Marketing we created the Axis exhibition stand; one which helped them make a huge impact in a packed exhibitor area. The ‘stand-out’ stand attracted a huge number of both visitors … and compliments!
Blimey, that’s old!
Crikey – doesn’t time fly when you’re having fun? Lovable duo Wallace & Gromit are 20 years old today. Well, that’s just grand!
Many happy returns and all that – oh, and they have some special bits on their website to celebrate the occasion, including a ‘20 Questions’ interview with their creator, Nick Park.
(Discovered thanks to Google’s themed logo of today!)
Final Likemind of 2009
The last Likemind of 2009 will be held on Friday 4th December – at the same time and place as usual.
We’ll then be back to normal – the third Friday of each month – from Friday 15th January 2010.
Hope to see you there!
In step
On Saturday evening I took a trip to see Bollywood Steps, a dance spectacular which was held as part of People Dancing; a strand of the Cultural Olympiad here in the West Midlands. (It was also part of the Town Hall’s 175th Anniversary celebrations.)
Essentially the life-story of originator Simmy Gupta told in dance, the first half hour consisted of a ‘basic steps’ tutorial, so the entire crowd could dance along during the wedding scene at the end of the show. I’m not much of a mover but bopped along in time; suppressing the urge to join in with the arm movements lest I accidentally bop someone on the nose. (Dancing’s not my strength!) I was actually really impressed with the number of people who got into it and gave it a go – there were arms waving round all over the place.
The performance-proper was fantastic – the dancing was, naturally, pretty impressive but fusing it with such beautiful, dramatic lighting and the backdrop of the Town Hall made it something really special. And there were fountains and fireworks and everything!
It was most certainly an invigorating way to spend an hour or so on a chilly October evening. (Especially for the floaty-sari-clad dancers who must’ve been blooming freezing!)
I’ll be keeping an eye on West Midlands Dance (a hub of local dance-related stuff) as I’m intrigued to see – following Bollywood, water features and pyrotechnics – what else will come from People Dancing.
Keeping it simple for 57 years
Thanks to Google’s oft-changing logo, I discovered that today is the 57th anniversary of the barcode being patented.
Over those years this machine-readable graphic representation of data has morphed into various forms (a recent case-in-point being the Japanese-designed QR code) but the most ubiquitous example in the UK remains – well, a load of vertical black lines.
For me it’s a fine example of simple, practical and understated design.
(Apologies if the above image makes your eyes go a bit funny …)
Have you seen …?
Audiences Central have just launched a new site, Scene Central, which lists a vast range of arts, cultural and heritage-based things to see and do across the West Midlands.
Supercool worked with Audiences Central on the Scene Central branding, print materials and the look of the site. As the website’s built to an existing template, functional and visual alterations were extremely restricted, so we liaised with the web developer to ensure Scene Central works as hard as it possibly can; not only for the organisations who list events but also for their audiences.
Find out what’s on near you: www.scenecentral.co.uk
A little change
Our next Likemind coffee morning (on Friday 18th September) is going to be a little different from usual …
We’ll be part of the World’s Biggest Coffee Morning; a UK-wide series of events raising money and awareness for Macmillan – a charity working to improve the lives of people affected by cancer.
Alongside the usual coffee-drinking and natter, Saint Caffe will be sporting some cheerful green posters and balloons, we’ll have a collection box set aside incase you’d like to give a bit of change, and anyone who donates will be encouraged to adorn themselves with a cute coffee mug themed sticker – while stocks last!
So, we’re really hoping that September’s Likemind will be an especially good one – coffee, conversation and the feel-good factor? A Friday morning never looked so good.
Likemind (in support of Macmillan) – Friday 18th September 2009
Saint Caffe, St Paul’s Square, Birmingham B3 1QS
From 8am until 10am-ish
Hope to see you there!
(Sign-up for coffee morning reminder emails on the Likemind page)
*UPDATE*
Huge thanks to all who donated so generously at the coffee morning the other week, and those who pledged to donate online to Macmillan. With what we raised, we’ve helped fund a support worker for an hour, and helped two cancer support groups hold their first meetings. Brilliant!
World’s Biggest Coffee Morning
The next Likemind (Friday 18th September) is going to be a little different from usual …
We’re going to be part of the World’s Biggest Coffee Morning; a UK-wide series of events raising money and awareness for Macmillan, a charity working to improve the lives of people affected by cancer.
Alongside the usual coffee-drinking and natter we’ll have a collection box set aside incase you’d like to donate, Saint Caffe will be sporting some cheerful green Macmillan posters and balloons, and anyone who donates will be welcome to adorn themselves with a cute coffee mug-themed sticker (while stocks last!).
Let’s make Likemind Birmingham on Friday 18th September a good one – coffee, conversation and the feelgood factor? A Friday morning never looked so good.
Cultivating culture
A while back James and I went to the book launch of Intelligent Naivety – Commercial Opportunities for Museums and Culture Institutions, which was held at BMAG.
The book is the brainchild of CultureLabel whose Executive Chair David Gilbert – former MD of both Currys and Waterstones – introduced the notion of encouraging cultural institutions to think more entrepreneurially. (Bluntly put, so they don’t have to be so reliant on public funding as a means of survival.)
The book’s introduction asks, “How can over-stretched museums and cultural institutions recognise consumer needs, exceed consumer desires, and leverage a sustainable source of income without wrecking the very special relationship they’ve created with their audiences?”
We were lucky enough to nab a copy of the uber-fluorescent paper version (ahhh, the smell of fresh print!) but a much more screen-friendly pastel-coloured pdf of the book is also available to download for free from the Intelligent Naivety website.
Let us know what you think …
Trial run
As part of the Cultural Olympiad in the build up to London 2012, a number of Community Games events will be held across the region during 2010.
We were asked to design the printed materials for a series of teaser events happening this summer, aimed at giving communities a dash of inspiration for their own Community Games events next year. The clear, bright and cheery designs have been extremely well-received by the various Cultural Olympiad partners. (As has the clear, bright and cheery weather we’ve had for the events that have taken place so far.)
Creative communication
Over the past few months we’ve been working with Cre8us (formerly Creative Partnerships Coventry) on a number of projects. The latest is the design of a series of simple postcard-sized greetings cards, to be used for saying hello, for saying thanks – for saying anything really, but in a more informal way than you can with a traditional letter.
The cute illustrations are by artist Jo Roberts and come from the Cre8us publication Reflections on a Creative Journey. More Cre8us news coming soon.
Year in review
Having designed the materials for their graduation ceremony earlier this year, NEBOSH subsequently asked us to re-design their Annual Report.
We made a number of changes, mainly typographical, to improve the report’s design; by paying close attention to every element on the page we’ve made what is essentially an information-heavy financial document much more of an ‘easy-read’. Successfully conveying complex information as simply as possible – it’s all in the detailing.
Countryphile
It’s not often our work finds itself in the hands of someone from the telebox but here’s a photo of one our our designs – a delightful press folder – with tv presenter and all-round good egg Ben Fogle (at the Mosaic launch event, which was held at Dales Countryside Museum in Hawes, North Yorkshire last week). As well as being on the tv and doing various adventurous things, he’s also President of Campaign for National Parks which runs Mosaic; a project aiming to build sustainable links between black and minority ethnic communities, and the National Parks and Youth Hostels Association.
In the photo: David Butterworth – Chief Executive, Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority; Ben Fogle – Adventurer, Presenter and President of CNP; Huw Irranca-Davies MP – Minister for Marine and Natural Environment; Nurjahan Ali Arobi – Mosaic Community Champion. (Photo © copyright YDNPA 2009)
Coffee and cake!
Thanks to everyone who came along to July’s Likemind coffee morning, to help us celebrate the event’s second anniversary. Thanks especially to Saint Caffe for the pastries and huge Victoria sponge cake. Yum!
Sounds of Supercool
This afternoon, Supercool HQ is filled with sounds from the Lord of the Rings soundtrack. Emotive … and panpipe-tastic.
Playing with technology
Vlex is a new and evolving online game – with a twist. Developed by C&T for their network of schools, it’s played by syncing a Wii controller to a computer, and allows players to shape, control and adapt 3-d environments; with new levels added by the young people themselves.
We designed and built a simple website to help C&T launch the game at the International Drama in Education Research Institute conference which was held in Sydney, Australia earlier this month.
A walk in the (National) Park
Mosaic is a Campaign for National Parks project that aims to build sustainable and meaningful links between black and minority ethnic communities, and the National Parks and Youth Hostels Association.
We produced a range of print items for Mosaic, to explain and promote the project, and to encourage people to get in touch about becoming a Mosaic Community Champion.
Going live!
After giving them a new look earlier in the year, we were asked to work on the website design – both the visual elements of the site and the navigational structure – for Eventia, the official trade body for the events and live marketing industry. After producing the initial wireframes, we then applied the all-new Eventia branding and Joel from Build, Eventia’s web development consultants, built the site.
It’s light, bright and easy to navigate for a variety of different visitors – from event organisers to destinations; service providers to affiliates.
Health, safety and ceremony
NEBOSH is the National Examination Board in Occupational Safety & Health. Working with project manager Kerry Endsor, we designed all of the print materials for their recent graduation ceremony which was attended by in excess of 1,000 people – the graduates, their family and friends, plus some VIP guests.
The items we designed included a neat little A5 booking pack, gatefold tickets (more exciting and ‘keepable’ than a regular DL), a commemorative brochure and the stage dressing. The firework graphic is an evolution of previous years’ design and adds a celebratory feel and a bit of ‘oomph’ to the materials.
On this day …
in 1453 the One Hundred Years’ War ended, with the French defeating the English at the Battle of Castillon.
in 1717 King George I of Great Britain sailed down the Thames River on a barge with 50 musicians who premiered Handel’s Water Music.
in 1917 the British Royal Family adopted the name of the House of Windsor in place of their German family name, Saxe-Coburg-Gotha.
in 1955 Disneyland opened in Anaheim, California.
in 1957 TV presenter Fern Britton was born (and today also happens to be her last day on This Morning).
in 1975 The spacecraft Apollo docked with Soyuz 19 and, through a hatch, US commander Thomas P Safford shook hands with his Soviet counterpart Aleksei Leonov.
in 1999 New Scientist magazine ran an article about the health benefits of a nice cup of tea.
… and on this day in 2009 Likemind Birmingham celebrated its second birthday with coffee, tea, chat – and cakes!
Touchy, feely … smelly?
I love the interwebs as much as (or perhaps even more than) the next person but there ain’t nothing like a beautiful piece of print to really make my day.
I think it’s the smell, the texture and perhaps also the finality of print that can just make it something really special.
Anyway, I got a copy of the latest limited edition Love to Print book through the post recently and it’s a stormer – the charming, hand-printed cover just made me want to see inside.
And on the inside; there are lots of different styles of drawing – detailed, simple, witty, cute, graphical, sketchy – but they all illustrate an obsession of each of the artists. These obsessions include photography, butterflies, cupcakes and dinosaurs. (Oh, and cats, which lots of people who are obsessed with the internet also seem to be into!)
It’s just a lovely thing to look through, to hold … and, yes, to smell. I think perhaps that’s one of my little obsessions – I’m compelled to sniff fresh print. Yum.
“Obsession – A Zine of Drawing Obsessions” will be available to buy soon. Keep an eye on the Love to Print blog for details.
Community in the city
One of the best things about working in the Jewellery Quarter is the (I think, burgeoning) sense of community. Not only are there lots of friendly, go-getting businesses around – the residents are ace too.
James and I went along to the inaugural 24 Carrots Farmers’ Market last Saturday. It was choc-full of fantastic food; from pâté to pastries, scallops to strawberries, cupcakes to carrots. There was a real buzz about the place and a lovely, welcoming – dare I say ‘old-fashioned’ – kind of friendliness and community spirit that can be pretty rare in cities.
The market was organised by a group of residents who decided a market would be a great thing for the Jewellery Quarter and the people who live and work here.
(You have to imagine me talking in a doddery old lady voice now) I remember way, way back in the day … errr, well just December actually, when several local residents were at one of our monthly coffee mornings. The idea of a market came from the lovely Anne O’Leary; the concept got a really positive response from people – and now, just over 6 months later, the first market has been and gone and was a huge success.
So, I guess it’s not just the sense of community round here that I find quite heartwarming – it’s also the strong sense of industriousness, initiative-taking and just plain old ‘getting things done’.
The next 24 Carrots is on Saturday 19th September outside The Big Peg, from 9am until 3pm. (There’s a Flickr group with lots of photos if you want an idea of what it was like. Join and add your photos if you went along!)
The next Likemind Coffee Morning (and the event’s 2nd birthday!) is on Friday 17th July, at Saint Caffe on St Pauls’ Square, from 8am until 10ish.
If you’re on Twitter and in the Quarter:
@MyJQ – a hyper-local what’s on guide run by resident Brian Simpson
@24_Carrots – for Farmers’ Market updates
@likemind – for coffee morning reminders
MyJQ also has a Tumblr – check out this video from the last Likemind!
There are probably loads more things I’ve missed – feel free to add stuff in the comments.
Dramatic news
We’ve designed and built a simple-looking but full-of-content website for C&T’s Living Newspaper project: “Re-inventing documentary drama in the age of YouTube, C&T’s own brand of Living Newspapers turn your students into citizen journalists.”
The site features three columns: one links to recent news stories; the second shows some of the video/dramas that have been produced, based on actual news; the third column features more about the project, and hints and tips on how to make your own Living Newspaper.
Likemind Birmingham is nearly 2!
The next coffee morning (Friday 17th July) will be Likemind Birmingham’s 2nd anniversary.
Come and join us to help celebrate this extra-special milestone with coffee, conversation … and maybe even some cake! (Sign-up to the mailing list for a reminder email nearer the time.)
We’re looking forward to …
Invite beautifully designed by our favourite (though we are biased!) Visual Communication 09 graduate, Sarah Carter.
Food talks
Last Thursday we popped along to Birmingham’s inaugural Chitterlings dinner at The Vaults. It’s an event that Type used to run in London, and it’s basically a smallish gathering of graphic design professionals and educators getting together over a meal to listen to, and chat with, a guest speaker – and each other. (Caroline explains it all much better over on the Type website – and they’ve got better photos too!)
First up, thanks to Euston station being shut and the subsequent travel disruption, we were treated to an impromptu talk by Francis Atterbury of Hurtwood Press who had literally just returned to the country from Stuttgart. There, he’d been collecting proofs of the new exhibition catalogue of Gilbert & George’s work, the printing of which he’s overseeing for them. It was fascinating to hear his anecdotes, and about the perfectionism and passion that goes into something that so many people take for granted. Ahhh, the joys of getting colours just right!
Next, our main speaker – Meirion Pritchard, Art Director of Wallpaper magazine – described the changing face of the magazine, from the first issue to the latest; a slightly naughty Peter Saville special. It was both interesting and reassuring to hear that everyday design conundrums also affect the designer of a global publication; hooray!
Chitterlings was a real experience – and one I hope to repeat. I don’t know if it’s just me but lots of people seem to be interested in socialising over food recently – is ‘food networking’ becoming something of a trend … or is that just pie in the sky?
The future of government
We’ve recently launched a new website and brand re-vamp for Local Government Futures, who provide consultancy, training and policy reviews and research to the public sector.
The site has been carefully redesigned with the user in mind – it’s clear, current and easy to navigate; and this reinvigorated brand style conveying clarity, reliability and experience is being rolled out across all of LG Futures’ communications materials.
Tee/bag
Work has begun on printing the t-shirts and tote bags to be sold in aid of Acorns Children’s Hospice, featuring a Birmingham Ward Map design by yours truly! The fundraising idea came from editor of Created in Birmingham, Kate Spragg, with every one of the items being lovingly hand-printed by Kay at the Cut-Out Shop.
I think it’s great that Kate got an idea, told people about it, got the help needed to make it happen and is now about to see this hard work pay off – in aid of a fantastically good cause.
The t-shirts and bags will be on sale shortly – but will only be available in very limited numbers so, keep a close eye on CiB so you won’t miss out on one of the most eagerly anticipated fashion items of Summer 2009 …!
Accessibility
Art Speaking is a series of talks about 12 different artworks, housed in 4 different galleries across the West Midlands. The programme has been created to improve access to art for visually impaired people. We designed the Art Speaking leaflet, which will be available in all the participating venues: Wolverhampton Art Gallery; The New Art Gallery Walsall; Herbert Art Gallery and Museum, Coventry and Leamington Art Gallery & Museum.
You can download the leaflet or find out more online via the Art Speaking website: www.artspeaking.co.uk
Tone of voice
We’ve recently created a new logo and house design style for Eventia – a highly-regarded trade association, they’re known as ‘the voice for the events industry’. The re-brand has had a great deal of positive feedback both within the industry’s trade press and from Eventia’s own members and partners, which is fantastic news.
We’re working on more yet-to-be-unveiled stuff for Eventia, so watch this space!
Set your alarm!
I’ll be setting mine especially early on Friday night because at 4am on 4 April – aka very early on Saturday morning –– it’s time for the 4am Project.
Photo: B4AM – Reservoir Road, Edgbaston, Birmingham © Karen Strunks 2009
The brainchild of the lovely and talented Birmingham-based photographer Karen Strunks, the 4am Project aims “to gather a collection of photos from around the world at the magical time of 4am on 4 April 2009. Anyone with a digital camera or camera phone can share their photos by uploading them onto Flickr with the tag 4amproject or by emailing their photos along with details of where the pictures were taken to "
Photos submitted so far in the build up to the big day have come from professional and amateur photographers in Russia, Canada, USA, Australia, Malaysia, Sweden, and Brazil.
So I’ll be up by 4am on Saturday morning, snapping away. Bleary-eyed I may be – but thankfully my camera has an auto-focus!
I heart Birmingham
I don’t know if you’ve heard of South By South West Interactive (oft. shortened to SXSWi)?
It’s an annual ‘emerging technologies’ conference held in Austin, Texas and is by all accounts a pretty mind-blowing event. A fair few locals have gone along to it this year, leaving some of us folk left behind feeling a bit left out of all the excitement.
So, Shona suggested via Twitter that maybe it’d be good if we had our own, local version? And we could even hook up with the folks in Texas via the power of the interwebs?!
The idea stuck and within a week, Shona and others had sorted the date for WXWM (West By West Midlands), I’d put together a little logo (’cos that’s what I do!), a room at The Kitchen Garden Cafe was booked and the delegate list was filled. Wow!
The main thrust of the event was that anyone who wanted to do a 5 minute panel about anything to do with webby, social media type-things could present to the rest of us.
WXWM took place last Saturday and was fantastic. It was organised enough to run smoothly but not so much as to feel starchy or uptight. And the talks were all so different but, without exception, interesting and thought-provoking. I learned a huge amount, so thanks to everyone who took the time to put a panel together.
What turns out to be Birmingham’s first ever Barcamp was truly a great event and I really hope there’ll be a repeat next year, if not before. If you’re curious about what went on, the WXWM blog has video, photos and some additional background to the event.
I’m really pleased to live in a place where something like this can happen – and be such a success. Go Birmingham!
Jump, shimmy, boogie!
If you’d like to see more of the brochure we’ve just designed for People Dancing (the regional initiative to get more folks throwing shapes) you’re in luck because the lovely folks who run the West Midlands Dance blog have very kindly uploaded a screen version.
Go on, have a look and see if it makes you feel like dancin’ – y’know, really dancin’!
Bop, jive or glide?
We’ve just designed some screen and print pieces for People Dancing; a programme to encourage mass participation in dance, as part of the region’s cultural activity leading up to London 2012.
The initiative is all about getting people dancing (surprisingly enough!) across the West Midlands – so whether you’re a professional, a dance student or an enthusiastic amateur, if you’d like to get involved, you can send an email to to get more information.
Handprints
James and I went along to the launch of Fazeley Studios on Friday evening – a jam-packed event with some inspired catering (miniature burgers, fish ‘n’ chips and chocolate eclairs) and a smashing band, The Destroyers, who I think are completely ace.
Amongst the many fine folks we bumped into for a chat was artist/illustrator Karoline Rerrie, who was kind enough to give us a couple of her beautiful, limited-edition (I know, fancy!) hand-printed postcards. Part of the Calorific series, they’re gorgeous. Thanks Karoline!
A message from Tina
“Even though I think the assignments I get in school are exciting and realistic, the real world is so much different – and not in a bad way.
Getting told in school that I’ve done a good assignment is nice. But hearing from real graphic designers (Katie and James) that what I’ve done is good and they then even show it to the clients is SO nice and recognition on an entirely other level. I have been so lucky that I have had an internship here at Supercool the last four months and it’s been four exciting months.
I have been given briefs that were both exciting and weird. Like making a brochure without knowing the copy, the brand identity, the pictures or the style. Or making a logo that should work animated. Or drawing a pub icon, a water vole and a canalboat. I have enjoyed all of them, because they have been challenging.
But other than learning a lot about graphic design, I’ve also got a new, broader vocabulary with both technical and weird words like “apostrophe” (it reminds me more of something that should be in outer space, instead of over a letter) and “water vole” (translated directly from Danish would have the name swamp pig).
Furthermore I’ve learned things like cardamom in England is sold as whole pods and used in e.g. Indian food (In Denmark I have only seen ground cardamom and my favourite use of it is in pancakes), that Danish pastry is better from a bakery in Denmark than from Tesco and that there is this very addictive page called twitter.com
With only a few days left in England my last mission is to find out what ginger beer is.
So the only thing left to say is thank you Katie and James, it has been a great four months!
På gensyn! (See you!)”
Satellite communication
Artist (and recent Likemind attendee) Nikki Pugh went for a walk around Millennium Point with her GPS gadget the other day, and made this:
How brilliant is that?! ‘Supercool’ as drawn by Nikki - and the satellites!
There’s more clever stuff over on her website: www.npugh.co.uk
The business of creativity
Arts+Media were in need of a new website, not just to match their new look but to enable them to communicate more effectively, clearly and quickly with artists and arts organisations.
The new site is content-managed so the team can easily update the news, courses, events and projects. It also features profiles and image galleries for all of A+M’s associate artists, along with the ability for site users to suggest collaborative project ideas.
You can see the site here: www.arts-media.org
On the trail
Our latest piece of print is an illustrated canal trail guide for Groundwork Coventry & Warwickshire. We designed simple, informative icons along with more descriptive illustrations of the various points of interest along the route. The resulting map is appealing, understandable – and even has a dash of humour.
And incase you need a bit of persuasion to go for a canalside stroll in this chilly weather, the trail itself is bookended by traditional, country pubs …
Class act
Last week saw the launch of our site for C&T, an award-winning theatre company who work with schools, community groups and the private sector to encourage creative learning through a combination of drama and new media.
The site includes a feed from their school-networked site, podcasts and video; as well as encouraging further interaction with C&T through Facebook, You Tube and Twitter: www.candt.org
Making the news
On Friday morning, on Twitter, Channel 4 News set people a challenge:
I like playing around with words so I wrote a couple of little poems … and from umpteen submissions, they chose one of mine to be read out on the evening programme!
I can’t begin to tell you how chuffed I was – I watch Channel 4 News every weeknight so to see my (Twitter) name on the screen was brilliant.
And it’s another small yet powerful example of the amazing connective potential of Twitter. How else would a graphic designer in Brum get their poem recited on the national news?
(You can read a selection of the other poems and, for the next 7 days, see the full report on the Channel 4 News website.)
We are 5!
It’s been a hectic day so I nearly forgot that there’s a special birthday in the office today – Supercool is 5 years old!
Wow, time certainly flies when you’re having fun creating lots of lovely branding, print and web work, I can tell you. It’s sounds like a properly old thing to say but last year was the best one yet – and we’re keeping optimistic that 2009 will also treat us well.
Cake, candles and champagne at the ready then? Oh yes, but they may have to wait until the weekend – there’s work to be done!
Killer album cover
Having first seen his work when designing our first Artlounge catalogue and subsequently choosing one of his pieces as the cover of the inaugural New Generation Arts Festival brochure, it was quite exciting to see Paul Normansell’s work adorning the cover of the Killers’ latest album, Day & Age.
According to a recent Artlounge newsletter the Killers liked the artwork so much they even used the iconography in one of their videos, and within the stage sets for their appearance on Jools Holland.
Impressive stuff!
New year, new look
One of our latest projects is a range of work for Arts+Media in Coventry. (They help artists and arts organisations to build their businesses.)
The first piece finished is the Annual Report – a concertina-fold document which showcases the new A+M branding. Business-like without feeling cold or sterile, it features simple lines, a revitalised colour palette, considered type and colourful imagery. We’re really pleased with how it looks and it’s been extremely well received by both the A+M team and their board so, good news!
Season’s Greetings
We’d like to wish you all a wonderful, relaxing and revitalising festive season … and invite you to check out the blog for a special winter message!
A festive message …
Coffee and conversation
Thanks to everyone who came along to our little coffee morning on Friday. There were lots of new faces and everyone seemed to have a good time, which is exactly the point! We’re getting a really good mix of folks coming along; some live or work locally, others are from further afield but work in and around the city centre.
It’s free to attend, friendly, informal – and there’s no agenda. Simply pop along, grab a coffee – or tea – and enjoy a chat with people you may not otherwise meet.
If you want to find out more or fancy coming along to the next one, there’s info here on the Likemind bit of our site (you can sign up for an email reminder), the next date’s also on Upcoming and you can follow @likemind on Twitter for updates.
Next one: Friday 16th January at Saint Caffe, St Paul’s Square.
We’ll be there from 8am until about 10ish – pop by whenever you like.
(Special thanks to Rob for taking the photos that I’ve very swiftly comped together above! Not sure what I thought was so funny ...)
Little mouse turns the big 4-0!
This revolutionary computer controller was designed by Doug Engelbart and a team of researchers at Stanford Research Institute, California and its first incarnation was an unassuming hollow wooden block with wheels mounted underneath. (It was also filled with clever gadgety bits and bobs that I’m sure you can read about in detail somewhere; yes, there’s more here in The Guardian.)
On December 9th 1968 the little controller that one of the team had nicknamed ‘the mouse’ had its world premiere at a presentation Mr Engelbart was giving in San Francisco and it was quite a hit.
The mouse has changed quite dramatically over a fairly short period of time – and I’m sure there’s still room for improvement (mouse-manufacturers, please take note) – but I can safely say that I’m at a loss without my scrolling, gliding, clicking friend.
So, this December 9th, why not spare a thought for the mouse in your life and quietly wish it a happy 40th birthday. (But please don’t mention the trackpad!)
My favourite design is simple design
This poster by Ken Carbone to celebrate Swiss designer Fritz Gottschalk’s 70th birthday is simply brilliant!
Words of wisdom? Ish.
During one of our recent Likemind coffee mornings I got talking about work experience placements with Jon Hickman from Interactive Cultures.
It’s something I’d been thinking about a fair bit over recent weeks so Jon asked if I’d jot down a few sage words of wisdom on getting the most out of a placement, for a website called Uni Survival which is run by one of his colleagues. So I did. And here it is: Getting The Most From Work Placements
Giraffe Communications
Size matters
Our latest piece of print is a teeny, tiny but hugely cute A7-sized book which tells the story of the world record breaking Big Picture, from the point of view of Kerry Endsor who project managed the whole thing.
The new content-managed website we designed and built for Kerry’s company, Smarty Pants Marketing, has just gone live too. And just like the little book, it’s clear, informative – and big on personality!
www.smartypantsmarketing.co.uk
School of Supercool
Several weeks ago we took part in Kerning – a scheme to help graduates into industry.
Three recent graphic design graduates from BCU (Laurie, Aliya and Ning) each did a one-week placement with us to get a taster of what it’s like working in a small design studio.
As part of the scheme we were lucky enough to have Caroline Archer from UK Type (the masterminds behind the Plus Design Festival which starts today, hint, hint!) come in to work with the graduates on a group project we’d set. It was interesting to see the different ideas and perspectives each student – and indeed Caroline – brought to the project.
This week we’re very pleased to welcome Tina, a third year student from the Skolen For Visuel Kommunikation in Denmark. Tina’s on an internship with us for four months as part of her course and we’re really looking forward to having another designer in the studio – we’ve got quite used to having an extra person around the place.
Hopefully it’ll be a good learning experience for Tina … and for us too. Faded blue exercise books at the ready!
Direct (e)mail
We’ve recently provided Audiences Central with a templated email system which allows them to quickly and easily send out custom-designed, Audiences Central-branded HTML emails to their various databases.
We set up six templates (for their different newsletters) which they can add content to, test and send out themselves. They also get detailed delivery reports for each campaign. Clever, efficient and extremely useful – our favourite sort of job!
Contact Audiences Central if you’d like to be added to their mailing list.
What can you do in 48 hours?
Visit many of Venice’s most popular tourist attractions.
Race across the Atacama Desert in a jeep.
Or if you’d prefer something a little less drastic (this is surely less drastic than two solid days of Jack Bauer?) and lot more creative, you can always take part in Film Dash – Chris Unitt’s 48 hour filmmaking challenge – which starts this Friday 17th October.
Intrigued? Have a look at the Film Dash website for more ...
I’m being followed by Stephen Fry
Twitter is amazing. If you’ve not heard of or used it before I’d urge you to have a play.
It’s probably easiest to explain Twitter as a kind of mini-blogging tool; similar to Facebook’s status updates but without all the stuff like walls, adverts, poking and throwing sheep getting in the way ...
Once signed up you have 140 characters per update to do with as you will, and in your Twitter stream you can follow what fellow tweeters have to say. They may or may not follow you back but, as the title of this post suggests, Stephen Fry – yep, actual, real-life Stephen Fry – is following me! (As well as thousands of others, but still ...) He’s Twittering his way round the globe at the moment, making a new show called Last Chance to See which is all about endangered species. His current location: Kenya, filming white rhino. And I know this. Told you Twitter’s amazing!
Though I don’t lead as exciting a life as Mr Fry, so far through Twitter I have managed, amongst other things, to: virtually meet a whole load of interesting people; be followed by a comedy genius; tell the world what I’m having for lunch; snag some spare Book Festival tickets (Thanks Jon!) – and I’m currently in 140 character discussions about urban gardening.
Twitter – just like garlic bread before it – is the future.
Jaguars and swans
As James is taking part in their Young Professionals on Arts Boards scheme, the folks at Arts & Business kindly invited us along to their awards ceremony at the Town Hall last night.
The Jaguar Arts & Business Awards celebrate the best collaborative projects between ... you guessed it, arts and business!
The evening’s musical entertainment was provided by Orchestra of the Swan, who I’d heard about but never actually heard until last night. They were great, playing the 20th Century Fox fanfare (complete with foot-stomping in place of drums!), several movements from a beautiful piece by Elgar, plus The Avengers theme tune which sounds amazing played live by a dozen assorted strings.
Back to the ceremony - we were pleased to see both The Big Picture (BBC, Jessops and Audiences Central) and the Aston Creative Development Programme (Aston Business School, the MAP Consortium and C&T) scoop the awards in their categories. Very deserving wins, we reckon. Not that we’re biased or anything, we just did the e-marketing and some print for The Big Picture and James is on the board of C&T ...
Anyway, here are the Audiences Central team, along with Kerry Endsor (who project managed The Big Picture) and the ladies from Rewired PR, celebrating their big win with bevvies at The Radisson!
A very civil evening
On thursday night we were very honored to be invited to be part of the judging panel of the Birmingham Civic Society’s Next Generation Awards Programme. The project has involved over a thousand young people in several schools across Birmingham. Teams are made up between 6-9 pupils and are asked to consider life in Birmingham 20 years from now, the social issues Birmingham may face and what they might to do to solve the associated problems.
The final was made up of the top four winning teams from King Edward School, Baverstock School, Priory School and Small Heath School who each made a presentation to the panel. Issues covered litter, graffiti, and the environment however it was Small Heath’s presentation on the elderly that came across as the best thought through, most personal as well as most entertaining - suggestions included more bungalows, Nintendo Wiis and better anti-wrinkle cream!
We were joined on the panel by Rob Langley of Clarke Associates and (the recently graduated graduate-apprentice) Jason Norris now of Deloitte. It was a very different way to spend an evening anyway, brilliant fun, and reassuring to know Birmingham will be in safe hands in years to come - and a free Nintendo Wii on retiring is a great prospect.
Kerning from alpha to beta
We’re about to start trialling a forthcoming Business Link West Midlands/Birmingham City University scheme called Kerning – it’s a kind of KTP (Knowledge Transfer Partnership) thing.
Here’s how it’ll work:
A BCU graduate will do a placement with us and, for a couple of the days that they’re here, the university will organise for someone to come and teach both us and the student ... ummmm ... something! Okay, details are slightly sketchy just now – there’s definitely going to be an element of ‘find what works and then run with it’ I think!
To kick things off, we’ve been matched with a recent graduate called Laurie. He’s done some fantastic work and judging from yesterday’s meeting is also a fine fellow and a good fit for Supercool. His degree specialism was typography – a subject close to our hearts – so that’s going to be the main focus of Laurie’s time with us. (And what an apt topic for a scheme called Kerning!)
To use techy terminology, we’ve come to the project in between the alpha and beta testing stages really; there’s a loose framework for us to follow but how things go with us will influence how the whole scheme will be structured in future. So, it’s exciting to be involved right near the beginning.
The finer points are still being worked out but watch this space as we discover more about Kerning ...
The meaning of rice?
I went along to the Stan’s Cafe show Of All The People In All The World (aka The Rice Show) today, not really knowing what to expect other than heaps of rice representing various people-related statistics.
I’d heard good things from people who’d seen the small version of the show but I still wondered, how interesting could different-sized piles of rice really be?
Wow.
I was by turns moved, amused, amazed, shocked and disgusted by a surprisingly diverse collection of statistics. There are so many representations; from the population of India (which made me gasp out loud), to the number of people at the 2008 Moseley Folk Festival (I was there!); from babies growing up in UK jails, to the total number of space tourists there’s ever been ... and even Condoleeza Rice.
The juxtaposition of certain stats gave me pause for thought too. For example, how on earth did Liverpool’s population explode so dramatically between 1770 and 1773? The answer’s at the show – and is particularly sobering.
For me, a great deal of the show’s power came from the fact that I was wandering around it with a single grain of rice clutched between by thumb and index finger. Everyone picks up a grain – which represents themselves – when they enter the show and, to be honest, I wasn’t quite sure what the point of this was at first. But when confronted with colossal mountains of rice, and knowing that each grain represents just one individual, that miniscule speck between your fingertips gives you an acute and actually quite overwhelming sense of perspective.
New stats are being added and existing ones updated all the time to keep the show current, so it’s different every time you go. And I’ll definitely be going back. The show’s at the AE Harris Factory near St Paul’s Square until 5th October – check the Stan’s Cafe website for details. Go – and be completely awestruck by 112 tonnes of rice.
(There are more Of All The People ... photos by me and others here on Flickr.)
Form and function
Our latest piece of print for Audiences Central (the region’s audience development agency for the arts, culture and heritage) is hot of the presses – and looking fantastic!
The marketing services brochure is now in the refreshed brand style which means it not only looks great, it’s also consistent with all the other Audiences Central literature we’ve designed and, perhaps most importantly, the content has been structured so it’s quick and easy for people to find what they’re looking for. As they say, it’s all about the audience.
Record breakers
James and I went along to The Big Picture mosaic unveiling earlier today (if you don’t know about the project, check out the website) and I’m thrilled to announce that I - as a contributing photographer - am now a joint world record holder! Woo-hoo!
Okay, so, I share this accolade with the thousands of other people who also submitted their photos, but still ...!
Supercool did the project’s e-flyers and designed the ‘We’ve Done It’ leaflet (yes I did know which was the winning image in advance of the unveiling!) so we were invited along to the lunch reception and speeches bit before the big reveal. It was interesting to hear some background to the project, as well as seeing all the people who’d worked really hard and been instrumental in pulling it all together getting some well-deserved recognition and applause. (I was the loud clapper at the back!)
On to the grand unveiling itself - of eight shortlisted photos only one had been mosaic-ified and the shortlisted folk didn’t know whose image had been selected until the tarpaulins were pulled back. Tense times for all the finalists! Happily, Nick Booth over at Podnosh captured the moment when Lucy Moore realised the photo of her grandad had been chosen as the winning shot. Not a dry eye in sight!
I’m not sure how long the mosaic’s going to be at Millennium Point but if you can possibly get to see it, do. It’s utterly, completely incredible that all of those raw photos can make up such a precise replica of the winning image. Awesome. (I just wish my photography did it justice!)
If you can’t get to see the real thing though, have a squizz at the clever e-version over on the Big Picture site. I’ve not found my photos yet but I’m gonna keep on searching - yep, they’re in there somewhere. Amongst 112,896 images ... so there goes the Bank Holiday!
Sounds of Supercool
Today we are mostly listening to film music by Angelo Badalamenti and the cool, finger-clickin’ cheese that is Lounge-A-Palooza.
Hello, good buy
Attwood Homes have just launched Flexibuy - the newest, smartest way to buy a home. Essentially it’s a way of getting on the property ladder whilst at the same time keeping your options open, so you know if buying’s right for you. Clever stuff.
We wrote the Flexibuy strapline and helped develop a copywriting tone of voice, as well as designing leaflets, invites, press ads, billboards and other signage for the big launch event last weekend. A phenomenal number of people came along to find out about Flexibuy; in fact it was such a huge success that there’s another Open House this weekend! For details: attwoodhomes.co.uk
My super-cool two weeks
I have had the wonderful pleasure of working at the Supercool studio for the past couple of weeks and would just like to say a big thank you to Katie and James for being so helpful and inspiring.
Being set lots of quick briefs has been great practice for me – in just two weeks (that really did fly by so fast), I’ve covered new design approaches and have added new values to my branding vocabulary.
I have learned a great deal about what it takes to be a great graphic designer and my time at Supercool has done nothing but fuel my drive to become part of the creative community even more.
With a stack more work to add to my portfolio and a new wealth of knowledge (though, I am sad to leave!), I feel really prepared for my final year at BIAD and more confident about entering the design industry as a professional.
So, thank you again to Supercool!
Space to show off
Architectural interior designers, Monteith Scott, needed a new look to emphasise their unique ability to create interiors in whatever style best suits the job at hand.
So, we created a simple, workable brand that includes a neat bracketing device to effortlessly and distinctively frame their work; showing it off and making it the main focus of attention. It is the important bit, after all.
From the logo to the website, we’re hugely pleased with the results – as are Monteith Scott. Perfect! www.monteithscott.com
What the @*#&!?
No, I’m not swearing; simply being informative and educational ...
You see, the fairly common practice of using various grammatical characters and/or punctuation marks to indicate words that have a rather, ahem, ‘blue’ meaning, actually has a name. Yes, @*#&! is an example of a grawlix and although it’s not yet been OED certified as an honest-to-goodness, bona fide, allowable-in-Scrabble word, surely it’s only a matter of time?
In the meantime though, the Wikitionary definition of grawlix is: “A string of typographical symbols used (especially in comic strips) to represent an obscenity or swearword.” So there you are!
My thanks to the %#£@@ing* geniuses that are Hoefler & Frere-Jones for educating me on this most interesting of typographical matters.
*flipping
Extended hours!
Due to popular demand we’re going to start Likemind a bit earlier from now on, for those of you who are early birds and for the folks who need be in work by 9am. So, we’ll be around from 8am for future meet-ups - hope to see you there!
Typografienachrichten
The German letter Eszett (ß - pronounced like an ‘s’) has been officially accepted as an alphabet figure by the International Organisation of Standardisation (ISO).
According to an article on the Guardian’s website, Germany’s typographers are anticipating that, following this new recognition, the Eszett is likely to make a bit of a comeback. It may already have started - a whole issue of the German signographer’s publication Signa, was recently devoted to the letter.
It made me think - I’d quite like another English letter to play around with. So, is there anything we need a letter for that’d help make our lives better ...?
(By the way, the title of this post is supposed to read ‘Typography News’ in German. If it’s wrong, blame Babel Fish!)
Have dogs had their day?
Our friend Kris emailed us today about an intriguing USA-based charity he’s discovered, and asks “Why use a dog when you can use a small, practical horse?” Indeed: www.guidehorse.org
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