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"Heroes" L4 ITap Part 2: Bal's Hero RK Joshi
13th April 2012
Bal's Hero RK Joshi
Jose Parla
Bal recently gave a lecture about his "Hero", Ragunath Krishna Joshi who was a type designer and calligrapher.
I love typography and i have always had respect for calligraphers who can do it well, like RK Joshi. It takes great skill to get the right aesthetics. I am currently reading a book called "Urban Calligraphy and Beyond" by Markus Mai, 2005. The book documents some of the simplest forms of graffiti writing, often crazy ineligible words that were done in a calligraphic style.
In a slightly different style to Bal's hero, this blog is about a calligrapher with a very unique style of work.
Bal's Hero RK Joshi
Jose Parla
Bal recently gave a lecture about his "Hero", Ragunath Krishna Joshi who was a type designer and calligrapher.
I love typography and i have always had respect for calligraphers who can do it well, like RK Joshi. It takes great skill to get the right aesthetics. I am currently reading a book called "Urban Calligraphy and Beyond" by Markus Mai, 2005. The book documents some of the simplest forms of graffiti writing, often crazy ineligible words that were done in a calligraphic style.
In a slightly different style to Bal's hero, this blog is about a calligrapher with a very unique style of work.
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| Urban Calligraphy by Markus Mai |
"Heroes" L4 Itap Part 2: Vincent's Heroes
6th March 2012
"Heroes" Vincents Heroes.
Jenny Holzer
For this blog i am going to be writing about a female artist who i had never heard of before Vince's lecture. In the lecture he told us about 2 female conceptual artists, Adrian Piper & Jenny Holzer. Both, in different ways, projected messages across cities that questioned some forms of society. Often very simple typography pieces, the "canvas" they used was the streets and the messages were successful in standing apart from all the current advertising and branding that has took a firm grasp over our modern day cities.
Jenny Holzer, is who am going to be writing about for this entry. Her medium, whether it formed on a billboard, rooftop, t-shirt, plaque or as an LED sign, was always typography. Very simple but strong messages.
She relies on public eyes landing upon her work and with her messages she uses landscape and architecture to reach her target audience. Her messages have often attacked ignorance and violence, the artillery being kindness, humour and courage for the publics inner morals.
Jenny Holzer made her name by creating large scale public displays which included architectural structures, buildings and billboard advertisements. The structure of her visuals are fairly simple, it is the combination of words and ideas.
"Heroes" Vincents Heroes.
Jenny Holzer
For this blog i am going to be writing about a female artist who i had never heard of before Vince's lecture. In the lecture he told us about 2 female conceptual artists, Adrian Piper & Jenny Holzer. Both, in different ways, projected messages across cities that questioned some forms of society. Often very simple typography pieces, the "canvas" they used was the streets and the messages were successful in standing apart from all the current advertising and branding that has took a firm grasp over our modern day cities.
Jenny Holzer, is who am going to be writing about for this entry. Her medium, whether it formed on a billboard, rooftop, t-shirt, plaque or as an LED sign, was always typography. Very simple but strong messages.
Born in the 1950's, Ohio, USA, Holzer originally starting getting creative by creating abstract paintings. However, during the 1980's she found herself submerged amongst other feminist artists. All were looking for new ways of visualising narrative/commentary pieces which coinsided with visual surroundings and modern era society.
She relies on public eyes landing upon her work and with her messages she uses landscape and architecture to reach her target audience. Her messages have often attacked ignorance and violence, the artillery being kindness, humour and courage for the publics inner morals.
Jenny Holzer made her name by creating large scale public displays which included architectural structures, buildings and billboard advertisements. The structure of her visuals are fairly simple, it is the combination of words and ideas.
"Heroes" L4 ITap Part 2: Simple But Different
6th February 2012
Simple But Different
Trevor Beattie
My last Blog was about somebody from the Midlands area. In this entry in response to the Simple But Different lecture i am going to be talking about another Midland born creative.
Growing up in the Balsall Heath suburb of Birmingham Trevor Beattie has become one of the most influential creatives in media of the modern day.
He has influenced my perceptions of good graphic design and i have personally sat and listened whilst he gave a speech at Birmingham Symphony Hall.
Simple But Different
Trevor Beattie
My last Blog was about somebody from the Midlands area. In this entry in response to the Simple But Different lecture i am going to be talking about another Midland born creative.
Growing up in the Balsall Heath suburb of Birmingham Trevor Beattie has become one of the most influential creatives in media of the modern day.
He has influenced my perceptions of good graphic design and i have personally sat and listened whilst he gave a speech at Birmingham Symphony Hall.
"Heroes" L4 ITap Part 2: SO-ME Design Hero
28th February 2012
"Heroes" SO-ME
Clifford Joseph Price
This blog entry is in response to David's SO-ME hero lecture. As he explains SO-ME is the art director for Ed Banger records.
I love anything visual that relates to electronic music, whether it be vinyl design, album artwork, web design or any other promotional material. After Davids lecture, one thing stood out to me about his chosen hero SO-ME is the variation in his work across different platforms, examples from graphic design, film and animation.
I started to think about my musical heroes and where my influences stemmed from. When i was about 13 years old a freind introduced me to the world of drum and bass. I instantly fell in love with the "Junglist" theme of music which took influence from a lot of break, reggae, hip-hop, house and techno. One of the first labels i began to associate myself with was a label called Metalheadz. Founded in 1994 it became a very influential record label on me, one of it's co-founders is who i am going to be talking about in this blog. This mans name is Clifford Joseph Price, or how many people know him "Goldie".
"Heroes" SO-ME
Clifford Joseph Price
This blog entry is in response to David's SO-ME hero lecture. As he explains SO-ME is the art director for Ed Banger records.
I love anything visual that relates to electronic music, whether it be vinyl design, album artwork, web design or any other promotional material. After Davids lecture, one thing stood out to me about his chosen hero SO-ME is the variation in his work across different platforms, examples from graphic design, film and animation.
I started to think about my musical heroes and where my influences stemmed from. When i was about 13 years old a freind introduced me to the world of drum and bass. I instantly fell in love with the "Junglist" theme of music which took influence from a lot of break, reggae, hip-hop, house and techno. One of the first labels i began to associate myself with was a label called Metalheadz. Founded in 1994 it became a very influential record label on me, one of it's co-founders is who i am going to be talking about in this blog. This mans name is Clifford Joseph Price, or how many people know him "Goldie".
"Heroes" L4 ITap Part 2: Clive on Bernbach
21st February 2012
"Heroes" Clive on Bernbach
123 KLAN
In response to Clives lecture about Doyle Dane Bernbach, who are acclaimed as one of the most influential creative advertising suits ever. Bill Bernbach, Ned Doyle and Mac Dane all formed together using their skills to form DDB. I found what Clive had to say about Bernbach very inspiring, especially hearing how passionate he was about DDB in particular Bernbach. It made me think about other creative agencies who have influenced me. My particular tastes and interests may be slightly different than Clives, however his passion and enthusiasm of his "Hero" can be projected by me and my so called "Heroes".
I started to look through my earliest graffiti/urban art books, to try and find who had originally set me off with this obsession for urban visuals.
I had always enjoyed work from such artists as Banksy, Robbo, Stack, Arron Bird, who are all pretty much solo artists making their name through the "old skool" illegal form of Graffiti. It wasn't until i left secondary school that i started developing a love for sharper, smarter, digital forms of this "graffiti" style.
In the last 7 or 8 years i have seen an increase of this "street", "urban", "graffiti" style of work making its way onto advertisements, music videos, websites and magazines.
Not always necessarily stereo-typical wildstyle graffiti done with spray paint, yet a more sharp, clear and expendable design with some form of urban visual influence. Logos, icons, backgrounds, characters, 3D, shapes, colours, typography have always been a part of advertising yet i believe there is a demand for urban inspired graphics that moves with our ever growing cities and youth culture.
123Klan were probably one of the first "crews" to open my eyes up about urban design digitally. A more versatile, sharper, more appealing form of graffiti design. I have always loved the messy, scrawl type designs that are mocked up illegally on street corners, yet 123Klan have taken this influence and turned it into something that can be shown on a wider platform attracting more audiences for their unique style of work, that now has been used in advertising campaigns for some major companies.
"Heroes" Clive on Bernbach
123 KLAN
In response to Clives lecture about Doyle Dane Bernbach, who are acclaimed as one of the most influential creative advertising suits ever. Bill Bernbach, Ned Doyle and Mac Dane all formed together using their skills to form DDB. I found what Clive had to say about Bernbach very inspiring, especially hearing how passionate he was about DDB in particular Bernbach. It made me think about other creative agencies who have influenced me. My particular tastes and interests may be slightly different than Clives, however his passion and enthusiasm of his "Hero" can be projected by me and my so called "Heroes".
I started to look through my earliest graffiti/urban art books, to try and find who had originally set me off with this obsession for urban visuals.
I had always enjoyed work from such artists as Banksy, Robbo, Stack, Arron Bird, who are all pretty much solo artists making their name through the "old skool" illegal form of Graffiti. It wasn't until i left secondary school that i started developing a love for sharper, smarter, digital forms of this "graffiti" style.
In the last 7 or 8 years i have seen an increase of this "street", "urban", "graffiti" style of work making its way onto advertisements, music videos, websites and magazines.
Not always necessarily stereo-typical wildstyle graffiti done with spray paint, yet a more sharp, clear and expendable design with some form of urban visual influence. Logos, icons, backgrounds, characters, 3D, shapes, colours, typography have always been a part of advertising yet i believe there is a demand for urban inspired graphics that moves with our ever growing cities and youth culture.
123Klan were probably one of the first "crews" to open my eyes up about urban design digitally. A more versatile, sharper, more appealing form of graffiti design. I have always loved the messy, scrawl type designs that are mocked up illegally on street corners, yet 123Klan have taken this influence and turned it into something that can be shown on a wider platform attracting more audiences for their unique style of work, that now has been used in advertising campaigns for some major companies.
"Heroes" L4 ITap Part 2: Information Design
14th February 2012
Information Design
Information Typography - David Carson
" You have to utilize who you are in your work. Nobody else can do that: nobody else can pull from your background, from your parents, your upbringing, your whole life experience." - David Carson
I have chosen David Carson as my "Hero" for this Itap as he inspires me greatly with his influential informative typography.
From the critiques i have read online, there is a lot of critical judgement on his work. A lot of designers/typographers are stating that within information design a piece of typography should not stand out, it should stand for the message and not be illegible. However David Carson breaks the rules with his work and a lot of his work is "not legible".
Why? well personally i think that typography should be looked at and admired as well as being just a form of information. This is what David Carsons approach is to his work.
Information Design
Information Typography - David Carson
" You have to utilize who you are in your work. Nobody else can do that: nobody else can pull from your background, from your parents, your upbringing, your whole life experience." - David Carson
I have chosen David Carson as my "Hero" for this Itap as he inspires me greatly with his influential informative typography.
From the critiques i have read online, there is a lot of critical judgement on his work. A lot of designers/typographers are stating that within information design a piece of typography should not stand out, it should stand for the message and not be illegible. However David Carson breaks the rules with his work and a lot of his work is "not legible".
Why? well personally i think that typography should be looked at and admired as well as being just a form of information. This is what David Carsons approach is to his work.
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| "Grunge God" |
"Heroes" L4 Itap Part 2: W.T.F
W.T.F.
What the Font?
Jan 2012
The area of practice i am going to be looking at for this is Typographic Illustration, a form of communication that is a very Expressive form of typography.
My hero for this case is a young guy named Ricky Wilson-Cloot (AKA. Ricky Trickartt).
Ricky is a Graphic Artist from the edge of London and he (like myself) has been engulfed in the music industry in the last seven years.
On his web page:
Trickart.com
Ricky states himself as a Graphic artist because he believes his work is somewhere between that of a Graphic Designer and an artist.
What the Font?
Jan 2012
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| Trickartt. |
My hero for this case is a young guy named Ricky Wilson-Cloot (AKA. Ricky Trickartt).
Ricky is a Graphic Artist from the edge of London and he (like myself) has been engulfed in the music industry in the last seven years.
On his web page:
Trickart.com
Ricky states himself as a Graphic artist because he believes his work is somewhere between that of a Graphic Designer and an artist.
Principle 5: Managing a Creative Environment
iTap Lecture 4th October 2011
Principle 5: Managing a Creative Environment
How To Build a Supercar.
BBC Documentary about the McLaren Car Factory
Whilst doing this project about an old dying car factory in Longbridge, i watched the documentary "How to build a super car" which is about the new developments of the McLaren car factory hidden away in the Surrey countryside. I thought this was relevant thing to include in this blog as it gave me an insight into the next generation of Britains motor industry.
Described as the "Nasa of Motorosport", hidden away in the idyllic countryside of Surrey lies this extraordinary factory. Costing almost £800 milllion pounds and 5 years of covert development this glass and steel structured building looks nothing like a stereo-typical car factory as is a complete revelation in production of British cars.
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MacLaren Factory
From Air
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Priciple 1: Research!
17th October - 23rd October
Principle 1 - Researching the Content.
Like mostly all Visual Communicators, i am having to research my chosen subject area in order to even begin this project. During this magazine project i have researched some artists relating to typography. I already knew a couple of these artists yet i wanted to find something a little more unknown to myself to run with the theme of our "COVERT" magazine. I initially looked at some real main stream artists like Neville Brody and Craig Ward who are famous for their typography. I wanted to find someone a little less unknown, a bit closer to home.
Whilst driving down my local high street i saw a piece of graffiti on a shop shutter, not any old crappy "john luvs pauline" or " i woz ea 11", this looked like it had been commissioned by the shop owner. I got out of my car and investigated, i found out htis guys name was HOAKSA.
There was very limited information on the web about this graffiti artist as he is not as main stream as some of the other artists, yet i found out enough about him in order to choose him for my artist research. However, artist research was eash compared to the research i had to do on Longbridge.
I had limited knowledge about the Longbridge Industrial sites, and had only what i had heard as a basis to run on. It was time to get myself into the library, on the web and actually go down to this area myself. It was not going to be a 5 minute job however as there are very limited books relating to the history of this place. There was a bit more information on the web yet the only way to really get an idea of the locations of different areas was to go there myself and look with my own eyes for a true picture.
Research does not have to limit me to my sketchbook, and to be honest even though i have a lot of research regarding Longbridge in my RVJ, it does not project the true amount of information i have taken in from physically exploring this site. I found this was the best Research available to me as there is not much recent documentation of this site, so i found research grounds like blogs, google maps and blogs seemed to be dated by a good few years. The hardest part i found was researching the War time elements of this area. After Hours within BCU library, i eventually found a book that had not been taken out in 6 years, so i was the first to crack this book for a long time. "MAKING CARS AT LONGBRIDGE, 100 YEARS IN THE LIFE OF A FACTORY", pridcued by Gillian Bardsley & Colin Corke.
Principle 1 - Researching the Content.
Like mostly all Visual Communicators, i am having to research my chosen subject area in order to even begin this project. During this magazine project i have researched some artists relating to typography. I already knew a couple of these artists yet i wanted to find something a little more unknown to myself to run with the theme of our "COVERT" magazine. I initially looked at some real main stream artists like Neville Brody and Craig Ward who are famous for their typography. I wanted to find someone a little less unknown, a bit closer to home.
Whilst driving down my local high street i saw a piece of graffiti on a shop shutter, not any old crappy "john luvs pauline" or " i woz ea 11", this looked like it had been commissioned by the shop owner. I got out of my car and investigated, i found out htis guys name was HOAKSA.
There was very limited information on the web about this graffiti artist as he is not as main stream as some of the other artists, yet i found out enough about him in order to choose him for my artist research. However, artist research was eash compared to the research i had to do on Longbridge.
I had limited knowledge about the Longbridge Industrial sites, and had only what i had heard as a basis to run on. It was time to get myself into the library, on the web and actually go down to this area myself. It was not going to be a 5 minute job however as there are very limited books relating to the history of this place. There was a bit more information on the web yet the only way to really get an idea of the locations of different areas was to go there myself and look with my own eyes for a true picture.
Research does not have to limit me to my sketchbook, and to be honest even though i have a lot of research regarding Longbridge in my RVJ, it does not project the true amount of information i have taken in from physically exploring this site. I found this was the best Research available to me as there is not much recent documentation of this site, so i found research grounds like blogs, google maps and blogs seemed to be dated by a good few years. The hardest part i found was researching the War time elements of this area. After Hours within BCU library, i eventually found a book that had not been taken out in 6 years, so i was the first to crack this book for a long time. "MAKING CARS AT LONGBRIDGE, 100 YEARS IN THE LIFE OF A FACTORY", pridcued by Gillian Bardsley & Colin Corke.
Principle 1: Legibility
24 October - 30 October
- Legibility: Road Signs
The information given whilst driving ultimately affects the safety of our roads and motorways in this modern day and age. Road signs that inform road users when there are up and coming hazards, when to take a turn, and if any roadworks are in progress. All of these visuals are examples of information systems design.
Lets go back to the late 1950's when the UK's roads were littered with an array of transport sign styles, each one being commisioned by different agencies at alternate times. There needed to be some kind of consistency
The government comissioned two graphic designers- Margaret Calvert and Jock Kinneir, they were commisioned to create a modern and completey new sign system. At this particular time it was to be one of the most adventurous information design projects to ever be undertaken in Britain.
To keep consistency Calvert, working with Kinneir, devised a scheme of modern day road signage. It was a concoxion of shapes, symbols, letterforms and colours. The idea logic behind this revolutionary system was that each sign should be a clear visible, logical map orientated soley around the drivers circumstances.
Margaret Calvert believed that the most important factor of the signage was that it could be claryfied by the motorist easily whilst retaining impact value. Aswel as these factors, Maragret Calvert insisted that signs should be welcoming and friendly towards motorists. A new typeface was created in order to succeed in the 'friendly approach'. The typeface Aksidenz Grotesk was refined with softer line structure. This font was later renamed ' Transport' and engaged both upper and lower case lettering. Originally all road signs were in capital fonts but specialist testing revealed that letters can be more efficiently read when in lower case as they contain more structure than a capital letter with rigid straight linear structure.
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| Transport Typeface Easily Distinguishable |
Principle 1: Draw. Work By Hand
Principle 1: Draw By Hand
Drawing is key to any visual communicators design process. It engages a connection between hand and eye and maximises the use of our creative "right side brain" which i will write about for Principle 2.
In this instance i am trying to formulate some ideas for the magazine project in which i am thinking about imagery and text to contribute.
I am playing about with the structure of text and how letterforms can be morphed to be less distinguishable.
This ties into our magazine project as we are going to look at Hidden parts of Birmingham for our theme and i would like to make the words hide within their own structure.
I wanted to try and create some hand drawn texts that are not so easily read and look more like an arrangement of structured lines and shapes.
The intention of these drawings would be so that the viewer is not reading, yet "looking at" the text as shapes and lines before discovering the hidden text to finally distinguish as something to read.
Some examples of this work exist in a lot of Graffiti style typography, with wildstyle letter fonts that play about with the structure and positioning of letterforms.
I thought i would look at some Graffiti writers to start. I suppose i could scoure the world to show some internationally recognised graffiti writers like Marc Ecko or SKEME. However, as good as their work is i thought id look at someone a bit more local to me, a bit more local to Birmingham.
This guy goes by the name of Hoakser and is recognised in Birmingham on a more illusive scale.
Hoakser: Graffiti Vs Art (Link for Hoakser exhibition video)
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| Hoakser Spray Can Mural Back of Kings Heath Church |
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