Friday, September 18, 2009

street graphics from another land....egypt


When i was eight years old my mum took me to Egypt-  the cultural extravaganza of colours, smells, architecture, people and food was amazing-the realization that there is allot more happening out there in the world outside of Australia, or in the least inner western sydney, where i grew up. 

Modern Egypt is a fantastic mix of ancient and new coming together, culturally and graphically. There are three distinct cultures and visual styles: ancient Egyptian imagery, a developing Western international style and the traditional Arabic calligraphy of Egypt’s Islamic majority.
Egypt is a land of graphics and symbols, ancient and new, ever morphing, and like no other place on earth. Thousands of years ago egyptians carved a pictorial history of Pharaonic culture on their temples, tombs and monuments. Hieroglyphs- a written language of symbols. Representations and interpretations of this ancient culture saturate modern Egypt's tourism industry, from hotel signs to petrol booths, souvenir stalls, market stalls. There is a beautiful contrast of signage, colourful and diverse- new imagery thriving alongside the traditional in stark contrast or startling confusion of ancient culture cross modern Egypt. 






One thing i find interesting about Australia is our cultural diversity. We have little pockets of life from all over the world- China town, Italian suburbs, African suburbs, Maltese, Lebanese, Indian, Croatian... there are suburbs where the menus and signage for restaurants, doctors, supermarkets stocked with products all written in other languages. 

The lettering, characters and typography hold a decorative feel and mystery to my untrained eyes. Grid tetris block styled  Korean lettering, the calligraphy of Arabic, unpronounceable greek lettering, perfectly placed Japanese characters.  I love the gamble of buying unknown substances in brightly wrapped packaging from Asian supermarkets, new taste and smell sensations. Potions and lotions, perfumes and oils.

As a designer i think that it is important to think and design globally- especially as the gap between cultures is getting smaller and smaller, with globalization and westernization of the planet. I feel it is crucial for cultural diversity alive. 
I came across a book "street graphics Egypt" by Barry Dawson. It is a photographic record and colourful source of diverse street images. Visually it is inspiring, although the written content is minimal.

Thursday, September 17, 2009

Ok,
So I have been chating with Jae Copp on and off for a while now and I suppose the thing I have most been impressed with is the guys interlect and sense of humoure, he doesn’t come across as pretentiose or up him self or any sort of gimmick he seems to be the real deal so any way just a few examples of his wit and sense of humoure shine through in these latest statements .When asked “do you collect any thing” he answers “I collect dust because it’s easy” and when asked “what is next for Jae Copp ? he answers “I don’t know ,Mexico…children’s books everything! If life catches up I’ll just run faster !. I also asked him if he makes much of a living doing what he does and he answered,”not exactly….i have a one bedroom unit and an unregistered camry station wagon which now acts as a tool shed”. I was also thinking to broaden may topic I should discuss the fact that Jae copp does art work for skateboards and t-shirts and also does finer visual arts things so I thought I could maybe categorise his work some how . Let us know what you all think



Ok,
Hi every one by now some of you must be wondering just who exactly “soopkichn” is and what it’s about well it’s a brand/company/identity for some one who goes by the name of “Jae Copp”.I have been making regular contact with mr Copp basically just founding out what he is about and where he is coming from.Here is some basis information I have found out about him ok, he is “a 37-year-old-jaded-grey-bearded-bastard” I also found out where he lives/resides calls home and it’s “the high hills of Carool which is situated about half hour drive inland from Coolangatta on the southern side ridge of Currumbin valley”. I also asked him about his history/where he grew up what his childhood was like and I found out that he grew up in Sydney during the early eighties to late nineties which just so happened to be when the major progression period was for skateboarding, graffiti/break dancing and the whole punk to indie to grunge merge was so as a youth Jae was surrounded by a “highly influential and creative space in time” I also asked him abit about previous experiences jobs ect and he had this to say “Although I fell into a well paid but ultimately unfulfilling job I always stayed or surrounded my self in a creative environment “ so basically creativity has always been at the core of jae’s exterior and has ultimately always been creatively driven but it wasn’t until 1999 that he decided to take the leap and travel down his chosen path of creativity and that’s when he started right here at Kingscliff t.a.f.e “to basically catch up with technology i.e learn how to turn a computer on” “and walked away with a wealth of knowledge thanks to the good people at kingscliff”.Then in 2004 he started up his own business/company that fell under the name of “soopkichn” but there was a problem what Jae did not count on was his ultimately not so compatible or enthusiastic partner which he has not named and ultimately lead to the downfall and demise of “soopkichn” he was also kind enough to give me some pointers and advice for future use in my graphic design path if it is to be and they are as follows.
.create goals and directions and write them down
.try to do as much on you’re own within reason
.take you’re time but work you’re ass off
.stay original
.work on developing your own style early on
I would also like to mention that my task has become more difficult as the “soopkichn” website has been under construction for a long time now so it has become difficult to source a lot of information but emails have became a regular source for me.His exact words “I will be putting SOOPKICHN to sleep for the next few months to pay attention to more personal endeavors which is mainly concentrating on art.Which is what I guess I’m saying is he is so diverse in his range he does street art for his skate boarding things but also does finer more visual art which he sells in gallerys. I also asked him where he got a lot of inspirations from and he had this to say “ I usually draw inspiration from something that has effected me in one way or another past or present, conversations with friends, good times, bad times and music has a huge influence on his train of thought but he ultimately sais that influences are derived from any where really “from there I generally start by writing down quick thoughts then work on filtering out ideas that I think will be worth working out visually”.I also asked him what artists he was into and he said “I like way to many artists for one reason or another , although I will say this I am really enjoing Canadian born artist “ACORN” at the moment , so I sourced some images of acorn online and here they are.

Wednesday, September 16, 2009

Found these amazing illustrations on drawingbook.com.au



This is me... because I love horses!
This is Katie... because of her beautiful golden curls.

This tatoo is for Emily... as she loves all things bird.
This one is Cloe... because Clea said it looked like her and I agree.
And these last two are Tom... because we heard your a rock star!
Will add more as I find you all!

Post three- Album cover design...



Frauke STEGMANN

Frauk Stegmann is a London based illustrator, originally from Namibia, who is perhaps best known for her equisite illustrations of birds and animals. Fraukes tactile approach to graphic design is experimental and varied, extending to animation and fashion multimedia.

Stegmann is South Africas most internationally connected designer. She has done work for the likes of Peter Saville, The Campana brothers, Eley Kishimoto, Miu Miu, Peter Jenson and Wallpaper magazine. Her work has a restrained, pared-down feel wich complements her facination with craft. Stegmanns meticulously illustrated birds and animals are often beautifully foiled onto unlikely choices ofpaper. Her singnature embossed motifs, gracefully employed on the folded- card CD cover designs for a series of experimental jazz releases for the 'Treader' label in 2004, which feature gold-foiled birds and animals on heavy, cheap, coloured board which have an amazing effect, and are produced with one of only two craftmen in England, still capable of hand-engraving for print. Stegmann draws the detailed illustrations, which are then reproduced as dies.

I love the way Stegmanns work has a handmade feel and her ability to illustrate such realistic, detailed creatures. She brings together fine art and design, which i feel has an appreciation.
When cult English singer Jarvis Cocker got married, Stegmann had the previledge to produce his wedding invitation; the final design included a luxurious pink foil embossment of a black bird. Stegmann says her work emphasizes "a return to the craft of design, to tactility in print, and a movement away from the superficiality and speed".





Desk top mag

Wednesday, September 9, 2009

Post 4 - report summery - Robyn Rand

Magazine covers



In their lives a lot of people aspire to be on the cover of a magazine, but I have always dreamed of being the one who creates that cover!
It's the thing that attracts you to the magazine initially.
It's the most important piece of advertising in the magazine.
It's a summery of the whole magazine; style, stories, design & layout.

Every millimeter of space is important on a magazine cover, the colours, the type, layout as well as qualities and quantities.
Magazine covers are like a pictorial record of events, as well as artists and current styles for that era. Each cover is indicative of the era it was designed in, the audience it was designed for, in some cases the designer who designed it and the country it was aimed at.


In my report I will be looking at some of the best & worst magazine cover designs and colours, giving my own opinions as well as that of the professionals at ASME. The trends are also important to me and I will be looking at magazine covers from the 50's through to the present as a comparison in colours as will as layout styles and the heading typography.



Wednesday, September 2, 2009

NUMBER FOUR... ROUND THREE

BRANDING... Major brands, not so much modern, but those that have stood the test of time. Famous designs!

Examples;






here are yet some more,these fetch for a fair price i think one was $1876 or something
"Paula Scher"
Designer and Artist






The relationship between fine art and design.

Paula Scher has a career which fuses rock and roll, corporate identity creation, and impressionistic geography. Scher studied at the Tyler School of Art in Philadephia, Pennsylvania, earning a bachelor of fine arts. Scher has been a principle in the New York office of the distinguished international design consultancy Pentagram since 1991. She began her career as an art director in the 1970's and early 80's, with her electric approach to typography became highly influential. In the mid-1990's her landmark identity for The Public Theatre fused high and low into a wholly new symbology for cultural institutions, and her architectual collaborations have re-imagined the urban landscape as a dynamic environment of dimensional design.

In the early 1990's Paula Scher began painting small maps covered in words and colour depictions of continents and regions. Within a few years the maps grew larger and more elaborate. All of this detail is the result of work that Scher describes as "incredibly laborious and obsessive". The placement of states,cities and political statistics and facts are not precisely placed or accurate. Scher just went with it and added things almost in a meditative state where her imagination directed her. Schers sense of colour and use of typography placed intuitively has no doubt come through with years of text placement and colour theory from her graphic design career. I think her paintings are amazing and it goes to show you can do it all. Paint, design etc and combine them all.

http://gothamist.com/2007/11/13/_manhattan_2007.php
http://www.metropolismag.com/story/20051110/paula-schers-atlas-of-the-world