The Film of the Post

Here we feature a short film of an old blog post which highlights the technique of using language and words hidden within words to great effect.

Please click arrow to play film.

Here is the link to the original post for your reference.

Miscellaneous Bits & Bobs

Here we feature a selection of projects that we came across while cleaning out our hard drives. In the main they are snippets of larger projects that span a decade or so, we apologise if we get the year wrong or fail to namecheck everyone’s work. Our filing system and memories are beginning to fail us!

Mike Kirkpatrick’s Museum of the Circus identity from 2014. (Please click image to play film)

Mark Young’s Cheese festival identity from 2013

D&AD Royal Opera House Brief Nominee - 2008

Mike Selby’s Royal Opera House poster that uses the classic visual cliche the Rorschach test to great effect. Look closely at the gold image and you will begin to see things in things.

UK currency Design concepts

These designs were by Chris McMahon in 2010 and were one of his final year self initiated projects.

Pen Pals Project Identity

This project was by Uzma Padia from 2014…we think. Lovely image of one person made up out of 2 pens.

Identity

This re brand was part of Huzaifia Sidat’s final year show back in 2018

From 2018, this identity was by Mike Barrow and formed part of his 70th celebration of Silverstone project. (Please click on image to play film)

Identity

Bespoke Typeface Design

We are not too sure who produced the above?

Above we feature Ben Bassett’s Blackpool Tramway Identity from his final year show in 2018. (Please click on image to play film)

Here is another snippet from 2108, this identity was created by Hedi Woodhead and was part of a larger project to celebrate Nikon’s 100th Anniversary. (Please click on image to play film)

2019 - Brandon Thomas created this campaign highlight testicular cancer in young males. (Please click on image to play film)

Give It Five Minutes

This is a re-post of an article published here in 2012 by software designer Jason Fried. Its message is pertinent within the discipline of design, as ours is a discipline which requires thought and opinion in equal measure. ‘Giving it five minutes’ is something we can all add to our everyday practice.

Enjoy.

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A few years ago I used to be a hothead. Whenever anyone said anything, I’d think of a way to disagree. I’d push back hard if something didn’t fit my world-view.

It’s like I had to be first with an opinion – as if being first meant something. But what it really meant was that I wasn’t thinking hard enough about the problem. The faster you react, the less you think. Not always, but often.

It’s easy to talk about knee jerk reactions as if they are things that only other people have. You have them too. If your neighbor isn’t immune, neither are you.

This came to a head back in 2007. I was speaking at the Business Innovation Factory conference in Providence, RI. So was Richard Saul Wurman. After my talk Richard came up to introduce himself and compliment my talk. That was very generous of him. He certainly didn’t have to do that.

And what did I do? I pushed back at him about the talk he gave. While he was making his points on stage, I was taking an inventory of the things I didn’t agree with. And when presented with an opportunity to speak with him, I quickly pushed back at some of his ideas. I must have seemed like such an asshole.

His response changed my life. It was a simple thing. He said “Man, give it five minutes.” I asked him what he meant by that? He said, it’s fine to disagree, it’s fine to push back, it’s great to have strong opinions and beliefs, but give my ideas some time to set in before you’re sure you want to argue against them. “Five minutes” represented “think”, not react. He was totally right. I came into the discussion looking to prove something, not learn something.

This was a big moment for me.

Richard has spent his career thinking about these problems. He’s given it 30 years. And I gave it just a few minutes. Now, certainly he can be wrong and I could be right, but it’s better to think deeply about something first before being so certain you’re right.

There’s also a difference between asking questions and pushing back. Pushing back means you already think you know. Asking questions means you want to know. Ask more questions.

Learning to think first rather than react quick is a life long pursuit. It’s tough. I still get hot sometimes when I shouldn’t. But I’m really enjoying all the benefits of getting better.

If you aren’t sure why this is important, think about this quote from Jonathan Ive regarding Steve Jobs’ reverence for ideas:

“And just as Steve loved ideas, and loved making stuff, he treated the process of creativity with a rare and a wonderful reverence. You see, I think he better than anyone understood that while ideas ultimately can be so powerful, they begin as fragile, barely formed thoughts, so easily missed, so easily compromised, so easily just squished.”

That’s deep. Ideas are fragile. They often start powerless. They’re barely there, so easy to ignore or skip or miss.

There are two things in this world that take no skill: 1. Spending other people’s money and 2. Dismissing an idea.

Dismissing an idea is so easy because it doesn’t involve any work. You can scoff at it. You can ignore it. You can puff some smoke at it. That’s easy. The hard thing to do is protect it, think about it, let it marinate, explore it, riff on it, and try it. The right idea could start out life as the wrong idea.

So next time you hear something, or someone, talk about an idea, pitch an idea, or suggest an idea, give it five minutes. Think about it a little bit before pushing back, before saying it’s too hard or it’s too much work. Those things may be true, but there may be another truth in there too: It may be worth it.

Classic

Newspaper cutting - circa 1998

What can we say?

'Oh I do like to be beside the seaside......'

A typographic trip to Blackpool - 2014.

Yeah and the chip stain's grease,
Will come out in the bath

CCTV

Here we feature an old illustration from our archive.

Surveillance Britain - 2005

Swivel eyed, slack jawed loon

Phone ohm

Found - Observed - Contextualised

2D becomes 3D

Spotted by Guy, here is a really interesting (and useful) application of a 3D optical illusion as opposed to merely aiming to please the eye (and the mind). The illusion itself has been used to perform the function of appearing as a zebra crossing (which it is); but also through its illusory nature, serving to actively slow approaching drivers down (perhaps more importantly).

Have a look at more coverage here.

Thanks, as ever, to parentheses (you know who you are).

Andrea Ucini

Another recommendation from illustration's Steve Wilkin is Andrea Ucini. A regular in the Guardian, Andrea's illustrations convey a strong sense of idea.

I´m a freelance conceptual illustrator living and working in Denmark.

I was born in Italy and graduated in classical piano and composition at the Music Academy of Florence. Music was my first source in a new form of expression. Drawing has been a deeper research in order to discover the different ways a concept or an emotion can be decoded in.