Monday 16 November 2009

D&AD President's Lectures: Making It Big with Paula Scher



When The Clash first visited New York, they said when they looked out the car window it was like seeing a movie. And as a kid raised on American cop shows in the 70's, I can understand that (favourite show: Hill Street Blues). But what about the influence of NYC on graphic design?

As most Graphic Communication students may tell you, I bang on a lot about european design; I think of myself as very much a european designer. But what about american design? Well, when ever I imagine the design consumed by the cast of Seinfeld or the officers in blue on the Hill, it was always the work of Paula Scher (with great respect to Milton, Bob and Paul). I was really excited to hear Paula talk about her work, especially in her irresistible accent. And she did not disappoint.

This will please fans of The Beatles - her earliest influence was the cover of 'Revolver' and its swirly illustration by Klaus Voormann. And that is significant as she describes her work as decorative and the exact opposite to the precision of 'boring' swiss design. Although her talk was mostly a greatest hits resume of her career, I liked the fact she is not defined by her earliest work, when she was fancy free in her twenties. And she designed record covers back then, freely admitting that while designing 150 covers a year for CBS - she only felt six truly represented her true potential. But she found the creative freedom and confidence to create good work at Pentagram.





Paula likes BIG type - it literally shouts of the page. Her poster work for The Public Theater is jammed with information. But just as designing simply is more difficult than it looks, going for typo overload also takes great skill and control.

She has a hang-up about helvetica. Her design communication is guided by a social and political conscience. But let's hear from Paula herself. Environment is also important - here she is on NYC:





Paula is constantly going forward and excited at the prospect of what she will create in her sixties. So there's hope for all of us woeful late developer's out there.

Enjoy a Pop Life



The rain may have poured but it was all sunshine and good vibes inside the Tate Modern. It's currently staging the exhibition 'Pop Life' and boy did it put me in a good mood.

Featuring the selected works of Andy Warhol, Jeff Koons, Damien Hirst, Tracey Emin and Takashi Murakami it was all feel-good colours, fun-loving and very saucy too. Pop Life takes the Warhol quote 'good business is the best art' and reveals the crafted persona of these artists as brands. There's even a Pop Art Shop in the middle of the show - with a great disco. But mostly, I thought it was all just good fun. From Warhol advertising TDK to Jeff Koons getting fruity as a viril adonis - you can't help but shyly smile.





The best for me (and the most fun) was found in the final room and it was like stepping into a Japanese playroom, only imagined by Takashi Murakami. Look up at a vibrant 50ft high manga character fitting perfectly into the streets of Tokyo. Then you hear the mad pop music - is that Spider-man's girlfriend? Yes, it's Kirsten Dunst in a cyan wig singing 'Turning Japanese'. Delightful. And what better excuse than to post lots of pictures of Kirsten.





Enjoy Pop Life until January 2010.

www.tate.org.uk

Tuesday 10 November 2009

And Finally - What on Earth Has Studio Been Up To?



Firstly, big apologies for the delay in updating the Studio blog. It's been a busy few months. And I'm not just saying that. But one confession - I have been distracted by twitter.

Loads of news, but where do I begin?


In August Studio took on the tenancy of Rigby's Court which was very exciting and I immediately treated the new Studio space to one Charles Eames and a Wassily chair for visitors. Plus, our new intern Scott Robinson began work here and instantly settled in. A recent graduate from the Norwich University College of Arts, Scott is keen to explore digital work. The NUCA internship scheme is worth supporting and gives graduates their first valuable step on the ladder toward employment.



Late September, I was re-united with the tall, curly haired Andy Campbell and gentleman of the industry Selwyn Taylor and together plotted the first term of the Graphic Communication course at NUCA. But first we sought to be creatively enriched by the D&AD Xchange conference. Must say, in the beginning the atmosphere was a bit sombre with too much talk of recession and not enough positivity to inspire us to work smartly despite it. Plus, the over-used term '360 degree skills base' really grated on me.



I got over it. And working my way through the numerous tea breaks, the fun began with Damon Murray and Stephen Sorrell of Fuel. Quite an arty pair these guys (their next door neighbours include the Chapman brothers, Gilbert & George and Tracey Emin) and not your conventional graphic designers but still love to work with image and type. Publishing their own magazines, their strange leftfield view of the world was soon appropriated by the ad industry with commissions for Virgin and Diesel jeans, which funded more ambitious projects. They love creating books, whether it's documenting Russian criminal tattoos or post war football programmes.

What I found the most rewarding was hearing about a different way of working; creating inter-grated brand campaigns which embrace social networking to sustain public interest, way beyond the casual impact of a poster or advertisement. It got me thinking, 'is conventional design dead?'. I got over that too. Ed Elworthy of Nike walked us through a superb campaign, dedicated to urban five-aside football, its objective to nurture brand loyalty and a love for the sport. Encouraging local enrollment and ramping-up regional rivalry toward a championship event. Interest was stimulated by crude youtube movies featuring Wayne Rooney being 'nutmegged' by a teenager:



If football is not your thing, I'm sure Mark Chalmer of Perfect Fools could interest you in his Nokia Unloader, which promotes a business phone for a cleaner working life. What these dutch guys did was amazing and would have made Heath Robinson proud. Creating a fascinating contraption, which exists somewhere in Stockholm and within your reach online. Visit their site to upload all your useless documents and then watch them being destroyed in real-time. Thoroughly useless or useful? - you the consumer can decide. But how can you resist not to find out? www.the-unloader.com

That was ages ago - now back to my own design reality.



I'm currently planning the first Studio portfolio booklet which will be available in the new year. Featuring selected results from our first two years and lovingly printed on GF Smith papers. Details to follow. Anyway, I promise to keep the blog updated - the next month will see Studio attend the D&AD President's Lectures, featuring Paula Scher and Neville Brody. And let's not forget The Specials at Hammersmith Apollo and Paul Weller at the UEA.

Stay with-it.