Recently I was lucky enough to get the opportunity to travel to Bucharest, Romania, for work. The trip was so that I could attend an art and design education fair and to talk at a couple of high schools about our courses. This was my first such recruitment trip abroad, and I’m told you oftenContinue reading “Graphic commons: Bucharest, a bohemian rhapsody”
Category Archives: Culture
Graphic commons: analogue community
Lostwithiel, Cornwall, (affectionately known as Losty by the locals), was the nearest town on our recent summer holiday. As I have mentioned in a previous post I have an interest in noticeboards, and Lostwithiel has not one, but two that I could find. What struck me more than this though was that 2 noticeboards didContinue reading “Graphic commons: analogue community”
Reclaim the sheets
While some may praise Lush for its recent #SpyCops poster campaign, having your own shop window to deliver a political campaign message in is a luxury most do not have. Now, the non-shop owning agitpropper can turn to Brandalism, who have launched a Subvertising Manual that shows anyone how to reclaim visual spaces from advertisers byContinue reading “Reclaim the sheets”
Graphic commons: Oxford streets
For many, traipsing historic academic cobbles and staring at spires, let alone dreaming of them, would define any visit to Oxford. For me, on a family weekend there recently, it was an opportunity to study its graphic commons. Looking for its vernacular, I mostly steered clear of high-street parades, and came away finding the city’sContinue reading “Graphic commons: Oxford streets”
Festival of Britain benches
I have had a fascination with the Festival of Britain since I came across one of its guidebooks several years ago and wrote an article about it for Eye magazine’s blog. In my day job I have also had the pleasure of hearing Abram Games’ daughter, Naomi Games, talk to students about her father’s work,Continue reading “Festival of Britain benches”
To Hull and back
In October last year I wrote about the visual identity for Hull City of Culture 2017. I’d mostly only ever heard negative things about the city but vowed to go there this year after seeing this deliberately attention grabbing piece of branding. Claire and I duly booked our summer holiday in the beautiful Lincolnshire WoldsContinue reading “To Hull and back”
Run / ? / tell
In the aftermath of the recent horrendous Manchester and London terrorist attacks, I was puzzled by the imagery used to accompany a new police warning advising people to RUN, HIDE and TELL if they should find themselves in the midst of such a situation. Seeing this for the first time on the Channel 4 news,Continue reading “Run / ? / tell”
Map folk
As a sucker for cartography I could not resist buying a new compilation of live folk music with an accompanying map. Titled From Here: English Folk Field Recordings, the record is a modern take on Alan Lomax’s field recordings in the 1930s and ’40s and seeks to look at contemporary English folk music and its reference to place. A projectContinue reading “Map folk”
Graphic commons: north-east of Ipswich
Distance: 4.2 miles Steps taken: 9,687 Start time: 09:37 Ground covered: Small town centre, surrounding residential areas and seaside promenade Any talk of Southwold and psychogeography is duty bound to include a mention of W.G. Sebald’s Rings Of Saturn. My drift around Southwold yesterday, as part of my continuing Graphic Commons project, did take me upContinue reading “Graphic commons: north-east of Ipswich”
Spectacle fodder
Yesterday I took my grandson to see the Lego Batman Movie at a cinema complex in town. It was great fun, even if much of the film was a little over the head of the 7 year old boy. Such cinema complexes aren’t my usual choice of venue for movie going. Several people had warnedContinue reading “Spectacle fodder”
Nigel Ball 