A Couple of Old Queens…

I picked up a copy of the new free Time Out this morning and apart from being surprised at just how many bands from the 80′s and 90′s are still doing the rounds (is ANYONE interested in seeing The Fields of the Nephilim, Space or The Farm!!) these two images sitting either side of the same page, amused me with their similarity of imagery and style…

Curly bouffant hair, eyes closed in concentration, respectfully aged skin, expensive looking clothes and big jewelry…

Methinks Mr. Hucknall didn’t really think this one through … unless his singing career is in such dire straights, that he’s considering an alternative one as a looky likey

The Paralympic Symbol

It’s everywhere in London at the moment, the rather odd Paralympic Games symbol. The word odd seems appropriate, as it is neither one thing nor another, neither balanced, impressive nor very well thought out, but at the same time blandly inoffensive and comfortably familiar…

The online blurb tells me that it was created by Scholz & Friends Agency in April 2003, and is composed of three agitos, agito meaning “I move” in Latin. The three colours, red, blue and green represent those most commonly found on the various flags of the world, whilst the three swooshes (no connection to Nike obviously!) encircle a centre point that symbolises the bringing together of the athletes to compete.

But it seems incomplete to me and rather ungainly. The agitos might represent movement, but the whole ensemble comes across as rigid and lumpen. I’m also surprised that there’s no reference to the timeless and iconic original five circles that represent each of the five continents of the original design, and it doesn’t read the same from both directions like the linked circles, which means its uses are more limited (as can be seen from the one hiding under all that scaffolding under London Bridge). I’ve read that the event organisers want to become recognised as a stand alone event which I suppose is fair enough, but as the Paralympics are only ever held in the same year and always a couple of weeks after the Olympics, this does seem rather a week argument, as in most peoples  minds they will forever be linked.

Maybe this sense of awkwardness and there being something missing from the logo is intentional, linking it back in someway to the athletes themselves, who although not “whole” in a more traditional sense, have overcome their difficulties and setbacks through effort, dedication and sheer bloody hard work.

Sadly to my eyes, this logo doesn’t do any work whatsoever, and I think these undeniably superhuman competitors deserve far better than something that looks like is was taken from the beginners book of logos.. It’s so reminiscent of other things: Nike as previously noted is the obvious one, but has anyone noticed the similarity to Ariel washing powder… (which predates it by at least 5 years…)

And one final thought, the use of the Paralympic logo as the face of the forever hideous and offensive omni-shambles that is the London 2012 logo, only makes it look constipated, desperately trying to void the turd that is the Olympic font. Or at best really, really angry, when it could be eliciting feelings of courage, strength and determination that these athletes should more rightly be associated with…

Underground Guerrilla Signs..

My friend Darren sent me a link to these rather excellent alternative London Underground signs…

Apparently they’ve been appearing for some time now, but like 99% of passengers, I’m sad to say I’ve missed them..

They’ve been done so well, that to a regular commuter, their utter familiarity as part of an accepted, everyday visual clutter, results in them becoming almost invisible, losing all meaning beyond their colour and shape..

Well it’s a lesson learnt for me. I usually pride myself on at least attempting to see beyond the day to day, and resist the automatic filters that city life can generate.

Rest assured, that I will certainly be keeping a much sharper lookout for these signs from now on… How I would’ve loved to have noticed Shepherd’s Pie, overground, Gas mark 4 on a journey into work, it would have made my day…

2012 Olympic Branding…

The whole Olympic 2012 restrictions on branding and advertising are so draconian and ridiculous that it’s difficult to take them seriously…

Badminton players (quite rightly) get expelled for not competing properly, but all other forms of competition are explicitly banned: money can only be got via Visa machines (which then don’t work) local traders have to change the names of their business to avoid prosecution, and chips can only be bought from you know who. I can’t work out if this is the power of advertising or simply the Power of the State…

There are two things recently that have caused me to stop and wonder at this convoluted state of affairs…

Firstly, the seemingly omnipresent Beats by Dre headphones on the heads of the swimmers in Zaha’s very excellent swimming pool… the only bit of non sponsored branding in the entire place… The justification apparently is that these “special” headphones are used to block sound out, so the swimmers are not getting their last fix of Metallica/Kylie/ Daft Punk, they are in deep concentration mode…

You have to give it to the Doctor.. breaking the rules with such elegance and simplicity by giving stuff away… genius

The second thing that has struck me is that something is missing… something that has become so ingrained in my visual conscious that it’s taken me a while to notice..

Where are the famous three stripes on the arms and legs of the Olympic Volunteers shiny Adidas clothes… It must be the first time that the company has made clothes without stripes… I’m surprised the sewing machines didn’t explode with the paradox…

I bet that was a difficult meeting: Yes you can make ten’s of thousands of uniforms and official sports kits but no, you can’t put your most distinctive feature on any of it.. Take a good look at the photo to the right, you will never see it’s like again (well, not for another four years anyway, unless Nike get their act together of course…)

And has anyone else noticed how much they look like Sainsburys uniforms without the stripes?… “Excuse me young man, can you tell me the way to the sports (section) please?”

Oh the irony…

The Smell of Success ?

This rather tempting and appropriate aftershave was sent to me this morning by my friend Juanita

Vintage indeed…

Adobe Creative Juices – Late Update

After receiving an e-letter this morning, I realise I never put the winning entry up for this competition I entered back in March…

S’okay I suppose, a bit more rounded than mine, a tad more professional looking maybe, but I’m not sure about the pink and blue…

For the record, this was the 14th highest placed entry with 59 votes.

The one with the most votes was this orange one with 147 (presumably the result of either a very well managed Facebook/ Twitter campaign, or someone with lots of mates who have nothing better to do than visit sites and tick boxes)

I ended up in 89th place (out of 298) with 6 votes for this green version of my effort. Way outside the top 30 from which the winner was chosen, but still in the top third. So thanks to everyone who ticked my box…

I think it’s quite interesting that all three of these designs are based on the same idea (as were loads of others to be honest) in which the C and the J form a continuous loop… Great minds etc. etc…

I’ll let you know if/ when I enter any more of these silly things, but I’ve got a proper job now so I’m not at home looking for things to do… (which believe you me is a GOOD thing)

Sainsbury’s Own Label – In House Graphics 1962 to1977

I read recently in one of the weekend papers that a new book about Sainsbury’s in-house graphic design team has just been published.

Called Own Label, it looks to be a compelling survey of packaging design from the early 1960′s to the late 1970′s, and I imagine like many 40 somethings, sets bells ringing from my childhood days.

From the images I have found online, the simplicity and consistency of the work is what really stands out. Most of it was printed using only 3 colours and from what I understand, individual designers were given an unusual degree of freedom to suggest different designs for each of the various products, with all final decisions overseen by the head of design, Peter Dixon. There appears to have been no overriding approach to design (other than keeping it modern) and as such there is a variety that is sometimes missing from the suited approach of much of todays designs.

Some of these images I can clearly remember, the cat food with the yellowed eyed black cat on the blue background and the smiley sun in the cornfield of the cornflakes being the most immediate.

Many of these designs have a contemporary feel that will help the book sell not only to those like me that remember them the first time round, but also to new designers looking for simple and stylish ideas.

I for one will be putting this on my “wants” list from Santa…

Asahi Underground Posters…

I was in the loft the other day looking for something and came across some forgotten stolen goods…. three cardboard advertising posters taken from London Underground Tube trains…

Many years ago, there was an advertising campaign for Asahi Super Dry Lager.. I would guess it would have been sometime around the turn of the Century. As I remember there were a series of six of them, all featuring odd and strangely English “celebrities” (and I use the word advisedly) in eccentric and unlikely poses…

This Englishness and eccentricity was obviously the key to the campaign, and the bizarre and almost random use of words chosen to describe each of the stars on the poster, only accentuated the effect of the image… I always liked Henry Kelly’s “Pride & Integrity. Manly” or Dickie Davis’s “Remarkable and Finesse. So Good. Or how about Debbie McGee as “Breeding. Extra Stately” and Richard Whitely as “Commanding and A Worldly”.

I was so taken by the whole campaign that I set about trying to collect them all, furtively hanging around tube carriages until I thought no one was looking and pulling them out of the metal frames. Sadly I didn’t get them all, partly because I’m not wholly convinced that hundreds of other people weren’t taking them as well, as they did seem to disappear from the trains very quickly…

There is very little on the net about the campaign, but I think it was by WCRS Agency… and whether you remember them or not, the images of Debbie McGee with a riding crop and Henry Kelly in his bath robe will (worryingly) live with me forever…

(The three originals I have are Messrs Whitely, Davies and Kelly, and I will get them copied and put up here asap…)