Click here to view.

Put to great use by GOOD, their pastiche seeks to stir people into acting on issues of safe water.

Click here to view their efforts.

And for Hitchcock’s masterpiece, take a look over here

The BA (hons) Graphic Design programme is a current and innovative vocational course, structured to respond to the continuously changing demands of the creative industries. It is considered to be one of the most distinguished and striking in the North West by both students and professionals nationwide.

Director of the show and final year Graphic Design student, Helen Ashcroft explains: “This year the programme reaches its peak with an exhibition entitled ‘Variety Show’. A theme that encompasses the best of the traditional culture of Blackpool within a design environment. It represents who we are and makes a point that we stand out from the crowd. It is an exciting and unusual concept.”

Variety Show is set to feature award winning and inspirational work that generates conversation and excitement amongst its viewers, with the exhibition creating a forum to discuss relevant issues such as the relationship between designers and the environment, sustainability and the future of design.

Helen went on to say: “It is an opportunity to showcase the incredible emerging talent that Blackpool and Flyde has to offer and acts as a testament to the quality of the degree programme. It also generates valuable links for students with industry professionals, and a great benefit of this high profile event is that it attracts further potential students both locally and nationally.”

The BA(hons) Graphic Design Final Graduation Exhibition takes place at CUBE in Manchester and will also be going on tour to D&AD London and Blackpool School of Art and Design. 

Check back soon for further details.

Two students, one shop front and a week crammed full of collaborations.

Trawling the blogs this week I happened across these two fellas sitting in a rather unassuming shop window in Lincoln. Tom and Shaun spent all last week, literally, showing their wares to the general public—and through their blog, the design community. The boys dreamt up the idea in their third year of study at the Lincoln School of Art and Design, and what a good idea it is too.

Complete with wooly hats, a pair of macbooks, pens, craft knives and a forest full of coloured paper, Tom and Shaun set about putting their mark on the Lincoln Highstreet, blogging all the while. The lads sent a call out for ideas and suggestions for the week which ranged from ‘turn your window into a shop’s sale window’ from the Chase’s own Craig Oldham, to ‘change your hats for once and pull your trousers up’ from a one Mr Richard Marsdon.

The Keep Us Busy blog was regularly updated throughout the week, with photos of new creative tit-bits and information on their current collaborations. We think they’ve done a great job and deserve all the exposure and support that they’ve had. You can find Tom and Shaun’s online portfolios by clicking on their names. There’s some nice work on there, including a really slick idea for a direct mail piece tackling sex inequality in developing countries.

Keep up the good work lads and keep us informed!

Ever the romantic, I’ve always thought that hotel rooms hold a certain mystery. The way that they weave people’s lives together so inextricably by giving us a shared experience, makes me think of them as strangely endearing. The contrived luxury of crisp white sheets and a pristine toilet bowl tries (in vain) to mask the character and personality of a room. 

I’ve found myself imagining the lives of the hundreds of people that came before me, and the hundreds that are destined to follow. Lyndon Wade takes a slightly more realistic view of this idea with his expose of life in an American motel room. Room 107.

Thank goodness for industrial cleaning.

“This is where people come and leave: leave wet towels on the bathroom floor, leave half-full beer bottles on the nightstand, leave the bed unmade, hair on the toilet seat, stains on the ceiling, glitter in the carpet, holes in the wall, leave their lives, a mess for the morning maid. And after an hour, a day, a month, they leave all that they have left.

And you check in.”

I’ve always been a massive fan of the horror genre. My DVD collection is packed full of horrendous horror flicks from the 80s and early 90’s. John Carpenter and Wes Craven both make an appearance in what has to be one of the most tragic collections this side of Accrington.

There’s something about really trashy B Movies that appeals to me. I love the flashing lights and beeping horns of cars in a parking lot in ‘The Fog’, I love how no matter how fast you run, the slow paced saunter of Michael Myers always cuts you to the chase. And I can’t help but find something so charming in the way fleeing starlets run upstairs as opposed to using an ounce of common sense by heading out the door.

That said, B Movies have given designers much more than these little gems, they’ve given us art. Poster art to be precise. Poking around some design blogs last week, I found a top 100 list of the all time greatest Horror film posters. From giant spiders, to severed hands, its all here. Take a peek and let us know which one’s make it into your DVD collection. Have a cushion handy, you may be in
for a fright.

    

A great solution for an ‘invisible’ destination.

‘If u r reading this you’re not looking up at John Kay’s Fish ‘n’ Chip restaurant’.

I found sanctuary. I hadn’t been to the Harris for about six years, and always remembered it being a bit stuffy, and traditional, filled with lots of trinkets and pots that I’ve no doubt had lots of significance, but completely passed me by. That said, I’ve always had a real soft spot for the place. It was surprisingly busy for a Saturday, which was refreshing – I had visions of me pottering around looking all a bit sad. On offer were the aforementioned trinkets and pots (toilet water bottles? – anyone?) amongst ‘Dan Dare’ comics and Victorian busts. But what really got me going, was their exhibition of Gordon Cheung’s recent show, ‘Technophobia’.

I can’t tell you how pleased I was to see such a refreshing and contemporary show sitting in such a traditional building. Turning the corner, you’re greeted by a huge canvas, (3 meters high, by 5 meters wide), covered in the financial times stock listings and adorned with ink, acrylic gel and spray paint. On the surrounding walls, smaller pieces, using graph paper, marker pen and inks. Cheung’s work creates fantasy dreamscapes with an interesting blend of Chinese, and British iconography, a sort of ‘East meets West’, punctuated with rainbows, mountains and cowboys.

I have a real interest in digital illustration and image making, so was delighted to hear from Cheung (playing on a DVD around the corner) that his work starts on the Mac, and in Photoshop, where he creates a ‘blueprint’ of the finished work. The work itself however is all created by hand, from scratch – no digital prints – just a brush and a can of paint. The work I saw at the Harris had real shades of Stanley Donwood and Jasper Goodall – two of my favourite illustrators. A sort of psychedelic mix of spray paint rainbows, outlined figures and crumbling architecture, but I’ve no doubt you’ll make your own comparisons. 

‘Technophobia’ isn’t around for very long, so now is the time to check it out before it moves on. If you’re other half is anything like mine, you’ll get the chance to sally around the galleries, whilst earning big brownie points for telling them to ‘take their time’ – everyone’s a winner.

‘Technophobia’ is exhibiting at the Harris Museum, Preston,
from 27th September, to, 13th November.

For more information about the artist, visit his website.

A conversation yesterday about the first LP we ever bought got us thinking about how important music has been in shaping our attitude towards design. Memories of torn and tatty NME covers plastered to the back of wardrobe doors, and stolen gig posters pinned to student hall walls remind us of how influential band artwork and poster design has been in inspiring us to create bold and inspiring pieces of design.

We’ve all got our favourites, mine’s got to be my Stanley Donwood ‘OK Computer’, but we’re all different. The point is, it doesn’t matter what inspires you, as long as it does.

Here’s a list of 50 modern classics to fall in love with, find on ebay, and blue tack to your toilet wall.

Enjoy.

Broken Social Scene: The Small Stakes