davidthedesigner

this made me smile #76

I'm no great fan of graffiti. Sometimes I think that's maybe to do with my age and the times I grew up in - and somehow it's impossible to escape that background. It's just the same with music: as much as I love it, I find it very hard indeed to derive any pleasure from listening to rap music (and if ever you want to extract a confession from me, just play me two tracks from Eminem and I'll be putty in your hands).

Anyway, back to graffiti. I think what I don't like about it is the lack of wit it so often displays, and how it invariably takes away from the surrounding environment, rather than adding to it. Not that I'm entirely against the concept of intervention, mind.

And then I was sat in my car at a set of traffic lights the other day and I noticed this on the wall of a pub. "St  Angers" I thought "isn't that somewhere in Brittany? Is this to do with town twinning?" Then, after a couple of minutes, rationality returned to my brain and I realised that this was a very witty piece of intervention.

(Mind you, I could be entirely wrong: it might be an announcement from a Metallica fan.)

uppercase in lowercase

My pantone past will be featured in the Summer issue of UPPERCASE magazine - out this July.

this made me smile #75

want to get mugged on holiday?

Then go out and buy yourself one of these.

i've never worked on the ground floor (#6)

It's a coincidence that I launched this little series on the same day that Google launched Street View in the UK. I realised, of course, that I could probably illustrate all of the buildings I've ever worked in by courtesy of the Google cameras. But somehow, I felt I might be missing out in some way - how, I'm not really sure. I did go back to Pond Street for the first time since leaving the employ of Henrion. But there was nothing there, apart from the building: that was exactly the same as I remember it, but everything around it had changed. And there were no longer designers in residence: these days it's the Hampstead Clinic of Chinese Medicine. So maybe that act of paying homage doesn't matter after all.

I had, though, wanted to go back to the next one (hence the delay since the last post in this series), but a little bird told me that it's covered in scaffolding (and those protective nets) at the moment. And there's not much point in photographing just that. So here comes Street View to the rescue:

And here we are on the fringes of Covent Garden with The Ivy at the end of the street. Sadly, I never got to eat there (though, to compensate, more than a few Kir Royales were downed in le Beaujolais next door). The second and third floors were my territory (though not both at the same time, obviously). And with some illustrious company to keep the creative juices flowing. In fact, creativity seemed to seep from its very fabric. It had, at one time, been the studio of Alan Aldridge (we knew that because we found a solicitor's letter under the carpet chasing an unpaid debt).

It was here that I met and worked with Bob and Horace, employed Lashko as my right-hand man, and rubbed desks with the architects Jon Broome and Simon Conder, along with many other kindrid spirits. (Forgive me if you're reading this and I've left you out of the list; do put that right by leaving a comment - or emailing me if you're shy.)

Ah, happy days. But we were eventually forced out by a boom in property prices (remember those?).

i went on holiday and all i took was one photograph (on my mobile phone)

Hardly worth going, was it?

another 4-card trick

It's been a quiet week on here this week - sorry about that. I've been reading about the 7 habits of highly effective people he knows over on Ben's blog and I've concluded that I must be totally ineffective. So, that's it: I'm starting with habit number seven and taking next week off.

Before I go though, there's just time for me to let you know that Anne's latest series of cards (greetings cards this time) are just hot off the press. Designed by yours truly, don't you know. You should buy some now before they sell out.

See ya.

you are in a designated public place (so behave yourself)

I happened to land up in Gosport over the weekend, and with a couple of hours to spare on a nice sunny day, I thought I'd take the opportunity to have a wander around. I've never been to Gosport before (I do recall that I drove through it once, though). It's not the sort of place that you'd find yourself in unless you had a reason to be there, for it's on the way to nowhere (unless to catch the ferry to Portsmouth). But, hey, it's by the sea - surely that has to be good?

But, then, you know me: I'm always spotting the things that others often don't. And I saw this:

How's that for stating the obvious? (Although, actually, it's not factually correct: that's razor wire, not barbed wire. And it's a wall, not a fence.) But why put the sign there anyway? Surely if you're inclined to go climbing over walls like this and your eyesight is so poor that you can't see the wire, you're not going to be able to see the sign either, are you?

Perhaps it's there for health & safety reasons? Somebody covering their back should someone have the misfortune of cutting themselves on the wire. It reminds me of a story I once heard about an army General attending a three-day conference at Plymouth Naval Base. He couldn't make the first day, and so he took an early train and a taxi from the station to get there for the start of business on day 2. As happens, he got into conversation with the taxi driver and explained that the conference was titled 'Extreme Warfare'. "That sounds interesting" said the taxi driver, "it's a pity you missed the first day". "Oh, I haven't missed much" replied the General, "day 1 was just Health & Safety".

But, I digress. The sign got me thinking that I ought to start a series on here about stupid or nonsensical signs. And that got me sign spotting in Gosport. And, boy, does Gosport have a problem. The Borough Council, bless their hearts, are very keen to attract visitors to the town. But the reception you get is pretty oppressive, to say the least. I can't work out whether Gosport attracts miscreants, or whether its good citizens only have a passing acquaintance with the concept of abiding by the law. Or perhaps the Council employs a little man who has too much time on his hands, who therefore decides that it's his duty to boss people about. How else would you explain this one:

Because if you're determined to skateboard in Gosport, you're hardly going to be deterred by the knowledge that you're in breach of byelaw number 47, now are you? And what on earth is 'similar'? Has anybody ever been fined in Gosport for doing something 'similar', I'd like to know.

But it's not just skateboarding, rollerblading or cycling that you're not allowed to do in Gosport:

Look at that one more closely:

Why, even Gosport's public spaces are 'designated'. To stop you doing even more things, of course.

And in case you are tempted to do something that the Council doesn't want you to do (like taking photographs of their signs, no doubt), they're keeping an eye on you from above:

It can't be much fun living in Gosport, can it? Poor things.

the future of agriculture - coming to a field near you, soon

Unless it's a new piece of work by trudi entwistle.