davidthedesigner

in the eye of the beholder

I'm working on the design of a book cover at the moment (amongst other things). And, from recent experience, I'll probably produce around 25 visuals before all of us (that's the publisher, the author and myself) are agreed on the final design. I wouldn't have done that 20 years ago, essentially because it was so much harder, and/or expensive, to produce design visuals by hand (three was the norm then). So that's where computers have made things so much easier for designers - or has it? I must admit that I use the process in order to prove what doesn't work: as a designer you probably already know that in your own head, but sometimes it helps to be able to prove it to the client.

 

But the casual optimist has pointed me in the direction of this tale of 90 rejected cover designs. A story that will - at face value - make any designer's heart sink: because most of us have been there at some point in our career. But this one isn't so simple as it might appear on the surface, because the author is also the designer (although with a bit of help on the side).

 

But it does make you wonder whether the ease at which cover designs can be produced has actually helped in this case. Or maybe it just reflects that old adage that the hardest client to work for is yourself.

And then more pootling around the interblog has washed me up on the same ice flow as the polar bear's tale. Who has pointed me in the direction of Ernst Haeckel:

I'll let you draw your own conclusions.

the past is a foreign country

drawing on experience

That Ronald Searle cartoon that I showed you on Friday has reminded me of this photograph, which was snapped by Martin Coyne and art directed by yours truly, back in 2005. It was taken at the British Cartoon Archive, which is located at the library of the University of Kent in Canterbury (and well worth a detour if you're around that area). Once we discovered those cut-outs we just had to use them.

It's also reminded me that I've commissioned a fair few cartoons over the years (from the likes of David Austin, Kipper Williams, Joe Wright and Tim Britton (Tim is part of Forkbeard Fantasy): I'll have to see if I can dig some out.

this made me smile #109

A Bigger Splash: Homage à David Hockney (1984), Ronald Searle

Found via Steve Bell's article in The Guardian, in which he describes Searle as being Britain's greatest living cartoonist. A new exhibition celebrating the work of Searle is showing at the Cartoon Museum until 4 July.

More about cartoons next week. Maybe.

this made me smile #102

Biggest drawing in the world.

(via O.K. BLOG)

the right approach always helps

Tony Meeuwissen Retrospective - on now until the end of October

I get lots of requests to put links on this blog. And 99% them fall on deaf ears. Especially the ones that describe my blog as being 'awesome' - that's an instant giveaway that whoever's emailing hasn't read a single word. So if you're thinking of asking me to feature something on here and you're going to try flattery by telling me that the blog is awesome, then don't bother. Except, of course, you wouldn't be reading this, would you?

But Ian Blackwell's not like that at all. He sent me a very nice email this morning (and I hope he won't mind me repeating it here):

Dear David,
I came across your blog entry for the Billy Liar book cover this morning. Tony is a friend of mine and I have been checking out some things for him on the internet.
I thought that you may be interested to know that he is having a retrospective exhibition here in Stroud Gloucestershire. It is a beautiful and interesting exhibition and I am helping him try to drum up interest from further afield than the surrounding area.
You can check the details at: www.museuminthepark.org.uk
Please get in touch if you want any other information.
Congratulations on your blog, very insightful and amusing. not always the case with blogs.
Best wishes,
Ian Blackwell

Ian, I'm very happy to help spread the word.

And the rest of you: this exhibition looks to be absolutely ace (or at least the four of diamonds). You should get yourself down to Gloucestershire before the end of the month.

england, scotland and wales: things to see

Actually, I'm going to do this in reverse order. So we'll kick off with Wales.

If you're in or around Cardiff this week, then you should pop along and see the degree shows at Cardiff School of Art & Design (on until this Friday). Cardiff has given us some pretty good student bloggers in the past year, most notably (in my probably not completely impartial opinion) Sian and Tom Harle. In fact, if you ask Tom nicely, he'll arrange to give you a guided tour. I'm looking forward to following Tom's blog as he leaves academia and moves out into the big wide world of working for money.

Next up to Glasgow School of Art, where you have an extra day in hand, since their show is open until Saturday.

There you'll find a set of wonderful illustrations of Glasgow's ice cream parlours by Louise Lockhart made up into a guide book, working together with Rosie Ferrier (and thanks to Anne at I Like for the heads up).

And finally back down south of the border to Chelmsford, where botanical illustrator Niki Simpson will be exhibiting at the RHS Hyde Hall Garden between 23rd June and 31st October. Niki's work really is ground breaking and has deservedly won her many awards. Catch it if you can.

'ello tosh, got a toshiba?

I've got this box sitting on the shelf in the back room (not as shown here, obviously, since I've plonked it on the garden table to take its picture for you). But goodness knows where it came from. I've never owned a Toshiba computer. And I don't recognise the stuff that's inside, either. So it's all a bit of a mystery. Probably something that someone asked us to look after some time ago - and it's been there ever since.

Anyway, that's all besides the point really. Because what intrigues me is the design on the side of the box. For a computer that probably dates from the mid 1990s, this box couldn't be any more of it's time. But why is that? At face value, it only has the illustration, restrained typography, two colours and white background that you might expect on today's Apple packaging. It's not a million miles away in concept, just worlds apart in terms of execution.

And here's why, I think. First, the name: T1800/60. What's that all about? Well, I'm guessing that the 60 refers to the size of the hard disk as 60MB (yes, you read that right - megabytes). But the 1800? Nothing on a mid 1990s computer ran that fast or was that big. Unless, perhaps, it refers to the weight of the thing. But you couldn't get away with that today, could you? Because all computer names now either have to start with a lower-case 'i', or be named after something, like a Fox or a Storm.

And then just look at that illustration. Two simple things give it away for what it is: those overlapping edge lines on the top corners of the screen and that single cross-hatch. It's what you'd expect (or expected) to see on an architect's drawing. Except that no architect (or at least none that I've ever come across) draws like that. No, it's a stylistic technique that's only ever used by people who'd like you to think they were an architect.

Anyway, all of this musing on Toshiba and the mid 1990s has reminded me of their Ian Dury voiced television adverts of the time:

about a motor car

I've told you about things magazine before. Maybe you took my advice and went over and had a good poke around; maybe you didn't. So, if you need a bit of encouragement, get over there now and have a look at the wonderful 'about a motor car' by the equally wonderfully-named Phyllis Ladyman.

a line is a dot that goes for a walk*

I have to be out for the day - down in deepest Dorset where there is no mobile signal, let alone broadband. So, before I go, there's just enough time to tell you about The Campaign for Drawing.

* Paul Klee