Come and see the new blog. You might not notice owt different, it looks pretty similar, but WordPress is s'posed to be better, so I've shifted it over and won't be updating the blogger version any more. Sad for blogger :( but nice for WordPress :)

fullbeard.wordpress.com

I was perusing the latest issue of Creative Review on the train to work this morning, as I'm sure many of you are prone to do, when I came across a spread of posters that had been commissioned for the London Design Festival. I had been singing the praises of the festivals presence in East London on this here blog just a couple of weeks ago, so I took particular notice of the article.

Twenty of the country's big name designers were asked to take part. The brief was very open, with the idea to make a personal statement about London, the only real stipulation being the colour palette; the designs could on include red and black.

I really like these kind of limitations. On one hand it could be seen as a hugely wide open brief; London in black and red, but that gives the brief an important focus with huge scope, something I'm sure many designers would love all of their projects to have. The result is a really diverse set of posters, that work together on an individual basis, but when viewed together work as a set because of the use of colour, which really emphasises its level of importance when it comes to graphic design. Another good example of colour bonding a series together this is Penguin's great ideas.

The posters I'm showing above were my favourite from the twenty commissioned. Starting with the 'Taxi!' poster the designers responsible are Alan Kitching, Mike Dempsey, Morag Myerscough, Bibliotheque, Tony Brook, Tom Hingston Studio, Studio Frith, Damon Murray & Stephen Sorrell of Fuel, Angus Hyland, Henrik Kubel and Quentin Newark.

Maybe it's the fumes from the ink, it could be that the big C.C. has something to do with it, or perhaps it's just that all concerned are wonderfully generous people, but whatever the reason, news has reached me that Print Club London, based over in hip and happening E8, have reduced the price of becoming a member of their club.

The cost has dropped from ninety quid to a very reasonable £65 a month, with the only (slight) catch being that this price applies to those booking for more than just one month (or frequent members as they put it). This seems like a good deal to me though, especially if you have already been considering giving screen printing a crack.

I completed one of the Print Club's workshops a few months back and thought the place was great. Good facilities, friendly people working and printing there and a feeling that you are in the company of some genuine artistic talent, which feels quite inspiring. So my advice would be, if you've got a bit of cash on the hip and you've fancied giving screen printing a go, sign-up now before they put the prices back up.

Minimum input for maximum output: this is a maxim that I believe, if embraced by the human race as a whole, would make the world a quieter, more relaxed place to reside. In the spirit of this, today's post is a two birds, one stone affair. After all, why write two posts, when you can say all you need to in one.

So, bird one; I just had to mention these amazing poster designs. They are by Neel Williams, a New York designer and an admirer of 'gentlemanly things' = 'beer, scotch and things like that' apparently!

I really love the playful nature of these posters. They were put together for this years World Beard and Moustache Championships (a competition I had the pleasure of attending back in 2007 when held in Brighton). The chosen style really evokes the slightly old fashioned, vaudeville-esque feel that surrounds the event. I do believe that the beard-arm wrestling poster would look jolly fine on the wall above my mantlepiece. (See early iterations of the designs here).

Bird number two is a heads up to the blog that I discovered these wonderful posters on. It is called 'Beard Revue' and is put together by a chap called Michael Buchino who describes it as a "web logbook committed to the review, commentary & discussion for the beard enthusiast". So basically, if you are a beard fancier this blog is for you, with beard head wear, the 'Facial Hair Handbook', acrylic beard paintings and an appraisal of Sylvester Stallone's beard all covered in the last week or so.

I'm a big fan of robot voice (I think it started with the Beastie's 'Intergalatic') and am always on the lookout for more of it, so it was a treat to find a link to this from my old friend Linus over at Jesus Toast.

With the London Design Festival kicking off this weekend, my plan was to pop along to the Kemistry gallery to look at the Typographica exhibition they have on for the festival. I won't go in to detail about the show (though there were some great spreads from the magazine being displayed), kind of just wanted to sing the praises of Shoreditch really and how many cool galleries and shops there were along the route I took from Kemistry to Brick Lane.

So, there was Kemistry with the Typographica exhibition, then we popped in to SCP, who were working in conjunction with Kiosk, a New York store who collect "rare but humble items" that make peoples life a little bit easier. My favourite piece was the pie cutter. From there we stumbled across YCN where (Full Beard favourite) Alexander Hulme's modified pencil caught my eye. On the way to Brick Lane we discovered Concrete Hermit and East Gallery, both displaying cool prints and collages.

I think my point is that without even seeking these places out, we happened across four or five interesting galleries/shops that were all taking part in the Design Festival (plus more that weren't) which really highlighted how richly the area is blessed with a creative passion and industry. You can really soak up that feeling just spending the afternoon there.

As if I hadn't had first-rate day already, it was concluded with a mighty fine salt beef bagel from the best emporium in London and a couple of pints of Leffe in the Ten Bells. Nice.

Links: Kemistry Gallery, SCP, Kiosk, YCN, Concret Hermit, East Gallery

You've gotta love Spotify don't you. There is so much music out there, literally millions of songs to listen to and a lot of it, I reckon, might well be worth a listen. Problem is I don't have enough money to buy everything that might be good.

And that's where the Spot steps in. You can now try before you buy. Of course there will be people that see it as an opportunity to never have to purchase another CD again, but for every one person with that attitude, I think there is someone that will see it as an opportunity to buy a record that they otherwise couldn't have afforded to take a punt on.

Weird Era Cont by Deerhunter is a perfect example of that. I happened across an article on them online, liked what I read, looked them up on Spotify, liked what I heard and have now bought the album. Without being able to listen to it first, there's no way I would have shelled out my hard earned on a band that I had such a vague knowledge of. So three cheers for Spotify I say!

Anyhow, enough Spotify love, I'm supposed to be telling you about how good 'Weird Era Cont' is. It is actually the bonus disc that comes with Microcastle, but don't be put off by that, it's not just a record full of crappy b-sides and outtakes.

Falling somewhere between Sonic Youth (in their quieter moments) and Yo La Tengo with the long, lo-fi guitar pop, this is a eclectic album that provides raw pop melodies, rythmic pounding build-ups over layed with hazy, scuzzy vocals, which creates a lazy, blissed out feel to the record.

Favourite tracks are the rhythmic 'Operation' with the line 'I hate you' repeated over and over again, and 'Vox Celeste', which sounds like a powerful song that is being played back through an old, crappy cassette player. Thanks to our Swedish chums at Spotify, you can listen to it here, and I strongly recommend that you do.

Exciting times, this is my first post from my iPhone! Full Beard goes mobile!! I wanted to get this one up before it slipped out of my mind again. I'd come across Alexander Hulme's musical tableware a couple of months back at the RCA graduate show, and had intended to post about it back then. I never did get round to doing it and had kind of forgotten all about it until I had my memory was jogged when I recognised his name on another piece of his work at the YCN design festival (more about the Design Festival coming soon).

So let me begin by saying that THESE ARE AMAZING!!! The concept is each piece of crockery in the set makes a different note when struck. That means that with the full set of tableware each note is covered. So you can be sitting at the table, tucking in to your breakfast and if the mood takes you, you can grab a spoon and tap out the Eastenders theme (or any other tune for that matter) on your bowls and mugs to entertain your fellow diners. Is that not a genius idea?

I would imagine that these have massive marketing potential. I can see these flying off the shelves at stores like Muji or Magma, not least because the set has a lovely minimal aesthetic with the just the letter of the note rendered in gold on to the china. I'd be first in line to put an order in for the set.

I mentioned that I first saw these at the RCA graduate show this summer, which I've been to for the last couple of years, each time time leaving feeling pretty inspired. The works on show ranges from fashion, graphics, fine art to vehicle design, but it has been the product design that has impressed me the most, Jon Harrison's 'Dual Purpose' pieces the first time round and Mr Hulme's this year. Make sure you make it there for 2010's show.

These covers have been doing the rounds for a while now (they were catalogued on The Moment blog to celebrate the New York Time Style Magazine's fifth anniversary last month) and I'd been meaning to post about them myself, but with holidays and just being generally busy I'd just not managed to get round to it.

I'd never come across the magazine before, living in London I don't get to see the New York Times too frequently. I was astonished at the quality of the covers, both the concepts and executions are just first class. The crop circle, cherry pie and sushi being my personal favourites.

It would seem that different artists are commissioned for each cover and given free reign over what they produce, a commendable way of working. That approach kind of echo's what I was talking about in my Spike Jonze post; artists left to get on with seeing through their idea without unnecessary interference will produce more inspiring and memorable work than is possible with design (or film in Jonze's case) by committee.

Anyhow, thought it would be nice to collect my favourite covers in one place and this seemed like as good a way as any of doing it. Kind of makes me wish London had an equivalent; a newspaper that really represented the city and the people who live here that also valued design as being an important part of doing the job. I guess in the UK we have The Guardian, which is undoubtedly amazingly designed and (in my humble opinion) generally well written, but that's from Manchester so I better not go claiming it for London!

There are but just a few weeks now. The film that every designer is rubbing his thighs at the prospect of seeing is almost with us and Vice have interviewed the man that has brought it from the pages of the book to the big screen.

Interesting that the film didn't turn out as the studio had expected. It is hinted at in the interview that Warners were hoping for another Shrek, but Jonze stuck to his guns and made the movie he had imagined and I'm sure it will be for just that reason it will go down as a classic and not forgotten/hated because it was another bland Hollywood adaptation.

The interview covers some interesting insights as to how the film came about and some of the technical aspects of producing the film, so read it here.

This is the latest version of the poster. It's a ton more detailed than the previous iteration, due to the heavy use of lines in texturing the beard.

Still not sure it's working. Not sure what the problem is though. Does it need more colour, need something else going on, I've toyed with including a nose and mouth? Not sure it's the hair assault that I'm after, perhaps the darker lines need to come off?? Flip knows!!

Keep on keeping on Stannard :)

I spotted this book while in Barcelona and fell in love with it straight away.

It's a kids book written in French (I have a very limited grasp of the language) so I don't exactly represent the target audience, but it's just a dream book for any designer.

The illustrations are so simple but at the same time beautiful and (for a non-French reader) they totally tell the story. Saying that, the typography used throughout the book is also a treat.

In what seems like an unusual move for a kids book, the story is set in big sans serif type (Futura bold condensed I think, but feel free to correct me) rather than a handwritten or script face that I would imagine would be the norm for an illustrated kids book.

And saying that the Yeti is an admirable creature is always going to sound better in French that it would in English!

From what I can make out (limited French remember) the book it written and illustrated by Fabrice Houndry. You can buy it here.

For the second leg of my holiday I traveled to Spain, and managed to take in a couple of nights in Barcelona. (I know, pretty jet set).

One of things that stuck in my head from my previous visit to the city was the graffiti that seemed to be daubed over half of the city. But when I got there I noticed that the resident artists weren't so indiscriminate.

Pretty much all of the graffiti was contained to doors and shutters. It isn't of the highest standard, but what I liked about it was that each piece is kind of framed by the doorway that it is painted within.

Due to the magnificent architecture of Barcelona these 'frames' are often quite ornate, creating a real contrast between old and new, authority and rebellion etc. of the street art and the buildings. Intentional or not I don't know, but it's a pretty cool Barca trend.

This is great. I came across it while on my holidays on the Greek island of Zante (Zakynthos). I bought some postcards from one of the local supermarkets and this was printed on the bag that they were put in to.

I love this kind of random graphic design that you find in tourist resorts. It kind of goes against a lot of the stuff that we would generally consider is good graphic design, but for some reason (kitsch, naivety ??) it works.

I'll keep my eye out for more of this kind of thing.

On my last update, I said that although I was happy with the way the illustration for the poster was going, I wanted to add a little more interest to the drawing, which I thought I could achieve by making it busier.

The picture above is where I got to after a few trial and error sketching sessions. Basically I have used the original drawing as a template, so no changes to the basic composition, but I've upped the number of lines used on each tuft of the beard.

It's a pretty time consuming method. Each line has to be drawn individually and you have to go steady to keep a clean, precise line. But I'm only half way through and already I think the increase in lines seems to be adding a lot more texture to the drawing. When it is finished it will hopefully help with the desired effect of a hair bombardment.

Accidents will happen, that's what they say isn't it? Well speaking with my designer hat on, I'm pretty glad that they do!

So often I've been toiling on a project, making a tweak here and a slight adjustment there, trying to make the change that takes what you're working on from the being 'okay, but not great' to the 'yes, spot on' point.

Sometimes, not always, as if by some kind of divine intervention chance offers a little helping hand! Whether it's an accidental 'apple, v' that plonks an object somewhere you would never have thought to plonk it. Or maybe a chance crop that hacks off far more of the image than you'd have thought was a good idea...

Yes, I'm talking about design accidents. They're a designers friend, some kind of fairy godmother that should be fully embraced whenever they deem it time to make an appearance.

You can't take full credit, because it wasn't strictly your idea, or an idea at all, but by jove it looks good so you're just going to roll with it.

So that's how the image above came about. It was a design accident. I can't really remember how it happened, but I always thought it looked kind of cool and thought that it'd be a good way to illustrate my point.

I've been thinking about getting in on this music reviewing lark for a while now. So with Spotify on everyone's computer meaning you can listen to what I'm talking about straight away, it felt like a good time to start!

I first came across Kings Of Convenience when they released 'Toxic Girl' in (about) 2001. I bought the single, but never got round to listening to any more of their stuff, but with Spotify being so nice and generous, I've recently had the chance.

Jolly glad that I did. 'Quiet Is The New Loud' is a perfect 'getting on with work' album. Just plug in your headphones and let the gentle, folk-tinged tunes fill your ears and carry you along while you get what you need to get done, done.

Comparisons to Belle & Sebastian could be made; the music is a gentle sort of folk style, but like the review on the Spot says, Kings Of Convenience's lyrics seem more concerned with 'calm moods and relationships' rather than the tongue in cheek words of Stuart Murdoch.

My favourite tracks: Toxic Girl and Little Kids. You can listen to the album on Spotify.

The release date is fast approaching and the design blogs have been posting like crazy over the past couple of weeks. Yep, 'Where The Wild Things Are' is nearly here after months of on-line whispers and exclusive screen shots, and the design community seems to be very excited.

I'm not moaning, I'm really looking forward to seeing it too. It was after re-tweeting 'It's Nice That's' tweet on the new featurette that my girlfriend asked why designers are getting sooo excited about it.

It hadn't really occurred to me that designers were any more or any less pumped for the film than anybody else, but if it is the case then I guess it's a combination of the following:

Spike Jonze is directing. He's the alternative persons director that has worked on some of the coolest promotionals of the music video genre, including 'Sabotage', 'Buddy Holly' and 'Praise You' and directed 'Being John Malkovich'. So you know from the start that he would bring something pretty cool to this film and not just be some big corporation hack making a 'safe' cash-in flick.

The use of puppets instead of CGI. I think this traditional approach really speaks out to many people from the design community. There has been a massive upsurge in graphic design over the last year or so or people getting their hands dirty and not just relying on the computer to generate their work. Illustration, collage, hand lettering etc has boomed. Helen Musselwhite's work is a recent example of this aesthetic that I've come across.

Not so designer focused admittedly, but the whole nostalgia thing cannot be overlooked. This is a book that we will all have read as a kids and most of us will have loved it. So while on the surface this could be seen as a children's movie it will appeal to that retro, nostalgic part of many of us.

Sorry to go on! Why not watch the interview with Maurice Sendak and Spike Jonze or treat yourself to a look at the trailer.

Oh, and the poster (above) is pretty cool too isn't it?

So I thought it would be a god idea to print off the poster at the size that I eventually want to screen print it at (A2). I've got it hanging in my kitchen just to get a feel for the scale of it and how it works at that size.

This version was worked up in Illustrator. I traced over the scan of my sketch with the pen tool, which has resulted in clean finish and has left me wondering whether there needs to be a bit more going on.

To add a little more interest and draw people in I'm thinking that more hair might be a good idea. In my first post about this poster I said that I would like to create something that people might have to look twice at to 'get' what the picture was of. I don't think that is happening yet, but by making it busier with more curls and ruffles going on in the beard I think I could get there.

The next thing that I will have to figure out is how to best tackle drawing the nose and mouth, ie, what technique to use; simple, cartoonish style or a more realistic finish. Hopefully though, once I've got the beard right the answer to this problem should become apparent.

I've been finding myself heading Shoreditch way more and more since moving back to south-east London.

I think that the area is probably pretty much my favourite area of London. There's so much on offer; salt beef bagels on Brick Lane, cool bars around Old Street and amazing Thai food on Hoxton Square - and that's just scratching the surface.

Anyhow, I'm harping on. The pictures above were taken on a recent stroll down Brick Lane and over to Old Street station. There is so much cool wall art about in that area (Banksy has been a regular visitor over the years) which I think adds an aesthetic that fits in to the artistic, DIY feel the area has.

I got round to scanning in the sketch that I posted last week and have now been mucking around with it on the computer.

I've been thinking about two different approaches; the clean, smooth finish of Illustrator and the textured look that I can produce with Photoshop.

The picture above is the Photoshop version. I've been using old scans of roller print marks to create a scuzzy textured finish to the beard area. Not sure about it yet. Definitely need to explore more options before I'm happy with it.

Now that I'm living back in South-East London I've been trying to do a few of the things that the local area has to offer. Goldsmiths College is just down the road so yesterday me and the girlfriend went to have a look round the masters fine art show.

Fistly, the spaces that Goldsmiths were using for the show are amazing. The Ben Pimlott building was purpose built for these kinds of shows and the view from the sixth floor was one of the most impressive of London I have seen. From the Dome through the City, St Pauls, the London Eye and the West-End as far west as Battersea Power Station, it was all visible! Also being used were the converted Laurie Grove Baths, formerly a swimming pool now being being used as studios by Goldsmiths that retained lots of its original features.

I should probably mention that fine art isn't normally my thing, not enough structure for the graphic designer in me, but some of the work on display here really impressed me. Above I've featured work from (top) Yun Kyung Jeong, Untilted, and amazingly beatiful and intricate illustration which looks good here, but was spectacular in the flesh.

Olivia Reynolds, Oh Albert, My Love (middle), Had created a piece inspired on the Albert Memorial (of which I am a fan) by carving into plywood and using varnish, stained glass, old silk, persian carpets, gold buttons... (the list goes on) to create four huge, magnificent collages (I guess) to represent each of the four continents featured on the original memorial.

The final piece, Penetralia, by Jang-Oh Hong is a series of national flags hanging from the ceiling created on clear plastic with metallic thread used to create the markings and stripes etc. of the national flags.

I'm not going to get in to what I thought the motivations of the artisits were or what I thought each piece represented, because I'll probably be very far wide of the mark It's better to make your own minds up.

Just got back from the Blur gig at Hyde Park. It was amazing! I sang along from start to finish.

Stand out track had to be 'Tender', the whole 50,000 crowd took over singing duties from Damon at one point. They played 'Death Of A Party' which is one of my personal favourite Blur tracks and finished on 'The Universal', one of my all time top songs.

Check out the Spotify playlist I've put together for tonights set.

The picture above is the first sketch of an idea for a poster I'd like to print. I thought it could be kind of interesting to chart the process of the project, from the initial rough through to the final screen printed poster (plus doing this will also act as motivation for me not give up half way through!)

My drawing is based on my blog header image, but was influenced by an illustration by Federico Rodriguez Morice for Threadless.

I love the impact the mass of hair has in Federico's image, which is what I hope to replicate; a sort of hirsute assault, an all beard/no face kind of look, so that maybe you'll have to look twice to fully identify what the image is.

I hope to have the completed design screen printed by the autumn, so wish me luck.

My first ever album was 'Bad'. I got it for my eighth birthday. I loved it (still do), I mean 'Another Part Of Me', 'Man In The Mirror' and 'I Just Can't Stop Loving You' could well be the best three consecutive songs on an album ever, right?

So anyway, I still have a soft spot for Jacko, despite all the bazaar behaviour and disturbing allegations over the years, and I'm glad to see that many people have been positive in their reaction to his death. I'm sure that Friday's mass moonwalk at Liverpool Street and the DJ at the Secret Blisters playing his hits on Friday night will be the first of many tributes for him.

The picture above, taken on Friday evening, is the Screen on the Green cinema in Islington.

Last night I made it down to Print Club's Secret Blisters event. The concept; 35 artists designs had been selected and printed in limited edition runs of 35 and were on sale for £35. The secret part of the shows name comes from the artists name not being put with their print, so that people are buying on the merit of the design, rather than an artists reputation.

It was held in the MC Motors space just down the alley from Print Club's studio, which was aesthetically the perfect space for the show and big enough to hold the hundreds of people that had turned up.

Of the 35 posters on show there were some really great designs, which made it pretty hard to pick one to buy (I would like to have got more, but hey, there's a recession don't you know). In the end we decided on number 30, a really cool print of a piano with Nina Simone lyrics hand drawn on to it (see picture above). Though, due to the secret nature of this years Blister event, I'm not sure who printed it yet.*

It was a great night, make it down to Print Club's next show and maybe even give it a shot at getting your design in to 2010's blisters exhibition.

*Just found out that the artist responsible for the fine print I purchased was in fact Anthony Peters. (The signature on the poster was a tad hard to make out in case you're wondering why it took me so long)!

Here are some pictures that I took when I was in New York earlier this year.

My girlfriend and I were staying on Broome Street, just on the edge of the Lower East Side. The walls of the buildings in that part of Manhattan were covered in fly posters, stickers and graffiti - which I think looks great and creates a kind of street art collage as it builds up.

These pictures were taken on the Bowery and along Rivington Street and the streets that come off it.

Ps. If you happen to find yourself in this area, make sure you check out Freemans, maybe the coolest restaurant I've ever eaten at. It's tucked away down Freemans Alley off Rivington St, but it's well worth hunting for - the slow cooked pork is to die for and the taxidermy decor is amazing).

Saturday saw me finally take the plunge and get down to the Print Club in Dalston. Since seeing one of their posters up in Rough Trade early last year I've wanted to go there and get my hands inky and I'm really glad I finally made it.

Print Club offer a crash course in screen printing for anyone who is interested in giving it a go. In one day they will take you through the whole process - from your hand scribbled illustration to preparing your screen through to printing your design.

It was a really fun day. I had collaborated with my beloved on an illustration and to see it go from an idea in our heads to printing multiple copies of it was an extremely rewarding experience, helped by the friendly instructors and the other students being pretty cool too.

You can see the finished print, which is titled 'The Pursuit Of Hirsute', above.

After a six month hiatus I've decided to get Full Beard back on the road. Check back soon for new posts.