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 :)

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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.