Friday Edition

Begin with ideas: Imprint from Daniel Eatock

admin — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 06:49:42 +0000

The first monograph from Daniel Eatock, is a brilliant escape into the reductive problem solving mind of a young British Artist.

The book has a wonderful hand-made touch to it, where Daniel traveled to the Indiana warehouse of the printer, and inked his thumbprint on the spine of every copy. He also inserted a hand-drawn circle page randomly into the pages so that each book would be different. It is likely that these two things alone made me instantly spring for the book. However, I wasn’t disappointed that there wasn’t more than that when I got it. Very much like the way he presents himself online, there are straightforward answers to questions about himself and his work. And what might look like, from a distance, self-indulgent spreads of silly illustrations or bad photoshop artwork, like other monographs are prone to doing: Eatock is giving you close-ups of his artwork and work. I never realised he’d done the Big Brother logo - so I was surprised to see it as a spread. But it was accompanied with a story on how he came to collaborate with Channel 4 over a period of time.

Daniel is both an artist and graphic designer, having set up the firm Foundation 33, that merged with Boymeetsgirl and now works under his own guide of Eatock Ltd in London. Eatock talks of collaborations, and is very liberal with referencing others he’s worked with, how they’ve helped him as well as littering his book somewhat in a disorderly fashion with his Picture of the Week project, each photo with the particular photographer’s name and often “thanks” from Daniel. I’m skipping over a lot of background details you can get elsewhere - but the young fellow is interesting, his work instantly accessible, but also provoking. Appeals to my reductive approach to problem-solving, yet is a pleasurably jab at reminding me to go further with my ideas, be more risk-adverse and spend more time making stuff that has nothing to do with business.

Buy the book - if you don’t, I might just have to send you one.

Enjoy the photos from the book - and these links.

Book Details:
Hardcover: 224 pages
Publisher: Princeton Architectural Press; 1 edition (August 4, 2008)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1568987889
ISBN-13: 978-1568987880
Product Dimensions: 12 x 8.6 x 0.8 inches
Shipping Weight: 2.9 pounds

Buy the book for much much less than directly from Princeton Architectural Press, from Amazon.com.
(until we set up our own Amazon referral link, why not give Design Observer some pennies for buying it from their amazon link).
Imprint from Amazon.com and Imprint from Amazon.co.uk

Imprint Project on Daniel’s web site here

Picture of the week project on his web site.

Design Boom interviews Eatock

The thumbprint.

There’s a story here about being a good illustrator, but at one time early in school, he was only the “second best” and being competitive, it forced him to take a different direction in drawing what he saw.

Randomly inserted hand-drawn circle. Between pages 64-65 in my book. 94-95 in the book Eatock shows on his web site. What pages in your book?

Buy the book: Imprint from Amazon.com and Imprint from Amazon.co.uk

Something in the post.

admin — Sun, 17 Aug 2008 23:46:43 +0000

Sara's little illustrated mailer went out in the post recently, which should have all by now reached the desks of those on the list. The illustrated mailer, the first of a series of things we like to send out in the post, kept a select few, up to date of some of the interesting things that have been going on here, at Central. Now we'd like to invite a few more people to the short list of those we send something out to three or four times a year. If you'd like to be on the somewhat exclusive list - sign up by emailing us at "inthepost" at this domain. Right now we're limiting the list to the ~~first 20 who sign up~~. Only 1 left now, thanks to those who've signed up so far.

26 on the Twenty-sixth.

admin — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 22:43:13 +0000

Twenty six hand carved, intricate, ornate and delicate letters, each depicting a bug, flower or illustration that starts with the corresponding letter. An exercise in extreme precision and a display of delightful imagination, the wall of twenty six letters is a considerable joy to view. On the twenty sixth of January Sara held a private viewing of her project for friends & family. Here are some of the photos from the day.

That Squiggle of the Design Process

admin — Sun, 20 Jul 2008 15:28:56 +0000

The Process of Design from a great height.

Years ago I dropped a simple illustration into a proposal to convey the design process to a client. It was meant to illustrate the characteristics of the process we were to embark on, making it clear to them that it might be uncertain in the beginning, but in the end we’d focus on a single point of clarity. It seemed to work. And from then on, I’ve used it since. Many many times.

Even years before this, I had the fortune to work at Xerox Europarc as an illustrator. I’d help convey the scenarios the researchers worked on in cartoon form. My father, a principle scientist there, told me that for them the design process started with the abstract, moved to the concept and then finally the design. So I used to use these three words, back in the day, to convey the process of design to my unsuspecting clients. It wasn’t as effective - even if I knew what it meant. So I found myself saying, “Here- it looks like this…” and drawing the squiggle.

More recently at IDEO, the squiggle was discovered by an intern, Adam Sant, who used it (with permission) to mark the IDEO 06 Interns T-Shirt. I also used it throughout my tenure at the firm, in presentations and for workshops. It particularly helped with my Japanese client to convey the uncertainty in the ethnographic approach we used for our program.

It’s been asked for, referenced, recalled by past clients and colleagues, and overall very useful for characterising what I, and a lot of other people do. So I’d like to share it and hopefully it will be as useful for others as it has in my experience.

Yes - we’re making T-shirts of it, and I’ve got it as a tattoo.

No. I don’t have it as a tattoo. That would be weird.

Enjoy the illustrator file + InDesign file. If you want a CS2 version or any other format - let me know. Take both files if you want the InDesign file to work for you - as it links to the squiggle.

If the files don’t download in their native form, and get screwed up - you can get both zipped up here: both-sqiggles.zip (1.4Mb)

If you send me a picture of the usage - I’ll drop it on here in a gallery and see about sending you a T-shirt, when they come in. (while stocks last of course)

This is licensed by a Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.

The Process of Design Squiggle by
Damien Newman, Central Office of Design is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.

The Bicycle versus the Prius

sara — Sun, 20 Jul 2008 12:03:45 +0000

Dear Prius Driver,

While I acknowledge your commitment to combating global warming, as a cyclist, I do have to question why it is that Prius drivers are so very aggressive. Is it a feeling of self-righteousness that makes the typical Prius driver drive like they own the road? Clearly they are opinionated and like to express themselves. Have you ever noticed the average Prius driver has more bumper stickers than bumper space?

Please consider that when you zip by me within an inch of my bike I cannot hear you sneak up on me in your near silent vehicle. We are supposed to be pals. Sisters-in-emissions-free-arms, and all that. By the way, honking when you are right behind me to let me know you are there does not decrease the likelihood of me soiling myself in terror when you come within an inch of squashing me. Please try to remember I am one of the good guys too.

However, when Crispin Porter & Bogusky came up with the ad campaign for the North American launch of the new Mini they directed it to those ready to break the rules, throw caution to the wind and be a rebel in this tiny ass-kicker.

In part, I understand why you would drive with all that pent up anger. I mean you did have to make a significant sacrifice when it comes to design and aesthetics in choosing to purchase a Prius. Meanwhile I get to tootle around on a lovely object – le bicyclette – what could be more gorgeous.

It’s probably not fair to limit my rant to Prius drivers, so excuse me while I make a few more sweeping generalizations… grounded in experience and detailed observations mind you.

Ah, the Mini driver. I grew up in the UK with several versions of the original as my childhood family car and so I have a great fondness for said wheels. However, when Crispin Porter & Bogusky came up with the ad campaign for the North American launch of the new Mini they directed it to those ready to break the rules, throw caution to the wind and be a rebel in this tiny ass-kicker. They did a great job and that is exactly the kind of nincompoop piloting my beloved Mini today. Your daily commute is not part of some rally nor are you being secretly filmed for a remake of a remake of the Italian Job. And take it easy on the Prius drivers; your car is much cuter than theirs.

Now for my other favorite group of drivers – the Lexus owner. The standard issue Lexus comes with the most number of flashy features – it’s got gizmos galore. It seems to me that the Lexus owner believes this car can drive itself because of all the advanced technology that comes built in. Hence they have no reason to extend a finger to turn on an indicator, put down their coffee or perhaps refrain from texting while driving. I haven’t made my mind up as to whether they are lazy, spoilt or just not that bright. Really how hard is it to use your indicators?

Now I am sure you are thinking, if she is this bent out of shape about these cars she’s going to write a flipping novel when she finally gets to the Hummer or the other super-sized SUV’s. Well I’m not. It’s simple. Just get out of there way as quickly as you can. If they are still ignoring the facts about global warming and paying this much for gas they are clearly not bright enough to be issued a drivers license.

Thanks for listening I feel better having got that off my chest.

For the record I am not one of those aggressive cyclist who hogs the road and shouts at cars. Nor am I one of those spandex wearing goobers who looks like a package of m&m’s exploded on their clothing. I like to ride, I like to ride fast and when I drive I drive an Audi.

The Designer’s Guide to BS

admin — Sun, 20 Jul 2008 10:09:23 +0000

New Edition: Design In Flight Edition. Originally prepared to be offered in a combined subscription + publication. But alas, DiF needed to adapt to some changes and this edition is probably the most up to date to offer. It comes with a cover illustration that previous editions did not.

In writing this Guide, I’ve tried to outline the basic elements to the process of design and development of brand strategy in a way that would best support the people involved in actually designing brands.

This is not to say that designer’s can’t read eight hundred paged books on Managing Brand Equity, but that there are some very simple elements of developing the attributes of business behaviour and that all designers should understand their vital role in improving business behaviour.

To date the PDF has been downloaded over thirty thousand times, with October 2004 being a record month. I figure it’s been read once or twice because people still enjoy pointing out smelling mistakes. If that’s all you get in touch about - please do.

The Guide is seventy two pages in length with lots of hand-drawn illustrations. You can see screen-shots of twelve pages here. (I’ve temporarily lost those screen-grabs, I’ll find some new ones)

The sequence of parts are as follows:

The Guide is now available for the overly-generous-and-crazy price of $4.99. The easy to read on screen and delightful to print PDF is also available for free, but unfortunately only half of it is free. Though granted it is the better half of it.

All purchasers of the Designer’s Guide to Brand Strategy will be offered the next title from mdn press at a discounted price. Which has to be somewhat encouraging. No?

Make a Payment through PayPal below:

Only 4.99 away from your copy of the DGBS…

downloadtheobviouslyfree-half-version. [only half of it.]