ROSETTES- Military Medals -
"Ribbon colours are chosen to represent the action, event, organization or honour the medal represents. That is the reason ribbon colours are chosen."
28/2/2011
Wear Your Colours !
Another loft find, knitted bar and silk scarves. The scarf has been a way for football fan's to 'show their colour's' for decades, and they can still be seen in their thousands at football matches today. Its an interesting vehicle of expression, as you can see the ones above have been personalised with patches and the names of players. A means of expression, that could be manipulated and used for a different purpose.
"Wear your colours !"
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28/2/2011
Compelled to Collect
Pushing my self-initiated work forward I have been thinking a lot and doing a lot of research. Ive been looking at this sense of ‘belonging’ and identity that is created by the ‘football fan.’ And how we as fans attach value to objects in relation to football. People collect badges, programmes, ticket stubs as a tactile representation and reminder of a memory (myself included). There is also a lot of oneupmanship I’ve realised within football, not only between rival fans; songs are sung back and forth and flags and scarves are worn and displayed as a expression of allegiance to ‘your’ club. Also there is rivalry between fans of the same club, in the sense that people boast, about how many games they have seen, how they’ve been to the ends of the earth to see their team. Programmes, scarves, tickets, badges and allsorts of other tangiable objects are kept or worn as something similar to a 'badge of honour.'
With all these thoughts rattling round my head, I went up in the loft and had a look in a few of the umpteen boxes of football bits and bobs we have stuffed up there (my Dad was once an even more dedicated collector than I am). The first collection I came across was a set of Arsenal bobble hats; apparently they were all the rage in the eighties. They really are cool though, some amazing colours and some great varied designs, a couple of which have been keeping my head warm recently !
I think the hats look great as a collection and start to create a pattern which I find interesting, looking at the designs of the hats and thinking about this whole 'badge of honour' concept, the coloured stripes reminded me of military ribbon racks.
With all these thoughts rattling round my head, I went up in the loft and had a look in a few of the umpteen boxes of football bits and bobs we have stuffed up there (my Dad was once an even more dedicated collector than I am). The first collection I came across was a set of Arsenal bobble hats; apparently they were all the rage in the eighties. They really are cool though, some amazing colours and some great varied designs, a couple of which have been keeping my head warm recently !
I think the hats look great as a collection and start to create a pattern which I find interesting, looking at the designs of the hats and thinking about this whole 'badge of honour' concept, the coloured stripes reminded me of military ribbon racks.
With this in mind I've been experimenting with systems of colour to represent the badges of honour of a football fan, I think it would be really nice to have some sort of badge system or other wearable system to display your dedication to the footballing cause. Similar to cub and scout badges. In a way its also similar to something which was brought up in college a while back, Nerd Badges. Check them out there pretty funny and clever with it.
Coincidentally, considering I've been working on these collections, Ive just got an email from Jonny (check out his work here, he's always got some interesting stuff going on) pointing me towards a really nice collection of fabric football's by a Swedish Designer and Illustrator called Klas Ernflo. They're great, check them out here:
Its a really interesting subversion of football as a subject and also the football as an object.
28/02/2011
'Highbury on a Big Night'
A lots been happening lately, firstly was all the kerfuffle that comes with the pdf submissions and midterm assessment. In truth all this went smoothly, pdf went off with no hiccups and the assessment went well, with both of my tutors Val and Rathna showing an interest in my work and offering helpful advice, as well as pinching a poster each ! Since then I've been spending a lot of time in the Letterpress studio working on some more football related prints, and doing a lot of research and reading, deciding on how I'm going to take my self initiated work forward. Which could involve trying my hand at a bit of knitting !
Some more Fever Pitch quotes that have struck a chord:
“Our lunacy makes condescension inevitable.”
“A feminist colleague of mine literally refused to believe I watched Arsenal. Tell a thinking woman that you like football and you’re in for a pretty sobering glimpse of the female conception of the male.
“Football, not for the first or last time, and through no fault of its own, served both as a backbone and as a retardent.”
“Football is indeed, a funny game, and like most things which only work if one believes, the back view is preposterous, like the rear of a Hollywood film set."
“Football is an alternative universe, as serious and as stressful as work, with the same worries and hopes and disappointments and occasional elations.”
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24/2/2011
Primitive Beats
(above: fold out poster)
I was at college today for the 'final crit' of the Nudism brief. As a recap the brief was to design the spreads for an article by Ken Hollings, writing about the work of Basil Kirchin, particuarly his soundtrack to the 60's documentary 'Primitive London.'
The starting point for this brief for me, rather logically I guess was listening to the soundtrack, this combined with watching the film and reading a few zines, inspired me to paint. Whether it was the hand rendered quality of the zines or the eerie, eclectic nature of the soundtrack that inspired this, it led to some interesting outcomes. I ended up with some pretty abstract paintings, as well as some of Ken Holling's quotes taken from the article that I painted.
I combined these painted elements with some imagery from Primitive London, this combination was aiming to portray the eerie, seductive, yet colourful and vibrant nature of Kirchin's music. In terms of the type I was keen to be experimental yet was also mindful, that at the end of the day, this is a really interesting and rich article in itself, i wanted it legible and not 'over designed.' It kind of speaks for itself, in the way that Holling's is so lyrical with his writing.
Im really pleased with the final outcome and everyone in the crit, shared a positive opinion of the work. There are some minor typographic and printing adjustments to make, but on the whole, a thumbs up all round. There was some really cool work from others too, lots of different idea's which I think will make for a great mini-mag when it's released with Nude this Summer.
17/2/2011
90 + Added Time
There is soo much hype surrounding football, there are different opinions, different perceptions. Hours of TV and stacks of writing dedicated to it. Often its easy to get caught up in this and forget what is actually going on. I've been experimenting with stripping football of all these elements and looking at what's left. I identified to absolutes. Football matches are 90 Minutes long, and at the end you are left with a score. I have taken one football match and represented these absolutes in relation to that one match typographically. Its an interesting experiment, with just these two pieces of information, you can follow the narrative of the game and understand the result, I think i'm going to produce some additional booklets from different perspectives, using different information, and see the results of this.
15/2/2011
FEVER PITCH
Have been re-reading Fever Pitch by Nick Hornby, as part of my self initiated research, here are a few quotes from the book that have influenced my thinking.
"I had been to the vast majority of the home games and a few of the aways; I had as much RIGHT as any, and probably more RIGHT than most, to a spot on the terraces at Wembley, and so my PRIDE came from the feeling of BELONGING."
"I have learned things from the game. Much of my knowledge of locations in Britain and Europe comes not from school, but from away games or the sports pages."
"I have learnt the value of investing TIME and EMOTION in things I cannot control, and of BELONGING to a community whose aspirations I share completely and uncritically."
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15/2/2011
NUDE
The Nude spreads are pretty much there, ready for the final crit coming up this Thursday, its been a really interesting and exciting brief to work with. Watching the film and listening to Basil Kirchins soundtrack threw up a lot of ideas and influences which come through strongly in the final supplement.
As well as working on the Nude spreads I've dedicating a lot of thought to my self initiated work which is branching off in all directions so its a case of developing these ideas further. Ive just finished reading a book called Those Feet by David Winner which has given me a lot of fresh ideas.
Im also keen to start working with wood again in some capacity, since the 100 Club brief ive been itching to give it another crack, so we'll see what happens in that regard, Letterpress too is high on my list, but tim sure to experiment with this further in my self initiated work.
14/2/2011
Thinking and Painting
I've been working on The Nude brief for the last few days and its been really refreshing. Having so much freedom has been nice, giving me a chance to be experimental with print, sometimes I think so hard about my ideas that it takes all the fun out of it. I know design has to have a concept and a rationale, but to be given an article of a thousand words to design how we wish has been great. As part of this I've been painting. The film and the soundtrack 'Primitive London,' for some odd reason inspired me to paint. Ive been painting some titles and experimenting with colour which I've incorporated into the spreads I'm working on for the mini mag.
As for my self initiated work, the football songs are very much on the back burner for the time being, I feel like ive over thought it to the point where I need to step away for a bit. Sounds dramatic, but its how I feel. Still under the banner of football Ive been working on some other ideas, which I'll post as they develop. Its all based on the unit of time, '90 Minutes,' more to come soon.
As for my self initiated work, the football songs are very much on the back burner for the time being, I feel like ive over thought it to the point where I need to step away for a bit. Sounds dramatic, but its how I feel. Still under the banner of football Ive been working on some other ideas, which I'll post as they develop. Its all based on the unit of time, '90 Minutes,' more to come soon.
8/2/2011
Zizou
As part of my research for my self initiated work, I decided to re-watch, 'Zidane: A 21st Century Portrait.' The film is a study of the footballer Zinedine Zidane. Filmed using thirteen cameras, it follows Zidane during the Real Madrid v Villareal match on 23rd April 2005. Its a quite fascinating film. It certainly got me thinking about a few things. About the context of football, the visual beauty of it that is all too often missed. Also footballs place in society. It was quite refreshing to discover work that manages to produce and interesting and visually rich piece of work with football as its focus. Its definitely worth a look, even if footballs not your thing. The title sequence is pretty neat in itself, by M/M Paris, a snapshot of which can be seen above.
I also got briefed today for a new project which is designing a mini-mag for the counter cultural magazine Nude. The article we are going to be working with is written by Ken Hollings, about the soundtrack to the 1965 documentary film Primitive London. Im pretty excited to get started on this project, so they'll be a few posts on this soon.
3/2/2011
Tuesday Crit
Yesterday I had a crit with Sheena and the group which overall was pretty good, certainly some interesting stuff going on. In terms of my work everyone reacted well to it, although as I knew myself the message had become confused. I presented my two posters which people found interesting, but because their understanding of what they are seeing is limited, their appreciation of the work didn't seem to go beyond an interest. This was really useful for me, as it made it clear that I still need to dig deeper and experiment further to really establish what I am trying to say with my work about football. This said the letter-pressed posters I do feel are successful outcomes, but they have just scratched the surface of a subject I will push further. I am going to continue to experiment with letterpress and football chanting.
Having spoke about my ideas in the crit I now realise ways in which the work can be improved. The work lacks context, I realise now that I can't just strip the chants completely of their football context their needs to be a nod towards it, a subtle reference or its value is lost. I need to fully embrace football instead of trying to hide it, which I think i've made the mistake of doing. So here we go, thats what I'm doing next.
In the crit I also mentioned a video ad, called Puma Hardchorus, which is awesome, it encapsulates perfectly what I am trying to achieve with my work. It's undoubtedly football, yet the context is shifted, its ironic, clever and humorous, if I can produce something close to this, ill be rather happy.
2/2/2011
"Its All Gone Quiet Over There"
'Sit Down Shut Up'
Having spoke about my ideas in the crit I now realise ways in which the work can be improved. The work lacks context, I realise now that I can't just strip the chants completely of their football context their needs to be a nod towards it, a subtle reference or its value is lost. I need to fully embrace football instead of trying to hide it, which I think i've made the mistake of doing. So here we go, thats what I'm doing next.
In the crit I also mentioned a video ad, called Puma Hardchorus, which is awesome, it encapsulates perfectly what I am trying to achieve with my work. It's undoubtedly football, yet the context is shifted, its ironic, clever and humorous, if I can produce something close to this, ill be rather happy.