The Son of...

I’m working on a piece at the moment which is in a small way inspired by “The Son of Man” a painting by Magritte. The painting is a self portrait, which I think is great, I’d love to meet a man with an apple for a face. I think we’d become firm friends, he’d be great to have around if a little peekish. Anyway, so my work is inspired by the painting and by the idea behind it, it is based around a conflict between the present that is hidden and the present that is visible, also note his partly revealed right eye (just noticed my mistake it’s the left eye actually just looks like the right one), ummm more food for thought.

Anyway I have posted the painting above. I just noticed this bit of a blog makes me sound quite profound, a little deep and an expert in the field of arts, off course all of these things are completely true of my character, I’m extremely deep especially when asleep.

Here’s a little more of Magritte.

Can You Draw The Internet...

Can you draw the internet is a little site put together by UK based magazine Creative Review to face designers off against ten year olds and see who has a better grasp on what the internet is. My entry is above, to see it on the site click here and scroll about half way down the page!

The Craic we have...

Here’s some images of a job I am currently working on…

I’ve been hanging around with scalpel, ruler, sugar paper, sticky squares and prit stick for the past few days now and they’re great craic.

The truth is we actually have a history together, go way back. I was good friends with them for a while in playschool (except for scalpel of course, he was part of the cool crew, way too grown up for us). We fell out for a bit, I’m not sure what happened, but made up again in college and had a good few years of fun and frollicks. Then I don’t know we just drifted apart, except for the ruler we’ve always kept close contact, then a while back we all met up on a whim for a few drinks (scalpel is a little dangerous when he’s full) and that was it.

We’ve come full circle and are really enjoying our time together, creating and having fun. Who knows what the future holds for us but for the time being the crew have taken up refuge in my office. Had a bit of a panic last week, thought we had lost prit stick, her cap fell off and she was drying quick fast, but thanks to the clever thinking of sugar paper, a new cap was fastened and prit stick is back to her usual self. Phew!

Surfbox in Toulouse Airport...

My branding for Surfbox internet kiosks is now in Toulouse Airport and I’m delighted it looks great!

I know it’s supposed to be a recession but I don’t think anyone has told Tom and Declan from Surfbox, their kiosks are flying up all over the place. You can also get free printing from your laptop or mobile in Dublin airport with Surfbox for a limited period, have a look for the signs, it’s a handy option if you are venturing abroad.

Images of the area newly rolled out in Toulouse…

Hop Inn...

I came across a YouTube video today from The Hop Inn, Athenry, Galway and I have spent the rest of the morning trawling through everything they’ve uploaded as a way of keeping in touch with their customers. I have to say the videos are brilliant. Not only are they hilarious but they are also very informative, I picked up training tips on everything from running through to golf and also learned that there was an Irish man down the mine with those Chileans and not one news channel reported it!

Anyway have a look for yourself even Beyonce is a fan of The Hop Inn

What is Graphic Design...

Found this really good article on the Design Observer today, it explains exactly what it is a graphic designer does. Also has good guidelines on good and bad design.

Have a look at the article here

Marian Bantjes, Graphic Designer
The future of aesthetics lies in random generative software such as Processing, but which will become less random as designers gain control of its abilities. The digital will merge with the hand-made like electric guitar and bagpipes, and together they will break down the rigid tempo imposed by increasingly prescriptive and powerful template software.

Take a walk with me...

My posting is getting a little lazy lately, not because I am lazy (of course not) but because I am busy. Anyway I have a little video I want to post today. I took it in the Alahambra in Granada, which by the way was really beautiful, on my extended trip this summer. There is something about it that is alluring and no it’s not my feet. I hate feet and I have been advised on many occasions that my feet leave a lot to be desired. I am working on them though, making them do sit ups and push ups and all sorts of other ups. I am proud to say they are coming on, soon I will have six pack feet, and not many can boast that! So anyway the Alahambra… I wanted to take a different angle of it, show it in another light as my pictures given I was alone were getting pretty repetitive. So I videoed it from wait down…

A Little Optimistic...

And so Kilkenny were in the All Ireland Hurling final, again.

Of course we weren’t going to lose, in fact not only were we not going to lose, we were going to make history. Five in a row, never been done. Before the whistle had blown for the match to begin, we had already won. In my eyes we had won almost two weeks previous. I sat in front of my computer and smiled at my genius as I designed tshirts, bookmarks and cards that were to make my millions. Feck the recession, when your from Kilkenny you’ll always have hurling.

Minute by minute as the game played out my jaw began to slacken. Surely not, sure Tipp can’t be that good! No the lads are missing Shefflin, watch they’ll come out the second half and blow those blue and yellow ****** out of the water. Then the second half came and my jaw fell further. When the final whistle blew the room was silent, we lost, never, Kilkenny never loses, it’s not in the blood.

Tipp were walking the steps, blue and yellow jerseys tried to climb the hill barriers and storm the field and it was a Tipp man making the speech, thanking names I’d never heard of. Then it hit me. We’d lost. My tshirts, postcards and bookmarks resigned to history but not in the way I wanted. Millions swept from under my feet in 70 minutes.

The fruits of my optimistic labour are above and if anyone wants a piece of history just give me a bell…

Dating Dali...

So I went to Cadaques and I fell in love with Dali…

I can’t remember the day but I remember the bus journey, needless to say, it was long, it was hot and the bus meandered many hair pinned mountains bends on the way to Cadaques. I have to admit, I didn’t know much about Dali before this trip and I won’t profess to be a expert now.

So we got to the little fishing village and wandered around, we were told Dali’s house (now open to the public) was going to be easy to find, we were told wrong. We walked up one mountain and down another until we found two little locals girls who became our guides, I suppose you could call them girl guides! They couldn’t speak English but we all spoke pigeon and got on fine. The two girls took us back into town and to the tourist office where we found a map and booked our slot to Dali’s place (I now know viewings must be booked!)

With map in hand we found our way through the back streets of Cadaques to a little inlet and the home Dali shared with his wife Gala. The setting was perfect and I could see why he choose this place to live. His home sat perched on a cliff edge overlooking the sea. Inspiration was everywhere. Our time was called and we were greeted at the door by a polar bear holding a light. I loved him already…

As we walked through the house lots of little quirks appeared and I slowly began to get a feel for the man. He had a mirror on the wall opposite where he slept so he could see the sun rise from his bed. He cut a hole in the floor of his art studio so he could remain seated as he painted a large canvas. Gala had her own walk in wardrobe, the glass panel of each door filled with pictures of Dali and a wealth of stars, some of the pictures now beautifully brown and grained with age.

Just off the dressing room was a room Dali created especially for Gala, eleven years his elder she was both wife and muse. A surreal experience, the room was circular, seating hugged the walls and as I walked to the middle every sound felt as if inside my head, it’d send a sane man mad and a mad man mental. Outside there were disembodied heads on the roof, a giant man in the garden and a penis pool.

Dali was a mad man and I love him for it. Eccentrics are the best sort!

PS “Did you Know?”… Dali designed the Chuppa Chups logo (I didn’t but I do now)
For more Images Visit the blog on my website www.helddesign.ie

New Work on Held Design...

Also there is some new work up on Held Design. Check it out here...

Sweets for my sweet (tooth)...

Some nice little design bits I picked up along the road.

PECADOS is a sweet shop in Santiago de Compostela. The walls of the shop were lined with boxes of coloured sugar and cakes made from marshmallow and fizzy jellies sat on tables down the center. I felt like I had won a ticket to Willy Wonka’s. The rainbow branding, which really caught the eye among the shop fronts of stone, ran through the whole shop even as far as the little cups which were used instead of plastic bags. I loved the design so much I had to take a few pictures and post them up.

The sweets were nice too though!!

The colouring pencils I thought were a nice little touch from Renfe, which is the Spanish train system. I love the way the picture was printed across all the pencils and I have to look into prices for getting this done here, it’s a really nice effect. It also is a nice little idea for parents and kids to stop boredom on train journeys. I have them sitting on the shelf here though, the poor pencils are probably dying for a work out, a bit of colouring in to sooth the soul but they are too nice to use I think!!

Following the Yellow Shelled Road...

So I am back and blogging again… where was I…well partly work, partly travel brought me to the shores of Spain and a little around Europe. I began my mini adventure in Santiago de Compostela and undertook 110km of the pilgrimage walk, I was a puppy snapping at the heels of walkers with more than 400k under their belts. I hadn’t researched this walk at all, I knew I wanted to do it but research would have taken the adventure out of my adventure, Indiana Jones surely never researched. So I set off for the city of Lugo with no clue of how to find my way back…

They appeared like a beacon on a misty Spanish morning, a yellow signal amongst the grey. I thought it was a once off but these yellow shells just kept going and without question I followed them across the north of Spain. Sometimes the shells turned to spray painted yellow arrows and at the beginning I wasn’t sure if I could trust the impostor's, were they leading me down a path the shells wouldn’t follow, after a while I was won over and I eagle eyed the stone walls and back roads for my little yellow friends. I was hooked, needed my mileage fix and found myself in a panic if one didn’t appear but like rain on an Irish day they didn’t let me down and lead me the whole way to Santiago where I sat with other weary pilgrims on the Cathedral steps and rubbed my weary feet happy.

My designer head sat on my shoulders quiet a bit as I walked the route, what a brilliant signage system I thought. I haven’t ever seen anything so effective. Each pilgrim I met swore by and at the signs depending on their humor. The symbol (as you can see above) is simple, it comes from a mythical tale relating to the arrival of St Jame’ bones on a ship to Spain. The story tells how a bridegroom was riding to his wedding on a horse as the ship pulled in. Spooked, the horse jumped with rider on board into the sea and was thought by all to be lost. Miraculously (with a little help from St James) both emerged from the sea unharmed and covered in scallop shells, famous in that part of Galicia. The bridegroom rode off into the sunset forgetting his fiance, must have been second thoughts! The shell also works two fold, the grooves on its surface represent the many routes of the pilgrimage which all meet in Santiago. The yellow colour is very effective for view finding and it means the shells and arrows are easy to spot.

Have a look at some of the images above and see what you think yourself…

Waterstones New Branding...

What is it they say, when it’s not broken don’t fix it!

I couldn’t believe when I saw this on Creative Review today (by the way I have a few posts last couple of days, you would think I wasn’t busy, funny thing is I am busier than I’ve been in a while, think it’s procrastination!) anyway back to Waterstones.

I don’t get it, their new branding is a modern version of the old and doesn’t fit their business at all. What happened to the old book shop aesthetic which the serif type fitted perfectly. The new “contemporary” style just doesn’t suit the business. I like to think of a book shop as a placed filled with dusty (I know they are not but it’s my imagination) books, wooden lob-sided shelves piled on top of lob-sided shelves and lots of hidden hollows where I can sit undisturbed and mull over a book, a book full of Times New Roman. This new look just doesn’t fit the dreamish qualities a book shop holds for a lover of books!

Anyway have a look above and decide for yourself, maybe I’m stuck in the bookshops of old!

Jeremy Geddes...

Really like this artists work. When I first saw it I couldn’t believe that these works were paintings but they are. He has an unbelievable drawing talent combined with a brilliant imagination, a lot of his stuff looks like surreal photographs.

Have a look at his website for more of his work.

The Beautiful Brandon Boyd...

Just found this artists today and I love his work. His name in Brandon Boyd, I never heard of him before but after a little googling I found out he is the member of a band (pretty big one I think) in the States called Incubus (excuse me if I'm a bit slow on that, I'm trying hard to increase my musical knowledge, struggling through Tom Waits at the moment).

Anyway, I love his style really nice sketches, love the detail in his work, also he seems like a real relaxed character from his bio.

You can check him out here

Nestor in The Bernard Shaw...

Hi All, a good friend of mine (although Denise if you are reading this you know you're not really a good friend of mine but I have to say it for the purposes of this post, it'd look bad otherwise, you think?), anyway so yes, a good friend of mine Denise Nestor has been given her own solo exhibition in the Bernard Shaw in Dublin, it's opening tomorrow night and running for a month. Her stuff is brilliant, I have a piece and hope that in maybe 5/6 years it'll be worth millions and I can travel the world on an elephant all because of the girl in the rabbit ears.

So if anyone is around or will be around during the month of May, call by, I mean it when I say her stuff is brilliant, you can see for yourselves above, it's worth a look. She's going to be the next big thing, an Irish Warhol (she's even dying her hair platnium blonde and fashioning an American accent, she's not strange just a little unhinged, she's from Mayo!)

Charles Avery and the Brothers Grimm...

I've been reading Grimms Fairytales lately, I really don't agree that kids should be mollycoddled (not sure if it's a real word but you know what I mean), I think stories that are purely sweet and nice and full of fluff and puppy dogs tails (although that is a little gruesome) are under estimating children. I really believe they see things differently than us and everything has a little magic to it for them, I think for a story to have dimension for kids it needs a little darkness, and so to bring this full circle, that is why I went back to Grimms Tales, to see where our original Fairytales started.

So, today when I accidently found The Islanders An Introduction by Charles Avery it reminded me straight away of Grimms. I love his almost human worlds, full of unusual characters, the weird and the wonderful. I've uploaded some images above, see what I mean!

Bendy Necks and Pillow Fighting Knights...

Saw these two pieces of work over the last few days. Both oils on canvas I think.

I love the humour and thinking behind Gideon's work, the two pillow fighting knights. I wonder if they ever won the hand of a fair maiden. I mean a muscular man with a horse and a lance is a much more enticing than two sissy's armed with pillows but then again there is a lot to be said for the "peace not war" attitude, even at the round table.

Titus work is one of those pieces you could get lost in. I'd love to put it on my wall and stare for a while (at it, not into space) the more I look at it the more I discover. It's a bit like a maze, I love when I have to wrap my head around something, although it can be pretty painful, even with a bendy neck!

Art in a Shoe Box...

Found this, this morning and thought I better blog about it as I think it's a great idea and gets a little inside the head of some of these great artists. Also it takes their art out of the world of the elite and makes it accessible to all, I reckon although many would probably disagree. Modern art and myself have had somewhat of a shaky relationship, we tend to disagree, there's lots of misunderstandings and we basically try hard but don't get along, anyway this exhibition has helped mend a few bridges. It's also all in aid of Kids Company who work with vulnerable children so. Also you have to have a look at the site shoeboxart, see what you think...

Perfect branding...

Found this design today and really love the idea. I think the design of a branding has to be relevant to the person, their ethos and of course their business. It also has to create a stir, make people talk and ultimately stay in their mind so that when they are asked, "Do you know someone who does such and such..." they will always remember you.
This branding for an environmental consultant does exactly that. Brilliant and so simple.

Take Care of the Air...

Just saw this on Creative Review, brilliant ad, I had a hunch that was how they did it!

Blinded By...

Banner I just finished for a client (lighting company), it's a mesh and mix of a load of lights and then played with the outlines and the negative space. Like the abstract look.

Harper Collins Selection...

"A Load of Rubbish" was selected by the editorial board at Harper Collins for review yesterday. I'm delighted and want to thank everyone for their support!

My tummy's rumbling...

Hi All,

I haven't much time at the moment to blog but while watching telly last night a friend of mine said "why don't you write about something different, like food". So I whisked up a few of these this morning.

So for breakfast I had...



Then I was feeling a bit peckish, grabbed a watermelon and before eating it, did a little sculpting...



For dinner I'm going to have this, prepared it last night, it's my tribute to spring...



While whipping up my dinner last night, I thought I'd also have a stab at my tea, never had frogs legs before, found this little fella in the garden, you might think that's cruel but i rescued him from the snow...



The good thing about making this stuff is, although it's a lot of food to eat in one day, it takes a lot of energy to make them so in theory it's a diet!!!

I'll get back to blogging about design soon, unless anyone has any other suggestions.

Here's a little animation for ya...

Just figured out how to post one of the gifs...here's one about design and designers.