More rough poster ideas

We've now settled on 'Extremity and Excess' as a title for the 2011 arts and social sciences conference. Below are a couple of quick-ish ideas for Call for Papers posters.I need some feedback from the group though as I've been struggling with visuals because the theme is just so broad.

Conference poster mock-up

I've signed up to help organise a post-grad research conference for next year and we had to come up with an over-arching theme that would lend itself to everything from fine art to criminology, languages to politics. My idea is 'Control + Shift' due to it lending itself to tech-y projects but also getting into the whole idea of power (which is something that the social sciences guys appear to be into in a major way). So this whole concept could also be viewed as a reaction to the change of government plus its suggestion of 'The Big Society' - yet I reckon there are still a multitude of interpretations.

With all the research and teaching, I've missed doing "design" and, because I also prefer to explain ideas visually, I mocked up a Call for Papers poster to show to the rest of the team. I thought I'd stick it up here too.
Previously the committee spent a decent part of the budget on colour copying. Personally, I reckon this would be more interesting to screenprint.
Mmmmmm, screenprint.

Also met up with Dave and Nicky today as we'd arranged to put in our Masters theses for binding. It was good seeing them: we had lunch and a bit of a moan. At least, I did the latter. Happy days.

Un-Convention

Tash forwarded an email that called for poster designs as part of the Un-Convention conference/festival that comes to Salford in October. There were guidelines concerning the text that needed to be included although complete freedom was offered regarding the imagery.

I decided to quickly submit one based on an idea I'd jotted down in a current sketchbook. It's a continuation of ideas surrounding unplayable media, format destruction, music as 'product' and the fetishization of music hardware.

The organisers will be selecting some to be screen printed by the lovely people at Hotbed Press so I wanted to ensure that the design was simple enough so that, should it be chosen, it would allow for the three colour process to add that additional detail. [I thought it would look good should the grey be printed silver. Maybe on an off-white or pale grey stock.] Anyway, we'll see...

Meanwhile I may be doing something else as part of Un-Convention. I'm just waiting for details/confirmation.

Minimalist album covers

From: Fubiz
Date: 29/07/10

Not sure that these are truly 'minimalist' but they do reduce famous artwork down to a number of particularly stylised elements. A bit of fun really that, like Astrid Stavro's more typographical work [referenced yesterday], makes its point to an audience familiar with the original. Some obviously work better than others although I am currently less entertained by the pastiche-y referencing of popular culture icons as old film posters/vintage Penguin titles/what-have-you than I would have been six months ago. But these do still have a charm.

"Dans la continuité de Films Posters, un bel hommage à la musique avec cette série de 20 pochettes d’albums par l’artiste Ty Lettau. Une version minimaliste des grands classiques comme celles de Nirvana, Coldplay, AC/DC ou Radiohead. A découvrir en images dans la suite."

Extrovert vs Introvert

I've seen lots of products that explore music hardware or formats as iconic items. Most are tinged with a certain nostalgia or sentimentatility that fits in with some of the murmurings regarding the need for a physical object for music media. Yet there's this other aspect about this sort of collectable surrounding how these become a signifier of one's self; how these - like the band tour t-shirt - become part of an outwardly display of 'liking music'. This appears to be at odds with that quieter, introverted relationship where an individual's actual music inhabits the generic iPod to create a listening environment and fan-dom that is often exclusive to that person.

Anyway, I've been considering all this in terms of what it is I want to create and I think I would like to try and create something which is about that personal attachment between listener and music release rather than something that communicates an individual's music tastes to others. After all, this digital era is one where 'sharing' (of personal tastes, music, etc) is catered for more than adequately online but, at the same time, it is important to recognise that the internet has additionally allowed for incredibly niche scenes that - as much as they can easily be 'liked' on Facebook - will retain what is often observed as a cult following. The Sound Zero book highlights this with its observation that there are now bands that subvert that Warholian adage to be "famous for fifteen people".

The following Hi-Fi prints, by the way, are available from design studio Yes.

Apple Pips work by Give Up Art

With work for the likes of FWD>>, Tempa, Skream, Benga and Rinse FM, the duo behind Give Up Art has pretty much defined a clean and tight dubstep/post-dubstep aesthetic. Below is their identity for Bristol's excellent Apple Pips label with a colour-coded release strategy that, again, aids its collectability. Nice die-cut touches too.

That's Cool But Can You Make It More Sh*t

DFA Records' art director Michael Vadino has seen much of his work displayed as part of That's Cool But Can You Make It A More Sh*t: a retrospective of the label's visual material in Australia. (The exhibition will eventually be travelling to London and, home city, New York.) It featured a selection of material including cover art, flyers, drawings, posters, photos and other promotional material. [You can see Jason Munn's LCD Soundsystem poster also displayed in the pic below.]

At a time when many are discussing the divorcing of music from its artwork as equating with its demise in the digital era, we have events like this that do much the same while actually championing the visual material.

There's an interview with Vadino at www.thevine.com.

Gig posters by Telegramme

More examples of the effort that is being put into devising eye-catching gig posters. These are by the formerly Cornwall and Bristol but now London-based duo that operates as Telegramme. [Other exponents of quality gig posters that I should reference quickly are Sonnenzimmer's Nick Butcher and Nadine Nakanishi plus the very influential Jay Ryan. There are also hundreds of lesser known practitioners featured at www.gigposters.com]

I particularly like the way that Telegramme have managed to focus on location for their Arctic Monkeys series: taking design inspiration from where the gig is set to take place. Although, for me, the colour use and addition of intricate pattern does recount some of Shepard Fairey's output. Style-wise, I'm more attracted by the Mum piece that boasts the kind of tesselated structure that has also drawn me to some of the work by Siggi Eggertsson and Andy Gilmore.

White Stripes work by Stanley Chow

I first saw the name 'Stan Chow' on some elegantly drawn flyers for events in Manchester some years ago. More recently his work has been animated by Aardman for the BBC but, given that I'm on a roll with poster-related activity, I really just wanted to note the one he created for The White Stripes. Notably, this also led to work for the band/label when he was asked to recreate Jack and Meg as cute USB sticks containing the pair's Icky Thump album.

More beautiful illustration at his site: www.stanleychow.co.uk

Methane Studios

Another inspiring gig poster operation is Methane Studios. The following images are by one half of the partnership Mark McDevitt and have a vintage feel, some lovely type and re-appropriated images.

All of the poster producers I have referenced this week - Methane Studios, Aesthetic Apparatus and The Small Stakes - have defined an approach to visualizing music that is more visceral than the simple (and often UK) template of 'insert band photo here, insert date and times here'. Thankfully, this more considered style has proved so influential that it is becoming more commonplace on the British live circuit. Perhaps this shift in focus is directly related to how touring has become more important revenue-wise than music sales in recent years.

Aesthetic Apparatus

Another great studio that has been carrying on a great tradition for U.S. music ephemera is Aesthetic Apparatus. Amy namechecked the company when doing a previous project and drew attention to how they sell 'test prints' as works of art: i.e. the pieces of paper that are solely used to gauge colour and ink before creating a run of screen prints. These are then a jumble of images representing a variety of different artists. Perhaps these would be a great idea for a compilation's artwork. Individually, however, these works generally perform the same function as Jason Munn's previously referenced material and give permanence to what are fleeting performances.

The Small Stakes: Music Posters by Jason Munn

When this project changed direction, one of the first things I did was treat myself to the recent book that gathered together Jason Munn's music posters. Operating under the name 'The Small Stakes', Wisconsin's Munn has been producing beautiful screen prints that mainly promote gigs. However, this supposedly temporary use hasn't stopped them becoming collectable. Anyway, the book arrived today and it is lovely. Especially the metallics.