That's All Folks

The last font of the year.

Thinking about it, it's been quite an epic year for me. Moved to London, got fired, worked with some amazing people in Manchester, stayed in Brighton for a while, found lots of amazing blogs and gained lots of wonderful followers, wrote articles for various places, challenged myself to carry on with personal projects and had another lovely year with my girlfriend, Hollie.

It's been one of the hardest yet, in terms of uni and this has made blogging quite tricky but it will all be worth it(and over soon, most importantly).

Happy New Year everyone.

Christmas Bits I

QI Annual 2010 and How to Create a Portfolio & get Hired

A how to guide on the dos and don'ts of portfolios, including layouts, tips, ideas, help with selecting work and the use of fonts and colours.

There's also bits about interviews, paper selection and other geeky stuff. The book is written in quite a light hearted way so it doesn't too tiresome and there's plenty of qoutes in there from people in the creating industry. For example, "I always think simplicity is the best option, the necessarily the 

style of presentation."

The books is easy to read and pretty nice looking too.

Next up the QI Annual 2010. Does want in says on the tin, packed with quite interesting facts and games, all illustrated and not rammed with boring stuff. Above is a spread on the history of the modern hat, who wore them and and why we don't wear them so much anymore. Did you know people put it down to the rise in cars, hence not being able to keep your hat on whilst driving?

Nice bit of lighthearted xmas nonsense.

End.

So that's a couple of things I received this Christmas, I'll post about a few more over the next few days. Hope everyone had a nice time, drank loads and played many a game!

Anyone else get books?

The Start

So Christmas is still in full swing, I got some nice treats and I'm also figuring out what I'm going to treat myself to with some cash I got(I desk clock). But sadly I can't celebrate too much as I still have a mega amount of work to do other xmas. As I have previously mentioned I'm currently working on my portfolio, I won't post too much of it on here as I'm sure I'd get told off but seeing that I've currently got loads of typography books in my room I thought I'd just post the design for my contents page.

Now I have no idea is anyone else who reads this blog is interested in this kind of stuff, so if it seems a bit boring please just say and I won't bombard you with stuff like this. But anyway, this is the sort of thing I'm working on, but when I started I said to myself, "don't repeat myself", so I'm trying to make every piece and idea look different.

I will be showing and telling about my xmas treats soon, plus I bagged another Marks & Spencer lambswool in the sale today, along with a heavy duty desk stapler. Exciting!

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas to each and every one of my readers, thanks for sticking with me thought the whole year and here's to another good one!

(-)

Doing it in Dr Martens S/S 11

Now, there's a few various reasons why I love Dr Martens, one being their historical roots in workwear and non-mainstream music scene, second being that they are amazing in the winter, being waterproof and as comfy as wrapping your feet up in a duvet. But the other thing I love it the 1461 3-eyelet version. 

I have both boots and shoe variations but I always turn back to my 1461's because they suits me so much more and, well, they're not as obvious and damn cool too. For Dr Martens S/S 11 collection they have thrust the 1461 into the limelight by giving it a fresh new palette, finishes and patterns.

So seeing that I haven't been out of my Docs since it started snowing, which is a repeat of last winter I think it is highly likely I will be buying some new ones from this collection.

A shot from last summer. 1461 Dr Martens worn with yellow Uniqlo socks and DIY painted chinos.

Original image source - Style Bubble

Type Inspiration

I'm in need of major inspiration right now as for the past week and for the next 2/3 weeks I'm working on my portfolio. So instead of lugging many books home from the library I just went and took about 200 images, that work's right?

So here's a few things, I'm looking at colour, typography, graphics, layouts and themes. I have so much to do. Bye bye Christmas.

Is everyone else having a nice festive time though? I did take some time out and wrapped all my presents, I was creative with the wrapping paper too, will post about it soon.

Early Christmas Presents

Wearing - Marks & Spencer orange lambswool jumper, Uniqlo shirt, Method pea coat,

 Gap chinos, vintage tan leather gloves

 A closer look at the hand warmers

My mum never really knows what to get me for Christmas, I mean you can't go wrong with boxers/socks and chocolates but anything past that and she's right stumped. So she gave me £20 to get what ever I wanted and I totally exceeded mine and her expectations.

First up was the orange Marks and Spencer woolly jumper which I got for £10. Marks are having a Christmas offer each week, selling something with two thirds off the RRP, I had to queue up for about 10 minutes but it was well worth it. Lambswool = warmth and comfort.

Next up I managed to get these vintage tan leather gloves for £7 in Blue Rinse, Manchester. I had planned on getting some from either Tkmaxx or Marks but these are miles better than any I have seen. Especially for the price, I'm sure I saw some like this by Dents for £80 last year. So £3 chance when on some soap from the German Markets on Kings Street in Manchester; here's some pics from my visit -

Pretty snazzy set up in Retro Rehab

My friend Kate works in a fancy dress shop, I think she suits it down to the ground. She's a good'en.

Docs, the weather demands them.

These days I have no head. Outfit, as before and Velour shirt, Marks & Spencer tartan scarf, 

Camper shoes

Coffee, Hollie demands them.

Wooden bears at the German Christmas market, I expect no less.

 Last photo of the day, only just realised the cheeky advertising in the middle.

All images by me.

Billion Pound-O-Gram

I just saw this graphic on "The Joy of Stats", on bbc4(Monday night). The programme might sound a bit boring but it's all about how statistics help shape society all around the world. It's a tricky but really creative programme and for anyone that has heard of TED then you will probably be familiar with this sort of thing.

From a graphics point of view it was really visually exciting and showed loads of old adversing and other bizarre social ideas. The diagram above is called "Billion Pound-O-Gram" by David McCandless and is all about how the government regually use amounts of money that the regular person really can't contextualise. This fellas made is easy for us by putting it in easy chunks to see how much stuff was meant to cost and how much is ACTUALLY costs. 


Most of you have probably nodded off but I just thought it was a pretty cool idea. This and that fact that I'm reading a lot of typography and graphics books right now as my portfolio has to be complete by 4th January. Bye bye Christmas.

I Wonna Go Surfing

Plastic door stops, nice stoking filler - Pedlars

Wooden mini torch, who doesn't need one - Pedlars

Yellow leather gloves, really unusual colour to see on your hands - Norse Projects

 Battersea Power Station book ends, a pillar in the community - Paul Smith

Laptop Note A5 Notepad, never forget - Utility 

New copy of Inventory magazine

Green suede wallet by UKAT, as carried by the original Batak Tribes of Indonesia - LN-CC

Mini woolly hat, cheap and cheerful - ASOS

Chocolate Flake tea, I've not tried it but it sounds like it would be nice and Christmasy - Teapigs

I've not actually been proper "live" for months and months now, just no time so alls I really can do is surf some online shops to see what's knocking about this christmas. Here's a few things I've put together that I would love to see in my stocking this year(obviously I would be happy with the tea!), plus, if anyone is stuck for the partner's pressies maybe this could help?

Is everyone sorted pressie wise? I've not started yet but I've got some pretty sweet ideas. 

On another subject I had a marketing presentation today, was a 30 minute one on a new concept for our trainer brand(Vans), we totally nailed it and I was really happy with the way it went, thanks to everyone's vote of confidence and listening to my continuous moaning on Twitter.

Mirror Image

I took this photo last week while I took 5 minutes from my ever-increasing uni work, it's all kicking off next week, presentations, essays, project hand ins, portfolio workshops. I've had enough! Anyways, when I saw this I knew I had to grab for my camera. Hollie's bedroom is impeccable, she has mirrored wardrobes and whilst I was messing around swinging the doors about I noticed the mirrored image(reminds me of when you see the never ending TV screen, you know?).

I just thought it was really interesting that not all is what it seems, even in the most regular places. As Paul Smith said, "You can find inspiration in everything, and if you can't, look again".

Thanks for sticking with my blog even though posting has become more sporadic over the last few months, I am still here and I do still visit all your blogs, even if I may not leave a comment.