HONK

BBC Knowledge - Honk If You're Human from Sean Pecknold on Vimeo.

HATER'S GONNA HATE

So we're getting some negative feedback from our publication. Here's some of my favourite criticisms:

• Love the sentiment behind 'This Year I Will Try Not To' - though I can't help but feel more pursuaded by it if the designers behind this interesting little publication weren't so trendy themselves.. (Clinton Duncan, on Australian In Front)

• This year I will try not to... spell check? (Stuffee, on Australian In Front)

• Mixed feelings about this. Like the idea and some of the examples made me smile – but it feels a bit hypocritical: the muted colour palette, the ‘making of’ vimeo video, the product photography, the condensed sans serif type, the selling of a limited signed booklet… they kind of feel to me like things that could’ve been included in the project themselves. Am I over-cynical? Or is it intentionally ironic? (Luke Tonge, on FormFiftyFive)

• I taste of the mood boring. (Juliano Domingues, on Ideafixa, translated from Portuguese)

• Pra only to justify. I did not find without grace the idea, but the conception. I find that he had been made of exaggerated form, caricata, would be more legal. But the proper conception of the idea, passes a air of “superiority”, and this is place... (Advan Shumiski, on Ideafixa, translated from Portuguese)

And a nice one:
• It was a true nerdy designer moment of hysteric laughter when I came across the project “This year I will try not to” by Elliott Scott and Christopher Doyle. I guess you can call it a contract from two frustrated designers. I think we should all put our signatures on this one and agree with these guys. Super funny! (Inspiration Lab)

And this one, which could be either?
• Simply just bear in mind it’s all in your imagination what a person may achieve and how fast (Alysa Mccreless, on ChangeTheThought)

So, there you go. Generally negative comments.
IESSO

SHAMELESS SELF-PROMOTION

SO, that newspaper Chris Doyle (of guidelines fame) and I made about design trends and the wank that goes along with it, has now been produced. And they're available for sale. But be quick, there's only 1000 and they're going quick!

Go here to have a look.

IESSO

PS. Check out the Favicon on the site too.

PHOTOSHOOT

Sorry, no details allowed, other than it was with a professional photographer, and professional models, all shot with a professional camera and lighting setup. Then I got on the trampoline and nearly killed myself and ruining everything. It was fun!

IESSoScaredOfHeights!

THIS YEAR I WILL TRY NOT TO

28pp newspaper produced in conjunction with Christopher Doyle (of guidelines fame). More images to follow.
IESSO

Aol.

Aol Phase 02 from Universal Everything on Vimeo.

Beautiful. Last segment is particularly nice.

Typography

TOP: Flies. BOTTOM: Leaves. For no real reason. Click images for larger sizes.

IESSO

THANKS BRIAN ENO

FOR THE COOL, BUT UGLY 77 million paintings you've projected onto the Opera House. I know I complain about Sydney being boring, but when it's cool, like this is, it's actually not too bad. I like that the Opera House gets all this attention, and that I have a million photos of it, despite what _linus says. So I guess I should stay positive or something.

Also, check out the Flickr photostream for more photos of other light things going on in the city this week. There's lights all over the place!

IESSO

REDUCE. REUSE. RECYCLE.

ANATOMY OF A MURDER vs. THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN ARM vs. PRECIOUS. Saul Bass, you've done it again! So the first two were done by Saul, but the last one is for a new movie starring MARIAH CAREY! So you know it's gonna be a heavy hitter. Without having seen the movie, and only hearing some reviews (positive though) I won't comment on it, but I will talk about the poster.

I actually like it. No, REALLY like it. It's great... I like the fact that is a clear Saul Bass ripoff. I like that because it's nice, and looks cool. I wish the influences weren't as obvious, but it still doesn't bother me. I wanted to say how annoying it was that new ideas are gone, and that rehashing old ideas are the standard now, but I really don't mind in this case.At least it's not Ultra Bold Gill Sans in red on a white background.

IESSO

WHAT'S THE WEATHER LIKE OVER THERE?

I'M IN A CONFERENCE CALL TO NEW YORK RIGHT NOW, well, not right now, but a few minutes ago, and in a few minutes from now too. It's pretty cool. The power to speak internationally, without worrying about money, and to be talking someone through a photoshop technique while both of us are doing the same thing at the same time... it's pretty cool. But not really.

IESSO

PS. The people in NYC hilariously sound like and have the exact same speech patterns as my parents, and I'm not really used to people saying my name a lot (as these guys do, as well as my mom) so it's really weird and funny. I'm about to laugh (and/or punch myself in the face because it's really tedious!) as I explain this photoshoppery!

PPS. I totally ripped off Linus's 'A Filter Darkly' technique (version 1) to use in a project. But I changed it enough to claim it as my own. Which is kinda a jerky thing to do, but I was under pressure and didn't realise the scope of the project, and now it's much too late. So thanks Linus! And also, sorry that you won't get paid for it.

LOOK MA! I'M ON TV...

LONDONIST used my image of the tube strike on their report. Cool. And I even got a credit as required by my creative commons license. Anyway; apparently there will be strikes again next week! HOOR-FREAKIN-RAY!

Here's the link if you're interested: http://londonist.com/2007/09/more_tube_strik.php (Sorry no fancy links today!)

IESSO

A SORYI DARKLY

I'VE USED (RIPPED OFF) LINUS'S TECHNIQUE for treating photo's to look like A Scanner Darkly (version 1), and modified it pretty heavily. It looks really nice though.

IESSO

THAT OLD TOMATO

SAW THE BOURNE ULTIMATUM LAST NIGHT. And holy crap! Without giving anything away I can give you a review of the movie by saying that several points in the film where everyone let out a "f*ck me..." in sheer amazment of how cool and tough Jason Bourne is. And what makes him tought and cool? No fancy Aston Martin. No Matrini's. No Walther PPK/7s. No McClane smirks either. He usually doesn't even use a gun. Especially in the cool fight scenes. And this isn't just the third one either.

TBU was definitely better than the first movie and second too. While the first one was cool, it just looks a little dorky and dated. The second was a little boring but looked very slick. This has the best of both. The action was so fast you're afraid to breath in case it distracts you. And it's like that from the very beginning.

My only gripe is that Matt Damon's character has no memory, so he doesn't really have much to say. He's left with a kind of blank but slightly annoyed face all the time. That's fine when he's doing something, but when he's talking to Julia Stiles's character in one scene, and she's got a permanently blank face too, and it's supposed to be emotional, it borders hilarious and awkward!

Ratings? ✭✭✭✭½. Very watchable!

IESSO

PS. Included here because it has nothin to do with the review of the movie: But it was also totally cool to be in the city that the movie took place in! There were totally loads of shots of London where we were all "that's just around the corner from where you work" and "hey, I know that place!" and "I catch that train all the time!". It was awesome. And hilariously the only other time that would've been possible was when I was in New York, because movies take place there all the time! But I saw Children of Men there, and that takes place in London! Anyway, it was totally cool.

PPS. I'm not sure what the posters are like where you are, but the ones here are totally friggin' awesome! There's black and white, with a split screen effect, one side has a mid-shot and the other a close up. The text runs across both. It's really cool looking, and different from any movie poster I can remember seeing. I think the USA ones are below. And they're totally stupid in comparison. They're exactly like what you'd expect them to be like.

UPDATES

I'M THINKING OF UPDATING MY WEBSITE soon in order to make it more proffessional. But being my weakness, I'm not quite sure how to do that without making it really boring at the same time. Any thoughts? I was thinking of livening it up with some sexy Flash animations. Nothing too extreme, just some movement when you hit a button. I can't describe very well.




Anyway I can't even get the look right, I'm still experimenting. I generally like the cut-outs, but maybe it's to kiddy. I'm thinking I'll end up using the top image, and just have the work slide across when you hit next. What you reckon?

IESSO

FLICKR

SO IF YOU WANT TO SEE LOADS OF PHOTO'S head on over to my Flickr Page. It's very worthwhile. Sort of. Not really. Anyway the photo's are organised into groups and everything. Want to see photo's of our trip to Belfast? Well you can! Sets worth checking out are the fun ones like: I Heart Things, and Stuff. They're not just photo's of places, but collections of things that are slightly interesting.

Simply click on the image above to go!

IESSO

ONE-WAY TICKET TO LAUGHTERTOWNE, USA

SO DINOSAUR COMICS ARE FUNNY. Today's comic (01/08/07) is particularly funny and inane (good combination bytheway!) So anyway, I'm getting the sneaking feeling that you guys aren't reading it enough. So please make sure you read it everyday. It's got all the best elements of humour, I just don't understand why you're all not just constantly emailing me for telling you about it. Unless of course no-one is reading my blog. Hmmm. Sigh.

IESSO

PS. Linus is exempt from this because he recommended it to me.

DAY 1

THE FIRST DAY WENT WELL. It was different from what I was expecting... equal parts more hectic and less hectic than I feared. The hours were long (8.30–6.30) and there's a lot to do, and it needs to be done well, but they pretty much left me alone to my own devices. I was expecting a team of PR-bots, as well as my bosses to be constantly monitoring me, but they didn't. When I showed them what I was doing they were pleased, but then just left me alone to continue.

There are a few unexpected things that I've never experienced in an office before:

- An elevator
- A fruit basket every morning
- A cafeteria
- A coffee maker that makes 7 kinds of coffee and 5 teas
- A Starbucks
- A reception area with sign-in sheets
- A mailroom with delivery people
- A phone book to contact people within the office
- 6 floors with well over 500 staff
- Ricky Gervais standing outside having a smoke

Today is now my second day at work, and it's going to be pretty intense I reckon. I need to get my work done today because I'm not going to be here tomorrow.
(I'm working on a freelance basis, so they only need me here for 2 days this week.)

UPDATE: They've asked me to stay on till the end of the week a few minutes ago. So that's more work, experience, and money!
UPDATE 2: I've had to remove some of the names and details. And officially I got it wrong when I said the workplace was a PR company. They're definitely advertising. And they company I'm in is purely design. Hope that clears things up.

Take care everyone.

IESSO

OBSCURE TO FAMOUS

I DON'T WANT TO SAY THEY COPIED but they're very similar styles. Watch the 'Finally' video by CeCe Peniston, and the original iPods ads (the black silhouettes on colored backgrounds) and tell me if I'm being crazy. I realise that they're produced in a drastically different way, and the CeCe video isn't really the same... but there is definitely a similarity between some of the shots!


iPod Commercial vs Finally

IESSO

A HOLE IN THE CLOUDS WITH THE LIGHTS SHINING THROUGH ALL EPIC LIKE

SO I START MONDAY. It's only on a freelance basis for the moment, because we're taking 'baby steps', but it seems pretty promising. They really liked my work and were excited to get me in before 'someone else snatched me up'. So I'm pretty excited. But I'm nervous. They're a freaking huge company, who is world famous! I've already got a project to work on and everything. For a phone company, working with (he's doing the TV ad) an English footballer with a squeaky voice, skinny wife and a new job in LA. But don't mention his name.

Anyway, hopefully it'll be a permanent thing, and I will no longer be a bum!
IESSO

THREEDEE

THIS TOTALLY WORKS! Get yourself some 3D glasses and prepare to be amazed!
IESSO
PS. Fingerguns=cool.