LATE NIGHT?

LATE SATURDAY NIGHT/SUNDAY MORNING we wandered around the city taking some black and white photos. They're on Flickr if you want to look. Also, my interview is tomorrow. I'm nervous!

IESSO

SOMEWHAT BORED

I'VE NEEDED A BREAK FROM WORKING ON MY WEBSITE and other sites, and freaking out, and stressing and that sort of stuff, but I can't really afford to leave the house. My savings has dwindled quite a lot, so I'm kind of under house arrest (just like Paris Hilton!) so I've been revisiting old photographs. I've assembled a bunch of New York photographs and put them up on Flickr. They're really nice photo's, some more touristy than others... They're all black and white too, which means they're 'artistic'. Right?

If you want to look, click on the image to view the set.

IESSO

6 WORDS:

"I have an interview on wednesday." Hooray! Actually I have another interview on the 25th as well, but it's in Winchester (which is not in London) so I'm less excited. The one on wednesday is in a marketing firm, and the one in a few weeks is a small, creative studio. Nervous about both.

IESSO

THAT'S MORE LIKE IT!

SO I FIXED UP MY DAD'S SITE NOW. It's not perfect, yes it still has frames, but that will have to do. I tried doing it in Dreamweaver, but oh man, I have no idea what I'm doing in there! I wish they kept GoLive, it was a lot nicer to use. Oh well, I'll learn it slowly.

Anyway the text changes still need to be made, but other than that it should be pretty set. Thanks for you help everyone! Click on the image to go to the site.

IESSO

UPDATES

TO COMPETE WITH THE INFLUX OF GRADUATES, and to make things a bit clearer, I've revised the folio site. What do you think? It's a bit funner, and it's more 'fresh' and 'funky' (the 'f-word'!) Anyway I like it a lot. And hopefully there's no spelling mistakes, because I accidentally flattened the Photoshop file! Auuuggghhh!!!! But on the other hand; type in context! Hooray!

So, check it out HERE, or click on the link that's on the right.

IESSO

PAINTINGS FROM PARADISE, WEB SITE FROM HELL (updated)

SO I'M HAVING A TOUGH TIME BUILDING A WEBSITE! "A website," you ask, "But isn't that what graphic designers do?" "No", I flatly reply. "That's what graphic designers who are good at web stuff do, I am not, and therefore I don't do. I don't do one bit!" Um... Anyway I'm building my dad's website, but am having a tough time doing it! Man, web sucks! I mean it's just so fiddly and annoying! Print is so much better! "But what's the difference?", you ask. "Shut up!", I yell.

My dad's paintings are so nice, and they deserve a nice website, something simple and elegant. I'm doing my freaking best to give him, and them, that, but it's hard!

Anyway, check out the site-in-progress here. And give me much feedback. OR do it for me. Yeah, that option is better. Or if you don't want to wade through the site, but you still want to see the paitings, you can check them out on Flickr.

IESSO



IT MAY NOT LOOK radically different, but the site has been given a major makeover! With frames! It's very rough around the edges, probably even rougher than before, but it's very late and I'm falling asleep. More work tomorrow.

Here's that link again: here.

IESSO

STUFF THAT HAPPENED, sponsored by Snapple™

SO THIS WEEK HAD BEEN INTERESTING... sort of. We went to a few interesting design related things, which was good, I guess we're part of the 'scene' now! Firstly we went to the Annual D&AD awards, but we aren't really members, and you need to register to enter, so we were only allowed to see the section with the entries, but not attend anything actually fun. But luckily some of the entries were Wii games, so we played them for a while. I think the Wii itself was an entry actually. So that was a fun thing to do on a Monday night, Soryi got herself a few issues of their magazine, and I swiped some CD's and books (that were being given away, but only to members) and it was fun.

Then we attended a super exciting, super nerdy conference from Adobe! Hooray! It was so interesting they spread it over two days. But actually it was interesting. And in the several seconds I could actually hear what the lectures were about, in between the yelling of scenster students and confused old-people, I actually learnt a few tricks. Plus Adobe's Creative Suite 3 is looking very very nice. I'll miss GoLive though. I don't understand Dreamweaver, and I don't want to understand Dreamweaver. And Flash? No thanks.

One highlight of the Adobe thing was the guest speakers. We heard the president of the D&AD talk about why the winners got their awards. They couldn't praise Nike+ enough! I was kind of skeptical of why Nike+ was so good, but it turns out it really is. Some of the features are amazing, it has a voice that encourages you when you start slowing down, there's a 'power song' button to give you an extra kick, it lets you input how much weight you want to lose, and by when, and it'll work out how much you running you need to do, you can challenge friends anywhere in the world, and plus, it's Apple! I'm very impressed. Only problem is that it only works on an iPod nano. Soryi and I will get them, including nano's soon, we're both going to try and get fit. After all the money stuff is worked out of course.

But cooler than that was a talk from Neville Brody!!! He's a design legend! I actually used him in my 2006 portfolio for the designer showdown! He's very good. He talked a bit about himself and all that, and about his work, but mainly just about how we should take some risks and not worry about getting fired. That's individually and as a company. Of course we need to do some work to pay the bills, but we can't just do that, or we'll go crazy. And contribute nothing to society. The thing that struck me and Soryi about Brody was that while his work is dated, and completely not relevant to today's audience, his message is true. I didn't do a very good job explaining what he said, but it struck a chord. Maybe he's just a good talker.

What else? Oh, my PowerBook died. Sort of. Well, it was having problems with fonts, and missing links and general problems arrising from 2 years of use without turning it off or reinstalling things. So I tried to repair it myself. I used Soryi's restore CD that came with her computer (I left mine in Australia) but it didn't work. It did delete all my files, but not restore the computer. So I certainly couldn't use it then.

I took it to the Apple store on Regent St (next to Oxford Circus) and they were all "you're gonna have to call Apple to sort it out, we're just a store". I called Apple in the US and they were very annoyed, "They are our flagship store, they were supposed to take care of everything for you. We apologise for any inconvienience." Which was nice. I took it back to the store and they had an appointment for me to speak to a technician. I saw him, he took a look at the computer, I explained what needed fixing, he plugged in a cable and 15 minutes later it was like brand new! Aside from the one person who had no idea what she was talking about (she said my computer had been out of warranty for 500+ days, even though I had an extended warranty on it, and in fact it had 500+ days left on the warranty), everything worked out nicely. I'm still a big fan of Apple, not just for it's nicely designed and perhaps overly simple products, but for it's ongoing quality support services.

Lastly, London, and the world I suppose, received it's Olympic logo. No-one likes it. No-one. The head of D&AD slagged it off, and when they asked an audience of 250 designers if they liked it, no-one did. Neville Brody criticised it in front of 800 designers and got a huge laugh and cheer. But I do like it. Maybe it's just me, but I think it's a great new direction for the Olympics. Aside from the monstrous task of acheiving something that matches an incredibly complex brief, the logo is new, exciting and different. For the last 4 or 5 games the logo is basically the same style, completely interchangeable with the various countries.



This logo is either London or Tokyo. The shapes are very Japanese, but they're also very Sex Pistols. Punky, dynamic, exciting! It totally breaks from the obvious images of a stuffy and boring London. I like that it doesn't have any London landmarks, going beyond the obvious. Maybe it could've been produced better, maybe it's a little too radical, maybe everyone in London is pissed off that it cost £400,000, but I think it's a great idea. Incidentally, despite D&AD slagging it, they did mention that the designer did receive designer of the year in 2005! So it's not all that bad.

In the newspapers's they suggested that the logo competition be opened up to primary school kids, and that the winning school gets £40,000. First of all that's a great idea. But secondly that's stupid. The logo isn't just a bunch of shapes that can easily produced in minutes (which of course they can), it has to represent a buttload of complex things, convey a bunch of invisible emotions and do a whole lot of stuff that people don't understand. It really pissed me off to hear people say that a child could do better. That's bullcrap. Here's a better quote:

It's simple. When we hear "my kid could have done that!" we think "success." Some of the greatest logos of all time involve two lines (the Christian cross) or three lines and a circle (Mercedes). Your kid COULD have done that, but she didn't. Nor did she design the graphics standards manual that goes with it. So give it a rest. Or send us her resume.


If this logo fiasco has done anything, apart from piss people off, it's damaged the graphic design industry. £400,000 doesn't cover jsut the logo, it covers the million versions before it, the hundreds of companies developing printed material, web stuff, videos, everything! And now people are demanding that the studios give all the money back. That's crap.

Pisses my right off. On the otherhand, one video did cause epilepsy in 40 people. That is bad design. And I don't excuse that. I try to design with these things in mind. Epilepsy isn't much of an issue for print design, but color-blindness is something to watch out for. Not red-green combos!

Anyway. I didn't mean for this post to have corporate sponsorship and product placement, but it totally did! Huzzah!

IESSO

PS. I love Snapple.

WORK IN PROGRESS

FURTHER DEVELOPMENT ON THE 'BODY' THEME. I'm using a strong Red, Black and White color scheme, which is really STRONG for a change... I want to make a statement. But Linus has got me all paranoid about color theory. Maybe I'm venting me anger through the design. Or maybe it's just a nice combination of color. True it is something new, but maybe that's what is required here.

Okay, so at this stage it's still not finished. But I'll upload the full PDF onto my website, when it is done. I've still got to write a cover letter, and address each version to the company individually. Taloring each application to a specific company. There is still one unresolved issue I need to work out, and hopefully Linus or anyone else can help me with; typographic choices. I wanted something strong, possibly medical, maybe hand drawn (as in quirky letter forms, not handwritten) and generally making a statement. The problem was I couldnt figure out what that typeface was, AND what body face to combine that with. Any suggestions? Otherwise I'll just stick with Avant Garde, it's what I used in the folio, so it'll link back easily... Brand cohesion and all that nonsense.

IESSO

PS. Should the slogan be 'Look deeper?' It's suitable. But is it too obvious?
PPS. This image is larger, click and follow through for a larger size...

ALL PLAY AND NO WORK MAKES JACK A VERY DEPRESSED BOY

THAT'S RIGHT, OUR OLD PAL 'PRESSION IS BACK, and with a vengance. And a thirst for knowledge (?) Anyway, this is the longest I've been without work, and let's just say it's not fun. I can't sleep at night anymore (oh insomnia, how I missed you) and my days are spent staring miserably at my screen without enthusiasm or concern for a future. Soryi has been very supportive and understanding, but I think she's getting both annoyed and worried. And frankly so am I. I don't know what I'm doing wrong. I put in a lot of effort to promote myself in a fun, clever and hopefully memorable and eye-catching way. I sent out postcards with the 'magazine' theme, as well as posters (A1 size ones no less!) to 15 of the best studios in London. How many replied? NONE. How many would even let me talk to the boss? Well, two. But still, that's not very much.

And now I'm forced to lower my standards. And that is what is making me feel really bad. I feel like I've failed. I feel that by not aiming for the best, and achieving I really am mundane. Sure, I joke about being mondayne, but I really do have very high expectations for myself, and I guess it's just hard realising maybe I can't acheive everything I want, even if I do put my mind to it. Maybe I'm just not good enough to work for the best.

Sigh.

Well, like I said, I'm going to have to lower my standards, BUT at the same time, I'm gonna try and lift my game even more. Last time I felt I gave it 100%, this time it'll have to be 110%. (I know, platitudes are lame) But seriously, maybe if I can get any job for now, something that doesn't make me want to inhale spray glue through my eyes, while not entirely giving up on my dreams, and my lame struggle to be a good designer. If I can pay the bills, that'll be a good start, but I mustn't settle for too long.

Okay, so with that in mind I present to you this, the latest in a series of struggles in attempt to promote myself in a humourous, positive, humble and proactive light. I'm trying to say 'I'm so great, I'll be perfect for your company, but I'm not a cocky wanker, see?' It's been a giant challange. I tend to downplay myself (if you hadn't noticed). So it's been hard to say nice things without sounding made-up, or just plain lies.



So the theme is a medical examination of the different systems that make my body, like the circulatory system, nervous system, skeletal system, etc. But instead of showing organs, which would be pointless and gross, I will be showing things that relate to design. For example my nervous system will be a metaphor for all the technical skills I have, so instead of nerves and a brain, there will be a hard drive, cables, circuit boards, etc. It sounds very 'first-year', but if I can pull it off it'll work. The captions won't just say 'brain' and point at the HDD either, it will say 'proficient in Adobe Creative Suite' or something along those lines. Basically it's just summing me up in point-form, without just looking like a series of bullet points.

I'm only showing you the title page, because that's all I've done so far. I do have a funny looking sillouette of me looking sideways with my mouth open (like though medical diagrams of the digestive system), it's funny just by itself, so hopefully the whole thing will be humourous, rather than tedious.

If you have any suggestions on a BETTER idea, I am more than happy to take them on board. At this stage, I am only doing this idea because I am desperately clinging onto the last remaining sliver of a somewhat sane idea. And if I let go of it, maybe I won't have anything left. Seriously, it's been 3 weeks trying to thing of something. Trying. and failing.

IESSO

PS. On the upside though, because of all the walking around I've been doing, and the lack of eating huge meals, and possibly from stopping smoking too, I've lost a buttload of weight. Literally. I don't know if you noticed and were too polite to say anything, but I've been steadily gaining weight for the last 2 years. At first is was good, I was probably a bit too thin on the arms and legs, and face, but then I grew a big fat gut. All the Guinness helped too. But yeah, the stomach is nearly gone, there are even traces of what may be abs (but just as likely rolls of skin) and I'm just generally more toned. Soryi has noticed too. Which is nice. Even though I'm not doing super great mentally, at least I'm feeling physically a lot better.

PPS. It's been nearly a month without a cigarette. I certainly do miss them. I don't think it's the cravings talking either, I really enjoyed smoking. It was fun. But I've promised Soryi I'd quit, and so far I have kept my promise. I plan on keeping it forever too. I'm not just doing it for her, I feel a lot healthier, I'm breathing better, and am a lot fitter, but mostly it's for her. I guess everyone has to find a reason right?

PPPS. I typed this post, and then played around changing the masthead and profile. And I like the black and white, high contrast look on the profile, so I think I'll do that instead of the quasi-real color yo see above. It's more 'graphic' and therefore makes it look like I did it on purpose, rather than covering up my inadequate illustration abilities. Right?

GO APE

Instead of shopping or watching TV, we went to the XTREME!!!! by going to Go Ape outdoor adventure park. High-wire stunts, rope bridge, tightropes, swinging on vines, flying foxes, all in the tree tops, 20m from the hard, hard ground. It was loads of fun! And I'm petrified of heights! Petrified.

Plus, we did a lot more this week, and I promise, I'll post it all very soon.

I'm STILL Elliott Scott, and I will be signing on, and off again, very soon.

MIND THE GAP

HERE'S A SHORT VIDEO TOUR OF LONDON. It's very rough, amatuerish and the compression levels are poor. But it should be still watchable... I can send you a CD with the full size file if you really want... I had to edit it in iMovie, which doesn't allow you multiple video channels and only 2 sound channels, so it's all a bit abrupt. The music fades in a bit weird... Despite it being so crappy, I'm really proud of it, especially the ending. It was a lot of fun to do, although it did take 4 days to finish.

IESSO

PS> I'm chewing gum throughout the whole thing because I've been off cigarettes for 2 weeks, and on the nicoteine gum instead. So far so good.

PLEASE BE PATIENT

SO I HAVE THE INTERNET NOW. I'm posting up a video tour of London soon. I've shot some footage, and gonna shoot some more today. And then wednesday editing, so hopefully thursday it'll be up! It started out as a general tour, but is turning into a quest for dinosaurs. Stay tuned!

IESSO

UPDATES

Hello. Like I said, I can't be blogging so much these days without the internet and all, so you'll just have to be patient for a little longer.

Anyway, to make up for my lack of interesting posts I've got a bunch of dumb photo's taken in London of various things, nothing special, just taken on my phone's camera. honestly when I think about, there's really nothing special, and I've not been very interesting at all. Ok, I admit it, I'm a bad blogger.



So, in case you actually are interested, here's what each photo is... (assuming top left is 1): 1. Soryi wearing a police hat, 2. The Tube, 3. A Banksy, 4-6. Cool posters, 7. Sand castles on the Thames banks, 8. In Leicester Square, 9. The Apple Store on Oxford Circus (where I practically live), 10. Baker St. station, 11. Ikea, 12. Underpass at Kilburn station, 13. Bond St. sign, 14. Stickers placed everywhere (part of the 'I HEART' project*), 15. Soryi in sillouette through window, 16. West Hampstead station platform, 17. Gee St. sign**, 18. Cool car, 19. Lame car, 20. Front of Selfridges department store having a design exhibition with the V&A, 21-22. Cool posters, 23. Angel St. station, 24. Me dressed as a trendy wanker, 25-26. Original Apple computer in the Science Museum, 27-28, 30-32. Jewish foods, 29. Elvira's sister in the paper, 33. Panorama of the room unfurnished and messy.

So what have I been doing with my time?

Well, I've been developing some promo peices to send to prospective companies. I've got postcards, posters, an informal cover letter, my new resume and business cards. I want to look like I'm eager and dedicated and keen to work, but I'm terrified that it's still not enough. It's not really 'clever', more casual.

I'm genuinely terrified about this new stage. I've never applied to a world-famous studio. Everywhere I've worked had been half because I wanted to work there, and half because I needed the money. This time it's 100% because I want to work there, and why wouldn't I? But I'm really really scared that I'm not good enough. And I'm not saying this just to get sympathy, I'm just saying it. I don't know if I'm ready for the rejection. I'm just nervous.

Anyway, screw that, I need the money now, I'm really really running out, London isn't cheap. So I need a job.




Ugh, I don't know what to say. I'm not feeling very confident or happy, I've been left worry for too long. Going crazy. HOORAY!

Also, it's my birthday on mondayne. 24. Hooray! ? I'm not sure what I wanna do, maybe something, maybe not. I dunno. I've got more grey hairs. I find a new one or two every few days. Hooray.

Ok. Anyway, hopefully next time I write something it'll be something worthwhile. I've got some silly photo projects to put up. I've got collections of 'I HEART' stuff, KFC lookalikes, silly street names and a few other things. Most of them are Soryi's ideas of course.

All right, untill me meet again,
IESSO

ISSUE 5 OUT NOW

MONDAYNE MAGAZINE issue 5 is out now. By that I mean my portfolio site is done and uploaded. Again. Hope you enjoy it. There's some stupid articles and some of my work in there too.

I'm Elliott Scott, Editor of Mondayne Magazine, signing off

DARK AND FUZZY

HERE'S ME SITTING IN FRONT OF THE HOUSE IN WEST HAMPSTEAD. It's very dark and the quality is very bad because I recorded it on my phone, but you'll get the gist of it.

IESSO

DARK AND FUZZY

HERE'S ME SITTING IN FRONT OF THE HOUSE IN WEST HAMPSTEAD. It's very dark and the quality is very bad because I recorded it on my phone, but you'll get the gist of it.

IESSO

NOT DEAD

DON'T WORRY, I HAVEN'T BEEN MUGGED OR ANYTHING. I'm sorry about my lack of posts, a few interesting things have happened since last post.
1. Soryi got a job! She's working in a tiny studio doing some semi-interesting work, but the people she works with are very nice.
2. We moved out of the hostel into our very own flat! It's a teeny-tiny bedsit, with a kitchen in the room! and a shared bathroom. It's very nice though, and expensive (£130 per week!) but it's great. We love it! We went to Ikea and got really nice, and cheap! stuff to fill it. Very cool. It's in a good area too, for these reasons:
- The road perpendicular to ours is Abbey Road (of Beatles fame) [okay, technically it's not, but it turns into Abbey Rd]
- It's a nice neighbourhood, so nice that when we tell people the address they say its nice. which is radically different to Stoneybatter!
- We share a postcode with superstars: Matt Lucas [Little Britain] and Emma Thompson [of lots of things]
- It's close to the city without being urban.
- Our house is at least 150 years old, but in good condition, charm and solid foundations (a rare mix!)
3. I'm working on my portfolio website, and it's not working! I'm frustrated.
4. I'm going to be advertising my services on an illustrators site, which means I can call myself an illustrator. But I won't.

Ok, so the house doesn't have anything like TV, phone or internet, so I may be incommunicado for a while. I'll be here, just may not be blogging a super-lot untill I get it set up. I'm in the Apple store on Oxford Street right now mooching off of them.

Untill we meet again,
I'm Elliott Scott, signing off

ODD SUPRISES

SO WE'RE IN LONDON NOW. A few things happened that were odd.

1. On landing in Heathrow the plane was about to land on the runway it sped up and ascended. Apparently there was another plane on the runway and that if we landed we would've hit it. It was a bit scary, but the pilot handled it really well and we were totally fine.
2. There are buttloads of Australians and New Zealanders everywhere. In the place we're living there's 3 Aussie girls and 2 NZ girls, as well as me and Soryi. Crazy. Walking around the area or the city centre isn't much better.
3. Everything is strangely cheap, well, sort of. Food seems cheaper anyway. From takeaways I mean. For eg. £1.29 buys you 3 chicken pieces, chips and a can of coke. Admittedly the food looks pretty bad, but that's still a deal. On the otherhand Harrods food is WAY too freakin expensive to bother looking at. Other stuff is cheap and expensive too of course, but after we've got jobs I think it's going to seem cheaper than Dublin anyway.
4. There seems to be way more Irish pubs here, serving food especially, than there was in Dublin. Which is crazy. We had bangers and mash, and irish stew today, it was nice and only £4.95. We had the same in Dublin once for €16.95.
5. Ever heard of Guiness Red? Neither had I, but it was very nice.
6. We saw some famous people. And by famous I mean famous enough to have people taking photos and filming them getting out of their hotel room, but not famous enough to actually recognise them. HA!
7. We saw a FOX! It was cool.
8. We were watching an ad while I was typing this... An ad for a dress. "Hmm, that's a nice dress". And then the logo came on; Tesco*. Crazy.

Uh... I think that's it. We didn't really do much today, just walked a LOT. And I got a new phone.

IESSO

PS. Admittedly these things are really that odd. So far it's been very good.

* Tesco is a supermarket, equivalent to Coles maybe. Not good, or bad. But not good for sure.

ACROSS THE WAY

SO WE'RE LEAVING TODAY. In a few hours actually. I'm really going to miss it hear. I know I complain sometimes, but this last year was a great experience and I am very glad we did it. Seeing Dermo again was great, and meeting loads of new people, working in a few studios to get a feel for everything was really good, if not always fun. Travelling was totally awesome, not just to 'The Continent' but also around Ireland, it was very nice.

Overall I'd say I am extraordinarily happy we came over here. It was entirely worth it. The wonderful experiences, and what we learnt at work and about life and all that, it was great. I don't know if I'd recommend coming to Ireland from Australia unless you were coming over for either a short time, or a long time. A drunken weekend is fine, but I think it was really good to get a nice feel for Ireland, or Dublin at least, it actually feels like home. Everytime we arrived at the airport (except the first time of course) it felt like home. It's a rough city but it certainly has a lot of charm.

We're gonna miss ol' Ireland.

I'll write a bit more and post up some pictures soon. Maybe. I wouldn't count on it actually. Although I might. But probably not.

IESSO

PS. The UK is only across the way, so we'll probably be back to visit, but maybe not for a little while. But no, it's not like I'll never see it again, and more importantly the people in it.
PPS. That photo of Soryi is in the Hugh Lane Gallery, which we went to last week. Not today. I don't know why I posted it. Kinda blank, like there's nothing left to say.
PPPS. I found 3 grey hairs, and 2 in my beard. Stress?

COMING TOGETHER

IT'S A GOOD THING THAT I'M PREOCCUPIED WITH MY FOLIO, otherwise I would be freakin' out! We're leaving in 3 days now. Off to London. The big city. We won't know anyone. Or have jobs lined up. Or anywhere to stay. And a limited amount of cash (but not as limited as our arrival in Ireland).

Anyway the folio is nearly done. And then the website will be updated, and my efforts can be focused on getting a job and place to live. Also, hopefully we'll go with out with the guys one last time and have some fun. They're off with their families though, for the weekend.

Oh yeah, HAPPY EASTER!

IESSO