This is why I Hate Banksy

He is a pretentious boring officeworker rich boy who thinks he has some right make any kind of social comment, when his art is tired, uninspired and pretty much just a plea for attention and fame. Banksy is part of the system he is so arrogantly critiscising. If this dude was still on the street, and doing work that was more than a gimmick, maybe he'd have some credibility, but he's getting his work sold in auctions for millions, and getting paid to graffiti stuff now so, shut up sellout.

Bansky is not only a part of the "modern art" scene, he is also ruining the credibility of whats left of street art now, and the popularity of his work just propels us further down the spiral of "art for fame" where kids only make paste ups in the hope of doing a collab with nike someday.

Go die, banksy, or at least say something positive. Seriously the creative people of the world arent sitting around spouting wisdom about what's wrong with art or music or culture, there are out there doing shit, and they arent getting paid millions to do it.

Why Graphic Design is the Worst Brand Ever

Fascinating article. I think while "desptop publishing" and its ilk have done a lot of good overall, the availability of a burnt copy of photoshop and some free brushes have a lot to answer for. It saddens me how much bad design I see on a day to day basis. Or maybe before I learnt the rules I just never saw the problem.

I blame computers for a lot. I am much more a graphic artist than a graphic designer, as I chose to become a designer cause I "liked drawing" and it was the closest career I could find to sitting around drawing all day when I was 14 and needed to pick my electives for the following year. I barely used computers for my highschool folio, and feel now like my folio suffered because of it. Which is sad. Even the institutions that are meant to be teaching proper design are more interested in flashy computer generated work than hand drawn type, and understanding of things like colour, balance and positive/negative spaces - which are all important parts of traditional art, but can be fluked or avoided altogether when using a computer. (That said, I did get interviews at all the universities I applied for, even without any prior knowledge of illustrator, so not all hope is lost).

So many students in my classes seemed to know all the right filters to use, the right styles to copy and the right magazines to read to make their work "cool". I always felt my work didnt match up cause I played by my own rules more and always took a creative stance over following trends. However, I saw that many designers used the wrong fonts, set up work terribly or had constant problems with the printers. I'm not trying to sound high and mighty, I was learning as much as anyone else, but there was a strong theme of trying to make stuff look cool rather than take them time to build a strong design from what was taught in class.

At the end of the day, its too easy for people to design work that is "good enough" which only actual designers will realise is not good at all. Are the public educated enough about design to know the difference between a company that spent thousands on an identity and the one who got their in-house junior to create a new logo on the cheap? Do people care? Can you make them care? Its still a shiny logo at the end of the day or a cool pic that stands out. Here and now, it doesnt make a difference. It's "easy" to make something "look good". How is a well done classic design really relevant today? Everything in our culture is disposable and cheap and nasty. Why wouldnt design follow that pattern?

Are we fighting a losing battle?

Interview With Joshua Smith Hydro74

I'm a big fan of Hydro 74's work and found this interview quite interesting. I'd always wondered where he had gotten such impressive clients, and his explaination/reasoning makes a lot of sense. I find it hard as a designer to have concrete goals, I know where I want to be but I'm not sure how to get there (I'm really interested in design in the music scene - posters, cds tees and other promotional material, as I think there are more creative opportunities there rather than with some other types of design. Perhaps the best solution is to just be more proactive! What's also exciting for me, is that he is 10 years older than me, and the idea that most designers with the right attitude and enough talent can get quite far at a young age. Anyway, chekc the interview out here.

Free Wallpaper - Burning Aces

I made this for a friend yesterday, but some other people liked it, so I thought I'd put it up for download. I might be making a widescreen version soon.

Popdeck

Popdeck is a new site along the lines of threadless, but for skateboard decks rather than tees. There's nothing up for sale yet, but the current prize money for a winning design is $500, plus a free deck with your design on it. I hope it catches on like threadless did, cause skate decks are an awesome medium to design onto.

80 Beautiful Typefaces For Professional Design

Good List, but I don't know how I feel about Eurostile being on that list. Then again, use any font too much and you get sick of it.

Hydro Typo

Josh Smith, AKA Hydro74, does really ssssick illustration and design, he's bringing out a book and I really want to grab a copy. He's got some pics up on this blog which make me just want it more.



Official Site here.

BEST MARKETING CAMPAIGN. EVER.

Boxfresh have a new competition that involves you sticking up posters for them and taking photos to win some cash. It works, I wanna enter.
Check it out,here.