'It's not what you look at that matters, it's what you see.' — Henry David Thoreau
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Love your PMS.
The Pantone Matching System or PMS is a brilliant way to make sure you are on the same page as your decorator.
There is nothing more embarrassing than handing a customer a garment that has been printed in the wrong blue.
“When you said light blue, you actually wanted more of a cloudy sky blue than a sunny day blue? Oh…”
Or the wrong shade of any colour. But there is no need to be embarrassed anymore! Continue Reading ►
The Gruen Transfer seems to be going great guns, and it’s good to see Wil Anderson back on our beloved ABC dissecting the advertising we see. But a newish form of advertising that has caught my eye recently - or should I say almost blinded me - is the new animated/video Perimeter Advertising in certain sports. (epilepsy warning. Rapid animation scene below)
Most graphic artists create beautiful masterpieces for their clients. But how well do these masterpieces print onto a t-shirt or a hoodie?
As screen printers, we work alongside graphic artists to make the client’s idea come to life. Occasionally, graphic artists, who aren’t experts in garment decoration, will overlook a few points before designing the dream and as a result, the dream becomes almost impossible to fulfil.
From now on, I suggest graphic artists and screen printers put aside their differences and work together to produce the best finished product, which not only benefits the designer, whose work is getting showcased, but makes the screen printer’s job more efficient. Continue Reading ►
Now, like a lot of senior designers I have been in the industry for many moons and seen fads come and go, but one thing that has puzzled me over the years is the amount of people in our industry with an enormously bloated sense of self. Well you may be saying, David, how would we know you aren’t exactly one of these people. Well you don’t, and wont, but it’s my article so let me finish it, thanks.
Anyhow, I’m sure you have all been to parties where all the cool, trendy people turn out to be designers, which is fine, we are a pretty trendy lot, but when said people start opening their mouths they seem to come across as someone who is performing life saving surgery every day, or someone who works for St Vincent’s helping the poor and underprivileged. There is nothing at all wrong with being proud of your work, that’s what should drive us, but let’s put this into perspective. The majority of us work (making ads, websites, commercials or movies etc) that have one aim, and that is to sell a product to people who generally wouldn’t want to buy it, have no need for it, and shouldn’t be spending money on it because they have a credit card that is maxed.
So I have always wondered what causes many of us to behave like prince poncy?
Is it a societal thing were we are generally becoming ruder and more arrogant?
Or has this always been the case, where, like most architects we are generally social wankers? (Hey, it’s not us wearing the square framed black glasses and polo necks!)
Whatever the reason be, I have a vip gallery opening to attend to later, so I must get out my craziest t-shirt and mess my hair up. Tootles.
- David Goldberg
It’s a scary thought, Polaroid is no more. I try not to think about it, but I will have to come to terms with it soon enough.
I have only known the joy of Polaroid for sixteen months. It’s such a short time, but feels like a life time. A life time of admiration for a iconic medium. The smell of a fresh peel apart print, the simple joy of holding it in both hands. It’s hard for me to think of a time when I won’t hear that SX-70 breathing life into a print such as this, to not get those astonished looks as I fold out the dusty bellows of my 101. Those simple things make me smile.
To me this is a sad year. A year when Polaroid will no longer be the company that Dr Land helped build. That future photographers will not know the wonderful feeling of seeing a photo develop right before their eyes.
I’ll miss you Polaroid.
- Kat White
The other day Lang Leav launched her new Akina Website with lots of delightful goodies on it, and I decided that it would be excellent to purchase some and use them as gifts for christmas.
Below are the photos(click for a bigger view) of what I have received in the mail. The top set are little christmas cards/tags, the middle photos are of the postcards, and the bottom shot is of a limited edition giclee print. As you can see the artwork is exquisite, and each piece is hand crafted by Lang herself and you can really tell that love has gone into making the works.
So if you are lost for christmas ideas or want to spice up your presents, why not head over to her website and check it out!
UnseeN Magazine is a webzine devoted to photography. It started in 2001 as an outlet for designer / photographer Garry Trinh to display his collaborative works with other artists and designers. Trinh believes there is a market for “a photographic magazine for photographers who are passionate about the medium’s creativity in all its forms.” In 2004 he and his friends set out to turn Unseen Magazine into a print reality, learning a few lessons along the way.
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GT: From the start, the people I spoke to about starting a magazine all warned me against it. They all said it was a ‘cutthroat’ industry but they didn’t tell me why so I read all the books I could get my hands on about running a magazine business. I wanted to succeed.I thought being a graphic designer, I could do all the design myself. As for content, there is an enormous amount of photographers who all welcome the opportunity to show their work to a wider audience. I had no problem getting photographers to send me their images and write about their work. However, why most magazines fail is in the financing.Getting businesses to invest in magazine advertising is a tricky business. Most advertisers are only interested if your magazine has a high circulation. Which means that you will have to print a large number of copies. Much more then you would be able to sell, if your magazine is for a niche market. Printing is still very expensive (even in Asia). The money from advertisers and the money from selling the magazine will likely be cancelled out by printing and distribution cost. This is before any payment is made to staff. There’s an extremely slim profit margin, if any at all.
All my time I spent on the magazine sucked up the time I had to do jobs that paid my bills. I could see I was only be able to do that for a short time before I would run up some serious debt or have to stop running the magazine. That is why most independent magazines die after a few issues.
Sadly, the worth of a print magazine is judged by the amount of advertisers it attracts. In our capitalist society, staff members, ideas and a magazine’s history count for very little. I still believe there is a market for a print photography magazine that isn’t about selling photographic equipment, or about boring photography business practices, or about equally boring academic photographic theory. There is a market for a photographic magazine for photographers who are passionate about the medium’s creativity in all its forms and permutations.
At the moment UnseeN Magazine is a webzine for photographers. We see it as a temporary project, until we can work out how to independently publish our own photography magazine.
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After 13 years in the game, Garry has developed an eye for quality photography. UnseeN Magazine accepts submissions, but will only display work that meets a certain standard. You can view UNseeN Magazine here http://www.unseenmagazine.com and submit your work http://www.unseenmagazine.com/submissions.html
Interview by Kate Newton
wyshop was designed specifically for the mums who do not have time to shop, the men who wouldn’t know where to look, the style-savvy women who want to find a particular label, the males who need a suit, and the visitors who want it all. Developed with a function similar to a search engine, the site has a listing of all Gold Coast retailers and boutiques that are specifically categorised into different fashion sub groups, such as men’s and women’s fashion, and more explicitly, for example, into swimwear and formal styles.
The Talisman Project started as a way for me to meet people while travelling. I can be a bit shy and this project kinda forced me to make the effort to talk to people. Traveller conversations usually open automatically with ‘Where are you from, where are you going, where have you been?’. I’d hit people with ‘Did you bring a good luck charm?’ instead and it would lead to an interesting conversation, even from the people who didn’t have a lucky charm. I liked how the question made people think. 
My grandmother had this made for me when she was in Jordan, 10 years ago. (Carolin)
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