Pixel Perfect Poster

A pixel poster, simple idea, you know you want to customise one...
Found here.
It reminds me of Graphic Thought Facility's Me Box, as shown above, mmm pixelly.

12 Days of Christmas

It's an over illustrated subject matter, but in the name of charity Studio 8 have collaborated with artists, designers and illustrators to create a lovely set of Christmas cards for Shelter. Here are four of my favourites, I posted my cards this morning so maybe some of you will be getting them shortly...

Congratulations to the super talented Zoe and her team from Studio 8, it was a lovely night at the exhibition in Poke's Gallery, lovely free booze from Stella Artois too, cheers all.

‘Five Golden Rings’ Michael Kirkham ‘Six Geese a Laying’ by Adrian Johnson ‘Two Turtle Doves’ by Douglas Bevans ‘Four Calling Birds’ by Tom Gauld

Sling your hook

While we're on ailments, I spotted this the other day and now can't remember where it's from, if anyone has any further information, it'll be gladly received. I love the idea of the sling telling the story for you, I went on a St John's Ambulance First Aid course recently so I could bandage you up good and proper. In a non S&M, purely medicinal way of course.

An unliving doll

I'm feeling a bit meh today, I'm trying to denounce a cold and a headache and any other ailment that is currently knocking at my door, so this post sums up my less than rosy outlook. Happy Monday everyone.

Make your own undead Barbie here.

Marc Johns can do no wrong

In my eyes at least. I have just discovered his work and have consumed his blog, site, Flickr and shop in one fell swoop, and just for good measure have bought his Bearded Bird. I think I got carried away with all the Christmas Shopping I've been doing this weekend!

Marc has a curious outlook on the world, a delicate touch and a keen sense of humour. I particularly like his set of Trappings, I'm a big fan of unusual media, so mousetraps and post-its are all good with me.

www.marcjohns.com

Lovely seed animation

Written and directed by Johnny Kelly, of Nexus Productions, paper models by Elin Svensson in collaboration with Goodby, Silverstein and Partners. Lovely, clean use of paper stop frame animation and 2D animation.

Watch 'The Seed' here.

Have a break...

Clever piece of outdoor marketing, as seen on Ffffound.
However, more inventive bench-vertising here.

The First Lady of Fashion

Oh what is a first lady to wear to the Inaugural Ball? WWD asked 34 designers to imagine what Michelle Obama could wear for the Inaugural Ball on January 20th, Christian Lacroix's images (pictured above) are the most impressive by a country mile and put the other designs/designers to shame frankly, see for yourself, more here.

Ahhh ink, I miss you

I was sent a link to some lovely Saul Steinberg illustrations today, he's one of my all time favourite illustrators, these images are over 60 years old and they still look contemporary.

I particularly like the hand drawing the drawing, ooh meta pictures* I've not thought about you for quite a while.

I miss the line quality that you can only get with ink and dip pen (or better still a stick/twig).
Mmmmmm.

See the full article here, thanks Ferg.
*"[a]ny picture that is used to refer to the nature of pictures is a metapicture"

Nice job!

An impactful campaign by Jobsintown.de, 'Life's too short for the wrong job!'
Wise words, campaign by Scholz & Friends, Berlin.

Wait a minute Mr Postman!

I just spotted this on Flickr and it tickled me, I like the idea of shocking, controversial postcards, because the good people of Royal Mail do read them right?

Image found here.

Ingenui-tea

Clever little additions to tea bags, designed by TBWA, thought I'd share.
Seen here.

A wordy sculpture

This is 'House of Knowledge' by Jaume Plensa, as seen in Chatsworth as part of the Beyond Limits exhibition, kindly sent to me by Trina.

It's an incredible sculpture that looms high above people, some 50 odd feet above, not that you can tell from this picture, also I believe the words are taken from a William Blake poem.

Some actual illustration

I realised that this blog is called bowerbird-illustration and it's somewhat scant in the illustration department so here is some work by one of my favourite illustrators Penelope Dullaghan. I saw her quote on Flickr this morning and thought I'd share.

The evolution of logos

Great little site charting the history of some global brands and their logos. More here.

Thanks Igor for the link.

Nice drawers!

I've hung on to this image for so long now, I've forgotten where it's from, but suffice to say, I think this bespoke recycled furniture is gorgeous, and I'd love it to grace my new flat. I think I was an apothecary in a former life, complete with an apothecary's cupboard.

you SCRABBLE love I

Scrabble is one of my favourite games but my boyfriend will no longer play against me, he has lost the last 6 consecutive battles. I love this campaign for Scrabble, produced by JWT Santiago, it works in any language, which is quite impressive for a game dedicated and dependent upon language and the written word.

Bravo.

Piece of cake

Tasty ideas galore from SUCK UK, fast becoming my favourite site, at only £20, this is bound to impress when you bring it to the table.

Old doodles and projects

Since I can't post any of the pitch illustrations and designs I've been working on I thought I'd dig out some old Digit doodles that ended up shaping the projects. Amazingly both projects are still live.

The Dallas Guild
I created this website in my first week at Digit, scarily two and a half years ago, it's my first ever attempt at web design so don't be too critical.
www.thedallasguild.com

The Grand Tour
Working alongside super-talented Art Director Andrew Dean, we created this website, complete with an animation that changes dependent on the weather in London.
www.thegrandtour.org.uk

Thanks to Pete for arranging this poster-like image of my doodles.

Friday afternoon, time to concentrate...

No, I don't think so, but when Monday morning rolls around you may want one of these pencils.

You probably don't need me to explain, but if the pencil is pre-chewed it should deter you from doing so, and therefore focus your concentration, In theory.

They are designed by Concentrate, who create products which aim to improve children's concentration at school and ultimately improve their work, as we all work better when we concentrate.

More here.

Happy weekend everyone!

Let it 2B

Just stumbled across this great idea, drumming pencils, simple, clever and oh so annoying to those sitting nearby. Design by Moko Sellars, available to buy from Suck UK

Keep it simple, stupid!

I love this, I must keep it in mind when I'm working, I'm such a flowery, verbose person at times, it's good to remember to keep things simple and human. Happy Wednesday everyone.

Roller Cowboy

I'm wearing my cowboy boots today and happened to come across this image, which I could really do with this week, it's a bit manic, pitches galore at work, but all very exciting.

Malcolm Gladwell author of The Tipping Point, Blink and most recently Outliers: The Story of Success, gave a talk last night at The Lyceum Theatre, home of The Lion King. Despite an incredible mane of hair, think Sideshow Bob, he was there as himself on TLK's night off to talk about, as it transpired, plane crashes. We weren't expecting this. He is well known for insightful ideas, observations, provocative thoughts and a love of physchological tests that translate the human factor into real life stories and in this case catastrophes.

He spoke of there being typically 7 very ordinary, almost banal events that occur in quick succession which accumulate into a disaster. Gladwell is a wonderful, engaging orator, with a compelling vocal range which had the whole audience in pin-drop silence or laughter at just the right moments; we were buoyed along from comical national traits to sad tales of crashes, unnecessary accidents and shown worrying similarities in each case. In short, Gladwell is a great observer, much like a stand-up comic, but more worryingly somehow, because it's real and at the expense of people's lives.

On a lighter note, or atleast I hope, I've started reading Outliers and hope it will also give insightful examples of events which shape success, in much the same way it can shape disaster.
I'll let you now how it goes, perhaps the first Digit Book Club book, any takers?

He was also on Radio4 last night I'm told.

Tim Walker photo shoot

What do you get when you cross Tim Burton, Tim Walker and Roald Dahl?
A brilliantly surreal photo shoot for Vogue.

I caught the Tim Walker exhibition at the Design Museum a few months ago, it was lovely, fairytale with a streak of the sinister, I love it, it reminds me of Labyrinth.

More photos from this shoot here.
Tim Walker's portfolio here.

Mona

Head in the clouds

I've just completed a two day After Effects course and am now eager to animate EVERYTHING!

After Effects is brilliant, it tramples all over Flash, it's a brilliantly complex yet intuitive program that I can't wait to get my teeth in to. 

However, rather than animating I'll be moving house this weekend, so limited blogging ahead, I'll be a little all over the shop for a few days so here are some head in the clouds imagery to reflect my state of mind. Back soon.

Images via my ffffound

Someone stole my idea...

I was on a bendy bus today and it was as entertaining as ever, I hope Borris doesn't really ban them, although as a cyclist I can see their menace, however I enjoy watching people being disorientated on the sliding platforms of the 'bend'. Schadenfreude aside, I always feel like I'm inside an accordion and apparently I'm not the only one... 

Advertisement for Camden Irish Music Festival, image via estupipedia

Wildlife is disappearing

Clever advert from WWF, I find it strange that they are using other companies to advertise themselves but it is highly effective. More ads here.

Star trek comes to Digit

The Friday feeling struck us last week as I realised a few of us had inadvertently come to work in Star Trek garb. I printed off a few badges and hey presto, geek fancy dress, my dad would be proud though.

It's maths time

This satisfies the maths geek and the designer in me. As my wonderful maths teacher used to say 'algebra is beautiful' and so is this idea. Personally I would have made 6 o' clock the square root of 36.

Found via estupipedia.

Eat dessert in the desert

I have always confused dessert with desert, and I have had enough, so I decided to teach myself a way of remembering. Thought I'd share.

Dessert is sugary sweet (double s)
Desert is solitude (single s)

I feel better, I don't know about you, perhaps no-one else makes this mistake...

Mirror, mirror on the wall

Clever idea, well executed, you know you want to pose in profile fashion in front of it...
You can buy them here, prices start from £17.95

Scrabbulous!

I have just ffffound this and am in utter awe of it's simplicity and beautiful execution.
Stephen Reed Design for Bloomsbury offices. My only gripe is that the seats don't fit 7 cushions.

I think I'm in love...

Her name is Mami.
Seen here, created by Hetty Rose, all hand crafted to order in kimono silks and leather.

44th president

Nice illustration by www.patrickmoberg.com I wish Obama's hair was white too like the other little chaps, effective illustration though.

GOBAMA!

Singing Sock Puppets

Matthew Irvine Brown spoke at This is Playful last Friday and I wanted to share his playful genius. Matthew’s talk was pure playfulness and it such a relief as I was beginning to worry about the day’s events. Although best known for his work at Last FM, he concentrated his talk on his sideline personal projects: Trumpet Hero, Breath Control Car and Singing Sock Puppets.

Check out his site for these playful projects and more but I found his singing sock puppets the most captivating, I would like one, very much please.

"This is a singing sock puppet. There's a sensor inside that knows how wide his mouth is open, so he can sing up and down a scale. Open his mouth a little, he sings a low note; open wider, he sings a higher note; even wider, he screams at the top of his voice. And so on."

www.irvinebrown.com/

That was Playful

I went along to Conway Hall to step outside of my comfort zone and learn a little about gaming; I’m a huge fan of playful design so I was open to new experiences.

The event was organised by Pixel Lab and compèred by their very own Toby Barnes, it would be a day of 20minute talks and lots of tea breaks. It was a varied day, with lots of super intelligent people, some of which were very charming and funny, some less so, but a playful attitude was in abundance, whether you were tech savvy or not, it was an inspiring day.

Highlights included making a Guitar Hero guitar into a real acoustic one, singing sock puppets, free jelly beans and a man with a gigantic head who managed to obstruct my view with such efficiency during one talk I estimated him to have achieved approximately 80 square feet of visual obstruction. Impressive.

Image credit: Tom T Pictured is Roo Reynolds hacking his Guitar