I was first set the creative challenge to Eat Something Different a few weeks ago. The aim is to eat something unusual or to eat it in a different way. Small regular problem-solving tasks that stretch the imagination are good for rehearsing your creativity. So as I only had about […]
Now is a good time to start thinking about sending out cards and self-promotion items to would-be customers and clients. Whether you want to drum up design work for yourself of any other kind of business it would be a nice idea to make an eye-catching greetings card for Christmas, […]
You can trust the British Library in London to put on a big, important exhibition, and Comics Unmasked was no exception. The already iconic poster by Jamie Hewlett is above. But I left with the thought that I don’t really like comics very much! I am interested in them, like […]
Where might you find giant white cats, embroidered sailors, typographic woolly scarves, loads of skulls, skate boards, decorated wooden spoons, printing presses and over-priced “my toddler could do that” collage? Yes, of course, it is Somerset House’s yearly display of the graphic arts, Pick Me Up. As always this year was fun […]
Apologies, dear followers, about the several month’s break in blogging. We have been busy creating new projects, including a few apps, the long awaited On Stage (scenography with a way to explore a book of your choice) and our brand new Arts & Issues series, which looks at…erm…the arts and issues! […]
The disruptive dust around MOOCs has settled a bit now and their uses and rewards are becoming clearer. Why might you undertake one and how can you make your MOOC behave? Be advised that if you do start one you will learn not just the topic itself but much about […]
This week up in London, while helicopters buzzed overhead to guard the christening of George, I went to a couple of letter arts and calligraphy shows to get inspiration. One was at St Bride Library, showing the work of the South London Lettering Association, and the other was at Foyles […]
Above: The Music Room stand at the London Acoustic Guitar Show 2013 Where do you get your creative inspiration from? One of the things I always tell my graphic design learners is: “don’t just explore other graphic design for inspiration!” That blinkered view can make you narrow and unoriginal. Instead, […]
Above: The Birds of America, Plate 311, American White Pelican, 1824–38 Running until next Spring at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston is a show of the most famous bird illustrations of all time, the work of John James Audubon (1785-1851). We might know of him today in our overly-commercial world as […]
the graphic design project 