dots and spaces

moo++

Its about time I did a little post about Moo who are clever people who take your flickr photos and turn them into little business cards, greetings cards and now, stickers. They use a clever Indigo digital press which means they get great quality and don't have to make plates (the things that make Litho expensive).

Cleverly, they've managed to create a seamless link from the web to print. Its a proper Web 2.0 company, which for me holds its meaning in making the internet useful and intergrated into daily life. Web 2.O means that the internet becomes a tool for daily use, rather than a big library of references and information. great.

New London 2012 logo

Quite a brave ol' logo for London 2012 Olympics - there's a branding video where you can watch it coming together, zooming across the london skyline, bouncing through the athletes bodies, lighting up everything sporty. I tell you, I think its fantastic, but come the Olympics themselves, we'll be bloody sick of it. I can see what's going on - vibrant, modern, kinetic, buzzy, exciting - and I have to say its quite a departure from the usual Olympic logos and I'm quite glad there isn't a character, a cheeky lion say, or a face created from the rings...hang on, maybe it is a character in itself, fizzing with energy, ready to go at the sound of the gun. I think it was created by Wolff Olins, the same people behind 3 and orange. Lets see what the designerati think, I predict they'll hate it and then get onboard the bandwagon once it gains popularity. I'll tune into Radio 5 tomorrow to hear people complain that its a waste of money. Can't wait.

*UPDATE 07.06.07

I can't quite believe the reactions - its a couple of days later and it seems the logo is meeting with universal disapproval. There are a legion of posts discussing the logo and how much people hate it - everything from it looking like a bad eighties soft-rock video to looking like Simpson's characters. I'm in the process of designing a logo for a music organisation and to be honest, its not a good time for these sorts of things, believe me when I say it will be restrained. At least its got everyone talking about design then, although Seb Coe must be wishing he'd gone for the fluffy lion with a ribbon leaping over the olympic rings.

finding your keys

Hi, did you just find one of my key cards? Did you type in the address on the back?

Welcome to dotsandspaces, the personal website of designer Stephan Caspar.

There are key cards in lots of strange locations and I've started leaving them in books, on trains, waiting rooms and I even sneaked some into the local cinema. I'd be very interested to know where you found yours, and whether you're going to keep it, send it to someone, stick it on the fridge or pop it in the (recycling) bin. These cards are printed on recycled paper using vegetable based inks, and look how bright they are!

so, please leave a comment, I'd love to hear from you - and if you're a regular visitor and you'd like some postcards, let me know and I'll send some out.

threadless submission no.1

My first submission to threadless met with some approval from the hardcore voters that patrol the site - such fun to have finally given it a go. Now what I need you to do is hit the link above (or below) and head over there to vote! vote! vote!

if you have any suggestions, please let me know - I won't be able to re-submit this idea, but I'll be able to take them onto the next idea. If you've never visited threadless you'll see what an amazing site it is - all the designs come from visitors to the site, who also vote on the best, which then get made and form part of the roster of t-shirts. Its a simple idea, but a great one.

new design site

A couple of weeks ago I attended a seminar run by the design council which explored the ways in which to encourage small businesses to use design as part of their strategic thinking. The idea being that investing in design should be thought of in terms of benefit and investment just as much as say, employing more staff, investing in technology etc.

I've set up a little site very quickly using the free google.pages tool - its very easy to use and has allowed me to trail a new idea I have. I'm still not very sure what its about, but I'm thinking about it as an experiment. I would welcome your comments and appeal for hypothetical problems to solve. These are strategic problems where design would play a role in solving them.

This is very different to the usual route I take as a graphic designer, (less image-maker, more conceptual) but the idea is to allow yourself to multi-task - to be the creative - the solution could be product, print, web-based or simply a concept. I know that many people do this already, but as I think more about this, it could become quite interesting.

we'll see - I wanted to explain the appearance of these new pages and hope you'll forgive me as I have a little play.

this site is an eyesore

I'm so tired of looking at this site and wondering what to do with it. The last couple of tweaks to colour and banner have been appalling - I really have been quite clueless. But then its february, there are other things to think about, get the house ready, keep warm, fix bicycles and watch films. We are going to see "The Prestige" on saturday, I have a feeling its not going to be very good.

I think it might be to do with energy - I have very little. I'm not really all that keen on the big detox and get fit burst that we attempt after christmas - in france they wait until springtime, which is much better - you can actually go out and enjoy the big outdoors, rather than hang about in gyms. For a while I use to go, but I just don't like them - nobody wants to be there, the view (of other sweaty people) is rather limited and the air is less than fresh. Nothing beats hitting the lanes and scooting through the countryside.

I know we're going to be very busy, very soon, but I can't wait.

so, bear with me, I will have a proper think about dots and spaces - this tweaking has got to stop.

the people we work for

I've been struggling with work a bit lately, and I'm sure its just a bit of a purple patch. I'm learning an important lesson about authorship and how the work bounces from client to designer and back to client. Its not an easy process but a few articles have been very helpful in thinking about this - including this one by Adrian Shaughnessy, author of the brilliant How to be a graphic designer without losing your mind. I know I'm not the first designer to feel frustration with the process, but really, this is something I will have to come round to, otherwise, as the title of Shaughnessy's book suggests, there could be an unhappy outcome.

maps

so its almost june and its still raining - come on, when's the summer going to kick in?

been busy working on a new site for TC (I won't even link to the old one I'm afraid) but can promise you the new one will be a bit more interesting and there are plans for a blog too.  Hopefully it'll be of interest to existing clients and help us spread the word with new people. I'm really interested in doing something else too, maybe a fanzine, or a poster set. whatever it ends up as I hope it'll cause a stir.

I wanted to do a post about the black pirate (this is a cunning reminder) - and if you don't know who that is...you will do.

Finally - went to see Guillemots at the wedge and they were great - I wasn't sure what I was doing there at first, but they won me round pretty quickly. There were some nice touches, arriving on stage through the audience, singing without mics, woman in a wedding dress playing a double bass - all sorts of things that a new band should adopt.

Badger Press and Jason Munn

Even though I've got my new Gocco, I've not abandoned the big prints - so I think it is great that there is a new website for The Badger Press - www.badgerpress.org for the latest news about courses, and events happening in the studio. Its always a busy place and its one of the most enjoyable weekend, I'm always looking forward to the next booking. Also to mention here a series of articles in Ready Made about three wonderful screenprinters including Jason Munn who makes amazing work for notable indie rock bands including The Decemberists - check out Jason's work at www.thesmallstakes.com - its inspiring and beautiful, and if I can get even a little closer to that sort of thing when I got The Badger Press, then I'll be very happy.

hokkaido showers me with gifts

A big thank you to the kids in Japan - they are both fab and have treated me to the gift of gocco and I'm hoping to get started as soon as possible. I will be the envy of all my screenprinting friends. I have to say, these days all I get is junk mail, so its so nice to get something, and you can't beat a parcel from Japan. Look at the badges, aren't they great?