Most evenings there's a constant struggle in my house between the socially, artistically and culturally worthy broadcasts that TV was made for and the entertainment vacuum that my beloved wife choses her evening viewing from (Hollyoaks, I'm looking in your direction here). The only reprieve is by means of a secret rite, that can be performed once a century when the Moon is in the eighth house of Aquarius OR when my wife has found a new book series featuring the exploits of a bunch of teenage, single parent, vegetarian vampires. I'd scoff some more, but seeing as the latest book allowed me to engage with 'The Art of Seeing' featuring David Hockney (clearly there was no football on that night) I was grateful to the maudlin, cretinous nonsense that was corrupting the brain of the lady to my left.
We have discussed before about how many designers start off as artists who are then forced into searching for a practical application of their talents. I have no problem with the choices that I made here, but the sad fact is that somewhere along the line, the pursuit of art history and artists in general takes a back seat whilst you fight to understand the latest layout software, retouching tools and code structures. I used to love visiting galleries, reading art books, learning about the social context of art movements and getting my head around the implications of what art has influenced. Well, when I say 'love' I really mean 'forced to love through necessity by my college at the time' but that doesn't really have the same ring to it. In my college days the internet solely consisted of Joe Cartoon and AOL chat and so I really did need to visit these galleries and read these books - you couldn't log in and wing it. Today it's a different story however and only a few short moments into The Art of Seeing I was lazing my way through the Wikipedia post on Hockney to extend my knowledge beyond 'wasn't he that bloke what painted them swimming pools in the 60s'. The Wikipedia entry for Hockney stated that Hockney is one of the most influential British artists of the 20th Century which I suppose is irrefutable, but the thing that really interested me about him was the following (which I assume is true): "Hockney was born with synesthesia; he sees synesthetic colours to musical stimuli."
The John Cusack prophecy/future-documentary ‘2012’ promises us some kind of natural disaster related death this year. I haven’t managed to find three hours of my life I am happy to consign to the joy vacuum that ‘2012’ no doubt represents so unfortunately I am unable to furnish you with anyspecifics on the impending fate of the UK and what form that will take although you can glean some clues from the following sentence which I havehelpfully snatched from Wikipedia as part of your apocalypse early warning...
”President Wilson is later killed by a megatsunami that sends the aircraft carrier USS John F. Kennedy crashing into the White House.”
Now there’s three things that should not be in a sentence together. White House. Aircraft Carrier. Megatsunami. You could also argue that they shouldnot be in a film together either. I’m suspecting you’d be right. Just watch out for large scale military warships crushing your bungalow. Anyways, onthe run up to any potential global catastrophe, people will still need logos and websites so we will continue to plug away here at the 49th.
This week I decided to treat the mrs by ditching my usual value basics bright white bumper pack of toilet paper from our weekly shop. Instead I opted for the spectacularly pretty bright and bold series from the Andrex limited collection range which is printed on a material that honestly feels nicer than my actual duvet.
I rushed home, quivering with excitement at the prospect of my wife's rapturous, beaming smile as she opened the day-glow orange Sainsburys bag and the joy she would undoubtably display for the next few days as she got a taste of the high life. I felt a little bit like a lion in the Serengeti who had taken down a gazelle for the family and was plodding back to the den dribbling over the fresh meat. Hunter gatherer personified; "woman, here be ye patterned paper for defecation perfection" -Swooooooooon. Why God himself couldn't have wished for a more pleasant wiping experience than this I am sure.
Later on I took my place at the throne to deposit the children to the pool and I swiftly became less thrilled by the experience. The fact was, I found myself being a tad disgusted at what can only be described as a major design-flaw. The problem is two-ply (see what I did):
1. Its quilted sheets feel so soft and velvety - almost like a duvet. Do I want to wipe my back-side with a duvet? No, I do not. This idea is sick.
2. Unravelling the roll a bit reveals a bright, colourful, abstract art masterpiece. Do I want to wipe my arse with a work of art? No, this is morally corrupt.
I acknowledge that often the average NHS-white toilet environment could possibly be a little bland and in need of cheering up - but is toilet paper really the best application? Isn't this what those toilet seats that look like little aquariums are for? If I want to smear my faecal matter over anything or anyone it certainly wouldn't be Pete the pink flamingo and pals (2 Flamingos, one Butterfly.com - yuk) but it would be someone or something that I utterly despise.
By accident I think I have stumbled upon THE concept of the year so far. I am proud to introduce to you all: 'Spite Paper' a range of toilet papers that you will almost certainly WANT to wipe your bum on.
Geek alert.
This is possibly the geekiest thing you've ever read/seen/done/enjoyed, so if all things bespectacled, pale and pathetic irritate your sensibilities then look away now.
To the uninitiated, Lorem ipsum is placeholder text commonly used to fill the gaps in a design until the final approved copy has become available. It was specifically created to have no meaning and its passing resemblance to Latin was not intentional. It's also known as greeking deriving from the phrase 'it's all Greek to me'.
It's also boooooorrrrrriiiinnnnnng if you use it often enough - even more so if you opt for the 'Placeholder text' from InDesign which doesn't even have familiarity to boost it's profile. So what's the solution to acute Lorem Syndrome leading to boring layouts?
Courtesy of Ed from The Pilates Pod I would like to introduce you all to http://baconipsum.com which offers a meatier taste of Lorem which I'm sure you will agree is far easier to digest (albeit dirty and carcinogenic). Couple your layout with placeholder images featuring Hams and bacon and you might just win that pitch this time (or at least score the sandwich van an extra BLT).
FYI there's also a vegetarian version if you are that way inclined: veggieipsum.com or if you don't want to have filler text made from anything that has a face then go for: veganipsum.com
At the 49th we are naturally curious people who get genuine enjoyment from learning new techniques, software solutions and by striving to stay in touch with modern trends and standards. We pride ourselves on being a very adaptable design service provider and this philosophy has enabled us to benefit from working on richly varied set of projects in numerous fields, for which I am very grateful.
We were recently contacted by illustrator and designer extraordinaire @TrulyAceDesign from www.trulyace.com who I respect a massive amount to helpfully point out that when she tried to subscribe to our RSS feed, Google reader didn't like it at all. I must admit that I had totally forgotten there even was an RSS feed, let alone that someone might want to bother subscribing to it and it swiftly became apparent that despite always trying to be ahead of the game, I have to hold my hands up to the fact that my enthusiasm toward understanding and implementing RSS had left our own site a little behind the pack. For one reason or another (K2 I'm looking at you and your wonderful ability to be fantastically irritating on Mondays) it took me ages to get the feed working properly. Now that it is working I'd really appreciate it if as many of you reading this as possible would click the orange Lego brick on the right of the page and subscribe to make my endeavours worth the angst.
The thing is, I just have this little nagging feeling that there will be a lot of people (like me until recently) to whom at best RSS holds little appeal and at worst have no idea what it is or how to use it. I thought it might be useful to construct an easily palatable guide to RSS and why it's in actual fact really useful and not just a pretty little glassy button that started appearing a few years ago that potentially you have never clicked on due to technophobia.
I was talking to a good friend of mine this week (take a bow monsieur Winter) who informed me that magenta isn't really a colour. We all know about white and I must admit I'd always had my suspicions about K (keyline from CMYK) but surely magenta is a 100% bone-fide colour? Apparently not, and this article is about to blow the lid on this madness right the heck off. Prepare to be aMaZeD.
On 31 August 1997 Diana, Princess of Wales died in a car accident in Paris. There was an immediate and overwhelming outpouring of public emotion, people were crying in the streets and were generally devastated at the loss of 'The People's Princess'. Contrary to the norm and despite my genuine respect for Diana as a person who seemingly worked really hard in the name of various good causes - when I learned this news I soon found myself getting angry. I was angry not as you might expect at the loss of an admittedly iconic and presumably 'nice' lady with 'a heart of gold' but at the fact that for at least the next 3 days that's all that was on TV, the radio and in news/conversation around the world and it got really boring really fast.
The primary objective of advertising via design and strategy is to convince people to do something. This might mean encouraging to buy, call, use, sell, eat, share - or any of a million other things. Ultimately the intention is to passively force the audience at large to look at a product or service from a positive perspective whereby the key assets are identified and communicated in a wholly positive light which pushes for direct engagement by the target market. But what happens if your client represents a product or service that you don't feel morally comfortable about yourself? Should you do it anyway? Which agencies would go ahead and do these examples and just pocket the cash?
> Leaflet promoting legal narcotics?
> TV ad for swingers?
> Business cards for Saddam Hussein?
> Internet marketing campaign advice for the IRA?
> Packaging design for Benson and Hedges?
> A website for pro-anorexia campaigners?
> Posters for the new fat, treble Whopper burger which is 150% salt and sugar intake for an adult male?
In the 12th century King Cnut thought that his command was so powerful he could hold back the waves of the sea. He famously failed (history resource: The Meads primary school assembly circa 1986).
Since the launch of the iPhone, the omnipotent techno God Steve Jobs has been holding back the watery mirk of Flash from the purity of his beloved Apple. Announced during the IBC trade show in Amsterdam on Friday by those Cnuts at Adobe - he has failed. Maybe. Sort-of. Ish.
49th Floor Design and Artworking have a can-do attitude which minimises the involvement of third parties throughout the creative process. This concept helps keep overheads at an absolute minimum and this cost-saving is passed on to each of our clients without impacting any area of delivery.
We realise that things don't always go to plan and sometimes things are needed in a hurry, but without a compromise on quality. We are dedicated to always being available to our clients and making ourselves flexible enough to accomodate the most demanding deadlines.
It's important to use the right software solution to achieve your goal and our clients can rest assured that whatever project comes our way, the 49th will utilise the most modern applications and techniques to guarantee a high quality level of finish.
Most evenings there's a constant struggle in my house between the socially, artistically and culturally worthy broadcasts that TV was made for and the entertainment vacuum that my beloved wife choses her evening viewing from (Hollyoaks, I'm looking in your direction here). The only reprieve is by means of a secret rite, that can be performed once a century when the Moon is in the eighth house of Aquarius OR when my wife has found a new book series featuring the exploits of a bunch of teenage, single parent, vegetarian vampires. I'd scoff some more, but seeing as the latest...
Print is dead and so is everyone else according to John Cusack... The John Cusack prophecy/future-documentary ‘2012’ promises us some kind of natural disaster related death this year. I haven’t managed to find three hours of my life I am happy to consign to the joy vacuum that ‘2012’ no doubt represents so unfortunately I am unable to furnish you with anyspecifics on the impending fate of the UK and what form that will take although you can glean some clues from the following sentence which I havehelpfully snatched from Wikipedia as part of your apocalypse early warning... ”President Wilson is later...
This week I decided to treat the mrs by ditching my usual value basics bright white bumper pack of toilet paper from our weekly shop. Instead I opted for the spectacularly pretty bright and bold series from the Andrex limited collection range which is printed on a material that honestly feels nicer than my actual duvet. I rushed home, quivering with excitement at the prospect of my wife's rapturous, beaming smile as she opened the day-glow orange Sainsburys bag and the joy she would undoubtably display for the next few days as she got a taste of the high life. I...
Geek alert. This is possibly the geekiest thing you've ever read/seen/done/enjoyed, so if all things bespectacled, pale and pathetic irritate your sensibilities then look away now.
To the uninitiated, Lorem ipsum is placeholder text commonly used to fill the gaps in a design until the final approved copy has become available. It was specifically created to have no meaning and its passing resemblance to Latin was not intentional. It's also known as greeking deriving from the phrase 'it's all Greek to me'. It's also boooooorrrrrriiiinnnnnng if you use it often enough - even more so if you opt for the 'Placeholder text' from InDesign which doesn't even have familiarity to boost it's profile. So what's the solution to acute Lorem Syndrome leading to boring layouts? Courtesy of Ed...
Due to some negatively reported stories of genocide, I had felt that my brand was generally in need of some refreshment before moving on to phase 3 of my Cake business "I'll be Bake". 49th Floor held my hand through the process and offered real value for money. I was so pleased I gave them my clothes, my boots and my motorcycle to say thank you - highly recommended.
I've created worlds but it's really not as impressive as it sounds and what really was impressive was the speed and quality of the on-line promotions 49th Floor did for my wardrobe business. Great work lads.
My son had been dabbling with design for years using MS Word - but the Emperor and I felt that his destiny lay elsewhere and to really get the Dark Side out there to the rest of the Empire in a modern and professional way, we needed to source a supplier with some real force. We called 49th Floor and just a short time later we were overjoyed with some impressive, most impressive new advertising.
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