Big River Man

"On February 1st, 2007, the worlds greatest endurance swimmer attempted the worlds most dangerous swim. 3393 Miles down the Amazon River."

This guy is crazy! And the film looks like it will be great (see the trailer below). Pigeonholed as a drunk, a madman and the worlds last superhero, the film documents the Big River Man, Martin Strel's attempt to swim the Amazon River. Fascinating.

Big River Man - Trailer from KNR Productions on Vimeo.

Big River Man

Ink Calendar

Spanish designer Oscar Diaz has designed a calendar that uses the capillary action of ink spreading across paper to display the date.

In his own words, although not brilliant English: "The ink is absorbed slowly, and the numbers in the calendar are "printed" daily. One a day, they are filled with ink until the end of the month. A calendar self-updated, which enhances the perception of time passing and not only signaling it.

The ink colors are based on a spectrum, which relate to a “color temperature scale”, each month having a color related to our perception of the whether on that month. The colors range from dark blue in December to, three shades of green in spring or oranges, red in the summer.

The scale for measuring the “color temperature” that I have used is a standard called ‘D65’ and corresponds roughly to a midday sun in Western / Northern Europe.

The "Ink Calendar" was developed for “Gradual “, an exhibition featuring works, which were evolving during the exhibition time at the London Design Festival 2007."

Oscar Diaz's Site

Work Experience at Ascend

I spent three days at Ascend doing some work experience last week and hope to go back to do some more soon. Ascend are a small but smart team of creatives who are passionate about design and very driven. I was able to work on a rebrand project for a PR agency, which I hope to get to work on some more.

My time there was short and sweet, but I got a lot out of it already. A great experience all round.

Ascend Creative

Don't Lose Your Soul

I read this book whilst doing some work experience in central London with a communications company. I had wanted to read it for a while, but I became more and more intrigued by the book due to it's beautiful turquoise cover. Now I know what you're thinking...never judge a book my its cover. But lets face it, we all do. The book is a good tool for any designers starting out and I recommend a read for hints and tips about approaching employers and starting your own design shop.

However, this book has inspired me visually too. I have wanted to use that colour in a project ever since seeing it. I have naughtily attempted to shoe horn it in to my personal projects, but it just hasn't been right. Finally, a brief came along which it is just perfect for. The project will be available online to view shortly on my personal website. I will post it when it is launched.


Until then, I leave you with some posters for an Adrian Shaughnessy Lecture at SIAD (Sheffield Institute of Art and Design). The posters are designed by Thomas Jackson.

"The Solution was to include an opinion of the designer himself within the poster. Using influence from his previous book entitled ‘How to be a graphic designer without losing your soul’. This poster represents the letterforms as the designer and the counters (the holes in the middle of letters) as the soul within. The letterforms without counters are then questioning whether they are designers if they have no soul."

Buy the book here.

Pantone Colour Guides

Yesterday my Pantone Formula Guides were delivered. I took the plunge and purchased the solid coated and uncoated guides, which unfortunately cost me nearly as much as my freelance job is paying me...ironic. But now I have Pantone guides, and I am very excited. I have always been a bit of a Pantone system fan. I started collecting the mugs just after they were first produced and so it was only a matter of time before I got some of the books. Would love to get the whole set some day, of tints, bridge, 4 colour process, metallics...the lot. I may have to win the lottery first though!


For more information about Pantone colour guides, visit the Pantone website.

The Impossible Dream

I love this advert. It really outlines what passion is for me. The constant struggle and endeavour to do better and create new things. And this just makes me feel like it is all worth it.