HAMPER

Hello! Welcome to Hamper! We are a collective of young graphic designers from Manchester and London with a passion for all things design - Enjoy & follow us! Much love - Hamper

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A couple more fun pieces from Pick Me Up 2013 [I know I'm a bit late on this].

First up is "Sports Cheeses", from Christopher Wright & Richie Moment [sportscheeses.tumblr.com, www.mightywright.co.uk]

And secondly "Spot The Villain", a painted mural illustration from Kyle Platts, Tom Slater and Sam Taylor [www.kyleplatts.com, www.thomasslaterillustrator.com, www.samtaylorillustrator.com]

Credit to Lazy Oaf [www.lazyoaf.co.uk] and Kyle Platts [kyleplatts.tumblr.com] for the photos. 

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Some pretty sweet architectural typography done by Maddison Graphic for Icon Magazine's "Rethink" series. To see more go to http://www.maddisongraphic.com/rethink.php

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OWT Discourse: SUCCESS / FAILURE / INSPIRATION

with Malcolm Garrett / Craig Oldham / David Bailey / Dave Haslam

It's a brave move to kick off a new series of events by asking your audience to contemplate the nature of success and failure from the moment they book their tickets. But that's what OWT Creative did with their first Discourse event, which explored the overlapping themes of success, failure and inspiration.

Billed as part knowledge exchange, part pub chat, the evening was built around three guest speakers from the design industry. Each were given 20 minutes to talk around the theme, followed by time for twitter-fed questions from the live audience. 

And it worked. The whole evening was a thought-provoking discussion of what we actually mean when we talk about 'successful' design. 

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SUCCESS

DB: "Don't just hop on the computer, turn your brain on first."

MG: How much of the design process is luck? "Probably quite a bit. But what you need to do is make your own luck. And the secret is spotting the good luck." 

DH: (quoting former Buzzcock's manager Richard Boon) "Make the place you happen to be living in the place you want to be living in."

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David Bailey (not THAT one), was up first. The founder of Sheffield-based agency Kiosk, who originally made his name at Designers Republic, pondered the notion of design perfection. It's what we all strive for, but should we? Is Apple store's functional gloss actually less inspiring than the relative chaos of a trip to Shoe Zone? Is design more successful when it's aesthetically pleasing, when it fits the brief, or only in relation to the could-do-betters?

It was (perhaps ironically) the perfect set up for an evening which asked the question: is it possible to marry professionalism with true creativity in design? 

The gleefully potty-mouthed Craig Oldham of Manchester studio Music was up next. He asked the audience to forget about professionalism, and the set standards and processes that it implies. Instead, it's a designers job to challenge the perceived 'right way' to do things.

It was a recurring theme throughout the night: you can't be truly innovative if you're not constantly questioning what you're presented with, whether it's a client request or a whole design tradition. The production-line approach to design might give the client what they asked for, but that doesn't necessarily mean they'll get what they need. Professionalism breeds adequacy.

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FAILURE:

MG: "You can't do great work for a client who doesn't want it. It has to be a partnership."

MG: "At 3am in the studio, when everyone was fed up and wanted to go home, we always used to say 'It's not the fucking Sistine Chapel!' " 

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          Malcolm Garrett - the self-proclaimed 'token professional' on the panel - topped the bill. He chatted to compere Dave Haslam about his surprising inspirations, failures and successes - including Spice Girls memorabilia, working with his heroes, and creating the cover for the Buzzcock's fist single Orgasm Addict while in his second year at Manchester Polytechnic.

His take on success was an interesting one. Perhaps his proudest contribution to the design industry is not his iconic designs from the punk era onwards, but his decision to embrace new technology and head up the first studio in the world to go wholly digital in 1990. And this is characteristic - the raw, animal quality he brought to the Buzzcocks cover was achieved through photocopying Linder Sterling's original illustration in the days when photocopiers were still a rarity. He avoided polish and perfection, embraced new techniques, and shied away not just from popular design at the time but also from the existing punk aesthetic. A true innovator, by the other panellists' criteria. 

However, Garrett himself was careful to stress that successful graphic design should have a purpose, "it has to represent something." David Carson's fall from favour after the demise of 90s grunge typography wasn't simply to do with the passing of a trend. "He forgot he was in a communications industry," said Garrett, "and he stopped communicating." 

Any tips for success? "Always analyse why you've been asked to do something," take risks; challenge preconceptions, and make the most of what's available to you - whether that's new technology, or opportunities to collaborate and share skills. Most importantly, learn to spot the good opportunities, and pick your battles. 

All things which every designer needs to be reminded of at the end of a tough day in the studio. A great night. 

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INSPIRATION:

CO: "She's a fickle muse, Inspiration. She might just fuck off and leave you with the kids."

MG: "Inspiration comes from everywhere, it comes from life."

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If you missed this sold out event, it was all caught on film and will be available via the OWT website soon - hopefully unedited, so there's still an audible soundtrack of spilt drinks and moderate heckling, flies bouncing off the disco ball, and an ongoing debate about Oldham's red trousers.

OWT's next publication will be created using the ideas and materials generated on the night, so keep an eye out:

www.owtcreative.com, @OWTcreative #OWTdiscourse

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Quids In: The Poundshop MCR

Trolley-dash beautiful design at The Poundshop's latest pop-up shop at Manchester's Chinese Arts Centre. 

The brainchild of George Wu, Sara Melin and Sarah Gottleib, The Poundshop is the perfect double-whammy for budding young designers. It offers cash-strapped creative types the opportunity to pick up beautiful design oddments (from the functional to the frivolous) for £1, £5 or £10. More than that, it was established to encourage young designers to commercialise their ideas by giving them a platform to sell their goods. Win win. 

BUY BUY BUY: The shop (with a quirky interior designed by Manchester studio Music) is at the Chinese Arts Centre on Thomas Street. You can also pick up a bargain at the online shop - both are open until 22nd June 2013. Is it ever too early to start Christmas Shopping? Hamper's top purchases include:

The gorgeously minimal Honey Club Urban Seeds pack. Save the bees by planting their favourite food in your urban garden. Then frame the packaging. £5

Custhom's Totem necklaces - bag a fox, bear or owl online, or if you're buying from the shop you can mix and match! Perfect for knocking out fellow festival-goers as you jump around in the sun. £1

Customize your cardi with Lizzie Bass & Amanda Scott's Alphabuttons - they'd make great jewellery too, and the whole typeface is screenprinted on the back of the packaging. £1

What Does This Sound Look Like? Is Barbar's fun addition: listen to the sound (via a url link found in the packaging), create your mask using the stickers provided, then upload a photo to their website to join their wall of sound. £1

Mina Bach celebrates the joy that is public domain with her little books - thanks to copyright laws, you are free to copy, reproduce, transmit, broadcast and lend her mini copies of Katherine Mansfield's short stories however you wish. Let's all share: BOOKS WILL MAKE US FREE! £1

SELL SELL SELL: From MCR to LDN - the next pop-up Poundshop is in the window of Selfridges. Click here to find out how to submit your designs and be in with a chance of selling your own product. 

Happy Shopping, y'all :)

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Magpie Studio

A series of motivational posters from Shoreditch based Magpie Studio. The studio designed a series of posters for Robert Horne new Imagine paper stock that would appeal to a design-savvy audience and suggest that with creativity - anything is possible. You can find the series of posters here.

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Seinfeld oil paintings by Morgan Blair

Brooklyn-based Morgan Blair usually paints wildly coloured graphic abstracts, but she's also done a series of oil paintings based scenes on one of our favourite sitcoms of all time. 

 Check out more of her work (and more Seinfeld paintings!) at www.morganblair.com 

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New project from Column Five [www.columnfivemedia.com] combining nice vector illustrations with a repository of Arrested Development quotes.

quoteabluth.com

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Sarah Vanbelle

Although there was a great deal of fantastic work at the Pick Me Up show this year (too many to mention!) but a quick mention to the lovely illustrations of Sarah Vanbelle, a graphic designer and illustrator based in Antwerp, Belgium.

Her bright and abstract illustration style really leapt from the walls and grabbed our attention! Check the link for her website above for more inspiring pieces.

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Pick Me Up 2013 - Somerset House

Hamper enjoying themselves at this years Pick Me Up event at Somerset House.

Face Stamp is an initiative run by Hüman After All suitable for all ages and we're not embarassed to say how much we enjoyed it! Quite simply the studio produced a number of stamps that could be used creatively to make a face of your choosing!

Check out this light hearted video to know more about the studio and see how a number of people approached the stamps! http://vimeo.com/62877926 plus their website can be accessed here humanafterall.co.uk/

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No Fly Posters, a project in Manchester curated by Jon Bland from Music, has just added its latest round of posters featuring work from Spin, James Victore, Hey Studio, Fannette Mellier, Eric Brandt, Jack Featherstone and Jon Bland & Rory Clark.

To find out more check out noflyposters.com

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Ione Braddick

Another huge talent to come out of the UCL, Bartlett whose work has earned Ione the Bartlett Travel Award as well as the RIBA / WCCA Student Travel Grant.

There is a lot of love for the energy of this video - assisted by the fantastic music - and the unbelievable quality and effort that has evidently gone into making the individual models. Definitely not one to miss! Also has a exceptional name! For more work from Ione, visit his website at ionebraddick.com/

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We spotted (and loved) Evelin Kasikov's CMYK embroidery printing at the UAL Fresh Prints exhibition (click here for HAMPER's other picks from the show). As her biog notes, Evelin's hand-stitched work is essentially printing, but with needle and thread rather than ink.

When you see her piece London Trilogy Part 1: Mayfield House in progress, you can really appreciate the painstaking planning needed to build up her images. This piece was commissioned to pay homage to lost spaces in London - the Mayfield House laundry closed in 2006. The style is perfect for this project, with the image both forming and disintegrating before your eyes. 

We also love her custom CMYK handprinted typeface - thanks to Evelin for HAMPER's first guest-produced masthead! Spend your lunch break browsing her Craft and Graphic Design website - you won't regret it.

All images © Evelin Kasikov

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HAMPER + The Fresh Prints

HAMPER recently stumbled across Fresh Prints - an exhibition celebrating all things printed, featuring work created by UAL students, alumni and staff. Screenprints, letterpress, 3D printing - it’s all there. But some of the standout pieces for me were pattern-based designs in a variety of media.

Transfer Studio’s contribution was one of a series of posters inspired by Italo Calvino’s Invisible Cities, with each poster “a unique facade where architectural details, repetition and daydreaming are set in a new system.” The limited edition silkscreen prints are beautifully simple combinations of shape and colour - irresistible urban sunshine.

I’m a Wes Anderson fan, so couldn’t resist Alix Bigois-Jeambrun’s whimsical textile designs. The show featured work based on the story of The Fisherman and the Whale, showing off her unique textile printing technique. But delve into her website for her series of Moonrise Kingdom inspired patterns and illustrations. Contemporary sensibility meets traditional styling - a surprising match, just like Sam and Suzy.

Joanna Bagge’s intricate four-layer screen print Facets I led me to her website, and her gorgeous wallpaper designs. If I ever have a wall of my own, I’ll be covering it in Constellations I & II.

You might have spotted Evelin Kasikov’s CMYK embroidery before - she’s been commissioned by WIRED and The Guardian (among other top clients), and held a mammoth stitching workshop at this year’s Pick Me Up Graphic Arts Festival. Kasikov was in advertising for a decade before training at UAL, which must surely have influenced the development of her trademark ‘embroidered print’ technique.

Analytical and mathematically precise, Kasikov uses grids and layers to build up the perfect half-tone pattern. I love that the cleverly crafted texture means the images change depending on where you stand - as in London Trilogy Part 1: Mayfield House, showing at Fresh Prints now. Click here to see this work up close.

Fresh Prints is at the UAL Showroom (University of the Arts London, 272 High Holborn, WC1V 7EY) until 7th June 2013 - catch it while you can.

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A stunning view towards the Shard, overlooking the railway from London Bridge in late Summer 2012. The mood of the image is pleasant and appropriate as the onlooker watches the city wake up.

Amazingly it was captured with an iPhone, they sure have come a long way!

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Photo source _ Lara Roussel

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Hamper attended Printout last night at The Book Club EC2 for a celebration of modern food and drinks publications that are springing up around the UK, Europe and across the pond in the US.  There were six talks in all including 2 video presentations from magazines further afield. Above are 2 of the publications that presented. 1&2 _ Put A Egg On It

Brooklyn based duo document the experience of eating and how influential the age old custom can be. Some really fantastic photography included. putaeggonit.com/

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3&4 _ Cereal

Rosa, creator of Cereal along with her partner made the journey from Bristol to give an interesting talk into Cereal magazine now and where it is heading! readcereal.com/

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Other publications that attended include;

Doghouse (Jon Saxon, hilarious and honest. Follow on twitter @DoghouseMag)

Mood

Hot Rum Cow

Special Request

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Studio Frith

Kapow! - A book written by Adam Thirwell is designed by London based designers at Studio Frith who have re-written the rules of  book design leading to a dynamic and energetic piece of print.  Notorious for their high quality of work and definitive ideas, Studio Frith deliver once again. 

For more projects visit studiofrith.com/ 

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Lars Focke

Lars Focke is a freelance UX designer in the e-commerce industry from Hamburg, Germany and has a passion for photography and graphic design.

Here are a few images from his Neumayer Station II series. The harsh industrial construction stunningly exposes itself against the stark white backdrop. Visit Lars website here larsfocke.de/