Happy Birthday Barney Bubbles!

Hey Kids- Before I get started, I want to let you all know that this will be my last post at this bolg spot. I'm going to start a new one that encompasses a more over all idea of art and culture, not just graphic design. It will also focus on more of my projects too. So, I'm thinking of a new name and will most likely have it up soon.

Okay, today I want say a Big Happy Birthday to an amazing artist, and graphic designer by the name of Barney Bubbles (born Colin Fulcher, July 30th, 1942. Bubbles work encompassed graphic design, and music video direction. He also painted and sketched, but he's best known for his unique design contributions for the British independent music scene of the 1970s and 1980s. It's said that his name Barney Bubbles, came about when Fulcher was operating a light show that created a bubble effect by mixing oils and water on projection slides.

In 1977 Bubbles joined Stiff Records as a designer ("If It Ain't Stiff, It Ain't Worth a Fuck") His designs helped assure Stiff's reputation as a provocative independent label. Bubbles created sleeves for bands including The Damned, Elvis Costello, Ian Dury and Wreckless Eric. He created offbeat logos such as the face logo for the Blockheads, and advertisements and promotional items, such as the marketing of Elvis Costello's My Aim Is True.

In 1977 Bubbles joined a new label Radar Records and then later, F-Beat Records. At these labels Bubbles created designs for artists such as Elvis Costello, Nick Lowe, Carlene Carter and Clive Langer & The Boxes.

Bubbles also had an awesome freelance career. Actually, it was one that anyone would envy, (me, hint, hint.) He created designs for musicians and bands such as Peter Jenner (Ian Dury and Billy Bragg's manager), and others, including Vivian Stanshall, Generation X, Big Star, Johnny Moped, Whirlwind, Billy Bragg, Clover, The Sinceros, Roger Chapman, Phillip Goodhand-Tait, Dr. Feelgood, Inner City Unit and The Psychedelic Furs. Whoa! I know, Right?!

Bubbles was on the vanguard of music video and directed several, including The Specials' "Ghost Town", Squeeze's "Is That Love" and "Tempted", Elvis Costello's "Clubland" and "New Lace Sleeves."

Sadly, Bubbles tragically took his own life on November 14th,1983. It was said that he suffered from bipolar disorder,[A] experiencing increasing frequent bouts of depression [B], and had considerable personal and financial worries [C]. He was only 41 years old. It makes me wonder why it's so often that great creative talent seems to struggle with these issues. At least in the end he was at peace, even if we lost a great visionary.

Well, we can most certainly celebrate his life, his art, and designs! Here are some awesome examples of his work!

Logotype designed by Bubbles in 1977 for Ian Dury's Blockheads. You can see Bubbles wit come through on this design, as the type creates a face, reinforcing the idea of the "Blockhead"

Here's the cover Bubbles did for Elvis Costello's - This Year's Model, which was designed to have a deliberate "bad" cropping so that the entire design was off-register. The sleeve cuts off the left side of the front cover (including the letters 'E' from 'Elvis' and 'T' from 'This') it also shows a printers' color bar along the right side. Again, this was a deliberate mistake. This is something I like to call exposing the process. Kinda like seeing "the man behind the curtain."






























The Ian Dury Song Book cover, 1979



















You can also celebrate Barney Bubbles by checking out: http://www.barneybubbles.com

References:
A. Carol Clerk. Saga of Hawkwind, Omnibus Press, 2004, ISBN 1-84449-101-3.
B. an Abrahams. Hawkwind: Sonic Assassins, SAF Publishing Ltd, 2004, ISBN 0-946719-69-1
C. Hodkinson, Mark (2 January 2012). "In Search of Barney Bubbles".
BBC Radio 4. http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b018wh7h

Other References include:
Graphic Design, A Concise History by Richard Hollis, Thames and Hudson, 1994 ISBN 0-500-20270-2

Thames and Hudson Dictionary of Graphic Design and Designers, Thames and Hudson, 1992 ISBN 0-500-20259-1

Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barney_Bubbles

Type Tuesday — Tibor Kalman

Okay, today is another Type Tuesday, and I thought I'd post about one of the greatest graphic designers of the 20th century. That designer is Tibor Kalman. Kalman, who would have been 64 years old on July 6th, died in 1999 of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. In 1993 he was voted as one of the 15 Masters of Design by readers of How magazine, and in 1999 was awarded the American Institute of Graphic Artist (AIGA) MEDAL. This is a designer who had an influence on me in high school before I even knew who he was. You see Tibor Kalman, directed, designed, and produced the video "(Nothing But) Flowers" for the Talking Heads, which was one of my favorite bands. He also designed a few of their covers. But embarrassingly, I rarely read liner notes back in those days.

He was the founder of the revolutionary New York design firm, M&Co. His innovative ideas about art and society challenged the way designers and their clients saw the world. Kalman saw himself as a social activist, and believed graphic design was a way of achieving two things: good design and social responsibility. Graphic design being mass communication, he believed it should be used to increase public awareness on social issues. By the late 1980's he became known as “bad boy” of graphic design. In 1986 when the clothing company Esprit, which had boasted of being liberal and environmentally friendly, was awarded the AlGA Design Leadership award, Tibor became irate and anonymously distributed leaflets during the awards ceremony at the AlGA National Design Conference in San Francisco protesting the company's exploitation of Asian laborers. Kalman believed that designers should take a greater responsibility for how their work influenced the surrounding culture. Below are some example of his work. Enjoy.



In the video "(Nothing But) Flowers" for the Talking Heads, we see a good example of how Kalman interwove social commentary into his design work. (And this was in 1988)

"What we really tried to do was integrate the words and images very thoroughly, because we're very interested in this notion of how you combine words and images more powerfully than just, Here's the picture and here's the type"

— Tibor Kalman on the video "(Nothing But) Flowers" for the Talking Heads in HOW magazine, 1993.





















The "Siver Askew Watch" is a good example of Kalman's dry sense of humor.

"We felt that if people would buy watches that didn't even have numbers on them, and be able to tell what time it was, they could tell time with a watch that had all the numbers mixed up. It's nicknamed "Stupid" because the idea comes from grandfather clock in one of James Marshall's brilliant children's books about the Stupid family."

— Tibor Kalman on M&Co's "Siver Askew Watch" in HOW magazine, 1993






















































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This weeks Type Tuesday pick is Juno

I have to say, I'm not a big fan of the movie as a whole, but I really like the main opening title sequence. In the opening of Jason Reitman's second film a hand-crafted animation shows Juno walking through her neighborhood. Although I don't totally see it, according to the design firm, they started with vintage 1970s punk-rock posters as inspiration. I see the connection with the use of the xerography technique, but other than that, I don't see a connection in the use of typography at all. I've posted about the Beck video Nicotine & Gravy that I feel does a better job of capturing the "70's and early 80's Punk/New wave design aesthetic" (I'll repost that blog in the comments section.) Gareth Smith and artist Jenny Lee decided to create a sequence that "had texture and a little bit of edge, but also imparted the warmth and heart of the screenplay"

I do get the little bit of edginess and warmth that they were trying to convey. The opening starts off with live action film of Juno walking and contemplating her situation. The sequence then transitions as Juno walks past a tree, perhaps into her thoughts. I get the feeling this could be in her sketchbook or journal of some kind. It definitely has the feel of a high-school students notebook with doodles and thoughts scribbled all over it. And totally captures the feeling of the film.

The title sequence incorporates over 900 xeroxed, hand colored cut-outs of Juno, and was put together over 7 to 8 months.

Juno main opening title sequence: http://vimeo.com/13107046

Title Design by: Shadowplay Studio
Shadowplay Studio is a design and content studio located on the Miracle Mile in Los Angeles.

Shadowplay created the opening title sequence for Reitman's previous film, Thank You for Smoking

Credits
Main title designers: Gareth Smith & Jenny Lee
Production assistants: Sawsan Antoun, Bradley Geilfuss, Annie Lefkowitz, Genevieve Liang, Merridee Smith, Keith Smith, Olivia Yu
Main title producer: Ari Sachter-Zeltzer