A little bit of street art out east

Not an underpass in Shoreditch, London - an underpass in Chaoyang, Beijing. Nice work from the This City Art collective.

A new undertaking by VJ/motion graphics designer Hao Bu Hao and photographer Oak Taylor-Smith – Two Beijing based English expats.

First exhibition featured Hao Bu Hao aka Martin Barnes' Caulfield inspired prints of Chinese icons. Forget about The Great Wall and The Terracotta Army, think instead of cheap packets of cigarettes and bamboo brooms leaning against air-con units. Bold, colourful imagery is now available to the people.

Inky Finger Prints

Website revamp v3.0 in time for exhibition!

New prints completed

Another illustration of one of my favourite buildings, as with previous did two versions - hot/cold, winter/summer, evening, morning. However you want to distinguish the two is up to you.

Available to buy from Inky Finger Prints

love it? hate it?

This approach is an interesting one. Not sure if I'm for or against the confidence and disregard for the accepted norm, ie. lavishly 'designed' and strongly branded portfolio sites. I love the use of existing applications (flickr and wikipedia, etc) but think that there should still be some form of identity/presence/personality presented by creative companies.

Clever nonetheless, will be interesting to see how long this incarnation of Modernista.com lasts. I suspect until the next chapter of the web comes along.

Blue Jake from Brooklyn

Recent discovery on the photoblogging circuit. Great photos not so much because of the style, more because of the subject matter - the down at heel side of New York. Warehouses, abandoned lots, and light industrial units are all captured by this Brooklyn native.

The well captioned photos suggest a man prepared to get off the beaten path to find the places other photographers just don't reach. And seems to possess a belief in the power of serendipity, always a delightful and rewarding trait.

Dutch Uncle

Yet another entertaining night hosted by teh good folk at Dutch Uncle.
This month's opening was for Petra Bonner who produces lovely work like this:

Specifically for the night, Petra had painstakingly drawn here trademark lines and swirls in chalk on the freshly paint black walls. It looked great and showed how a little imagination can transform a space. Continuing the black-and-white theme, the well stocked bar provided the packed room with white russians and guinness all night long.

Rocking, can't wait for the next one. Good work Petra, Dan, Helen, Mickey and Jo!

Gang culture in London

A complete list of London gang names can be seen here.
Via Coudal, Originally from Blogdial, Initally from a DPS in the Evening Standard. Phew!

If you go down to the shops today, You're sure of a big surprise.
If you go down to the shops today, You'd better go in disguise.

For ev'ry hoodie that ever there was, Will gather there for certain, because
Today's the day the Hoodies gonna get whack up.

Ev'ry chav who's been bad, Is sure of a beating today.
There's lots of small kids to beat, And innocent people to slap.

Beneath the arches where nobody sees, They'll hide and scrap as long as they please.
'Cause that's the way the ASBOs have their rumbles.

If you go down to the shops today, You'd better not go alone.
It's chaos down in the shops today, far safer to stay at home.

For ev'ry hoodie that ever there was, Will gather there for certain, because
Today's the day the hoodies have a f*ckin' great big rumble.

More thoughts on a life in design

Good points made and useful links to more comments on a subject I wrote about previously. Read what Khoi Vinh of subtraction.com writes here

Big fan of his blog, both in terms of appearence, and more importantly, content.

Paula Scher interview

Paula Scher = fascinating, eloquent, pragmatic

Watch this video of her discussing some well known projects.
I particularly like her insights on the Citi bank logo and on her own map paintings.

Watch Video (via adobe site)

Good article on how to (relatively) easily reclaim inflated bank charges.

Link to Guardian Money site

I like the underlying idea as well, ie here is something you perhaps were not aware of and here is a solution to a common problem. We are bombarded from all sides with information which can be overwhelming at best, alienating at worst. Anything that demystifies the unknown by sharing knowledge is a good thing.

Knowledge is power.
Power to the people.

How amusing

Link to The Observer