Kooji Creative Blog

Cows, Cats and Crazy Creative Animation

2012-01-31T13:37:00.001Z

We caught this month's Creative Networks which featured one of our favourite animators and YouTube sensations, Cyriak. We've been nagging them for ages to get him in (by putting his name again and again as a suggestion for speakers on their feedback form), so we were really pleased when the talk was announced.

'cows & cows & cows' © Cyriak http://www.cyriak.co.uk/

His presentation was hilarious and unusual but also insightful. Having found previous design jobs unsatisfying, Cyriak decided to take his animation skills and love of the bizarre online, showcasing his self-initated projects on YouTube. Eventually he caught enough attention to start winning clients, often approaching him with bizarre and very specific requirements, (things in the same vein as 'a rhino skateboarding over Jesus' head and falling into a bowl of jelly whilst waving a white flag').

'Welcome to Kitty City' © Cyriak http://www.cyriak.co.uk/

As well as an obsession with mutating cows, sheep and other animals, (including his pet cat), Cyriak has also worked on some fantastic music videos. One of his latest projects (below) is simply beautiful and shows just how far he has come in a short time but it's heartwarming to know that he continues to produce his own self-initiated, twisted and higly entertaining animations on the side :)

'Hooray For Earth - "True Loves" (Cereal Spiller Remix)' © Cyriak http://www.cyriak.co.uk/

Check out Cyriak online at http://cyriak.co.uk/ and on YouTube here: http://www.youtube.com/user/cyriak

Ruby Wedding Anniversary

2012-01-22T18:17:00.000Z

It's my parent's Ruby Wedding Anniversary so we made this paper bouquet so that they'd get something a bit different this year. As you can see it's pretty, it's shiny and it'll last forever! :)

Happy Anniversary Mum 'n' Dad!

Rest in Peace Racheal

2012-01-14T20:37:00.001Z

We had some terrible news this week which we found out through a post on Amy's website: Pikaland. Our friend, Racheal Anilyse, passed away at the end of last year.

We met her online in 2009 and collaborated with her by submitting illustrations to her zine, Underground Art School. Rach worked so hard on it - it was much more than just a zine really, it was a website for recent grads and creative professionals too. We exchanged many emails over the years, chatting about our lives and our creative work. She was always enthusiastic, supportive and encouraging.

Racheal had hinted that she was ill but never to this extent. We had no idea her difficulties were that severe. Reading back over old emails makes us now realise. She was an incredibly brave person. We hadn't heard from her in a while but thought she was just very busy creating beautiful illustrations for her children's books.

We never got to meet her in person and now sadly we never will but Amy shared some lovely news that really cheered us up. Racheal's family has started the Racheal Anilyse Art Initiative through the Rose Foundation of Haiti, and the University of Hartford School of Art (where she studied) has established a scholarship in her name. The University also has an online guestbook where you can leave a message. Knowing that her memory will go on with these initiatives has really made us smile :)

Rest in Peace Racheal. We'll miss you x

New Year, New Portfolio Website

2012-01-03T15:53:00.017Z

Hurrah! 2012 is upon us and with a brand new year comes my shiny new portfolio website! It's minimal, it's easy to navigate and it's all about the work.

Check it out here: www.quantempus.co.uk

Have Yourself a Kooji Little Christmas!

2011-12-18T22:33:00.000Z

Wishing you all a very merry Christmas! Love from Kooji X

RIP Steve Jobs

2011-10-06T15:11:00.000+01:00

We were both very saddened to hear the news today that Steve Jobs, known the world over for his pioneering work at Apple, passed away after battling against pancreatic cancer.

The Apple website and it's tribute to Steve Jobs

He had resigned as CEO of Apple earlier this year due to his ill health but had continued to persevere despite this. A creative visionary, inventor and innovator whose products have transformed the way we see the world. He leaves behind a great legacy.

Rest in Peace Steve and thank you.

Coffee & Cigarettes

2011-08-21T20:04:00.000+01:00

Our Kooji Collective buddy Kelly Birg (a talented Fine Artist, Graphic Designer and Photographer to boot!) got in touch with us recently and sent us a link to her amazing sketch book:

http://www.arthousecoop.com/users/kbirg/artwork

She submitted it to the Art House Co-op's traveling sketchbook project and it's crammed full of beautiful sketches, photos and groovy patterns all based around the theme of coffee and cigarettes.

Kelly graduated with a BFA in Graphic Design from Western Michigan University in 2005, then went on to make a name for herself as a multi-disciplinary artist. We were lucky enough to meet her at SIGGRAPH (a massive conference held in the USA) the following year and we've been in touch with her ever since.

Check out her artwork on Art House Co-op and be inspired!

Kooji Creative Emporium

2011-08-06T14:35:00.005+01:00

We've both been busying away to bring you some new products on our Zazzle Store. The Kooji Creative Emporium stocks the finest T-shirts, posters, fabric bags and pretty much anything else we can stick our artwork onto!

Take a look here: http://www.zazzle.com/koojicreative and be astounded by our feats of creativity and imagination :D

Ready Or Not Here We Come

2011-06-23T13:03:00.001+01:00

This year's Graphic Design degree show 'Ready Or Not Here We Come' at Leeds College of Art wasn't to be missed and so we both dashed from one display to the next grabbing business cards and taking photos. We're always pleased to see such creativity and come away feeling inspired.

What was really interesting for us was the hand-drawn element we found recurring in several graduating student's work. We both seem to gravitate towards the more illustrative design work when we attend shows like this. It adds a touch of magic to a design and gives you a hint at the personality behind the work.

Here's the snaps we took this year as we buzzed around from one honey pot to the next:

Image © Chris Matthews www.immunityfromdestruction.com

Image © Charlotte Riley www.helloimcharlotte.com

Image © Nichola Tiffany www.nicholatiffany.co.uk

Image © Mille Haugnaess http://millehaugnaess.co.uk/

Image © Ollie Saward www.olliesaward.co.uk

Image © Leigh Wortley www.leighwortley.co.uk

Image © Jonny Packham www.jonnypackham.co.uk

Read our blog posts from previous year's degree shows here:
http://koojicreative.blogspot.com/search/label/EndofYearShow

For more tasty morsels of inspiration:
Check out our bookmarks of links found on business cards from the degree show: http://www.delicious.com/KoojiCreative/EndofYearShow+2011

Graduate shows - What is the point?
Target Print is a Leeds based digital and litho printer. It's owner, Peter Biggins, wrote a blog post about his experiences at this year's shows. Read it here: http://leedsprinter.blogspot.com/

Save Babies UK

2011-05-30T20:27:00.005+01:00

We got chatting with one of our neighbours recently, Pat Roberts, a lovely lady who runs a charity called Save Babies Through Screening Foundation UK. We're always keen to blow the trumpet for charitable causes and show our support so we're asking you all to do the same.

Save Babies Through Screening Foundation UK is a non-profitmaking organization run by volunteers. Our mission is to improve and save the lives of children by working to prevent disabilities or early death resulting from diseases that are detectable and treatable through newborn screening.

Visit the website here:

www.savebabiesuk.org

Join them on Facebook here

Free Comic Book Day 2011

2011-05-07T16:14:00.013+01:00

WooHoo! It's here again! Free Comic Book Day. We realised that we'd forgotten but we're glad we remembered, yay! Lots of free comics (well a few, we'd slept in and a lot of them had gone by the time we got there - hey it's Saturday :P)

One of our favourites was 'The Dark Crystal: The Origin of the Dark Crystal' as it had lots of character design and illustration by Brian Froud (who created our precious Pressed Fairies books) - a flippable comic too as the other side was called 'Mouse Guard' by David Petersen.

Thanks to the guys at Travelling Man in Leeds: www.travellingman.com for the free comics and sweeties too :D

Visit the Free Comic Book Day website: www.freecomicbookday.com

Happy Easter and Picnic Fun from Kooji!

2011-04-24T18:21:00.004+01:00

Happy Easter everyone! The sun is shining and it looks like we're set for a gorgeous Summer. Go get yaself set up with a picnic and some Easter eggs, yum!

Check out our previous Kooji Cards here - we've done some goodies :D

CF Studio Launch and The Blank Showcase

2011-04-21T20:34:00.120+01:00

Amy and Bek A.K.A Lord Whitney invited us both to attend the launch of CF Studios, their new collaborative workspace and the exhibition 'The Blank Showcase'. They asked their guests to bring along items in response to the initials CF and the collected or created pieces were then added to the exhibition wall.

Here are a few photos from the evening:

Here's some amusing wordplay from Johnny

and here's Katherine's feathery fancy

...and here was our submission: Crappy Film (Plan 9 from Outer Space directed by Ed Wood)

It was great to see the creative duo in action once more and to check out their fun social experiment. The pieces on display were really quirky and imaginative and we look forward to seeing what they come up with next!

Visit Lord Whitney here: www.lordwhitney.co.uk
Find out more about the studio: www.cfstudios.co.uk

Miss You - Stuart Menzies Farrant

2011-04-19T17:19:00.037+01:00

Check out this beautiful new song "Miss You" by our Kooji buddy, Stuart Menzies Farrant. Stuart's got himself a new profile set up on ReverbNation: http://www.reverbnation.com/stuartmenziesfarrant and Miss You is one of his most recent releases.

Stuart Menzies Farrant

Stuart's portfolio, including the mini album: Le Mal D’Afrique can be accessed at: www.myspace.com/visionlandmusic

Singer/songwriter stuff and last album can be found here:
www.myspace.com/stuartmenziesfarrantuk

We've been chillin' to his music for years, this new track in particular has a real reggae feel to it - fantastic! We love Stuart's music and you will too!

Introducing NU:VO

2011-04-07T16:41:00.002+01:00

Bukkie Dos Santos, one of our Kooji Buddies and long-time collective member, got in touch to show us this groovy showreel for her new venture NU:VO take a look:

Be Daring, Be Different from ART NUVO on Vimeo.
ART meets COMMERCE - A contemporary approach to Brand Vision by Nu:vo

The delivering of creative excitement and contemporary visual ideas to lifestyle and fashion clientelle.

The NU:VO CREED:
Be daring, be different, be impractical, be anything that will assert integrity of purpose and imaginative vision against the play-it-safers, the creatures of the commonplace, the slaves of the ordinary.
-Christian Dior

What a tantalising visual feast! We can't wait to see more :D

Target Print

2011-04-01T11:18:00.064+01:00

It's not often you get the opportunity to fully appreciate the work involved for those you might deal with on a daily basis. For me, getting a chance to take a look around a local printer's workshop and better understand their side of things in the whole creative production process, was too good to pass up! I met a great guy at last night's Creative Networks: Peter Biggins, the owner of Target Print, a Leeds based digital and litho printer. As we were chatting, it slowly dawned on me that I should probably ask if I could come visit his print workshop (as I'd always intended to do that at some point, as part of my ongoing learning) and Peter kindly agreed.

This was as great a time as any to swot up on my print knowledge and so I headed out today eager to learn! Peter spent the best part of the morning (and into the early afternoon too!) showing me around his workshop. It was a real eye-opener to see the scale of the printing presses and machinery that printers use.

Peter even took the time to explain Lithography and Offset Lithographic Printing to me. To see the lithographic printing process in action was incredible! Sheet-fed presses chugging away, tubs of Pantone process colour inks, Font Furniture - it was all just fantastic!

Huge Heidelberg presses churning out thousands upon thousands of prints!

We know it as CMYK (Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and Black) but did you realise that it's printed in this order: Black, Cyan, Magenta and Yellow? The darkest ink, black, goes on first (although this used to be the last to go on years ago!)

The inks come in large pots

All the colours of the rainbow!

I never considered that some inks took time to dry (although now it seems obvious) or that printer's often work night shifts to get a print run completed! I think many people just don't realise what it takes to print their work and expect instant results.

How do they achieve that perfect alignment every time you ask? With Lays! (Read the print terminology below)

Spray powder (starch) is applied to help separate the sheets

The console desk - check out all the buttons! :O

...and here's where all the prints come out

All the off cuts are taken away and pulped down for recycling. How eco-friendly!

Heidelberg Cylinder

Font Furniture!

Forme Cutting

Shelves packed with Formes

Heidelberg Cylinder

Heidelberg Platen

...and here's how they do all those Z-Folds! (and to think, I used to believe it was all done by hand, yup)

I asked what problems they encountered the most from Graphic Designers when they send their files in for print and I was a bit shocked to hear that designs with no bleed area was a common one. Files being sent over as RGB instead of CMYK was another! I've been reading up on colour workspaces/ colour calibration so as to avoid unrealistic expectations when you send your work to print (and that of your client when they look at your beautifully designed PDF on their RGB monitors) so I was really surprised by that one. I know there's still much to learn but if I can steer clear of these obviously amateurish mistakes I think I'll be well on track :)

Understanding the history behind our craft (and it is a craft, no matter how much it evolves over time) really helps me to appreciate our beginnings. I can see how Graphic Design has changed with the introduction of the Macintosh computer and I can see how the Print Industry has gone from Letterpress to Lithographics, Repro and Digital (and much, much more!). So, it's good to know that there are still those out there who care deeply about their craft. I will continue to care deeply about mine.

Many thanks again to Peter Biggins and his team from Target Print for spending so much time showing me around and answering my questions!

Target Print Leeds Ltd… …print that targets your needs

Target Print is a Leeds based digital and litho printer producing a wide range of work including flyers, company brochures, stationery, folders, posters, leaflets and much more.

To find out more visit their website here: www.targetprint.co.uk

If all that wasn't enough for you have a read through this handy, nifty list of Print Terminology that'll have all your peers pantone green with envy!

Work-and-Turn and Work-and-Tumble
"Sheetwise, work-and-turn, and work-and tumble sound like just so much gibberish, but grasping their meaning can save you money buying printing". Read more here:
http://www.printindustry.com/Newsletters/Newsletter-45.aspx

Dot Gain
"Dot gain (also known as Tonal Value Increase) is a phenomenon in offset lithography and some other forms of printing which causes printed material to look darker than intended. It is caused by halftone dots growing in area between the original printing film and the final printed result. In practice, this means that an image that has not been adjusted to account for dot gain will appear too dark when it is printed". Read more here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dot_gain

NB: Avoid serif fonts at small point sizes, or pinch and swell type (e.g. the Loki Cola typeface) when using reverse type (e.g. white type on a black background) as you run the risk of the copy becoming unreadable. It might look sharp on screen but the ink may spread!

Lay Edges
"The two edges of a sheet which are placed flush with the side and front lays on a printing machine when feeding". Read more here: http://www.twpg.com.au/Retail/glossary.htm

Lay Mark
"An area of ink on the edge of a sheet to make the lay corner easily identifiable. It appears on the side lay edge and is closer to the gripper edge than the trailing edge". Read more here: http://www.twpg.com.au/Retail/glossary.htm

UV (Spot) Varnish
A varnish applied after printing, either as an overall finish to give a high gloss finish, or applied as a 'spot' varnish to certain previously printed images, then cured using ultra violet light. Read more here: http://www.encyclo.co.uk/define/UV%20varnish

NB: Ultraviolet Inks - Set instantly, by light! Read more about UV inks and Flexographic printing here: http://www.flexoexchange.com/gorilla/uvink1.html
or check out this useful tutorial from Computer Arts Magazine about using spot colours and varnishes here.

Forme Cutting
"A process of bending a knife's edge to the desired shape and punching out the form in the required material – just like a cookie cutter". Read more here: http://www.conceptforum.com.au/formeCutting.php

Die Cutting
"A "forme" or "die" is pressed onto a flat material to cut, score, punch and otherwise shape the material". Read more here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_industrial_processes

Letterpress
"Letterpress printing is relief printing of text and image using a press with a "type-high bed" printing press and movable type, in which a reversed, raised surface is inked and then pressed into a sheet of paper to obtain a positive right-reading image". Read more here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Letterpress_printing

Lizzie Mary Cullen: Off the Wall!

2011-03-31T11:15:00.004+01:00

What a great talk we went to tonight at Creative Networks and this time it wasn't from someone who has been in the industry for many years, it was by an emerging star, Lizzie Mary Cullen. Lizzie is a multi award-winning designer specialising in illustration and graphic design and was described as one of the industry’s ‘leading lights’ by Design Week. Her work has a real Mucha-esque feel to it which we really love especially when it's carried off as well as this!

Image 'Specials' © Lizzie Mary Cullan

Lizzie's First Solo Show at Artefact at the Framers Gallery

All proceeds went to the Big Issue Foundation. Dan Radcliffe (of Harry Potter fame) and John Bird (founder of The Big Issue) were there to show their support. Be sure to check out her joke at 1:14 - it'll have ya in stitches :D

Merry Doodle: 2010 - Blue Hive Agency Christmas Card
Blue Hive needed an Xmas card to generate buzz for their new agency. Lizzie filled a 12m x 3m 'Doodle Wall' in their office with tweeted messages all live on webcam. All this was uploaded to Flickr and in just 3 days they "received thousands of tweets, logged over 2,800 live viewer hours and saw a 632% increase in traffic" to their website. Amazing!

Lizzie drawing for Zizzi, Covent Garden

This stop motion creation of 'Bow Street Zizzi' was filmed over three days. What a beautiful large-scale mural and absolutely stunning to see it being produced start to finish.

We've both been really inspired and it definitely goes to show that you can learn from creative people at every stage in their career, not just the well seasoned professionals (although there's plenty to learn from them too!) A really entertaining night, packed full of funny anecdotes and giggles. Thanks Lizzie!

To see more of Lizzie's work visit her website here:
www.lizziemarycullen.com

Or, if you're into bird seed follow her tweets on twitter:

http://www.twitter.com/LizzieMCullen

RIP Doyald Young

2011-03-17T16:05:00.012Z

We were very saddened to hear of the passing of Doyald Young, prolific lettering artist and logotype designer. It was by chance that we discovered the news as we were watching a very interesting documentary about him on Lynda.com. In it Doyald was discussing the work of other typographers which he admires, in particular that of Frank Blokland and his foundry the Dutch Type Library. We visited the site and that's when we read that he passed away last month. A great loss to us all.

I only wish we'd been able to meet him in person, but we can remember him through his work and his words. For example, he described his book 'Dangeous Curves' as an attempt ‘to show both emerging and expert designers how, in an age of computer-dominated design, the designer can turn to their very own hands for both inspiration and solution’. This really makes us smile :)

Image taken from the Dutch Type Library - a still from Lynda.com's documentary

A master craftsman and educator who we will continue to learn from. Rest in Peace Doyald and thank you.

Find out more about Doyald Young here:
http://doyaldyoung.com/

We've Joined Vimeo!

2011-03-12T19:46:00.004Z

That's right! We've got ourselves an account on Vimeo (YouTube's cooler cousin). We thought...well we're on YouTube sharing all our faves, so why not get on Vimeo and share there too!!? So we have.

Head on over and check out our faves. It's so sleek and cool - Oh Vimeo, you're so dreamy!

Hmm, interesting post comparing Vimeo and YouTube:
5 reasons why Youtube is better than Vimeo | Vincent Rozenberg

We think they're BOTH cool :P but what we like about Vimeo is the 'Album' feature. We can organise our video 'likes' into albums and thus find stuff more easily. Niiice :D Ooo Ooo, it says here you can share your albums with a widget! Gonna go play!

New Year's Resolutions 2011

2011-01-04T17:30:00.000Z

It's about time we listed out some resolutions! Here they are in all their glory:

Let's see how well we fare sticking to them!

A Kooji Cottage Christmas!

2010-12-19T18:40:00.004Z

Have a Fantastic Xmas everyone! From all at the Kooji Cottage :D Mwah! x

Hang on...who's that in the window?

Lord Whitney's Shop Now Open!

2010-11-28T19:43:00.017Z

As a follow up to our last post our friends at Lord Whitney have just unveiled their brand spanking new shop! Take a look at these tasty treats - Scrumptious!

A Plot to Kill Lord Whitney Book - Buy Here

The Curious Circus Sideshow Character Cards - Buy Here

The Curious Circus Sideshow Screen Printed Poster - Buy Here

A Plot to Kill Lord Whitney Full Set - Buy Here

Absolutely stunning stuff for sale and just in time for Christmas too. Only the most respected of book-worms will have 'A Plot To Kill Lord Whitney' stashed on their shelves. Go get a copy! Do it now!

www.lordwhitney.bigcartel.com

A Plot To Kill Lord Whitney

2010-11-17T14:24:00.033Z

We received this curious invitation (via carrier pigeon of course) cordially inviting us to attend an evening of murder, mystery and merriment. It would appear that some dastardly fiend had attempted to kill our beloved Lord Whitney!

Image © Lord Whitney

We both put on our sleuthing gear and headed straight to the scene of the crime, the Victoria Hotel in Leeds. The clues as to who'd killed the Lord appeared to be hidden amongst a photographic exhibition of 'Lord Whitney's Curious Circus Sideshow' and the book launch of 'The Plot to Kill Lord Whitney'. Not your usual crime scene but nevertheless we soldiered on determined to seek out the truth!

When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth! Holmes, is that you?

Our hosts declared that "upon the hour of nine o'clock we shall reveal the detective who has fathomed the most creative but yet believable murder plot theory and award them with a special prize."

Johnny received a special mention for his theory of raging jealousy and deceit:

'I have deducted that Eric was in fact guilty of attempted murder most horrid! Driven by jealousy over little Derek's success on stage and with the ladies, he plotted to capture his vertically challenged companion in a large jar then drown him in poisoned Cognac! However, Rodney Arthur found out and ran to warn someone but tripped over Tramp the Clown, hitting his head and forgetting the whole affair!

Lord Whitney was not the intended target.'

Signed Detective Johnathan Gallagher

Lord Whitney never fail to amaze us with their creativity. A most entertaining evening! We look forward to our next invite ;)

For more about Lord Whitney follow these links:

To see their fantabulous creative workings look here: www.lordwhitney.co.uk

Read all about Lord Whitney here: http://lordwhitney.blogspot.com

Limited edition books, screen printed posters and other delights can be found within Lord Whitney's Shop: www.lordwhitney.bigcartel.com

I Want My Kooji TV!

2010-11-14T20:57:00.013Z

Favourite videos, uploads and giggles galore can be found here on our very own YouTube channel! Tune in and laugh til ya socks pop off :P

Image 'Kooji TV' © Katherine Moss

Head on over now:
http://www.youtube.com/koojicreative

Halloween Candy Cram 2010

2010-10-31T19:25:00.013Z

Have a happy Halloween Kooji Buddies! Hopefully it'll be crammed full of delicious chocolatey candy (but don't forget to brush ya teeth afterwards!)

Here's Kooji chillin' out with our Guard Frog, Frankie, Yorik and Pumpkin Head (Skeley one arm's sneaking in an appearance too).

Frankie's sulking (too much candy!)

Johnny chomping on a Candy Rat

Tasty Goblin Stew! Yum :P

...and chilled Baby Brains for desert ;)

Kilo75 Turns Ten!

2010-10-02T15:07:00.008+01:00

The lovely peeps over at Kilo75, Matt and Monica, invited us both to a party they threw last night to celebrate the company’s tenth anniversary.

The party was a held at Joiners Bar in Temple Works, Leeds - a really cool arty spot which we've frequented before for art events. It was a great night out, with lotsa tasty nosh and good music (We both scoffed a lot of those finger nibbles :D)

Here's to Kilo75 Hip Hip Hurrah! May you enjoy many more happy years :)

Feeling Light Headed?

2010-09-18T11:21:00.006+01:00

The Light Shopping Centre held a competition recently to design a re-usable shopping bag. My design on a cool fabric bag!? How could I resist?

The winning entry will be launched at the ‘Leeds Loves Shopping’ event next month and the winner will also receive £200 to spend in The Light! (This year's Christmas pressies are riding on my getting this!!) It's for a good cause too as all proceeds from the sales will be used to help feed the animals at Meanwood Valley Urban Farm.

So without further ado here's my submission!

'Feeling Light Headed?' © Katherine Moss

'Feeling Light Headed?' © Katherine Moss

Shopping at The Light always makes me feel giddy and light headed. I wanted my design to capture this with a girl's swirly hair floating off in all directions, busying about her head as she dashes from shop to shop!

Voting is open until the end of this month so if you're passing through the centre take a look. It's up on display opposite Body Shop :)

Art in Unusual Spaces

2010-07-31T11:30:00.021+01:00

We headed over to the Corn Exchange in Leeds this weekend after hearing about a cool new arty happening called Art in Unusual Spaces - 'A series of visual art exhibitions, installations and curiosities in shop units and across Leeds city centre.' We eagerly looked around the results of Drawing Time! an hour long drawing extravaganza involving 46 artists. Each artist had a set amount of time to produce their drawing depending upon their position on the circular balcony on the first floor.

Here are a few of the drawings that really took our fancy:

Image © Kristyna Baczynsk

Image © Drew Millward

Image © Helen Harrop (we collaborated with Helen on this Travelling Moleskine)

Image © Oliver Redding

Image © John Chamberlain (check out John's blog here)

Image © Neil "Women 158" Parkinson

Image © The Pern

Image © Richard Shields

Image © Curse273

Image © Jordan Ramoth

Image © Graham Pilling

We think this is a brilliant idea, using empty shop spaces in this way, and will definitely be on the look out for other events!

'Art in Unusual Spaces is a scheme which endeavours to open up empty shop spaces in Leeds City Centre.'

Check out the website here

Brand New Talent

2010-06-24T17:53:00.027+01:00

It's here again! As unbelievable as it may seem it's been a year since Leeds College of Art's last End of Year Show. This year's exhibition entitled 'Brand New Talent' was full to the brim with creative work from the newest crop of graduating students.

Out of all the creative degree shows Leeds College of Art's are our favourite. We've never been disappointed in the standard of work on display and there's always sure to be a select few that really stand out. It's a chance for us to see what's new, which trends are trending (or being over-trended!) and who are the new kids on the block.

Johnny perusing a portfolio :D

Here's a selection of pics from the BA (Hons) Graphic Design course that caught our eye:

Image © Nick Birch

Image © Nick Birch

Image © Rob Cope

Image © Rob Cope

Image © Gemma Grainger

Image © Claire Nicholson

Image © Dean Gray

Image © Dean Gray

Image © Olivia Greaves

Image © Kate Prior

Image © Kate Prior

Image © Kate Prior

Image © Kate Prior

Image © Sam Putera

Sculpture © Jennifer Burton

This little fella escaped from the Fine Art department!

Portfolio Websites: A collection of links found on business cards from the show:

Sara Yates
Hayley Kavanagh
Lucy Hawkins
an& design
Adam Sneade

and if those aren't enough we've bookmarked a whole bunch here

The Caught Exhibition

2010-05-30T22:26:00.008+01:00

Well, I've got to say we were both really chuffed to find out about this super secret hush hush cool arty exhibition held at Temple Works last week! Both Johnny's new friend Pete and our old Comic Book Night friend John Chamberlain let us know about it, so I guess we're quite well connected in the Leeds art scene :D The Caught Exhibition was organised by BestJoinedUp who set up Live Art Events in Leeds and across the UK and featured lots of tiptoptastic illustrative artworks from John and tons of other exceptional artist's work.

We didn't take any photos (not wanting to break the whole secrecy hush hushness of it all) but you can check out BestJoinedUp's photos on Flickr here or the ones on their FaceBook group where they've linked to other peep's photos from the event too.

We also saw a cool 'guerilla infra-red graffiti installation' called FriiSpray which has been developed by the Jam Jar Collective, some beeeautiful illustration/ graffiti/ street art from The Pern, Neil Women158 Parkinson, Sune, Replete and many more - wow those guys are prolific!

Check out these other contributing artists
Tons of inspiring portfolio sites to browse through:

Matt Saunders
Eight-Bit
Phill Blake
Clumsy Kate
Luke Drozd
Mr Gauky
Miss Led
Gary Milne
Pinky

Help!

2010-05-30T19:44:00.006+01:00

The latest issue of the Good To Know Project is out now! Johnny and I had our collaborative doodle and submission for the topic of help featured in the zine. We talked about the friends that we've made through our collective 'Kooji Creative,' how it's been a great help to have a support network of this kind and how important it is that we share advice and information with fellow creatives.

'Kooji Creative' © Katherine Moss and Johnathan Gallagher

Check out the sneek preview on Issuu here or better yet buy a copy here :D

What sort of support do you receive as an artist? What advice would you share with fellow artists about getting help?

The Fireys

2010-05-09T14:01:00.006+01:00

Just spotted this blog post over at Lord Whitney and a link to the photographs they took at this year's Emerging Artists Awards, at artsmix, for their 'Cabinet of Curiosities.' An amazing side show attraction style exhibit allowed us to don cool masks and get dressed up as the 'Fireys' from the film Labyrinth.

'The Fireys' © Lord Whitney http://www.lordwhitney.co.uk

Check out Lord Whitney here: www.lordwhitney.co.uk
Read their blog here: http://lordwhitney.blogspot.com

Put It In Context

2010-04-28T10:30:00.000+01:00

Our friend Racheal from Underground Art School recently released issue 4: The Simplicity Issue, which includes a resource zine called 'Context.' We are both very honoured to have our artwork (a collaborative piece we called 'Learning Your ABCs') shown in Context Zine. Check out our promotional video to find out more:

Click the TV Screen to Play/ Pause

Context: A Resource 'Zine

Underground Art School Magazine Issue 4: Simplicity

Both Underground Art School's Issue 4: Simplicity and Context Zine are available to buy now! So go on! Do it! BUY IT NOW!!

The Pikaland Community

2010-04-21T13:13:00.007+01:00

As a follow-up to our last post, we're really pleased to hear that our friend Amy from Pikaland (a blog about living the illustrated life) has just launched The Pikaland Community! It's a really cool place to make new friends, chat about all things creative and collaborate. The PikaPackage Project is organised there too :D

Go check it out, get signed up and get stuck in!

Stop Thief!

2010-04-20T14:57:00.013+01:00

A little while ago I spotted this post about plagiarism on a really cool illustration site called Pikaland. As any creative knows plagiarism and copyright theft of any kind is really serious and something we all think about and often take great steps to prevent. The blog post really got us thinking and so we ended up writing a very long (eek!) reply about a horrible case of plagiarism we came up against last year. After posting our reply I re-read the post and realised it was going to be published in a really cool zine called the 'Good to Know Project.' What's that I hear our readers cry!? Well, "The Good to Know Project is full of advice + inspiration from artists/illustrators/designers on creativity, business and life."

It's great that something so positive came from something so negative, not only did we get our post published in the zine along with a couple of doodles, we got chatting with the creator of Pikaland, Amy Ng, and were so inspired by her work and creativity that we added her as one of our Kooji buddies in the collective.

'Stop Thief!' © Katherine Moss
'A Precious Burden' © Johnathan Gallagher

It's hard to believe that there are people actually out there willing to steal other's people's hard work and worse yet when you discover it's someone you know. Fortunately one of the great things about the internet and social networking in particular is that the culprit can quickly be spotted and have their shame publicly blasted about on the net.

Good to Know #7: Plagiarism

The full copy of the Good to Know Zine issue #7: Plagiarism is available to read online on Issuu here. Better yet, go grab yourselves a paper copy of of the issue here and read it in it's full physicality!

Check out past issues of the zine here.

Bounty Huntress

2010-04-19T20:01:00.012+01:00

Today sees the release of collective member, Ste O'Brien's online comic, Bounty Huntress! We've been looking forward to seeing it hit the shelves (web) and now the wait is over. Check it out yourself here.

Bounty Huntress follows the exploits of Seisha Djynn, a deadly bounty hunter with her own ideas of justice (as long as there's a fat pay check at the end). Make sure you click on the TWC link to help support what's sure to be an epic series!

You can keep up to date with Bounty Huntress news on the BulletDollar blog here.

An audience with Sir John Hegarty

2010-04-14T13:09:00.016+01:00

Creative Networks had a fantastic talk last month by Sir John Hegarty, advertising legend and guru extraordinaire, so I thought I'd share a few snippets from the evening. According to our host, Steve Smith, Yorkshire is expanding faster than any other creative region in the UK. The future really is creative!

Here are some fantastic advertising campaigns Sir John's been involved in over the years. These videos were posted on YouTube as a test-bed for market research - they got millions of hits!

Smirnoff Raw Tea Party Commercial (I really fancy a cuppa now;))

Life is Short - Xbox Commercial

Part-way through his talk Sir John made this statement:

"Technology has always been a spur to Creativity. Now more than ever."

Mixing Traditional Arts with Digital Technologies has been one of my obsessions for a long time now and I was so pleased when he said this. I wrote my last dissertation on this subject: 'The Fine Art of Multimedia Technology' and so I'm always fascinated to hear anything that uses the words 'Technology' and 'Creativity' in the same sentence. Creative peeps are so lucky to be living in a time when when we have these tools at our finger-tips. The computer has really transformed the way I work. All hail Creative Technology! :D

...and just to finish this post off with a few giggles here's a link to a cool flash website that Sir John's company worked on and was also featured on FWA.

MySpace Fan Video

Happy Easter and Flowery Fun from Kooji!

2010-04-04T16:16:00.001+01:00

Spring is definitely upon us once more and with the new season comes lots of pretty flowers and hope for a nice warm, sunny Summer. Happy Easter everyone :)

Check out previous Kooji Cards from Katherine & Johnny here

Emerging Artists Awards 2010

2010-03-31T23:40:00.047+01:00

What better way to celebrate the completion of 'Le Theatre de quantempus' by heading off to this year's Emerging Artists Awards at artsmix in the Loft, Leeds!

Amongst the creative talent that had been nominated we were really pleased to see our friends, Amy and Rebecca from Lord Whitney.

In another of their fantastic side-show attractions, the 'Cabinet of Curiosities' allowed passers-by to become part of the display. Each visitor had a huge choice of masks and outfits to wear with a customisable plaque. We were the 'Fireys' from the film Labyrinth :D

Emerging Artists Awards 2009 - Blog Post

Le Theatre de quantempus

2010-03-31T19:28:00.018+01:00

That's right! My portfolio site has finally gone live! Hip Hip Hurrar!! It's been a long time coming and all the blood, sweat and tears have finally paid off. It includes artwork from both my Art & Design and Multimedia Technology degrees and I've also added a section that showcases my favourite sketchbooks.

The design and interface was largely inspired by fairytales and old victorian toy theatres. My Mum bought me one when I was little and I loved putting on shows and playing with all the set pieces and characters. I thought it'd be fun recreating that in flash, with all the child-like wonder I had as a kid I might add :))

So..what're you waiting for!!? Grab yourself a ticket, take your seat and enjoy the show :D

www.quantempus.co.uk

Coins & Nooses goes live!

2010-03-01T10:20:00.009Z

March 2010 sees the launch of the 'Last Coiner' movie website and game in the run up to production starting on this feature film project from Duchy Parade Films. The film will follow the lives and fortunes of the Yorkshire Coiners in a 'Western' style story based on real events. Unlike most period dramas, this tale follows the poorer members of society as they struggle in a bleak North Yorkshire setting.

The Coins & Nooses game can be accessed through the movie website and will give you snippets of historical information, interviews and production notes as you navigate the Snakes & Ladders style board. See how many counterfeit coins you can collect before reaching square 100 but don't get caught red-handed by the excise man or you'll surely hang by the neck!

Be sure to enter your name and email address to enter the high score table, updated regularly on the Last Coiner Movie blog here.

Oh and check out more of my creative work at www.trumpetcleaner.co.uk!

Animalation

2010-02-02T12:51:00.003Z

We went for a trip to Manchester Art Gallery today and came across a beautiful exhibition called 'Animalation' by artist Andrew Bracey. The animation below was playing on a projector and really caught our eye.

There were several flip-book inspired animations like this including a slippery snake scuttling around on the floor and penguins swimming around in water.

Check out Andrew Bracey's website here.
Read Andrew's recipe for making your own animation here. Scrummy!

Parrworld

2010-01-28T16:42:00.009Z

Well, we've never seen Creative Networks so packed full to the rafters! A huge turn out of eager creatives all there to hear Martin Parr, famous British Photographer.

The audience were given a choice between three talks: (1) Martin's Career (2) Parrworld (3) Martin's Books.

The touring exhibition 'Parrworld' won out and we were all treated to a talk which reveals Parr's collection of unusual collectibles (photographic tea trays for instance), retro postcards and much much more besides.

"With photography, I like to create fiction out of reality. I try and do this by taking society's natural prejudice and giving it a twist." - Martin Parr

This image from his latest book made us giggle. Apparently Martin had to follow this guy around the art exhibition to catch him standing in front of this Pollock. The book is entitled, 'Luxury', and explores the lifestyles of the rich, including quotes from his subjects.

We bumped into our friends Dean Vipond and Helen Harrop during the evening too and then we took a quick tour of one of the regular art exhibitions held by the college.

Dean has written a great write up of the event on the Culture Vulture website: Read it here.
Visit Martin Parr's website here.

Masters Show gets DOM-inated!

2010-01-18T18:52:00.011Z

Collective member and expert dancer Dominic invited us over to Patrick Stewart's fine Uni to view the Masters end of year show. Once we had sorted ourselves out with free booze we took a look around the exhibits which covered all kinds of creative design disciplines from 3D vis and textiles to VJ motion graphics and graphic design.

Dom's project explored the design challenge of finding fun and creative ways to deliver scientific data, perhaps to be published in book form. In celebration of his achievement we awarded him with the grand prize, a whole Kinder Egg Surprise!

Apparently the Kinder offspring is now on guard duty?? Well you wouldn't want to mess with him ^^ now would ya!?

It was ace meeting up with Dom's chums and great to chat with Melissa again. We ended up dancing the night away (some really top-notch dance moves we might add, though not enough robot for my liking).

Unfortunately we didn't spot Picard whilst touring the exhibition :(

Invasion of The Alien Snow Bears

2009-12-24T17:52:00.006Z

Apparently "a White Christmas is unlikely" or so the news told us! Today we woke up to an even more snowy landscape than yesterday so it was straight down to Kirkstall Abbey to throw the white stuff at each other and build the monstrosity you see below:

Our efforts did not go unnoticed too as a random passer-by asked to take this photo to send to their Aussie relatives as proof that snow DOES in fact fall on our green and pleasant land. Seems like years since we've had proper snow :)

Happy Holidays

2009-12-22T21:25:00.008Z

We're sending out a message of Kooji cheer to all our friends. Happy Holidays everyone :)

Katherine & Johnny XX

Check out previous Kooji Cards from Katherine & Johnny here

Kilo-Ho-Ho-75

2009-12-20T18:55:00.011Z

We had a fantastic night out last week with the gang from Kilo75: Matt Seward, Monica Tailor, Pawel Dubiel, Dean Vipond and Mohsin Ali. After a delicious meal, some great conversation, lots of Xmas crackers (of which we had most of the prizes) Matt and Monica handed out groovy goody bags containing a moleskine, doodlebook, sharpies and sweeties. Here's to Kilo75 Hurray!

We've promised to have another get together to compare moleskines. Who's gonna have the best cover?

TrumpetCleaner is live!

2009-11-22T15:37:00.006Z

That's right my brand new, interactive, mechanical portfolio site is finished. Inspired as much by cosy (dingy) pubs as it is by Blackpool, the site should also give you an idea about what bounces around inside my skull when I'm staring into space :) For me there's a wonderful nostalgia attached to Blackpool, particularly the Illuminations so what better way to decorate my creative work showcase?

Come take a nosy, see what you think. Point your browser to: http://www.trumpetcleaner.co.uk

Lord Whitney's Circus Sideshow

2009-11-09T16:23:00.006Z

Last month we mentioned that during Culture Vulture's Holey Moly Arty Party we took part in a circus sideshow photography session by Lord Whitney. Well here's the result in all it's glory! Are we not beautious?

'Siamese Twins' © Lord Whitney http://www.lordwhitney.co.uk

Lord Whitney are a creative duo specialising in photography, illustration, set design and art direction. To see more of their fantabulous wonderfications check out their website, blog and photos on Flickr.

Holy Moley Arty Party

2009-10-25T15:24:00.022Z

Last August we bumped into our friend Helen Harrop who told us about a Travelling Moleskine Project she was involved in. What's a Moleskine we hear you cry!? Well...

"A Moleskine® is an iconic black book, beloved by creative types (Picasso, Van Gogh, Hemmingway etc) It can be a notebook, diary, sketchbook, city guide or planner." - The Culture Vulture.

Helen was in charge of one of the 80 moleskines that were dished out by the Culture Vulture (who teamed up with The Big Draw for this collaborative project) and she needed lots of talented people to contribute words/poetry, art, photos or doodles. Each moleskine had a theme, Helen's was 'Chinese Whispers,' and each of the participants were asked to make their own creative interpretation of this.

We've heard a lot about these travelling moleskines and collaborative projects like this are always fun so we thought we'd add our creativity to the mix. Here are our contributions:

'Oobly' © Johnathan Gallagher http://www.trumpetcleaner.co.uk'Me to You' © Katherine Moss http://www.quantempus.co.uk

The ones below were drawn on the train after our trip to the London Design Festival. We both took turns to describe the features of a character: eyes, nose, hair, mouth and then each drew one half of the face.

Image © Johnathan Gallagher and Katherine Moss

Image © Johnathan Gallagher and Katherine Moss

Image © Johnathan Gallagher and Katherine Moss

Image © Johnathan Gallagher and Katherine Moss

The moleskines were exhibited in their full glory at an Arty Party held at the Culture Vulture's HQ, Temple Works in Leeds, to help raise funds for the Campaign for Drawing.

The night's festivities included a line dancing hoe down by Axis, a circus sideshow photography session from creative duo Lord Whitney (more about this later ;)), an entry in the Year Book, some conversation ear-wigging/ under cover work for Helen 'Chinese Whispers' Harrop, some naughty caricatures by Alex Hughes from The Professional Cartoonists’ Organisation, some wicked wall drawing by Helen Entwhistle a.k.a Memo and a nifty networking room called 'Chumspace' from Numiko.

Related Links:

The Culture Vulture >> Travelling Moleskines®
Culture Vulture Travelling Moleskines Flickr Group
Lord Whitney
Memo and Memo Blog
The Professional Cartoonists’ Organisation - The Bloghorn
Axis - The Online Resource for Contemporary Art
Numiko

London Design Festival 2009

2009-09-27T11:34:00.021+01:00

Well, it's that time again! A whole year has flown by since our last visit to the London Design Festival and despite us insisting that we would never step foot on a National Express coach again, we did (albeit only for the inbound journey - we booked bargain priced train tickets for the journey home though, which was a joy to behold). In true Kooji style we both staggered off the coach, after a brief 4+ hour ride, and treated ourselves to a full English Breakfast at Ponti's an Italian restaurant in Marble Arch. Delicious!

We checked out a few sights during our stay including a trip to Camden Market where we encountered some giant horses.

One of the highlights of this year's festival was emerge 'the debut graphic design graduate showcase of the london design festival' so we stopped by to take a look.

'Science Museum Posters' © Natalie Talbot http://www.piedesign.co.uk/
http://piesdesign.blogspot.com/

'Swagga' © Danielle Mullis http://www.daniellemullis.com/

London poster exhibition - All emerge graduates were asked to produce poster designs working with a brief produced by Pentagram. These posters were then pitched against those of established designers who worked on the same brief for the V&A. The posters celebrate London as the creative capital of the world and are created using only two colours. The results provide an interesting comparison between designers at different stages in their careers.

Emerging graduate portfolios: A selection of links found on business cards and promo material at the exhibition.

Natalie Talbot - http://www.piedesign.co.uk/
http://piesdesign.blogspot.com/
Danielle Mullis - http://www.daniellemullis.com/
Aki Makita - http://makitaaki.blogspot.com/
Lisa Edoff - http://www.edoffdesign.com/
Kristianne Phillips - http://www.kristiannephillips.co.uk/
http://www.kristiannephillips.blogspot.com/
Jack Lee - http://www.flickr.com/photos/jacktherabbit
Lucy Brown - http://www.greycaine.com/
Rebekah Burke - http://www.rebekahburke.co.uk/
Richard Carey - http://www.richardcareydesign.co.uk/
J Hannevold - http://www.jhannevold.com/
Tom Lenartowicz - http://www.tom.thrilly.com/
Tom Lovell - http://www.lovelldesign.co.uk/
http://tomlovell.wordpress.com/
Tom Lynch - http://www.tomlynch.co.uk/
David Marsh - http://www.dmarshdesign.co.uk/
Ruth Pearson - http://www.ruthpearson.com/
Daniel Camacho - http://www.dscamacho.com/
Charlie Crook - http://www.charliecrook.com/
Richard Johnson - http://www.rjdesignstudio.co.uk/
Steve Loton - http://www.steveloton.co.uk/
Sarah Prismall - http://sarahprismall.co.uk/
Barbara Ward - http://www.bward.jotta.com/

Barry Purves: Animator Extraordinaire

2009-08-31T14:49:00.003+01:00

This month's Creative Networks featured Barry Purves, a traditional stop motion animator who has worked on all sorts from Postman Pat and Wind In The Willows to Hollywood blockbusters like King Kong. His love for animating comes from the 'performance' though as he originally wanted to be an actor. Barry showed us some lovely examples of his own work and personal favourites by other artists. Take a look:

OverTime - by Oury Atlan, Thibault Berland and Damien Ferrie

John and Karen - by Matthew Walker

Underground Art School

2009-08-03T10:55:00.013+01:00

Earlier this year I was reading through doodlage, a fantastic website about all things doodley, and came across this blog post about a new zine called Underground Art School. This isn't just any magazine though, it's made by some incredibly creative and friendly peeps and it's jam-packed with the most beautiful and inspiring artwork you've ever seen.

We were hooked immediately and planned on contacting them to ask about how we could contribute, they beat us to it though and messaged us to say hello after we befriended them on FaceBook.

You can befriend them too. Watch this video to learn more :D

With dancing skills like this we had no choice but to ask Racheal Anilyse (whose mind Underground Art School was envisioned within) if we could promote her work through the collective.

The Current Issue 'The SketchBook' is on sale now through MagCloud, you can preview the magazine on Issuu too. I just got all three copies in print last week as a birthday pressie from Johnny and they're SoOOooo good! I did have a sneeky peek pre-birthday, but only because they sang to me from inside the parcel!!

The first issue has tons of affirmation type in it too to make you feel positive and all warm inside, ahhh :)

Open publication - Free publishing - More underground

and if that's not enough you can get that warm squiggly feeling all 365 days of the year with this cool calendar:

Open publication - Free publishing - More underground

Entitled: 'Cultivating Community through the Creative Process' issue 2 is just as ace as the first and really has loads to get your artistic chompers into:

Open publication - Free publishing - More issue 2

SketchBooks! We love ours and have so many now that they've formed their own colony and are breeding in some far away galaxy. We call them the SketchBookonians...

Open publication - Free publishing - More underground

We're both advocates of creative collaboration and community and Underground Art School Magazine is right up our street for this kind of stuff, we just love it. We read the UAS Blog regularly and so should you :D They also have a pool on Flickr, you can watch them on Vimeo or tweet at them on Twitter if you're into bird calls... tweet tweet ;)

The Scribble Project

2009-07-26T16:05:00.007+01:00

I was reading the Doodlers Anonymous RSS Feed last week when I came across this blog post about a cool collaborative doodling project called 'Clubhouse Scribbles,' which is part of The Scribble Project. What's that? Well, it's "a playful community of doodlers who like to share our handiwork and collaborate in spontaneous art."

Johnny, me and Steve like to scribble socially, especially during a night out at Fab Cafe, so we thought this might be fun. We even had a small crowd (well two guys who were a bit pished) crowding round us eager to see our doodles. I took the opportunity to whip out the print-outs from this month's Clubhouse Scribbles - a groovy totem pole doodle that they're gonna link altogether to create one huge uber totem - so we each did two totem pole doodles and here they are!

© Johnathan Gallagher TrumpetCleaner

© Johnathan Gallagher TrumpetCleaner

© Katherine Moss quantempus

© Katherine Moss quantempus

© Steve O'Brien Super Nashwan

© Steve O'Brien Super Nashwan

If you fancy having a go doing your own totem pole doodle there's still time - the deadline is 31st July.

Check out the Website, Blog, Flickr Group, FaceBook Page, or Twitter.

Coming Soon

2009-07-02T22:12:00.005+01:00

Hold on to your hats! The brand spanking new personal portfolios of Johnathan Gallagher and Katherine Moss are heading your way. We've been beavering away on these two gems for what seems like eons now, but with a bit of luck (and a lot more elbow grease) we'll soon have these fantabulous extrapolations uploaded in their full glory. In the meantime, check out these beautious holding pages! Ahh, can't you just taste the chocolaty goodness!?

http://www.quantempus.co.uk

http://www.trumpetcleaner.co.uk

© Katherine Moss quantempus

© Johnathan Gallagher TrumpetCleaner

Patrick Burgoyne: Creative Review

2009-06-25T11:14:00.020+01:00

Creative Networks had a very cool talk this month by Patrick Burgoyne, the Editor for Creative Review. Patrick's talk entitled 'Labels: and Where to Stick Them,' covered a range of projects including the creation of the cover for the January Issue by a letterpress studio called Gráfica Fidalga in São Paulo. This workshop keeps the tradition of letterpress alive by producing books and prints.

Image © Creative Review Magazine

Image © Creative Review Magazine

Check out this video which documents the project:

Another issue's cover was produced in Mumbai by photographing a taxi which was covered in specially made stickers all produced by hand:

Here's a cool quote taken from Patrick's blog post Everything and Nothing. It's something all graphic designers need to keep in mind when they work:

“To design is to create images which communicate specific ideas in purely visual terms and utter statements whose form graphically embodies or enhances the essential nature of the notions to be communicated.” This definition of graphic design comes from John Commander, the first chairman of D&AD and a noted art director.

There were some really great videos during the presentation including this one called 'Obsessions Make My Life Worse and My Work Better' which shows an installation led by Stefan Sagmeister:

Read more about this collaborative project here.

This one had us giggling. Would you trade in your FaceBook friends for a burger? I think I'm tempted:

A very cool 'Kinetic' (that means moving kiddies ;)) sculpture. Oooh! Pretty:

The emphasis on the hand-crafts was evident throughout Patrick's talk and was a real delight. There is a definite trend emerging in the return to the hand-made (which I absolutely LOVE!) and many skilled designers and artworkers are looking to traditional methods to produce their work. This can not only be seen in typography, but in type-setting, sign-writing, hand-lettering and many other trades. The perfect balance of the traditional and digital crafts is what's needed.

Patrick also gave his opinion on what the future may hold for the magazine itself (in the ongoing battle of the Hand Crafts versus New Media). Eventually the magazine may be accessible through digital means rather than mass distributed as hard-copies (the huge use of paper isn't exactly eco-friendly) - although this form of publication may be preferred as people tend to enjoy having something to read in their hands, so only time will tell.

The End of the Beginning

2009-06-23T20:33:00.033+01:00

As courses end, careers start.

A showcase of over five hundred
young creatives at this pivotal point,
the end of the beginning.

From fabric to photos, art and
arm chairs, this is a chance to
see the new generation of talent,
at one of the few thriving independent
art Colleges in the country.

Image © Leeds College of Art and Design

This degree show at Leeds College of Art and Design was the best by far, so much so infact that we spent almost a whole day walking around all of the degree shows from all of the creative courses at both the Vernon Street and Blenheim Walk sites.

As we ran round all the exhibits we picked up lots of post-cards, business cards and flyers and took a TON of photos documenting all the best bits to see. Here are some extra spicy photos and links to cool portfolio sites that'll get your creative tastebuds tingling:

Image © Sammy Dowgill BA (Hons) Visual Communication

'From Little Acorns, Big Oaks Grow...' © Laura Jordan BA (Hons) Visual Communication

Johnny and I both attached 'acorns' to this tree with a small message on each about what our dreams and aspirations are. The responses will be used as inspiration for illustrations in the zine 'Raise Your Hand, Raise Your Voice.' The zine has a blog too, check it out.

'Class of 2008 - 2009 (Rogues Gallery)' © Peter Kesteven BA (Hons) Fine Art

Costume © Jessica Bull BA (Hons) Costume with Textiles

Image © Claire Pullan ND Graphic Design

Image © Claire Pullan ND Graphic Design

http://www.clairepullan.co.uk/
http://clairepullan.blogspot.com/

We both recognised Claire's art from last year's degree show and were really blown away by this piece of work. It's 3 metres by 1 metre and looks amazing! Be sure to check out her portfolio website and blog for lots more illustrative masterpieces.

Image © Ken McFarlane

http://kenneh.deviantart.com/

It was a nice suprise to come across Ken's work as it was one of so few examples of sequential art (or comic book art) appearing in exhibitions. We'd like to see much more of this kind of work on display at these events so cheers Ken and nice artwork!

'Kevin Bacon is the Centre of The Universe' Image © Vicky Smith

http://www.vickysmithisnice.co.uk/

Image © Aric Arthur

http://www.aricdesign.co.uk/
http://aricdesignpractice.blogspot.com/

Image © Steph Baxter

http://www.stephsayshello.co.uk/
http://stephsayshello.blogspot.com/

Steph is an Illustrator and Graphic Designer and also part of the Collective Custard Cream Creative. Yummy! We loved her work and will definitely keep checking back on her websites for updates. Take a look at her images on Flickr too!

Image © Joe Kelly

http://www.flickr.com/photos/joekelly

Related Blog Posts:

Leeds College of Art and Design End of Year Show 2008: Blood, Sweat & Tears
http://koojicreative.blogspot.com/2008/06/blood-sweat-tears.html

Portfolio Websites: A collection of links found on business cards from the show

http://www.nataliapasquino.com/
http://www.mitashpatel.com/
http://delightfullybritish.blogspot.com/
http://www.leedsviscom2009.co.uk/
http://www.kylebibby.co.uk/
http://kylebibby.blogspot.com/
http://www.will-campbell.com/
http://thingswhatihaveconsumed.blogspot.com/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/dogsndoodles/

Bradford Zine Fayre

2009-06-22T23:00:00.006+01:00

Johnny and I have been getting into the Zine Scene of late, so we decided to head on over to the Treehouse Cafe in Bradford to check out the first ever 'Bradford Zine Fayre.' When we arrived we were treated to table after table (well 3 in total) filled to the brim with lovely self-published zines from all over the UK. We even spotted some itsy bitsy single-sheet zines too, just like this Free Doodles Zine on Super Duper which you can print out and make yourself. Neato!

Site (1) Arts Festival 2009

2009-06-21T14:04:00.008+01:00

The Leeds School of Contemporary Art and Graphic Design hold an annual end of year show celebrating their graduating student's achievements and we always make sure to get a look in on the artwork on display.

This year's degree show, Site (1), is part of the Leeds Met University's Arts Festival and is across 3 'Sites' from The Faculty of Arts & Society including the Leeds School of Architecture, Landscape & Design and the School of Film, Television & Performing Arts. There was plenty to see and lots of inspiring exhibits to get our creative juices flowing. Here is a selection of what we saw as we wandered around:

© Carine Brosse
© Carine Brosse
© Alex Monaghan, Untitled, Print Outs on Board, 15' x 11'

© Alex Monaghan, Untitled, Print Outs on Board, 15' x 11'

© Nicholas Pierce, Centaur, Graphite on prepared board

© Laura Havenhand
© Laura Havenhand

LDS09 Fine Art Degree Show

2009-06-11T18:56:00.001+01:00

Being greeted by a handshake, a "Thanks for coming" and then a very European 'Kiss Kiss' on either cheek was a surprise, but also quite a refreshing change at this year's Leeds University Fine Art Degree Show. We're not usually welcomed in this way to an exhibition, but we're not going to knock it either - it was very arty!

What was even artier was the 'Art of Queuing' installation. We headed up a staircase, found ourselves in a queue, someone whispered "they're letting two in at a time," so we patiently waited and made chit chat. When we were allowed in we were met by a long, dark corridor with a TV at the end. On the display screen was a live recording of all the other mugs patiently waiting in the queue - the small plaque read: 'The Art of Queuing (and Conversation).' Clever :D

© Emma Melton
'Fig. 8', Hysteric Beauty series, 2009
Oil, acrylic, make up, sweets and glass paint on canvas.

We found this on the way out. A pile of letters, part of which formed the word 'White ³.' I wonder what it means...

http://www.lds09.co.uk/

Drawing Day 2009

2009-06-06T19:43:00.011+01:00

We only heard about this by chance today as it was being advertised through redbubble (the site where Dom Palmer, fellow artiste extraordinaire and recent addition to the Kooji Gang, sells his art wares). What a find! We need more events like this and it's always a joy when we come across them. Plus, any excuse to draw for the purpose of uniting with our fellow humans world-wide is as good an excuse as any! The aim is to create 1 million drawings, so we got cracking and here's the result:

As you can see Johnny and I had a My Little Pony theme running throughout, but I can only chalk that down to the small toy sat next to my Mac and our need for inspiration.

Check out the Drawing Day website, Flickr Group, YouTube Channel and FaceBook Group for more details and to see how you can join in with the frivolity :D Drawing Day is an annual event (hurray!) and it lasts all weekend too, so quick! Go get ya pens, pencils, paper, sketch-books and draw! Don't forget to share your drawings online too :)

News Flash!

2009-05-28T17:57:00.001+01:00

News Flash! Crazy Octopus Terrorizes Toy Town. Our resident fly on the scene has this to say: "BbbbbbZzzzzzz." These groovy promotional post-cards were given to us by Nathan Peacock at this week's Comic Evening @ Travelling Man. Nathan is a fantastic illustrator whose work is delicately drawn by hand. At first glance we thought he'd used a program like Adobe Illustrator to put his designs together but Nathan prefers to use liquid pens and the tools he was born with. Good on ya Nathan!

Image © Nathan Peacock

Image © Nathan Peacock

An Evening with Wayne Hemingway

2009-05-21T23:00:00.000+01:00

As part of this year's Northern Design Competition, run by Leeds Met University (where we both studied, yay team!) the Rose Bowl played host to a lecture from designer, Wayne Hemingway. The talk, entitled 'Be Inspired by Creativity and Design,' covered the success of Wayne's entrepreneurial endeavours and his social/ political views and impact on the country.

From the early years fixing and selling Doc Martins along with his partner Geraldine, the two went on to lead the fashion industry with controversial label, 'Red or Dead' which would make the headlines for it's support for Greenpeace and other social causes. The fashion label was sold and the two have worked on many creative projects since, always with a view to improve the standard of living with his current venture, Hemingway Design.

As usual, Katherine ensured that she was heard and piped up during the talk. The new building, Broadcasting Place was mentioned and we just couldn't resist voicing our reservations for the eye-sore. Wayne thought it was an old building that had been updated and we had to point out that it was brand new. Well we can't agree on everything now can we! :D

570 Media Launch Party

2009-05-14T23:00:00.004+01:00

Bukkie from the Collective celebrated the launch of 570 Media's new website in style, with a party held in Leeds, Old Broadcasting House. As well as presenting some of the artist's work featured on the site, guests were entertained with funky tunes by DJ Silvao with the Element dance troupe, a catwalk of models strutting their stuff with some up and coming fashion and who could forget the jelly beans! Yes there were many sweets consumed that evening :)

We also managed to squeeze in some mingling amongst the guests (between scoffing jelly beans and crisps) and met a great couple: Dominic Palmer and Melissa March, who run the social enterprise University of the Fourth Age together. Dominic is a creative who like ourselves mixes his Traditional Fine Art style with his Digital Art work through his Masters degree in Graphic Design. It's just great to meet another creative who crosses both disciplines like this. Be sure to check out his portfolio here.

Free Comic Book Day 2009

2009-05-02T23:00:00.004+01:00

It's gotta be one of the best days of the year! Yes! It's 'Free Comic Book Day.' A day when everything is right with the world and we all join hands with our fellow human beings in a joyous celebration of free comics throughout the land. Me, Johnny and Ste got ourselves on over to Travelling Man again this week (after a great night out earlier in the week at the fortnightly Travelling Man Comic Evening) and grabbed ourselves some great free comics. We'll definitely be going again next year! Woot! :D

http://www.freecomicbookday.com

Leeds Art Fair 2009

2009-05-01T19:50:00.003+01:00

Leeds Art Fair is an annual event and we made certain we were there again this year to sample the tasty treats on display. This year we came armed with snazzy camera enabled mobile phones so we could take piccies to document the occasion. Check em out:

Image © Kathryn Edwards

I have to just say that I'm being quite biased with this artist (because I'm really into the hand-drawn style at the moment) but I thought this display by Kathryn Edwards was beautiful.

Image © Kathryn Edwards

Image © Kathryn Edwards

Image © Helen Parsley

Here's Johnny checking out Helen Parsley's work. Incredible art and beautifully framed too.

Image © Paula Dunn

Image © Nick Tankard

Image © Nick Tankard

Image © Richard Taylor

We finished off our daily dose of creative inspiration by popping into the Leeds College of Art & Design for their Damien Hirst exhibition: "In a Spin, The Action of the World on Things."

The entry below was written on Wikipedia for Damien Hirst: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Damien_Hirst

What Hirst has insightfully observed of his spin-paintings in Life and Death and Damien Hirst is the only comment that needs to be made of his entire oeuvre:

"They're bright and they're zany - but there's fuck all there at the end of the day."

We have to agree with Damien really...

Travelling Man Comic Evening

2009-04-30T23:00:00.002+01:00

Travelling Man holds regular "Comic Evenings" in Leeds so we decided to check it out after Dan Barritt from Ragadabah told us about it. Ste joined us as he's also a big graphic novel / comic fan and (although he's modest about it) he's an awesome comic artist himself.

Comics from the store were on hand to flick through as well as some produced by the other guests at the evening. Dan handed us copies of hiw own free mini-comic :)

© Dan Barritt Ragadabah

Reading comics formed only half of the night's purpose. Everybody discussed comics (and the fantasy genre in general) and large sketchbooks were on hand for much doodling. The results were.. odd!

Suffice to say we'll be back again for more, especially considering the drinks in Fab Cafe that follow these fortnightly events!

Out of Sorts

2009-04-28T14:32:00.011+01:00

During a field trip to Bradford Industrial Museum, gathering texture photos of the machines there, we stumbled upon a blast from the past in terms of graphic design.

A collection of printing equipment, typesetters and more were on display reminding us of just how much computers have simplified things and allowed us so much more freedom in how we work with type and layout than must have been available before.

Oh and we also found what may have coined the phrase "out of sorts". "When printers speak of metal type they use the word 'sort.' If a printer runs out of some letters and cannot continue his work he is said to be 'out of sorts.'"

Pierogi Samosa

2009-04-14T18:55:00.021+01:00

During our last visit to Fundacja Między Nami we were given a great recipe for a tasty pierogi dish. The only problem was that we couldn't read the recipe because it's written in Polish. Well, it's a few months later and we've been polishing up our Polish (with a little help from Google Translate) and we've translated it.

Click here to download a Pdf containing both the original Polish recipe and translated English version.

Serves 6 people
Preparation 40 minutes
Frying 10 minutes

Dough:
500g flour
25g clarified butter, 4 tablespoons of yoghurt,
½ teaspoon baking powder,
1 teaspoon salt, flour to sprinkle.

Alternative Dough Mix:
300g flour
2 eggs,
4-5 tbsp water,
pinch of salt.

Filling:
500g minced meat
250g green peas, 25g clarified butter,
2 medium-sized onions, 2 cloves garlic
2 teaspoon coriander,
1 teaspoon of powdered ginger,
½ teaspoon of chilli, 1 teaspoon Garam masala,
vegetable oil for frying.

1. Prepare the dough: sieve flour and then mix with baking powder and salt, then add the clarified butter and yoghurt.

With the dough make small balls with a diameter of 2cm.

Sprinkle flour and then roll out each ball flat with a diameter of 15cm. These form the two halves of the pierogi.

2. Prepare filling: take onions and garlic and chop finely, then heat in frying pan (gas mark 5) in butter or vegetable oil until gold.

Add minced meat and green peas, then pour in coriander, ginger, chilli and Garam Masala. Mix and fry for 5 minutes. Once the filling is cooked through allow to cool.

3. For each piece of dough add a teaspoon of the filling. Moisten edges with water, then add the other half of the dough to form the pierogi. Use a fork to join the edges (it looks decorative too!)

Heat the vegetable oil in a frying pan then fry the pierogi on both sides until they go a nice golden colour. (For the Alternative Dough Mix boil pierogi in a pan of water until they rise to the surface. This is the sign that they're ready).

Remove the pierogi, piping hot and serve. We added a nice cucumber sauce and salad with ours. Smacznego! (Bon appetit!)

Related links:
Pierogi Recipes UKTV Food
Fried Spinach Mushroom and Cheddar Pierogi Recipe | Recipes | FriendsEAT.com
Pierogi with Onions and Spinach

Happy Easter and Eggy Fun from Kooji!

2009-04-10T17:20:00.003+01:00

Paper Scissor Stone

2009-04-03T18:10:00.004+01:00

A blog post about an entertaining game I hear you cry!? Nope, we're talking about the new retail store in Leeds called 'Paper Scissor Stone.' Filled to the brim with cool artworks on the walls, fashionable clothing, magazines and books - it definitely feels like a bit of London glam in our own fair city, Yippee! If you're in the area, we recommend heading over and taking a look:

Image © Paper Scissor Stone Store

11am till 7pm Mon to Fri
10.30am till 6.30pm Saturday
Midday till 4pm Sunday
38 New York Street // Leeds // LS2 7DF
+44 (0) 113 244 1398
www.paper-scissor-stone.co.uk
info@paper-scissor-stone.co.uk

Images taken from the Paper Scissor Stone Blog

Watch the Paper Scissor Stone Launch Party Video here, View the website here and read through the Paper Scissor Stone Blog here. They even have their own FaceBook group so go and add yourself as a groupee!

Emerging Artists Awards 2009

2009-04-02T23:00:00.007+01:00

We were invited by our friend Jonathan Smith from artsmix* to come along to the year's Emerging Artists Awards at The Loft in Leeds. artsmix* hosted the event along with support from Leeds College of Art and Design. We even recognised a few familiar faces from Creative Networks West Yorkshire as well.

A couple of ladies were dancing around the room pinning clothes pegs to people when we walked in. They had their website address stuck on, a novel way of handing out business cards I thought. Check out their website: Urban Angels Circus

It was a great night out with lots of inspirational artworks on display. I even managed to sample some gazpacho soup too!

We Love our Mummys

2009-03-22T18:20:00.007Z

No we've not secretly started an Egyptian Mummy's collection, or begun preparing for this year's Halloween either. We're paying respect to our Mothers in celebration of Mothering Sunday. We Love our Mummys! X

How ARTiculate you are!

2009-03-18T23:49:00.013Z

We recently came across a new Leeds based, creative mag on FaceBook called 'ARTiculate magazine,' and were hooked after taking a look at issue one here. Very professional looking and absolutely bursting with creativity! Finally a truly creative magazine for Leeds :D

Image © ARTiculate Magazine

ARTiculate held a party at the Mine bar, Leeds University to exhibit artists' work and to showcase musical talent from the region. We had a great night out, chatted with some really talented individuals and basked in the creativity.

Artwork © Stephen Jackson

I almost ran across the room and started scoffing these, then I realised to my disappointment that it was one of the artists' exhibits - Alice in Wonderland stylee: The Mad Hatters Tea Party

We were also fortunate enough to meet a very talented and humble guy called Dan Barritt. After perusing one of the artworks on display (a kinda post-apocalyptic scene of Ilkley) Dan kindly pointed out that small mooses were hidden within the artwork. "Oh yeah! How do you know about that?" I asked. "Because I made it!" he said, haha and then he dished out these groovy promotional postcards - Fantastic!

Image © Dan Barritt

Check out Dan's artwork here on his website Ragadabah and become a fan on the Ragadabah FaceBook Page

Kooji Meets Frazer Irving

2009-02-28T12:41:00.008Z

This month's Creative Networks saw Illustrator and Graphic Artist Frazer Irving charting his climb to the top in the comic art industry and several members of Kooji Creative were on hand to see what he had to say. Bukkie, Steve and Stuart joined us as the event for a collective get together.

Apart from an amazing presentation of Frazer's artwork, from early experiments to the fantastic and varied portfolio of work including 2000AD, Marvel and his own projects such as Gutsville, he had a great deal to say about the comic art and illustration industries.

From meager beginnings jumping between work as a security guard, selling sex toys and various office jobs he eventually managed to make a break through with 2000AD, introducing his uniquely dark and often surreal style.

To say his presentation was inspiring wouldn't begin to do it justice. I was hooked from start to finish and walked away with even more determination to try new techniques and produce new artwork. Not only for paid work but for fun which Frazer mentioned is all important yet so easily forgotten about.

Happy Birthday Mumsie!

2009-02-27T15:55:00.005Z

It's a very special day today - It's my Mumsie's Birthday! So to show my affection I've created this beautiful Birthday Card :D Isn't it pretty?

Many Happy Returns Mum, I love you! X

Pancake Day

2009-02-24T15:59:00.007Z

Well it's that time again! Yup time to scoff lots of pancakes in celebration of pancakes. Well far be it from us not to go along and join in the merriment :D

Pancake Recipe:

1 Egg
4 ounces Plain Flour
1/2 Pint of Milk

Sieve the flour into a good sized mixing bowl.
Pour the delicious cow's milk over the top.
Crack the egg then whisk it around a bit.
Melt a lump of butter in a frying pan, over a medium heat.
Pour the mixture into the frying pan and form a circle.
Once the pancake takes shape nudge it with a spatular.
Okay, now the pancake's free you're ready to flip!
Flip that pancake, woo! Here comes the fun part...
Serve on a plate and scoff. Scoff quickly!
Finished scoffing? Then return to step 1 ;)

Kooji Love

2009-02-14T17:56:00.003Z

Yes! It's Valentine's Day and you know what that means dontcha!? It's a time to show those around you how much you care. So go and hug those loved ones, snuggle with your honey and bring joy to everyone you meet on your travels today :D

In the words of the Walrus of Love, here's our message of Kooji Love to y'all ;)

PS
It's definitely not just a heart shaped patch covering the huge worn, holey bit on my coat. Nope...

RIP Tony Hart

2009-01-18T11:14:00.007Z

We were both saddened to hear of Tony Hart's passing, especially since we were only just talking about our childhood memories of Hartbeat and viewing clips on YouTube. I used to tune into his show back in the 80s to see Tony work his magic, catch up with Morph then chill out to the gallery music :) He will be missed by all of us here and no doubt by his many many fans out there.

Doodles and Dinner

2009-01-14T22:34:00.005Z

Another food related post we hear you cry!?? Are we starting to see a pattern here or what? Okay, well there's method in my madness, honest. We recently decided to head off to the local cinema and treat ourselves to a candlelit meal for two at ShantiLouisiana beforehand. We were pleasantly surprised to find a pot of crayons on our table and a table cloth that closely resembled a sheet of drawing paper from our primary school days. Joy! Obviously we had a quick glance round and noted that none of the other diners were doodling all over their tables, so we asked a waitress first. "Of course you can draw all over your table," she said. Glee! Here's the results of our culinary delights. Enjoy!

I'm Lovin' it!

2009-01-13T19:49:00.002Z

Okay, so on the extremely RARE occasions that we happen to frequent the local McDonalds, we’re always sure to eye up the Happy meals. They make ya happy dontcha know, with their pretty toys and shiny packaging.

See!? See how pretty this week’s toy was? It’s a cool mini travelling version of a retro classic, Downfall.

Anyway, to steer this post’s topic back on a creative footing I’ll ramble on about McDonald’s branding and insert a few links.

I don't know about the rest of you but I never had a problem with clowns as a child, Ronald McDonald never gave me sleepless nights, but then on the other hand I can totally understand the fear that might be ingrained into a person. They are after all, pretty scary. As advertising campaigns go though, McDonald's primary temptation is today's fast food culture. We turn up, usually by car (although for this visit, we did actually walk.... from the car parked a few furlongs away), we have highly processed food shovelled into our mouths by scary clowns and then we leave. Sorry, no...then we waddle back to our cars - that's if we don't choose drive-thru, in which case our car waddles as we pull away.

Ronald McDonald © McDonald's Corporation - He's just such a Happy Chappy!

No offence to McDonald's intended though, we both appreciated our McDonald's student discount cards and free cheese burger, during our university years. Ahh, happy days, I can just smell the fries right now, can't you?

Image © Kibblesworth Title: The Dangers of McDonalds

"i'm lovin' it is an international branding campaign by McDonald's Corporation. It was created by Heye & Partner, a longtime McDonald's agency based in Unterhaching, Germany, near Munich, and a member of the DDB Worldwide Communications Group, Inc. It was the company's first global advertising campaign and was launched in Munich, Germany on September 2, 2003, under the German title ich liebe es."

McDonald's Advertising - Wikipedia

Who Needs Designers

2009-01-11T12:27:00.002Z

Yes, that's right! It's the answer we've all been waiting for! Finally we can do away with those pesky over-priced designers.

Don't Delay, Buy Today!

Credit: Agency Fusion
http://www.whoneedsdesigners.com/
http://www.makemylogobiggercream.com/

Fancy a Hand Job?

2009-01-03T15:31:00.008Z

This book was on my pressie list for Santa this year. Mr Postman tried to deliver it on Christmas Eve but our doorbell didn't go off so we popped down to the depot yesterday and retrieved it. It's a superb book full of lots of hand-drawn typography and artwork and we really recommend you go get yourself a copy too. Incredibly inspirational and bursting with creativity - click the image for a limited preview on Google Books:

Hand Job: A Catalog of Type by Michael Perry

I tried to find a nice flip-book style version on Issuu.com to post on here, but found this instead after searching for the Author Michael Perry. Oooh! What a find, lots more lovely handmade graphics. Be inspired :D

Get your own - Open publication

The One & Only Artzine #01

The Play's the Thing!

2008-12-30T20:19:00.010Z

Okay, so I may be pushing thirty but playing with my new toy theatre over the Christmas holidays wasn't just for fun dagnammit, it was research! That's right, research for my personal portfolio that'll be unveiled to the impatient masses in the New Year. Here's me ~~playing with my new toy~~ carrying out some vital research:

Credit: Theatre designed by Peter Jackson. Published and distributed by Tobar Limited - St. Margaret, Harleston, Norfolk, England, IP20 0PJ. Telephone: 01986 782222

Down the Rabbit Hole

2008-12-28T15:03:00.007Z

We both love the Alice in Wonderland tales and I thought I'd share these book samples of Alice inspired artwork by that I found on a website called Issuu. They were illustrated by an artist called Ian Richards:

Get your own - Open publication

Wishing you a Kooji Christmas!

2008-12-23T13:11:00.004Z

As another year approaches we wish you all a very happy Christmas and best wishes for the future!

Kooji Creative x

Stop, Look and Listen

2008-12-20T15:24:00.013Z

Stop-Motion Animation is a very time-consuming, patience straining art-form, but it's also a very rewarding practice that gives you a much greater understanding of timing, movement and pace. Here's a stop-motion film by an artist called PES, which I 'Stumbled' over today and it got me thinking about the work I did at Art college years ago and my first year studying Multimedia Technology. Take a look and be inspired!

Western Spaghetti by PES

Trap Door created by Terry Brain and Charlie Mills

Morph by Aardman Animations

The Ray Harryhausen Creature List

Related Post: Patience is a Virtue

A right Jackson Pollock

2008-12-20T14:06:00.008Z

I found this website today after signing up for StumbleUpon and 'Stumbling' around for a bit. It's a flash, interactive, thing-a-me-jig. I made this pretty splatter pic with it, cool huh?

If only my art tutors had seen this...

I was going for a Dalmation kinda feel with this one. Be honest, it's good innit? I really put my heart and soul into it, took me all of 10 seconds too ( : |

Seriously though, I thought this flash website was pretty good. It brings traditional and digital art together, in one big.. kinda traffic collision. Go play :P

O Kooji Tree

2008-12-13T11:52:00.014Z

O Kooji Tree, O Kooji Tree!

How are thy leaves so verdant!
O Kooji Tree, O Kooji Tree,
How are thy leaves so verdant!

Not only in the summertime,
But even in winter is thy prime.

O Kooji Tree, O Kooji Tree,
How are thy leaves so verdant!
Kooji Tree, O Kooji Tree,
Much pleasure doth thou bring me!

O Kooji Tree, O Kooji Tree,
Much pleasure doth thou bring me!
For every year the Kooji tree,
Brings to us all both joy and glee.

O Kooji Tree, O Kooji Tree,
Much pleasure doth thou bring me!

O Kooji Tree, O Kooji Tree,
Thy candles shine out brightly!

O Kooji Tree, O Kooji Tree,
Thy candles shine out brightly!
Each bough doth hold its tiny light,
That makes each toy to sparkle bright.

O Kooji Tree, O Kooji Treee,
Thy candles shine out brightly!

Original words found here.

The NO!SPEC Campaign

2008-11-20T17:03:00.009Z

This poster has been donated by Von Glitschka to the No!Spec Campaign

Okay, so here's the Bread Crumb trail that led me to finding this yesterday. I signed up Design Float after browsing through the Social Media Directory for Designers, then found this article: 5 Ways To Break Your Design Habits - Just for Fun on Spyre Mag. I spotted this small banner in the side bar and followed the link:

Here's what I found on the No!Spec website

The NO!SPEC campaign: Serves as a vehicle to unite those who support the notion that spec work devalues the potential of design and ultimately does a disservice to the client.

Our mission: To educate the public about speculative, or 'spec' work.

Our target: Those who use creative services, as well as creative professionals (designers, photographers, illustrators, typographers, writers and those in marketing, branding and advertising).

What you can do: Read NO!SPEC's Protocols. Place a "NO!SPEC" logo on your site. Sign the NO!SPEC petition. Distribute the "NO!SPEC" posters. Contact us with your thoughts, comments, articles and insights.

Requirements: The only requirement for participation is putting the appropriate value on your profession.

This poster has been donated by Jeff Andrews to the No!Spec Campaign

This is a really important initiative and it needs our support. We didn't realise that things like this happened until we began working in the industry. It's really shocking but moreover it's a disgusting practice which is being self-perpetuated by both misguided designers and so-called 'clients.' It makes us angry that people out there who do this don't value our work, or even realise the sheer work that is involved in the creative process.

Speculative work definitely DOES NOT include doing unpaid work for charities (this type of project has great ethical and moral value), or 'freebies for fun' for your mates. Obviously, its your choice which projects you focus your energies on, but be careful that you consider all your options thoroughly before you agree to do unpaid work (check all the T&Cs before entering design competitions too!). Just look before you leap ;)

How many of the designers reading this post have heard any of the following?

This poster has been donated by Rob Gough to the No!Spec Campaign

Also, be sure to have a look at this article by Mark Rushworth. He mentions QBN.com in the first paragraph (hence yesterday's blog about World Toilet Day - What can I say? Wave something shiny at me and I'll get distracted ... a bit like a magpie!) but goes on to describe a recent case where the company Aquent 'a talent agency for designers and marketers' put an advertisement up on the 99designs for a 'contest' to design a new website for them, with a 'prize' of 500 dollars for the 'winner.' Unbelievable!

Aquent Vs the Design Industry

Keep yourself informed of Creative Industry News by checking out websites like Design Float and QBN.

"Design Float is a social media site dedicated to the design industry. Design Float aims to collect and organize design-related content from across the web while letting the community float the best articles to the top pages of their categories and sink the most irrelevant one’s to the bottom." Design Float

World Toilet Day

2008-11-19T20:33:00.042Z

I found this article today on QBN - Design Industry News & Discussion. At first I thought it was a joke about crazy toilet designs, but its actually about something much more serious. It's a day to celebrate toilets and raise awareness of the global sanitation crisis.

"The WTO (World Toilet Organization) is committed to improving toilet and sanitation conditions worldwide. An estimated 2.6 BILLION and - including 980 million children- don't have access to basic sanitation." Wendy Cohen

The Economy Is In The Can; And It is WORLD TOILET DAY

NOVEMBER 19, 2008- World Toilet Day
Theme: We Deserve Better
5 Ways YOU Can Help

World Toilet Organization (WTO) stands up for the 3 "WE (s)" in the theme "We Deserve Better".

• WE: Toilets deserve better social status. WTO has been striving to elevate the status of toilets to make them a status symbol and an object of desire. WTO speaks on behalf of toilets "WE DESERVE BETTER SOCIAL STATUS".

• WE: The second WE are the toilet cleaners. WTO aims to professionalize the sanitation and restroom industry and to upgrade the skill sets of the restroom cleaners. WTO speaks on behalf of the toilet cleaners "WE DESERVE BETTER PAY, RESPECT AND PROSPECTS".

• WE: WTO speaks on behalf of 2.5 billion toilet-less people, "WE DESERVE BETTER PLACE TO DEFECATE, A TOILET".

This information can be found also at our Get Involved Link

1. JOIN the cause on Facebook: Toilets for the Poor
2. BLOG about the cause 19th November, and write an article about why we all deserve better.
3. PROMOTE November 19th, 2008 by putting your instant messenger or Facebook status as : TODAY IS WORLD TOILET DAY :) http://www.worldtoilet.org/.

4. CREATE an event in your school or city. Add your event for World Toilet Day and email nora@worldtoilet.org to inform us that you have prepared your own event to spread the importance of why toilets are important, and we all deserve better sanitation. (Other events can also be viewed on our Get Involved link)
5. SHARE this information with others by "cutting and pasting" this message to all those who you feel deserve better or believe in our cause.

** Lastly if you can't do any of these, but you have 5 USD (dollars) to spare, then DONATE to http://www.worldtoilet.org/donateform.asp

Thank you for your time in spreading the word!
Sincerely,
The World Toilet Organization Team
----------------------------------------------------

Toilet Art Exhibition, 2008

"Professional artists and art students from renowned schools in Singapore, Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts (NAFA) and La Salle are painting 100 toilet seat covers which will be exhibited on 19th to 21st of November at the 2nd level of Scape and series of exhibits planned until first quarter of 2009. Each toilet seat converted into a piece of art will convey message on toilet and sanitation." World Toilet Organisation - Get Involved

This last artist, Alex Pardee has an incredible portfolio called Eyesuck Ink and his Blog is pretty cool too.

Kooji Creative's Blog has Gone Multilingual

2008-11-17T19:23:00.008Z

It dawned on us today how important it is for people to be able to understand us. Not only by explaining our thoughts and ideas in a straight forward (non designer jargon) way, but through language itself. The 'Designer Client' relationship is always something that needs to be handled carefully, but this is especially so if you don't share the same language. Our Polish clients from Fundacja Między Nami (The Among Us Foundation) have been very understanding of this fact. Marzena Bochenek, the Vice-President of FMN, is our primary contact and fortunately for us is multilingual. This is a skill I really admire and I hope that one day I'll be able to talk to her in her own language.

Until that time though, I thought that this Google Gadget would help us to break down the language barriers. We have several friends who speak many other languages aswell including: German, Italian, Portuguese and Spanish too (plus my Dentist is Romanian :D).

We've added the Google Translate My Page Gadget to our blog and we recommend you do the same. Check it out :)

Image taken from The Internet Movie Database from the film 'The King and I'

The actor Yul Brynner was multilingual and could communicate in several languages including French, Russian and English. He truly was a King.

Is Your Web Truly World-Wide?

UPDATE:

Google Translate adds 10 new languages...

There's a new version of the Google Translate My Page Gadget ! It's been updated to include many other target languages to translate from. The older one above, is customisable (this new one doesn't seem to be) but there are less target languages to choose from. The decision is yours :) 18/11/08