....but hey ho. Here's a rather ugly mash-up greeting for all the Monday depressives out there (which includes me, although actually I had a pretty good blue Monday).
Inspired by a conversation with Matt at the excellent design company Music. I wish you all the best mate.
Ian
I watched an excellent documentary on my favourite channel BBC Four the other night. Rankin had decided to track down some of the photographers who made ‘Life’ magazine famous since its first issue in 1936. Through this, the programme was able to get inside the heads of some of the most influential photojournalists of the 20th century.
Life was published until 1972, although they published an occasional ‘special’ until 1978. It then became a monthly again from 1978 to 2000. For fans of photography and photojournalism though, the first flourish is considered to be the heyday of the iconic magazine.
As a designer, the covers have always been the most impressive. Even though the look of the cover over the very first issue is clearly part of a powerful visual movement of the time, it’s hard to believe that this Russian constructivist/Rodchenko inspired look was considered commercially realistic for an American audience approaching WW11.
This brutal, modernist look never dates for me though. I love it’s uncompromising aesthetic and I think it’s absolutely beautiful. I’d like to think the American public thought the same, but it seems hard to imagine they could though - frankly it must’ve looked like a communist manifesto in late 30s America. Maybe the depression gave the US a taste for the brutal and austere. The only reference I can think of that links this look is possibly Edward Hopper. I’m sure people out there know exactly why this cover worked and I’d love to know.
And work it certainly did. ‘Life’ seems to have been an overnight success, selling 380,000 copies in its first week, rising to over a million in four months. It went on to sell more than 13.5 million in a single week at one point. Life was originally a humour and general interest magazine from 1883 to 1936. It was bought by publisher Henry Luce in 1936 because he simply wanted the name. All the other assets were sold off. Luce had an idea that pictures could tell a powerful story in themselves rather than to simply be an illustration for the text. The photo essay was born and the text for the whole thing was condensed into captions for 50 pages of pictures.
I’ve lived in a time when magazines have always had to plaster their contents over their covers in order to compete on the newsstands. I’ve heard some editors and even editorial designers attempting to claim that this is a good thing, producing interesting design solutions to the challenge of heavily content-filled front covers. It isn’t a good thing, nor is it interesting. And, given the imminent migration of most if not all publications to the web, it looks likely that the concept of simple, direct visual impact could be on its death bed. No album covers, no magazine covers, no book covers - just a few pixels in the corner of a screen full of text. Web sites are the perfect vindication for those who have always believed that human beings always preferred the content page and the index to the seductive but irrelevant front cover.
As a designer, I’m happy to fight this philosophy to the death. Just look at these amazing covers. And this quality was pretty consistent every week for the whole of the magazine’s first 35 years.
But if I’m true to the spirit of ‘Life’, I’ve probably already used too much text already. The three following photographers were the real standouts for me, so I’ll just show some pictures and a minimal-ish caption.
Alfred Eisenstaedt
Known as ‘Eisie’ to his close friends and colleagues (among them Marilyn Monroe), Eisenstaedt seemed to render all the subsequent photojournalists in the documentary glassy-eyed with admiration. He set the bar from the magazine’s outset. He was fast, brilliant and full of it. He got most of his best shots using the technique that Martin Parr now uses of holding his camera low down and not looking through the lens - simply watching the subject for the big moment. His VJ Day celebration photo in Times Square seems to be the very definition of the word ‘iconic’.
W. Eugene Smith
I got the impression this guy was really edgy and difficult. This always makes me wonder how someone like that could produce such personal, human work. Curmudgeonly people do seem to speak for us better than they should (Larkin for instance). I saw a programme a couple of years ago where they traced the three miners in that amazing 1950 photo shot at Coed Ely Colliery. I can’t believe how great that shot is.
Larry Burrows
There was a great bit of footage of Burrows talking in his plummy English way about his experiences in Vietnam. He looked so utterly out of place - his speccy-intellectual appearance making him seem like a bank manager in khaki, but he risked his life for nine years flat getting some of the shots that defined that war in the way that Capa did for D Day. He died with three other journalists when his helicopter was shot down over Laos covering the Lam Son invasion in 1971. He had dodged every bullet in the field. The more I find out about real heroes, the more they turn out to look like this.
Harry Benson
Heavy Scottish accent, seems a bit wild, witty, and with a real eye for beauty. Pre-dates all those celebrity pillagers. Makes media figures look like another species.
Producing this post has answered a real question for me. Why do I spend ages finding the pictures for my posts and not nearly long enough writing them. Well it’s obvious I like pictures much more than words. So, in future, I pledge to make my blog posts picture essays, with fewer polemics and diatribes.
Thanks in advance to Time/Life for the pictures and for not locking me, my descendants and dependents away for showing them without permission (up yours SOPA).
Ian
I believe true innovation can only come by breaking the rules. If you just do what you are supposed to do, how can you possibly discover new ways of doing things or new ideas? It simply just doesn't happen.
This week I read a great blog by Dave Trott (thanks to Dave Trott's blog), which had a wonderful story of innovation, which definitely happened by breaking the rules. Turning a jet fighter engine round in mid-air just to find out what might happen could be construed as pretty crazy. Listen to what happened...
The Harrier was designed as a VTOL aircraft. Short for Vertical Take Off & Landing: a jump jet.
Everyone in the world had tried to make a VTOL aircraft. No one could make it work. The Russians built a plane with a massive engine underneath, to lift it off the ground, and then switch to a conventional engine for horizontal flight. But this meant two engines, and all the accompanying weight. It was ungainly. Inefficient and impractical.
But the Harrier was truly revolutionary. Because it took off vertically, then switched to horizontal flight, using a single jet engine. So it was lighter, more aerodynamic, more fuel-efficient. The first truly practical jump-jet. It did it by having a rotating nozzle on the single engine. To take off, the nozzle would be pointed down, so the thrust was upwards. To fly horizontally, the nozzle would be rotated backwards, so the thrust was forwards.
Naturally, the Americans were very interested in this new type of aircraft.
So they sent an evaluation team to try it out.
Two of their pilots each took a Harrier up on a test flight.
The two Harriers took off vertically, as approved.
They switched to horizontal flight, as approved.
Side-by-side, they flew at 700 mph, as approved.
After they’d done everything that was approved, one pilot called up the other.
He said “What did they say would happen if we turned the nozzles backwards?”
The second pilot said “They didn’t say. I don’t think they’ve tried it.”
The first pilot said “Well let’s try it.”
And he disappeared.
The second pilot kept going at 700 mph while the first pilot stopped dead.
Because of the rotating nozzles, the plane could stop without falling out of the sky.
The American pilots were so thrilled they tried it again.
This could revolutionise air combat.
Eventually they landed and told the British what they’d discovered. It was totally untried, unapproved and unrecommended. But it worked. In fact the British then tried it for themselves. And it worked so well it became established procedure. It even acquired a formal name: VIFFing, for Vectoring In Forward Flight. At that time there wasn’t a name for what the Americans did. They just called it flying by the seat of their pants. Testing something to see what else it can do. To find out how far it could go. What works, what doesn’t work.
Now we have a formal name for that, it’s called Beta. Another name for it might be Initiative. Americans aren’t as obedient as the rest of us. They don’t wait around and just do what they’re allowed to. They have a country formed from rebels and rejects. It’s in their DNA. To question authority. To think for themselves. Not to just do what they’re allowed to do. They don’t accept everything unquestioningly. They keep testing, and prodding, and poking, and trying stuff, and fiddling, and experimenting. And a lot of times it doesn’t work. And sometimes it does. And then they find out something no one else knew before. And that’s what truly creative people do. They don’t wait for a brief and then simply answer the brief. They go beyond the brief. They get creative. They get playful. They get surprising. Because they come at a problem out of a question, not out of an answer. Asking what don’t we know yet? Not just asking, what are we allowed to do?
As Orson Welles said “Don’t just give ‘em what they want. Give ‘em what they never dreamed was possible.”
BAE Systems, who developed the Harrier, is a client of ours and they absolutely love this story. They love the fact that in our world of hyper health & safety and the need to follow process, there is always a way to think differently, to do things differently and to make great new things happen. Inspiring story.
Newcomer to the market Vizio are set to launch their first PC/Laptop range. There's no info on specification but most importantly it won't make your eyes bleed with repulsion. I usually don't pay much attention to PC design (being a 'Mac or nothing' kind of guy) as it seems to be unfailingly terrible, but this new addition from Vizio doesn't offend me nearly as much. Infact, dare I say, I think I almost like it.
Take a look at some more images and information here.
(www.engadget.com)
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Adam
Quote from Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure + embroidery = a total gem
Rachel x
(Image – PROTEIGON from BURAYAN on Vimeo)
If you're anything like us, at this time of year we're inundated with cards, calendars and choccies - most of which will end up in the bin or landfill site... So last year, in the vein of saving the planet and keeping you entertained, we created a Christmas-themed blog and packed it full of Christmas-themed posts that would either inspire, instruct or just generally entertain.
It went so well it looks to have become a new favourite festive tradition of ours - and so for 2011 we've turned blue, gotten crafty and sexist, shared secret recipes, put together an abridged TV run-down and much more. Pop over just for a quick stop and we're pretty sure you'll find something to amuse or assist, whatever your tastes!
Merry Christmas from the Team at Thompson.
...was a roaring success! Of course it was - it was organised by a Christmas genius (me).
We went trekking in the Dales, had an awards ceremony and nibbles in a lovely wee room at the Red Lion in Burnsall, toasted lightly in front of an overly stoked fire (thanks to coal-happy Jonny Whiteoak), had a very lovely Christmas dinner before returning to the fire for ill-advised Secret Santa, board games and nibbles. We even got some snow! Here's a couple of snaps of us in the great outdoors...
1. The boys and their excellent outdoorsy gear and stances...
2. Nick, Liz and Ian in the very beautiful Dales
3. Stopping for lunch and flasks of coffee.... In the snow.
Well done to everyone for being such good sports - until next year!
Rach x
Loving this set of redesigned Malcolm Gladwell books, designed by Paul Sahre. Check them out and more of his stuff here.
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Adam
Picture the scene: It's Sunday. It's 7.00am. It's November. It's cold, damp and really quite foggy. But that didn't stop members of Team Thompson dragging themselves out of bed to take part in the Leeds Abbey Dash 10K run.
Six miles, several painkillers, plasters and palpitations later, the Abbey Dash was complete and the participants were feeling the warm glow of doing something worthwhile for charity.
So now it's all over, a huge thank you to those in the team who took part, as well as you kind folk out there who kindly donated your hard earned cash for a good cause. I'm very pleased to say that the current total raised for the NET Patient Foundation stands at a whopping £1025, which is absolutely fantastic.
Your generosity will help the charity continue their amazing work supporting those with Neuroendocrine Tumours (NETs) and help raise awareness of this little known group of cancers.
If you'd still like to donate, it's not too late, visit www.justgiving.com/thompsonbp
For more information, visit www.netpatientfoundation.org
Sarah
