Tuesday 16 June 2009

4th Wall Productions



My friend Harry has a very unique business ethos, one that I think, helps 'dodge' the problems of modern business. It first involves a complex series of checks to make sure any uneccessary work doesn't get done. Putting something on a 'to-do' list is a complete waste of time, so sometimes a 'filter' needs to be 'applied'. In Harry's case the 'factors' to examine before doing something include;
  • Will the task be excessively challenging?
  • Will the task encroach on any potential recreational benefits?
  • Does it really need to be done today?
  • Yeah. But, does it really?
  • Is it lunchtime yet?
Once these questions have been 'tackled', it's from here that he really make a decision whether 'to' go forward with a 'project'. And' it's not just in the 'decision making' that Harry's methodology's are 'unique'. His project briefing also adopts original 'solutions'. Take for instance the brief for the design above, which was worded "Hey man, we need a funky logo. Hurry up". To some, it may seem a 'lazy' and 'vague' brief, but once you discount this reasoning and look beyond the surface you can see just how clever the design brief actually is. A man as busy as Harry doesn't need to waste time meshing out 'unnecessary' details, and instead encapsulates only the very, very important specifics. Extra 'words' and 'information' wouldn't give direction, but rather take it away. It's not laziness, but actually a disguised genius. Harry doesn't do 'business talk', he 'talks business.'

On a serious note, the guys are at 4th Wall in Manchester are a really a talented bunch, including Harry, and it was a pleasure to work on their logo recently. The interia of the logo can be swapped in and out creating a very flexible, yet still recognisable logo. Perhaps, they do a nature documentary and for this they can swap the inside of the logo with leaves or something like that. It's like a logo that never gets boring. Well, that was my reasoning. Once they get their new website up and going I'll post a link below.

Tuesday 2 June 2009

The Elusive 'Cool'



What is cool? Whenever I work out what cool is, it moves. Like a bandana wearing leopard suddenly leaping away into the dark and morphing into cliché. It's an endless chase. Is the word 'cool' cool? Probably not. Should I hang onto it until it becomes cool again? Again, probably not. Are blogs cool? Certainly not. Is fashion cool? Broadly speaking and by definition, yes. So are fashion blogs, cool? It's that grey area where cool could be hiding. Perhaps they now just clichéd? Meaning they were once cool, but then got overcooled and are now uncool. Skulls for instance, was once an integral part of 2007/2008 fashion with the ability to turn an ordinary shirt into an amazing, friend-winning, door-opening wardrobe centre piece. But now every second shirt in supermarkets from here to south-east Asia has at least one slapped on the front.

Somewhere there must be some kind of board that tallies up what is cool and what isn't. Some kind of stock exchange that gains and looses points as things get cool and uncool. Constantly changing and moving yet still keeping a definite record of exactly how cool something is. Today I would have watched in awe as Eminem stocks dropped and Sacha Baron Cohen's drastically rose over last nights MTV Awards. But then again, knowing exactly what is cool probably means is not cool anymore.