My work for Mungolian Jetset gets an honourable mention in The London International Creative Competition http://licc.us/

This was a worldwide competition for artists working in sculpture, film, painting… you know “proper art”.

For some strange reason they have given me a certificate, no silverware for honourable mentions I’m afraid. However I am rather pleased to have FINALLY got the legend “Put your hands up for Detroit. Pull your pants down for Mungolia” on an officious looking bit of paper. See said certificate here:

Yes indeedy folks!

Back in the spring I went back to my old stomping ground of Liverpool to work with a startup business helping them define their idea for an iPhone app. They knew they wanted it to be about gift giving so I was asked to work with them to establish the name, brand and creative direction.

In a series of workshops I worked on what the app should actually do, gift giving yes but how exactly, what it should feel like and what might make it different. When we cracked the idea we moved on to naming it, we decided to call it Little World Gifts as the initial idea was about gifts being from specific locations, half postcard, half souvenir and ermmm half gift (I was not asked to do any maths). Gifts would be limited and exclusively gorgeous, non of your Facebook gift tat here.
I worked up the identity and the styling for the app plus some initial ideas on the gift design for the team there.

Fronted by the lovely Miss Katie Lipps and Paul Stringer with resident wit Jonathon Deamer and Simon Cocker leading the 3-d work. Look out for their app in the store and sign up for updates at http://www.littleworldgifts.com

Here’s some pics of the work I did.

And here’s one of their Christmas gifts done by Simon Cocker and his band of merry 3-dimensional artists.

Mungolian Jetset released an album earlier this year, with all the stuff they gave away on free download in the past reworked and generally more epicly Munged up. It was released on Smalltown Supersound. I did the cover and here it is, showing the Mung rampaging through the deadlands eating some blahs along the way. He chomps down on kebabs made of heads, as you do.

It came with a 20 page booklet too:

Here’s the cover art I have done for my new record “Get Mine”. Yes, I have decided to enter the world of Gansta Rap just as the whole sorry affair implodes. I think I will style myself very much on Lil Kim… I have watched Notorious five times now and it looks fairly easy.

Actually this is a much more middle class and mild mannered thing. It’s some identity and styling design I did for a 4iP project that crashed and burned in the financial meltdown, ironically it was about young folks making their own cash on their own terms.

Frankenstory is a bit like consequences, or exquisite corpse (the old surrealist game).

It’s a writing game you play with a friend – collaborative stylee. We (me, Tone and Mike) have just made it and have put it out there ont’ worldwideweb in it’s embryonic form to see how it grows up with the help and input of you lot!

Go and try it out for yourself.

http://frankenstory.com/

Hot Rod is a beautiful magazine, it focuses on music and art and is made in Oslo. I was asked to do some work for it’s Norwegian talent issue in which they featured Mungolian Jetset.

It won in Website – Content & Design

This is a project I art directed and designed as my parting shot at magneticNorth. It was built by the talented team at mN in partnership with the BBC. I did the art direction, concept sketches, the little character, lots of UX and the landscape, I chose Danny Brown to do the gorgeous generative flowers and he did some magic voodoo.

I have resisted bragging about all the awards it has won but it was such a labour of love I may as well list them all here as payback for all the sleepless nights. So in no particular order: FWA, Pixel Awards, Adobe Y, IVCA Clarion and now a BIMA. Other stuff I do wins awards… maybe I will post that (one day when I can be arsed).

Here’s a pic of the work.

What’s so good about love anyway? Are you acting mad? Watching DVD’s on a Saturday night? Wearing clothes you previously thought were rubbish? Pretending to like football or shopping or Games Workshop or early Floyd (delete as applicable)? Thinking about moving to the country? Getting a cat? Yes… sometimes romantic ain’t the fantastic. If you find yourself slipping into this quagmire of insanity that is LOVE , especially at this incendiary time for all things fluffy they call Valentines day follow these simple rules for self preservation.

Rule number one: NEVER LOOK AT A SUNSET WITH YOUR OBJECT OF DESIRE. Thousands of years of filmic cliche have programmed the human brain to believe this is when you are falling in love. Look away when it’s blazing red, purple and pink… when it’s all black it’s ok to look… but be really careful of THE STARS (see rule number two).

Rule number two: NEVER LOOK AT THE STARS WITH YOUR OBJECT OF DESIRE. There’s some kind of voodoo you can’t control when the stars come out. If one shoots across the sky then you’ve no chance. Give up now and check the internet for the best mortgage deals.

Rule number three: NEVER DRINK ONE OR TWO GLASSES OF CHAMPAGNE WITH THE OBJECT OF YOUR DESIRE. This can lead to all kinds of irrational, gooey type stuff. You may feel warm inside, you may also be great company… witty, attractive and charming. If this happens keep on drinking but switch to Snakebite, all these positives quickly invert and you will become bullish, arrogant and vulgar and also completely unloveable.

Rule number four: AVOID THE MUSIC OF THE ACOUSTIC WHILST WITH THE OBJECT OF YOUR DESIRE. A lonesome guitar being gently strummed by a beautiful, tortured young man or woman will only lead to trouble. You will experience emotions that you simply can’t handle. Don’t attempt this.

Rule number five: NEVER USE CANDLES WHILST WITH THE OBJECT OF YOUR DESIRE. A persons face may be a craggy ole spade but in candlelight it is transformed into a vision of utter beauty. Put the BIG LIGHTS on and think hard before you light up.

Rule number six: ALWAYS KEEP AT LEAST A METRE AWAY FROM THE OBJECT OF YOUR DESIRE. You’re a soft machine and sometimes your wiring goes haywire.

Rule number seven: NEVER EXCHANGE MIXTAPES WITH THE OBJECT OF YOUR DESIRE. “oh my god I can’t believe we are so alike, I love that record toooooo!” you squeal with delight as you struggle against the forces of fate that has brought you in touch with your soulmate. WAKE UP DUH-BRAIN! Everbody loves that record, that’s why it was number one for 8 weeks in 1973.

Rule number eight: ALWAYS… NO NEVER GO TO PLACES OF IMMENSE NATURAL BEAUTY WITH YOUR OBJECT OF DESIRE. Mountains, lakes, fjords, sweeping vistas are only for those who like to have their heart broken. Play it safe and check out the local shopping precinct.

So there you have it. A foolproof guide.

More bragging, although my Saturnine nature never lets me truly relish this kind of thing.

I am going to be listed in The Observer as one of the UK’s rising talents, I am now officially part of The Future 500 network which connects people who are best in field whether that be in design, art, business, technology or whatever. So best in field is where I’m at. I’m literally all over that!

Pass the Courvoisier as Busta might say.

My site has crashed into the Top 40, at number 36 in the Design Charts!

I am pleased to be in such illustrious company as Jonathon Harris (disclaimer – possibly by the time you read this post I will have dropped out of the chart and you may be wondering what this boast is based on).
Other boasts at this moment in time are that I am going to be speaking at the Liverpool Design Symposium in October 2008, plus for all interested parties Matt Pyke of the amazing Universal Everything is speaking there too.