Octoblog

I've always felt a big connection with, and between art, design and music. My day job may well be pushing pixels around a screen, but while I do it there is inevitably music playing. One thing feeds the other. As a teenager, I couldn't decide whether I wanted to be a pop star or a graphic designer but opted for the latter, I never could sing and my keyboard skills are fairly limited. The connection between music and design was forged very early for me, when I developed a fascination with the de...

• Blog
• admin
• July 3, 2013

This was a nice job. Late last year I was asked to come up with a concept for a calendar that would engage with, and inform NHS staff of important health messages. Rather than the usual information based approach, I proposed we use song titles that would hopefully get into people's heads and possibly even generate discussion. One for each month. These were of course backed up with short pieces of information. I mooted the idea of a competition where staff would be encouraged to name who sang eac...

• Blog
• admin
• April 25, 2013

Before I set up Soft Octopus Design Studio I worked for an NHS Trust in Liverpool managing a very creative design studio where we developed a lot of groundbreaking public health materials. I could see the writing on the wall as toxic overbearing politics seeped into the system, eventually engulfing the whole of the NHS with the new coalition government. I was lucky to escape when I did. On the 31 March 2013, Primary Care Trusts (PCTs) will no longer exist, and it makes me feel quite sad.  I wa...

• Blog
• admin
• March 27, 2013

It's been a while since I've updated this blog, I feel bad. It's been a busy few months personally and professionally with Christmas, year end deadlines and the hideous tax return which is always the last nail in the coffin for any festive overspill of joy. My idea with this blog was that it should fill in the gaps, allowing me to shine a light on smaller pieces of work or areas of interest that didn't quite fit into my main website and online portfolio. The reality, however is that I usually ...

• Blog
• admin
• February 5, 2013

So, World AIDS Day (1st December) is upon us once again. This year, I think there is a record level of media apathy, despite some scary statistics being published this very week about rates of infection. When I started working for the NHS in the late 1980s as a graphic designe...

• Blog
• admin
• November 30, 2012

I'm all three at the moment. Happy that I've finally got around to updating this blog, OK about being back in the UK and sad that it's so cold. So, let's deal with the first two in one go - I've not updated this blog for a while because I was out of action for nearly a month on an amazing trip around the world and the build up to the trip was a bit frantic, trying to fulfil commitments and keep my clients happy. I'm OK about being back, home is where the heart is after all, apparently. When I le...

• Blog
• admin
• November 12, 2012

I've always admired the work of James Marsh, another artist/designer whose work came to prominence through its use in music related ephemera, most notably for material commissioned by the band Talk Talk. The incredible detail in his work was sadly diminished by the reduction from the 12" square record format to CD and is now all but gone in the digital era. I've whined on about this in a previous blog post, so won't repeat myself....

• Blog
• admin
• August 30, 2012

Most of the work I design is for public sector or health related causes so it's nice to do something a bit different. Above is a poster/flyer for a film night at a gallery in London celebrating the work of Philip Ridley. I like the surreal image I was asked to use and the paucity of words. The 'less is more' dictum is almost always applicable to graphic design and as a principle is employed by the most celebrated of designers. Often, I feel my design work risks being seen as cluttered with writ...

• Blog
• admin
• August 17, 2012

NOTICE (from the official promotional material) 100 is a new book by Bill Drummond It has a sole print run of 1,000 copies Once they have been sold, there will be no other physical edition of the book These 1,000 books also form a sculpture The sculpture is entitled ONE THOUSAND BOOKS #1...

• Blog
• admin
• August 1, 2012