Creatives Grow Better In The South West

On Collecting

"The best moments in reading, are when you come across something, a thought, a feeling, a way of looking at things, that you'd thought special, particular to you. And here it is, set down by someone else, a person you've never met. Maybe even someone long dead. And it's as if a hand... has come out and taken yours." (The History Boys, Drummer Hodge Scene)

From 'A Historian's Craft', some wonderful words of inspiration :

And the work is: Only Collect; that is to say, collect everything, indiscriminately. You’re five years old. Don’t presume too much to know what’s important and what isn’t. Photocopy journal articles, photograph archives; create bibliographies, buy books; make notes on every article or book you read, even if it’s just one line saying “Never read this again”; collect newspaper clippings and email them to yourself; collect quotes; save your ideas for future papers, future projects, future conferences, even if they seem wildly implausible now. Hoarding must become instinctual, it must be an uncontrollable, primal urge. And the higher, civilizing impulse that kicks in after the fact is organization, or librarianship. You must keep tabs on everything you collect, somehow; a system must be had, and the system must be idiot-proof. That is to say, you should be able to look back on it six months for now and not be completely stymied as to why you’ve organized things that way. (The present versions of ourselves are invariably the biggest idiots, and six months will make that clear).

What this all takes is patience — more patience, sometimes, than I am good at. I am impatient to know things, and impatient for things to make sense more quickly; and the discipline (ah, that apt term) just doesn’t work that way. A colleague of mine told me that he’s been Only Collecting for over ten years, and can now knock out a 3000 word paper in under two days, simply because all his material is already at hand; it exists in the stuff he’s picked up in his intellectual infancy and adolescence, which at the time he didn’t know how to use, and perhaps didn’t even know was important.

Here, there’s one more point I could make: time fine-tunes your collecting habits. You are a predator of sources. Over time, things will start to jump out at you. For a lionness in the savannah on the hunt, the merest movement in the grass is a stimulus to action, but she has learned to distinguish between the random twitches of the landscape and the presence of prey. In the library and the archive, the hunt is as much a matter of skill as of instinct. In short, until you’re an adult lion, jump at everything — even if it turns out just to be a falling leaf, or a totally bizarre interview between George Bernard Shaw and a Saudi Muslim mystic in Mombasa in 1936, which I discovered amidst some otherwise entirely unremarkable magazine articles on the nature of Islam in Southeast Asia.

More Here

Just Updated: Scott Derby Illustration

Algorithm has just completed the redesign of Illustrator (and long time friend) Scott Derby's website.

"Those Who Stand For Nothing Fall For Anything"

Not sure of any potential use for this just yet, but something along the lines of famous quotations from the founding fathers set in modern type treatments is something I've been thinking about this week.

Just Added : Warriorland Stationery Identity

Tova25 Featured On Ravenwood Creative Blog

"The Internet is full of cool sites to explore and hopefully interact with, as I think that’s the goal of any site, you want the user to take some sort of action, whether it’s just learning something or playing a game or buying something, to often corporations forget that the web is an interactive media.

To show you what can be done if you merge design with function - I just wanted to share a cool site friends of mine from my QVC days have put together for a client - Tova Borgnine - the site is Tova25. Designed to help Tova celebrate 25 years of her fragrance line, the site has everything from her OSCAR-award-winning actor and husband, Ernest Borgnine to QVC and others that have influenced her fragrance are here in a slick, yet elegantly simple, timeline interface.

It’s interface is cutting-edge, a truly multimedia experience on the web for something, like fragrance, that would challenge most of us to present in such an eye-catching and dramatic fashion. Until they invent, the “Scent Internet” this is the way to promote a brand and its essence.

So a shout out to Tim Megaw and Matt Shadbolt for a job well done. Do you know any cool site that are out there using the latest in video, audio and graphics? Let me know and we’ll share them here."

Link:http://www.ravenwoodcreative.com/blog1/tvmedia/tova-25-web-design/

Album Design: Warriorland 'There Will Be Signs'

Algorithm has recently completed the album art for LA/NY based electronica and reggae outfit Warriorland, and their debut release 'There Will Be Signs'. The art consists of a 4 panel digipak, with matching disc face design, and will be recycled into a website / myspace profile / marketing materials in due course.

My Old Kentucky Blog Presents... Posters

Two Algorithm posters for SIRIUS Satellite Radio's Dodge, from SIRIUS Satellite Radio's "Blog Radio". Every Tuesday @ 12pm EST on Left Of Center : Channel 26 and again at Midnight EST.

Logotype Design: LogoLand

Design for University Of Bologna (Italy) economics project exploring the concept of crowdsourcing.

Grinner: Subterranean, Chicago (09.19.2007)

Editors: Webster Hall, New York (09.07.2007)

Featuring inspiring original photography by the talented Mary Shadbolt over at Tiger-Fly

Film School: New 2007 Tour Posters Are Here!

Film School: New Website Now Online

To promote today's release of San Francisco / Los Angeles based indie band Film School's third album 'Hideout', Algorithm has redesigned the official Film School website with all new content, blog functionality for their upcoming tour, as well as new multimedia content and a whole new revised user interface.

Visit www.filmschoolmusic.com

TankFarm Hits Las Vegas

Very nice poster design for the event at The Palms this week from our friends over at TankFarm.

July Fourth: In Review

Interpol: Borgata, Atlantic City (7.20.2007)

July Fourth Artwork: In Action

Algorithm's artwork (posters, cd jackets, backdrops etc.) for Chicago-based band July Fourth, from their recent shows:

Recently Designed: July Fourth EP Cover Artwork

Logo Proposal: The Fireside, Denville NJ

Just Added : Double Crossers Poster

Promotional poster for Chicago-based roller derby team, The Double Crossers.