Europe by designers

This Europe by Designers project is kinda interesting. Several designers were asked to create images based on the idea of what Europe means to them. The results range from personal to political.


Mr Mr explored the funny relationship between our own little island and the mainland. He says they're shaking hands here but it looks a bit like a thumb war to me!


Patrick Savile took amusing quotations from travel brochures to fill a colourful letter E.



Andy Lohner used photographs he's taken along with snippets of text to tell an idyllic story.

See all the entries here.

Bombo paper art

I found Bombo's delightful portfolio ages ago but he's added lots of great new work. Lovely colours and shapes!



He also has an etsy shop where you can buy mini papercraft treats, like a love note or pocket guru - bombo.etsy.com

V&A fete - Poke Quick Draw

Happy to report that our Quick Draw Saloon stall at the V&A fete was a roaring success. We had a steady stream of punters and onlookers guessing the clues and - if I say so myself - our stall was the best looking there!






I designed all the signage (and the loser brand!) and had fun fake-aging all the posters with tea and coffee.



More photos on my Flickr.

My handwriting font, care of yourfonts.com

Obey x knitting

I love this new mixed-media piece by Shepard Fairey, which is being auctioned in aid of Art for Life, a New York-based charity which promotes creativity amongst youth. Good cause, lovely artwork.

Says Shepard:

"I chose to illustrate this image of two girls knitting ... because I think it really captures the idea that learning art in schools is about more than crayon drawings - it's about creativity, something that transcends all class and race boundaries. I think the joy of making something is universal, and it's an opportunity that every kid should have."

Got $25k to spare? Bid here.

V&A Village Fete

A fun perk of working at Poke is Stuff Club, a gang of us who like to make things and collaborate to make it happen. Lately we've been busily working away on a stall for the annual V&A Village Fete. This year is the last one so we've gone all out with a Wild-west themed Quick Draw Saloon.. you'll have to come along to see the idea in full swing and see all the little surprises we've built in!

It's on this Friday night and Saturday afternoon, if you're in town try and make it down as it's going to be super fun. More details here.

Embroidery at The Make Lounge

I took an embroidery class at The Make Lounge on Saturday morning, it was so much fun! If you're not aware of it yet, the Make Lounge offers stylish contemporary craft classes from its Islington HQ; you can take a class in anything from beaded wire jewellery to cute crochet critters, or learn basic craft skills like machine sewing.


I took 'Extraordinary Embroidery' because I've long been fascinated and confused by embroidery, and when I saw the class used Jenny Hart's gorgeous Sublime Stitching patterns, I couldn't resist.

The class is taught by all-around crafty lady Catherine Hirst; she was an excellent teacher, funny and informative. First we learned the basic embroidery stitches..


.. then used our Sublime Stitching pattern to make either a tea towel or pillow case. The 3 hours sped by and I was only about half-finished with my pillowcase by the end.


I finished it at home the same night and I already want to make another one! You get to take the pattern and materials home from the class so I'm all set with a brand new hobby.



Check out The Make Lounge's website to see all their classes. I also met a fellow blogger, Wee Birdy, in the class, hi Rebecca! Her blog is full of gorgeous crafty treats so go have a look.

Fresh typography

Here's a quick roundup of some nice typography works I've spotted lately.



Cardon Webb went around his neighbourhood seeking out handmade posters for missing pets or rooms for rent, and re-designed the signs as typographic treats. Lovely!



Via my new favourite design blog, idsgn.



A beautiful new script typeface from master hand-letterer Jessica Hische; buy it from Myfonts.



Finally, some old-skool candy, care of my favourite-ever type designer, Herb Lubalin. Archives of tons of his work have been put on display at Cooper Union in New York. I wish I could get over there to fawn over them in person, but luckily Justin Thomas Kay has put lots of the specimens on Flickr. Check out the whole set here. It's often hard to believe Herb's work is over 40 years old; it still looks bold and fresh today and you can really see the influence he's cast over many modern typographers.

Illustration degree show roundup

Here are a few snaps from the Camberwell and Brighton degree shows I went to over the weekend. Very nice to see the works in real life, and exhibited in such cool atmospheric spaces - good work all round, guys.


Kris's gorgeous jumper, embroidered with excerpts from her 16-year-old-self's diary.


Aruta's colourful graffiti-inspired boards


Creepy prints from Tim Brook - who gave me a nudge to write this blog post!




Meghan Limbrick's clever transparent layerable business cards and some acrylic cutout mobiles.


Holly Webber's cool veneered business card

There's a few more snaps from both shows on my Flickr. (If I photographed your work and missed your name off, apologies, I got a bit lost trying to keep track - please leave me a comment if you'd like credit added!)

Olympus E-P1 - review and test shots

Well, I caved (very rapidly) and bought myself an Olympus E-P1 last Saturday. Judging by the week I've had to play with it so far, it was definitely the right buy for me. Because it's so light and portable, I've been happily toting it around with me all week - perfect for travelling. The camera fits very nicely in the hand, it feels solid but not heavy and nicely balanced with the compact 14-42mm kit lens attached. My only gripe with the build is the lens cap being totally detachable - it's fallen off in my bag once already and I imagine I'll lose it fairly soon.



The camera's start-up time is very fast, ideal for spontaneous shots. It's easy and intuitive to use, and having owned an Olympus digi before, some of the controls feel familiar. You can reach all the main functions/options using two dials on the back (as well as alternatively accessing them through on-screen menus); shooting mode is chosen on the top dial. The on-screen options are simple to read and manipulate. A great feature of the camera is the live preview on the large LCD screen, so you know exactly how your shot will turn out, and see how the shot changes with different settings applied.


iAuto mode (ISO 1600)

Being a newb to the world of DSLR, I've mostly just been using the iAuto mode which auto-selects the optimum settings for your shot - and actually produces really good results in most cases. I'm especially impressed with how it functions indoors and in low light - you can pump the ISO up with very little noise and it has several useful pre-programmed White Balance settings to neutralise artificial light.


iAuto mode


iAuto mode

The autofocus in iAuto mode is excellent, fast and sharp, and the image stabilisation does a good job reducing blur.


Before & after Auto shadow correction

I found that in very bright sunlight (as we've had in London this week) it casts rather dark shadows, but it has an in-built editor to lighten them up, which does a good job.


Aperture Priority mode; f/4.7, 29 mm, 500 ISO

I've also tried out Aperture Priority mode for macro shots - even though it only came with a 14-42mm kit lens, you can get in pretty close to a subject with sharp focus.


Pinhole Art filter


Pale & Light Colour Art filter


Grainy Film Art filter


E-Portrait before & after

I like the slightly cheesy Art filters; the Pinhole one actually creates quite authentic Lomo-esque results, and Grainy Film does indeed look like a noisy old black and white film. It also has an e-Portrait mode which airbrushes out imperfections on portraits! The results are quite effective but a little creepy - I'll probably stick to Photoshop for retouching as and where it's needed.



Perhaps most impressive is the quality of video recording. The E-P1 records in HD with stereo sound, and you can zoom in and continually auto-focus while recording. (You can also use the Art filters for video but I found this produced a very jerky playback.) I think HD video recording caps at around 7.5 minutes of continuous shooting which is more than enough for my needs. The image quality is excellent and looks great played back through a screen.



All in all, I love this camera, it's hardly left my side for the last week and I'm looking forward to learning how to use it properly and getting some really great shots out of it. Check out my Flickr set and Vimeo for lots more photos and videos from this week.