Formless Order – Water Marbling

Having experimented with lots of mark making, we noticed how the epidermal patterns of the skin on our fingertips and hands transferred their intricate outlines to the random marks. We noted that much like handwriting, our fingerprints were unique to us as individuals.

 (Some examples of microscopic epidermis photography)

Researching into microscopic photographs of skin layers, we trialled out replicating these types of intricate biological patterns using the technique of water marbling.

(Water marbling techniques involves adding small amounts of oil based ink to water. Because oil and water don’t mix, the oil stays on the surface, thick paper is placed on top which transfers the ink to the paper – just like a mirror image print).

(Some examples of our prints)

(Left: microscopic skin cell photography, right: water marbling example)

Installing & Rebranding Snippets

Getting vinyl straight on the menu boards proved to be a tricky business!

Acrylic signs mimicking English road signs will feature around the pub

Welcome banners

Bike taxidermy in the style of a stags head above the fire place (made off site)

More to follow…

Pedaler’s Inn Langsett

This week sees the kick off of stage one of the Tour De France in Yorkshire. To celebrate the event coming to our home county, students from Leeds Metropolitan University were asked by Polaris bike wear to rebrand a pub, situated along part of the tour route in Langsett, Sheffield.

Work for the rebrand started way back in October 2013 and has required many meetings, visits and discussions with both Polaris and the owners of the formally known, ‘Waggon & Horses.’

The newly named ‘Pedaler’s Inn’ is running for 100 days, finalising on Sunday 6th July when the tour passes by the  pub.

Months of work has seen us design many different aspects of the pubs new cycling themed identity, from beermats to children’s activity packs.

(Left: The designed Pedaler’s Inn coat of arms, right: our hand painted signs ready to go up)

As well as these we’ve designed a countdown board for the outside of the pub, vinyl graphics for the toilets, a cycling themed beer, plates, table numbers, welcome banners, indoor signs and postcards to name a few!

(Beer mat example – there are 6 altogether, each with a fact & photograph about a past Tour De France cyclist)

(A countdown board was designed and installed to inform passersby of the takeover/tour passing)

More to follow…

Formless Order – Dark Room Photography

As a small side experiment, we took photos of the mark marking trials we had gathered, as well as some pages from Life On The Mississippi, and developed them in the dark room. We played with layering the various negatives, gaining inspiration from some of the work by Geraldo De Barros.

Formless Order – Letterpress

Having researched into early mechanical type forms we came across Mark Twain’s, ‘Life On The Mississippi’ – supposedly the first manuscript to be produced using a typewriter.

 Extracting interesting snippets of the text, we experimented with the technique of letterpress, a method that involves composing individual metal characters, locking them into order and relief printing using a printing press – quite a time consuming process. 

Using the same mark making techniques as before, we scratched and smudged away at the uniformed texts, stripping away their methodical and controlled original outcomes and replacing them with a more fluid and energised appearance.

Note how these words can act as a metaphor, linking in with the loss of individualism through the use of set, processed type – ‘he is absorbed into the common herd’

 

 

Formless Order – Mark Making

Formless Order is a collaborative investigation into written text and its value in our contemporary world, this project explores expressive mark making with the body, the degeneration of mechanical type and the processing of primitive pictorial forms.

Mark making with black ink was one of the first experiments we explored within the project. We were interested in handwriting as an extension of the body and how it is different for each of us. Gone are the days of people putting pen to paper on a regular basis to correspond with one another. Instead the personal link through ones hand writing has been replaced with emotionless typefaces, pre packaged for us by computers, tablets and phones.

 Our own bodies, especially the intricate patterns of our skin are unique to us – everybody has exclusive fingerprints/footprints and dermal patterns. Through making some examples of primal markings our own bodies patterns and movements become a personal expression, just like our own handwriting.

Polaris Jersey Designs

The Polaris brief is an on going project run by an external company, Polaris Bikewear. The brief consists of two projects run side by side that require us to collaboratively rebrand a pub and individually create designs for a limited edition cycling jersey.

The brief has been created in anticipation for the upcoming Grand Depart that arrives in Yorkshire in July 2014. To celebrate this event, the jersey graphics/illustrations require themes centred on the Tour De France, the Yorkshire county and the Polaris brand.

The pub rebrand will take place in premises along part of the tour route in Sheffield and last for one month. The takeover will establish a new cycling inspired identity and require us to collectively design and produce changes to both its interior and exterior.

(one of the first designs)

After a meeting with the client they decided the designs were quite feminine and wanted them modified with various colour ways that would represent this better.