My Graphic Musings...

[James Random]

I'm new. Which is probably quite obvious.
My main inspiration in design is Jonathan Barnbrook. To this end most of my design reflects the same sorts of messages his does. Love typography more than anything.

So, to introduce myself I shall display my graphic musings from my blog:

Bomb, Baby, Bomb

Most of the stuff can also be found in wallpaper format here:
http://jamesrandom.deviantart.com/

Some highlights...

Inspired by Olly Moss:

 

[Levi]

ok this is probably going to sound overly picky here but I wouldn't be able to leave it alone if it was mine till it was right so sorry in advance

You say you love typography yet in your clockwork orange and to some extent the McDonalds war images there are issues with kerning in my opinion.

In the clockwork orange image the spacing around the W in clockwork and the A in orange seem unbalanced and seem to have too much space around them on atleast one side in comparison to the other letters.

The McDonalds one seems the same, the W and A seem too far apart in relation to the A and the R.

edit: also maybe I'm missing something simple here, why is the wolfman image a moon and a skull not a moon and a wolf's head?

 

[James Random]

In reply to your kerning:
Yeah, you're right. But they're only scamps/experimentation. Add to that the fact that the typeface i used (kilogram) is an odd font to kern. The McDonald's one was harder than you think. The trick was to make it look at least mildly like 2 M's, but also spell out war without it being 2 M's (which looked a little rubbish and didn't really say WAR but MM), so that one was kind of difficult to try and find a middle ground. In the end I think I just got fuzz-eyed over it and missed that it wasn't kerned correctly.

The wolfman one, well, a wolf-skull isn't too engaging. A human skull represents death, which is what the manifestation of the werewolf brings: death.

 

[Levi]

Actually I see a werewolf as a guardian as traditionally they're a protector of vampires

There's also no reason why you couldn't have used a live wolf's head rather than a skull, which doesn't really say death (in your context) to me.

Now you've explained thing's rather than just imagery.....
As to war, move the R closer to the A then take a look at it

Clockwork Orange - You can individually kern letters too

 

[James Random]

Will do.

Here's another quickie...

(full size) http://JamesRandom.deviantart.com/art/The-Importance-of-Swearing-156652639

 

[berry]

Hi James,
I'm with Levi on some of the points, not trying to flame you or the work, just critique.
I too love typography and am old school as I used to hand draw every headline in marker or ink for visuals - till Apple came along. There is a difference being Typography and Typographical.
Typography encompasses the pure understanding of type and the space it exists in, as I've said before on other posts, it;s important to look at the negative shapes and white space type creates through kerning and leading, widows etc etc. Great typography is down to fine tuning that kerning and understanding the balance of the shapes created, both black space and white space.

Saying that, love anything that has types in. so well done.

 

[Kevin]

I especially like the parody on the ecko unlimited logo. It's just very original and well executed. I would like to see the larger version if possible because this one is kind of low quality.

I also liked the idea behind the orange America, but it didn't really work out too great. First I read "the freedom is America"; the little words there appeared to be of no importance, which sent me mixed messages. I can't imagine that was intentional though ('that' being sending mixed messages).
Also the icon that represents the e is totally out of line. First I thought it was the Obama logo — which would have made sense — but after looking it up it didn't match. Then I figured it might have been the sun microsystems logo, which came a little closer but that didn't make any sense at all.
On the same piece: I don't like how you stretched out the T because it really messes up the alignment of your text and there is no reason for it (because there is no other element to counter the misalignment).

Don't really have any special comments or opinions on the other stuff. Welcome to the forum I guess

 

[James Random]

@Onartis, if you go to the DeviantART link and browse through the gallery, you'll find a full widescreen version
The 'e' you speak of is the logo for the Bank of America.

Today's offering, another scamp:

 

[Tom Sound]

Hello, welcome, I like what you've been up to, but there's a couple of spelling mistakes in that last one. Looking good though for scamps. :up:

 

[James Random]

Todays offering, one of my favourite movies. Took a bit more time than usual, had to re-create the blood/smiley face from scratch.

 

[chrismitchell]

Just a question James, why aren't you putting these on your website instead of here? No insult to your work, just thought I would ask.

 

[James Random]

I'm in the process of dreaming up my website still. Given the fact it must be an ode to my ability, I'm taking an extended time in planning it out and making sure it's all ship-shape and fit for human consumption.
I just post it here cause, well, someone might have some feedback and you might, just might, enjoy viewing the work

 

[Renniks]

Not keen on the watchmen one, it just seems more pointless than the others - more like art

Though I'm sure it'd look great on a huge poster on the wall I suppose. Great film

 

[James Random]

I agree. There was totally no point it to it other than that I was bored. However, here is a project I am working on that has some value.

A series of posters for the 'Everything is OK' gang. Their basic premise is to hang around public places and hold a sign saying 'everything is ok'. Entertaining, being kind and drawing attention to the bad side of capitalism in with loud statements. They'll even give you a hug if you'd like.

These are still at the conceptual stages, so there are a couple of careless mistakes which I'm aware of and will rectify as I expound on them.