Posts by Joe Sharpe
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The Times iPad graphics demo
We’ve finally got round to making a demo video of some of the iPad graphics we’ve been creating for The Times (useful, since many of you are iPad-less and the graphics are no longer accessible after 7 days regardless). So here they are in action…
Read more about them on our project page: The Times iPad infographics
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Green Fingers
I was walking back from Columbia Road flower market at the weekend (in itself a charming place – full of character), when I couldn’t help be drawn to a number of lovingly nurtured little oases scattered about the streets between the market and Bethnal Green Road.
The buildings themselves are pretty unassuming pieces of architecture, but the gardens are so striking people were literally stopping in the street to appreciate them. Unfortunately, I only photographed one (I wish I’d snapped some of the others).
That also reminded me of a ‘green wall’ I’d seen in a shop in Regent Street (below). I’m no horticulturalist by any means – my tomato plant is wilting severely – but felt these were worth a post.
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Ping Pong in the Square
What a brilliant idea: Ping Pong London have distributed 100 free ping pong tables around the captial. Rob and Tom have been knocking up in Hoxton Square right outside the studio. Sometimes great initiatives come along that just make you smile. Awesome…
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Health of England for Times iPad app
Hot on the heels of our World Cup and Wall of Debt graphics for The Times iPad app, this ‘Health Profile of England’ infographic features in today’s issue. Displaying public health information divided into regions, the graphic illustrates the distinct North/South health divide in England using data collected by the Department of Health.
32 ‘health wheels’ distil different health indicators across nine regions. The wheels act as barometers for the health of each region, and provide users with an intuitive way of scanning through all the indicators. A map of England communicates the national perspective in response to the wheel, with a ‘traffic light’ colour code identifying which regions score ‘better than’, ‘worse than’ or ‘average’ compared to the national mean. For the regional view, segments on the wheel are colour coded according to the performance of each indicator.
The above graphic displays the performance of each region of England for Tooth Decay at age 5 against the national average of 1.5. The best scoring region is the West Midlands with an average of 1 decayed/lost tooth.
Tooth decay in London is worse than average (1.7 lost/decayed teeth compared with 1.5 national average). The wheel also shows how London has the most mixed picture of all the regions, scoring well in indicators of life expectancy and causes of death, but poorly in community indicators such as deprivation and violent crime.
The North East is worse than average (2 lost/decayed teeth compared with 1.5 national average – the lowest score of all regions). The wheel illustrates the comparatively poor performance of the region across all indicators, with only 5 scoring better than average.
The figure for South East is better than average (1.1 lost/decayed teeth compared with 1.5 national average), with a comparatively good performance of the region across all indicators, with only 1 scoring worse than average.
If you have access to an iPad and The Times app, the graphic lives with a story called “Major Shift planned for NHS treatment” in the News section (accessible from the front page). The graphic will also run tomorrow and in future editions to accompany any relevant stories.
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The Times iPad World Cup planner
We’re lucky enough to have been working with The Times to create their interactive World Cup planner that launched this week. A wall-chart style fixture and results schedule meets Panini sticker album (with photos and live stats of all 736 players), the graphic will live on The Times’ iPad app and thetimes.co.uk for the duration of the tournament.
Having tortuously watched England in World Cups since Spain ’82, I’m hoping that, just maybe, we might make the semis again this year. I think if my 16-year old self could’ve worked on this back at Italia ’90 he’d have thought it was pretty cool. Come on England!
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Applied Works in print
We’re very pleased to have received two books featuring our work recently. The first, ‘The Graphic Design Exercise Book’ by Carolyn Knight and Jessica Glaser (below), published by Rotovision, includes work for Save the Children, Spiritualized, Friends Reunited, Miguel Mera, Giles Revell and Dealerward.
The second is ‘Motion Graphic Design – Applied History and Aesthetics’ by Jon Krasner and published by Focal Press, which features our title sequence for Amulet Films’ short film ‘Moth’ and one from the archives – my first project after leaving college in 1997, a title sequence for ice hockey series ‘Inferno’ (below).
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Rebuilding Gordonbrock School
We’ve not really established any one theme for the AW blog, besides writing about things that are of interest to us; broadly speaking areas that include visual aesthetics & sound, motion, interaction and communication. So I may be straying a little off-piste with this post, but I’ve just returned from a local meeting and I’m hopping mad about it.
Our local school, Gordonbrock Primary (which my two daughters attend), was due to be rebuilt this year. The Edwardian buildings date to 1905 but have become completely unfit for purpose (a fact identified some 21 years ago apparently – these things take time). The parents, local community, even the kids themselves, have been involved in years of planning and consultation with the school and Lewisham Council about the new building and the decant, and everything was set to go in Easter this year. However, just ten days before the build was due to begin, we received a letter saying a last minute legal objection from The Brockley Society had put a stop to it all (the Council had failed to conduct an environmental impact assessment, which unfortunately left the door open).
The Brockley Society aim to preserve the character and architectural integrity of the conservation areas in the local community. This evening they made their arguments and we listened. Lewisham Council’s approved scheme retained two of the four original buildings. The Brockley Society wanted to keep at least three. They pulled together two feasibility studies for alternatives at the last minute, the first retaining all four buildings, the second retaining three. Neither met the needs of the school, neither were properly costed or planned and neither were actually any better.
An uprising of local anger then ensued against the BS (as I’d now like to refer to them) from local parents, governors, councillors and residents. The main root of their anger was the fact that at the end of this calendar year, it is very likely that if the build hasn’t commenced the funding will be lost and the rebuild will be cancelled. Not only that, viable solutions were put forward to their two main objections (completely understandable objections I might add) – first that a new entrance would obscure one of the original buildings, and second that the quality and durability of the buildings’ exterior render was insufficient. Neither solution on offer was even mentioned in the BS presentation, let alone considered.
I’m all for preservation in the right context, and I’m usually the first to grumble if an old building is coming down, but sometimes its necessary; often the only solution to preserving an old building is to sacrifice some parts in order to breath new life into others. If its not fit for purpose its simply not fit to preserve.
What irked me most though, was that for a society who’s activities revolve around architectural integrity, The Brockley Society’s alternative scheme (above) – albeit retaining more of the original fabric – is actually less sympathetic. Just plonk some new buildings in between the old ones, and attempt to blend different eras by using like for like materials (century old red brick meet spanking new red brick). Like them or not, the approved plans at least attempt to create an honest building to reflect the era from which it comes, and most importantly they are the only plans likely to see the light of day. Unfortunately, The Brockley Society have now jeopardised the future education of hundreds of local children for goodness knows how long.
Rant over, thank you.
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Election horror graphics
What is it about election campaigns that brings out the very worst design and advertising? Its as if UK politics has had some kind of design and good taste bypass, particularly when you compare the current crop of clip-art party logos and appalling billboards to the Obama campaign in the US.
The TV coverage often appears almost satirical (Peter Kay’s Britains Got the Pop Factor meets Brass Eye). And just as I thought it couldn’t get any worse, this assortment of horror shows fell through the letterbox. Some of them look like pages from Viz magazine – absolutely unbelievable.
If anyone can beat the Lib-Dem crime scene flyer above please shout…
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Stereoscopy
I had the pleasure of watching Alice in Wonderland on Friday evening (one of the many perks of having children of a certain age). It was everything you’d expect of a Tim Burton film and I’d recommend a watch, but I’m not going to review the film, it’s the experience of watching it in 3D that prompted me to write this post.
This year could prove a very interesting one in the history of 3D viewing, with Sky’s 3D channel set to launch this Saturday with coverage of Manchester United v Chelsea, and 3D TV sets about to hit the market in the UK (albeit for several thousand pounds each). But does the experience of watching 3D really live up to the hype? Personally, I find it extremely hit and miss – and for the most part a distraction to what you’re watching.
Stereoscopy has been around since the 1840s, when it was invented by Sir Charles Wheatstone. Originally, you’d view a pair of stereo images through a viewer resembling a pair of binoculars, so that each eye sees only the left or right image to create the effect of depth. Indeed, if you look the wrong way through a pair of binoculars at a pair of stereo images you can effectively make your own stereoscope – something I had great fun experimenting with whilst at college with a pair of 35mm cameras.
If you’ve ever seen one, there’s something quite magical about viewing antique stereo images from the turn of the last century. An image so far removed from the present suddenly becomes tangible, like you can reach out and touch it.
Unfortunately, that magic struggles to transcend beyond the novelty factor in the cinema. You’re suddenly hit with objects flying out at you in deep, exaggerated perspective, that detract from, rather than enhance the narrative. The most effective shots are those where you forget you’re watching in 3D, you just feel that much closer to the story.
Its a shame 3D material is reliant on such a controlled viewing environment to be appreciated. Despite the gimmicky nature of 3D, it remains a fascinating area I’d like to explore further. For starters, it’d be really interesting to work up the animation we created for Dealerward in true 3D.
There have been many false dawns in the advent of 3D, during the fifties and eighties in particular, but with Hollywood and Sky now embracing the technology it finally looks like 3D will be here to stay.
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Nursing Home LPs
Just made a reccy visit to a derelict nursing home in north London that will be used as the location for the ‘Last Tango in Croydon’ film being shot this weekend. The place is largely in ruin through vandals and water seepage, but I stumbled across a box of saturated LPs amongst the broken glass, nappies and bits of plasterboard. Interesting, if poignant, little insight into the musical pleasures enjoyed by the last residents who lived there.
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