Posts by Joe Sharpe
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Studio8 Design website
Just finished creating the new website for Studio8 Design. Some really beautiful work on there – currently 60 projects, 700 images and counting.
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North 3 postponed
After fifteen anxious days waiting for a weather window in Resolute Bay, Canada, Ben Saunders’ North 3 expedition has finally succumb to the ongoing bad weather – the worst in at least 30 years by all accounts. We’re so disappointed for Ben and expedition manager Andy Ward but are nonetheless very pleased to have been involved in the expedition. The live infographics we had lined up to cover the days on the ice were like nothing we’ve ever done before, and I very much hope we’ll get the chance to utilise them for Ben’s next expedition, Scott 2012 – retracing Captain Scott’s footsteps a centenary after his death – later this year.
That Ben managed to create such drama and interest through the video updates and blog posts he sent back without ever stepping foot on the ice are testament to his enduring ability to engage and inspire. Temujin Doran’s video shorts have been compelling, this one documenting Ben and Andy’s meticulous weight saving measures was probably the pick of the lot – a truly fascinating insight into the planning and build up to an expedition such as this.
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Ben Saunders: North 3
We’re just finishing off work on a very exciting website for polar explorer Ben Saunders, who’s just left the UK for Canada to embark on a North Pole speed record attempt. Ben originally contacted us back in June, saying “I’m looking for a design agency to help with a few slightly unusual web and print projects.” Needless to say, when Ben went on to explain that he intended to walk nearly 500 miles solo to the North Pole in just 36 days we were eager to get involved.
Following an identity project and exhibition graphics we produced for Ben in collaboration with Studio8 Design in November, we set about creating a site that would enable people to follow the expedition over the course of 6 weeks. The first issue to tackle was the fact that due to the extreme latitudes it’s impossible to get high bandwidth connections from the poles, since the satellites are geo-stationery around the equator: the further North you go, the weaker the signal. So live daily webchats and glorious photography were out. We needed to build the site around data that could easily be sent back at the expense of a few kilobytes of bandwidth.
The final site with all the live data and infographics (pictured above with dummy data) will launch on or around Tuesday 15th March, when Ben sets off. Ben’s GPS co-ordinates will be sent back every hour along with distance travelled per hour – posted live on the site and to Ben’s Twitter page. A live countdown clock will display the time remaining, and a cumulative graph of daily stats (latitude, distance travelled, sled weight and temperature) will show Ben’s progress. Ben will also send a post back at the end of each day, with an image.
The new site went live yesterday (less the forthcoming live data-rich homepage above), featuring a video by Temujin Doran.
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Edinburgh Civic Survey – 1949
I stumbled across this civic survey and plan for Edinburgh from 1949 whilst on a city break up there a couple of weeks ago and had to buy it. This huge book (280 x 360mm & 111 pages) is full of the most incredible post-war maps of the city.
Prepared by Patrick Abercrombie and Derek Plumstead for the Town Council, the book contains detailed data for traffic, health, education, recreation, population density and so on, beautifully depicted in a series of maps, charts and diagrams. This page for example, shows the distribution of authority (red) and non-authority schools (black) in Edinburgh.
Each dot on the map represents a pupil, solid for secondary and outline for primary, also colour coded to indicate whether they attend an authority or non-authority school.
This page compares pre-and post war traffic accidents.
The supporting text concludes “from the number, size and colour of the symbols it is at once apparent which are the most dangerous points in the road system where accidents occurred in 1937 and recurred in 1946…
…while the coloured portions of the segments indicate the number of times an accident occurred at any one of these points during the two years.”
The typography is a treat…
…as are the compasses that sit at the foot of each map under the key…
…the illustrations…
…the historic street plans (this one dates from 1819)…
…and the detail in each of the 25 fold-out maps.
The greatest surprise though, were the 3 biggest maps that were hiding in a sleeve inside the back cover.
The biggest one is a land use survey of the whole of Edinburgh, at a scale of 1:5000 its over a metre wide. This’ll be framed and on my wall at home before too long.
Edinburgh is full of really interesting second hand bookshops. This book was found at the back of Edinburgh Books in West Port. I recommend paying them a visit if you’re ever in town. Full set of photos on our Flickr.
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Eric Gurney
First post of the new year is some illustrations from a book called ‘How To Live With A Calculating Cat’ by Eric Gurney, published in 1964. He also did a pop-up book of cats that was amazing.
I have a few other old gems lying around from my childhood that I’ll be posting separately (it fills the radio silence nicely between proper ‘grown-up’ posts).
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Ben Saunders identity launched
Just launched is a new identity for polar explorer and record-breaking long-distance skier, Ben Saunders. Designed in collaboration with Studio8 Design, the mark is a play on North/South compass pointers. The first applications of the new identity are an exhibition stand, postcards, polo shirts, equipment branding and plasma screen animation (below) for the Ski & Snowboard Show at London Olympia.
Next year Ben will embark on two new expeditions; a solo and unsupported North Pole speed record attempt and Scott 2012 – tracing Captain Scott’s footsteps on the centenary of his ill-fated trip to the South Pole. Nobody has completed the 1,800 mile journey from the coast of Antartica to the pole and back on foot. We are looking forward to expanding the identity in support of these two extraordinary expeditions later this year. Watch this space…
Ben Saunders Identity project page
Flickr set of Olympia show -
Applied Works featured in Weave
We’ve recently popped up in a couple of overseas design publications. First, German magazine Weave ran a feature on our work for The Times, focusing on an interactive Health Map of England (below).
Weave interviewed yours truly and Jon Hill at the Times about the project. Unfortunately its all in German so I’ve no idea how it reads – looks nice all the same.
Secondly, a Korean Design monthly magazine also showcased the Times work as part of an infographics special (below).
If anyone does sprechen Sie Deutsch, an except from the Weave article is featured on their website: weave.de/video/appliedworks0510
Read more about the project on our Times project page.
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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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