In There Is Business Like Show Business* on Radio 4, Will Young (yes, I know, bear with me) examines the intriguing world of Industrial Musicals — lavish and complex musical theatre devised in the post-war years by corporations to play as informative, entertaining and supposedly morale-boosting features within trade-conventions — mainly to private audiences comprising of corporation staff. It cites examples such as ‘Tractor Man’ — a whole musical devised around the benefits of productivity enhancing Ford Tractors — as examples of a time when corporate budgets (and optimism in the power of consumerism) were at an all-time high, and provides an interesting insight into a very different way of thinking about brands, design and marketing — one which manages to be simultaneously sinister, nieve, and endearing, in a nostalgic kind of way.

I was interested in this as lately I’ve been reading a bit about Fordism and Post-Fordism — the influence of mechanisation on our way of thinking about the world, and the subsequent paradigm shift to a more ‘flexible’, ‘knowledge’ based economy. If you’re interested in exploring this more, this book is a good starting point (in an art and design context). I’ve also really got into this dictionary of ‘Critical Theory’ lately**, and have found it to be a handy route in to a lot of the phrases, terms and people that crop up in articles, discussions etc, but which I know nothing about. There’s a clear and easy to understand definition of Fordism and Post-Fordism in that.

* Available to listen again till Saturday.

** Realise that for the ‘haters’ out there, it’s going to be difficult to decide whether to ‘disrespect’ me for promoting a Will Young radio-show, or touting a dictionary of Critical Theory.

*** The clip used to illustrate this post is not really from the ‘golden era’ of Industrial Musicals – its from a slightly later period, and therefore lacks the production values (and budget) of some of its predecessors. But it was one of the few clips I could track down online. It was made by Allied Chemicals, and this ‘number’ is ‘The Great American Consumer’, from Seein’ the Light, 1978.

The Art of the Animated Gif

http://gawker.com/5795002

Jamie Beck and Kevin Burg’s animated photos explore the medium of choice for 4chan trolls.

Designing Alternatives symposium
Wednesday 13 June 2012, 11.45 – 17.00
Evolution House Boardroom
Edinburgh College of Art

via Designing Alternatives.

Masters in Communication Design

Tuesday 15th May – Sunday 3rd June 2012 / Private View 6pm Thursday 17th May 2012

Work by recent graduates of the Masters in Communication Design at The Glasgow School of Art — Tess Barnard, Laura Frame, Nadine Khatib, Chris Kohler and Kat Sicard. Exploring themes of life, evil, identity, discovery and spatial relationships.

The British Councils Design, Fashion and Architecture blog, Back of the Envelope, carries a good link to an archive of British Films produced in the 30′s and 40′s promoting British Industry. More on ‘Industrial Entertainment’ later.

“Team Girl Comic is an indie all-women comics anthology. We support and encourage women at all levels of experience to create and publish comics. A lot of our creators are new to comics in general. We love bringing new people to the medium and letting them discover their voice. It’s been great to see the number of contributes grow with every issue. So far, we’ve published 4 issues under our own steam, but want to be able to grow and become more sustainable. Right now, we’re running a kickstarter to fund our 5th issue. http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/teamgirlcomic/team-girl-comic “

via Team Girl Comic Kickstarter | GSA Postgrad Comic Books Elective.

Thanks to alice for sending in this link to a set of resources on the Design Council website, about various aspects of professional practice.

The Apprentice – Series 8. Street Art (about 28 minutes into the programme)

From your knowledge of the street art scene, do you recognise these people?

This article by Gerry Leonidas—Space Exploration – Some reflections upon typography & layout (and why palettes are evil)—explores some of the issues around tools shaping outcomes, and what happens when we become too accepting of the tools we’re offered. With a monopoly on DTP shared by two major corporations, the article poses some interesting questions about why programmes are designed the way they are, and whether they restrict or limit the way we design. To be clear, this is not anti-technology, but rather looking for more intuitive ways for technology to help us to understand spatial relationships. Malcolm Garret is also interesting on this topic, see various Eye Magazines past.

A collection of work created with the sole intention of being displayed within the context of this event.

Music consisting of a systematic playlist of vinyl played in ascending bpm order will take place throughout the night.

Limited free booze.

Friday 18th May

Upstairs gallery

Art School Union.

kieran startup / gareth lindsay