Recently I’ve been curious as a designer if it’s better to keep what you learn and create ever changing, or focus on something specific. When I think of well-known creatives, they are often well-known because they do one thing really well. Makes sense. The more time you spend on something the higher skill, exposure etc etc you gain. But is there satisfaction in the repetition of being the black and white photography guy, or the typographic web developer girl? One day, maybe I’ll find out if I discover a niche I want to spend the rest of my career pursuing…. Read more »
Author Archives: Johnny Murphy
CategoriesPsychedelic Portraits
Making these psychedelic portraits reminded me of my teenage years when I was interested in film. You could say I had a sabbatical in my 20’s but now later into my career I’ve been directed back towards filming and editing, reminding me of the enjoyment I had with my mum’s camera back in the day. Along with an increased interest in film, I’ve also developed a love for serendipity in design. Blending modes are old news in Photoshop, but I’ve been discovering the depth of them in video projects. Using them to overlay imagery with unexpected results. My plan is… Read more »
Mr. Neck Comics
Meet Mr. Neck. Some think he’s called Mr. Neck because he has a long neck, this is not true. His name was inherited from his parents who both had perfectly normal necks. Come along and join him on silly and fantastic adventures, as he discovers his inner self, and tests the limits of his abnormally long neck. – Years and years ago I came up with this character and sketched up a couple of comics. I’d forgotten about them until I was going through some old archives, so thought I would put them out to the world. There will continue… Read more »
Research, context and design
Some things lecturers say stick many years later, others don’t *cough* art history class *cough*. One that did was in my final year, he drew a chart for me which looked similar to the first image below. It’s a way of working on design projects. The words research, context and design rotate around artifact. Artifact being the thing you’re making, and the other three being ways of working. Research: Researching the target market, audience and existing design. Context: Is the idea, what I’m researching and designing relevant? Design: Create. These aren’t steps but rather ways of thinking that you should… Read more »
Glitch Phone Wallpapers
Glitch phone wallpapers. Have you ever wanted your phone to remind you of the old TV you had to bang to get reception? Or an old video game that freaked out and lost your save data? Trick your friends your phone is broken, make it more difficult to read the time, and hurt your eyes with these glitchy backgrounds. The images below can be saved to your phone and set as your wallpaper, they will work best as your lock screen. They are sized for iPhone 6+ so if you have something smaller you will need to adjust it by… Read more »
Apphabet
It’s 4:34am on a Thursday. Coffee was drunk at a time it shouldn’t have been and I’m waiting to fall asleep. It’s at this time the idea for this post was made. This, like so many other ideas came from one of my favourite techniques for creative thinking, using the time before sleep to focus on the project. I personally visualise a black canvas thats infinite in all directions. A thought that once gave me nightmares as a kid has become a studio space. Abstract movements appear and manifest into relevant and abstract visuals. If you can keep focus on… Read more »
Typography in a Can
Typography in a can, what more can I say. This entry is basically a conglomeration of things on my to try list, and thats what this blog is for. After studying Japanese a bit I’ve been wanting to incorporate it into my design and also try crafting some of the kanji, a challenge indeed. Considering a 3D ampersand would probably be the most complicated to create in english, it’s nothing compared to some of the kanji. I’ve stuck only to hiragana this time. I can almost say with certainty that there are mistakes but you have to start somewhere, apologies… Read more »
Moderation
I was going to make a downloadable typeface for this entry, but decided this would have a more interesting result, I’ll probably do that within the next few weeks if I can think of a good idea. I was thinking of this saying… do everything in moderation. For the most part I think it’s pretty important and try pretty hard to stick to it. So I gave myself some restrictions to spell the words out with objects from the garden. Giving myself 58.216666666666667 minutes in total, each letter ranging from 7 minutes (the first ‘D’) to 3 seconds (the final… Read more »
Welcome to typographic experiments
Kia ora everyone, welcome to typographic experiments. Now that my time in Vietnam is coming to an end I’ve been on a bit of a sabbatical with some extra time on my hands. So I’ve decided to start a blog with entries a couple of times a month. I’m presuming it will become a kind of visual typographic themed dairy, hopefully of which I can come back to for ideas that I can use in future projects. By no means will they be refined pieces of art. My constraints; it must involve type, I must be involved. Thats it. Could… Read more »