Smaller-Spaces: blog

New Site

2008-05-07T23:57:00.002Z

Tweaked the site somewhat. Also, added a couple of things, some of which to look out for in the coming few days/weeks.

First, though, here is a small visualisation about the accidental messages we leave on our phones. When you get called, half way through writing a message, or press the wrong button, or just get fed up and close it, you can often find the unfinished ramblings lying in your drafts folder. I found some in mine that I thought were quite irreverent and funny somehow. All the better that I can't really remember typing them..

Theres more in the "phone" section of "accidentals".

If anyone has any they would like to send me, don't hesitate to email me at mike (AT) smaller-spaces.co.uk
Maybe we can make a bit of a collection

heart it

2008-04-01T10:02:00.004Z

We Heart It. Like ffffound except I'm allowed to join!

Bike Shed

2008-03-31T11:47:00.001Z

Bike Shed, originally uploaded by smaller-spaces.co.uk.

I reuploaded my amsterdam set to flickr. There were some I missed out before.
Check it out - http://www.flickr.com/photos/smaller-spaces/sets/72157604317308912/

Holga photos

2008-03-25T17:12:00.001Z

Somewhere else in Belgium, originally uploaded by smaller-spaces.co.uk.

Got some holgas up on flickr yo

2008-03-22T14:25:00.001Z

myspace.com/iquitelikemike

2008-03-13T02:16:00.001Z

I made a little promo video for my music.

Go to myspace.com/iquitelikemike if you like

2008-01-30T21:26:00.002Z

Ethics and Design and that.

2008-01-10T22:30:00.000Z

Just been given a brief at uni to rebrand a fairtrade shop. This has raised a plethora of initial questions in my head, but one issue that sticks is that of consumer choice and consumer motives.
The issue of Fair Trade is one of many that seem to all get lumped under the banner of "ethical" consumption - a word that implies a sense of social and/or environmental consciousness on the part of the consumer. The problem I have with that label is it fails to separate the complexities involved with each issue and falsely ties them together. Fair Trade products, for example, make no claim to being organic, or "eco-friendly" (lets lather on the buzzwords tonight, folks), and yet they seem to be associated in the consumer's mind, usually with one, if not both, of those issues.

Which one to choose?? Dilemma!

From where I'm standing, this is confusing. But it is my hunch that this bunching together of "ethical" products serves that section of the consumer population that is concerned with obtaining status through consumption. What I mean is, for the core market of those who buy "ethical" goods (middle class, middle age, wealthy families), it doesn't matter what they are buying, as long as they can feel good about buying it, and thus justify this image conscious decision as Making An Effort. The ambiguity in the product, supported by its packaging, marketing and placement, makes it easier to feel like you are Taking a Stand.
The first issue with this is that, in my view, it doesn't help the cause because it targets and panders to a very specific section of the market, restricting mass growth in awareness of the issues, whether due to price or general inter-class animosity (people who are only interested in getting food on the table won't empathise with an issue that is associated mainly with people who have no problem in this regard).
Also more importantly, I feel, the lending of a particular aesthetic to a varied set of issues deemed "ethical" enables products that adhere to little or no ethical guidelines to cash in on that market:

When I saw this packaging, for example, i assumed the tea contained was either fairtrade or organic, but in fact it is neither of those things but the packaging is recycled.

This one actually made me quite angry as it clearly implies, through its use of colour and photography, but only on closer inspection you can see that it is not in anyway, fairtrade. The aforementioned ambiguity encourages consumers to be passive - they know what an ethical product looks like and what a standard product looks like so they can make the choice without even reading the packaging. It just shows how easy it is to manipulate consumers, even when they are trying to make an informed choice about what they buy.

Been talking about that all day, so I just wanted to try and make sense of it by getting it down. On reflection I can see I am possibly being over-cynical about the whole thing, and its becoming clear that this issue is an incredibly complex one, but the general argument carries, I think.

good stuff

2008-01-02T20:54:00.000Z

Here is some good stuff courtesy of The Internet:

If You Could: Print Series.
Collective art project If You Could are commissioning two 2-colour silk-screen prints a month in answer to the question "If you could do anything tomorrow, what would it be?"

Flickr Set - Matchbooks
Just some cool american vintage print ephemera

Flickr Pool: Demolition
Some amazing photos of what gets uncovered after a building is demolished

Freerice
This is brilliant if you're bored. Improve your vocabulary while donating rice to the 3rd world

The fantastic Citroen 2CV pages
Brilliant campaign stuff from the 60's

That'll do for now.
Oh, and Happy 2008!

(fromlefthandedtoons.com)

Blast From the Past

2007-12-29T10:12:00.000Z

I was looking through some of my old stuff at my mum's house the other day and I happened upon this little book:

Its from an old A(S?) Level project I did for Fine Art. I thought I'd put it up because its interesting how much has changed since then (and also what aspects are still the same) in terms of how I work.
Its been a long time since I last did something "for the sake of it" in this kind of way - OK this was a project with some kind of brief but I seemed to have been able to just do what I want, make a couple of little books, paint on a road sign (those were the days...), whatever really, and come up with something that I was reasonably proud of (if I remember correctly. It wasn't really that long ago..). Looking back, this strikes me as something worth doing when attacking a design brief - going off on a tangent in some little book, with only a loose theme or word as a guide (in this case: "ESCAPE"), using whatever happens as inspiration for ideas. It almost seems an obvious method of getting around that first period of weeks invariably spent wrecking my head before finally being forced to Make A Decision and use the final few nights for pulling it all together, rather than for that inconvenient, yet unfortunately oh-so-essential activity known as sleep.

The book is made from the pages of an old phone book or brochure of some sort I think, held together in an intuitive way by masking tape, and it incorporates some crude acrylic paintings, photography and a bit of sickly pretentious writing thrown in for good measure. Something you'd probably expect a 17 yr old, avid radiohead fan to come up with..

Thinking about it, I don't think at the time I could believe that this could be classed as "research", but it was more helpful in the progression of the project as a whole than any printout off the internet, or scanned-printed-pasted picture of a cd cover stuck in a sketchbook with the obligatory "I like this because.." spiel next to it. Although there was, of course, an element of that:

One thing that I think has stayed, though, is some kind of affinity I seem to have with this sort of small, handmade, personal book that still comes through in the work I do nowadays.

In the end I got to thinking, if I could work with that kind of freedom and enjoyment level when I was seventeen, why don't I do the same now?

Happy Christmas

2007-12-24T19:01:00.001Z

More drawings in the drawings section.
Festive.

New Site

2007-12-23T17:12:00.000Z

hello.
I redid the site. Hope you like it
Theres new work and stuff.
Cool.

Also i'm in the market for a fffound invite if anyone has one!

more later!