Interview with James Alexander | Jade Design

I interviewed James Alexander of Jade Design on Monday (great man), and en route to his studio in Crystal Palace I went for a walk around the local parks, and I loved this tree and the chalked up letters on it- I don't know if there is a reason for this but thought it looked beautiful and snapped it up.
The Interview (only reason I was there) went really well, I talked about general Graphic Design and Typography with James. I learnt a lot of over the last few weeks about being a freelancer and saw some great and inspiring work. I've recorded the conversation I had with him and picked out some of the key quotes for myself.
 Quite tricky one, how do you sum up England in one photo?
It's about keeping in contact with people and doing a good job.

The typeface I really love is Big Caslon, I have to stop myself using it.

He also gave me a lot of advice and explained how I could improve my work which I really appreciated, feedback is key to developing.

Speakers Corner

Ironic writing about speakers corner on a blog called speak without speaking, but her I am anyway.
I went along with Claire to speakers corner to try and
a.understand the area better and
b. try out the have your say (silently) cards.
I'd never been before but it was one of the most interesting places to go in London. After meeting so many weird and wonderful people and if honest being bombarded by so many people trying to inflict their opinion upon you (by the end of the day your head is in a messed up state, with me arriving home babbling on about random things) I learnt that the people shouting out on the stools, do not really care about other people's opinions and some times start a fight for no apparent reason on strangers walking by, some of them listen but have a good defence, and then when they feel like they can no longer defend what they are trying to say end up having a go at the person smoking in the crowd- they all turned on the smokers! It is definitely somewhere that you can go to have a giggle or a fight, mostly about religion. Which was a shame as I thought there were going to be loads of political rants going on- especially in this climate. But you know I think the most interesting thing about it is how debates are started up between strangers in the crowds. It was a really beautiful sight to see ideas spark between different people, learning and debating with one another- not because they were in a situation they had to, like work or school, but for the pure pleasure of it. Either being inspired or interrogated by the people around you. The beauty of this place was the spoken element and that form of interaction- so after a while of us showing up and deciding to use our have your say silently cards- i felt it just was not appropriate for this situation- people liked the ideas but didn't really join in, just took the cards but didn't use them. Instead when I was there all i felt like doing was joining in.

We met a great chap called Vince (he was not a speaker but he knew all the regulars in the area), throughout the 4 hours  we were there, we talked and laughed about different situations and what the other speakers were shouting out about. The beautiful thing that I took away from it was he found the love of his life hugging a tree, this is what makes life so beautiful, when you find snippets of personal information about others that get you thinking. There was also a philosopher who kept asking to fill in claire's questionnaire every 5 minutes as he had new thoughts and answers to the questions. Some really interesting thoughts. Maybe one day I will go and do what Vince suggested, which was get a stand myself and speak to everyone- just have a giggle and join in.

The man to the left- was definitely the most interesting speaker (with a stand). He used props and was very quick with hecklers- which is what you need to be if you don't want to end up getting punched! The speakers that can interact and not just shout at the public are the ones who attract the biggest audiences.

At the end of that Sunday, I felt maybe it was wrong to try and approach speakers corner with a silent approach, I think there are other ways of communicating to be had in this area of Hyde Park, and silence can be effective, but what makes this space special is its voice, and I wouldn't want to take that experience away from speaker's corner.   

Pouches| Speakers corner

Designs to be given to people who go to speakers
corner- designed to make people who have a say,
but do not wish to speak, get a say.

In the pouch, which shall be given to people,
are a red and a green card which are meant to
be held up (saying whether one agrees or disagrees with
the speaker) during their talk.

I have designed a simple pouch that can be photocopied
quickly and cheaply, which give instructions on what to do.

Initial drawings| Camberwell residents home

A new live project that I am working on

alongside Helen. Is to redesign the interior

of Camberwell residents home. Above are 

some initial sketches of some of the rooms.

We spent Monday afternoon speaking with 

the residents and finding out what they would

want to change or want to have more of.

And the ideas are coming into place now.

We are trying to involve the residents as much

as possible, as it is their home.

The sketches and ideas should all be done

by January and work to begin just after.

The building is four stories high, our main

focus is on the hallways, dining room, 

2 living rooms, reception, bathrooms and

kitchen. We spoke to Sally (the manager)

and she is really liking our ideas, the budget

is obviously small and we are going to thrift

a lot but that just makes this a more exciting

project as am looking at reusing things in a

new light. We also want the residents to 

interact with this as much as possible.

Most the residents suffer from dimensia

only 2 can walk and there are roughly

30 residents- the oldest being an impressive 105.

 

SLASH FORWARD //// a few photos of event

Just a few image- showing how my section of the exhibition works and looks.

Press is working amazingly and smoothly! - only one magnet problem

Step by step photos of process....