Email reply from four23

Re: Hi Four23‏

From:	Pip Roche (pip@four23.net)
Sent:	08 May 2009 10:45:27
To:	emma georgiou (emmageorgiou88@hotmail.co.uk)

Hi there Emma,

Here are a few answers to your questions... sorry it's taken a while to get them back to you, it's been a busy week.

Good Luck with your course.  Thanks... Pip

How did you come across working on The Sharp Project? 

We were approached by the client after we had been recommended to them. The Sharp Project was the start of a great relationship with that client - we have worked with them on a number of project since. four23's success and achievements are well illustrated in the fact that once we get clients, we keep them.  

What was it like working with such a huge designer as Peter Saville?

Peter's status within the design community is intriguing and before we met him I suppose you could say we were more curious about the outcome than we might be usually. As it turned out, working with Peter, as with all our collaborators, was a thoroughly interesting and enjoyable experience. 

We love to collaborate because we always learn something. It might not be what we expected to learn, but we learn nonetheless!

It must have been exciting for you to see the impossible wall all filled out. 

Yes, definitely. 2009 was the third year we've built the Impossible Wall for adidas but it it still amazes us how overwhelming it is to see the wall so full of messages of love and support. 

The Impossible Wall has become part of the marathon experience, a right of passage for runners and their families and friends. We are very proud of it.

Where is that now? 

The Impossible Wall has been taken down and put in storage. Before that though, we scanned very single square inch of it so that we can rebuild the wall digitally.

Also how long did it take you to decide to use hand drawn type? and what was the reason behind this? 

The decision to use hand drawn type was made internally by adidas. The Impossible Wall was created by four23 but Impossible Is Nothing is one of adidas' international campaign. The hand drawn type reflects the fact that everyone has their own personal impossible.

You can see more Impossible Is Nothing here: http://www.adidas.com/campaigns/usiin/content/

What do you look for when students come in for portfolio visits? Is there a specific form of design you look for? 

We don't look at portfolios because we look for people with spirit.

We look for attitude and personality, not skills. Skills can be acquired but attitude and personality are impossible to change, even influence. We want people who read books, have a view, are willing to experiment, make mistakes and then are willing to make more mistakes.

We are very careful about our appointments, the people who work at four23 have to definitely gain their role.

Also how did Four23 get established. 

four23 was established in February 2004, by individuals with backgrounds in music, graphic design and fine art. 

four23 is now owned and led by Warren Bramley and Darryl Hardman, two of the original three co-founders. Warren has a law degree and worked at Factory Records (New Order, Joy Division, Happy Mondays) for four years, under the tutelage of Anthony Wilson, before four23. Darryl graduated with a first honours degree in Graphic Design from the University of Salford. He travelled though South East Asia in his early twenties, and before co-founding four23, he held an award winning role as Art Director of style magazine Sleaze Nation.

And where did the name come from?

The name is from the bible, act 4 verse 23 and it's a quote about moving on, taking what you've learned and then passing it on to other.

It reads: "and being let go / they went to their own company / and reported all that the chief, priests and elders had said unto them"

Just to note, it's pronounced four two three.

How many people have you got working in the company? 

We are a team of twelve, working from studios in Piccadilly, Manchester and Islington, London.

Also if you could tell me the biggest struggle about getting into the design industry what would it be?

We don't know about that. four23 is a creative studio - we are not defined by what we deliver, but who we are.

We can tell you though, that we see the key to success as being able to align a talent with an attitude and a personality that will drive you to succeed. Talent alone is never enough, in any field. Instead that talent has to sit in context of attributes and characteristics of hard work, drive, discipline, imagination, desire, belief persistence and ambition.   

Pip Roche

Studio Manager

m +44(0)776 9587376

four23 Manchester

Carver's Warehouse, 77 Dale Street, Manchester, M1 2HG, UK

t +44 (0)161 236 3566

four23 London

18 Bowling Green Lane, London, EC1R 0BW, UK

t +44 (0)207 253 1501

four23.net

This message is sent in confidence for the addressee only. It may contain legally privileged information. Unauthorised recipients are requested to preserve this confidentiality and to advise the sender immediately of any error in transmission. The information, views and comments within this communication are those of the sender and not necessarily those of the company. Although the company has taken reasonable precautions to ensure no viruses are present in this email, the company cannot accept responsibility for any loss or damage arising from the use of this email or attachments. 

four23 Limited VAT Registration No: 811 8055 52 Registered in England No: 4659574

On 5 May 2009, at 11:41, emma georgiou wrote:

Giraffe

Giraffe is a graphic design company based in London. They do advertising and marketing, Graphic design, webdesign and branding and identity. They have worked for clients such as John Lewis, Elizabeth Arden and Vertex.Below is some examples of there design work

article from the daily mail

Revealed: The secrets of the 50ft robo-spider

By Nick Mcdermott and Liz Hull

As if it wasn't scary enough just clinging to the side of a building, this is Liverpool's 50ft spider going walkabout. Earlier in the week, the moving sculpture - part of the city's Capital of Culture celebrations - was suspended near to Lime Street station but yesterday it was roaming the streets.

And if it's true that the scariest thing about spiders is the way they move, then a few people in this 1,000-strong crowd must have been rather spooked. For while the 37-ton creature won't be seen scurrying along a skirting board any time soon, it can reach a top speed of 2mph on its articulated steel legs.La Princesse, as the spider is known, is a giant artwork by French company La Machine. It cost £1.8million to bring to the city.The steel and wood spider has sophisticated hydraulics which allow the dozen engineers strapped to its frame to operate its eyes, legs and abdomen.It will continue to inflict terror and awe on the citizens of Liverpool today. Those of a nervous disposition can breathe a sigh of relief tomorrow, when it will 'escape' down the Mersey Tunnel.

Practitoners Craig Oldham v Fake ID

The two lectures that stood out to me the most during the last year was The Craig Oldham lecture and the lecture that fake Id did for us. Because of this I will look at the processes and practices of the two and compare and contrast them. I will conclude this by looking at how their individual practices can be applied in my work.

The Craig Oldham lecture was one of my most inspiring lectures I have seen. Craig graduated from college three years ago so his student days were still fresh in his mind. I think this is why I found it so appealing; He also made it very funny which kept my attention. Craig’s practices involve a book he has written called 12 in 12. This is a book that contains 12 things you learn about the business within your first year after finishing your degree.”12 lessons in 12 months”. The lessons are broken down into 12 points.1.Understand Graphic design and the meanings behind it. Also find out what graphic design means to you.2.Know your own Strengths and weaknesses and be honest with your self about it.3. Your portfolio is for life and is never finished,4.Placements matter even with pros and cons.5. Everybody knows someone in the design industry.6.Share your ideas two heads are better than one.7.Graphic design is a job, being a designer is different.8.Make mistakes it’s the only way you will learn.9.the design industry exists outside of London.10.20% of your time is spent designing.11.Have a life outside design,this may be your inspiration and finally 12.Work hard and be nice to people.

Craig's Lecture was very bold and he came across confident, He was clearly passionate about his work and wanted this to rub off on us. His Lecture was very informative and was more for our benifit by giving us advise, He showed us pieces of his work but still linked this in for our beneift.

Craig said his typography was his down fall yet i find it very interesting and inspiring.His hand drawn type is something i don't include in my work but should. The other image is a moving card for the M.E.N arena. This way of thinking could really help me out with my work and ideas.

The second lecture that stood out for me was fake IDs lecture but for very different reasons. Fake id is made up from Yvan Martinez and Joshua Trees.When looking through there website and work they spend alot of there time doing lectures. Although to me they looked very nervous and read from notes. This was a vast differnce from the Craig Oldham lecture as they showed no confidence. Fake ids lecture was based on sound and they showed none of there work. This had its pros and cons. The plus side was that we saw there side of thinking and where there ideas came from, this would have been good though to see the finish piece and how the sounds influenced the piece of work. A bad point to this was because I didn’t see the final outcome I didn’t understand it and felt very confused. Fake id’s work is very good and interesting and it was a shame they didn’t show

and tell us more about this work.




Their lecture was broken down into 3 sections. Language, Sound and Text.
The language section looked at Roseanne and android. This was Latin graffiti and showed us how a new language had been made and translations to this.
The sound section played us recordings. There was a tape of Puerto Rican New Yorke rs and advertisements for Burger chef. Burger chef recorded kids stories and gave them away as a toy with a kid’s meal. The third and final section looked at text Ernie kovacs and breaking the forth wall. They finished up by talking to us about the work they are doing called LSTN, which is what we contributed to in the workshop we did.

Both off these lectures were very different. Craig Oldham showed a lot of confidence and was exciting and interesting, where fake I’d was quite dull and pointless to me.
Both of them though showed enthusiasm in their work and what they did. This was good to see and both lectures made you want to strive to success and get in to the business and standard that they are at.

I learnt a lot from both of these lectures that can be translated into my own work. I learnt from Fake Id that any interests that you have could influence your work. Sound can play a big part in ideas and design. It also makes you think about your surroundings and take in the obvious things that you would usually ignore. Such as conversations you could hear in the street. I learnt a lot about the industry from Craig Oldham and what to expect. He gave us all advise in the 12 points which included things other lectures hadn’t told us. He showed us the importance of work experience and gave us the pros and cons instead of a one sided view.

Having lectures come in to the college has been very interesting and helpful. You get to see and learn about work that you haven’t necessarily seen before. And it makes you aware of what is out there in the design industry and your options when you leave college.

Vince Frost

Vince Frost started his own creative studio in 1994 known as frost design. Frost design is based in Sydney,London and Canada. He has worked for clients such as the independent, nike and the sydney dance company.

I like looking at Vince Frost's editorial design and has helped me with me editorial design project.

Fake Id lecture

Fake Id did a lecture with us on friday the 1st of May 2009. This lecture was not what i expected  it to me. I found it very strange and i did not understand it.

Fake Id have permanent exhibitions all over the world including New York and London.

As well as being graphic designers they also teach.

Fridays lecture was broken down into 3 sections. Language, Sound and Text.

The language section looked at Roseanne and android. This was latin graffiti  and showed us how a new language had been made and translations to this.

The sound section played us recordings. There was a tape of Puerto Rican New Yorkers and advertisements for Burger chef. Burger chef recorded kids stories and gave them away as a toy with a kids meal.

The third and final section looked at text Ernie kovacs and breaking the forth wall. They finished up by talking to us about the work they are doing called LSTN which is what we contributed to in the workshop we did.

I personally found this lecture a let down. The workshop we did with them was very insightful and interesting and i assumed the same would show through the lecture. I would have prefered to see how there lecture linked to there work and seeing more about fake id.

The tunnel house by Dan Havel and Dean Ruck

The tunnel house was designed by architects Dan Havel and Dan Ruck. I found there work while searching the internet. Two houses were due to be knocked down and replaced so a few months before the demolition they made them into this architectural instillation.

The house was built in texas.

Kuntzel and Deygas

Kuntzel and Deygas are a company that do everything from multimedia, art and design, editorial and advertising. I have always been a fan of the work they did for the opening sequence to catch me if you can.

Daniel Eatock work/ one day brief

Et. Alistar Veryard

Morning Stroll Alan Fishleder

Double Parked. Phil Evans

Daniel Eatock is a English photographer/graphic designer. We looked at his work today for our one day briefs and had to go out and take Daniel Eatock inspired pictures. Eatocks website is full of his pictures and pictures people have sent in. We looked particularly at the section in his website called Thank you pictures. This section is made up of natural accidents in the environment that are unusual/funny. The pictures below are examples of this work. 

Email I sent back to True North

Email reply from true north

Tiziana Haug

Tiziana Haug is a swiss typographer who lives and studied in New York i can across her typography on the internet and particularly like these type pieces she did for wolf olins. Wolf Olins is a branding company. I like the type made up from small animal figures the most as i feel its the most unique and creative.

Nancy Burson

Nancy Burson is an Artist / Photographer. The images i have looked at are her work with photo manipulation. The image above is a new face made up of Barack Obama and Hilary Clinton. She has also made the race machine which changes the race of a person with differ varitys ent using photo manipulation.

Nick cave..Sound suits

NIck cave is a artist/musician.  I saw his work in the sunday paper and it was referred to as "art clothing" I think there great and hard to believe there is actually someone in them costumes.

Email reply from four23

Four23 replied to my email saying they are out of office.I will resend the message after the date they gave me.