ITAP2: So-me

In David Osbaldestin's itap presentation, we were introduced to his hero's work and practice, art director 'So-me'. In particular, David chose to focus on his vernacular typography although did touch on some of his graphic design/art which has been hugely popular and influential in pop art styled and electra music genres. 

Aside from the links to the musics culture and history to the brand image/style of 'So-me', I feel that this presentation gave me quite an insight into the versatility and multimedia applications of type. While I was definitely aware of it before, the uses that So-me put it to gave me fresh inspiration and a better understanding of hugely successful combinations or methods to incorporate it.

As mentioned before, So-me also does a lot of bold, pop art-esque design. A good example of this is is the range of self portraits he did for a gallery exhibition. These verge on parodies of Andy Warhol's work and iconic style, only each portrait displays a different characteristic or trait that 'So-me' feels about himself. 

As can be seen even these commonly include some form of hand done typography; a trait of his. This trait/combination is particularly strong in a viral advert he made for youtube, to promote 'Ed Banger Vol.2'. 

I absolutely love this video as it is a clever mixture of animation, stop motion, video, typography but most of all, the idea to actually remove the static nature of print designs and turn them into living, moving pieces. This, in combination with the smooth audio mixing/editing result in a very slick and all round attractive piece that really gets across So-me's style, portrays the music as authentic, fun loving and living, and works brilliantly as a viral video. In fact, the thing I find most amazing is how natural and unquestioning you are when watching these sleeve covers move.

A similarly fascinating video of his, using this concept of animating traditionally still images is D.A.N.C.E by Justice, in which he art directed. In this video a few people simply keep walking through a gig/club like place and as they go along, their shirts change in design in accordance to their interaction with the surrounding/the shirts/each other/other people. This is a great video and again shows the skill of So-me, along side the power of this living style of bold imagery and vernacular type, overall portraying the artist as somewhat authentic and 'cool'.

In reflection, I feel that the work of So-me has inspired me to take fresh looks at the applications of type rather than just informational, but also now as the display of personality as well as imagery.