cmyplay

Desmond & The Tutus is a band that continues to set themselves apart as different. A group of four haling from Pretoria, everything about the band speaks of their peculiar, hip approach. Their latest EP has launched and it succeeds in maintaining their idiosyncratic image. The EP itself comes in an unassuming, black cardboard cover wrapped in a cellophane sleeve.

The oblique, white, serif typeface loudly displays a celebrity inspired naming convention that has become popular over the past few years. Seemingly each of these copies is branded slightly differently, however, upon opening the wrapping, the front image is revealed to be a 12cm x 12cm sticker. Behind this is the actual cover with the title _ & The _“across the top third.

The 4 tracks on the EP are exactly what a fan would expect from the group, littered with Shane Durrant’s distinctive vocals that apologise for pointing out the striking resemblance someone’s girlfriend has to Country musician Willie Nelson. On the visual side of things, the minimalist branding carries across to other below the line items: 10.5cm x 7cm stickers; badges; and online spaces.

Albeit done by other musicians (Harry and the Potters, Molly & the Ringwalds, Atilla and the Honeys), the naming convention of splitting a public figure’s first and last names with the inclusion of & The is something I personally identify with Desmond & The Tutus. Through this campaign, Desmond & The Tutus has effectively laid claim to the convention and undermined all others who use it by opening their identity up to the myriad of other possible band names.

South African public personalities sit alongside other well-known pop-culture figures and include Lance & The Klusners, Zola & The Budds and Barney & The Simons. My personal favourite among all being Steve & The Jobs.

I did this image as a follow up, at least stylistically, to the John Donne inspired one I posted a while back. It’s another self-initiated item, this time using lyrics from Electric Six’s I Wish this Song was Louder.

I’m currently doing research into interface design, particularly having to do with online video players. It’s quite exciting working on a project that has such meat to it and I can’t wait to actually get started doing the design side of it.

Also, Lost has finally started. Can’t wait for episode 3.

In the third update to cmyplay in as many weeks, the cmyplayStore is set to go live soon. While this is not strictly an update to this site as such, it is expanding on the cmyplay online footprint.

After struggling along with a locally hosted ecommerce installation, my PHP skills (which are entirely self taught) finally gave way to the pressures of effective branding and convenient management. The Store makes use of the BigCartel framework. I came across this fantastic service through Nicholas Felton’s ecommerce site.

Because I’m using BigCartel’s system, the products will unfortunately be listed in Dollar amounts. Payments will be made through the ever-useful PayPal system, which I feel is an ideal solution for making internet payments and keeping track of one’s different credit card accounts. Unfortunately, as far as I know, transferring money is not yet available for South African members.

As you can tell from the images above, the first product to be launched in the cmyplayStore is the Transparent version of the PacMat drinks coaster. I’m currently working out the kinks with the packaging. I’ll be posting more about that later this week.

The section links next to the logo are no longer placeholders (at least not all of them). I have successfully uploaded an online version of my portfolio. Needless to say, this is the link that is now active.

As with the rest of this site, I expect it to be a work in progress, with items being added as they are completed – and inevitably posted on the blog as well. Please take a look and let me know what you think.

This is a stop-motion video of the  construction of a self-contained mailable booklet containing print design, illustration, web and motion portfolio. Included is a showreel DVD with a breakdown of the different projects that it consists of.

The body copy is set in Alte Haas Grotesk Regular, the captions in Alte Haas Grotesk Bold. The headings are in Fertigo Pro – which is the typeface that I based this site’s logo on. The printing of the booklet is done on high quality 180gsm Matte stock, and the packaging is printed on a fantastic Fedrigoni Titoretto Gesso 140gsm stock.

EDIT Track: Killamangiro by Baby Shambles /EDIT