gordon ling

Prior to the World Cup logo, I discovered something very interesting in protest to the current World Cup logo,

11Designer in protest to the current world cup logo designs, created about 11 other identities for the title. Check them out, personally I like option 7#. I thought that it was intersting.

Is it true that the logo has to look “friendly’ (as always said by college lecturers) again? But prior to the England hooligans that formed a mob last week, maybe, just maybe, the smiley logos might have done it’s socially responsible duty in restoring peace in Berlin. (My bombastic remark…)

Erik Spiekermann had a comment about it. Here’s a very insightful take from the interview to warm up:

” Not only the mascot, but the whole business. I mean the mascot itself is a typical effort by too many parties. It’s a lion, which has no historical relevance to Germany whatsoever. We have eagles, gnomes and garden dwarves and what have you, but we don’t have lions. That’s English or French. The mascot is called Goleo, “gol” as in the Spanish for the English word “goal,” and “leo” as in Italian, Latin, Spanish for lion. So it’s obviously trying to appeal to a world audience, which is kind of nice, but it’s a little patronizing. Why not be in Germany and call it “Fritz” or whatever? We are German, so we might as well own up to it. This artificial lion is neither cute nor ugly nor relevant; it’s just embarrassing.” -When asked why was he so being so critical on the World Cup logo.

The recent talks venued at UOA were pretty cool. I guess it contributed most to the community of students of the man himself. You could count me in. I’m still very much a junior rookie & still visual hungry for aesthetically pleasing stuff. I went to the third session, featuring Matte & Phunk. Very much of a show & tell presentation. But it brings a rhythm that design is fun to me though. That made me tap along with the music.

One of my personal favourite designers, Chung Yew Kee was among the lists of speakers in the spiritual event. He was this Singaporean guy who had his first job at Malaysia, went back to Singapore, headed over straight to the Netherlands. Worked at Studio Dumbar
, as an intern I think. I’m quite a fan of the work he produces (I even sent him an e-mail to bring me some of his work over for me) but more importantly the characteristics he carries with him. One advice he gave that I find very neccessary for students including myself;

“Get out of your comfort zone & go try something different. Anything.”

It could be the books you read. Reading more books. Take the trouble to sit down at the bookstore for hours to look for a book. The way you behave. The process of getting the work done. Even the way you wake up from bed. Anything.

The prominant move that justifies that he truly believes in it is his migration to the Netherlands from Singapore. This is no small risk to take. Imagine leaving things behind into somewhere far away from home.

I came over from my previous college (haha..) for two simple reasons, to meet people passionate enough to share things with and to be exposed & to learn stuff that I tried looking for desperately at that point of time. My first class was this figure drawing class where all my future classmates were passing up their fantastic figure drawing holiday assignments that freak me out. I do mean that. My classmates can draw very nice figures & markers respectively (If you are my classmate & can’t draw well & want to be a rebel, you’re always welcomed to hop on to the band wagon).

It’s saddening. My first intention of going over was quite a failure. Sorry for both. I’m not talking about those who are of an interest in which I am not aware of. Somehow, I’m also bothered with the facts of life about being a designer. How much can I earn? What’s the expected sallary? Why do I need to work overtime? How to get finance for fun projects? How to produce good design? How to be creative & different? etc. But screw that. Its a common problem that just needs a little extra thinking. I don’t want to go deep into that.

My second intention now walks between the fine line of learning the things I know I am not a student to & perfecting my learning process. I question the intentions of my guru’s at times. Some have had a deep impact on me & some made my eyebrows stand mischievously. “This is very creative poster. You can see that the layout is very messy. He is the designer of RayGun.”

Recently, I meet a few people in college who picked up Emigre & Matther Carters books & go “Wow!” & someone telling me “Someone booked the 10th anniversary Emigre book.” I don’t really know them personally well but it just feels so good to see it. Some friends come up and tell me about the collection of books they have. This is so cool I thought.

(This post took me an hour fifteen minutes to type with 9 fingers)

Sharlene graduated with a First Class Honours for her Degree in Accounting at UTAR. That means I’m dating a First Class Honours student. How stressful.

“The secret of success in all arts lies in practice. ”

Taken from Pen Practice by Walter Haggins, B.T Batsford Ltd.,1932 (seriously)

Something almost every art major student will know. Maybe even those highly inspired ‘gred A1′ with scholarship students of business & engineering. Do your homework & study hard. Practice, practice & more practice makes perfect.

“I am a lazy bastard.”
What I always remind myself when I am working too hard & seem to go around in the familier circle of pratice. Prior given work or assignments, sometimes, I don’t even deem it necessary to realize that practice is as important as the entire process of getting the job done as well.

The funny thing is that at most of the pratices, the same thing is praticed over & over again. The initiative of trying out something completely new most of the time is ignored. Maybe, just maybe the excuse will be “I am too busy for that.” Or perhaps the lack of guts or maybe even the laziness of starting off on unfamilier ground.

Funny; Why people think my typography is nice? I bet there are thousands of typo freaks out there who are way more better that me. I still struggle to make the type look good. Frankly, I discovered that ‘nice typography’ by mistake I could profess. I hardly spent hours at the computer trying out grids or drawing vertical lines and cutting papers, trying to stick them on my sketchbook to see the possibilities of living without the computer. Only mere minutes of fun & leisure. It was a complete ‘fun’ discovery believe me. Only minimal practice, a little of interest in it, read a little books here and there, had fun looking for FF Maiola online & hanging around people who are of same craze as you.

My question here is; “Why practice so hard?”

My answer would be; “Just for fun.” or perhaps “Maybe it’s worth it to do so.”

Believe me, it makes life much more easier.

*Edited June 20th

Lady: My son just went to KL to study. I’m worried. He doesn’t seem to want to go to church. Maybe you might want to encourage him to go to church.
Long hair dude: Maybe you might want to pass me his number. Maybe I could call him to invite him to church.
Lady: I don’t think so.
Long hair dude: Why?
Lady: He doesn’t seem like it if people to invite him. What if he called me and ask me why I gave his number to other people to call him to go to church.

Pity the family. For once, a long hair dude is given a righteous character.

Its pretty painful to see someone progressively dying in front of you. What more someone close to you that you truly hold dear to.

He was a father of 5, the father of my mother. Born in about 1923, he came over from China at the age of about 11. Started with nothing in hand, he helped his grandpa in the farms. With no background education or whatsoever, he thought himself to read, write and communicate. In his spare time, he would write his thoughts & ideas out into a book, a personal journal. That piece of journal contains writings on his family, grandchildren, the first man on the moon, the world war 2, personal issues he faced throught his lifetime, photographs of him & his wife, children, relatives etc. The peices of journals were compiled and he was awarded for the book he wrote. The legacy he left for his children to enjoy is not only seen through material posession, but more importantly, through the hearts of those he had impacted.

Throught my entire life, i have never seen him loosing his temper or get dissapointed with things. His patience caused me to truly question myself about being a man of patience. The warmth feeling that he gives away freely to people around, the smile on his face that many take for granted shows a character of a father that many will consider friend. A beautiful & sentimental man was he.

In ever loving memory of the late Mr. Ngo Boon Chai, deeply missed and loved.

Before I start to go into other detailed posts, I think I need to provoke this.

Damn the ads, testimonies, bulletin board, top searches bar, fan profile invites, match-making institutes, glamour Ah Lian & Ah Beng pictures, and pagan-like posts.

Ah, I’m feeling cynical.

Lets see if this blog gets deleted or i get a few phone calls tomorrow.

The bird flying in the air just fell down. Hit that tree. My website was deleted or hacked. Have to upload the site to a new server again.

Funny. You actually read this. This post is meaningless. Sorry for the disapointment.

moved in from here