Illustration as Object: Fredun Shapur

Fredun Shapur was a Graphic Designer, he was very good at transforming his illustrations into fun interactive objects, they are very stylish toys, and would easily work as collectibles, or learning toys for young children and toddlers. 

"In recent years, designs for children by modern masters like Bruno Munari, Charles and Ray Eames and Alexander Girard have been brought forward, their diminutive audience seen not as undermining but attractive. We should add Fredun Shapur to that pantheon of designers of winning and sculptural objects for children. Shapur’s work was produced by an international array of manufacturers, including Naef, Trendon, Galt Toys, Fischerform and Selecta, but he is best known for transforming Creative Playthings’ logo, packaging and products."

Lady Bird Books

Lady Bird books were very well known due to the fact that they were cheap and beautifully illustrated, many children had the books bought for them by their parents. Lady Bird books was founded in 1867 and since 1914 was producing the classic childrens books, which had a very unique feature about their printing which made them so cheap, they were printed on one large sheet of paper and folded down to the well known 56 page format.

Beatles Album Covers

In this post i am going to analyse The Beatles' album covers, and what they reflect about the times in The Beatles lifespan.

• Please Please Me (1963)

This album was The Beatles' first, they were just a few lads from livepool messing around and making some music, this is shown in the album by them getting a fun picture of them hanging out in an apartment block.

• With the Beatles (1963)

This album came about when The Beatles began to rise to unprecedented fame, and decided they should represent themselves in a more professional way, the lay out in this image is very strange to look at, it is in fact a show of importance from left to right, with Ringo Starr at the bottom right because he is the drummer.

• A Hard Day's Night (1964)

In this album cover they were trying to show the lives and personalities of The Beatles, in order for people to choose their favorite, at this point The Beatles were becoming like merchandie rather than a band.

• Beatles for Sale (1964)

This is the second album of 1964, The Beatles began to release music a lot more quickly due to their ever rising fame, this album cover took a much more serious turn than previous iterations.

• Help! (1965)

At this point The Beatles began trying to change from being heart throb love song writers.

• Rubber Soul (1965)

This album marks the beginning of The Beatles psychedelic faze, due to experimentation in drugs.

• Revolver (1966)

Revolver was a great step forward for The Beatles featuring a heavy amount of experimentation, which lead to them discovering their individual style of music. The cover was designed by Klaus Voormann, a friend of The Beatles.

• Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (1967)

This was when The Beatles were in full swing of their psychedelic experimentation. The brightly coloured military outfits represent their anti-authoritarian and anti-establishment beliefs of the fictional band depicted on the cover. 

• The Beatles ("The White Album", 1968)

The White Album represents the height of The Beatles popularity, as they don't even have to create an album cover for people to buy it, at this point people were buying anything with "The Beatles" printed on it

• Yellow Submarine (1969)

The Beatles had spent a large amount of time with a guru trying to find themselves, the guru later turned out to be a sham. Growing tensions in the band made it difficult to follow one style of music, the band was beginning to fray. at this point the Yellow Submarine soundtrack was released several months after recording, before the guru experience.

• Abbey Road (1969)

Although Let It Be was the Beatles' final album release, it was largely recorded before Abbey Road. Abbey Road was a project from The Beatles trying to save the band, they worked hard at it, and rehearsed heavily, this album is possibly one of the most famous covers of all time.

• Let It Be (1970)

Let it be was the final decline of the beatles, at this point they were pretty much broken up, and taking on their own solo careers due to artistic differences, it was difficult to get them all to take a photograph together which is why they are all seperate.

Heath Robinson

William Heath Robinson was an english cartoonist and illustrator, born on the 31st of may 1872, and died on the 13th os september 1944, he is best known for his overly complicated satirical drawings of machines like the ones seen below. His illustrations became so popular that it became common to refer to overly complicated machines that achieve simple tasks as "Heath Robinson machines" during the first world war.
During the Falklands War 1982, British Harrier aircraft lacked their conventional "chaff" dispensing mechanism. Therefore Royal Navy engineers designed an impromptu delivery system of welding rods, split pins and string which allowed six packets of chaff to be stored in the airbrake well and deployed in flight. Due to its complexity it was often referred to as the "Heath Robinson chaff modification"
The American version of Heath Robinson machine is the Rube Goldberg machine, as another illustrator had a fascination with overly complicated contraptions .

Youth Culture in Japan

Bishonen is a term used in Japan which literally means Beautiful Youth (Boy), this describes an eastern beauty that transcends gender, boys that look effeminate or gender Androgyny. Bishonen is very previlant in various Japanese youth culture's, one of which being Visual Kei. Visual Kei meaning visual style is a Music movement in Japan that would most easily be comparable to Glam Rock, with the heavy make-up, extravagant hair, and flamboyant outfits. Though Visual Kei is only about the style, and music comes second, Visual Kei acts play various types and genres of music, this shows Visual Kei describes the Subculture rather than a specific Genre of music.

The Youth Culture in Japan can be described as tribes, and it is all about the fashion over anything else.

Lolita

Ganguro

Cyber-Punk

Oshae Kei

Cosplay

Shironuri