Thanks in part to The Drum’s wallchart design competition, there are plenty doing the rounds this year. Although there are lots of charts that would look brilliant in A2 on glossy paper, I needed one that would work well printed on a couple of sheets of copier paper. They had to be easy to read, write on and preferably not use too much printer ink!

Here are a few good ones if, like me, you’ve found yourself unprepared for the incoming deluge of results.

• Stu Seddon
• Stop.Edit.
• Graphic Clinic
• Substrakt

The iPad is a new handheld, touchscreen product that seems very much to have evolved from the iPhone, with a similar multi-touch interface and applications that are downloaded from a proprietary online store. On the face of it, the iPad looks like a touchscreen portable computer, and, technically, that’s true. However, there seems to be a lot that the iPad can’t do that a typical laptop can. While it does have Wi-Fi connectivity as standard, and 3G as an option, it isn’t a phone, either. The iPad has already received a good chunk of criticism and a chorus of “Meh”s for its ‘missing’ features.

However, what the iPad doesn’t do isn’t important. It’s what it does do. Apple have a knack of taking existing products and streamlining the feature set to improve the user experience. Just look at the iPod for a good example of that.

I don’t believe that the iPad should be compared to a PC, or a smartphone for that matter. It seems to me to be more of an everyday consumer device, just like an iPod or ebook reader: something that has a limited set of features that it does very well.

These features are, by today’s standards, pretty basic things that your average computer user wants to do, such as browsing the web or playing media like videos and music. These don’t require stacks of computing power or a complicated interface.

Instead, the iPad has some advantages over a conventional laptop computer. The most obvious is the touchscreen interface that has proved such a success on the iPhone. Less immediately obvious is that the device is designed to be powered on all the time, just like a phone, with Apple claiming a whole month of standby time. Having to boot a computer to quickly check something online can be a pain (for the impatient like me, at least).

The form factor also lends itself well to casual use: easy to keep on the coffee table or by the side of the bed for some late night Twitter action. I can imagine myself using it for a spot of catch-up TV on iPlayer or 4od in the evening (but not ITVplayer — all their programmes are crap!) or at last, ploughing through some of the many ebooks I’ve acquired on the bus.

The iPad is also able to run a variant of Apple’s iWork suit of applications, games and any applications from the iPhone app store. It will also be interesting to see how developers exploit the features of the iPad once they get their hands on it.

The price, while not cheap, is also much lower than that of one of Apple’s line of portable computers: $499 for the cheapest model, which I expect will convert up to £399 for the UK. More expensive models add more storage or 3G capability, so it really depends what you want to do with it how much you might want to invest.

I truly believe that Apple have hit an untapped niche with the iPad. More user-friendly, convenient and cheaper than a laptop or netbook, but more versatile and better suited to general use than a smartphone. It’s neither, but something that takes some of the most loved pieces of each and comes up with something new. Whether the marketplace agress with me, we’ll have to see.

Only by trying something new, struggling, learning, and then trying again do we improve our performance. It’s a simple matter of acclimating to unchartered territory.

A hat tip to @joshr for tweeting the article.

In the talk, Sir Ken Robinson discusses how we ‘unlearn’ creativity by becoming scared to fail. Coincidentally, I found myself thinking something like that a few days prior to watching the talk. I realised that I was scared to do anything that was ‘sub-standard’ and this was prohibiting me from practicing and developing new skills.

As the old adage goes, though, ‘don’t run before you can walk’, and this is something I keep having to remind myself.

I see other people doing fantastic work and take great inspiration from what other people create, but I also feel disheartened to know that I can’t produce what they do. I have come to accept that I don’t have to follow other people’s approaches. Creativity is about doing things for yourself in a way that pleases you.

Oft-imitated Illustrator/doodler Jon Burgerman summed it up quite nicely in a recent issue of Computer Arts magazine.

“Maybe there is some sort of doodle style, but the way I draw is just the way that I draw… I always assumed that I drew in a very bad way.”

If you try to imitate others from the off, you will only end up frustrated. Just do what makes you happy and keep doing it.

I was particularly taken with his latest effort: Chilli Babies.

Of course, I can’t mention bespoke blog post designs without referring to Jason Santa Maria, who has been producing impressive customised layouts for some time.

Inspired as I am to produce unique work for each post, a bespoke blog theme would be a good start…

As I’ve mentioned recently, this is a subject of constant discussion between me and LHR singer, Dan, so this won’t be the last time I mention it!

Somewhere along the line, music went from being an art to being a product.

[...]

Slowly, though, the Web is helping music to become art again. While the mainstream music industry once again cries that “Home taping is killing music“, things are changing for musicians in a very positive way.

The chosen photo, By the Pool is below.

I feel like Left Hand Red have always had the semi-silent aim of getting signed by a conventional record label, and this was our lowest measure of “success”. Anything before that is just preparation.

However, recently, Dan decided that we needed a long-term aim (i.e. the next year or so), and that aim should be to release our own album.

The final straw

The stimulus that led to this decision was a competition that we took part in recently. It was a relatively high-profile competition (at least, in the Brighton area) for unsigned local bands. The competition promised some good prizes for the eventual winner, so we decided to enter. The initial stage involved voting on a website, during which we placed in the top ten and earned a place in the final, which took part at Brighton’s well-known Concorde 2 venue.

The final had a slightly clunky format — each of twelve, stylistically very diverse bands performed just one song, which was then appraised by a trio of judges who had varying degrees of involvement with music. Six bands were chosen to take part in a second stage where they would perform two further songs each, and then three of those bands would make a final stage where they played three songs each.

The logistics of such a format meant that it took seven hours for us to play one song. Following the lead of TV talent shows, we were given feedback on our performance. We provided an energetic, interesting, convincing performance, which they ackowledged, but they then turned to criticize the arrangement of the song we performed, as they had also done for most of the bands that had played.

Never mind that the judges contradicted each other when giving feedback. Never mind the fact that the song follows a tried and tested rock song structure. Never mind that some of the feedback didn’t even seem to be about our song!

What frustrated us was that we didn’t need or want any external validation of what we were doing. This was our song. It is our expression. It is not about trying to write a “perfect”, radio-friendly pop song for the short of attention-span. It is our art and it is what we want it to be. Just as the other bands all had different styles to us, they are making the music that they want to be making and there’s nothing wrong with that.

We were not willing to have our songwriting skills criticised by some random strangers, one of whom had probably never written a song in their life. Even if they had been an experienced songwriter, we would still probably not change how we do things, because we are making music that we enjoy. The fact that many other people get enjoyment from it is a big bonus, but a bonus all the same.

We did not make it past the first round, which was disappointing as of the six bands that did make it through, most had seemed to have received worse feedback than we had. They were generally very derivative or pleased the judges through some sort of gimmick or novelty.

I worry that this might sound a bit like sour grapes because we didn’t win the competition, but the point is that it really summed up for us the state of the British music industry. It is exactly that — an industry focussed on what will ultimately shift units above all else.

The Masterplan

When Dan brought up his idea, I admit I was sceptical. I thought that releasing an album on our own might not be the ideal way to attract record label attention, suggesting that shorter, more frequent releases was the more traditional way to go.

Then Dan sent a link to an article on Wired by former-Talking Heads frontman, David Byrne, written at the end of 2007: David Byrne’s Survival Strategies for Emerging Artists — and Megastars.

I read the article, and everything clicked. I had taken Dan’s point the wrong way. I assumed that we were still looking to attract labels — that the album was a means to an end. Instead, the album was to be just that, not a glorified, quadruple-length demo.

We are no longer waiting for “the right time” for our music and are certainly not going to change what we do for the sake of fitting in with labels’ expectations of what people want. We are going to go it alone.

In short, our plan is to record a full-length album, which we will release for download. Currently, other than that, there is no plan. We will have complete control over what we do with the recordings, as there are no third-parties invested in it, and that is the most exciting bit. The whole thing should cost us no more than a few hundred pounds.

In the Old World, before cheap computers and the Web changed everyone’s lives, musicians needed record companies as they could not afford to make or distribute recordings themselves. Now, anyone with a computer can record, distribute and publicise their music around the World.

There is no pressure to make millions, or to get your CD in the shops, or even to put your music on CD in the first place. What you do with it is up to the musician. You decide what is “successful”. Music goes back from being a product, to being art.

I’ve discussed digital distribution and new models for art sales with Paul so many times in the past. Concerning Left Hand Red, I really am surprised I never took the idea more seriously before.

I have to confess, I hadn’t skated since before my teens and had never actually owned my own skateboard, but for some reason, it really took my fancy as a way to get exercise without having to rely on anyone else and without having to pay lots of money. I’m sure the recent warm, sunny weather has also played a part in creating idyllic images of whizzing about in the sunshine. :)

I’ve taken it for a couple of spins so far, and only fallen off once, but then I’ve not really tried doing anything remotely ambitious (or too fast).

There are lots of skateparks and ramps around the area, but for now I will be concentrating on going in a straight line without dying.

The board is made up of bits by British skateboard company, Enuff, with a chocolate-coloured 7.75″ deck and 52mm wheels. (The mixed measurement styles annoy me but that’s just the way they do these things.)

Today’s logo really brought a sentimental smile to my face. To celebrate the first day of Spring, a logo has been designed by Eric Carle featuring the Very Hungry Caterpillar, a book that I’m sure featured in the life of every British child from the ’70s onward (and probably every American child, English-speaking child and then some).