This morning I got off the BART as usual and on a corner was a homeless man begging for money. This is not unusual in SF. What was unusual was his sign; instead of "Help" or "Anything, even a smile" or the annoying "I won't kid you - I need a beer", this guy wrote "What if you were poor and hungry?".
The sign got to me; I dropped in what change I had in my pocket. And I never give money to these guys. There are tons of shelters & resources out there to help people so I give to those instead.
Anyway, I'm not trying to create a rant about giving more money to the homeless. It sparked a thought in me though - what if begging got rebranded?
In a sense these guys are branding themselves. They create signs made from cardboard and markers, they write their slogans on them hoping that this one will get them more money than last time. Some choose pity based slogans, some humorous-based, and some go for a simple "nice" angle. But they are all, in a sense, advertisements for their cause.
So what if designers / copywriters / art directors got together and helped these guys out? What if they used their talents and expertise to find a more effective way to convince people who step off the train to give money to these guys?
It seems to me to be an interesting pro-bono project to see how one could connect those who beg with those who give in a more engaging way. Not sure how I could get this started but feel free to comment and let me know if you can help or if you have any constructive ideas.
Do leave the jokes behind though; I get enough of that on the streets. :)
Tuesday, November 20, 2012
Monday, November 12, 2012
New art project
Recently we went on vacation, during which I had enough downtime to read, and subsequently, think. And so I came up with a great new art project.
I'm going to recreate / design / illustrate / typeset the entire original scroll of "On The Road". I found the characters to be more real, complicated and interesting in this original version, and thought it would make one fun art project. Here's what I'm planning (if this comes out before I'm done with it I will be pissed. Find your own inspiration.):
The covers will be illustrated front and back. Front will be a Jack of Hearts, representative of Keroac and his continuous quest for friendship and love in the book. Back will be Jack of Spades, representative of Neal Cassady, a.k.a. Dean Moriarty, Keroac's friend, fellow traveller, and in many respects "other half". Two sides of the same coin, in some respects. This I'm planning on hand-illustrating in pen and ink; much research is being done on not only images of the two men, but also the playing cards themselves, symmetry, symbolism and style.
The pages will be one continuous scroll, folded into pages (like an accordion fold). The book will be bound at the top, reporter-style, so that the reader can flip through the pages over and over in that scrolling vertical format, yet the pages will be sewn / bound so that they will be accessible without falling out all over the place.
I'm going to find an old typewriter, hopefully from the 1940's or 50's on which I hope to type this entire book. Chapter pages will be handwritten with cross-outs, pages will be typed with cross-outs or white-out or whatever, maybe even with some penciled circles emphasizing some points. Page numbers will be handwritten in edition format (for example, page 3 would be 3/100).
The primary challenges are finding paper and finding a typewriter that works. I'll have to do some hunting, but hopefully I will find what I need. I suppose I could just print it and typeset it on the computer, but I think it would lose the character I'm looking for. I'm planning on connecting reams of paper with scotch tape - that old yellowed kind, if I can find it.
I think this will make one cool art peice. I'd love to see it properly published - letterpressed instead of typed - but I really do not have that kind of money and I certainly don't want to hand the idea over to someone else who won't keep my vision in mind. So, a one-off it will be.
I also came up with a great calligraphic poster idea after reading "The Baseball Codes", but that's going to take a lot more time.
Update: As usual, it's already been done. Perhaps I"ll just stick with the illustrations. http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2006/07/27/kerouacs_road_will_be_unrolled/
I'm going to recreate / design / illustrate / typeset the entire original scroll of "On The Road". I found the characters to be more real, complicated and interesting in this original version, and thought it would make one fun art project. Here's what I'm planning (if this comes out before I'm done with it I will be pissed. Find your own inspiration.):
The covers will be illustrated front and back. Front will be a Jack of Hearts, representative of Keroac and his continuous quest for friendship and love in the book. Back will be Jack of Spades, representative of Neal Cassady, a.k.a. Dean Moriarty, Keroac's friend, fellow traveller, and in many respects "other half". Two sides of the same coin, in some respects. This I'm planning on hand-illustrating in pen and ink; much research is being done on not only images of the two men, but also the playing cards themselves, symmetry, symbolism and style.
The pages will be one continuous scroll, folded into pages (like an accordion fold). The book will be bound at the top, reporter-style, so that the reader can flip through the pages over and over in that scrolling vertical format, yet the pages will be sewn / bound so that they will be accessible without falling out all over the place.
I'm going to find an old typewriter, hopefully from the 1940's or 50's on which I hope to type this entire book. Chapter pages will be handwritten with cross-outs, pages will be typed with cross-outs or white-out or whatever, maybe even with some penciled circles emphasizing some points. Page numbers will be handwritten in edition format (for example, page 3 would be 3/100).
The primary challenges are finding paper and finding a typewriter that works. I'll have to do some hunting, but hopefully I will find what I need. I suppose I could just print it and typeset it on the computer, but I think it would lose the character I'm looking for. I'm planning on connecting reams of paper with scotch tape - that old yellowed kind, if I can find it.
I think this will make one cool art peice. I'd love to see it properly published - letterpressed instead of typed - but I really do not have that kind of money and I certainly don't want to hand the idea over to someone else who won't keep my vision in mind. So, a one-off it will be.
I also came up with a great calligraphic poster idea after reading "The Baseball Codes", but that's going to take a lot more time.
Update: As usual, it's already been done. Perhaps I"ll just stick with the illustrations. http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2006/07/27/kerouacs_road_will_be_unrolled/
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)