Made By Heath Killen

March 9th, 2010
Roundup
#8—

I’m well and truly in the thick of organizing our overseas odyssey, which for the most part means I’m looking for work. Right now I’m in the process of putting together a promotional mailer so if you’re from a studio in the UK or Europe, you may very well be receiving a package from me in the next month or so.

Self promotion is a difficult thing. It’s hard to establish the right tone of voice and convey the right message. You want to be noticed, but for the right reasons. You want to express your personality, but in a professional way. Self promotion requires you to communicate the your philosophy and body of work in a neat, easily digestible little package that leaves a positive impression on the recipient.

My mailer is really going to be focused on what I want to achieve, rather than what I have achieved. I’ve been a freelancer for about 5 years now, and while I’ve loved it, I’m really excited about the idea of becoming part of a progressive and friendly team. I think that being able to focus purely on the work and having the ability to bounce ideas of others is going to help take my work to the next level.

In my quest to produce the greatest self-promotional mailer of all time, I’ve encountered some really lovely looking packaging design. Of course they’re all for music and all look ridiculously expensive and difficult to produce, but they’re worth posting here all the same.

Rather special packaging for a Fine Art Recordings compliation by Sawdust

Bleep + Stuart Hammersley + Shaun Bloodworth = Excellence

Most of these Lo Recordings packages have been around for a while, but I just love it when Non-Format go lo-fi.

On the subject of design for music, it was great to see French studio H5 win an academy award for their short film Logorama. H5 have produced some really fantastic sleeves (and music videos) in their time. Seriously strong typographic work with that effortless French cool.

A little over a week ago, I’d never seen an episode of House – however now I’ve seen nearly all of the first 3 seasons. The show has its moments, but overall I find it to be pretty formulaic, and it definitely drags when Hugh Laurie isn’t on screen.

I do however really love the shots that go under the patients skin. They’re all too brief and I can’t seem to find any online, but they are completely fascinating – particularly when they’re of bizarre germs and infections.

I’ve also enjoyed the very classy use of Gill Sans in the hospital wayfinding system too. Strange that they chose to use Futura for the show’s logos and title credits though…

This morning I discovered that one of my favourite Artists (and former Novocastrian) John Olsen has released a cookbook called Culinaria. Apprently Olsen spent four years in Majorca as a young man, where he learned to cook the local cuisine.

“There, in this market were things that I had never seen, a surrealist scene of saffron-coloured chickens and ducks – heads n’ all suspended from the ceiling, hams, salamis – Catalan pimento sausages, Butifarra, Sobrasada, black and white studded garlic blood sausages – then vegetables of vivid green and red, sad purple-peppers, zucchinis, onions and eggplants. Oz gum trees and desert landscapes disappeared. “

Sounds incredible. He’s also produced a new series of paintings to accompany the book, all inspired by colours, textures and experience of Spanish food. It’s a great match for Olsen’s organic, visceral style. The paintings alone look delicious.

Later today I’ll be posting the next edition of High Five, and later in the week I hope to finish off my Depeche Mode discography. I should be posting up some of my recent experiments with screen-printing shortly too, and of course once my mailer’s completed I’ll be making it avaliable for download.

As always, I’d love to hear from potential new clients and collaborators, so don’t hesitate to get in touch.

Have a great week.