ICAD Book Launch

Behind the scenes at last night's ICAD book launch at the Radisson SAS, Golden Lane, Dublin. WARNING: Gazing at the carpet for extended periods of time may result in feelings of dizziness and nausea.


The book is a cracker. Entitled 'Gold, Silver, Bronze and Green', it is a definitive collection of awarding winning-Irish advertising and graphic design over the last five years. It is made from 8 different recycled paper stocks* and it weighs around 4 stone**: top drawer. If that wasn't enough, guests were also treated to a ringbound notepad, an ICAD awards leaflet, a free trial version 'create your own creature' computer game, and... hold it... a sexy gold and black canvas shoulder bag to take it all home in! No messing. Grocery shopping for those present will surely never be the same again.
*true ** possibly not true


I was allocated the lofty title of 'mound-supervisor'. Any guests who got up close to the finished mountain of bags will no doubt acknowledge this feat of engineering endeavour - dubbed a piece of 'installation art' by Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources, Eamon Ryan TD no less - and I can only say I was proud to be associated with its realisation.


Against-the-clock-fun was also had putting together the lightboxes dotted about the venue, produced exclusively by wrongsizesigns.ie


But after all the hard work, we were able to join the revellers and soak up the inspirational words of John Fanning (grandfather/godfather of Irish advertising), Martin Wright (ICAD President) and the aforementioned Minister, washed down with a few Kobra Beers (sic).


PS. Several complaints have been lodged by Dublin taxi drivers to the Gardai, the Dail and Joe Duffy after a sizeable amount of ringbound notepads, ICAD awards leaflets and free trial version 'create your own creature' computer games were discarded in taxis across the city last night.

Views from a bridge

Taken last night from Ringsend bridge:


Lansdowne Road is rising again.


Shipwreck: an omen for my presentation to come.


And two weeks on from the Feast of the Assumption, Ringsend Church have decided to call in some outside help.

Upstarts, round 2

The second night of the Upstarts workshops was hosted by DCoy in Ringsend. Head honchos Elaine McDevitt and Mary Doherty were in attendance to run the rule over the squad.


Many interesting angles on the Music in Gardens event were presented, including rainbows, soundwaves, plasticine, mirrors, sunshine, general organicity, French horns and defacing trees. A quiet word has been had and next week the Officeless snapper may remember to take a few photos.

My own response to the brief was based on the tunes of the St George's Brass Band brought to life in the surroundings of the gardens. I made a meal of my presentation and I didn’t explain my ideas very well; lesson learned for next time.



Invite as a packet of seeds:



All in all a good night with lots of advice and pointers from Steve Smith, Gavan Duffy and the ‘ICAD Mams’.

AOB: Electric Picnic, fluorescent ink and free sandwiches.

Hard Rain

"July, 1969. Mark Edwards, lost on the edge of the Sahara, is rescued by a Tuareg nomad, who takes him to his people, makes a fire and produces a cassette player. Bob Dylan sings “A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall”. As Dylan piles image upon image, the idea comes to Edwards of illustrating each line of the song. In the years that follow, he travels to over 150 countries to photograph our headlong collision with nature. Hard Rain is the result — an unforgettable collection of photographs illustrating Dylan’s prophetic lyric."

Mark Edwards' Hard Rain project is currently on display in the Botanic Gardens. It is an incredible collection of photographs. Bob Dylan described A Hard Rain's Gonna Fall as the song he had to write before the end of the world; the feverpitch height of Cold War, nuclear crisis, paranoia. The end was nigh and Dylan had these images in his head he had to share, so he crammed them all into this song. Beauty, horror, wonder, despair. The photographer's work captures and presents the truth in so many of these words.

Botanic Gardens, pt 2

A few more photos about the place this afternoon:

Botanic Gardens

Spent a few hours this afternoon in the Botanic Gardens.


Our next brief is to produce an graphic identity for 'Music in the Gardens', a free family concert featuring Dublin's St George's Brass Band. I had only been to the gardens once before; my class spent a whole day there as part of a drawing workshop when I was in my second year of college. We made drawings of the plants and the insides of the greenhouses: this wasn't much fun and the tutor didn't think much of my efforts. But I have to admit I enjoyed going back again today. Here are a few photos I took:




PS. The gardens are crawling with squirrels.

Office no. 2

Back on dry land for the last few days. Officeless tranmissions are now being broadcast from this table in the corner of a secret North Dublin kitchen.