Human Rights can also be well designed and communicate

We are celebrating the 60 years of the Universal Declaration on Human Rights this year. Which is great, actually that document means more to humanity than most people realize. Probably because the general understanding of what Human Rights are is just not understood well enough. 

Well I guess you live in a place where the majority of these rights are still somewhat respected, but scratch just a bit below the surface and you’ll probably notice one violation after the next.

Now I wont get on a roll about that, rather I wanted to show a few videos that I saw on Human Rights which I think apply the concept of practical design. You may wonder how that applies to graphic design – well the design is usefull if it is aesthetic enough to be admired while delivering the message. 

For example a well designed chair isn’t just comfortable (of course it is that too) but it is pleasing to the eye and does it’s purpose. Well a book cover should not just be pleasing to the eye (it must be that) but it should also communicate to the viewer enough so he picks it up and wants to get it, because it tells him enough about the story to make him want to read it. OK I dont’ want to bore you with these details. Let’s get to the point. 

I saw this video on Human Rights by www.humanrightsactioncenter.org and I really think it is just great. The design attracted me, the way the text merges into the message, into the illustrations, into the animations etc. is just great. And the essential point is that the communication comes across. (Btw, sign their petition to include the declaration of Human Rights into all passports) 

The only problem with the video is that it needs to be redone for every language, and it only works to those that can read. 

The Youth for Human Rights group (www.youthforhumanrights.org) have an amazing series of videos which overcome that (you can download the videos from their site or watch them on YouTube they are in short series and communicate well, the design in this case is the script which is great as it is short and to the point with a minimum amount of words. 

This one is on the Right to Play – the music is particularly good. It sounds like Beck but am not sure and can’t find any reference stating it is or isn’t him. In any case – I love it. 

So in summary, DESIGN TO COMMUNICATE.

Cheers,

[:-]

Free Music downloads and Peter von Poehl

rcrdlbl.com is a site that offers free and legal music downloads. I found them searching for info on Peter von Poehl who is a Swedish singer that is relatively big in France but not much in Sweden.

He wrote a great song that is used in the TV commercial of Clairefontaine (a notepad producer in France). The song in the commercial is called “The Story of the Impossible” check out the video on YouTube here.

There is a free mp3 download offered on rcrdlbl.com which you can get here.

Check it out, it is quite nice, pretty soft. Well certainly a difference from Arctic Monkeys and Bloc Party which I blogged earlier.

Press play, sit back and enjoy.

[,-]

My Views, Scientology, BBC, John Sweeney and all the hubbub

I’ve been watching the hubbub on the net about the BBC reporter losing it in the face of a Scientologist. So far I have been watching it and haven’t commented on it much. I didn’t want to mix this into my blog as I found it inappropriate. But I am a Scientologist and thought I would give My View.

Here are the key points.

About John Sweeney loosing it. Look, he’s a journalist and he has made it his life’s work to push people to the limit and pretend he didn’t notice it if they fall off the cliff. So can I forgive him for loosing it? No. If he messed up doing what he is paid for then there is no mercy really. If he plays the game in the global arena then you have to be willing to pay the price.

About Scientology having a problem with criticism. I think the people that write that haven’t been reading up on their history. I could name a quite a few religions that reacted a lot tougher than Scientology on this type of criticism. Cartoons come to mind anyone? The bottom line is attacking people’s religion is never a good idea. At best they get some publicity, but when it’s then a biased and incorrect – well that’s asking for trouble.

“If all the brightest minds since the fifth
century B.C. or before have never been able to
agree on the subject of religion or antireligion, it is
an arena of combat between people that one
would do well to stay out of.
“In this sea of contention, one bright principle
has emerged: the right to believe as one chooses.
‘Faith’ and ‘belief’ do not necessarily surrender
to logic: they cannot even be declared to be
illogical. They can be things quite apart.
“Any advice one might give another on this subject
is safest when it simply asserts the right to believe
as one chooses. One is at liberty to hold up his own
beliefs for acceptance. One is at risk when he seeks
to assault the beliefs of others, much more so when
he attacks and seeks to harm others because of their
religious convictions.” – The Way to Happiness

About the brainwashing accusation. I’ve been in Scientology for many years. I’ve also been out of Scientology for some years. Come on, that’s fiction my friend. Do I act brainwashed? read my blog. Does Chick Corea act brain washed? does Beck act brain washed? And in case that is your next question ["you are a fan of them just because they are Scientologists"], no I am not a fan of their music, and not just because they are Scientologists. But I certainly admire how they constantly are pushing the envelope of respectively Jazz and Rock.

Really I see this TV program and I wonder how any normal person reacts when he goes to a Church of Scientology with his little notepad from the program and looks and can’t find any of the stuff that Sweeney mentioned. BBC loses credit, world media loses credit, journalists in general lose credit and documentaries lose credit.

Now the sum of all this is, if anything, the internet has brought to the people the possibility to communicate freely and investigate for themselves. And the “web 2.0″ gives the people the possibility to do their own journalism and publishing.

People like John Sweeney and the BBC are no longer holding the monopoly of information and propaganda. Now call it web 2.0 call it Andy Warhol’s 15 minute of fame, call it what you will. I will call it the end of media monopoly. And it’s time the big Media corps realized that the “little” people in the streets can now do something against the Goliath of the media, they will need to stay on the straight and narrow now because they will be exposed.

As to my religion and my beliefs, well in short. I believe in Scientology because it is all about increasing understanding. When you increase understanding then you think better and do better. Scientology is systematic in the approach and it’s all about personal improvement. What do I do? I read books on the subject. I do courses and drill how to apply the information in the books. I listen to lectures by L. Ron Hubbard that elaborate on the books and they’re are pretty funny. Hubbard had a great sense of humor and a massive understanding of life.

Well enough of all that, there have been many John Sweeneys before and maybe there’ll be a day when that too comes to an end.

Cheers.

[;-]

Arctic Monkeys track list … the Monkeys are really coming!

Here’s the listing for the new album, per my favourite Arctic Monkeys Site.

Entitled “Favourite Worst Nightmare” the tracklisting goes;

01. Brianstorm
02. Teddy Picker
03. D is for Dangerous
04. Balaclava
05. Fluorescent Adolescent
06. Only Ones Who Know
07. Do Me a Favour
08. This House Is a Circus
09. If You Were There, Beware
10. The Bad Thing
11. Old Yellow Bricks
12. 505

It will be released on Monday 23rd April with the first single “Brianstorm” hitting the shelves (or should it be download websites?) on Monday 16th April.

Just heard a track from the new Arctic Monkeys Album

  This is the new cover of their upcoming album. Looks like nothing but actually there’s a whole story to this, but I’ll go into this shortly. I just heard one of the new tracks on radio this morning. Sounds pretty good. A little harder than their last album it seemed to me. But a single track on radio is a little early to judge the album. I am quite excited to get it when it’s out. I wonder if Cigarette Smoke will be on it. It’s a pretty cool demo track they gave out free on the fan site www.arctic-monkeys.com.

The rhythm’s pretty good in the Monkey’s work, similar to Bloc Party they have a great drummer who does a little more than keep the beat. There’s a great article on rhythm how it is an important factor in audience rapport and participation and a bunch more, By L. Ron Hubbard – you can see it here, it is at the bottom of the article.

Now back to the cover of the album. “Liverpool designers Juno, who also did the artwork for the first LP, spent a week gutting three unoccupied houses from the estate, before moving a team of spray artists to paint the interiors.” source www.gigwise.com.

The cover is a little dull – but looking at it from that aspect it’s a lot more interesting. It totally reminds me of that amazing graffitti covered building in New York or the Dolk stencils I’ve posted about.

Ok – well I can’t wait for the album to get released!  Whoever get’s the release date first drop me a comment.

A Weekend in the City with Bloc Party

Ok, just bought the new album and listened to it. Here is my review.

Firstly if you liked the first one you will probably like this one.

One thing I love about Bloc Party is the out of the box arrangements. the rythm and drum sequences here just rock. Noticed this on the first album as well the drummer knows his stuff and shows it. This one just the same.

The whole arrangement is extremely cool and takesit out of the hard-rock/rock category and into another level.

Couple of tracks I found boring but since we aren’t listening to cassettes and the “next” button is only a click away that didn’t disturb me too much.

I found several of the trcks a lot better than the earlier album. The first album grew on me over a while, this one I got into almost immediately.

Congrats to Kele Okereke (Vocals/Guitar), Russell Lissack (Guitar), Gordon Moakes (Bass), Matt Tong (Drums) for an album well put together and ready wear my eardrums for a bit.