Foreverly (Serendipity)

So take the photographs, and still frames in your mind…

So long story short, I met Billie Joe Armstrong! (Again. six years later. Not on stage of a full-house stadium this time). The guy doesn’t seem to age! What started out as a casual day, with no specific agenda, of wandering around the East Village of Manhattan, before getting lost while looking for a (pop-up) cafe in NoHo, ended up being the most serendipitous night of my life! With the odds of being present at the right place and at the right time to witness a (Punk) Rock & Roll Hall of Famer and the daughter of an Indian legend who The Beatles once described as ‘the Godfather of world music’ (Ravi Shankar) under the same small roof of an NYC underground club,  FoMO got me for sure this time(!)

Brooklyn’s bad girl Norah Jones (Geetali Shankar) in the background mesmerising her blue-eyed soul right into you. I was lucky enough to capture a lot of quality footage of the priceless night on my Canon SLR, which Rolling Stone also used for their article review. New York City truly is a magical city, when you least expect it.

After Green Day became the only artist this year to be eligible and to be inducted, within the same year, into the 2015 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame defeating iconic acts such as N.W.A and Nine Inch Nails over popular vote of musical influence, excellence and innovation (debut record must be at least 25 years old before you can be eligible for the nomination and induction process. Nirvana were on the same boat of induction in the Class of 2014 HOF since they debuted with Bleach in 1989), rumour was that Armstrong flew over from the West Coast of his hometown in San Francisco, California to play a secret solo (sold out) show at an underground NYC joint called the Bowery Electric to try out some new material for the next anticipated album and 10th era of the band.

The band’s speech at the 2015 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Ceremony back in April at Cleveland, Ohio can be read on RollingStone.

When Nirvana released In Utero in September, Green Day had just started recording their third (and first major label debut) album Dookie in that same month of 1993. Once Kurt Cobain threw in the towel in April 1994, the torch was inevitably passed and Dookie-Mania was the next big thing since Nevermind, officially ending the Grunge era.

On a side note, I only recently discovered that the rock bar (Bowery Electric) is right next to a place where The Ramones played their first ever show, the iconic 1973 punk club CBGB & OMFUG (Country BlueGrass Blues & Other Music For Uplifting Gormandizers) or more commonly known as CBGB’s. I didn’t even recognise it when I walked by the Bowery neighbourhood in the East Village, cause it allegedly got shut-down by the landlord (Bowery Residents Committee) in 2006 over a lawsuit of scaled increases in unpaid rent due, with an unsuccessful negotiation to renew the lease expiring that year. Since 2007, the venue at 315 Bowery Street has now turned into a John Varvatos fashion designer store. Shameful.

So right after I had just checked out the Greenwich neighbourhood in the West Village of Manhattan, a place commonly known as the most expensive neighbourhoods in New York City, which  has been a famous spot of residence for several artists and celebrities and also in pop culture (NBC sitcom Friends), I decided to head down to the East Village and on the way got lost somewhere in NoHo on Lafayette Street. I knew the Bowery area was next door, which for me was only an attractive neighbourhood to visit due to the number of popular music venues there, such as: CBGB, Webster Hall, Irving Plaza, the Bowery Theatre, the Bowery Poetry Club, the Bowery Ballroom and of course, the Bowery Electric. So many musicians have played at these venue before (and after) they became global acts.

THE BOWERY ELECTRIC — APPEARING TONIGHT 6/24. SECRET SHOW SOLD OUT! (Left Corner)

When I finally got to the Bowery around 8pm, the Ballroom was the first venue I checked out, next stop was the Electric. After walking a few blocks, I thought I had walked too far and missed the venue until a passer by told me it was a few steps away. When I finally got there, I had just taken a few shots of the club and I noticed the info board on the wall announcing a ‘Sold Out Secret Show’. That’s when I found out Billie Joe Armstrong was the secret act performing tonight! The timing could not have been any more perfect!  The only problem was, how on earth was I going to bag a ticket for the show starting in less than an hour, and that’s when a photographer waiting outside introduced me to some girl who was selling her spare ticket at face value for $20 bucks, cause her friend bailed on her on the last minute. The look of defeat on my friend’s face when I proved him wrong in bagging a last-minute ticket. Heck, I couldn’t even believe it due to being so overwhelmed!

‘I’ve played Reading, Woodstock, you name it, I’ve played to massive crowds all over the world but that place to me will always be the biggest place to play in the world’ –  Armstrong talking about his time between 1987 to 1993 in 924 Gilman Street (Punk Mecca of all Underground Clubs) after being rejected by the local punk community for signing to a major label (Warner Bros.) as their music was getting too big and reaching a global following, which consequently their independent label (Lookout Records) could no longer afford to distribute to and cater for. 

The night turned out to be even more surprising after it was announced in the last minute that legendary Indian musician, Ravi Shankar‘s daughter Norah Jones was joining the Green Day frontman to perform their Everly Brothers tribute album. What made this little secret live show so special and priceless was the fact that Armstrong and Jones had never toured behind the album before, due to conflicting schedules and were making their live debut together at the Bowery Electric last Wednesday (24th June 2015) to perform their tribute album, back to front, for the first (and last) time since it was released almost two years ago, for an intimate crowd of around 100 lucky fans. Apparently, the tickets were sold on a first come/first served basis exclusively to Fan Club members 12 hours before the event (sold-out). Had I been a shameful paying member of the so-called Idiot Nation (Fan Club), I would’ve known about the unpublicised show. Serendipity, I guess.

The intimate acoustic set consisted of Armstrong singing and playing guitar, while Jones sang harmonies and switched between guitar and piano. The set-up also included drums, double bass and at times a violin and a harmonica. The unlikely duo performed all 12 songs from their tribute album ‘Foreverly‘ (2013) which is a collection of covers and a unique reinterpretation of The Everly Brothers sophomore album ‘Songs Our Daddy Taught Us‘ (1958). The album found the Everly Brothers paying homage to their Tennessee roots with acoustic renditions of traditional folk, country and rock & roll songs. As an encore, the show ended with a cover of ‘Sure to Fall (in Love with You)‘ written by Carl Perkins, Bill Cantrell and Quinton Claunch (1955), which was also recorded by the Beatles (1962) during their BBC sessions.

Throwback: Me singing ‘Longview’ in front of 15,000 fans at the O2 Arena, Dublin, Ireland (21st October 2009)

Armstrong stumbled across the Everly Brothers LP and quickly fell in love with it, growing fascinated with the idea of pop and rock’s two earliest stars singing about death, jail and unrequited love. “I liked the whole concept,” Armstrong told Rolling Stone, “that this was something taught to them, and now it’s being taught to me. I thought it would be cool to pass the tradition one more time.”

Other not-so-notable attendees that night in the Bowery Electric included: Bob Gruen (legendary photographer), Frank Whaley (film director), Jesse Malin (musician) and Adie Nesser (the muse behind every song).

Set List consisted of all 12 songs on Foreverly. Song names highlighted below are the tracks that I shot using a Canon EOS 650D camera and Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 II SLR lens. I pretty much recorded whatever I could before Armstrong’s security guard caught me and told me to take down my camera. I’ve uploaded 7 of the 12 songs on my YouTube page (1080 pixel HD). I was very lucky that I had my Canon SLR with me in hand around the city as the battery of my Samsung phablet had died Just as I got into the venue. Fluked!

1) Roving Gambler
2) Long Time Gone
3) Lightning Express
4) Silver Haired Daddy of Mine
5) Down in the Willow Garden
6) Who’s Gonna Shoe Your Pretty Little Feet?
7) Oh So Many Years
8) Barbara Allen
9) Rockin’ Alone (In an Old Rockin’ Chair)
10) I’m Here to Get My Baby Out of Jail
11) Kentucky
12) Put My Little Shoes Away
Encore
13) Sure to Fall (in Love with You)

The thing that still fascinates me to this very day, even though I grew out of the pop-punk sound over a decade ago, is that I grew up listening to this band religiously, and as the years went by, I kept discovering older and older gems, rare tunes, demos, records, endless rare clips and videos of old live shows (on YouTube) that were recorded by people who had no idea that these three highschool dropouts would go from playing underground clubs and back gardens (1988) to selling out arenas and stadiums (1994 – present) around the world. They truly became a perfectly inspiring example of living the American Dream from Rags-to-Riches.

Now that I got the chance to meet the man himself, personally this time, and got to record this one-time-only live show with Norah Jones and upload it on YouTube for the world to see, I feel like I became a part of that  same old community who has been documenting this guy’s music since day one. Above is a rare video of the band playing during lunch time at their highschool, Pinole Valley in May 1990. The saying ‘Before They Were Famous’ couldn’t be any more nostalgic here.

Revolution Radio

Bang! Bang! ‘Yeah. It’s about the culture of mass shooting that happens in America mixed with narcissistic social media. There’s this sort of rage happening, but it’s also now being filmed and we all have ourselves under surveillance. To me, that is so twisted. To get into the brain of someone like that was freaky. It freaked me out. After I wrote it, all I wanted to do was get that out of my brain because it just freaked me out’

Billie Joe Armstrong (10th August 2016)

Green Day‘s 10th album, Revolution Radio is out on 7th October 2016.

 

Suicide Squad

Note to self, IMAX 3D Glasses are not the same as Real 3D Glasses.

Also, this Anti-Hero movie did not live up to its 2015 Trailer hype.

DJ Khaled

Major Key 🔑 Out Now!

This fool has been shouting ‘We The Best’ since 2007. It only took the world a Decade to finally discover him and a silly app. called SnapChat to turn this self-hyped marketing machine into a global living viral meme. 

#AnotherOne

Now You Don’t

Back in July 2013, I was really hoping they would call the sequel, Now You Don’t (2016)

California

1) Cynical
2) Bored to Death
3) She’s out of Her Mind
4) Los Angeles
5) Sober
6) Built This Pool
7) No Future
8) Home Is Such A Lonely Place
9) Kings of the Weekend
10) Teenage Satellites
11) Left Alone
12) Rabbit Hole
13) San Diego
14) The Only Thing That Matters
15) California
16) Brohemian Rhapsody

California, 7th album by Blink 182, released on 1st July 2016 through BMG records. 

Muhammad Ali

I hated every minute of training, but I said, ‘Don’t quit. Suffer now and live the rest of your life as a champion’ – Muhammad Ali #RipChamp

Bad Neighbours 2

Neighbours 2: Sorority Rising (Pointless Sequel).

Kurt Cobain: The Frohman Story (RollingStone Magazine)

After almost 20 years since Kurt Cobain passed away, photographer Jesse Frohman spoke to RollingStone magazine in 2012 about his intimate photo shoot experience with Nirvana in July 1993, which was originally commissioned by the Sunday Observer magazine (The Guardian) of London and sadly turned out to be the last ever official/formal studio photo shoot (in the United States) of the band, before Cobain’s death in April 1994. 

Frohman told RollingStone, Nirvana were going to be in New York City performing at the (now shut down) Roseland Ballroom theatre in support of their then-upcoming third album, In Utero and that the photo shoot was scheduled to take five hours but ended up being a total disaster with Cobain showing up 3 hours late, lasting only 30 minutes.

Frohman and his assistants had originally planned for the shoot to take place outside in Central Park but the band’s manager had rejected the original plan to shoot outdoors that morning and arranged a conference room in the basement of the New York hotel where the group was staying for the photographer to quickly put together a make-shift studio in the last minute.

Frohman recalls how the photo session was unique because he was shooting someone with glasses on and how Kurt wouldn’t take his glasses off, so he couldn’t really make eye contact with him easily. Later on the evening, when he got the opportunity to shoot Nirvana during their band rehearsal at the Ballroom, Frohman finally got to capture Kurt without the glasses but remembers,

 ‘The shot with his eyes is like seeing the wizard behind the curtain, and I don’t know if you want to see that, but to me, those glasses become his eyes. I can’t explain it. After he died, many magazines, including Rolling Stone, asked me for the shoot so they could consider it for a cover or shot inside the magazine. I never got one cover story because he’s wearing the glasses and everybody wanted eye contact for their cover images. I wish I got his glasses off, but to me now, I think there’s something about this shoot that you don’t need to see his eyes’.

Being a huge Nirvana fan and a loyal reader of RollingStone, I was inspired by Frohman’s photography book, Kurt Cobain: The Last Session Hardcover Book and got the opportunity and approval to experiment with his work by collaborating with him to create and design a classic magazine cover for Rolling Stone (Australia) for the April 2016 issue to celebrate the 25th Anniversary of Nevermind (1991) and explosion of the Grunge phenomenon, this year.

For the magazine cover, I adhered to the strict brand guidelines of RollingStone and used the appropriate logos with a vivid colour scheme of crimson red and melon yellow. As for Typography, I chose a fixed pattern of two fonts: Trashbox and DaunPenh being used mutually with a drop-shadow of 20% on every word for the header titles, plus the exclusive story and the inside teasers.

While, for the main subject image of the magazine cover, I used one of Frohman’s photos of Kurt wearing a pair of large, white ‘Jackie O’ sunglasses, after relating to Frohman’s sentiment about never getting one cover story, because eye contact of models on magazine covers is a significant requirement as it catches the attention of potential readers, influencing the behaviour and buying decision powers of the consumer, increasing sales and advertising reach of the magazine, in relation to global marketing communication efforts.

Batman Vs Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016)

I wasn’t hyped up for Batman vs Superman as it was a risky move to take this Comic to Hollywood, but after finally seeing the film in the theatre today and after all the anticipation in the past two years, I’m not sure if  I’m getting too old for these superhero comic world movies or whether my childhood dream was a disappointment! The confusing 2016 BlockBuster action film felt more like a sequel to Man of Steel (2013) Superman featuring Batman as a special guest with a not-so-surprising cameo from Wonder Women. Risky move turning this comic into a blockbuster reality.

Either way, looking forward to the release of several individual superhero films based on the DC Comics world, which have been planned to be released until the year, 2020.   

PillowTalk. My Enemy. My Ally.

Bro? This record is on fire! From Karachi (Pakistan) to Bradford (England), I’m hearing all kinds of Anglo-Asian R&B music influences. Javed Malik Back at it again with the R’n’B vibes! Mind of Mine, produced by Malay, who previously produced Frank Ocean‘s multiple Grammy nominated and award winning album Channel ORANGE, is bringing out Malik’s experimental Asian roots. 

I would not be surprised if his solo-debut wins a Grammy Award in 2017, since the former One Direction member became the first UK male solo-artist ever to top the Billboard 200 charts at number one with his debut LP.

RollingStone reports, ‘Zayn Malik’s risky endeavor to break away from the global phenomenon known as One Direction paid huge dividends as the now-solo singer’s debut LP Mind of Mine set Billboard 200 history after debuting at Number One in its first week of release’.

American Crime Story

I wish I had the energy to write a review about this 10 episode (based on a true story) FX mini-series, but there’s still 5 more episodes to go and so far the show has been pretty entertaining. Although we all know the unjustifiable verdict of America’s most infamous 1995 trial, Karma always takes care of the rest and Justice was finally served!    

27

Welcome to Anti-Club 27

Picture Sounds and Musical Posters

Sound Poster is the triumph of Kandinsky’s Synaesthesia

                                                                                                                                                                So here’s the sixth article I wrote this month for sounDesign about interactive posters that are designed to produce sounds when you engage with them in creative ways, which you can read here. Here’s a cool little excerpt,

‘The modern ‘poster’ in the 21^st century dates back to the mid-1800s when the printing industry refined colour lithography and made mass production feasible. Today, a poster can be defined as any piece of printed paper designed to be displayed on a vertical wall. However, in the digital age Dutch graphic designers, Trapped in Suburbia which consists of Cuby Gerards, Karin Langeveld and Richard Fussey have given the old modest format of a print designed poster a digital update with sound abilities and simply called their innovative series, the Sound Poster’.

The inspiration behind the Sound Poster series was originally inspired by Russian artist Wassily Kandinsky and his ideas surrounding colour and music. Kandinsky is believed to have Synaesthesia which in Greek is the translation for: together (syn) and sensation (aesthesis), which, in this unusual case, is the involuntary ability to hear colours, see music or even taste words. However, the idea of music being linked to art is a phenomenon that dates back to ancient Greece, when Plato first examined tone and harmony in relation to art. 

The concept of how you’re supposed to interact and engage with the Sound Poster is also inspired by the Theremin, which is an electronic musical instrument named after the Russian inventor, Léon Theremin who developed the device in the 1920s, which is played without physical contact by the performer (thereminist).     

It will be interesting to see how this experimental project where Graphic Design meets Sound Design  progresses over the next half of this decade and the 2020s.

Happy Deadpool Day (St.Valentine)

So I finally saw Deadpool yesterday and it definitely lived up to its hype! Whoever was put in charge for the marketing and promotion for Deadpool was on point since day one. Not only have the video clips, trailers and various promos been engaging and funny, they show us the sense of humor of the movie and the title character, doing all the things that make this Marvel comic book hero film different from your average superhero joint. By that I mean the violence, swearing and fourth-wall breaking between the actors and the viewers.

Since it’s Saint Valentine’s Day tomorrow. The film has been getting a lot of promotion revolving around the romantic holiday and fortunately for all of us old-school romantics, we’ve got someone looking out for us. No, it’s not Cupid or Hallmark, he’s not who you might expect to help out in the love department, but Deadpool is here with some great advice for what to do on the most so-called romantic holiday of the year.

Ryan Reynolds stars as the protagonist Deadpool alongside T.J. Miller as his friend Weasel, Gina Carano as Angel Dust, Brianna Hildebrand as Negasonic Teenage Warhead, Morena Baccarin as CopyCat and Ed Skrein as Ajax. The film will also feature the mutant Colossus, voiced by Serbian actor Stefan Kapicic.

Based on Marvel Comics most unconventional anti-hero, Deadpool tells the origin story of former Special Forces operative-turned-mercenary Wade Wilson, who after being diagnosed with cancer is subjected to a rogue experiment procedure, which cures his illness but leaves him horribly scarred with accelerated healing powers, adopting the alter-ego, Deadpool. Armed with his new abilities and a dark, twisted sense of humor, when the Merc with a Mouth embarks on an adventure to get revenge and hunt down the man who nearly destroyed his life, his former fiancé gets caught in the crossfire and as his mission, he has to rescue her as well. 

The Revenant

If Leonardo Dicaprio doesn’t win an Oscar at the 2016 Academy Awards for (sleeping inside a dead bear in) this film at the end of this month, then I give up! 

A frontiersman on a fur trading expedition in the 1820’s fights for survival after being mauled by a bear and left for dead (Tom Hardy) by members of his own hunting team.

The Big Short

The Big Short (2015) is a biographical comedy-drama film directed and co-written by Adam McKay. It is based on the non-fiction 2010 book of the same name by Michael Lewis about the financial crisis of 2007–2008, which was triggered by the build-up of the housing market and the credit bubble. The film stars Christian Bale, Steve Carell, Ryan Gosling, and Brad Pitt. Distributed by Paramount Pictures, the film began a limited release in the US in December 2015, followed by a wide release in January 2016. The film has been nominated for five Oscars (Academy Awards).

The Big Short was almost like the Wolf of Wall Street, excluding all the lies, sex, drugs and sexism.     

Ride Along 2

I ended up watching the first Ride Along (2014) few days ago, due to a lack of supply in the genre of recent comedy films left for online streaming and surprisingly it was quite funny and reminded me a lot of the Rush Hour franchise. As a result, few days later I spontaneously ended up watching the sequel Ride Along 2 (2016) in the cinema and I wouldn’t be surprised if they release a third film to make it a trilogy in 2018.

If you’ve seen the trailer online, then there’s probably no point in watching the film as it gives away all the punch lines and funny scenes, but the plot of the sequel was very predictable and similar to any ‘bad cop/good cop’ film, starring Eddie Murphy (Beverly Hills Cop), Martin Fitzgerald Lawrence (Bad Boys) or Chris Tucker (Rush Hour).

The sequel, which was going to be called Ride 2gether continues to star comedian-turned-actor Kevin Hart and rapper-turned-actor Ice Cube, who reprises his role as a cop. Ironically, the funny thing is, Ice Cube’s first taste of major success in the music business in the late 1980’s was with the group N.W.A (Niggaz Wit Attitudes) who are commonly known as the most influential group in the history of hip-hop music for releasing hit songs such as ‘Fuck Tha Police’, ‘Straight Outta Compton’ and ‘Express Yourself’.

Rookie police officer, Ben Barber (Kevin Hart) aspires to become a detective, just like James Payton (Ice Cube), his future brother-in-law. James reluctantly takes Ben to Miami to follow up on a lead that’s connected to a drug ring. The case brings them to a homicide detective and a computer hacker (Ken Jeong) who reveals evidence that implicates a respected yet corrupted businessman. It’s now up to James and Ben to prove that charismatic executive, Antonio Pope (Benjamin Bratt) is actually a violent crime lord who rules southern Florida’s drug trade. So as Ben’s wedding day approaches, he heads to Miami with James to bring down the drug dealer who’s supplying the dealers of Atlanta with his illegal contraband. The End (6/10 stars).

Silent Partner

So here’s the fifth (and the first article of the year) I wrote this month for sounDesign about a glorious device for all the victims of the symphony of snoring sounds, which you can read here.

‘Having a partner who snores can become a problem for both people involved. In today’s digital and tech-forward world, there have been several attempts to come up with solutions that can cure sleep apnea and help those who suffer from snoring too much. However, Silent Partner is a smart, lightweight and compact device that elegantly tackles what other products fail to recognise, the snoring noises’.

This device creates a silent zone around the person wearing it, giving you and those around a better night’s sleep. So now you no longer need to worry about disturbing your partner with your snoring and can both enjoy a quiet night of sleep and wake up feeling refreshed and ready to go.

If your partner is a solid snoring machine, then this wearable gadget sounds and looks like a better deal than a life-time supply of earplugs.

2016

Day 1 | 1st January 2016
Beautiful Blank Canvas
MMXVI – Here We Go…

2016 Show Me What You Got, Baby!

 

Cinema of 2015

As the year comes to an end, it’s time to wrap up a monthly review for Cinema in 2015. In chronological order and to the best of my knowledge and memory, below is a list of all the films that gained my interest to watch in the cinema or if not worth the money but my time, then viewed on my desktop computer via online streaming. Some of these titles were not as entertaining as I had guessed or anticipated, while others were watched purely out of boredom before I fell asleep or walked out of the cinema.   

1) Taken 3
2) Fifty Shades of Grey
3) Focus
4) The Cobbler
5) Get Hard
6) Kurt Cobain (Montage of Heck)
7) Like Sunday, Like Rain
8) While We’re Young
9) Fast & Furious 7
10) Mad Max: Fury Road
11) Entourage
12) Jurassic World
13) Accidental Love
14) Ted 2
15) Terminator: Genisys
16) Trainwreck
17) Paper Towns
18) The End of the Tour
19) Straight Outta Compton
20) The Perfect Guy
21) Black Mass
22) Ashby
23) Steve Jobs
24) The Intern
25) Knock Knock
26) The Revenant
27) American Ultra
28) Jalaibee
29) Bin Roye
30) Bajrangi Bhaijaan
31) Dilwale
32) Katti Batti

If I get the time in the future, I would like to continue this annual tradition at the end of every year by listing out all the new films I’ve watched in the past 12 months of every new year. So ’till next time, Happy New Year and we shall see what films make it on my watch-list for Cinema of 2016 next December.

Top 10 Iconic Instrumental Film Scores

So here’s the fourth article I wrote this month for sounDesign about the Top 10 Iconic Instrumental Film Scores, which you can read here. Here’s a cool little excerpt,

‘Film Scores! We’ve heard them before and inevitably, at one point or another we’ll hear them again, but what exactly are they? These timeless compositions and musical themes are so iconic, your mind usually doesn’t require any effort of registering the origins of these sounds, in order to remember the names and titles of the classic films they represent’.

So without further ado, here are your top 10 iconic instrumental film scores as chosen by the Internet Movie Database (IMDb) and WatchMojo.com.

10) Back to the Future (1985)

9) The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966)

8) The Godfather (1972)

7) Batman (1989)

6) Rocky (1976)                                                   

5) Jurassic Park (1993)

4) Indiana Jones (1981)

3) James Bond (1962)

2) Superman (1978)

1) Star Wars (1977)

Do you agree with this list of the top 10 iconic instrumental film scores? Which cinematic movie score do you consider the greatest? Leave your thoughts in a comment below!

Adobe Creative Suite

Adobe: Photoshop vs. Illustrator vs. InDesign

When it comes to creative, digital and graphic design campaigns, there seem to be a lot of misconceptions and uncertainty surrounding the ‘big three’ design software tools of Adobe Creative Suite. As a designer, we know that Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator and InDesign are the three ‘industry standard’ design software systems used for the creation of multimedia products.

Adobe, founded in 1982 which got its name from Adobe Creek in Los Altos, California, is essentially responsible for the millions of visuals and graphic you see every day in the online and offline world. To the naked eye, the average person would think Photoshop is the program used behind most graphic designs, however in the world of advertising, branding and marketing, professional designers in the creative and digital industries use a combination of the ‘big three’ programs in order to achieve the best possible result. You have the freedom to maximize the strength of each of the three Adobe design products, while also minimizing their weaknesses. If one program fails to achieve a certain effect, the other will succeed in compensating that desired outcome.

As a designer it is important to keep up-to-date with Adobe’s creative tools, as they tend to release upgraded versions of all their (design) software almost every year with new features and updated patches. Therefore, this article will cover the main differences between the three design programs and aim to clear any confusion as to which software is the best solution to reach the most effective and impressive results for your design projects.

Adobe Photoshop

What is Adobe Photoshop?

Adobe Photoshop is a raster graphics editing program. It was originally developed as a tool to enhance photographs but over time its features have evolved to the point where it can be used to create web pages, banner adverts, video graphics, user interface designs and of course, editing pictures for print. The most crucial thing to understand about Photoshop is that it is a pixel and raster based program.

However, over time Adobe realised that many users were starting to use Photoshop to create elaborate designs and web page graphics. There are so many online tutorials, in addition with an over-whelming wealth of support information focusing on Adobe Photoshop that it has created a negative side affect where the average user or expert becomes too comfortable using the software and tries to do everything on Photoshop alone.

Photoshop is commonly used for:

• Photo enhancement
• Photo colour correction
• Web and Mobile UI design
• Web and Motion graphics
• Special effects

You should never use Photoshop for print projects, as typography and logo design visuals will produce poor results. The reason for this is obviously because pixel data cannot be enlarged without blurred distortion. Creating a logo or type letters on Photoshop will produce a file that cannot be enlarged or manipulated in the same manner that a vector based logo in Illustrator can. If a logo or a type letter is created in vector format, the file can be scalable to any size. Although, Photoshop lets you save files in an .EPS format, allowing you to export logos and typography as vectors rather than pixels, this should be avoided as it is not a best practice or a good habit to get used to.   

Adobe Illustrator

What is Adobe Illustrator?

Adobe Illustrator is a drawing program used for creating and editing vector based illustrations, such as logos and symbols for branding. It is primarily used to create vector graphics that are required to be scalable for print production and future use. Adobe Illustrator is incredibly similar to drawing programs like CorelDraw Graphics Suite and Adobe Fireworks (previously known as Macromedia Fireworks before they got acquired by Adobe in 2005).

Compared to Photoshop and InDesign, it is superior in creating logos and logotype, and has a beautiful type-setting system within the program. Note: not to get confused with Typography, as that is the art of designing, setting and arranging type, while Typesetting is the process or craft of actually setting the type. Adobe Illustrator can produce a result, which Photoshop can never meet up to its standard and that is a vector output. Vector graphics are based on vectors, also known as paths, which lead through locations called control points or nodes. Vectors are scalable images that can be re-sized to as big or small as you want them to be, without losing any resolution while still maintaining their clarity. Anything you create and design in Adobe Illustrator is scalable to the infinite power.

 Illustrator is commonly used for:

• Logo, Logotypes and Monograms
• Type setting for stationary systems
• Typography for print campaigns
• Vector paintings and illustrations
• Web and Motion graphics

Although it’s possible to create website graphics and simple to complex documents such as brochures, annual reports and even books with Illustrator, there are a few disadvantages for using the tool in this way, as Illustrator does not have a master page utility the way that InDesign does. This is a necessary feature of the tool when you’re trying to create text based documents that use templates. Illustrator also doesn’t allow you to automate page numbers, this is another feature InDesign supports for book templates and page numbers, which are useful when dealing with heavier documents.

Adobe InDesign

What is Adobe InDesign?

Adobe InDesign is a publishing program used for laying out online (digital) and offline (print) materials, such as brochures, newsletters, posters, display adverts, business cards or books, practically anything that involves the use of text, photos or other vector graphics. InDesign’s main purpose is to take the elements created in Illustrator and Photoshop and combine them together in one place.

InDesign is the perfect tool for when it comes to creating multi-page layouts or master layouts where the same theme or template is required for a print project with multiple pages. The text wrap features in InDesign, where you can warp text around images or objects is much more effective and efficient to use than it is on Illustrator. InDesign packages the texts and images together so that you can send off the print-ready artwork to the printers expecting the layout to be presented exactly how you had hoped and wanted.

InDesign is commonly used for:

• Editorial design
• Book design
• Annual reports
• Multiple page brochures
• Interactive PDF documents

While InDesign is a powerful tool, it does have a few limitations. When it comes to editing and manipulating photos, InDesign does not have the filters or relevant features like Photoshop to produce the same results and when it comes to drawing vector graphic objects such as logos or symbols, InDesign does not have the identical capability as Illustrator to create such elements. Photoshop and Illustrator should be used instead to draw out the elements and import them into InDesign.

(PrintWand)

Conclusion

In conclusion, I hope my article was helpful to you in clearing up some of the confusion that surrounds Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator and InDesign. Having a clear objective of what you are trying to achieve with your creative or digital project will give you a better understanding and a good idea of which one or a combination of two of the ‘big three’ Adobe programs are the most suitable for you to improve your integrated workflow, from idea generation, planning to execution and to ultimately produce the best ‘professional looking’ results. If you have any questions, please let me know by leaving a comment below.

Ps. Checkout this cool short series of minimalist posters that illustrate the difference between Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop. Sorry InDesign.

2015 In Review

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2015 Annual Report for my website.

So here’s an excerpt: A New York City subway train holds 1,200 people. This blog was viewed about 4,500 times in 2015. If it were a NYC subway train, it would take about 4 trips to carry that many people.  Click Here to see my Complete Report. Thanks for following my blog!

Sarqaism

Ray-Ban Never Hide Campaign

Never Hide by Ray-Ban is an Advertising Campaign, which was originally launched in March 2007, consisting of a film and a series of adverts for digital and print media, advocating customers to ‘Never pretend. Never be afraid. Never give up and Never Hide’. 

The ‘Never Hide’ campaign was developed around the concept of encouragement to never hide the real you. Having the courage to express your true self, your thoughts and your personality genuinely, to stay faithful to the values of authenticity and uniqueness, which is the most precious thing we have, because the most fashionable thing to be is, of course, yourself. This idea has made up the DNA of the Ray-Ban brand since it was found in 1937 to present day, and it is these qualities that characterize true leaders.  

For this Creative Advertising project, I was inspired by the Never Hide campaign, where I used pictures of my friend from Halloween 2010 and fashion models, such as Cory Kennedy and even celebrity actors like Leonardo DiCaprio, who starred in the 2013 biographical black comedy film, The Wolf of Wall Street, which featured multiple Ray-Ban Wayfarer model sun-glasses worn by various characters throughout the duration of the film.

Master of None

So Aziz Ansari released his exclusive NetFlix show earlier this month, which I finished watching in, like, one night since its first Season consisted only of 10 online-streaming episodes. Master of None is about a 32 year old struggling actor called Dev, who attempts to make his way through life in New York City.

The show revolves around an American-born immigrant who is struggling to come in terms with adulthood: finding a stable job as an actor, the never-ending exhaustive process of finding the perfect romantic partner and dealing with everyday mundane situations, like: where to eat, to, what movie to watch in the cinema, in an age where everyone is so co-dependent on a digital micro-screen for every single decision and choice they make.

Majority of the episodes are based on Ansari’s current life and the life experiences he talks and jokes about in his last four stand-up comedy shows. One aspect of Master of None, that made it so realistic and heart warming, was the fact that, Ansari’s real-life parents Shoukath and Fatima, were personally hired by him to play Dev’s Indian parents.

Although the acting was quite poor and may have been the result of being, ironically, over-the-top, I definitely recommend you to give this romantic-comedy series a try, since it’s first Season was so short and funny.

Can’t wait for Season 2. 

Sarqasim 2.0

Mark your calendars cause www.sarqasim.com just got a new design!

(30th November 2015).

Great Worqs (Film Production Network)

So today I was introduced to this creative online network that you should  really checkout.

Great Worqs is an online platform which allows young DIY, indie and short filmmakers to distribute their  creative content to a dedicated audience, while also allowing them to connect with filmmakers from across the world. Unlike any other platform, their algorithms are built around the quality of content rather than being based on online trends and views, which allows upcoming and under-represented artists to build a loyal fanbase.

Tope Balogun, the young student of Swansea University and the CEO who is behind this entrepreneurial project, says: ‘Our main USP (Unique Selling Point) is the distribution.   We think our distribution is really good and we give majority of the royalties to the filmmakers. If you are undiscovered we will make sure you will be discovered’.

Great Worqs are a group of young creatives and engineers who have come together to create an online platform which equalizes the creative arena. Where your creative content does all the talking above every other aspect and factor. GW are currently the biggest student arts platform in Wales and they hope to add more value and continue to help more filmmakers in finding an audience and grow their loyal following. They claim to have representation and member ownership of some of the best young filmmakers in the UK (and in Continental Europe), using GW which is why 65% of their content has been screened at film festivals. They currently have a number of films on GW which have gone viral from ‘The Life and Death of an iPhone‘ to ‘Russian Roulette‘

Imagine there are no more thrilling reads in a world saturated with mediocre drivel or your great masterpiece is finished but it gets lost amongst a wave of easy crowd pleasers on its way to the publishing office. Perhaps your talent is yet to be discovered, and you just need to find that one story to get your ‘big break’. Great Worqs is the platform that will allow your readers to find those thrilling stories, writer’s masterpieces to be published and filmmaker’s talents to be materialized. Most importantly, it allows you to connect with like-minded people through their profile system. Whether you’re a reader, writer or a filmmaker, together you can make Great Worqs. If you have a great story to share, then get in touch! They already have some fantastic people on-board. #GW

If you’re passionate about film production or an aspiring filmmaker looking to grow your own loyal followers and be a part of a community network of other young filmmakers, then check out their website Great Worqs or to find out even more about what’s going on in GW, follow them on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram to keep up to date with the latest news.

Paper Towns

From the moment I saw her, I was hopelessly madly in love!

She loved mysteries so much, that she became one – Who is Margo?

Sarqasim

Mark your calendars cause www.sarqasim.com is finally live and published!

(30th October 2015).

Insomniac Turns 20!

It’s almost impossible to fully encapsulate the meaning or ramifications of Green Day’s 1994 breakout mega-smash Dookie. It was the album that brought ’90s pop-punk out of the underground and onto the radio, giving new life to a rock scene then-choking on fading alt-rockers past their creative primes, with the album eventually selling more than 20 million copies worldwide.

One regret? Insomniac was going to be called "jesus christ supermarket". JCSM is a much better title. Oh well..

— Billie Joe Armstrong (@billiejoe) February 6, 2011

So of course for the sequel to Dookie, Green Day – who at least back then were way punker than most gave them credit for—did the only thing three self-respecting punks could do in that situation: write a harder, darker, faster album fueled by sonic piss and vinegar. That album was Insomniac, the band’s fourth full-length release, which turns 20 this month.

From the moment drummer Tré Cool’s rolling toms gave way to the opening crunch of Armatage Shanks, it was immediately obvious Insomniac wasn’t going to be some sugary radio concoction crafted by recently famous mall punks looking to keep the gravy train rolling. There’s an anger and an urgency to singer-guitarist Billie Joe Armstrong’s nearly undecipherable vocals on that first track which sets a clear tone for what follows; the album’s remaining 13 cuts blast by from there, with only two tracks (Brain Stew and Panic Song) barely breaking the three-minute mark.

It’s also the last old-school Green Day album in the catalog; its successor, 1997’s Nimrod, began the band’s gradual transition into the broader, less genre-specific entity the trio fully embraced on 2000’s Warning and then mastered with 2004’s American Idiot. On Insomniac, however, you still hear snippets of the Lookout!-era Green Day, like the Kerplunk-esque verses to 86, as well as many of the qualities that made Dookie such a gargantuan hit. (For example Stuck With Me could easily be mistaken for Dookie’s Sassafrass Roots). Insomniac’s emphasis on razor-sharp guitar riffs and addicting lyrical hooks very much carry on that Dookie tradition, yet with even more bite.

Topically, on Insomniac Armstrong didn’t let his newfound fame and suddenly ample cash get the best of him. His lyrics on the record project the same neurotic, disenfranchised, low self-esteem outsider who penned Basket Case and called himself ‘a loser and a user’ in When I Come Around. In Armatage Shanks, Armstrong states, ‘I must insist on being a pessimist. I’m a loner in a catastrophic mind‘, and later in the song he calls himself a ‘self-loathing freak and introverted deviate’. Armstrong, clearly wasn’t believing his own press.

His songwriting focus was no less biting in the third-person, either. One of the record’s key singles, Geek Stink Breath, was penned about his and his friends’ struggles with methamphetamine use and its lethal effects on the body. A topic he revisits again on Brain Stew, when he attributes his insomnia to being ‘fucked up and spun-out in my room’. Then on Panic Song, Armstrong delves into bassist Mike Dirnt’s panic attacks, explaining, ‘There’s a plague inside of me, eating at my disposition. Nothing’s left’. Armstrong offers a final twisted tale toward Insomniac’s end with Tight Wad Hill, (which was originally supposed to be the album’s title). A reference to Charter Hill near U.C. Berkeley, the song speaks of an unnamed male junkie, ‘begging for another fix/turning tricks for speedballs’. If Green Day were spending their platinum-record royalties on private jets and copious bling, it sure as hell wasn’t reflected in Insomniac’s gutter-raw lyrical imagery.

As is often the case in such instances, response to Insomniac was mixed at best. Green Day diehards adored the record for its tenacity and overt punk focus, but many of the millions of new fans who’d recently jumped aboard the bandwagon in the wake of Dookie were left somewhat scratching their heads. Though the album peaked at No. 2 and was double-platinum by 1996, it was obvious Insomniac wasn’t going to rack up the incredible sales of its predecessor. Critics, meanwhile, were positive but guarded in their assessments, praising the band for the album’s unflinching execution, but also noting a lack of growth from Dookie, save for the album’s heavier bent. For example, Entertainment Weekly wrote: ‘The few hints of growth are fairly microscopic: a tougher metallic edge to a few of the songs… and lyrics that are bleaker than Dookie’.

Those critics would get their wish with Nimrod, the follow-up to Insomniac, which began Green Day’s eventual transformation into the mainstream rock megastars we know today. But for anyone still hungry for the Green Day of old, Insomniac delivered in spades. It was stunning proof that for an artist, sometimes anger and vitriol are the most productive responses to success.

Green Day’s Insomniac album artwork titled ‘God Told Me to Skin You Alive‘ by Punk Art Surrealist, Winston Smith (10th October 1995).

(Diffuser).