This weekend I was practising some hand-inked lettering in preparation for some competition work. I’m a believer that practice is always important when learning new skills, and one of my favourite ways to try out calligraphy is to copy exotic place names from an atlas – a little weird but it’s fun!

I used grey ink instead of black, which I think helped in getting different tones in each brushstroke. It’s nice to take a break from project work sometimes and just make some mess on paper, plus I have my fingers crossed for the competition!

Sketchbook is a regular feature that documents what I’m currently working on. For more, select Sketchbook from the Categories bar.

One of my favourite films in the world is The Royal Tenenbaums. Directed by the brilliant Wes Anderson, the colours and styling are just everything. I am always so inspired by the creative direction Wes takes in his films – also see Moonrise Kingdom! – and these screen captures from the movie don’t do it justice at all, everyone should see it!

(I’m pretty sure Margot Tenenbaum is my spirit animal.)

I’m a firm believer that you should look for inspiration everywhere, not just in your creative field. Sometimes people get too close to design work that they’re inspired by, and their own work just becomes a replica of the original – even though I’m not a photographer or a filmmaker I’ve definitely picked up on the subtle stylings in movies and used their themes in my design work.

Images from here, here and here.

A to Z is a regular feature that documents great inspirations from the world of art, design, fashion and culture. For more, select A to Z from the Categories bar.

So a while ago I shared the ‘making of’ of this hand-drawn calligraphy piece on my Instagram. It was a really fun thing to work on whilst I was practising my handwriting technique, and it’s actually inspired some more of my work which I’m sure I’ll get round to posting a bit later. Here are some process shots:

You can see this work on my site, plus lots of other stuff! jackslater.co.uk

Wow, I’ve really neglected this space since last July!? That fact to me is crazy, so much has happened in the last year and it seems like no time has passed at all.

Last summer was great, I did lots of relaxing and gearing up for the third and final year at Lincoln (which is now almost over!!!), and polished off some personal projects. I stayed a week in the woods with friends and it was awesome.

I moved back to Lincoln and helped make a magazine. I spent Christmas in snowy Berlin and drank 600 litres of hot mulled wine. I designed and made a 50 page cookbook. I got inspired in the London galleries and museums. I wrote and handed in my dissertation. I turned 21 and celebrated with some balloons. I drew a lot of things and took thousands of photos. And now I’m working on the final project of my degree.

So I’m here again (hopefully) and I’m going to stick to posting a couple of times a week (supposedly). Back to business!

There is just something about film cameras that make them so much more cool than digital! I’m a bit addicted to using my Holga, and I got this black and white film I shot back from the lab the other day. Here are a few of my favourites!

Very moody clouds (and this was on the sunniest day of the year!). Black and white can do some crazy things to photos.

Me and a few good friends went to see Drake when he was in Nottingham a few weeks back, and it was amazing! Really great lights and staging – unfortunately this was the only photo that came out in development – one of the drawbacks of film photography!

Lastly, a little peek of a project I have been meaning to upload to jackslater.co.uk for a while, data visualisation! Look out for it over the next few days, it involves some pretty messy and unorthodox printing methods!

1. Deer Trophy from Cardboard Safari
2. Antlers by Alexander Taylor from Theo
3. Kissing Stags Cushion from Anorak
4. Deer Hook from Dwell
5. Kissing Stags Melamine Plate from Anorak
6. Deer iPhone Skin from Society 6
7. Moonbeam Tapestry from Urban Outfitters

There’s just something cool about Deer, right?! Inspired by the plate I bought the other day, I decided to put together a few of my favorite antler themed objects for the home! I already own the Cardboard Safari trophy and it’s great, as well as the Anorak stuff (there are tonnes more stuff with this pattern in the online shop), and I have the tapestry on back-order from Urban Outfitters. Let me know if there’s any other stuff I should be looking out for, seeing as I really do have deer-fever!

I don’t often enter open design competitions, but this opportunity was far too good to pass up! Elle UK has opened up applications for it’s 2012 magazine internships, with the chosen designers, stylists, photographers and editors getting to put together the October 2012 issue! The magazine cover above is my entry for the position of Art Editor and if people like it I would be so stoked and grateful if they could vote for me. To vote all you have to to is like, tweet, or pin the link to the cover using the buttons for Facebook, Twitter or Pinterest respectively. Simple!

My entry can be found HERE (or on page 4 of entries), do let me know if you vote so I can thank you!

After a couple of hours playing catch-up, it was time for the main reason why we were in Manchester – Kanye West and Jay-z’s Watch The Throne tour!

The show was incredible – easily the best I have been to! Our seats right at the back of the arena became a blessing in disguise. We were on the row next to the walkway where both Jay and Kanye walked out multiple times to get to the second stage, and saw all the VIPs go to their platform! I spotted John Legend and Chris Martin (of Coldplay), sadly Beyoncé was nowhere to be seen!

The set up was incredible. Two giant cubes rose from the crowd covered in screens styled by Givenchy’s Ricardo Tisci, they played images of sharks and other cool light effects throughout the show. I came home with a cool Kanye tee with the tour dates on the back.

The next morning called for a stop to the Krispy Kreme store – yum. We don’t get these in Lincoln or Nottingham so it’s always a treat when we travel to bigger cities who stock them!

Another non-local store I love is Urban Outfitters! The one in Manchester has five (!!) huge floors, filled with amazing stuff. I spotted these Newgate clocks on the wall of one of the displays, and have been lusting after it ever since! I think I am going to save my pennies for one, I love the coloured hand and mid-century vibe!

I was sensible with my money in Urban Outfitters and only came away with a couple of photo frames for vinyl albums, and this plate by Anorak. The Kissing Stags pattern is one of my favorite (I already have a cushion) so I couldn’t resist this, they had some beakers too – maybe next time!

I was sad to leave Manchester on Tuesday evening but had a great few days catching up with old friends. Wednesday morning called for some more fun – the Queen’s Royal visit to Nottingham city centre! We left bright and early at 8:30, and the crowd was already absolutely huge!

The Queen arrived fashionably late, and here you can see her tiny self along with William and Kate on the balcony (if you squint!). I’m not really patriotic at all, but it was cool to see all the flags waving and all the grannies getting so excited ahah.

The rest of the week just called for some random trips to the cinema, spending time with family, and getting odd-jobs done. I have an annoying cold at the moment and have had all weekend but it was my brothers 13th birthday on Sunday, happy birthday Ronan! Right now I’m helping Dad redecorate his place with some cool features – these old/cheap frames are all to be painted and hung on the brick walls, and I have just started an exciting sculpture commission that I will share later on in the week! Hope your week was as fun as mine!

These magazines have been on my desk all week, great typography is always good inspiration! The Esquire Big Black Book is seriously amazing (even though it is actually very blue). If a product has nice packaging, I will almost ALWAYS buy it – this Lemonade bottle caught my eye in John Lewis.

I got a roll of film developed that I shot last week on my Diana camera in the sunshine, here are a few of my favourites!

Waiting on a couple of frames to arrive in the post, and I have quite a few prints waiting in my room to be hung. Olly Moss, Jessica Hische and Hannah Waldron have all been chilling on my floor recently, but they should be up soon!

Lastly, this parcel arrived this morning from House Industries with some goodies inside. The contents are brilliant, I will share all next week!

I’m heading out to Manchester early next week for a couple of days to visit friends and attend a VERY special concert, I am unbelievably excited! See you on Tuesday or Wednesday, I hope everyone has a great weekend!

Snapshot is a regular feature that documents my week in pictures. For more, select Snapshot from the Categories bar.

In case you didn’t know, I am a sucker for hand-drawn type. So when I saw this issue of Hunger on the newsstand in Sainsburys, (not what i was expecting to find there!) I had to buy it.
Hunger is a bi-annual magazine ‘for the culturally and visually hungry’ from photographer and the co-founder of Dazed & Confused, Rankin, and this is the second issue. Continuing from the cover, the typography inside is stunning. I love the use of the silver spot colour (the scan doesn’t do it justice).

The first thing that struck me about the magazine is that were completely, absolutely, zero advertisements. Although good adverts can make a magazine better, it was definitely refreshing for them to be absent. The second thing that struck me was the colossal weight and thickness of the magazine. Seriously, it’s huge! Compared to ‘usual’ magazines (see photo below) it’s many times thicker for about the same price, and when you factor in that it contains no ads, that’s a whole lot of visual loveliness for your money.
Something as simple as designing the spine in the aesthetic of the magazine (I guess Hunger is designed as a book as well as a magazine, so standing out on a shelf is important) really sets it apart from others, and is an element of contemporary magazines that is often overlooked.
I’ve scanned a couple of my favourite spreads below (it was very hard to choose), and I love the fact they’re not afraid to use colour in addition to the simple layouts. The pages and pages of work from illustrator Carne Griffiths are also a massive highlight.

The silver colouring is put to best use in this huge editorial where it covers the entire page, only broken by the highly contrasted images of models. Really beautiful editorial direction, and I am so happy to see a British magazine setting new standards. Unfortunately I missed the first issue, but I will be getting issue three in a few months time for sure.

Finally, I leave you with the Editor’s letter. Hunger is an awesome magazine and I’ve only touched on 1% of what makes it so. Go and grab a copy!

Hunger Summer 2012 is available on newsstands now.

Editorial Love is a regular feature that documents my interest in contemporary magazine, publishing, and print design. For more, select Editorial Love from the Categories bar.