Tag Archives: Words

Too many words, part two

I had a notification from my kids’ school this morning. It’s an update to their behaviour policy. Paragraph two says, and I quote:

“Students in Year 7 tell us that they are particularly concerned about disruption to their learning occasioned by a small number of their peers who do not find the immediate attendant sanctions sufficient to deter them from repeating such behaviour.”

I think the last time occasion was used as a verb, we still used shillings. And sanctions being ‘attendant’ – rather than just er, sanctions made me smile. But beyond all that, just far too many words. Try this: “Students in Year Seven tell us they are fed up with peers who repeatedly disrupt lessons.”

Tsk. Detention for the Deputy Head me thinks.

How To Spell Spam.

An interesting piece popped up on Yahoo News last week; an account about a council tax scam where fraudsters contact you to say you’re due a financial reward as a thank you for paying your bill by direct debit.

Now I don’t know about you, but the concept of my local council financially rewarding me for paying tax would be enough to make me click  ‘SPAM’ faster than you can say ‘seriously unlikely state incentive’. However, clearly enough people were falling for this to warrant its broadcast, albeit hidden within the confused jumble that is Yahoo’s landing page. So I read the whole thing and there – towards the end – was a paragraph about spelling.

Maths minus boredom

106I absolutely love this. New Math by Craig Damrauer – a wry approach to maths for word and language lovers. An addictive site – review at leisure.

365 word girl

This is fun. A comking-portrait-frontbination of photography, words and self-portraiture delivered with a little help from visitors.

Melissa King’s 365 Word Girl site was launched recently and showcases the results of her new collaborative project as they happen. King, from Sydney Australia, invites you to submit random words to her site. Then, taking 7 words in order for that week, she builds a mini story that in turn directs each weekly self-portrait. So, for example, Week 10 on King’s word schedule shows: Headphone; Smudge; Shrunk; Sepia; Revolutionary; Idealistic; Up. These words will build a short narrative to dictate a new self-portrait (should be interesting) and, if I’ve understood the schedule correctly, Week 10 will be launched this week.

As the name suggests, King intends for this to be a year-long project producing 52 unique and off-beat portraits. Add your own word before the schedule fills up and be a part of the art.

This post is about posters.

Goshka-Macuga-011With only a week to go, this is just irresistible.  Jonathan Jones introduces a feature in today’s Culture Guardian showcasing alternative takes on the political campaign poster from some of Britain’s leading artists. You can see their work here plus more detailed commentary from each artist (and Jonathan’s introduction) here.

I agree with the article tone that official campaign offerings are more than unimpressive, but I’ve really enjoyed the unofficial and not so underground stuff like My David Cameron. If anyone can teach the big parties a thing or two about clear copy, it’s the creators of some of these gems.

Very early comments on the Guardian site suggest there is a big gap between fine art and graphic design when it comes to posters. My own take – unsurprisingly – is it comes down to the copy and the connection the copy has with the design. Hence my favourite of the lot is this one by Goshka Macuga. Clear, clever, totally connected to its purpose and comes with a back-story.