Proposed design for Dazed and Confused "Visions of the Future" billboard competition.
I never do this kind of things, I swear.
I never take part in competitions sponsored by magazines that I'm not particularly familiar with.
However, this time I kind of fell for it.
The brief stated: "As never before, our actions today will determine the world of tomorrow. In the hope of cutting through the science and spin, Diesel and Dazed and Confused have saved a little corner of London for you to have your voice heard".
How tempting, social messages instead of sneakers, it sounded promising.
I initially got hooked up to a very strange idea called "A Wonky Optimism" involving a wonky miniature chair and some weird colourful type. I kept walking around my studio / office / little world with my miniature wonky chair trying to find a solution, trying to tell myself that I was optimistic about the future after all. Being optimistic is very hip, I thought. Being a wonky optimist would have been even more hip than that. I was all in love with myself and my pathetic, mediocre little idea.
One day, after finalizing my useless mini wonky chair project I suddenly saw it all.
It was the most outstanding piece of shit I ever produced, it was a ludicrous manifestation of my ego, a small minded craving for approval.
Above all, it was a lie.
IT WAS EXACTLY WHAT THEY WANTED, A GRAPHIC PIECE OF COLOURFUL VOMIT, A BIT LIKE THE BACKGROUND OF THIS PAGE.
I sat down in my kitchen and felt frustrated, almost angered with myself. I sat there, craving for redemption, the only consolation being that I submitted under the pseudonym of Ruben Telegumeni.
Then, suddenly the work of an anonymous genius materialized in front of my eyes.
It was a leaflet of someone who lost a cat.
Missing cat, it said.
The text was written with such honesty and poignancy that it proved impossible not to be moved by it.
My love for the vernacular resurfaced immediately.
I thought about how much we don't know about this planet (for example the official number of countries it's still debated, the CIA says that the official figure is 193, others argue that Taiwan meets all the requirements to be considered a country in its own right).
I thought about how much we talk and how little we put into action.
I decided to produce the most visually arid piece of information design I could possibly come up with. I chose Letter Gothic std for its legibility and "institutional" look and the fact that seemed to work well with the sheer amount of information I had to include in my design. On the top left hand an appeal, on the right hand side everything you wanted to know about planet earth but you never dared to ask.
I re-submitted the whole thing with the following comment:
"This is what you get when everyone talks about the environment but nobody can tell an
Aphelion from a Perihelion: a lot of chit chat without anyone getting anything done.
If we keep talking on end about this planet without acting we will end up in 30 years time not even knowing where the whole thing is gone".
I didn't sell out, they didn't buy in, back to square one, I'm happy.
