As I’ve decided to get into climbing, I was roaming YouTube the other day and found this documentary and concept on urban climbing. What was most interesting to me was the artistic approach and extreme street culture, underground feel. They website and manifesto, as well as the booklet that appears in the video, give off a really interesting vibe almost similar to what I’ve been studying a lot throughout the semester.
Now, I’m not quite sure what mixture of the algorithm brought me this weird combination of climbing, art, urban movements, and design but I was all for it. I think it’s really interesting to connect a hobby with a design. The aesthetic of this video has an old 2000s found footage and teenage summer feel to it. The design of the little booklet itself has this really nice homemade print feel that doesn’t take itself too seriously, while simultaneously tying into the topic and being easy to produce with small pages and black ink. It’s almost like old propaganda pamphlets.
One topic going into this semester was exploring risograph, which I’m still interested in as I would love to work on some traditional design stuff again. I was thinking it would be fun to do a series of posters based on my hobbies and interests, such as climbing for example. This would be a lot of fun in the risograph aesthetic, and would allow me to flex some creative muscles away from what I’ve been doing so far.
In a way, I’m still chasing the high that was creating my keyboard thesis last year. I really enjoyed that project and making work related just purely to what I enjoyed doing. For some reason, I find it hard to make projects like this now due to always wanting my project to have some deeper meaning, which is a mindset I hope to escape in the next packets.
The website they created for this also had this nice, gungy aesthetic and underground feel that connected with me. The t-shirt they offer has all these cool little emblems and icons relating to their brand. The whole thing feels almost anti-designesque in nature, a rebellious attitude felt throughout this whole brand they created.
Making clothes actually sounds kind of fun, so I wonder if I should try that out and just make some stuff related to interests, I could easily see a keyboard related t shirt or clothing series in this same style. When I see small projects or films like this, my mind can easily be filled with ideas, so the connection I need to make is to actually follow through and create what I see in my head.