Catching Bullets

 So I can't really draw. I made a digital sketches in Procreate and two pencil sketches (only 1 pencil sketch attached). The concept was to show two people using caution around hazards and then reporting it, warn people from doing hazardous activities, and a hand and foot. The hand was not used. The foot is designed to be used to demonstrate a hazardous activity.  For backgrounds I had two photos that I took years ago. While both were in North Africa, the colouring in these could be altered to show different environments as there is both ground and vegetation present. So I struggled with the sketches, finally I decided to try the Generate Vectors function in Illustrator 2025. This produced very happy people with no legs, but it was a something I could work with. I changed the faces to be more serious, and added legs. I applied the Generate Vectors to my foot and it produced a nice bright beach sandal that just needed a colour adjustment. With these assets in hand I set about alteri

 I have noted a practical application of White Line Fever in the wild. Very exciting!! It cautions smokers to watch both ways before merging into the main path between the Cultural Centre and MHC's main building. This is good as it will get them moving their head and freeing up the tar deposited in their lungs. The fact there's a ? at the end might also encourage the smoke to look at the habit from both sides, quit or not quit. White Line Fever, good for safety, good for your lungs! 

 Once I decided on who to work with I developed the mood board and thought about deliverables for the proposal. The normal safety leaflets were an obvious choice as I had immediately found some problems (see previous post). I also thought about the conflict between some humanitarian ration packs and some cluster munitions. This is sort of poor communication I want to avoid, so I decided to work on overpack for the rations. I also had an idea that the overpack could be used as a bag by including handles. I produced an overpack but I did not incorporate the handles due to the lack of a good glue for attaching vinyl backing to vinyl backing. Turns out that material designed to release an adhesive does stick well (note that the overpack is fragile). I think some sort of heat sealing would be the solution.  While producing the overpack I used a standard ration to size it. It is oversized and a ration bag fits in nicely. The bellows bottom is not needed, it would help with its function as a

 So now the rules for the lines were decided I needed to draw them. I went through a few iterations. As I was inspired by the New Alphabet I kept my marked up guide next to me. I started on three handraulic versions. The first one was during my ideation, see previous post for those doodles. It was more to decide if I wanted solid, outline, negative space, etc. Didn't go far. Then my first alphabet, in my notebook. I was still working out line weight and if there were curves (there weren't in the end). This is also where I decided on the name, White Line Fever. The madness that comes over you after driving too much. The second one is closer to what was done. No curves, but still working on line weights. My final version was done in Fontlab. Of course I let my 10 day license lapse before I took a screen shot, but here is my type specimen. Lessons learned: Taking on new software is challenging. Taking on new software that has a relatively small market is harder as tutorials are sc

 So I've decided to do a project for GICHD ( https://www.gichd.org/ ). Trying to unify the messaging in mine/UXO awareness and small arms and light weapons safety in conflict zones. This is a complex project and I do not plan on solving it, just constructing a framework and providing some ideas. The main problem in the area is competing NGOs. They are often personality driven, everyone knows everyone else, and there are clashing personalities. That is the main reason things that there are no non-safety standards. GICHD has managed to push through safety standards for a lot of UXO work, but beyond that education is up to each NGO. Some do great work, some not so much, or just rely on what is at hand. Ideally education and awareness material would be localized and be accessible by illiterate (due to education or age) people. Using an image of a SE Asian child in Africa is somewhat unrelatable to the local population. Globalization is solving this problem, but it still exists. To star

 So, we gotta make a font. Influenced by Medicine Hat. I hate driving in Medicine Hat. I'm going to make a font that reflects it. I love Wim Crouwel's work. That's an influence. So, looking at the New Alphabet for inspiration, I stared at its type example for too long. Figured out what the figures, math symbols, and punctuation represented. Eventually I started thinking how it related to Medicine Hat transport routes. I realized it didn't directly speak to the traffic, but it did look like roads curving around. While I was doing rubbings of type, I was walking roads, looking down, and realized that the road markings would make an interesting basis of the font. Turns out there are rules for road markings ( https://open.alberta.ca/publications/highway-pavement-marking-guide-2nd-edition/resource/14df908e-9c5d-41f8-82f9-09ac12b5d99a ). Here's the main page I used for my rules of the road. Once I had decided on road lines, I started doodling lines and shapes I see on the