urban lush

urban

lushAlenka Gomboc

urban

lushAlenka Gomboc

01 CAMOUFLAGE

02 MY PERSONAL MAP

03 HIGH STREET MASH UP

04 VERNACULAR TYPE

05 MONOPRINTING

06 PATTERN

07 INFO GRAPHICS

08 MAKING LONDON A BETTER PLACE

09 CHARACTER

10 RAT KINGDOM

11 RANDOMS

00 INTRO

London is amazing. I ‘ve always been fascinated by it’s grand history but more than that, by most amazing cultural mix I’ve ever come across. It’s a city of contrast on every imaginable level: it’s dirty/clean, rich/poor, new/derelict, sociable/lonely,...Despite all this, it seems to function in something I call chaotic harmony. One thing I’ve noticed about London is that everything changes: areas, builldings, people, relationships. It keeps you on your toes. I love getting lost in London streets, I always find undiscovered treasures that reveal something new about the city. In this book I tried to explore London hidden away from the usual tourist bling. I found beauty in dirty streets, deteriorating buildings, it’s ever changing nature,...I have also tried to make it a better place.The process of making this book has openedmy eyes to many things I’ve never noticed before.

Walking the streets has changed forever.

01 CAMOUFLAGE

Camouflage Pattern

I’ve created this camouflage pattern based on the colours I found in my neighbourhood.

Camouflaging my neighbourhood

Unsuccessful housing attempt now left neglected right next to my house. It’s ugly and it really stands out. I’ve used my camouflage pattern to blend it in with the beautiful trees.

You live here, don’t you?

Different approach to camouflage. What you need for a specific area in Hackney to look like you fit in.

02 MY PERSONAL MAP

This project was totally my thing. It was kind of a retrospective of my area and my position in it.

It brought up lots of nice memories and reminded me how exciting London is. A bit of humour and real stories, this is the result.

03 HIGH STREET MASH UP

I went to...

Collection of typefaces from Kingsland Road E8 and King’s Road SW1. Inspired by Jamie Reid, the difference is obvious.

Juxtaposition - West vs East

Taking elements from wealthy high streets in West London and placing them into poor high street in East London (and vice versa) seemed like a good way of showing the contrast.

Old Bond Street vs Kingsland Road

Double Exposures - West vs East

Another good way of exposing the difference between high streets.

04 VERNACULAR TYPE

Shapes & textures

Walking the streets I started paying attention to shapes and textures surrounding me. They are London’s outlook so it seemed only fair to use it for my custom made London typeface.

After collection of the visual material I have applied them to Helvetica Neue typeface.I named mytypefaceUrban Forms.

05 MONOPRINTING

Monoprints

Very simple technique good for expressing atmospheres of a place as it comes out so messy and dramatic.

06 PATTERN

Starting to look around me I have discovered countless patterns right underneath my feet. To be honest I usually wouldn’t look there but it’s all I do nowadays.

Taking these shapes and manipulating them resulted in the collection of patterns. Even dirty streets can reveal graphic treasures

07 INFO GRAPHICS

London = (urban) jungle

This collage was inspired by London wildlife info graphics. The ideas come from urban myths +associating people with certain animals.

London wildlife

I am fascinated by the amount of (wild) animals living in London. I’m always meeting foxes and squirrels, I’m less excited about meeting rats and pigeons. I have designed this info graphic chart

showing the approximate number of each species living in London.

08 MAKING LONDON A BETTER PLACE

According to me and everyone else, whatever and however you feel in London, you feel it million times stronger than you would anywhere else.

London can be amazing but also frus-trating, stressful and lonely. This is why I set this project - to bring a smile on your face when you need it and to (sub) consciously fill your head with random positive messages.

Jelly Babies

The story goes: Since I came to London I started finding these ones everywhere on the streets. I didn’t know what they were but I really liked them. I investigated and it turned out they were super popular- some kind of a cult British jelly.

Don’t know if you knew but Jelly Babies were launched by Bassett’s in 1919 as “Peace Babies” to mark the end of World War I. After I found that out I was even more confident about who is going to be the messenger of my positive vibrations.

Screen printed messages.

I cooked up some environmentally friendly wheat paste to stick my messages on walls.

To make sure Jelly Babies don’t melt with the first rain and to match the colour of the bubbles I had to spray paint them.

Hitting the streets.

The streets are now floodedwith positive vibration Jelly Babies.

The Jelly Baby Map

09 CHARACTER

Islington character

Based on factual research of the Islington borough we have used found materials to create this bad boy. He wears a crown because of King’s Cross, wings because of Angel, spikes because he’s dodgy anda camouflage pattern to represent a blend of different cultures that live within the borough.

Friends are everywhere

I found lots of interesting creatures on London streets.

10 RAT KINGDOM

Welcome to the Rat Kingdom.

We live in rat race. The rat is now the Queen of our Kingdom.

11 RANDOM

London Paranoia

This postcard is portraying the influence of media on people’s paranoid thinking in the capital.

POSITION YOUR H A N D

UNDERNEATH T H E CUT-OUT

New government

The arrival of a new prime minister. Will it all be the same old story again?

LET’S PLAY A G A I N ...