Twist and shout

Sometimes things just don’t turn out like you expect. It was a particularly dismal and rainswept day when the other half of id-iom popped out of the studio to get lunch but came back with the classic board game, Twister (think Jack and his magic beans…)

I was somewhat put out by this manoeuvre as I had been daydreaming of a Greggs sausage roll for close to an hour. I quickly demanded to know what exactly what he thought was going on but all I got in return was a whirring noise and the repeated phrase ‘Left foot first’…

Cheers

id-iom

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Brixton Monopoly

“Featuring some of Brixton’s more notable addresses – such as Billa’s 24hour booze, Happy Shopper and The Sultan – this is an exciting game that will bring long, tedious hours of ‘fun’ for all the family. Brought to you by id-iom and Parker Brothers”

For throwback Thursday we’re going for our 1m x 1m Brixton Monopoly commission from a few years back. I was pretty pleased with the final result – especially considering how long it managed to take. After a load of emails back and forth we came up with a finished design which incorporated elements from various international editions of Monopoly, some invented elements and a load of place names from around Brixton which had significance to the client. As they live near to us all the locations (including Billa’s 24hr booze and Pizza Man) are somewhat familiar to me too…

Despite the fact they are known to me many spaces on the board are undoubtedly unfamiliar to just about everyone else. If, however, you do happen to be know all the place names and are particularly eagle-eyed you may even notice that we even arranged the squares so that they are grouped together logically (i.e by location and/or function) and the board follows a circuit from locations at the bottom of Brixton up to the top of Brixton Hill.

Cheers

id-iom

Monopoly – Brixton stylee!

“Featuring some of Brixton’s more notable addresses – such as Billa’s 24hour booze, Happy Shopper and The Sultan – this is an exciting game that will bring long, tedious hours of ‘fun’ for all the family. Brought to you by id-iom and Parker Brothers”

We’ve just finished up our 1m x 1m Brixton Monopoly commission and are pretty pleased with the final result – especially considering how long this one managed to take. After a load of emails back and forth we came up with a finished design which incorporated elements from various international editions of Monopoly, some invented elements and a load of place names from around Brixton which had significance to the client. As they live near to us all the locations (including Billa’s 24hr booze and Pizza Man) are somewhat familiar to me too…

Despite the fact they are known to me many spaces on the board are undoubtedly unfamiliar to just about everyone else. If, however, you do happen to be know all the place names and are particularly eagle-eyed you may even notice that we even arranged the squares so that they are grouped together logically (i.e by location and/or function) and the board follows a circuit from locations at the bottom of Brixton up to the top of Brixton Hill.

By far the biggest problem was how to go about doing the small lettering for the place names so that it was the correct size and font whilst still being clearly legible. Using stencils was out as they would have been problematic and time-consuming to cut and wouldn’t have guaranteed the level of clarity which I felt was necessary. So we then had to experiment in order to come up with something that would work to our satisfaction. After a bit of research and some failed attempts en route we came upon the world of gel medium transfers which, once you’ve got the hang of it, gives a nice clean transfer – albeit with a little residue from the gel medium left on the canvas but I felt this was an adequate compromise given some of the other methods tried…

Once all the lettering was on it was largely downhill from there although it was relatively slow work due to the fact that any mistakes would be highly visible – so I had to be careful to make none. Thankfully it all passed with hardly a hitch although I was conscious that doing the line work last would only lead to higher stress levels until it was all safely completed as one small slip would have probably set me back a fair bit.

Below are a few in progress shots for those that like that kind of thing.

Cheers

id-iom

Title: Monopoly (Brixton edition)

Media: Spraypaint, stencils, paint pen, gel medium and varnish

Size: 1m x 1m deep edge canvas

 

 

 

 

 

id-iom chess table

Apparently chess has been around in it’s current form since the 16th century (and even then is based on an earlier Indian game called Chaturanga) and is a classic game of strategy and guile. I learned to play many years ago although it has been a long while since i’ve put my knowledge into practice. So if anyone fancies a game just let me know.

Anyway we were faced with a big empty table and had to come up with a snappy design to put on it. Some thinking/drinking time later we came up with the idea of a games table – and what better way to while away some time in the pub than an oversized chess board. In order to give it the id-iom twist we decided to design our own chess pieces for use on the board and after a quick bit of tinkering we had some half-decent pieces constructed which wouldn’t get easily lost or broken in the pub.

So, let’s play a game! How many of our customised chess pieces can you identify? There will probably be a prize for the winner if i can find something we can send out. For larger shots please see our White Horse flickr set.

Cheers

id-iom

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