totalcontent - the blog.

pants for the memories.

Among the goodies waiting for me under the Christmas tree this year were two pairs of decidedly retro underpants. Based on the original Jockey Y-front design which ruled the pre-boxer short roost, they’ve been restyled with a slightly longer leg, catering to the demands of today’s discerning trunk-wearer. One pair is a rather flashy mandarin, the other a handsome turquoise, complete with the familiar strategically placed white piping and a faithfully recreated elasticated waistband. Takes my backside back, I must say.

What struck me most though, was the accompanying label, bearing the rather braggy strapline “The original Jockey® Y-Front® brief — a true American legend”. And a photo of what can only be described the kind of dubbered old pants your granddad might wear. Heritage is one thing, but here, I think we’re hitting something of a bum note.

fancy seeing you here.

I’m pretty sure this has never happened to me before, and it’s unlikely to happen again. I’d just treated myself to a copy of new book, entitled ‘Alphabets: A Miscellany of Letters’, and was idly flicking through its handsome pages. It’s a charming, quirky compendium of applied letterforms, arranged in themed chapters — B for ‘Bestiary’, F for ‘Found’, H for ‘Hand’, J for ‘Journey’, and so on. It features games, posters, signage, packaging, furniture… in fact, virtually anything’s considered fair game so long as it references the alphabet.

And there, staring back at me on page 56, was something that looked decidedly familiar. A poster I’d worked on with the great Derek Birdsall back in 2004. You could have knocked me down with a feather (shaped like a letter f, perhaps). Our effort was based on the letter i, and featured in a exhibition at the British Library organised by 26. Originally, it was printed on a reflective surface, so that people would see their faces in the poster as they read the text, picking up of the idea of I as shorthand for identity.

Here’s what some of the text in ‘Alphabets’ says about the poster: “Birdsall is an influential book designer who, therefore, works closely with letters in his day-to-day work. Davies, a writer, has contributed works of fiction and non-fiction to a variety of publications, and his humorous interpretation of the letter’s history is characteristic of his work. The letter is given a pompous voice and lists its many uses in language and technology, drawing attention to its strong aesthetics, which make it suited to graphic art.”

After I’d recovered from the surprise, I felt pretty pleased with myself. But on reflection I thought, shouldn’t someone have at least asked first?

‘Alphabets: A Miscellany of Letters’ is published by Black Dog. You can pick it up on Amazon for £16.96.

taking the talk.

Last Thursday evening, Jim took to the stage at the Vibe Bar in London’s Brick Lane as part of a D&AD ‘Sharp’ner’ event titled ‘Pads, Pens and Yellow Pencils’. Along with fellow writers John Simmons, Nick Asbury, Ceri Talbot of Innocent, and Ogilvy creative director Will Awdry, he tried to unravel some of the finer points of copywriting, and shed some words of enlightenment to a 100-strong throng, who’d come along to listen (and drink beer).

It was an informal, good-natured event, which seemed to hit the right spot with the audience. No bottles or insults were thrown. Each speaker was asked to pick an award-winning piece of their own work, someone else's work they admired, and proffer a nugget of advice for aspiring copywriters. Jim — perhaps unsurprisingly — went for his self-promotional monkey posters; Nick Asbury’s Corpoetics; and Christopher Doyle’s brand guidelines for himself. His piece of advice was to go for broke when a potential award winner crops up, as they don’t come along very often.

This was followed by a lively Q&A session during which the speakers were asked to reveal their favourite word. Jim toyed with 'garibaldi’, but finally plumped for ‘macaroon’.

we feel like jensen button.

Yes, we’ve won our first Grand Prix.

Our self-promotional monkey posters were judged to be toppermost banana at the Cream of Yorkshire Awards, held at the Mint in Leeds last Thursday. Unfortunately we weren’t there in person (as you’ll see above) but we’d like to extend our thanks and congratulations to everyone who’s helped them climb to the top of this particular awards tree.

The Cream Awards is the latest in a long list of accolades for our simian friends. Earlier in the year, they were warmly welcomed into the D&AD Annual, and they also picked up two Golds and a Silver at the Fresh Awards. We sincerely hope all this acclaim isn’t going to their heads — but to be honest, they seem as monkey-brained as ever.

By the way… we still have several hundred monkey posters cluttering up our studio. So if you want to get your hands on some multi-award winning chimps, please drop us an email. For a reminder of what all the fuss is about, have a look here.

on fiction and Finkler.

I’ve had a week or so to digest this year’s 26 Speech ‘The Art of Writing with Howard Jacobson’ at the British Library. It was a fantastic evening, buoyed by the news that Jacobson had won the Mann Booker Prize just a few days earlier. A lesser man might have shirked his earlier commitments, but despite having lost most of his voice through constant interviews and minimal sleep, the author turned in a sterling performance. So it wasn’t really a speech, more of a chat, but all the more intimate and revealing for it.

I’ve been a fan of Jacobson’s since the early 1980s, when his first book, the edgy campus romp ‘Coming From Behind’ was published. Since then, I’ve read most of his novels, most recently the fascinatingly disturbing ‘Act of Love’.

In person, he was disarmingly frank, tremendously funny and wonderfully insightful, coaxed and cajoled by the pitch-perfect interviewing of 26 Chairman Martin Clarkson. Jacobson jokingly suggested they might go on tour as a double act — which isn’t an entirely ridiculous idea.

So what did we learn? That even a successful, award-winning, crowd-pleasing writer is incredibly ‘thin skinned’ — sensitive to slights, criticism and perennially jealous of his peers. Jacobson’s tone wavered from self-mockery to bravura, so you were never quite sure where the joke stopped and the seriousness kicked in. He was certainly an entertaining speaker, his razor-sharp responses packed with memorable one liners on everything from God to sex, family to comedy.

On the subject of novel writing, one of the most interesting things he said was that he has no idea what’s going to happen before he starts writing, he just lets the characters evolve and develop until they find a natural path. “Bloody plot. Who did it? Who cares? Character is plot.” There’s nothing mystical about it, he claimed, but ushering them down a preordained plotline makes the writing mechanical and contrived like forcing words into a crossword grid. This makes sense, though writing free-form like this requires tremendous skill and experience.

Jacobson eschewed the description of comic novelist, though professed to writing comedy. But strictly black no sugar. “I like to find it where it shouldn’t be, where it’s either slit your wrists or laugh… My humour doesn’t tickle you, it hurts you. It’s like being forced to the ground and stabbed in the heart,” he said.

I liked what he said about character names too — that they should be curious and evocative, something Dickens always seemed to manage. “How can I possibly be interested in what happens to someone called Paul?”

Anything else? Well, plenty. But for obscurists… his younger brother was in a band that went on to become 10cc, though left before they made it. Jacobson once ran a restaurant down in Cornwall with his then wife. And he used to live on the same south London street as Ian McEwan and Angela Carter.

I was pleased that Clarkson used both the questions I’d supplied him verbatim:

Sex is always bubbling somewhere near the surface of your novels. Do you enjoying writing about sex as much as people enjoy reading about it?

You return to various themes time and time again – sex, jealousy, cuckoldry, Jewishness, embarrassment, snobbery, learning – how important is it for a novelist to have a particular set of preoccupations?

And even more pleased to win a copy of ‘The Finkler Question’ for knowing the title of Jacobson’s other Booker-shortlisted novel (‘Who’s Sorry Now’). I had it signed afterwards during a slightly embarrassed chat… the inscription reads: “To Jim… who’s sorry now? Not me.”

new work – Abacus.

Another interesting job with Cubic, this time for lighting manufacturers Abacus. We were asked to provide copy for six product-specific ads and a brochure, showcasing the company’s new range of energy-efficient LED luminaires (as we quickly learned to call them). To be honest, the copy needed to be fairly straightforward and to do a job, succinctly explaining different designs, functions and uses. The real creativity was in the concept and the photography, which took the lighting out of its usual urban environment and placed it in striking natural settings in the Peak District. Creating an arresting, slightly surreal ambience, the imagery emphasised the natural forms and structures of the luminaires, while suggesting a raw, elemental power.

monkeys get fresh.

Many thanks to Elmwood Design for inviting Jim to the Fresh Awards in Manchester last week. In case you didn’t know, Fresh is a seven-year-old creative awards for design and advertising agencies outside the M25 corridor. Held at the towering Deansgate Hilton, it was a glitzy affair – undercut by refectory-style tables and an ironic menu featuring Lancashire hot-pot and steamed pudding.

totalcontent’s typewriting monkey posters had been nominated in three categories – Posters, Self-promotion and Copywriting. We kicked off with a Silver in the first, followed by a handsome pair of Golds in the other two. Not a bad night’s haul. Congratulations to Elmwood's Simon Morrow and Richard Scholey (now creative director at The Chase) for the design, and Rob Ball for the monkey illustrations.

The Copywriting trophy is now resting proudly on our groaning studio shelf. You can see all the results from the Fresh Awards here. And you can see our original post on the monkey posters here.

a Vintage occasion.

A quick word about last week’s wonderful Vintage at Goodwood, before it becomes a passing footnote. Set in spectacular grounds on the South Downs, Wayne Hemingway’s first stab at curating a multi-dimensional summer festival (incorporating music, fashion, film, design and art) was hugely ambitious, but all-in-all, it really worked. For me, the only problem was there was just too much going on… I wanted to be several places at once and occasionally rued my choices.

My musical highlights were: Noisettes (who really know how to put on a show); I’ve never been convinced about The Feeling, but they managed to win me over (their four Squeeze songs with Glen Tilbrook were note perfect); Craig Charles spinning tunes and Noel McKoy singing his heart out on the Soul Stage; and it was great to catch Heaven 17 doing a special remix of Temptation. Shame to have missed the Damned and the Pole Cats, but you can’t have everything.

Deborah insists on putting a word in for the Puppini Sisters – her pick of the festival.

But it was all the other stuff that really made the difference.

Like the choice of food and drink from the organic farmer’s market, to the 50s style American diner, to the Routemaster bus dispensing Pimms. There aren’t many festivals where you can get a cup of Earl Grey from a Fortnum & Mason pop-up shop.

Wayne promised that even the toilets would be an experience, but I wouldn’t go quite that far. They were certainly a step up from the usual stinky hellholes, but there was no uniformed lackey to pass you a towel or Molton Brown hand cream.

You could have just spent the day people watching… there were Hippies, Mods, Skins and plenty of Rockabilly types. But also folk dressed as Rear Admirals, tweedy country gents, Land Girls, usherettes – all eras and styles got a look in. And if you didn’t have the gear, you could always visit one of the 60-odd vintage stalls for inspiration.

Everyone made Vintage something special. There was a real sense of camaraderie and being part of something. You ended up chatting to to all sorts of people from different walks of life – the vibe was incredibly welcoming and friendly.

Thanks in particular to Paul the affable barber from Brighton who gave me the best haircut I’ve had in years, and my youngest his first quiff and DA. And to the very thin American man in the cowboy hat who showed us round Mick Jones’ curious collection of ephemera on a Peter Blake-decorated double-decker bus.

Can’t wait to see what’s in store for next year...

new work – Bee Me.

totalcontent thoroughly enjoyed its first experience working with London design agency Felt. The task was to launch Bee Me, a new frozen yogurt/smoothie franchise, which opened it’s first outlet in Portobello Road a couple of weeks ago.

Creating the tone of voice for a start-up, particularly one that treads ever-so-slightly on the toes of one of the most celebrated brands of recent years was demanding, but we hope that our efforts measured up. It also quickly transpired that every name you could possibly think of for a berry or mango drink was already taken, so we had to rustle up fresh ways of approaching the menu naming. We were quite chuffed with ‘Bumble Berry’ and ‘Get Up and Glow’, as well as the overall strapline we came up with, ‘an appetite for living’.

Apart from that, we worked on a series of articulations, which put across the brand’s healthy credentials and the idea that it’s important to find a bit of time for yourself. The work was picked up by Design Week and featured alongside a piece on Design Studio, who we’re also currently collaborating with.