While in Amsterdam, I came across the first ever coffeeshop in the city, and some really great signage. It reminded me a lot of the signage in Dalston, with the use of neon lighting to create the font.
The font is all capitals, which works with the short words and grabbing your attention. The lack of serifs also works with the signage because it makes the words easier to read. The huge logo in the middle of the words allows the people passing by to know what they are looking at and it makes it very easy to recognize and see from far away.
Last weekend when I got the pleasure of exploring the beautiful Amsterdam, I came across the gorgeous Magere Brug bridge, otherwise known as the "Skinny Bridge."
This bridge opens and closes over the famous Amstel River in Amsterdam. On the bridge I found lovely decorative font of the name of the bridge as a way of signage. It wasn't necessarily in the most obvious location, but the tiny little label was perfect because you could't miss it. The yellow bubbly block letters are easy to see, especially with their color being yellow, contrasting with the dark green paint of the bridge itself.
Walking through the streets of Amsterdam was a wonderful time. We got to see all the different street art and signage, and it was all so different than America or London. Here is an example of graffiti done in decorative fonts.
It is very different than the street art I chose for one of my previous blogs in Brighton. It uses a totally different color scheme, using more pastel colors. The colors are more pastel because they are in a different hue than the brighter colors used on the streets of England. There is more white added to this particular wall of graffiti.
This sign is a demonstration of wayfinding. This past weekend I went to a music festival called BuitenWesten in Amsterdam, Netherlands and these were signs that helped all the festival goers find their way around.
It had arrows directing to all the different stages, toilets and food joints. Everything you need to know at the festival. Perhaps they were in Dutch, but they still were very useful! The font is hand written, with no serifs. The way they are on wooden arrows hand-painted on gives it a very camp-like aesthetic.
This past Sunday I got to join in on an awesome event at Oval Space London. The lovely DJ Tennis took the decks and threw down an awesome day-time party.
The location was so rad. It was located in an industrial area, with loads of street art, and located on a gorgeous terrace overlooking a really cool rusty "thing?" The whole event was tennis themed, which was absolutely adorable.
When you first walked in, you were given a tennis ball with Oval Space printed on it, as almost a party favor. When they gave it to me, I was totally stoked. The fact an event took the time to really put this thing together was a nice change from the basic boring old looking club.
After two flights of stairs, you are on the terrace. The terrace was covered in green felt and a tennis court painted on it. Tennis balls were hanging from the ceiling and the food was all tennis themed as well...with some amazing hot dogs and burgers.
The venue was so very intimate. My fav.
There is nothing better than hovering over a dj and watching him do what he does best: spin. I was literally three feet in from of DJ Tennis himself and it made the experience that much better.
The first half of his set was really mellow, perfect for a terrace event. Everyone was grooving, socializing and having drinks and hot dogs with friends. It was an incredible vibe and the atmosphere just wonderful.
The set progressed and he threw in some amazing tracks at the end that had the whole house dancing. Everyone was feeling it and it was awesome to watch. Nothing better than good food, good vibes and good music.
I had zero expectations before I left for Brighton, which I think is what made it so incredible. Perhaps I lack knowledge in geography, but I didn't even know it was on the coast of England (lol).
A few people from my group and I spent two days and one night in this beautiful, coastal city, and it was frickin' awesome! We arrived early Friday morning after a gorgeous hour train ride through the English countryside.
The second we got there we were luckily enough to come on a day where there was a food market going on. I got an amazing Arabic spring chicken wrap, something I would never eat ever but I was feeling spontaneous! And it was delicious!
For two days straight we honestly wandered the streets, totaling at 30 miles in two days. Crazy, I know.
We wandered the famous lanes, chocolate shops, different pubs and made our way all the way to Kemp Town, known for its infamous gay community. The shops were absolutely adorable, ranging from thrifty to expensive jewelry shops.
It was absolutely dreamy. The coastal breeze, a mimosa on the beach and the lovely pier community...it was all so different from central London, so it was nice to get away and experience a different side of England.
One of the most amazing restaurants in all of London is hidden on a tiny side street off of New Bond Street. The whole restaurant was built as individual art installations in each room. The rooms are absolutley fascinating between the all pink old-fashioned tea room to the egg shaped bathrooms. Not only was the architecture and design of all the rooms crazy creative and fun, but the French cuisine was divine.
The sign for the restaurant is in a Sans Serif font. It is very simple, and I think that is the whole point. The restaurant's design was so thought-out and perfected to the T with creativity, the sign is almost a piece of irony. The word sketch is also placed in the lower right hand corner, leaving a huge block of red space. Although the word is not centered, the sign looks balanced and clean.
After you see the simplistic sign outside the ginormous doorways, you find a hop scotch game as your entrance. Brilliant. And adorable.
Today I traveled across the Tower Bridge, and let me tell you...it was windy. ^ But beautiful. It was an absolutely perfect day to see the bridge and the skyline of London reflecting in the waters. I got the pleasure of seeing it during the sunny day and the beautiful reflection on the water at night.
The reason I crossed over the Tower Bridge was because I was on my way to the Design Museum. The Design of the Year 2015 exhibition was going on and it was absolutely incredible. I have read about this design museum in many of my design classes and never thought I would have the pleasure of going.
Seeing all the different designs really inspired me. It is crazy what these young designers are coming up with and physically building models of. Some of my favorites included a dress made with C-3PO on it, a vest with a built-in air bag for motorcyclists and the specially designed Women magazine.
One thing that also struck me was the typography in the logo for the exhibit. The use of vertical text makes it very visually appealing, as well as the color choice. The neon orange and the hot pink work together against the white, even though the two colors clash themselves. The way the word DESIGNS is longer and then OF THE YEAR go from shortest to longest afterwards demonstrates the importance of proximity in a textual design.
Not only was the exhibit itself wonderful, but so was the talk afterwards. I found the fashion designer to be so interesting and I really enjoyed her viewpoint on how a fashion design could potentially win the design of the year in the future. Listening to how much she knew about the world of high fashion makes me want to explore the field even more when I graduate from Cal Poly.
Only the most legendary house and techno club in London; a club I never thought I would ever be able to go to. I am a huge fan of the monthly compilations released by fabric, collecting all the fabric and FABRICLIVE mixes from one to 82. fabric is not only a club, but a record label. The best thing about the label is they are one hundred percent about the music, letting the producers do what they want in the mixes they put out.
fabric is in high demand, other record labels always wanting to colloborate, but they put only one compilation out a month; just enough to keep all the fans pleased.
"I wanted to sell them at on our website, which I felt was indicative and reflective of how I saw the product; as licensed rave tapes." - Keith Reilly, fabric Founder.
The compilations are not only sold on the website, but in vending machines at the club. If there is anything better than candy in vending machines, its fabric and FABRICLIVE cd's! What a rad idea!
Last Saturday night, on July 4, 2015, I got the opportunity to see one of my favorite producers take the tracks...mister Jamie Jones himself.
Fortunately, the trip to fabric was only one subway away and it was easy peezy lemon squeezy to get there. As soon as I got in line, I couldn't believe it was happening. This is the type of club all house and techno lovers have heard of and dream about attending.
Finally, it was my turn.
The second I walked in, I was taken aback. Three different stages, all with their own individual sound system and various bars located around each stage. The production value in this club is so unbelievably impressive, with a "body sonic" dance floor, where the floors emit bass frequencies being attached to 450 bass transducers. Body shaking, hips shaking, good vibes, good music...what could honestly get better than this.
The club is unlike any other club I have ever seen because for once, a good majority of the people weren't there to just "party," they are there to absorb their surroundings and groove to some good music.
Music. That's what it's all about, isn't it? It's refreshing that there are other people out there that get that. Because it isn't the norm.
The lineup included Jamie Jones, The Revenge live, Secretsundanze and 10 Years of Kubicle.
Yup. Stacked.
Jamie Jones absolutely blew my mind. Unfortunately I missed him at Electric Daisy Carnival in Las Vegas in 2014 by total accident, so this was my first time seeing him live, and it definitely could not have been a better set, at a better location. But this doesn't dis-include the other artists who took the stage. Every dj that played, slayed and I was definitely not the only one feeling it. The crowd was going wild, dancing the night away into the AM.
Jamie Jones played around a three hour set, ending a little past 8 AM. Yes, 8 o'clock in the morning. Unreal, right? The doors open at 11 PM and the music ends at 8 AM. You definitely get your moneys worth at this club, there is no question about that.
Here is a little clip from Jamie Jone's set, and a look at some of the lasers used in Room 1.
If you ever have the opportunity to attend a show at fabric, I would highly recommend it. The lineups are pretty much always stacked and the club itself, incredible. There's nothing else like it out there, so go to London and dance the night away at fabric; you won't regret it.
I can now check this off on my bucket list, and I could not be more stoked.
The night of July 3, 2015 was one heck of a night.
It all began with a bottle of Prosecco...
Last night was the night I had been waiting for for a hot minute. It was the Justin Martin and Kill Frenzy show located at the Nest in Dalston, London. I purchased my tickets for this show about three weeks before I even left for London. The second I found out about Justin Martin's Hello Clouds tour and found out a show was in London when I was going to be in London, I wanted in immediately. Nine pounds later, I had myself a ticket and a really awesome night waiting for me.
The Night Begins
A few of my flatmates and I were all preparing for the show and got off to a late start.
We ended up leaving 15 minutes before it started at 10 PM and of course, I forgot my Oyster card. You can't ride the buses or the subways without your Oyster card, so of course I had to go back and get it. Unfortunately Dalston is not the closest journey from Hyde Park. It was a 54 minute quest and we were already late.
I, of course, was freaking out because the website said the doors close at 11:30 PM and no one will be granted access after that. I am the biggest Dirtybird Records fan of all time, so I COULD NOT...I mean COULD NOT...miss this show. It just could not happen. This was my show.
The Journey
So after running back to my flat after walking halfway to the subway, we hop on and get off at Finsbury. Lucky for us, the exact arrival time of our subway happened to be when everyone was leaving the Wireless festival. The streets were jam packed with people. Literally jam packed, and we were essentially swimming against the current.
Every single person was walking in the opposite direction and none of the buses were running. WHAT THE HECK WERE WE SUPPOSED TO DO!?!
None of us had service because we run our phones on Wifi, so we were all running around asking police officers where to go. We asked one and he pointed one way, and the next police officer would tell us something different. It was a complete and utter mess.
I was on a mission to get to this show because I was not NOT going to this show. It was not going to happen.
My flatmate and I started power walking through the mall of people and lost the rest of our group. Lucky, again, for us a massive thunder storm was rolling through. It started pouring and huge bursts of thunder and lighting were filling the night sky. Dramatic, I know.
I, being a huge drama queen, began to cry. Yes, I am pathetic. But I do really love my Dirtybird, okay, and it makes me really emotional.
We wandered and wandered and wandered, and finally came to a pub where a bartender was outside putting all the chairs away. He saw me crying and immediately helped us, called us a cab and we were on our way again. Bless this angel. He saved us.
At this time, it was 11:45 PM and we had thought the doors closed, but we were still determined. I was getting into this show.
We got dropped off and there was a huge line outside the club, and we were astonished and confused. I walked up to the security and said, "Wait, I thought the doors closed at 11:30?"
He responded, "Hahahah, most definitely not!"
Well, that was that. We had made it. And this was a struggle worth fighting because what an absolutely mental show. Dirtybirds Bout' to Get Dirty
Kill Frenzy opened and played an absolutely amazing set. This was my second time seeing him and my first time seeing him after his new album Taylr Swft came out; this album is a total banger. I was absolutely stoked to hear all the tracks from it because, to be honest, there was not a single one I didn't like.
Not only was Kill Frenzy perfection, but so was the environment. The Nest is unlike any club I have ever been to, even in Los Angeles or San Francisco. It was so intimate and the vibe was off the wall. Every person in there was one hundred stoked about the music and was getting down and groovy with the beat.
Having gone to many shows in my lifetime, I know better than to think the music is enough for a good time. The vibe is equally as important, because if you can't get down with the crowd...then the crowd is obviously not there for the same reason as you (which is just awkward). Everyone likes to dance with people who appreciate the music just as much as they do.
The Nest has one tiny room as a dance floor with a small bar located on the right hand side. The tiny room added to the atmosphere. It was hot and sweaty, but that almost made it even better. (gross I know). But, TRUE!
Right after Kill Frenzy destroyed, the one and only, Mr. Justin Martin came on. Bless all of our ears.
This was now my fourth time seeing him and I swear to God he gets better every single time. This was by far my favorite set I had ever seen him play.
Why?
Because he played a set totally different than any of the sets I had seen previously. Last time I saw him, it was in the States and the vibe in London is totally different than America. I think Justin Martin appealed to the London crowd. The music scene in London is totally different than America. They worship drum and bass here, and you are lucky if you can find someone who even knows what that is on the west coast, at least where I am located.
It was not as bass heavy, and had a little more funk to it than usual. Justin Martin goes back and forth between throwing in some heavy basslines, turning the whole crowd into a puddle, and funky house music that you just can't stop shaking your hips to. The perfect mixture was different than the other sets I had seen because it felt like it was a little more upbeat. More dance music and less heavy. The whole time I could not stop dancing, where normally at Justin Martin sets I can't stop being like "OOOOOHHHHHH!" because he's throwing down such heavy womps. It was a pleasant, hip shakin', change. I was into it.
To top off my whole night, as I walked outside after the show, Kill Frenzy and Justin Martin were walking out at the exact same time. I exchanged a few words...."fan girling" incredibly hard...because this is frickin Kill Frenzy and Justin Martin...and we took a photo. It was great.
I can't even put it into words how incredible this show was. Experiencing the house and techno scene in London is even better than I could have ever expected. The people, the club, the atmosphere, the music...every thing was perfect to the T.
It may have been the most unlucky and luckiest night of my life.
It is easy to say, last night was one for the books.
