Harley Blue Star
Art Director – Curator – Disruptor
My innate obsession with the disciplines of branded environment, architecture and product design, fuel my creative passion and inquisitive design approach. Being a perfectionist at heart, I follow an ordered and iterative design process. Through my Designs, Music and Filmmaking, I seek to bring depth to my storytelling. Discreet in my own subtle way, I care to be a catalyst for change, through narratives, aesthetics and a curious mind. The symbiotic collaboration between people, data and technology informs my meticulous research methods, and design projects. Having had the opportunity and perspective to experience a wide range of people and design languages, I am able to comment throughout my work with an informed mind.
TOLA
The Theatre of Light and Architecture is an annual celebration of the worlds greatest light and graphic artists collaborating with renowned architectural icons. It represents a worldly event that you can experience from anywhere! Utilising AR and Virtual reality, TOLA will utilise their ability to live stream Projection and Light events via 360º cameras to give everyone an at home experience. Using a customised Google Cardboard set-up, the headset will act as the festival-goers one way ticket to a light-show like never before!
BLACK HOUSE PALE ALE
I created the concept of ‘Blackhouse Ale’, by crafting together witty humour, authentic narrative and rich local roots. ‘Blackhouse Ale’ is a Hebrides bootleg ale, secretly brewed in Bothys across the isles, packing a brilliant collectable motif, with a nod to memorable beer cans from the past. ‘Blackhouse Ale’ is a rebel amongst Scottish beers!
GIUSTO COSI
In early 2021, Antonio Cartanese, the managing director of Duram Trading, approached me to generate a new brand and identity for his architectural textures & furniture consultancy. This project consisted of finding a new name for the brand, creating the logotype and associated collateral such as stationary and business cards.
ELECTRIC DREAMS
In the project ‘Electric Dreams’, my initial research was lead by experimentation with artificial intelligence and generative art. This body of research allowed me to produce a large amount of moving image and image based content, that I was able to develop further. Taking what I had learnt when creating generative art, I combined my abilities in sound design and 3D modelling to create two short films. One titled Dark, and the other Light. In the dark video, the computers only form of expression is through sound and visuals. Without explanation, or language, it is perceived as evil. However the second ‘light’ video appears to be translated, and seems much more illusive- yet is comprehensible. The viewer characterises, and may even sympathise with the computer. These videos are open for your interpretation as the content within (speech and visuals) was produced using general adversarial networks.
00 – 55
00-50 is an artefact, a piece of art, that illustrates the possibilities of ‘computer dreaming’. Each spread offers the computers thought, and its visual response to that input. Printed on alternating stock in metallic and matte finishes. 00-50 represents computer circuitry and rigidity. The half-tone style print, represents an imprint of a memory. Computers thoughts are impermanent and slowly fade over time, and are overwritten/overprinted. My design for the publication offers rigidity, contrasted by organic imagery, showing the computers sub-conscious creation of abstracted art. The stark nature, and conservative typography and colour palette represents the non-organic characteristics of devices and digital dreaming.
AN UNINHABITABLE EARTH
For the penguin student design award in 2021, I selected ‘The Uninhabitable Earth’ as my cover of choice. This book is a documentary style commentary on the current environmental downfalls our population faces. It is an incredibly bleak read, that highlights the sheer ignorance we all have towards the devastation we cause our planet. This cover was stand-out to me, as the original design was very minimalist, yet spoke volumes. It would be a challenge to surpass its effectiveness- however I felt that through materiality and going beyond ‘the cover’, I could give justice to the message, and give the book a second purpose.
KWELLEN KWAKEN
Kwellen Kwaken is the ‘google translated’ chaos that forms a ‘DJ Group’. We created a name, a group and a ‘hit song’. I created the LP cover and album design taking cues from aquatic life- fitting as Kwellen Kwaken translates to ‘The Jellyfish Breeders’.
